Lots of Hand Stitching and Another Block

A few years ago, I stitched "Let it Bee".  I was cleaning up the top of my cutting table and found it in a pile, waiting to be framed.  I went to Stitch It Central this past week to buy some backing for the secret gift quilt that I have been working on and purchased a 5" hoop for my bee while I was there.  It was well overdue for being framed!  

I went to the weekly guild sewing day earlier this week and spent my time hand quilting the four HST blocks in my Arizona quilt.  The centre part of the quilt is done now and I just have the outer row of squares to do. I bought myself a q-snap frame to use to quilt the outer edge of this quilt.  It can also be used for cross stitch.  

My daughter made four more squares for her book blanket over the last couple of weeks.  She's quite busy at her job right now and doesn't have as much time to read. 

I pulled out my lupins cross stitch picture this week--it just needs some outlining done and then it will be ready to frame.  I got quite a bit done this week and hope to finish this off next week. It feels good to get these almost finished projects to the finish line!

The stems were added on the light purple lupins. 

I'm in the middle of outlining the centre lupin. 

I cut out the background fabric pieces for the remaining blocks of my current piecing project this week and put the purple block together. It takes a little longer to sew all those curved seams so each block takes a while to make.  Five more blocks to make. 

Finn's absolute favourite toy is a squeaky carrot.  His old one needed to be replaced and this new one arrived this week at our house.  He was very excited to take it out of the package and run around the house squeaking it, tail wagging the entire time!

Today is quite chilly with snowflakes in the air, but earlier in the week, when it was 20 degrees Celsius, Finn and I enjoyed some time outside on the front porch in the sunshine. 

I was at a local retirement home this past week doing some volunteering and noticed that the residents had been doing some yarn bombing!  

My friend, Pat, has some snowdrops blooming in her backyard!  So pretty!  

That's it for today.  I will link up with Kathy and Frederique as usual. 

My New Projects and Knitting

I started these blocks at a recent guild retreat after mulling over the design for a couple of months.  I made two at the retreat and one more today.  I have more colours pulled to make nine blocks for this wall hanging. Here is the pink block. 

And here are the three blocks I have made so far. 

The centres are a cute print that I have had in my stash for a few years.  I have the green and blue blocks in line to do next. 

I have been knitting most days this past week and my scarf is now 41.5" long.  I finished off the first ball of wool and have started on the second one now. 

I took an online class with Cheryl Arkison a couple of weeks ago and here is my first block--an improv tree.  In her Scandi Village class, she taught us how she made the trees and houses on her quilt which you can see here.  The background material is leftover from backing of the teal and brown potato chip quilt that I made for my cousin. I am using solid scraps for the trees and houses.  When the background material is gone, I will put the blocks together.  Each tree and house will be a different size depending on the size of the scraps that I use.  It will be a bit of a puzzle to put it all together but I like doing that!  I hope to make some more trees this week. 

I also put a quilt top together that I started at the retreat.  It's a gift so no pictures.  I have to buy a backing for it before I can quilt it.  I don't have anything suitable in my stash. 

We have had some warmer weather this past week.  All of the snow is gone and there are signs of spring in the garden...daffodils are up and the Columbine is showing some life too. 

In the late afternoon, the sun streams in our front windows and Finn found the perfect spot to lie to catch a few rays. 

I am one of those people who like Daylight Savings Time--I love to take a walk in the evening after supper this time of year.  Finn also likes our evening walks. 

He also likes to supervise me in the morning while I dry my hair.  

My daughter has been busy at work so she doesn't have a lot of time to read or crochet these days.  The border on her Christmas blanket did get a bit of attention and is nearing completion.  She still has lots of ends to weave in. There is one more border after the light green one. 

I will link up with Kathy and Frederique as usual.   

Binding and Finn's Approval

It's been a busy week and I have not had much time to sew but I did manage to hand sew the bindings on the two quilts I showed in my last post.  The shadow box quilt has gray binding, the same as the shadows on the quilt. 

Finn approves of the potato chip baby quilt.  

Here is a close up of the backing fabric--I love the paper boats print!

My daughter's book blanket is coming along with nine new squares added in February. 

These squares represent two books read in March so far. 

Here are the books she read in February along with the ratings out of 5. 

The Christmas blanket had some more borders added this week.  There are still 22 pink bobbles to add to the gingerbread border. 

Finn is always willing to offer a "helping" paw while I am hand sewing. 

Here's what I am reading this week--a funny murder mystery with eccentric characters.  

I will link up with Kathy and Frederique.  

Just Got Home from a Quilting Retreat!

Three days and two nights of quilting!  I always bring more with me than I can possibly do while I am at a retreat but I like to have options in case I feel like changing projects.  However, by the time I left today, I only had one project that I did not touch.  Much was accomplished!  I started out slowly with a warm up projects.  I am making nine patch blocks for my Rainbow Scrap Challenge project this year.  March's colour is yellow.  They are a bit brighter than they appear in this picture.  The lighting in the room washed them out a bit. 

 Next up...my shadowbox quilt.  I finished the quilting at home this past week and put the binding on by machine at the retreat.  It is ready for hand stitching this week.  I call the quilting pattern "waffle quilting" and did it with my DSM walking foot. 

Then I worked on a quilt which will be a gift so no pictures yet.  I completed most of the blocks and then ran out of fabric that I needed to complete the last three blocks.  I will work on this at home to finish the blocks soon. 

This I Spy Potato Chip block quilt top was quilted and I put the binding on by machine. More hand stitching to do this week.  I found the backing at my local quilt store on the sale rack. This was my first purchase in 2025 and I only have a small strip of it left after trimming the quilt. It's perfect! The binding was in my stash. 

I have had an idea floating around in my head for a few months now for a wall hanging made with nine blocks.  This morning, I made the first couple of blocks...yes, there are partial seams in these blocks.  The background is Essex linen.  I plan on making each block a different colour.  The next block is underway. 

I also did some hand quilting on my Arizona quilt after marking some more circles on my quilt.  One of the other quilters had a nifty circle marking tool which she let me use.  Here is a picture of the back of the quilt which shows how much is done so far.  Those squares to the left and right of the centre may need circles in them too. 

 

The church sewing group that I belong to is making 1200 inserts for reusable hygiene kits for girls in Malawi.  They cannot go to school when they are menstruating unless they have these kits. We have already made 120 bags to hold the kits and other sewing groups at other churches are making some of the other parts of  the kits.  I have dragged out my serger from hibernation to work on these.  I am getting really fast at my part of the process!  We have 600 made and 600 more to go.  The deadline is the end of the month.  We only have 6 people sewing for a few hours a week. 

My daughter is still working on the borders on her Christmas blanket.  It's a big blanket and it takes a while to work her way all the way around it. 

Finn will soon be coming for his annual stay at our house. I am looking forward to lots of Finn cuddles and walks at the park while he is here.  Stay tuned for his antics!

I will link up with Kathy and the slow Sunday stitchers as well as Frederique.  Take care and have a great week. 

A TaDa Moment!

This afternoon, I added the final stitches to my Winter Woods cross stitch!  There were lots of little stars to add in the sky of several pictures and a bit of backstitching, but not very much. I love this picture and look forward to getting it framed to hang up somewhere in my house next winter.  We have lots of snow right now, although not as much as many places north of us where roads have been closed for days on end as the snowplows try to clear the snow away. 

I spent some time at the sewing machine this week, quilting my shadowbox quilt with a waffle cross hatch pattern.  I have all the lines going across the quilt done and have started the lines of quilting going from top to bottom.   I hope to finish this quilt soon, so I can get quilting the next one in line. The backing is a fun Peanuts fabric that has been in my stash for a while.  I had to add a solid strip on the back to make it big enough.  

I added 3.5" to my scarf this week.  The little ball of wool is shrinking fast! The scarf is now 35.5" long. 

Christine came over for a few hours one day this past week.  I did some hand quilting on my Arizona quilt and she did some cross stitch.  We also did some machine sewing. 

I made 6 turquoise hollow nine patches for my Rainbow Scrap challenge project this week as well.  These will do nicely for blue month!

I added some shelves from Ikea to my sewing room for my rulers this week.  They are actually meant to hold framed photos but work quite well for my rulers.  This job involved moving my cutting table and vacuuming up all of the dust bunnies under it...not pretty but looking nice and clean now!  They are right beside my cutting table and very easy to access when I need them.  My assorted small rulers are in a wooden ruler stand on the cutting table under these shelves.  

On this week's hike with the hiking club, I saw this nest piled high with snow.  I love walking in the woods after a fresh snowfall!  Apparently, lots of people like to walk here with their dogs too as the evidence showed...

Finn was so cold when he came inside from doing his business once day this week that he was shivering! My daughter wrapped him in his blanket to warm him up.  

Finn just sent me a couple of pictures of my daughter's crochet progress this week. Three more book blanket granny squares and the Christmas blanket has had some attention as well.  She wants to keep working at the Christmas blanket so it doesn't turn into a UFO.  

I will link up with Kathy and the Slow Sunday Stitchers, the RSC folks and Frederique this week.  Have a fantastic week.