Spring has sprung!

These last two weeks have flown by.  Last week my brother Rob and his wife Linda visited, and we spent a lot of time just catching up on our lives.   It was great to see them.  There was a lot to do before and after their visit, and then there was catching up on things not done.  I spent some time outside on nice days, picking up sticks in the yard, edging the front flower beds, and simply enjoying nicer weather.  I did snow - hard - one afternoon, but it all melted within a couple of hours.  We hope not to see that again until November.  

Our daffodils and tulips are blooming, and every day I see something new peeking out of the dirt.  There will be violets and lily of the valley soon, as well as flowering crabapple trees.  Spring is always a surprise around here after the long winter.

This week I finished Row H for my modern Dear Jane quilt and then caught up on some blocks of the month.

The block on the left is going into the lottery at my guild meeting later this month.  The other two are for me, with the one on the bottom being blocks for the quilt designed by Kristin Laura.  She has given our guild permission to make her quilt as a block of the month.  We will only have 9 guild blocks and 12 Kristin Laura blocks, so I decided to make them in the same colorway and combine them.  Hope it works out.

Then I made the "rows and pathways" (?) block for the lottery at the state quilt guild meeting May 10.  I initially wondered if it would turn out OK, but I like my block and assume the other quilters' blocks will turn out just as nice.  It will definitely be a scrappy quilt when they're all together.  It's supposed to look like garden paths.

I've spent some time in the last few days getting stuff together for the state guild meeting, too.  This will be my last meeting as president, and I'm looking forward to "just" being a participant and not responsible for anything.  We'll see how that turns out!

A friend and I are doing a short program on Dear Jane-type quilts at the meeting.  That's how Ginny and I met long ago.  We each have stories to tell and variations to show.  I have encouraged others in the guild to bring their variations along for show and tell, too.  One person has a mini that I think is just amazing.

And speaking of amazing, the other day as I was watering my indoor plants I noticed that my orchid, which I repotted a few weeks ago, is sporting two blossoms, with more on the way!  It hasn't bloomed in years, so it just goes to show that it needed a bigger pot.