Get moving Monday

Fall themed donation quilt

I have had my days mixed up this past weekend..I kept thinking it was Monday and Tuesday for some reason. So now that it is Monday...time to get some things accomplished and get my studio table cleared off.

Yesterday was so hot and humid here you couldn't hardly breathe. Even with the fan going, the only relief was to head to the basement 

but when you did come back upstairs it was worse. Rain is in the forecast so we can only hope it will cool things a bit.

snowman challenge

snowman backing

I got two quilts machine quilted and bound this past week. My new Juki is making this process so much more enjoyable although machine quilting is still not my favourite thing to do! Binding finishes will be happening this week. The Fall coloured quilt was a "just let me sew quilt"! It was a get it done quickly and once the top was finished I wasn't sure how about an outside border...so after thinking and consulting my friend Natalie....bind it and be done!! I was clearing out an "ugly" fat quarter package but through making the quilt with the perfect background colour, it grew on me! The snowman quilt was a challenge for guild although with this year as it is...it is now a donation quilt. No yardage was harmed in making the backing for this one...but lots of fat quarters were cleared out!!The binding was made from some fabric that I know is over 29 years old!!

I just wanted to do piecing this week as a break from all the other things. I had some small wonky stars cut out and ready to go. They got sewn up quickly and then I spent the afternoon and evening picking out more pieces to make more stars. They are so cute and I think I have many more to make to have enough for a quilt...the blocks are 6"!

wonky stars

Although I am a day late, I did look in on my friend Kathy and her slow stitching Sunday crew! Thinking and blog writing was just too much for my brain to handle yesterday. So I am joining in today instead, cooler heads and temperatures prevail!

I want to wish my baby girl a Happy 29th birthday(this past Saturday) hope you had a fun party!!

I ammmm meltingggg!!

This is suppose to be close to Northern Ontario...land of cold, snow  and cooler summer temps. We have been in and out of a heatwave with lots of humidity...I just feel like a puddle some days. We had a good storm go through this morning, 11am looked more like 9pm, it got so dark!

It is good for the garden and we are starting to enjoy the fruits(veggies) of our labour!

snowmen don't make it cooler

whole top

I am in the new project mode. This week I finished the top of a challenge from guild. It was suppose to be handed in for June but guild meetings have been cancelled. So I will have it finished for September hoping we will be able to meet again! We got the pattern and could use whatever fabric but the large blank space had to tell the theme of your quilt. So this past week I was embroidering snowmen. They do look cute although they are a bit washed out and not as vibrant as the rest of the quilt.I used the leftover fat quarters to make the backing. I didn't have enough of the black for the outside border so cornerstones were all that was needed to make it work. Just using up what I have.The challenge snowman quilt will get basted this week and machine quilted but I really wanted to do some piecing.

This morning I was on mask duty for hubby and I. It will be mandatory this week to wear them in stores or businesses in our area. We have had one all along, although we haven't been using them, we were just keeping our distance from people when out!

I have also cut out strips for a scrappy donation quilt. I have the urge to sew up a quilt, one that I can get done fast and feel like I am accomplishing something. I found these fat quarters while looking for something else. They are not the prettiest so they need to be cut small!!I also found the perfect background fabric to go with those scraps...tune in later this week hopefully for a finished top!!

Kathy mentioned on her blog the other day about a mystery (Morewood Mystery)starting up  at www.MeadowMistDesigns.blogspot.com. Looks interesting with not much fabric required to start. I will be stash diving so I can play along. It is a monthly mystery starting July2020-April 2021.Kathy you are a bad influence..you enabler!! haha

I will also be reading Kathy's blog today(as all good stalkers should do) to see what everyone is slow stitching on. There has been lots of time for slow stitching...my hexies have been getting lots of attention.

Have a great week ahead!

Heatwave and another finish!

hexie in process

It has been a hot few days. I open windows in the evening and early morning to cool off the house and then close everything back up. That worked for the first few days but then it just got to humid and hot. Luckily we had a good storm and the temperatures have dropped and I can begin to cool the house again. With all this humid weather the gardens are doing well...at least something likes that kind of weather!

I have had little ambition for big projects so my hexie quilt has had many pieces added to it with a long way to go yet! I also finished a lap quilt which has a funny story.

Pick you a daisy

Many years ago(over 12 years I think) Kathy of Kathysquilts blog fame donated a UFO to her guild's program "adopt a UFO". She figured she would never finish it. A mutual friend of ours adopted the quilt and later gave it to me to adopt. It has been in a basket, moved 120 miles to our new home and has been in another basket. I thought it was time for it to be finished. I always told Kathy that I would finish it so nicely that she would want it back but she doubted it!! I always knew what I wanted to do and last week I started to see my vision come to fruition. Two days were spent gluing edges of the appliques, then sewing the appliques down on the top and preparing a backing. Then it stalled again because of the heat! Yesterday, I pin basted it, machine quilted it, squeaked out enough binding from one of the backing pieces(I did a patchwork backing) and completed the binding last night. The petals are a little fluffy because I didn't want to use steam a seam product on them or spend the time to hand applique. This will be a donation quilt to some organization. It is finished and I think it is fun and some little person will love it. My plan is to give it back to Kathy and let her decide where it will go to live!!Hope you like it Kathy!!

Today's plan is to see if it is going to rain or not and if it stays nice...we are going fishing!( my hexie bag will be with me). Slow stitching will be making more diamonds to fill in the holes in my main top(see the pic above,Belle is being so cute near the quilt) so that soon I can get it finished as well. I have been working on this quilt for over 7 years...it is time!!

So I will be checking in with Kathy and her slow stitching day to see what everyone else is working on. I have noticed a lot of cross stitchers joining in...seems to be a resurgence of this craft.I might have to dig out one that is partly done and I haven't worked on since moving here(12+years ago) Have a great week and stay healthy and cool!!