Completed items and other things

 I'm busy sewing a couple of little dresses for my granddaughters who have birthdays next month exactly two weeks apart. Once I'm finished, I will take a photo.

In the meanwhile, I took some time to finish a few things that have been hanging around.

This is called Chilly's Gift. It is a small (4" X 4") card-sized cross stitch. It was a free design years ago and I thought it wouldn't take long to make. The original colours were red and pink but I changed to colours to suit me. There is supposed to be a charm in between the penguin's hands - hence the 'gift.' I haven't found one yet but once I put it in a card, I will go hunting for the charm. It's been hanging around for quite a number of years and I am glad that I finally decided to finish it.

I bake sweet bread almost once a week for my grandchildren who usually request it. It's a braided loaf with cardamom as flavouring called pulla in Finnish. 

This is what it looked like before I baked it. As an Easter surprise, I added red food colouring and on the top, I added sprinkles instead of sugar. It was an idea my little grandchildren had. I just made two more loaves today. They weren't as big as these because I think the yeast I used was a tad old. Nevertheless, my son said it will all get eaten. He has three little girls. The other loaf went to my daughter who has a little girl and a boy. 

I also managed to finish this sweater. I started it for my little granddaughter last year and since her birthday was coming up, I decided to get it totally done. I only had to finish off the sleeves (I knitted them together) and then sew it all up. I dislike sewing up knitted parts. That's the main reason my knitted items sometimes take years to finish.

Just a close-up of the yarn. It's a cotton chunky yarn that I bought decades ago. I have it in this pink, some beige, some blue and some gray. It was on sale and so far, this is the second sweater that I have made with this yarn. Years ago I made a pullover for my then, teenaged son with the beige. I still have the sweater. I need to make more sweaters to use it all up.

This is my hyacinth that started out with only three blooms but ended up with five. They are now done and planted outside to bloom next year.

About three years ago, on Easter Sunday, we were visited by a bunny rabbit in our backyard.

This little guy has come back again. There are actually two of them that we sighted yesterday morning but they were so quick, we didn't get any photos of the duo. This one camouflaged well.

Sometimes they do visit our neighbour next door (centre of the photo, on the other side of the fence) but they prefer our backyard.

Finished baby quilt

 I did say I would show off this quilt once it was complete.

This shows how I quilted it.

I kept it fairly simple.

I used just parts of some of the quilt stencils I have.

The quilting in the border was just enough.

It's always nice to see the back.

I added hearts to the middle of each block. They don't show up too well on the front because the fabrics are prints.

Another label done on Aida cloth. 

The backing fabric actually has little baby motifs such as baby bottles, rattles and safety pins. (click on the photo to make it bigger.)

I'm now making some dresses for two adorable granddaughters who are turning four next month. Hopefully, I remember to take photos.

Not finished yet

It seems I wasn't finished making masks. Luckily I put my mask fabric all in one place so I didn't need to go and search for anything.

My daughter in BC asked if I could make her two boys more masks since they are still attending a physical school (unlike the children here in Ontario who are all online.)

A few more for my daughter.

And a few for my son-in-law.

I then made some for my grandson in the UK who will be attending Forest School in August. He's only three and is eager to make friends. With Covid, the daycares shut down but things are slowly getting back to some kind of normalcy.

None of these have elastic but I added the elastic when I sent them. This way, the elastic can be cut to size and tied to suit whoever is wearing the mask. It saved me time and this way, the elastic will not be too tight nor too loose.