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.

Retreat quilts

This past weekend I was at a quilt retreat. It was just about an hour and a half away. It was a great weekend and productive.

A huge room with wonderful lighting. Large windows too.

I managed to finish putting this 26" X 26" quilt top together. It was a free pattern online that finished at 13" X 13" but that was way too small for me. I am planning on hanging this on my wall just beside the front door so that it will be the first thing you see. I'm not sure whether or not I want to put a border on it or just bind it.

This is the other quilt I was working on. I was just laying out the charm squares. It did get put together but my camera battery died. I shall take a better photo of the finished top. It too is a free pattern online that uses up a whole charm pack of 42 squares.

All in all, a successful weekend. Great company but way too much food.
 

New quilt

I finally had time to get my granddaughter's quilt top done. It will be quilted later this summer. Life just kept getting in the way.

This pattern is called Giraffe Family by Sew Fresh Quilts. I have several of her patterns but this is the first time I have made one.

First of all, my granddaughter likes giraffes - just like her mom. The original quilt is suppose to depict a mom, dad and baby giraffe but I made it to depict my granddaughter and her two older twin sisters. One twin likes blue, the other one has pink as her favourite colour and it just so happens that if you combine the colours, you get purple or mauve and that's her favourite colour.

On a side note, my trusty, faithful, circa 1980s Kenmore sewing machine stopped working and gave me an 'Er' status when I tried to sew. Luckily, I have a couple of back-up machines. I made some burp cloths for my youngest daughter and as I was sewing the flannel corners on my Singer, I bent and broke the neede because it didn't like going through 8 layers. I changed the needle and bang, another bent needle. Change again and the same thing happened. I then gave up on that machine and took the needle out. No sooner did I do that and I put the needle back in. I wanted to take the machine in for repair and this way, I could more easily describe what was wrong with it. My Jenome Jem then finished the job and I am now reading instead of sewing. I know I need a new machine but I have to find a cabinet model and a machine that doesn't have a lot of bells and whistles - features and stitches I won't use much, if at all.

A new baby quilt and baby knits

I belong to two quilt guilds and during the pandemic, the meetings have been online. Both guilds have kits that members can take and make into quilts which are then given to various charities. The quilts vary in size. Even though I had my own quilts to make, I decided to take on a baby quilt. The fabrics in the kit were all bright and it was fun thinking about what pattern I could use for the fabrics.

I quilted it in my new kitchen since I had the room and knew that it wouldn't take too long.

There was enough of the yellow fabric to bind the quilt.

I happened to have some fabric that was perfect for the backing.

This is a little hat that I managed to knit. It didn't turn out as I had hoped.

Here's the latest rainbow blanket. I used a light gray for the background this time and I think it's quite delicate looking.

New quilt

I've had my eldest daughter and her two sons visiting so I haven't been doing much sewing or doing any other needle craft lately. I managed to get a few repair jobs completed after they went home and one day, while they were out visiting, I cut and sewed this little baby quilt.

These fabrics were in a kit that one of my guilds put together for charity. The suggestion was to make either a baby or child's quilt. I stuck with a baby size and this is one of my easy, go-to patterns for a baby quilt. It's a free pattern called Star Bright Quilt from Swim, Bike, Quilt. In the same package was also solid black yardage and another piece with bright prints on a black background. I don't do black and especially not for babies or children. I plan on giving that back when someone comes to collect this quilt after it's been quilted. I am hoping to get it up on the frame soon so I can finish it and get on with other things.

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.

A bit of hand quilting

 I have been busy this week hand quilting a little 48 inch square baby quilt.

I started with a package of charm squares that my daughter picked and she arranged them the way she wanted them to look.

I had some solid cotton that was a perfect colour to frame all the four patches with. When I purchased the fabric, I thought it was gray but the lighting in the store obviously distorted the actual colour.

This was the finished top.

I made the border smaller at three inches to match the sashing instead of five inches that the pattern had. 

This is all I have left to do.

I didn't put much quilting in it. The middle of the four patches will have a heart quilted on it.

I just kept it simple. Once it's bound, I'll take more photos.


That's it for now. Have a lovely week. Our temperatures will be in the double digits for most of the week. With the sun shining, it should warm up the ground and maybe the bulbs will start appearing.

(I noticed when I went to 'Preview' mode that the alignment was off. I try to centre all my little descriptions but if it looks off, it's bloggers fault, not mine.)

I'm linking up with the Needle and Thread Network so pop on over to see what other Canadians are up to.

Works in progress

 I am finding myself switching up what I work on daily.

This is a little baby blanket that I am making for no one in particular. I belong to a Facebook group called Warm Baby Project that is based in the UK. They have offered free baby blanket patterns and they usually have some kind of design knitted right in. The first five patterns were free and this sixth one was only a couple of dollars so I decided to try it. I'm only on row 122 and there are 167 rows altogether. That means I have two more pages to go. Counting is all you have to do since it's just knit and purl.

This is the yarn I'm using. It was on sale somewhere and I thought I would pick it up and use it for some charity knitting.

I have also started a slouch hat. This is on hold right now.

In the sewing department, I'm also working on finishing up this Christmas quilt top. It was a mystery quilt that I started early in December before I left for England. This one is a fused applique project. There is another red and green pieced Christmas mystery quilt that I signed up for too and was working on at the same time but I have left it for now. Too many things to do all at once and I found that some of the fabrics were too close in shading and it was confusing me. I need to concentrate in order to complete it.

My eldest daughter requested some bags just to keep things in. Odds and ends or toys. I have a lot of longish zippers and a lot of these Ikea scraps (that are heavier in weight than cotton) so I thought I would use both to make some bags. After I found these pieces, I noticed that four had already been sewn together. Bonus for me.

And lastly, I have started a baby quilt for one of my daughter's friends who had a little girl in late January. These were charm squares that my daughter arranged in a four patch. She wanted something more modern and neutral in colour for them instead of pink and mauve. The pattern is an easy one called Breezy Charm Quilt and it's a free pattern from Tacy Gray. I had all the fabric put aside before I left for England so I haven't had to hunt around for anything. I shall show you the completed top once it's all put together. Same with the Christmas blue and white one.

We had a bit of snow this past week.

We had some really cold days too.

Some of the snow on the sidewalks melted in the sun and a bit of it came back. On Monday it's supposed to be a high of 3C and Tuesday we should be at 4C so perhaps more of this snow will be gone again.

We are still in lockdown and it has been extended for another two weeks. I don't mind since I'm such a homebody anyway and I have so many projects that I can work on to keep me occupied.

Stay home, stay safe.

My Latest Baby Quilt

I am behind in my grandchildren's quilt making.

My tenth grandchild was born last year on Father's Day. This quilt top was finished before she was born but I finally got around to quilting it. 

I hadn't known how to quilt it and so it wasn't until I had put it on the frame that I knew what I was going to do. 

I had taken a few quilt stencils out - mainly ones that had hearts.

A few close-ups.

It was a lot of fun deciding where to put the different hearts.

Finished quilting and off the frame.

I was undecided as to what binding to put on it. At first, I was going to use one of the rainbow fabrics I had but both my middle daughter and I thought it would be too much and in the end, I went with a mauve.

Sorry the lighting isn't all that good.

I liked putting this whole quilt together. It was a free pattern from Sew Can She. I was thinking of making one or two of her other patterns when I have the time.

I thought the hearts on the label were a nice touch. This is a better photo of the colour of the binding. It's a bit lighter in real life.

Here she is at Christmas. I had a photo of her with the quilt but I somehow misplaced it in one of my photo folders.

I trust everyone is social distancing. I hear that some people still don't have a clue as to what that means - and self isolation. Hopefully, things in this world will revert back to some kind of 'normal' soon.

Small quilt

I have had a charm pack with butterflies on it sitting in a box for quite some time. I finally decided to do something with them.

I started out by laying the charm squares on my flannel board. In my mind I thought I could use the free pattern by Swim Bike Quilt called Star Bright. I left off the top row so it was more of a square.

These are the leftover squares along with some purple fabrics that I was auditioning. 

I had to figure out what to put in the empty area - what fabrics to use.

This is what I came up with. I just have to find fabrics for the four corners. I was also thinking of adding a bit of applique. Once it's put together I'll show you what it looks like.