Hand and Machine Sewing

I continued quilting my round robin quilt this week, finishing the orange and green spiky sections and starting on the next border.  I am still undecided about what to quilt in the wide blue sections.  I will wait until inspiration strikes to do this part. 

I watched the next Moon Trees lesson on the Thread House Academy with Jo Avery and then added the. running stitch embroidery around my tree branches, as she suggested.  I have fabrics picked out for 8 more blocks and will work away on them over the next while. I used pearl cotton for this stitching, green on the gold tree and a variegated gold thread on the print tree.  I'm looking forward to making the next tree block with interweaving branches. 

The Rainbow Scrap challenge colour for August is yellow.  I cut out and sewed my circle block today.  Only one more block to make before I can put this quilt together. As you can see in the second picture below, it will be medium blue. 

I pulled out my cross stitch this week too and added the top stitching on the windmill and some of the beads.  The kit included a very fine needle to use for the beading.  I still have more beading to do. The beads are really tiny!

I am making a bird coin pouch --this was one of the taster weekend projects for the Thread House Academy. I have completed the embroidery and now I just have to put it together.  There is a zipper to add first.  It doesn't look hard to do in her video.   You can see I was sewing in the car.  We went on a date day earlier this week and I stitched on the way to our destination and on the way home as well. 

I have a variety of coleus plants in my patio pots this year.  Such interesting foliage in lots of different colour combinations. 

We went to the Royal Botanical Gardens in Hamilton on Wednesday.  We saw lots of beautiful flowers and several garden critters, including this bunny which was doing its best to hide from view. 

They have a special display of brightly coloured garden sculptures this summer.  

As you know, I like to take reflection pictures. 

Such big ears on a little dog, blowing in the wind.  Finn is cute!

 I will link up with Kathy and the slow stitchers,  Angela and the RSC bloggers and Frederique as well. 

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!

 

Slow Stitching Report

I finished off the second diamond hand quilting this week and then started on the squares at the top of the Arizona quilt. I'm working on quilting a quarter inch along the gray background. As I quilt, I am thinking about what I am going to do next. I'm still undecided about whether to quilt a circle in the middle of each square...we will see. 

I have finished the tree section now on my Winter Woods cross stitch.  This picture was taken before I was quite done.  The next section is started now.  Who knows?  Can I finish the last section this week???

I have my heart quilt hanging up in the hall for the month of February.  I made this a few years ago. 

 

My daughter is making this for me for my birthday which is today.  It is not quite done yet but will be soon.  I love all of the beautiful textures she is creating. 

"Only" three books finished this week so three more granny squares made more my daughter's book blanket.  Finn says they are not keeping him very warm. 

Finn's blankets got washed yesterday and made a nice warm nest when they came out of the dryer. 

I met baby D this week and gave him his baby quilt.  I made this all flannel quilt several months ago and had it in the gift bag, ready to deliver, for quite a while. His parents were thrilled with the quilt and laid it out on the floor for baby D to try out.  He is also happy with it.  Mom told me she was really hoping I would make D an I-Spy quilt and this one fits the bill!  Lots of things to look at, colours to learn and match and words to practice.  Cozy as well. 

I have started cutting out a new project but did not take a picture.  This is another gift.  I will be working on it at an upcoming retreat and hope to get all the cutting done before the retreat.  I also did some knitting this week but no pictures.  Sorry!

I will link up with Kathy and Frederique.  Have a good week.