Hand and Machine Stitching

Welcome to my weekly stitching and knitting report. At the last minute, I decided to make a Black block for my 13th block for my RSC quilt this year. I had lots of fun 2.5" squares to use for this block!  

 Many of you were wondering last week how I was going to use 13 blocks instead of 12 in this quilt top.  Well, you don't have to wait any longer.  Here is the almost finished quilt top.  I still need to add a white border around the entire top. Then, it will go in the pile of "to be quilted" quilts. 

I made a wall hanging this week too but can't show all of it yet.  For now, this sneak peak will have to suffice. 

Today, I pin basted the zig-zag quilt on the kitchen floor and started the quilting.  My repaired sewing machine is working fine now, thankfully.  The second picture shows the walking foot zig zag quilting in two colours--tan thread on the light parts and dark green on the darker parts.  I might be able to finish quilting this one this coming week.  

I did some knitting this week too, adding one more repeat of the cables on my project.  I see a small mistake in the picture but I am not un-knitting it!  

More stitches were added to Dubrovnik this week by my daughter.  I love the vibrant colours in these cityscape cross stitch pictures. 

I tried another blueberry scone recipe this week--also delicious!  These did not last long!

After consulting with the newlyweds, I added their names and wedding date to the Love Birds cross stitch wedding gift as well as my initials as the maker of the gift. 

The picture has been taken to the framers and it will be a few weeks until it is done.  I did a video chat with the bride from the framers to see which frame she liked the best. I will show a picture when it is finished. 

This little cutie is my cousin's grand-daughter, lying on top of her new quilt, made by me last year.  I always request a picture of the baby on the baby quilts I make!

All my sewing this past while resulted in this--an empty spool.  Another one bites the dust!  Luckily, I just happened to have a spare spool of white in my drawer!

My friend and I got a close look at this deer while out walking this week at the park.  We often see deer there but not usually this close. 

These next two pictures were taken at my cousin's farm where he grows all kinds of vegetables and fruit to sell.  Dill and pickling cucumbers are hot sellers at the moment.  Dillicious!

Finn loves his walks each day!  

I will link up with the Slow Sunday Stitcher's at Kathy's blog in the morning. 

Quilt top and backing, Quilt blocks and Slow Stitching

 I finished off the zigzag quilt top and pieced the backing from leftover fabric from the front of the quilt. Nice to use up some fabrics from the stash that have been there a while.  I still have some HST's left and may make a few more placemats for Meals on Wheels with them. 

I hope to get this one quilted this week--my sewing machine is back from repair and this will be a good test for it! The quilt top is 56" square. 

Two more blocks were put together for my Rainbow Scrap quilt... dark green and orange. I just need one more block to finish the quilt. I decided I couldn't wait any longer to get the rest of the blocks made.  I will have to start a new RSC quilt next month. 

Here are my 12 blocks on the design wall.  I am going to make a gray block next and then put it together. 

You will have to wait to see the layout. 

I knitted a couple more rows on my white cable knitting project.  I hope to have more done to show a picture of it next week.  I have to find my cable needle to do the next row--it's here somewhere!

My daughter's Dubrovnik cityscape is progressing.  

The Black Eyed Susans are in bloom in our garden!

We had Blueberry Kuchen for dessert tonight.  I love blueberries!

Finn likes to hang out on this chair while my daughter works at her desk.  He can keep a close eye on her from here!

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

Zigzags and some Knitting

 Last week, I had started making some HST blocks in navy, forest green and burgundy with tan as the light half of each HST.  At that time, I had thought I would need over 100 units to make the quilt I was making.  Turns out, I need 225 to make the quilt 15 by 15 units.  I churned out the 225 units early in the week and started playing with them. There are many possibilities for quilt designs with HST's but I decided to make  zigzags. The first 5 rows are sewn together and the part that's missing in this picture is under the sewing machine foot! All those seams shrink up the rows by quite a bit. This is the first quadrant of the quilt. 

The second section goes to the right of the one above and I sewed it two days ago. 

Today, I completed the third section.  Only one smaller part to do in the lower right corner now. 

You may have noticed that the quilt top is going to be 14 by 14 units--I needed the zigzags to end "down" on both sides of the quilt so I needed an even number of units across the quilt top to make this happen.  The extra HST's will be pieced into the back of the quilt.  I will be using up my scraps and hunks and chunks of green fabrics to make a pieced backing.  This quilt is a gift, made in colours that they will like. The colours in the first picture are more true to what they look like in daylight. With any luck, the top will be finished in the next couple of days and I can get to work on the back. My sewing machine will be back from repair early next week so I will be able to quilt it soon too. 

I also worked on my knitting project this week, getting the first section of cables done.  There are two types of cables in this project.  I hope to get another section done tomorrow for my slow Sunday stitching project. These double pointed bamboo needles are working well. The stitches do not slide off by accident!

Finn made himself a lovely nest of quilts one night this week and promptly curled up in a ball on top and went to sleep

My daughter did some cross stitch this week.  I see a boat and the beginnings of some buildings.  I guessed Dubrovnik, Croatia and I was right!

My husband and I went blueberry picking this week.  We froze some, saved some for eating fresh and made blueberry scones for breakfast one morning.  So yummy!

We stopped for a picnic lunch and a short hike on our way home at John E. Pearce Provincial Park. 

I will link up with Kathy and the slow Sunday stitchers in the morning as well as the RSC folks since I used up lots of navy blue scraps this week. 

Back in the Sewing Room

My husband and I both had our second vaccines this past week.  Happy Dance!  I'm looking forward to getting out more but am also feeling cautious about it at the same time.  Baby steps...

I managed to get back into my sewing room this week and get some projects moving along.  First up, I made two Blue blocks for my Rainbow Scrap Challenge quilt...one in turquoise and one in navy.  Great way to revisit my scraps and use some of them up. 

I used some orphan blocks to make these 8.5" square little quilts for a charity project with the Toronto Modern Guild.  They each have an X of fuzzy velcro on the back and will be used on a wall painted with a grid with hook velcro X's in each square.  The residents of the Long Term Care Facility can put them up on the wall and build a quilt.  The program staff hope this will be a conversation starter for the residents.  Several members of the guild are making a variety of blocks for this project and they are hoping to have enough blocks to change them out seasonally. I will likely make more blocks later for the fall and winter. 

This orange and white star block is a comfort quilt block for the Elgin Piecemakers.  We have decided to donate our quilts this year to the local women's shelter. Others are making the same white star blocks with different colours in the background. 

I started making a gift quilt this week by cutting out some triangles and sewing lots of HST units.  I will need well over 100 of these units before I can put the quilt together. The final layout has not been figured out yet but there are many possibilities.  The colours are favourites of the recipients but they do not know that a quilt is being made for them.  They do not read my blog. 

The wasps started a creative project in a tree in our backyard this week.  We did a little research on what to do to get rid of them--the advice is to wait until they leave in the fall to avoid getting stung.  I think we will be following this advice! I am amazed at the intricacy of the nest!

Pretty flowers in my garden this week: Daylily

Potentilla bush

Balloon Flowers and Purple Cone Flowers

Finn had his haircut this past week.  He is such a skinny little thing after a haircut but still cute.  Here he is after the haircut and before!

I plan on doing some knitting tomorrow for slow Sunday stitching with Kathy and the gang.