Last week of July and pushing towards some finished projects

I have a few flimsies from last winter as well as last summer to get quilted and can then feel less guilty about playing with all my 'new' ideas for projects. 

I had a lovely stash of purple strings and certainly it is the colour that I must have used the most in the past years of quilting as it is a massive pile!

And I have been stitching away on my rainbow string blocks.  Only turquoise blocks left to do although I do have a bag of strings of black prints and another of neutrals.  I don't don't think those will go into this project.

I have quilted a Quilt of Valour for Debbie D in my guild and it is bound and already delivered to a deserving military veteran.

And quilted a QOV slab block quilt for a quilter who asked me to put Sew Sisters from Kelowna on the label. 

At a Modern guild sew in on Saturday, I finished up joining these beach ball blocks that I had made last winter so another awaits quilting and binding.

And then the Yahoo Heartstrings group sent a post of this project using 2.5" strips and you know, I seem to have a lot of those waiting to be used.

And am playing with my rainbow strings and adding a sashing and cornerstone to my blocks even though I don't have any of the turquoise ones made yet!

And while at the sew in, my buddy BB was working on a quilt for hospice made from this block.  It uses two cake plate (10" squares) and so of course, had to dig out a set of plates and make a sample.

Two quilts are quilted and ready for binding.  Great tv project especially since the nights are getting darker earlier!

And this one is finished! Villa Rosa pattern: King's ransom

And my quilt made from Downton Abbey fabrics, started last summer, is next on the list for quilting. 

So, back to the ironing board and the sewing machine.  We have hot weather for the next few days so a good time to hide downstairs and accomplish what I can before the end of the month and hopefully cross a few projects off my list - though you know I am always more.  The list will never end!

A good first week in July

I don't have a lot of 'finishes' but have been having fun with strings and really think that I am almost done organizing them.  Today I vacuumed and have my sitting area all tidy and clean and free of threads.
I have made some more string blocks as well.

 I quilted and bound my one of my Quilt of Valour string quilts.

And I quilted and bound these maple leaves.  The top was made by Darlene H. and she gave it to me to finish up for her.  It is a donation to Quilts of Valour.

And yesterday I played and made this fabric containers.  The modern guild that I belong to is going to have a swap and so I practiced the pattern so that I would know what I am doing when I stitch one up for another quilter in the guild.

This quilt is now pieced and ready for quilting.  It is my second strip star for Quilts of Valour.  A friend made one of these and she put sashing between the blocks and I think it looks much better and less 'busy' so IF I make another one, I will try that Once it is finished, I think I need to work on some projects that are in progress... blocks waiting to be put into a quilt!
Too many UFO's!

Machines are humming but finishes are slow.

My various machines have been humming along but I haven't got many finishes to show for my efforts.The quilt pictured above is waiting to be quilted.  The backing is ready and the batting is cut.  This was donated to Quilts of Valour at the Abbotsford quilt guild meeting by a group of quilters from Kamloops.
I did finish making blocks for another star/strip Quilt of Valour.  Am pleased that this uses up lots of strips but there are still so many more to be used!

While I was stitching these blocks, I was inspired to start sorting my scrap strips of various widths along with other leftovers from backings and binding fabrics and decided to sort by colour.  This is a work in progress but I managed to pull out all the yellows and make blocks.

The blocks were made as sort of a leader/ender project while making star blocks.  I made seven yellow blocks and then moved onto blue.

The best part of last week was FINALLY finishing my Kinderbell summer table runner.  It had been completed right up to the point of adding the embellishments: ruching for the watermelon rind, embroidery and the ric-rac trim.  Well, happy to say, the runner is finished and ready for my window well in the stairway once my Canada Day decor items are put away.

And, I did make a couple of small projects for Canada Day.

Plus, I got my Sew-Sisters blocks done in June.

I really enjoyed the Fraser Valley quilt guild's show.  They put on a fabulous display of quilts and it was a fun morning.  They used Canada's 150th birthday celebration as their theme and they set up a lovely display as we entered the building.

If I can my bindings finished on quilts that I have recently quilted - then there will be more finishes to show!  Right now, back to working on sorting these scrappy strips!