NICU star quilt

I started three of these star quilts back in Dec/2024 and finished them in Feb/2025.  I'm not sure why I only took a picture of this one.  Maybe because other than the colour, they were all the same.  I pulled this draft out to post about this NICU star quilt now, as I have five more to make and I wanted to jog my memory as to what I did with this little panel block.

Stay tuned for the next batch of star quilts.  I have five more to make.  I am making them all different colours.  Otherwise, I am going to keep it simple and make them all the same.  

A bit of progress going on with my list that I recently started.  I am caught up on the amount of Smith Mountain blocks for the last two weeks and have two already done to cover off this week, with two more to go to cross this block off my weekly list.  I caught up on the Sea Swept blocks for the last two weeks.  Plus, I did three quilt finishes for the first week I started this list, but nothing for last week and so far nothing for this week.  We are getting to the end of the week and I think it is safe to say that I will likely finish the blocks portion of my list, but not sure I can catch up on the making of quilts.  

I'm not going to be too hard on myself, as I did set myself a very ambitious goal!  And besides, progress is progress!!

Today is Friday, so we'll see what I can accomplish today.  I have the ladies coming to sew tomorrow, so maybe I can get some more stuff done then....likely not though, as we do get to talking, some show and share, more talking and demonstrations, etc.  You know what I mean....lol.  I so much enjoy the company of friends making quilts together and sharing our experiences and lives events.  It is food for my soul. 

Take care everyone.  Don't forget to take care some time for yourself.

My cathedral window NICU quilt

While I was surfing through my pictures, I came across these.  It has been such a long time since I finished this quilt.  It must of gotten lost amongst all the rest of the drafts waiting to become posts.  I'm embarrassed to say that I have many drafts that date back to 2023 and 2024.  I want to post about them all, and they will get their time in the spotlight, but it may be a while before I can get to them. 

This particular quilt was started at the HHQG Workshop we had, back in Jan/2024, ran by Jane.  I thoroughly enjoyed the workshop and all the comradery that we had.  I enjoyed learning this technique too.  This is a Cathedral Window block which is completely assembled by machine.  By the time I left the workshop, I had this much completed.

The thing about this quilt is that it grew as it went.  I thought I had brought enough fabric, but when it came time to put it all together, I noticed that I was short.  The initial intent was to have one fabric for the accent around the "windows", but I was short on that one fabric.  Luckily, I had a bit of other fabrics that I was able to substitute.  I changed my design to accommodate the fabrics I had.  I thought I was doing good...... 

Unfortunately, I was still short.  In comes a friend to my rescue, who had the purple fabric you see in the picture, which allowed me to make some progress on this top.  Otherwise, I would of had to stop to go home and get something to make it all work.  

On March 25/2024, a couple of months later and you have the finished NICU quilt below.  Even though this quilt was off to a rough start, I think it turned out quite nice.  I used the additional blue and fuchsia fabrics I had, for the frame around the cathedral window, the green for the trim in the centre, and the purple fabric from a friend for the rest of the trims.

Now, here today, after the fact, I think this quilt looks better than it would have looked, if I did it with the initial intended fabrics.  Sometimes things happen for a reason, and this is an example of what can happen if you just work with what you have and make it work, instead of holding ridged to your initial plans.  I like it this way, the way it turned out!!!

Thank you Jane for a great workshop!

Take care everyone.

Progress on Deb's Sea Swept quilt

This quilt is not complete, and it has a history already....lol.  Sometimes a quilt takes a long, long, time to make.  Though in this case it was mostly marinating, both in my brain and through taking my time to collect fabrics for it.  

I went back into the past posts to see just when I started it, and came across a few posts.  The first one was way back on March 25/2018 Storm at Sea quilt variation (QW).  The (QW), for those who are new here, means Quilt Want-to-be......lol.  Another term for a quilt that has been added to my wish list or as some people refer to it as their bucket list.  So way back in Mar/2018, I decided I wanted to make a variation of Storm at Sea.  I've come to find out later, that the version that I want to make is actually called Sea Swept.

Then back on Dec 5/2023 I wrote a post called, The starting of a Sea Swept quilt.  This is where I spoke about collecting the fabric and the making of the first cornerstone block.  I also wrote about this quilt again on Oct 25/2023 called Preparing for an upcoming quilting retreat, where I talk a bit more about it.

So, that was almost exactly 2 years ago, when I last spoke about this quilt.  Though, it's not the last time that I did some piecing of it.  Let me give you an update on it.  I finished all the cornerstone blocks.  These were made shortly after I posted about them in Dec/2023.

Then later, during the retreat of Oct/2023, I worked on the sashing blocks.  I did a bunch of them, but realized that I had cut one shape incorrectly.  As I cut the wrong side, I was only able to salvage the batik fabrics, as they are double sided.  It was a discouragement at the time, and took me until some time later to finally cut another batch of pieces to finish these sashings.  I still have to trim them all and remove all the paper, but the sashing blocks are done.

More recently, I started back up, making the actual blocks for this quilt.  As you can see from the picture below, I have the papers on these ones too.  There are only a few completed thus far, but now I made a pack to start making them again, as part of my one a week goals list.  This one is listed as making 3 per week, so they will start to accumulate quickly....if I stay on track....  These should be done sometime in June/2026, though that will remain to be seen....lol.  Any progress, is progress right?

I thought I would add this picture in here as well.  This is to see how the blocks fit together.  One cornerstone block, two sashing blocks and one actual block.  I can see the design starting.  If you're curious, you can visit one of the previous posts, for a full picture of what the quilt will look like.

I'm surprised it took me this long to write a progress post on this quilt.  I guess it's been busy around here and no lack of stuff to write about.  That is what keeps it interesting!!

Take care everyone.

Some more progress...

Friday before I headed to my mom's place to do some paperwork and have dinner, I managed to get all the points for the Smith Mountain Morning border done.  One side is brown and the other side is blue.  There were LOTS of them.....lol.  All done now and put aside until I need them.

Still trying to catch up to the other ladies who are further along on their quilts.  The one person, who has changed up the pattern, to use some Block of the Month blocks, is really going to town on her blocks.  She has this much on her design wall, plus two other blocks done!!!  I really need to get a move on it!

Isn't it gorgeous!  Love what she is doing to customize her quilt.  This is going to be so unique.  

I keep saying I need to catch up, but I'm not worried.  All four of us are at different stages of the making of this quilt.  There is really no deadline for it, though the person above would like to finish hers by the last meeting of the Guild year, which is June/2026.  I thing that is reasonable, considering how much she has done.  You go girl!!  Or as the saying also goes, you sew girl....lol!!

For me, I'll just keep plugging away at it, plus trying to do my various blocks (one a week) and trying to finish as many quilts from my UFO list by Dec/2025.  Eventually everything will get done.  I want to get it all done and I do have high hopes, but I am not being strict with it, as I want to enjoy the process.  No pressure.....lol.....just my own self imposed goals.  

I did finish one more brown star block, not pictured here, on Saturday, while the ladies were working on their stars and checkerboard borders.  So there is that....

Take care everyone.

Saturday's HHQG Workshop.....what a day!!!

What a day we had!!  I think it turned out great!  There was a lot to learn and many steps to do.  Not all of it got done, but I did show everyone the steps they need to take to finish all three borders, and they have the booklet that was made with the instructions and pictures showing the various steps.  Plus they have my number if they need some help.  Pretty much everyone got to make four patches, half square triangles, and hourglass units.  These steps plus learning about rulers, cutting and 1/4" seams, was enough to get them on the way to making the centre star block.

As with all workshops, everyone had their own take on the quilt and selected their own colours.  I love how there was such variety in all the stars.  You saw mine in a previous post and here are the other six participant's stars.  I am hoping that once everyone finishes them, they will let me take a final picture showing their borders.  It will be fun seeing them all!

Above we have fussy cut geese for the centre and the background, plus green for the accent colour.  Below we have big bees for the background, cats for the accent fabric and construction tools for the stars.  Both are so cute.

This one is a Christmas theme, with let it snow fabric for the star points, Christmas candy for the accent fabric and various chocolate treats for the background.

Autumn leave for the accent fabric and the double pink for the four patch with a pinkish red in the block above.  Christmas theme again for the block below.  Love the contract of the red accent fabric against the hunter green star points and I like how it picks up the holly berries in the four patch fabric.

 

Then we have our eager beaver, who made it all the way to the second border, however to keep things in context, this person had the advantage of the pattern in advance and had most of her fabrics already cut, so the others were not behind.  They all had there checkerboard strip and the half square triangles done to do the second border, but ran out of time to attach them. 

This person chose a pretty raspberry colour for her star points, green for the accent and blue and rose for the four patches.  Her second border is a butterfly design.

Every one of these quilts is going to look very different.  That's the part that I really enjoy!

Take care everyone.

Extra Rhododendron Trail blocks

When I decided to join in with the quilt mystery, my first, I gathered up my scraps in the colours that were needed.  It was fun and a nice distraction from all the Christmas hustle and bustle.  Every time the new clue was posted, I would disappear down to my studio to cut and sew.  You have to have faith when doing a mystery quilt, that you are going to like it...  I had faith!  To start off with, I loved the colours!!!

This is the first NICU quilt I did using four left over blocks from the original Rhododendron Trail quilt mystery held by Bonnie Hunter.  These were her colour choices and since I loved the colour combination, I did mine the same.  The light turquoise is also part of the original quilt.  So cute!!!

I had one more block left over.  What to do, what to do....  This block sat around for a while.  I didn't know yet what I wanted to make with it, so I just let it marinate in my mind.  Nothing came to me, so it just sat there longer.  Then when I was going through my UFO blocks and saw it, I decided it needed to be made into a quilt and within a couple of weeks, the design for this block came to me.  I posted about it on Oct 2nd, post called An extra rhododendron block.

In short, I decided to steal some of the flying geese from the original Rhododendron Trail quilt to use in this one.  I needed more interest then just adding border after border to make it the right size for a NICU quilt.  The idea for the burgundy triangle borders also comes from Bonnie's original mystery quilt version.

I like how this one turned out!!!  Very different from the first one above.  I just love coming up with ideas for different layouts, especially if they are leftover blocks that are now being used and gifted to someone who needs a hug.

This is the third quilt I finished this past week.  Tally:  33 quilts to finish by end of year - 3 = 30 more.....lol.  Last week was week one and I finished 3 quilts.  Today, Sunday is the end of week two.  I'll let you know how I did tomorrow.... trying to keep the momentum going for as long as I can, though I do know that realistically I cannot maintain this rhythm....

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

Simple hearts quilt finished

Today I will be teaching at the workshop all day, so I am posting ahead, about this second quilt finish of the week.  This quilt was mostly done when I wrote about it back in Sept/25, post called Pieced hearts quilt top complete.  I noted at that time, that the quilt top needed a border, so it got put aside for a bit.  

Now that I'm trying to see how many quilts I can get done before the end of the year, I decided to get this top back out and work on it.  After all, it only needed a border, in order for me to quilt it.  With the borders done, I quickly loaded the quilt on the longarm to quilt it, then practiced again, putting the binding completely on by machine.  I'm getting to be ok at this!

Here is a close up picture of the heart block.  Note that the colours are a bit off.  In reality they are softer.  I have a terrible time with taking pictures in the basement and time does not always allow for setting up the photos in better lighting or outside.

I've added in my notes below, from when I drafted this top, from a quilt I saw online.  I'm not sure of the sizes or the construction of the original, but this is how I did mine.  The person who made her quilt, did not provide the source of the original design, so I am unable to pass it along.  If you recognize it, please add a comment below with the details.

This quilt is going to Project Linus when they collect them again.  It just missed the last drop off, on Sunday.  

Take care everyone and don't forget to take some time for yourself.  It's important!!

First brown star block complete

I am slowly working my way back to my Smith Mountain Morning quilt.  Since my last post about this quilt, I haven't cut anymore fabric.  I did though decide to make a block.  I really wanted to say I finished a block, but also, so that I could confirm the cutting I've done this far is correct.  It is!!  All the pieces are fitting nicely.  My bag of pieces is ready for whenever I have some free time to sew.

Maybe in the next couple of days I can get back to this one.  Though I am not too sure, as I set myself some new goals!  While we were on our long ride to the quilt show, then to the quilt store and back home again, we got to talking.  Apparently, I am a bad influence on one of my friends....lol....she has started a few quilts lately....and there is no stopping her....lol....we are making plans of starting one in January and then another in August.  She already started a new quilt, with 1" finished HSTs, in a block called Lady of the Lake.....lol...not to mention the Smith Mountain Morning she is also doing.  Her response to my mentioning that I am a bad influence on her, was 'I'm having fun though', so there is that.  LOL!!

She has also influenced me.  She mentioned she does one block a week for her Lady of the Lake.  Which reminded me that I used to set goals and try to achieve them, by doing so much per day or week with my quilts.  That's when I thought, I should get back on track and try to sew blocks weekly, like my Sea Swept blocks, or the Smith Mountain Morning blocks, the Ocean wave blocks or even work on one a month of the applique quilt I am trying to finish, but haven't touched in a bit.

So, since I've been back from the show, I've been organizing my thoughts and figuring out what to work on.  My initial goal was to try and finish the year with the same amount of quilts that I started the year with, however that really is not attainable.  I would need to finish 33 quilts, and we have 11 weeks left before the end of the year, that means 3 quilts a day....lol.  Yes, even I know that is not attainable.  Another one of my friends, laughed so loud and then, with tongue in check, asked if I was now retired....lol.

Keeping it realistic, I decided to scrap that idea and focus on smaller goals.  I made a chart, surprise, surprise....not.  Anyone who knows me, knows I am a list person.  On this list, I put finish one block per week of the Sea Swept quilt for my sister-in-law, Smith Mountain Morning quilt, and Ocean wave quilt.  Plus I added finish one block per month of the applique quilt for my other sister-in-law.  And because I am me, in the back of my head, I am still trying to figure out how to get the 33 quilts done before the end of the year....lol.  So far since Sunday I have completed 3 quilts, so I am off to a great start!!!  I'll post about them shortly.  

Just an update on the cake plate quilt, my first completion of the week.  Last Sunday before I had to head out to deliver the Project Linus quilts, I decided to load up this cake plate quilt top and quilt it.  It took me until Tuesday though to get the bias binding made and attached.  I've taken the time recently to teach myself how to attach the back of the binding on by machine.  Quilt is now all done!!!  I am glad I learnt how to do the binding completely by machine.  It goes so much faster!

A note to myself:  When doing this type of border in future, make sure there is a really good contrast for the dark fabric, otherwise the zig zag gets lost and appears to be cut off.  Secondly, I should put this type of border closer to the edges of the quilt, so that there would be more interest with more zig zags.

Today, I want to see if I can get a couple more smaller quilts done to keep the momentum going.  Either that or quilt a few of the charity quilts that I have, to get them out of here.

Tomorrow, I have a HHQG workshop to attend and teach.  That was the 'Back to Basics' post I wrote about last week.  I'm bringing my machine to do some sewing if time allows after the students are off and running.  I just have to figure out what I am going to take to work on.  I know I want to bring fabric to do another workshop sample, but this time for my table.  That may or may not happen, we'll see.

Take care everyone.

The cake plate block made into a NICU quilt

While we were at the Waterloo quilt show, I was talking to one of the vendors, regarding a line of fabric I was looking for.  She said they had some at the shop.....so after the show, we all jumping into the car and heading another 50 minutes west to the shop.....lol.  Nothing we won't do to get our hands on some fabric...lol.

Unfortunately, they did not have enough of the one line left, so I had to pass on it.  But, I did get these lovelies.  Outside of the top fat quarter, the rest were in a bundle in the sale both/room, so that was a win.  And I finally found the embroidery thread colour my daughter needed, to work on a cross stitch she is doing for me, that was designed by Camilla Roskelley.

When I finally got home, I was so inspired by the quilt show, the time chatting along the way with a friend and my mom, and just the overall great day that was had, that I started working on one of the NICU quilts on my list.

This is a single block, called a cake plate.  This was one that Bonnie Hunter was working on.  I decided to start by placing the cake plate on a diagonal, so that the plate would stand straight up.  First step was to add on these four triangles, to each side for the corners.

Then I pulled out one of the pages I had collected for different ideas of borders.  I settled on this one.  Off I went to my 2" strip drawer to cut pieces to make all these flying geese with their triangle wings.  Some have the light wings and others have the coloured wings, to make the zig zag pattern.

This is where I left off that day.  Even today I am on a high from the events of that day at the show!

Take care everyone.

Beautiful quilts from the Waterloo quilt show, part 2

It was really hard to just pick three quilts for this post.  There were sooooo many beautiful quilts at the show.   Unfortunately, I was totally distracted by all the details in the one quilt, that I selected as my viewers choice quilt, that I didn't get a "whole" picture of it.  But I did get some of the other beautiful quilts.

This first quilt, I thought was unique.  There was machine piecing, hand piecing and some hand embroidery as well.  The blocks are square and then each block was unique with the design placed in a circle or forming a circle using the piecing.  Hard to explain really, but check out the pictures to understand what I mean.  The quilting, also accentuates the circle theme going on, and it was further emphasized with a curved crosshatch pattern.  

I was drawn to this block, with the hexagon pieces forming the circle around the hand embroidered designs.  The hexagons were hand appliqued to the background square block.  You can see here as well some of the curved crosshatch pattern that went between the circled designs.

The quilt name was something to do with "garden".  We have the hexagon circle around this one too.  I want to draw your attention to the border on this quilt.  In the picture up top, you can see the whole border and in the picture below, you will see a closer view.  The reason I want to point it out, is because I thought this was a great use of fabric!  Believe it or not, the pink scalloped section and the blue and white stripped fabric are in fact one piece of fabric.  The quilting sets it off and makes it appear to be two parts of the border.  That was a great idea for using the fabric, and instead of making a mitered corner, the maker used a checkerboard corner stone.

This one was so cute.  I loved the colours of this quilt, mostly pieced with solid fabrics outside of the background.  I fell in love with these bees with colourful wings!!  This piece was paper pieced.  See how small the vain of the leaves are?  There was a lot of this type of piecing on this quilt. Very intricate.

Then we came across this traditional quilt.  The blocks are pineapple blocks, with careful attention paid to the colour placement.  Note how there are two separate grid patterns running through this quilt.  The black and the white.  Each section within the individual blocks is different, with each quarter section using the same fabric for each strip.  The piece uses all the warm colours.  Note that the piece on the left is a separate piece of art and nothing to do with the pineapple quilt behind it.

Lastly, I took this picture of a medallion style quilt.  There is so much going on with this quilt.  Each border is very detailed.  The centre square is beautiful and is extended by four half lone star points on each side.  This is followed by a unique zig zag pattern on the corners and as you can see much more in each border that follows.  This must have been a challenge to construct and make sure that all the pieces matched precisely to make the whole top.  I would love to see this quilt done up in other colour ways.  This one is definitely more of a male colourway.

I hope you enjoyed a bit of a sampling of what was at the Waterloo quilt show.  As I said in the last post, you should have been there!!  It was definitely impressive!

Take care everyone.

Beautiful quilts from the Waterloo quilt show, part 1

What can I say.....it's been busy around here with many other things outside of quilting...  Just getting a few minutes here to write this post, then maybe I can get some quilting stuff done.....

A few of us went to the Waterloo quilt show on Saturday.  It was a beautiful day for driving on the back roads and the fall colours were spectacular!!  The show did not disappoint!  There were so many quilts in many different styles to please everyone.  Traditional to modern, from quilts, wall hangings and pieces of art.  There was so much to see!

I'll start off with this post being more of a sample of works of art, though this only represents a very small selection.  Let's just use the phrase, you should have been there!!  I took this first picture mainly because I am currently working with colourful wool circles.  I guess I am not unique in this....lol.  This person loved working with the circles so much that she made two....lol.  The second one is on the shelf below this one on a stand.  I questioned why I liked this so much, and I come to the conclusion that there is nothing that can beat the cheerfulness of bright colours on a black background fabric.  I thought is was also cute that they continued with the theme of circles, and placed all the wool circles on a round/circle black background frame (it may be hard to see, as there is a quilt in the back of the piece).

Then there is this piece of art, that was completed to resemble a framed piece of art with the added bits on the sides for interest.  I like that the greenery goes out into the borders.  I especially like the colour of the duck and the great work that was done to create the reflection on the water.  

I really liked this next piece.  The picture does not do it justice.  The piece was, I'm going to guestimate, about or almost 4.5' tall.  The shadows on the person and on the dress were spectacular!  In person the figure of the dancing women, seemed to vibrate with strength and elegance.  The simple beige background was a great choice to give the figure the opportunity to shine.

Lastly, of the pictures I took that day, in the art category, we have this poinsettia.  This piece was made as a guild challenge.  Participants were given a small piece of dark red fabric, which was to be used within the piece.  This picture, also does not do this piece justice!  This piece was achieved using layered bits of coloured fabrics, top quilted in place.  Every colour change was another piece of fabric.  What is extraordinary about this piece is that the image is gorgeous, but more so, that this multi layered image is only about 12" to 15" in size!!  Can you imaging the amount of work that went into this small piece of art work?  I don't think I would have had the patience for this.  Did you note how small these individual pieces are?  Wow!!

The Waterloo guild members are a very talented bunch.  I thoroughly enjoyed this year's show.  I enjoyed the last show too and will go to the next one when they have another.  Next post will be more on full size quilts.

Take care everyone.

Two NICU quilts for Project Linus

Today, I dropped off all the quilts for Project Linus.  My mom and I gathered our quilts, plus some from others and delivered them.  

I thought I would share with you these two NICU quilts that were part of the bags that went out.  Both of these quilts were made back in May/2025.  

This first one was made to try out a technique.  The pattern details for the technique is in the second picture below.  I decided to make this one in NICU size, because I only wanted to try it out.  Making a small quilt is a great way to try something and not have to commit to a whole quilt, using a lot of fabric and using up your time, for something you may or may not enjoy doing.

The blocks went together quite easily.  By making this little quilt, I came to the conclusion that, I am not going to invest my time, and fabric to make a full quilt.  The part that stopped me was that the blocks in the pattern are put on point, which means, you make a full block and then cut off a chunk on the sides, plus top and bottom.  To me that is just a waste of fabric, or I would have to come up with a way to use up all these extra pieces.  I wasn't up to it, this time.  Otherwise, as you can see in the picture below, it is a beautiful modern quilt.  I gave the pattern to a friend who will make it!

 

The second NICU quilt was a very simple one to make.  It basically looks like a checkerboard.  I made this with all of my blue and neutral 2" scrap squares, and I assembled them as leader/enders, between making other quilts.  A simple quilt that ended up to be 26" square.

Stay turned for tomorrow's post, where I want to share with you some beautiful pictures.  They're of some quilts from the Waterloo quilt show, that I went to yesturday.  There were sooooooo many quilts.  I only captured some, that I will share with you.  I think I'll do it in two different posts, so that I don't crash, of overload.

Take care everyone.

The 'Back to Basics' workshop quilt

Now that the pictures have been shared with the HHQG members for this October/2025 workshop, I am free to share them here.  We're calling this workshop, back to basics, which is geared toward teaching beginners a lot if techniques or for a refresher for the more seasoned quilters.   

This is the centre block that will allow us to show the construction of a four patch, half square triangle, hour glass units, spinning the seams, plus webbing the block, and that is after showing them first how to use rulers, rotary cutters and pressing versus ironing.  All in just the centre block!!    

Then we'll move on to the first border where they will learn partial seams and stitch and flip corners.

For the second border, we're going to do more of a checkerboard affect with light and dark colours, to go over strip method and again spinning the seams to easy assembly.

And finally something more geared toward the more experienced quilters, we will do a mitered corner and if they are courageous a mitered corner using a striped fabric and matching the stripes. 

So, what do you thing?  It is the perfect size for a table topper at 27" square.  Though mine is going to Project Linus when I am done with it, as a NICU quilt.  I think I'll bring some more fabric with me to make another one, except this time I'll consider more warmer colours for my table.....maybe fall colours...not sure, but I'll see what I have so that I don't have to purchase anything.

Now I am off to the quilt show in Waterloo.  Have a great day everyone!

My mom's NICU quilts ready to be bound

I am on my way to my mom's place to take care of some business and later have dinner with her.  When I went down to the quilting studio, I remembered that I have two NICU quilts of hers that need to be quilted, as the drop off is this Sunday.  She only gave them to me Monday evening, so it's a good thing that I actually got it quilted this quickly.  It's actually a miracle considering everything I am juggling.  Not that I am complaining, as I like being busy.  It's just that sometimes it gets hectic!

Here is the first quilt she made.  This quilt was a result of us going on a shop hop a while back.  Each store gave out a small packet with enough fabric to make the one block.  By the time you visited all the 12 shops, you had enough blocks to make a quilt top.  It was nice seeing all the different layouts each of the shops had using the blocks.

The block that was handed out to everyone was the one on the top left hand corner, and I gave my mom mine, so the one on the bottom right is also from the same store.  When my mom was trying to figure out what to do with two blocks, I told her to make two more and she would have a NICU quilt.  She liked that idea, so asked me to help her find some fabric to go with the first two blocks.  This is what we came up with.  I quilted it with a stippling in a medium blue.

The second NICU quilt is basically the same situation.  The block that was handed out to everyone was the one on the top left hand corner, and I gave my mom mine, so the one on the bottom right is also from the same store.  This time though, instead of matching the colours, I decided to choose a contrasting colour from the other side of the colour wheel.  I think it turned out nice!!  In person the colours are a bit brighter.  The lighting downstairs on this cloudy, rainy day, tends to dull the colours.

So now I have to get these to my mom for her to bind them in time for Sunday morning delivery.  It will be a tight feat, as she is also coming tomorrow to the quilt show in Waterloo.....lol.  Nothing like leaving it to the last minute....lol!  We're going to the quilt show in the morning, so she will have all afternoon to do them and they are only NICU size, so she will be able to whip it up quickly.

Take care everyone.  Enjoy your upcoming weekend.

The fruit potholders are now all complete

Well, as you can tell from this post, I didn't get back to the sock monkey quilt.  I had good intentions, but it just didn't happen.  Instead, when I went down to my quilting studio today, I was just wanting to clear off stuff that's been laying around taking up space and generally making the place look like one big mess.

I have piles all over the place of stuff that needs to be done.  So, I decided to just pick the first pile, closest to the machine and get it done.  That was these potholders.  There are seven sets of potholders.  Lemons, peaches, apples, grapes, cherries, pears and mixed fruit.  Binding is now all done.  Sets are pinned together and ready to be gifted.

Tomorrow I think I am going to do the same and just pick something else that I can complete in a short amount of time.  Quick finishes are always a feel good thing.  I have to head to my mom's place to take care of stuff and stay for dinner, but I should be able to get something done, or at least further along, before I have to head over there.

Saturday I am heading to the Waterloo Quilt show.  That should be fun!!

Sock monkey quilt progress

Yesturday, I made it down to my quilting studio to do some sewing.  It wasn't much, but enough to get my sewing fix......lol.  I truly feel that I go into withdrawal when I don't get to sew regularly.  I worked on the sock monkey quilt.  I posted about this quilt on Sept 16th and 19th.  Now I have five rows together on this horizontal bar quilt.  

The middle three rows in the centre, are the brown fabrics and the sock monkey fabric, butted by the diagonal nine patch rows.  There is going to be a repeat of the middle rows and then one last diagonal nine patch row, before I start adding the borders on.  Maybe after work today I can get those done....  

Here is a close up of the fabrics.  The sock monkey line of fabrics included the brown with red polka dots, the white fabric with toys on it, and the bottom beige fabric with the sock monkeys, in different outfits.  I thought it was cute!!  The setting triangle fabric doesn't show well in this picture.  The colour is beige with a red squiggly design.  I'll have to try and take a day time picture next time.

Take care everyone.

Progress on the wool penny circles

It is so convenient that I am able to do handwork in the car.  My husband drove all the way to Stoney Lake, where we were going for a family reunion, and all the while, I was working on the blanket stitch for all of these circles.  I did some on the way up to our destination, during some down time, and then again on the way back home.  I was able to complete 24 in total!!

The blanket stitch is used to attach the penny circle (1") to the medium middle circle (2") and then the medium circle to the larger circle (3").  I am using all different colours of floss.  Sometimes matching and sometimes contrasting the circles themselves.  The last circle will also get the button hole stitch, but that will only get done when I attach them to the black background fabric.  I am so happy to have this many done.  These and the few I did previously, make up one quarter of the wall hanging.

When I got home, late afternoon,  I sat and had my tea, trying to figure out what to work on next.  So many thoughts going through my head.  In the end I settled on the sock monkey quilt.  I was surprised how small the row turned out when I assembled them, that I changed my gameplan on them and divided the rows into two separate quilts.  

Today after work, I'm hoping to finish assembling the first one, and maybe getting started on sewing the blocks to the set in side triangles, on the second one.  The pieces for both of these quilts are on the floor behind my sewing machine and it's about time they get off the floor and into a finished top.  I'll share pictures of these two when I am further along.  Right now they don't look like much.

Take care everyone.

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!!