What we are working on

 Our prayers and stares group met yesterday, as usual and we got lots done, but most of it was not stages that lent themselves to pictures. However, Pat finished off 2 beautiful quilts that are now in the needing backings and layering stage. This one was made from a kit that we cut and assembled lat spring. We sometimes get together and choose patterns and fabrics and then cut them up into kits that our members can pull from the cupboard and work on. I suspect we need to schedule another cutting day soon. And this one was from fabrics that Pat herself had at home and put together for us. She wishes it to be used for our fundraising this summer. The colours in it are gorgeous!

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

Stay at Home Round Robin finish

 We finished this quilt yesterday, the day before the finish parade. It got its binding on yesterday and its final picture yesterday as well. The sixth and last prompt for this was “quilters choice” which was a great choice. I had hoped that the final prompt would allow me to add a couple of plain borders for the finish, so that is what I did. It pulled it all together very nicely. I did a simple cross hatch quilting design up to the centre block. But because the centre was a bit off sized compared to the rest, I couldn’t continue the cross hatching without risking a lot of pleats and puckers. So I did a very simple large free motion stipple in the centre. It got finished with a diagonal striped binding. This is such a fun way to spend the long winter days. I’ll link up to the finish parade here

Slow Sunday Stitching

 My slow stitching focus continues to be the Bear for the Year in the Woods. I think I’m probably in the range of 60 percent finished with it. I started in on doing more of the bull rushes on the left hand side just to get a bit of a break from all the brown fur. I’ll link up to Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching

What We’re Working On

 We had lots of finishes yesterday. Marg was the binding queen and managed to get 4 quilts bound. Obviously, we do them entirely by machine. Janet also bound one yesterday, for a total of 5 finishes in one afternoon. Yay us!!! I think I’ve posted pictures of these quilts before, but this is them in their finished glory. I also remembered to get a picture of the garden themed quilt that Tammy has been working on. It is so pretty that we are seriously considering adding this to our fundraising this summer. And here at home I was working on going through our stash of green fabrics and sewed up a bunch of exclamation mark blocks. I laid them out yesterday and started sewing the first batch of them together. There are enough to make 2 quilts. They are going to get white one inch finished sashing in between the rows and a white narrow border and a wider green border to finish them.

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

Card Shuffle Progress

 About a year ago I joined a bi-monthly fabric club that gave a selection of Kona solids. I can’t remember exactly how many were in each bundle, at least 12 perhaps even 15. Anyhow, I decided then that I wanted to do a Judy Martin pattern out of her book Stellar Quilts called Card Shuffle. It’s a variation of the Card Trick block using star points in the blocks. I started this quilt a year ago, after receiving the first fat quarter bundle. I picked up the last bundle a week or so ago. I’d had to put the quilt on hold until I was able to get this bundle, and pick up a few additional colours to give a greater variety. Here’s where it was the last time I worked on it, back in November. Since then, I’ve gotten all the star sections made and have started adding more rows. After I finish that bottom corner there are still some borders to add. Then I can think about getting a backing for it and what I am going to do for quilting. I’ll likely do some very simple straight lines following the piecing. I want the stars and the colours to stand out rather than the quilting.

I’ll link up to Wednesday Wait Loss

Slow Sunday Stitching

 I’ve finished the bottom third of the Bear for The Year in the Woods series and have now moved to working on the middle section. I find it easier to keep track of where I am when I break it down into these sections. And somehow the amount left to stitch doesn’t feel as overwhelming when I can’t see the whole thing. I’ll link up to Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching and then go find something to do, likely quilt related, to take my mind off the amount of snow that continues to come down. I am so past ready for winter to be done! Unfortunately, here in Muskoka, it often lasts well into April. We aren’t reliably frost free until the beginning of June....... sigh......

What We Are Working On

 I missed doing a post last week about our group. I didn’t have a lot of pictures to show and the afternoon was spent layering quilts. We did exactly the same thing yesterday. Between Janet and I, we layered 6 quilts. Our group has obviously been very busy. I actually have pictures to show today. Beverly has been up for a couple of weeks from her home in the States. They left green grass to come to Muskoka for snow and an episode of freezing rain leading to power outages. During her couple of weeks here she took home 4 quilts that needed binding and finished them. Janet has been working on this beautiful controlled scrappy quilt for a while now. Yesterday was its turn to be layered and quilted. It will be bound with the large scale floral that is in the blocks. Marg has been working on samplers lately. I think she is hooked on that style of quilt. She finished this one a few weeks ago and I finally got a picture of it. She already has another one started. I’ll link up to Finished, or not, Friday.