Slow Sunday Stitching

 My Connections quilt is growing, although not all that fast. But that’s OK, it is, after all, slow stitching. It now measures about 30 x 46 inches. I would like it to be a lap sized quilt that I can use next winter. I’m aiming for somewhere around 48 x 60. So I will keep going and add rows as I get them finished. I have a row and a bit of another one ready to add. But I think I might work in smaller sections before adding them to the main piece It is getting a bit cumbersome to handle. I’ll have to do some measuring of the sections to figure out how many rows to do before adding them. Actually, I don’t need to do that. All I need is another piece the same size as what I’ve already done. The hexagons, triangles and squares are all 1 1/4 inch finished sides. Once again, thank you to all who sent squares so that I could continue with the quilt. 

I’ll link up to Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching and then maybe go do some measuring and figuring.

What we are working on

 We had multiple projects come to a finish yesterday. We have found over the past few years that the quilts we have a hard time keeping up with are those that are needed by men, especially men who are/were very outdoors orientated. So we try to keep some outdoors themed quilts on hand. Most of the time, as soon as we have one of them done, it is gifted out. So our focus lately has been to get more of them done. We also have found that they are the ones that do well for selling as fund raisers. We finished 2 tops and their backings yesterday that will fit either of those uses.  We’ll get them layered next week. We have a couple more of these beautiful animal panels to do. The Star Trek quilt is fully finished, with a fun star themed binding. And then Janet found a partially finished baby quilt in our to-be-worked-on pile and added a couple of borders and then did the quilting to finish it. The borders took it from “meh” to wonderful.

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

Slow Sunday Stitching

 My evenings this past week have been taken up with stitching on Connections. Thank you to those who sent me some of their 2 inch scrap squares. You have increased the connections found in this quilt and enabled me to keep going with it. I’m sure I have enough now to be able to finish it to a reasonable usable size, most likely a lap quilt to perhaps use next winter. It currently measures about 29 inches long by about 42 inches wide. I’m working now on adding the single row to join these 2 sections. After that I’ll likely start a new section and perhaps make the next ones longer. Although, thinking about it again, 60 inches long is a good lap quilt length. I have lots of time before needing to make that decision. For now, it is just fun. 

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

What we’re working on

 This is going to be a very quick post. I only have one photo, of the finished Star Trek top. we didn’t get a lot of sewing done yesterday. Almost as soon as w got to the church at about 1 pm yesterday, the power went out. Marg had a thermos of hot water and some tea brought from her house just down the street and we had a relaxing and fun tea time. When the power wasn’t back on by just before 3, we decided to call it quits and go home. And of course, that’s when the power came back on. In the time between 3 pm and 5:30 pm we layered 7 quilts. The backings all needed to be pressed which is why we couldn’t do them while the power was out.  Anyhow, here’s the Star Trek quilt.  It is one that was layered yesterday. I’ve brought it home and will get it quilted sometime this week. I’ll link up to Finished, or not, Friday

What we are working on

 I have 1 quilt top finish and 2 progress photos to share today. There are quite a few more that are so close. I hope to have photos of those next week. We are hoping to do a mammoth layering session next week. But for today there is this lovely piece that Janet finished on Thursday. The colours in the body of the quilt were chosen based on the colours in the border. And then I have a progress photo of the Star Trek quilt. It is one of those that I hope will be finished by Thursday. It just needs a few more borders added.

Over 10 years ago I started the McKenna Ryan quilt called Aurora Ridge. I pulled it out a couple of months ago and started back in on it. It is now all quilted, free motion on my domestic machine in a quilt as I go style, one block at a time. It is all sewn together now. There is a cover strip left to hand stitch down along the long crosswise seam on the back. And then it will get some borders. This is going to be used as a fund raiser for our Prayers and Squares group. 

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

Stay at Home Round Robin

 Today is the day when those of us who participated in the Stay at Home Round Robin post our finished quilt tops. I had hoped to have the quilting finished as well, but that didn’t happen. Too many other projects got in the way, along with weather preventing getting to the church and a bout of illness too. There are a bunch of quilts that are going to need layering soon, so we will probably do a marathon layering day. But in the meantime, the top is done. I am so happy with it. What a great way to spend the long winter weeks, planning and executing and then looking forward to the next prompt. I hope to be able to participate in this yearly, God willing. The centre block was an old orphan project. All of the fabrics came from my stash or the stash from our Prayers and Squares group. This will end up as a donated quilt to that group. 

I’m linking up to the finished SAHRR parade. There are so many unique quilts there, all based on the same prompts, each one so very different. I have a strong affinity to symmetry, as my quilt very definitely shows. But I am very drawn to the ones in the parade that are asymmetrical. Somehow, I don’t seem to be able to do it, but I do like looking at them. Maybe that will be next year’s challenge to myself, go way outside my comfort zone and do asymmetrical. 

Slow Sunday Stitching

 I’m continuing to work on my two current EPP projects. I have others that are UFOs buried in a bin. At least I know where they are. I’ll likely get back to them at some point, even if it is to combine them with something else. I spent some time earlier this week adding some flattened hexagons to my six point stars for the Willyne Hammerstein pattern Flower Power. And then, because I got responses from my call for 2 inch squares, I’ve spent the rest of the week basting those squares to their papers and stitching more Connections units. Thank you to all of you who responded.It is so much fun to play with someone else’s fabrics. I haven’t touched my cross stitch lately. I’m thinking of picking it back up once the weather warms up and I’m able to stitch outside. Of course being outside actually means inside of a screened tent shelter to provide protection from those nasty biting black fly critters, the one and only down side to living in Muskoka.

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