Kitchen Scraps Challenge and Another UFO Done.

 Each year, the Elgin Piecemakers Guild issues a challenge to their members.  This past year, we were given a piece of insulbrite thermal batting and asked to make something for our kitchens using scraps.  On Thursday night, we met in person for the first time in ages and revealed our projects.  There were oven mitts, hot pads, a casserole carrier, tea cosies, etc.  Many in the group used selvages in their projects.  I decided to raid my denim stash (from old jeans) for my lasagna pan hot pad.  I have a large orange lasagna pan and always have to use more than one hot pad under it, but not anymore! It was fun to use improv piecing for the top and I found a fun fat quarter in my stash for the backing. 

The perfect size for the orange dish! I used 28wt orange thread for the quilting. 

I finished the quilting and binding on my Down on the Farm charm square quilt this week.  It even has a label!   I used the extra backing fabric for the binding. Another baby quilt ready for gifting!

Since I have finished 3 UFO's in the last month, I decided to give myself permission to start a new quilt!  Last Spring, I made a Modern Handcraft Snowflake quilt for a friend.  I used red and white prints for the background and made the snowflake with Kona White.  I have wanted to make myself a snowflake quilt too and since the Modern Handcraft Blog is holding another "Snowalong" this year, I joined in! This year, Nicole Daksiewicz has added instructions on how to make a Buffalo Plaid Snowflake quilt.  After looking at all of the possibilities in my stash, I picked these fabrics for my quilt and got all my cutting done.  The gray fabric is Essex Linen and the red and black fabric is Kona.  The white with the light gray dots will be used for the snowflake. 

I have made two blocks so far and have started a third one. 

I made a new hat this week too.  I received this variegated wool for Christmas last year and found a pattern that I thought would work.  I made a swatch and it was the right size so I started knitting.   

I had to switch to double pointed needles for the top of the hat. 

This is where the hat went off the rails---I tried it on at this point and it was so big, it went over my face!  I ended up tearing it all out and now I have to start over with fewer stitches on the needles!  Good thing that it is a chunky yarn and knits up quickly!

My daughter did a bit more stitching this week.  

Finn had a friend over to play today.  He was not so sure about having to share my daughter with another dog!  My daughter looked after Brick while his "Mom" was moving. 

Late Breaking News!!! Dubrovnik is done!  While Finn was napping, worn out from his company, 

my daughter put in the last few stitches!  

I will link up with the Slow Sunday Stitchers at Kathy's blog in the morning.  I hope to start knitting my hat, again!

October UFO's and PomPoms!

I finally made my September block for the Elgin Piecemakers Guild Comfort quilt project this past week! We were each to make a bird block with a gray background.  We had plans to meet outside in September in someone's backyard but it poured rain the night of our meeting and it got cancelled so now, the bird blocks will be handed in with the October blocks this month.  I had already made all of my blocks for the rest of the year in the spring so this was the last one to make for 2021.  I used a Riley Blake pattern I found online. 

My October UFO project is finished!  The hand stitching on the binding was completed last weekend. I even labelled it!

For the back, I had one yard of the dark print fabric and just used some solid yellow fabric to made the backing big enough. I am using what I have rather than purchasing fabric at the moment. 

Since our group's UFO challenge is for one year, and I have well over 20 items on my UFO list, I decided to try to finish a second UFO this month.  This is another charm pack quilt--an effort to use up the charm packs in my stash.  This little quilt will make a great baby gift some day.  I like to have a few baby quilts made ahead of time to be ready with a gift, should the need arise. I am currently about 3/4 done on the machine quilting. 

I am using a pale turquoise thread and the backing fabric is also turquoise. I should be able to finish this quilt by the end of the month. 

Over the past few months, I have been participating in the Toronto Modern Guild Round Robin project.  There are 6 quilters in my group and I have now made something to add to everyone's quilt tops.  This week, I added a border to Tania's quilt. The pink line was on the block--I removed it and then added the borders and then pieced the pink line (with my own pink fabric) back in, extending it into the border.  I happened to have the black and white border print fabric in my stash and it fit right in with Tania's block.  This block is in the mail. 

I added pompoms to my three hats today.  I used a Clover pompom maker. 

Finn loves to rearrange this blanket to make a comfortable nest!

Love Birds was delivered to the newlyweds on Thanksgiving weekend and is now hanging on their wall.  They were thrilled with the picture and frame.  This makes me happy! I managed to finish it and get it to them before their first anniversary in November!

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

Hand Stitching the Binding

I did not get much time to sew or knit this past week.  I had several appointments and some jobs to do around the house. I'm happy that the painting in the bedrooms has been done for a couple of weeks now and the new carpeting was installed on Friday so we are putting the furniture back into the rooms now.  This is a project that will stretch over several days.  We are going to add shelves to a closet so I can store my quilts in it and we have to find a new light fixture for our bedroom. New bookcases will be added in one room as well, but due to supply chain issues, it may be a while before we get them. 

My October UFO is quilted now and I have attached the binding by machine.  I changed the quilting in the  on point four patches so there was a bit of un-sewing earlier in the week to remove the curved lines I had added previously.  Funny how the stitches go in much faster than they come out!

The binding is dark brown and frames the quilt nicely.  I have finished hand stitching one side of the quilt and will work on this again tomorrow for Slow Sunday Stitching with Kathy. 

This week, I have a challenge project to make for the Elgin Piecemakers and a border to add to a block for a round robin with the Toronto Modern Guild.  Then, I will pull out another UFO that needs to be quilted.

Above, Finn is shown before his haircut.  Below, he looks like he has lost a lot of weight and you can see his eyes now!

Our daughter has added more stitches to Dubrovnik...nearly done now.  I wonder what city she will do next?

Have a great week!

Working on My October UFO and some Knitting

 It's been a busy week!  My husband and I went on a three day, two night get-away this week--a much needed break from the usual routine.  There was some quilting action in the sewing room before we left, and some knitting progress while we were away.  My daughter and Finn are here visiting this weekend for Thanksgiving so there was a long walk at the park today followed by ice cream--Finn had a little bit of my husband's Country Pumpkin ice cream. I will share some pictures of our week below. 

First up, my Charm Square quilt--I pin basted it on Monday and spent several hours machine quilting it with my walking foot. 

I'm using green 50wt Aurifil thread that matches the green background fabric in the quilt.  I have not decided what to quilt in the brown areas yet--any ideas?  The on point four patches will get more quilting as well--I have a plan for those.  I hope to finish the quilting this week and then do the binding by next weekend. 

Next up, the knitting--I made another hat!  I did knit two, pearl one for the ribbing this time.   I like all the colours in this yarn.  I now have three pompoms to make.  We had beautiful weather for our getaway so there was outdoor knitting by the lake. 

We went on a couple of hikes when we were away. The fall colours are still in the early stages of change. 

We had an opportunity to cross a couple of items off the bucket list.  My husband tried out rock wall climbing for the first time. 

I walked on the high wire, between two poles and then back to the middle to be lowered down to the ground. 

I also tried my hand at archery, even hitting the small circle in the middle of the target (by accident) once! My husband did some archery as well. 

Finn and our daughter arrived yesterday for the weekend.  He is such a cutie and has kept us all entertained.  Finn has an appointment to get his hair cut this week. 

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