Complete Row By Row quilt

My Row by Row quilt is finished, done, complete.

It started out with a few rows. I had this fabric in rainbow colours and thought I could incorporate it in the guitar pick row from Log Cabin Yardage in Pickering, Ont.

The frog block is from Cherished Pieces in Tillsonburg, Ont. It is, like the one above, 12 inches by 27 inches. This year the Row blocks were various sizes.

Hillcrest Home Baking in Floradale, Ont. is where this cute block came from.

The Hobby Horse Quilt Shoppe in Georgetown is where this block was picked up.

These cute birdies, an 18 inch square, is from Quilt Junction in Waterford, Ont.

Here's most of the completed blocks (the empty space is where the final square was placed.) The bottom row still needed the musical notes (it's Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.) The four corners were just filler squares of instruments that I had collected.

Here it is all put together. It just needed a border, be quilted, bound and have a label before bringing it in to a quilt shop to claim my prize.

This is the fabric I used for the border. The tape measure is there so I know how long to make the backing. I found the backing/border fabric when I visited my eldest daughter in British Columbia in March. I knew that the theme was music so I thought this would be perfect. Click on the photo to see how well suited it is.

The piano keys block above is actually a Junior Row kit. I thought little Teemu would enjoy it.

Undercover Quilts and More in Fergus, Ontario offered this block.

Here's a close-up of one of the cute little bees.

This block came from Ibea's Quilting and Crafts in Williams Lake, British Columbia. I love the way the quilting just brings a flat block to life.

Totally complete.

Here I am at Undercover Quilts and More in Fergus, Ontario.

This is my win. I received 25 Henry Glass fat quarters and since I also had the Row By Row square that was designed by the quilt shop, I got a bottle of Best Press and a package of bobbin keepers.

Sneak peak

With the approach of summer, I get geared up for road trips. For four years now I have taken part in the Row by Row Experience. This year's theme is Sew Musical. I had been hesitating this year as to whether or not I should participate but once I heard what the theme was, I was all in. The quilt would be finished and gifted to little Teemu who loves music and has several toy musical instruments. He recently graduated to a big bed so it just seemed appropriate. So that's one reason I have been so quiet on the blog this summer.

Here's one of the rows. It's the regular, or classic, 9 inch by 36 inch (finished) row.

The row above was offered at The Hobby Horse Quilt Shop, in Georgetown, Ontario.

Some of the others are 18 inch squares. The Row by Row team announced that this year the sizes of the 'rows' would be changed to include the 18 inch square, a 12 inch by 27 inch rectangle and a long 54 inch by 6 inch row. I have yet to see the long row offered.

The little birdies above was designed by Quilt Junction in Waterford, Ontario. 

This summer we've had a little visitor in our backyard.

Bunny has made our backyard a tempting home.

We saw one, then two and then a baby one. I think this is the baby one.

Unfortunately, my husband has seen a hawk or falcon around and one landed on our verandah railing less than two feet from him when he was feeding the little sparrows some bread. We haven't seen our little bunnies since. I hope they've just found more fruitful yards to visit.

I'm off now to do more quilting on my current Row by Row quilt.

More bags

A couple of weeks ago the twins had a sleepover. Since I had made the dinosaur drawstring bags for my grandsons in British Columbia, and since the twins were going to be going away for a weekend of camping, I thought that they could use a little drawstring bag of their very own too. They got to choose their own fabric. I have quite a few fat quarters and so I picked several that I thought the little girls would like.

This was the fabric that Severn liked right away. It was a bit more than a fat quarter and I have no idea why I bought it. Perhaps to make a little shirt? Who knows?

At first, Mackenzie chose a fat quarter that had snails and starfish and other creatures on it. I don't know why I had put that in the pile of fabrics for them to choose but that's the one she picked.

But then, she saw this cute doggy fabric. I think I got it from Walmart. I think it is just super cute.

So, I did manage to find the time to sew the bags.

And since I had already made two, fully lined drawstring bags, it didn't take long to complete more.

These are both the same size.

Fully lined and from my stash. This time I had to make a trip out to Fabricland to get more twill tape.

But wait, there's more....

Here's Teemu all ready for his road trip. 

Note the toy drill in his hand?

He got his very own tool bag with leftover fabric from making a pillowcase for his cousin Patric.

There was just enough fabric leftover to make a special bag.

Off he goes...

but wait...

where's the shoes?

Typical boy.

So, now all the little ones over the age of three have their very own drawstring bag.

A new baby quilt

Our youngest daughter's friend had a little girl in April. Since Ayla was visiting us from England, with her little son Atticus, she invited her friend over and we all got to see little Avery Rose.

From left to right: My middle daughter Maili, with Teemu (3) and Esme (1), my youngest daughter Ayla with little Atticus, my youngest son Eric with his baby Wren and my daughter's friend Jen with her newborn daughter, Avery.

In spite of it having been a very busy summer, I did manage to quilt this for little Avery Rose. I finished it earlier this month and since it's now gifted, I can show it to you all.

These days I tend to add an embroidered label on my quilts.

Here's the backing I used. It was in my stash and was just the absolute correct size.

It doesn't take long to embroider a label using Aida cloth. 

I added a little heart and the edges of the label are machine stitched over about a quarter of an inch to make a smooth, clean edge ready for hand stitching onto the back.

At times, it can be hard to think of what to quilt in borders. I quilted stars all around and hearts in the corners of the border. In my little plastic bin that holds all my hand quilting threads, I found cardboard cut-outs of a star and a heart and since the quilt had both in the design, I had a 'eureka' moment. Sometimes things just work out.

Just a little bit of sewing

On my travels this summer around various quilt shops (Row by Row Experience and also a July Shop Hop) , I picked up some cute fabric.

Dinosaur fabric.

These were just fat quarters that one shop had on sale. My two grandsons, who live in British Columbia, are going on a road trip to see the dinosaur exhibit in Drumheller, Alberta. I didn't know what to do with these fabrics but my daughter Laila, their mom, suggested bags.

So, I searched online for instructions on how to make lined, drawstring bags.

There are several tutorials out there and once I watched them and read the instructions, I was on my way.

I have a lot of cotton/polyester broadcloth and so that's what I used for the lining.

I think this darker one is my favourite. I'm really not a dinosaur fan but these two pieces of fabric are just so cute.

I found a brand new package of twill tape in my stash and that's what I used for the drawstring. I opted to sew the ends together instead of just tying them closed.

I decided to line them so that they were a tad stronger. After all, they were going to be used by two very active little boys - aged five and seven. The bags were so much fun to make and oh, so easy. I can now make them in any size. I'm so pleased with how they turned out.

Now I have some repair jobs to do and a quilt backing to put together.

Quilt show - Part 3

I hope you're enjoying the quilt show. I'm having fun reliving viewing all the great works.

Here's a close-up of the quilting in the blank space of the blanket/quilt.

Well, that's it for now. My camera battery died otherwise I would have had a few more photos.

I'm busy putting a quilt together and getting it on the frame. There's other sewing and knitting I'm working on and once it's finished, I'll take a photo.