Pineapple Log Cabin Done, Two Donation Quilts Started.

Some projects are quick to make and others aren't.  I made these blocks in 2023 as one of my Rainbow Scrap Challenge projects.  The quilt top was completed in January 2024.  Then it sat in the to be quilted pile as I pondered how to quilt it.  It kept telling me it wanted to be hand quilted so I finally relented, and started hand quilting it last fall.  I took a break from it for a while and then finished it in the Spring/Early Summer of this year.  I searched high and low through my stash for an appropriate fabric for the binding and had nothing.  I really wanted to use the grey background fabric as the binding so searched on the Internet to see if I could find some in a Canadian Store.  I found it and finally picked it up this past week.  It was a priority this week to get the binding made and sewn down.  Now, this quilt is ready to be displayed on the wall!  

I also added more stitches to my fall cross stitch, finishing off a leaf I started last week and making good progress on the bird. There is one more leaf to add below the branch in this section before moving along to the left. 

Christine and I attend a couple of the Crafter's Retreats at Camp Kintail each year.  The camp is run by the Presbyterian Church  and has a fundraising auction each fall.  I usually donate and item for the auction and, this year, decided to donate a lap quilt.  Today was Jelly Roll Day at the Oxford Guild so I got busy sewing.  I had all of the cutting done for these blocks earlier in the week.  I made 20 blocks and will add navy blue sashing before quilting it with my walking foot.  I need to have this done very soon so it will likely be my focus for the next little while.  The colourful fabrics are grunge and the navy was in my stash....I think it was leftover from a quilt back. 

I am also making a donation quilt for a fundraising raffle at the nursing home where my MIL lives.  I've got a good start on this one and hope to have it done by the end of October.  The fabrics all came from my batik bin.  I have been trying to use up my batiks for a while and was happy to find enough co-ordinating fabrics in the bin to make this quilt.  Both of these donation quilts will end up being lap sized. 

The Oxford Guild makes Quilts of Valour and handed out strips of fabric at our September meeting to make 16 patches.  They supplied with teal fabric and I added the other two fabrics to make four 16 patch blocks.  

The butterfly weed in my front garden is creating lots of fluffy seeds to spread around the neighbourhood. 

The sedum is in bloom now that gardening season is winding down. 

Finn and my daughter got a new mattress this week.  It is Finn approved. 

I will link up with Kathy, Angela and Frederique.  

Leaves and a Finish!

This week, I added more leaves to my Fall cross stitch project.  This is not a very big project and it is fun to work on at this time of year.  This whimsical pattern is from Satsuma Street.

I finished the Bricks and Stepping Stones baby quilt this week. I sewed the binding down by hand in the car on our way to see a play in Blyth.  This quilt will be gifted shortly.  The baby was born in July.  Many of the I Spy prints were picked specifically for this particular baby boy. 

I'm moving right along on the hand quilting of my round robin quilt.  I'm using orange thread to quilt the cool colours and green thread to quilt the warm colours on this quilt.  I'm enjoying every stitch!

I have lots of projects on my list of things to do next week.  We will see how much gets done.  I'm happy just working away in my sewing room, listening to an audio book or chatting with a friend as I sew. 

Finn is a happy boy!  

At the park where I walk with friends each morning, everything is just ducky. 

You can tell the end of summer is nigh when the berries on the bushes are in full colour.   According to my Seek app, this is a Guelder-rose or Viburnum. 

This one is an Autumn Olive.  This colour palette would make a great quilt...

 I will link up with Kathy and the Slow Sunday Stitchers as well as Frederique.   Blogger has been acting weird the last little while.  Did some of you have trouble commenting last week?  

Two Baby Quilt Tops and Handstitching, of course!

In an effort to use up my kids prints and to replenish my baby quilt supply, I made two I spy baby quilts over the last couple of weeks.  The first is a Bonnie Hunter Pattern...Bricks and Stepping Stones.  The quilt is 36" by 48" and features lots of fun I Spy prints. 

The second one is a Potato Chip quilt featuring more fabrics from my collection.  It is the same size as the one above.  I tried to use pairs of all of the fabrics so that a game of find the matching fabric can be played.  Some of these fabrics have been lurking in my stash for a long time.  The thing I like about both of these patterns ---both are easy to cut and put together fairly quickly.  

The backs are pieced with fabrics from my stash.  I will get these pin basted and quilted over the next week or two. 

Finn likes to lie close, sometimes on top of, my daughter to make sure she does not leave his sight. 

I've been working on the bird's tail and more leaves this week on my fall cross stitch project. 

I made some cottage themed pillowcases for a friend for her birthday.  She is excited to use them at their cottage this fall. 

At my guild's weekly sewing day, I did some more hand quilting on my round robin quilt. 

My husband and I celebrated our wedding anniversary with lunch out and ice cream as well as a few stops on the way home at various interesting spots.  We both had fish tacos and a salad for lunch.  Yum!  All afternoon, we could see a storm brewing north of where we were.  We managed to avoid most of the rain until we got home when the storm arrived with a vengeance.  We had hail, thunder and lightning and torrential rain and winds.  

We lost one branch in a tree in the backyard during the storm but everything else was fine.   

I will link up with Kathy and the Slow Sunday Stitchers as well as Frederique.  

Back From Vacation

 We just got home from two weeks in Calgary, Alberta where we were visiting family.  We had lots of fun and went to lots of interesting places. This post has lots of pictures of our trip as well as the sewing I have done in the last three weeks.  I will start with some progress on my hand quilting of the round robin quilt.  I'm just figuring it out as I go along and will go back to quilt the blue border as well as the outer green border when I feel inspired. 

I started a new fall cross stitch project on our trip.  The pattern is Autumn Bird by Satsuma Street. I like to do a bit of this colour and then a bit of that colour as I stitch.  

I went to one quilt store in Canmore and purchased these four fat quarters, all with a Canadian theme.  I really like the touques on the birds!

While out for a walk along the river, we discovered some interesting art made with marbles.  You could only see the picture they made when the sun was shining from behind. 

I also caught a picture of an Osprey landing on its nest on top of a public art installation on St. Patrick Island. 

We went for a short hike at Big Hill Springs Provincial Park near Cochrane. 

Who doesn't love a happy barn?

A real sunflower and an art installation in a reading garden. 

I'm always on the lookout for Quilty inspiration...

Fishing, anyone???

This is the best bathroom art I have ever seen! It was at the SAM centre (Calgary Stampede Museum).   Yes, those are toilets in the background...

We also spent a day at the Calgary Zoo where my favourite animals were the penguins. 

These little birds weave their nests with grasses. 

We took a trip to the badlands where we saw lots of Hoodoos. 

I took last year's fall cross stitch project in to be framed before we went away and it should be ready soon.  Here is the frame I picked out. 

Also, before we went away, I finished met Rainbow Scrap Challenge 9 patch quilt. It's all ready for show and tell at our September Guild meeting. 

What would a blogpost be without a picture of Finn the granddog???  He just got his hair cut this week.  (I saw this mat outside a store in Calgary...)

I will link up with Kathy and the Slow Sunday Stitchers, Frederique, and the Rainbow Scrap Challenge folks as well.