Appliqué block for March

Yesturday afternoon, after I brewed my cup of tea, I gathered my appliqué block for March.  I've been wanting to get this one started for a couple of weeks now, but time just would not allow it.  I decided that now is the time.  I sat and had my tea and admired the vine parts of the appliqué that were already done.  I did that part years ago.  I did the vine parts on most of the blocks years ago...lol.  

Sometimes that's just how it goes.  Appliqué is an on and off thing for me.  I like handwork, a lot, but finding the time, literally hours, to sit and do it is hard....or at least it is for me.  Especially went there are so many other things that I also want to do!!

I forgot to take the before picture.  So above is when I remembered to take a picture.  I just finished sewing on that bud and pinned the two leaves.  The block is laying on top of the pattern paper that I have all the pieces pinned to.  The paper is face down, so you just see the pencil marks, of the shapes and where they go, in the background.

Below is how much I was able to do in the time I had.  I stitched the two leaves and added the green part of the bud, and later the two berries.  

Now, just to keep things real and give you a gauge as to how long this handwork stuff takes, from the time I started, it took me 2 1/2 hours to sew on the full bud and both leaves.  Then after dinner and taking the dog out for a walk, I gave it another go and worked on the two berries.  The berries, starting from scratch, took me about 45 minutes using the perfect circle method.  That's where you gather the fabric around the perfect circle shape with a basting stitch, then starch and iron to set your shape.

All aspects of appliqué take time, but that's what's nice about it too.  You sit quietly working away with no rush or hurry.  You, the fabric pieces, thread, needle and your thoughts, turning out a pretty block that's special, because of the amount of dedication you give to it.  I really do enjoy the process of it.

As I was getting ready to shut down for the evening, I thought maybe you might want to see how I set things up to do my appliqué blocks.  I have this ironing board that I made with a piece of 3/4" thick wood and an ironing pad that I cut down to fit.  The board measures about 16" x 24", give of take.  The padding is thick enough to stick pins in it and they stay upright.  

My plastic template pieces have holes that I've punched through them, and I use pins through the holes to hold the templates on the board, on the right hand side.  I also stick pins in the pad standing upright, to hold the small spools of thread, so when I travel with my board to another room, everything stays put.  There's plenty of room for my paper pattern with the pieces to sit flat on the left side. 

Then finally, I use this tube shaped pillow to support my arms, just below my wrist, while I am appliquéing the pieces to the background.  I find the pillow puts the handwork at the right height to see the stitches without having to be hunched over too much.  Overall I feel it helps keep a better posture and relieves any stress on the upper body and your hands. 

I might try to do some more of this later today, but for now I need to head to the kitchen to make some breakfast and take care of a few things.  Have a great day!!

Take care everyone.

A Spring quilt made by many hands

I am not sure why it's taken me so long to post about this quilt.  I quilted this quilt back in April 16/2023 for a customer, who then donated it to the HHQG.  I guess it kept getting pushed down, as new pictures were being taken.....and got lost as time moved on!

I like this quilt.  It's a bit of a sampler quilt.  This was a joint effort, made by many hands.  I believe they called it a tinner's quilt.  The way it went was, that there were a bunch of people that decided they wanted to make a quilt.  They each put some fabric in a "tin" and these tins would go around to each person, who would then make some blocks, to make a row or round, that the owner of the tin would then put together.  Depending on what they ended up with, would direct the design of the quilt.

The tin would make it's way around to each person to add in their interpretation of the theme, that was chosen by the owner of the tin and fabrics.  The theme of this quilt, if you haven't guessed it already, was Spring.  You may have to enlarge the next picture to see the words, but it says Spring.

This was another section of the quilt that I thought was pretty.  The pretty paper piece tulips and above them is a block of different bird houses.  This one had some embroidery done to it, for the vines that are growing up the poles.  Do you see the bird perched on the top of one of the bird houses?  So cute!

Maybe it's wishful thinking, but here is hoping that Spring makes an appearance some time soon.....  I am so over all the snow we've been getting.  I want some beautiful sunshine and time outdoors in the garden.  Bring it on!!!

Take care everyone.

A cheerful, whimsical quilt

I thought this quilt was cute.  It's cheerful and whimsical in pretty fabrics.  I'll apologize for the quality of the photo now.  The top half is a better representation of the colours than the bottom half.  I almost forgot to take a picture of it all together and so felt rushed to do it before this quilt left the house.

The majority of the fabrics were Tula Pink, her more feminine style fabrics.  No skulls or wild animals in these fabrics.  I like the cheerful pinks, yellows and greens.

Here is a close up of one block section.  This is the gazebo with some trees and a bird perched on a tree.  It's pretty how the blue sky background is seen through the openings in the gazebo.

Tomorrow, after making the Project Linus drop off in the morning, I am hoping to finally have some time down in my studio.  Not sure what I'll do, but since I've already taken care of the straightening up part, I should have more time to enjoy myself.  Then maybe have more to post about.... .hopefully.  

Take care everyone.

A couple more quilts I had the pleasure of quilting for Quilts for Survivors

Way back in Feb/2024, I was helping out Quilts for Survivors.  I had the pleasures of quilting these two donated tops.  This first one was a very detailed paper pieced turtle.  The centre block was approximately 20" tall and just a bit less wide.  I love how the background fabric picks up all the colours in the centre block.  Up close the turtle looks great!  I'm sorry that I forgot to get a close up.

Then there's this one.  Someone obviously had some sampler blocks and decided to make this top.  I'm going to say that they were more of a random assortment of blocks as the fabrics were different in each block, with only a few that were similar.  But I'd say it still works as there are some common colours in each block.

These were both sent out shortly after I quilted them and my mom helped to attach the binding.  Two more quilts providing some comfort to the recipients.  I've lost count how many I've quilted for Quilts for Survivors.  My hope is to help them out again soon, as I try to get thing here back in order.  

It's a good cause, so if you have any extra blocks sticking around that you don't want or a quilt top, think of them.  They will take them and finish them up.  They have been given the use of a warehouse to get together and assemble the tops and they have a longarm to do the quilting.  Various other longarmers across Canada also help out to get more done.

Take care everyone.

December's paper piece temperature wheel

Sunday, after finishing the March temperature wheel, I was still in the mood to continue.  Instead of moving on to April though, as I still want to follow the months with these blocks, I decided to go all the way to December and work backwards for any times that I can get more done.

This is December's temperature wheel completed.  What a contract to the March temperature wheel that I just finished earlier.  I put the March block below so that you could compare them.

December above, obviously has more colder days of purples, teals and dark blue.  Then we have March that still has some cold days, but the more colder days are heading into the warmer temperatures with an increase in the greens and heading into the pinks.  Pretty cool watching the change.

I really like seeing these wheels come together.  No moving things around to suit your taste.  This is mother nature doing her thing, every day and me recording it accordingly....lol....she is doing a fine job of it....lol....

Take care everyone.

March's paper piece temperature wheel

Yesturday, I spent some time in my sewing space relaxing.  I finished off ironing all the scraps that I washed and from mid-day on, I had some me time.  I have so many things I want to do that sometime when I get to do whatever I want, I just freeze for a bit.....lol.  I have to check in with myself to figure out what it is that I "most" want to do.

So, this time when I checked deep down, I decided that I wanted to make some progress on my 2024 temperature quilt.  I added this quilt to my list of required blocks and decided to try to do at least one a month.  I am following the months.  Being that we are March, I did March's block.  

Can you see how March is starting to show some of the softer colours?  Now we have some pink in there for the warmer temperatures.  Purple is the colder temperatures that move into the blues, then the greens and now the pinks.  

Since this picture was taken, I've taken off the paper and have placed the wheel on the background.  Later, I'll pin it down to the background so that I can appliqué it.  I still have a couple of weeks to meet this deadline, so no rush or worry.

Take care everyone.

A finished blue crumb quilt top

This post will be short and sweet.  I spoke about this little crumb quilt, that I was working on, all day Sunday.  The post was called, Small blue scraps.... from March 9th, so I won't go into too much details again here.

I'll just say that these strips are 2 1/2" wide with a 1/2" strip connecting them together to help avoid all the seams of all those crumb pieces.  I then cut 3" pieces for the borders.

It took some time to make these strips, but I really did enjoy the process.  With no rush or hurry.  Just sitting there with my machine, iron, a good pair of scissors and a backet full of very small crumbs.  Some mindless sewing.

And for those of you who are keeping tabs........yes........this is a newly started quilt.......lol.  But it's done!!!

This is a 25" square NICU quilt that will be going to Project Linus.

Take care everyone.

Yummy colours

I don't have much of my own to share with you at the moment.  Everything is in a partially completed stage.  I like working on many things, but that sometimes leads to longer periods of time before I actually finish something.

So today, I want to share with you this quilt made by a friend.  This was from 2025.  I call it the citrus quilt.  The colours of all the citrus fruits are in there, from lemons, limes, oranges, tangerines, and even pink grapefruit!!  I just love the colours all together. and the block itself adds a bit of spunk too.  With no borders needed!

The backing fabric was perfect for this quilt too.  It's got all the colours of the fabrics in the top.  Little bursts of sunshine!

This is a one block quilt, where the block just keeps getting rotated.  I'm sure any of you could draw up the paper piece pattern for this.

As for me, I am almost done ironing all the little bitty pieces of scraps and sorting all the recently washed fabrics.  I also have all the strips sewn from the tiny blue crumbs, ready to be assembled into a small quilt.  Maybe later today I can get some sewing done.  

We'll see.  My daughter is here today and currently making dinner.  So maybe I should try to slip down there now.....lol.

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

Small blue scraps....

This is the starting point of making a scrap quilt.  First off, I gather up some of my scraps.  In this case I chose to do blue.  I had two quilts in mind when I gathered these scraps up, but today I'll walk you through the making of one of them.  Keep your eyes on that black basket.

My pieces are pretty small.  I would classify this as a crumb quilt.  I am making strips that only measure 2 1/5" wide by about 10-11" long.  I just grab one and sew it to the first one and continue this process until the strip is the length I am shooting for.  

Now you have to realize that these pieces are my really small scraps/crumbs and that some of them don't even measure 2 1/2" wide.  When that happens, which is often, I grab a similar scrap and sew them together, as seen in the strip on the bottom right hand corner of this next picture.

I keep working like this throughout the construction of my strips.  Grab, sew, grab, sew, piece, piece again, grab, sew, grab, sew....processing a lot of very small pieces.  In the picture below I show you my set up.  The pieces in the middle are the ones that already measure at least 2 1/2" long and the pieces toward the bottom are not big enough.  They will need to find a partner to be sewn to.

Did you notice that black basket!!  It is empty!  I can actually say I am making a small dent in using up my crumbs.  I haven't yet opened that bag on the right hand side of the picture....lol.....but, progress none the less!  Once I have enough strips, I am using a blue solid 1" strip to set them together as you see in the picture below.

I have these four strips sewn together, which makes me feel great!  I'm obviously not done this quilt, but I really enjoyed some quiet, relaxing, fun just playing with fabric and making what other people consider to be garbage into something useful.  

These crumb quilts do take more time, but I am trying to see this as a form of meditation.  Focus on only the small pieces.....grab, sew, grab, sew, piece, piece again, grab, sew, grab, sew.  No rush, no worries, just sew one to another and keep going.  If you are going to try this, it would be much easier if you don't have an agenda.  Don't think of the end product, just keep plugging away to a calmer sole.

Take care everyone.

Basket Case borders are on

Last Saturday, I got the borders put on the Basket Case quilt.  It's still waiting to be quilted, but thought I would share it with you.  I've been pretty busy with non-quilting stuff and haven't had much time to sew.  

This is an interesting way to use up  scraps with a geometric block.  It doesn't matter what fabrics you use for this quilt, as it all tends to mess in well.  For a more coordinated look, can you imagine each horizontal line a specific colour (ie hot tones) weaving in and out of the vertical lines another specific colour (ie cool tones).  It would look fabulous!!

For me, I am always trying to find nice patterns to use up my scraps and the scraps that people give me.  This one is a good one!

Excerpt from a previous post:  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.

Take care everyone.

A blue scrappy strings quilt

I started this quilt in March/2025, with four small blocks.  I made a sample, just to see if I liked it and check out the sizing.  I know Bonnie Hunter has a free pattern on her site.  I'll have to look it up to see what she calls it.  I am going with my own size, but otherwise the quilt will basically be the same.

I'm glad I did the four test blocks, as I noted that I prefer a longer, skinnier strip of strings.  I also decided that I didn't like one of the background fabrics that I chose initially.  All the new background fabric is cut out and here is a sample of the four new blocks, together to make up one larger block.

There will be two colours for the background that will alternate throughout the quilt.  I will need to make twenty-four smaller blocks of each background.  The quilt layout will be six blocks across by eight blocks down.  It will look like a lattice.  Between my friend and I, we made enough strips to make 20 blocks and on Sunday I added the background corners to them all.

It may be a while before I get the rest of these blocks done, as I have other things I want to get done first, but it was nice working with blue strings for a change from the red strings....lol.  This blue string quilt is only the first.... I have blue strings overflowing the drawer and need to get them into a quilt.

One at a time.....one at a time....

Take care everyone.

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.