Mid August check in.

     Now that the wedding is over it's time to get back to my normal life of ignoring the house work and the gardening.  The wedding was great by the way..... just the wedding that my son and his wife wanted, which is great!   They are so happy! They love each other very much.  What else could a mom want.

     I'm back to sewing and enjoying this lovely summer weather.  Here are some of the things I'm working on.

Here's my version of the Giant  Chevron quilt pattern by Jess of Elven Gardens.  I'm using it for the free motion quilt along.   I was feeling pretty good about getting the top done until I realized I needed to take a trip to the local quilt shop to buy backing and batting. What a hardship!   I did that yesterday so now I'm all set, and hope to get the pin basting done today.

     I've also decided to work on the blocks from the book 100 Modern Blocks by Tula Pink.  My plan is to do one or two each week.   So far I've done four in one week....but I am on a weeks vacation.

     Here they are:

     This is block # 33.  It actually has some Tula Pink Fabric in it. I pick some up every time I see some...but I find it hard to come by.

     Here's block # 16.  It has a little Tula Pink in it as well.

     And here's block 71.  It's a little wonky but we'll pretend we don't notice.

    This one is block number 10.  There's really no rhyme or reason to how I'm making the blocks.  I'm just flipping through the book and looking at the fabric I have on hand.  I love working like this.  I find it really freeing.

     This last photo is my back log of blocks for the Park Bench  block of the month.  I'm getting together with my quilting buddies on Saturday and this is the project we are working on.  All of us are behind because we weren't able to get together for a couple of months......I'm a bit more behind than the other two so I have to do some catch up before Saturday.

     I think that's enough sharing for one post.  I'm one of those people who work on many projects at once.  This makes it difficult to finish things....but it keeps me interested.  I'm linking up to Let's Bee Social at Sew Fresh Quilts,  to Works in Progress Wednesday at the Needle and Thread Network, and to Works in Progress Wednesday atFreshly pieced.

Slow Stitching Update

     Last Monday was a holdiay here in Ontario (maybe all of Canada I'm not sure) and we went to visit our friends at their family cottage on Lake Huron.  We went for walks on the Beach and shared great conversation and food.

       In the afternoon  Alyson and I worked on some hand stitching  and I finished  binding the double wedding ring.  That's Alyson hand stitching in the back of the picture and that's my quilt in the front.  If you would like to see more pictures of the finished double wedding ring, I shared them on Friday Finishes  here.

     Here's a close up of the hand quilting.  I finally managed to take a half decent photo up close.

     

     Alyson's hand project is below. She is hand piecing a quilt for her soon to be born grandchild based on a bargello quilt  she saw in a restaurant.  She is figuring out how to make this herself , hand cutting and hand  piecing each square.    Alyson travels a lot for work and takes hand work along.

      As for me I will be spending todays  slow stitching time in my backyard  enjoying the beautiful weather we have been having. If I am really quiet the neighbourhood groundhog might come for a visit.   I'll be working on the hanging sleeve for the dwr and perhaps on these hexagons made of left over pieces of Japanese fabric.  Aren't they pretty?

     I'm linking up to Kathy's blog. I hope everyone has a nice relaxing slow stitching day.

  

Lazy Summer Friday Finish

     Well here it is Friday and I've got a finish to share with you!  I'm excited about this finish because it is a wedding gift for my son and his soon to be wife and I managed to finish it almost two weeks before the wedding!  I put the last stitch in the binding while visiting friends at their cottage.  So that's where we took the photos.

Here's the quilt hanging on the laundry line with the beautiful woods behind.  I chose the double wedding ring and the blues, browns and taupes to suit the couple who are more on the traditional side.  These are the colours they love.  I think they work beautifully together.

In this shot of the back you can see the quilting .  This is my first hand quilted project and I am pleased with the results.

     And here's a shot of the quilt with the beautiful lake an and dune grass behind it.  The quilt is  38 inches by 38 inches.   I hope they love it.  Linking up to TGFF over at the Quilt Matters Blog and to Finish it up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts.   This is my first 3rd Quarter Finish for the finish along hosted this year by Katie at the The Littlest Thistle.  My finish along list  for the 3rd quarter is here.  I better get cracking if I want to finish anything else!

Slow Sunday Dreamng

   Last week I optimistically thought I would be finished the Double Wedding Ring by Friday but I got off  to a bad start in the sleep department at the beginning of the week and lost my sewing mojo.   This is to be blamed on a really loud thunderstorm and my cat.  I did manage to  machine sew the binding on yesterday however  and I'm ready to spend some Slow Sunday Stitching on my binding.   I'm not going to take any more pictures of it until it's finished though so  I'll share some Slow Sunday dreaming instead.

 These are some of the block kits that I got in the July shop hop here in Southern Ontario.  There are 13 in all.  I'm showing the ones that had fairly large pictures of the blocks on the instructions.

There are several pieced blocks, several paper pieced blocks and the little house on the left in this picture is appliqued.  If there is enough fabric I just might hand applique this block.

Yesterday I bought this  finishing kit at Greenwood Quiltery.  It finishes the quilt at a lap size.  When I get the whole thing finished (who knows when that will be) I'm aiming to hand quilt it.  I bought a large cone of white hand quilting thread  as I'm planning on doing a lot more quilting than on the d.w.r.  I might be crazy!

This last picture shows some more of my dreaming.  The eight pointed star on the  left is a mini quilt I'm planning to hand quilt. It's made out of half square triangles.  I found the pattern ages ago on the internet  at the sometimes crafter.com .  It's called the cheaters 8 point star.       On the right, though they are hard to see are some hexies  I bought at the Quilt Place (also on the shop hop).  The basket is filled with  scraps that I'll  be using with the hexies.
     Have a wonderful Sunday everyone.  I hope you have time for Slow Stitching.  If you would like to see what others are doing go to Slow Sunday Stitching over at Kathy's blog.  If you've made it here from Kathy's blog thanks for stopping by.  Something weird happened to my thumbnail sketch it was supposed to be the picture above l.o.l.  

Works in Progress

     We have a Civic Holiday on Monday and I'm lucky enough to have Thursday and Friday off as well.   Whoopee!   I'm looking forward to seeing Shakespeare in the Park in Toronto with my daughter on Thursday, and we are heading off to the Beach on Monday  which leaves me lots of time in between for gardening and sewing.

    

      I'm always working on lots of projects at once which gives me many options to choose from.   I have the binding to put on the d.w.r. for my son who is getting married in 2 1/2 weeks.   I was hoping to have it all finished by Friday but it looks like it's going to be a bit longer at this point.  I've also got the fabric washed to make the Staple Dress,  and I'm way behind on my Park Bench, but I'll share here two projects I have on the design wall.

     This will be my version of the  Giant Chevron Quilt by Jess of Elven Garden Quilts.  Jess is hosting a free motion quilt along at her blog.  You don't have to use her pattern but I chose to.  The half square triangles are made with 10 inch squares. I had been looking for something to do with this layer cake that I picked up at Three Gals and a Quilt Shop in Huntsville last summer.  It's Happy Go Lucky by Bonnie and Camille and I think it will work just fine. This will be a pretty easy quilt to put together.  I'm excited to practice my fmq with the quilt along!

     The other project on the wall is the Modern  Blocks Table Runner made with a fat eight Rubies Oakshot pack.  The pattern is by Lynne Goldsworthy from Lily's Quilts.  Sorry the lighting in the room isn't the best in the evening.  I've got four blocks sewn and ready for trimming and I think eight to go.   It should be a fun and productive weekend.  Linking up to Le'ts Bee Social at Sew Fresh Quilts and W.I.P. Wednesday at The Needle and Thread Network.

Slow Sunday Stitching

     It's been Slow Stitching  Sunday, Slow Stitching Monday, Slow Stitching Tuesday....you get the picture, with a few days off here and there.    That sentence makes it sound like its been drudgery but   I have to say I've enjoyed every minute of it.

     I've chipped away at outlining the arcs of the double wedding ring in small doses and I'm happy to say I've got the quilting on this little wall hanging done three weeks before the wedding.  I was hoping to have the binding attached by today but yesterday Wendy, and Cyndy and I spent the day doing the last leg of the July shop hop here in Southern Ontario.  Almost all the shops in the July Shop Hop were also in the Row by Row , so we tossed in a few shops that were only in the Row by Row. We visited 16 shops over 3 days. It was lots of fun but pretty intense.  All three of us felt an emotional let down after we handed in our passports at the last July Shop Hop store yesterday.  How funny is that!  

     Here's my binding ready to sew onto the quilt.  I'd like to say that I'll get right on it and start slow stitching the binding today but I volunteered to go into work today so that the younger staff at our store could attend the local music festival.  That's o.k. as I get Thursday off instead which  with the holiday on Monday will give me a 5 day weekend! Whoopee!  I'll probably squish a visit to Toronto in there somewhere and possibly a visit to Lake Huron on Monday.....but that will leave me plenty of time to work in the garden and do some sewing.  I'm linking up to Slow Sunday Stitching over at Kathy's blog.

The heart of our quilting

  

     This is my first time linking up to Let's Bee Social and I thought I would share this story with you. (the quilt above has nothing to do with the story. It's just eye candy).

Last night I attended the visitation for my co workers father who died on Friday at the age of 89.  He was a well loved member of our community who owned the local sewing machine shop years ago before I had started quilting.

     At the visitation I was touched to see a vintage sewing machine that was on display, and also  a quilt which was draped over the coffin.  This quilt was a simple log cabin quilt made with scraps.

      I work in a  store and today I met one of his nieces, who was in town to attend the funeral.   She told me that his mother had been a seamstress and made quilts.  Also at least one of his sisters made quilts and wedding gowns and that one of his nephews makes wedding gowns. I already knew that in his own family quilting and sewing had skipped a generation.  None of his children quilt or sew but some of his grandchildren do.

      When I asked about the quilt I found out that it was pieced by either his mother or his sister and that in his last days he kept asking for this quilt which was obviously a comfort to him.  I hope that the quilts that I am working on today will be as cherished.