Playing With Scale

I'm catching up on April's Basic blocks.  I got 2 done and have one more to go.  These are fun, because it's all about changing the scale of the quilting.  I decided to do these completely freehand, because I really wanted the practice. 
#1- Stippling:

#2- Circuit Board:  Straight lines are a bit more challenging for me, but it turned out better than I thought it would. 

Linkin up to BOMs Away.

Niece Love

The kiddos have another cousin coming, and they're very excited.  Anna gets a sister and we get another cousin/friend.

My sister-in-law isn't a huge fan of pink, so I went with the blue and purple pallet.  These are some of my favorite fabrics, so I knew I wanted to use them for my niece. 

For the design, I loved the LOVE mini-quilt, so I decided to turn it into a baby quilt measuring 36"x 38".  The quilting is a simple outlining of the letters with a lot of Heart Paisley. 

 You can see the quilting the best from the back:

Linking up to TGIFF & Free Motion Project. 

Rapid Star

I whipped together this quilt top today.  She's already had the baby and she lives in Spain, so I'm doubly behind.  I knew I had to not over complicate things, so I went with the Scrappy Star Quilt from In Color Order.  I ran out and took pictures in the lull between 2 rain showers this evening, so the backlighting is atrocious, but hey, we work with what we got, right?

 If I had to do it over again I would take out the blue and the other solid to make the star all patterned material, because I don't feel like the background contrasts enough with the solid violet in the center of the star, and the blue has the opposite problem of sticking out too much.  For a nap time project though I would say it's pretty good. 

Inevitable Light

I had the opportunity to attend Time Out For Women in Cincinnati this past weekend with a number of friends.  It's my first time going and it was incredible!  It's an inspirational conference for women.  I don't know what I was expecting, but it was so much better than what I had in mind. 

Favorite Music:
Jenny Oaks Baker performed.  I had never heard her play the violin in person before.  I don't even know how to describe how incredible she was.  She played a classical version of Everybody Hurts by REM and she had everyone in tears.  It was crazy.  My jaw dropped several times while she was playing.  Wow!!

Favorite Speaker:
Laurel C. Day:  She's the vice president of product at Deseret Book.  She married at age 40 and instantly became a stepmother to 4 boys.  She talked about the Lord being able to fill the desires of our heart- not that he necessarily gives us what we want, but that if we sincerely trust in the Lord he will make what we have be enough - that it will become the desires of our heart. 

Fun moment:
I heard someone calling out my maiden name.  I was nine hours away from my home town, but I ran into 2 good friends of my mom and also a friend I grew up with.  It's such a small world!

I came away from this experience really wanting to improve myself and do a better job with my children and calling.  I most definitely want to go next year if I have the opportunity.

Love in a Quilt Top

Random Home Addition

I answered the door yesterday and a bird went flying across the porch.  This is what I found:

I saw its tail poking out of the nest last night, so it's actively being used.  Fair warning: if you come to our front door you may be greeted by a feathered friend.  I guess I won't be turning on our porch light for a while.

L-O-V-E

I started paper piecing some letters today. 

Blocks a Plenty

April's Building blocks were super quick to piece together, so that was nice.  It only took me a half hour during the kiddos' naps. 

I also finished the April blocks for do.Good Stitches.  We had to make 2 Hour Glass blocks in Spring-inspired colors with a gray center.  I didn't want it to be completely pastels though, because I feel like that's the obvious choice for Spring.  This is what I came up with from my scraps bin: