Family times

There are two grandchildren who have birthdays this month - back to back. One is turning 3 on Sunday and the other turns 6 on Monday. Parties quite often take place at my house. Yesterday after school, there was a birthday celebration with a dance party in my basement complete with strobe lights and lots of singing along with the music. All 12 grandchildren who live close by were there - even the youngest one who is just 6 months old. At one point, she was the centre of attention and they all gathered around her.

Family. They all get along - ages 6 months to 10 years. The dance party was a huge success. Missing are the two oldest grandsons (aged 12 and 14) who are in the Maritimes with their mom completing their cross country trip. They will be here in a couple of weeks for a few days and then we can have a photo with all the grandchildren.

An oldie - Four Seasons

It occurred to me that I never got around to photographing my older quilts. I love wall hangings and most of my quilts were made for hanging on the wall, not covering beds. Most of the quilts are either still with me or have been given to family members.

I remember sewing this while my children were in school. I had randomly cut and sewn a couple of blocks by the time they came home for lunch and I asked them if the blocks looked like winter.

I made it in 1985. The navy border is a polyester gabardine fabric. I rarely use black and always try to substitute navy when I can. Most of the fabrics are cotton/polyester broadcloth because that's the only way I could use solid fabrics. Cotton solids were few and far apart and very expensive. I have never been a cotton snob and still have a lot of cotton/polyester fabrics that I use in my quilts. The binding is probably only 1.5" and I just sewed all the fabric scraps together and then cut them to the width I needed. I forgot to look at the back but it's probably a poly/cotton fabric. 

This quilt resides with one of my granddaughters and that's where I saw it when I decided I should take a photo. There are big circles quilted on it and I remember using a big round tray that I had but I can't remember if I hand quilted it or machine quilted it. I must go back and check.

I should remember to take my phone or my camera with me when I visit so I could take more photos of my older quilts.

National Flag Day

Happy Flag Day Canada! 

It was 60 years ago today that Canada adopted it's very own flag. 

We are all proud Canadians no matter where we live.

A few hearts for Valentine's Day

Years ago when my own children were small, I made felt heart pins for them to wear to school on Valentine's Day. Then I made a few for my grandchildren a couple of years ago. This year, I made them for all of the grandchildren who live in Toronto.

The colours are really a lot brighter than this photo shows. I think I made 14 altogether which gave me 3 extras. One grandchild has already misplaced hers so she got to choose another one. My youngest granddaughter is only 2 months old so she didn't need one. Two were orange, two were red, two were mauve and two were pinky/purple. I had some darker purple and some paler pink felt that I used too. They all have safety pins on the back so that they could be pinned on. Tomorrow is the school Valentine celebration because Friday is a PA Day. Monday is Family Day so it gives the teachers a four day weekend. I picked up some chocolate hearts today for all the little ones too.

My Current Project

This is just the latest project I'm quilting. I have a few other things like another hat to knit and a cross stitch project.

Here's a corner of the baby quilt I'm trying to finish. I love the way the stitching/quilting shows up. The scallop looking quilting is from a template that my late friend had made.