This Week's Projects

The neighbourhood is expanding!  I have 20 houses made now and lots of fabric set aside for more of them.  This will be an ongoing project for a few weeks.  

I also made the June and July blocks for the London Modern Quilt Guild HST block of the month mystery quilt.  There was one block for June and two for July so now I am all caught up until the next block pattern comes out in August.  Each month, we learn how to make HST's in a different way for our block that month. 

I started another knitted facecloth this week...this time with a green variegated yarn.  I did some knitting in the gazebo this afternoon, even though it was hot outside. 

I finished the hexagon lap quilt this week.  My cousin was going to visit her Dad and step-Mother this week and so suddenly, I had a deadline!  In two days, I had it pin basted, quilted and bound. My cousin came and picked it up from my porch and delivered it on Canada Day. They loved their quilt and were very surprised!  I made 4 quilts these past few months for 4 sets of aunts and uncles...the two farm quilts, the blue and gray quilt, and the hexagon quilt. Everyone has their quilts now.  

I quilted this one with red thread in straight lines. 

The front...

And the back, made with leftovers from the front and other black fabrics from my stash. 

These scrappy trips blocks are sewn together now (but not in the picture above!) and I have purchased fabric for borders and the backing.  It is being washed and I will try to get this one ready for quilting next. I have not decided if I will try to quilt this one myself or hire a long armer.   This quilt will be donated to the hospice. 

My husband and I went for a short hike earlier this week and met a couple of new, slow moving, "friends"... a turtle, and snail!

It's amazing what you see when you look down and around as you walk along. 

The flowers in our garden are doing well, thanks to being watered with the hose...we have not had much rain lately. 

Butterfly weed:

Coreopsis:

The Astilbe is about to pop open. 

My daughter finished her cityscape this week...How many of you guessed that this was Chicago?

I will be linking up with Kathy and the other slow stitchers tomorrow.  I hope to do some more knitting tomorrow.  Take care and have a good week. Be kind and wear your mask when near other people. 

Some Sewing and Some Knitting

Last week, I showed my first finished face cloth which I had knitted and this week, I made another one.  The second one went much more quickly.  I will be starting a third one tomorrow for Slow Sunday Stitching with Kathy and the other sewers, knitters, crocheters and embroiderers. 

The variegated yarn makes an interesting pattern.  

My hexagon quilt top is done.  As you can see, I decided to add 1.5" filler strips between the columns of hexagons. I needed the quilt to be a tad wider to make the proportions right.  The size of the borders was determined  by how much fabric I had--I cut it close with only a two inch strip and a few scraps leftover when all was said and done. 

I made a piano key strip with the leftover batiks which will go on the back of the quilt.  I found some black tone on tone prints to use as well as some solid black. Here it is so far...

I plan on finishing the back tomorrow and then getting this quilt pin basted and quilted this week. Lest you think I will have nothing to do after finishing this quilt, I have the blocks for my batik scrappy trips laid out on the floor, ready to be put together.  I will need to purchase something for the border and backing of this quilt as it will be for our still to be built hospice. A number of quilters in our area are making quilts for the new hospice. 

This is a Bonnie Hunter pattern. 

The Shasta daisies are out this week!  My husband and I went to the garden centre last weekend when it was quiet and purchased a few more perennials for the garden.  We had a few bare spots where some plants  had died so now those spaces are filled.  We did not want to go to the garden centre earlier in the season when there were lots of people there. 

I also have some evening primrose in bloom--such a cheerful flower!  

We made some pizza on naan bread this week.  This is roasted beet pesto with kale, mozzarella and goat cheese pizza--very yummy!  Here is a link to the recipe if you are interested in trying this yourself.  We cooked it on the BBQ.  I froze the leftover pesto in ice cube trays to use later. 

 

Happy Canada Day on July 1st!!!  

Baby Quilt Done, Lap Quilt Started

Last week, I showed two piles of blocks for this baby quilt--the rectangular four patches and the I Spy blocks.  I have way too many I spy fabrics but could not resist buying this one to add to my collection--who doesn't love a popsicle in the summertime?  

I got busy at my sewing machine this week and put the quilt top together, quilted it on my DSM and did the binding...One completed baby quilt in less than a week!

Since I did not want to go out to a quilt store to buy backing, I pieced the backing with flannel leftovers in gray, white and turquoise to match the front.  The fabric in the top row has sock monkeys on it!

The quilting is straight lines diagonally through all of the blocks, creating a diamond pattern. 

I had enough of the turquoise fabric from the 4-patches for the binding.  

This baby quilt is ready for gifting.  The baby boy is not due until later this summer so the quilt is ready in plenty of time. 

On Friday afternoon, Christine, Sarah and I had a virtual sew-in for three hours on FaceTime.  Christine worked on a baby quilt and a pillow while Sarah was making a Canada flag quilt, hoping to get it done in time for Canada Day on July 1st.  I worked on the hexagon quilt I showed a few posts back.  I got all of the half hexies sewn together and then laid them out on the floor with the Essex Linen fabric I had chosen for the borders.  I was not really keen on how the blocks seemed to smush together with this layout so decided to sleep on it--this often helps me when I am trying to figure out a quilt layout or solve some other type of problem. 

Today, with a fresh outlook, I moved the pieces around and came up with this:

I wanted the end product to be a rectangular lap quilt and the other layout was not going to be the right shape or big enough.  I added gray triangles in the empty spots and started sewing the columns together today.  Check back next week for a picture of the finished quilt (I hope!)

I finished off the pink facecloth this week and started another one.  The texture created by the pattern is fun and looks interesting from both sides. I have enough yarn to make 5 of these. 

Finn has been "assisting" my daughter while she works at home...she didn't need that half of the keyboard anyways...

Finn "helped" my daughter to open a package of embroidery thread and Aida cloth this week, as well.  He must have thought it was treats for him!  She has started a new cityscape --any guesses??? 

 I like the way she stores her threads. 

The dove babies left the nest this week and posed for a photo with their parents before flying off for their next adventure. 

A few more flowers are out this week. Lavender:

Elderberry (this is a bush)

Allium

My herbs include parsley, cilantro, basil and rosemary. They will soon be big enough to start picking them. 

I will link up with Kathy and associates at the Slow Sunday Stitching link up in the morning. 

Stitching, Knitting and Cutting

I think I spent some time every day this week working on this table runner--the quilting took a long time and two bobbins of thread to finish. I made the string pieced triangles in an online workshop with Sarah Bond, hosted by the Modern Quilt Guild, 3 weeks ago.

The backing is a fun fabric purchased in the last year.  I like the orange accents in it and the random "Hello".  The binding is an orange solid I had in my stash. The bobbin had 50 wt thread in it but the top thread was 30 wt.  Those quilting lines are the width of my walking foot apart.

The runner fits nicely on my coffee table and also on the dining room table.  This was a fun way to use up some scraps.

Finn and my daughter are back home.  Finn enjoys being outside in the evenings. 

There is another baby, a boy, on the way in about 6 weeks so I started working on an I Spy quilt today.  These rectangular 4 patches will be between each I Spy fabric.

I started cutting out the I Spy fabrics tonight.   I will sew the top together this week and quilt it myself.  I have a lot of novelty prints to use for I Spy quilts.

A few weeks ago, I purchased two hanging baskets with fuchsia in them for our front porch.  Almost immediately, a mourning dove took up residence in one of the baskets, built her nest and laid her eggs.  She does not budge off of the nest, even when we water the flowers.

This week, we had a wild thunder storm and the basket swung to and fro and she still sat on the nest.  The next day, we got our first glimpse of the babies.

They are growing fast and are very calm, like their mother.

Our gardens continue to produce new blooms...Peony

Salvia

Pincushion Flower (appropriate in the garden of a quilter!)

These verbenas are in a pot on our patio. 

Our first daylily bloomed this week too. 

I spent quite a bit of time knitting this week and have just about finished the facecloth I started last week.

I am reading a book right now called "This Golden Fleece: A Journey Through Britain's Knitted History".  My husband gave it to me for Christmas.  The author travelled around Britain to study the subject and knitted several traditional patterns as she travelled.  If you are a knitter, you might be interested in this book.

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

A Little Sewing and a Little Knitting!

Our daughter arrived earlier this week for a visit and to pick up Finn and take him home.  She was a bit worried that Finn would forget her since he was here for 11 weeks while she was busy at work.  I assured her that Finn would be very excited to see her, and he was!  I thought his tail was going to fall off, it was wagging so hard!   Here is a picture of the happy reunion. 

My daughter showed me a picture of a face covering and matching dog bandana she saw on the internet...she wanted a set for her and Finn.  Today, she searched through my stash to find just the right fabric and decided on this cute dog print.  Finn is very dapper in his new bandana. 

They will be quite the pair when out in public with their co-ordinating outfits!

Finn has already requested more bandanas...

My daughter finished her cross stitch feathers.  It is stitched on wood with laser cut holes in it. It has a metal loop on the back so she can hang it on the wall. The circle is 16" across.  This was a kit that was given to her for Christmas.

I finished up the dishcloth I started last week

and started another new project this week--this is a new pattern for a "spa facecloth".  It includes seed stitch and a four row repeating pattern. I consulted a friend about how to read all the short forms on the pattern and got started.  So far, so good. The first picture shows the seed stitch border.

I did two full repeats of the pattern and will keep knitting away on this tomorrow.

I belong to a sewing group at church and we have been busy over the last few weeks making face coverings for members of the congregation.  The orders have finally slowed down so today I made two aprons for the Sunday school children to wear when doing messy cooking or crafts.  It will be a while before the children will have a chance to wear the aprons.  Other members of the sewing group have also made aprons. 

I used a nifty tool which once belonged to my grandmother to turn the ties--very slick and fast!

Our garden continues to put on a good show with new blooms every day.  Our deutzia bush is covered in small white flowers right now

The clematis in the back yard is also in full bloom.

We have a couple of clumps of pinks--

as well as some perennial geraniums coming into bloom.

One of my favourite flowers is Columbine...I have several different varieties.

There seems to be a lot of pink and purple flowers in bloom at the moment!

 I hope all of you have a wonderful week and can get outside to enjoy some exercise and the flowers and trees where you live.   I will link up with Kathy and the Slow Sunday Stitchers in the morning.