More Owls

As usual, Christine and I sewed together last week...this time it was at her house and we had a supervisor.  This is Daisy.  She kept a close eye on us as we sewed!

We both made our second owl blocks.  These went together a little faster than the first ones.  

The red one is mine and Christine's is pink.  

We had lunch outside on the deck.  Tomato tortellini soup and strawberries for dessert.  Yummy!  Christine gave me the recipe so I could make it at home. 

We got together again this week and I helped Christine finish off her civil war broken dishes blocks for the Fun with Barb swap.  They all went in the mail yesterday.  We can't wait to get our packages back from Barb with all of the swap blocks!  

Broken Dishes Swap

After reading about Kathy participating in a Bow tie block swap last year, I decided to jump in and join this year's swap at Fun with Barb.  Barb actually is running two swaps--both with 4" finished broken dishes blocks.  I joined up for the modern swap using solids (red and another colour of my choosing) and Christine signed up for the Civil War swap.  Barb was hoping that 40 people would sign up for each swap but only 30 signed up for the Modern swap. (I think 40 signed up for the civil war swap.)  The instructions soon arrived by e-mail.  I needed to make 60 blocks--30 in each of two colours with the constant red.  (Christine needs to make 80 blocks--in a way, I am happy I only needed to make 60!)

For my first set of 30 blocks, I decided to pair orange with the red.  I used my Go cutter to cut out all of the triangles...

A lot of sewing ensued followed by pressing and then more sewing.

I had some tension issues with my sewing machine so I switched to my older machine and took the newer one in for a check up at the sewing machine doctor...

I thought I had done enough sewing but, after counting, discovered I only had 28 1/2 blocks! Just 2 1/2 blocks to go.

More sewing, more pressing, more sewing again... This morning I finished off the blue and red blocks.  I am all done!

Christine and I will be mailing our blocks together so I will put mine in a bag, ready to go, and wait for her to get her civil war blocks made.

Yesterday, my husband and I went to the apple farm to get some pumpkins and apples. I just love the colours of  this season! 

Four Hearts

I finished my last two heart blocks for the Quilted Table Yahoo group swap tonight--another pink one and another red one...

I will tear the paper off the paper pieced hearts tonight while I watch TV with my husband--we are going to watch the RMR--Rick Mercer Report--one of our favourite shows. Tomorrow, I will mail these blocks off to the swap queen and she will do her magic, and then I will get 4 new heart blocks in the mail from 4 different people. I will be sure to show you the blocks I receive in the mail. I hope to make a little wall hanging or table topper from my blocks. I may even get it done for Valentine's Day!

Tomorrow, I am back at working on Indian Orange Peel Arcs!

Comfort Quilt and Swap Blocks

I promised you that I would show you the blocks I made on the weekend for the Elgin Piecemakers Guild comfort quilts for chemo patients at our local hospital. In December, we were each to make a blue and white 12 1/2 inch block and I did not get mine done.  (I wasn't the only one!) For our January meeting, the colours were red, black and white. I sat down at my sewing machine on Friday night and made my two blocks:

(They are both 12 1/2 inch square blocks--they just look a bit distorted in the pictures!)

I signed up for a Heart block swap with the quilted table yahoo group a while back. I made two of the blocks tonight. I have to make two more and put them into the mail this week for the swap.  Here are my first two blocks. The hearts are paper-pieced.

I will make the other two heart blocks tomorrow night. I did a little shopping at a quilt store on the weekend and purchased a couple more warm fat quarters for my Indian Orange Peel quilt. I am finding it a bit more challenging to find the warm colours in batiks--especially reds! I will keep looking.

I have a date with the treadmill now...

International Plowing Match and a Parcel in the Mail

Today was the first day of the International Plowing Match in Central Elgin, just west of St. Thomas, Ontario, Canada. I volunteered in the quilting tent for the morning where I sold raffle tickets with another local quilter from the Elgin Piecemakers Guild. We had lots of visitors from all over the province and one lady was from Quebec!
This is the sign outside the quilt tent--Elly is the mascot of the IPM this year.
Here is my quilt on display. All of the quilts were covered with plastic in case it rained and the tent leaked! No rain today. Warm and sunny all day!

When I got home, there was a package on my front porch--it was my pumpkin wall hanging for the Quilted Table Yahoo group swap from Joan, a quilter from Denver, Colorado! She sent along a few goodies too.
Thanks Joan for the wonderful parcel!

A Parcel in the Mail and Borders Progress

Robin, my swap partner for the recent Quilted Table Yahoo Group candle mat swap, made me a second candle mat because we all thought the first one was forever lost in the mail. She decided to make this one with a spring theme since we were already well past St. Patrick's day. So, now I have two candle mats! By the time I let her know the St. Patrick's mat arrived, this one was already in the mail. She sent a magazine about the Finger Lakes area in New York State as well as a FQ along with the mat. I am feeling quite spoiled getting two packages within a few days of each other.
Last night, I cut out the rest of the pieces I need for the pieced border on my Grateful Heart Sampler. I marked the diagonals on the little squares for the flying geese units and piled everything up by the sewing machine in preparation for some sewing time tonight. The weather was so beautiful today that I decided to do some outside jobs when I got home and after supper until it got dark--I was in an office all day and could just look outside at the sunshine. So, I vacuumed my car, put away the winter greens arrangement on the front porch, cleaned up some sticks in the back yard and put the table and chairs out on the patio in the back yard (with a little help from my husband). I did manage to do a bit of sewing when I came inside. I will keep working on the flying geese tomorrow. I hope to have everything pieced by the end of the weekend. For the last two years, I have been driving 1 hour and 10 minutes each way to work. I have been transferred to the office in my home town now so I only have to drive 6 minutes each way to work now. I have lots of extra time in the morning and after work to get things done! This is so exciting! More time to sew...

I took some pictures of my first daffodils today as well. The one on the left is less than 2" across. The one on the right is a regular sized daffodil.

St. Patrick's Day Swap

My garden is coming to life and with the warm weather forecast for this week, it will be bursting with more colour soon. I love the way the columbine leaves unfurl. I have many different kinds of columbine in my garden--I think they are my favourite flowers.

These crocuses are blooming like crazy in my front garden. The rabbits have not yet discovered them...
I also have some daffodils that are about to burst into bloom. I will add more pictures this week.

Back in February, I told you about a St. Patrick's day candle mat swap that I participated in through the Quilted Table Yahoo group. This is the candle mat that I made and sent to my swap partner in New York State, USA.

I waited and waited for my mat to arrive. The swap organizer, the quilter who made my swap and I were all perplexed about why my mat had not arrived since it had been mailed at the end of February. Finally, on Friday, my package arrived! I soon realized why it had taken so long to get here...When my swap partner did the label on the computer at the US post office website, she accidentally clicked on "Canary Islands" instead of "Canada"!!! Haven't we all done something like that before!!! I sent her an e-mail to let her know the mat had finally arrived and how it had taken the long route to get here. Thanks Robin for the beautiful mat, St. Patrick's Day mat and pencils. I look forward to using it next year!

Patriotic Table Runner Swap

I recently participated in a Quilted table Yahoo group Patriotic/Friendship Table Runner swap. I just realized I never did post a picture of the runner and gifts that I sent to Lynn in Minnesota! I made her a loyalty card wallet from leftover fabric from the table runner --you can see it open and closed above. I also bought her a London Friendship Quilter's Guild Pin and a fat quarter, which I forgot to put into the pictures! The runner and wallet were made from a charm pack by Moda--I think it was called Prairie Paisley.

The next swap is a Fall Themed runner. I have not decided if I will participate this time around. I have a lot going on in my life over the next little while and may take a brief hiatus from swaps.

Quilted Table Swap and University Quilt Progress

Yesterday, my Quilted Table Yahoo group swap table runner arrived in the mail. It was made by a quilter from Eclectic, Alabama. Chris made me a beautiful Italian Pasta themed runner and matching tea towel (the tea towel is way too nice to use!). Here is a picture of the runner and the tea towel. Chris has an embroidery machine and the chef blocks and the herb blocks were done on it. What a lovely gift!!!

I have been working on my daughter's university quilt and have made some progress on some more pieced blocks. I had a couple of friends over for a very small Quilter's (and Knitters!) Night in Canada on Wednesday and I worked on the university quilt while Karen sewed binding on a table runner that she made and Pat started to knit a pair of socks for herself. (I did not take any pictures that night--I will try to remember to do that at the next QNIC.) Here are a few of the blocks completed and some of the blocks that are just about done.

Back from vacation...

Our family went away for the March break to Georgia and South Carolina. We drove down and stopped at several quilting stores along the way. Most of my "souvenirs" from the trip are from quilt stores. I have lots of new projects to do now.

We stopped in Columbus, GA to deliver the table runner I made for a Spring/Easter table runner swap for the Quilted Table Yahoo group. I called the recipient (I had never met her before) when we were about 30 minutes from Columbus and she agreed to meet us at the quilt store "Sew Much Fun" where she works. She liked the runner and let me know by e-mail that it goes well with the colours in her house. Here is a picture of the completed runner:
After giving us a tour of the store where I did a little shopping, of course, Linda gave us a fabric basket of Easter chocolates for the rest of the car trip. It was fun to hand deliver the table runner and meet the person I made it for! I will add a picture of the basket later.