I spy chain quilt

Today I started the tiling in the main bathroom.  I got the back wall, the bull nose tiles up along the two sides and half of the left hand side tiles done.  It takes a while.  Just finished cleaning up the kitchen and finally sat down for a bit.  I really would rather be quilting, but you know how it is...I am seeing the light at the end of the tunnel with all these renos though.  I keep telling myself that I am almost there...just a little bit longer...just keep going...almost there...

So, since I haven't had any time today to do any sewing, let me share this with you.  Back in time to Sept 13/2019:  This is an I Spy quilt.  I really enjoyed finding fabrics in my stash that I could fussy cut to make this quilt.  There is a lot of "stuff" in here.  Everywhere you look you will see different types of animals or vehicles, farm stuff, circus stuff, you name it...it may be here...lol

In my scrap stash, I had a bunch of pieces that were not big enough to make a quilt with, so I took them all out and tried to come up with a layout that would end up the size I needed for the backing.  It is a bit of a jumble, but there you have it.  This quilt went to Project Linus.

I hope everyone is taking some time to enjoy this beautiful long weekend.  Today was gorgeous!  Tomorrow I am off to a pot luck dinner at my sister's place with a small group of immediate family members.  I am taking a break from the tiling until Monday and look forward to spending time with family.  Take care everyone!!

Joyce's beach house quilt

I'm just getting back from a walk with the dog, after visiting my mom.  Glad this is the start of a long weekend, even if it is a working weekend for me.  Tomorrow I start on the bathroom tiles.  Got to get it done...  While I was at my mom's place, I cut out fabric for a small NICU quilt...and I don't have to put it together...lol.  Playing in someone else's fabric is so much fun...lol

Back in time from Sept 3rd/2019: 

I quilted this quilt for a customer.  It is a simple quilt with houses, but I was drawn to them.  I have been seeing them here and there online and in the back of my head I was thinking that I should make one.  It's a great use of scraps with all different houses, but basically all the same shape and layout, outside of a few variations.  

Joyce calls this the beach house quilt.  How fitting with the sand coloured background and the houses are in tropical colours.  

I really like this quilt.  So much that I started one.  While I was cutting scraps for another quilt, I cut out the pieces to get started on this one.

I like the colours she chose for her houses.  All of them are different, but the shape is the same.  Here is a close up.  The quilting was simple waves to condor up the waves at the beach.  This quilting pattern doesn't take away from the houses and draw attention.  Instead the first thing you see are the houses.

Here is a picture to see the difference between the before and the after.  Quilting certainly finish off a quilt, even if it is only for the sake of texture and holding the layers together.

Off to bed now, have a long day ahead of me and a long weekend.  Enjoy!!

Hexagon quilt progress

Yesturday, I forgot that I was going to share the progress I made on my hexagon quilt.  In an earlier post, I posted about the finish of the top half of the quilt and how excited I was to finally see some real progress on the quilt.  This quilt is all assembled by hand with English paper piece, hexagon patties that I made out of file folders, a template, and the 60 degree line on the straight ruler.  I posted about the top finish on June 22nd.  Just last month.

I was so excited that I made a pact to continue doing my handwork, while having my morning tea on weekdays, before work.   The progress has been steady.  I got the left hand border completed with some side half diamonds, the bottom triangle and one diamond at the top.

I finished the border above on Monday, and since I already have many of the parts to complete the first diagonal row that fits inside that white V shape.  I realized this morning that I forgot the white hexagons for the first diamond shape, of this next row and the ones on the diamond already on the border piece.  The two pieces at the bottom of the next picture are what is complete and on the white flannel covered insulation foam board are the hexagons that are still to be hand sewn to the shape on the right hand side to form the second diamond.

It's really coming together!  I am so excited!!

Sabryna's embroidered blocks & bar quilt

Just getting back from a 30 minute walk with the dog. Prior to that was out in the garden trying to tame the mess.  I finally got the large bush stump and root out of the centre island garden, put in some new dirt and planted some plants from another section of the garden, that I am trying to clear in order to make a running path for the dog to do laps.  It is always best to not fight it and move the plants instead of having them trampled.  I even have to put a knee high fence around the gardens to keep her out, otherwise she starts eating the new roots in the spring.  She especially like Hosta roots.  Weird, I know.

So all of that took me all my work breaks and after work until 8:30pm, I put the water on for 30 minutes, watered the new trees from a month and a half ago.  All but one is doing well, including the new bushes I planted.

Needless to say, I didn't get any quilting in today either.  So I will share with you a couple of finishes from Mar/2022.  The first one is part of the box that I unpacked that had a bunch of odds and ends from my daughter.  She had four embroidery blocks that she didn't want.  I turned them into a NICU quilt.  I used a pink fabric with little blue rosebuds and did a nine patch layout.  Added a small blue border to match the rosebuds and finished it with the same pink fabric.  I think it turn out cute.  I finished this one off with a gingham fabric for the binding.

This next one was part of the challenge from the person who collects our Project Linus quilts.  This was two pieces of fabric that was given to me to make a quilt.  They are both from the same line of fabric.  The first one is taupe with birds in purple, yellow, white and rose colour.  The second one is a bit busier and also has trees with leaves all over.  The only thing I added from my stash was this small border which had all the colours of the birds in it.

I chose this pattern, as I had exactly one meter of the border print and only a quarter of a meter of the second print.  I cut 5 1/2" strips x7 of the first print and x2 of the second one, with nothing to spare.  The quilt centre height is the full length of the width of fabric, minus the salvages. and the width of the top and border was also the width of the fabric, minus about 2".  There was absolutely no better use of the fabric to use it all up.  That excites me, when the plan works so well.  I think I will be making this one again, but next time with brighter happier fabrics.

Have a good night everyone.

Teresa's pineapple quilt

I've been busy yesturday quilting a customer quilt, which took me some time, as it was over a queen size, but not quite a King size.  I have to trim it still and take pictures, so that one I will share another day.  In the morning I had to take care of some cleaning and taking in another customer's quilt.  After that I did get a bit of time to sew up some blocks from the Bonnie Hunter 2021 winter mystery, Rhododendron Trail.  It felt good to work on this one again.  

While making these blocks I am using my 1 1/2" squares as my leader/ender to make four patches.  It is amazing how fast they add up.  I work on my main block, as far as I can go, before I need the piece under the foot to sew the next piece.  I put a dark and light set through the machine.  I did three main blocks and from that was able to assemble sixteen four patches in between. Fastest way to make progress on another quilt.

In the meantime, I thought I would share this beautiful quilt that I quilted for another customer.  Back in time to March/2020.  This is Teresa's pineapple quilt.  Look at all those pieces.  Teresa pieced it really well and the colours are nice too.  I can't remember now, but gauging by the picture, I am going to say this is a lap size quilt.

Here is a close up of the quilting.  I suggested the pattern based on the flowers in the border.  This pattern is called Painted Daisies from Urban Elementz.

Hope everyone had a great day!  Enjoy what is left of your night.  Tomorrow I am thinking of taking pictures of the progress I made recently on my hexagon quilt.  I am so excited about this one.  It is coming along nicely.  Slowly....but nicely.

2022 Shop Hop - The Hobby Horse Quilt Shoppe

12707 Ninth Line, Georgetown, ON (soon to be moving)

This was, for my mom and I, the last shop of the 2022 Shop Hop.  As this shop is in our neck of the woods, we go here most often.  The shop has been lately changing, with branching out into different lines of fabric.  I am assuming that the family is getting more involved in the selection process.  This shop has been in this location for at least 40 years.  It will be odd at first to visit them at another location.  We found out only a few days or so ago, in the shops newsletter/announcements.  Per the announcement, they are selling off the farm and moving further into Georgetown.  That may increase their visibility.  I can't wait to see where they go, how they set up and who will be the next generation to take over the shop.  Best of luck for a smooth transition!  It can only get better with moving to a busier/central location, where they can also get some passing by pedestrian traffic, who may be inspired by their visit to the shop.

So, here is the inside of the shop, the now picture.  We will call it the before picture, soon to be the after picture.  The shop has two levels. This picture is just as you walk into the store.  Behind the display counter, are the fat quarters, the cutting tables, lots of fabrics, with books, patterns and notions, all along the left hand wall. At the moment they have their Christmas fabrics on the right in the back corner, which used to mainly reside in the lower level in a large alcove of it's own.  Now the alcove holds sale fabric bolts and fat quarters.  There are a couple of other areas in the lower level for specific types of fabrics and the class room is also down there.

From the sale area in the lower level, I picked up this bolt of flannel for backings.  It is so sweet with the words 'lil sprout on it amongst the sprouts.  Who doesn't like a good flannel to snuggle up with?  While there, I also picked up a meter of a couple other sale fabrics and a few fat quarters from upstairs for a few quilts I am making.

This post concludes the 2022 Shop Hop.  I hope you liked it.  I know I did!  Being able to get out on the country roads, enjoying the scenery and getting to mingle with the shop owners and staff after such a long time of only able to do online shopping was great.  There is nothing that can beat the sensory of actually touching the textile....lol....isn't that why we fondle it so much...

Today I see rain outside my window, but I am ok with that.  I have a lot of quilting to get caught up on and I want to get back to some sewing of my own too.  The plants can also really use it after the week of really hot and humid weather we've been having.

Take some time today to enjoy yourself!!  Relax and recharge.

2022 Shop Hop - Heart and Home Creations

115a Peel St, New Hamburg, ON

This was the third stop we made on Saturday.  This one was also in New Hamburg and fairly close to the last one, however the store content was completely different.  

This store had some fabric in a corner with a portion of the store that had patterns and notions, but the majority of the shop was more of a gifts type of store.  They had calendars, candles, puzzles, kitchen woven mats and various other country type nik naks.  The back of the store appeared to have some older used furniture for sale (not antiques).  A bit of an odd assortment. 

I should warn anyone who is allergic to cats, that they have two of them that roam around freely.  I was able to tour the store and cash out, but at the cash register I started sniffling with watery eyes.

My purchases at this store were two fat quarters, as I wasn't looking for any gift items on this trip.

Today I had some running around to do, so no quilting happened this evening.  Hope everyone had a good day.  Enjoy what is left of the evening.

2022 Shop Hop - Quilting by Design

 337 Waterloo St, New Hamburg, ON

Second shop on our shop hop this past Saturday was Quilting by Design.  This was the first time I've been to this place.  I am not sure how long they have been around, but I've been to New Hamburg before and didn't know about them.  This was a nice and airy shop, leaning more toward the modern.  I love the barn block they have displayed on the building wall.  Beautiful!!

Their walls are all white with open spaces to see what is around and the windows higher on the wall let in a lot of light too.  At the time that we were going through the shop, they had two longarm machines quilting out quilts in the back.  It seemed like a nice place.

From this shop, I found a pretty pin cushion.  There were many, of all different styles.  The holders of the pin cushions looked to be antique type pieces or votive candle holders.  Really cute idea, so I picked up one for my pin cushion collection.  I also picked up a pattern called Gazebo, which uses a specialty ruler that I have.  The pattern finishes at about 21".  That to me would be like a centre piece size.  The last package is the shops block for the shop hop.

 

Hope you had a nice day.  I am hoping for a bit of rain through the night, for my trees, bushes and flower pots.  We were expecting rain yesturday, but didn't get it.  If there is no rain, tomorrow morning I will have to get out there and water everything.  Good night all.

2022 Shop Hop - The Quilt Place

3991 Perth Rd #107, Shakespeare, ON

First stop on our last weekend of the Shop Hop, for my mom and I, was in Shakespeare.  I have been here several times.  It is a converted house with all the rooms on the main floor set up as the shop.  They have this place packed full of stuff.  I don't think you could get anything else in the store if you tried.  The sign is not very big and because I was coming from the opposite direction than I am used to, I missed it the first pass....lol......seems to be a theme of passing by the shops....lol.

This is the inside of the shop.  I couldn't get a larger view, as there was a line up behind me.  This is at the front of the store just behind the left hand window in the picture above.  They had mostly patterns and fabrics in this section and behind me is the area for the cash register.

I am on their mailing list, so I get updates all the time.  I've also ordered from them over the phone.  Their service is good and I got my order really quick.

At this place I got a couple of fat quarters, a gnome Christmas advent calendar, and another license plate for my small collection.  On the bottom right hand side is the shops' block for this years shop hop.

Today after work, I spent some time trimming 6 quilts.  Four of them for a customer and ready to be picked up.  Two of them are my own and will be given to Project Linus.  I have to put the binding on first though.   I also assembled a backing for another donation quilt and loaded it on the longarm, ready to be quilted tomorrow after work.  It is only a small one so shouldn't take me more than 2hrs, if that.

Hope everyone enjoyed their day.  Take care and stay safe.

Oriental fabric inspired

Back in time....not that far back...about Mar 27/2022:

I decided not to leave just yet and share a bit of quilt inspiration.  I had a customer quilt, to quilt, that I thought was great for using some focus fabric.  I am always on the lookout for a pattern to use up the oriental fabric that I have.  I thought this quilt pattern was a good one.

The crane fabric in the picture above is the focal fabric and what I used to pull all the colours for the rest of the pieces for this quilt. I wish I had gotten a picture of my customer's quilt, because hers was beautiful and very different than mine.  She used a pretty springtime type fabric with flowers and bugs/critters and her fabrics to coordinate were bright and cheerful.  Two completely different styles of quilts, but they both work.  I thing any fabric combinations would work well with this pattern and I plan on revisiting this pattern again at a later date.

This pattern is very easy to put together.  In this quilt it is really only the one large block repeated a total of four times and the block is rotated.  If you look closely you can see the middle sashing that makes and plus sign.  Within each plus sign quadrant you have the large block.

While I was quilting my customer's quilt, I was taking notes.  I wrote the pattern up with measurements and directions.  That evening I went to my mother's house and cut all the fabric I needed.  The next day I assembled all four blocks, put them together with the dividing sashing.  After my afternoon tea, I loaded the top and quilted it.  I even shocked myself!!  lol  My mom binded it for me.

This quilt was just delivered to a division of Quilt of Valour on Sunday and will be presented to a wounded veteran.

2022 Shop Hop - Ye Olde Fabric Shoppe

327 Erie St., Stratford, ON

The last shop that my mother and I went to last weekend was Ye Olde Fabric Shoppe.  This is a nice shop with many sections full of fabrics, patterns and notions.  They have a large room/section for children's fabric, and other rooms/sections for different styles of fabric.  They even have a sale room that has a lot of fabric too.  I forgot to take a picture of this store, so I got this one online.

This is defiantly a place you want to visit.  I've been here a few times and they always have something that I am looking for.  I picked up a few fat quarters from the different sections and I got the bottom two from the sale room.  They had so much there.  It's worth the drive.

Tomorrow I will start going through the shops that my mother and I went to this past weekend.  We finished them all.  The last four out of the eleven shops.

Today during my breaks I went down to my sewing room to trim quilts I quilted on Sunday, and tried to assemble a backing for one of my own, but my machine was acting up.  The tension is really off.  Though it is on and off, but mostly off.  I have a feeling I am going to have to replace some part on this machine that I have had for a very long time.  It's a work horse and has live a very hard working life.  I am not ready to let this one go.

I've got to find that sewing machine technician in this area that a friend recommended and swap my machines out, until I get this one back.  I think I need to bring in a few machines.  My moms been complaining about hers too.  So I guess it's time.

For the rest of the evening, I think I am going to surf the blogs and get caught up.  Enjoy your evening everyone! 

A bit of this and that (QW)

About a couple of weeks ago, I came to the conclusion that I would come to regret putting my mini log cabin blocks into a quilt at this time.  I now have a king size bed in this house and these blocks were intended for my previous queen size bed.  Sad as it made me, I packed them away and decided that I would just face it, and admit to having to make 11 more large blocks to increase the quilt by one row on the side and one row on the bottom.  At first (about a month ago) I was in denial, because I was excited that I was done with this little bitty pieces...but now...reality...11 more blocks equates to another 176 mini log cabin blocks that measure 3" finished, and for every mini log cabin block there are 13 logs which comes to 2,288 pieces that I have to sew....OMG....and here I thought I was done...yikes!!

Lol...all kidding aside, I realize that it will make me happier if I just make the required blocks to bring the quilt to king size.  I've already copied the paper pieces to make them and have gathered the basket that I had, with the smallest of scraps.  I just need a bit of time to do a few other things, before I dive into making the rest of these.

One of the things I wanted to catch up on was a panel that was donated.  The panel is not very big and didn't take too long to put together.  I worked on these blocks to make as borders.  All I have left to do now is quilt and bind the piece.  More pictures to follow on that one, once it is done.

There is also this one that I started...yes, I started yet another quilt...lol.  This is a Bonnie Hunter pattern called Bitcoin.  I was using this as my leader/ender to the blocks above.  This one is really just getting started.  Not sure if I will make it as big as Bonnie's quilt, but I just couldn't resist using up more of my 1 1/2" strips.  My version is going to be a bit more on the pastel side, as I am trying to use up some of those hard to use medium coloured pieces that don't necessarily read as light or dark.  So far I am liking the direction these rows are going.

This next picture is just here as a place marker.  The (QW) in the title is my search word, to find all my inspiration and quilts that I want to do (QW = Quilt Wannabe).  It looks like another scrap buster.  I do like patterns written by Cozy Quilt Designs.  They are easy to follow.  This will be added to the one day list....

Today I am quilting customer quilts.   Trying to get caught up with paperwork and hopefully with enough time left over to assemble a backing for a donation quilt I am working on.  

Enjoy your day!

2022 Shop Hop - Kalidoscope of Quilts

17528 Elginfield Rd., St. Marys (Perth South), ON

I pasted this place the first go round...lol.  This was a new to me shop and it too was out on the backroads, amongst farm fields.  I missed the small white flag sign and only realized it when my GPS showed that I had passed it.  I saw the sign much better coming from the other direction.

I got the picture above from google, of the inside of the store.  Doesn't that wall of fabric look yummy.  This shop was actually in the basement of the owner's home, though you wouldn't guess it by the interior of the shop.  It was well lit and nicely done up. There were also a lot of nice goodies here, with the usual fare that you would expect of a quilt shop.  There was fabric galore, kits, books, notions, you name it.  They even had a largish area for wool.

At this store I picked up a kit/panel by designer Kathy K. Wylie, part of her Time After Time quilt.  This is just a panel, but OMG the quilt in real life is absolutely stunning.  I had the good fortune to meet Kathy at one of the Mississauga Quilt Guild meetings way back, just about the time that she had finished this quilt.  I cannot express just how gorgeous this quilt was!!  And all the tiny pieces!

It is a large quilt.  The picture below is me trying to get a close up, but it does not do the quilt justice.  There is enough there to see how much work went into the making of this quilt.  Every wedge represents a month, and every month's flower was appliquéd to the black background.  Can you just imagine her painstakingly applying all those tiny pieces.  It is mind boggling. 

 

At the guild meeting, she was selling the tools that she uses to do all the intricate appliqué work, that she has imported in.  I bought a few pieces.  I'll have to dig them out some time and post about them.  The tools are amazing.  It is true about having the right tools for the job.  I swear by that, in any trade that you do. It makes life so much easier.

So now I have to get going.  Mom and I are off to a few more shops today.  I am really enjoying getting out and about after so long of being cooped up, and I am enjoying spending the time with my mom one on one.

Enjoy this beautiful day everyone!  Take care and keep safe.

2022 Shop Hop - Sew Creative

 22486 Adelaide Rd., Mount Bridges, ON

Our next stop (last Saturday) was Sew Creative.  This one was the furthest, of all the shops, from Acton.  It was a nice little shop with a fair amount of goodies to look at.  There was also a longarm in the back room of the shop and what appeared to be two resident dogs.

This picture was from the front entrance.  They had the sale table there on the left.  A few rows of fabric bolts on the right and on the other side of the sale table. A nook further down on the right with a bunch of patterns, some kits and things with the notions at the back door on the left just after the large cutting table, pulling double duty as the cash register table.  Obviously, there is more to the store than just what you see in the picture.  But you get the picture, sort of speak, that the store had a lot packed into every available space.

I got a dark chocolate brown fat quarter to go with my collection, for a quilt I want to make, and this was the stores shop hop block.

As I am behind in posting the stores we went to last weekend, and we plan on a few more today, I am going to post another shop hop visit shortly to try and catch up.  Stay tuned for a second post...

2022 Shop Hop - Country Patchworks

 515533 11th Line, Woodstock, ON

Our first stop of the day (Saturday) was Country Patchworks.  I've been here before, but like before I still pasted the place.  I didn't even see the sign until I was on my way out of the driveway.  I told my mom to roll down the windows and snapped this shot.

This shop is attached to someone's home and is literally in the middle of nowhere on a country side road.  This is the entrance to the shop and looks like it was initially the home's garage.  But outside of passing the place, this place inside is nice.  There is a lot of fabric, patterns and notions to look at.

There is a section for backing fabric to the left of the door, I believe a classroom is up in the loft, a sale section in the basement, on top of the large garage area with rows full of fabric.  Lots to look at that is for sure.

While there I picked up some fat quarters in dark blue, aqua, chocolate brown, and black.  In the sale section I got a landscape pattern for $3.  The picture is not so great, but it is of rolling hills/fields with a  red barn in the distance.  I've always wanted to try doing a landscape in fabric!  The other pattern is this shops block for the shop hop event.

Mom's Noah's ark quilt

Today was a gardening day.  You would be surprised what you can get done in 15 minutes of time here and there.  I work full time and we log in the computer from 9-5pm, with two 15 minute breaks and a 30 minute lunch, otherwise it is work, work, work.  So sometimes, in order to get things done, I have to boogie...lol.  I have my tools in one spot, ready for when I have the time.  I set my timer for 15 minutes and get going and see how fast I can do it.  First break, I started pulling out the weeds that were in the cedar hedge along the one side of the property.  Second break, continue doing more of the weeds against the house on the same side as the hedges...lunch time (after eating) more weeding...lol.  Can you see the theme here...lol.  It still takes time, but I was tearing at the weeds, with my shovel and snippers, getting as many as I could get out.  In between breaks I just leave my tools were I ended, knowing that I would be coming back.  After work I finished off the one section from the road to the back of the property along the cedar hedge, and accumulated enough to fill five waste bags that are now at the side of the road for pick up tomorrow.  

One small section done, with plenty more to go.  Since we moved here, last year, I have been working hard on the inside of the house and leaving the outside for later, but the weeds are taking over.  I have a couple of tree stumps that have decided to grow back and currently look like a really badly shaped bush, surrounded by over grown plants and weeds that are almost as tall.  But today if felt good to make some progress around the yard.

Other than my handwork with my morning tea before work, not much quilting got done today.  So, I will leave you with this... 

Back in time to March 9/2022:

This is my mom's quilt that we put together with the Noah's ark strip at the top.  This quilt was made as part of a challenge set by the person, to whom we deliver the Project Linus quilts to.  She had been given a donation of fabrics for the use for Project Linus.  She sent out an email to all her participants who make and donate quilts for the cause.  The challenge was to make a quilt using the fabric that was donated and supplement it, if needed, with some of your own fabric, to make a Linus quilt.  The pictures were later sent to the person who donated the fabric.

The Noah's ark strip was one of the fabrics my mom got in her package including a few of the others used to make the squares for the main part of the quilt.  We took our inspiration from the colors in the scene and cut out a bunch of squares.  The burgundy was used to separate the top from the main quilt and was used for the binding.  Mom put it all together, I quilted it, and mom did the binding.  I think it turned out lovely.

I am now sitting here resting my back after my walk with the dog and all the gardening.  I think I will stay here for a nice long time and do some reading.  Enjoy what is left of the evening!

A couple of quilts that I would like to make / Inspiration / Quilt Wannabe (QW)

I am writing this post primarily for myself.  I would like to make these two quilts one day, but they seem to get lost in my pictures, so I have decided to save them here with the label Quilt Wannabe (QW).  This way at a future date, I just have to do a word search for all the quilts that I am interested in making...some day...

This first one will be a way to use up all my 1 1/2" strips that have been building up.  But first I am doing Bonnie Hunter's Bitcon quilt using the medium and light strips.

Next I have this one that I want to do, also from Bonnie Hunter, called Smith Mountain Morning.  I am holding myself off on this one, until I get a few more quilts off my list, but I already have all my dark blue and chocolate brown scraps together, just waiting...we'll see just how long I can hold myself off...lol

That's all for today's post.  I still have a few things I need to take care of before I retire for the night.  Take care and keep safe everyone.

Fairy quilt

What a day yesturday! Really beautiful weather and good driving.  My mom and I went to four stores for the shop hop and didn't get back to her place until just after 5:45 pm.  It was nice, but I was so busy today that I didn't get a chance to sort out all that I got.  So I will save the show and share of that for another day.  Mom made a whole chicken on the barbeque with mini potatoes and asparagus, while I dug in the dirt to level off a section and relocate her platform for her barbeque.  My daughter joined us for dinner, and we ended the day with a nice fire out back.  Couldn't have been any better!

Today I was up and running with quilting for customers.  I got three quilts quilted and decided that I had enough, considering it was 5:30 pm.  I figured I needed some me time to sort things out and play with fabric some.  I sorted out my list of quilts in progress and have decided that I really do need to put the breaks on starting any new quilts, until I can get some more done...that was just about the time that I decided to do up three others...lol.  To my defense, these three were technically blocks already from my rejected samples, that I decided to turn into a reversable quilts.  There will be more about those too in a future post.  I am already over half way done on one of them.

As I don't have any pictures from the past two days to share with you, I will leave you with this recent finish.  This is the fairy quilt.  This quilt came about as a challenge to myself to start using up all the odd stuff I found while unpacking.  This small 12" high fabric with fairies in a garden theme of flowers, watering cans, etc. was the starting off point.  I also had a bunch of 2.5" squares that I was given, that appears to have been a sample of a line of fabric, or a few of them, plus some smaller pieces of fabric I had to deal with that were in the colours I needed for this piece.  There are blues, pinks, purples, yellow and greens in many different shades. 

It is a bit of a scramble, but up close it all seems to work (I have to work on the quality of my pictures).  I was practicing some free motion quilting on this piece with the Terry Twist in all of the squares.  A loop meander in the fairy block and straight line, back and forth motion in the small yellow border.  I've really got to get into practicing my free motion.  I see progress, but it wouldn't win any prizes...lol.  Practice, practice and practice some more!!

Hope you all had a great day!  Enjoy what is left of your evening.

Four small NICU finishes

Happy Saturday everyone!  The sun is out and I am looking forward to visiting another few quilt shops for the July 2022 shop hop in my area.  Today we will be heading out over to Woodstock and Mount Bridges area.

This morning, I have four small recent finishes to share with you.  I am determined to get things off my quilt-to-do list, but somehow having that goal, seems to derail me.  The faster I get things done, the more I want to start....  At this rate, I will never finish everything I've started...lol...but that does not deter me from trying.  Part of the fun for me is trying to use up what I have in a creative way.  Being frugal and environmentally friendly, are a couple of my parameters, while trying to make it look pretty and having fun in the process.  

This little cutie meets all of them.  I really enjoy coming up with ways to use up my strings.  On a side note, once you are bitten by the string bug, there is no going back.  You see ways to use up those strings everywhere....lol.  For this one I decided to make crayons.  I pulled out my purple strings and just sewed them side by side in a 4 1/2" width strip for about 18" long, and followed this with a solid purple crayon tip 4 1/2" square.  I added some white pieces to the sides to taper the tip.  After that I repeated the same process for the pink, yellow and red.  This was fun!  I plan to eventually make another one with blue, green, deeper purple and orange for a boy version.

The friendship star NICU quilt came about from the leftover parts of a Texas braid top, that I made for my daughter one Christmas.  I didn't shown that one yet, as it took a while for my daughter to find what she wanted for the borders.  It is on my list of to do...  In the meantime, I have a bunch of light and dark rectangle pieces measuring 2" x 5" that I am trying to find creative ways to use up.  One way was in this friendship star quilt.  I added a little black border to make the colours pop.

This next NICU quilt is the orange hexagon star quilt.  This is another one in the series of hexagon stars that my daughter made and abandoned.  My goal for these stars (6 of them in total, different colours), is to come up with all different ways to finish them off.  They all start by being appliquéd to a white background fabric, but from there they are all going to be different.  In the bundle of stars my daughter had, there were other bits and pieces of other things and some fabrics that she used for other things.  When I saw the fabric that she used for my mother's day wall hanging, she made me, I thought this would be perfect.  The background is yellow with some purple, pink and orange type flowers for the design.  Sabryna also had some of the leftover squares in pink and orange that I used for a second border.  I added the first border in, just so that I wouldn't have to trim the squares in the second border and that turn out nice, as the second border looks like it is floating in a large yellow border.  Second hexagon star done and 4 more to go.  I think I have already come up with a plan for two of them...

The last little NICU quilt I will share with you is some leftover blocks from a Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt.  This was the Rhododendron Trail mystery of Dec/2021.  As the mystery unfolded, I decided to change up the layout of my quilt and make it larger to fit my king size bed.  In the process I ended up with five extra blocks.  As the blocks finished at 10", I only needed the four to make this NUCU quilt, with pretty little aqua sashings and a small pink border.  Isn't this cute.  I have one more block left to figure out what to do with.  For those who may ask, no, I did not finish my Rhododendron Trail quilt yet...I got distracted by all these little fast finishes...lol   It really does not take much to distract me...lol

Hope you enjoyed the bit of eye candy above, I know I enjoyed making them.  I am motivated by puzzles and trying to create something that is pretty while still using up what I have on hand.

So now I have to get ready for the shop hop.  Enjoy the day everyone and take some time to get outside in the sun to get your vitamin D, it helps create those happy hormones.

Mom's give away quilts

I am still in the process of sorting out my photos from various devices to add into posts.  There are a lot.  I want to organize them in their own post, ready for me to write about them.  If I worked on one piece over the past year or two, I want to put them together and do one post of the different stages.

So instead, I will share with you some donation quilts my mom made recently.  I should have gotten some close up pictures....next time.  This first one is a NICU quilt measuring 26" square.  This was cute.  My mom made a fairies and princesses quilt for her great-granddaughter a while back.  She came across an extra block that was traced out and decided to finish it with embroidery.  She did a plain yellow border, surrounded by hour glass units in the various colours that were in the embroidered piece.   She added cornerstones to the hour glass units and finished it with a simple green border.  I am coming to realize that any photos that I took down in the basement did not turn out so great.  The colours are quite off.  You'll just have to trust me when I say that this is so cute in person.

For this next quilt, my mom cut out some 4" square from her scrap flannel.  We sorted it out in a checker board fashion with the darker squares and alternating lights.  The backing for this one is also flannel and a lofty batting.  The finished quilt is so cuddly cozy.

She dug deep into her boy coloured flannel strings bucket to make this next one.  She was inspired by a speaker we had presenting at our guild meeting a little while back.  This quilt is done in a quilt-as-you-go method.  

The process is, you have a flannel square for the bottom/backing, good side down, followed by a batting square on top of it, and you take your strings, the length measures half the square.  You sew this piece with another, on the one side, from middle to edges.  Sewing them side by side until that half of the block is covered.  Once those are done you take a larger string and lay it across the centre from corner to corner, with the edge covering the unfinished edge of the previous strings and work sideways until the batting is completely covered.

Once the squares are done, trim them down to size, keeping the diagonal string seam centred down the 45° angle line.  From there you can use your favorite method to put the blocks together.  My mother and I use the two sided binding method.

The great thing about the above quilt is that you can use up all your smaller pieces of batting and the quilt can be whatever size you want to make it, depending on how many blocks you make.  No worries about having a large enough backing or batting.  You can make block sandwiches to practice your free motion quilting and make a quilt out of them.

I plan on making a reversable quilt soon, with my quilting samples that didn't turn out.  I have been cutting the good parts out into smaller squares to make one.

Enjoy your evening.  Take care and keep safe.