Tulips!

I have been working on hand appliquéing my tulip blocks for my Sarah Fielke Coming Home BOM this week.  The two magenta tulip blocks are completely done and I am now working on the top right turquoise block.  The stem is done and I am just starting the leaves...

I'm getting better at those inside points and the curves with each leaf and tulip...

Christine was at my house for sewing night one evening this past week so I made the 12 house blocks included in last month's instructions.  The next step will be out on Tuesday so I still have a bit more to do before this stage will be done, but I am close!  There will be more houses to make this month and the houses in the picture above will each get a roof.

My Pasque Flowers bloomed this week.  I love the fuzzy edges.

Finn likes to lie beside me while I do my hand stitching. He spends some of his time watching for my husband or me to come home by sitting on the back of the couch and looking down the street for our cars.

We have been going for lots of walks.  

I have been getting a lot more steps on my Fitbit since Finn came to visit.

This is growing in my garden in several spots but I did not plant it...not sure how it got there, but it sure is pretty!

I will link up with Kathy in the morning for Slow Sunday Stitching.  I hope to finish off my tulips soon and get the next border sewn on Coming Home before the next set of instructions is out on Tuesday.

Coming Home and FLW

I have finally finished the second part of my Coming Home BOM quilt.  Everything is fitting together well so far with minimal un-sewing.  The four corners are up next and I have the pieces cut out and ready to applique. 

The applique tulips will be turquoise and magenta (two of each).  I have started to applique one block and hope to get them all done before the third set of instructions come out at the end of April.

If you read my previous post, you will know that I am making a string quilt with material from my Dad's shirts.  Here is my second of 16 blocks.

I have made a couple more Tula Pink sampler blocks in the last 3 weeks and need to get back to making the rest of the blocks for this quilt.  I seem to have a lot of irons in the fire at the moment. 

Frank Lloyd Wright's Office Window counted cross stitch is done!  I finished the last few stitches of outlining one morning this week.  Now, to get this one washed and pressed and ready for framing, along with the other two FLW windows...

I will be working on my applique for Slow Sunday Stitching this week.  Take a look at what the other hand stitchers and knitters are doing this week over at Kathy's blog. 

Sewing with Strings

Last Friday marked one year since my Dad died.  I had signed up for a quilting workshop with Mary Elizabeth Kinch, author of "Small Pieces, Spectacular Quilts" a few months ago and decided I would use my Dad's shirts for my project.  Mary Elizabeth spoke at our London Friendship Guild meeting on Thursday night and we had a great trunk show of her quilts, including the workshop quilt, "Go with the Flow". 

I met Mary Elizabeth several years ago at Gwen Marston's Beaver Island Quilt retreat in Elk Rapids, Michigan.  It was fun to see her again and catch up.

After some discussion about string quilts in general and different ways to make them, we cut into our fabrics and started sewing the strings together.   Mary Elizabeth also showed us pictures of several antique and newer string quilts.  Here is her "Go with the Flow" quilt.

By lunch time, everyone had made at least one row of strings.

Here are my two rows, not pressed yet

Two more, pressed and ready to trim.

Tonight, I made a couple more rows and then made my first block of the 16 needed to make this queen sized quilt. 

As I sewed, I thought about my Dad and the times that he wore these shirts.   Dad loved to stop at Shaw's Ice Cream for a Black Cherry Cone so my husband and went there on the weekend. 

It seemed like a fitting thing to do. 

Coming Home--Applique

Finn joined me on the couch this week for some applique for part two of Coming Home, this year's Sarah Fielke BOM project. The instructions for part two came out at the end of February, so I am a little bit behind, but I'm sure I will catch up at some point.  I am just enjoying the process of picking out fabrics and working away at the various parts of this quilt.

I finished sewing the starts to the magenta squares and cut them out into circles for the next stage of the applique.  Finn provided moral support as I sewed the stars to the chartreuse background squares.

Kathy asked last week about how I used my block book...I use it to organized the parts for my applique blocks and to keep the completed parts flat and safe from being lost in the shuffle.  Since it has a hard cover, it is also handy as a work surface on my lap as I sew, as shown in the first picture above.

This afternoon, I put the first of four sections together for the next border.  The other sections are laid out, ready to sew.  I hope to get to them early next week. The templates for part three are cut out of cardboard, ready to trace on yet to be chosen fabric.  Look for more progress next Sunday.

Finn and I enjoyed some porch time in the sunshine one evening this week.

I attended a quilting workshop on Friday, which also happened to be one year since my father died.  It seemed appropriate to be starting a new project using fabric from his shirts.  I will do a post about what I am making with these strings sometime next week.

I will be linking up with Kathy in the morning for Slow Sunday Stitching.

Baby Quilt Top in a Day

On the last Friday in March, I attended a workshop to make a quilt top with a panel.  I had a panel in my stash that I thought would make a great baby quilt, but alas, I did not have any co-ordinating fabrics to go with it.  I know that is hard to believe, but it is the honest truth!  So, I searched through my stash again to see if I had anything else that I could use for the class without having to make a purchase.   I found the ship in a bottle fabric as well as some other fabrics that went with it and figured that I had enough to use for the project.   (yes, the print at the bottom is seagulls wearing sweaters...) 

The navy blue solid became my background.  Since I was only making a baby quilt, the top came together quickly.

Those seagulls are so fun!

I sewed a blue and white striped border to my bottle fabric for the centre of the quilt.  I noticed part way through the day that my blue and white striped fabric matched my shirt...

The orange and white print was purchased at QuiltCon in February.

Soon the top was finished except for the final border. You can see part of one of the teacher's samples in the background in this picture.

Of course, the final border had to be orange...my favourite colour.  This was a fast way to make a quilt top...I have some ideas floating around in my head on how to change up the centre panel the next time I use this pattern.

As you saw in my previous blogpost, Finn helped me to pick out some flannel whale fabric from my stash for the backing of this quilt.

We took Finn out for a long walk at the park today.  It's a beautiful day so lots of people were out bike riding and walking.

Hand Stitching Report

I have not blogged about my Frank Lloyd Wright cross stitch picture for the last couple of weeks but I have still been working on the metallic gold outlining.  The end is in sight...just a bit in the top section left to do. We took a car trip last weekend and I did quite a bit of stitching as my husband drove. 

Finn is staying with us for 5 weeks as my daughter is really busy at work right now. We are going for a couple of walks each day.  He keeps us on our toes...

Finn is also helping with my sewing projects...He approves of the whale fabric for the back of the baby quilt I made last week. You can see my quilt top in my next post. 

I have also been doing some hand appliqué stars for my Sarah Fielke Coming Home BOM.  I am just about finished the 2nd month's blocks and will soon be moving on to month 3, which has already been posted. Here are my stars...two are done and I am working on the third one.

Once again, Finn provided moral support while I stitched.

The magenta fabric will be cut into circles and then appliquéd onto some green fabric. I will post pictures when I finish month two.   There is more appliqué for month three as well. The block book I made for this project is coming in very handy.

I am still in the black as far as stash reduction goes for this year so far.

Fabric added in March 2019:   1.95 yards
Fabric added in 2019:  42.65 yards
Fabric out in March 2019:  15.65 yards 
Fabric out in 2019: 55.75 yards
Net fabric out in 2019:  13.1 yards

I will be linking up with Kathy and the other slow stitchers on Sunday morning. 

Elgin Piecemaker's Challenge Reveal.

The Elgin Piecemaker's guild has issued a challenge each year for the past few years to the members to create a project with certain parameters...this year we each had to bring a yard of batik to our November meeting.  I brought the bright blue fabric at the top of the picture below.   We stood in a  circle, each holding our yard of fabric in one hand and a pair of scissors in the other hand.  We were instructed to fold our fabric in half, make a small snip with the scissors at the fold and then rip the fabric in half, drop half on the floor in front of us and pass the other half to the person beside us.  We continued to fold it, snip it, rip it, drop it and pass it until we ended up with 7 pieces of fabric.  The challenge was to create a project using our fabrics and any other fabrics we wanted to add to it by our March meeting, when the projects would be revealed. 

I had three challenge projects to make after Christmas and wanted to have all of them done before QuiltCon in February.  I decided to make a bag for my counted cross stitching.  Since I do a lot of stitching in the car, I wanted it to include a place to keep my scissors and an extra needle or two, both of which can easily go missing in the car.

I used two of the fabrics on the outside of the bag.

Fabric number 3 was used for the zipper tab.

Fabric #4 was used for the lining of the bag.

I made a scissor holder with the 5th fabric.  The scissors fold up so they won't poke through the bag.  Since they are attached to the bag, they will not fall on the floor or in between the seats if I drop them.

The last two fabrics were used to make a needle book for my extra needles and a few pins.

My embroidery hoop and cross stitch supplies all fit into the bag. This is a big improvement on the ziplock plastic bag I was using previously!

We had two guest judges who chose a first place and runner up from all of the projects.  Then, everyone in the group got to pick their favourite for the viewer's choice award. There was a lot of variety and creativity in everyone's projects...Wall hangings, table runners, a pillow, a purse, and mini quilts.

Julie won the honourable mention award for her bag.  The judges were Lorna and Heather.

Debbie won the Judges choice award for her modern table runner.  She stayed up all night to complete her project on time!

The viewer's choice prize went to Diane for her mini American Beauty quilt.

Congratulations to the winners and to all who participated in the challenge.  It is amazing to see what everyone made with their challenge fabrics!