Cross stitched bookmarks

 Years ago I cross stitched some bookmarks.

This one was a fun one. I need to give it a backing with some interfacing so it's a bit stiffer.

This one was for my eldest daughter but I never gave it to her. It needs to be cleaned and it too needs backing with interfacing. I'm debating on whether to add her married initial and another balloon.

I found this cross stitch bookmark pattern in a book I borrowed from the library. I changed the colours to suit my preferences. It took a long time because it's full coverage and I left it for months.

An oldie

I have to make a few quilts this year but before I started something new, I decided it was time to finish something.

Once, long ago, I have no idea how many years it's been, this pattern took my fancy.

I had, and still have, a lot of green fabrics in my stash.

So, I started this quilt.

The green squares were all done and border around them had been attached. I had also cut all of those little green rectangles. 

The gray fabric was in the plastic bin too but nothing had been cut. 

I didn't think it would take long to put the whole thing together - but I was wrong.

There were 42 blocks.

That's a lot of blocks to add all that gray to - but it got done.

The light blocks are just light green. Here it is all sewn together into a top. I now have an empty bin and this top is folded over a hanger and in the closet waiting to be quilted. The blocks are 14 inches - 13.5 finished. I don't think I'll be adding a border but I may change my mind.

I have a few more bins with partial quilts that I would like to get made into tops at least but they will have to wait a bit more. I need to make a granddaughter or three some quilts. There are also a pair of almost two year old twins that don't have a quilt yet. Oh well, all in good time.

Finally finished some knitting

I have made this chunky knit sweater several times. Once again, I decided to use up some of my yarn to make my twin grandsons some warm pullovers. They live in England so they don't get the cold and snow that we here in Toronto get.

The free pattern for this chunky knit pullover can be found on the Canadian Mary Maxim site.

I'm not keen on sewing up the pieces and so these have been sitting around for a while. The blue one went home with Otis after Christmas and I am about to send this one to his brother Archer. 

My youngest granddaughter needed a new hat and so I knit this for her.

It is such a versatile hat and has a lot of stretch to it so it should fit her for a few years.

Crafty little people

I am fortunate that seven of my grandchildren live within walking distance of me and as a result, five of them attend the same school that my own children went to. Each day I pick up two of my grandchildren from school. Just before Christmas, my four year old granddaughter, Esme, was quite adamant that she was going to show me how to make a snowflake. She had learned how in kindergarten. Well, first of all, she took an 8.5" by 11" piece of paper and folded down one corner to make a triangle and then she cut off the extra so that the piece that was left was a square. Then she showed me how to fold it and cut it. I was impressed with her explanations and directions. It was all very serious business. Here is my product.

Around this same time, one of my seven year old twin granddaughters, Severn, came for a visit with her sisters and brought along a kit that she had made up. We were to make a craft together.

She had everything prepared - I was really quite impressed. We worked together because she had made a kit for herself too and so she showed me the steps.

This is Severn's picture. (sorry for the blurriness but if you click on the photo, you can see the details)

Once again, click on the photo to see the details. This is my craft project. We started out with a green crayon and made three curved lines on the sides - two on one side (sorry, but the lines don't show up well on the black paper.) Then, we added smaller lines to make them look like pine needles. This was all done without me knowing what the end product would look like. The three white balls were to be coloured, and glued under the green curved lines, the snowman could be given arms, a face and clothing and the Christmas tree was glued and decorated any way I wanted. The paper and crayons were all supplied by Severn and the only thing I supplied was the glue. It was fun. I am looking forward to her coming up with more craft ideas and kits.

I must say, my grandchildren are starting out to be lovely crafty little people.

December

 I finished a cowl and won some fabric.

This cowl was knit for a daughter-in-law who celebrated a birthday. Her favourite colour is purple. It's made from double knit washable wool.

This is a slightly better photo of the colours.

I belong to two quilt guilds and the meetings have been online via zoom. I won the three fabrics on the right just for being a member and showing up. The guild guest speaker for November was Jenni Smith who wrote a book on the history of Liberty of London fabrics. One of the quilt shops in Toronto, the Country Clothesline donated 3 groups of fat quarters that night and so the guild had a draw. I was lucky the second time around. I now need a good pattern to use up the Liberty of London fabrics.