The Home Stretch

In the midst of special birthdays, anniversaries and a family wedding I have been collating the final pattern of the block of the month Chester Criswell Quilt.  The first block was released nearly three years ago in August 2012 and Block 33 will be unleashed in a few days.  Congratulations to all of you that have kept up with the blocks and shared your blogs, you deserve a medal!

The final block doesn't mean the end of the quilt.  The patterns are all available at Two Bits Patches, you can still buy one or two or all.  There are a few surprises still to come, so keep watching this space.

Do you like my new collection?  My aunt has been downsizing and I have been given these family photos.

 

This is my new favourite.  These are Mary McClellan Smith nee Criswell's daughters; Mary, Alice and Marion. The photo is about 1885.  Marion was my great grandmother.

...changed my mind.  This is my new favourite, Ryan just turned one and we had a birthday party at an animal farm.  Happy birthday Ryan.

Mother's Day and This and That

This was my Mother's Day present, a copy of The Ohio Collection by Anita Shackelford.  I have been following Nancy's progress on Tattered Garden, and I wanted a copy of the book myself. 

Some of Nancy's blocks - more at Tattered Garden Blogspot

I often choose my own presents.  I buy something online and when it arrives I give it to my husband, unopened, to be hidden until the appropriate day.  It's the best way to get just what I want.  (One of the local advertising flyers said, Surprise your Mum! with a range of perfumes.  I certainly would have been surprised with a gift of perfume...)

This was my Mother's Day present in 2013. The range was Pomegranate by Blue Hills Fabrics.  It made another appearance at our Primary Patchworker's quilt show last month.

And if you'd like to see some fabulous red and green quilts visit Collector With a Needle. Dawn has pictures from an exhibition with quilts from the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum in Colorado. About halfway down the post is the Osborn Signature Quilt with autographed fleur de lis blocks.  The signatures are around the edge of the block, rather than in the middle like Rachel Dickey.