Quilt The North #2 Unboxing

 I told myself I was going to make a couple of things for me in December. I did manage to make a pair of socks but my sewing goal is down to the wire. I have decided to make the quilt in this quarter's Quilt the North.

It came in early December and it was like an early Christmas gift.

My box arrived a little worse for wear, but the contents were all safe.

First up, the pattern.

The pattern is by Karen Neary of Nova Scotia. It is a bit hard to see but it is a star in white and silver and flying geese in pink, green, and purple, all on a dark blue background. I have made some of Karen's patterns in the past, and they are so well done that they are easy to sew and have a lovely completed project. So I'm excited to make this one.

Here is the fabric.

There is enough to make the top, back and the binding.

As before the box came with bonus goodies.

A block pattern from Monica, from Penny Spool Quilts, the creator of the Quilt the North boxes. 

A blueberry chocolate bar from Peace by Chocolate from Antigonish, Nova Scotia. If you are unfamiliar with Peace by Chocolate, they are a refugee success story. 

You can find their story and their products here.

There are also thread snips from LDH , a Canadian scissor company, and coasters from a Halifax company.

No wonder it felt like Christmas came early.

I have washed my fabrics, and copied my foundation pieces. I tidied my sewing room and if the power stays on, I can start tomorrow. There is an ice storm on the weather radar, and so our fingers and toes are crossed.

This box is sold out, but if you are interested is the next box, you can look here.

https://www.pennyspoolquilts.com/pages/quilt-the-north

Finishes

We had over a week of cold, wet, rainy weather. So I settled into my sewing and finished the quilt top.

 The sun came out, as I finished, so I had to take a picture. I made the backing, and dropped it with the long arm quilting lady, yesterday. The binding is made, so the end is in sight.

I also finished my happy socks. 

I tried them on, and they are a perfect fit, so I think they are going into my drawer!

The pattern is A Collection of Columns by Nancy Wheeler. You can find it here on Ravelry:

https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/collection-of-columns

This is my fourth pair of adult socks in 2024.

The renovations are progressing. 

The flooring is going down this week, then I think we get a break for a few weeks to figure out what we still need.

My Sweetie brought me a puzzle, yesterday.

We have these two plants in the yard, that look nearly the same, but not quite. After some research, the top one is Bugleweed (Ajura reptans). The bottom one is ground ivy or creeping Charlie.  At first glance you would think they were the same plant.

The ducks are still enjoying the neighbour's pool. I saw them again the other day. 

I have some bags I want to make. Some many things, I need to get organized. I keep telling myself, do some every day and things get done.

Another Week

This weekend was the first long weekend of the summer, and, of course, it started hot, had thunderstorms,  then turned cold, rained and was generally un-summery. Nothing out of the ordinary.

I finished my first sock, of the May socks.

 I immediately cast on the second one, to make sure they get finished.

I have been working on finishing up the blocks for a quilt the church ladies stated in 2019. I got the blocks finished and started putting the top together.

The first three rows are finished. It is currently on my "design bed" . My goal is to finish it in the next couple of days. The pattern is Hidden Pinwheel.

I continue to empty boxes and bins. I was sorting through one on the weekend, and after deciding the papers could all go to the blue bin, I was left with this.

Two antique hymn books, an Anglican Service book, and a container that was suppose to hold 4 Nirvana CD's but instead had 3 different CD's. I'm sure that is some kind of meaning to this, but I really have no idea where any of it came from.

Finally, this week, while sitting at my sewing machine, I saw this.

A pair of mallard ducks were swimming in the neighbour's pool.  

So, how was your week?

Vintage UFO's No More

 The thing with tidying is that you find UFO's that you have been trying to ignore for awhile.

Some years ago, I bought a kit for a quilt. Sometime later, I took the kit on a retreat, and made the top. Then the top and the fabric for the backing and the binding went into a holding area. It turned up in my tidying. So, a couple of months ago, I finished the back and the binding, and sent the quilt to the long arm quilter. She got it back to me quite swiftly, but the binding has been a slower process. Today, the binding was finished and the quilt was taken out to the yard for a photo in the sunshine..

After all that time, one might expect something more complicated. But I'm not much into complicated quilts. Just warm hugs. I've forgotten what the pattern was called. I'm sure it is still here, somewhere. However, it is done and off to be a warm cuddle in it's new home.

I also found a pair of socks. Well, actually 1 1/4 socks. I decided it was time to liberate the needles, so I finished those, too. The pattern is called Crazy, and the yarn is Sockenwolle Cotton Stretch Morgentau. I think these ended up on hold because I didn't enjoy knitting with the yarn, It was kind of scratchy.

The Crazy part is knitting lace socks in scratchy yarn! I didn't even try to make them match.

We had a couple of hot days, which caused the Bridal Wreath Spirea to bloom and then the wind, and rain we have had has knocked a lot of the petals off. The dog keeps coming into the house looking like he was at a wedding.

It has grown quite large and probably needs a haircut.

And Then, Suddenly Summer

In this crazy "spring" we are having, the weather suddenly turned hot, and we reached record highs for May. It was 31C (which translates to high 80's for the Americans) , not at all what we expect for mid May. I felt wilted and didn't get much done in the way of sewing.  This was followed by thunderstorms and heavy rain. today, things are a bit more normal.

Sadly, my apple blossoms didn't do well in the hot weather.

They are nearly finished and they just opened.

The pink ones look very sad! Hopefully, we will get enough little crab apples to feed the birds over the winter.

I am actually finishing a quilt, started a very long time ago,

The top resurfaced in my recent tidying and I took it to the long arm quilter to be finished. Now, it just needs its binding. 

I do have plans for a couple of new bags. With this in mind, I placed an order with Emmaline Bags and got some new hardware in sizes I didn't have in stock. This is suited to smaller bags.

Kind of boring, isn't it. Hopefully it will make the bags look classy.

Finally, I was cleaning out a closet and came across this.

This is my shirt from my university days. WISE stands for Women in Science and Engineering. At the time, women made up about 2% of all engineering students, so we were proudly trying to make our presence known. The numbers are higher now, but not what they should be. Sad, because I don't understand what prevents women from joining the profession.

Suddenly It's Spring

 The weather has been unseasonably warm.  So, my flowers have come on with a rush.

My incredible forsythia bush is covered in flowers. It has survived ice storms, frigid cold, and having the city dig it up, when the watermain broke. It just keeps blooming, year after year.

Gorgeous, isn't it?

The crocus have all come at once. I had some yellow and some lavender ones, but they have disappeared and I have only purple, this year.

There are tulips, waiting in the wings.

Daffodils that will show their sunny faces, shortly.

In the shadier spots, I have scilla.

There is bloodroot.

As well as hepatica.

It is such a pleasure to see it all again.

My friend, Lois, spent her winter making a couple of quilts to donate to charity. I offered to put the bindings one. This is the first one.

It is all hand quilted, because that is what Lois does. It is great that I can help with the binding.  I'll also put a label on it.

Done is Better Than Perfect

 I have finished my mystery quilt (well, the binding needs a bit more sewing.) There are a couple of things I'm not completely happy with, but it is finished, quilted, trimmed and the binding is sewn to the front. 

We had snow yesterday. Not unusual except that we have not had significant snow since November. I got up, yesterday and saw this.

They look like magical halos on the fence. They are actually the tomato cages we hang from the fence to keep the dogs from tramping on them in the snow.

In the dining room, we have a touch of spring.

It has lots more flower buds, so we should have flowers for quite awhile, yet.

Another UFO Complete

 Back in the days when life was open and free, my church quilt group agreed to quilt two quilts for an organization building accommodations for homeless veterans.  The tops were already made. We put one quilt onto the frame and were making good progress, when Covid lockdowns began. When it became obvious that it would be a very long time before we could sit around the frame again, I got permission to go into our closed building and rescue the quilt from the frame. It became the travelling quilt, moving between quilters to get it finished. I put the last stitches into it last Friday.

It is a large quilt and is folded in four in this picture. It was picked up by the person in charge of decorating the sanctuary, and on Sunday morning, it made its first completed appearance, during Zoom Church.

This photo is courtesy of the AV volunteer.

However, we had agreed to finish two quilts, so instead of driving ourselves crazy, we are donating one we finished awhile ago, and hung in the church, last January.

Not as long, but wider.

And the other quilt top that we were suppose to finish?

It has been upcycled into three quilts that will be used by the service dogs that are expected to live at the facility. They got a doggy backing in flannel, and were quilted by machine, with no bindings.

Sometimes things work out better than we expect.

A few years ago, a former minister started hanging our quilts in the sanctuary so they could absorb the prayers and hopes of all the people. The congregation loved it. They were thrilled to see a new quilt this week.

Meanwhile, I was asked to make a couple more hand sanitizer pouches, for a friend. I finished them today.

I was asked for one dog and one cat. This is what my scarps produced. I like them. This is the 100 ml size.