Slabs for Calgary

Cheryl at Dining Room Empire lives in Calgary and is a co-author of "Sunday Morning Quilts".
She has seen the devastation of the recent floods in Calgary and other parts of Southern Alberta in person and has been moved to make quilts for people who have been affected by the floods. She has asked quilters to make a slab, (or two or three or more!), and mail them to her. She has recruited a small army of friends who sew to put the quilts together so that they can be given to people who need to know that we are all thinking about them as they try to put their lives back together.

I would like to encourage all of my readers to make a slab and mail it to Cheryl. If you know me personally and live nearby, you can drop off your slabs at my house and I will mail one package with all of the slabs in it. If you don't know me personally, you can mail your slabs to Cheryl yourself--just e-mail her (the e-mail link is on her blog) and she will send you her address.

Just pick a colour, gather up some scraps and make a slab for Calgary!  I picked orange and used a piece of white fabric with some daisies on it and lots of scraps to make my slab. It only took 30 minutes and I was all done!  The finished slabs should measure 15.5" square. You can find the instructions on Cheryl's blog. (The link is in the first paragraph of this post.)

 

Cheryl would like to receive all the slabs by the end of this month so that the quilts can be assembled, quilted and delivered as soon as possible.

 

Won't you join me in making a slab?  (I think I am going to make a few more!)

 

The people affected by the floods need some love.

 

I finished the 2nd Pillow...

...with 30 minutes to spare!  I spent the morning yesterday preparing salads for a family BBQ for Canada Day. Once the salads were done and the kitchen was cleaned up, it was time to get back to the sewing machine and work on the 2nd pillow for my other niece's grade 8 graduation gift. I used my GO machine to cut out some black and white Drunkard's Path blocks which I had put together last week. Sunday night, I consulted with my daughter by Skype for the final layout. This is what she recommended:

I put the units together and added a border and cornerstones to make it big enough for the pillow form which I had purchased.

I quilted it with organic quilting in the borders and 3/8" away from the dark sections in the middle.

Here is the finished pillow:

The backs:

 

 

Two pillows done, just in time for the arrival of the guests for the BBQ. My nieces were very surprised by their pillows and look forward to putting them on their beds after their room is redecorated over the next couple of weeks.

We had a wonderful meal followed by special Canada Day desserts:

This cake was half chocolate ice cream and half peanut butter cup roundup ice cream.

Our second cake was a marble cake with white icing and strawberry decorations:

There were also more strawberries available!  It was all very yummy and everyone had to sample both cakes.

Once it got dark, we had a few fireworks. A good time was had by all, even the dog!

Sewing night with Christine tomorrow night...I hope to get my 9 patch mystery together.

A Finish and some WIP's

TaDa!  One black and white curvy pillow done! One more pillow to go and it is only just started...This is a graduation gift for one of my twin nieces. The second pillow may not get done on time, but I will try to get the piecing done tonight so that she can at least see that part tomorrow when the family is here for a Canada Day BBQ.

The second pillow also involves curved piecing...I am a glutton for punishment!

While I was outside taking pictures of the pillow, I noticed that my climbing hydrangea is in bloom.

This orange Echinacea is just starting to bloom as well.  I get to look at this plant every time I go in or out the front door--it is right by the front steps.

Today, Christine, Carol and I got together to work on a new project together. This is the centre of our medallion quilt.

Carol and I made some birds and Christine made some maple leaf blocks.

Christine had to go home early so Carol and I continued to sew...

Before Carol left, we made lots of 4 patches which will be put together for the next border...

 

Here is what we have so far...

 

The maple leaves will probably be in the next border...

Here is my stash report for this week:

Fabric used in the last week: 3.0 yards
Total fabric used this year: 105  yards
Fabric added to the stash in the last week: 0 yards
Total fabric added this year: 93.23 yards
Net fabric used this year: 11.77 yards

These numbers always look better when I don't go to the fabric store...


Here is a sneak peak at another WIP  (Work in Progress!) This is a birthday gift for a friend.

The nine patch mystery is still on the design wall and my Sewing Baskets quilt is still awaiting binding...

 

The Elgin Piecemakers had dinner out for our final meeting of the season and three charity quilts (in progress) were displayed at show and tell, much to the amusement of others in the restaurant.  J and J set the red and white blocks on point.

 

This will certainly brighten someone's day!

 

This batik quilt would be great for a man.

 

We handed in our blue and yellow blocks this month. 

 

I am going to make a few blocks this week for Cheryl at "Dining Room Empire" for flood victims in the Calgary, Alberta area. Here is a link to her blog with the instructions on how to make the blocks. Help her to bring comfort to families who have lost their homes and belongings in the floods by making a few blocks. You can leave a message on her blog to get her mailing address for your blocks.

 

Keep Sewing!

Playing with a New Toy

I bought the May/June issue of Fons and Porter's Love of Quilting magazine recently because I saw a quilt with curved seams that I thought looked interesting. The magazine mentioned a "simple curves" ruler that could be used instead of the template in the magazine. I decided to keep an eye out for the ruler when I found myself in a quilt store. If you read my last post, you know that I went shopping and purchased a roll of batting for my next "few" quilting projects last week. As I was looking around the store, I noticed the ruler hanging on the wall next to the other rulers...they only had one left and I bought it!  (ignore the pins in the picture...this is the back of my project after I pin basted it before quilting...)

Last night, I cut into some black and white fabrics, sewed some strips together and cut out some curvy pieces for a pillow which will be a grade 8 grad gift for one of my nieces.

The leftovers look a bit odd, but I will find some way to use them.

I have just started to quilt the pillow top but here is a picture after pin basting but before quilting.

Stay tuned for an after picture sometime this weekend.

Happy sewing.

Moving Right Along...

I have been absent from my blog lately but I have been working away on a few sewing projects in between gardening.

 

My Swoon quilt has been languishing in UFO land for months now because I did not have any batting for it. Finally, this week, I purchased my 3rd roll of warm and natural batting in 3 years...40 yards to the roll. I have already cut a chunk off for Swoon and delivered it to Cathy at Eagle's Wings Quilts for long-arming this morning. We picked thread but I am not sure what design I want quilted on it...I will continue to look at pictures and ideas on the internet and will let Cathy know what I choose.

 

My nieces and I cut this out and sewed most of it together a couple of summers ago and then it languished with some other UFO's until this week when I took it out and finished sewing the last few rows together and completed the top. I found some fabric in my stash for the backing and it also went to Cathy's house today. This one will be donated to Family and Children's services through the London Friendship Quilter's Guild at our September meeting. I have a kit that I purchased last summer for another charity quilt...maybe I will tackle it sometime this summer.

 

Christine and I got together a couple of times since I last blogged and I managed to finish off Step 3 of the Lazy Sunday Mystery by Bonnie Hunter in Quiltmaker magazine. I love to make scrappy quilts--there is always so much to look at with all of the different fabrics. Each piece brings back memories of where it was purchased, or someone who gave it to me.

 

Speaking of purchasing fabric, I have had a couple of shopping trips to quilt stores recently. I try hard to restrain myself but the fabric just calls out to me to be added to my stash!  Here is my stash report for the last couple of weeks:

 



Fabric used in the last 2 weeks: 5.5 yards
Total fabric used this year: 102  yards
Fabric added to the stash in the last 2 weeks: 12.15 yards
Total fabric added this year: 93.23 yards
Net fabric used this year: 8.77 yards

 

A large chunk of the fabric purchased is the backing for my 9 patch mystery so once I finish putting it together, the numbers will look much better!  (I hope!)

 

What is a blog post without a few garden pictures?

 

 

This mini rose was given to me when I was in the hospital for some surgery 12 years ago. I planted it in my garden and it keeps coming back with lots of flowers every year!

 

 

My alliums are in bloom right now. I love the way they sway in the breeze in my front garden.

 

 

I have several clumps of Coreopsis in my front and back gardens and all are in bloom right now.

 

 

This one is called Globe Flower.

 

I have some binding to do this week on my BIQR 2012 quilt--Sewing Baskets. I picked this up from Karen C this week. She did a great job and captured the whimsy that I wanted in the quilting. I will post more pictures once it is bound.

That's it for now. This week, I hope to do some more Boxy Stars soon and get the 9 patch mystery top done so it can be quilted as well. It may take me a week or two to finish off these goals--I have a busy week ahead.

 

Happy Sewing!



Sew Many Projects, Sew Little Time!

 

 

Christine came over to my house on Thursday night this week to work on our Lazy Sunday mystery quilts. We are putting together these blocks for step 3 of this mystery quilt by Bonnie Hunter. After I put the blocks out on the floor and took this picture, I noticed a little unsewing job that needs to be done...can you find it?  I have already done the unsewing but still need to sew the block back together again! Only 8 more of these blocks to put together and then on to the purple and white border units.  This is the only sewing I have done since my last blog post.

 

I have stared longingly at my sewing machine a few times as I am heading out the door to work in the garden...  My husband and I are expanding our front flower beds, adding stone edging and planting some bushes, moving and thinning out the perennials, etc. What a big job!  We have finished off one garden--I added the mulch the other night. The second garden has the stone edging and the bushes are in but we still need to thin out and replant the perennials. We hope to get this job done by the end of next week. It takes a long time when we only have evenings and limited time on the weekends to be outside. In the backyard, my Dad (83 years young) and I have put in the vegetable garden--pole beans, zucchini, peppers, cherry tomatoes (in a pot on the patio), broccoli, kohlrabi and leeks.  My Dad always had a big garden at our house when I was growing up and after I left home but he is not allowed to have a vegetable garden where he lives now so he and I do the veggie garden here. The garden is fenced so that these visitors do not eat everything before we get a chance to do our harvesting!

 

 

 

This cardinal visited the yard the other morning and perched on the top of our gazebo to survey the backyard.

 

 



Here is my stash report.

 

Fabric used in the last 2 weeks: 2.4 yards
Total fabric used this year: 96.5  yards
Fabric added to the stash in the last 2 weeks: 0 yards
Total fabric added this year: 81.08 yards
Net fabric used this year: 15.42 yards

 

If you read my last blog post, you would know that I started making a boxy stars quilt for a family member last week.

 

 

I worked on this quilt at Jacqui's last Thursday night and have 4/12 blocks completed. Friday night, we had a phone call from my husband's cousin to let us know that her Mom had died early that morning unexpectedly. I had hoped to give this quilt to Aunt M in July. Now, it will be completed and given to her daughter in memory of her Mom.

QNIC at Jacqui's

Jacqui hosted Chris, Karen and I for a Quilting Night in Canada tonight. We have not done this for ages and had a fun evening of sewing and chatting.

I worked on some more Boxy Star Blocks.

I still have 8 more blocks to make. It is fun to root around in my batiks to make these blocks.
Jacqui thinks white sashing would make the boxy stars float--I agree. I am not sure if I will add cornerstones or not...  What do you think?

Jacqui worked on a couple of baby quilts. She satin stitched around the circles tonight.

Karen quilted a table topper. Looking good, Karen!

 Chris is making a wedding shower gift--a table runner and a pot holder. Lucky Bride and Groom!

I hope we can get together for a few more QNIC's this summer!