Last week of July and lots of pieced tops are ready for quilting

 A busy two weeks since I last posted.  These pictures won't be in a great order but you will get the idea of what I have been doing.  First, the Rainbow scrap challenge stars from 2021 is now bound and ready for donation to Quilts of Valour.

My grandson's quilt is bound and ready to give to him. The pattern is Turning Tweny.   The first picture is a close up of the cat fabrics.

I made these blocks during 2021 as another choice for the Rainbow scrap challenge and quite like the way it turned out.  The blocks are larger 15" finished so the quilt only needed 20 blocks to be a good size for donation. 

Elementary is bound and this was a charm pack and a jelly roll from this line of fabrics with a few of my own stash fabrics added in. 

I took some time and covered my large ironing board with a wool batt and then some fabric from my stash (leftover from backing a quilt) and am very pleased with the result.  I really had to get this done as I had a stack of pieced tops piled on a chair that needed their final pressing. 

 

One more 2021 Rainbow scrap challenge quilt top made from my strip baskets every month.  

The rail fences are also from 2021 scrap challenge and the blocks are now put together into a top, waiting for quilting.

This is a 3 yard quilt called Urban Chic and I use some Canadian prints for the white and the gray with the red fabric for contrast.  It is now residing on a hanger, waiting its turn in the quilting pile.

During 2021, I participated in the Patterns by Jen monthly challenge.  These are all blocks that used colours based on various fruits and vegetables.  Included were eggplant, lemon, yam, cherries, potato, pumpkin, lime, mushroom, pineapple, grapefruit, blueberries and green olives. 

A 3 yard quilt that is actually one of my favourite to make: Town Square and a Canadian print is in the center of the blocks.

Nine plus One is the name of this 3 yard quilt and I used a variety of leftover fabrics that had a Canadian theme to them for the plan blocks.

I made a 3 yard quilt, Sew Quick and didn't have enough of the main moose fabric that I was using to had to add in another fabric and I chose the Mountie hats. 

I have been piecing like crazy and Stepping Stones got cut and stitched.  These patterns are so quick to make and the piecing methods are simple and easy.  

 

I like to have a project as my leaders and enders when I sew and earlier this year, I pulled out an assortment of fat quarters that I really didn't know what I was going to use for projects.  If you add one more lighter or darker fabric to go with them, then the St. Louis 16 patch is the simplest and easiest pattern to make.  I have a stack of fabrics cut and ready to stitch to make lots of blocks. 

One step closer to having our patio finished.  The railings got installed but if you look carefully, that isn't clean glass in there, there is no glass!  We went with the darker railings rather than white and am glad I made that choice because I really like the black.  One day, glass will arrive and be installed but at least this is safer than no railings at all.

There are a few days left in this month.  Weather is extremely hot here with many warnings throughout the day to avoid being outside plus, our air quality is awful due to smoke from forest fires.  We are managing to play tennis early which is a feat because our main courts are torn up while they completely re-do them plus the heat so early mornings are essential.  

I have a few projects that I want to make an effort to clean up before next Monday.  I have 3 quilts that are still waiting for quilting and binding.  There are also some projects from the Modern guild that I need to get out and look at and see what is needed to finish those.  Of course, all the tops I showed in this post now need battings cut and backings made but I am in no rush.  I need to decide where some will be donated before I work on the backings.  

The gardens call my name for weeding and the last few days, watering.  Lots of zucchini and cucumbers are growing and finally, some carrots and beets that are large enough to eat.  

For my Canadian friends, enjoy the long weekend and stay safe.  For my local friends, stay cool and hydrated and hopefully, figure out how to get a good sleep in the heat. 

Almost mid July? How did that happen?

 I realized that today is the 12th of July... in three days, it will be mid month?  I have been puttering my time away although I have some finished projects to report.  My June task lists have been updated and basically what is there is what I have been working on with nothing new added in other than a 3 yard quilt that I decided to work on along with my Rainbow scrap challenge blocks from 2021. 

My blue blocks for June were finished. 

I spent an afternoon cutting batting and making backings for the next set of quilts waiting to be quilted.  There is a total of 10 in the stack.

The papers I wanted from Missouri Star arrived in a very timely manner... one week from there to here so my blue RSC challenge for June 2022 is complete.

I participate in a monthly challenge, Patterns by Jen and this is the purple for Purple Sumac and I make two, alternating the light and dark. 

The colour for RSC July is also purple so was great to already have my scraps bins out and I got both the blocks done for this month.

Quilt #1 for July is quilted and binding is made, ready for the last step. This is a Turning Twenty using fat quarters of cat fabrics and is for one of my grandchildren who happens to be the proud owner of a kitten.

The Rainbow scrap challenge friendship stars from 2021 is now quilted and waiting for binding (which is made). Quilt #2 for July.

Then a break from quilting to make pillowcases for kids heading to burn camp put on by our firefighters.  The request was for some suitable fabrics for teenage boys so I dug deep.  I made 8 and while I was working on them, was thinking about a container that has sport themed fabrics in it and that got dug out and opened.  More pillowcases cut and stitched up for a total of 16.  A variety of fabrics and a couple in there that are girly though, who is to say that a girl wouldn't like a sport themed case?

Quilt #3 is quilted and this was again, an RSC 2021 block made throughout the year as the colours were announced each month.  The binding for this one is also made!

A finished quilt but not by me.  I made the top last winter and a local quilter, Dianne, quilted it and did a porch drop off this morning.  She also does the binding... what a great long arm quilter to have donating her time to quilt for Quilts of Valour.  This is a 3 yard quilt called Pretty Please although I made it larger than the pattern and used both blue and red blocks where the pattern called for one fabric for all those larger pieces. 

I laid out my string blocks from  RSC 2021 and am figuring out how to make it wider without making it two blocks wide.. one block will be perfect so will cut blocks in half and add to the outside of the rows to make it a little bit wider.

I have put this panel on my design wall and would like to build around it to make a quilt but am feeling a bit stymied as to what I want to do.  I have a lot of rail fence blocks made from a previous RSC  in browns and oranges and wondering if I can make that work or just keep adding borders until I get it to the size I want for a Quilt of Valour?  I might google the panel and see what others have done with it?

At the end of June, I celebrated a birthday and am now offically, three quarters of a century old!  My awesome friend in California sent me these lovely flowers and I must say, they made me feel special and put a big smile on my face. 

Here is one more quilt #4 that has been quilted in July and binding is made, added to the stack for finishing.

Warm, summer weather has arrived and it is strange but lovely to wake up to sunshine and dry roads in the morning.  That means daily tennis which means some great exercise to start the day.

Last week we had a crew arrive to replace our deck.  It was original to the house and was worn out although we had painted it a few times.  I couldn't get it clean and it was wearing through and to protect our plywood underneath, we knew we needed to just get the job done.  The weather cooperated and the surface is done.  It looks lovely.  Unfortunately, nothing ever runs smoothly with these jobs and the fellow doing our railings had forgotten to order them?  They are now ordered and we should see some railings up by the end of the month.  It is a bit scary to walk out there with nothing around the edge so I tried to situate our furniture to remind us to not go any closer. 

We have been having visitors across the street from our driveway this week.  Both bucks and does have been feasting on the new growth of grass and leaves.  You can just barely see him through the tall grass. 

My latest project is playing with another 3 yard quilt although I will again use a little more fabric than a yard of each to make a larger quilt.  This one is called Urban Chic.  I know I have a few more quilt tops to quilt but Long Arm quilter Dianne picked up three of them to quilt for Quilts of Valour which made my pile slightly smaller.  I had 10 quilts waiting, have quilted 4 and Dianne took 3 so that leaves me 3 to work on which is a great feeling as that is very doable in the next week. 

I am wishing you all lovely summer weather here in the northern hemisphere and hopefully in our province, with the amount of rain we had this spring, not a lot of forest fires to deal with in the coming weeks.  Stay safe and enjoy your time inside and outside.