It has been a month since I posted but I really do have some valid excuses for not accomplishing much in my quilting world.
On July 24th, my brother died after fighting brain cancer for 7 years. He fought brilliantly for a long time and didn't give up. He certainly lived past all expectations although the last year was a tough battle when a second tumor appeared that grew aggressively.
He was my younger brother and probably the only person that I had known the longest? I certainly knew him longer than anyone else in our world. Of course, heading to Vancouver Island for his funeral and celebration of his life was frustrating with no ferry reservations available. I have spent my life taking a ferry trip on and off the island and have sat in the parking lots for many hours over the years. One thing that I actually enjoy about waiting for a ferry (as long as I don't have anyone in the car who is bored and frustrated) is that it gives me time to read. I have started reading the Bridgerton series and am totally hooked into the series. My quilting friends have raved about the series on Netflix but since we don't have that service, books are the next best thing.
Reading and quilting cannot co-exist in my world. It is one or the other. Once I start a book, I am determined to keep reading until it is finished and to heck with quilting, housework etc.
We also attended a lovely wedding that took place in a great place "My secret garden" and it was lovely. The bride is our neighbour and she is a very special person and someone to be admired. Despite her autism, she is a busy person and works at a local fast food place, keeping it spotlessly clean. She married her high school sweetheart and the wedding was special and perfect.
Then we were invited on a fishing trip with friends and of course, that meant another trip to Vancouver Island with NO reservations. UGH. But, I did get a lot of reading time. We missed the first ferry in the morning by one car! It has happened to me before but my husband was extremely annoyed and it wasn't a great start to our trip. Oh well... we survived and came home with a cooler containing some salmon and halibut so we were happy.
My list the last time I posted was as follows:
1. Organize t-shirts and get made into a quilt top
2. Finish up blocks for Quilts for Survivors and get them in to the mail
3. Stitch up the layer cake quilts for preemies, layer them and quilt and bind.
4. Quilt and bind a Sunbonnet Sue quilt that has been waiting for a few weeks to be completed.
5. Stitch down applique blocks
6. Work on wonky hearts from Mary's quilts.
7. Quilt and bind a quilt top from the modern guild
Not much done! But, this week, I did get myself organized to get back into the quilting groove. I managed to quilt the preemies and they wait now to get bound.
I have started cutting up another layer cake and trying some new ideas for blocks. I am not really thrilled with the first one but I will persevere and get it finished and playing with one more idea that is ready for stitching.
I do have my strip pieced blocks done for August.
And I made some quilt tops for the quilts for Survivors (of residential schools in Canada) plus a stack of blocks. The tops were mailed to a long arm quilter in Alberta who offered her services to quilt them and the blocks, along with some fabrics and thread, were mailed to Vanessa who is the driving force behind this projects. I posted my heart blocks and split 9 patch blocks in my last blog entry but I also made a stack of rail fence blocks. I found quite a few batik fabrics in my stash with orange in them.
I have begun working on the Sunbonnet Sue quilt but it is slow going since it isn't one of my own quilting projects.
