Rediscovering

I have made a lot of things in my life. I sew, knit, embroider and crochet. There are a lot of things I have made that I have forgotten about and so it's always nice to come across something years later and "rediscover" that item.

I am currently in England visiting my youngest daughter Ayla and her family. Every once in a while I need a needle and thread and this little needle case comes out. I made it several years ago (probably when everyone else was making needle cases on their blogs) and since she didn't have one, I gave it to her.

I had forgotten about it. It is made of scraps and is a handy little thing.

The felt pieces hold needles and pins.

The little pockets hold whatever one wants. I think there are buttons, a box of pins, more new needles and a seam ripper. 

You never know how handy these are until you need one. Little 2 year old Atticus had a hole in his brand new sock and so I took this out and found what I needed and then mended the sock. It won't get any bigger with little fingers going into it.

Stay safe and remain healthy. Over here people are definitely taking things seriously and they keep their distance from you when going for a walk. Staying safe when no one really knows much about this virus is the smart thing to do.

Little things

I belong to a couple of facebook groups and one of them is knitting in Canada. A while ago there was a post about a hospital in Alberta (I live in Ontario) that wanted baby hats. There was a call out to knitters and there were specific guidelines. I think the number of hats wanted was 400. The yarn that they wanted the hats made from was one I had never used before - Bernat's Softee Baby in colours of Antique White, Gray Marl,  Gray, Mint and Lemon. There was also a pattern given. One ball of yarn made 6-7 hats. The request was mainly for knitters in the Alberta area but I was sure they would accept hats from anywhere provided the specifics were met. 
Well, off I went to purchase the yarn. I ended up making 10 hats and sent them on their way. There was a deadline but that was April and I wanted to finish them quickly. They didn't take long to make - an evening while watching a bit of TV. I enjoyed making them and I was glad that my efforts were appreciated. I do hope they met - or exceeded - their goal.

This is just one of the Gray Marl hats that I made. They aren't very big and the yarn was very soft.

I am now in England for an extended period of time. My youngest daughter, Ayla, gave birth to twin boys on March 13th and I came over to help her out. We are all in self isolation and thankfully, there is a park nearby.

Keep well and I hope this time passes quickly. I have supplies for knitting, sewing and reading so I shall keep busy.

Designs and variations

I follow some facebook groups - knitting and quilting ones mainly. On one quilting post someone wanted photos of the brick quilts they have made. Here are two that I made several years ago.

This one was made for my daughter in 2011. We didn't know if she was having a boy or a girl so I thought these colours covered it. I didn't add any pinks and that was a lucky decision because she had a little boy - Luc. He will be 9 years old in April.

I really like what I did in the border for this brick quilt. It was made for a friend of my daughter-in-law. 

Brick quilts are nice to look at and easy to make. If one has charm squares, just cut them in half. Arrange them any way you like and if you add a solid colour, it adds interest.

Several projects

Variety. They say it's the 'spice of life.' It certainly helps with boredom.

These are my 52 blocks in 52 weeks before I finished the last three. I took this photo to see how they looked altogether and to see if I was missing a block or two.

Although I tried to make eight of everything, I got stuck in yellow for a while. The three just fit right in - one blue, one red and one green. There is a duplicate in orange because, once following the directions, it made two identical blocks. I haven't found a suitable setting for these yet.

This is just the beginning of a Lemon Squeezy (the free pattern is by Lion Brand) blanket. I normally use white with little bright yarns (Bon bons by Lion Brand) but since I had some pastel yarns, I thought I would try navy instead of white.

I'm also working on a small cross stitch but I can't show it since it's for a special someone.

My carnations are still fresh and now - surprise, it's a dual colour. 

Lessening my UFOs for Australia

Years ago I took part in a couple of mystery quilt alongs. I have decided they really aren't for me. I did save the instructions for one of them and after I found out what the finished quilt looked like, I did make it. I'm not really a fan of the quilts I made and have decided that they can be better used by someone else. Therefore, I am sending them to a lady in Australia who is finishing tops into useable quilts, putting quilt squares together to make quilts and is even accepting crocheted granny squares and making blankets out of them.

This is one of the quilts that I will be donating.

I was never a fan of the fabrics and just used what I had on hand when I did this medallion mystery quilt along. I think it was in 2016 that I participated. My how time flies.

This is one that I did as a quilt along. I had intended to finish it for one of the single beds but I had forgotten about it. I took a look at it and decided I probably won't finish it. There are too many open spaces to figure out how to quilt it. I'd much rather see it used by someone who could use it.
Here's my blog post on it.

I had a kit donated to me that was hanging around. I didn't much care for the fabrics. They really weren't my colours. Once I read the instructions, I was to subcut the lengths already cut. The main blocks were 8 inches and the other pieces were 9 inches wide but were to be subcut to 4.25 inches. Well, that would have been a waste of a half inch by the length. Then, I thought I could use my own fabrics for the 4.25 inches and cut the 9 inch lengths in half to 4.5 inches. If I again used my own fabrics for the main blocks, this time as 8.5 inch blocks, I could make two quilts that were similar but different and one would be slightly bigger than the other.

The fabrics in the main blocks were in the kit. The four patches and border were my own fabrics.

These four patches were in the first kit. The main blocks were from my own stash which, as it turns out were from another kit someone donated to me. I didn't much care for the fabrics but they went so well with the four patches I had done. The border fabric was in the second kit so I ended up not using much of my own stash. Now, instead of sending three tops, I ended up sending four - along with a bit of fabric left over from the first quilt I showed.
The person I sent them to has a facebook presence called Oz Comfort Quilts.

If you are at all interested, just check out the facebook site and contact Jan. She can then message you the address as to where to send your donations. She accepts tops, pre-quilted blocks about 11 inches in size (which she trims to 10.5 inches,) crocheted granny squares at 10 rounds or even crocheted and knitted blankets.