A baby is born and a quilt continues...

I just heard that the baby has arrived and now I can continue the quilt. Baby Drew was born tonight at 7:03 and mama Erin and daddy Kyle are so happy. New grandparents are thrilled too. Everyone thought he might be born on St. Patrick's Day but this is very close. I saw a picture and he sure is cute.

The HST's lined up and ready to go. 

Anyway, now I can continue working on the quilt. I took out the pink fabric and used the blues, greens and yellows. Also, kept a few of the darker orange-red.  I'm so excited to be able to finally put this together. Can't wait to make all the pinwheels and finish designing the quilt. Remember I am making this one up as I go along. 

Love those pinwheels. 

A few things to do tomorrow but really hope to get back to this later in the day. In the meantime, I hope everyone has a wonderful St. Patrick's Day. 

May love and laughter light your days,

and warm your heart and home.

May good and faithful friends be yours, 

wherever you may roam. 

May peace and plenty bless your world

with joy that long endures.

May all life's passing seasons

bring the best to you and yours!

Erin Go Bragh!

A blessing

I was looking through some Irish blessings and found this one that I think may be addressed to quilters and others everywhere.

May there always be work for your hands to do.
May your purse always hold a coin or two.
May the sun always shine on your windowpane.
May a rainbow be certain to follow each rain.
May the hand of a friend always be near you.
May God fill your heart with gladness to cheer you. 


Bless you all today. 

A prize in the mail and how did that happen?!!

I was so excited today to get the prize package in the mail from Geralyn. What an abundance of great Mary Engelbreit items.

Some terrific books.

A wonderful album. Can't wait to fill it. 

Little ME things and a fabulous ME tea tin. Love it. 

The ME magazine with Mary's house, what inspiration.
And a fabulous bag, I love it. 

And for next Christmas, Santa has a treat.

Thank you again, Geralyn, for all these wonderful things. For the rest of you, please be sure to check her blog and see her wonderful creativity. http://greetingsfromgeralyn.blogspot.com/

Now for the how did that happen? I was getting ready for a meeting at my house tonight and was in the upstairs bathroom. I noticed the drawer wasn't closed and pushed it to close. It wouldn't. Upon closer inspection, I saw that the whole front of the vanity was falling off! How did that happen!!! Time to call our neighborhood handyman to see if he can work his magic. Keeping my fingers crossed. 

And for tomorrow,
                                May your day be touched by a bit of Irish luck,
                                Brightened by a song in your heart,
                                 And warmed by the smiles of the people you love.

Ah, spring!

Yes, we are getting closer to the official start of spring but at the Philadelphia Convention Center, spring is already there. I went to the Philadelphia Flower Show today and loved seeing all the beautiful flowers. This was at the entrance of the show. The theme was Springtime in Paris. And it was lovely. I'm going to post a few of the pictures that I took (there were over 150!) so I hope you can sit back and imagine the springtime magic.

Flowers everywhere. 

These were both such a creative way to use stuff and lighting to create a scene. 

For my Celtic readers.

Anyone care to take a sail. 

Such a welcoming doorway

Flowers of every kind. 

A Paris flower stall. 

Lovely!

Love the blue and yellow

Your living room...

Love this French rooster

Several absolutely fabulous ironwork. 

Lovely outdoor setting 

Do your window boxes look like this?

One of my favorites - Gerbera Daisies. 

Wonderful front porch. 

The marriage of fashion and flowers

And the urban scene. 

I hope your enjoyed the view. I tried to give you just a taste of what I saw.
Now the second sign of spring is the beginning of daylight saving time. It was hard to get up this morning but just peachy to have the sun go down an hour later. I believe the sun set at 7:10. Love that so much.

Now that I'm home I really hope to get back to the baby quilt tonight. I wonder how many more times I will be saying that. No baby news just yet but should hear something by the end of this week. So exciting for everyone!

Not perfect...

And yes, I am going to say, but good enough. The only sewing I did today was finishing a BOM that I started last night. I love the unusual color combinations on these blocks. I was finishing it to take to the store tomorrow to pick up my next block but a friend is getting mine for me. If you remember, this was the place where I spent tons of money when I went to get my free block. I think it is a wise move to let my friend get it for me.

For some reason, the middle of this block is very bumpy. Probably will be a longarm quilter's nightmare for quilting. Hmmm. As usual, I'm of the mind that done is good. I know there is another expression about that but can't remember it.

Now that this one is done, after baking and cleaning tomorrow I can get back to the baby quilt. No word on birth or gender yet so I'm flying a little blind.

Have a happy Saturday!

Just have to say thank you!!!

Before I get back to my sewing, and it's a perfect rainy night to do that, I have to say a big thank you to Geralyn for my latest win! Yes, you read that right. And now I really have to pay it forward with a giveaway of my own.

I won the Chair full of Mary from her blog. Be sure to check it out at

http://greetingsfromgeralyn.blogspot.com/

Geralyn has wonderful posts and if you are in the north Jersey area be sure to stop in and say hi at her shop of the same name. It is a wonderful shop full of so many nostalgic items. And so many clever ideas from Geralyn. I'm getting a treasure trove from her to add to my ME collection. Wow.

 

Now, once I put out the trash (Do you think the rain will stop for just a minute while I run outside?) I plan to lock myself to my sewing machine and get busy. 

And check back, the giveaway is coming. 

I finally started...

After much thought and procrastination, I finally started the baby quilt. One problem I had was trying to decide just what pattern I was going to use. I had started with just 5 fat quarters which is what I gave the mother-to-be at her shower. Then through the magic of the internet, I got 2 charm squares and some yardage of the same fabric. This gave me more of a problem since it expanded my choices. Too many choices is not always a good thing.

My epiphany came the other day when I decided I wanted to make some half-square triangles. That was fine but then I realized that since I had another charm pack, I could make the same combos and make pinwheels! Ta-da... I am still going to make this up as I go along but very happy with the pinwheels as the centerpiece of this quilt.  Still have lots more fabric that I can use for background and also backing of the quilt.

My only dilemma now is making it more pink or more blue. The couple doesn't know if it's a boy or a girl but... since the baby is due this week, I can always make the pinwheels and then put it all together after the baby is born. That way I can also put name, etc. on the label before I send it to them.

Ah, it's that working under pressure productivity!