Last week of June and a chance to cross a few more things off the list.

 This is finished and is definitely a UFO... first from someone else and then when her items were sold in an estate sale, it became mine.  Sadly, a lot of the fabrics needed were missing and I had to hunt for reds and white/black but it happened and it is now ready to donate to Quilts of Valour Canada.

 A bit of an interlude in quilting happened mid week.  The skies clouded over and the temperatures dropped to high 60's instead of mid 80's and was perfect for this task.  We scrubbed our deck clean and then the painting process began.  The directions said to not apply in the sunshine and our patio is south facing and gets the sunshine all day long.  But the cloudy days were perfect and the job is done and furniture back outside where it belongs.

 My brown cornerstone quilt is done and not sure if it is a UFO.  I will have to check my earlier blog posts to see when I started this.  It was a craftsy kit but I added the border to get it to a size that is good for Quilts of Valour.

 Three shopping bags made.  I used this pattern:

The pattern is from a quilt shop in N. Vancouver and I had to call and see just how they had made them because the kits I purchased didn't have interfacing (which they didn't use even though the pattern suggests it) and then they included a separate fabric for the handles.  Once my senior brain knew how they had intended the fabric to be used, I got these made quickly.  Fun to make and the fabrics are so darn cute!

My village quilt is quilted but not without a lot of cursing on my part.  My thread (Omni) kept shredding but I loved the colour on the quilt so wanted to avoid changing to something different.  I changed size of needle, type of needle, added silicone lubricant to the spool, tried everything I could think of and I could stitch about 1.5 rows and it would shred.  Or sometimes stitch a half a row and it would shred.  Very annoying.  I am wondering if it was bamboo batting?  I normally use poly batting in my donation quilts but this one is for me!  It is waiting for binding and I have that ready to make.

My aqua/turquoise strips are ready for me to make some rail fences for Oh Scrap rainbow challenge.  

I did get my strips stitched into blocks last week.

And these are my first six blocks for the Quilter's Planner monthly challenge.

So, if the binding gets stitched onto my village quilt and if I get the binding stitched down on a quilt I finished up mid week... and if I get my rail fences done, then this will have a successful month of projects.
That leaves me about 15 quilt tops waiting for quilting and binding and an unknown number of blocks that are sitting in a basket, waiting to be assembled into quilt tops.  All my winter stitching has patience, however so am not in a panic although we are getting close to our halfway time here at home before we start on the downhill side of the year and are preparing to once again become Snowbirds. 

Happy Father's Day

My husband's idea of a perfect Father's Day is a day to be lazy and snooze, read and maybe some sports on TV.  It has warmed up here so I am getting organized for some time in my cool basement, quilting some tops I have prepared the backing and batting for.

 Here is a stack of 5 quilts waiting patiently
I also finished a Quilt of Valour that is a sample of the hug block packages I have for sale.  I still need to put the labels back on the blocks so quilters can see which block matches the names.

And I made a cute little wine bottle cover and might just make more of these.  Would be funky in Happy Birthday fabric and others that convey a message when you gift someone with a bottle of their favourite wine. This was a cute kit from Wineberries that I picked up at CQA.

I am working on another Quilt of Valour from our Wednesday Diva group using Happy Blocks.

And I have my block for June done for my Quilter's Planner quilt.  And pulled out my fabrics to make the July and August block.  The July block looks like it is more difficult because of the sizes that they want the squares cut.  I will persevere!

A blue and yellow quilt has been quilted and bound!  This is a log cabin that I didn't construct as per the pattern instructions.  Read what I was supposed to do after I had done it differently.

I have the backing for my village prepared but still need to cut the batting.  Am thinking, that since this will be for ME, I will use bamboo batting?  I have a little left on the bolt and might just be enough? 

And a stack of blocks for Canada Stitches - first responders attending Can Praxis camps for PTSD that were made by the guild and by my Wednesday group.  They will get packaged and mailed off this week.  Love promoting and making blocks and then mailing them off... no stitching blocks to make a top, no quilting, no binding, no batting and no backing.

I have one more quilt that I have quilted and am in the process of stitching down the binding and more happy blocks to put together for the quilt above.  And now, with no excuses and hot weather this week, time to get quilting! 
Later this week marks the beginning of summer.  I am ready though being light at 3:30am isn't my preference and not sure how all my Alaskans friends handle that but I do love it being light out until 10pm at night. 

Happy June! Quilting is progressing from UFO status to finished.

A few weeks ago, the hostess of my Wednesday Quilting Group was away so I offered the group the option of coming to my sewing space and working on a guild challenge: to make a quilt of Valour.  I had previously handed out some Canadiana fabric on a Wednesday, suggesting we make 10" (finished) blocks.  We had quite the assortment and created a quilt - with loads of blocks left over to start a second quilt.
I made an effort to get it quilted and one of the group offered to do the binding (thank you Marge) and it is also labelled and is a FINISH!

And, I also managed to get a quilt top from last fall quilted and bound.  This is a simple and fun way to cut up fat quarters to create a quilt.  Quilted and bound!

And, the most fun I have had in ages is making my village houses.  They are finished and I have stitched my rows together and added the small outside border.  Now it waits for quilting.  I will admit I am watching Instagram carefully and looking closely at how other quilters are quilting their projects.  Call it waiting for inspiration?

A nice sight to see out our front door.  The deer have made an appearance and first time we have seen them this spring.
One more project is close to a finish.  I have my hug block sampler quilt sitting by my chair, waiting for the binding to be stitched down and I have one more top layered and waiting for quilting.
Progress and it feels good.

Some finished quilts!

Three of the quilt tops I was given last year to finish were leftovers from the Quilt Canada, Great sewing bee.  I finished a number of them last fall but these three were still left to add border, quilt and bind.
Finally, they are completed, along with labels for Quilts of Valour.
Phew...FINALLY!!  Something finished.