Taming the UFO Pile

My goal for the next little while is to tame the UFO pile.  I have made lots of quilts during this COVID-19 pandemic but most of them have been gifts for friends and family.  Now that all those gifts are done, it is time to tackle the UFO's.  First up this week, was borders and backing for the batik Scrappy Trips quilt that I started earlier this year.  I had to purchase the fabrics and then wash them before ironing, cutting and sewing. 

The backing was done with one seam and then I took it to the long arm quilter's house.  She let me know today that the quilting is done so I will pick it up tomorrow.  This one will be donated to our local hospice and will be washed a lot so the binding will be applied by machine...no hand stitching. 

Next up was my Tula Pink 100 blocks Modern Sampler quilt.  We had to move all of the furniture in the living room so that I could lay this monster out on the floor to make the backing. 

It took three widths of fabric for the backing and I found the perfect fabric in my stash for the label.  The turquoise accent piece beside the label matches one of the colours in the backing. I will write the information  about the quilt on the label before it is quilted. 

The London Modern Guild is having a fabric post card exchange so I made my post card this week.  I will put it in the mail this week.  I don't know the person that will be receiving this postcard so I can show you what I made. 

The third UFO of the week was started 3.5 years ago.  I signed up for a broken dishes block swap with Barb at Fun with Barb and the blocks have been in a zip lock bag all this time, waiting for inspiration to hit.  This week, when I was out for a walk, I got thinking about the blocks and an idea came to mind. 

I made four blocks like this:  

I am still figuring out what I will put between the blocks and as a border...stay tuned...this top should be done by next week. I am still contemplating quilting ideas as well.  I bought Jacquie Gering's book Walk 2.0 this week so I may peruse it for inspiration. 

I finished my green facecloth last week and started a new dishcloth --I am using a new pattern this time.  So far, so good.  The pattern is showing up as expected!  I will be doing some more knitting tomorrow for slow Sunday stitching with Kathy and friends. 

We finally had some rain this past week so the gardens are flourishing.  

Finn is getting his hair cut this week so here is a picture of him before the appointment.   Such a cutie!

Take care!

Barn Raising!

Over the course of 16 months in 2018-2019, 10 quilting friends and I made and exchanged 20 neutral blocks each month.  We could use any neutral colours including cream, beige, brown, white, gray and black and each block was to be made using two lights and a dark or two darks and a light. This way, each of us ended up with 320 neutral blocks at the end of the swap.  I divided mine into two piles--1:  white, gray and black and 2: cream, beige and brown, and decided to make two different projects with my blocks.   

I found some yardage of the turquoise fabric in my stash and it determined how big my quilt would be...when it was gone, the quilt top would be done. This is an asymmetric barn raising layout.  I ended up with a lap sized quilt which I may display as a wall hanging...we'll see.  The quilting was a co-operative effort between Julie the long-armer and myself.  She quilted the turquoise strips and I quilted the squares.  Her part has been done since March and I finally did my part this week.  I used black solid for the binding. 

The backing is gray with little turquoise and white triangles on it. The label was put on the back before it was quilted.  You can see the quilting better on the back. 

Now, I will have to figure out what to do with the other pile of neutral squares...

I had 6 blocks leftover from making the Scrappy Trips top that I showed in  the previous post.  I used 4 of them to make this table topper which I quilted this week with concentric squares with golden yellow thread.

I spent several hours this week slow stitching the binding on these two quilts.  The backing for the table topper was in my stash and I'm happy to use up a chunk of it for this quilt. 

I may make another couple of blocks and make another table topper to donate to a fundraiser.  The borders are still not on the Scrappy Trips quilt which will be donated to the hospice...isn't it funny how the project made from the leftovers got finished first???

I have several types of echinacea plants (coneflowers) in my garden and they are all blooming right now.  

Some of the hostas are starting to flower as well. 

I will be doing some knitting tomorrow for Slow Sunday Stitching.  I have just about finished another face cloth this week.  I will link up with Kathy and the other people who like to take things slow on a Sunday tomorrow morning. 

Until next time, have a great week! 

This Week's Projects

The neighbourhood is expanding!  I have 20 houses made now and lots of fabric set aside for more of them.  This will be an ongoing project for a few weeks.  

I also made the June and July blocks for the London Modern Quilt Guild HST block of the month mystery quilt.  There was one block for June and two for July so now I am all caught up until the next block pattern comes out in August.  Each month, we learn how to make HST's in a different way for our block that month. 

I started another knitted facecloth this week...this time with a green variegated yarn.  I did some knitting in the gazebo this afternoon, even though it was hot outside. 

I finished the hexagon lap quilt this week.  My cousin was going to visit her Dad and step-Mother this week and so suddenly, I had a deadline!  In two days, I had it pin basted, quilted and bound. My cousin came and picked it up from my porch and delivered it on Canada Day. They loved their quilt and were very surprised!  I made 4 quilts these past few months for 4 sets of aunts and uncles...the two farm quilts, the blue and gray quilt, and the hexagon quilt. Everyone has their quilts now.  

I quilted this one with red thread in straight lines. 

The front...

And the back, made with leftovers from the front and other black fabrics from my stash. 

These scrappy trips blocks are sewn together now (but not in the picture above!) and I have purchased fabric for borders and the backing.  It is being washed and I will try to get this one ready for quilting next. I have not decided if I will try to quilt this one myself or hire a long armer.   This quilt will be donated to the hospice. 

My husband and I went for a short hike earlier this week and met a couple of new, slow moving, "friends"... a turtle, and snail!

It's amazing what you see when you look down and around as you walk along. 

The flowers in our garden are doing well, thanks to being watered with the hose...we have not had much rain lately. 

Butterfly weed:

Coreopsis:

The Astilbe is about to pop open. 

My daughter finished her cityscape this week...How many of you guessed that this was Chicago?

I will be linking up with Kathy and the other slow stitchers tomorrow.  I hope to do some more knitting tomorrow.  Take care and have a good week. Be kind and wear your mask when near other people. 

Keeping Busy

So, how is everyone doing with their social distancing?  I am trying to stay in the loop with what is happening but I am not watching or listening to the news constantly...too stress inducing!  We have our grand-dog, Finn, with us right now so we have been going for a long walk every morning.  We meet others along the way and everyone stays to their own side of the wide sidewalk and nods as they walk past.  For the rest of the day, I have been reading or knitting or cross stitching or sewing or doing odd jobs around the house. I keep in touch with friends and family via texting or phone calls or FaceTime.  It is very odd to not be able to go out to see them for tea and some stitching and a chat.

I have now finished knitting three cotton dish cloths.   I gave one to my daughter and here are the other two.

I have another pattern for a dish cloth but will need to get some more needles (in a different size) before making it.

I started making a hat this morning--very simple...sewn in the round with stockinette stitch.  Finn likes to stay close by--he does not understand social distancing.

The yarn is quite thick so this is knitting up quickly.  There is no ribbing on this hat so the bottom just rolls up a bit at the edge.  I will borrow a friend's pompom maker after I finish the knitting part.

I have made 20 Scrappy Trips blocks for a lap quilt.  They are up on my design wall, waiting to be sewn together.  I have chosen fabrics from my stash for a 2" border and the binding, and will be quilting this myself with my DSM.

There are plans in the works for more stash busting quilts in my near future.  I am currently sewing on the dining room table as my sidekick, Finn, would not be safe in my sewing room downstairs.  Take care of yourselves.  Keep washing your hands.  Stay connected with your friends and family --isn't it wonderful that we can keep in touch without seeing each other in person??

Weekly Sewing Report

True Confessions:  I started a new project this week.  As I have been cleaning out my sewing storage area, I discovered that I have a large collection of batiks.  They had not all been stored together so I put them in their own (large) bin as I found them here and there around the room.  I decided that I needed to make a batik quilt or two in an effort to use them up.  Pulling out an assortment of blues, greens, golds, oranges, reds and purples, I decided to make Bonnie Hunter's Scrappy Trips pattern.  Here is one of the blocks I have made this week. 

This will be a lap quilt with 20 blocks.  I even found some fabric for the borders in my collection...  So far, I have 7 blocks pieced and the rest of the blocks are started.  I spent some time earlier in the week cutting all the strips I will need.  I have lots of variety!

On the knitting front, I finished my first dish cloth, although I still need to weave the ends in.  I learned how to do this on a Youtube video last night so hope to do that today.

I started a second dish cloth using the same pattern and it is half finished already.  I have taught myself how to "unknit" when I made a mistake.  I'm getting faster at knitting and hope to tackle something more challenging soon. I have some wool and a pattern for a hat.  Here is my second dish cloth:

My husband could not understand how I would knit using circular needles so I gave him a demo one night this week.  He had only seen people knit with straight needles before now.

My daughter has made a bit of progress on her cross stitch feather project.  She does not have much time for stitching right now as she is very busy at work.

The Elgin Piecemakers Guild issued a Music Challenge in the Fall and the projects are due at the March meeting.  We were each given a fat 8th of a black and white music note print which was to appear in our piece in which we were to depict a song.  I picked my song and hatched a plan.  I have been working on this project over the last 6 weeks or so and, this week, finished it off.  I just have the binding left to stitch down by hand.  Here is a sneak peak of the front,

And, here is where I will be stitching today.

Finn will be coming to visit and stay with us for a few weeks soon.  We will be going for lots of walks --my sewing machine time may go down a bit when he is here but I will keep busy with hand work and knitting.

I will be linking up with Kathy's crew of Slow Stitchers on Sunday morning.

Another Quilt Finished!

This was my goal for this past week--to get this quilt to the finish line.  I quilted it over a few evenings and then did the binding yesterday and today, mostly in the car on the way to visit my MIL. My husband and I also managed to get all of our flower pots and window boxes planted over the last couple of days. There are lots more outside jobs to do yet, and they will get done over the next few weeks: weeding the flagstone path, weeding and mulching the gardens, moving some plants...

I really like the backing fabric that I used for this quilt.

The yellow binding looks good on the front and the back.  You can see my cross-hatch quilting in this picture too.

I used Bonnie Hunter's scrappy trips pattern to make this quilt top at a retreat back in March. It is a gift for someone who does not read my blog.  I don't think she even knows I have a blog.

Finn has been keeping my daughter busy.  Now that the nicer weather is here, he likes to go for more walks and just chill outside.

Then, it is time for a nap!

This Icelandic poppy lives in my front garden. 

Here is my progress on my Frank Lloyd Wright counted cross stitch project for this week.  It will look more coherent when I start to add in the outlining.  Isn't it funny that my quilt finish and my counted cross stitch projects are colour co-ordinated???

I will be linking up with Kathy and the gang in the morning for Slow Sunday Stitching.