Wednesday, June 29, 2022

June Binding Challenge

Well ..... no-blog Mary and I met our binding challenge again for June!

She finished her monster quilt!  So, so cute!

Me .... I finished my "Xmas Stars" quilt a few days before the deadline!  I've been cutting it close the past two months and I need to change it up for July.  This only took me a day to do as the quilt is not very large.  More on this quilt on another post.

Our perennial garden has been blooming with different plants the past few weeks.  Here are what was blooming then.  The blooms just come and go so quickly and if I'm not quick for photos, they are done until next year.  Some perennials can be deadheaded to keep blooming and others .... come and go.





DH was telling me this morning that the deer ate our neighbour's hostas.  Ours are still here because of the dryer sheets that were stuck onto sticks and placed around the tulips and hostas and so far .... fingers crossed ....

Cherish your day, cherish your life!

Saturday, June 25, 2022

Churn Dash update for June

Much, much progress has been made on the Churn Dash Challenge that Chookyblue is hosting.  So far, I've met my challenge for the month of June.  Win-win-win! 

All my large 10" and 5" blocks for the challenge are done .... so don't have to worry about meeting those goals anymore.

Now, the sashings are a different story.  For this large quilt, 64 sashings are needed.  When divided by the 4 month challenge, 16 sashings per month are to be appliqued.  For the month of June, my goal of 16 has been met plus an additional 4 sashings for a total of 20!  Win!

See the arrows in  the top left hand corner and just below the big dark blue block in the middle of the second row?  Those are all the 20 sashings that are done.

So, I'm off to a running start and the sashings will be perfect as a take along project to our cottage outings.

When I posted about all the churn dash quilts (see May 23, 2022 post) that I have made so far, this quilt (below) brought up a question of the source of the pattern.  This is my design that was inspired from a photo of the block on Pinterest.  So .... there is no pattern ..... I just saw the scrappy churn dash block and then went from there.  If ever I make another one of this quilt (it has since been gifted), I might do a tutorial on how to make this quilt.  This is a great way to use up scraps and strings ..... and Lordy knows, there are a lot of each in my stash!  LOL

Cherish your day, cherish your life!

Saturday, June 18, 2022

"I Spy ......

..... with my little eye" ...... a finished quilt!  Yeah!


This quilt is heading out to a wee cousin (three times removed for those who follow genealogy).  

There are all kinds of theme fabrics and I can just see her playing the game with her parents and herself alone as well.


It's not often that I show backings, so here is what I did with this one.

I'll have to make up more of these for donation quilts.

Quilt Details:

Started:  November 2021

Finished:  May 2022

Source:  saw a photo or something similar on Pinterest and off I went cutting away.

Block size:  2" x 4" finished

Quilt Size:   55" x 78-1/4" (top size before quilting, washing and drying:  56-1/2" x 79-3/4")

Batting:  Hobbs poly

Machine quilted by:  Kathy Wareham

This is my 7th quilt finished so far this year.  The binding challenge with no-blog Mary is helping both her and I to get our quilts finished.

Oh, happy days are here!

Cherish your day, cherish your life!

Sunday, June 5, 2022

Churn Dash and beyond

Well ..... I'm very pleased with myself ..... am making great progress on the Churn Dash Challenge that Chookyblue (the enabler) has tempted many bloggers to take up.  It all started with the binding challenge that I issued.  While we were zooming she worked on bindings and her Churn Dash quilt was one of them.  Many of us were hooked after seeing her quilt and there was a lot of chatter about doing a sew-along ..... a challenge was issued and viola ....

 

Back in 2008, I had started a Churn Dash quilt but it got shelved.  It was the sashing that bothered me then and after pulling it off the shelf last month, it still bothered me.  So .... plan B came to play and I'm very happy with the new look.

For the next four months we are to make 1/4 of the blocks required.  For the big blocks, 7 blocks are to be made for the month of June.  So far, there are 13 blocks made ...... guess I'm ahead of schedule!  LOL   For me, all the blocks will continue to be made sooner rather than following the plan for each month.  I just want all the blocks and cornerstones finished.  It is the sashings that will take longer to finish up as they all need to be appliqued.  For them, 16 sashings per month need to be completed to make my goal.  Right now, all the pieces are just pinned in place.  Once all the blocks are done, then there will be some switching around of the circles until just the right look comes into play.

At the end of May, it was at this point:

Then, five more large blocks and four more cornerstones were cut out and viola good progress made!  I try to make the blocks in small groups as it goes quicker in the assembly bit. 
These are the fabrics for the next round of large blocks.  
Three more cornerstone blocks ready for trimming and then assembly.  
These are almost the rest of the circles needed for the sashings.  I usually wait until almost the end and then choose what fabric colour is missing and then add them into the mix.

Oh yes, I'm very pleased with this new/old project!  When it has been 14 yrs. since first starting this and then taking it off the shelf this past month, it feels like a brand new project.  See, there is a reason for my UFO's after all!  LOL

A few readers wanted to see photos of our garden.  

This grouping is just outside our patio door.  A hummingbird feeder, a fuchsia and some coleus.

We have so many iris blooming right now.  A lot of them were purchased from a home owner who was clearing out his collection of irises.   Some came with our house when we purchased it.   After these photos were taken, a peach iris and two yellow iris bloomed.  How wonderful they are.  I will try to get a photo in the morning before we get our scheduled heavy rain.  

Those of you wondering how steep our hill is and it goes up about another 24' to our property line.   All those stones and bricks were hauled up the hill by my husband.  He put in a LOT of work and we can now sit back and enjoy the view.  There were semi terraces already established when we bought this house.  He just made them safer and wider to work in.  Before, we were sort of sliding downhill a bit if our foot went in the wrong place.  Dangerous for us older folks.
 
Stop, admire and smell the flowers blooming around you.

Cherish your day, cherish your life!  

Saturday, June 4, 2022

Red Sampler

This is my version of Lori Holt's Red Sampler quilt!   I followed along as best as I could, but then took a turn along the way ..... added an applique sashing and ..... well, my version turned out so different than hers.  I love her version, but love my version too.

While photos were being taken, my next-door neighbour came out and admired my quilt and gave me a few hand claps!  I'll take that as a compliment, but she could have been swatting at the black flies.  It is the start of black fly season and they can be quite nasty.  Our crab apple tree is blooming and how lovely it is!
Our rock garden is starting to spring forth with blooms.  All of my husband's hard work is showing itself off very well.


Here is a close-up of some of the blocks, the machine quilting and my appliqued sashing.  At first, I wasn't sure of the red thread in the quilting, but now love it.
Another finished quilt to add to my red/neutral collection ..... and,  good golly, do I have a lovely collection!  How happy that makes me!  For the month of June and with our July 1 holiday coming up, all my red/neutral quilts will be on display in our home.

Quilt Details:
Pattern Source:  quilt along with Bee in my Bonnet using four of her books.  Farm Girl Vintage, Farm Girl Vintage 2, Vintage Christmas and Great Granny Squared

Block size:  12" and 6" and 3" (those 3" blocks were a tad hard to do)

Started:  April 19, 2021  Started on the day we received our first Covid vaccination.  Might as well         make it a memorable start!
Top Finished:  July 20, 2021
Quilt Finished:  April 24, 2022

Quilt Size:  70-1/4" x 89" (top size before quilting, washing and drying:  73" x 91-1/4")

Batting:  Hobbs 80/20 cotton/poly

Quilted by:  Kathy Wareham using Joyful with Pearls by Christy Dillon of My Creative Stitches

Cherish your day, cherish your life!