May

Welcome to May!

I'm looking forward to a fun, busy month and I hope you are too!

The weather has been great here in Florida, we've been busy with our master bath remodel, and my college son is finishing up his first year away from home.

It's hard to believe the first half of 2019 is almost over!  Yikes!

I'd like to squeeze a little more sewing time in each day because it seems like the year is going by so quickly and there are so many projects that I'm interested in working on.

At the same time, I'm also trying to finish up some of my favorite UF'O's so I can get them out and use them.

I don't really like having unfinished projects around, but somehow that doesn't stop me from picking up another one before I've finished the last one.

That's habit I'd like to break! 

Hopefully,  I'll get in a few more finishes before the month is over and we're officially halfway done with the year

What are you interested in accomplishing before we reach the halfway point?

Well, I didn't mean to go in that direction when I started typing but that's just what came out. 

 Sometimes its just fun to chat with you about what's on my mind for a minute before we start the Parade.

Flowers are what we should be talking about today, because that is the theme of today's Parade!

Half of the Parade is here on my blog, and you can see the other half on my friend Sherri's blog,  A Quilting Life.

Be sure to go over there and see what Sherri's up to.

She always has the most inspiring and informative posts!

Here is the first Parade entry from Vicki in Colorado.

She used a free pattern called Bay Breeze and she was kind enough to include a link to the pattern that you can find here.  The flowery fabric she used is from one of her favorite lines Coney Island, by Fig Tree Quilts.  It's a favorite of mine too! Vicki says she's working on the quilting today.  When she pieced the quilt Vicki used Sherri's 'Best Tips For Mini Quilts' and and she was really pleased with how it went.  It looks great Vicki!

Janice submitted the next picture for today's Parade.

She made this table runner after being inspired by a wall hanging made by Taunja Kelvington of Carried Away Quilting. She has some really cute flowery fabrics in there and I just love that bunny she has on display too. I wonder if she used a template for cutting or just her ruler?  (Edited to add:  Janice was kind enough to contact me and let me know that she use the Marti Mitchell Tumbler Template to cut her blocks.  She says it has 8 sizes on it!  Thanks so much for letting me know Janice.)   That's a great shape and a really nice table runner!  Thanks so much for sharing with us Janice!         

I went way back in my blog and found a few of my favorite flower pictures to share with you.

These flowers are paper pieced and I made them for quilt that I entered in a local quilt show back in 2007.

I remember when I got the phone call and I learned that won first place!

No doubt, they are some of my favorite flowers ever, so I thought it would be appropriate to pull them out and share them with you in the flower Parade today.

I remember having my doubts about that black background, but I'm glad I went with it.

It really made the flowers pop!

When we have the Parade at the beginning of June, we'll be focused on everything that's

Red, White, and Blue!

That way, you can have some new decorations ready for Memorial Day and the Fourth of July too!

Send a picture of your project for the next Parade to me, or to Sherri, and we'll put it in the next Parade.

We always welcome photos from new and old friends so don't hesitate to send one in and if you have any questions about how the Parade works we'd love to help you, just ask!

Enjoy May and see you again soon!