Finally a New Year and a New Post

To say that the last days of 2018 were difficult would be a mild understatement. I am still recovering and likely will be for a while. My best friend and quilting buddy passed away unexpectedly on December 21st. There is one giant hole in my heart. We first got to know each other as work colleagues and then as friends and finally as quilting buddies.
So while I could not do anything that required focus I did stitch together a couple of quilt tops.

These Half Square Triangles have been lurking in the sewing room for sew long I can barely remember the original quilt they came from. The dark is a navy blue cotton and the prints are from drapery sample books that were given to our Scrapbag Quilters group. The samples were 100% cotton so I washed them and then used them. This quilt top is roughly 39" square. For my quilt guild this year I am doing a program I call Totally Triangular. Each month I am showing something different do to with those lovely waste/bonus triangles we all seem to have. Or at least some of us have. I am hoping to get back on track soon and to be posting more regularly. Piecefully, Joanne

Linking with Cynthia at Oh Scrap! (here) 

Hands to Help finale, some more scrap quilts ready to donate

Both Hands to Hands quilt tops finished, washed and ready to donate. With the ridiculously high postage rates, especially to the US, these two quilts will be donated to the Scrap Bag Quilters of Saugeen Shores for local distribution as needed. It was nice to have two holders so the quilts could go up beside each other. Each quilt is made from the same pattern and totally made from scraps, except for the backings. It is a pattern I called 9 patch bricks but as you look at it you can see many other possible organizers for the scraps. I stitched two bricks together along the long side and generally pressed towards the darker of the two bricks. Then I made 9 patch blocks using a pair of bricks as one of the patches. I altered the orientation of the bricks within the block and also rotated every other block when organizing the top. I find that making the smaller units and building to a larger unit helps me scatter the colours throughout the top more easily.
I have been trying to make more finishes rather than tops, but I am like a kid in a candy shop when I see new ideas, I just need to try it. Piecefully, Joanne

Linking up with Cynthia at Oh Scrap! (here) and Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict (here) for the finale of this year's Hands to Help challenge. J

Hands to Help Final Linky Party for 2016

The quilting does make a difference. This quilt was a test quilt for The Quilt Pattern Magazine called Big Block Stars. I have donated it to my local Scrapbag group and suspect that some teenage girl may just like it. One of my Scrapbag quilter friends did the quilting for me on her long arm machine. My "planned" donations for H2H this year are not quilted yet as I am unable to go up and down the stairs just yet. I can do the three in the garage with my cane and the railing but do not have the courage to try a full flight just yet. I have quite a stack waiting to be pinned and quilted once I can get up and down more easily. Piecefully, Joanne

From time to time some things do get finished

These three little scrap quilts are ready to donate to the Scrapbag Quilters of Saugeen Shores. . The pieces for the small ones with the green borders came to me as scraps in baggies. They are finished doll quilt size now. The larger quilt is a nice lap size. It was all done as off white/cream with blues. Who knew there were so many blues.  I have four more tops done but do not see how they will get quilted in the next week and a half. The optimist would say it is always nice to have something to look forward to. I will take that rather than the pessimist pointing out they are not finished.
I have enough scrappy windmills completed to assemble another top. They are such addictive Leaders and Enders. I have also been doing some postage stamp squares as Leaders and Enders. They pile up quickly. I plan to link up with Cynthia's Oh Scrap! (here)on Sunday.
It is shaping up to be a busy week. I have a return visit to the hospital for my physio session, I teach a class for my Local Quilt shop, and have quilt guild Wednesday. That is in addition to the normal things that happen around here. Piecefully, Joanne

Another little flannel quilt

This little quilt (34" x 51") was the one I worked on at the January Scrapbag workday. I made little four patches and joined them together. This represents the end of another bag of scraps, thus the slightly odd size. I was thinking wheelchair lap quilt at one time but think it is too long. Each piece is 3" square and I sewed them together with a generous 1/4" seam as recommended by our leader for the January work session. It has a nice medium blue flannel on the back and when it went through the wash everything came out well.
It has been so cold here this last few days it was a delight to have this on my lap as I finished the binding. Piecefully, Joanne
 Linking up with Oh Scrap! at Quilting is More fun Than Housework (here)

A finish is a finish no matter how small

In January the Scrapbag Quilters were working with flannel. I dug into my scraps and cut up quite a bit for the workday. When I got down to these little bits they were so pretty I couldn't bare to throw them out. So I cut some of my favourite 1 1/2" x 2 1/2" inch bricks and made my "go to" simple bricks block. This is what I had so this is what I used. The finished doll quilt is 16" by 20". We donate doll quilts to the toy drive at Christmas so I have one done already. I aim for about a dozen over the course of the year. Piecefully, Joanne
Linking with Cynthia at Oh Scrap! (here)

Scrapbag quilters today

I am looking forward to our monthly Scrapbag Quilters meeting today. I am taking 7 quilts that are finished and ready to add to our "inventory". We are always low in January because our main distribution time is late November/early December. This big quilt I will be sad to see go but it needs to find a home. I made it as a test for The Quilt Pattern Magazine long enough ago that I no longer remember its actual name. I think it was called Interlocked. It is 79" square. June S. one of my fellow Scrapbaggers long arm quilted it for me. She did a lovely job. The other quilts I have are smaller baby sized quilts. I am really trying hard to take my pile of tops from tops to finished and donated quilts. Piecefully, Joanne
Linking up with Lorna at Sew Fresh Quilts (here)

A photo finish on a dark morning

This scrappy beauty is based on a pattern from the Me and My Sister design "Ingrid" from their book 3 times the Charm Book Two. All the patterns in the book are designed to use charm packs and some yardage and they all look great in their fabric choices. I dug through the 5" squares box and found bright's and then a black print with multi colour dots on it for my yardage. This one has finished at 27" by 35" so smallish. I was originally thinking wheelchair lap quilt. I suppose it could be a through it over the baby in the car quilt too. It is ready for Scrapbag quilters at our meeting at the end of the month. Piecefully, Joanne
Linking up with Lorna at SewFreshQuilts (here)

Thoughts on Leaders and Enders and the 200th post

This little quilt started its life as a leader and ender project. It was a bag of blue and green and white triangles. So first leader/ender task was to make them into half square triangles. That took a while. Then those triangles were grouped into likes and made into pinwheels. Then I looked at them and thought they were too small to do anything with them so added "sides" to make them a little bigger. Each additional piece was added as a leader/ender. I did have the nerve to go back to the person who had given me the original baggie and ask if she had any more pieces that matched to get enough of the right colours and then added from my stash.The borders came from my stash. Sometimes you are saving a piece for some unknown reason. I thought the outer border this time was just right. this is ready to give to Project Linus at our next Kincardine Sunset Quilters Guild meeting.
And my thoughts on Leaders and Enders. I prefer not to leave home without them. I have several cut out and in small containers ready to take to workshops or group sewing events.
And if that is not enough excitement for the day according to Blogger this is my 200th post. I think I do repeat myself but my original intent was to record finishes. This year there have been fewer finishes than I would like but there are a ton of tops waiting for their finish. I have a list today for the Scrapbag Quilters to get batting cut. My Bernina has died and I am now learning to use my little Lotus by Elna for the machine quilting. It is not the same but I think we will come to terms with each other.
So thank you followers for taking the ride with me. Piecefully, Joanne
Linking up with cynthia at Quilting is More fun than Housework (here)

A little more testing fun

This lovely 12" paper pieced block was designed by Kristy at Quiet Play. She had a few out for testing and I was able to snag this one. As I have come to expect from her designs it went together beautifully. The one mistake I have spotted is mine and not hers. The other designs she had out were a mermaid, a cat  looking out a window and of all things a pig. I don't know where the other designs are in the testing process but eventually they will be available through her store.
I have done a couple of "I cannot talk about it" tests this month too. Enough said.
On the home front we continue to have our lesser moments. I would show my wrist from the attempted insertion of an IV drip but I might lose the limited readership I already have. I had not planned on a three day stay at the local hospital but that was what happened last weekend. They do look after you well there but I am happy to be home and on the mend.
I taught a strings workshop for my Guild this month and also had my turn for the Scrapbag group project. So a lot of preparation. Both events went well.
Bill and I got away for a shortened trip to Stratford. We went on the light side for this year's entertainment and saw Carousel and Sound of Music. The only down part was that our friend Ray was not well enough to travel from Cincinnati to enjoy the shows. He is hoping for next year. It is the first year he has missed in the 40 since he started driving up here.
I am hoping October brings some finishes. I have 2 three day get a ways with different sewing buddies so maybe there is hope. Piecefully, Joanne

A scrappy selection

Hubby decided it was time for some of my quilt stash to find homes. He selected a large group from the closet and I could pick from those the ones that could move on to new homes. I like to wash my quilts before they leave here. No cats, dogs or smokers but I figure I want them to have the roughest treatment here before they get to somewhere where the treatment may not be gentle. These are primarily lap or baby size quilts. Some will go to the Scrapbag group and others to Project Linus.
Piecefully, Joanne

Linking up with Cynthia's Oh Scrap!  at Quilting is more fun than housework (here)

Zebra Love

This fantastic zebra is a test for Juliet of The Tartankiwi. I can't say enough about how I love her work. Her original is (here). I reversed the colourway and made a rainbow zebra with black and white in the background. I amazed myself with the number of zebra skin types of prints I had collected over the years just waiting to be used. The block is 20" square and paper pieced. I got it a little overcropped for this photo. I wish I were better at that aspect of things.
She is working on a 40" zebra. She has done several other animal blocks, I was fortunate enough to test one of her elephant blocks. She is currently running a Quilt-Along with bird outlines. There is a nominal cost for each pattern.
Other than that is has been a busy quilty week. We had the June meeting of the Scrapbag quilters on Wednesday and on Saturday I taught a beginner quilting class at Shoreline Quilts in Port Elgin (our local quilt shop).
I have decided it is time to take the upper hand with the chaos in my sewing room so there may be more organizing that sewing for the next little while. Piecefully, Joanne
Edited to add a link to Jeneen's Quilt Art Designs Friday Link party. quiltartdesigns.blogspot.com

Finally something gets finished

This wee little quilt was a paper piecing test for Janeen at Quilt Art Designs (here). I finished it up with a couple of borders and it is now a good enough size for a small Project Linus donation. I was disappointed in my central yellow star because it rather disappears so I stitched around it with a dark orange and it shows up a little more. The border was a scrap piece donated to the Scrap Bag Quilters that I thought was perfect...oranges, limes and lemons.
The daughter of one of the Kincardine Sunset Quilters is quite technically talented and she made labels for us to use on our donation quilts. All we have to do is add the year.
My two other finishes this week will have to wait. One is a pattern that will debut in the Timeless Treasures booth at the spring Quilt Market and the other project will debut as part of the Stripology2 book that is coming out at Spring Market. I merely tested the patterns for the designers. Piecefully, Joanne
Edited to Link up with Cynthia at Oh Scrap!http://quiltingismorefunthanhousework.blogspot.ca/
Edited again to link up with Janeen at Quilt Art Designs http://quiltartdesigns.blogspot.ca/

Back on the Scrapwagon...did I ever fall off?

Continuing in my efforts to look on the brighter side of things. Three scrappy finishes for January to date. The red bordered one will go to Project Linus and the other two with the windmill blocks will go to the Scrapbag group. We are now in our fourth day of snowsquall warnings and second day of the Highway being closed. Perfect excuses to stay inside and do some finishing. I need to get some more quilts quilted so I can sit under them to do the binding. Another good way to stay warm. We have quilt guild next week. Sure hope the Highway is open on Wednesday.
The red border quilt was made with 4 patches created from some strips a friend gave me. It is 26" by 30" a good tiny baby size. The greener of the two windmill quilts is 41" by 56" and the smaller green one is 33" by 36". Those little windmills are so addictive. The most time is spent getting them ready. You need 4 identical 1 1/2" by 2 1/2" pieces for the small windmills. Diane Harris at the Quiltmaker blog did a great tutorial on them a couple of years ago. I try not to cut anything smaller than this. I keep a little container beside my sewing machine with the sets of four in them and use them as Leaders and Enders.  Piecefully, Joanne

Reflecting on 2014, Looking forward to 2015, Focusing on a glass half full

As I rev my engines (slowly) for a new year I like to reflect back on the year just finishing. I completed 42 quilts, most of them have found new homes with the local Scrapbag group of through Project Linus. I am still enjoying doing that type of sewing and certainly plan to continue that. DH really wants me to reduce the stash so it can be a win-win. Several other projects of the "secret" variety were done and they are not included in my total. I have found that I really enjoy testing quilt patterns for other designers. I know I will never be a designer but I can follow directions and proof read well.
I met and then exceeded my target of 50 books for the 50 book pledge. The next question is which book did I like the best. That is almost the impossible question. I enjoyed The Pearl That Broke Its Shell by Nadia Hashimi and In the Shadow of the Banyon by Vaddey Ratner. Both these books give the reader insides into another culture.
The photo for today's post is some of my Christmas break sewing. Grandson #1 brought his new "stuffie" with him when he came for the holidays. First he wanted a sleeping bag for his stuffie, then a pillow, then a stuffie for his stuffie and then a suitcase so his stuffie could carry his stuffie. Are you still with me? I drew the line at a hat for the stuffie. So a little piece of minkee made a little fish for the cat and scraps of cotton came in handy for the rest of the items.
As to the glass half full. I was thinking that as I stitched a new binding onto a quilt sized quilt. This poor quilt had been loved to bits over the last 15 years and was literally falling apart. I repaired it as best I could and then spent most of a day sewing the binding in place. It isn't perfect but it has a few more years to give some warmth. The glass half empty person would say throw it out, the glass half full person would be happy the quilt is still in use and the owner does not want to part with it just yet.
Wishing all the best for my followers and anyone else who stumbles across my blog.  Piecefully, Joanne

Quiltmaker blog tour coming this week

The blog tour for Volume 10 of Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks is set to begin on Monday of this week. I have been a tester for this magazine since Volume 8. Each and every magazine finds new and talented designers and revisits some of our favourites. Testing for volume 11 has begun. Later this week I will be able to post some photos of my testing blocks. We do not have to specifically follow the suggested colours and once we are done testing, the blocks are ours to keep. I am building quite a supply of 12 1/2" (unfinished) blocks waiting to become a sampler or two. I have found very few issues with the blocks I have had the opportunity to test but we do pick up the odd little bit and that helps the magazine be even better.
Be certain to visit the Quiltmaker blog (here) for the tour schedule.

There have been a number of quilty moments this week. One of the highlights for me was the opportunity to present quilts at the official opening of the most recent Grey Bruce Habitat for Humanity build in Port Elgin. It was a very cold day and the wind and snow were blowing but the Highway was open so I could get to Port Elgin for the presentation. The build was a duplex and the two Mom's made wonderful heartfelt speeches of thanks to all involved. It was definitely a feel good moment. Our Scrapbag group has been involved with these builds for a couple of years. Sometimes providing quilts for the entire family and other times for the children of the family. Piecefully, Joanne

I just haven't had it in me

This is the quilt I made for our friend Ray. He is under going cancer treatments again so this is a hug from his friends north of the border. We have had a busy month, that included what is becoming our annual trip to Stratford. We saw 4 plays starting with Midsummer Night's Dream on Tuesday, then Beaux Strategem, then Crazy for You and finally The Man of LaMancha. We do the matinees and then go out for a nice dinner. Crazy for You and the Man of LaMancha were AMAZING.
I have been to the orthopedic surgeon and it looks like a new knee is in my future but not quite yet. I presented a workshop to the Kincardine Sunset Quilters Guild on Scrap Quilts with a focus on 5" squares (charms, nickels). It went well. Then the next day it was my turn to do the workshop at Scrapbag Quilters. I did simple string quilts. So prepared the foundations and then cut the centre strings. And brought 4 huge bags of scraps. Each sewer had a presser and the day went well. I am back to some of my testing for The Quilt Pattern Magazine. And I did a baby quilt for Shelley at Cora's quilts. That pattern is due for release some time in October. So one way and another I have been keeping busy. Piecefully, Joanne

HSTeria my small contribution

Vicki over at Field Trips in Fiber-Adventures in Quilting, hand dyed fabric and fiber art (here) has been running HSTeria for a couple of months. I must admit my half square triangle supply is out of this world but I tend to make pinwheels and more pinwheels. Her contributions and design suggestions are very good and definitely worth having a look at if you too have a large supply of HST waiting to be made into something.
This little baby quilt is 25" by 32". I was given a milk bag full of triangles. Note I said triangles not half square triangles. And for any American followers Canadians buy their grocery store milk in 4 Litre bags. So first of all I had to sew all the triangles together to made a pile of half square triangles. I did that task as Leaders and Enders and tried to  press them as they were created. The Half Square Triangles were 1 3/4" when sewn together. When I was visiting friends for a little retreat I dumped the bag of HST onto the table after dinner and we all sorted them into like bundles. Then I sewed them into the pinwheels and arranged them into a small quilt. There are 130 pinwheel blocks or 520 HST in the quilt. I just stitched in the ditch to quilt it. They served as a good distraction and I do get a boost from making something out of nothing but I am happy it is all done, labelled and ready to donate to my Scrapbag group when we start up again in the fall. Piecefully, Joanne

A beautiful day in the neighbourhood

this weekend the boys were taking advantage of what Grandpa could save from their old swing set. We had a nice visit and they are coming back again next weekend. Grandpa has also constructed some new paths through the garden that are good for running. The fenced area is an attempt to keep the rabbits at bay and is working so far.
On the quilting and sewing front I have attached a couple of bindings to Scrapbag quilts and done some machine quilting. Friday I hope to get my regular piecing machine back and will (barring the unforeseen) buy myself a new machine. Piecefully, Joanne

Hands to Help final check in for 2014

Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict (here) runs an amazing charity quilt drive each year. She puts a tremendous amount of work in behind the scenes, selecting the recipient charities and explaining them via her blog. To encourage international participants she offers the option of making a donation locally. Canadian postage has gone through the roof this year so I opted for the donate locally choice. The little quilt on the left went to Project Linus and the quilt below went to our local Scrapbag group. Having this little "competition" forced (or should I say encouraged) me to finish a couple of tops. I still have a huge line up of tops waiting to be quilts.
My piecing sewing machine decided to have issues just over a week ago so it is at the repair shop. No idea when it will return or if it was terminal. So I have put a deposit down on a new machine, the first new machine in 40+ years and hope to get to the city next week to complete the deal.  Meanwhile back in the sewing room I am taking this as a glorious opportunity to do some major scrap reorganization. Piecefully, Joanne