The rays of the sun

 I am so happy to show you a finished top.  One which has taken a few years to finish.  

In January of 2021, I started this New York Beauty quilt of Karen K Stone's for a challenge online. 

And with the distractions of so many projects going on as well as the recovery of Covid, it was set aside with a beautiful box of assembled fabrics. And I finished all the curved blocks last year.

At the beginning of the year I tackled it again, although I have not blogged about it. And after finishing the top to my Blockheads, I was on a roll to finish this one.  Only then I found out, I had not completed all the border blocks.  I got pretty good at paper piecing. 

But pushing ahead, I then got productive and completed the assembly:

Center;

Border decisions:

And the top ALL sewn together:

YEAH for me! And all those willy nilly seams went together easily.

Sewing and sewing

 I am so thrilled to have finished the top for my Blockheads. And finished is better than perfect.  I just couldn't more to it. 

But it has refreshed my joy of quilting and I am back working on several things.  ( As I just can't do one at a time.) 

First off, I am glad to also have also finished them embroidery of my Crabapple Hill Pumpkin. Now to put it in a pillow with a cool border. The pattern features a scalloped fabric border.  Thinking, thinking, I need to find the right fabric.

And I also hand pieced a Dear Jane block.  I need to practice my hand piecing skills. 

This is a 5 inch block.  

Last but not least I have done another Tilda block. 

Lastly, I am in a BOM online for an applique quilt from Fatcat Quilts.  I considered doing hand applique; however, the points are way to narrow for  facilitating that.  So I am doing fusible applique.

Here is my first block: 

Interesting week

 I was so excited that my daughter wanted to come and spend a week with us.  I was totally looking forward to spending time with her, going out for dinner and shopping.  We are lucky because she works remotely and can go anywhere. But I had come down with this cold after visiting the grandkids. And it lasted ALL week when she was here. So I did get to have many conversations concerning her job search and beaux. Tough decisions for anyone. 

But I finally got better the day she left. Oh well.

The only thing I was able to do was read and I finished a good book by Chris Whitaker, All the Colors of the Dark.  Very good book full of twists and turns.  All the chapters were less than 5 pages; something you normally don't see. 

But now I am back to my self and fulfilling regular tasks around the house.  

But most importantly, I have completed the top to my Blockheads 1 started way back in 2017 as a block of a week by 5 fabric/quilt designers.  There were great instructions as well as hints for better piecing, working with small sizes, and use of color and design within the block pattern.

I had selected my design for assembling them together a while back and arranged the final layout last December and pieced the center early this year. 

Drum roll please: 

Outdoors in the sun

Center:

I am so glad to have this together. Such a long project .  Now off to my favorite quilter.