Hi everyone,

hope you all had a wonderful holiday weekend!

I just looked at the date of our last blog post and said – yeiks! – almost 10 days? Well, I hope you missed us a bit, but not too much to be upset? 🙂 Busy, busy is the name of the game…holiday, family, sewing and even some…just a bit…yard work? Whaaat? Yard work? Well, there was that one gorgeous weekend, so we did do some rose pruning, some cleaning and of course – some grilling!

You wouldn’t know it looking outside today – it is snowing, it is cold….But hey – no complaints! We do live in western NY, we are tough and yes – spring is here! Look what is in my front yard:

Snowdrops were the first…

Then crocuses came up – yellow are always first!

And then some purple of course!

So hungry for colors after this winter!! Don’t you just LOVE these first pops of brilliant color? Even when I don’t have a lot of time to go stitch something, I have to at least make an instant collage with all these beautiful colors…so our pups are wishing you happy, happy spring!!:

Speaking of pups…I made yet another collage, this time for a very sad reason. Our son and daughter-in-law lost their beautiful, young puppy, Romulus, a week before Easter…He was diagnosed with leukemia and the disease was as fast and fierce as it was shocking and sad. Romi was only 16 months old, but he sure lived his life in fullest – he was unstoppable, extra spunky and such a cuddle-bug. He gave us all love and laughs in his short time worth all of the lifetime. I am so, so proud of my kids who were so strong for him and for each other. I still almost can’t believe it…hope you don’t mind me sharing this with you…Here is a collage of our spunky-monkey, Romulus:

There will be a quilt out of this, someday..I am sure. 🙂

Well, it is time to wander back into something a bit more cheerful – lets talk quilts of course! WHY DO WE MAKE QUILTS? Have you ever ask yourself this question? I mean really? Deeply? It is an incredibly complex question to ponder! Here is a start for all of you – I really enjoyed reading this blog post by Luana Rubin and it made me think…

And if you want to just make something – how about trying something a bit different? Look at this beauty:

And the best part – a tutorial is HERE!

And to prove we quilters are serious about it all – there is even a new word in the vocabulary! It is PROQUILTINATING ! How is that for a word, huh? Click on that link and read the explanation – I think it is perfect! 🙂

OK, and just to show you how far can I wonder-out in these wanderings – all the way to the outer space!! Well, OK not me, but maybe vicariously, through this amazing young woman – the coolest quilter of all? Take a look!!

Well my friends, I do have a lot more to tell you (there was 10 days of silence, after all 🙂  ) but I will leave it for a next post (very soon!). And it has to do all with local stuff, right around us…

May your creativity bloom just like these flowers,

Marija