Raindrops

This was my February binding challenge and so glad it is done and hanging up this month.   It is so bright and cheery and brightens up the corner by the door to our garage.

This quilt started out as a paper bag challenge with our night guild.  There was a fat quarter in the bag and we had to make a quilt from it along with other fabrics from our stash or bought fabric.  Patterns were available each month and the designer had the patterns set for beginner, intermediate and expert.  I can't remember what level I took for each block, but am happy with the result.

This was the fabric in the bag.   Not much left!  When I look at the fabric pattern ..... I see raindrops or balloons ..... but decided that Raindrops was a nice name for my quilt.

I used the fabric to make all the pinwheels and wherever else that I could.

Eventually, I was able to find a matching fabric (darker colour) in a quilt store.   The rest of the fabrics came from my stash.

The darker version was used in all the cornerstones.

This quilt was shown at this month's night guild meeting and the designer happened to be there that night.  She was happy to see what I did with her patterns.

Quilt Details: 

Designer:  Janice Stewart from Northern Lights Quilt Guild

Block size:  12"

Started:  October 2015

Top Finished:  April 2023

Quilt Finished:  February 2024

Quilt Size:  49-1/2" x 70-1/2" (top size before quilting, washing & drying:  53" x 73"

Batting:  Hobbs 80/20

Machine Quilted by:  Kathy Wareham using Aspden Leaf design by Deb Geissier

So, Raindrops is the name of my quilt and that is what we have been experiencing for most of our winter this year.  Then, in the last few days, we have had snow.  Not a lot, but down it came.

Here is a montage of photos from the last few days:

The deer have been busy visiting our front yard and have eaten all the leaves off my euonymus shrub.  The leaves are evergreen and the deer love them.  See the arrow?  Nothing now but sticks sticking through the snow.

Then, this morning, we woke up to this amount of freshly fallen snow.

The thing is .... under all this snow are two more huge euonymus shrubs that the deer ate last winter.  The leaves grew back and are ready for the tasting.  The deer haven't touched these shrubs this year.

Again, this morning, the deer came back but there is nothing to munch on.  Off to the neighbours they went.

Now that hubby is finding it hard to do the snow blowing, I've taken over the task.  We have a small electric snowblower that I can handle and I've been enjoying the chore.  It is like quilting ..... sewing or blowing one row at a time.  Perfect for me!  We do have a monster snowblower sitting in our garage, but it is too powerful for me to handle.  

Cherish your day, cherish your life!

Quilts on display for March!

I'm so happy with my monthly collections and my dream of having different collections has finally come true.  This is what I had planned on doing many, many years ago and as each quilt got made,  I was getting closer and closer to that dream becoming reality.  Each month, the quilts are all changed out and it gives hubby and I something to look at and talk about.  

So, for March, these are the quilts that are on display.  The predominant colours are blue and green.  So, sit back and enjoy!

Cherish your day, cherish your life!

February and March Binding Challenge

Another month and another quilt done for both no-blog Mary and myself.

This is Mary's (before on the left and after with the binding) February quilt:

This is my quilt (more on this in another post):

For March, we have chosen our quilts.

These are Mary's.  Aren't those penguins adorable?   She is going to do these three small mini quilts for her challenge. 

This will be my quilt:

Mary mentioned to me that she is still pulling quilts from her closet and she still has bins in the basement with quilts to bind.  Holy Moly ..... just how many quilts does she have?????  She won't tell me and I'm kinda thinking she is too scared to start counting!  LOL  At least with this challenge, she is getting quilts finished, which is such a good thing for both of us!

Cherish your day, cherish your life!

Oh, those challenges!

February is over and now I can tally up what was done for that month with the Chookshed Stitchers 2024 Challenge and my monthly binding challenge.

February was such a busy month for me outside my studio.  Lots and lots of appointments for hubby and school pick-ups and hosting hubby's 75th birthday.  I'm lucky to have got done more than I thought.  It appeared that I didn't do anything, until I started adding up what I actually did.  Surprised me!  Bonus! 

First off, all of these quilts now have their hanging sleeves and there are no more to be done.  Yeah me!  They are all stored away ready for their turn for display.  While sewing on the sleeves, two quilts didn't have labels!  Oh dear me!  I'm so careful about adding labels always to my quilts and don't understand how two got missed.  That issue has been resolved and everything is up to date.

Then, three rows have now been added to the top and bottom of each of these sections.  Those sections are now ready to go to the next stage of having applique added.  More on this later or maybe a wee bit later.

My binding got added to this quilt.  More about this quilt on a separate post.  What you see is the back of the quilt.  I had one extra block and thought it would look interesting on the back.

One more block got finished on this QAYG (quilt as you go) Log cabin project   I'm doing big stitch hand quilting in the ditch.  Batting was frankenpieced for the new block.  Bonus!

This is what the block looks like from the back.

Then before the clock struck midnight, one more block got sewn .... it just needs to be done as QAYG.  Happy about that as this project has stalled.

Now, for the month of March, #4 has been chosen to work on.  This is what I have assigned for #4:

NICU baby blankets

gift or donation quilts

adult bibs

frankenpiecing batting

QAYG Log Cabin

So, based on the above, hopefully this top for donation will get more progress done on it?

Strips have been cut to make a scrappy bargello quilt and this is my start.  This top will also be a donation quilt and I will just putter away at sewing and cutting up those strips.

Binding will be added to this quilt.

My Log Cabin QAYG will have a few more blocks added to the project.  This block that was finished last night is now pin basted ready for sewing the binding down and big stitch hand quilting.  More batting was frankenpieced!  Another bonus!

Here is the link to others participating in the Chookshed Stitchers 2024 Challenge.

Our winter has been so unusual this year.  Not much snow.  Instead we ave been having rain and then this week we had bouts of hail, rain and thunder and lightening.  You can see the hail in the photo below.  It was bouncing off the patio and hitting our window and startling us.  After the storm, we had really cold temps and a fast freeze and then this coming week, the temps will be nice and warm again.  Bizarre weather.  The way it is going, cottage season will be starting up sooner than normal.

Cherish your day, cherish your life!