Wool penny wall hanging

Back in April/25, I came across this inspiration on Pinterest.  I can't remember exactly, but I believe this person was making a rug.  The beige is burlap and the circles are in wool.  They are all attached using a blanket stitch around each individual circle.

I thought this was a great idea for using up all the smaller pieces of wool that I have from various wool projects that I've done over the years.  There was no wool purchased specifically for this wall hanging.  I started my version May 1/2025.  I am going to use a black cotton backing/background.  This is only part of the design.  After I complete all of these circles, I'm going to also add tabs all the way around the piece with a penny circle at the end of each tab.

Because of the leftover wool that I had, my version is going to be brighter than the inspiration piece.  Above is the overall effect with the black background.  I removed the black fabric and put the circles directly on the design wall, as seen below.  

The missing spots are the few circles that I've completed.  The one above is the centre of the piece and I've already attached that one to the black fabric.  Basically I've drawn a grid on the black fabric and where the grids horizontally and vertically meet is where I will place a circle.  This way the lines of the grid will all disappear behind the circles.

I've taken pictures of each quarter of the wall hanging, so I know where each of the circles go when I've completed them.  I've since taken all of these off the design wall and put them in four baggies to keep them safe and contained.

These are a great take along handwork project, and I've taking them with me this weekend, as we travel 2 1/2 hours both ways to our family reunion.  Hoping to make a dent in them.

Take care everyone.  Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving with family and friends!! 

A fruit panel

It all started with this fruit panel.  While in the process of cleaning out drawers and containers, I came across this panel.  All the small sections are of fruit.  I don't know about you, but I just can't see using fruits in a quilt.  Placemats maybe or a table topper for a kitchen, but not a quilt.

Between everything else I've been working on, I was also working on these potholders.  That's what I decided to do with the fruits.  Aside of the mixed fruit blocks, all the other fruits have a matching pair.  So I decided to make potholders as gifts.  

I went to the store to get the special batting with foil between the layers for heat resistance and an extra layer of 100% cotton batting for extra protection.  While there, I also found this green fabric I used for the borders, to make the potholders larger.

Then I found this second fabric that I used for the backing and binding.  This fabric is a bit darker to help with making food stains less noticeable.  These are not intended for show pieces, there are basic utilitarian, practical potholders. 

All quilted up and bound!!  One completed and 13 more to go.....lol.....  They are all quilted.  I just have to attach the binding to them all.  That takes me a bit of time and it's not my most favorite thing to do...

Good thing there is no deadline on these.  I'll just continue to work on them between other things.

Take care everyone.  If you are in Canada, have yourself a great Thanksgiving celebration!!

Mom's Muskoka wall hanging, cottage theme

My mom and I get together every Friday at her place and have dinner together.  While I was off work, I would often go earlier and we would do stuff.  Sometimes cooking or canning, and other times quilt making.  Several years back, at a guild meeting, we had a speaker who did faux stained glass pictures using fabric.  My mom and I each bought our own pattern to make.  We started back in Sept/2024, though we only worked on these from time to time and my mom finished hers just recently in Aug/2025.

This is my mom's completed wall hanging.  Her pattern had several pictures that made up the whole design with some confetti looking colourful pieces to frame the designs.  Her pattern is called Postcards From Muskoka (pattern details in the last picture below).

I asked my mom what her favourite pictures were and she chose these two.  This first one is iconic of a cottage scene.  The two Muskoka chairs out on a deck overlooking the water and in this picture catching the sun set.  This is synonym for relaxing cottage life.  It's no coincidence that I am posting this post in advance for today.  If you are reading this the day I posted it, then you are reading it while we are all at my sister-in-law's cottage for a family reunion.  How fitting is that...lol. 

This second choice is another event that evokes the feel of cottage life.  Sitting by the fire at the end of a day with family and friends all gathered around, catching up on life events and enjoying each other's company.  My mom and I would occasionally have a fire at her place on a Friday, to unwind.  I can see why this pictures is a favourite for her.  It's one of mine too.

Here is all the required details in the picture below, if you would like to make your own.

Have a great day everyone.  Take care and don't forget to take some time for yourself.

Working on odds and ends

Yesturday was all about working on odds and ends.  After work, I started to work on the samples, for photos, for the guild workshop.  Making pieces in different stages and taking the pictures to go into a handout.  That's all done.  Now another executive member is taking the pictures and adding them to a booklet with all the instructions that we worked on together the day before.  There were just a hand full of remaining pictures to take.

Then I had to go shopping for groceries, as I am in charge of the Thanksgiving weekend Sunday bunch.  I'm going to be making a couple of sweet potato, brussels sprout, sausage and bacon quiches, with breakfast sausages on the side, various cold cuts and cheeses for the buns, Caesar salad, veggie tray and fruit tray.  We usually have around 18 of us there, give or take.  I am looking forward to it!!!

After I got everything that I needed to get done and organized, it was time to work on my Smith Mountain Morning quilt.  I am still very behind, compared to a couple of the ladies.  So I sat at my machine and worked on these points that go in the border.  The other half of the points are blue and they were not cut yet.

Once all the brown pieces were sewn, I moved on to cutting the blues.  This is a slow and tedious task.  I have to pay attention to the direction of the points.  The ruler cuts the righthand side, then you have to either turn the ruler upside down, or flip the fabric upside down, in order to get a left hand point.  The pieces on the right of the picture below shows you what I mean about left and right points.

On the left hand side of the picture are the half square triangles (HST), that I am also cutting from the same strips.  Doing them both at the same time, so as to not handle the fabrics more than once.  Whatever is left of the strip after cutting these pieces, gets trimmed down and cut into logs for the courthouse step variation.

I still have a lot of cutting to do.  Even after I finish with the blue, I have to go back to the brown to do those logs too.  I guess if I had to choose one of my least favourite tasks, when it comes to quilting, well the first would definitely be the binding and then 2nd runner up would be cutting.  But it has to be done!!!  I'll have to take care of it after I get back from the weekend reunion.

Take care everyone.  Happy Friday of a long weekend if you're in Canada!!  And Happy Thanksgiving!

Finished the 2nd houses quilt

Back in September I finished this quilt and just needed to quilt it and add the binding.  I did it not long after that, but kept forgetting to get pictures to post about it.  This is the 2nd houses quilt.  The first houses quilt was done back in March/2023 and the post is called, A scrappy houses quilt, if you're interested in reading about it.  This one is even cuter!!  

I love the borders on this quilt.  It was a piece of yardage that had several rows of houses with the houses sitting in a row across the width of fabric.  So, needless to say, I have more rows, just slightly shorter with more houses.  These rows contained mostly the retail/commercial side of things and the slightly shorter rows are primarily the residential side of things.  You'll likely see them in the next/3rd houses quilt.....lol.....as there are a lot more than I thought already cut out and ready to make.....lol.  Even the green border has huts all jumbled together across the with of fabric, though this green was part of another fabric line.  Do you see them?

The backing fabric for this quilt was also part of this neighbourhood fabric line, as well as the stripped binding.  This line of fabric came out during a summer quilting shop hop a few years back, at least.  It was the theme at the time.  The backing is also cute.  The scene is of the roads that would have been travelled during the shop hop and the buildings are all quilt related with a play on quilting words.

Here is a close up of the backing.  Can you see the top blue spot is called Binding Cove, and the bottom one is Lake Rotary....lol.  Then you have Sew Timeless Bend, Featherweight Freeway and Twisted Thread Turnpike for the roads.  You have signs that read Quilt With Me, Sew Busy and Holy Scrap!  Plus there are a lot of sewing accessories and little critters too, and much more!!

I think that even though this quilt is being donated to Project Linus, the adults of the children will equally have fun playing "I Spy" with the border fabric and the backing fabric.  I spot a possum on the grass by the "Holy Scraps!" sigh.....do you see it?   Fun, fun, fun!!!

Take care everyone.

Miniature granny squares quilt

Here is another finish that I'd like to share were you.  This one has been done since June/25 and was going to go into the Acton Fall Fair, however I missed the deadline for that, so maybe next year....  This is a mini quilt.  All of those squares measure only 1/2".  The sashing and first border are also only 1/2".

I really enjoyed making this quilt.  The fabric selection was time consuming, as I wanted there to be pattern on the fabric, so the pattern needed to be smallish, but still have variety and not read as a solid.  The design of this quilt is a traditional pattern.  The blocks are called Grandmother's square or Granny square (two rings of coloured squares around the centre block).

Here is a close up of a square including sashing.  I'll just say that I have never, machine quilted a quilt, to this intensely on such a small scale!!!  But that was fun too!!

I did, in the past, do a Great Granny Square block quilt (three rings of coloured squares around the centre block).  This one below was NICU size.  The quilt measured 25" square.  There is just something about this block that I am drawn to.  I quilted this one on my domestic machine in a crosshatch pattern. The below quilt was donated to Project Linus back in May/2020.

Maybe eventually I'll make this in a regular quilt size.  I do enjoy making them!

Take care everyone.

Stacking bricks quilt complete

Yesturday, I did finish up the pinwheel blocks for my Smith Mountain Morning quilt.  Didn't take a picture, as there's nothing new and interesting there.  I also finished up the table topper that I was working on, for an up coming workshop, for the guild.  I did take pictures, but I can't share those pictures with you yet.

So, instead I'll show you this quilt that I finished back in Sept/25.  If you'll recall, I started this one and posted about it on Aug 15th and then again Sept 21st.  I finally got the border on, made a pieced backing for it and quilted it.  

I think it didn't turn out too bad, especially for something that all came from my scraps and the border from my hard to use up yardage.  This piece of yardage is now completely finished and out of my stash.  The background batik fabric was curtesy of a friend who was cleaning out some of her smaller pieces of fabric.  There's none of this background fabric left either.  Couldn't have planned it any better.  It was meant to be!!

If I make this one again, and there is a chance of it, I think I'll make it in just fall colours for an autumn quilt.  I have lots of those colours to use up.  We'll see.....I still have to work on my works in progress list, in hopes of bringing it down to a reasonable number.....it's not reasonable at the moment.....

Take care everyone.