Spring to Winter and Back to Spring Again

We had weird weather this week...Spring and then Winter and then Spring again!  Finn not too keen to go outside on Wednesday morning but did eventually do what he needed to do.  Then he stuck his face in the snow before coming back inside to snuggle with me on the couch while I hand stitched some binding on the placemats I made for Meals on Wheels. 

 

It melted right away on the driveway and sidewalks so at least we did not have to shovel it!  By Friday, it had all melted and we were in our spring jackets again. 

Here are my three finished placemats.  I hope to make some more soon.  Several other members of the guild had made placemats before our Zoom meeting on Thursday so we have made a good start on the ~240 that we need to make. 

I finished knitting the cable dishcloth this week too. I made this to learn how to do cables so now I am ready to tackle a bigger project.  I have a pattern, needles and yarn already.  I will try to get started this week. 

Christine and I worked on our pineapple blocks again this week.  They are slowly getting bigger. 

I have four white with black colour blocks done now.  This is my leaders/enders project. I need 13 of these and 12 black with white ones for my next scrappy colour block quilt. 

I signed up for a round robin with the Toronto Modern Guild. I started making my centre block this week and will e-mail a picture of it to the next person on the list along with the size. She will make a border or two and then mail them to me by the end of next month.  I will send a picture of the centre with the first border to the next person on the list and then she will make something for my quilt.  In the meantime, I will be making blocks/borders for other people each month.  There are 6 of us in our group. (Can you tell my block will be a scrappy sewing machine?)

Love Birds is coming along.  The blue flower is just about done and I added the small heart under my needle minder this week too.  I send a picture to the newlyweds each week to show my progress and they are very happy with it. 

My daughter added some more stitches to Munich as well.  This picture is much bigger than the other cityscapes she has made in the past. I love the bright colours in these cityscapes. 

We took Finn for a long walk at the park today and saw these yellow flowers growing at the base of a large tree. So pretty. 

I will link up with Kathy and the Slow Sunday Stitchers in the morning. 

Sewing My Scraps and some Slow Stitching

The colours for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge this month are light and medium/bright blue so I made two more blocks for my RSC challenge quilt for 2021. I used 17 different blues in each block. 

Here are the five blocks I have made so far this year.  

 One of the guilds I belong to, the Elgin Piecemakers, has taken on a new charity project this year.  We have 20 members and we have each agreed to make 12 placemats before November to be distributed to all of the Meals on Wheels recipients in our county.  I got started on my first three placemats this week.  Except for the solid borders, all of the fabrics came from the bottomless scrap bins. The first placemat is quilted and I still need to add binding.  The other two still need to be quilted and bound. More blue scraps used up!

For my leaders and enders project, I have started making black on white colour blocks. I have two done so far.  These will be used in my next Colour Blocks challenge quilt. I will be adding some white on black blocks as well. 

Christine and I used to get together in person every week to sew for a few hours.  During the pandemic, we have still been getting together but now it is virtually, on FaceTime!  We both attended a virtual class on Pineapple quilts with Barb Vedder a few weeks ago and we are still working on our blocks.  More scraps being used in this project too. 

Here are my blocks in progress:

Each log finishes at .5" wide. 

Christine and I are both working on counted cross stitch projects as well so we got together on FaceTime again to hand stitch and chat together.  The blue flower on Love Birds is over half finished!

Our daughter continues to be very busy at work (at home!) but she did have a few moments to stitch this week. 

My husband and I both received our first vaccine this week.  Ontario COVID numbers are rising rapidly so the Stay at Home orders have been tightened again.  We continue to do our part to keep our family and our community safe.

I received this picture from C's Mom this week.  I made this I Spy quilt for C when he was born--he is now about 18 months old.  His Mom says he loves looking for birdies and doggies on his quilt!  This warms the cockles of this quilter's heart!  (C's Parents and Grandparents are friends of the family--not related to us. )

These small white flowers were spotted on a bush at the side of the path where I walk each morning.  So pretty!

Our Azalea bush is out in full bloom!  It was a birthday gift to my husband from Christine and her husband a few years ago.  Such a beautiful colour!

We took Finn for a walk in a local park this week and he sat still for a few seconds so I could take his picture!  I'm not sure what the purple flowers are in the background. 

I will link up with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge now and with the Slow Sunday Stitching group in the morning.  Take care and stay safe. 

A Finished Quilt Top

I pulled out various colours to use for sashing for this blue colour block quilt including orange, golden yellow and red.  As you can see, red won!  The sashing was cut 1.5" wide and finishes at 1".  I will have to piece the backing of this quilt and I will likely add some medium blue solid binding when it is quilted. 

I have a bunch of quilts ready for walking foot quilting, most of which are already pin basted...I need a chunk of time and also must clear off my sewing table to do this.  This is difficult when Finn is here as he can't come in the sewing room...too many things for him to get into in there.  

I made one more block for the Modern BOM this week. This one involved some paper piecing. 

I laid my blocks out on the kitchen floor to take a picture. 8/12 done now. I have the pattern for #9 and the last three blocks will be released over the next coupe of months. 

Finn wandered in to see what I was doing.  He loves to get his picture taken so he posed nicely. 

One pose was not enough, obviously!

My daughter had a wee bit of time this week to do a bit of embroidery as a break from her heavy work load.

I watched a movie on Netflix, The Bucket List, and worked on Love Birds. I have started the next blue flower now. I sure hope that there are no counting errors so that as I close the circle, it comes together as the pattern says it should!

There was some knitting time this week as well. I seem to be getting better at the cables as I add more rows to the practice piece.

Lots of Spring buds and flowers this week when I was out for my walks at the park and in our backyard. 

I will link up with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge (this month's colour is blue) and the Slow Sunday Stitching crew.  I hope to do some more work on Love Birds tomorrow, perhaps in our gazebo.   Take care and stay safe.  

Making Blocks

Happy Easter!

 Lucky for me, the colour of the month at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge is Blue for April.  I had already started making blue blocks for my Colour Block Challenge quilt for April so these two challenges will be met together.  I ended up making 12 medium/dark blue blocks and then found I had a stack of light blue squares as well.  I made 4 light blue blocks and put them all up on the design wall to consider my next steps.  I looked at my stash and found some red solid fabric which I will use for sashing, but not between every block.  If you come back to visit next week, I should have the top completed.  This is my third Colour block quilt made with my 2.5" squares from the scrap bins.  I still have lots more squares so there will be more quilts!  

I made one more Comfort Quilt block this week for the Elgin Piecemakers.  This one was easy--the fabric was provided and already cut. I like the way the stripes look on this block. 

I finished three of my pineapple blocks this week and made progress on the remaining nine after the setback last week. The completed blocks are 8.5" and I am aiming for a table runner that is 6X2 blocks. We will see how that looks when the blocks are done. 

One more Modern Sampler block was made this week too.  Only two more to go to get caught up. 

My cable knitting is coming along as well.  I did some knitting in the car earlier this week as well as at home with Finn snuggled up beside me. This is just a practice piece so I can figure out what I am doing before tackling a bigger project. 

My husband bought me this beautiful wooden yarn bowl, just because.  I am excited to try it out this week! It was made locally and purchased at the local yarn shop, The Little Red Mitten. 

The dark green leaves are almost done in this section of Love Birds. I hope to be working on the next large blue flower by next week. Somehow, I did not have much time to cross stitch this past week. 

Some of our daffodils are blooming!  (despite the snowflakes in the air on Thursday!)

The primroses are also showing their colours. 

Ontario is in another lockdown due to increased COVID-19 numbers.  My vaccine is still weeks if not months away so we continue to stay home and only go out if necessary.  We remain hopeful that the situation will improve as more people get their vaccines. 

Finn keeps us busy and entertained.  We take him for a long walk every day.  Mr. Carrot is his favourite toy. It is Finn's 3rd Birthday on April 4th!

I will link up with Kathy and the Slow Sunday Stitchers in the morning as well as the Rainbow Scrap Challenge folks.