Spring Cleaning?

Yesterday I motivated myself to do a little Spring Cleaning even though it looks like this in our backyard:

This is the bay we live on--Moose Bay.Yes, that's still ice. No Spring here.

 Usually the bay is open well before the rest of the lake,
 which typically has ice-out around April 20th.
I will be surprised if the lake is open by MAY 20th!

Well, I guess it's better than this lake view from my room at Quilt Camp.

(Those aren't bars across the window--just the blind slats)
It's a little difficult to see Green Lake beyond the huge mound of snow outside the window.
This photo was taken April 22nd.


One of the drawbacks of a retreat (for me),
is that I want to make everything that other quilters are working on. 

Several were working on tiny bow ties to make this quilt:

Charming Bow Ties by Florence Edith Goggin
from Quilter's Newsletter Magazine May 2000
You need 1,840 bow tie blocks to make this quilt.

Bow tie components ready to sew together--sweet!

 This one's finished--so cool! 

Isn't it beautiful??

It almost has kind of an op-art effect. 

Temecula Quilt Company recently posted here that they will be giving a setting using 1200 to 1500 2" bow tie blocks.

Hmmmm....... 

I'm trying really hard not to get sucked into this....

The usual size is cute, but the little ones are really calling my name!

These little houses were another project a lot of people were working on . 

They are from a blog in Holland, Building Houses from Scraps. 

Last year, there was a sew along to make one of these tiny houses everyday for a year. 

You can get the pattern from her Etsy shop here.

What is it about little blocks--especially scrappy little blocks?

How cute are these?

Okay, I did get sucked into these, but only one...so far....