Sewing Day with Friends

This has been a busy week in the sewing department!  I have decided to rejoin the Rainbow Scrap Challenge again this year after a 1 year hiatus.  My scraps are in bad need of being tamed!  January's colour is pink so here are my two projects so far.  I may add one more but I'm not sure yet.  I have a pile of  white 2.5" squares with small scale prints on them.  I have had them for a few years and decided to use them for the centres of these hollow nine patch blocks each month.  I am also going to make some triangle in a square blocks.  I made my first one today.  I may do two each month...

Six friends came over for the day today for some slow stitching.  Three people were knitting, three did counted cross stitch, one did embroidery, one did some hand stitching on some placemats and one did rug hooking.  Two of us also did some machine sewing.  (I know--the numbers don't add up to seven--some people worked on more than one project. ) I made a quilt top from a set of 12 scrappy 6.5" squares I made in 2023.  This is the third quilt top I have made with these squares--only one set left to make into a quilt top. 

I decided on a shadowbox setting for this one. 

Karen started knitting herself a new scarf with some yarn she had in her stash.   

Frances is making a shawl. 

Pat worked on some striped two at a time children's mittens.  The stripes are red.  I didn't get a picture of her second knitting project--a blanket that she is making from leftover yarns. 

Frances is making a beautiful hooked rug with feathers on it.  

Christine worked on the Fall section of her four seasons cross stitch. 

Elaine has started to embroider a stamped cross stitch baby quilt.  

I finished off the quadrant with the owl in it earlier this week and started on the border for the last section of my Winter cross stitch.  Progress was made today on the border. 

The border is not very exciting but it must be done before I can start into the exciting part!

We had turkey vegetable soup, buns, fruit and cookies for lunch. 

My daughter has been working on her Christmas blanket--the gingerbread border is coming along.  Finn is a big help, holding the blanket down while she crochets. 

She finished listening to three audiobooks this week and made three granny squares for her book blanket.  

My book club discussion about The Secret Garden went well and I am going to start reading next month's book this week.  During Black history month, we read a book by a Black author. 

I am reading this short novella first.  This one may make it onto the list for book club next year. 

A friend and I took a walk along a hiking trail this week and this was our view 

My husband and I went for a walk on the day it snowed.  It was very fluffy. 

Finn got a new toy for Christmas. It comes with molds to make frozen yoghurt balls that fit into the green part.  It slows him down a bit when he has his frozen yoghurt treat.  My daughter made the balls with plain greek yoghurt, some strawberries and a bit of peanut butter.  

I gathered some fabrics for a new project this week. I bought the four prints when we were in Arizona this past Fall. The solids were in my stash. I may get started on this project soon...I just have to sketch out the design idea.

A friend has a new grandson so I made him a cloth book. I have made many of these over the years. 

 

I will link up with the Slow Sunday Stitching crew at Kathy's blog, the rainbow scrap challenge folks and with Frederique.  Have a good week. 

Slow Stitching in the Car and My Daughter's Crochet

We spent some time in the car this past week, driving our daughter home to where she and Finn live so that gave me some time to do some cross stitching. I should be able to finish this quadrant off this week and then on to the fourth and final quadrant.  This is a great winter project!

Our daughter worked on her crocheted Christmas blanket when she was home.  She is working on the gingerbread border right now.  There is a white wavy "Icing" line to add and then more of the gold colour.  Then, there are 80 little "candies" to add to the two gingerbread sections. They are the same as the light green one shown in the picture below. Then, on to the final border.  The blanket will be 60" square when it is done. 

In the meantime, she bought some yarn online for her next project... a book blanket.  She reads over 100 books every year (last year's total was 123!!!) and will be making a granny square with four colours in it for each book she reads.  She has made a chart to keep track of the genre (mystery, romance, historical fiction, non-fiction, etc), star rating, source of the book (own, library, gift etc), medium (audiobook, physical book or e-book).  She purchased a yarn winder and she and I worked together to wind all her wool into balls.  They look pretty all stacked up and ready to be made into granny squares.  She hasn't finished a book yet so there are no granny squares yet.  She will keep working on the Christmas blanket and her other two UFO's too.  She is the proud owner of a wool stash!!  LOL. 

We enjoyed having Finn and our daughter here for the holidays.  The house seems very quiet now without them. 

Diann asked last week what books I am reading. I lead a book club and this month we are discussing The Secret Garden.  I borrowed my daughter's copy of this book.  It has a very pretty cover. This is our children's literature pick for this year.  We read a different genre of book each month. 

I like listening to audiobooks and I'm listening to "Long Island" by Colm Tóibín.  It is the sequel to "Brooklyn" which was also a movie.  The book is read by a woman with a wonderful Irish accent.  You should read "Brooklyn" first before "Long Island" --both are excellent.  Eilis Lacey is a young Irish woman who immigrates to New York City by herself and meets and marries an Italian man, Tony.  Highly recommended!!!  

 I received 8 books as Christmas gifts. I will probably pick one of them to read next.  I will link up with Frederique and Kathy. This is the week that I will be getting back into my sewing room to work on some quilts!  

2024 Wrap-Up

 It's December 31st already and time to look back to see what I accomplished in my sewing room this year. There are still lots of UFO's hanging on --a starter course for 2025!

January

I used some 4.5" orphan basket blocks to make some pin cushions for my friends who came to my house for a sewing day. 

I took a class with David Owen Hastings and finished off this small quilt "Inspired by Dunnottar Castle". 

I finished knitting a moose hat for my husband--this was a 2023 Christmas gift. 

February

Katie and I participated in the MQG swap at QuiltCon in Raleigh, NC.  Katie is holding the churn dash quilt that I made for her.  My quilt depicts the state of Oregon where Katie lives. 

March

A scrappy nine patch --an attempt to use up some of my 2.5" squares. 

A bunny wall hanging for my MIL's room at her long term care home.  

A baby quilt from a jelly roll for a friend's new grand-daughter. 

I completed my scrappy stars rainbow scrap challenge quilt at a retreat. 

My bunny cross stitch was completed and framed in time for Easter.

April

My big finish in April was my modern sampler quilt. 

May

I finished a nearly 10 year old UFO in May--Overlapping Tiles--a quilt started in the fall of 2014 at a class with Kaffe Fassett and Brandon Malby. 

I made 12 blocks for Quilts for Survivors of residential schools using my batiks. These were donated to this group at Quilt Canada in June (delivered by a friend who attended).

I made two Sew Together bags --one for me and one for a friend for her birthday. The first one is mine made with New York City fabric which I bought at QuiltCon. 

I made this one from fabrics in my stash. The outside of the bag is the Kaffe print at the right end of the inside of the bag. 

June

Yet another Sew Together bag for a friend's retirement. 

July

A flannel vortex baby quilt for a friend's baby boy.  I still have lots of flannel scraps left. 

I hand quilted my Put a Ring on It quilt.  I started this quilt during an online class with Latifah Saffir in Feb 2021.

 

August

Another cross stitch finish--Sunflowers. Pattern by Satsuma Street. 

I also made a quilt for my cousin--she likes purple and green.  This was a fun quilt to make from my stash.  The picture was taken before I added a mauve binding. 

My friend, Christine, and I took a barn quilt painting class in August.  Here is my barn quilt. 

September

I started making placemats for Meals on Wheels--an outreach project of the Oxford Quilt Guild.  Here are two of the 12 placemats that I made. 

 

October

I had my Christmas cross stitched framed.  I love the red frame. 

I quilted and bound a quilt for our local hospice which will be opening in the Spring of 2025. I used my batik scraps and the potato chip block pattern to make this quilt. 

November 

I made another potato chip quilt as a gift for another cousin--this one in teal and brown. 

I made some pillows and a table runner for the church Christmas bazaar. 

December

I finished an 80+ year old UFO, started by my husband's great grandmother who died before finishing it. I gave this to my sister in law.

I made my daughter a Sew Together bag for her crochet supplies for Christmas. 

I quilted and bound another UFO--this top was made in one day at the VP challenge day for the Oxford QG.  This will be given away as a baby quilt. 

Phew--I guess I did get lots done in 2024!  Hopefully, there will be lots of productive time spent in my sewing room in 2025.  

Happy New Year from me and the party animal!