Catching up on commitments

The Birthday block swap for which I had made the 'circles' blocks from my last post has been sitting on my shoulder like Jimminy Cricket - with good reason considering how behind I've allowed myself to become

I was acutely aware that I still owed a red, black and white block for March, a purple rose block for April and finally a NYB block for May to bring me right up to date to work on Kate's 3D block for June

Here are the completions so far to bring me right up to the present day

March

April

May

Only June to do which is current so I'm up to date - hurray! Now to think up something with a 3D element for Kate - ideas anyone?

I've also been stitching more sashings for the Batik Baskets - but as they're all much the same they're a bit boring

However I did find time to put all those hourglass squares together - a couple of borders should bring this up to Cot size

And finally I have a pot of Marguerite daisies outside both my front and back doors - I love these simple plants, they remind me of living in France, and if you deadhead them regularly they'll reward you with a wonderful succession of blooms all summer long - this little fellow was captured just minding his own business, ignoring me as I opened the front door after work the other day

Today's bag of allsorts

You know Mother Nature can always teach us a thing or two about colour combinations - just look at these rhododendrons in rich buttery cream and regal purple combined with the lovely green grass - a great starting point for a quilt. Stourhead in Wiltshire was an absolute delight last week with the variety of rhododendron colours in the gardens - pricey but well worth a visit

And talking about three colour quilts - here's where I've got to with the Batik Baskets

Still valiantly appliqueing away with the rest of the sashings to go round the edges

I've still been carrying on with some piecing too

Quite a while ago I received a Moda charm pack from another blogger - some of the charms had children and toys on them which weren't totally my scene but I passed them onto a dear friend who loved the 'Dick and Jane' fabrics and I knew she'd make excellent use of these which were similar

However I hung onto those charms from the pack that I especially liked but never found a suitable project for them. Then seeing the occasional hourglass quilt on various blogs thought that as I'd developed a newfound reasonable competence (tongue firmly in cheek there) for piecing I'd give it a go

Here we are so far - good fun but possibly not something I'd like to make every day - there should be just enough squares along with some border fabric to make a cot quilt

Finally I've been participating (I use the term loosely) in the Birthday Block swap that Kate's been running - unfortunately I've lost my way somewhat since about January - probably because I really couldn't apply myself to much stitching over that period.

Now we've got to June - the last month, and Kate's turn to receive blocks - and I've set myself the target to get all outstanding blocks out to their various recipients by the end of the month

Here's one of the RW&B Mariners Compass blocks that a fellow blogger made for me

And finally the two circle February blocks just awaiting trimming and posting out.

Keep stitching and smiling :o)