Quilts and Furry Friends

March has decided to bring us one last snowfall this afternoon. Maybe it is just helping us celebrate the Basketball win of the MSU Spartans. Go Green! Go White! The men's team is in the final four but the women's team didn't quite make it.
Spring has been doing its best to make an appearance and with the heavy rain last night and fertilizer I spread last weekend, my lawn is already starting to green up and grow. I am itching to get out and do some garden clean-up but the ground is now quite muddy so I will have to wait.
Since I am still getting over my cold from last week, I stayed home this weekend and did some quilting. My nephew Sam wants a bigger quilt to match one I made for him a few years ago so I have it all cut out and ready to sew together at Quilt Retreat By the Lake II at the end of April. I sewed together all of the Modern Mayhem blocks I have received from the block exchange group. I didn't get to take a picture before my artist friend, Margaret Mead Turnbull, borrowed it along with lots of other quilts. She hires a model and photographs them on my quilts. She borrowed several really bright colored quilts this time. I can't wait to see her finished watercolor paintings.
I started another hand pieced circle quilt. I used one piece of each bright colored polka dot fabric I own, I think there are 64 or so different fabrics included. I combined the bright colors with circle, dot and curvy black and white fabrics. I plan to do lots of hand piecing of these blocks on an upcoming bus trip to Chicago but I have finished several already. Here is a look at some of my finished blocks. I am still thinking about the all important name for this quilt.
I am going to try to do circles of single colors, all with dots.
A look at the block pieces prior to assembly.
Seally heard the camera and saw the quilt blocks and wanted to be included in a picture. Seally thinks that any blocks or quilt top on the floor is there especially for her. She likes to roll in the blocks and totally mess up my layout plans, not to mention the cat hair she leaves behind.

On Monday we had another block exchange meeting and many blocks were finished. Here is a sample of the blocks so far.

Daisy has a good collection of house blocks with lights on in the windows.
Linda is going to make a big quilt for her sister who is a gardener.
Roxie asked for grape basket blocks. Love her color combo.
These are my blocks, Modern Mayhem. The lighting in the room changed the color of the fabrics and I did my best to adjust the color with my photo program. The blocks have more of a caramel color to them, no purple or blue as this picture seems to imply.
Lisa's sherbet colored blocks. Yum Yum!
Eileen has a diamond shaped block and provided a whole line of fabric for us to use.
Debra is asking us to make another of an earlier block exchange block. It will be a large quilt when finished. Navy and white with an Asian look.
Terry's blocks are so gentle looking. One block has a boo boo, Can you find it?

Since the weather has been so nice lately, I have noticed the tons of birds that have returned to our neighborhood and my backyard. There appears to be a family of young Cardinals. They are some of my favorites and I enjoy watching them in my trees. I also have several kinds of squirrels and I had the opportunity to photograph them the other day so here they are.

This is one of two Fox Squirrels I see around my yard. They can be destructive but they are so cute. They run very fast and are really tiny compared to the Grey Squirrel.
This Grey Squirrel has been enjoying the sap from my Sugar Maple. I have watched this Squirrel lick the sap from the branches of this tree for hours at a time. Every time I pass the window the Squirrel has been at the tree.
This Chipmunk decided to develop a new exit for the underground transportation system he has dug under my back lawn. I noticed the pile of fresh soil earlier in February and he has been using the new exit quite regularly. I am hoping the neighborhood feral cat will have him for dinner sometime soon.
One afternoon I came upstairs to find Muffin and Ebony cuddled together for a nap. Ebony has her back leg extended over Muffin.
This is a picture of my Smokey when he was a kitten and still lived outside. He was such a sweet kitten. He has been gone for almost four years. I still miss him.