Remember me?

It's been FAR too long, hasn't it?  Partly because I post to Instagram more often when I have something to share - it's so much faster!  Also, we're still going through the longest renovation known to man - or, at least it feels like it!  We started in March, and, after a few weeks of intense tearing out of walls and ceilings, etc. we've come to an almost complete stop.  We are at the mercy of the gas company, and can't move forward until we have a functioning furnace (and we've had a few cool nights this week!  Let's get going folks!)
The side effect of this is - I have no sewing room.  I realize that not everyone has a designated space for sewing, storing fabric, etc. but, until 6 months ago, I had a 10' x 12' room, a large storage closet, and a design wall.  Now, I have a corner of the dining room table, and storage in our unheated enclosed porch.  Not exactly conducive to working on larger projects....  And yet, I'm blessed by having what I have, so don't feel too sorry for me!
Anyway, I have managed to make 2 wedding gift quilts - and I've been doing some small scrappy projects.  A bit of knitting has happened too...
So, here's what I've made - wedding quilt #1 - this couple got married in May, but I just finished the quilt in the wee hours of this morning.  It's an easy make from a pattern online by Christa Watson.

This one was given to a young couple from church at their wedding a few weeks ago - the pattern is called "Lovebirds" and was designed by Leanne Parsons (Devoted Quilter).

And, unfortunately, a member of our congregation lost her mom, and needed a prayer shawl.

                                                                                                                                     

The summer has also been busy with the garden, my two fantastic grandsons, a bit of medical drama, and watching the life cycle of the monarch butterflies as they flit around our milkweed plants!   Life has been (mostly) good!

Linking to Confessions of a Fabric Addict (Can I Get a Whoop-Whoop) and Alicia Quilts (Finished or Not Friday)

It's been a BUSY week!

After almost a month of no sewing action at all, I finally took time to pull out my small machine, cleared off a corner of the dining room table, and pulled together a few quilt tops for the 2019 version of Hands2Help.  Thankfully, the Canadian charity (Victoria's Quilts) this year requested 50" x 70" tops, as opposed to quilts.  It's probably also a good thing that I tend to be easily distracted, because I managed to find several projects that I had started a year or two ago and then abandoned because something more exciting (or necessary) showed up...
So, are you ready for "show and tell"?  First is a quilt that is 100% brand new - I bought all the fabrics 3 weeks ago, and made up this "Warm Wishes" quilt (a former Project Linus quilt pattern).  I tried to find a focus fabric that was gender-neutral - it took me 35 minutes to find this print, and only 5 more to find the 3 solids to go with it.

Next is this "Precious Gems" top - it's a layer cake pattern.  I had all the blocks made up last year, so I only had to sew them together to finish it.
Then there's this "Plus" quilt.  I had cut a lot of the 5" squares last winter when I was making a masculine one for the local hospital Pediatric Critical Care Unit.  However, once I started laying the blocks out, I realized that I needed a LOT more, so I spent a few hours pulling assorted fabrics and cutting squares.  Once the blocks were laid out, the sewing happened pretty quickly!

The next one was almost a freebie - I won a FQ bundle from Art Gallery Fabrics when they introduced their "Indigo and Aster" fabric line.  I chose to use the more masculine fabrics, and supplemented those fabrics with other AG fabrics that I had in my stash - the white fabric is consistent in all of the blocks.

Next up is a "leftover" quilt.  A few years ago, I participated in a mystery quilt, and completed the top, but never got around to quilting it, because I had made it really big!  I ended up removing a few rows, making a "new" top in a great size for completing and donating.  I put the excess section aside, and came across it a few days ago.  The section was too small for a quilt, but I poked around a little, and found 6 more blocks and 2 more that needed to be assembled - so I stitched them up, added them to the original section, and it ended up big enough for another top!
Now I'm all "sewn out" - and I have a few baby boy sweaters to knit / finish up in the next week or two, so the machine will go back into it's corner....  Hopefully it won't be long before it gets called out of retirement!
Linking up to Confessions of a Fabric Addict and Quilting is More Fun Than Housework.
Thanks for stopping by!

It's been a busy month!

I thought that I'd better make an appearance here before you think that I've fallen off the face of the earth....   March has been a very busy month, but not exactly in the way that you'd think....  We've undertaken a HUGE reno project.  Back in the early 70's when this house was built, the gas company was on strike, and so no furnaces or gas services of any kind could be installed.  Consequently, the house had electric baseboard heaters in each room - not a big deal when the monthly electricity bills cost less than a week's worth of groceries for a family.  Now however, the price of hydro has gone up a LOT, and we've been watching the monthly bill get higher every season, it seems.  Come to find out that the insulation is also in need of a major overhaul...  So, we're putting in a furnace, re-insulating the basement walls, and replacing the wiring and some of the windows.
Have you ever put a furnace into an existing house?  No?  It means opening up walls to run ductwork into rooms - and we have 3 levels...  So, everything in our basement, family room and sewing room had to be "evacuated" so that ceilings and interior walls could be removed.  Ductwork and furnace installation started yesterday, and should be done in a week or so.  Insulation, wiring and drywall?  who knows....
All this to say that not much stitching has happened.  I had signed up with Leanne Parsons @devotedquilter to do a QAL of her Medallion Magic pattern.  The fabric is bought, but I have no idea where my pattern is right now.  I also signed up for the 2019 Hands2Help challenge again this year, and managed to make a small quilt with fabric left over from a baby quilt I made 3 years ago, and a few burp pads for one of the charities - Jack's Basket, so they'll be going out in the mail on Monday.

 
 I also did up a few blocks for Kat's block drive for Covered in Love

and finished a pile of blue Raspberry Kiss blocks for Dara @stitchedquiltingco - she'll make them into quilts for families of fallen Canadian police officers.

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I've also been working on some knitting - prayer shawls mostly - and a baby sweater has been started for a baby due in mid-April - I'll share photos when they get finished. 
Linking to Quilting is More Fun Than Housework and Confessions of a Fabric Addict

A quick project.

Two weeks ago, a friend mentioned that her Women's Institute was working to make little quilts and knitted / crocheted afghans for donation to the local Children's Hospital.  They'll wrap a stuffed toy in them, and a book will complete the gift - they'll be given to children when they're admitted.
Even though I'm not an official member of the WI, I sometimes help with projects like this, and offered to make a few little quilts.
I had a few ideas, and cut up some orange and yellow fabrics to make into HST units; I also cut up some of my "Eye Spy" fabrics into little squares to turn into a Plus quilt; and finally, I bought a Grunge Dots mini charm pack to add to a Grunge mini charm pack that I already had. I paired up each of the Grunge fabrics with a Grunge Dots fabric and sewed them into 4 patches, then sewed them into strips, and finally, into a big square.
I had some lightweight batting, and after a bit of a mis-step, assembled 4 little quilts "envelope" style - and they're ready to donate tomorrow!
I think they're kind of cute!  Hopefully the kids will think so too!

Linking up to Needle and Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation, Can I Get a Whoop-whoop at Confessions of a Fabric Addict,  and Oh Scrap! at Quilting is More fun Than Housework.  Thanks for your encouragement!

What I've been up to...

I can't believe that we're already a month into this new year!  I've been really busy, but don't have a lot to show for it....
My sister and I are executors for my dad's estate, and we've been busy working on that - lots of appointments and phone calls, etc - and we aren't done yet, but there's a light at the end of the tunnel!
So, what else have I been doing?  A lot of knitting, mostly.  Our church's craft group provides Prayer Shawls to people in our congregation that are going through rough times - people facing cancer diagnoses, the loss of loved ones, or maybe other significant losses.  Sometimes we have a few shawls in reserve, and sometimes we need to give out a few in a month - like this past month.  Of course, that means that we have to have more shawls made!  I've made 2 in the past few weeks - one has already been gifted, the other is ready to go...  This one will probably go to a man - it's made with a Caron Cake,"plied" with a lightweight dark grey solid yarn.

The second one has already been given to a young woman.

I did manage to get into the sewing room too for an hour here and there, and made up a stack of blue Raspberry Kiss blocks.  As soon as I can find my 12.5" square ruler, I'll trim these up and send them off to B.C. where Dara of Stitched Quilting Co. will assemble these blocks (and others) into quilts that will be delivered to the families of slain Canadian police officers.  

Hoping that they aren't needed very soon!

I found a big box yesterday that looked like it contained some fabric - but it turns out it had 3 or 4 quilts pin-basted and ready to quilt in it, and another 2 tops and a pile of blocks that need to be assembled, so I don't think that I'm going to run out of tasks for a while!

Thanks for dropping by!

Linking up to Quilting is More Fun Than Housework and Confessions of a Fabric Addict