Slow Sunday Stitching

How on earth did it get to be the 25th of February so fast?!?! Now mind you, I’m not complaining about that. It means we are so much closer to spring and the warm weather to come. In fact, it is sunny and going up to 7 degrees celsius today, and the snow is mostly gone, which means we can dispense with the heavy winter boots, for the next few days at least. It does mean though, that I am not going to make my goal of having this fifth and last border of Leo’s Mane finished by the end of the month...... rats!!

I have the corner pentagons sewn onto 13 out of 44 units. Nine of those units are sewn together. I need to add one more and they will be ready to be sewn onto the side of the quilt. I’ve spent a good deal of time in the last couple of weeks stitching. But a lot of that time was distracted by what was going on at the olympics, where I’d have to stop the stitching and watch what was happening, especially when it came to the figure skating, one of my favourite things to watch. And then I got caught up in all those extreme things like the snowboarding people who looked like they were flying, and the the skiers who were doing the same thing. All I can say is wow.... they are crazy!!
But, now the olympics is over, so maybe I’ll get back to more intensive stitching time. I’ve downloaded an audiobook that should keep me going for a while, which will help.
I’m linking up to Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching, and then I’ll pick the needle and thread back up for a little while.

Leo’s Mane fifth border progress

We had company this past weekend. Our grandson Avery came and stayed overnight with us Saturday and into Sunday. So there was no time yesterday for a Slow Sunday Stitching blog post, or for stitching either for that matter. By the time we finished looking after our 2 year old grand daughter on Friday and the 6 year old grandson Saturday and early Sunday these poor old grand parents were totally tired out, but in a fabulous and happy way.

I have been making progress with Leo though. All of the units for the fifth border are up to the point where the setting pentagons are going in. This month they have gone from these plus sign units then to having the side units put in and now the corner pentagons. I have three of these completed, with 37 more to go. So close..... so very close....

Slow Sunday Stitching

So close, so very very close to being done with Leo’s Mane. I have over half of the 40 English Paper Pieced units that I need up to the second step.
I have 40 of these, the first step
And 23 of these. the second step.I need 13 more of these for a total of 36 and then 4 of a bit of a different configuration to do the corners of the borders. After that, I put in the corner fabrics that turn these odd shapes into squares and these are done. The goal of the end of February looks like it might be reachable. Here they are, what I have done so far all together. They aren’t going to be laid out this way, considering they are meant for a border, but looking at them here, there are possibilities for further design variations. It would make a really fun scrappy quilt.
I’m linking up to Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching and then it will be back to more stitching.

Slow Sunday Stitching

I’m making really good progress on the fifth of Leo’s Mane borders. All the centre plus signs for the 40 blocks are done. Today I’m starting the process of cutting the next fabrics, basting them to the papers and sewing the next set of pieces into place. As I thought it would, this border is going together very quickly. Maybe, just maybe, it will all be done by the end of February. That would be so cool!  Here’s a closeup of the block so far. The spaces at the ends of the yellow pieces will be filled with the navy fabric I’ve been using through the whole quilt and will make the blocks square. I’m getting so excited about having this finished! I’m starting to think about how to quilt it. So far, I haven’t a clue what I’m going to do. I’m hoping sometime before it is finished, inspiration will hit. In the meantime, I’ll keep on stitching.
I’m linking up to Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching.