Quilting and other Things

Oops!  Forgot to post the completed list for June.   I did get Milkweed 3 done in time for show n tell at our Guild meeting at the beginning of the month.  It is now hanging in the entrance way  The quilting was inspired by a fern in a bunch of flowers I had bought for myself.  I took it downstairs and had it sitting near the sewing machine while I quilted.  This wallhanging has a facing rather than binding. The other goal for June was to finish my Cherrywood challenge quilt for the Diana Challenge.  I was making good progress when Cherrywood announced an extension to Dec 31 due to the COVID 19 pandemic.  I finished the step I was working on, washed the piece to get the washout marker out and ironed it.  Its now ready for the pieces to be appliqued on but I've paused to consider if I want to make any changes since I have extra time.  I'll get going on the centre as that won't change.  Maybe by the time that's done, I'll have de...

My first quilting goal is to get my Cherry wood challenge quilt made and submit the picture.  I have a design I think I should be able to complete easily in the month.  I've made a couple of samples of one part out of other material to ensure I know how to do it with the actual material so I think I'm ready to begin.   The second goal is to quilt my Milkweed 3 quilt and get a start on the final winter milkweed quilt.  I have photos selected to base the winter quilt on, I just need to decide how I'm blending them.  I finished the top yesterday and sandwiched it so its ready to quilt this week.  We are having a virtual guild meeting on Thursday so it would be nice to have it quilted by then.  Its about 20 X 30 so not a big wall hanging.   I'm thrilled with the amount of progress over the last few days with this piece.  I'm also loving how its come together.  It was so nice to be chatting with the ladies at Elaine's virtual retrea...

May was a good month quilt wise.  I had three things that I wanted to accomplish.  The first was my mini quilt swap project, the second was my Milkweed 3 piece and the last was a design for my Cherrywood Challenge. In January I signed up for the Canadian Quilters Association Mini Quilt swap.  I chose to swap by mail as I hadn't planned to attended the conference.  The conference has subsequently been cancelled due to the current COVID-19 pandemic and all the swaps are being done by mail.  The mailing date is June 1st.  My partner and I decided to exchange table runners rather than wall hangings.  The maximum size of wall hanging was 24" square.  I had a list of colours and shapes my partner likes and in an email conversation learned some of the designers she likes.  The starting point was dragon flies.  When I think of dragonflies I think of waterlilies so I needed a pond.  I decided my pond should have a field of flowers and my tab...

I need to get the table runner done for the CQA exchange this month.  It needs to be ready to mail June 1st so its crunch time.  I did spend some time on Thursday and have a two alternate designs.  They are similar so I can choose how to place elements as I proceed.  Designs and finished pieces aren't often the same.  Yesterday I pulled a selection of fabrics.  I'm not sure how many of these will end  up in the runner but it gives me a good starting point. I'll have to double check the selection.  I thought I had a variety of values but this looks like they are all darks or lights.  It may be just they way they are stacked but perhaps I need to look for some additional values. I'd also like to get Milkweed 3 finished and start the design of milkweed 4 which will be a winter scene.  I think it will be smallish but I'm not certain. First up is to make the butterfly and caterpillar and then select the background If time permits I need to ge...

While I had great goals for April quilting I got sidetracked by a Photoshop virtual conference, sketching and transcribing old diaries.  Some libraries / museums online have handwritten journals that they are trying to transcribe.  They've put images of pages up and asked for help transcribing them to make them easier to search.  I also have access to some old family journals that I'm looking at.  So many possibilities for working on.  I also did some reading and have been able to get out for walks.  Most days I try to get my main walk early in the morning as there are fewer people out walking so maintaining my distance is easier. I did spend sometime on the Milkweed 3.  Most of the components now have their internal stitching done.  I need to still make the caterpillar and the butterfly.  I had fun(?) pulling potential backgrounds out of the stash.  I pinned one to the design wall and pinned all the components to it.  I did not wan...

Its been wonderful to be able to quilt again.  Hand applique is still a bit of a challenge.  The fingers don't like holding a needle for very long so I take looks of breaks if I want to do hand work.  With that and some deadlines in mind, my goal this month is to quilt my two Milkweed tops.  One was completed after the Jane Sassaman workshop in December and the other was a result of ideas not explored during that workshop.  Its also part of  a working  in a series group for an online class run by Katie  Pasquini Masopust   I want to get these two done, so I can get onto the third piece.   I also need to make my Trendtex challenge quilt for CQA.  This is the third time I've purchased a kit and the first time I know what I want to make.  The quilt is due at the beginning of April although no pictures until later on.  These should keep me busy for the rest of the month. Linking up to Patty's One Monthly Goa...

Last summer I started working on an old collection of courthouse step blocks from an exchange.   I made a mistake while assembling the second half of the top so I was going to have a square quilt with very large triangles in two corners instead of a rectangular quilt.    I wrote about it here  This past weekend was the annual guild retreat.  The courthouse step quilt was one project I took with me.  I spent Friday taking the rows apart, removing the two setting triangles and moving one block to the other end of the row — undoing what I did last July.   It took all day as I had to do the ripping slowly but I’m pleased that the wrist is healed enough to allow me to do the ripping with breaks.    The previous day I worked on a Caddy Bag by Sisters Common Thread.  I had done all the cutting and marking at home.   I didn’t have the needed buttons but went on an outing Friday morning with  another guild member to Fabricl...