Life throws you curves and you can try to catch the curve, avoid it or just duck and keep on with daily living. We are still in the land of winter weather and no chance of being in our sunny, happy place for another month or two. My husband had carotid surgery at the end of October and was in hospital for a few days before heading home for recovery time. He needs the second one done and so we wait... impatiently. He has healed nicely but for the first few weeks he needed me to drive him everywhere. The crummy weather arrived which meant daily walks at the park were cold and wet so we joined our local rec center and discovered we are super seniors and it is free to go there and walk, use exercise equipment and any other activities that might interest us.
The sun decided to shine on us for the last two weeks so lots of outdoor tennis.. cold and windy some days so we dress warm which makes it hard to move quickly on the courts!
Sewing slowed down when I was visiting the hospital daily both in September and at the end of October and for some reason, making quilt tops was all that appealed to me. However, I did piece these blocks for the Modern guild November meeting. One was curves and I wasn't happy with the first one so did a second trying to get perfectly matched seams. It wasn't mean to be but they looked ok when they were put up on the wall at guild. The small block was the monthly challenge to make a square using complementary colours on the colour wheel.
This is the beginning of quilt top made from the pattern by Paul Legere in the Canadian quilter's magazine that was recently issued. It has a variety of ways to put your blocks together and is intended as a Quilt of Valour freebie. The pattern and a kit of fabric is available on Quiltsofvalour.ca if you are interested in making this.
Simplicity II by Cozy quilt designs is now put together and waiting for quilting.
I keep all my finished quilt tops on hangers so this one joins the others.
The QOV top is finished and also waiting patiently for quilting.
We did have fun on Halloween, decorating our yard and the weather was good for the kids to trick or treat.
I managed to spray baste a stack of quilt tops. These are smaller tops and are from a de-stash that the Modern guild had in 2020... I need to get them quilted and handed in to the community quilt group!
I also quilted a UFO from last year. This is my Patterns by Jen block of the month and my name is close to being Queen (or maybe I am already?) of my Queen of UFO group. Not a title you aspire to but if you don't finish a UFO while you are in reign, you owe fat quarters to the others. Binding is made, just waiting for that step to happen.
Of course, I got sidetracked by another 3 yard quilt. This pattern is called Roman Holiday and I made enough of the framed blocks to make a second quilt.
The monthly block for patterns by Jen is finished and I made two, reversing the lights and darks. The colour theme was cloves.
A stack of frankenbatts. I discovered a bin I had forgotten about that contained leftover batting strips so sorted them by width and then did some joining so I have 5 battings made out of pieces.
This is the second Roman Holiday quilt pattern and another top for a hanger.
A 3 yard quilt called Stepping Up by Fabric Cafe is also put together and hanging on the rod waiting for quilting. I have a variety of Canadian themed fabrics that I am incorporating into these quilts.
A free pattern published by Fabric Cafe called Courage has been made. Some of the fabrics in this quilt top were donated to Quilts of Valour by Doris and a big thank you to her.
Working on these quilt tops from the modern guild de-stash. I have quilted the first, the train quilt. The binding is cut and waiting for this next step.
The Roman Holiday on my design wall is now put together and waiting for quilting. More Canadian themed fabric has been used up.
A rail fence of various fabrics has been quilted. This came to me as a top with batting and backing. One more for the binding pile!
A donation quilt from the modern quilt guild that needed quilting and is now done and ready for binding. I hope to all these quilts finished and ready for the December meeting. That will feel so good to have them all finished and handed over to the community quilts coordinator.
Bindings! Waiting to be stitched together and then onto the quilts that I have shown above.
It is always so lovely to see a picture of a donation quilt being used by the intended recipients. These twins are in the local NICU and covered in one of my quilts. A feel good picture.
My Christmas cactus, which is actually a Thanksgiving (U.S.) cactus is thriving in the sunshine we had recently. Loads of blooms.
The quilt I am currently working on called Favorite things by Fabric Cafe and more Canadian themed fabrics being "used up". A few of these fabrics were also donated by local quilters in my guild.
Christmas cakes got made on Grey cup Sunday! One nice thing about being home here in Canada. And, making these cakes, reminds me of mum. She made these every year and it is her recipe.
Outside lights got put up with help from next door neighbour. She had her house done and ready for hosting an open house this coming weekend to support our local food bank. So, it made sense to get our lights up while the weather was dry and to help out with making our street look festive for her event.
The lights led me to put away Autumn. If I was in my other home, fall decor would have remained until this coming weekend, until after Thanksgiving. But, I have de-decorated my house in preparation for decorating for Christmas so I have pulled out the containers from under the stairs, ready for me.
Enjoy your quilting time and preparations for the Christmas season.
