End of May and June first tomorrow.

 I am looking forward to the month of June.  There will be Father's day, birthdays (including me) and graduation activities (granddaughter) and other end of school year, beginning of summer days which means longer days, shorter nights.  I am not happy with daylight at 4am but only for a month and then it will begin getting darker earlier and getting daylight later. 

It was a good month for me with quilting activities, projects completed, guild meetings, gardening and tennis three times a week with two immuno-therapy appointments for my husband (which also means blood tests and oncology appointments).  

I did my regular Wednesday pick up and drop off at our local long arm quilter's home who has guild members come in and quilt donation tops which then need to be bound.  I do the binding as my way of contributing to their efforts and I think they are quite happy to see a quilt leave and come back labeled and bound and ready for distributions to a variety of local organizations with people in need of warmth and a quilted hug. This is the only one I remembered to take a picture of. 

 I got all my critter quilts quilted, labeled and bound. These will hopefully be chosen by kids who love snakes, spiders, owls, and frogs.  The pattern is Lindy by Running Doe (Villa Rosa) and I made 5 smaller quilts rather than one large one.  It was the challenge for March. 

I had pulled out some green fabrics for binding and my closet shelves were looking very messy and untidy so I brought all the fabrics out to the ironing board and organized them.  I really like to handle my fabrics once a year to remind myself of what might be a hidden gem.  There is a such a variety of green fabrics: yellow green, dark, light, blue-green and bright greens. 

 

I was working on finishing April and May Running Doe quilt tops and I get Turnkey blocks made and BoBevelynn blocks completed.  Both are now quilted and bound so am completely up to date. 

Two of the quilt tops handed into me for Quilts of Valour from North Vancouver quilters got labeled and bound and a big thank you to the Wednesday quilters at Leon's for their time and effort. 

One more of these quilts is also finished after I quilted, labeled and bound... it was the only one not done by a professional quilter but it is finished and ready to wrap around an injured Canadian armed forces member. 

 This is a cute project bag that I purchased at the last quilt show I attended... a kit from Troll Brothers and it was quick and easy to make with everything included in the package. 

 

I copied this idea from another quilter.  I thought it was quite brilliant.  She uses dry erase markers to write on her sewing machine.  I don't need the "unplug" the iron because I have a more foolproof method but I like the idea of putting the date on there when you service your machine including changing the needle.  I have my iron and a string of lights plugged into a power bar below my ironing board and when I leave the room, can see at a glance if I have turned it off  before I head upstairs.  Works better on a dark evening but I always look over before I head up the stairs.  An easy way to see that everyone is on or off. 

My granddaughter was here with her high school rugby team to play in the provincial tournament which was held in our city.  They traveled a long distance (near the Rocky Mountains) to get here and were excited to play as well as visit the ocean and spend time in a large shopping center.  

 

And a picture of my adorable great granddaughter... so sweet!  

I am very pleased with my new hummingbird feeder... the last one leaked and our deck was constantly covered in a sticky mess.  The birds love this one and we are entertained by the hummingbird wars where they zoom and fly at each other, not realizing that there is enough spots for four of them to drink at once.  

The last day of May and it is a Sunday.  The upstairs housework is done and now time to work on the dust, threads, and messy spaces downstairs. A good time to write out my list of projects I would to accomplish this month, as well as trying to reduce the amount of fabric stash on hand.  Lots of ideas but seems like the days go quickly... too fast to accomplish what I think I should get done.  I have decided that is a sign of aging which is happening to everyone! 

Mid May and chugging along with home, garden and quilting tasks.

 I feel like I am still trying to catch up after my lost time in March with vertigo (vestibular neurosis) but yesterday I took the time to sit and consolidate all the lists I had floating around in so many spaces and places.  That felt good and I am on track to accomplish a few things by the end of May. 

Our weather was hot in the Pacific Northwest for a few weeks and I was having to include watering on my daily list of routine tasks.  Now that we have a holiday weekend, we also had torrential rain from Thursday until Saturday.  Thankfully, we are back to clouds mixed with sun which is perfect for transplanting veggies and pulling out the weeds. 

I did finish stitching the blocks together on the flannel quilt that the blocks were made for but before I did that, I asked the person I was making it for to check and rearrange blocks so it was as she wanted it. 

I have also continued to pick up quilts from our long arm donation group for trimming and binding and have had some fun quilts under the sewing machine needle. I don't always remember to take a picture of the finished quilts but these are from last week.  We donate to a variety of organizations and need quilts for all ages, especially the moms and their children escaping abusive situations in transition houses. 

 

Sadly, our eldest daughter was in an accident, up north (McLeod Lake) in BC while riding her quad and had a serious head injury.  From the accident site until she reached Vancouver General Hospital, too much elapsed and her brain was badly injured.  We are sad that she died but, I will remember her from one of the last pictures she sent me, enjoying the warmer, spring weather. Please have your family use a helmet while riding on these all terrain vehicle... it will save their brain if they have an accident. 

 Sewing projects are progressing but very slowly.  I managed to get the critter quilts from the Running Doe March challenge layered with flannelette on the back and all are ready for quilting and binding. 

 My Keyhole quilt, using the April pattern challenge from Running Doe quilts is put together and waiting to be pressed, quilted and bound.  I have this on my list for quilting during the final week of the month. 

Blocks before I got them stitched together.  I used fabrics with a Canadian theme because this will be a Quilt of Valour. 

My "new rule" for myself is that if I purchase anything at a quilt show this year, it must be completed immediately.  I bought a kit for this zipper pouch and the tote bag at our quilt show in April.   

I bought a cute fabric book at our quilt show last month and stitched it for my great granddaughter. 

 

For our May guild meeting, I turned in two blocks using the theme Mother's Day and I thought flowers were appropriate along with the birds that are busy this time of year building their nests.   

 

Quilts of Valour has a new way of using the hug blocks made by quilters across Canada.  Previously, they were all sent to one location and sorted so that each quilt contained blocks from across our country.  The new way is for the rep to collect the blocks from her area and for every 20 blocks, a panel with sashing and border fabrics will get sent and the quilts can be made locally and stay in our area.  The one rule for these blocks is that they must be made from Oh Canada fabric which comes from Northcott.  I had some blocks on hand turned in by our guild members so requested a panel and I put the top together for show and tell this week and hoping it will inspire them to make more blocks. 

I also had a number of quilt tops handed in to me at our quilt show in April from quilters who live a distance from where we are and brought them to donate to Quilts of Valour.  I spent time cutting backing and battings and took them to our guild meeting hoping to find some quilters who would be happy to finish them.  I will label and bind them as they get returned to me.  

I am continuing to use this block from Bonnie Hunter as my leaders and enders while sewing other projects.  Every time I get 10 made, I take them off the design wall and clip them together so it is easy to keep count of how I have.  They are 8" finished so 72 are needed for a decent size quilt top.  I will keep making blocks until I am bored with it or run out of 2½" strips that are the correct length. 

Finally!  I have started on the Running Doe blocks for May.  These finish at 12" so I need 30 to get a quilt 60 x 72" and again, using Canadian themed fabric for a Quilt of Valour.  

I worked on samples of hug blocks using the Northcott Oh Canada fabrics to show guild members some of the variety of blocks that can be made.   

I will be spending my quilting time alternating between making blocks and getting critter quilts from March quilted and bound.  There will be appointments this week for my husband but, if I am organized,  it is easy to pop downstairs and sew for a bit and accomplish an hour or so of stitching.