Crafters' Retreat

Christine and I spent the weekend at Camp...we each brought numerous projects with us and I am happy to report that progress was made on everything!

My ironing board is almost due for a new cover---ignoring that, you can see I worked on my flannel vortex baby quilt--my third flannel vortex quilt (I have also done one out of cotton quilting scraps).  This quilt involves lots of sewing, pressing, trimming, and then more sewing, pressing and trimming. I went home with some larger chunks, ready to be made into a quilt top.

I started a new Christmas quilt--no pattern, just my own design as you go project.  I will keep playing with more of the fabrics to add more shapes to this one.

I cut up yards and yards of these two fabrics for sashing and borders for my Tula Pink 100 Modern Blocks quilt.

I made them into twosies.

Here they are all sewn to the blocks, waiting to be pressed.  After pressing, the blocks got put away in the bag to be taken home for some time on the design wall before sewing them together.

I also did some hand sewing on Frank Lloyd Wright--no pictures--just some more outlining.  I sewed down the binding on the Christmas tree wall hanging as well.

I finished off a couple of Christmas gifts as well...top secret...no pictures.

By this time, my sewing machine was balking at sewing smoothly, so I checked under the bobbin for fluff...

Just as I thought...

Cleaned out and working much better afterwards!

There were delicious pumpkin scones to eat...

We went on a few walks around the camp on Saturday as it was a lovely sunny day.

Stairs to the beach.

Early morning walk.

A comfortable spot to watch the waves roll in.

We couldn't miss a visit to the ladies.

What a great weekend with the crazy quilters!  Lots of laughs and lots of sewing.

I came home and after supper, my husband and I finished putting together the quilt block puzzle.

Until next time...

Slow Stitching Report (and a couple of pouches)

I have been working on cleaning up my sewing room this week.  It is looking much better but there is still work to do.  I found this Christmas tree block in a pile and decided to make it into a little wall hanging.  I quilted it with wavy lines using my walking foot and some bright green thread, which doesn't really show up very well in this picture!  I have a bin with leftover binding in it and found this red and white striped binding.  I added it to the quilted block and will hand stitch it down this weekend.  The block was leftover from some pillows I made three years ago. 

I continue to make slow progress on my Frank Lloyd Wright Waterlilies counted cross stitch project.  I must admit that this part is a bit boring... for me to stitch and for you to look at.

My friend, Pat, came over yesterday afternoon to learn how to make a wide open zipper pouch.  The pattern is from Noodlehead.  A friend had given her the bee fabric and she purchased the other two fabrics to make the pouch about a year ago.  She made the large size so that she can use it for a knitting project case.

I made this pouch earlier in the week. It is a gift for someone who does not read my blog.

While Pat was making her pouch, I made this one to show her the steps in making it.

Now that I am retired, Pat and I walk for about an hour every day, usually at a local park.  Yesterday, we were greeted by this heron.

Have a great weekend!  I will link up with Kathy and the Slow Stitchers on Sunday morning.

Plus Sign Baby Quilt

The binding is on and the quilt is finished!  This quilt is a modification of the Rick Rack Runner pattern from "Modern Plus Sign Quilts" by Cheryl Brickey and Paige Alexander.  I met Paige at QuiltCon in Nashville this past February.  Her day job involves working with numbers so I know where she gets her inspiration for the patterns in the book! 

I had a stash of 30's prints which were used in this quilt. I still have lots left...

If you look closely, you can see the vertical and horizontal lines of quilting.

The backing is a pink dot flannel fabric from my stash.  I added a few extra plus signs on the back because the flannel was not wide enough.

The binding is made from strips of each of the 30's prints in the quilt.  There are two plus signs of each fabric I used on the front of the quilt--perfect for a matching game.  I had to wait until my quilt holder was available to assist with pictures this morning.  There is no recipient in mind for this quilt.

Finn found a very comfortable spot to rest while keeping an eye on everyone on Thanksgiving weekend.

Last 6 Blocks DONE!

I spent today at a sew-in, making the last 6 blocks for my Tula Pink 100 Modern Blocks quilt.

I used my black and white stash for this quilt along with three fat quarters of Tula Pink fabric which I purchased at QuiltCon in Nashville in February this year.  

A few blocks are just black and white, but most have a little bit of colour in them.

Some of these fabrics have been in my stash for quite a while.  I used up the last bits of some of the fabrics but still have lots left of others.  The black and white drawer in my fabric storage area should not be quite so full now. 

I had to be quite frugal with the colour in each of the last few blocks as I did not want to run out of choices before the blocks were done.  There are only a few small scraps of the fat quarters left now.  I'm not sure why I did not use more of the darker part of the blue fabric--maybe just not enough contrast with some of the black fabrics. 

Here is my pile of 100 blocks. 

The fabric for setting them has been purchased and I hope to get the top put together at an upcoming quilting retreat. This will be a queen sized quilt. 

Two Quilts Quilted

Early this week, I spent some time quilting two quilts using my walking foot.  I made this plus sign flimsy using my stash of 30's prints and it has been pin basted waiting for quilting inspiration to hit for a few months now...  I finally decided on straight lines about an inch apart across the width of the quilt and two vertical lines through each column of plus signs.  It took a couple of sessions at the sewing machine to get the quilting done and tonight, I pieced the binding with 30's prints used in the plus signs and sewed it by machine to the quilt.  Tomorrow, I will sew it down to the back of the quilt by hand for my Slow Sunday Stitching project. 

I have had a London Friendship Guild charity quilt at my house for several months, waiting to be quilted and bound so I could hand it in for distribution.  I used a simple cross hatch with straight lines with my walking foot to quilt this quilt.  Someone else made the quilt top--it was my job to quilt it and finish it off with the binding.

I added the binding by machine and then did the hand stitching.  I'm glad to have this quilt by the door and ready for donation!

My husband and I started working on a puzzle this week...

This one looks like fun!

I will be linking up with Kathy in the morning. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving!  My daughter and Finn are here for the weekend so there have been lots of walks and playtime!  I have not shown my Frank Lloyd Wright project for a couple of weeks--you can see I have done more yellow cross stitches and more outlining. My MIL gave us the squirrel!

I have spent quite a bit of time sewing this week.  I managed to finish the trees for my Coming Home project.  I am still a few months behind, but I am moving forward.  Houses (pieced) are up next and then I will do the appliqué doors, chimneys  and windows.

A couple more Tula Pink 100 modern blocks are done
and now there are less than 10 blocks still to do.

I also managed to get all of the rest of my Elgin Piecemakers' Neutral Swap blocks done.  Three more months for this swap and all 60 blocks are done and ready to swap.  We have been swapping 20 blocks every month since September 2018 so I have quite a stack of blocks waiting to be made into something.

We took Finn for a walk at a local conservation area this afternoon.  He had a bath when we got home...

This wasp's nest is in my neighbour's tree. It is about the size of a basketball!

I will be linking up with Kathy and the Slow Sunday stitchers in the morning.  I did a post about the slow stitching retreat that Kathy hosted last Sunday in a post earlier this week.  You can read it here.

Comfort Quilt Assembly and a Few More Blocks

After a one hour walk this morning, I came home and got to work in the sewing room.  Pat and I are working together to put the Navy and White blocks together for the Elgin Piecemakers' September Comfort quilt.  19 blocks were handed in at our September meeting so I started my day by making one more block so I could do a 4X5 block layout for this quilt. I found the pattern for this block in one of my 100 blocks magazines. 

Next, I laid out all of the blocks on the floor in the hall outside my sewing room.  I ransacked the fabric storage area, looking for possible sashing and cornerstone fabrics.  I had purchased this chevron fabric as backing for this quilt but it kept screaming at me to be used for the sashing, so that is what I did.   I found the red fabric for the cornerstones in my stash.

I sewed almost all afternoon and by the time it was time to make supper, the quilt top was done except for the borders. 

After supper, the borders and red corners were added.

By the time I had cut into the chevron fabric for the  sashing and borders, I knew there would not be enough to make the back of the quilt.  I ended up using some more of the red to make the backing big enough for the long arm quilter to do her magic.

Over the past couple of days, I have been making more Tula Pink 100 modern blocks as well...only 9 more to go now. 

I hope to finish the rest of these 6.5" blocks this week.  Then, I will have to go shopping for the fabric I need to complete this quilt...I have a plan.