LANDSCAPES, QUILTER'S PLANNERS AND DUCK LOVE

This past week I finally finished my beach landscape.  I am really happy with it.  

I added some grasses, shells and a few beads.  I am particularly pleased with the quilting especially the very bottom of the piece.  I am not a free motion quilter.  So, it was a real challenge for me to finally decided I was going to make a real attempt at that skill. 

Last month I ordered my Quilter's Planner.  It arrived just last week and along with it I received this pattern for a bookmark for it.  I decided a quick one day project was a perfect plan after finishing my landscape.  Something accomplished in an afternoon was what I needed.

I occasionally do paper piecing.  It always takes a few tries, tear it out, and do it again before I get back into the groove of doing it properly.  

Once I got the paper piecing down it was a very quick finish.

It is done and ready to start the new year in style.  I have used the planners for several years now.  I was a controller for a non profit for 40 years before retiring.  I used planners to keep myself organized and found that I liked the ability to know what was accomplished and where I was with final  project completions.  It seems it carried over into my home life and especially into what was going on in my sewing studio.  I am very active with my local quilt guild, serving as treasurer multiple years along with other quilting activities.  I think it keeps me grounded and at least sometimes organized.

Of course I had to start a new project.  I happened on to a blog this past week of Wendy's Quilts and More.  She featured her Turkish Coffee Quilt and Kaffe Fassett's Quilts in Burano.  I have a bin full of Kaffe scraps and it was the perfect way to work with them.  Simple to make and fun to deal with all those crazy prints.  So that should keep me occupied for the next couple weeks.  We have just slipped by the 6 month anniversary of stay in place Covid lock down here in the mid valley of California so finding something to occupy your extra time is good.

And here is a bit of duck love.  This is my youngest grandson Ben.  As many of you know my daughter has a whole zoo of pet animals.  Besides the chickens and peacocks she has 14 ducks.  This is one of the ducklings that were hatched earlier this year.  She just loves a belly scratch.  The minute Ben comes out in the yard to feed them, she runs up for a bit of attention. 

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