Tulips and Rhubarb

It's springtime in Wisconsin!  The tulips aren't blooming yet, but the buds are ready.  The green leaves around it are on the raspberry canes.  I'm hoping for a good crop this year.

And here's the rhubarb!  The leaves are opening out, reaching for the sun.
As you can see, I've got a lot of outside work to do, raking and clearing up.

It's been a slow week for quilting, but I did get some piecing done.  Here are all my Flower Girl blocks, all laid out in my husband's office.

Nearly all of the blocks are made with fabric I bought second hand.

All the fabrics are florals, except for one.  See that purplish block in the center?  Those are grapes.  BTW, the brown is just the carpet.  I'm thinking about either white sashing, or a soft green.  What would you choose?

My ten month old grandson is taking his naps upstairs now, which makes it easier to sew in my upstairs sewing room while still listening for him.  Quilting is too noisy, so I save that for days when he's not here.  Meanwhile, I can catch up on my piecing, with the treadle just ticking away.

I'm making the Children's Library Quilt from Pat Sloan.  Above is my adaptation of Block #1.  I was an elementary school library media specialist for 13 years, so I was very excited to see a mystery quilt with this theme.  I always bought fabric with book characters whenever I could, so now I'm using my "collection" in the blocks.  Dr. Seuss is one of my favorite children's authors, silly and fun.  This block stars the Cat in the Hat.

Here's block #2.  The center is Eric Carle fabric from the book Brown Bear Brown Bear What Do You See?

Block #3 has Clifford the Big Red Dog in the center.  He looks kind of squished!  Poor Clifford!

For block #4, I went back to Dr. Seuss for Sam I Am from Green Eggs and Ham.

Pat's design has only nine blocks.  I want my quilt to have 12 blocks, so I'm adding a few.

Here's block #2 again, this time with Curious George in the middle and the colors in different spots.

I also added in two more blocks from Quiltmakers 100 Blocks, Vol. 14.  I chose them because they had large center squares.  They are:

Gadabout, designed by Carolyn Beam, which I made with Berenstain Bears prints,

and Cross Ties, designed by Diane Nagle, with the Reluctant Dragon in the center of my block.

It's funny, but I make more mess making one block than I often do for a whole quilt!
I'm linking up with Myra at Busy Hands Quilts and Amanda Jean at Crazy Mom Quilts 
today.  Check out their wonderful work, and all the other links!

Happy Easter for those who celebrate, and happy quilting to all.
Cheers,
Sylvia