Addicted to piecing - quilting, not so much!

 Weather here in the Pacific Northwest has been breaking temperatures for hot days.  A bit of a surprise and Mother Nature has taken us from long pants and long sleeve shirts to tank tops and shorts.  It was cold and wet for tennis and suddenly, we are playing earlier to avoid the heat!  Crazy but not complaining other than time is being spent watering all the new growth in the gardens and the newly planted seeds that are coming up quickly. Our electricity consumption, because of a/c use is higher than ever in the province for May and also breaking records. 

It was a lovely Mother's day and rather than ignoring the day as I usually do, my sister and niece came on Saturday for a great visit and an overnight stay with breakfast the next morning.  We had a good catch up on all that is happening in my niece's life - she is creator of Bad Cookie Pictures which is not my favourite genre - horror and ugh!  But, I try to be as supportive as I can without actually watching any of her productions.  She is also creating a home based business with clothing alterations, repairs and creations and doing some embroidery designs as well.  

Ha ha... the pajama girls.  My sister and I were raised in a home where it was pajamas and housecoats in the morning until you got ready for the day.  

I quick look into my front garden this morning brought a smile to my face.  I love it when the first poppies open and show their glorious colour. 

This is a long weekend for us and the weather was fabulous up until this morning when predicted cooler temperatures and clouds rolled in.  I spent part of Friday and Saturday immersed in reading.  I can't put down my book(s) by Patrick Taylor who writes about an Irish Doctor in a small town in Ireland.  There are a lot of books in the series and I am up to #7.  I also will admit to be being hooked on the Virgin River series and try to intersperse them.  However, the most enjoyable reads for me have been Gil McNeil who is a British author and writes about "Jo"... a woman who is raising two sons on her own and buys her grandmother's wool shop.  Because I was raised by a British mother, so many phrases and actions echo my childhood.  I love her sense of humour and her descriptions make me feel like I am in the room with her.  Needles and Pearls was the one I finished and horrors - I read the books out of order.  I accidently discovered the first one I read in our library in Mesa and turns out it was the third book... so found the first and this one was the second.  A good read for me and am now looking at some of her other books though, discovered that it isn't easy to find British authors in our bookstores (love the Bookman that is local to me) but will keep searching. Our local library doesn't have any of her books? 

Piecing has been how I have been spending every afternoon this month. Has been three weeks of morning tennis and then home for lunch and heading to my sewing studio. Just when I think I should actually finish a top into a quilt, "just one more" pops into my head and off I go on another idea and direction. 

I had many projects cut and bagged and ready to work on while at the one day retreat at the end of April.  My last 3 weeks have been a continuation of that piecing spree.  First up is Strip Twist by GE Designs.  This block uses jelly rolls - 2.5" strips of both color and background.  I started off just making a few to get the feeling of how this block goes together.  

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Then I cut a few more strips and kept stitching as leaders and enders and the blocks on the design wall grew.  I need it to be larger so am now piecing more strips and cutting up to make more blocks.  This won't be finished any time soon but that is ok.

I had a few tops that resulted from my retreat stitching and getting the blocks assembled one home and they were piling up on a chair, waiting for the thing I dread the most - pressing the finished tops.  UGH.  But, done!  This is a Carolyn's block made from charms and some of Noni's fabrics (see previous post) and will be a Survivor quilt. (Residential school survivor)

Hopscotch blocks were sewn at the retreat but I needed to lay them out to see how many more blocks I needed.  Top is done - and now on a hanger waiting for quilting.

At our May guild meeting, I taught a 3 yard class using the pattern Town Square.  I had chosen my fabrics but as I arrived at the meeting, a quilting friend and fellow guild member handed me a stack of  Canadian themed fabrics.  She now has ALS and cannot sew any more.  So very sad but was determined to use her fabric as quickly as I can so I can show her the finished quilts.  The red in this quilt was in the stack of fabrics she gave me.  I have since added in a few other blocks to give a little more interest to the top but this is still living on my design wall - oops, the wind blew the blocks off so will have to get them put up again.

 

Finally, after bribing myself, I got all the finished tops pressed and folded and hung up, waiting to be quilted.  These are all framed charms, using some blocks made by my Diva friends, myself, and some of Noni's fabrics.  I have 6 quilt tops waiting to quilted and donated to Quilts for Survivors.  All simple quilt tops but hoping they will serve their purpose of wrapping someone in hugs and caring. 

I might have shown this earlier this month but, it is now pressed and is a Carolyn's block quilt top and again, for Survivors.

This top is also now pressed.  This is a strip lattice, free pattern from Jordan Fabrics in Oregon. I stitched the entire top using leftover strips from making quilts that use Canadian themed fabrics.  Many are from backings or leftover after cutting blocks.  Even the background fabrics were leftover pieces of lighter fabric. 

A new project!  My quilting buddy and good friend and I visited the Langley quilter's quilt show last Saturday and I fell in love with this small panel.  It helped that I had a gift certificate for the shop that had come as a surprise in their Christmas advent box and, of course, I had to spend my money.  I got the top put together - very simple to do and now it is waiting to be finished. 

The modern guild I belong to chose this as a block for a lottery at our June meeting.  The organizer had cut templates for us to use and I dug out some fabrics to make a cheery hexagon block. This was simple compared to the last time she has sewing curves. 

So my list for the rest of this month is to stitch the following - I have 10 days!:

1. Rainbow scraps in orange for my strip and plus blocks

2. Patterns by Jen in soft blue for May

3. Complete two row by rows as per my own challenge to myself for 2 per month

4. Stitch blocks together for Town square. 

5. Load and quilt 2 tops?  Hoping I can make myself do that... I need to figure out how to bribe myself. 

April showers were supposed to bring May flowers.

 We had a lovely taste of warm, spring weather last week and managed to play tennis four days in a row but, now, we have steady rain and much cooler temperatures.  My wardrobe went from capris and t-shirts to long pants, long sleeve shirt and socks with my slippers.  Oh well... hopefully the May flowers are happy to have moisture and it certainly is helping the tulips last longer. 

Last weekend I attended a guild retreat celebrating 12½ years. That might sound strange but it wasn't.  Two and half years ago, we had a big retreat planned for our 10th anniversary of the guild and put a deposit down at a hotel in a town twenty minutes east of where I live.  Then Covid happened.  So, the retreat was done virtually and our deposit sat, waiting to be used.  Apparently, in Holland, 12½ years is a big celebration in  marriage as it is half of twenty five and the color is copper.  So, our retreat theme was copper and 12½.  The committee did a fabulous job calling names for door prizes at 12.5 minutes after the hour, holding a challenge for a small wallhanging that used copper in it, and we had a goody bag celebrating copper.  

I packed for the retreat carefully.  I cut up fabrics and made kits for a variety of projects though mainly 3 yard patterns.  I also had blocks made that I wanted to stitch into finished tops but made sure I didn't need a design wall for them.  For a few of them, I laid out my blocks and then picked them up carefully and clipped them with labels for the rows.  I was all set!  And, I stitched like crazy from 9am until 8pm.  We had a lovely lunch provided and many of kept one of our sandwiches to eat at dinner time.  Someone had made huge cookies... 12.5 of them and gave one to each table for us to share.  

I won the 12.5 door prize!  A really nice bottle of wine called Copper.  So much fun.  

I picked up these bento box blocks carefully and had them ready to stitch together.

The 12.5 door prize - in half a bag.

My view of the room from the back corner where I was nicely tucked away to sew.

The quilter sitting beside me was working on these teeny, tiny, miniature blocks... she has more patience than I do!

Here are some of my copper goodies.  We were given a kit to make the itty bitty bag along with lots of things to add to it.  There was a copper, glittery cardboard sewing machine.  And incredible cookie made for us.  An embroidered copper sewing machine plus an other embroidered tag as well as a stiletto with a copper tip.  And, of course, the bottle of Copper wine that I won. 

Back home again and I put together a second bento box from blocks that I finished at the retreat.

I made Carolyn's blocks from some fat quarters that came from the stash of a friend's mum who has passed away.  I grabbed brown, gold and yellows from the offerings and am making some survivor quilts. 

A spool of copper coloured thread which was used to quilt the fabric for our itty bitty bag.

There were labels for the bag as well.  So much fun.

These are Illusion blocks from 3 yard quilts and the fabric came in a gift box from Cherry Tree Quilts in Summerland.  Instead of one large quilt, I squeezed out enough blocks to make two smaller quilts for donation.  

These were the two row by rows that I completed for April.  I goofed on both of them, not reading the directions carefully, but managed to salvage each of them and get them done.

I made these blocks in April - a lattice strip pieced block which is a free pattern from Jordan fabrics.  During the retreat I stitched them into fours but wanted to use my design wall before putting them completely together.  So, on the design waiting.

This is hopscotch from 3 yard patterns at Fabric Cafe and I had the fabric strips cut for the retreat and got the blocks made.  I have them up on the design wall and working on getting them stitched together.  

One more Carolyn's block quilts for Survivors.  So simple to cut and sew and while I had the strips cut from fat quarters for the retreat, I didn't get around to it last Saturday so stitched the blocks as leaders and enders while putting some of the blocks from other projects together. 

Oh my goodness... no quilts finished but lots more on hangers waiting.  But, a very productive week.  Now it is raining and I am tidying up and organizing and have all my current projects as various stages but they are all ready for me next to the sewing machine.  

I do need a kick in the butt to load the B-line and get a few more quilted - I have backings and batting cut and ready, but need to just do it.  My dad used to have a button that was round and on it said, "Round Toit" and I laughed when he wore it.. I guess I inherited his procrastination habits. 

Hoping you are enjoying better weather than us but it is a good time to be sewing! 

April 2023 accountability

 The last week of the month and I have been looking over my lists of projects and figuring out what I have accomplished. 

My main goal was to work on using up some scraps and to move quilt tops from hangers to finished.  Both were fairly successful. My finished quilts for April include: Town Square 3 yard quilt.

Patterns by Jen - block of the month from 2022. These are blocks that I  made two of each month, reversing the light and darks.

Kimberley by Gudrun Designs made using a Kaffe Fasset layer cake plus a few extras from my stash to get the quilt to the size I wanted.

And strip log cabins using fabrics from my light and dark bins that are mainly left over backing and binding pieces.  I had to supplement the lights from my neutral fabric scrap bin.  

Favourite things is another 3 yard quilt made using slightly more yardage.  I cut the centers from fabrics I had on hand that were leftover from making other Canadian themed quilts and will be donated to Quilts of Valour. 

My white board has a list on the left of quilt tops living on hangers and on the right are the ones completed so far this year. 

I have three more quilt tops with batting and backings cut, waiting to be loaded on the quilt frame and quilted and then bound.  I won't get through these by Sunday but at least they are ready and waiting.

My first row for the row x row monthly challenge is completed other than the final stitching down of the applique but will wait until I have 6 rows ready to stitch. 

The strip trellis from Jordan Fabrics (free pattern) is growing and I think I have enough blocks to make a Quilt of Valour.  These are all Canadian themed leftover strips and am using up all kinds of small bits.  I found more when I went to put away what I had been using so ready to make another set of blocks.  They only need to be 7" long so great way to get rid of those smaller pieces. 

Our Christmas cactus is thriving and blooming ... and it bloomed at Thanksgiving so what is with this happy plant? 

The following pictures show the tea room at our guild's quilt show last weekend.  I was asked to put up a display of Quilts of Valour so dug through my stack of quilts and tried to showcase a good variety made by various quilters.  

There is an all day quilt retreat on Saturday that was orginally planned and got cancelled  at the beginning of the covid outbreak.  It will be one long and intense sewing day! I have a variety of projects cut and ready to stitch which means I will be coming home with more quilt tops to fill up my hangers again.  I keep hoping my fabric stash is diminishing and trying very hard to not add to it. 

The best part of my week is that the sun is shining, the tennis courts are dry and it is warmer and drier!  Love sunshine but I know it won't last long and the relentless rain will return but am enjoying this taste of spring!

Rain, drizzle, more rain and a wee bit of sunshine.

 It is April in the Pacific Northwest.  Today is Easter Sunday and my memory recalls egg hunts in sunshine, rain, and snow and some bitterly cold weather, none of which deterred the outside hunt for the treasures that were hidden. 

Today, however, am glad I didn't have to hide eggs in this weather although yesterday was a bit of reprieve with no rain falling though the ground is wet and muddy and makes me glad we are no longer on our farm with chores to do in gumboots and rain slickers. 

We have been back in our spring/summer and autumn home and it is a bit of a shock to go from sunshine and daily tennis, doors and windows open to feel like we are back in winter.  It also means more inside time for sewing and reading.  But, harder to stay fit and easier to keep snacking on foods that are filling and not so healthy.  Salad in this weather just isn't appealing. 

I caught up on my Rainbow scrap challenge for March and April using greens and purples from the scrap bins.  

On my Heartstrings group, a quilter posted a block pattern for making this arrangement using smaller widths and lengths of strips so I pulled out my bin of Canadian themed fabric scraps and played around with the idea.  Easy to do this as a leader and ender project while working on another project.

I started these Bento box blocks while in Arizona and then realized I had another half jelly roll the same and with more blocks, can probably make two smaller quilts? The fabric has letters on it so not sure of the recipient - a child or maybe a teacher? Below the blocks is my first row x row for April.  I didn't have a fabric kit for it so am pulling fabrics from my stash.  The applique is traced and fused and waiting for me to attach.

A nice stack of the strips from the block above that now need the corner triangles attached.  A very messy project but using up fabric that otherwise would be sitting there.

More Bento boxes waiting for the final step in finishing them.

The purple plus blocks made for April. 

I have a large number of quilts waiting for being loaded on the B-line and quilted.  However one did get loaded and stitched yesterday so it is a start.

A 3 yard Town Square is ready for binding.

And, the binding strips are cut, waiting for the next step.

I have spent this morning tidying up and organizing.  Lots of activities and appointments for the next three weeks.  Dental work needs to be done, Doctor's appointment for my husband, a Modern guild sew in on Saturday, two different guild meetings this week, a fun afternoon/evening celebrating the 25th anniversary of the school that we both retired from, and a one day retreat with the modern guild that was postponed during covid.  Also, my traditional guild is having a two day quilt show and I will be judging quilts as  Past president and will also have a Quilt of Valour booth for information about the organization.  

We went from a sunny March with cacti blooming in Arizona to some dismal weather here at home. 

However, we do have some daffodils blooming and the grass is green and growing, slowly.

My Christmas cactus has decided to bloom again which is lovely on these gloomy days. 

Off to get another quilt loaded on the B-line and get myself organized for the upcoming guild meetings.  Lots of trips up and down the stairs to load up my car with what I want to take for show and tell as well as quilts to donate to various causes.  Happy Easter and I hope you got to share with family and friends.