Wednesday, March 20, 2024

Raindrops

This was my February binding challenge and so glad it is done and hanging up this month.   It is so bright and cheery and brightens up the corner by the door to our garage.

This quilt started out as a paper bag challenge with our night guild.  There was a fat quarter in the bag and we had to make a quilt from it along with other fabrics from our stash or bought fabric.  Patterns were available each month and the designer had the patterns set for beginner, intermediate and expert.  I can't remember what level I took for each block, but am happy with the result.

This was the fabric in the bag.   Not much left!  When I look at the fabric pattern ..... I see raindrops or balloons ..... but decided that Raindrops was a nice name for my quilt.

I used the fabric to make all the pinwheels and wherever else that I could.

Eventually, I was able to find a matching fabric (darker colour) in a quilt store.   The rest of the fabrics came from my stash.

The darker version was used in all the cornerstones.

This quilt was shown at this month's night guild meeting and the designer happened to be there that night.  She was happy to see what I did with her patterns.

Quilt Details: 

Designer:  Janice Stewart from Northern Lights Quilt Guild

Block size:  12"

Started:  October 2015

Top Finished:  April 2023

Quilt Finished:  February 2024

Quilt Size:  49-1/2" x 70-1/2" (top size before quilting, washing & drying:  53" x 73"

Batting:  Hobbs 80/20

Machine Quilted by:  Kathy Wareham using Aspden Leaf design by Deb Geissier

So, Raindrops is the name of my quilt and that is what we have been experiencing for most of our winter this year.  Then, in the last few days, we have had snow.  Not a lot, but down it came.

Here is a montage of photos from the last few days:

The deer have been busy visiting our front yard and have eaten all the leaves off my euonymus shrub.  The leaves are evergreen and the deer love them.  See the arrow?  Nothing now but sticks sticking through the snow.
Then, this morning, we woke up to this amount of freshly fallen snow.
The thing is .... under all this snow are two more huge euonymus shrubs that the deer ate last winter.  The leaves grew back and are ready for the tasting.  The deer haven't touched these shrubs this year.
Again, this morning, the deer came back but there is nothing to munch on.  Off to the neighbours they went.
Now that hubby is finding it hard to do the snow blowing, I've taken over the task.  We have a small electric snowblower that I can handle and I've been enjoying the chore.  It is like quilting ..... sewing or blowing one row at a time.  Perfect for me!  We do have a monster snowblower sitting in our garage, but it is too powerful for me to handle.  

Cherish your day, cherish your life!

6 comments:

cityquilter grace said...

pretty quilt...i have seen that raindrops fabric...we are chilly and windy here but snow is long gone

Gretchen Weaver said...

Your quilt is lovely, so nice the designer was able to see the finished quilt. Happy stitching!

Kim said...

The fabric choices you selected to go with the original fat quarter are great. The finished quilt is lovely. Goodness....still snowing there! I wonder when spring will begin to make an appearance??

Tazzie said...

Such a beautiful quilt Rose Marie, you used that sweet fabric so well. I love seeing the snow in your yard, it's quite warm here today - too warm to work for long outside, so the thought of snow seems just lovely!
Hope you have a Happy Easter
*hugs*
Tazzie
:-)

dq said...

Very pretty snow photos!
I made a paper bag quilt once with the same rules as your guild. It really was fun. Yours finished up so pretty.

Chookyblue...... said...

Always love to hear the quilt stories..... Raindrops is pretty......
The snow pics are pretty also but I imagine a challenge to clear away..... Goodluck....