A Little Blue

I've not spent much time in the sewing room this week in part because the weather has been lovely, calling me outdoors.  I've also felt a slow down in my desire to sew since finishing and sending off the quilts to my great nieces and nephew.  So, I've done some overdue pruning and yard clean-up. I have to admit to being a fair weather gardener. Various things in the yard are in bloom and other things are just beginning to come up, I want to enjoy them all before it gets too hot to enjoy the outdoors.  I planted this azalea last year and am so happy to see it blooming so abundantly. I had one like this at our old home and had to leave it behind when we moved. I'm hoping this one will turn out as special as that one was. Time will tell. 

I did get a little done in the sewing room. I pulled out my blue scraps and made a placemat for myself. I have more scraps to make a second one but haven't gotten to it yet. Maybe today.  I had fun with this. Since it's so small and just for me I took the dive and did some real free motion quilting. No pattern, no marking, just put the needle down and go. It turned out better than I thought it might. The edges don't lay flat, but no matter about that.

Most of my time in the sewing room this week has been spent marking my tablecloth. The photo doesn't show the marking very well. I'm hoping to have the star points stand out so marked the green triangles more and the star points less. The four square blocks are marked with roses and I don't yet now what I'll do with the dark squares. I'm not done marking yet but am moving along. I stopped by the quilt shop in Redding yesterday while I was in town to visit family and bought the thread I need for quilting it. I really need to move a little faster to get this done if I want to actually have it on my table this spring. 

I've also made a little progress on my leader/ender project which is also mostly blue. I'm not using scraps for this project, but older fabrics from my stash, with a few new fabrics to complete the design. It will also be a tablecloth someday. Well, actually, all the fabrics in this picture are new. Hmmm, guess the older fabrics will come along in the second blocks. Anyway, I like what I have so far. A little bit of work on my main project and that's it for the sewing room this week. 

One more thing before I go. Recently I posted a picture of my armoire and said it needed some shelves that I wasn't able to do. I received a comment on that post from Maggie of The Cheerful Chickadee who told me about a simple way to get it done. I followed her advice and it's done! New shelves and better organization in the armoire. Many thanks Maggie! 

I'm linking up with:

Angela at So Scrappy for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge 

Cynthia at Quilting is More Fun than Housework for Oh Scrap!

Beth at Love, Laugh, Quilt for Monday Making

Susan at Quilt Fabrication for Mid Week Makers

I hope you are having a lovely weekend!

Janis