Quilting and other Things

Happy New Year! Hard to believe it's January again. Last year we were in Lockdown and today we went back to a modified stage 2 lockdown. Pools :( and gyms are closed. So are libraries, museums, theatres, zoos, concerts and indoor dining at restaurants. Bible study is moving back to zoom which means some of our remote friends from last year will join us again :) It's also canceled one of my volunteer days. The other day is to make Covid test kits and that isn't canceled. The cancellations means more time for stitching and playing in photoshop.   I'm busy trying to get all the appliqué done on the pillow row of my Moondance quilt (pattern by Beth Ferrier of Applewood Farms). The body now has its four patches sewn into pairs and where an appliqué goes over the seam, it's pinned in place to continue stitching. I'm hoping to get all the appliqué done this month but think I might need a bit of next month.  If I can finish the pillow top and the other pieces ...

 Well, that was very successful. First up was adding the borders to the Christmas ABC quilt.  The top was finished in late 2019 or early 2020.  I remembering looking for a border print as I drove to the guild retreat in February of 2020 but didn't see anything I liked.  Then the shutdown happened.  I finally took the quilt top to a store in this past summer and found a striped print I liked.  So now, I have the borders on, the binding made and the label started.  It needs a backing and can join the line to go out to be quilted.  Since it is a stripe, I did do a bias binding.  I like the roll the bias gives a stripe binding. My sister asked for a Barbados Bag for Christmas but she wanted it a wider than the one I made for myself.  I had originally planned to make a new one for me at the same time but then decided I'd be better focusing on one bag at a time.  Just as well.  When she came over one weekend, I had her pull some fabr...

 Once again Yvonne at Quilting Jetgirl is a hosting a  Planning Party  for the coming year.  So its time to look at what happened this year and what I'd like to accomplish next year.  Use the link above to join the party or see what others are planning. Review of 2021: Quilting : 1.  Clean and organize quilt room. This started off well then stopped.  I think its safe to say it may have regressed.  Still planning on getting this done though. 2.  I'm going to continue with the Motivation Monday ideas.  I'm still working on the list I created for 2017.  The goal at the time was to move things forward.  I think that will still be the goal for some things as they are quite large.  The list still includes Canada BOM from Guild 2015/16 - finish blocks and assemble rows.  - Completed (quilted and bound too) ABC Applique - choose border fabric (after shops reopen) and complete top. - done  Top done, binding made and ...

 The main goal this month is to continue the applique on the moondance quilt.   I've finished the three blocks since I took this photo.  The blocks are sewn in pairs and I've started stitching pieces over the seam.  I'd like to get all of the applique done this month but I don't think that's realistic so I'll aim to get the pairs and four patches stitched and the applique done over those seams.  There is still the pillow row to add at the top and it has another 19 things to be appliqued so I think it will take two months to get this to a finished top - unless I do more hand stitching than usual over Christmas. This is my Christmas ABC quilt.  The top has been waiting for borders since just before the pandemic.  I was able to find a border material I like for this earlier this summer so I'd also like to get the border on this one and make the binding.   Linking up with Patty's One Monthly Goal   Come see what others are working on....

 Its been a very productive month quilting wise.   I finished binding the quilt I quilted in October and set up backing and bindings for the three tops that I had purchased backings for.  This is the Bold Mystery from Quilters Fancy (they used to have a store on Bloor near Royal York in Toronto but it has been closed for many years).  The copyright on the pattern is 1996 and the copyright in the colourful print is 1997.  I purchased the print for the mystery so I think the top was started in 1997.  Its sat on my UFO list for many years with a note to consider borders.  It now has borders and I quilted it with a pantograph called Lyre.  I had watched a Youtube video Tracey from Whirls 'n Swirls had posted about Customizing a Pantograph .  The bowtie block in this quilt has 3D centres which I wanted to keep so this was a timely watch.  I was able to either stop or modify the pattern at each of the centres so they are still free. ...

How did it get to be November already?!? I forgot to do a blogpost last week about what got done in October.  I did get some applique done on the moondance quilt. I'm slowly building the quilt up.  As a block gets all the applique I can do entirely on that block, it gets stitched to its neighbour.  There are pieces pinned to the block - those are the pieces that need to go over a seam.  I could stitch a couple more seams in that bottom row.  The goal is to work with as small a background area as I can.  I don't want to have to deal with the entire quilt top as I stitch down the flowers and dragon flies.  This month I'll continue to stitch down shapes.  I'd like to get the row I'm currently working on into its 3 four patches and a two patch at the end of the row.  Then I think there is one more set of 4 patches before I start assembling larger four patches.   I went out to Whirls n Swirls last week and quilted my Northern Lights quil...

 Last month I saw an ad for a Canon Road Trip.  They were setting up booths at different places across the country and inviting people to sign up to come play with one of their new mirrorless cameras.  There were three locations in Toronto -- Downsview Park, Evergreen Brick Works and Toronto Botanical Gardens on Sunday - Tuesday.  Monday worked the best for me which meant the Brick Works.  So I signed up to play with an R5 camera and had a fun afternoon out. I went to the Brick Works one afternoon last week to refresh my memory of the location as I've only visited there once or twice and then was able to arrive about 30 minutes before my appointment.  That let me take some pictures with my camera and lens.  Then I went and borrowed the R5 and a 24 - 105 lens and wander back around and took some of the same photos with the mirrorless.  I use an 18 - 300 lens so there were some challenges in a few places but given the mirrorless is full frame and ca...