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. 

Slow and Fast Stitching This Week

I like to have a variety of projects to work on at any one time so that I don't get bored (no chance of that for a very long time, if not ever!) so this week, as usual, I have a few things to show you.   First up is my fall themed comfort quilt block for the Elgin Piecemakers guild.  I have had that leaf fabric lurking in my stash for several years and it worked perfectly for this block.  (I even have some left...)

I have been cleaning out my fabric storage area and keep finding blocks and fabric that I forgot I had. Does this ever happen to you?  I made these boxy star blocks 7 years ago, intending to make a quilt for a special person in my life.  Unfortunately, she passed away very soon after I made the blocks so they got put away until this past week when I found them.  I decided to make them into a table topper.   I still have to figure out how I will quilt this so for now, it will sit in the to be quilted pile.

I found a jelly roll, partly cut up, in another bag, obviously intending to make it into something, but of course, there was no pattern or sketch in the bag.  I made lots of nine patches and will put them together to make a baby quilt, probably.  The white in all the blocks came out of my solid scrap bin--I did not have to cut into yardage at all.  

There were a couple of other projects started but never finished and they went into the garbage as they no longer inspired me.  I kept the useful fabric I found in those bags and gave some fat quarters to a friend who uses those particular colours in many of her quilts.  I still have a few bins and a closet to clean out but the storage room is looking much better.  This is a long term project!

The quilting was completed on my Kaffe Fassett spinning four patch quilt this week and I added the binding by machine on Monday.  I found just enough of the gray fabric that was in the quilt for the binding.

On Tuesday morning, while waiting for my car to be serviced, I went to Christine's house, drank tea, and we both worked on the hand stitching on our respective quilts.  We were closely supervised by Henry, Bowie and Chanel, the resident cats.  This is Henry.

I used up almost all of the fabric I used for the backing as well.  I am trying to use up my stash...

Henry spent some time guarding my sewing bag.

Here is the finished quilt.  I used my DSM to quilt wavy lines in a diagonal grid.

I will be putting this quilt into the Shedden Quilt show in April and then it will hang on the wall in my front hall for a while.

My counted cross stitch ornament for February did not get much attention this week, but some stitches were added.  I would like to work on this again tomorrow for Slow Sunday Stitching with Kathy.

Several Finishes this Week

This has been a week of finishes.  I finished the binding on the three table runners I quilted last Saturday.  My MIL has claimed this one.  It will look nice in her living room.  

The second runner will be given to a friend.

The third one will be donated to the church bazaar.

Next, I quilted and bound the baby quilt I showed last week.  I used some light green solid fabric for the binding.

The backing is some flannel I had in my stash.  I had to make it a bit wider so the orange stripe was added.  I will add a label soon, before I put this quilt away.

I used a combination of wavy and straight lines for the quilting which I did on my DSM.

At my knitting lesson this week, I learned how to do ribbing.  I am creating a sampler of the different knitting patterns I am learning...  Red does not photograph well.

I used Sarah's advice on how to finish off my embroidery project.  She suggested I do a running stitch to cinch in the extra fabric at the back of the hoop and then cover it with a piece of felt.

I hand stitched the felt into place.  I did not want to use glue.

This is now hanging on the wall in my sewing room.

I did a bit of cross stitch on the Linen and Threads February ornament this week. More stitches will be added tomorrow.

My daughter has been really busy at work but had a bit of time this week to finish outlining the first feather on her cross stitch.  Finn likes to help.

Today, I quilted my spinning 4 patch project and I am now in search of appropriate fabric in my stash for the binding.  I have a quilt guild meeting this coming week so I will have lots of show and tell.

I made a springtime pillow case for a friend this week too.  I did a lot of sewing this week!

I will be linking up with Kathy and the Gang of Slow Sunday Stitchers in the morning.  Take a look and see what kind of shenanigans everyone is up to this week.

Sewing This Week

Monday sewing days are very productive!  I had my spinning 4 patch top done to this point before I left home and managed to get both borders made and sewn on by shortly after lunch. 

I had limited blue fabric to work with so that dictated how wide the blue border would be.

I used some of the Kaffe Fassett "Millefiore" fabric that I had leftover from the spinning blocks to make the final border.

Next up, pin basting, and then quilting with my walking foot.  The backing fabric was in my stash.

I even used my bowl cozy at the sewing day at lunch time.  Worked well--I did not burn my hands!

In the afternoon, I made February's Comfort quilt block for the Elgin Piecemakers: a red and White House block.  It's a split level, made with scraps from the red scrap bin!

After building my house, I put my machine away and pulled out my embroidery.  It's so relaxing to add more slow stitches to this picture!  I will be linking up with Kathy and the Slow Sunday Stitchers this weekend.

I still have not done that scalloped edge on the roof of the house...soon.

I signed up to participate in the Modern Quilt Guild "Make a Mini, Make a Friend" swap again this year.  The finished quilt is to be mailed out in three weeks.  Ideas for a design have been floating around in my head for a few weeks now and yesterday, I finally put the design down on paper and picked out some fabrics.  This project will be my focus during sewing time for the next little while. Here is a sneak peak.  The big reveal will be after my swap partner receives her quilt.

The Elgin Piecemakers meet next week.  Pat P and I will be making the May Comfort quilt and so I made a sample block --Double Disappearing Nine Patch (pattern by Bill Stearman--used with permission for the Comfort Quilt) using some batiks I had in my stash.  We will be giving each person in the guild two squares of the focus fabric for colour inspiration when choosing fabrics.

I'm heading for the sewing room now to work on the swap quilt!