I Spy...

This past January, my church, along with several other churches sponsored a refugee family from Syria.  The family includes the parents and four young children.  You may remember that some quilting friends and I made sure that they all had quilts for their beds when they arrived in Canada. This first family is expecting a baby any time now and I made the new baby an I Spy quilt a few weeks ago.  The churches always intended to sponsor two families and have recently been told that the second family will be arriving soon.

Earlier this year, Christine, Cathy and I made a double bed quilt for the parents of the second family. Then, we decided to wait to see what other quilts would be needed before proceeding with more quilts.  The new family is made up of grandparents, parents and a one year old child, as well as the aunt of the child.  The quilt we have already made will be for the parents.  (Sorry I don't have a picture of the entire quilt!)

We decided to make an I Spy quilt for the one year old.  We each contributed 40 fabrics to the quilt.  I supplied the green fabric and Christine supplied the blue.  Christine is piecing a flannel back for this quilt and I will likely do the quilting and binding.  

(Sorry for the bad lighting...)

I looked through my quilt collection and found a pretty quilt that I have never used. I made it years ago.  I decided to gift it to the aunt.

 

We showed the quilts at our guild meeting and asked if anyone had a quilt or quilt top at home that they could donate for the grandparents.  The morning after the meeting, I received an email from Maureen saying that she had a quilt top to donate!  Cathy has agreed to quilt it for us once we get some backing.  I love my wonderful quilting friends!  

A Few Odds and Ends (and a quilt show!)

Just because I have not posted much lately does not mean I have not been sewing. Today was the Shedden Quilt show and I put 5 quilts into the show. I have spent much of my sewing time in the last couple of weeks putting sleeves onto the quilts that were in the show. Hanging sleeves do not make for very interesting pictures or blogposts! Here are the 5 quilts that I had in the show:

This one is my version of Bonnie Hunter's "Blue Ridge Beauty"--I called my quilt "Feeling Blue".

"This Makes Me Dizzy"--my hexagon quilt.

My recently finished "Fractured Squares".

I gave this quilt to my in-laws--"Country Spin".

Me and my "Creamsicles by the Sea" quilt.

This was one of my favourite quilts in the show--it was made from 30's prints and was hand quilted. The colours are fresh and bright on the white background!

This one was made by a fellow member of the Elgin Piecemakers as a memory quilt. The blue fabrics are recycled jeans.

Christine and I got together on Wednesday last week and while I worked on my sleeves and my mystery quilt, Christine made this table topper flimsy from leftovers from a quilt she made for her son--a very nice use of her extra bits!

I picked up a small quilt from the long arm quilters this week and hope to get the binding on it tonight. Pictures to follow.

Happy sewing!

Another Finished Quilt

I finished hand sewing the binding on this quilt today while we were on the way to visit a friend out of town. It was a beautiful sunny and warm day.

After supper tonight, I asked my favourite quilt holders (my Husband and my Dad) to hold my latest completed quilt:

Here is a close up which shows the fabrics and quilting.

The pattern is called "Capriccio" by Pie in the Sky Quilts.  The fabric is "Basic Gray" by Moda.

I still have two more quilts at the long-armer quilters'. (The apostrophe is in the right spot--one quilt at each of two long arm quilters.)  In the meantime, I have lots of other projects underway to work on!

Tomorrow night, I am doing my first trunk show ever!  I have to get my quilts together tonight. I will also be teaching them how to make a pillow case so I have to get my demo pillow case cut out.

Spring Flowers

I was outside in the backyard today while my husband was cooking dinner on the BBQ and noticed some spring flowers in bloom.  Of course, I had to run inside to grab my camera!

Witch hazel

Primroses

Crocuses

Moss in the sidewalk

More Witch Hazel

I also picked up my fractured squares quilt from the longarm quilter's house. I am hoping to get the binding on this weekend.

Here is a close up of the loopy quilting.



I am off to watch Rick Mercer now.

I am all caught up!

I finished the 3rd clue for the "Stars for My Friends" mystery quilt a few minutes ago. I am really liking how this quilt is coming along and can hardly wait for the next clue which I will be picking up at the London Friendship Quilters' Guild meeting later this week. As you know, I cannot show my quilt to you, but I have been taking pictures of it as I complete each step so I can post them at the big reveal!  Here is another sneak peek...

This is going to be a very cozy flannel quilt. I have often put a flannel back on a quilt but this is the first time I have made a pieced flannel top. This quilt will definately have a flannel back too!

I also made a block for the next Elgin Piecemakers charity quilt for adult chemo patients at the local hospital. This month's colours are pink, green and white.  Here is my block:

Next month's colours are "sherbert colours"...I will have to dig deep into my stash to find something for this block!

I have another UFO pulled out to finish off this week. I made this quilt top over a year ago and never had it quilted. I just have to sew one seam on the backing, cut the batting and take it to the long arm quilter's house.  I am not sure why I have procrastinated for so long...


I just checked back and it was actually over 2 years since I pieced this top....



Here it is with the borders. This week, it is off to the quilter's to get this project off my UFO list!

First Meeting of the Season!

Our first London Friendship Quilter's guild meeting for this year is tomorrow night. I have been busy gathering up my show and tell items, my items for the toonie raffle table at the guild show, my charity quilt for a foster child and a post card for the quilted postcard exchange. I made two cards today. One will go out to a family member and one will go in the mailbox tomorrow night.
Last night, Karen came over for QNIC (Quilting Night in Canada) and I put the borders on this top which I made last year. It is now ready for quilting. Tonight, I will do some hand sewing--sleeves for the quilts I am putting in the show.

Sewing with Christine

This is Daisy.
And, this is Piper. Piper and Daisy are Christine's dogs. Last Friday afternoon, I went to Christine's house and we worked on our Carolina Christmas quilts. Daisy and Piper supervised. Daisy licked my toes and my legs while I sewed. Mostly, they slept on the floor near us.

Christine and I were both working on Step 3 and both of us finished off the sewing for this step. Here is Christine's red and neutral chain behind her sewing machine.

And here is my orange and neutral pile.
I cut my chain apart and made a neat pile, ready to trim off the bonus HST's (I am just going to put them into a zip lock bag and bury them, out of sight!) and press.
We are getting together again later this week to sew step 4. Our homework this week--trimming and pressing step 3 and also cutting out the pieces for step 4.

I got my spinning squirrels and maggots blocks sewn together last week and found the material I had purchased for the borders. My UFO goals for this week--put borders on two quilts (Fractured Squares and Spinning Squirrels and Maggots) and finish off my fall table runner. If I have time, I can always quilt my children's charity quilt from a few posts back as well. Lots to do!

By the way, my selvage sewing stool cover is featured on the Selvage Blog today! Take a look!

Quilt "til You Wilt Report

What a glorious day of sewing! Karen and I were among the first to arrive in the ballroom at a local hotel at 7:52 am. We had our sewing stuff and machines up and running by 8am. 26 quilters spent all day quilting--finishing UFO's, starting new projects, chatting and sharing inspiration and encouragement for each other. We cheered when people held up finished projects! The food was fabulous--pastries, bagels, fresh fruit and yogurt for breakfast, sandwiches, salad, crudites, homemade soup, fruit and squares for lunch and salad, garlic bread, lasagna, pasta primavera and strawberry shortcake for dessert. Pop, water, juice, coffee and tea were available all day. AND, no dishes and cleaning up to do!!! You can check the London Friendship Quilters Guild blog for pictures of everyone's projects.

One of the quilters had this pencil case with her and it says it all:
I brought several projects with me in hopes of finishing them off. First, I machine sewed the binding on three quilts that I recently got back from the long arm quilter:


"The Plan" is to finish hand sewing the binding down by Thursday night so I can bring them to the guild meeting for show and tell. Time will tell...

Next, I finished sewing all the blocks of my Fractured Squares quilt. This has been an ongoing project for several months. It kept getting put aside every time there was another project with an urgent deadline.
I laid out all of the blocks on the floor and then sewed them all together. I did not bring the border fabric with me so I will do that later. I am just glad to have all of the blocks pieced and put together!
I also got a good start on my MIL's Christmas gift--she hinted that she wanted a Fall table runner for her dining room table at Thanksgiving. I did not have all of the fabric with me that I needed to finish it off.
Last, but not least, I worked on the last 12 blocks for my disappearing 9 patch. I did not take any pictures of them but will post a picture when I get the top together.

It was a great day... Karen and I left to go home at 8:15pm. There were still a few others there when we left. We had the room at the hotel until 9pm. By 9:30 pm, I was asleep on the couch at home.

Stay posted for more pictures later in the week as I finish the binding on those 3 quilts.