"sugar sand" finished

I am pleased with how "sugar sand" turned out. It was an exercise in minimalism, something that does not come naturally to me, as much as I appreciate and love it.

If it had not been for the colors the mom-to-be favors for her baby girl due in June, I'm not sure I would have ever made a quilt with hot pink and yellow. But I really like it.

I machine quilted in the ditch.

And now that it's done, we're off for a walk on this glorious day!

bees, flowers and little girls

I was excited to sew with the bee fabric my friend Susie sent for my birthday.
Turquoise is becoming my staple color.
The dots just make every combination happy.

The back.
Susie gave me the batik on the left, too.

Don made us this stump table last week.
It's great for staging mug mats, don't you think?

I've finished the back of Genevieve's quilt and will start quilting it tomorrow.

I also played with another mug mat, but I wasn't happy with my white stitches on the back binding, so I won't be selling it (I don't have the heart to tear it out). I'm going to give it to my daughter Lesley. (I hope she won't mind. :-)

I think the black binding is too heavy.
I want to make this again, and I'll need to decide on a better one.
I can see that the turquoise and white dots would probably work. :-)
The fabric is quite a collection.
The white, red, turquoise and chartreuse leaf fabric
to the left of the girls is from a vintage table cloth
of my mother's.

You can see how the bobbin thread, being white, shows my imperfect stitches.
(closeup below)
It is challenging to get perfect front and back stitches sewing
the binding down.

A more neutral binding, and darker bobbin thread, would hide imperfect stitches.
Oh I see I also haven't clipped all my threads. :-)
The cute olive green and pink argyle is from
my daughter-in-law Andrea, in the stash she gave
me for my birthday.

I do like the tiny patch on the front of the mat.
There was a barely noticeable stain in the vintage white tablecloth fabric,
and so I just made a polka dot patch.
It echoes the girl's dress.

A little update on my Etsy sales. I had two sales before Etsy and have had six Etsy sales! The first time someone found my shop out of the blue, I was amazed. That makes eight sales. After ten (and every ten sales), I will donate a cozy, fluffy quilt to a women's shelter.

Bees & flowers mug mat at Etsy.