Something to look forward to!

Every May I have attend the Mennonite Relief Quilt Auction. It was something I looked forward to every spring and missed it last year due to covid restrictions. It was held online in 2020 and continues to raise money for world relief projects where people are suffering from poverty, conflict, oppression and natural disaster.

This year the quilt auction will again be held online on Saturday May 29th.

This is the quilt that my little sewing group made pre-covid and donated for this year's auction. It is quilt #108 on the program and unimaginatively called "Sampler from Quilt Run".

This quilt was made from the block kits we collected during the 2016 July Shop Hop. We always looked forward to these July adventures, visiting quilt stores and having lunches out together. So fun! Last year it was cancelled and I wonder what will happen this year?  

I love this photo of some of our group members working on the layout during pre-covid days. Notice how helpful Molly is?!?! I haven't seen my friends in more than a year now. I'm hopeful we will get vaccines soon and be able to meet outdoors sometime this summer.

And in the meantime, our efforts to make this sampler quilt will bring us lots of happy memories as we collected the block kits, sewed the blocks, and worked together to raise money for a good cause.

Laundry Basket Mystery Update

I have been keeping up with the daily pattern postings for Edyta's mystery quilt.  If you are sewing along and not looking ahead, you might not want to keep reading this as there are mystery spoilers in this post!

Here are my  blocks from step # 7 and #8. I know these blocks as  "shaded four patch blocks". 

Because there are a lot of bias seams in this block, I always gently finger press each seam and then use a "wooden iron" or a seam roller before putting the iron on it. They have been coming out the perfect size!

For step #9 I decided to use the Companion Angle ruler which I think is one of my favourite and most versatile rulers. So I checked with Mr. Google on the math for Companion Angle ruler for the step #9 QSTs, and a link to my blog came up at the bottom of the first page! That made me laugh out loud! (It's a post from 2014 - click here to see that.) 

**Note to self** - the finished size of your QST block (in this case 4") is on the side of the ruler, and the strip size you should cut is in the middle (in this case 2.5"). 

So yes... I do love this ruler and enjoyed making these QST blocks in a jiffy!

Today we'll be making flying geese and I'll be using this ruler again in combination with the EZ angle ruler.

Design Wall Monday

We are half way through the Laundry Basket mystery quilt and it has been lots of fun. Every day for 2 weeks a new block pattern is posted. I am using up older, less loved fabrics and enjoying cutting and sewing with different fabric combinations each day.

These larger HSTs are from day #4. I made 8 of 2 different fabric combinations. 

Here are the blocks from step #1 to #5 on the design wall. We have sewed a total of 84 blocks so far.

Day #5 and #6 both included sewing smaller HST blocks. These are broken dishes blocks from day #6, again using 2 different fabric combinations.

Now I am putting these blocks away to clear the design wall for 6 more days of block sewing this week. They will wait patiently in a  recycled spinach container until all the blocks are completed. 

Hop over to Laundry Basket Quilts to see what we are sewing today!

Linking up to Design Wall Monday

Slow Sunday Stitching

Welcome to the weekly link up of hand stitched projects! Thank you for dropping by today and taking a look at what the stitchers are making.

I have been doing my favourite type of hand stitching this weekend - binding. The weather has been good enough to sit outside for stitching and I have been thoroughly enjoying that!

Our latest "state of emergency and shutdown" in Ontario started on April 3rd and was extended this week until June 2nd. Our hospitals are overwhelmed past capacity with Covid patients due to more easily transmitted variants, and our vaccine rollout is very slow. So there is nothing else to do but stitch and go for walks to see what is blooming. Thankfully the weather has been good and we can soon plant gardens.

Today I will be trying to fix the knitting error I made last week. What will you be hand stitching today? Link up your blog post below and join the hand stitching party!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Machine Quilting

On Monday I posted a photo of my quilt top for the Sister's Scrap Challenge. It has a lot of small pieces in it and I thought it needed to be heavily quilted to keep it flat.

I decided to quilt wavy lines on the diagonal with occasional loops, and circles around these fussy cut firework looking scraps. It's a fun quilting idea and I am enjoying the process.

No matter how hard you try to space the scraps, it is inevitable that there will be 2 of the exact same scraps ending up side by side. See the silver on white pieces... right close to each other.  I remind myself that "random" does not mean "equally spaced", but seriously why didn't I notice that when I was sewing the quilt top together?!?!

This is one of my favourite blocks in the quilt - a cute little ohio star. I quilted a little loop in the centre of the star. And the selvage edge beside the star says "Fabricville"... love it!

It has been fun to machine quilt this scrap collection. There are so many cute little pieces, such as the cat face on the red square - can you see her?

I better get quilting - this quilt has to be finished by the end of tomorrow to submit the photo before the deadline. I'm cutting it close!

Linking up to Free Motion Mavericks

A new project!

I have no self control.

There, I said it.

I started another project even though I am in the thick of trying to finish a quilt with a deadline of Saturday.

But in my own defense...

*it's a mystery quilt (which I love) 

*it's a pattern by Edyta Sitar (whose quilts I love) 

*it's scrappy (which I adore) 

*the blocks are all 4.5" (small blocks are my fave)

*the post promised "12 days of fun" (which I need). 

So I'm sure you can understand why I had to start cutting and sewing!

Here are the blocks from the first 2 steps.

28 blocks down, and 197 to go!

Join the fun... block #1 can be found here!

Quilt top on the design wall!

This weekend's sewing time was focused on finishing the Sister's Scrap Challenge quilt top. Just look at all of these seams to press... there's a lot of piecing in this project! This is how it looks on the wrong side.

Here is the quilt top from the right side. The green 4 patches on the corners are a little heavy handed, but that's what we're going with. I think it looks interesting and has a lot of movement. I'm thinking of quilting some wavy lines on the diagonal.

But first, the quilt has to be pin basted... that is well under way.

Linking up to Design Wall Monday

Slow Sunday Stitching

Happy Slow Sunday Stitching and Happy Mother's Day! We won't be spending mother's day like we have in the past since we are still trudging through our 3rd lockdown. There will be no family gatherings or special meals together.

But I will be able to see my Mom and I am so thankful for that. I will bring her flowers and blow her kisses from the doorway or have a little socially distant visit in the garage if it's not too cold.

I do hope you will be able to celebrate your mother today by visiting her, or talking with her on the phone or zoom. And if your mother has passed you can still honour and remember her today as you spend some time hand stitching.

I was finally able to locate the pattern for the embroidered girl on my March placemat. The pattern was posted on the Feeling Stitchy blog in 2012 and is called "little lemon slice".  You can still download the free pattern here. So cute!

This week I discovered a major error in my knitting. Somehow I missed a row and had to unravel back to where the needle is. It is quite  discouraging to undo so many stitches, but it had to be done since the top part of the cloth would be backwards. Oh well, I still have time to finish this for father's day in June, so that's what I'll be working on today...unravelling!

What are you hand stitching today? Please link up your blog or instagram post and share your projects with us.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Scrappy Saturday

Red is the colour for May at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. I got out this pile of triangles from a quilty friend, and broke open a charm pack to play with. What am I making? I don't know! After taking Cheryl's class last month I was reminded of the importance of play and how much I miss that feeling of freedom and lack of stress. 

I started sewing the red triangles to the charm squares. This is what developed. A charm square plus 2 red triangles provided the fabric for 4 baby triangles and 4 squares, which became these little butterfly looking blocks. Is there a name for these?

And this is where things are this morning.The pile of blocks is growing and I am having fun playing with the Canadian themed fabrics! These blocks will be incorporated somehow into my May Table Scraps project.

Linking up to the weekly scrap party at Angela's

A New Mystery

Next week a new mystery is starting! Edyta Sitar is hosting a 2 week mystery that promises to be "12 days of non stop fun". I need that! It is perfect timing for me since we will be in the last 2 weeks (of 7 weeks) in our third lockdown... it will get me through to the end of this marathon 3rd wave of covid. Hopefully more vaccines will have arrived in Canada during May and there will be some hope for our communities to recover.

The description and fabric requirements are here and further information is here. The blocks will be 4.5" ... so FUN!

As I have been doing since the beginning of the pandemic, I am using what I have on hand. My guild friend Lesley gave me a stack of fat quarters and I added some from my stash to make this collection for the mystery. I might add in more darks to make it less like a red quilt. The yardage on the left will be for the light borders as it seems we need 3.5 yards of light fabric for borders and extra lights (maybe for sashing?)

The fun starts on Monday May 10th so you have time to gather some fabrics.

Who's in?!?! 

Design Wall Monday

Some major sewing progress went on over the weekend and the centre of my Sister's Scrap Challenge is sewn together. It was a struggle because I am worn down from the isolation during our 3rd provincial lockdown/stay at home order. My brain isn't quite firing on all cylinders, but spring weather is on the way, we are half way through this covid lockdown, and hopefully I will be allowed to see some friends before the month of May is over.

I used a piece of every scrap that was mailed to me in the scrap bag and attached each scrap to background fabric. It was an unfortunate background choice and I wish I would have picked a white or cream fabric but didn't have the yardage on hand. However this is for a challenge and I certainly did challenge myself!

I do like some parts of the quilt... like this tiny Ohio star that finishes at 1.5" and I enjoyed including this selvage edge that came in the scrap bag.

There are now 2 borders to attach. One border will have corners using the 4 patch units that I wasn't sure what to do with. I think they'll make a nice frame. And the last border is the background fabric to make the quilt a bit bigger.

It is my May goal to add the 2 borders, machine quilt and hand bind this project. Linking up to One Monthly Goal and Design Wall Monday.

Slow Sunday Stitching

Welcome to the weekly hand stitching party! It's time to get out your stitching project, a cup of your favourite beverage, and enjoy some relaxation.

Some Covid Humour

My friend Celeste told me it is 'World Laughter Day". We could sure use more laughter these days as we are half way through (hopefully!) our 3rd lockdown. After a year of covid we are in a worst state than ever here in Ontario, so we need some relief and a good belly laugh is almost as good as some slow stitching time!

Covid Weekends

We are staying "safe at home" and waiting for time to pass until we can get some vaccines. My parents who are in their 80s and are the first group to be vaccinated have received their first vaccines and are hoping to get their second ones in July. 

Ontario Covid cases

Scary times.

What else is there to do but stitch the time away?

I have been repairing my granddog's bed. He likes to eat fabric, so I hand stitched the hole closed and sewed a new bed cover yesterday. This Kong dog bed is supposed to be tough and durable, but Max can and will chew through anything.  At least he keeps us entertained while we wait to see what will happen with covid.

What are you hand stitching today? Tell us a joke and/or show us what you are hand stitching and cheer us up. We hope you will link up your blog post below and share your project with us.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Design Wall Tuesday

Nothing is on the design wall that is in the design stage right now. I have my 4 placemats on the design wall to cheer me up (January pink, February yellow, March green and April blue).

My Sister's Scrap Challenge was on the design wall, but I really don't like it, so I can't look at it right now. It just reflects the state of the covid crisis in Ontario - it's a hot mess. The vaccine rollout here has been disorganized and painfully slow. It is causing crisis, conflict and death. I have a dear friend (since high school) in the ICU unconscious since Friday. She didn't qualify for a vaccine since she is not in a "high risk group". She got covid from her Mom who did have her first  vaccine and is also in hospital. No one will get a second vaccine until mid summer. It's an unbelievable national health crisis.

I will do lots of hand stitching this week to just stay calm and grounded.

Slow Sunday Stitching

Welcome to Slow Sunday Stitching where we celebrate the art of creating things with our hands. Any hand stitching activity is welcome here :)

I did some hand stitching yesterday to finish up my April placemat challenge (you can read about it here). Isn't that a pretty backing fabric?

This week I also put a few more stitches into the Kawandi I started last fall in a class with Sujata Shah. I am enjoying hand stitching with the perle cotton threads. Soon I will need to review my class notes to figure out how to finish the centre. Today I will work on adding the 3rd round of scraps.

What are you hand stitching today? We hope you will link up your blog post below and show us what you are working on.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

April Challenge

My goal for 2021 is to create a placemat each month which combines the RSC colour of the month (which is blue for April), the Table Scraps Challenge, and includes some miniature blocks. April's placemat is a celebration of blue Ohio Star block variations.

These are the larger 6" star variation blocks. These blocks are made with leftover HSTs from my Mosaic Mystery.

And I made 3 sweet little 2" star blocks. Working with miniature blocks really makes my heart sing! 

I set the mini stars on point and placed them in the centre of the design. The machine quilting is a very simple stitch in the ditch, and a single wavy line in the outside border.

The finished size of the placemat is 17" x 14".

Linking to the Table Scraps Challenge, the RSC party and the mini quilters over at the Constant Quilter

Online Class

I attended my second online quilting class this week.

The class was called "Traditional Variations" taught be Cheryl Arkinson. It was a wonderful day exploring creative ways to make traditional blocks. I played with friendship star variations and these are the blocks I sewed during the class.

Cheryl gave us so many ideas to run with and it was a day of cutting and sewing and trying new things. For example these are friendship stars made with curves instead of HST blocks. 

I'm going to make a few more blocks and turn this collection into a backing for my 21 Stars quilt.

What I discovered when playing was that one idea sparks another idea (and more scraps) and it was so FUN! Remember when we used to play as children just for the sake of having fun? As adults we think everything has to be purposeful and goal focused. Especially during covid there have been so few opportunities to play and have fun with our  friends. This class was a great reminder to enjoy the benefits of play - it's good for your health and we all need to be as healthy as we can during this pandemic. Hence... we need to play more!! I'm so grateful for this reminder!

You can read more about Cheryl and the workshops she offers here and can read her blog here.

New Project - Step #5

I'm starting to feel the time pressure with this challenge quilt because the deadline to become a finished quilt for the Scrap Sister's Challenge is May 15.

The next decision was what to do with the many green strips in the envelope. Having no other ideas at the time, I just made a stack of 4 patch blocks.

Now I need to figure out how to integrate them into this quilt. 

I don't know... sprinkle them around the quilt? Use them as sashing? There aren't enough to go around the quilt for a border, but maybe partial borders?

I will ask the quilt and see what she says!