Binding week done and more blocks/projects on the go for August.

 The last week of July was "quilting" for seven days which is my new plan.  I groaned when it was time but dug out the roll of batting and pulled out some fabrics for backings and I started the process.  My goal was to quilt all the quilts I had made in July as well as at least one or two tops that were donated to Quilts of Valour.  The first one is a top made by Darlene and I added an outer border to make the quilt a little larger.  Done!

This was Plus #4 - rainbow scrap challenge from 2023 and is done!  This is the last of the quilts that I made from the plus blocks that I stitched monthly in the featured colour every month.  Done!  Block container is empty. 

A top was donated by Debbie last summer when I was mailing quilts to the Maritimes due to an urgent need for quilts for recipients of QOV.  I sent off two boxes of both tops and finished quilts and then the need wasn't quite as urgent so this top resided on a hanger.  It is now finished, labelled and ready for presentation to an injured Canadian Armed forces member.

A funny little quilt that started off from some blocks from a friend.  I had to figure out how to make more.  My attempt was ok but now I have it figured out that you need to start with 8 fat quarters and you will end up with eight 15" blocks - a crazy size but I now have 2 leftover for the next time I do this.  Super simple once you figure out how to do it properly.   Each block should contain 8 different fabrics but since I didn't do that, I have doubles of some fabrics in my blocks.  Lesson learned!

Another rainbow scrap challenge block quilt.  Each month blocks are made from the chosen colour and I use scrappy strips for these ones.  Fun and bright and doesn't make a tiny dint in my scraps.  I have been making these for about 10 years and every few years I dig out the container and start making quilt tops from them.  This was number 1. 

Number 2 is made from the same container but the blocks are set differently. 

In July, the Running Doe (Villa Rosa designer) sew along was to use the pattern Duffy.  I think this is the same as King's Crown by Jordan Fabrics but I cheated a bit and made the white blocks out of one fabric square even though the pattern called for four patches.  I wished I had switched the placement of the white/green flying geese so the green touched the dogwood fabric but, once I had made a few, I wasn't going to change my mind.  The dogwood fabric was 'found' when I worked on the Canadiana swap block quilt last month.  The fabric was tucked in with all the blocks which means it was 'free', right?

Another RSC strip block quilt top and is number 3 in this series of making blocks from them. Now waiting for the August quilting week.

Another 3 yard quilt called Crossroads that I cut up a variety of Canadian themed fabrics to go with the black and gray blocks.  Again, waiting for August quilting week.

Oopsie blocks (Bonnie Hunter leader and ender challenge) are made in both gray and aqua. Aqua was the August colour and I had the gray bin out because the Pattern by Jen block used that colour so decided to pull out strips and make more blocks.

My container is getting fairly full but since these will finish at 6", I will need at least 110 blocks for a 60 x 66" quilt.  If I have more blocks, there will be two quilt tops?  I don't plan ahead! 

Once my binding projects were all completed, I pulled out my container of fabrics set aside for making kid's pillowcases.  The quilter who used to collect pillowcases for kids going to 'burn' camp is no longer doing it but, I know that Ronald McDonald house as well as Canuck Place (hospice for kids) will be happy to have some and another quilting friend mentioned a third location perfect for donation so am going full steam ahead and cutting the pillowcase, the accent strip and the cuffs.  I pulled out some fabrics from my stash that were tone on tone and fairly bright to do some matching.

This was the pile before I had done any cutting and pressing of the parts. 

The end result of an entire Sunday of measuring, cutting and pressing was enough 'kits' to make 32 pillowcases.  There are leftover cuffs and accent strips and one day in the future, I will get out some plain fabrics and add the fun cuffs to go with and organize another pillowcase sewing spree.  But for now, I had very little fabric to back into the container and most of it will be perfect for making strippy quilts for kids.  Now I can sit and pin pillowcases while watching tv and stitch them up between other projects. 

Needing some purple fabric for cuffs of the above pillowcases meant I had to dig through what I had on the shelf.  And that digging created a mess... and if you know me, messy fabric isn't an option so I pulled out all the fabrics and organized them as best as I could so that red/purples, light purples, blue/purples are all together and all is folded perfectly.  My friend Nearissa will be surprised as how little purple fabric I have... it has always been my favorite colour and in the past, had so much.  It does show however, that I am making every effort possible to reduce fabric on hand. 

This quilt was also finished and was made from fabric purchased by my sister, pattern chosen by her, she did the layout of the blocks and I stitched and quilted it.  She loved it, thankfully!  It will be for a baby that will be first grandchild of the entire group of her close friends and all are going to be honorary aunties. 

I am participating in a sew along for Quilts of Valour with a Labrador quilt shop and every week she posts the block and how many to make along with an instructional video.  I am working on my maple leaves and then there are a huge number of poppy blocks to make (which I am dreading... boring!). 

One of my recent activities was to go for a sleepover at a sleep clinic and I was dreading it but, they were great and offered me a sleeping pill because the last time I did this, I never slept so there was no data collected.  My cardiologist is convinced I have sleep apnea and so this was the only way to determine for sure.  I had previously done an "at home" test but it was inconclusive so onto more detailed analysis of my sleep.  Yes, I have sleep apnea so now, another sleep over is going to be scheduled as that is apparently the most accurate way to get the C-pap machine set to optimal performance.  I am not looking forward to the equipment use but am curious about changes to my heart rhythm and possibly less waking throughout the night?  Time will tell.

Our garden is prolific.  My husband's health doesn't allow him to be very active in the garden but he is brilliant at planting seeds and nurturing them to full grown plants, getting them into the ground and watering daily.  Our cucumbers and zucchinis are the best ever although, apparently, it is the same for all the local gardeners.  The weather has been perfect for growing these.  Now, if the tomatoes would start to fatten up and turn red, eating time would be awesome with freshly picked produce. 

My goals for August

1. Stitch up 16 poppy blocks and start cutting sashing and assembling the Canadian sew along quilt

2. Rainbow scrap challenge blocks in blacks and browns. 

3. Running Doe quilt along Crossroads

4. Patterns by Jen block in purple

5. Marble mystery: I haven't chosen  my fabrics and this month is cutting fabric. 

6. Working on pillowcases 

7. Press rainbow scrap challenge top #4

8. Cut some 3yd quilts for Quilts of Valour (reduce how much Canadian themed fabric on hand)

What has been happening in my sewing studio for the last 3 weeks?

 A very strange 3 weeks.  After my June quilting marathon and then lots of time spent binding the first week of July, I slowed down and hard a time getting myself accomplishing much.  Of course, when I  look back, I have done quite a bit, just not as much as in June. First I worked on getting my Patterns by Jen block for July made.  The colour she chose was gray/silver and since I had to dig out my bin of those fabrics, I thought I would continue and make some rail fence blocks for my on going Bonnie Hunter Oopsie leader and ender challenge.

I also made some strip pieced blocks to use up some of the scraps

I put those away and then got out the scrap bins of aqua, the color chosen for the Rainbow Scrap challenge in July and away I went, working on far too many blocks and hopefully lesson learned for 2025? There were the garlic knot blocks which I use a method by Preeti for making them.  It involves make a 5" center of the main colour and the background framing it and then reverse using a white square in the center and framing it with the color.  Those are then cut in each direction and matched up to make your blocks. 

Criss cross star was next and I always wonder about aqua versus turquoise.  Is there a difference?  I am wondering if technically, aqua is more of a green blue?  I mixed and matched because I am not a perfectionist.

The small arrow tip blocks were made.

Simple L blocks made and this block uses up strips of fabric quickly.. so how come there are so many left?

A

My strip pieced scraps of aqua are done and I also made some L blocks from the gray fabrics while they were out on the cutting table.  Rail fence blocks are also made. 

I also stitched up some bundles and bows blocks and also wrote myself a note about making these because even though this is the 7th time making them, I forget a couple of things when choosing fabric.  In a perfect world, I would have two 10" squares of the same fabric and then another two in either a lighter or darker fabric. 

This is a 3 yard quilt that I started called Crossroads.  I was going to use 3 different fabrics for the center squares but I thought it looked boring.  And then I realized that they were cut 9" square and I needed 9.5" squares... so out came a variety of Canadian themed fabrics and the correct size was cut from each of them.

I had these blocks in a container and needed to do something with them.  They were an odd size and there were 6 of them.  I made more blocks (and now have 2 extra blocks waiting for the next time I want to make some of these - and, I put notes in the container of what I figured out so next time won't be a guessing game!

This is my crossroads quilt top on the design wall, still in progress.

Theses were all the squares I cut and lots of leftovers for another quilt.  If you are going to drag out fabric and do some cutting, you might as create total chaos, cut lots of blocks and then clean up the disaster zone. 

This is the final week of July and that means 'quilting' week.  I was slow to get started but two are quilted and the third one is loaded, waiting patiently to be finished.  One of these is "Duffy" the pattern chosen by the Villa Rosa/Running Doe quilt along... I would love to have this bound before the end of the month and before the pattern for August is sent out to us. 

I have three rainbow quilts made from my scrappy strips every month (for the last 5 years).  This one is the third one,  waiting to be pressed and then it will go on a hanger for August quilting. 

The fourth rainbow scrap challenge waiting to be put together.

This is the second one and the first is hiding but has the backing made and the batting cut.

Plus is the fourth one I made using plus squares from Rainbow scrap challenge in 2023.  The best part is that it is the final one.  Another lesson learned when making RSC blocks - think about the size and how many blocks you need to make each month.  I got very carried away.

The first two quilted projects waiting for binding.

I had time off from quilting when the date of our 60th high school reunion happened last week.  This picture is of our 10th reunion... 50 years ago! 

This quilt got made and finished for my sister.  She has a good friend who is about to become a Grandma and this baby born will be the first grandchild in their circle of friends so they are all going to be surrogate Grandmas.  She chose the fabrics (and loved shopping at Hamels though sadly they are moving to Prince George and leaving Sooke, BC) and the pattern and I stitched up with a lot of collaboration on the layout of the blocks.  Done, finished and waiting for the new baby to arrive. 

I took the ferry to Vancouver Island for the reunion and it was a fabulous day.  It really was too hot for us in the Pacific Northwest and the ferry was packed with tourists, all enjoying the outside decks as we sailed between the islands to get to our destination. 

My other project that I am working on is a Quilt of Valour sew along with a shop in Newfoundland who is giving us instructions and motivation each week with a new block.  She is starting off slow because I know that the next few weeks will be making lots of the maple leaf block.  I dug out my bins of red fabrics rather than cutting into yardage so my quilt will be a variety of reds. 

The first 2 weeks of blocks.

I have 4 quilt tops waiting to be quilted and am stitching the  Crossroads blocks together and still have my oopsie blocks to get the corner triangle stitched on.  But is only the 28th so 4 days left to get busy and one of those 4 quilts is pinned and ready for me go full steam ahead.  

The really good news is that my sewing room has a clean floor and everything is reasonably tidy though I keep digging out ideas for August.  I think one of them will be to make pillowcases for kids.  I have been collecting fabrics for a few years because we used to make them for kids going to burn camp.  That is not an option anymore but, there are other places that would love pillowcases to brighten a hospital room including Ronald McDonald house and Canuck place.  Pillowcases use a meter of fabric so if I can get 12 done, that is 12 meters of fabric gone!  And, all for a good cause.  

Our garden is flourishing with loads of cucumbers and zucchinis plus very green tomatoes.  The weather is perfect here at the moment... 24º/78º with lovely, cool temperatures overnight.  And so much to play tennis in the cooler mornings and be finished before the sun has us sweating profusely!  

Hope your July was as good as mine. 

JULY - all my June projects are finished!

 My final week of June was quilting and I did a lot of it except most of the projects were small, preemie or kid's size quilts with a few larger ones for Quilts of Valour.  This past week has been binding.  I pulled out all my striped fabrics and got started and then I was surrounded by a disaster zone.  Never mind, I kept pushing on with cutting, pressing, stitching... adding labels and last evening, I was done!  

And, I cleaned up.  Everything looks so neat and tidy and dust free.  I even tidied up my threads and my rolling cart. 

Here we go:  Four small preemie quilts for girls.  There is one quilt using my duck fabric (I still have yardage left of it)... along with some charms called Playtime and some of my charms from my container. 

This quilt is Pink by Running Doe (Villa Rosa pattern) and I am doing a sew along with her.  Pink was the pattern she chose for us to make. 

Three boy preemies using various themed fabrics of trucks and building equipment. All the same pattern... super quick and easy.

Three more quilts using my charms plus borders and a square dance quilt using my jungle themed 10" squares.

Two more boy quilts for preemies using charms.

And another set of quilts for preemies using the infamous duck fabric. 

The stack of finished quilts ready for donation. 
 

Plus #3 got quilted.  I made these blocks in 2023 for rainbow scrap challenge and ended up with 4 quilt tops.  Almost finished quilting them. One to go.

A bit of history with this quilt... the blocks were from a swap in 2009 with Canadian quiltswappers, a Yahoo group.  I still have the names of who sent in the blocks to the swap and each province and territory was represented.  I added in some plain blocks plus a border to make a Quilt of Valour.  If you look at the picture, some of the blocks are really indicative of their province that they represent.  An old UFO, finally finished. 

A pattern from Villa Rosa called Tibet and it is for Quilts of Valour

Crossroads is a 3 yard pattern that I enlarged a little... and ran out of my maple leaf blocks so added in some blocks that were cut from fabrics that I found nestled in with the old UFO above. 

Whew!!  Done and still have a day or two left in my first week of the month.