Mid June 2020

An updated "list".  I am a list person and have a few of them on the go at all times.
So, for June, here goes:

1. Quilt/bind cracker block quilt
2. Quilt/bind QOV  donated by a local quilt guild member
3. Quilt a Quilt of Valour made  by a friend
4. Quilt/bind a project I picked up from our modern guild parking lot gathering in May
5. Quilt /bind RSC #3 -
  6.Make set of blocks picked up at FVMQG gathering
7. Makestrip pieced triangle blocks picked up at the FVMQG gathering
8. Make some scrub bags for Abbotsford guild donation
9. Work on RSC blocks for June - pink
10. Make Saratoga quilt (a kit from Keepsake how many years ago?) Quilt and Bind
11. Pick up income tax and pay the accountant!
12. Work on some St. Louis 16 patch blocks
 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. Finish postcard for modern guild challenge
18. Make an armchair caddy
19. Cocktail mug rug for Modern guild challenge
20. Bind RSC #2 
21, Quilt and bind RCMP quilt (FVMQG block lottery)
So, I added a couple of projects and am about half way through the list for June.  We have had so much rain, it is an opportunity to be inside and enjoy my time stitching away on projects.

So, what have I accomplished? The top made from blocks from the FVMQG lottery last November is completed and is now waiting for layering, quilting and binding.
This isn't my usual style but was determined to use ALL the blocks, and I did!

Block lotto winnings

This isn't a project but look at the butterfly on that wildflower that is growing.  She/he was very busy for over half an hour sucking the nectar. 
The first set of blocks is made for FVMQG.  These came as pieces of fabric and a few different ideas as to how to cut and stitch the blocks.  At first, I thought I was supposed to make enough for a quilt top so added in some of my own fabrics but when I got to the second baggie, figured out I was just supposed to make 2 blocks.  Oh well... extra blocks.  And I stitched them during a zoom guild meeting.



The cracker block quilt is quilted and waiting, patiently, for me to stitch the binding on.  

We had a postcard exchange within our guild and somehow my name was on the list of participants and while I tried to get it removed, wasn't successful.  If you travel back in history, way back, maybe 15 years? you would know that I was really active in postcard making and swaps.  I was bemoaning the fact that I have so many postcards on hand from all my swaps, I am not sure what to do with them, other than store them in photo boxes.  The person who had my name for making me a postcard overheard me chatting with another guild member and we were reliving our postcard making days and deciding that we 'had been there and done that'.  So, my lovely partner in the swap didn't send me a postcard.... but she sent me an open wide pouch.  Wow... thank you so much!!  A big shout out to Kate! 

Just too good!  Look how wide open it is when unzipped!  Love this! 
When I was working on the block lotto RCMP quilt top, I started making more of the 12" nine patches thinking I would need them but, in the end, the quilt would have been too large.  So, I have kept these and will make more of them using a variety of red and white fabrics and then cut them into split 9 patches for a Quilt of Valour.  One day in the future.

I have a pink bucket made in anticipation of getting busy on the Rainbow scrap challenge blocks for both May and June.  June is pink so at least I have dug out my scrap fabrics and am ready to go. 

This is a quilt top I brought home from the parking lot meeting of the guild and have quilted and bound it for Victim Services.

And, I have my RSC 2019 #2 quilt still waiting for binding... which means waiting for a good movie on tv one night.

In my box of UFO projects, I found this batik from Keepsake quilting with the Villa Rose pattern, Saratoga.  I started cutting and stitching and next thing, I have a top that is sitting on the ironing board waiting to be pressed and put onto a hanger in the queue for quilting.

And, I dug out my container of the fabrics cut for some St. Louis 16 patch quilts.  I am guessing that they are from 3 or 4 years ago?  I stitched some of the strips up and dug through my fat quarters to find a few more gold/yellow and purples to cut more strips and am close to having enough for a quilt.  A little more stitching, cutting and stitching and the blocks will be done. 

I also found loads of leftovers and need 80 for a quilt top... at the moment, I have 36 so almost half way there.  I tend to cut as much as I can, stitch as much as possible, and then press everything and back to the cutting table to keep things moving along.  It works great as long as an interruption doesn't mess up my brain function and I forget where I was and what I was doing next!
This will be my next project to quilt and bind.  It was made by a member of the AGQ after I did a workshop last year on the QOVC log cabin blocks.  I have the backing and batting ready to go and it is last on my list for June.  I just might get some of  the tops I have recently finished started in June rather than July and be ahead of my own schedule.

I have a stack of 3 ring binders, full of plastic sleeves with quilt patterns in them.  Slowly, very slowly, I am going through them and removing anything that I know I won't make in the next 10 years.  The box of discarded patterns is growing and IF we ever get back to normal and have guild meetings, they will be on the free give and take table for others to check out.

 And, the last of the paperwork to go from my father's home.  Most of it needs to go shredding but some can be recycled so am sorting through it.  For the most part, it is boring but now and again I find something interesting and entertaining to read.  Almost done!  Visiting the shredding centre is going to get added to my list of things to do when out and about town.  Last time I was there, it was only $5 for a box of papers for shredding - much easier than sitting and shredding 2 or 3 sheets at a time in a home shredder. 

I am chanting 'rain, rain, go away' as I wait impatiently for dry tennis courts and sunshine streaming through my windows.  I know summer is coming but this weather reminds me of my teaching days when we listened to the radio carefully to see if sports days were cancelled.  I guess that is another activity that is now no longer part of how June used to be for kids in elementary school.