Challenge Met and UFO done!

Back in January, the program committee at the Oxford Quilt Guild issued a challenge.  Each person that wanted to participate was asked to bring in a yard of batik material and a pair of scissors.  We stood in a big circle and listened for instructions...  Fold the fabric in half, snip it at the fold, rip it in half, drop half in front of us and pass the other half to the person on our right.  "Fold it, snip it, rip it, drop it, pass it!"  This was repeated with until each of us had 7 pieces of batik fabric in various sizes in the pile on the floor in front of us.  The challenge was to make something with our fabric, including a piece of each fabric.  We could add other fabrics to the project, if we wanted to.   Here are my seven fabrics.   

I put my fabrics in a plastic bin to give myself some time to ponder...

Then, COVID-19 arrived and the meeting where the projects were to be revealed was not to be.  Last week, it was announced that we would be having a Zoom meeting in August where we would share our challenge projects...the deadline pushed me to get this project out of the box and done this past week. 

I made some square in a square blocks and trimmed most of them to be asymmetrical.  I played around with them to figure out how to make them into a wall hanging.  (the brown patch is just my table!) I slept on it and came to the conclusion that this was not where I wanted to go with this project. 

I made some more squares, and added a few more fabrics and ended up with this. 

Next, how to quilt it...another night of sleeping on it and an idea formed. 

There are some spots where I stitched in the ditch and the line of stitching disappears, but it is there. I used turquoise thread. The binding is the same fabric as the middle square.   I hand stitched the binding on this one--one of my favourite parts of the quilt making process. 

The backing was made from stash fabric.  I'm using what I have as much as possible!

Done in plenty of time for the August meeting!

Julie, the long arm quilter, finished my Scrappy Trips quilt in no time and I trimmed it up and applied the binding by machine this week.  I sewed the binding to the front first and then folded it around to the back. I used a narrow zigzag stitch to sew it down.  My stiletto came in handy to keep the binding folded over as it entered the presser foot.  In retrospect, this would have been easier if I had sewn the binding to the back of the quilt and then did the zigzag from the front of the quilt.  Live and learn. 

Here is a picture of the quilting.  This quilt will be donated to the hospice and will be washed often and should hold up well. 

Here is the whole quilt. 

On the knitting front, I finished another dishcloth this week.  

I will likely try another pattern for my next one.  

I made a few fabric postcards over the last couple of weeks.  They are all in the mail and some have arrived at their destinations. 

My daughter finished her latest cross stitch city--Vienna. Such vibrant colours!

She sent me this picture of Finn tonight...so funny!  

He had his hair cut this week and is feeling much cooler in this hot weather. 

More garden pictures from this week...

I will link up with Kathy for Slow Sunday Stitching in the morning.   Take a look and see what everyone is up to.  The link is in my sidebar.  I will be doing some more knitting tomorrow. 

Have a good week. 

Taming the UFO Pile

My goal for the next little while is to tame the UFO pile.  I have made lots of quilts during this COVID-19 pandemic but most of them have been gifts for friends and family.  Now that all those gifts are done, it is time to tackle the UFO's.  First up this week, was borders and backing for the batik Scrappy Trips quilt that I started earlier this year.  I had to purchase the fabrics and then wash them before ironing, cutting and sewing. 

The backing was done with one seam and then I took it to the long arm quilter's house.  She let me know today that the quilting is done so I will pick it up tomorrow.  This one will be donated to our local hospice and will be washed a lot so the binding will be applied by machine...no hand stitching. 

Next up was my Tula Pink 100 blocks Modern Sampler quilt.  We had to move all of the furniture in the living room so that I could lay this monster out on the floor to make the backing. 

It took three widths of fabric for the backing and I found the perfect fabric in my stash for the label.  The turquoise accent piece beside the label matches one of the colours in the backing. I will write the information  about the quilt on the label before it is quilted. 

The London Modern Guild is having a fabric post card exchange so I made my post card this week.  I will put it in the mail this week.  I don't know the person that will be receiving this postcard so I can show you what I made. 

The third UFO of the week was started 3.5 years ago.  I signed up for a broken dishes block swap with Barb at Fun with Barb and the blocks have been in a zip lock bag all this time, waiting for inspiration to hit.  This week, when I was out for a walk, I got thinking about the blocks and an idea came to mind. 

I made four blocks like this:  

I am still figuring out what I will put between the blocks and as a border...stay tuned...this top should be done by next week. I am still contemplating quilting ideas as well.  I bought Jacquie Gering's book Walk 2.0 this week so I may peruse it for inspiration. 

I finished my green facecloth last week and started a new dishcloth --I am using a new pattern this time.  So far, so good.  The pattern is showing up as expected!  I will be doing some more knitting tomorrow for slow Sunday stitching with Kathy and friends. 

We finally had some rain this past week so the gardens are flourishing.  

Finn is getting his hair cut this week so here is a picture of him before the appointment.   Such a cutie!

Take care!

Barn Raising!

Over the course of 16 months in 2018-2019, 10 quilting friends and I made and exchanged 20 neutral blocks each month.  We could use any neutral colours including cream, beige, brown, white, gray and black and each block was to be made using two lights and a dark or two darks and a light. This way, each of us ended up with 320 neutral blocks at the end of the swap.  I divided mine into two piles--1:  white, gray and black and 2: cream, beige and brown, and decided to make two different projects with my blocks.   

I found some yardage of the turquoise fabric in my stash and it determined how big my quilt would be...when it was gone, the quilt top would be done. This is an asymmetric barn raising layout.  I ended up with a lap sized quilt which I may display as a wall hanging...we'll see.  The quilting was a co-operative effort between Julie the long-armer and myself.  She quilted the turquoise strips and I quilted the squares.  Her part has been done since March and I finally did my part this week.  I used black solid for the binding. 

The backing is gray with little turquoise and white triangles on it. The label was put on the back before it was quilted.  You can see the quilting better on the back. 

Now, I will have to figure out what to do with the other pile of neutral squares...

I had 6 blocks leftover from making the Scrappy Trips top that I showed in  the previous post.  I used 4 of them to make this table topper which I quilted this week with concentric squares with golden yellow thread.

I spent several hours this week slow stitching the binding on these two quilts.  The backing for the table topper was in my stash and I'm happy to use up a chunk of it for this quilt. 

I may make another couple of blocks and make another table topper to donate to a fundraiser.  The borders are still not on the Scrappy Trips quilt which will be donated to the hospice...isn't it funny how the project made from the leftovers got finished first???

I have several types of echinacea plants (coneflowers) in my garden and they are all blooming right now.  

Some of the hostas are starting to flower as well. 

I will be doing some knitting tomorrow for Slow Sunday Stitching.  I have just about finished another face cloth this week.  I will link up with Kathy and the other people who like to take things slow on a Sunday tomorrow morning. 

Until next time, have a great week! 

This Week's Projects

The neighbourhood is expanding!  I have 20 houses made now and lots of fabric set aside for more of them.  This will be an ongoing project for a few weeks.  

I also made the June and July blocks for the London Modern Quilt Guild HST block of the month mystery quilt.  There was one block for June and two for July so now I am all caught up until the next block pattern comes out in August.  Each month, we learn how to make HST's in a different way for our block that month. 

I started another knitted facecloth this week...this time with a green variegated yarn.  I did some knitting in the gazebo this afternoon, even though it was hot outside. 

I finished the hexagon lap quilt this week.  My cousin was going to visit her Dad and step-Mother this week and so suddenly, I had a deadline!  In two days, I had it pin basted, quilted and bound. My cousin came and picked it up from my porch and delivered it on Canada Day. They loved their quilt and were very surprised!  I made 4 quilts these past few months for 4 sets of aunts and uncles...the two farm quilts, the blue and gray quilt, and the hexagon quilt. Everyone has their quilts now.  

I quilted this one with red thread in straight lines. 

The front...

And the back, made with leftovers from the front and other black fabrics from my stash. 

These scrappy trips blocks are sewn together now (but not in the picture above!) and I have purchased fabric for borders and the backing.  It is being washed and I will try to get this one ready for quilting next. I have not decided if I will try to quilt this one myself or hire a long armer.   This quilt will be donated to the hospice. 

My husband and I went for a short hike earlier this week and met a couple of new, slow moving, "friends"... a turtle, and snail!

It's amazing what you see when you look down and around as you walk along. 

The flowers in our garden are doing well, thanks to being watered with the hose...we have not had much rain lately. 

Butterfly weed:

Coreopsis:

The Astilbe is about to pop open. 

My daughter finished her cityscape this week...How many of you guessed that this was Chicago?

I will be linking up with Kathy and the other slow stitchers tomorrow.  I hope to do some more knitting tomorrow.  Take care and have a good week. Be kind and wear your mask when near other people.