Family Time

     My husband has spring break this week and we decided on visiting a small town near us to meander and see what it was all about.  It was fun to be together and the weather was warm and sunny.  Could spring be coming at last?
     I also found time to work on a quilt that I must finish this weekend.  I keep trying to machine quilt my own quilts and end up so frustrated with the outcome.  I've taken the classes but it is just one of those things that seem to confound me.  Do you have a quilting technique that seems to continually be difficult for you?
     It is odd not to fill an Easter basket for my children.  Even though they are grown, I still made one for each of them every year until they were in their early 20's. We won't be with them this year but it is good to know that they will be worshiping together at the sunrise service on top of Mt. Helix in San Diego.  It should be a beautiful morning.
     Tonight at church we sang a song that my daughter LeAnna played for me often on the piano and I just love it.  Enjoy the words!

The Lamb

The lamb, O Father, where's the sacrifice? 

Faith sees, believes

God will provide the Lamb of price!

Refrain:  Worthy is the Lamb whose death makes me His own!

The Lamb is reigning on His throne!

The Lamb, One perfect final offering.

The lamb, Let earth join heaven His praise to sing.

He sighs, He dies, He takes my sin and wretchedness.

He lives, forgives, 

He gives me His own righteousness.

He rose, My heart with thanks now overflows.

His song prolong Till every heart to Him belong.

Matchy! Matchy! Been there, done that.

Happy Wednesday!  There has been a bit of sunshine today and it is so welcome.  I hope wherever you are that you have the opportunity to enjoy the sunshine and sweetness of spring.

I've had the privilege of helping several customers with choosing fabric for a quilt and started noticing a trend.  Each one of them were working with either a novelty print or a large scale floral type print and were looking for fabrics to go with them.  Each  one thought that their theme fabric was very busy and they wanted to tone it down and were looking for fabrics that matched exactly the colors in the print and read as solid.  I gently laid some fabrics with geometric designs and character that didn't quite match exactly but were in the same color family along with the plain matchy fabrics.  They would have nothing to do with those swirls, polka dots and geometrics.  They adamantly stuck with their marbles and solids and weren't sure they liked what was happening.  One of the customers felt it was the novelty fabric she picked and decided to choose a different main fabric.

This is a common mistake we make but rarely does it work well.  You need several fun and lively prints along with a mediator fabric to make your quilt sing on tune.  Check out what Kaffe Fassett does with color and prints.  Whew!!!!  I've made an attempt to give you a visual from my stash below.  Not quite Kaffe quality but....  So the next time you are shopping for fabric stretch yourself, be bold and try bolder color, and use several lively prints along with your other fabrics.  You just might end up singing right along with your quilt.  Do you have any suggestions for fabric choice that works for you?

Ouchy!!!

Happy Palm Sunday to everyone!

I spent most of the afternoon and early evening starch appliqueing.  It was a quick and fairly easy project but somehow I kept getting my fingers a little too close to the iron and touching way too hot fabric. It hurts.  I think I will finally invest in these things called thermal thimbles.  They protect your fingers while ironing or guiding the fabric under the iron.  Most quilt shops carry them or you could order from Keepsake Quilting.  It felt good to get that part of my next project done.

You may notice a few changes to the blog.  This evening my friend and graphics designer Robin and I have been making changes and hopefully making the site a bit better.  Notice the button on the top of the page that tells about my upcoming retreat.

Have a blessed week and may there be no ouchies in any of your projects.
Dee