Pitcher Plant Rug Hooking

Our daughter arrived last weekend to stay for a few days before taking Finn home.  She and I spent one evening stitching together--I worked on my rug hooking and she did some cross stitching.  Unfortunately, her stitching was off by one square and  she had to rip out quite a bit of what she had accomplished so that project is now in time out!  I think my stem looks too thick so it may need to be ripped out and made skinnier.  Maybe it would look better if some of the background was hooked around it?  Any advice from the hookers?

Flowers are blooming everywhere--I saw these lilacs on a walk one day, just starting to open. 

We took Finn for a walk in Port Stanley one evening and there were lots of baby geese. 

Swimming as fast as they can to keep up with their mom. 

While checking out my garden one evening, I saw these tulips blooming...

...and mama bunny.  Her babies are in a  nest on one of our gardens, under the pile of dead grass in the second picture.  I found them when cleaning up the garden but put the grass back where I found it when I saw the babies. 

More daffodils blooming this week. 

And primroses. 

We will miss having Finn around but will see them both in June. 

I will link up with Kathy and Frederique this weekend.  I am looking forward to some sewing time this weekend.  Happy Mother's Day to all the Moms and women who have this role in the lives of children.
 

The Guild Quilt Show

The biannual Oxford Quilters Guild Show in Embro, Ontario happened over the past couple of days. As you know, I spent much of my sewing time over the past couple of weeks sewing sleeves onto my quilts for the show. On Wednesday morning, I dropped off my quilts and Christine's quilts so that they could be hung for the show. I entered 11 quilts and my barn quilt into the show and took pictures of each of them at the show.  

This is one of the quilts I made for the new Hospice which will be opening this summer.  It's a potato chip quilt. 

My modern sampler was my only bed sized quilt that I entered into the show.  It was a bit too long for the quilt rack so the bottom of it was pinned up. 

This big quilt was made by Megan using a pattern from "Quilts of Iceland".  My Shadowbox quilt is on the chair beside it. 

Here is my Overlapping Tiles quilt. It has all bias edges which is why the bottom is a bit wavy. 

I can't remember who made the house quilt but Christine made the pink and gold quilt.  My Crumby Stars quilt is on the chair. 

This is a better picture of Christine with her Pink Pineapple quilt. 

Christine called her hollow nine patch quilt "Jelly Beans."

Here is my scrappy nine patch.  You can see that both Christine and I like to make scrappy quilts!

Yet another scrappy quilt--this one is an I Spy Potato chip quilt. 

This is a Poppyprint pattern--I forgot to get a picture of the label and can't remember who made it.  You can probably tell why I liked it!

Several years ago, three friends and I ran our own round robin one summer.  This is Christine's quilt.  I made the triangle border.   (More scraps!)

Lynn made this fabulous teal/turquoise quilt during the pandemic. 

My Arizona Adventures quilt...

It was fun to see two barn quilts at the show--this one is mine and Christine made the second one, but I did not get a good picture of hers. 

My Whistlestop quilt was displayed with another quilters "cats in teacups."

This is Christine's recently finished Christmas quilt. 

"Put a Ring on It"-- machine pieced and hand quilted by me.

I really like making I Spy quilts... this one was  made with Half Rectangle Triangles.

I suggested that we offer a Scavenger Hunt for younger visitors to the quilt show. After the quilts were hung, I went back and made a list of things that could be found in the quilts.  I typed it up and the chair of the quilt show committee and I made prizes for participating in the hunt.  I made several rope bowls and Gwen made some pouches and crayon rolls. I was at the show on Friday and there were several children that completed the challenge.  It was fun to watch them looking at all the quilts to find everything.  (Feel free to borrow this idea for your guild's quilt show!)

Finn and I did some reading on the front porch this week.  I started a new book. 

Our gardens are bursting with spring blooms. 

When in Newfoundland in 2023, I purchased a rug hooking kit. This flower, a pitcher plant, is a carnivorous plant and is the provincial flower of Newfoundland.  Here is a picture of the plant in full bloom--this is not the pattern that I am stitching.  I have started hooking the border as you can see below.  This will be my slow stitching project for the next while. 

Christine, Katharine, and Carol and I are doing another round robin starting this month.  Here is my centre block and the fabrics I am including for people to add borders. I will not see it again until the big reveal at the end of the summer. 

 I will link up with Kathy and Frederique as usual. 

Lupin Cross Stitch is Done

I added the last outlining stitches to my lupins cross stitch this week when Christine was over to sew one evening. I will take this to the framers soon, along with my Winter Woods project.  I purchased this kit when we were in Newfoundland in June 2023.  I also purchased a kit to make a pitcher plant hooked rug when I was there and hope to work on it next. 

I found my bin of cotton clothesline cording and made a couple of rope bowls this week.  I will probably make a few more this week to use up the cording that is in the bin. The pink fabric was leftover from a quilt backing and was in my pink scrap bin. The darker spots are little birds. 

At the church sewing group, I made another apron for the Christmas bazaar---there is a pocket--Can you see it?  I matched up the pattern so it is not obvious.  I also made a little stuffed rabbit but it still needs a pompom for the tail. Next up, I will be working on an Advent Calendar panel.  

My scarf is a few inches longer --I managed to have two knitting sessions this week.  It needs to be about 15 inches longer than it is right now. 

I tried a new recipe for Lemon Blueberry loaf this week.  It smells heavenly!  

Our azalea bush is in full bloom!  It is such a bright spot of colour in our front garden.

The deutzia bush is in bud.  Soon, it will be covered in small white flowers.  So pretty. 

We took Finn for a walk in the woods at a local conservation area this week.  There were a few wet spots but we managed to stay relatively mud free.  

This Friday and Saturday is the Oxford Guild Quilt Show.  I have 11 quilts plus my painted barn quilt block in the show. If you are in the area, we would love to see you there!  

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