I've been working on the mystery quilt that has been generously brought to us by Edyta Sitar.
She offered this to help us get through our isolation at this time. There has been one block per day over 15 days...but each day you have to make a few multiples of that particular day's block. After 15 days we have 100 6" blocks.
Today is day 14....one more day to go!
Here is my quilt so far...
I may put a bit of a border on when it's done...not sure yet. I don't know if I have enough of any of my 30's prints to make a border. I guess I could do a white border.
I will put these blocks together using a Doug Lenko's 3-pin method. You can view his method on YouTube, HERE.
I've actually tried something similar in the past, but he has a couple of tips that I'll incorporate into what I have done before.
We're in for some beautiful Spring weather in my area. My hope for all of you....please try to get some fresh air. We are all feeling edgy and worried, and that's to be expected. I believe that some fresh air is so good for our mental health at this time, even if it means just sitting out on your front porch and listening to the birds sing.
I've been worried that my local park will shut down....I go there frequently for a run. Last Fall they paved a 1.1km walking trail around the baseball diamonds for people to use safely away from traffic. There's hardly anyone there when I go for a run....and the track is at least 8ft wide, so it's easy to be socially distant. I'm always glad to see this track utilized by local seniors, walking to promote their health.
Sometimes I wish I could just step out my door for a walk or a run, but it's not safe as I live on a provincial highway.
I think of all that has transpired over the last month and realise that only a month ago I'd never heard these phrases before...
Social Distancing
Self Isolation
Flattening the Curve
...and now we hear them on a daily basis....as well as the word "unprecedented". I think that that will be a word that I will not miss when all this is in the past.
Now for my One Monthly Goal for April. My goal is to complete the quilt top on my Edyta Sitar mystery (shown above). I'd even like to have it quilted if I can find an appropriate backing in my stash....but the goal will be to at least have the top done and not have this be a UFO!
I am linking up with Elm Street Quilts for One Monthly Goal.
Well, it's the end of the month already and I almost forgot to post my One Monthly Goal Finish for March!
My goal was to get the main body of Farm Girl Vintage together....finally!!!....and I'm happy to say that I accomplished it!
I'm really happy with it. I think I will make a goal to have it done in time for the Fair this year. It still needs a pieced border, etc...but the end is in sight.
I've had some extra sewing time. The longarm is not very busy at the moment so I'm taking advantage of the lull.
Edyta Sitar of Laundry Basket Quilts has been offering a mystery quilt....a new block every day for 15 days. Some days we make as few as 4 of the daily block....the other day we had to make 16. There will be 100 blocks total, which will make a nice lap-sized quilt.
I decided to do mine in 30's prints as I have a lot of them, and I do still love them.
Here is mine after Day 11...
There are some bits I'm not too sure about, but it's staying as it is.
I will name this quilt in some way to remember that it was made during this pandemic :(
And...wouldn't you know it...Bonnie Hunter has started a new mystery quilt to keep us busy during isolation. At first I thought, "no way"...I want to concentrate on my UFOs. But I'm doing it....I haven't participated in her mystery quilts in quite a few years as they usually take place between American Thanksgiving and Christmas....a longarmer's absolute busiest time!
Well, I'm not so busy at the moment, so I'm jumping in on this one!
It's called the Unity Quilt-along and you can find Part One on her blog today, which you can see HERE.
You can have a look at her Intro post HERE to see Bonnie's suggestions about fabrics.
One of my goals during social distancing is to make some sense of the sewing room and get it tidied and organised. I've been saying it for a few days now, and after I finish this post I will actually start. I think one of the things I will do is start a box for donation to the free table at the guilds...I'd like to part with 5 UFOs that I will never get back to doing. I'm sure I can come up with 5.
I am linking up with Elm Street Quilts for the One Monthly Goal linky party.
My slow stitches have been a bit different lately. Instead of doing my regular daily applique I've gone back to a hobby from many years ago for me...knitting.
I was talking to a knitter lately, saying that I'm a bit torn between knitting and working on current applique projects. She replied that I should give myself grace and work on whatever pleases me at the moment....so I'm knitting.
To make it "ok" in my mind, I'm knitting Christmas presents for this year. By December my Christmas "shopping" should be done!
Today I finished the second sock of this pair...
I just have to close up the toe with the Kitchener stitch, which I'll do later today.
Yesterday was International Quilt Day...or Quilting Day???...not sure which, but I did my part and hung a quilt outside...
It was easy to pick which quilt to hang....the one that fit between the existing hooks on the porch won the honour. This is one of the first quilts I appliqued, I think....and it's now 20 years old!...
I'm pretty sure this was a Robert Callahan pattern offered in installments in McCall's Quilting magazine. It may have even been a mystery quilt, I can't remember.
I do like taking part in mystery quilt sewalongs. And I was tempted to begin another by Kathy at Kathy's Quilts...such an enabler! You can see her post HERE. It is a mystery offered by Edyta Sitar at Laundry Basket Quilts.
It's still early and it won't take much time to catch up if you'd like to join in. You can read about it at Edyta's blog in this post HERE.
I did do the first two days and will do today's section later today. There will be 100 blocks to do over the fifteen days. It's not 100 different blocks....for instance, on Day 1 we made 4 of the same blocks which will be the four corners of the quilt.
I will be putting a quarter of my blocks up on the design wall as we go along. Here is the design wall after Day 2, yesterday....
I am using an assortment of 30's prints since I have a nice big bin of them.
That's all for today....stay safe everyone, and try to get out in the sunshine for a bit of Vitamin D...but in a safe way!
I am linking up with Kathy for Slow Sunday Stitching. Visit her post and take some nice quiet time to see what other stitchers are up to today.
Does anyone else get blue this time of year?
Does anyone use one of the lamps to help you get a bit more "daylight" to help your mood? If so....do you find it helps???
This hits me every year in February...I almost thought I was getting away with not getting the blues this year, but last week it hit me hard. The only consolation...Spring will be here soon and the days are certainly getting a little longer.
Something cheerful?...I actually finished my One Monthly Goal for this month!
My goal was to have all the blocks completed for my Farm Girl Vintage....and here they are...
It's almost unbelievable to me that I have the blocks done...this has been an ongoing UFO for a couple of years now....not that that's too unusual, right?? lol
A note to myself...When I begin Farm Girl Vintage 2 I think I'll stick to muslin or a pale solid as a background. I'm wondering if the background in this version is a little busy????
Another "cheerful"...an impulse buy of this knitting book, which showcases the knitting style of knitters from Newfoundland....
I'm determined that'll be the end of impulse-buying for a while!
So sorry to be such a debby-downer....maybe a little extra stitching today will help :)
I am linking up with Elm Street Quilts for One Monthly Goal - February
It's the coldest day of the year...so far. Why does this weather seem to translate to being a sew day? I don't know, but I'll run with it!
I've done a bit of catch-up sewing this morning. First on the agenda was my temperature quilt for 2020...
I'm really liking this. Each goose represents the forecasted high temperature in Celcius for each day. Today I got to use a new colour for -8 degrees!
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I've been working on a Leaders and Enders project for a few months. Today I arranged what I have completed so far on to the design wall....
I have two small bins next to my sewing machine...one holds 1" strips of lighter scraps...the other has 1" strips of darker strips. The centres of my log cabins are orange 1.5" squares.
These are made into log cabin blocks that are 4.5" unfinished. I know there is not a lot of contrast, but hopefully enough. This is truly what a quilt means to me, using up the scrappy bits.
I think I'll carry on until I get a full-sized quilt because I can tell already that I'm going to love this quilt!
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I'm taking a BOM class at my LQS in Waterford, Quilt Junction...the pattern is My Kinda Town.
I completed the first block in modern fabrics, which I do love...but the block wasn't really doing it for me. Then I had the idea of using my leftover Japanese taupes from my Queen's Garden quilt.
Here are my two blocks...I'll have to re-do the one on the right...
I am linking up with My Quilt Infatuation....then I am headed to Caledonia to the local radio station to pick up my prize...I won a contest for a Valentine's dinner for Saturday night....woohoo!!!
Happy Valentine's Day!
I feel like it's been a lazy day...not sure why, as I just took some time this morning to finish up a quilt on the longarm.
I don't usually work on a Sunday but this week may turn itself a bit upside-down, so I thought it was a good idea to get a head-start on the week.
I did start my day, however, as always.....with a bit of hand-stitching.
I've been taking part in an easy Instagram sewalong called #scrapbagsampler. When the sewalong is done there will be a tutorial on making a little tote of some kind with the blocks.
The block I completed today is the hexie one...to give you an idea of scale, it measures 2.5x6.5. None of the blocks have taken very long at all. I especially liked learning the wonky star with the two fabrics in the star points, and I liked the curvy one.
I've been taking part in a knit-along, also, learning two-at-a-time socks on 9" circular needles. You have to post a picture of each step before getting the next set of instructions.
These are pretty basic socks, but you have to make these in order to progress to the more intricate ones.
Much to my surprise, I have liked working on these short needles. I didn't think any method would beat out DPN's for me. Live and learn.
I just had a few rows to knit this morning to get me up to where I needed to be.
Then I switched over to my applique....what a productive morning!....although the first two projects didn't actually take too long at all.
I want to finish the Animal Album blocks that have been started before deciding what will come next.
The squirrel still needs to be re-done....it is on the original background that I had started with before changing my mind.
That's all for now. I think I'll spend a bit of time in the sewing room.
I am linking up with Kathy for Slow Sunday Stitching.
Something strange happened this week.
A few years ago now I had been working on a quilt called Auntie Green's Garden, by Irene Blanck.
I loved it and I loved working on it....until I didn't.
About a year ago I asked myself the tough question....did I really think I would get back to working on this quilt?? The answer was "no".
I actually felt a little relief in letting myself off the hook. I figured I would just quilt up what I had completed so far and call it a quilt.
What a shame :(
Fast forward to this past week...I really haven't thought of Auntie Green in a long while and, for some reason, it popped into my head and I said to myself that this quilt really deserved to be finished in it's entirety.
Where the heck did that come from?...who knows. Like I said in the title of this post, the brain can be so mysterious.
Here is the quilt as it was left, a long time ago...
So, there is a floral border on the top and bottom to do, then a vine thing around the final border. So close!
I think I'll put aside other applique until this one is done.
There is one problem though.
When I put this quilt aside, it gave me freedom to get rid of fabrics that I wasn't so much interested in anymore....which are a lot of the fabrics needed for this quilt. I hope I can "make do" with what I have left in my stash.
I wish I knew how women in the past... or even now...would hand-quilt a crosshatch pattern on their quilts without it getting all wonky. I imagine that kind of quilting on this quilt....and the enjoyment I would get out of stitching it.
I'll have ask Dr. Google!
(I've taken a minute to look up this quilt on my blog...and it has indeed been at least 4 years since I contemplated working on it)
I had plans to do a long run this morning, but it's snowing pretty good here at the moment (hmmmm, an unexpected sew day??). I think I'll delay my run until tomorrow and actually do a bit of prep-work on Auntie Green's Garden...then I'll know that this is a real thing and not just a wish...sounds like a plan, right?
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This morning I completed the binding on my Temperature Quilt 2019...
If you'd like to see the completed quilt, have a look HERE...I wrote a post about it on Friday.
I am linking up with Kathy for Slow Sunday Stitching, and with Cynthia for Oh, Scrap!.
