What We Are Working on

 We didn't get a whole lot of sewing done in our Prayers and Squares group yesterday. We did get 6 quilts layered though, several of which needed backings sewn. I’ve shown pictures already of the quilts we layered, except for this latest top finish. It is called Cross Creek, a design by Pat Speth. I’ve done 2 more sampler blocks, also designs by Pat Speth. I have a total of six now, almost enough to start on the quilt as I go process on them. Our group has also received a request for a Star Trek themed quilt. I recently discovered this website, called Fandom in Stitches which has all kinds of mostly paper pieced themed designs, including one for the original series Enterprise. I have the back end of the ship finished, which will take the ship to halfway done. There will be lots of other elements added to the quilt before it is finished and ready for gifting. I’ll play with this some more tomorrow and hopefully get the ship finished. I brought 3 of the layered quilts home with me and will begin the quilting process today using my domestic machine and walking foot. 

I’ll link up to Finish, or not, Friday

Stay at Home Round Robin.

 A few years ago I participated in a fun Stay At Home Round Robin, also known as a SAHRR. I had a good time doing it and each week there was a new challenge to add to the quilt. Life over the last few years got really crazy and I didn’t have the time or energy to do another. Until this year, when I decided to join in the fun. For my centre block I’ve chosen an old orphan block which is a very strange size, 14 1/2 inches finished. Part of the fun of the SAHRR is the built in challenges, so why not start off right. This is my centre block. 

Prompt: Make a King’s Crown block/s for your first round OR make blocks that begin with your first initial or my initial (K)! 

So I didn’t want to do a King’s Crown block. I tried it in my Electric quilt software and the blocks overwhelmed the centre. So then I went looking for blocks beginning with my first initial, C, but everything I looked at did the same thing, overwhelmed the centre block. Then I read on someone else’s blog that they went searching on Quilters Cache for ideas. That web site has blocks listed alphabetically by name. How perfect is that? However, nothing under the initial C caught my eye. But when I looked under the initial K, I hit the jackpot. It isn’t a block but a method for making Kites Tail, using any size starting square. I went digging into my 2 1/2 inch squares and found all the blues I could and proceeded to make some kites tail borders. I made the borders first and then figured out what size of strips I needed to add to my centre block to make them fit, and it worked. I love the way it looks. It needs another border beside the Kites Tails, but I think I will wait to do that until I find out what the next prompt is. That way I can adjust to get the size I need. Right now it is the very odd size of 23 inches. The link party for the first round is here.

What We Are Working on

 Today is Thursday again, that seems to come around so fast. We will get together this afternoon to work on more Prayers and Squares quilts. I’ll post pictures of those when I get home. In the meantime, I’ve been working on some here at home too. I have never been a work on just one quilt at a time until it is finished type quilter. I love having options and being able to go from one quilt to another depending on mood and which colours I feel like using. Also, if I run out of something for one quilt, I always have a backup to keep me going. I’ve started a new sampler from  blocks put out by Pat Speth on her Facebook group. I make them as they are posted, this time in blues and greens. So far this year there have been 4. This one will grow slowly as new blocks are released. It will be done quilt as you go with a sashing style as yet to be fully decided. I’m also working on a Great Granny square quilt. This one will have 20 blocks when it is finished, also with sashing and finished quilt as you go style. I’ve a couple of other projects on the go here at home, but I don’t have recent pictures of them. Perhaps next week.

This afternoon we managed a couple of finishes to 2 different scrap quilts. The first is one called Balancing Act, another of Pat Speth’s designs found here. And then Janet finished this one. Barbara has been working on a design of her own. She wanted to feature the landscape fabric in the centre and work with the same colour families doing an outdoorsy type theme. I think she is planning a two inch border in the dark blue to finish it off. That’s it for this week. Next week will be a layering day for sure. Then I can bring some of them home to get quilted.

I’ll link up to Finish, or Not, Friday.

Slow Sunday Stitching

 Kathy, at Kathy’s Quilts who hosts the Sunday Stitching link party, asked if we had any stitching plans for 2025. I hadn’t really thought about it, not seriously. But then I thought I’d better think about it. I have a terrible habit of bouncing from one project to another and therefore not getting things done. Or at least I do with quilting. I seem to be more constant when it comes to cross stitching. But there are some other things I’d like to get done. I’d like to finish all of the animals for A Year In The Woods. The Jackrabbit is the fourth, so quite a way to go on that goal. But, I also have a quilt that is being hand quilted, or at least was being hand quilted until I stalled out on it. I would really like to get that done. And part of me is feeling the slight itch to get back to English Paper Piecing. I’m not going to make concrete goals about what to work on when. Those never seem to last long. But maybe writing it down here will at least bring it more into the front part of my brain to be aware of.  Certainly, the winter is a good time to be doing the hand stitching. I can get it done and keep my feet covered and warm at the same time. There’s a thought.... And the more I think the more I realize that I have a couple of cross stitch projects that were abandoned and need to be finished. I really should get them finished. And then there are a couple more that are finished and just need measuring and framing. I really should get them measured and frames ordered. I have all the framing supplies here to fully finish the first of the animals for the Year in the Woods. I just need to set aside the time and do it. Thinking is so dangerous.....

Anyhow, I did get more done on The Jackrabbit, who now has most of one ear. Now that I have the stitches in his ear in place, I can move on to finishing his face. 

I’ll link up to Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching And then maybe do something about all those thoughts....

What We’re Working on

 We are back at it, or is it still at it? Anyhow, we are working away at more quilts for our Prayers and Squares ministry at the church. It is only the second week in January and we already have 2 quilts going out. This lovely one, all in blues, is for a friend of one of our ladies.  I don’t have a picture of the fully finished quilt, unfortunately. The recipient is having surgery soon. She generously donated a bunch of fabrics to us last year and she is getting some of them back in the form of this quilt. The other quilt going out is for a gentleman, using up some of our wildlife panels. 

And then there are quite a few in progress. We’ve been getting together for an extra day the past couple of weeks in order to try and put some order into our fabric supplies and also to cut up some kits that are easily worked on by our members.  Janet is working on this one from the overflowing 2 1/2 inch strip bin. And I continue to work on quilts at home. The sampler I’ve been doing for the past couple of months is to the binding stage. And then I’m also working on a quilt using earth tones. It is still in need of some borders. Now that the sampler is done, this one might be next in the line up to get finished. There are others in progress as well from the other ladies in our group, but I don’t have photos of them as yet.

I used to link up every week on Wednesdays, when I did a post that is, to a link party called mid week makers. She is no longer hosting link ups, so I’ve been looking around for other link ups. This week I’ll link up to Finish or not Friday. The theme fits, since some quilts will be finished and others not. And it also works well for timing, with our sewing days on Thursdays, which gives me the time and the incentive to get a post written. I am hoping to be more regular about it, both the post writing and especially the picture taking. We’ll see if the intention outlasts January.

Slow Sunday Stitching

 I ended the year 2024’s slow stitching with a finish. All other stitcheries were put on hold while I worked on a new pair of mittens. Somewhere over the course of time since last winter I lost one of the mitts that made up the pair of my old driving mittens, which necessitated the new ones. Hence the rush to get them finished. Here they are, already worn and used a number of times. And since those are finished, I was able to get back to my cross stitching of the Jackrabbit for the series “A Year in the Woods” by Cottage Garden Samplings. He is very cute and also handsome, for a jackrabbit. 

I’ll link up to Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching and then I have to go back to the dreaded task of finishing up some seat cushion covers for one of the school’s class rooms. I was asked to do these several months ago and in a moment of not thinking it through, I said yes. I’ve been putting it off and putting it off and decided that they have to be finished before school is back tomorrow. There were six of them to do. I’ve been working on them since last Monday. I'm about an hour away from finishing the last of them. It has been a week of sewing on nothing but these cushions, at home at least, and I am more than ready to get back to sewing on fun stuff. 

What we’re working on

 The year is finished and our final tally for quilts given away in 2024 is 50. For our little group of at most, 12 ladies, that is an incredible accomplishment. The last couple of quilts for the year are pictured here. The landscape improvisational quilt was made by a lady in our group who is very new to quilting and up until doing this one had not even considered herself a quilter. She started her journey by putting borders onto quilt panels. But I would say we got her in the end and she now qualifies as a quilter. The last quilt to go out used up some fun bird print squares.

 I’m continuing to work on projects here at home. There is a quilt as I go sampler featuring blocks designed by Pat Speth, that is half finished. And another quilt called Cross Creek which is a quilt along from Pat Speth. The pattern is found here.

Our group is in the middle of planning and cutting kits for this year and I think our focus is going to be on using up a mountain of scraps and strips. We have received some very generous donations of fabrics, both yardage and smaller bits which we need to focus on using up. So, be prepared to see a variety of scrap quilts presented here this coming year, in addition to some very lovely wildlife panels. Marg finished this one last Thursday. It will go into the pile that need layering and quilting. And that’s it for now.