Kintail Retreat Report

 Christine and I spent last weekend at Camp Kintail at the crafter's retreat.  Others were making paper crafts, scrapbooks, knitting and painting. Four participants were quilting.   It's always fun to see what everyone is making. The food and snacks were plentiful and tasty too. 

My first project was an open wide zipper pouch that I had started at home. This one may just stay here for me to use.  This project was a good place to use the large scale print that I loved but would not be good to cut up into smaller pieces 

Next, I made two rainbow scrap challenge blocks.  Yes, I have started a 4th RSC quilt for this year...  All of the blocks I am making are made from squares and HST's.  This newest block was inspired by one I saw on Facebook. I'm going to match the dots in the background fabric to the scrap colour.  This month's colour is red.  I will be working on my red blocks next. 

Every year, the VP of the Oxford Guild hosts a VP quilt day--she chooses the pattern and everyone makes the same quilt with their own fabric choices.  I had a solid jelly roll and the dark gray background fabric in my stash.  The VP day was on Saturday while we were at the retreat so both Christine and I worked on our blocks on Saturday while the others were sewing at our guild meeting place.  I made 14/20 blocks at the retreat and will work on the rest this weekend. 

Christine's big project for the weekend was a queen sized quilt top that had been aging for a while in her sewing room as a bag of fabrics...  She finished the top and will now be looking for a backing and a long armer.  There are lots of lovely low volume fabrics in this quilt top.

I made this scrappy quilt top at the last Kintail retreat and quilted it at this retreat.  I have found some binding in my stash and will get that attached and sewn down soon. 

Finn has come to stay at our house for his annual Spring visit while our daughter is busy at work.  He held the quilt top down while I cut the batting before the retreat.   He is very helpful. 

I added some more hand quilting to my pineapple quilt at the retreat as well. I need to get back to working on this one on a regular basis if I want to finish it...

Finn has been keeping us entertained and supervised...

I made him some banana, peanut butter and yoghurt "Pawsicles" this week.  These are a big hit!

In my "spare" time, I am knitting poppies for a Remembrance Day display in Ingersoll where the quilt guild meets.  I found red and black yarn in my stash and started on my first poppy...  we have already established that I am not the fastest knitter so don't hold your breath waiting to see a large pile of completed poppies next week. 

I finished my second Folk Art Critter--a rabbit this time.  I gave this cute bunny to my daughter for Easter.  It is sitting on her bookshelf.  I hope to make some more critters soon. 

 I will link up with Kathy and the Slow Sunday Stitchers,  Angela and the RSC folks and Frederique this weekend.  

My Bluebird of Happiness!

As I have said previously, I signed up for a year of Threadhouse Academy classes this year and have been working away at several, but not all of the projects.  This month's project is Folk Art Dolls taught by Jo Avery.  They are too cute to resist so I decided to make a bird first.   I used a piece of felted wool for the beak and hand stitched it down with pearl cotton blanket stitches.  I embroidered the eyes and the X's as well as the fly stitches on the body. The legs, feet, and wings also have some hand stitching.  The pieces are quite small, so its a bit fiddly to get everything put together and stitched but I am delighted with the finished bird.  The fabrics are all from the Fablism line of wovens.  You can see they have a tendency to fray... but I managed to get the project put together neatly. 

I'm calling him the "Bluebird of Happiness!"  

I've started a second critter but you will have to wait until next week to see it. There are lots of pieces to keep track of...

I finished off the cross stitching on my Funky Rooster this week and hope to get it assembled next week. I have some felt to use for the beak and waddle.  I plan on putting my name and the date on the blank section in the middle. 

We had a really weird thunder ice storm this past week.  The ground was covered in ice balls the next morning.  They were all melted away by the end of the day. They sure made a lot of racket when they were being lashed upon us from above!

Finn had a haircut this week.  Here are  the before and after pictures. 

I will link up with Kathy and Frederique again this week.  Happy stitching!

 

Lots of Little Projects this week

I tried to get into my sewing room every day this week and managed to get lots done.  First up, I finished the rest of my green blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  I have to look and see if there are enough darker green scraps to make a 5x5 HST block.  I don't have a lot of dark green fabric in my stash.  

Next up-- I shortened a pair of jeans for my husband.  He received them as a Christmas gift and, now, he can wear them.  I also added a hanging sleeve to my little sashiko wall hanging and it is now on display.  I have two open wide zipper pouches to make as gifts and got one done.  I picked the fabrics for the other one but did not have the right colour of zipper for it.  I will pick up a zipper this week and get that one done.  The sharp eyed among you might notice I have the fabrics in the wrong spots on this bag...the patterned material should have been on the top...oh well...  I still like it!

The Funky Rooster stitching is down to three colours.  I try to do a bit of work on this every day. 

The colour of the month for our guild's colour challenge is pink.  Here is my block. The bicycle fabric is fun. 

A friend has a new baby girl so I made a cloth book from a panel for her. 

Happy Valentine's Day!  My husband and I went to see "Song Sung Blue" this afternoon for our Valentine date.  Excellent movie...We went to a Neil Diamond concert several years ago.  It was "so good, so good, so good..."  The cookie came from the farmer's market this morning. 

The backyard squirrel was up to his/her usual antics this week...

We had ice fog one morning this week which gave me opportunities for interesting pictures when I was out walking one morning. 

Finn has decided to take up skiing... I'm not sure he will win any olympic medals though!

If snuggling was an olympic sport, he would win all the medals!

I will link up with Kathy, Frederique and the RSC group.  Have a good week!

A Birthday Gift, The Rooster and Green Scraps

My friend, Ann, is celebrating a special birthday this week so I made her an open wide zippered pouch using this pattern from Noodlehead.  Since February is green month for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, this project fit right in!  The lining is white with green polka dots. Ann is an avid gardener so she loved the fabric I chose.  

I rummaged through my green scrap bin and cut up lots of 2.5" squares and HST's for my 3 rainbow scrap challenge projects for 2026.  I made 6 checkerboard nine patches. I have not cut out the white background for the HST block and the shoo fly blocks.  That will be on deck for this coming week.  We are supposed to be using darker shades of green but I have very little dark green in my stash.  I will see what I have when I am done sewing up the blocks using these greens. 

The Funky Rooster got lots of attention this week.  I am well on my way to finishing this side of the rooster.  It will be fun to put it together into a 3D object when I am done with the stitching. 

My husband and I belong to the local hiking club and try to go on their weekly hikes.  It was cold but sunny with blue skies.  The snow was powdery under our feet.  It was a very enjoyable hike!

The trail goes along a creek and we could see lots of animal tracks on the snow covered ice.  They were mostly deer prints. 

Meanwhile, we had a backyard visit from this very fluffy squirrel this week.  He was sitting on our fence. 

Finn likes to lie in this chair and watch the squirrels in the backyard at my daughter's place.  He never barks at them, unlike many dogs. 

I started this blog in 2008 as a way to keep track of and document my projects.  I have come to know many lovely people through my blog, but I have never met most of them in person.  I just wanted all of you to know that I appreciate your support and comments on my blog. Maybe someday, I will get to see you in person and we can enjoy a cup of tea and some in person stitching together...  In the meantime, another friend who I have never met in person sent me this one day this past week and I wanted to share it with you.  

I will link up with Kathy and my Slow Stitching friends,  Frederique and her gang, as well as Angela and Rainbow Scrap Challenge folks who try in vain to use up their scraps, just like me!