Placemats, HST's and the Hooking is Done!

I went to the guild sewing day this week and worked on my pitcher plant rug hooking project the whole time.  I managed to finish all of the hooking!  The first picture below was after I steamed it and the second picture was taken before steaming.  It really makes a difference, making it look much smoother afterwards!

I have started the wool edging but forget how to turn the corner and will have to consult with one of my hooking friends on how to do this.  The wool for the edging is a dark purple, even though it looks black in this picture. 

My daughter started a new crochet project this week.  Finn is guarding her wool.  He's very helpful. 

I made and pressed all of the HST's I need for the next blocks for the Thread House Modern Sampler project.  They are on the design wall and may get some rearranging before I sew them together. They will be sewn in the groupings as shown. 

Our guild is making placemats again this year for the local Meals on Wheels recipients.  I have decided to make 12 placemats for this cause.  This week, I put ten tops together and cut out the backings.  The tops are all Christmas or winter themed and the backs are fabrics that will work well for the rest of the year.  I quilted 6 placemats today and the other four will get done this week. I still have to figure out what I'm doing for the last two. Goodness knows there is no shortage of fabric to choose from!  I will do the binding when all the placemats are quilted. 

I made two snowman placemats. 

And four like this.  The little squares were printed on the fabric--it just looks like I sewed them all together.  

There are two of each of these placemats waiting to be quilted.  I am using up scraps of batting too.

In the garden, the gentian is in bloom.  

The bees and wasps are having a party on our Clethra bush these days.  This is a Great Black Wasp.  I had not seen this one before.  The wings are an iridescent blue colour.

My husband and I went for a walk in Port Stanley one evening this past week and a tall ship was coming into the harbour.  This is the St. Lawrence II from Kingston.  The sky was full of dark clouds but it did not rain. 

Here's a picture of Finn in his favourite morning nap spot.  He likes to be touching my daughter when he naps.  

 I will link up with Kathy, Frederique and So Scrappy. 

On a Roll

 I have been in the mood to finish some quilts and so I have another finished quilt to show this week.  My yellow and green potato chip quilt is done. I'm calling it "Sunny Day". The striped binding was in my stash.  This quilt will be donated to my MIL's nursing home to be raffled off as a fundraiser. (Another quilt is quilted and will be bound shortly--it is a gift so no pictures yet)

I spent quite a bit of time rug hooking this week and made great progress on my project.  Lots of blue still  and a little bit more on the last row of the outer border to go.

My daughter's collection of granny squares for her book blanket.  She makes one granny square for each book she has read this year.  Each of the colours and position of the colours gives information about the book she has read--ie genre, rating, how she read it, etc. 

While watering my parsley plant, I discovered that I am sharing my parsley with a swallowtail butterfly caterpillar. 

I saw this flower on a hike this week. 

I love the lemony yellow colour of the thread leaf coreopsis flowers in my garden. 

The milkweed pods are plentiful at the trail where I walk each day. 

Mom and Dad Osprey and their growing baby were putting on a show this week. 

Thanks for visiting!  Finn says hello. 

I will link up with Kathy and Frederique, as usual. 

Walking Foot Quilting

I finished off the quilting and binding of the hollow 9 patch baby quilt earlier this week and got to work on quilting my yellow and green potato chip quilt.  I am using 28 wt green thread on top and white 50 wt thread in the bobbin. This is a bigger quilt so it is taking longer to quilt...more material to manage as I quilt. I will work on this again soon--I'm hoping to have it done to show on next week's blog post.  This is a donation quilt. 

And here is the big TaDa!  The hollow nine patch rainbow quilt is done.  It is 36" by 48".   I bought the backing on sale a while ago and only have 1/2 a yard left.  

My black eyed Susans are putting on a show in the garden in the backyard these days. 

Our Kangaroo paws plant is in flower!  Such an interesting plant!

I finished the red border and started on the Burgundy border on my Pitcher Plant rug hooking project.   This definitely qualifies as slow stitching!!  I also spent a couple of hours on knitting my scarf---another very slow stitching project.  I am itching to start another cross stitch picture but I am resisting until these two projects are done. 

My daughter read 14 books in July and here are her granny squares for each book.  The second picture shows all of the books she read.  The little squares will be put together in the order that she read the books.  She has a spreadsheet that keeps track of the books and granny squares...

My husband and I decided to take advantage of a beautiful, not too hot, day yesterday and we went hiking at Rondeau Provincial Park. There are some interesting plants there and we also saw several varieties of butterflies.  Only one butterfly stayed still long enough for a picture. 

Spice Bush Berries

Red Admiral Butterfly

Finn is peeking out from under my daughter's desk to say hello!

I will link up with Kathy and the Slow Sunday Stitchers tomorrow.  This post will also be linked up with Frederique and Angela today. 

Rug Hooking, Knitting and a RSC Baby Quilt in Progress

After making 6 purple hollow nine patch blocks last week, I took out the bag of blocks that I have made so far this year and discovered that I had enough to make a baby quilt. I took them to the guild sewing day this week and laid them out on the design wall as shown above.  I sewed them together and  today, pin basted it and started the quilting--diagonal lines in both directions through each square. 

I'm using 28wt white thread in the top and 50 wt white in the bobbin.  The backing was in my stash. 

I added most of the red border to my rug hooking project this week. 

And more rows were added to the scarf --it is 60" long now.  I will knit until I run out of wool in the little ball in the picture. 

There are lots of butterflies in our garden these days...Today's picture is a Red Admiral. Its wings look a bit worse for wear. 

Our shamrock is blooming. It does well every year in a pot on our back step which is in the shade all day long. 

Can you handle another bee picture?  

My hanging baskets are very purple this year. 

Finn and my daughter went home this week.  Finn loved being outside in the backyard while he was here. The redbud tree in this picture had major storm damage this week when the trunk split and half the tree came down.  It may need to be removed which makes me sad as I love the pink blossoms in the spring and the vibrant green colour of the leaves in the summer.  

Now that my daughter is home, she is trying to get caught up on her book blanket granny squares.  Here are her June squares and the books she read.  She promised to have the July squares and books ready for next week's post.  Finn is a reluctant granny square model tonight. 

I will link up with Kathy, Frederique, and Angela.