A side quest...

If you are only interested in quilt related content, then you need not read any further.  This post is about my side quest.....lol.  Doesn't that term evoke mischief?  LOL.  Picture me with a mischievous grin and a wink....lol...it's not me starting another quilt...lol.....BUT.... I am starting something new.

For the fun of it and just to make sure I was using the right term, I googled it.  Here is what is says about the phrase side quest.  It is an optional task, secondary pursuit, or distraction taken on alongside your main goal or daily routine.  LOL, I definitely have the right term!!!  All of the above definition applies here.

For about a year now, I have been desperately wanting to learn how to knit socks.  Yes, you heard that correctly.  Socks!!  I am not sure where that comes from, but there you have it.  I have done some knitting in the past, but nothing like socks.  Socks you need to use five needles to form the tube shape that form the sox and use a different technique to turn the heel and then shape the toe section.  It will be interesting.....  Here is the back of the book I purchased for different patterns/styles of socks. 

 

The book is called Knit Socks for those you love.  It has 11 family friendly designs in a variety of sizes.  The book is published by Leisure Arts, authored by Edi Eckman.

I haven't decided which pair of socks I plan to make out of the book yet.  I bought two different colours of yarn to make two different pairs.  The first pair I am going to make, is a simple pattern from Patons, called The Basic Knit Socks.  This pattern was recommended to me by an instructor at Mary Max.  She uses this pattern when she runs classes.  It shows in detail, with pictures, all the steps to making socks.

   

As you can see above, I have my pattern, my needles and space keeper for marking your place when you need to keep track of changes in stitches or directions.  Below are the two colours I chose to go with.  Oh my goodness, the choses were numerous!!  Rows upon rows of different colours and yarn content.  It was really hard to choose!  In the end, I went with something a bit flashy and something a bit more subdued.  The flashy pink/orange combo was a recommendation from the instructor.  She said she made a pair of socks using it and really liked the outcome.

I am really looking forward to spending some time learning to make socks.  I am heading to my mom's place today to make some sauerkraut and coleslaw.  After those are done, we will have the rest of the day to tackle these socks.  I am going to read the directions and attempt to make them per the directions, but it will be nice to have my mom there with me, as she is a pro at kniting.

While we were at Mary Max, I also bought 8 skeins of wool for her to remake my sweater.  She made a sweater for me approximately fifteen years ago, and just recently it started to break.  The end of the sleaves are unraveling and the elbows now have holes.  My mom offered to make me another one and as this sweater was one of my favorites, that was wore all the time, why would I not say YES!!! 

I'll share pictures of my progress in the next post.  

Take care everyone.

A bit of quilt related house cleaning

This week I am on vacation, or should I say a staycation....lol.  Still not used to that term...lol....vacation means to vacate/vacant.  Which to me is still appropriate, no matter where you spend it, as you are not at your employment working (you are vacant), but that is just my opinion....lol.  To each, his/her own.

We are already in the evening of Thursday, which means my vacation is almost over.  Where has the time gone?  For this week, I have been trying to allot time for various things that I want to do or need to be done.  It has been busy with lots of different things.  Today is the first day I had available to do my own thing in my quilting studio.

A lot of the stuff I did today though was not really worthy of pictures.  I did a bunch of quilting house cleaning.  Finishing off loose ends and cleaning up the space.  I finally finished attaching the binding to the three NICU quilts that I made recently.  The stars quilt, strings quilt and Eeyore are now in the done pile.  They are ready to go to Project Linus who will deliver them to a hospital. 

I also made and attached the binding to my own King size Christmas quilt and it is now ready to be tacked down on the back by hand.  Lots of time for that....lol....Christmas is not for another seven months...lol.  I also ironed a good amount of fabrics that I received and washed.  Getting it ready to use in other charity quilts.  My sewing table and surrounding areas are finally starting to look clean again.  Clear surfaces makes me happy!!

The one thing that I am excited about....  I finished the Distelfink appliqué bird block.  Yeay!!!

All of the fabrics I used for the appliqué are from my scraps.  This block will eventually get some borders, to bring the size up to 25" square.  This is the approx. size that I make them for a NICU quilt.  I think it's cute and I think it turned out nice!  

This block was part of a workshop that a friend and I hosted for the members of the guild.  It's nice to have this done.  Several of the other participants have already brought their block in to show for show and share at out last guild meeting.

Tomorrow I am off to my mom's place, so no quilting tomorrow........but wait until you see what I will be doing tomorrow.  I'll share it with you then.  I have a side quest....

Take care everyone.  Enjoy the beautiful weather we are having.

Disappearing Hour Glass block (QW)

When I was in Peterborough on Friday visiting a friend, she took me down to her quilting studio and showed me what she was working on.  Recently she participated in a guild workshop.  They did a technique where you make a block and cut it up to make different sample blocks depending on how you moved and rotate the individually cut pieces.  

One of the blocks was this disappearing hour glass block.  This is so similar to a block that I have listed as a (QW), that I decided to take a picture to compare.  It looked the same or similar, but different and I couldn't figure out why.  I took a picture of the instructions as well, for when I am ready to make them.

When I got home from the workshop, I searched through my posts, with the "(QW)" in the search bar of my blog and found the block that I had saved to make in future.  The post is called Finished quilting the HHQG quilt from Mar 18/2019.

After examining the two blocks, I realized the difference between them is just the rotation of the centre four patch.  The one I want to do rotates it to get a slightly different centre star.

The one good thing that came about by seeing this block, was that now I have the instructions and I now know what the finished size would be, if I use 5" charm squares.  The blocks would finish at 7" in a quilt.  So my conclusion is that I can use my two identical charm packs to make this, however I likely won't.  The blocks would be too small and fussy with those tiny little triangles in the corner.  

If I were to make this one, I think I would start off by using some chunks of scraps and cut them into 8" squares.  At 8" squares you could even use fat quarters and get four squares out of each.  Hhmmm...that is something to ponder....  Using up lesser liked fat quarters and cutting them down to make this block may work.  They would be then again, cut up smaller while making this block....  Things to think about.

Take care everyone.

Show and Tell quilt pattern (QW)

Yesterday while I was at Annie's Quilt Shop in Orono, ON doing a workshop, I saw a quilt they had on the wall.  The pattern is called Show and Tell by Elizabeth Hartman.  It was the cutes thing!

I bought the pattern.....not because I want to make this large 75" x 85" quilt, but because I think that each of these individual animals are so cute, and they in themselves would make a very cute toddler quilt, with a border around them.  I love the idea of an animal in the quilt, holding a quilt.  You could do any quilt pattern you wanted.  You could also use an orphaned block with borders, to make the quilt the animal is holding.  Many possibilities....

I think I am going to look over the pattern and see which one I want to make first, then I'll have a look in my box of orphaned blocks to see what I have.  It'd be a fun way to use them up and get them in a quilt.  If I have a bunch of smaller orphan blocks, I could make a sampler of sorts....wouldn't that be fun.

Anyways, I have it here in my blog with my usual (QW), so I can be reminded of the quilts I want to make.  (QW) stands for Quilt Want-to-be....lol.  Putting it here helps me control how many quilts I actually start.  My main focus right now is finishing quilts I already started.

PS Before I even finished this post, I couldn't resist looking at the pattern, which is actually a book.  Didn't realize that when I bought it, as it was in a bag.  I know the finished size of those quilts the animals are holding, so my brain is already making plans......  Who wants to guess how long it takes for me to breakdown and start one of theses quilts....lol.

Take cares everyone.

Wood Barn Block

I had a fabulous time today at Annie's Quilt Shop, up in Orono which is near Clarington, on the way up to Peterborough.  I spent the night at a friend's place in Peterborough, so that I wouldn't have far to go to get to the workshop that she and I did today.  Nice shop and friendly mother and daughter duo running the shop.

The workshop was about painting wood barn blocks.  It started at 9:00 am and went all the way to 4:00 pm.  I just barely made it....lol!!!  The block pattern that I chose to do and the multiple colours, was a bit more on the time consuming side, especially when you factor in all the taping that is involved with each colour.  This is my colourful, but subdued barn block.   

The blocks are 24" square, so there was a lot to paint by hand, and the colours I chose required three coats!!  Except the raspberry colour.....that one required a base coat of the purple and four coats of raspberry to get good coverage.  I am loving my block!

One of the other ladies did the same block as me, except she did hers more neutral with blue, greys and a white background.  Same block, but they look completely different.  Hers looks sophisticated, whereas mine looks more playful.  All of the blocks there were pretty and the owner made so many others.  They were all different and all gorgeous.  There are 12" blocks too, if you don't what to commit to such a large block. 

Then there was the one that my friend made.  This one I remember the name of.  It is called Carpenter's Star block.  My friend gravitates to the warmer colours.  She is also a longarmer and she plans to put this up on the front porch, so that people will see it from the road.  Her customers won't doubt that they are at the right address....lol.

The fourth person there did this next block.  Unfortunately, you don't see the true effect of this block.  The colours are off a bit.  The perimeter colour is actually a pale taupe, which brings out the warmth of the warm grey parts.  The centre star is full on white.  In person the two colours have more contrast and the white stands out more with a pop.

All in all, we all had a very nice time.  The class was small and quaint, and the conversation was never ending....lol.

This was a really nice start to my holiday week.  I am so relaxed and content.  I am going to try to keep that mood/feeling going.  Note to self....no stressing, keep calm and take time to relax and enjoy the time off work!!

Take care everyone.

A little bit more

Yesterday, after my morning routine, I started the morning with some quiet time doing some slow stitching.  I worked on the Distelfink appliqué bird.  I attached the last feather of the tail and most of the bird body.  The head part of the body has to wait until I do the two feathers and beak, that insert beneath the head.  As I sew them on, I can then close off the head.  

As you can see, the body is an odd shape.  Basically, when doing appliqué, to avoid bulk, you only have to extend the first layer a 1/4" underneath the next layer that finishes the whole shape.  In this case it is the wing.  The wing that you see on the right hand side will fit right into that empty space.  It will overlap the bird body by the 1/4" and closing off the end of the stem as well.

Just in case you are wondering about the white patches on the background.  Those are the pattern of the ironing board beneath the appliqué piece.

I am sitting here admiring the progress that is being made, yet I am debating those two leaves......I am wondering if I should change them for something a bit darker.....they seem to be blending into the background a bit more then I would like.....hmmm.....I'll have to think about it.  In person they stand out a bit more then what you see in the picture.

Tonight, after work, I am off to Peterborough to stay with a friend, as we are both going to take a workshop to make a large painted barn block.  I am so excited to have some down time with a friend and participating in the workshop.  It will be fun!!  It's a full day workshop and by end of day, I should have a pretty painted wood barn block.

Take care everyone.  For those in Canada, enjoy your long weekend, as we celebrate Victoria Day.

Distelfink appliqué bird

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Fruit Loops quilt

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Take care everyone.

April's paper piece temperature wheel

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

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

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

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

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

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

Take care everyone.

Star quilt progress

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Take care everyone.

Dinosaurs

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

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

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

Hope everyone had a great weekend.  Take care everyone.

Inspirational Star quilt (QW)

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

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

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

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

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

Take care everyone.

Thimble Blossoms wool applique quilt

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

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

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

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

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

Take care everyone.

Simple and pretty quilt to do, using 10" layer cakes (QW)

I found this quilt in my pictures from back in March/2024.  I quilted this in an edge to edge design.  This quilt is a pretty quilt that uses 10" layer cake squares.  This one went to Project Linus and is approximately 42" square.  Pretty pastel Easter egg colours with white sashing.  

I have also marked this in the title, as (QW) = Quilt Want-to-be, for something that I want to make in the future.  The (QW) is what I use for my search engine, when I want to go back to see what I may want to make, when I am ready to start something new.

I don't have the name of the pattern or the actual sizes, but I can see myself pulling out a bunch of darker fat quarters, that have a fall theme to them and making it larger for an adult.  Out of a fat quarter, you can start with cutting 8" squares.  You would get four from each fat quarter.

I would then cut the 8" square in half and take one half and cut it too in half.  Then you can either use your background fabric or any accent fabric using 1" strips to sew between the two cuts that you made to the square.  

In the above example they used the same fabrics for the whole block, but you could mix and match them too.  Open your mind to the possibilities and have fun, is my moto!!  LOL!

Take care everyone.

Bitcoin quilt, another Quilt for Survivors and inspiration (QW)

Back in May/2023 I finished making a quilt with Bonnie Hunter's pattern called Bitcoin.  It's not for the faint of heart with all those tiny pieces, but it used up all of the miscellaneous lengths of strips in my 1 1/2" pre-cut strips drawer.  And as they were small pieces, you could get away with using stuff that just doesn't seem to go with anything in a quilt.  This is a quilt for anything but the kitchen sink....lol.

It does take a while to make, but I have a whole stack of "didn't know what to do with" trips used up!!  Up close and personal, this quilt is a bit more bright than in the picture above.  Still on the pastel side, but more vibrant.  I used everything and anything in here, but you could also choose to make it more coordinated and cohesive with a controlled colourway. 

I also quilted this quilt for Quilts for Survivors.  I don't have any details on the pattern, as I only did the quilting.  It doesn't look too difficult to figure out and you can use the sizes that would fit best for your own stash.

Lastly, I wanted to share this quilt image.  I can't tell you where this one comes from.  I believe it was on Pinterest, so if anyone knows the designer and/or pattern name please let me know.  

This is a simple design using one quarter of a log cabin block, which is rotated up and down, with blocks laid on a diagonal.  It's cute how the corner squares bop up and down along the horizontal rows.  This maker did the same corner colour, the same white background for the middle two strips and then a shade of pink for the last two strips of the block.  But you can choose whatever colours you prefer.

This is a nice simple block that goes together quickly but looks more complicated when it is laid out and assembled.  I have this marked in the title, as (QW) = Quilt Want-to-be, for something that I want to make in the future.  The (QW) is what I use for my search engine, when I want to go back to see what I may want to make, when I am ready to start something new.

Take care everyone.

Saturday workshop

A friend and I hosted a hand appliqué workshop for the HHQG members.  There were eight people in attendance and six if us doing appliqué.  The others were sewing other projects on their machines.

During the class, we all made an acetate plastic template of the full block, to help with placement.  We taught them how to do vines with a bias bar to get a very smooth stem. Then we moved on to showing them how to do regular appliqué and reverse applique on the heart.  We covered placing the stem and heart using the acetate template.  They learned how to overlap the stem to cover the end beneath the heart and also how to then trim back the background fabric prior to finishing off the outside of the heart.  

The heart used two different colours, but you only had to appliqué the one shape.  In my case above, the pink was my background fabric for the heart and I only appliquéd the red portion, both the perimeter (regular appliqué) and the inner heart (reverse appliqué).  This also took care of learning outside curves, inside curves, outside points and inside point...twice...lol!  

Appliqué is a slow process and requires patience.  The workshop was from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm and in that time, most of us got to this stage.  Just these few steps though, shown in different techniques, will be sufficient to proceed to finish the block.

I did send everyone additional instructions in an email, just to go over the overlapping part a little more in depth, as the bird requires many pieces to fit underneath the bird body and letting them know that the body is not whole under the wing and that there is only the 1/4" seam that goes under the wing.  

There were also some additional tips and tricks showing different methods on how to address appliqué in different ways.  The outcome is the same, but the execution is sometime different.  We went through lots and lots of information.  Hopefully they were not overwhelmed.

After I got home and spent some time cleaning up the yard (it was such a beautiful day), I went down to my quilting studio to put away all the stuff I brought to the workshop, which was way more than I needed...lol.  I still had some energy so decided to cut out all the pieces for the appliqué, before putting the fabrics away.

This is the pattern we went with.  This is a version of the Distelfink bird.  According to Google it is a prominent bird in Pennsylvania Germen (Dutch) folk art, representing happiness and good fortune.  These stylized birds symbolize joy and harmony within German-American cultural traditions.

I am making mine all bright and colourful.  All the others have chosen many different colourways.  They will all be nice and reflect the maker's personality.  When I finish my block, I will be making it into a NICU quilt, with some additional pieced blocks and borders surrounding it.

Take care everyone.

A couple of updates/progress

Guess what finally made it's way onto the longarm?  It took a while!!  I had this quilt top done before Christmas.  It didn't get quilted right away as I got frustrated that the backing was not big enough and had to unload the whole thing to make the backing bigger.

But.....I can now call it quilted!!!  Yesterday it took me the best part of the day and I didn't finish it until after 9:30 pm.  It's looking great though and I am really glad to have this king size quilt done!

I also stated working on this wool penny wall hanging again, while I was standing there keeping an eye on the quilting.  I previous wrote about this back on Oct 13th & 14th/2025, if you want to read all the details about it.  

I am now sewing these penny circles to the background fabric.  So far I have nine sewn on.  I have enough circles complete to finish one quarter of this wall hanging, so I will work on it as I can.  This is a good hand work piece to do while I still pay attention to the quilting.

I am liking how the colours are popping when they are sewn to the black background.

Take care everyone.

Medallion quilt inspiration (QW)

To start off with, if anyone knows the name of this pattern or where I can get the instructions, name or maker, please let me know in the comments.  I really want to make this!!

Update:  Pattern is called Timeless by Lynn of Sew'n Wild Oaks Quilting Blog and fabrics are called Timeless Stitches by Marcus Fabrics.  More details regarding this quilt can be seen though this address:  https://sewnwildoaks.blogspot.com/  

I fell in love with this quilt the minutes I saw it.  There are not many medallion quilts that I can say I love all aspects of.  I wouldn't change a thing.  I like the soft background fabrics that showcase all the various blocks and the colours are so Spring!!  

I contacted the maker of this quilt to inquire if there is a pattern coming soon.  Hopefully there will be.  In the meantime, I am lurking on her blog and checking out all the other lovely things she has been making.  She also has many other beautiful patterns for quilts to inspire you.  Take a look.  You won't be disappointed!!

UPDATE:  The pattern is out!!  I have my copy.  Now to collect the fabrics.

Take care everyone.

Pooh Bear blocks

Today I have the day off work.  I am working hard on learning to take it easy.  To relax and go slow.  That has always come hard for me, as I seem to always want to be doing something to get ahead.  To try this and that.  Basically, to do it all!  But I am learning that it is not good for my health. 

There are many other things that we as humans do, that are not good for our health.  Gradually I am trying to remedy all the aspects of my life. to contribute to a healthier lifestyle.  It's been a long journey so far and I've got a lot more to do, but one step at a time, making new habits and changing the composition of my mind and body.

I'm telling you all this, to explain why my posts have been more sporadic these days.  I still love my quilting and posting about all that I and others do, but all the things that I have to concentrate on to better my health takes time and focus.  So, I've had to cut back on some things to make everything work.

I'm hoping that once things become habit and I am where I want to be, that I can then again concentrate on my quilting passion.  Until then.....things will be a little bit less intense.  I think that if I commit to posting on the weekends and Wednesdays, I should be able to manage it.  If you get a little in between, then that will just be a bonus!!

Enough of all that.  Let me show you what I have taken the time to do recently.  I was given some Winnie the Pooh Bear blocks.  I showed you the one previously of Eeyore.  Now I am showing you what I've done so far with the next three blocks in the panel.

Here is Winnie the Pooh himself!  I didn't like the simplicity of the soft grey shades.  The background is a soft bluish grey, Pooh bear's shirt was a dark grey textured pattern and the honey pot was dark grey wood grain.  So one day, I borrowed my mom's wax crayons.  She keeps them on hand for the grandchildren that may pop by and want to colour.  I decided I wanted to colour these block to make them more appealing to me.  

Then we have Tigger.  The original block, only had Tigers main body shaded in a with a light grey tone.  I coloured him per his true self, all in orange, pink nose and yellow belly and face.  Much more cheerful!!!  More spunky, as is Tigger.  Or maybe that should read bouncy....

The last block I decided to colour in, was one of my favourite characters from this book/movie.  Piglet!!  Piglet was originally shaded in a medium grey for her body, ears and nose.  Again, I coloured her per her true self, dark pink and light pink.  Isn't she cute!!

  

Now I need to get the parchment paper out to iron the blocks and set the crayon.  When you set the crayon, it melts and really bonds with the fabric, making it permanent.  Then I am going to come up with some ideas for blocks and borders to enlarge these small panels.

I think I mentioned this before in a previous post, but just in case you didn't see it,,,,  To entertain kids of all ages, you can use colouring books and trace the designs on plain white fabric, held taught by a piece of parchment paper.  Then put out the crayons and let everyone go to town on colouring them all in.  It makes for a couple of fun hours and colouring is very relaxing for the adults. 

Take care everyone.

Scrap Attack quilt

I've been working on the scrap attack blocks.  These are a bunch of blocks that the HHQG members made for me, as I parting gift for being president.  The picture below shows four blocks and in this case they were all made by the same maker.  The only instructions they were given was to think of me and make it bright and scrappy......lol......I am known for making scrap quilts.....lol.

I got about 40-45 blocks from the members.  The blocks were all different.  Very different!!  It is my job now to make some bridging blocks to, one, make the quilt a bit bigger than the initial blocks would allow and two, to try and blend all the various blocks of various colours and styles.  That last one is the hardest.

Some people went all bright, some went medium.  Others did coordinated and the majority of the others did completely scrappy.  What a mélange of blocks!!  Was I up for the task?  At first I was frozen.  I just didn't know if I was going to be able to make all the blocks turn out cohesive in a quilt.  

I thought I would show you an example of a small corner section that I just recently pulled together.  Above is the main section that was done.  Below you will see another set of four blocks that someone else put together.  This maker made each corner a specific colour.  Beside this second block, is another set of blocks that was made primarily with beige and brown, which is why I put it beside the gold/orange, to help these blocks blend.  

The first block has some blues in the right hand side to blend it into it's neighboring block and the dark pink blends a bit with the red of the block beside it.  I know what you are all thinking.....it looks like a mess of scraps, but you'll have to wait for the overall appearance of the quilt when it's done.  Something magic happens when you move back and look at the whole.

So now it was my job to take some of the other blocks I was given and try to coordinate them with what I had started on the design board.  My intention to help blend everything, is to have the perimeter diamond shapes be all in blue.  In the picture below I zoomed out.  The two blocks from the above picture are in the top right hand side.

So I then found a single, all blue block which was great for the bottom left hand corner.  Then I found a single block that had all blue on the left so I was able to form that blue diamond, on the right of the corner block.  That is how I did it for all the blocks I had been given.  Kept moving, swapping, rearranging.....lol. 

Then I had to make the two left hand side blocks to finish this corner.  Can you see how I used purple for the dart facing down toward the other purple dart of someone else's block.  I used all blue in the left diamond and I started to find similar colours to match the other block's diamond to make it look like a continuous multi colour diamond.  Sorry if that doesn't quite make sense.....  There are lots of darts and diamonds....lol.

I am doing what I can to try and blend everything together.  This corner has a lot of reds, blue and purples, moving out to some greens and golds.  I have another section of the quilt closer to the top that I've already posted about.  Something a bit more coordinated.  If you want to see the progression of this quilt from the start, I posted about it:  Aug 27/2025 called Scrap Attack blocks gifted by Guild members, a little on Dec 29/2025 called An extra Saturday sewing day on a Monday, and Jan 28/2026 called Scrap Attack quilt progress.

We will see how it all comes together in the end.  Wish me luck in managing it!!

Take care everyone.

The next Gathering Flowers appliqué quilt block

On Sunday, I pulled out the next block that I am going to work on for the Gathering Flowers appliqué quilt.  This one has four modernish hearts in the corners with four leaves and four berries separating them.  

The block was started way back when, where I appliquéd the leaves and berries to the background.  I did make an attempt to appliqué the hearts, but at the time, I don't think I had enough skills to pull it off.  I felt my curves were not curvy enough and I had points or concaves in the curves that I just did not like.  So in my frustration, I put it away for a while.

Now this block is back out again.  I picked off the heart pieces that were done and I am debating cutting out the shapes again, so that I won't have to fuss with these misshaped hearts.  I am ok with the slightly imperfect leaves, so they will stay.

I am not sure if you can see the block at the bottom of the picture enough to see the heart shapes stitched to the background.  These stitches act as a guideline for where the hearts are to be placed.  This was a new technique for me, which I think was a little too advance for me at the time.  Plus, as it turned out, I don't like this technique at all.  I reverted back to a few other methods of appliqué that I choose from, depending on what shapes and sizes that I am working with.  

I am going to bring this example to the next HHQG workshop, that is coming up on April 11th, which will be teaching hand appliqué.  Two of us will be teaching the class, which will be great, as we sometimes use different techniques to achieve the same results.  The more examples we can show the students the better.  Then they can pick and choose what method or methods they prefer after they try them all.

Take care everyone.

Dragonfly panel

As it turned out, we had a lot going on this past Saturday, at our sew day.  Here is yet another post of things that went on.....lol.  This is good, as I have not been able to do so much in quilting in the last little while.  

We had one of the ladies bring some show and share.  This will be a gift for her daughter.  She started with a dragonfly panel.  Apparently these panels came in purple as well. 

This time she did the low volume grey and beige version.  This is really pretty and the colours are so calming.  I like dragonflies.  They are unique.  This person added a couple of additional borders with two sides one colour and the opposite corners a different colour.  In this case a lighter grey and a tan/beige.  When she added the two borders, she did a mitered corner, where the two different colours meet.  That's a nice touch.  Then she did the second border the same, just in reverse.  Really pretty.

I was so caught up in the moment and admiring the quilt and quilting, that I forgot to take close up pictures.  So the maker was nice enough to take some photos and send them to me.  To be honest, that day I forgot a lot of opportunities to take a bunch more pictures of quilting candy/inspiration.  This person had several mini quilts that I thought were cute and I forgot to take pics of those too.  I don't know where my head was....lol.

Anyways, this here is a close up picture so you can see the centre, the panel, a bit better.  If you enlarge the picture some, you can check out how she quilted the borders.  She did two vines all the way around and added leaves to them.  It was well done!

She sent me this picture too, which is of the back.  Here you can see better all the quilting she did on the dragonfly.  So detailed that this side makes me think of a whole cloth.  It's like she did an outline of all the sections of the dragonfly wings!  It looks real life.  I love it!

I am sure that her daughter is going to love it!!  It is just the perfect size for a larger wall hanging or a small lap size quilt.

Take care everyone.  Wishing everyone a good Easter for those who celebrate it.