One day left... in June and in my 75th year

 It feels good to have accomplished what I set out to do in early June with finishing some quilt tops and also completing the quilting and binding of some of the tops that were patiently waiting on hangers.  

In the meantime, I have also pieced more tops and the hanging section of my stairwell is full again.  That is a good thing because it means I have accomplished some projects that were waiting but now, time to think about another quilting marathon. 

At the moment, I have a quilt that I am quilting for a dear friend, Rose, that died earlier this year with a quilt for one of her grandsons not quite finished.  That will be done in the next day or two and a label will get added along with the binding.  

The Patterns by Jen was a gray block and I made two, as usual, with lights and darks reversed.  They ae the two in the center of the picture.  The colour for the Rainbow scrap challenge was a repeat and I thought that it would be a good idea to reduce the gray scraps by making my strip pieced and plus blocks the same and hopefully, reduce the gray bin?  

I also got busy and made blocks for Canada Stitches.  That group makes quilts from blocks mailed in and the completed projects are presented to first responders who attend Can Praxis at Rocky Mountain house to get support for their PTSD.  Spouses and significant others are invited to attend and there is a presentation at the end which shows them wrapped in their quilts.  I hadn't sent in any blocks for a year so time to change that.  I made a selection of Churn dash blocks.

There was room left in the box so made some Jelly Roll Ripple blocks, pattern from Fat Quarter Shop and I dug out browns and beiges with a few reds and stitched them up.  The box is full with my contributions as well as some from another guild member who makes blocks for this cause. 

Next on the list was making pillowcases for adolescents heading to burn camp run by our local firefighters.  The wife of one of the organizers is a member of a guild I belong to and for the last few years, she has collected pillowcases to hand out the kids as they arrive and it is a big hit.  I had been collecting fabric that might work for teenage kids, especially boys, and once I got going, made far more cases than I had intended BUT, the bin of fabric is now less than half full!   I think there are seventeen and quite a variety.  She lets the kids choose their case from what she has on hand so nice for her to have a variety.

This quilt top got stitched together after being cut earlier in the year.  I saw a picture (probably on Pinterest?) and it was easy to copy and figure out.  I used 6.5" centers and 3.5" strips.  I ran out of the red so had to add in some brown.  This will be finished (eventually) and become a Quilt of Valour.

Another quilt top completed.  I was worried at first that the red/green combination might look like Christmas but, it worked with the maple leaf print fabric.  It is Square Dance by Fabric Cafe and is a 3 yard quilt although I always use more than that amount of fabric.

One more Fabric Cafe 3 yard quilt is Strip Happy and I included a close up of the Canadian themed fabric that I used. 

So, these are now folded and hanging on the rod, waiting for the next step.  Since I have added quite a few tops to my hanging section, it might be time to quilt a few?  I finished quilting my wall hanging and this was a recent purchase in May at a local quilt show.  Easy and fun! 

One more day in this month and I will have to get my brain to accept that I have a new number when asked for my age.  The good thing about having to renew my driver's license is that seniors get it for a good price and I had the realization that I have been driving for 60 years.  

I have one book left in my Patrick Taylor, Irish Doctor series and am reading the last book in the Virgin River series.  Now it will be time to catch up on reading an assortment of books that I have collected recently.  I can't wait to read the next Gil McNeill book because I love her British sense of humour.  Having been raised by a mum that was British, I identify with so many of the terms that she uses in her stories.  And, another book by Kate Quinn - the Diamond Eye and this is another author that writes about Britain during WWII which again I relate to since my mum was a war bride.  Louise Penny and her newest book is also waiting for me to busy reading.  

Reading, tennis, quilting and taking my husband to appointments seems to be my daily routine?  Happy Summer to everyone and hopefully y'all get time to do what you enjoy.