The roses are blooming...

....and it smells SO good outside. I love to sit on the front porch this time of year and just drink in the sweetness of the roses. The aphids haven't found them yet either which is nice.

I'm ready to start sewing hexagons!

I cut out 234 (2.5") squares today from reproduction 1930s prints. I'm really looking forward to this. It's going to be a perfect take-along project.

This of course, is only the start of what I'll need. I think I'm doing to edge them in white and then do a green pathway, kind of like this one:

I want to make the flowers with each row a different color, however, more like this one:

Memories of Lancaster County

I have a beautiful quilt hanging on the wall in my home office. It's a souvenir of our wonderful trip to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania last fall.

 I love the fact that it's hand pieced and hand quilted.

For years I've been fascinated by the Amish and have yearned to visit an Amish community.

What a wonderful trip we had. We saw beautiful farmland, shopped in quaint country stores, saw several covered bridges and of course the famous Amish buggies.

One of the highlights of the trip was dinner at the home of Samuel and Rachel King. They and their children invite visitors to their home for a meal not only as a way to earn additional income, but also to educate the "fancy folk" about their simple Amish lifestyle. It was a wonderful evening with amazing food. Of course, I had to purchase her cookbook that she had available.

Another WIP bites the dust!

I'm SO glad to have this done. Well, I guess it's not technically done until it's back from the quilter and bound, but I'm still calling it a finish.  The center square has 145 pieces in it! It's a block of the month I got online and I wouldn't have chosen some of the fabrics, but all in all it turned out okay. At least it will be done in time for Christmas!

Not grandmother's garden...

The flowers seem extra pretty this year.  I really doubt they are any different than they were last year. It's probably because I am so tired of wintery weather and so happy to see some blooms.

Grandmother's garden

I have a beautiful print by Rebecca Barker hanging above my computer monitor. I stare at it every day and admire not only her talent, but the beauty of the grandmother's garden quilt portrayed there.
 

I've been looking for a portable project for a while and then,  aha, the light turned on. I need to make a grandmother's garden quilt of my own.  I know better than to plan a full size quilt. With the 12-15 quilts already in progress, along with countless other quilting, stitching, crocheting WIP, there's no way that is going to happen. But, I can make a table runner!

First I needed to see if this was something I could handle and if so, needed to decide the size of hexagon I wanted to use. They work up quickly (yea!) and I think I prefer the smaller one better.

I dug out my stash of 1930s reproduction prints. What better fabric to make a grandmother's garden quilt from. I'm excited!