What We Are Working On

 We had such a good day at Prayers and Squares yesterday and managed to get quite a lot done. The biggest accomplishment was that Marg finished putting together the sampler we started a few months ago. We were all given a piece of focus fabric and then were asked to pick a quilt block from the Quilters Cache website that began with the first letter of our first name. There were no requirements for the size of the block. It required a lot of thought and improvisation to come up with a layout to get all those blocks together. I think it was a lot of fun. I’m not sure Marg, who did the majority of the work getting it together, would agree. It is currently in 3 sections. Those sections will be quilted and then put together quilt as you go style. And because we had so much fun making blocks for that one, we decided to do it again, only this time we all are making 12 inch blocks using a different focus fabric. Tammy is back to working on the garden themed sampler after using our last meeting to do her sampler blocks. And I’ve been working on a Boston Commons design on Thursdays for the past month or so. It is very close to a finish, so I brought it home to see if I can get it to the finish line this week.

Here at home, because the weather has been so awful, snow and brutal cold, I’ve been spending my time sewing. I finished another quilt using large red half square triangles. And then, because there were lots of 2 1/2 inch strips hanging around here, I started sewing them up and then cutting them into 6 1/2 inch triangles. I had the top done in the space of 4 days. That may be a record.

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

Stay at Home Round Robin, prompt 2

 I want to thank everyone who commented last week about liking the orange in the first round of my quilt. It made me feel so much better about that choice. I was so excited waking up this morning, knowing that the second prompt was today. The prompt was “double", which could have been anything. The first thing I did was put the word “double” into the search function of my EQ8. It gave over 150 results. I started scrolling through them and came up with a few ideas. I wanted to do something complex and fun. But when I started plugging the complex and fun blocks and ideas into my quilt layout, none of them spoke to me. And then I realized that the complex and fun didn’t fit with the rest of the quilt. So I went back to very basics. I decided to do a very simple double four patch. I had some octagons left of the floral fabric that could be trimmed to 2 1/2 inch squares, so I decided to use those as part of the four patches. And then to finish the round off, I did a double stripe. I introduced a wider stripe of tone on tone white, just to calm things down a bit and to give a bit of a break between this round and whatever comes next.I’m happy with it, so far. I’ll link up to this week’s party here

Slow Sunday Stitching

 The Raccoon from the Year in the Woods series is so very close to being finished. I have to add the detail in his legs and then the paws. After that there are some details to finish on the flowers and a few doo dads to add and it’s done. I’m thinking by this time next week I should have the Ferret started. Which also means that I can order the supplies that I need for the next set of 3, which is always a lot of fun, the planning, the organizing, the ordering and the anticipation.

I’ll link up to Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching.

Stay at Home Round Robin 2026

 Our Prayers and Squares group was cancelled today due to copious amounts of white stuff falling from the sky and blowing around making travel anywhere dangerous. So, what’s a girl to do when she can’t go out anywhere?.... Stay home and sew, of course. The first prompt for the round robin was given yesterday, to add hour glass blocks to our centre squares. It took me a while to get it done. First, I measured the centre block wrong. Somehow, I thought it was 24 inches square, so I started sewing with that measurement in mind. I had the borders done, started to pin them to the centre, only to have a big, oh oh moment..... the border was too big. I re-measured only to find that the centre is 21 inches, not 24. There was some ripping and improvising involved to end up with a solution. It doesn’t look as good as I'd hoped and the orange is a bit more overpowering than I thought it would be, but done is better than perfect. I’ll link up to Brenda’s blog, Songbird designs.

Slow Sunday Stitching

 I have managed to get in a lot of slow stitching time this past week. The Raccoon from The Year in the Woods series is starting to get quite the personality. I’m thinking that, if I can continue at this same pace, he might be done in the next couple of weeks and then I can start the Ferret. I have given myself the goal of being able to order supplies for the next 3 animals once I start the Ferret. I think I have decided to substitute a chipmunk from the second Year in the Woods series for the bald eagle. Here’s a link to a picture of the chipmunk. I still have time to decide for sure.

I’ll link up to Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching.

What We’re Working On

 We always have so much fun at our Prayers and Squares group. We all get along so well. There is no gossip, no back biting, none of the problems that seem to plague groups of women. It is wonderful. And the fact that we can get together to make quilts for those who need them just adds icing to an already wonderful time spent together. Beverly took 2 quilts back to her cottage last Thursday and spent the week getting them bound. This Bento Box quilt has a recipient. This one was a true group project. Marg and I cut it and put it into a kit. Pat sewed it together. Janet quilted it and Beverly bound it. The other one that Beverly bound is this coral and aqua beauty. It too was a group project. Helen and her sister put it together. When it came to us it was a bit on the small size so Janet added the 2 borders and then she also quilted it. I think I may have done the layering. And then Beverly did the binding. Pat did the piecing on this next scrap quilt, after Marg and I did the cutting. The white came from yardage, but all the colours came from our 2 1/2 inch strips bags. Beverly is taking this one south with her when she goes home and will layer it and quilt it for us. Pat the dug into our kits shelf and found another quilt to work on. We may need to supplement that shelf soon. It must be starting to get low. And lastly, Marg has been working on the connecting bits for our group quilt. It is looking wonderful. I think the goal is to have 3 sections that can be done quilt as we go style. There’s no hurry on this one. It would be fun to have it around and finished for when the seasonal ladies returned so they can see what it turned into.

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

Stay at Home Round Robin

 It’s the time of year to begin another Round Robin. Starting next week the hosts will be giving prompts for what to add to our centre squares. There will be six different prompts, one per week, and then the reveal. It is a busy time, but so much fun. A great way to pass the winter months, or at least a couple of them. This week we start off by showing our centre squares. Mine is a piece that I was working on last fall in an attempt to finish an English Paper piecing square I’d been working on. I finished it and trimmed it down to have a uniform 1/4 inch edge so I can add the rest of it by machine. It currently measures 24 inches square, which is a nice starting point. I’m going to take it with me to Prayers and Squares tomorrow to find coordinating fabrics. I’ll link up to the Centre Block linky party