It was a busy month (aren't they all?) but a good effort was made to get some quilts that were in progress, finished!
As always, the list of projects is always long and I muddle along trying to get older projects completed as well as starting new ones (because that is more fun). So many ideas, lots of fabric, not enough time in a day to sit and sew for hours.
My big goal in July and August was reduce the stash of Aunt Gracie fabrics and I did! The first week of the month is binding week and it is only Tuesday, the 5th of the month and I am finito!
Last month, I completed 3 four patch alternating with squares and this month, nine more finished.Three quilts of happy blocks are first.
Falling charms from 5" squares
L blocks made from 2 matching charm squares
These are both split 9 patches using charms.
Two different quilts: one with spacers between the 5" squares and the other with a rail fence alternating with the charms.
The labels are on but I need to write a bit of info on them and all ready for donation during our September guild meeting.
A huge thank you to Jacquie of My Little Quilt shop in the Woods for sending some bolts of flannelette to our last Wednesday Diva meeting for a very good price. I bought a couple of bolts and they came in handy when layering these small quilts.
The 30% tariff on batting coming from the United States is really going to hurt quilters who make kid's quilts and are on a budget. I was lucky and realized earlier this year that it would be a good time to stock up on rolls of batting and get it bought and paid for without the tariffs added. Batting is all made in the USA and there are no other countries that I know of at this time who manufacture it.
On to the larger quilts that were completed. This first one is for Quilts of Valour and was the July project for Running Doe sew along. As you can see from the picture, I lost at the binding game and had to stop, cut more fabric, press, join and then join to the beginning to complete.
This is the front of Jolene/Jasper. Two quilts with the same block but assembled differently. Jasper had huge blocks which made it too long for my needs so stuck with Jolene although, I could/should have just made these blocks larger or Jasper smaller and I could have made less blocks for a quicker finish. Lesson learned.
One more row by row with parts being made by quilt members plus Wednesday quilt Divas and myself. Again, a project from 2015 that needed to have the blocks made and assembled. Quilted, bound and ready for Quilts of Valour. These rows represent the Pacific Northwest and most have a water theme but included a couple of others that fit with our locale.
One of the row by rows with contributions by me, my quilting friends and members of our guild. I thought these were all quite cute and perfect for a child's quilt. All in keeping with the water theme of the year we got these which I think was 2015?
Another Legacy quilt from Ingrid's sewing room. When Ingrid died a few months ago, our Wednesday group offered to help sort her fabric stash and along with that came some various containers of blocks. Darlene put these blocks together and I quilted and bound it. So one more finished quilt top. Do you ever stop and wonder what will happen with projects you have in progress? I suggest you add some information for either yourself or whomever has to deal with your legacy giving some ideas of what you were thinking and planning.
A quilt top with a bit of a story. The modern guild I belong to had a fun sewing night where a few of us brought our machines, cutting mats and ironing boards. The organizer of this sew challenge, Nancy, cut up fat quarters into rectangles and showed some of us the inspirational video she had watched. At the guild meeting, bags of rectangles were handed out. Now, every experienced quilts knows that when sewing rectangles together, you need to offset them but, we were stitching in a hurry and someone was pinning and someone pressing and someone who looked at what we did, assumed that the blocks needed trimming. Nope, the rectangles didn't get offset so it resulted in a really wonky square which the careful trimmers started trimming. We started to put the half square triangles together, still no remembering that they were supposed to be half rectangles? Ooops. I brought the quilt top home to finish and realized immediately what we had done but too late, blocks had already been trimmed. So, I worked with what we had done and handed it off to the Wednesday quilters at Leon's for finishing on the long arm. I brought it home and added binding. Ooops, one square in the corner not turned quite right...oh well. A very large donation quilt is ready. I can't wait to see the reveal at our guild meeting and be able to give kudos to those that realized that the rectangles needed special treatment. I knew better but wasn't thinking clearly or fast enough to do it correctly.
For August sewing, I have bundle of odd fat quarters that I think I will use for a Carolyn Block quilt and it will go together quickly.
These are strip pieced blocks from scraps and there is enough of them for quilt top (or two?). I will get them onto the design wall and then stitched together for an easy finish quilt top.
I made these blocks long ago and altered the pattern that I was using and got frustrated with it not working out correctly so will get the blocks onto the design wall and see what can be made from them.
Fabric scraps to cut up for the leader and ender project - Bonnie Hunter's suggestion for 2025
I have a number of them made and the wall is filling up.
I played with some half square triangles after seeing a scrap quilt that I loved which used black prints on white. So, dug out what I have and also pulled some bright colours of fabric and that will become a project, ready to go with a sample in case I forget what I had planned for the collection.
One evening was a brilliant sunset looking at Mt. Baker... sky was fabulous.
And, more driving and time spent waiting while my husband another Moh's surgery. Beautiful view of the Fraser River from the Brewery District in New Westminster.
An annoying way to have to stop and spend time - dead battery in my car and I learned a little from the experience. The battery is now new and my car starts instantly when I press the button. So thankful for small things like the battery issue while I was at home in my garage and not when I was out and about.
Flowers are abundant in the front yard but it does means watering frequently as we have mountain soil which translates to crappy and a lot of clay.
A lovely surprise for me one evening when I ventured out to water. A pile of fresh bear scat... yes, we have bears in the neighbourhood. A friendly reminder to be bear aware.
This is an idea from a quilt I made many years ago and have made some of the blocks and have the rest ready to go for a Saturday sew in project.
It is made using three fabric stacked right side on top of each other and you trim off two side in the same width of your choice. Then you repeat once more, two cuts, same width of your choosing and the leftover piece will be a square. Mix up the strips so the same three fabrics appear in each block but in a different location: center, middle row and outside row. It looks a bit busy at the moment but lots more blocks to make.
Carolla demonstrated this idea at a recent guild meeting and I knew that I needed to make a block or two to see if I could understand the directions and to remind myself of yet again, another project!
So, a great end to July and a good start for August. One more row by row quilt top is waiting to be quilted and bound but I finished it this month so it might wait for the end of the month to be quilted. Or, if we get some really hot weather, quilting in my 'bunker' is lovely and comfortable - will see how the weather goes.
Time to clean up my sewing areas, tidy, put away things, fills bobbins, clean machines, mop the floor and find a home for all the 'stuff' that I have lying around.
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