Two Finishes for the Bazaar!

I have not one but two finishes to share this week!  I quilted the baby quilt that I made for the church bazaar this week using light yellow thread and my walking foot to create a rectangular grid.  The backing is donated minke in light green which goes perfectly with the colours on the front  of the quilt.  The binding is made from the same Kaffe fabric that was used to make the spinning four patch blocks. 

Excuse my squinting...the sun was in my eyes!

I had 8 spinning four patches leftover after making the quilt so I decided to make a table topper, also for the bazaar.  I added one solid green piece in the centre square.  You can see the quilting design in the first picture below. 

After sewing the binding down by hand, I noticed the topper was not lying flat. 

The backing and binding fabric is the Kaffe fabric that was used for the 4 patches.  It made such neat designs for the blocks! I had to piece the back as I did not have a big enough chunk of fabric leftover to do it in one piece. 

I blocked the quilt and lightly sprayed it with water.  There are lots of pins around the edge to get it to lie flat as it dries. 

I will link up with Kathy in the morning for the weekly Slow Sunday Stitching party.  I hand stitched the binding on both quilts this week and have plans to work on a hand stitched Christmas gift tomorrow afternoon.  I can't show it as the recipient reads my blog.  It is getting to be that time of year!

Finn had a haircut this week.  We can see his eyes now! He likes to watch the squirrels out the window in the morning as my daughter drinks her coffee. As you can see, he likes to be comfortable while doing this!

My husband and I went for a two hour hike today at a local conservation area.  Many of the leaves have fallen but there was still lots on some of the trees. I love the sound of leaves crunching under my feet as I walk in the woods. 

Another portrait of my husband and I.  I like how this picture gives the illusion that I am tall...(I'm not!)

Have a great week!  

Spinning Four Patch Top

The sewing group at the church got together this week to work on items for our bazaar in November. I have one more baby quilt to finish before the bazaar so I added the sashing to each block.  When I got home, I sewed the blocks together. I have a piece of pale green minke which was donated to our group for the back of the quilt.  These spinning 4 patch blocks were cut from a piece of Kaffe Fassett fabric.  I love the patterns in each block--so different even though they all came from the same fabric. 

My husband and I finished our Quilts of Gees Bend puzzle yesterday.  This was a fun one to put together and was full of quilty inspiration.  Don't worry, we still have 3 or 4 puzzles in the cupboard that we have not made yet.  Our daughter also loaned one to us and took a couple of ours back to her place to work on there.  

I started to quilt my shweshwe quilt this week.  I am using my walking foot and figuring out how to quilt it as I go.  Here is a sneak peek at a couple of areas of the quilting. 

The knitted dish cloth is finally done!  I have a knitting UFO that I hope to finish off next.  I will post a picture next week. 

I took this picture of Finn while we were talking to him on FaceTime this past week.  He cocks his head when we talk to him!  So cute.  

Finn and our daughter went for a few walks when it was not raining this past week.  I think our daughter co-ordinates well with Finn!

Still lots of glorious fall colour here. My porch planter has a bright yellow mum in it this year. 

This was taken at the park where my friend and I walk each morning. 

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

36 Patch Quilt Done!

Over the past 10 months, I have been making 36 patch blocks in the colour of the month for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  This past week, I quilted, bound and labelled my quilt--that's two quilts finished in two weeks!  I'm on a roll!  I used my walking foot to sew straight lines diagonally through all of the white squares with 28wt thread.  The backing is a wide back called Sea Glass.  It has lots of colours in it to match all of the squares on the front.  There are no repeats of any of the coloured squares on the front.  Would you believe that my box of 2.5" squares still is not empty???  The binding is a Kona solid.  

The quilt is square...it was a bit breezy when I took this picture!

I finished up my scrappy Drunkard's Path block this week as well as my green selvage HST's.  I will need to take a look at these projects soon and figure out if I need to make more blocks in a few other colours. 

I have been watching the Modern Quilt Guild Sessions online this weekend and did some knitting during one of the lectures I watched yesterday.  I just have to add the top border of this cloth and it will be done. I hope there is enough yarn to finish it!  Fingers crossed!

The Gees Bend Puzzle is coming together slowly.  We have not had much time to work on it in the last week or so. 

Would you believe that we had some snow one morning this past week??? Yikes!  

Finn is a great car traveller and does not mind the long drive to and from their home to ours.  

The fall colours are at their finest right now in our neck of the woods. 

One of our favourite places to go on Saturday mornings is our local farmer's market.  This morning, one of the vendors was selling hot pretzels.  Yum!  

I will link up with the Rainbow Scrap challenge folks today and the Slow Sunday Stitching group tomorrow.  Thanks for visiting!  

After 2 Years, Lupines is done!

I have been working on my Lupines quilt off and on for over two years.  The pattern is from the book "Quilts of Iceland" by Gudrun Erla.  I bought the book at QuiltCon in Nashville in 2019.  My husband and I went to Iceland for two weeks in 2014 to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary and the lupines were in bloom while we were there.  Apparently, they are not a flower which is native to Iceland but were introduced from somewhere else.  They now grow all over Iceland and when in bloom, everything is purple!  Fast forward to our 30th Anniversary trip to Scotland in 2019 where I bought some fabric in a quilt store in Inverness--two of the fat quarters I bought ended up in this quilt.  In 2021, I attended the virtual QuiltCon during the pandemic.  I took a class in embroidered quilt labels and made the label for this quilt as my class project. 

The quilt is queen sized and will take its turn on our bed.  I spent quite a bit of time this past week sewing the binding down by hand.  I will link up with Kathy and the Slow Sunday Stitchers in the morning. 

Christine and I got together to sew for a couple of hours and I started working on my scrappy Drunkard's Path blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. As you can see, the October colour is light/lime green. 

Finn and our daughter are home for Thanksgiving this weekend. Today, we went on a hike in the woods at Pinery Provincial Park.  It was a beautiful day for a walk and we wore Finn out completely.  He has been snoozing on the floor for most of the evening. One of the trails we walked took us out to a platform overlooking Lake Huron.  Most of the trees at the Pinery are oaks and white pines so there was not a lot of brilliant fall colour.  

Happy Thanksgiving to all of the Canadians!  

Finally Stitching the Binding Down

I have had my lupine quilt back from the long arm quilter for a couple of months now.  Finally, this past week, I had the time and energy to get the binding made and sewn on by machine.  I don't usually measure my quilts before I cut the binding.  I tend to just cut the number of strips that looks like the right amount--usually, I am pretty accurate doing it this way.  This week was no exception and I had 7" of binding to spare when it was all on. 

The binding is made from leftover backing fabric. The quilting was done by Julie and I love the pantograph we chose.  I didn't want something swirly for this graphic quilt.  The lupines are upside-down in this picture!

I've started hand sewing the binding and this will be my Slow Sunday Stitching project for tomorrow and probably into next week.  This is a queen sized quilt. 

In the cooler months, my husband and I like to work on a puzzle in the evenings.  We started this Quilts of Gees Bend puzzle this week. 

I pin basted my 36 patch Rainbow Scrap Challenge quilt today.  I now have three quilts pin basted and I have officially run out of basting pins.  I hope to get this one quilted soon.  I will just be quilting it with straight lines in a diagonal grid through all of the white squares.   

Finn has an eye infection so he is wearing the dreaded cone this week.  He has eye drops from the vet and it is clearing up nicely so the cone should be gone soon. Finn wants you to notice the red leaf on the ground...He says Fall is here. 

My husband and I went for a walk in Port Stanley one afternoon this past week. I took this picture when we were at the end of the pier. 

I will link up with Kathy in the morning.