Knitting, Cross Stitch, Crochet and a Weekend Away

My scarf that I am making with the yarn I purchased in Cow Head, Newfoundland in 2023 is getting longer-- 32" or 82cm long now.  It takes a long time to make a scarf! I will keep knitting...it would be nice to be able to wear it this winter!

Just a little bit more to do on the Winter Woods cross stitch.  There are some clouds in the sky above the mountains to add and some stars in the sky in several places on the entire picture.  The deer got its tail this week too--I forgot to do it when I was working on that section! This should be done very soon!

I made some fabric postcards for my MIL and my daughter & Finn.  They both received them in the mail on time for Valentine's Day.  I found the snoopy fabric in my stash when I was looking for something else and decided that it would make good valentines. 

We went to visit our daughter and Finn last weekend. We took Finn to the dog park one day and he wore himself out running around with all of the dogs that were there. We had Asian take out for dinner on my birthday and went out for ice cream for dessert.  My daughter gave me this book for my birthday and I have started to read it--a fun read so far!

I borrowed this novella from my daughter--the story is set in Ireland and was very poignant.   This is the same author who wrote Small Things Like These which I read recently.  Both books are highly recommended!

A very tired Finn!

My daughter finished reading three more books this week so the total number of squares for her book blanket is 6 for the month of February. 

Meanwhile, she is working away on finishing her Christmas blanket.  She completed the gingerbread border and is adding the colourful bobbles --88 in total.  All of the red ones are done now and she has started on the yellow ones.  There are 22 bobbles in each of 4 colours.  The red border is now finished as well--this picture shows it in progress. 

Today is flag day in Canada.  The Maple Leaf has been our flag for 60 years! We proudly displayed our flag on the front porch as did several of our neighbours.  As you probably already know, we are facing several challenges from our neighbours to the south of us, which has resulted in an enthusiastic display of pride in all things Canadian.  We have no plans to join the USA. 

It has been a snowy week in our neck of the woods with more expected tomorrow.  Finn had difficulty finding a spot to do his business this week as the snow was as deep as he is tall!  They will be getting lots of snow in the next 24 hours too.  

I will link up with Kathy and Frederique.  I'm hoping for some sewing machine time tomorrow as we are likely going to be snowed in.  Snow Day, Sew Day!!!

Taming the UFO Pile

My goal for the next little while is to tame the UFO pile.  I have made lots of quilts during this COVID-19 pandemic but most of them have been gifts for friends and family.  Now that all those gifts are done, it is time to tackle the UFO's.  First up this week, was borders and backing for the batik Scrappy Trips quilt that I started earlier this year.  I had to purchase the fabrics and then wash them before ironing, cutting and sewing. 

The backing was done with one seam and then I took it to the long arm quilter's house.  She let me know today that the quilting is done so I will pick it up tomorrow.  This one will be donated to our local hospice and will be washed a lot so the binding will be applied by machine...no hand stitching. 

Next up was my Tula Pink 100 blocks Modern Sampler quilt.  We had to move all of the furniture in the living room so that I could lay this monster out on the floor to make the backing. 

It took three widths of fabric for the backing and I found the perfect fabric in my stash for the label.  The turquoise accent piece beside the label matches one of the colours in the backing. I will write the information  about the quilt on the label before it is quilted. 

The London Modern Guild is having a fabric post card exchange so I made my post card this week.  I will put it in the mail this week.  I don't know the person that will be receiving this postcard so I can show you what I made. 

The third UFO of the week was started 3.5 years ago.  I signed up for a broken dishes block swap with Barb at Fun with Barb and the blocks have been in a zip lock bag all this time, waiting for inspiration to hit.  This week, when I was out for a walk, I got thinking about the blocks and an idea came to mind. 

I made four blocks like this:  

I am still figuring out what I will put between the blocks and as a border...stay tuned...this top should be done by next week. I am still contemplating quilting ideas as well.  I bought Jacquie Gering's book Walk 2.0 this week so I may peruse it for inspiration. 

I finished my green facecloth last week and started a new dishcloth --I am using a new pattern this time.  So far, so good.  The pattern is showing up as expected!  I will be doing some more knitting tomorrow for slow Sunday stitching with Kathy and friends. 

We finally had some rain this past week so the gardens are flourishing.  

Finn is getting his hair cut this week so here is a picture of him before the appointment.   Such a cutie!

Take care!

The results are in...

and it has been concluded that I am not in need of the type of intervention that my SIL thinks I need! Thanks for your support of my decision to buy batting by the roll!

Tonight, I made a couple of post cards--one for the London Friendship Quilters' Guild postcard exchange and  one for my aunt and uncle.

I also worked on adding some borders to these diamonds.

I will have a four quilts completed soon--one is at the quilter's already, two are going tomorrow night and RRCB will be ready to go shortly. I have purchased the backing and just need to add the label and cut the batting before it goes off to the quilter.



Charity Quilt Blocks and a Birthday Surprise!

My husband and I went out in the snow this morning to do some errands and then came home for lunch. He belongs to a model train club and they are meeting this afternoon and evening so that means I have the house to myself...to do some sewing!

I decided to finish off the rest of the charity quilt blocks for the sampler quilts that the Elgin Piecemakers Guild makes for adult chemo patients at our local hospital. The colours are decided ahead of time and each month, we each make a block for that month's quilt. Here are the blocks I made for March, April and May:

March's colours are "sherbert and white".

Brown, rust and cream for April:

For May's block, I made "Anita's Arrowhead" with lime green and dark blue:

Here are the postcards I made earlier this week for the Fabric Postcard exchange at the London Friendship Quilters' Guild. I put one in the mailbox at the meeting and one is winging its way to a secret recipient.

My birthday was on Wednesday. I had a very busy day at work that day. Half way through the afternoon, a delivery truck arrived with these:

They were sent to me by my daughter who is away at university!  She is in the middle of midterms and a pile of assignments right now. These flowers really brightened my day! 

We have not had much snow this winter but today we woke up to this scene in our backyard...

It is a great day to stay inside and sew!

I have already knocked a couple of projects off my to do list today--those sampler blocks shown above and I pieced the back of the quilt I showed you in my last post and it is now at the quilter's, in line to be quilted. I have one more goal for today... check back later and see if I get it done.

I couldn't sleep this morning...

...so I got up and made some fabric postcards!

I dug into my Christmas fabrics and selvages to make these cards.  I wonder who I will send them to???

These three have addresses and stamps on them and are ready to mail.

This quilt is a Christmas gift for someone who does not read my blog. It is in the mail and on its way to its destination already. My quilt holder is my Dad.   Thanks, Dad!

This is the first spinning 4 patch quilt that I have ever made. It has flying squirrels and maggots on it. (The fabric is Australian and the flying squirrels are actually some sort of marsupial and the maggots are a delicacy that some people eat. I don't think I want any on my dinner plate any time soon!)

I worked on the borders for RRCB again this week and I am just about done...Pictures soon.

A Postcard and Elgin Piecemakers Charity Quilts

The London Friendship Quilters' Guild has a fabric postcard exchange every month which I try to participate in most months. I put a card in the guild mailbox this month and this is the card I received in my mailbox. Jill (aka The Quilt Rat) made this postcard by embossing a beer can using a cork board and a ball-point pen. I was thrilled to receive this card in the mail--Jill's creativity knows no bounds!  For more of her work, you can check out her blog.

The Elgin Piecemakers guild met this past week. We had our usual show and tell of our charity quilts which we make for our local hospital's adult chemo unit as well as our own projects. I showed a couple of quilts that I received back from the long armers recently--you will get to see them when I get the binding sewn down as well as a quilt I made for my SIL for Christmas. I don't want to show a picture of it yet either--she knows she is getting a quilt but I don't want her to see it before December 25th.

A few months ago, we each made a Churn dash block in greens and browns. The long arm quilter just finished quilting this quilt. I love the variety in how the blocks look depending on the colours and amount of contrast used.

I showed this quilt top last month but here it is all quilted. I love the backing!  This quilt will be sure to brighten someone's day!

Last month, we all made yellow and blue blocks and now all those blocks have been made into a flimsy.

This month's colours were purple and green. There are still a couple more blocks to be handed in before these blocks get put together into a quilt top.

Next month, the colours are green, white and black. Two of us had our blocks done and brought them to our meeting.

Jacqui, Chris and I spent an evening this past week making pillowcases for our local "Inn out of the Cold" shelter. We made 21 pillowcases, mostly from donated fabric but we all contributed fabric from our own stashes as well. I will post a picture of the pillowcases soon. I also did some sewing on the borders for RRCB. This week, Christine and I will be getting together to work on our RRCB quilts. I hope to get that binding on those two recently quilted quilts as well. There are also some fabric postcards to work on...  The list never ends! 
Have a good week!

RRCB sewing

After a bit of a break, Christine and I got together for a couple of hours tonight to work on our RRCB quilts. I put some "fivesies" together using some of the 600 red and neutral HST units I have been making.

Christine was trimming and ironing her HST's while I sewed.

I got quite a few of these done. I was all excited to see what a completed block would look like so after Christine left to go home, I put one block together...

We can't get together to sew next week so we are both going to keep putting the 5 HST units into strips and also cut out the pieces we need for our borders. We would both like to have the flimsies of these quilts done before our next London Friendship Quilter's Guild meeting in November (only 23 days from now!). We are having Pam from Mad About Patchwork at our next meeting and both of us have signed up for her workshop where we will learn how to make two different modern quilt blocks. That means two more UFO's to add to the pile! 

Look what I got in the mail yesterday! 

This post card was made by Beth at the LFQG for the monthly postcard exchange. Thanks Beth for the postcard!

I also a package with this inside...

It's my ribbon for coming in second in the 2011 International Plowing Match block challenge! You can look at my block here.

It is that time of year here--the leaves are turning beautiful shades of yellow, orange and red and they are falling to the ground.  This picture was taken at BIQR at the Birch Lake Lodge beach a couple of weeks ago.

Leaf Bowls and a Fabric Postcard

The London Friendship Quilters' Guild meets this week and I decided to make a postcard for the monthly postcard exchange. Do you need a quilting bee???  I love to get together with my quilting friends to chat and sew. We have not done this lately...we need to get together again soon!

The Canadian Quilters' Asscociation is holding their annual show "Quilt Ontario" in London in May this year. The call has gone out for volunteers to make these leaf bowls, designed by the Quilt Rat, for the banquet. Each person at the banquet will receive a leaf bowl with some quilting goodies in it. I made two bowls this week and hope to make a few more to donate to the cause.

By the way, since I put my "Let it Snow" sign away, we have had lots of rain and only a few flakes of snow!  I think it is working!!!