A Couple of Finishes!

I worked on several different projects this week and two were brought to the finish line.  I quilted and bound the winter wall hanging that I showed last week.  This will be donated to a silent auction fundraiser.  It is walking foot quilted with white thread in the white sections and blue thread in the coloured sections. 

I added a hanging sleeve. You can see the quilting pattern better on the back. 

Of course, I had leftover HST's so started another project with those.  It is not quite done and will likely be a Christmas gift for someone so this is all I am showing. 

I only have one more tree to do on the Fall Forest cross stitch project.  I will have this framed when it is done. 

The program committee at the Oxford Quilters Guild has offered a colour challenge for this guild year.  Each person who wants to participate picks a block pattern they like and each month, they are told the colour of the month.  They make the same block each month in the colour of the month.  This month, the colours are turquoise and aqua.  Participants can made one block with both colours in it or two blocks --one aqua and one turquoise.  I chose to make two blocks. This will eventually become a baby quilt. 

Last winter, I worked on a winter themed cross stitch project (the pattern is from Satsuma Street).   I took it in to be framed a couple of weeks ago and picked it up this week.  It is hanging on the wall already.  As you can see from the picture below, we had some snow for a few days this past week.  It has all melted now, thankfully.  We didn't even have our winter tires on the car before it snowed!

My daughter is working on her crochet along blanket and adding lace now.  She is learning lots of new stitches as she makes this blanket. 

I spent a few hours on my hand quilting this week.  This is the project I work on at our weekly guild sewing days. 

Finn enjoys a good snuggle with our daughter.  He always likes to be touching her, hence, the paw on her arm. 

 I will link up with Kathy and the Slow Sunday Stitchers as well as Frederique and her gang.   Have a great week!

Winter Wallhanging, and Some Slow Stitching

It's been a busy week with lots of commitments, which means I didn't get a lot of sewing done.   My hand quilting project is coming along.  After I finish the cross hatching, I will add more quilting to each block. 

I found a winter 5" charm pack in my sewing room and decided to make a wall hanging with it. The white on white snowflake fabric was also in my stash and pairs nicely with the charms. I made lots of HST's and then arranged them in a barn raising pattern on the design wall.  I am in the process of sewing them together.  This will be donated to a silent auction fundraiser which is taking place at the end of the month so this will get done quickly. 

I am stitching the second last tree on my Fall Forest cross stitch.  This is a Satsuma Street pattern. 

A friend and I went out for lunch and a wander around Port Stanley today.  The women in Port Stanley were busy knitting and crocheting poppies all summer--they made over 15,000 5" poppies which have been used to decorate the community for Remembrance Day.  The local Legion is in the background of this picture--the red across the front of the building is a blanket of poppies. 

You can see the difference between the knitted and crocheted poppies in this picture. 

The ginkgo trees at the local park where I walk each day still have most of their leaves, but soon they will all fall at once and create a yellow carpet on the ground underneath the trees. 

Finn likes to provide moral support while my daughter reads or works on her crochet. 

Our burning bush is burning this week.  The birds like to eat the berries. 

I will link up with Kathy and Frederique as usual. Have a good week. 

Home from the Guild Retreat

I just got home from our guild quilt retreat about an hour ago and decided to share some of my projects on my blog.  First up, handwork!  Christine and I watched the World Series  baseball games on the Friday and Saturday nights and  while we watched, we did some cross stitch.  She worked on her Halloween project and I added more stitches to my Fall trees. We had hoped for a different winner of the Championship but it was not to be this year. 

I also did some hand quilting at the retreat --more diagonal lines have been added to my Rainbow Scrap Challenge pineapple log cabin quilt. 

A friend gave me a kit to make some oven mitts a few years ago and before the retreat, I found it in my quilt room.  This was my warm up project for the retreat.  They are ready to use at Christmas time!

I also found a 2.5 inch charm pack in my sewing room and used the little squares to make this little lined basket.  That little package has been in my stash for a while and I am glad to get it used up and made into something useful!

My main project was Jo Avery's 12 Green Bottles quilt.  I am a member of her Thread House Academy this year and this was one of the project this fall.  It is improv pieced and I spent many happy hours at the retreat watching the online lessons and then making the units for the two types of blocks.  This will be a large wall hanging--about 66" square.  I decided on a restrained palette of green and orange with gray, black and white as well as a sprinkling of black and white prints. 

This quilt will take a while but I now know how to make all the units for the remaining 7 blocks. All of the fabrics are from my stash. 

These little houses were made on the weekend too.  They are from another Jo Avery online class.  I already have 6 houses that I made previously as well as two trees.  I forgot to bring the roof fabric with me so this table runner did not get finished at the retreat.  I will work on it at home. 

While looking for supplies for the retreat, I came to realize that I have quite the collection of interesting pincushions.  Some were made by me and some by friends as gifts to me. 

My husband and I belong to the local hiking club and go for a group hike once a week (most weeks).  It was a really pretty walk through the woods this past week. 

It was frosty on my morning walk a couple of days this week. 

Finn has taken to napping with my daughter's yarn .  He thinks the balls of wool make excellent pillows, and no, he does not unravel the balls or play with them. 

My daughter's crochet blanket is growing. 

Finn is a very snuggly dog. 

 I will link up with Kathy and Frederique, even though I am really late to their parties!

Back to Hand Quilting

 I have a collection of completed quilt tops waiting to be quilted.  Sometimes, I just don't have inspiration on how to quilt them and other times, I just don't have time.  This week, one of them yelled "pick me" for hand quilting so I got started.  This pineapple log cabin was one of my Rainbow Scrap Challenge quilts a few year ago.  Each block is foundation pieced on a printed fabric so the finished quilt will have three layers of fabric as well as batting.  I am big stitch quilting it with gray 28wt thread.  I am starting with diagonal lines through each block.  The goal is to keep the stitches even but that's hard with all the layers I am quilting through. 

My Forest cross stitch picture had some attention this week. Just a few more trees to go.  I took the winter cross stitch I did last winter to the framers this week so I can hang it up when the cold weather arrives. 

In the sewing room, I finished off my part of the last round robin quilt.  Four of us participated and we need to plan a date soon to get together to reveal the finished quilts. I will show picture of all four quilts when the time comes.   I also put together all the HST's into blocks for the Threadhouse Academy project.  There are three types of blocks revealed every 4 months over the course of a year.  This is the first set.  The fabrics are set aside so I can use them in the remaining blocks. 

My daughter is working on her crochet along project.  She is a couple of steps behind as there was a delay in getting the last few balls of yarn shipped. This is the centre of the blanket.  The part I showed you a couple of weeks ago was one of the corners. 

The trees are losing their leaves here as we had lots of wind and rain this past week.  I saw these oak leaves on a hike this past week. 

This sumac was pretty. 

Finn is showing his true allegiance in this photo.  I made the pillow for my daughter a few years ago.  There might be yarn stored under the chair...

I will link up with Kathy and Frederique.  
PS. Apparently, I am not the world's slowest knitter as I claimed in last week's post...many of you told me you have had knitting projects on the go for more than two years...  I will pass you my crown. 

World's Slowest Knitter Award!

 I bought the wool for this scarf while on vacation in Newfoundland in June of 2023. I started knitting it in November of 2023 and finished it today.  I may win the World's Slowest Knitter Award!  I worked at it in fits and starts...I don't think knitting is my first love as far as hobbies are concerned.  I am very pleased with how it turned out.  I like how soft and warm it feels and the texture of the knitting.  The colours will go well with by black winter coat.  I've already made the matching hat  and still have a kit to make Thrumb mittens to match.  I might wait until after Christmas to tackle those. I have lots to do in the next couple of months without adding another project. 

On the Fall Forest cross stitch front, I have finished the tree I started last week and have now finished this side of the project.  I have moved my hoop back to the centre and I'm working on the next tree which looks like a topiary. I'm still loving the way the trees look where they overlap. 

I hosted a slow stitching day at my house today for four friends.  I made a pot of butternut squash soup and everyone brought something to add to the feast.  We drank tea and ate blueberry coffee cake while working on our projects.  Frances did some rug hooking on a class project. 

Elaine added many stitches to her stamped cross stitch quilt. 

Pat worked on two pairs of socks but I only took a picture of the blue ones. 

Christine made great headway on a large cross stitch sampler.

I worked on my cross stitch and cast off my scarf.  It was a wonderful day!

My butterfly weed pods are fluffing these days, spreading their seeds around the neighbourhood.  I love the bright orange flowers which attract the butterflies in the summer.  I gave a couple of pods to each of my friends to plant the seeds in their gardens. After a light rain earlier this week, I took this picture from directly above the plant.  

Finn has a new cozy place to have a nap.  He likes to be comfortable. 

We went on a couple of hikes in the woods last weekend.  It was glorious!

I will link up with Kathy and Frederique.  Happy Stitching!