Quilting and other Things

On August 7 Dad, Karen and I headed out on a vacation.  We came home with more than 3,000 photos, and memories of a really good trip -- about 4,000 km for Karen and I and almost 5000 for Dad.  These are some of my favorite photos.  The first two stops were a boat cruise of the 1000 Islands and Fort Henry. The 1000 Islands cruise took us around the island for Boldt Castle (begun in the early 1900's by George C. Boldt (Waldorf Astoria) for his wife Louise.  She died suddenly and construction was stopped) but we didn't stop to explore the castle.  A passport is required to visit since its in the US.  The Gananoque boats visiting the island check the passport before leaving the dock.   Boldt Castle The "castle" next door St Lawrence and 1000 Islands Soaring off the stern The next day we went to visit Fort Henry -- I kept calling it Old Fort Henry as that's the name I remember for it but in all t...

In July I worked on the $10 quilt assignment. Before the end of the month, I had the eight blocks for the summer done -- and its not required until the end of September.   At the time I was having fun sewing the blocks so I went on to work on the beige blocks for the corners -- They need to grow up to be 9 7/8 so there's still several more rounds to go. At the beginning of August, the sewing machine got dropped off for servicing and to get the button for the feed dogs put back in place. It was a good time for repairs as we left right afterwards on three weeks holidays.

Last week we had a couple of really hot humid days. Then a wonderful thunderstorm on Thursday evening which cooled things off. Friday when I came out of the office it was a lovely evening so after dinner I went for a walk by the creek near home. I haven't walked near the creek for two or three weeks. In the interval someone has been out with paint to decorate under the bridges and the garbage cans. I haven't been able to find out who did it but they sure did a nice job! Last month when we went walking out at Silver Creek, Karen took this photo of a porcupine. It waddled along the base of the cliff and then climbed the tree. It was fun watching it climb up and have a snack. Moving from one fork branch to the other seemed to require a great deal of coordination. On Saturday I went back out to Silver Creek for a walk. The little frog lives in the leaf litter and is less than one inch long. The snail was living on a decaying log just a few steps further up the ...

The assignment for the $10 quilt class is all done and ready for Saturday.  This is it so far. I've pulled a sandwiched quilt off the shelf to work on. Its a Weaver Fever quilt.  Started it several years ago in a class out at Hobby Horse.  It took a little work to get the tension balanced. Spent some time drawing the motif on scraps of paper the size of the space. Seems to be working ok.

Last night I added the borders to Friends on Chelsea Lane so the quilt top is now complete.  The fabric kit also contained the fabric for binding so this morning I prepared the binding for the quilt.  Now to figure out how I want to quilt this.  It will join the to be sandwiched pile for the next time I take down the flannel sheet and start sandwiching .    I choose to use a bias binding.  Its not really that necessary but the flowers will look nice rolling over the edge.  I started with a large square of fabric (27.5 inches) and folded it in half twice to make a small triangle The triangle gets pressed to give markings but as I worked I noticed I don't use those markings any more so I think next time I might skip the second fold.    Cut the square in half along one of the diagonals. I'm using the line I pressed as well as the 45 degree line on the roller to get my cutting line.  Once its cut in half, take the bottom rig...

Last weekend I finished the last of the stitching on the centre blocks and stitched the top together. The next step is borders.  They need 28 circles appliqued on triangles appliqued on the red lady bug fabric.  The circles are 2.25 inches finished.  Turns out the inside of a mason jar ring is the correct size so I had an easy tracing tool Earlier that week Elaine posted a tutorial on preparing circles for applique which was a timely reminder.  Thanks Elaine!  It didn't take too long to cut, baste and prepare the circles. There were five different fabrics to use for the triangles and we needed 28 triangles.  Five from each of three, 6 from one and 7 from the last.  Spent some time marking the triangles onto the fabric then pinned and placed for stitching.  Most of them were done yesterday (watched a couple of movies after the $10 quilt class.  Got several stitched during the class). This afternoon I cut the triangles out ...

I decided on words for the two blocks that needed new words.  Harvest Moon changed to celebrate and the Gourds got Sing.  They are both done now.  Here's the finished blocks so far In the bottom right is a house block which is the block that's currently living in my purse.  The doors and 3 windows are stitched on.  Eventually all the white thread will come out. The last block, for the left side is called Dream.  I noticed after taking this photo that I got two of the flower petals reversed.  It still needs leaves basted in place.  There are two greens and I'm trying to decide how to make the 3 pairs of leaves.  I can't get 6 leaves of one green.  The most is 4.  So I need to decide which light and dark pairings I want to use. Friday night I cut all the bits and pieces for the 2nd block for O Tannebaum.  Its actually House #1.  On Saturday I went to Elaine's Pampered Sit and Sew.  Spent part of the day doing t...