Pineapple Log Cabin Done, Two Donation Quilts Started.

Some projects are quick to make and others aren't.  I made these blocks in 2023 as one of my Rainbow Scrap Challenge projects.  The quilt top was completed in January 2024.  Then it sat in the to be quilted pile as I pondered how to quilt it.  It kept telling me it wanted to be hand quilted so I finally relented, and started hand quilting it last fall.  I took a break from it for a while and then finished it in the Spring/Early Summer of this year.  I searched high and low through my stash for an appropriate fabric for the binding and had nothing.  I really wanted to use the grey background fabric as the binding so searched on the Internet to see if I could find some in a Canadian Store.  I found it and finally picked it up this past week.  It was a priority this week to get the binding made and sewn down.  Now, this quilt is ready to be displayed on the wall!  

I also added more stitches to my fall cross stitch, finishing off a leaf I started last week and making good progress on the bird. There is one more leaf to add below the branch in this section before moving along to the left. 

Christine and I attend a couple of the Crafter's Retreats at Camp Kintail each year.  The camp is run by the Presbyterian Church  and has a fundraising auction each fall.  I usually donate and item for the auction and, this year, decided to donate a lap quilt.  Today was Jelly Roll Day at the Oxford Guild so I got busy sewing.  I had all of the cutting done for these blocks earlier in the week.  I made 20 blocks and will add navy blue sashing before quilting it with my walking foot.  I need to have this done very soon so it will likely be my focus for the next little while.  The colourful fabrics are grunge and the navy was in my stash....I think it was leftover from a quilt back. 

I am also making a donation quilt for a fundraising raffle at the nursing home where my MIL lives.  I've got a good start on this one and hope to have it done by the end of October.  The fabrics all came from my batik bin.  I have been trying to use up my batiks for a while and was happy to find enough co-ordinating fabrics in the bin to make this quilt.  Both of these donation quilts will end up being lap sized. 

The Oxford Guild makes Quilts of Valour and handed out strips of fabric at our September meeting to make 16 patches.  They supplied with teal fabric and I added the other two fabrics to make four 16 patch blocks.  

The butterfly weed in my front garden is creating lots of fluffy seeds to spread around the neighbourhood. 

The sedum is in bloom now that gardening season is winding down. 

Finn and my daughter got a new mattress this week.  It is Finn approved. 

I will link up with Kathy, Angela and Frederique.  

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. 

More Aqua and Hand Quilting

My blocks for Aqua month are done!  Here are the shoe fly blocks and the 25 patch HST block.  Lots of fun scraps in these blocks.  I have ordered some more Kona white as I only have a few small scraps left and I want to make more blocks for both of these quilts.  

I finished hand quilting this purple pineapple block on Monday and I'm now working on the magenta block.  Only one block to go after magenta--it is yellow.  Then, I can get this quilt trimmed and bound.  I will have to see what I have in my stash for binding.  Unfortunately, all of the grey background fabric in the blocks is gone so I can't use that.  (This picture was taken before the last part of the quilting was done--you will just have to believe me that it is now complete!)

I have a few herbs growing in pots on my patio.  The chives have been growing by leaps and bounds so I cut them back.  I cut them up into small pieces and dried them in the oven.  They are ready to use in soups, stews and casseroles next fall and winter. 

My Rainbow Scrap Challenge nine patch quilt is all sewn together and I have picked out some backing fabric from my stash.  I will get it pin basted and quilted soon so it is ready for show and tell at our September guild meeting.  I hope to have a few quilts ready to show at that meeting.  There are several tops in line to be quilted in my sewing room. 

The balloon flowers are blooming!  There are lots of balloons on this plant waiting to pop.  I also have a couple of baby plants that were seeded from this plant last year in other spots in the garden.  I love the colour of these flowers. 

The prickly pear cactus is also blooming this week.  These yellow flowers fade quickly once they bloom but they are a favourite.  Some people are surprised that a cactus will grow this far north but this one comes back year after year. 

I'm reading "Finding Flora" at the moment.  It's a Canadian historical fiction book set in Alberta in the early 1900's about a woman who works to secure her land claim.   A recommended read if you like historical fiction. 

Finn would spend all day outside if we let him!  His fur is like velcro and picks up all kinds of dead leaf bits and little sticks which he tracks inside.  It keeps all of us busy sweeping up!

I will link up with the RSC link up as well as Kathy and Frederique on the weekend.  

 

Hand Stitching

 This was a busy week with lots of activities every day, so, not much sewing happened.  I did manage to add more stitches to the sky in my cross stitch project and discovered that I was going to run out of one of the colours. I purchased a skein at the local craft shop and I'm ready to keep on stitching. Someone asked last week if there are sunflowers in the picture--the answer is yes...there are several sunflowers in a combination of stitches and beads as well as a button at the bottom of the picture.  I will do the beading when the cross stitching is done. 

I finished hand quilting the orange block this week and I'm just about done with the red block.  The next block is blue. 

A couple of friends, Mary and Christine, came over to visit yesterday.  We visited Jumbo, the Little Red Mitten yarn shop and the Elevated Park before coming back to my house for lunch and some knitting, cross stitching and hand quilting in the gazebo.  I did not take any pictures of us in the gazebo but here are some pictures at our morning stops. 

There are lots of new blooms in the garden this week including day lilies, bell flowers and coreopsis

Lots of wildlife sightings this week including this deer on a neighbour's front lawn. 

The turkey vultures don't usually get this close.  We saw this one on a low branch of a tree while walking at the park one morning. 

The racoon family was back in our yard again this week.  Five babies and mom wandered through our yard. 

We saw lots of Canada Geese at the park too. 

We had the Retro Quilter, Maude MacDonald, as the speaker at our annual Quilt Guild banquet this week.  She channels the 70's in her unique and fun quilts.  Maude has a large collection of vintage bed sheets that she uses to make quilts and clothing.  She does in person talks as well as on Zoom--a great speaker, enjoyed by everyone at the banquet.  

My patio pots are filling out and bursting with colour. 

My husband and I took a cooking class this week on British curries.  We made Coronation Salad appetizers  which were delicious!  Five recipes were shared as well as a history of how curries became popular in Britain. The class was a birthday gift for my husband from me. 

Finn managed to wrap himself up in the drapes for his nap this week. 

He went to the office one day with my daughter and loved seeing all of her colleagues. 

I am listening to "The Book Woman's Daughter" this week.  This is the sequel to "The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek" which I read a few years ago.  Both are good books and I recommend reading them in order. 

I will link up with Kathy and Frederique this morning.