Slowly, very slowy, returning to my 'real' life.

I endured a long three weeks of looking after grandchildren as well as worrying about our daughter who has an antibiotic resistant staph infection and our other daughter who decided that taking her meds for schizophrenia wasn't working for her.  Just watched a segment on 60 Minutes on the mentally ill and our daughter fits the profiles perfectly.  So sad but there just isn't a solution but at least she gets good care in the community she lives in and has a social worker who keeps an eye on her.
My grandchildren have relocated to a new community and am hoping that they will have a really good home to live in and two relatives who are willing to be awesome parents.  Those kids deserve a good life. 

 

This was taken after a pj day at daycare and then haircuts.  Hard to get a decent picture of these two! 

 

I have got my hexagon kid's quilt put together. 

 

 

 

And today I worked on my modern quilt guild challenge.  We had six fat quarters to work with but I discarded one that was very linen like as it didn't feel right for a quilt. This is what I was left with.

Since I need to get this challenge pieced, quilted and bound in the next couple of weeks, I went ahead with a super simple idea using a method for hst's that I demonstrated at the Abbotsford guild meeting a few weeks ago. 
This is what is now on my design wall.

So, need to join my blocks, get it layered... decide on a quilting method and finish it up! 

The binding is done.

No sewing happening here.  I have been living in another community all last week, looking after two of my grandchildren.  One daughter, the one with custody of these kids, has been in hospital with a staph infection that is antibiotic resistant and very ill though now, finally, she is starting to recover.  Her kidneys have the infection attached to them (maybe just one kidney?) and she has sores on her head that have to be dressed every few hours. 
The other daughter... she is back in the pysch ward because she hasn't been taking her meds for her schizophrenia. 
So no sewing for Mom/Grandma.  I did get a break this weekend and was able to come home and relax a bit, turn on my sewing machine and generally regroup.  Tomorrow, the duties of Grandma resumes.... should be easier since I ran around town last week getting the kid's medical issues dealt with.  School needs an epi pen and asthma meds in their medical room.  My granddaughter has excema and needed to attend an appointment and of course, various trips to the drugstore to fill prescriptions, buy school supplies and generally get their life organized. 
Hopefully, things will be sorted by next weekend or sooner if I get lucky and my life will resume as I know it.
Can't wait to get to my house in AZ!  Counting the days.  Love to help out but my kids live a completely disorganized life and I like order and logic to my days. 

UFO's - three finished!

I still have more projects to bind but I do have three UFO's finished which is a good thing because my group that I belong to has crowned me Queen and I have until Thursday to post a finish. 

The first is a lovely, soft quilt that was a kit from Hamel's here in BC and has been hiding in my UFO bin for at least three years and I am thinking maybe even five or six years? 

This table runner was a class/demonstration that I did last October so quite a year to get it quilted and bound.

Then there is this flannel panel that I also have had in my UFO bin for many years.  Again, not sure just how long but at least 5 years.  It is now quilted and bound and ready for me to decide where to donate it.

I also dug out three sets of jelly rolls and looked at lots of ideas and finally settled on playing with this technique.  The top is done but not sure when it will get quilted.

My second jelly roll is kid's prints and I bought a new ruler, the Hex and More so have been playing with the ideas that came with it. And again, have been looking at pictures on Julie Herman's
 blog as to how to use the ruler. 

Two different guild meetings this week and tomorrow I am demonstrating some of my favourite ways to make half square triangles. 

Fallish Friday

The weather this week is putting me in the mood for autumn and while it officially doesn't start for another 17 days I must admit I have been putting away tank tops, shorts and replacing them with longer pants and long sleeve shirts in my closet.

I also made a massive pile of tshirts for the eventual t-shirt quilt I want to make.  Anything that was too large for me, was really old and had a quilting or sewing theme went into the pile for a future quilt.

In the meantime, wallhangings and table runners are being changed from summer to autumn.  I can't help it, the rain is making me do it along with the darker mornings and the light, bright summer weather gone earlier in the evening. 

My current work in progress is this funky quilt made from a jelly roll and some white/cream fabric that I think was given to me via Bonnie?

 

 

 And I made a name tag for my Modern Quilt guild meetings.

 

 

 

This is a quilt that was a top given to me by Myra and I have quilted and bound it for a donation to Quilts of Valour. 

 

 

I have got the binding on one of the many quilts in my stack finished.  This was made for Quilts of Valour by Myra and I quilted and bound it.  Ready for a pillowcase and then delivery to the local base.

I have my 50 Shades of Grey put together but am deliberating over the border treatment.  I would like it to be a little larger than it is right now so will play with some ideas. 

And, last week, when it was raining, my niece and I made a trip to a small quilt shop in Mission and I was able to purchase some fabric designed by Cynthia, a member of our modern quilt guild.  For our September meeting, we are to take a doorprize so I thought maybe this basket made from one of member's fabric design, filled with some quilty items might be appropriate?

And now, it is September.  Time to get serious about some of the projects that were supposed to be made and completed these last few months!  Reading, sunny weather and family as well as gym time seems to have got in my way.  

A small quilting job got done... the background on my Canadian flag for display next June.

And I am working on my half square triangles for Shades of Gray.  I have two layouts I am debating though there is a third that is lurking in the back of my scattered brain.

Well, there might even be a fourth option! 

A definate quilting funk happened

I haven't accomplished much at all in my world of quilting in the last few weeks.  I don't know what happened but, for sure, no finished projects to show you. 

Since I am in a group of quilters who keep track of completed UFO's and penalties are owed if your name comes up without a finish, I pushed myself last week to look through some of my older projects for ones that called to me to be completed.  My name is getting close to the top of the list so the push is on. 

I found three ufos' that were quite ancient: a flannel panel with a lovely flannel backing that would be quick and easy, a pre-pieced quilt top of Moda fabrics, am guessing Paris in Fleamarket which means it is ancient, and a table runner from a class I taught last October.  All three got layered and quilted in the last few days and are awaiting binding. 

And I managed to finally make a purse using grommets.  My grommets were too large according to the pattern requirements but I used them anyway and now that I have made one, am quite keen to make another.  This is made from my batik strips I cut earlier this year, using my stash.  Hopefully a quilt will get made from the stash strips as well. 

I sort of got waylaid for a bit due to a nasty accident while playing pickleball a week ago.  Am stuck at home, more or less, so good time to work on these projects.  If you don't know what pickleball is, I suggest you google it to find out. 

And, while I am hobbling around, I managed to layer and prepare more quilt tops for quilting.  They are patiently waiting their turn.  Some of them are for Quilts of Valour and were tops given to me by a member of our guild.  The bottom one is a top I pieced over the last few weeks while I felt like I wasn't accomplishing anything! 

Which brings me to my challenge for this summer from the Sunland Stitchers.  The 50 shades of gray challenge!  I have spent the last four months printing off ideas, tearing pictures out of quilt magazines, shopping for fabrics that might go with my grays and just couldn't seem to make a decision.  At the last modern guild quilt meeting, I won a charm package of Moda fabrics that worked with my gray's perfectly!!  And it turned out that I had some of the fabrics in yardage as well.  So, it was meant to be.  One of my inspiration pictures was shown as a quilt at the same meeting and it really spoke to me so I took the plunge and this is what I am playing with.  There are some other arrangements I might try and see what really appeals to me as my final choice. 

The fabulous neighbourhood I live in has some great wildlife that comes to visit.  This was taken from my front porch on Sunday.

Hopefully,  I will have some completely finished quilts, including some ufo's and Quilts of Valour to take pictures of in the next week and I won't be missing in action quite as long.