Knit? Crochet?

Want some yarn?

Yarn Canada has "started what will hopefully be a yearly event of giving yarn to individuals and groups who knit or crochet for good causes.

[They are] giving away $2000 worth of yarn and are hoping to get as many applicants as possible to ensure it goes to whoever it will have the maximum impact."

The contest is open to Canadians and Americans and you can win yarn for yourself or for your group. Many of us knit or crochet for charities. 


One such good cause that has been dear to my heart lately is Octopus for Preemies.
This is a worldwide group with many countries participating. The octopuses are made for premature babies who start off their lives in incubators. The tentacles of the octopus resembles the umbilical cord and doctors and nurses have found that it calms the babies and their little hands hold the tentacles instead of getting caught up in all the tubes that they are hooked up to.

Each country has a facebook group you can join and there are very strict rules for making the octopus. There has to be in order for the babies to be safe. Once an octopus is made, it gets sent to a co-ordinator who checks it over to make sure that it is tightly made and that the tentacles are within the prescribed length. If the octopus passes, it gets washed, bagged with instructions for the new parents and then given to a participating NICU. Not all hospitals are on board with this.

Here's a photo of my little grandson Atticus and the octopus he got from the hospital. He is sleeping on a heart that I knit for him.

Here's the link for you to enter:  https://www.yarncanada.ca/for-good

I was approached by Yarn Canada to see if I was willing to do a blog post about this.

A link to more information on the effect of octopuses on preemies.

https://www.todaysparent.com/blogs/the-reason-this-hospital-is-giving-preemies-stuffed-octopuses/

Here's a link to the countries participating if you wish to join or get more information.

http://mynomadhome.com/the-octopus-for-a-preemie-project-a-list-of-countries-and-their-websites/

Quilt Show - Part five

Well, we have now come to the final few photos. 

This could work in so many ways. You could personalize it to anyone or anything and you could certainly use any colour.

This would make a great scrap quilt. The floral rectangle is bordered on two sides with a green strip to make the block a square. Them just flip the blocks and you have a quilt that looks complicated but is oh so easy to make. These were pre-cut kits that the guild was handing out to people willing to sew the top together. I made one in blues for the guild. I wish I had taken a photo of it.

That's it, that's all.

Quilt Show - Part four

My apologies for not posting these earlier. Life just got in the way. So, here now are more photos of the quilt show. I hope you enjoy them.

One of my all time favourite patterns - the nine patch. Set on point, it becomes an Irish chain.

I wish the delicate colours showed up better. It was a lovely pastel quilt.

This one won a viewer's choice prize.

Just a couple of close-ups.

I always find that the beautifully done applique takes a back seat to all the heavy quilting. My eye first sees the quilting and then the applique. It should be the other way around. Those are my own observations.

Here's a close-up of the hand quilting.

Loads of printed fabrics, cut up and sewn together. It all works.

Here's the border. It too was hand quilted.

This was my second Row by Row quilt.

I hand quilted this over the summer and won another 25 fat quarters. I also received a bonus gift from the Threads That Bind quilt store.

There are still a few more quilts. I'll post them soon. I'm tired and I hope I didn't make any errors.