End of August and a new September beginning

 September is always a reason to celebrate as a retired teacher.  All of my life until retirement, September meant back to school/university/ school again as a teacher.  Happy to say that I have retired 23 years ago and I still celebrate the first day of school, thinking of teachers and students back in a regular scheduled life that is run by the sound of bells or buzzers as well as clock watching. 

I am doing a happy dance because, end of August and I have my tops for the month quilted and bound!  I overheard someone snickering when I mentioned that the last week of the month is quilting week.  Once again, this system works so well for me.  A few years ago, I was feel overwhelmed by all my ideas (thanks to Pinterest), patterns on hand, show and tell inspirations as guild and I was surrounded by loads of fabric.  Yes, my fabric is organized but I felt at loose ends.  For the last few years I have participated in sew-alongs, mystery quilts, and the rainbow scrap challenge blocks and again, so many blocks, ideas and projects to make.  My saviour has been Stephanie, an Australian quilter who explained her method to me and I adopted it.  I feel so much more in control of what I am doing and get more satisfaction from finished projects. 

The system I am using is to spend the first week of the month binding the quilts from the last week of the previous month.  That includes labeling and sending the quilts off to their destinations.  I also have time in the first week to figure out my plan for the month.  In June and July, I worked on using my Aunt Gracie fabrics and made a bundle of quilts for the preemies in NICU at our local hospital.  All those fabrics are now nicely reduced and put away neatly.  The second week is working on new ideas, sew alongs, monthly mystery patterns and 'work in progress'.  The third week is generally spent getting blocks put together into quilt tops, sorting out backings and battings and getting ready for the final week of the month which is quilting.  

I have been trying to work on Row by row quilts which were popular ten years ago and shops would publish a free pattern and of course, a kit for purchase will all the needed fabrics.  I have finished most of them from 2015 but still have 2016 to work on.  I also have blocks from Rainbow scrap challenges and a few UFO's including a t-shirt quilt with the interfacing on the trimmed logos.  

Every month, I try to choose a topic or theme to keep me on track.  August was dealing with scrappy strips from the RSC plus, working on finishing quilts from Ingrid's legacy.  Ingrid was a quilting friend who died from brain cancer and our Wednesday Diva quilting group ended up with quite a few loads of her supplies that filled a van each time it arrived.  A good friend who lives close by has come to my house and we have sorted and organized fabrics so they will be easy to take to our guild free table without a mess being created.  This is the last of the containers that I happily passed onto the next person to go through. All the rest has been sorted by colour and put into bags for those wanting extra fabric or some of Ingrid's legacy can get over the next few guild meetings.  Our Wednesday group divided up many of the projects/quilts that were started but not finished and we are happy to do it for her family.  (Maybe a lesson for us quilters - always leave the pattern and plan plus necessary fabric if not scrappy with blocks that are in progress).  

 

These are two more of Ingrid's quilts that were finished.  The one with the hearts was begun a few years ago for a graduation quilt and has signatures with messages on many of the blocks.  The quilt top was together and spray basted with a backing of extra blocks. We found more extra blocks and they were put together into a baby quilt with both being delivered to the recipient at her baby shower last weekend.  

We also found some scrappy strip blocks with yellow centers.  There were some that were finished but there was also a lot of yellow squares waiting to be used.  Another member of our Wednesday Divas took on the task of finishing the blocks.  This block is made by drawing two lines, corner to corner, equidistant from each other.... 2" apart.  Those lines become the seam line of the first strips either side of center and from there, you keep adding until the yellow is covered.  And a second member took the blocks and added the black sashing and completed the top.  I quilted and bound it.  A group effort!

  

These other quilts were posted previously as we finished them for Ingrid's family.  

I also managed to get my monthly Running Doe stitch along quilt completed.  This is Phyllis, a Villa Rosa pattern by Running Doe designs. This one will be donated to Quilts of Valour.  

 

This is the first of rainbow scrap strips blocks that were leftover from the last few years. The next pictures is what I am doing with the next set of blocks from previous years.  I need 72 blocks so this will be some good stitching to do during the US Open this week. And I just noticed a block that is "wrong".... I need to fix that!  

I only need 10 more blocks for the Bonnie Hunter leader and ender challenge for this year.  I have them cut and sitting by the sewing machine.  

After tidying and organizing Ingrid's legacy, it made me realize how much 'stuff' I have in my sewing equipment stash.  I taught quilting at school and at quilt shops, and loved going to retreats (when my husband was healthier) so I have (had) a lot of duplicates.  I spent time last weekend, doing some of my own tidying and organizing.  The big bonus of that effort was that I knew where to find the glo tape for my ruler when I was trimming the strippy blocks.  The block measures 11.5" unfinished so I put the tape on the ruler and so much faster to line up the blocks and get them trimmed to size.  

 I finished this quilt that was from a kit that was in a Mystery box from Dragonfly quilting.  I didn't like the pattern that they chose so went in my own direction and had sewn these blocks at a sew in last fall but needed to put them on the wall to see how they worked and if I had enough fabric left for borders.  

A bonus harvest of zucchini and tomatoes last week

And an awesome bowl of plums from my good friend.  

Getting my binding done before the end of the first week of September gives me a few extra days to play with what I want to finish up next.  I have the rainbow strips to finish, plus the leader/ender bento boxes and I want to complete at least one row x row and there are still the ideas from earlier this year making half square triangles and Running Doe will be sending us another new pattern tomorrow for September.  

So, even though my friends roll their eyes at my 'system', it makes me happy.  I have NO quilt tops waiting for me to get quilted and when I do, they are done by the end of month they were created.  Guild starts again and I have a lovely stack of quilts to donate and that feels good.  I do need to stitch an apple block for our modern guild meeting in 10 days so that is going to be moved up the list of importance. I would love to tackle my two boxes of strips that are assorted and divided into a container of darks and one of lights.  Sounds like a perfect way to make some log cabins?  I can't get the lid on the container of darks... referred to as a muffin top.  

Enjoy our September weather.  It is getting dark far too early for me but, Mother Nature is in charge.  If anyone reading is under wildfire watch or evacuation, you have my prayers and wishes for rain to bombard the fires and help those fighting the battle to conquer the raging infernos.  And, if you are waiting for rain because you are so dry, it will come.. eventually.  If you are suffering from hot temperatures, I really hope you have a/c or a cool basement.  Again, we are at the mercy of Mother Nature and she appears to be a little cranky at the moment.  

 

Monthly update now that bindings are done.

 It was a busy month (aren't they all?) but a good effort was made to get some quilts that were in progress, finished! 

As always, the list of projects is always long and I muddle along trying to get older projects completed as well as starting new ones (because that is more fun).  So many ideas, lots of fabric, not enough time in a day to sit and sew for hours. 

My big goal in July and August was reduce the stash of Aunt Gracie fabrics and I did!  The first week of the month is binding week and it is only Tuesday, the 5th of the month and I am finito!  

Last month, I completed 3 four patch alternating with squares and this month, nine more finished.Three quilts of happy blocks are first.  

Falling charms from 5" squares

L blocks made from 2 matching charm squares

These are both split 9 patches using charms. 

Two different quilts: one with spacers between the 5" squares and the other with a rail fence alternating with the charms.  

The labels are on but I need to write a bit of info on them and all ready for donation during our September guild meeting.  

A huge thank you to Jacquie of My Little Quilt shop in the Woods for sending some bolts of flannelette to our last Wednesday Diva meeting for a very good price.  I bought a couple of bolts and they came in handy when layering these small quilts.  

The 30% tariff on batting coming from the United States is really going to hurt quilters who make kid's quilts and are on a budget.  I was lucky and realized earlier this year that it would be a good time to stock up on rolls of batting and get it bought and paid for without the tariffs added.  Batting is all made in the USA and there are no other countries that I know of at this time who manufacture it.  

On to the larger quilts that were completed.  This first one is for Quilts of Valour and was the July project for Running Doe sew along.  As you can see from the picture, I lost at the binding game and had to stop, cut more fabric, press, join and then join to the beginning to complete.  
 

This is the front of Jolene/Jasper.  Two quilts with the same block but assembled differently.  Jasper had huge blocks which made it too long for my needs so stuck with Jolene although, I could/should have just made these blocks larger or Jasper smaller and I could have made less blocks for a quicker finish.  Lesson learned.  

 One more row by row with parts being made by quilt members plus Wednesday quilt Divas and myself.  Again, a project from 2015 that needed to have the blocks made and assembled.  Quilted, bound and ready for Quilts of Valour.  These rows represent the Pacific Northwest and most have a water theme but included a couple of others that fit with our locale.  

One of the row by rows with contributions by me, my quilting friends and members of our guild.  I thought these were all quite cute and perfect for a child's quilt.  All in keeping with the water theme of the year we got these which I think was 2015?  

Another Legacy quilt from Ingrid's sewing room.  When Ingrid died a few months ago, our Wednesday group offered to help sort her fabric stash and along with that came some various containers of blocks.  Darlene put these blocks together and I quilted and bound it.  So one more finished quilt top.  Do you ever stop and wonder what will happen with projects you have in progress?  I suggest you add some information for either yourself or whomever has to deal with your legacy giving some ideas of what you were thinking and planning.  

A quilt top with a bit of a story.  The modern guild I belong to had a fun sewing night where a few of us brought our machines, cutting mats and ironing boards.  The organizer of this sew challenge, Nancy, cut up fat quarters into rectangles and showed some of us the inspirational video she had watched.  At the guild meeting, bags of rectangles were handed out.  Now, every experienced quilts knows that when sewing rectangles together, you need to offset them but, we were stitching in a hurry and someone was pinning and someone pressing and someone who looked at what we did, assumed that the blocks needed trimming. Nope, the rectangles didn't get offset so it resulted in a really wonky square which the careful trimmers started trimming.  We started to put the half square triangles together, still no remembering that they were supposed to be half rectangles?  Ooops.  I brought the quilt top home to finish and realized immediately what we had done but too late, blocks had already been trimmed.  So, I worked with what we had done and handed it off to the Wednesday quilters at Leon's for finishing on the long arm.  I brought it home and added binding.  Ooops, one square in the corner not turned quite right...oh well.  A very large donation quilt is ready.  I can't wait to see the reveal at our guild meeting and be able to give kudos to those that realized that the rectangles needed special treatment.  I knew better but wasn't thinking clearly or fast enough to do it correctly. 

For August sewing, I have bundle of odd fat quarters that I think I will use for a Carolyn Block quilt and it will go together quickly. 

These are strip pieced blocks from scraps and there is enough of them for quilt top (or two?).  I will get them onto the design wall and then stitched together for an easy finish quilt top. 

I made these blocks long ago and altered the pattern that I was using and got frustrated with it not working out correctly so will get the blocks onto the design wall and see what can be made from them. 

Fabric scraps to cut up for the leader and ender project - Bonnie Hunter's suggestion for 2025

I have a number of them made and the wall is filling up.  

I p

I played with some half square triangles after seeing a scrap quilt that I loved which used black prints on white.  So, dug out what I have and also pulled some bright colours of fabric and that will become a project, ready to go with a sample in case I forget what I had planned for the collection. 

One evening was a brilliant sunset looking at Mt. Baker... sky was fabulous. 

And, more driving and time spent waiting while my husband another Moh's surgery.  Beautiful view of the Fraser River from the Brewery District in New Westminster. 

An annoying way to have to stop and spend time - dead battery in my car and I learned a little from the experience.  The battery is now new and my car starts instantly when I press the button.  So thankful for small things like the battery issue while I was at home in my garage and not when I was out and about.   

Flowers are abundant in the front yard but it does means watering frequently as we have mountain soil which translates to crappy and a lot of clay.  

A lovely surprise for me one evening when I ventured out to water.  A pile of fresh bear scat... yes, we have bears in the neighbourhood.  A friendly reminder to be bear aware. 

This is an idea from a quilt I made many years ago and have made some of the blocks and have the rest ready to go for a Saturday sew in project.

It is made using three fabric stacked right side on top of each other and you trim off two side in the same width of your choice.  Then you repeat once more, two cuts, same width of your choosing and the leftover piece will be a square.  Mix up the strips so the same three fabrics appear in each block but in a different location: center, middle row and outside row.  It looks a bit busy at the moment but lots more blocks to make.  

Carolla demonstrated this idea at a recent guild meeting and I knew that I needed to make a block or two to see if I could understand the directions and to remind myself of yet again, another project!  

So, a great end to July and a good start for August.  One more row by row quilt top is waiting to be quilted and bound but I finished it this month so it might wait for the end of the month to be quilted.  Or, if we get some really hot weather, quilting in my 'bunker' is lovely and comfortable - will see how the weather goes.  

Time to clean up my sewing areas, tidy, put away things, fills bobbins, clean machines, mop the floor and find a home for all the 'stuff' that I have lying around.   

Back on track with my self imposed schedule

 I have mentioned it before but I really function best on a schedule for myself and am thankful to Stephanie for explaining her method to me - it works and I love it.  First week of the month is binding and organizing projects and themes I want to work with for the next 3 weeks. 

For some crazy reason, the first 5 months of 2025 have not felt good with my quilting activities but am now caught up and back in the groove.  I have lots to share with you... where to start? 

June was "Aunt Gracie" month and hopefully you know what those fabrics are?  I had a container full of mine and then collected more from our legacy fabrics that were on tables at two different guild meetings.  I couldn't help myself from grabbing more because, they were colour coordinated!!  The quilter who died obviously loved creating order in her fabrics the same way I do.  So, I had 3 containers of these fabrics.  I am still working with them and have cut fabrics to take to Saturday sew ins with modern guild. 

My containers of fabrics.  I cut some into 10" squares and since there was a stack of 5" squares, I decided to cut more.  So many ideas of what I could make but where to start?  My first thought was to make preemie quilts for the local NICU and they like them 30" x 36" so are easy to make, simple to quilt and quick giving a nice feeling of accomplishment.  

I also needed to make "Gator", the pattern of the month by Villa Rosa/Running Doe so cut some of the rectangles I needed for that project.  

I played around with split 9 patch with my 5" squares.  

I also decided that if I cut some strips, I could make L blocks which are mindless stitching.  

4 Patches seemed like a simple and easy pattern to make.  

 

For the split 9 patches, I laid out my neutrals first and then added in the other 5" squares to complete the block.  I did not fuss or take a lot of time... literally took the squares as they came from the container. 

Gator got pieced which was a very simple pattern and fun to make. 

I then decided on some happy blocks for the charm squares that were multiplying in my container.  

These were the split 9 patches and I made two quilts that are slightly larger than preemie size but our guild donates to a variety of places that have children in need of a quilted hug. 

And look!!  down to 2 containers.  One has fat quarters or smaller pieces and the other has larger pieces of fabric.  So neat and tidy!  

Three of the preemies are finished and two of the split 9 patch are waiting for the quilting and binding to be done (end of July in quilting week).  

The traditional guild I belong to has asked for fabric bowls to be donated and will be used for a fund raiser at an event that they will have a booth set up for promoting the guild.  I cut out a large number of them using my GO cutter and also used up a lot of my vegetable and food themed fabrics.  My Wednesday group took one each to use as inspiration if they wanted to cut some of their own and stitched the ones I handed out.  I finished the rest and they are off to the sale table. 
 

We had a dear quilting friend lose her fight with cancer and a friend of hers is slowly emptying her sewing room.  A few of us offered to help out and our Wednesday group has been going through the fabrics and projects as they come to us.  We are each taking a few to finish up in her memory.  These were maple leaf blocks with the red fused to fusible backing and I cut them out and added them to some backgrounds and have already used two in a Quilt of Valour. Thank you Ingrid. 

Jumping back to the Aunt Gracie's... these are the happy blocks I am making and starting with 10" square and slicing off two 2.5" strips and from the remaining, 2.5 strips in the other direction leaving a 5" square.  I cut two at the same time and mix up the centers.  More simple and easy stitching.  

This is another of Ingrid's quilt tops that were in a set of blocks and a Wednesday Diva put the them together and handed to me for quilting along with backing, batting and binding.  Another project for the last week of July. 

Onto June's finished projects.  I worked daily with my B-line home quilting system to get the tops on hangers quilted and finished, ready for donation.  This first one is Oopsie - A Bonnie Hunter 2024 leader and ender challenge.  I did make some every month last year using the Rainbow scrap colour choice for every month.  I made a lot!  

Gator is finished.  A cute quilt.  

A finish using one of Ingrid's tops that she had pieced.  I quilted and bound it and it will go back to her family for them to decide the final destination.

A row by row.  If you scroll back to Feb or March in my blog, this lived on my design wall for 3 months while I dithered about putting the rows together.  These rows are from 2015 (maybe 2014?) and were patterns handed out by quilt shops all over North America and each shop also had small kits available to make the row as it was pictured on the cover.  I shudder to think how much I spent on those kits and there are still many left for me to work on.  The traditional guild I belong to handed out patterns for row by rows and some with the fabric kits to members last December.  They had been donated by someone like myself who has hung onto them for far too long.  I offered to take any rows members completed and didn't have a use for because I thought they would be great for a Quilt of Valour.  The theme of this particular year was water and that worked perfectly for us here on the West Coast. I made some of these rows and some were contributed by Abbotsford guild members.  But, the best part - it is completed.  The worst part... I still have lots of kits that need to be made.  

This is Oopsie number 2 and I used up most of the blocks.  I had a few leftover that I messed up on and added the corner pieces to the wrong corners of the blocks.  Annoying, but oh well.  

This final quilt is another of Ingrid's that I finished for her family.  It is stunning and fun.  

And of course, because it was Canada Day earlier this week, I had to pull out my Canadian themed runners and table toppers.  

I have the next row by row ready to quilt and I used two of Ingrid's maple leaves in this one.  More water themed rows.  

These are some fun water themed rows that I have decided will make a quilt for a child.  I have pulled fabrics to border each one and it is in my bag ready to take to Modern quilt Saturday sew in.  

I am feeling good and have ideas for July.  There are the rest of the Aunt Gracie blocks to complete and I will also get the row by rows bordered and put into a smaller top for quilting.  I am determined to make one or two rows monthly which means I might be finished by this time next year?  I have some fleece fabrics to stitch around the edges for donation to Modern guild and there are assorted projects calling my name along with more of Ingrid's to finish.  

I joined Running Doe's quilt along AGAIN... this is the third time and they run for 6 months but it challenges me to make quilt tops from patterns I probably wouldn't look at if they weren't sent to me to make.  My Rainbow scrap challenge blocks from the last few years are waiting for me to finish them up as well.  But, I do see more empty containers than I used to have and shopping for fabric, other than backings, isn't something I do very often so fabric going out is definitely more than fabric coming in.  

Happy belated Canada Day to my friends here at home and Happy Fourth of July to my friends living south of the border from here.