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

What We’re Working On

 We had the full complement of our Prayers and Squares ladies present yesterday, so it was a good time to finally do our demonstration of Foundation Paper Piecing. Janet, Barbara and Marg participated. And by the end of the day they had the letters for the Star Trek quilt finished. Pat worked on another quilt which isn’t far enough along for pictures. And Susan worked on the last of the fabric organizing. Sharon was there as well and also worked on a quilt, but no pictures of that one either. So far the finished pieces of the Star Trek quilt look like this. There is one more of the Alpha symbols to finish and then the whole thing can be put together. All of the paper pieced components of this quilt came from the website Fandom in Stitches. I’m hoping to have the top finished by next week so we can then get it layered and ready for quilting. Although thinking of it now, I’m not sure if we have anything that will work for backing. How sad..... We’ll need to go shopping... LOL. Something with stars on it seems like it would be good for it. 

I’ll link up with Finished, or not, Friday

Slow Sunday Stitching

 It was such a lovely day on Friday that my husband and I went on a drive to Minden, about 90 minutes from home to do a bit of fabric refreshing. There is a quilt shop there called Remember Me Quilts and More. It is owned by the loveliest, friendliest lady. I needed border fabrics for the McKenna Ryan Aurora Ridge quilt that is hopefully on the fast track to being finished. And then I wanted some bright and happy fabric that I could semi-fussy cut for a new EPP project. I seem to have renewed my obsession with EPP. It’s a Willyne Hammerstein design from her third book called Flower Power. I’ve gotten a start on the centre stars. I’ve cut them stack and whack style rather than true fussy cutting. I didn’t want any more fabric swiss cheese and I think this will work. There is lots of motion in these, which is what I was hoping for. 

I’ve had to put my Connections project into time out. I’ve run out of 2 inch squares. Originally, the squares came from some of my friends at the London Friendship Quilters Guild, which led to the name Connections. Would any of you reading this be willing to send me a small envelope of 2 inch squares so I can continue this project? Nothing big, perhaps just enough to fit into a regular envelope that can go in the regular mail. That would be so much fun. If so, contact me at caleeshepherd at gmail.com and I’ll send you my address. Don’t leave it in the comments as I likely won’t be able to respond. So many comments now come through as no-reply. Thank you in advance, so much. 

The really big news for here though, for the slow stitching, is that I’ve finished My Tweets. It  is trimmed and waiting on binding. I took it with me to the church on Thursday to spread it out on the big tables to trim it and then laid it out on the floor for a picture. I’m going to bind it in the same fabric as the sashing/border so it won’t look too much different than this when it is done.

Anyhow, it is time to get this day fully started. So I’ll link up to Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching and then get to it.

What we are working on

 I haven’t done one of these posts in a few weeks. Our Prayers and Squares meeting last week was cancelled due to weather and the week before I wasn’t there due to illness. Susan continues to work on getting all our boxes of donated fabric organized and into bins and onto shelves. I think she might be on the last tote box now, unless of course we count the 2 boxes of Christmas themed fabrics. There is one almost finish. It just needs its final blue/grey border added and then it can be layered and quilted. It is likely going to be used as a fund raiser. I’ve been working on more sampler blocks at home. So far this year our small group has given out 7 quilts. As fast as they get done they seem to have people in need to go to. It’s a wonderful ministry.

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

 

Slow Sunday Stitching

 I took the last quilting stitch in My Tweets this past week! The last stitch went into the junction of those three sashing bits. Celebration time! However, it is currently still sitting on the chair in a heap, still in the quilting hoop, waiting to be trimmed and bound. Hopefully I don’t leave it too long. Since finishing that I’ve been rather unfocused and unsure of what to do next. I picked up my Jackrabbit cross stitch, but had a difficult time trying to concentrate on the tiny threads and the counting. I ended up ripping out stitches two different times in his right ear, so I put that aside. Then I went digging looking for an EPP project I started years ago, back in 2019, according to this blog. It’s called Connections. I found the fabrics and the papers and got started on doing some more glue basting. But the biggest thing I’ve been working on this past week is machine quilting an old McKenna Ryan project. I’ve dived in and am doing some free motion quilting on my domestic machine. It’s actually going better than I thought it would. The hand sewing bit comes in on the back. I’m doing it a block at a time and then putting it together quilt as I go style, which involves hand sewing cover strips over the seams on the back, hence the slow stitching part. I really want to get this one done so we can use it as a fund raiser for our Prayers and Squares group this spring/summer. It is the pattern Aurora Ridge.  According to this blog, I started it way back in 2016. I bought the patterns as kits with the fabrics in them. I’m not sure why it got put into cold storage. But anyhow, it is back in production. I have one more block to put together. Pictures to follow in more detail in another post. I’m linking up to Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching

Slow Sunday Stitching

 I have reached a milestone this week. All of the quilting in the bird blocks for My Tweets is now finished. A few nights more work on the sashing and bottom border and it will be ready for trimming and binding. It could very well be finished and up on the wall by the end of March, which has been my goal since I picked this back up. And of course, there is no getting close to finishing one project without thoughts turning to “what’s next?”. I am seriously thinking of getting back and picking up some much neglected English Paper piecing projects that have been packed away in a box that I’ve recently found for years. I’ve gone so far as to order some more papers so that I can get them to a finish. 

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

Stay at Home Round Robin prompt 6

 I’ve been slow this week working on my SAHRR. Unfortunately a virus of some sort got me at the end of last week and I’ve been feeling punk and unwell. No energy for even any hand stitching, let alone sitting at the sewing machine or doing any cutting. It seems to be easing off now, so I was able to get some work done on this project today. The prompt this week was “kites” or something beginning with the initial “K”. Well that was easy. I’d already done some Kites Tails, a pattern found in the Quilter’s Cache site,  in my quilt in a previous round. So I thought do the same, but in a bigger size. And because I wanted this quilt to end up rectangular, I’m just adding them to the top and bottom. I have one row of them almost done. But I’ve hit a bit of an energy wall, so will have to call it quits for today. I’m hoping to have it all put together in time for the reveal link party. In the meantime, I’ll link up to The Darling Dogwood who is hosting the link party this week.

What We’re Working on

 There were only 3 of us at our little group yesterday, so our progress was slower and there is less to show. But there is still stuff being done. We are working on ideas for fundraising, a necessity for supporting the number of quilts we do each year. We have a number of lovely wildlife panels that will work well. This one is ready for its borders. They are all animals found here is Muskoka.  The Great Granny Squares only need 2 more blocks and then it is ready to put together. The sampler in blues and greens that I’ve been working on here at home is finished, except for binding. And I’ve started another, also in blues and greens with the addition of a gold in the blocks. 

These are fun to do and a great way to gradually build quilts in between working on others. Susan has finally made her way through sorting all of our odds and ends of fabrics. She’s sorted it all according to sizes and colours and it makes it so much easier to see what we have and hopefully use it. I may end up starting another of these samplers using purples, as we seem to have a lot of that as well.  I brought a bag of purples home with me so we’ll see what it becomes.

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

 

Stay at Home Round Robin, prompt 5

 This week’s prompt for the round robin was “Quarter Log Cabins”. A block I love to sew and which works really well with what I have so far. I need 20 of them for the idea I have. The finial decision though, will depend on next week’s prompt. I’ve only managed to get 10 of the quarter log cabin blocks made. I ran out of the dark blue fabric, which was cut offs from some backings. But I know there is more of it on a bolt at the church, so I’ll pick it up tomorrow at our Prayers and Squares sewing day. In the meantime, here’s how it looks so far. Final decisions and add ons will happen next week which will be the last prompt. As it is now, it measures 54x54 inches. I would like it to end up longer than it is wide, but that too will need to wait until next week. I’ll link up to Brenda at Songbird Designs who is hosting this week’s SAHRR link up.

Slow Sunday Stitching

 We are currently in the middle of yet another winter storm. The second in a week and it is dumping a fair amount of snow on us. I have no idea how much, but I must say that I am more than ready to be done with winter. In the meantime, there is plenty to do indoors. A few weeks ago I estimated that it would be taking me 2 weeks to do the hand quilting per square of My Tweets. That was a huge overestimate. I’ve actually been doing 2 squares per week. At this rate the hand quilting just might be done by the end of this month. It will certainly be done before the end of winter, which has been my goal. I am really enjoying revisiting each of these blocks as they are quilted, remembering the fun I had choosing the colours, especially for the tails. And also enjoying the feeling of having spring in my lap, if not outside in reality. I’ve been indulging myself in a little more spring dreaming by going through a seed catalogue, getting ready to order my seeds, especially those that need to be started early. But until then, I’ll enjoy the spring flowers and birds in this quilt. I’ll link up to Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching

What We’re Working on

 I haven’t got a lot of pictures of projects this week. We had to cancel our sewing day yesterday due to the storm that came through over night. Laneways had to be plowed out, especially those along highways where the hard working snowplow people left 3 foot high piles along the edges of roads. Not their fault, it’s the hazard of country living. And then, the parking lot of the church hadn’t been plowed out either, making getting in and out a challenge not worth taking. So we all stayed home. No problem, most of us have stuff at home to work on. I spent some time putting my current sampler of blocks from Pat Speth together. The rows are all done. I have to make some more sashing units before I can put the rows together. These are a fast and easy way to get a lovely quilt, making one block at a time. I quite enjoy the process. We had a light green solid in our stash that I’ve used to back the blocks. It shows the quilting quite nicely. It’s ben paired with a print that has the same colour as the solid in it. The print hides the folded under edge that is top stitched necessary for the quilt as you go process.  The other thing I’ve been working on at home, off and on over the last couple of months, is a Great Granny Square quilt. I have 15 out of 20 blocks done. The fabrics for the rest of the blocks are all ready to go together. It’s quite fun and bright and happy This will get set together in the quilt as I go style with 2 inch sashing and cornerstones. There are quite a few fun large scale floral and geometric prints that I can use for the backing. And that’s all from my little corner of the quilting world. I’ll link up to Finished, or not, Friday

Stay at Home Round Robin Prompt 4

 This week’s prompt was a sliced square. When I first read it and saw it I wasn’t sure what to do. It didn’t match up with what I had in mind to go with the stars from the previous prompt. But once I got thinking about it I decided it could work. I took the fabrics that I used in the stars, there was barely enough of the yellow, and cut them into 1 1/2 inch widths and sewed them together and then decided on a 5 1/2 inch square to slice. I trimmed one end of the strip set to a 45 degree angle just to give a consistent starting place for sewing it together. And in no time at all I had 12 sliced squares. With just a sliver of trimming they came to the 6 1/2 inch size I was going for. I am actually happier with the final result than I was with my original idea. The quilt now measures 42 inches square. That was fun and did indeed force me to think outside the box, which is the whole idea behind these SAHRR challenges. I’ll link up to Pieceful Thoughts who is the host for this week’s prompt.

 

Slow Sunday Stitching

 I am continuing on with my push to get the quilting on My Tweets finished. Last week I mentioned that I was guessing it would take a couple of weeks per block. Well, I seem to be going much faster than that. I got 2 blocks finished  and the top border quilted in one week. I just may be able to meet that goal of getting this quilt done this winter. I’m currently halfway through another block which will take it to 6 out of 12 done. I’m doing the sashings and the borders as I go so there won’t be that large job left at the end. Slowly and steadily will get it completed. 

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

What We’re Working on

 We had quite a few finishes yesterday at our Prayers and Squares Meeting. Lots of quilts got their bindings and a few more were either started or made progress on. Janet has been working on this quilt for a few weeks now. She took it home last week to get the binding finished. Once that was done she started another using 5 inch squares.  It is very bright and cheerful. It will have white sashing between the rows and then a very bright and happy border around it. Pat has been working on this lovely quilt at home. She brought it in to get some opinions on size and a sashing colour. She found a purple in our stash that worked really well with it. Marg worked on these next 2 quilts, both of which are quilted and in line for binding.

                                                            

And then these 2 quilts got their binding on. They are now ready to be gifted when the need arrives. 

                                                                  

We are starting to build up a bit of an inventory, which is great, although Susan came in yesterday with requests for 4 different people, which will deplete that inventory somewhat. We’ll keep going though, and keep making quilts.  I’ll link up to Finished or not Friday.