Final week of May 2020

I had a bit of a crazy week.  There was some good news and some great news however.  The good news is that our tennis courts are open and Amica on the Gorge, where my father lived, has sent us information about the process of removing all his worldly goods from his suite.  He died in March and his suite has been untouched other than an employee going in and retrieving the lock box for us that contained his will. 
The great news is that my husband's ct scan on his ear and neck came back negative meaning that the Moh's surgery did indeed get all of the cancer and no need for radiation.
WHEW!
I had a good week with finishing some projects on my list.
First, the Quilt of Valour made from a panel and log cabin blocks is done.These blocks were donated by guild members and I had the panel in my stash.  This was started at retreat last fall and is now quilted and bound.

The second quilt for Nova Scotia with blocks made by me and my good quilting friend is now quilted, bound, boxed and in the hands of Canada Post.

My first Rainbow scrap challenge quilt is quilted and bound and ready for donation.  I have two more on the go.

The second one is waiting for quilting and the third one is a bit smaller so am wondering about adding a border?

I have my last quilt for May that I want to get quilted all ready to go on the B-line.  Unfortunately, a cardiologist appointment and grocery shopping got in my way today!

I quilted the second of the preemie charm quilts and it is now ready for donation.

Sea Stars got quilted and bound as well.  I laughed when I stitched on the binding... my bobbin ran out with only a couple of inches left.  Oh well... annoying but easily solved. 

My current project is playing with blocks I won at the modern guild last fall.  I want to use them with this RCMP panel and create a quilt that would be good for a celebration or an RCMP officer or family in need of hugs. There are 6", 9" and 12" blocks to work with. 

Raining today so no tennis but the rest of the week looks good.  And, my Wednesday quilting group has been meeting in a parking lot behind an arena where we have loads of room to spread out and be extremely well distanced and the weather this week looks far better than what we have dealt with up till now.  Fun to see everyone, have a show and tell and a book exchange. 

My progress so far: 
So... for May 2020
1. Quilt and bind the quilt for Nova Scotia
2. Quilt/bind QOVC #1 panel with log cabins
3. Quilt/bind QOVC # 2 panel with log cabins
4. Quilt/bind layer cake slice from Oct 2019
5. Quilt /bind RSC #1 from 2019 (counts as heartstrings triangles for May)
6. Finish making RSC #2 top 2019
7. Figure out if I can make a RSC #3 from leftover blocks 2019
8. Make some scrub bags for Abbotsford guild donation
9. Quilt and bind Sea Stars
10. Make a preemie with charm squares for ruler class practice #1 and #2
11. Finish cracker blocks
12. Income tax 2019
13. Make tinker tote
14. Dark green RSC  blocks for May
15. Block lottery from FVMQG - red/black 9 patches
16. stitch a new purse
17. Make second preemie quilt with leftover charms from #10  Quilt and bind
18. Make another Nova Scotia with my quilting buddy, I will do the dark heart  
19. Quilt and bind Nova Scotia #2 

Cut, piece, quilt, bind, and clean up!

A couple of finishes this week! I have two Quilts of Valour projects made last fall with blocks contributed by various guild members and quilters who wanted to participate in the log cabin block drive held by CQA.  I had some panels left from the Canada 150 year and included them with the blocks.

 This quilt will be sent to Nova Scotia as a contribution to the Maritime Modern guild quilt drive to help comfort those who lost loved ones in the horrific and brutal murders and house fires.  These blocks were made by myself and Marjorie and it is now quilted and bound.  A second one is in the works that is being made with my good quilting buddy.

And I thought I would show you how I deal with my fabric and batting scraps:
I make a fabric pillowcase and then I line a laundry basket with the pillowcase.  All my fabric and batting scraps go in there! When the pillowcase is full, I pull it out and stitch the end closed and hand it over to someone who collects pillows for the homeless.  An easy way to deal with scraps and they don't go in the garbage or landfill. 

 

I have my second preemie quilt spray basted and ready to machine quilt. The first one was a sample to use for playing with quilting with rulers.  I had some leftover charm squares and then cut more from my kids' fabrics and ended up with a fun quilt. 

The cracker blocks are put together into a top. This block uses 2 matching charm squares and once I had used up to charm packs, the quilt wasn't large enough so I went digging into my fabrics and came up with enough to cut more charms and make more blocks. 

I just finished loading and quilting my first Rainbow scrap challenge so am ending or beginning the week on a positive note. 
My list from the beginning of the month looks like this:

So... for May 2020
1. Quilt and bind the quilt for Nova Scotia
2. Quilt/bind QOVC #1 panel with log cabins
3. Quilt/bind QOVC # 2 panel with log cabins
4. Quilt/bind layer cake slice from Oct 2019
5. Quilt /bind RSC #1 from 2019 (counts as heartstrings triangles for May)
6. Finish making RSC #2 top 2019
7. Figure out if I can make a RSC #3 from leftover blocks 2019
8. Make some scrub bags for Abbotsford guild donation
9. Quilt and bind Sea Stars
10. Make a preemie with charm squares for ruler class practice
11. Finish cracker blocks
12. Income tax 2019
13. Make tinker tote
14. Dark green RSC  blocks for May
15. Block lottery from FVMQG - red/black 9 patches
16. stitch a new purse
17. Make second preemie quilt with leftover charms from #10  Quilt and bind
18. Make another Nova Scotia with my quilting buddy, I will do the dark heart  
19. Quilt and bind Nova Scotia #2 


So, not too bad with getting some projects completed.  A few of these are UFO's so it feels good to get them completed.

Breaking temperature records for May - how lovely!

Fabulous weather here for the last 5 days and made for perfect gardening time as well as a great Mother's day.  I was fortunate that my husband is feeling so much better having had a cortisone shot in his knee and his Moh's surgery behind his ear is healing, slowly, but surely.  He had a skin graft and I am assuming that it takes much longer for the skin to heal than the usual stitching after having the skin cancer removed.  All is well that ends well!

My list from the beginning of the month:
So... for May 2020
1. Quilt and bind the quilt for Nova Scotia
2. Quilt/bind QOVC #1 panel with log cabins
3. Quilt/bind QOVC # 2 panel with log cabins
4. Quilt/bind layer cake slice from Oct 2019
5. Quilt /bind RSC #1 from 2019 (counts as heartstrings triangles for May)
6. Finish making RSC #2 top 2019
7. Figure out if I can make a RSC #3 from leftover blocks 2019
8. Make some scrub bags for Abbotsford guild donation
9. Quilt and bind Sea Stars
10. Make a preemie with charm squares for ruler class practice
11. Finish cracker blocks for Canada Stitches
12. Income tax 2019
13. Make tinker tote
14. Dark green RSC  blocks for May
15. Block lottery from FVMQG - red/black 9 patches
16. stitch a new purse
17. Make second preemie quilt with leftover charms from #10
18. Make another Nova Scotia with my quilting buddy, I will do the dark heart 


Oh my goodness, not much progress! But, I did take a second ruler class on Saturday and played around with the technique.  I am not very successful but did manage to have fun in each of my squares on this preemie quilt. It has the binding attached but not yet stitched down.

My first Nova Scotia heart quilt is quilted and binding attached but not yet stitched down.  I had intended to do it while watching the movie Downton Abbey on Saturday evening, but the movie was too good for me to be multi tasking!

My quilting buddy and best friend suggested we make a second quilt for Nova Scotia and she would make all the light blocks if made the center heart.  Done! She will deliver the rest of the blocks on Wednesday and I will get it loaded and quilted and bound asap so that I can two quilts into the mail.  I know the Maritime Modern quilting guild wants them by June, so there is a deadline. 

Does anyone else create such a mess when pulling fabrics, cutting strips, making blocks and trimming them?  UGH!

In the meantime, I am close to getting my next quilt loaded onto the quilting frame and hopefully, get it finished quickly.

I also added another project to my original May list: a second preemie since I had some charm squares left. Of course, not enough for a quilt so dug out my kid's fabrics and cut some 5" squares to go with what I had on hand.

There are cracker blocks on the wall for a quilt of Valour and a pile of blocks made but waiting to be trimmed on the table.  They finish at 7.75" - crazy size.

I did finish stitching the rows of my RSC 2019 quilt #2 together but didn't get any further on quilt #3.  This poor top is waiting for pressing.

Yard work got done and I have a glorious poppy that is flowering and lots more buds meaning loads more colour in the next few days and weeks!

So, another week in the life of Rosyquilter.  Busy days in strange times.  Crossing my fingers and toes that the tennis courts open and our senior's club can resume our normal summer activity soon.  We didn't have many April showers to bring May flowers so watering seems to be on the schedule as well though rain in the forecast, sadly, for the next few days.

I am going to revert to listing some projects to keep me on track. I had a great April and accomplished lots but it is nice to see them crossed off a list when they are finished.
So... for May 2020
1. Quilt and bind the quilt for Nova Scotia
2. Quilt/bind QOVC #1 panel with log cabins
3. Quilt/bind QOVC # 2 panel with log cabins
4. Quilt/bind layer cake slice from Oct 2019
5. Quilt /bind RSC #1 from 2019 (counts as heartstrings triangles for May)
6. Finish making RSC #2 top 2019
7. Figure out if I can make a RSC #3 from leftover blocks 2019
8. Make some scrub bags for Abbotsford guild donation
9. Quilt and bind Sea Stars
10. Make a preemie with charm squares for ruler class practice
11. Finish cracker blocks for Canada Stitches
12. Income tax 2019
13. Make tinker tote
14. Dark green RSC  blocks for May
15. Block lottery from FVMQG - red/black 9 patches
16. stitch a new purse

So, income tax isn't a quilting project but I would really like to get it done so it is on the list.  I could also add wash windows inside and out... ugh.

I finished up my two preemie quilts which I made for the April heartstring challenge to use jelly rolls.

This is what I have to play with for a charming preemie top that I will use for practice in the ruler class I am taking.

My heartstrings #2 needs stitching the horizontal rows and it will be ready for a hanger for quilting in June.

And I quilted a donation top for community quilts for FVMQG. I didn't make the quilt top, it came in a bag with backing, batting and binding.  Done and ready to be returned.

I cut battings and backings for my tops made in April and am actually quite current.  I have so many winter projects in boxes that are at the post office in Lynden WA and I have no way to get them with the border being closed... so frustrating.  But, if I stay on top of what I have here, I will be ready to go when I finally get them.

The quilt for Nova Scotia is ready to load and quilt on the quilting frame.

I have cracker blocks for Canada Stitches started and organized to stitch as leaders and enders while working on other projects.

The weather is predicted to turn nice this week and who knows, maybe tennis courts will get opened?  If so, my quilting time will be reduced because tennis is my first love, quilting comes second.
We have another trip to the Moh's clinic to have my husband's bandages and stitches removed after last weeks surgery.  And he is trying knee injections of synthetic synuvial fluid in his knee (which is totally wrecked and looks like a knee replacement is his only option) so a few trips here and there while still self isolating.The good/bad thing about his ear is that I don't have to change the dressings!  Yippee... I am not a nurse, don't like doing nursing type activities but it does mean another trip... totally worth the drive and parking fees for them to clean this up after the bandages are removed. 

 Since this picture was taken, some lovely soil has been added and I am planting dahlias in this new garden space.

So, off to work I go.. hi ho, hi ho!  A quilt to load and get finished, some cracker blocks to make and that second RSC quilt to finish joining blocks.  Am I bored? ever? NO!!  More jobs than time.  Enjoy your first week of May and hopefully, you will see some of your favourite activities opened up so you can get away from your fridge!