Rosyquilter's Life: Family, Friends and Quilting: October 2020

Sunday, October 25, 2020

Happy Halloween!

I haven't had the pedal to the floor with sewing but I did open up my Halloween/autumn fabric bin and pull it out to see what was in there. Lots of fun Halloween prints.

Since we are normally at our 'other house' for Halloween, I didn't have any placemats for our kitchen table or a table topper so I got busy. I made two for the two of us.

Then I cut up more fabric and made more placemats, thinking that the neighbours might like some. Our new neighbour has decorated their yard and it is fun to see. Once I had those made, I decided to make some table toppers so we could have one and I could give away a few as gifts. Those are now quilted and finished as well and delivered to the neighbours.

I did manage to get more blocks made for my Ohio Star quilt and the top is now together and waiting on a hanger to be layered, quilted and bound.

I took the bandaid off my finger to see what the slice looks like through my fingernail... and I am using crazy glue to hold it together. The glue is good for about 4 or 5 days but I know when it is time to re-glue the sides together. I really don't want the nail to rip off... that will hurt and feel awful. I am guessing I will be crazy gluing this nail for the next 3 or 4 months? How fast do fingernails grow?

My little pumpkin is one step closer to being finished. I have the applique stitched down and now need to bind and sew on all the little buttons for eyes.

Last Saturday was a pick up and drop off at the Fraser Valley modern quilt guild. I had two tops made from kits handed out last time. Each bag contained fabrics and we were free to do as we wish. This first one had some strip pieced fabrics all sewn so I cut them up and made half square triangles, added more of the white and the print as borders to get it to a good size.

This kit had a 4 hunks of fabric: a couple of the teals and a couple of the browns and the white. I added in the darker teal and the lighter brown plus a print that was teal/brown. I made rail fences and put this together quickly and had it done in time to hand in.

The best part of the meet up was getting my gifts/prizes from our virtual retreat at the end of September. Lots of goodies for me to unwrap and enjoy. Most of the items were really practical so that was a good thing! A huge thank you to the retreat committee of the guild for putting on a fun weekend of games, zoom presentations and collecting prizes from a variety of merchants.

I managed to get my October clue for my Meadowland mystery completed and ready for the clue the first week of November.

And, a mask for Halloween was made.

I was up early enough this week to see sunrise and Mt. Baker peeking through the clouds. Always a lovely sight when it is clear enough to see the mountain. I need to take another picture so you can see the snow level creeping down after some freezing temperatures the past few days. Cold and windy but no rain for a few days. However, my plan to tidy up the gardens is not happening because it isn't quite warm enough.

I should add in my current list of projects but, not much crossed off since I spent my time making the table toppers and placemats.

This is my list from September but am updating it for October as I am still working on the same projects!

2. Cdn Happy Blocks

~~RSC yellow blocks~~

5. ~~Twizzle (UFO)~~

6. Ohio Star (UFO) STARTED

7. Solstice (UFO)

8. Aunt Gracie’s charms (UFO)

9. Autumn bunting

11. Mors bags: food themes

12. Hourglass pinwheel strip (UFO)

13. 10 min tablerunner (UFO)

14. Autumn table runner – Shabby fabrics

15. All Hallow’s even charms

16. October Scarecrow STARTED

17. Row by Row 2016 moose scenic (UFO) STARTED

18. Hot pads – jelly roll/rope

19. ~~Mystery step 3 Meadowland mystery~~

20. Canadian fabrics 3 yd quilt

23. ~~FVMQG: Make #1 STARTED~~

24. ~~FVMQG: Make #2~~

26. Diamond tote bag

27. Start an embroidery project

28. Start a knitting project

The numbers are messed up so next post, will have to re-do!

Thursday, October 15, 2020

I missed a few weeks from Sept 25 until Oct 15?

I am not sure what happened. My last post was in September. The following weekend, my sewing buddy came for an overnight visit and we managed to get quite a bit of stitching done. After that, I attended a virtual retreat with my local modern guild and it ran from Friday until Sunday. There were so many activities that it was hard to do my usual sew like crazy.

So, I have many projects started and none are finished. I don't like that! But, I keep plugging away and hoping something will get finished.

First, I had to add labels to some of my quilts because I have a great presenter now helping me with Quilts of Valour in the Fraser Valley and he was busy with wrapping quilts around deserving Canadian Armed forces members for the last week of September and into October and he almost depleted my stack of quilts.

If it sunny, I need to go the courts and get my exercise and there have been enough days that I get to play a few days a week. And, I made an effort go pull out my Autumn and Halloween bins. Now the contents of these haven't seen daylight for 15 years. I am happy to say that most of the items have found a new home elsewhere and I have kept the minimum.

And a ct scan in there for a black spot in my lungs which was inconclusive so now waiting for a PET scan. Never a quiet, boring moment here.

Thanksgiving was busy with my eldest grandson visiting with his long time girlfriend. And then my eldest daughter bought a vehicle and made the 8+ hr trip from northern BC to here for a visit with us and her boys. I did cook a small turkey and there were four of us for dinner as I am trying hard to remain health and follow the COVID rules.

So, what have I done? This is my Twizzle, stitched during the virtual retreat, between activities and it is now on a hanger, waiting it's turn for the next step: quilting and binding.

this was a project during the virtual retreat. We had a mini jelly roll race where we had to watch quick video, open our packets and start stitching. I managed to be second. Apparently,when these are put together, they will create some awesome community quilts for Victim Services.

We had to take a quiz to determine which 'quilt block' we were. Mine came out as a plus block. I made this but missed the part about adding a splash of colour. So, went back, slashed and stitched and trimmed to get the finished block and it is ready to turn in to community quilts.

The finished block.

I dug out an old UFO... this is quite a few years old and I remember putting it away because I wasn't sure what to do with 24" finished blocks? I have made a few more but, I took it to my Wed quilting group and they think I should make 3 more blocks and have it 72" square. So, back to making more of these blocks.

I did manage to get my October Rainbow scrap challenge blocks completed... yellow.

These blocks are from a package handed out by Community quilts to make something. I started off with two strip pieced sections of fabric plus the white and some of the brown. I made hst's from the striped and white and am putting them together a bit like a zig zag. I will add borders between the rows and then border with the brown?

But, while trimming the 4.5" blocks.. a big oops happened. My rotary cutter slid across my ruler and sliced my fingernail for about ½" from the edge into the center and blood spurted everywhere. I am keeping it tightly bandaged and am luck it doesn't hurt when I press on it but when anything lifts the nail a bit... owie. So, cut my fingernail as short as I could and wrapped in old fashioned adhesive tape.

And, this little witchy pumpkin is hoping to be finished by Halloween? At the rate I am progressing, I am not holding my breath.

Here you can see my clean floor! Unusual! But four of the blocks for the star are on the design wall, 2 more are made and 3 to go. I also have a wallhanging from a row by row in 2016 that I would like to get finished?

And lovely roses from my garden! What a treat. My roses looked so sad in August, I totally cut them back and now, they are happy and producing?

Some of my autumn decor after going through my containers that have been tucked away.