A Season of Giving

Last night was the December meeting of the London Friendship Quilters' Guild. At a previous meeting, we were all asked to make two placemats for the Meals on Wheels program in London. Meals on Wheels delivers meals to shut-ins. On Christmas Day, they deliver Christmas dinner as well as gift bags to each of their clients. For the last couple of years, the members of the guild have made placemats for the gift bags. A representative from Meals on Wheels was at our meeting last night to receive the placemats. She told us how appreciative the clients are to receive the gift bags with our placemats and other goodies in them. Here are the two placemats that I made:

I also did the binding on these candle mats and delivered them yesterday to their recipients. 

I worked on another gift yet but can't show you a picture yet...

Today, I am wrapping gifts and cleaning up the house. We are having special guests this weekend! My twin nieces are coming for a bit of aunt and uncle time. We have lots of fun activities planned. It should be a very busy weekend!

Oh, the weather outside is frightful...

So, I am staying inside today where it is warm!  We may get up to a foot of snow today.

I finished my in-law's quilt on the weekend--bound and labeled!  This means that all of my big quilty gifts are done and ready to wrap. This quilt is called "Country Spin". I learned how to make the blocks at a workshop in October 2010.

Yesterday afternoon and today, I have been working on some candle mats which will be gifts for people in my life that I want to thank. I don't think any of them read my blog so it is safe to show you a picture of the first one I made.

I used a Moda turnover to make my candle mat gifts. (Sorry, I can't tell you what it is called as I lost the label!)

I have more candle mats in production and will share more pictures when they are done.

A Parcel in the Mail and Borders Progress

Robin, my swap partner for the recent Quilted Table Yahoo Group candle mat swap, made me a second candle mat because we all thought the first one was forever lost in the mail. She decided to make this one with a spring theme since we were already well past St. Patrick's day. So, now I have two candle mats! By the time I let her know the St. Patrick's mat arrived, this one was already in the mail. She sent a magazine about the Finger Lakes area in New York State as well as a FQ along with the mat. I am feeling quite spoiled getting two packages within a few days of each other.
Last night, I cut out the rest of the pieces I need for the pieced border on my Grateful Heart Sampler. I marked the diagonals on the little squares for the flying geese units and piled everything up by the sewing machine in preparation for some sewing time tonight. The weather was so beautiful today that I decided to do some outside jobs when I got home and after supper until it got dark--I was in an office all day and could just look outside at the sunshine. So, I vacuumed my car, put away the winter greens arrangement on the front porch, cleaned up some sticks in the back yard and put the table and chairs out on the patio in the back yard (with a little help from my husband). I did manage to do a bit of sewing when I came inside. I will keep working on the flying geese tomorrow. I hope to have everything pieced by the end of the weekend. For the last two years, I have been driving 1 hour and 10 minutes each way to work. I have been transferred to the office in my home town now so I only have to drive 6 minutes each way to work now. I have lots of extra time in the morning and after work to get things done! This is so exciting! More time to sew...

I took some pictures of my first daffodils today as well. The one on the left is less than 2" across. The one on the right is a regular sized daffodil.

St. Patrick's Day Swap

My garden is coming to life and with the warm weather forecast for this week, it will be bursting with more colour soon. I love the way the columbine leaves unfurl. I have many different kinds of columbine in my garden--I think they are my favourite flowers.

These crocuses are blooming like crazy in my front garden. The rabbits have not yet discovered them...
I also have some daffodils that are about to burst into bloom. I will add more pictures this week.

Back in February, I told you about a St. Patrick's day candle mat swap that I participated in through the Quilted Table Yahoo group. This is the candle mat that I made and sent to my swap partner in New York State, USA.

I waited and waited for my mat to arrive. The swap organizer, the quilter who made my swap and I were all perplexed about why my mat had not arrived since it had been mailed at the end of February. Finally, on Friday, my package arrived! I soon realized why it had taken so long to get here...When my swap partner did the label on the computer at the US post office website, she accidentally clicked on "Canary Islands" instead of "Canada"!!! Haven't we all done something like that before!!! I sent her an e-mail to let her know the mat had finally arrived and how it had taken the long route to get here. Thanks Robin for the beautiful mat, St. Patrick's Day mat and pencils. I look forward to using it next year!

In the Mail tomorrow!!!

Creative Hands won my 20,000 visits give-away a couple of weeks ago. Today, I had a snow day and I finally had time to make her candle mat. I thought a fellow quilter would like a sewing themed candle mat. I will be putting this in the mail tomorrow. I hope Creative Hands has a good place in her sewing room to put her prize! More sewing is on deck for tomorrow. Tonight, I put labels on this candle mat and on the Charity quilt in a previous post. The Canadian Women's curling team won the silver medal!

I will be watching the men's game this weekend too.

St. Patrick's Day Swap

This is the candle mat that I made for a quilter in New York state for the Quilted Table St. Pat's candle mat swap. I mailed it to her a couple of weeks ago and found out last night that she had received it in the mail. I'm so glad she likes it --it is always a bit risky to make something for someone you do not know! I also sent her a couple of little gifts--a charm pack--Moda "Dandelion Girl" and a London Friendship Quilters' Guild pin. I have not received my candle mat yet, but will post a picture when it arrives.

Sampler Quilt Progress

I was working on these blocks when my Dad called to tell me about my grandmother (see previous post). I spent the evening thinking about Grandma and her quilts as I sewed. This sampler quilt is called "Grateful Heart". I think I will make it in memory of my Grandma. Here are my 5 pinwheel blocks.

I am participating in a St Patrick's day Candle Mat exchange with the Quilted Table yahoo group. I completed it the other night as well. I can't post a picture until the recipient receives it. I will be mailing it early next week.

I hope to do some sewing this weekend.

The last of the candle mats.

I finally finished the last of the candle mats that I pieced before Christmas. I kept one for myself (the red one) and gave one to a friend as a late Christmas gift. I gave the last one to one of the members of the Elgin Piecemakers Quilt Guild at our "Christmas Dinner" tonight at a local Italian restaurant. We do a gift exchange every year. Pat O was pleased with her candle mat and candle holder--she likes green!


Now that I am done making gifts, I can start to work on my other projects which have been on hold since December. I would like to finish my spinning squirrels and maggots quilt as well as my fractured squares quilt. I have the material all washed and ironed, ready to start the Carolina Christmas mystery quilt by Bonnie Hunter at Quiltville as well. At the London Friendship Quilters' guild, we are doing a row robin and the first row must be done for the meeting next week. I have the design in my head, but I have not picked out fabric yet...Yikes! Lots to do! Oh well, I work well under the pressure of a deadline!

More Candle Mats

I finished sewing the binding down on these candle mats on New Year's Day. The one on the left was given to one of my friends as a Christmas/New Year's gift and the one on the left was given to my cousin who hosted the annual Christmas get together for 50 people at her house near Schomberg, north of Toronto. I know I was a bit late getting my friend's gift done but my daughter has been home from university for the last couple of weeks and I have not had any sewing machine time. We have had lots of family time with extended family, watched our daughter curl at a competition in Toronto, watched "chick flicks" and generally just enjoy our time together. Today will be a downtime day--do some laundry, clean up the house a bit and get her packed and ready to go back to school tomorrow. I anticipate some more sewing time soon.

Still Sewing

I'm still not finished all of my sewing projects that must be done by the 25th! Yikes! I am running out of time. I have to work almost all day tomorrow too! The above candle mat is for a young woman at my church. I will give it to her tomorrow night at the Christmas Eve church service.

I finished piecing the table runner that I am giving to my MIL tonight. It still needs to be quilted and bound. Guess what I am doing when I get home from work tomorrow? Check back tomorrow for pictures of her finished runner. It is for her dining room table for the fall season. She has runners for the other seasons of the year, but not the fall.