A Week Away

 Our family, including our daughter and Finn, just got home from a week at the cottage.  We did lots of reading on the dock, and stitching in the screened porch.  It was a very relaxing week.  Finn loves it there and could not wait to go down to the dock every morning and evening.  We had great weather although it was smoky for a couple of days from the northern Ontario forest fires. 

I finished the hand quilting on my Pineapple Log Cabin quilt!  I looked up when I started the hand quilting--October 2025.  I must admit that I took long breaks from working on it so that's why it took so long.  Here are some pictures of the front and back as well as the last two blocks.  It was a bit breezy during the photoshoot.  I hope to do the binding this week.

I started quilting my improv round robin quilt that I hand basted a couple of weeks ago in anticipation of taking it to the cottage.  I am using orange thread on the cool colours and green thread on the warm colours and just figuring out how to quilt it as I go along. 

Reading on the dock is a favourite activity for all three of us.  I took pictures of a couple of the books that I read.  This one was about three generations spending a week together at a cottage on Cape Cod.  

My husband gave me this book for Christmas...an interesting read about the history of women's handwork including spinning, weaving, knitting and quilting. 

I have completed almost all of the cross stitching on my barn project. I added some outlining stitches to the barn.  Next up is the beading which I prefer to do at home where I have really good lighting. 

I got a couple of interesting reflection shots of Finn and a water lily. 

Finn is very photogenic!

The squirrels, chipmunks and birds kept us entertained. 

This dragonfly stayed still long enough for me to get a picture of it and its shadow. 

My daughter worked on her book blanket and only has five more rows to add before doing the border.  

I will link up with Kathy and the slow stitchers on Sunday and Frederique.  Have a great week and enjoy your stitching!

More Aqua and Hand Quilting

My blocks for Aqua month are done!  Here are the shoe fly blocks and the 25 patch HST block.  Lots of fun scraps in these blocks.  I have ordered some more Kona white as I only have a few small scraps left and I want to make more blocks for both of these quilts.  

I finished hand quilting this purple pineapple block on Monday and I'm now working on the magenta block.  Only one block to go after magenta--it is yellow.  Then, I can get this quilt trimmed and bound.  I will have to see what I have in my stash for binding.  Unfortunately, all of the grey background fabric in the blocks is gone so I can't use that.  (This picture was taken before the last part of the quilting was done--you will just have to believe me that it is now complete!)

I have a few herbs growing in pots on my patio.  The chives have been growing by leaps and bounds so I cut them back.  I cut them up into small pieces and dried them in the oven.  They are ready to use in soups, stews and casseroles next fall and winter. 

My Rainbow Scrap Challenge nine patch quilt is all sewn together and I have picked out some backing fabric from my stash.  I will get it pin basted and quilted soon so it is ready for show and tell at our September guild meeting.  I hope to have a few quilts ready to show at that meeting.  There are several tops in line to be quilted in my sewing room. 

The balloon flowers are blooming!  There are lots of balloons on this plant waiting to pop.  I also have a couple of baby plants that were seeded from this plant last year in other spots in the garden.  I love the colour of these flowers. 

The prickly pear cactus is also blooming this week.  These yellow flowers fade quickly once they bloom but they are a favourite.  Some people are surprised that a cactus will grow this far north but this one comes back year after year. 

I'm reading "Finding Flora" at the moment.  It's a Canadian historical fiction book set in Alberta in the early 1900's about a woman who works to secure her land claim.   A recommended read if you like historical fiction. 

Finn would spend all day outside if we let him!  His fur is like velcro and picks up all kinds of dead leaf bits and little sticks which he tracks inside.  It keeps all of us busy sweeping up!

I will link up with the RSC link up as well as Kathy and Frederique on the weekend.  

 

Hand Stitching

 This was a busy week with lots of activities every day, so, not much sewing happened.  I did manage to add more stitches to the sky in my cross stitch project and discovered that I was going to run out of one of the colours. I purchased a skein at the local craft shop and I'm ready to keep on stitching. Someone asked last week if there are sunflowers in the picture--the answer is yes...there are several sunflowers in a combination of stitches and beads as well as a button at the bottom of the picture.  I will do the beading when the cross stitching is done. 

I finished hand quilting the orange block this week and I'm just about done with the red block.  The next block is blue. 

A couple of friends, Mary and Christine, came over to visit yesterday.  We visited Jumbo, the Little Red Mitten yarn shop and the Elevated Park before coming back to my house for lunch and some knitting, cross stitching and hand quilting in the gazebo.  I did not take any pictures of us in the gazebo but here are some pictures at our morning stops. 

There are lots of new blooms in the garden this week including day lilies, bell flowers and coreopsis

Lots of wildlife sightings this week including this deer on a neighbour's front lawn. 

The turkey vultures don't usually get this close.  We saw this one on a low branch of a tree while walking at the park one morning. 

The racoon family was back in our yard again this week.  Five babies and mom wandered through our yard. 

We saw lots of Canada Geese at the park too. 

We had the Retro Quilter, Maude MacDonald, as the speaker at our annual Quilt Guild banquet this week.  She channels the 70's in her unique and fun quilts.  Maude has a large collection of vintage bed sheets that she uses to make quilts and clothing.  She does in person talks as well as on Zoom--a great speaker, enjoyed by everyone at the banquet.  

My patio pots are filling out and bursting with colour. 

My husband and I took a cooking class this week on British curries.  We made Coronation Salad appetizers  which were delicious!  Five recipes were shared as well as a history of how curries became popular in Britain. The class was a birthday gift for my husband from me. 

Finn managed to wrap himself up in the drapes for his nap this week. 

He went to the office one day with my daughter and loved seeing all of her colleagues. 

I am listening to "The Book Woman's Daughter" this week.  This is the sequel to "The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek" which I read a few years ago.  Both are good books and I recommend reading them in order. 

I will link up with Kathy and Frederique this morning. 

Colour Challenge Flimsy Done

I had a little less than a yard of the sashing and border fabric to set my colour challenge blocks and crossed my fingers that there would be enough to add 2.5" sashing and a 3.5" border.  I cut the pieces out that I needed to do this and had just a few scraps left.  Phew!  I'm happy that there was enough!  Now, I just have to figure out the backing--this will be pieced using fabric from my stash.   I will use a solid for the binding--not sure which colour I will use yet. 

I worked on my cross stitch barn project a few times this week.  You will have to check last week's post to see what I have added this week.  It's getting there, slowly!

I started a new book this week. My daughter gave me this book for Christmas.  I love the story so far and can't wait to read more!  As you can see, I was reading in the gazebo on a sunny day. 

While I was reading, I was being watched by a baby racoon in the evergreen tree at the back of our yard.  It spent quite a while watching my husband and I before finally climbing down and joining the rest of his family over the back fence. 

Our weigela bushes are starting to bloom.  

The purple clematis in our backyard is in full bloom now.  It must really like this particular spot in our yard. 

We went for a walk in Port Stanley one evening this week and saw this unusual bird that we had never seen before.  I turned on my Merlin app and it identified it as a Ruddy Turnstone, a shore bird.  

Here is Finn, checking on the weather conditions, before deciding to go outside to do his business.  He is not fond of peeing in the rain. 

He is a big fan of our daughter's crochet projects.  The balls of yarn are very comfy. 

I will link up with Kathy and Frederique as well as the rainbow scrap challenge folks.