I read a lot of quilting/sewing blogs and am always so inspired by the many things other people are making.  I used to be a one-thing-at-a-time sewist, but I've become rather a kid-in-a-candy-store person.  I'm working on quite a number of projects for a few months now.

I did finish and hang my Christmas Stars quilt and am really rather proud of it.  I got the idea for this quilt from Maggie at  http://www.makingalather.com .  It really grabbed me and I just had to make it. From start to finish, it took me two weeks.

For Christmas, I made a number of the Sew Together Bags by sew demented patterns,  one for a swap at my appliqué groups Christmas party, and one each for my two daughters, my daughter-in-law and my oldest granddaughter.  I managed to finish two of them on time, one in February, and the other two are still unfinished.   This is the one for my daughter-in-law.  Her favourite colour is orange, can you tell ?

Now, I have three different quilts I'm working on, besides trying to finish the other two Sew Together bags.  I really need to get them finished because they are for my daughter and granddaughter and they are going on a trip to Japan in April.

I couldn't resist Barbara Brackman's 'Stars In Her Crown' quilt along at http://barbarabrackman.blogspot.com   It started in January and she releases one block every Saturday until this month.  The 9th and final block is released today.  I guess next week we will get the finishing or border instructions.  I have never done one of these before and it's been a lot of fun.  I'm not thrilled with my colour choices.  I tried to go with red and yellow but it's turning out to be more red and beige.  I will be happy with it when it's done, I'm sure, and will replace the Christmas Stars one that's still hanging on my livingroom wall.

The other quilt-along I'm doing is 'Hen Party' by Sindy Rodenmayer  at www.fatcatpatterns.com  It's a fun quilt and I am using scraps for it.  For a long time, I didn't have any scraps, but now, after a couple of years of quilting (mostly bags and placemats and just a couple of quilts), I do !  This quilt-along is not finished until October.  Sindy is releasing one pattern a month until then.  They are free for the month they are released, but after that you have to buy them.  I didn't start until February, so I had to buy the January pattern for a whopping price of $3.00 !  Such a bargain !  I have the first two blocks fused and the first one machine appliquéd.  I used invisible thread by Aurifil so that I wouldn't have to keep changing thread colours.  The third pattern was released yesterday. Aren't they cute ?!

And lastly, I'm working on a wedding gift quilt.  It has to be done by June.  Their home colour scheme is grey and aqua, so the quilt is mostly grey with just touches of aqua.  The pattern is a freebie from Kathy Schwartz at  http://tamarackshack.blogspot.com .  I've been collecting grey fat quarters since last fall.  It's really simple to make the blocks and I'm almost done that part.  I've been putting them up on my design wall so that I can figure out if I have enough (my math skills for quilting are not that great).  I'm really pleased with it.

 Hopefully, today I will find some time to cut a few more blocks.  The centre diamond is supposed to be more to one side, so will add blocks on the left for the remainder of what I have.

Coffee is finished, so I'm off to be domestic for a short while... then sewing !

- Holly