Parents come first.

Wow, almost the end of July and I still have few projects to complete to meet my goals that I set for myself at the beginning of the month.

After my last post, I felt the need to play a bit and my online friend, Susan G, sent a link to these adorable, cute and quick little baskets.  If they were made according to instructions, you would get three out of a fat quarter of outside fabric, plus a fat quarter of lining and would need some fabric for the top cuff.  Easy to make and was mindless.  Just what I was craving.

I have since made three from the fat quarters and interesting differences.  The fabric I used for the outside of the buckets was much thinner than the first ones I made and the buckets aren't nearly as firm.  I used the same fusible fleece in each but just illustrates how much the thickness of the fabric you are using makes a difference in the finished product.  I also cut the first one I made about half an inch taller because I had the fabric to do that... with making 3 from a fat quarter, there isn't any extra. 
My friend Bonnie and I decided to tackle one of Emmaline's retreat bags.  This bag uses a special frame to hold the bag open.  I made one first to just try the pattern.  I used the required fusible interfacing and then added fusible fleece.  It was simple to sew and I got it made fairly quickly with no mishaps.

Then I made second one while we were sewing together and used Soft and Stable instead of fusible fleece and we found a pattern online that was a little different than the original with handles and outside pockets.  I struggled with this.  I must admit, I cursed a little (maybe a lot).  There are some tricks to making it work with the thicker interfacing though, the bag stands up and holds it's shape much better. 

And then it was no sew time.  I headed to Victoria and moving our parents was on the agenda.  They are not married and they lived in separate places, dad in independent senior's living and mom in a government run nursing home.  A lovely new place opened up very close to my sister's house and we decided to move them both in there as it would make parental care easier and much closer.  The new place has all levels of care so this worked for each of them.  It was a lot of work, many boxes to pack and carry and unpack but all is done and while the artwork did not get hung, my sister will eventually get it done. 
They are both settling in and hopefully, they are happy and will thrive.

It took me awhile after getting home to get back to sewing.  It is so hot here and everything is so dry, the ground is parched. But my irises are blooming nicely!

I did get my O Scrap blocks of the month made.  The July colour was red and I managed to get some strip pieced blocks plus 40 rail fences from my scrap bin.

And I have a number of quilts quilted and waiting for binding!

On Wednesday, while at quilting Divas, our hostess is putting out boxes of fabrics for us to help ourselves and I saw a panel this week and when I went to put it away, I stopped and figured I would just make a donation quilt right then and there.  Waiting for binding but the it is close to being finished.

I got the last of the Wednesday Divas happy blocks stitched into a quilt top.  I don't know when it will get quilted but it will be for Quilts of Valour and this is top number 4!

Just for fun, I made some selvedge mug rugs.  They need binding but wanted to try the technique.

This colourweave quilt, a free pattern in the Moda Bake shop, got the binding stitched down.
This is a UFO from last summer.

And today, I managed to load and quilt one of my winter projects.  This is a free pattern from Christa Watson and I loved making it using jelly rolls plus background. I need to choose a binding for it and will wait until morning to make my decision when the lighting is better.

So, not many finishes but lots of projects started and almost finished.  I have two quilts that I will try hard to load and quilt in the next two days and that would make for a very successful and productive July.  And, this time next week, our temperatures should be cool enough that the a/c won't be needed and sleeping with windows open will be just perfect.