July's finished project

Today is July 31st, so that means that I'm supposed to post a picture of my latest finish for the Lovely Year of Finishes - and look at this - I finished my quilt 3 days ago already!  Of course, I just finally took a picture of the quilt....!
This quilt will be going to a person or family that was impacted by the recent flooding in the province of Alberta.  My cousin lives in one of the cities that was inundated with flood waters (and worse), so that brings this disaster a little closer to home.  It's too much of a chance that this quilt will actually end up at David and Aileen's home, but knowing that they'll be getting one of the many being made by quilters across Canada brings some comfort to me and probably David's Ontario family too.
I think that I managed to get all of the quilt into this picture!  It will be going to a quilt shop an hour's drive away - that's the gathering spot for completed quilts - and the quilts will be going directly to Alberta with a TV news person that's here for a few weeks.  He'll be taking all of the donations with him when he heads back home - and I hope that he has a truck full!

A pretty card!

I'm not really sure what's happening to my card-making "desire" - maybe the love of quilts, and the effort and time needed to make one have taken over.  I still love making cards, but I just don't seem to make any anymore - unless I urgently need one for a specific occasion.
Today's card came out of such a situation.  I need a card, to write a note to a friend, and I didn't have anything appropriate in my box of finished cards.  I wasn't sure what I wanted the card to look like either, so I browsed through some of the designs that I have pinned on Pinterest, and this is the result:

I like that is doesn't have (or need) a salutation on it - I could still add one if I wanted, but it's also just fine the way it is.  The colour scheme was based on the colour of the flowers that I had in the cupboard, and the cardstock and floss for the button are nearly perfect colour matches - how often does that happen?  Now, I just have to write the note inside - and it's going to be a difficult one to write - but it needs to be done...

Hopefully my next post will have a happier result!  Thanks for stopping by today!

July half-point check-in

Here we are, 2/3 of the way through July already!  I can't get over how quickly the time is rushing by this year...  The worst part is, I have no idea what's happening to my time - I can't see that the to-do list is getting any shorter!
But, I HAVE accomplished some of my July "Lovely Year of Finishes" project - my last post showed a few blocks and a strip - and today, all of the blocks have been assembled and laid out, and I'm starting to join blocks into rows.  This quilt will be heading to Alberta, for a family that's been devastated by the floods they had there earlier this summer.  As well, I'm hoping to quilt at least one more top that's been gathering dust in my sewing room; I might even send a few tops for assembling there.
So, without further ado - here's my progress so far:

The quilt will be 7 blocks wide, and 8 blocks long (I can't remember the measurements) - I'll have the actual size in the post for the completed quilt.

I also cut the blocks for my Breast Cancer challenge quilt for the Quilt Shoppe in Sarnia - can't show any pics of that yet - and the completed quilt needs to be handed in by Aug. 15th.

I just might have a few pics of sweaters that I'm knitting too - a dear friend is expecting her first great-grandchild in Aug., gender unknown yet, so I'm working on a little girl sweater, and one for a little boy too, just in case. There are also quite a few jars of newly-made jam in the pantry cupboard and more in the freezer - so, I guess I know why there isn't more progress on my quilts to show!

July's "A Lovely Year of Finishes" project and a challenge!

Okay, so I'm later posting this than I thought I'd be, but better late than never, right?
For July's project, I'm doing a quilt that will be donated to a resident / family that's been affected by the flooding in Calgary, Alberta.  My cousin David and his family were among the ones that lost everything, and while I know that a quilt won't "fix" anything, I'm hoping that a quilt might help them to know that people all over Canada care about their circumstances.  I found a really great looking quilt pattern from designer Kim Diehl called "Buttercream Twist" (http://quiltpatterns.s3.amazonaws.com/14/buttercream_twist_free_quilt_pattern_by_kim_diehl.jpg) and pulled some fabrics from my stash to make it.  It's going to be good and scrappy, and I'm sure that there's bound to be a scrappy-quilt lover somewhere in Calgary!  These are two of the fabrics - the rust one is the starting strip, and the gold shows the finished block.

This month I'll be doing the entire quilt - including the quilting and binding, so that it will be ready to give out to someone in need.  I'm hoping to finish quilting at least one more as well.  I also saw a comment on a friend's blog that the My Sewing Room quilt shop is also accepting tops, batting, backing, etc., so I'll send them a few tops too.

In June, I signed up to do a challenge quilt through the Quilt Shoppe in Sarnia - it will be donated to a breast cancer group.  We were all given a fat quarter, and could buy another fabric (on sale!) from a few selected by the shop - and after that, it's up to each quilter what to do with it.  It's supposed to be a lap quilt size, and the completed quilt needs to be handed in by Aug. 15th for judging.  All that I can do right now is show you my two starting fabrics.  

The bottom fabric is the fat quarter that everyone received, and the top one is the fabric I bought.  I have a design in mind, but I really need to get started!  But first, I've got to make some raspberry jam - all the rain that we've had recently has really brought on our berries!