2018 is one third over!

This is my monthly Quilter's planner block for April.  I actually had it made earlier but forgot to post the picture.

We are getting some dry days and have even had a day of warmth and heat!  Of course, it was short lived and we went right back to rain.  The tulip fields below me are in full bloom now.

I spent some time with my sister and just when you think you have a messy quilting room, you see someone who is far worse off with their organization.  She has been brilliant with our parents but sadly, her storage room has had no TLC for at least 6 months and she is a window display artist and when a window gets emptied, it gets shoved in here and she grabs what she needs for her next job.  So, we emptied one aisle and got to work.

Was a totally different experience than working with fabric!  But a lovely day and perfect working conditions.
My only real quilting project this last few weeks was a quilt for the Humboldt Broncos and it is on its way to Saskatchewan and am hoping the recipient gets some warmth and feels my hugs when they wrap up in it. This was a great pattern and I know one quilter who is making a quilt for her guest bed using the block!

Am still working on my stargazer blocks, one at a time!  Only 5 left to finish! 

 

 

And a nice stack of green rail fences made from scrap fabrics.  Green was the stashbuster colour for March and I made string blocks but didn't get the rail fence ones done.

I do have three quilt tops from last fall for Quilts of Valour Canada spray basted with batting and backing and ready to quilt and bind.  Hopefully, that is first on the agenda for May.  But in the meantime, I have been making blocks for Canada Stitches and decided to work on Maple Leaf blocks for April.  The blocks are in the mail to their destination. A big thanks to my Quilting Diva friends who made a nice variety blocks to add to what I had made.

I have already completed the blocks for May so I can show them to my Quilting Diva friends in case they want to make some again this month.   This one is the Disappearing 4 patch and if you aren't familiar, this is the basic technique.  I started off with 6" squares and the slice in all four directions was 1.5" inches from the seam line.  If you make this block, measure twice and cut once!  I messed up my first block. The four center sections get reversed and all is stitched back together again.  Great use of scraps! And thanks to Dee for her fabric contributions to the cause.

Off to set up my machine to do some free motion on these QOVC quilts!

Mid April... well maybe a little later than that!

As usual, I am behind but will eventually be caught up - maybe?
It has been a horrid month of rain since we returned from our winter home and one would think that it would be perfect for sewing but it is so hard to get motivated on dark, dreary, wet days.  I am definitely a sunshine person and the brightness and warmth motivate me.

On a rare sunny day, I ventured outside to look at my blooming flowers and to see what is coming up.  I was so worried about my peony and my Icelandic poppies I planted last year but they are both showing signs of coming to life.
I really haven't done much sewing.  This crazy dizziness/vertigo is really annoying but had a good few days last week so manged to accomplish a few things.
I got my yellow/gold scrap strip blocks done though have more of the wider strips cut to make the rail fences in both yellow and green since I didn't get last month's done.

And I did get two donation quilts basted, quilted and bound that were from guild demonstrations last fall - toonie Tuesday.  I showed the two options for making log cabin blocks and used half square triangles in the center.  Hopefully these  quilts will make two young girls happy at Peardonville House.

And five preemie quilts finished made from 'happy' blocks.

A quilt that I worked on last fall leftover from the Great Canadian Quilt bee 2017 and handed over to me from the FVMQG for finishing is done.  I added borders to make the quilt large enough for Quilts of Valour and got it quilted and bound and all is done! I did NOT make the center of the quilt... and if someone knows of the quilt maker, I would gladly add their name to the label. 

I also got to work last weekend on a quilt for the Humboldt Broncos.  The Saskatoon Modern Quilt is making quilts for the hockey player's and their families but they have asked for donations of at least 200 quilts to be given to anyone who helped or was associated with the bus crash... first responders, helicopter pilots, ambulance drivers and paramedics, nurses, doctors and all hospital staff as well as volunteers and those that stepped in to help out in some way along with anyone who works with the hockey team.  I have my top done and stopped today to buy some flannel backing with a hockey theme and the quilt will get finished as quickly as I can mange and sent off to Humboldt.

I also have been making some blocks for a group called Canada Stitches.  While I am involved with Quilts of Valour, those quilts are for armed forces only and there are many first responders from the police, RCMP, ambulance workers and others who can apply for a quilt from Canada Stitches.  This month, I decided to make blocks using their maple leaf theme in masculine or autumn colours.

So a small stack of these will get mailed off in the next week or two for inclusion in the quilts they make.
And so it goes... a bit of sewing here and there!  I did get my windmill blocks put together into a quilt top and that is now added to the list of projects needing to be quilted.

Hopefully, I will have more projects completed so that you will hear from me more often!

In the rain... life in the slow lane.

This is what we left behind to come home to rainy, wet, gloomy weather.

Lovely, sunny, happy yard with spring flowers just starting to look fabulous.

To be fair, we have had one or two nice days here in the Pacific northwest since returning.  But snow on the mountains and very few days where we can venture outside to the tennis court.

I have unpacked all the boxes that I sent to myself.  "If it fits, it ships' boxes are awesome.  Fabric is heavy!The quilt tops I brought home are hung and waiting to be layered, quilted and bound before they head to their various charitable destinations. The ones hanging to the right of the picture were left behind last fall, not getting finished before we headed south to the sunshine.

Before I left to come home, I had a few more "finishes".
Portlandia by Villa Rosa is a top.

And my green strip blocks for March were completed for the Rainbow Challenge.

My windmill blocks were completed but not put together.

And here they are on my design wall here at home... needing to be rearranged and stitched together.

And two more stargazer blocks were made.

And, I have some economy blocks that I have been working on for the last few years but they haven't had much attention.  I pulled the container out and made some more blocks and went through scraps and cut a bunch  more for stitching this fall or next spring.

I have not accomplished much in the last two weeks but I did manage to get 7 small quilts spray basted and ready for quilting.  I also have put away and organized everything that was in my 'boxes'.  They are unpacked and ready for recycling.  I only leave my sewing space for 5 months but my poor memory forgets totally what I have and where it is.  I need to re-acquaint myself with what is here and where it is!

I have my yellow strips pulled out from my shelves ready for this month's rainbow challenge and I have binding fabrics for these quilts pulled as well.  But progress is slow as I work on other, more demanding projects, like income tax (ugh) and stocking the pantry and freezer.  Tennis weather will be here soon so working on some of these projects is my goal in this rainy weather.  Now, if only my health would improve.  I am suffering from mouth ulcers on my poor tongue and also vertigo?  But, good weather for napping so most afternoons, our house is calm and quiet while the two seniors that live here are comfy on the sofa or in bed for their snooze time.

Finishing up before packing up and closing down.

The time of year when I am very sad.  Sad to be leaving the glorious sunshine in Arizona and heading back to the rainy west coast.  Weather here has been much cooler than normal and lovely for playing tennis and having windows open during the day and not having to run our a/c.
I got my crazy windmill blocks finished by digging through all possible sources of white prints and black fabrics in my scrap box and stash of fabric.  Not much to be found but the reds were easy. Blocks will get trimmed and assembled back at home.  There are 13 so one will be an orphan block or put on the back of the quilt. 

 A couple more of my stargazer blocks are made but the rest are packed somewhere in boxes to be mailed to my WA state address for pickup after I get home.  Fabric weighs a lot so I use the 'if it fits, it ships' boxes to save money on having an overweight suitcase.

Boxes have been taken to the post office.

Plus quilt is ready and packed in those boxes.
A new quilt started that has been a ufo for a couple of years.  It is a Villa Rosa, Portlandia and I have the top completed and ready to take home for quilting.

My green scrap blocks got done for Oh Scrap but having trouble loading the picture onto her site.

And I dug out my container of 'economy' blocks.  These were started many years ago and using scraps.  A good leader and ender project.

And so happy that all my L-7 blocks are made!

That is about all that is going to happen here.  Time to service my machine, extra oil and packaging in a heavy plastic bag so that nothing dries out during the heat of the summer months.  I also bag all my thread and have heard I should pour in some mineral oil?

In like a lion....

The weather here in Mesa started off as a very cool March and it has been wonderful.  At this time last year, the afternoon temps were up to 99 and last week, we were having temps in the mid 60's!  We are warming up now to mid 80's in the afternoon and warm evenings but am hoping that at home, the cold weather will also be warming up to comfortable temperatures by the time we return for the spring and summer months! But, good sewing time!
My Plus quilt got put together.  This was a kit from Connecting Threads and it has sat for a year.  It was very slow sewing, one row at a time once I got it up on the design wall and had to keep checking to make sure I had my pieces in the correct placement.  I modified the pattern which added to the confusion!  But very happy this is on my 'needs quilting' list instead of my 'to do' list.

 And a really simple quilt from Villa Rosa got put together as well.  This is Sheryl and it is a really simple way to use up some fat quarters with background fabric.  I think this will need a border to make it large enough for a Quilt of Valour.

I started playing with half rectangles using some 10" squares and background.  I have a pattern in mind but will see how this goes.  I need to sit in the front of the tv drawing the lines on the back of the background rectangles.
I .

 I dug out my green scraps as yellow greens and light greens are the scrappy colour of the month.  More string piecing planned!

 And another Villa Rosa kit that is called Show Biz.  You have turn your head to see this properly but it has a cat panel in the center and lots of oranges, pinks and purples. 

I  splurged and bought myself a totebag at the tennis tournament.  I could easily have made myself this bag BUT... the fabric is fabulous and not available anywhere.  The gal making the bags said it is impossible to find tennis themed fabric. 

 

 I pulled out a kit I purchased at a quilter's garage sale.  It looked great and had all the pieces cut in it.  BUYER BEWARE!!  I opened it up and yes, there were cut fabrics but all in one length - 6.5" and in black on white and white on black fabrics.  But, it needs 4.5" strips of the same fabrics AND it needs red fabrics in both lengths.  The red was easy for me... but had to really scrounge in my fabric closet for the rest and I don't know if I have enough but will finish it at home where the supply is better.

 But, I did get to try a new ruler that came in my monthly box from Fat Quarter shop and it is quite slick. It is called "mini simple folded corners"

And this is what the finished blocks look like:

I have the binding ready to stitch for the Villa Rosa Show biz along with almost being finished with my L -7 blocks.  They have been my leaders and enders as I have worked on the other projects and almost there!

Another project on my list was to cut the blocks for the Moda Stargazer quilt.  A lot of cutting and each block gets put into a ziplock bag - 20 of them!

I have one block stitched and another one on my design board.  This will end up heading home with me but the cutting is done and that was the complicated part!

My husband had Moh's surgery on his face last week and is recovering but it is a long time just sitting and waiting for each step.

So, I started knitting a scarf.

And I managed to get my Quilter's Planner March block completed.
Down to less than 2 weeks of sewing time left here and weather is warming up plus lots of tennis tournaments happening!  Busy but happy days.