Fancy Forest Finally Finished!

How is that for some alliteration???

I made a baby size version of Elizabeth Hartman's Fancy Forest  quilt ages ago. I has been in a plastic bin in the corner of my sewing room for months, waiting for backing and quilting.  I was not pleased with the first backing I chose so the quilt top just sat and waited until I had time and the inclination to get it finished. I found this soft flannel backing, perfect for my quilt.  Christine and I each made our own versions of this quilt, working on the blocks at our weekly sewing night.  We started the blocks in June 2016 and finished out quilt tops in October 2016.  

I took the backing, batting and quilt top to Cathy at Eagle's Wings Quilts in December. Earlier this week, Cathy sent me this picture of the first pass of the quilting--it looks like tree bark--perfect for my Fancy Forest friends. 

Cathy brought my quilt to me on Thursday night.  Friday, after doing errands, I went down to my sewing room and sewed the binding on by machine.  I used the same fabric as I used in the background. 

I love the animals on this quilt! I felt like I was being watched as I hand stitched the binding!

Here is the completed quilt, finished tonight while I watched a movie on TV.  

I will be linking up with the other Slow Sunday Stitchers at Kathy's blog in the morning.  

Fancy Forest Top Done!

Today was sewing day at Christine's.  We both had all of our blocks done for our Fancy Forest quilts so it was time to put these tops together! Here are all my blocks on my design wall:

First, I put the left section together...

And then the right section...

Next up, the outer border:

We hung our tops on the line outside and took a few pictures before it started to rain.

As you can see, our supervisor, Daisy, kept a close eye on things!

Christine's son took a picture of us with our quilts. We are both very happy to have our quilt tops done and ready for quilting!

Fireflies

We are well past firefly season in my backyard but there are two colourful fireflies on my design wall today!  I made this turquoise one last night...

 

 

and the purple one was completed today.

 

 



There sure are a lot of pieces in these little block!  Once again, some unsewing was required in the assembly of these blocks.

I now have all my blocks finished for a baby sized quilt!  There is sashing between all the blocks so that will be next on the agenda.  The animal blocks were fun to make.

This is one colourful quilt!  I will be quilting this one myself. It will get put into line behind three others that are ahead of it. 

More Owls

As usual, Christine and I sewed together last week...this time it was at her house and we had a supervisor.  This is Daisy.  She kept a close eye on us as we sewed!

We both made our second owl blocks.  These went together a little faster than the first ones.  

The red one is mine and Christine's is pink.  

We had lunch outside on the deck.  Tomato tortellini soup and strawberries for dessert.  Yummy!  Christine gave me the recipe so I could make it at home. 

We got together again this week and I helped Christine finish off her civil war broken dishes blocks for the Fun with Barb swap.  They all went in the mail yesterday.  We can't wait to get our packages back from Barb with all of the swap blocks!  

Whooooo saw an Owl? or Two!

Christine and I got together to sew one evening last week.  We each made an owl block for our Fancy Forest quilts.  The eyes were a bit labour intensive in both the cutting of the pieces and sewing them together.

I felt like I was being watched!!

By the end of the evening, I had my owl together, although, he did have a bit of a problem with his beak...

I unstitched and re-sewed that seam,  and he looks much better now.

We each have one owl and two fireflies to go!

I noticed after I took this picture that Christine forgot to bring her owl home at the end of the evening! 

My next own will be red and white. It is all cut out and ready to go.   Christine and I are getting together again this week to sew our owls and maybe another project as well.

More Rabbits!

I had a few challenges with last week's rabbit block...  Luckily, Christine noticed my mistake before I got too far along!

I soon was back in business!

'Ears to you!

Both of us did a bit of unstitching during the process of making our rabbits!

Here is my finished rabbit:

And here is Christine's:

Next up,  owls!

Rabbits!



Back in the day, rabbit ears were something you had on your tv for better reception...

This week, rabbit ears took on a different meaning in my sewing room when Christine and I got together to sew...

 

Here are Christine's rabbit ears:

Next up, the eyes...

Pretty soon, there were two rabbits hopping onto my design wall!

I decided to put all of my Fancy Forest blocks up on the design wall to see how they look:

Next week, we will be making our second rabbit blocks.  I cut mine out today--there are lots of pieces in this block.

This is Christine's second hedgehog from last week.

We have one rabbit, two owls and two fireflies left to make before we assemble our quilts.

My husband and I installed a second floating shelf in my sewing room today.   I added some birdhouses I purchased in New Brunswick when we were on a family vacation one summer several years ago.  I may put a small wall hanging under the top shelf...

Thanks for stopping by!

 

Hedgehogs tonight...

 

Tonight, Christine and I got together to sew for the 2nd time this week!  I had all the pieces for my hedgehogs cut out before Christine arrived.  These blocks have lots of pieces and lots of steps to put them together.

 

 

There was a bit of re-cutting and some unsewing along the way for both of us! My first hedgehog is quite loveable!

 

 

Christine's first hedgehog is also cute!

 

My second hedgehog was a bit quicker to put together.

 

 

Here are the two of them, side by side.  It was not until I looked at this picture that I realized that one of these things is not like the other...(Do you remember that song from Sesame Street?)

 

 

 

The hedgehog on the left is wearing a headband.  I am going to consider the blue hedgehog to be more athletic than one on the right.  I think it adds a bit of personality, don't you think?

Here are all of the blocks I have made so far for my Fancy Forest quilt (baby quilt size).

Next up, the bunny blocks.

Thistles this week...

Christine and I sewed tonight.  We made two thistles each for our Fancy Forest quilts. 

The yellow fabric on the left thistle looks a lot more green in real life!  

Here are Christine's thistle blocks:

I like the way the striped leaves look on her thistles. 

Next, we will be making hedgehog blocks...I have mine cut out already and Christine will be cutting hers out before we get together to sew them.

Christine and I have been getting together to sew one evening a week (most weeks!) for several years now. It is great to have one evening together a week when we don't do anything but sew (and chat!)... Much has been accomplished over the years.

I had some visitors in my garden this week:

(Same butterfly, underside of wing...)

The wasps are out in full force these days.