Off to a new home

This quilt has been donated to a charity organization that is helping a family start over again.  I'm hoping that this quilt will give comfort to someone at any time of their life.

So now that this quilt is gone, I guess another one can be made for another needy time.

Cherish your day, cherish your life, cherish your freedom and cherish your country!  My country will ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS be CANADA!

Elbows up, eh!  BABA

Some Good News!

Recently, my friend Darlene and I each donated a couple quilts to a health organization for a silent auction.

For me, this was a test run to see if they would sell and be wanted.  Not everyone is into quilts .... I know, I know .....

Anyway, they all sold and for the highest bidding prices!  Woohoo!

These were the quilts that I donated.

Considering that hubby is using our health system more these days, it was a good cause to donate to.  I will have a couple more for next year.

Regarding hubby, he is falling less these days .... which I'm so happy about.  I didn't know what would await for me when I woke up in the morning.  A physiotherapist is coming to our home once a week to give him exercises to help make his legs and core muscles stronger.  We are just starting to see results.

He is also receiving help from PSW's twice per day now.  It just got to the point where I just couldn't give him the proper care that he needed.  I had to laugh one day when a new PSW came to visit.  He didn't know if it was me or hubby he came to help.  When I told him it was hubby, he said that he could also take care of me at same time.  That is how poorly my health has become.  I'm just so weak and tired these days.

I did make a trip down to Toronto to see a neuro surgeon.  He will be doing a muscle biopsy to help find out what is my problem.  I'm just waiting for a date.  This way, hopefully, an answer will be found and if there is a treatment or not.  I just need to know.

My sister and I will be visiting a few local nursing homes in the coming weeks.  An application for hubby will be submitted so that he can get on to a list for down the road.  If I go into a retirement home, hubby may not be able to come with me as he is on the cusp of a home vs. nursing home.  

We are working with a co-ordinator that makes things happen for us as she knows our goal is to stay in our home for as long as possible.  When my sister and her went to check our home for safety, she saw my quilts and was totally impressed.  I could hear them laughing and asked my sister why?  My sister then showed the lady all the quilts in the bookcase in my bedroom and she said that there were LOTS more in other places in the house!  LOL

So, that was my good news and not so good news ...

Cherish your day, cherish your life, cherish your freedom and cherish your country.  My country will ALWAYS, ALWAYS be CANADA!

Elbows up, eh!

Donation quilt

Here is my donation quilt, finished and ready to go.

Isn't it amazing what a little bit of applique can do to change the look from ordinary to sweet!  Someone will love this quilt.

I'm glad it is done and I can move on to making another one soon.

Quilt details:

Source:  none .... just made up as I went.  I do have a bunch of nine-patch blocks that I try to use up each time making a donation quilt.

Block size:  8-1/2" finished

Quilt Size:  60" x 75"

Started:  January 2024

Finished:  April 2024

Batting:  Hobbs 80/20 

Machine quilted by:  Kathy Wareham

Cherish your day, cherish your life!

Donation top

Do you remember seeing this photo with these blocks?  

Well, this is what has been done so far with them.  The block size went from 6-1/2" unfinished to 9" unfinished with the addition of triangles on the sides.  Applique is being added to the blue squares.  They just didn't look right without the applique.

Hopefully, this will be a finished top by the end of this week and I can add one donation top done this month for the Chookshed Stitchers Challenge.

Cherish your day, cherish your life!

Donation quilts

How lovely to be handing off these quilts for the Women's Shelter in a nearby town.

A baby quilt.

A lap size.  There are more nine patch blocks sitting in a bin that can easily be made into more like this quilt.

My friend Darlene had these in her closet and she gave them to me for the shelter.  Both are lap size.

This quilt has flannel patches on one side and denim on the other, no batting.  Perfect for a boy.

So good to give to others coming from an abusive situation.

Cherish your day, cherish your life!

Quilts for Kids

Another Winding Trails top using the pattern by Karen Griska Quilts.  I'm on a roll making kids quilts.  This will be a donation quilt for a women's shelter in a neighbouring town.  Personally, I think it is ugly .... but a child will love it.  I'm anxious to see this quilted up because a quilt changes once quilted.  My LAer has just finished quilting it and it just needs to be picked up.

Now, this top I love.  Berry Smoothie by Villa Rosa Designs and it also will be going to the same place.  This top used up a chunk of fabric for each block and I will be using this pattern again and again.

While making this top, a second set of blocks were made and all that needs to be done is sew those blocks together to make another top ... and that is what will be done to get those blocks into a top and to the LAer and then to the shelter.

Both of these tops were squirrels ...... LOL.  It's a good thing when those squirrels get completed.

Love it when I'm on a roll ....

Cherish your day, cherish your life!

First UFO off the list!

I'm so happy that this UFO is done!  It nearly got finished at the begging of the new year ..... but I got sick again with another cold and then ..... gasp ..... I broke a front tooth!  Not a good beginning to the new year at all.  So, nothing was done to finish this UFO off until a few days ago as my comfy chair and TV called to me instead.

Not only do I have this top done, but there is a second one almost done too.  Just need to add borders.  That top is laying on the bench (at bottom of photo) and it is the same block but mostly different fabrics.  No photos yet.  These will be donation quilts.

So, a good and not so good beginning to the new year.

Cherish your day, cherish your life!

A Fun Scrappy Quilt

I've been meaning to take photos of a few finished quilts ..... but life keeps getting in the way.

This was a sweet and easy quilt to make and it went together very quickly.  A perfect quilt for donation.  

Can you see the snow in the background of the above photo?  Unless we have a thaw, this snow will be staying until the spring.

Quilt details:

Source:  just starting cutting and placing on the design wall

Block size:  2" x 4" finished

Quilt started:  November 2021

Quilt finished:  October 2022

Quilt size:  54-1/2" x 69-3/4" (top size before quilting, washing and drying: 56-1/4" x 72")

Batting:  Hobbs cotton/poly 80/20

Machine quilted by:  Kathy Wareham

You know .... some squirrels came by to play and before I knew it, a new project!  LOL

I was reading on this blog:  https://saneandcrazy.blogspot.com about her finished quilt and knew that I had to get the pattern going and start making my own quilt too.  The pattern is from Sentimental Stitches called Fragments of Cloth.  If you compare, my version has been changed up a bit.

All the blocks were made mostly from my scraps!  I had to dig into my stash for the last few remaining blocks to get a good variety.  Next up will be to start sewing the rows together.    Was there a dent made in the scrap bins?  Nada .... but in the process, I did get a zippy bag of scraps ready for donation to my guild.  Win-win situation!

  

Not to be outdone, this oldie project is off the shelf and has been worked on.  There will be applique on the top border, but it has to be reduced as it looks too big right now and is overpowering the bottom section.

 

Stuff is getting done, but it is just taking time.

Cherish your day, cherish your life! 

Roses top

After I got back from my Grenada vacation, I actually was at a loss of what to do in my studio.  It seemed that my mojo was still in Grenada.  LOL

The centre of this top was done and three of the borders.  It was on my design wall and I kept looking and looking and looking at it.  My brain kept saying to me "it won't get done if you just keep looking at it".  That did it.  My mojo was back!  This project needed to get finished!  I needed to make one more strip block (because of an oopsie by me) and just get that LAST strip border on.  So, it got done.  Then the assembly started and finally, this top is now a flimsy.

My goal this month is to get this top quilted and hand it over to our QOV representative.  A lady veteran will be the recipient.

What started as a cast off from a guild lady, turned out to be a lovely top.  Amazing what we can accomplish when we set our mind and hands to it.

Have a great day!

Going Modern

At our January meeting of our day guild (Near North Quilter's Guild), the topic was modern quilts.

The baby blanket below is my version of modern quilts.

Lately, my stash has been added to with more modern looking fabrics.  This is what the young are looking for these days.  So, it was time to get onto the band wagon and join in the fun.  That is what quilting is all about.  Experiment and try something different.

This baby blanket will be going to the NICU at our local hospital.

The size is 24-1/2" x 24" and a piece of white flannelette was used as batting.  Simple grid machine quilting.  No binding.  This quilt was birthed (get it?).


In keeping with modern, this is my latest project.  More fun!  :o)

The idea for this quilt came from here.

My squares finish at 5-1/2".  There will be no borders.  All the squares have been cut out and this is what has been sewn together.  Fast.  I do so like that.

Did I mention that this top was fast to do?  Well, looky here:

Before I knew it, this top was done!  

Have a great day!

Under the wire

With just 10 minutes to spare before the ball dropped ending 2014, the last stitches on the binding got done and this quilt was finished:

I didn't make the top ..... I just machine quilted it.  This quilt is going to Victoria's Quilts here in North Bay.  The top was picked up at my night guild quilt meeting in January 2014 and I was darned if it would not be done before the year was out.  Victoria's Quilts are coming back to our night quilt guild tomorrow and it will be handed over to them. 

This quilt has been worked on throughout the year and I'm so glad to have it done.   It was hard to quilt as there is muslin behind each block.  The person who made this quilt used muslin instead of paper to make her pineapple blocks.  That is one reason why it took so long to finish this quilt as I really hated machine quilting it.  The border was easy to do, not the center.  Oh well .... it is done, it is finished. 


That is my goal:  finish

On that note, this tree skirt that has been under my Xmas tree for eon years really needed to be backed with flannelette and sewn together.  Finally, it has happened.

Finished and ready for Xmases to come.  It was done using the birthing method with top stitching all around.  Nothing fancy here ..... I just wanted it to be done.

 

Wildlife have been visiting our backyard lately.   This Pileated Woodpecker got busy tearing apart the suet ball.

We have seeds for feeding deer.  If our winter is going to be harsh, then we will put feed out for them.

Have a great day!

Hearts are going

This is the top that is going tomorrow morning to New Zealand. In my previous post, there is a link to the lady that is collecting heart blocks. I figured by the time my blocks are received, it might be a tad too late to do anything with them .... so that is why I decided to make them into a top to help speed up the quilting process. I hope that whoever receives this quilt finds some comfort during their time of sorrow.

My father worked in the mines for a very short time when my parents were first married. I know that he did not like going underground to work and thankfully he was able to find other work to support his growing family.

Top size: 39-1/2" x 55"

Have a great day!

Gathering hearts

I just read this afternoon about a call for heart blocks to be sent to New Zealand to be made into quilts for the families of the 29 miners that perished this week. All my hearts have been cut out and I am in the process of sewing them onto the 6-1/2" square fabrics. If you are interested, please visit Shirley Goodwin's blog and just scroll down to read all about the Healing Heart blocks. So, my hearts will be going to New Zealand early next week.

Have a great day!

Season of Giving

Do you remember this quilt that I made and sent over to Italy for the 'Thousand Colours' earthquake project? Well, this holiday season the quilts are being handed out to the children living in the towns that were devastated during the earthquake. Go here to read all about the presentation ceremonies and scroll down to read more about the project. This is the season of giving and what a perfect time to give to these children.

Wishing all of you Happy Holidays. Stay safe! :o)

Done is done

With the help of Miss Hanky Panky anchoring me to my chair, threads were popped into the quilt center and the binding sewn on and down ... ... and this quilt is done! :o) Oh happy days, for sure.

..... and since I do the erky jerky stitching so well, included that on the hearts (thus turning a negative into a positive )....

.... and did some stipple with loopies and once washed and dried, it is oh so crinkly and lovely.

Now is the time to send this little quilt off to a wee child in Italy who was affected by the devastating earthquake early this year. All the donated quilts will be given to children in September at the start of their school year.

Pattern source: EQ6 software helped me make this design.

The top finished at 54-1/2" x 63-1/2" and once all quilted up, washed and dried, the quilt is now 50-1/2" x 59-1/2". A loss of 4" all around. Interesting, eh!

Have a great day!

A mission, I am on ...

... to get this quilt done with help (of course) from Ashes!
I tried something fancy .... yuck .... and after unpicking that work, simple is the way to do it. I should have followed the advice from those that commented on my last post; but I really thought I could do something different. My hat is off to those who can do machine quilting without doing the erky jerky movement.

.... had an oopsie moment and after taking a much needed break, corrected this problem and moved on. Just have to do the hearts now and the borders and this quilt will be done.

Have a great day!

Guess what ....

......... I will be doing this weekend! My donation top is finished and batting scraps were pulled out and after some whip stitching together this top is ready for sandwiching and quilting.

My machine quilting will be simple .... I can't do anything fancy as I just don't know where to start. Really, either I just buckle down and do it or take a class.

Have a great weekend!

Borders to go

Only the borders left to do and then this top will be finished and ready for quilting.

These are my fabrics for the borders. Don't you just love that heart fabric!

Have a great day!

Much going on

I can do bright …

While I’m making my 9 patch blocks for the challenge in my previous post, another batch is being made out of bright fabrics that were in my stash. These blocks will be made into a quilt and will be sent to Italy for the children of Abruzzo. So much was lost in their devastating earthquake. If you are interested, you can email Roberta for more information at roberta.sperandio@alice.it I’ve sent blocks and a top to Australia and I can do the same for Italy.

My 9 patch blocks are so easy to do (with many thanks to Bonnie Hunter’s system). I had a bunch of 3-1/2” blocks all ready cut out. All I have to do is just sit and sew. So fast ……..

In the evenings, I have been quilting my Dresden Plates. There are only 3 more plates to do. Most evenings that is what you will see me doing …. that is if Ashes and Hank allow me. They each want to take turns on my lap for a cuddle and a snooze. Now you know why I got my hexagon quilt done up so fast.

….. and in my garden, I have ONE trillium. A beautiful red trillium. What a surprise. It takes between 7 to 10 years before they bloom and that is about the time it and others were planted. This is the only one to survive. If you want to see more trilliums, go to this post.

Have a great day!