Hello Quilty Friends!

Happy Thursday to you!

How many of you had the chance to see Monday’s solar eclipse? Could you see it from your own area? Or did you travel somewhere to see it?

Our area was overrun with people coming from all over to see the Eclipse — hotels and restaurants were full and the highways were all backed up. I was lucky that I could hang out on the back porch to see it — there was no need to go anywhere. Believe me, I was very happy not to have to go anywhere else, too.

My Mom (Hi Mom!) was super excited about the eclipse and had been for days. She put The Weather Channel on early on Monday so that we wouldn’t miss a thing as the eclipse arced across the US until it reached us here in northwest Pennsylvania. I popped outside frequently to watch as the moon’s shadow was creeping across the sun. I couldn’t stay outside for long, though, because my dog, Bailly (who was safely inside), would scratch crazily at the glass sliding door every time I went outside. My Dad (Hi Dad!) got in the spirit and came out from time to time to check it out, too. And yes, we all wore our special eclipse glasses.

It was so fascinating to watch the moon’s shadow slowly covered up the sun until almost totality, but, much to our disappointment, clouds covered the sun just as the eclipse moved into totality. We saw glimpses of it through openings in the clouds off and on, but we never did get to see complete totality in our location. WHat a bummer.

Of course, we had seen it on TV in other locations, but it wasn’t quite the same as seeing it yourself. Luckily, my oldest niece, Meg (Hi Meg!) took a great video of totality in our area and she shared it on Facebook, so I did get to see secondhand what I had missed.

Did you make your version of the Eclipses quilt?

Did you even get your Eclipses pattern yet? You can find it HERE as a physical pattern OR you can find it HERE as a digital pattern.

Mine was not the only Eclipses quilt in my area to celebrate the total Eclipses! My friend Kristine (Hi Kris!) and my cousin, Robin (Hi Robin!), made their own Eclipses quilts, too.

Kristine even machine-embroidered the center strip of her quilt with the Eclipse information and her location. What a great idea!

Robin made a wall-sized version like me. We even used the same fabrics, so they look similar, but not exact because of our fabric placement.

What a fun project! I hope you will share your Eclipses projects on our VRD Facebook Group. Did you miss the Eclipses tutorial last week? You can find it HERE.

Now, guess what today is??? If you’re a new follower (Hey! Thanks for becoming a follower!), you probably have no idea why I’m so excited, do you? Let me explain —

This is the Thursday after the first Friday of the month and that means NEW Rose Card Patterns!

NEW VRD Rose Card Patterns for April 2024

Cue the trumpets and the confetti! Yay! Here they are!

Aren’t they great? What a lovely variety of patterns! I love that this group has new quilt patterns from multiple designers and you can see each designer’s own flavor. Which one do you want to make first?

You can get your own set of the 5 April patterns HERE for the low price of $8.95.

But wait……..there’s more! (Of course there is, did you even have a doubt?) Although there is no new table runner pattern this month (I’m sorry, the Blog Hop kept me hopping!), you are going to love the new Snack Mat — Bunny Ears!

Don’t you love it??? Yes, I know that Easter was actually at the end of March this year, but Easter is usually in April and bunnies are such a fun spring theme. You can get your own Bunny Ears pattern HERE.

Blog Hop Update

I just wanted to take a moment to let you know that all the winners have now been selected and contacted. Congratulations if you are one of them!

We did have a few folks who did not respond, so we had to randomly select new winners for those prizes. So the process takes longer than you’d expect it to. Now that everyone has responded, we will be starting to ship out prizes to the winners. Some of you will be receiving your prizes directly from some of our Sponsors. Thank you for your patience!

Next week’s post will be all about celebrating and announcing the winners of the Blog Hop — they are from all over the US and beyond.

Thanks for hopping with us! Here’s to more quilting adventures for us to share together in the future!

Until next Thursday —

Sew. Laugh. Repeat.

Always,

Tricia @VRD