Distelfink appliqué bird

Yesterday was a good day!  I finally got some relaxation time in, away from appointments and deadlines.  So I started out slowly, enjoying my morning of Tai Chi and then tea.  It set the tone for the rest of the day.  After breakfast, I made my way down to the studio to see what I could accomplish.

There were three small NICU quilts waiting for me on my sewing table, so I decided to start there.  Cut out the binding for each of them, and managed to attach two bindings, before a friend dropped by.  

When she left, I figured I had a large chunk of time left of the afternoon, so I decided to load a large quilt onto the longarm to quilt.  It took four hours to finish that quilt.  By this time, it was time to go back upstairs to start dinner.  

Wow!  Time does fly by.  I'm not complaining, just stating a fact.  I thoroughly enjoyed the quiet pace of the day.  Just going with the flow.  I need more days like this!  After dinner I wanted to continue with the slow pace theme and pulled out my bird appliqué block.  This was put away for a bit, while I took care of things in the garden and with my mom's place.  

The last time I wrote about this block was back on Apr 12th, called Saturday workshop.  If you want to read more about it.  Last night, I added the 3D rose bud, as seen in the picture below.

By the end of the evening, I also had two of the three tail feathers appliquéd to the background.

Appliqué is very much a slow stitching process.  No possibility of rushing.  It does some take patience.  Especially when in this day and age how everything is go, go, go as fast as you can, to get everything done.

As I said above at the start, yesterday was a good day.  I enjoyed a slower pace, relaxing my mind and body.  Just what I needed!

Take care everyone.  Don't forget to take some time for yourself......You deserve it!!

Fruit Loops quilt

Guess what?  I'll give you a hint.....you don't have to think about it too much.....what is the one thing that I am notorious for.....any guesses?  You likely all know what is coming next....lol.

I started another quilt!!!  These pieces are cut off corners, from a friend's quilt, while she was making blocks.  Similar to the cut off triangles you get when you are doing a snowball corner or flying geese corners, except these are elongated rectangles.

I posted about my friends quilt back on March 10th called Yummy colours.  In my mind, I called her quilt citrus quilt, as her quilt had all the colours of citrus fruits, from lemons, limes, oranges, tangerines, and even pink grapefruit!!  I've decided to calling this new quilt Fruit Loops....lol.  

While I was sorting all the coloured pieces, it just reminded me of the colours of Fruit Loops and to solidify this the white pieces have circles, the shape of Fruit Loops...lol.  It may not be imaginative or profound, but it will work for me to know what quilt I am talking about.

While making her blocks, my friend ended up with a set of lefthand side and a set of righthand side cut off corners.  So today, I sorted out the large pile of pieces into white right sides and white left sides.  Then coloured right sides and coloured left sides.

I started this quilt late in the day.  Managed to sort out the piles and sew a handful of rectangular squares.....is that even possible......a rectangle being a square?  I don't feel right calling it that, but I don't feel that it qualifies as being a block either.....  A block to me is considered many pieces made up into a block......hmmm......I'll have to think about that one.  If anyone knows the correct term, just let me know in the comments.

Here are some of the pieces I sewed together all trimmed up.  Not all the fabric pieces are exactly the same size, so some will have to end up being a smaller size at 3 1/2" x 2" finishing at 3" x 1 1/2".  Then there will be the majority that will be 4" x 2 1/2" which will finish at 3 1/2" x 2".

For now, I plan to keep these beside my machine and use them as leader/enders, between working on other quilts.  There is no rush for this one, as I haven't really planned a quilt for them yet.  I'll just keep making them until they are done and see if something comes to me.

Take care everyone.

April's paper piece temperature wheel

Saturday sew day went by so fast.  I enjoyed the time spent with friends.  Each of us working on our own things.   I decided the night before to work on my temperature quilt.  I pulled everything out and took stock of where I was at.  I realize that we were already in May and I hadn't done my April block, so I set myself to do it!

Above is the paper piece foundation that I finished sewing the pieces to.  Then completed the last seam to complete the circle.  It took me the whole day while the ladies were here to get this far, but you know how it goes when you get together and chat about this, that and everything......lol.  Some work does get done, but to no schedule.....lol.

After the ladies left, I decided to keep going.  I removed all the paper and pinned the temperature wheel to the background.  I did this for the March and December temperature wheels as well.  I had finished the paper piece foundation for those back in March.

After dinner, I though why stop now and proceeded to appliqué the wheel to the background.  What a transformation.  It is amazing the difference the background fabric can have on the mood of the block.

As you may have noticed, if you recall the previous blocks, the colours in this block is starting to get warmer with the lighter greens, some pinks and a yellow.  I am liking how each month's block is looking.  

A thought just came to me....  These temperature wheels are Mother Nature's design.  She gets all the credit for the colour distribution.  I'm just capturing her handy work....lol.  Just a reminder that these temperatures that I am using, for this quilt, are for 2024.

Take care everyone.

Star quilt progress

Life is hectic these days and sometimes I don't know whether I am coming or going.  I looked at the calendar this morning and was stunned when I noted it is the last day in April....OMG....where has the time gone!!!  Where are the breaks?  I need the time to slow down some.  I hope that Spring and Summer don't disappear as well...  Note to self to fine time and make the best of it.

On Wednesday, I had many appointments, but when I got home I declared that I quit for the day from any further adulting...lol....my daughter made diner for everyone and I greatly appreciated it.  

There I stood in my quilting studio.  It had been a while since I had the time, and when I got there, I didn't know what to do.  So I decided to pick up some strings that live beside my machine and sew them together, at least until something inspired me.

These are the neutral, low volume stings made into 4" squares.  There size leans well to using up smaller scraps.  I plan to make another NICU heart quilt with these as the background.  This is what I call mindless sewing.  Just run them through the machine one after the next.

Then today I had some more time and this time I knew what I wanted to do.  I decided that I was going to pick up where I left off and finish the borders of the star quilt that I posted about, on April 18th called Inspirational Star quilt (QW).

I think it turned out really nice.  These fabrics were all given to me in a little baggy.  It is quite surprising what can fit in a little baggy.  I still have a bunch of HSTs and a couple of small strips of orange to figure out what to do with.  Now I need to find a backing and quilt this.

It felt so good to finally have some sewing time today.

Take care everyone.

Dinosaurs

This will be a very short post today.  I didn't get a chance to do any quilting.  As my daughter would put it, I had to do some adulting....lol.  Household things can really take up a lot of your time, and today, as my son is starting a new job soon, I had to teach him how to iron his shirts and I now have five pairs of pants that I have to hem.  I am sure you all know how much a quilter enjoys mending.....NOT!!  But it does need to be done, so I got the first part done, which is fitting them and marking the hems.

Dinner is now on the go.  I have a few things left to do around here and then maybe I can relax some.

In the meantime I pulled this picture out of the vault from way back in May/2023.  This was a customer quilt.  It is so cute!!  I like dinosaurs.  Each one of them is using different shades of green and a grey.  I believe it was about 45" square.

Hope everyone had a great weekend.  Take care everyone.

Inspirational Star quilt (QW)

This is my inspiration and I know what I am going to do for a Project Linus quilt.  This quilt picture was from Pinterest, so I don't know the maker or the pattern name.  This quilt looks large, but I am going to customize it for the size I need for a NICU quilt for Project Linus.

The picture above as my inspiration and the off cuts from someone else's project, seen below, was all I needed to get started.  A new project is started.....lol.....with very little effort....lol!

The pile contains paired colour fabric with a white background fabric.  These soon became a whole bunch of half square triangles (HST), then into this star.  I like it!  Different colourway from the inspiration above, but just as nice, I think.  This star is a 6 1/2" square.

I took some more HSTs and assembled them into stars....then there were four.....lol.  By the end of today, I got this far.  The centre is done.  It measures 14" square including seam allowance.

I am going to add a white border, just like the inspirational quilt, and after that I am going to use the remaining HSTs to make a sawtooth border, all the way around.  Finally, I will add another wider white border to finish it off.  In the end I am estimating the whole quilt will measure 25 1/2" square.  Exactly what I need!

Take care everyone.

Thimble Blossoms wool applique quilt

I purchased a pattern called Thimble Blossoms by Buttermilk Basin Design Co., at the 2025 Quilt Canada show, back in June/2025.  This pattern was designed as a BOM (Block of the Month), as indicated at the bottom of the pattern page.  The finished size is 56" x 68".  Nice large size wall hanging.

I did try to hold myself back from starting this quilt......well.......I held myself off from starting this quilt......for a month, before I started this first block, but felt guilty all the while doing it, with all the other stuff I had on the go.  So I put it away and thought, ok that's good I got my fix.

Then eight months later on Mar 29/2026, after the ladies left from a Saturday sew day, I was going to pull out my wool appliqué again and work on it.  I've been dreaming of getting that one moving along.  But I stopped myself and rationalized that my required appliqué block for March was due in just three days.

This quilt is still in my system and I am having more difficulty holding myself off, as time goes on.  What are the bets as to when I will breakdown and start really doing it?  LOL  Don't worry about insulting me....I know you gals are thinking it!!  I'm not offended.  It's just the way I am and until I get it out of my system, there is no telling when you will open up the next post and find that I broke down and did it....lol!

I'll tell you all more about this quilt when I really do start getting into it.

Take care everyone.