Middle of May and I am enjoying our sunny, spring weather.

This is crazy but, I wrote this blog post yesterday morning and posted it, all as usual and later in the day I had a message that the post was deleted because I contravened their community standards... so, I wrote another short post to see what would happen and it passed their standards.  This morning I had a message saying that my original blog post had been reinstated after they looked at it again.  I guess we need to be grateful that someone is making sure nothing 'nasty, horrible and in bad taste' gets sent out to blog readers... but seriously, me?  A little old lady posting about her quilting?  Oh well... all's well that ends well!  So, a bit of a duplicate of the short post but here are all my efforts that happened in the past 10 days.  And I assure that I will not be posting pictures of naked people or discussing politics.  

 

 My list from the last blog post: (I have since added a few more that I had forgotten about)

1. Finish binding on baby bricks - DONE

2. Bind Penny's quilt - DONE

3. Bind my L blocks quilt  DONE

4. Quilt Falling Charms quilt and bind DONE

5. Load and quilt RSC scrappy strips blocks #1 DONE

6. Load and quilt RSC scrappy strips block #2 DONE

7. Make Quilt of Valour hugs blocks quilt with 30 blocks given to me - in progress

8. Quilt and bind my moose wall hanging. 

9. Finish make disappearing pinwheel blocks and put quilt top together. Still have 10 blocks to make

10. Tshirt quilt

11, Wonky heart log cabin blocks

12. FVMQG quilts made last fall #1 #2 #3 all need quilting and binding 

13, Patterns by Jen May block DONE 

So, not looking too bad for accomplishments.  Great weather for playing tennis daily and being outside in the garden. My Falling charms quilt is finished.  These blocks were made last year for the Rainbow scrap challenge.

I quilted this for Penny.  She made the quilt top using some panel bits and pieces that I had in my stash and this is for Quilts of Valour.

This is the second Rainbow scrap challenge quilt that I made from L blocks in 2020.

My Heartstrings group is challenging us to make something using charms this month and I had this kit that I won at my March retreat.  It was a bit different but easy to make with everything cut for me. 

Rainbow scrap challenge #3 using scrappy strips of colour and neutral (low volume) fabrics from my stash. 

And lastly, Rainbow scrap challenge #4, again made from scrappy strips.

I was handed a batch of 'hug' blocks for Quilts of Valour to make into a quilt.  These are blocks made by Canadian quilters across the country using Northcott Oh Canada fabrics.  Northcott has been producing this line of fabric for 10 years with a few new ones added each year.  I am adding a border around each block and will have 10 each of red, black and cream when I am finished. 

The baby bricks quilt is finished.  A UFO from a few years ago.

The May block for Patterns by Jen - she gives us the pattern and the colour was "potatoes" 

I am still working on my disappearing pinwheel blocks.  I need 10 more!

My May Rainbow scrap challenge blocks are done - red was the colour of the month.

Hopefully, the second half of the month will be as productive as the first two weeks?  Today my car got insured for another year and we had a great game of tennis.  We are waiting, as patiently as possible, for our second Covid vaccination and hoping it will be in the next few weeks so we continue, in the meantime, to stay safe as well as being careful with self distancing and washing our hands.  Life is good, today!

Welcome May 2021 and so far, so good!

 We have had a few nice days for the start of the month and yesterday was a great day for me, starting with an usual but awesome sleep on Saturday night.  I managed to clean the entire upstairs of our house and get laundry done as well as heading to the tennis court for some skills and drills with my husband, then a few groceries that were needed and home to cut the grass in the front yard and pull a few weeds.  That left me some time to play with fabric and do some piecing plus I quilted my last preemie which is also a UFO.  

A lovely soak in our big tub and the day was done.  

Sadly, a lousy sleep last night but today was early tennis and we avoided any rain which was a good thing and home to start vacuuming my downstairs space and load the quilting frame. 

This first quilt is one I finished last week.  It was my jelly roll project for Heartstrings and I found a batik "Canada" fabric for the centers of the block.  This looks much better up close and personal than it does from a distance.  A UFO that used up a jelly roll bundle that had been sitting in a bin for as long as I can remember.  

The quilt above is loaded and I have done a few  passes and figured out what design I want to use on it.  This is my charm quilt from the Rainbow scrap challenge last year. Another UFO! And, after this one is quilted, I have yet another RSC quilt top waiting for a turn at being quilted.  Batting and backing are ready.

Two quilts were finished last week and binding is made and waiting.  One is my L block quilt from the 2020 Rainbow scrap challenge and the other is a Quilt of Valour that I quilted for a friend.

In the meantime, I had a large bag of Northcott Oh Canada fabric scraps, bit and pieces dropped off to me and in there was a stack of 30 blocks to make a hugs block quilt plus an assortment of blocks that were missing a piece or needed to be finished.  So, those are ready to be mailed off to the collector of hug blocks from across Canada. 

I dug out an old UFO and I must look to see if I can find this on my blog to see just how old it is.  It is a Missouri star disappearing pinwheel.  I dug out a panel from the scrap bag mentioned above and will use it in the quilt along with the blocks.  It is a simple block to make but it needs really careful measuring.  

Step one is to take a print and a white 10" square, right sides together, stitch around the entire perimeter and then cut diagonally into 4 half square triangles. The four triangles get stitched into a large pinwheel.  And then you carefully cut in four directions around the center pinwheel and last step is to rearrange the blocks and sew back together. 

I did get my baby bricks preemie quilt top finished and quilted and just need to add the binding and this UFO is done! 

And I would really like to get this UFO quilted.  The wallhanging is from last September and the kit orginally older than that.

The heartstrings challenge for May is charms and I got this kit as a door prize in March when I attended our small retreat.  I think it will be perfect to make.  

So my list for May:

1. Finish binding on baby bricks

2. Bind Penny's quilt

3. Bind my L blocks quilt

4. Quilt Falling Charms quilt and bind

5. Load and quilt RSC scrappy strips blocks #1

6. Load and quilt RSC scrappy strips block #2

7. Make Quilt of Valour hugs blocks quilt with 30 blocks given to me

8. Quilt and bind my moose wall hanging. 

9. Finish make disappearing pinwheel blocks and put quilt top together. 

10. Make the charm square quilt 

And there you have it for the first Monday in May.  Rain might come so time to get more stitching done! 

Last week of April and look what I have accomplished!

 I really like to make preemie quilts and have mentioned before that we had twin grandsons born into our family on May 25 2001 and one will be celebrating his twentieth birthday this year while Isaac was only with us for 72 hours. The twins were born at 25 weeks and both were tiny at 1.25 lb and 1.50 lb.  Nolan spent the next 3 months in the NICU and I saw how quilts and blankets on isolettes really made the room brighter and much easier to identify where your baby was located.  

So, in memory of Isaac and Nolan's time in the NICU, I have made 15 small quilts for our local hospital.  All are quilted, bound, and labelled and ready to be delivered. The stack is in front of the last baby quilt I will make and that is a UFO or work in progress from a couple of years ago... so my total will be 16 when it is finished.

 

 

I was pleased that I managed to make the battings for each of these quilts with leftover pieces that I put together.  I still have a large stack of leftover batting pieces. 

It has been 10 days of beautiful weather with morning tennis daily but my afternoons were spent piecing and then quilting.  Having lighter evenings also makes it easier for me to head downstairs after dinner and work on a project for an hour. 

So, my goal was to make a few preemie quilts and I accomplished that.  Nothing else but the month isn't over yet! 

Mid April 2021

 Sometimes, it feels like time is standing still and nothing is changing or happening and that is probably a result of the pandemic?  Other times, the days and weeks spin by and I wonder where time goes?  Maybe this is all age related and as we get older, time does fly by and yet, we are still living in the same place, doing the same things and having good days and bad days.  

I feel like the last two weeks has passed me by but then I look at my list that I had at the end of my last blog and I don't feel so bad. 

1. Quilt the next 5 quilt tops  NOT DONE

2. Make a jelly roll quilt for the Heartstrings April challenge  TOP IS COMPLETED

3. Work on cutting some 3/5 yard quilts, also a challenge from my Heartstrings group but have until June to accomplish stitching them into quilts.  I ordered a couple of the books with the patterns and they just arrived so will start pulling fabrics and cutting some kits for myself.  I    HAVE 5 PREEMIE TOPS READY FOR QUILTING

4. Make a pattern from Mary's website - one more challenge from the Heartstrings group.  They figured out that if you made one of her patterns per month, you would be busy for 9 years!  I am cutting the hearts using my accuquilt and will make her wonky heart log cabins from them.NOTHING ACCOMPLISHED WITH THIS GOAL

5. Would love to work on my t-shirt quilt.  The bin of t-shirts is constantly being moved and it is becoming annoying.  I AM LAUGHING - THE CONTAINER HASN'T MOVED OR CHANGED

6. Start making some preemie quilts for the local NICU at our hospital. SEE #3

7. Polka dot quilt using fabrics set aside SEE #3

8. finish the 'field day' that I started at retreat in early March NOPE

So, I started off with this quilt - preemie size - 30" x 36"  . My inspiration was from Modern Views by Donna Robertson of Fabric Cafe. The  pattern name is Illusions.  However, I modified the size of the block to be 6" finished because that makes an easy way to get the quilt to the right size and uses 30 blocks.  I started off with the polka dot fabric and had pulled a variety of fabrics to go with it.  The first one I made used red and orange fabrics.

I made a second one using blues and green fabrics.

And because I was just flying blind making these blocks and wanted to use up as much fabric as possible, I took the leftover blocks from the first two quilts and made a few more blocks to end up with quilt top #3.  I have none of the blue, orange or polka dot fabric left.  A great way to use the fabrics and love this block pattern.

That motivated me to dig out some yardage from a bin of kid's fabrics and try to use some of that fabric in another quilt.  Pink monkeys and flowers. 

And a fifth quilt top got put together using some funky blues and yellows. 

In the midst of working on the 3 yard quilts, I finally made a decision on the Heartstrings jelly roll challenge for April and chose a pattern.  I knew I wanted to use the 5" black Canada fabric and figured out that the jelly roll twist pattern from the Fat Quarter shop would be a logical choice and I went ahead and put this top together. 

So 5 preemie and 1 quilt of valour tops are made and waiting to be quilted and bound.  Not too bad for a week of cutting and stitching.  

In the meantime, I also had to stop and wind bobbins and clean my machine.  Plus, after all of this effort, I managed to vacuum my entire sewing area and do a little dusting, wipe down my cutting mats and went into my bunker and put away some EMPTY baskets and containers.  

The 5 preemies are spray basted with batting and backing and now I will spend my next few days getting them quilted and off to the local NICU. 

Easter has come and gone and once again, I feel like I am not getting much done.

 I think my marathon quilting session in March must have burned me out because so far, 10 days into April, I seem to accomplished very little.  Although, I will admit, that I have been tidying and organizing and spending far too much reading blogs and going down the Pinterest rabbit hole.  That of course means that I have far more ideas than time left in my life to accomplish what looks like a fun or great use of fabric. 

So, what has been accomplished? Morning tennis whenever we have dry or almost dry courts and many days have been lucky although still having wear lots of layers because it isn't very warm.  

I made this mug rug for Easter... cute little bunny.

This is a cat quilt made for a couple of cat lovers in my life.  I used as many cat fabrics as I had in my stash and it looks a bit busy, but I wanted to get them all in there.

A close up of some of the fabrics.

After my quilting marathon in March, I ONLY have 5 tops waiting on hangers. 

This top was pieced by Penny and I quilted it.  A great way to use up a Canadian flag panel. This is for Quilts of Valour.

This is a "yippee" quilt.  It was this past season's mystery quilt and it was pointed out to me that it is very retro with harvest green and golds in there.  I really like Meadowland mysteries.  She does a great job in her instructions and her blocks are easy to make every month.

So far in April, I have my RSC blue blocks.  I know we were supposed to use only dark and bright blues, but I dug into both my light and dark containers and I might skip the month of light blues?

This is my PBJ block for April: cherries.   Notice that I have an oops in the bottom edge with too much of the selvedge showing and it won't all get caught in the seam allowance. 

Fixed!  I used a red fabric felt pen and coloured the selvedge so it will not be noticeable when the block gets pieced into a quilt. 

I did cut a few hug blocks for my local guild members if they want to make a few blocks and contribute to the hug block campaign by Quilts of Valour.  It is really hard to find these fabrics in BC quilt shops but I am searching and having a bit of success.  I usually order from a shop in NL - Clothesline quilts and have really good service from her.  I also cut up some of my fabric into fat eighths and some sixteenths as well if someone wants a bit of fabric to use in their blocks or quilts.  And, I have the moose, trees and bears with fusible on the back if anyone local wants some of those for their blocks.  Easy to peel off the paper and fuse on with your iron. 

And that is all for the first 10 days of the month but I have a long list of what I would like to get done in the next 3 weeks. 

1. Quilt the next 5 quilt tops 

2. Make a jelly roll quilt for the Heartstrings April challenge

3. Work on cutting some 3/5 yard quilts, also a challenge from my Heartstrings group but have until June to accomplish stitching them into quilts.  I ordered a couple of the books with the patterns and they just arrived so will start pulling fabrics and cutting some kits for myself. 

4. Make a pattern from Mary's website - one more challenge from the Heartstrings group.  They figured out that if you made one of her patterns per month, you would be busy for 9 years!  I am cutting the hearts using my accuquilt and will make her wonky heart log cabins from them.  

5. Would love to work on my t-shirt quilt.  The bin of t-shirts is constantly being moved and it is becoming annoying.  

6. Start making some preemie quilts for the local NICU at our hospital. 

7. Polka dot quilt using fabrics set aside

8. finish the 'field day' that I started at retreat in early March 

A short list but not sure how much will get done between now and the end of the month.  I keep getting sidetracked by new ideas and projects.