Happy Monday!

I have been slacking from the blogging world for a long time.   There are no excuses, only that life happens.  I'm still sewing, quilting and working.   I wish I could quit the latter so I have more time for the first two.

Here are a couple of my more recent projects.  The Crossroads quilt is only partially quilted.  I am doing echo quilting and it is taking forevvvvvvvvvver....

For my bosses birthday everyone at work chipped in and I made her a Pittsburgh Steeler's quilt.   She was ecstatic when she opened it up.

Below are a couple of pictures from our recent trip through Smoky Mountain National Park. I believe both of these pictures are in North Carolina.  I love nature and spending time with my family.

The next picture is of Cumberland Falls in Corbin, Kentucky.

These are just pictures off of my phone, I haven't had time to download the ones off of the camera.

February's Block of the Month and more

I hope everyone is having a wonderful month.  My sewing machine has been humming away.  I finished my block of the month.   These blocks are very tedious and time consuming, but they are absolutely beautiful in my opinion.

You can see in the picture below just how tiny most of those pieces are.

 I finally added the binding and a hanging sleeve to my Circles of Hope quilt.  I'm not sure what part of life got in my way of finishing this, but I know it was in a bag for well over a year maybe 2.  Now I need to decide just where I want to hang it.

I have also made a couple of pillow cases this month and am trying to decide which quilt top I am going to pull out of the bag to finish up next.  

January Ray of Hope block

January 2016, how did you get here so fast, let alone it almost be February!   While I didn't blog a whole lot in 2015, I did sew up a  storm.     For 2016 I have decided to do a Block of the month called 'Ray of Hope'   You can find information and patterns HERE.

I just finished January's block and this is how mine turned out.

I cropped my side points out, but it is truly an amazing block.  It is paper pieced, (lots of little pieces) so if paper piecing isn't your thing, you have been warned. Each finished block measures 12".

I am using batiks left from a previous project paired with black Kona.