Solstice Unboxing

 It is the summer solstice here, and of course, it is rainy, again. All the rain has made everything green and lush. The picture on the left is early March, and the right is this week, standing basically in the same spot in the yard.

I promised a Quilt the North unboxing, so here it is.

This box's designer is Andrea Tsang Jackson, from Halifax. This looks like a fun box.

As always, the box is beautifully presented. The first thing you see as you open it, is a piece of clear vinyl. I had already removed it when I took this picture and it is currently sitting under a couple of bins in my sewing room, to flatten it.

A designer card, and some information about Halifax, and Andrea's favourite places.

This is Andrea's pattern. It is a project bag, with a vinyl front and a quilted back. The design looks like a twirling ribbon, and we have paper piecing this time. Not everyone's favourite, but I enjoy it.

The highlight of every box, for me, is the designer's choice of fabrics. This box had a bonus.

We can choose to make the bag in either solids or prints. Isn't that great. I can see making one bag with the paper piecing in solids and a second one, with some additions from my stash. I'm loving those Anna Maria fabrics. 

We got some nice Maritime swag.  There is a card with a print from a Halifax artist. There is a rope bowl, from Warm, Woolie, and Woven. There are tags with kisses on one side, and made with love on the other. The tags are designed by Andrea.

Of course, Monica , the creator of the Quilt the North boxes, sent us another block for our Canadian collection. This is a lobster claw.

And finally, the zipper I teased you with, last time.

I have a purse to make this week, but I think I will follow it with this project.

Confession: While preparing this post, I realized that I never did a March unboxing. I'll try to do that later this week.

Happy Solstice!

It's June

 After about 3 weeks of spring weather, we suddenly turned to summer. We have been having weather around 30C. I am not a fan, and it makes my sewing space much too warm. We have a couple more days of heat, in the coming week, then it is predicted to be more moderate.

I have nearly finished my Sunshine Crossbody Bag, and it ended up bigger than I wanted.  I love to look of it, but I wanted something just for making quick trips and errands.

This is the front.

The back has no zipper.

Lots of pockets, for a phone, cards, and other necessities.

It also has a leash for keys.

After I finish the pressing and add a strap, it will be off to its new home. 

Emmaline's Bags has a new wallet pattern, and when they offered a kit with everything except the thread, I just had to get one.

You buy the pattern separate, because you can use it again and again. The kit is a great idea if you don't have a lot of vinyl or cork scraps and want to make one. The pattern looks easy, so I can see making more than one.

I finished my baby socks.

The yarn is leftovers from a pair of socks earlier this year. I was surprised when the socks turned out to be identical.

The new Quilt The North box arrived today. I am among the first to get it, I expect, so I'll wait to post my unboxing, however, one item in the box is exciting.

There is a zipper! This won't be the usual Quilt the North Project.

I have a couple of handbags to finish in the next while, but I am excited to do this project, too.

Polaris

The second "Quilt The North" subscription box made a FPP design by Karen Neary from Nova Scotia. I have made a couple of Karen's patterns, before, and they look fabulous when they are finished. 

This is my version of her Maritime Beauty Pattern.

i must admit that I am a little out of practice, so this one isn't perfect, but I still like it a lot.

I didn't get it balanced on the hanger, so it looks a bit drunken.

The kit included enough pink fabric for the back, but I saw this piece of fabric waving from my stash, so I used it for the back.

It is some fabric from 2024,  called Purely Canadian, Eh! Woodland animals looking up at the Northern lights.

In the Polaris quilt, the Northern Lights are represented by the flying geese. I deviated from the pattern, in my placement of the geese and in my colours.

Aurora come in all of these lovely colours. I usually see shades of green and purple, here, but my son, in Northern Alberta, has sent me pictures of red. I checked my stash and found a piece of red, from the same fabric line. So I added some red.

I also made my geese more chaotic.  Some years ago, I was flying to the west coast, on an evening flight. I looked out the window at the right moment, and the Northern Lights were all around the plane, dancing, swirling, changing colours. It was totally beautifully chaotic. I tried to add that feeling to my quilt.

Since Ursa Major and Ursa Minor point to the North Star (Polaris). I added them to the quilting.

Karen suggested a scrappy binding, and I happily used up my piecing leftovers to make a random, scrappy binding.

The quilt is 24" x 24" and I'm looking for a place to hang it.

I tried to finish this before the next Quilt the North box came, but I missed by one day. Not bad. I celebrated by enjoying my Peace by Chocolate bar that came with the Polaris box.

If you want to find out more about Auroras, you can look here.

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-26381685