Last in is now first project out

 Normally we use the phrase First in/first out but I have decided to work on some of my projects waiting and am going with the last project acquired that entered my home is going to the next project to work on and finish.

So far, am loving this.  My last post showed a number of projects finished and a few were acquired fairly recently.  

Since my last post, I am a year older and feeling a bit like I need to hurry up and finish projects, complete ideas, and use up fabric since this is my eightieth year... lol... my dad always went by the year he was in, not by his actual number of birthdays.

Green potato chips blocks are now complete so that makes blues, purples and these ones done.  Six blocks per colour means 7 colours needed to get a quilt that is 60 x 70.  So, four colour families left to work on.   

Log cabin blocks are done but my math was totally wonky... I need 42 per quilt and now have enough blocks for almost 2 quilts?  I have no idea how I got an idea into my head that I needed to make as many as I did but am happy to only need 10 more to have a second top made.  This is a slow but steady use of leftover scrappy strips of fabric. 

I don't make these kind of scrappy projects often because it creates chaos and total disaster zone around my sewing machine. 

Canada Day was coming soon so the decor had to have a bit of red and white plus maple leaves and Canadian flags.  Kept it simple because it was only me that was seeing the decor... well my husband but not so sure he notices things like this. 

I am including this picture because it makes my heart so happy and great motivation.  This is a set of twins born who were living in our NICU and covered with their quilts ... both of which I made.  They only show the one quilt but that  is enough to motivate me to make more! 

Since I am showing baby pictures... this is my great granddaughter... so happy and now over 6 months old!  

This quilt is finished and was made from blocks I won in our guild January block lotto.  I kept it simple and it was quilted by the Mill Lake quilters and came back to me for binding.  

Another quilt that I did the binding on but took this picture because I loved the larger blocks and the simplicity.  This was made with Aunt Gracie fabrics and I am keen to make a few of these using this block.  I think I can figure it out... a bit of math and half square triangles with corner triangles and it will be simple and show off the chosen fabrics.  

Double Delight is the next quilt for the Running Doe sew along for July.  I have been slow to decide what/which fabrics to use so grabbed a bag of fabric I picked up at a guild meeting.  The Mill Lake quilters put together fabrics that they think might work well in a quilt and hand the bags out.  I don't like to admit that I have had a few bags hanging around under my table for too long.  I pulled out the fabrics from the bag and then added in a few of my own.  
 

I see idea on Pinterest and realized that if I didn't make something that I saw and liked right away, I would never remember.  This block is made from two 8" squares of fabric... some stitching, some slicing and rearranging and then more stitching to put it all back together.  Super simple!

More potato chip blocks made using aqua and teals plus a UFO from Quilt the North that came in one of their monthly boxes.  I have the top made, now I need to spend some time quilting it.  The pattern shows some great ideas, quilting a different pattern in each of the colours/blocks.   That will be time consuming but a good challenge for me to quilt "outside of my comfort zone".  

The first set of log cabin blocks is up on the design wall waiting to be stitched together.  It is always good to take a picture and see if a block is placed incorrectly and yes, one block is wrong in the bottom left corner.  Much easier to fix it before I stitch it.  

I worked on Sisterhood by Villa Rosa patterns and it is now quilted by Mill Lake Quilters and is bound and ready for donation.  This is such a simple pattern and love that I used up a package of Tonga batiks of unknown age. 

One more UFO that came in a mystery box from Cherry Tree Quilts in Kelowna, BC and it is now completed with quilting by Mill Lake Quilters and binding by me.  This pattern is a 3 yard quilt and so simple.  

One more quilt finished using Bonnie Hunter's leader/ender pattern.  I love this block because it uses leftover 2.5" strips of both neutral and colour and you need 19" of each.  It is mindless stitching and if you are a quilter and don't know what a leader/ender is, it means I never cut my threads... when I have finished stitching a block, I feed the first step of the leader in and stitch it.  I cut the thread between it and what I stitched previously and when I go back to my machine, I just start stitching on what I am working on.  It saves thread and you don't have to go back and trim off thread tails.  

I am adding a picture of the sunset a few nights ago.. the sky was a glorious pink colour bouncing off the clouds.  

One more set of potato chip blocks, in browns.  Am slowly getting there, working towards my goal of seven different colours.  

So that leaves me with my Running Doe sew-along to cut and piece plus a quilt I brought home today from a friend at my Wednesday quilt diva group that is for a survivor of residential schools and I need to choose my next colour and cut for potato chip blocks.  I only have one quilt to bind for the Mill Lake quilters so that will be a quick finish.  

Weather is warming up here in the Pacific Northwest... hot weather means a/c running, doors and windows closed and I am stuck here at my sewing machine (oh darn!!).  Stay cool where ever you are or warm if it is winter for you.  I have lots of clothes to choose from for this weather after having all my summer clothes come home to me after selling our house in Arizona.  Lots of shorts, capris, and t-shirts as well as skirts for tennis.  

 

End of June 2026

 It is the end of the month but still two days left to cross a few more small tasks off the long list that always seem to keep growing.  I have accomplished a few small projects in keeping with my latest personal rule... if you buy it, make it!!  The recent projects that have been purchased at quilt shows or have come in the mail (I subscribe to a few surprise boxes) are up to date and am working backwards.  Last in, first made.  

In order, sort of... I started this pillow by QuiltNorth and got my half square triangles made.   

This is another that I worked on but this one has a pattern from December 2025 Advent box which used black... I went searching in my 'projects waiting container" and found this set of 6" strips by Tong Treats that I am sure is at least 10 years old?  I found a dark purple batik to replace the black and actually, this went together super fast.  Lots of half square triangles and then sides added to them.  It is now waiting patiently to be quilted.   

I decided to get some Rainbow Scrap challenge blocks made and keep hearing about the Potato chip blocks so dug out some neutral strips and pulled a handful of purples from my bucket and started stitching.  They are addictive... as described, you can't make just one. 
 

This quilt of Valour was created by collecting "hug" blocks from my traditional guild and letting the regional coordinator know.  She send out a panel for every 20 blocks I collect (as a local rep) and some supporting red and black fabrics for borders and sashings.  I put this together to show the guild and motivate them to make more blocks.  We now have seven panels with fabric that arrived on my doorstep... so many blocks made by the guild members.  It is awesome to see their contributions. 

This was the quilt for June for the Running Doe Sew along - called Farmyard Fun.  I brought out my bin of "Aunt Gracies" fabrics, otherwise known as fabric with a 30's theme.  This was fun and easy to put together and it is waiting patiently to be quilted and bound. 

We are still having to have surgeries on my husband's hands with all his cancer growths.  Luckily, they are done here locally by a plastic surgeon and hoping that they are smaller since he is still getting immunotherapy every three weeks to try and stem the skin cancers.  

A really happy and exciting time this month as our youngest granddaughter graduated from high school.  New adventures await her but she lives in a small town and the celebrations lasted a week.  So much fun for her and her friends and family that could attend.  Huge congratulations to her and we so proud of her achievement. 

This quilt top is finished and it was a project of unknown age from Cherry Tree quilts in the Okanagan.  They have since closed their storefront but manage to send out a quilting surprise box every now and again.  The top is finished... am guessing this is 2 years old?  It might have been last year... I need to date these projects when they enter my home.  Another top waiting for quilting and binding.

My third Bonnie Hunter leader and ender project.  If you don't know, leaders and enders are bit of fabric that get stitched at the end of a seam meaning you don't have to cut threads... you leave it in the machine until you are ready to sew your next seam.  Many quilters use scraps of fabric which get thrown away but I use small strips and create blocks that can become another quilt top.  This is totally made of scraps and leftovers.  

I bought this at the last guild meeting in June from a pop up shop that came to us and had a lovely display set up with lots of fun projects.  This little kit was so cute and I had to be supportive, didn't I?  Since I bought it, I made it immediately!  One more that is waiting for quilting and binding. 

I read about a request from a local pastor of an Anglican Church who was asking for quilts to send to Ukraine to hand out to wives and mothers who have lost their father/husbands fighting in their war.  This minister assured us he had a safe method of shipping and he is involved in grief therapy and counselling... it sounds like something I wanted to participate in so I pulled out a few happy looking quilts with bright colours and dropped them off to Rita at Tom's Quilting in Delta where she will make sure they get to the church for shipping.  

I mentioned that we have seven panels with fabric that came from Quilts of Valour because he had over 150 blocks turned in at guild meetings.  My Wednesday quilting group spread the panels out and spent a morning sorting and adding blocks to each of the panels... we still have lots of blocks left but want to get these ones organized, stitched and finished before we do this again.  

My quilting friends also helped me to hold up quilts made by the members of the Lions Gate guild that were tops donated to Quilts of Valour and I put out a call to any quilters who were able to quilt them for QOV and at the last meeting, many came back to me.  I got busy binding and labeling them and they are now ready to be presented to injured Canadian military.  A huge thank you to that guild and their organizer for their contributions. 

A visitor the other day, across the street from us.  A good reminder to not leave garbage in our black bins or put our food compost out until pick up day.  He was happy foraging in the green growth but am happy he wasn't interested in crossing the street to our yards, driveways or garages. 

This is a recent box that arrived and contained the fabric, extras, and pattern to make a zippered project bag.  I looked at the directions and much as I loved the zig zag creation, it was at least a zillion small pieces and paper pieced.  I decided a finished bag was more important than following the directions to create the lovely design so I strip pieced the fabric.  It is hard to tell but that is vinyl in the front of the pouch.  The best part, it is done! 
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I had dug out these log cabin blocks made from my bins of light and dark scraps and realized that 22 that were already made was only a small portion of what I needed.  They are 10" finished blocks and I need 72 to make a 60" x 70" quilt top... that was 50 more blocks!!  I created a total disaster with strips of fabric everywhere and for the last four days, have been living in a messy state of chaos.  Last night, the final block was completed... now to turn them into a quilt top.  Needless so say, a lot of cleaning and tidying has happened to get me back to a state of normalcy.  

72 blocks finished. 

Clean at last!!  Now, onto the next project. 

I had my weekly bag (Ikea size) of quilts from the Mill Lake Quilting group (formerly known as Leon's) which needed trimming, and in some cases, binding made, labels added and binding to be stitched onto the edges.  The first step is done, trimming the quilts.  They are piled up waiting for their labels and the binding on ironing board, waiting to be pressed.  One step at a time. 

Before I started my log cabin blocks, I took an afternoon to complete another project ... this one from Black Rabbit quilts in Penticton.  It was a market totebag.  I changed things from what came to me in the mail.  I had signed up for the Trendtex challenge for the Canadian Quilters Association but never got the challenge made... the fat quarters were sitting there, making me feel guilty.  The pink fabric was a canvas texture.  The fabrics that were in the kit were a solid gray, a print and white...  as well as thread and strapping for the bag and a pattern.  I changed mine around to use the pink canvas instead of the print on the outside and the print was used for the lining and the white was put into my stash.  The bag is finished!  

 

The pillow from the beginning of this blog is also finished.  I know it needs a larger pillow form, that will happen when I find time to go looking for one.  The instructions to finish this pillow were a little more complex than I would normally have done but I did it as it said and it did make a nicely finished project.  I didn't take a picture of the back which I could/should do because it is finished with binding along the edges that you open to insert the pillow form.   

The green potato chip blocks are almost finished and was using them as leaders and enders while making the log cabin blocks.  

Happy Canada day to all my Canadian friends.  I do have some decor done but there is still a couple of items that could be put out... need to dust the mantle before I can put anything on there!  

A long update but it has been a good month although this last week is suppposed to be quilting week and I haven't got myself organized to do that.  I am hoping tomorrow and Tuesday I can get the smaller quilts layered and quilted but I have binding to work on first for the Mill Lake Quilters... everything in order and if the first week of July is quilting ... so be it.  I make my own rules and then I break them!  But am very pleased that my most recently purchased projects are done as well as some older ones that got pulled out.  Life is good (at the moment).  I am entering my last year of my seventies and feeling a little older, slower, maybe a bit more forgetful but staying as active as I can with tennis three times a week and driving my husband to his appointments and acting as housekeeper, cook, receptionist as well as grandma and Great grandma!