Cottage Potting Shed Quilt & Spring!

Spring has finally sprung!

                 This Sunday's temperature finally was the sunniest, warmest weather this year!

                       Tulip buds are not seen yet but it will only be a few days till they appear!

                                                    That is if the squirrels don't eat them!

 This is a bud from the Magnolia tree in Nicholas's yard. The flowers are a beautiful soft pink  & a sweet fragrant smell will fill the yard when all the blooms are full.

 This is the side of my studio were Nicholas has the garden with his Magnolia tree, far right you can see the shadow. There's also a climbing deep pink rose bush & seeds from the Morning Glories grow wild in this area.

 The evergreen has really grown since it was planted in 2008. The yard stonework was designed around it. The tree offers winter shelter to the birds & gives you texture & colour during the winter months of snow.

The tulip bulbs have sprung up under the tree, those squirrels have a way of rearranging your plants!

            This is the side door of my studio, the birds aviary is just outside & fills the yard.

There's a Japanese Lilac is just starting to bud. When the purple flowers are in bloom it smells oh so heavenly!

The Guardian  Gargoyle sits outside the studio's front door. His base is starting to show signs of wearing through the seasons. I need to coat him with some Thompson's Water Sealer to repel the water.

 The shed door is showing signs of weather abuse too. A good scrapping & sanding & a fresh coat of paint will set the look right again.

 The door knocker has rust showing through too. Time to freshen the look up once the weather stays warm & dry.

 With the sun coming through the patio door & Boris tiered of chewing his bone, he had a afternoon nap in the sun.

 Rexton was in her highest perch, watching shiny things reflect in the room...

                                                            And on the ceiling. lol


Sewing The Cottage Potting Shed Quilt

I've now got all 12 blocks embroidered! Six green & six pink, the thread was a purchase I made while in the Czech Republic  a couple years ago.
The embroidered blocks were a birthday gift, a few years ago from cousin Ann. They were a joy to work on & I've noticed that it all has to do with the garden & a potting shed! I've been reading blogs that have their potting sheds & gardens done ever so beautiful! I'm so inspired by what I've seen & want to 'dress' mine up too! It will start with this quilt!

 I pulled this fabric from my stash. The colour was perfect for the thread colour I used. I tested 3"x3" piece of fabric & placed it in a cup of hot water. To my surprise it never even got wet, it floated. The fabric was Teflon coated! Later it did take on the water & never shrunk in size. Yes this is the fabric to use! It even feels vintage, like a hop-sack weave.

There was way more green fabric than red. It was fr! It was to be used as curtain fabric but I never did get around to making those drapes. I did however make my niece Olivia a jumper & matching over the shoulder purse to match back in the 90's. It was done in the red fabric & could be why there's less of that colour.

 I thought that some pinwheels would make a summer design for the corner stones.

 The pink embroidery was framed with the green fabric. I tried the red fabric but the design was lost.

 Using the complementary colour worked well to enhance the embroidered pictures.

 With two blocks done & my pattern that's dancing in my head, now in fabric in front of me...

 I begin making many pinwheels to use as corner stones. I'll need 4 per square for 12 blocks, yes 48 of those pin wheels will be needed. Chain sewing begins!

 A potting shed is in one of the blocks, how sweet is this going to be?!

After all that work on the pinwheels, the design was lost in the pattern because there wasn't enough contrast! With that hide sight, I worked the 8 inch border in squares & they showed up better!
It was a learning curve & one that I'll will remember in doing a design again.

                                                                See how the pinwheel design is lost.

 Rexton is a real quilt lover & enjoys feeling the quilts...

She's getting thick & is due to grow longer. She reminds me of the kids growing, they would go out then grow up, repeat. Rexton will be a year this June & she carries the 'M' gene of a Manx & they get to be their full size after 5 years...look out Boris she's already nearly 1/2 your  24 pound weight!

VOILA! It's together. I took it outside to the aviary to hang it up for the photo shoot. Look at the blue sky on this wonderful spring day!

The scenes in this quilt are so garden related, something I'm learning to do this summer, gardening!

 What a great place to hang a quilt for taking a picture! I needed a stool to reach the top to hang it up & it was oh so worth it!

 Bill & I went looking for a backing for the quilt & he found this wide backing. It's called Through The Seasons with Eleanor Burns, good find Bill! It's 108" wide too!

With nothing blooming outside, I picked up some tulips for the inside! Yellow with red, these look unique.

And a spring colour of lilac!

Handsome Boris

 Boris is doing much better the last few days, he's missed a lot of his sleeping following me around.

 But has been chasing the cats again, he's on the mend. lol

Today we had a good rainfall this afternoon. The pets were quite at home listening to the rain, Rexton & Tommy curled in the chairs & Boris gnawing on his chew stick. It was a good fresh rain & the temp stayed warm so the gardens will do well & buds are going to grow bigger!

My son Donny sent me these pictures of me as a young girl. Ever since I can remember, I've loved cats. I don't remember this day but the photos came from my moms place being cleaned out. She took photos on visitation days. I lived with my dad & had visitation with my mom once a month for 4 hours. I did love my cats, even back then! Thank you for capturing this happy memory mom. My parents divorced in 1965, something that was nearly unheard of back then! How times have changed.
My mom is in a home now & doesn't know me anymore but she seems happy & is well cared for in the institution that she's in.

Getting old really is a privilege as many will not get that opportunity!

Thank you for stopping by & I hope you too are experiencing spring wherever you are!
Have a great week. :-