butterscotch tarts + a special quilt

I've finished another three Butterscotch Tart blocks! See that red rose print? Probably one of my favorite prints from the past few years. Love it. It's Annie's Farm Stand by the talented Holly Holderman at Lakehouse. I knew that I wanted to use this fabric. It's so American Beauty - the rose, not the movie! Just one problem. I checked my stash and found none in the studio. I used it all up on last year's Quilty Barn quilt. Panic! I considered sending a note to Holly or putting out an SOS on Instagram. Never mind that there are a gazillion other rose prints. I needed THAT one. So, late one night I searched online and found just one seller who had some. When it arrived I made one block with a rosy center. And then another with a rosy ring. 

Plus, I made another block with an alternate rose print by Pam Kitty Morning. 

I've been working towards an even distribution of red and blue outer rings which isn't so easy because I've come up with lots of fabric combinations! The final three blocks might see just a bit more pink. And so far I've avoided stripes and gingham because of the fear of wonkiness. I expect to finish the last three by early next week, and then I can start the sashing with fun pinwheel posts. I've been auditioning sashing fabric (scrappy whites? pale blue print?) and thinking about my outer border. 

On a more serious note... 

I read just a few days ago that fabric designer Aneela Hoey was scheduled for surgery for breast cancer this week. I've loved Aneela's fabrics for a few years. They're so naively whimsical. She opened up her quaint English house to us on her blog. She's given us lots of fun fabric collections, such as Sherbet Pips, Little Apples and Cherry Christmas. And now a group of quilters is getting together to create quilt blocks that will be assembled into a special quilt for Aneela. The request is to create two simple blocks using Aneela's fabric and to ship them by the end of the month. You can read how you can help here. I'm happy to contribute. And now I need to admit that I ran out of my supply of Aneela's fabric when making the Quilty Barns last year. So I just bought more of her Posy collection from an Etsy seller and asked her to put a special rush on my order. Are you noticing a common thread here with me always running out of the perfect fabric?! Oh well. I can't wait for it to arrive!

butterscotch tart's new colors

The experimental blocks are done for my Butterscotch Tart quilt. I've completed the blue-on-blue star, and the red-on-pink star. And here they are!

And you know what? I'm loving the addition of the pink! I was positive that the light blue would work, but the pink was iffy. But I didn't just stop there. Oh no. How about some blue strawberries?

And maybe some pink and red polka dots?

I'm having so much fun putting fabric combos together that this is the only quilt that I want to work on! I'm not the slightest bit bored. And I am sooo excited that I'm more than halfway through. 7 blocks done and 6 to go. Woo hoo. I can finish these blocks by the end of July. Yes, I can! Now I just gotta come up with a few more fabric combos. Hummm, maybe some stripes will be next...

The Butterscotch Tart pattern is by Fig Tree Quilts, and I have used an assortment of fabric by Pam Kitty Morning and Lori Holt.

Thank you for stopping by. I'll be back in a few days with an update, and I promise to not add any green or yellow!

butterscotch tart

I've made it official. I have now pledged allegiance to my latest quilt blocks. 

It's so much fun to see these blocks come together. The first block was easy (but time consuming) to sew and I hoped that the next one would go together as easily. I reversed a few of the pressing directions so now the seams all nest perfectly. Just for fun I checked to see how many pieces are in each block. Sixty five pieces! These are definitely a make-one-at-a-time blocks. But once I've turned on iTunes radio I'm good to go!

(Have you checked out iTunes radio? You choose an artist that you like and then you get an endless stream of similar music. So for anybody curious, tonight's block was courtesy of Kylie Minogue radio - all dance. Last night's block was accompanied by Martina McBride's country radio.)

And coming soon are some experimental blocks! I'm curious to see light and dark blue together, and red with pink. Yes, pink in my patriotic quilt. It's just light red, right?! I think that light blue and pink will add a bit of whimsy and help to reduce the sameness of the blocks. The Butterscotch Tart quilt pattern is by Fig Tree Quilts and you can pick up a copy here. I've had a few requests about my background. It's Pam Kitty Love and is now out of print, but there is a similar white with pink dots currently available in the Pam Kitty Picnic collection. Here's a sneak peek of some upcoming star fabrics - the reds are Lori Holt's out-of-print Polka Dot Stitches, and the light blues are Pam Kitty Picnic and Pam Kitty Morning. I'm making strawberry print stars. Imagine that, it's my never-ending strawberry addiction. And look at how different and soft the pattern can look when made from Fig Tree fabrics. I think that this pattern would be perfect for a Christmas quilt, too. 

I'm off to slice up this new fabric stack. Be back soon with more stars!

a fresh start

My patriotic quilt month continues! Remember last week's Milky Way stars? I loved them, but I just wasn't having fun sewing them. And quilting needs to be fun, right?! My third block finished lumpy and bumpy and I knew that it was time to hoist the white flag and surrender.

But I'm not ready to give up on my patriotic quilt dream just yet. And so began the time consuming search for a new pattern. Of course, nearly every pattern that I own is scrappy, so I had to imagine what they'd look like in three colors. I pulled patterns out of my notebooks. I bookmarked photos of vintage quilts. I bought more pattern downloads. I searched Flickr, Pinterest and Instagram for new ideas. I am an expert at making myself myself crazy! And then I remembered that I had a pretty pattern from Fig Tree Quilts called Butterscotch Tart. It's from several years ago, with on-point blocks in pale caramel, taupe, ivory and pink. Aha! Couldn't this classic carpenter's wheel block look like a firework if I did it in red, white and blue?!

It looks firework-y to me. I like this block even better than the previous blocks! It was fairly easy to sew, although I might change the direction of some seams on my next block so that they'll nest better. It's 10" and is designed to be set with sashings and pinwheels. 

And even though I've been quiet for a few days don't think that I haven't been sewing. I was back in the strawberry fabric patch. I have just a few more strawberries to sew and then I can begin the big assembly!

milky way

If it's June, then it must be patriotic quilt time! Meet Milky Way by Joanna Figueroa of Fig Tree Quilts.

I often like to piece with fabrics that match the seasons, and in the hot summer months I think of red, white and blue. I also like overblown garden florals. (No pumpkins for me in June. They need to wait for their turn in September!) My initial fabric pull is a Pam Kitty Morning assortment, but I'll also add in other fabrics as I progress. I had been searching for just the right Fourth of July quilt idea. That involved considering just about every pattern that I own. And then I remembered this quilt, and how Joanna calls the red, white and blue version "Firework." Perfect! The only problem was that I had been dreading all the bias edges. And there are a lot of them. So with starch, pins and about 5 hours, I got my first block.

After Instagraming this block (and whining about how making it almost killed me), I received some good advice from Joanna herself. She told me to remember to measure and cut carefully, handle the bias edges as little as possible, and that the only seams that really need to match are the perimeter of the center star. Ok, deep breath. I can do this. I am not a quilty quitter! I will beat the bias! On to the second block.

This one went together MUCH easier and even took less time. The center is just a smidge off but I think that I can live with it. And you know I'm not redoing it because those bias edges would just s  t  r  e  t  c  h. This block is 19" and I will also be making 14" and 9" blocks. I think that the smaller blocks should probably go together easier (and quicker, please!) now that I've got the method down. 

I ran out of the background fabric after just two blocks! It's from Pam Kitty Morning's "Love" collection last year. Now why did I use a discontinued fabric for my background?! I'm very happy that I found a seller on eBay with 7 yards. I bought all of it, and I can resume star making in a few days. My crazy self-imposed deadline is July 4!

Milky Way. Hummm. I love the Milky Way Dark candy bars. They aren't red, white, blue or floral but they are delicious. Wish I hadn't just thought of that...

Thanks for stopping by to visit with me today! 

back to the strawberry patch

I've completed all 25 strawberry blocks for my Strawberry Social quilt!

But I'm not ready to leave the strawberry patch! The quilt pattern finishes at 53" x 66." I really want this quilt to be larger. I have red and pink fabrics in my stash that I haven't even used yet, and there are some, like Lori Holt's "Bake Sale" red recipe print that I would like to repeat. (It's the bottom left corner.)

Last night I asked my Instagram followers how they feel about making the quilt larger. The feedback came in quickly, and nearly everybody had a humorous way of reminding me that we can never have too many strawberries. And some people thought that my quilt would be a nice decoration in THEIR homes. Haha. So, larger it will be! But yes, maybe a whole bed-sized strawberry quilt would be too many strawberries. My goal is now sofa-napping size. I'll need another 17 strawberries for a quilt that measures 69" x 76", or another 24 strawberries for a quilt that measures 69" x 87."

I'm ready for the real strawberry season to begin... I need to check out the farmer's market! And as I await the crop of strawberries, I think that there's more rotary trimming in the near future...

a schnibbles finish

X-Rated is finished!

I was SO happy that the extra charm pack of Fig Tree's Mirabelle arrived just before the long holiday weekend. I was able to squeeze in a little slicing here, a little sewing there, and it was finished in no time at all.

Seriously, this is one EASY pattern. Cut a bunch of squares, rectangles and a few setting triangles and start sewing. 

See the pinked edges of the charm pack on the perimeter of the quilt? I think that they'll work to my benefit here and will reduce fraying. I'll just pretend that I don't see all the messy crumbs that those edges seem to drop all over my studio. 

X-Rated is a Schnibbles pattern by Carrie Nelson. Fabric is mostly Mirabelle by Fig Tree Quilts. I also added in a few random dotty and floral pieces of Joanna's older Strawberry Fields collection, because I need to have some dots everywhere! Background is Kona Snow, and the finished quilt measures 31" square. 

I'm finished just in time to make it into the Another Year of Schnibbles parade for May!

Now what can I work on next?

PS - I've added something new to my blog! I've signed up with Bloglovin to make it even easier to follow my blog. I know that lots of you like Bloglovin! Just click the link near the top of the left column. Or you can have my blog delivered by email via the Feedburner link. Or visit me however you wish! 

Linking up with Finish It Fridays at Crazy Mom Quilts! Check out what other quilters have completed this week here. 

memorial day

With respect and gratitude to those who have lost their lives while defending our country. Thank you. You will not be forgotten.

it's another schnibbles, and it's called...

It's called X-Rated. Can you believe it?! Carrie Nelson has a twisted sense of humor!

X-Rated is the "Another Year of Schnibbles" project for May. I bought the pattern pdf from my work computer, and was a little horrified when I downloaded a file called "x-rated." Yikes. Well, my employer will be amused if they actually check out this file! Haha it's just a harmless quilt pattern!

For my fabric, I decided to revisit a softer side of Grey Dogwood Studio. I sewed almost exclusively with Fig Tree fabrics for several years. A quilt friend had to gently nudge me to please, please try something different. But I haven't used any Fig Tree fabrics since last October! It's kinda nice to use Joanna's softer, vintagey fabrics again. I'm using charm packs of Mirabelle and Strawberry Fields. (Strawberry Fields is one of my favoritest fabric collections ever, and I still have a stack of fat quarters, jelly rolls, charm packs and yardage.) Those Mirabelle precuts sold out fast! I needed an additional charm pack, and now I'm waiting for one to arrive from here. 

I love, love, love that Mirabelle apricot print. I bought yardage that can be used as either a border or as backing. I'm a bit of an apricot fanatic. I buy the large jars of Sarabeth's peach apricot preserves. And it reminds me of the cookies that my grandmother used to make. She called them apricots cookie. Not apricot cookies. I always used to make fun of her pronunciation, but it's stuck with me.  So this is my apricots fabric.

Ok, so this needs to be finished by the end of May so that it can be a part of the Schnibbles parade on Sherri's and Sinta's blogs. (Ohmigosh Sinta is also using Fig Tree fabric!) Well, in just four days, here's where I am...

X-Rated is very easy to sew. As Carrie notes, "cut it out, lay it out." It's that easy. It's constructed by sewing strips of squares and rectangles together instead of creating traditional blocks. Finding a space to lay it out was tricky in a small studio with two floppy cat tails, but the coffee table worked just fine. 

Now as soon as that extra charm pack arrives I can start the pieced outer border! Or maybe I'll get lazy and use the apricots fabric... deadline is next Friday!

a great granny squared finish!

It's done! The mini Great Granny Squared quilt is finished!

Wow, didn't I just start this a few weeks ago? I made Lori Holt's quilt pattern at half size, and my finished quilt top measures 20x26. It is the perfect size for a standard bed pillow sham!   

I managed to follow all of my own "rules" - I used a colored background instead of white (It's Kona Bluebell), I integrated some white prints that I don't usually use, and I avoided darks. It seemed to take forever to choose a border print. And now I definitely want to make more quilts with pale pastel-y backgrounds! 

Reducing the size by 50% was definitely a challenge. Why can't I just follow the directions?!  Many pieces were cut at 3/4" and 1" and weren't always a pleasure to sew. I'm sure that they would have been really easy if I had done them at full size. There might have been a lot of swearing and seam ripping. And yet every time I finished a block I felt like I had accomplished something (and deserved to eat a New Mexican chocolate truffle).  I like to reinvent!

The Great Granny Squared pattern book can be found here, and each week's customized pattern pdfs can all be found here. My block fabric is an assortment of Pam Kitty Morning, Lori Holt, Atsuko Matsuyama, Bonnie & Camille and Riley Blake.

Did you see that Lori announced another sew along on her blog last week? I already have the pattern!

I'm linking up today with Finish It Up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts.

back from vacation & back to quilting

Hi everybody! I'm back from a trip to Santa Fe, New Mexico.

It was time for my semi-annual visit to the Land of Enchantment. This was perhaps my 20th visit to Santa Fe in the past 10 years. My first visit was completely on a whim, and I immediately fell in love with the pure blue skies, the historic architecture, the delicious New Mexican cuisine, and the unique cultural blend of Mexico, Spain, American Indian and cowboy. It feels like home to me. 

No trip would be complete without a cooking class at the Santa Fe School of Cooking. This time I specifically wanted to learn how to make biscochitos, the official state cookie. This will be a fun recipe for my new pink Kitchenaid mixer!

I visited the many historic churches, such as the San Miguel Mission, built in 1610 and believed to be the oldest church in the US.

And then on the full day of snow and HAIL I visited Santa Fe Quilting. Yes, hail in the desert! The shop stocks a large assortment of Southwestern fabrics and patterns. I bought some Paris Flea Market fat eighths and Scrumptious yardage. I was even invited to sit in with the Thursday night hand stitching group! I declined because there were green chile cheeseburgers and parmesan sweet potato fries waiting to be eaten.

I finished most nights with a climb up the mountain to Fort Marcy Park to watch the amazing sunset over the city. I think that it's the most peaceful place I've ever been. I always see "my" rabbits at sunset. Ok, that's probably not so interesting to most of you, but we don't have too many rabbits hopping around Times Square! And on this visit I was, um, stalked by 20 big, black ravens at the top of the mountain, watching me from a telephone line. I could feel the air moving when they flapped their wings, and then there's the loud caaaaawwwww sound. Maybe they were really hungry? I got out of there FAST. I wasn't gonna be their green chile cheeseburger!

I even managed to applique 12 dresdens in my hotel room at night!

And have you seen all those photos of quilt market in Pittsburgh? It looks like there will be some great fabric and patterns coming soon. Carrie Nelson has lots of fun new patterns, and I'm dying over the new Pam Kitty Garden fabric. But right now I need to squeeze in some quality time with my sewing machine. The Great Granny Squared quilt along needs me to catch up!

still dresden-ing

I'm still making slow but steady progress on my Dresden plates. It feels so good to see the finished blocks piling up!

Doesn't it seem like every quilt blogger seems to be writing about how they're getting ready for quilt market? Yes, I'd love to go! I hope to be there someday. But in my real-life work, the cosmetic and fragrance market just wrapped up last week. My retail clients visit New York seasonally to see what's coming soon in the cosmetic and fragrance industry. And they get to be entertained by my sales pitch! The meetings are actually fun - I enjoy the rush of the performance, but after a full two months of those presentations I am tired. Many times at night all I could manage to get done was some hand applique.  

I now have 40 blocks done, with another 24 blocks still to go. They'll all have a round red dotty center, and the blocks will be 8" when finished. Now I need to decide - should I rush to finish them, or should I just work on them between the other projects? I wonder how many I can get done this week?

I'm linking up today with Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times.

yarn and crochet hook

I've caught up with the Great Granny Squared sew along! I finished the yarn and crochet hook block.

And here it is combined with the yarn basket block.

Making this half size (4 1/2" x 5 1/2") made me crazy. That crochet hook is 1/4" wide! I don't think that I've ever used my seam ripper this much. The back of the block looks like the Bride of Frankenstein, with several rows of stitching, a few thread knots, a few lumpy seams and some extra holes. But only me and my quilter will ever see that. Maybe I should have just used hot glue or staples. That probably would have been less painful. But the extra effort was truly worth it. I'm really happy with the finished block even if it did push me right into eating a  pint of Ben & Jerry's Phish Food. 

Next week we'll receive directions on how to put it all together. But I couldn't resist playing with the blocks. Here's the whole grouping. Definitely worth the all the crazy! And check out the blocks from everybody else at the Flickr group here. 

great granny squared quilt along - mama blocks

It's the third week of the Great Granny Square quilt along! And this week I made twenty mama blocks.

The Fat Quarter Shop is hosting the Great Granny Squared sew along using Lori Holt's book, and the blocks will be set to make Mama's Crochet Quilt. I'm having fun working on my blocks... except that oops, I missed last week's block. Maybe I was too busy making strawberries! This week's little granny squares were super easy to make. I once again downsized the original pattern, so my blocks measure 3 1/2" instead of 6 1/2". I usually like to make these from my precut 1 1/2" strips, but I ran out of them last week. So yes, I individually cut all these squares. The fabric prep and cutting took more time than the actual sewing!

I sure am learning about color value with this quilt! Working with a pale Kona Bluebell background is a nice challenge. I like the freshness that the blue brings to the project. Several fabrics with similar values had to be edited out because they didn't have enough contrast. 

And now my cute little blocks will get packed up, awaiting next week's assembly instructions!

more strawberries

If you're joining me today from Sherri's and Sinta's blogs, welcome! I'm glad that you hopped over to see the finished mini Dwell pillow. It was a fun project to work on. Just scroll on down to my entry from a few days ago to read all about it.  

I'm currently adding to my strawberry collection for the Strawberry Social quilt! I've made another ten berries this week.

Red, ripe strawberries.

Not-quite-ripe pink strawberries.

And the, um, confused berries. 

The striped strawberry and double strawberry were interesting experiments. I love the stripe and double berry fabrics. I wasn't sure that they would look good when chopped into tiny pieces for the berry cap, so I substituted similar fabrics. And now I think that those two berries just look confused! They might find themselves on the back of the finished quilt. (Hey, that's better than the way I treat imperfect real strawberries!)

I am loving how the whole berry bunch looks grouped together! 

The finished Strawberry Social quilt has 25 berries, but I'm determined to keep on sewing. How big can I make this quilt? The pattern is by Margot Languedoc and can be purchased from her website. I'm sewing with an assortment of Pam Kitty Morning, Lori Holt, and Riley Blake ginghams, and I plan to add some Flower Sugar into my next batch. 

Thank you for stopping by today!

strawberry social

I'm getting a jump on summer with my new Strawberry Social quilt!

I first fell in love with this pattern last summer when I saw Pam's version. Seriously, I love it. And then it started popping up around the internet. The pattern is by Margot Languedoc's The Pattern Basket. I bought the pattern immediately, but I was busy working on Christmas quilts (in July!) and just couldn't look at any more red and green fabric. Well, last week I thought of this pattern as I was stirring fresh strawberries into my morning oatmeal. You know that moment when strawberries are almost TOO ripe and the fragrance completely fills your kitchen? 

It's another excuse to use my favorite color combination! I started with three strawberries and got hooked. 

It just makes me happy working on these. I can imagine the upcoming crop of strawberries that I'll pick up at the farmer's market in Union Square. Isn't everything better with a strawberry? Ice cream, pancakes and waffles, jams, shortcakes with whipped cream, pies, cheesecake (like this one from Juniors in Brooklyn). I even like the freeze-dried strawberries in Special K!

And now for the technical part. Margot's pattern has a tricky method for making that leaf section. I couldn't understand how the technique could possibly work. I finally just trusted the pattern and started sewing. It's genius, really. The sub-units are made larger than needed and trimmed using a square ruler. All of the seams nest perfectly. The finished quilt needs 25 strawberries. I really want to just keep sewing and see how large I can get this! I have yards of the perfect backing, so that's taken care of (it's a red and white recipe print!) But what if I deplete my pink, green and red stash?! 

If you'd like to make a quilt like this, I found a few kits online. There's a Pam Kitty version at Fat Quarter Shop and a  beautiful version at Shabby Fabrics which resembles the original pattern. Or just dive into your scraps like I did!

mini dwell pillow!

Oh happy day! It's finished! Presenting the mini Dwell pillow!

This is my first entry into the "A Year Of Schnibbles" sew along hosted by Sinta and Sherri... except that it's not a Schnibbles! This month's assignment was to make a mini quilt using a Thimble Blossoms pattern. I made 3 extra houses and adjusted the borders so that I could finish with a 20" square. I've used an assortment of my happy fabrics from Lori Holt, Pam Kitty Morning, Bonnie & Camille and Atsuko Matsuyama. 

The little houses are all hand quilted in the ditch - nearly every seam is stitched. The hand quilting was fun for hours... and then I just wanted it to be finished, NOW. 

I spent a few days auditioning backing and binding fabrics. I am so happy with this butter floral and red gingham from Pam Kitty Picnic. That gingham is scarce! I needed to do a big internet search to find it. And I picked up a new, fluffy down pillow insert from Pottery Barn. 

So happy! I think that more pillows will be in my future!

I'm linking up today with Finish It Up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts.

great granny squared quilt along!

I've joined another quilt along! This one uses Lori Holt's new "Great Granny Squared" book. I had to do this, right?! This will be a short quilt along, only 5 weeks. And on week one I made a...

Lori's finished quilt measures 40" x 52" but of course I am going to put a twist on it. I am doing it half-sized! My finished top will be 20" x 26". There's a lot of cutting prep for this block! I'm lucky that I had these nifty Alphabitties to keep me organized. (Remember Alpha Bits cereal? Yum!)

Working with all those 3/4" pieces made me a little crazy. This block measures 6" x 8". And I'll admit that there's one flaw that I picked out twice... and then decided that I'd stop stressing.

I have a few little guidelines for this quilt. I'm not calling them rules so that I won't feel guilty if I break them!

First, I was determined to use a colored background. That's something that I don't usually do. But I think that I'm relying on white and white-on-white and wanted to try something new. This pale blue is from Kona.

Next, I am going to avoid darks. That's right. No navy and no black!

And finally, break out the whites! I'm going to incorporate some white prints. I love them, but I feel that they disappear when used on a white background. Or at least that's what I tell myself. 

I'm using mostly Pam Kitty Picnic (again!) and a few pieces of Scrumptious. 

There's time for you to join the group, too! Other Great Granny Squared baskets are being added to the Flickr group here, and you can read more details about the sew along at Lori's blog and at the Jolly Jabber.

hand-quilted houses

I'm getting reacquainted with hand quilting! I spent several hours this weekend working on the mini Dwell houses.

It's been years since I last did any hand quilting. I taught myself how to do it by reading books and magazines, and by studying museum quilts. All of my early quilts were hand quilted. The second quilt that I made was covered with Baptist fans! Maybe I was too new to the hobby to be scared away by all that handwork! I've relied on the artistry of longarm quilters for the past ten years, and I do love the additional design elements that they bring to my quilts. But it is rewarding to know that I can still do this on my own. Well, those first few stacked stitches were a bit rough, but I got back into the groove quickly.

My brass thimble with the recessed tip is like an old friend. I'm glad that it still fits! I remember that it took me quite awhile to find one that would fit my larger fingers. 

I like to baste in a pastel color that won't distract from my design. Here I have basted in mint green, and I am using white quilting thread. All of the vertical and horizontal sashing has been quilted in the ditch, and I'm now going back and quilting the roofs, doors and pinwheels so that they'll pop. 

I think that this will be done soon! 

I'm linking up with the Monday Design Wall at Patchwork Times today. Hop on over to see what other quilters are working on this week.

easter

Easter always holds special memories for me. It was one of my favorite holidays as a child. After the wake-my-parents-up-before-dawn egg hunt there was always church. I'd wear my new Easter outfit - a lavender dress shirt and beige trench coat were favorites. There were the family dinners with many aunts and uncles. My grandmother's large dinner table was set with an Easter lily and eggs dyed with red onion skins, and kielbasa was always on the menu.  We would often visit Seaside Park, still in our Easter outfits, with my photographer grandfather documenting the trip. The park was designed by Frederick Law Omlsted just after the Civil War. He also designed NYC's Central Park, which is just three blocks from my current home. And Seaside Park has a statue of Elias Howe, an early pioneer of sewing machines. I find these links between my hometown and my current home fascinating!

A walk through the Brooklyn Botanic Garden yesterday was the perfect link to the Easter Sunday memories of my childhood. Magnolias were slightly past their peak, cherry blossoms were just starting to bloom, Daffodil Hill was awash with yellows, a few early tulips peeked out, and happy pansies and grape hyacinths provided small blue dots. But the visit also packed an important reminder about Easter's message of hope and renewal, with signs of new life and opportunities everywhere. 

Happy Easter!