Finished all the Rhododendron Trail blocks

Well, as mentioned in my last post, I figured I'd have a full day of sewing yesturday, and I mostly sewed all day.  Other than taking a few hours break to walk to the store in the freezing weather to get a couple of ingredients for making dinner.  It was my turn to make dinner for my son.  He made me dinner the night before.  

My intentions for yesturday was to work on the red string quilt units, to try and finish them.  I worked on everything but the red strings...lol...I guess I had enough of them for a bit...lol...so instead I finished six start blocks for the Smith Mountain Morning quilt. 

What made me very happy though, was that I finished ALL the blocks for my Rhododendron Trail quilt.  Now outside of the appliqué blocks, on my list of required blocks, I only have the Smith Mountain Morning blocks and the Sea Swept paper piece blocks.  I did finish the Sea Swept blocks too for the week, but forgot to take a picture.
 

Not sure if you recall in a previous post, where I spoke about a friend giving me a jump start on some blue strings blocks.  I trimmed them all to size and got those all prepped as ready.  More on those in tomorrow's post.

Overall it was a nice relaxing day with some good progress on a few different quilts.  Today I have the guild executive meeting to attend after work, so no sewing will be happening.

Take care everyone.

A pile of star points

Yesturday after breakfast and cleaning up all the dishes, I headed down to the studio.  Other than a couple of short breaks, I spent the entire day sewing and trimming.

It doesn't look like much, but it pretty much took me the whole day to make these red strip blocks that are for the points of a star block.  Like wow!  I very much under estimated how long that would take me, and I had all the neutral points already cut!

With all of these units done, the only thing left to make are the string corner units of the star blocks.  Then I will be able to assemble the stars.  I now suspect that the string corner units will take me just as long to make as these units did...lol.  I won't be caught off guard this time...lol.  I guess it will be another full day of sewing!!!  Whoohoo!!

I really am trying to get a bunch of my quilts done and off my list.  I am looking to have a more manageable Works in Progress list.

Though I have a little ways left before I can call anything done, some of my friends are working away, trying to get some of their loose ends done too.  This friend of mine, had these orphan blocks that she turned into a finished NICU quilt.  I just put a label on the back for her and it is ready to be delivered to Project Linus.

Take care everyone.  Hope you're enjoying your weekend, doing what you love to do.

Inspiration for using a panel in a quilt (QW)

I have a friend who shared this panel quilt with me.  I think it is so sweet.  This friend is making wall hangings for each of her grandkids.  The last one she made also used a panel.  This wall hanging is going to the newest member of their family.  As per the label on the quilt, Kane was born Feb 15/2026.  LOL...it didn't take grandma long to make this one.  She had it done by the 20th, when she share the picture with me.

She came up with this simple but affective design to enlarge the panel.  The stars and trees mirror the stars and trees in the panel.  I like the fact that the borders are asymmetrical, to add interest.  It's just enough and all that is needed to make this wall hanging stand out.  I am going to keep the idea of the wavey stars, for a possible panel I need to make into a small child size quilt. 

My friend always likes to make her quilts extra special for the people she loves.  In this case, she    made some paper piece animal blocks to go with the animals in the ark.  How cute is that!!  I asked here why she put them on the back though, as they are so cute and won't be seen....her response was, that is why it is so special, because only the recipient will get to see them, when he wants to!  Cute!!

It's Saturday today!  What are your plans?  I haven't been down in my sewing space all week, dealing with this and that....  I'll play it by ear and see what inspires me today.

Take care everyone.

Sew day progress

On Saturday the ladies came for a sew day.  One of the ladies came with this Lady of the Lake block to show and share.  This block is only  5 1/2" square.  Those little half square triangles on the perimeter finish at only 1" square!!!  A labour of love.  She does one of these blocks per week, in different colours.  They are all so cute!

This friend brought her scrappy blue string quilt to work on.  My mom and I are also making this quilt.  My mom's is going to be blue and white as well, and mine is going to be burgundy with sand coloured background.

These are the two blocks that got completed during the day.  

Another friend was working on assembling a quilt top for the guild, however she could only go so far, as she forgot to bring some of the outer blocks.  

Fortunately for me, she wanted to work on something, so I pulled out my blue strings that I am making into a lattice quilt.  Once I sorted her out, she managed to make a total of twelve strips.  Yeah!!  This was helpful.  It gave me a jumpstart to my measly little four blocks that I did some time ago....lol.  They were part of my test block to check out sizing.  

Don't they look pretty?  Sunday I saw them sitting on my table.  I hadn't put them away yet.  They inspired me to move a little further with this quilt.  I finalized the sizing and needed to add a couple more inches to these, then I trimmed the corners and they are now ready to go.  I also finalized on the two background fabrics, to make up the side triangle corners, to finish off the blocks.  I'll show all of that in another post when I really set in and start working on this quilt.  

It won't be long now, as I am making progress on some of the other quilts and the basket case blocks are all done.  I think this one will be next.  My friend did twelve strips, I had four from before, and this quilt requires forty-eight altogether.  That means I need to make thirty-two more.  It may seem like a lot, but these strips are what I consider mindless sewing.  You sit there and just pull a string and sew it on.  Very calming.

Take care everyone.

A small baby quilt - Eeyore panel

There is a set of four panel blocks of Winnie the Pooh charactors.  They are plain with no colour.  This block is the only one with colour and it is only the background.  I'm not used to blocks with no colour.  

I had a mind to colour this in, similar to the crayon blocks I shared in an earlier post, however Eeyore is grey with a flesh colour snout.  So that won't work.  He'd disappear into the background.  The only colour he has is purple for his inner ears and a pink bow on his tail.  At least that was the original version.

I hadn't planned on tackling the panels just yet, but I was washing some donated fabric and dumped it all on the table, on top of the panels.  When I saw how well this fat quarter, outer border fabric, matched the Eeyore panel, I just couldn't resist.  

In my earliest memories, the only colour I associate with Eeyore is purple, because even though the original version of Eeyore is two tones of grey, my memories remember the blueish grey for his back (similar to the background colour) and a pale purple belly.  This is why I did a purple inner border.

I know this little quilt is very simple with just the two borders, but the gloomy, pessimistic, melancholic and depressed Eeyore didn't inspire me to make him fancy.....lol.  I took the description directly from google....lol.  I would have just left it at gloomy....lol....but I didn't know if I had it right, so I looked it up.  Google went on to say, he has a cynical outlook and low energy....lol....I can still hear him in my head in his monotone drawn out voice.

The other block panels are of Winnie the Pooh, of coarse, Tigger and Piglet.  I'll try to be a bit more imaginative with those ones....lol.

Take care everyone.

Basket case top completed

I last posted about this quilt back on Aug 16/2025.  This pattern is called Basket Case by Cluck Cluck Sew.  I modified my version to use up what I already had on hand.  The scrappy strips I started with are only 2" wide.  Once I got the rhythm or order of assembling it, they went together pretty quickly. 

Basically, I opened my drawer of 2" strips and pulled out colours at random, and I really mean at random.  Don't over think this one.  Just pull two colours that you like together that have enough contract to allow the block design to stand out.  Otherwise anything goes.  I chose to do my background in the same cream colour to allow the weave design to stand out.

During Saturday's sew day, I worked on assembling these blocks.  I needed a total of 30 blocks (5 across by 6 down).  I had all the fabrics cut out into kits from a cutting session I did during my vacation last week.  So I really only needed to sit and sew.  

It sounds easy.......the only needed to sit and sew......lol......but I get so caught up in having the ladies over, doing the show and share things, all the chatter and the various projects everyone is doing, that by the time I actually sit and sew, it's time for lunch.....lol.  Can I just say that it's pretty easy for me to get distracted with all the quilting stimulation....lol.

So needless to say, my goal of having 16 of these blocks done by end of day was very ambitious...lol.

I did eventually get the blocks done and the quilt centre assembled, however most of it was done after the ladies left....lol.  By the time I closed down for the night, it was 9:50 pm.  Long day, but I was so energized.  I'm sure I've said it before, but worth saying again, having the ladies over, fills my cup to overflowing.  I always look forward to our Saturday sew day!!

Do you like it?  I still have the border yet to put on, but that will be another day.  Today I think I am going to iron some recently washed fabric and play with some plaids.  I really need to start processing some of my scrap fabrics.  The quilt above is a good start, though it hardly made a dent in the drawer!

Take care everyone.  Have a great day!

A better picture

I was sitting having my tea and looked over to see my appliqué block.  This one is the Welcome to the North Pole block that I was working on for February.  These are more the true colours then the last time I posted about my Sunday Slow Stitching day.  Daylight definitely makes a huge difference.

I know I still have a week left of February, but I am being realistic in saying that this is as far as it is going to get, for now.  I have high hopes for a lot of things and get carried away with what I think I can get done....lol.

I'm ok with this block not getting done for February.  This one is for me and I'm making it just for fun!

Take care everyone.

Mom's NICU quilts

My mom's been busy making a bunch of NICU quilts.  All but one of the following quilts started off with my sister having her grandkids over for a sleepover.  During this time, one of the activities everyone did was colouring fabric blocks.  The designs for the blocks were traced from a kids colouring book.   

Later, the blocks were given to my mom, who then set the crayon with an iron and added borders.  There's not much else to say about them, so I'll just let you enjoy them.  

Something to keep in your thoughts if you are looking for a fun activities to do with grandkids.  I don't know anyone who doesn't like colouring.  These blocks were all assembled into a NICU quilt, but once I assembled some into pillows for each of the kids who coloured two blocks.  One for the pillow and one for a charity quilt.  The kids treasured their pillow for a long time.

This next NICU quilt was a quilt that my mom did to use up some strings.  These quilts are cute!  You can choose whatever colour crayons you want.  This one was made in colours suitable for a boy.  Quilts for boys is more often needed.

It was not intentional to have crayon coloured blocks along side a quilt made of crayons, but it's cute how that turned out...lol.  

The crayons were made at the last HHQG retreat, as my mom didn't need the lesson of assembling a quilt that was being held for beginners or anyone looking to learn some tricks of the trade.  The coloured blocks were made a couple of years ago and just recently given to my mom to do something with.

Take care everyone.

Caught up on my weekly blocks

As mentioned yesturday, it's been a busy week with little time to do any sewing.  I did finish the last of the required blocks for the week.  All sixteen of the chimney blocks, for the Smith Mountain Morning quilt.  I was behind on these ones.  I usually do four a week, but I got behind.  Some weeks are like that.

I'll leave this post at that, as there is not much to talk about at the moment.  I just wanted to check in with my progress on my required blocks.  I have to get down to the studio to clean up the little messes that I made everywhere and vacuum, as I have the ladies coming to sew today.

Yesturday I quilted a bunch of small NICU quilts for my mom.  I'll keep them all for tomorrow's post.  In the meantime, have a great weekend!!

Take care everyone. 

A simple nine patch quilt

It's been a busy week, even though I've been on holidays all week.  It was a short week with the long weekend of Family day and going downtown for appointments, so I didn't get much done in quilting.  For this post, I decided to pull something out of the earlier pictures.

Sometimes I just like to do a simple quilt that can be done in an afternoon, or at least the top can be done in an afternoon.  I already had all of these red solid squares cut and leftover from a previous quilt, that I decided didn't need to be so big.  The first thing that came to mind was a nine patch block.

With the nine patch blocks, I made a simple single Irish chain quilt centre.  Then I pulled out a fabric that I thought was perfect.  It is pink with red hearts in the design.  For the first border I went with a slightly brighter pink.

Simple but pretty.  I made and finished this one back in March/2024 and it has since been donated to Project Linus.

Take care everyone.

Mending a dearly loved pillow

As most people know, quilters do not generally like mending.  I am no exception!  But when my husband came to me with his deteriorating little pillow that he got from our daughter, what was I to say.  It is deteriorating, but it is really special to him.  I forgot to take a picture of the top, but it has a saying on it that goes like this, Any man can be a father, but it takes someone special to be a DAD.  How could I refuse....I couldn't.

In the picture above, I am trying to show you the piping.  The green canvas fabric is so brittle and now very thin.  The picture below shows you just how bad the disintegration is.  The backing of the pillow is almost non existing.  The stuffing is only holding onto itself, with little strands of green thread....lol.

So, I took one of my husbands jeans that I saved for making jean quilts and cut a leg off.  I made the backing out of his jeans and then pulled a darker, thinner, stretchy jean fabric to make a new binding.  Running this already made pillow through the sewing machine was a choir, especially when I was trying to sew the binding, on both the front and on the back.  In the end I managed!  It may not be the prettiest job I've done, but it is done.

I really dislike mending, but I am glad I did it for hm.  He treasures this pillow and uses it daily for his neck when he reclines in his chair to watch tv.  This pillow is at least 20 yrs old!!  Let's see how much longer it will last now.

Take care everyone.  

My Sunday Slow Stitching

I think I mentioned it in a previous post, about a group of bloggers who will use Sundays, as a day to take time to do some handwork.  I thought it was a great idea.  They do their handcrafts and post about them to a main page with a link to their own blog.  I don't link in, as I've never done it before, but I thought when I can, I'd like to join in by doing some of my own handwork.

Yesturday was Sunday and this is what I've been up to.  I finished this block, which is part of my quilt called Gathering Flowers.  I've written plenty about this quilt in previous posts.  This is the block for February.  You'll have to pardon all the wrinkles from handling it.  I won't bother to iron it until I am ready to trim all the blocks and start assembling the quilt. 

After I completed the above block, I was really motivated to do some more handwork.  So after lunch I started working on this 2024 Temperature quilt.  This is the block for February.  I had about 1/3 of the outer circle appliquéd on, from a previous hand stitching session, and yesturday I was able to finish all of it.  Even the inner circle!! 

By this time it was done though, I had to take a break.  I needed to give my hands a bit of a rest.  So I went down to my studio and tried to catch up on some of my Smith Mountain Morning blocks.  I haven't been sewing for almost two weeks and I was already behind by a week.  Considering that I have it listed as making four blocks per week, I needed to make twelve blocks to catch up.  As today is now Monday, I have another four to do for this week, so that makes me sixteen behind.....

Luckily, I was in the mood to work on them and I had four of them done, before I had to go back upstairs to make dinner.  So today is another day and I am hoping to catch up a bit more on these blocks.  

On Saturday, I was able to cross off two boxes on my list of required blocks.  Yesturday, I was able to cross off two more boxes with the above two blocks done.  Now I have twelve blocks of the Smith Mountain Morning left to do and one last appliqué block from the Welcome to the North Pole wall hanging.

After dinner last night, I thought I would enjoy some quiet time stitching up this next block.  I got the building stitched on and the left roof piece is done.  The second roof piece is almost done, but about one inch left up at the top peek.

As this last picture was taken in the evening, the colours are quite a bit off.  The background is actually a dark denim colour, the edges around the block are a piece of the backing which is a dark but brighter teal, and the building is a bright light blue that stands out more then the snowflakes.  The roof is mainly red and green with highlights of gold, but in the picture looks more gold and red.

I am not sure when I will be able to get back to this appliqué block, but as it is for the month of February, I still have another couple of weeks.  Though I am not going to stress out about it.  This wall hanging is just for fun, and just for me, so there is no deadline.  I'll get to it as the mood strikes.  

Take care everyone.  Happy Family Day!!  Take some time to spend it with your loved ones if you can.

Some more blocks done

Yesturday, before I packed it in for the day, I thought I would see how many blocks I could catch up on, for my list of required blocks per week.  I did the two weeks worth of these Rhododendron Trail blocks.  Yeah!!  I only have six more of these blocks left to do.  Then all the blocks will be done and ready to assemble the quilt.  That's exciting!

I also managed to get the two weeks worth of these snail's trails blocks done too.  Yeah, again!!  I still have to trim the blocks and then de-paper them, but I can do that another time.

That was it.  I was pushing myself by this time and decided not to overdue it.  Overall though, I am happy with what I got done.

Today is another day....  I am hoping to pick something else to work on and do it.  I am four weeks behind on my required Smith Mountain Morning blocks.  Maybe I can do some of them.....we'll see.

Take care everyone.

You win some, you lose some...

I haven't been sewing for about a week and a half now.  I seem to have lost my sewing mojo....  I have been caught up in work and training, as well has additional stuff with my health, and keeping up with household things, which didn't leave too much time for anything else.  When I did have some time, I chose to read more about things health related.  Currently I am learning about the circadian rhythm.

I don't like that I don't feel much like quilting.  It happens sometimes.  Today, I found out that this time, I am not alone.  I was texting some friends and they are experiencing the lack of desire to sew as well.  One of them mentioned it must be the February blahs...lol.  This weather can definitely have a baring on it.   Constant snow and minimal sunlight.

Today being Saturday, with no plans of things that have to be done, I decided I was going to go down to my studio and see if I can get inspired to do something.  Anything!  Just to see if I could jumpstart my mojo.....lol.  When that didn't initially happen, I decided to write a list of what was laying around unfinished and make a point of doing one thing.

In the end, I made binding for my hexagon quilt.  This is the fabric I decided to go with.

The binding angels must have been watching over for me......lol.  You could say, I was playing binding chicken and I won!!  Just barely....lol!  Now that the binding is machine stitched on the front, I'll get the quilt to my mom, so she can hand stitch the binding down in the back.

I was really glad that I persisted with some sewing,  It felt ok and the boost I had by just making it with the binding, made me want to keep going.  So, then I made another binding.  This one was a bias binding, as I chose to use a stripe.  I always like stripes on a diagonal.  This is what a pile of binding looks like for a king size quilt.  Doesn't look like much, does it?

I proceeded to sew this binding on by machine on the top.  However, unlike the quilt above the binding angels were on a break.....lol.  I was 17" short of binding!  The worst part is that it is a bias binding that I was short on.  I use the make a square method, which requires some calculations.  I even added an additional 6" to my numbers, but obviously it was still not enough...pooey!

Did you know that binding is my least favourite thing, when it comes to making a quilt.  But it is a necessary thing.  So, back to calculating what size block to make to get a bias binding that measures at least 25", and crossing my fingers that I would have enough of this fabric to make it.  It was a close call.  I had a piece that was just wide enough to get the required square.

Some time this week I'll take these two quilts to my mom's place for her to finish the handwork.  I'm not sure if my mojo is back, because I did have to talk myself into sewing.....but, I have this week off for vacations.  In my case a staycation, so maybe if I just do something each day, I can get back into it.  Wish me luck!!

Take care everyone.  Happy Valentine's Day!!

Starting the week out well

I'm starting the week out well with getting the two snail's trail blocks and two of the Rhododendron blocks done as part of my required blocks for the week.  It doesn't seem like much, but the paper piece blocks take quite a while to sew, fold back paper, trim seam allowance, place the next piece and sew some more.  I'm happy to say, that I am further along with the Rhododendron blocks, than I thought I was.  I counted and I only have ten more blocks to do!  Whoohooo!!!

After I decided to quit for the evening, I went upstairs to relax some.  That's when I saw the temperature block sitting there, pinned and ready to appliqué.  Just to keep this real and to explain the situation with the less then perfect picture.  I don't have a bunch of fancy equipment.  I take the pictures where I am, at the time of day it happens to be, and with no staging.   The block below is on a banana pillow, that I put on my lap to support my wrist, while I do hand appliqué.  

This is why the block looks all wavy....lol....and to add to this, if I want to do appliqué in the evening in my chair, I have to turn on the floor lamp, which is the yellow tone of light on the right hand side and the extra Ottlite daytime table lamp, which is the white tone of light on the left.....lol.  Then if I need to write up my evening post on my computer and the battery runs low, I need to unplug one of the lights to plug in the computer....lol.  Oh, boy...confession time or what!  I didn't realize how ridiculous/pathetic I have it set up, until now....lol.  Going to have to do something about my set up.

If anyone has any suggestions for lighting and how you store or put aside your work until you want to work on it again later, please share your best practices (pictures would be nice too).  At the moment the side of my chair looks like an unkept mess of various handwork items that I am working on.  They're all laying on my footstool.  Looks like an accident waiting to happen....lol.  There must be a better system.....  Let me know!

Take care everyone.

February's temperature block

As my daughter would say, I did all the adulting things....lol....so with all that stuff done, I decided to take some time to play.  There are a few required blocks for January still not done, but oh well.  I can catch up on those pretty easily some time this week.  

I got a late start yesturday, but I am still happy with what I got done.  By the time I went upstairs to make dinner, I had about half of February's block pieced.  I made this paper template that I shared with you a couple of days ago.  Today, I thought I would share with you a bit of the process.  All the wedges are roughly cut into a rectangle, until I determine the position of the seam, at which time, I then trim the one angle and sew it to the paper on the wrong side.

Because this is a circle I made a slit along the 1st and the blank 30th date, so that I can fold back the paper more easily and work with the wedges.  Above is the picture of the good side, or what will be the finished side.  When all the wedges are done, I will then fold the paper along the slit and sew the last wedge to the first one.  Then the circle will be complete.

This next picture is the back side of the completed circle.  I almost took all the paper off, before I thought that maybe some would like to see the process.  The middle seams are ironed up or down, alternating with each wedge, which helps if the position of the seams are the same when they are side by side.  In that case they would then nest easily together.

It was a bit late when I got this circle done.  I still have a few tucks to make here and there, but the circle is pretty much ready to be appliquéd to the background now.  It looks a bit odd at this stage.  Especially when there is a blank space, up toward the top, which represents the 30th day of the month.  Being that the block is for February, means there is no 30th day.  Hence the blank.  I did insert a wedge there, though you can't tell as it is the same colour as the background.

I have all month to get this appliquéd, however as I am excited to be back working on this quilt, I expect to have this done within a few days, baring having to do the adulting things....lol.  I just love that term.  It's a way of making fun of things that can sometimes seem like drudgery.  A positive spin on it....lol.

Take care everyone.  Have a great week.

Striking colourful tree branches (QW)

I'm still working on the pieces for the temperature quilt.  Yesturday I managed to sew each days high and low fabric together, for each month.  They are all in baggies ready to go.  Now I have all the fabric cleaned up and put away until I need them.  I kept February's block pieces out, as today is already February.....where did the time go!

Anyways, rather than bore you with another picture of just pieces, I went onto the achieves and came up with this beautiful quilt.  This quilt was made by a friend, way back in February/2024!  I've been holding on to these two photos since then.  

This friend really likes using batik fabrics.  This was a really nice use of the fabrics.  I love the meshing of colours at random and I really love the organic style tree branches.  The individual blocks are all different, as the pattern uses a rectangle to start off with, but then slices them up randomly for each one.  

The blocks are slices down the middle or there abouts.  Then you treat each side individually.  You can slice the one half twice or just one time, making a steep angle or a smaller angle.  It is completely up to you.  Then you insert a 1" strip to form the branch.  Once you're done both sides, you then attach both sides back together with a 1" strip.  Once your done, you would trim the blocks to a common size.

Here is a close up of the blocks.  All sorts of fabrics were used in here.  Enlarge the photo and you will see the variety that went in here.  The pictures do not do this quilt justice.  You'll have to trust me when I say that it was gorgeous!!  Up close, my eyes kept feasting on the assortment of combinations.  Fabrics that you wouldn't think to put together mingled quite nicely.

I would like to make one of these quilts, but using my scraps.  The largest piece of fabric needed would be the rectangles and I have plenty of strings that can be cut into 1" strips.  I'll have to add this one to my bucket list.  Mine would likely be a bit more tame, as I don't have all of these gorgeous bright batiks like my friend has, but I still think it could be affective.  I think I will like doing the improve piecing.

Take care everyone.

Star appliqué block complete

I've been working on a lot of things lately.  Mainly trying to get all of my required blocks done for each week.  That has been my priority.  This star appliqué block was the last block to be done for the month and just in the nick of time.....lol.  This is part of the Welcome to the North Pole quilt.  You'll notice that the stars are a bit organic....I don't know how else to describe it.  The shapes are not intended to be perfect.  The whole quilt is a bit on the organic side....lol.  Something I am going to have to get used to.

My next block for February is called Slick's Sleds.  Here is a sneak peek of the colours and pieces.  I've already rough cut all of the pieces for the block.  I have my overlay and I am ready to get started!

As the theme of this post started with stars, I thought I would throw this quilt in here too.  This was part of the show and share from one of the ladies in our monthly Saturday sew day.  She made stars.  This quilt is a gift to her friend who is retiring.  The quilt is lap size.  The maker knew that her friend liked things that are more on the feminine side, which is how she selected the fabrics.  I don't think there was an actual pattern for this quilt, or I wasn't told what it was, if there was one.  

It's interesting how it has the background pattern that creates radiating diamonds from the centre star block all the way out to the perimeter of the quilt.  It adds movement.  The play of light and medium fabric colours to make this subtle effect.  Then the maker added in a burgundy flange before adding the last two borders.  Very pretty.

Take care everyone.

Short update

Just a short update.  Yesturday I finished cutting all the fabric wedges I need to complete all the months for the temperature quilt.  It was interesting cutting them all at the same time and seeing the mesh of colours change throughout each block.  The picture below shows the warmer months.  The top page is July.  As I was cutting, I noticed that the hottest day of the year was in June, but the hottest month of the year was July.  Interesting....  I am sure there will be other things that stand out, as I actually put it all together.

Just for fun, I decided to take another picture of January's block that is already finished.  What a contrast to the months you see in the picture above!

I am happy that I am finished all the cutting for now.  The only cutting left to do will be for the months that have 31 days in them, as I will need to cut two circles to go in the centre.

Today after work, I am off to my mom's place for dinner, so the sewing of the highs and lows pieces will have to wait until the weekend.  I have some quilting to do as well, but when I need to take a break, I'll definitely work on these blocks.  I am enjoying preparing them.  This will also make it faster to assemble each month....I'm all for that!!!  lol

Take care everyone.  Have a great Friday!!  

Moving along with my temperature quilt

I started tracking the daily temperatures for 2024 in Jan/2024 and continued for the first few months.  I did a detailed post about making the first block for January, back on Dec 13/2025 called Started a temperature quilt for the days of 2024, in case you want to read more about it.

I mentioned on Jan 4th's post, that this is a paper piece block that is then appliquéd to the background fabric.  I was going to start this back up in February, as a BOM, as I have January's block already complete, however as you can see, I am getting a head start on it.

In the picture below, the top sheet of paper shows all of my colours to represent the temperatures.  The bottom sheet is the paper template I made for the month of October.  Over the past few days, I've been working on finishing off the paper templates for the whole year.  I had most of the outlines done from before, and all I needed to do was draw the lines in each date, to show where my highs and lows were going to be positioned in the wedge.  Those are now all done for each month.

Now I am starting to cut the coloured fabrics.  Yesturday I started and finished all the days in December.  Today I did the same for October.  If you want to get an idea of what these blocks will look like, check out the post of Dec 13/2025, where I posted the finished block of January.

This next picture is the top half of the wedges that will represent the temperature for each day.  The first day starting at the top of the circle.  As this is paper piece the colours are currently in reverse.  They are laying on the sewing side and when sewn will be on the other side of the paper.

This circle look quite different than January.  This one is where the temperature is starting to cool off in October, with some nice days in there too.  The above picture is of all the highs in October and the picture below is where I have introduced the lows in October.  This is where you really see that the temperatures are getting cooler.

What I've done with these fabric pieces, to keep things organized is taken, in reverse, each day and sewn the seam for the high and the low, to keep them together.  I didn't break thread, just kept sewing them, day by day, until I finished all of them.  I folded them, stacking them on top of each other.  The little packet in the picture at the very top, is how I am storing each month.  This way if I have them all cut, I can put all the fabrics away and only have to handle the packet when I need to work on it.

I'm hoping to make the packets for all the months in the next few days, so that I can find my sewing room again....lol.  I really do know how to make a "creative" mess....lol.  At least that is what I am calling it...lol.  I'm enjoying this process.  Taking my time to put everything together.  After this part is done, I can then make February's block.  It will be so much easier to do each block with all the prep work done.

I am looking at the last picture above and I like the play of the colours that make up the circle.  I can't wait to see how the other months turn out!!

Take care everyone.

Scrap Attack quilt progress

I received these blocks as a gift from the Guild members, as a thank you for my work as president.  I posted about it back on Aug 27/2025 if you want to read more about this quilt.  

During the Christmas break when I had the week between Christmas and New Years off, I pulled out the blocks for this quilt and put them back up on my design wall.  I am making this my main, primary project, after I complete the blocks from my list of required blocks.

I wanted to make the quilt just a bit bigger then I would have had with the gifted blocks, so I am making some along the way to fill in the areas to complete the quilt.  Since I put these quilt blocks back on the design board, I made four more blocks and was able to then assemble the bottom two rows of what you see on the wall.  It's coming together!  There are now five rows put together.

Here is a sample of a single block.  The members only instructions were to think of me and make it bright....lol.  I'd say this person succeeded.  This particular block is going along the perimeter, as I am trying to make a secondary design that merges into the first border.  

If you look at the first picture above, in the top left hand corner, you will get a glimpse of what I mean.  All the perimeter block's strings, that run along the border are going to be blue, and they will mesh with the first small blue border.

There is no rush for this quilt, so I am enjoying doing it at my leisure.  A block here, a block there.  No stress, no deadlines.  I want to start doing more quilts where I can slow down and just enjoying the process.  It's much more relaxing.

Take care everyone.