Stitching Kittens - Block 3 of 8 done

I hadn't stitched on my kittens project since getting back from Florida.   Now that all my urgent sewing is done, it's nice to slow down a bit and do some stitching.  Aren't these kittens having fun sitting on the garden bench.  

Sleep Tight little ones.

Summertime or not, look who's wrapped up and snuggling under their new quilts.  Grace has the quilt with the pink binding, and Caitlin with the green binding.   Sleep tight little ones.

Veterans Quillt Blocks - 10 done.

I'm doing 10 blocks a week on my quilt for the veterans quilt.  Easy to do this week with the rain et all.  I have next weeks 10 blocks cut and ready to sew.    It might get harder as the summer gets closer.  The nice weather is so inviting, and besides, my sewing room is too warm to do too much machine work.

I made myself a sleeve pressing board this week.  My husband shopped the Home Depot for just the right piece of wood.  He pointed one end slightly and rounded over all the edges.  I covered with batting and cotton.   I've used every day since I've made it.  Just for small awkward things like inside bags, etc.

Grace and Caitlin's Quilts Bound for home

So, they're bound and soon they will be bound for their new home.

I wonder if they'll guess whose is whose.

Caitlin and Grace's Quilts - Machine Quilted!

I'm thrilled to get my two quilts back from Gwenda so soon.  The machine quilting is gorgeous.  

They are Caitlin's and Grace's quilts that we started last winter.  The girls picked out the fabrics and the pattern.  I left it up to Gwenda to pick out fun machine quilting designs for the each of the girls quilts.  

The only thing I wanted was for the design and thread color to be different on each quilt.  And they are.  Wonderful Choices.  Daisies on one, and birds and butterflies on the other.  I won't show you the whole quilts right now because I want to get them bound and let kids to see them in person first.    I'm excited for them to see them.      

Many thanks Gwenda for a speedy and perfect job.  

 

Lady Slippers at the cottage

A group of five slippers.

We counted 20 lady slipper blooms at the cottage this past weekend.    It's fun to see how many we can find in our little patch of woods.
 
The lady slipper is PEI's provincial flower. I wonder if they are having a comeback of the ladyslipper.  For a while they were rare.  Seems that we are doubling our blooms every year.  I'm sure we have more, but on this day, it was damp and the bugs kept us moving.  

Lady slipper with white blooms.

Hand Stitched Tea Cozy

I hand stitched this little basket of flowers last year.  It was a weekend project at the cottage.   Well, this weekend, almost a year later, I turned it into a tea cozy.   I added two layers of warm and natural batting and a muslin backing to this piece of linen.  Then I machine quilted a grid and in and around the redwork.   No particular pattern was used.  I just made it to fit my favorite little Paderno teapot and it fits perfectly.

I have a quiet week ahead, why don't you stop by for a cup of tea.  

Cute, eh?  

Grace's Medieval school project

Grace is finishing her grade 5 year.  For her year end project she was assigned  a project on medieval clothing.   She knew right away what her plan would be.  She called me and was excited to tell me she needed my help.  

Last night she came over and we got her samples of leather (thanks Kathy), rough cotton, finer cotton, silk, linen, wool and hemp.  She'll put them on her poster board with a write up on each.

Grace decided she would design, and we would make a doll outfit just like in a picture that she found during her library research.  The outfit would complement her poster board presentation and write-up.   The peasant outfit would be made of a long white light cotton tunic dress with long sleeves, a vest that laced up the front for warmth and an apron tied with a hemp twine belt.   She also wore a wool scarf hat tied around her head for warmth.  Grace chose the fabrics out of the various natural fibers.  To make the apron a darker color, we even tea dyed the apron, just like they would have done in the medieval times.  Also, notice the hand stitched hem.  Grace did that to emphasize there was no nice sewing machines back in the medieval times.  All stitching was done by hand.

I sure hope we get a good mark on the project.  Grace seems to think that by adding so many authentic aspects to the costume,  she surely will get an A.

Anita's Arrowhead Block - a nifty block

Have you ever tried this block. Anita's Arrowhead was shown/demonstrated at our guild workday last year or the year before, but I couldn't attend but I really liked the look of a quilt that Sandy M. had done using this block.  See it here in our guild's show and tell album.   Yesterday,  I came across this link at Quiltmaker magazine that shows how to make Anita's block.  I tried it out of scraps of fabric.  It is very quick and smart.  Anita Grossman Soloman says always to a test block before cutting a whole quilt.   So I did.  She refers to it as the first pancake.  Neat analogy  like that first pancake,  my test block is not very pretty, but it is perfect.   I'll put this perfect block in my "odd blocks" box.  It'll get used some day.

At guild, we have a new coordinator for community projects.  Her name is Jeanne-Kaye S.   She's a really productive quilter.  Actually she's a mad woman!!  She gets teased at each meeting when she brings her show and tell...in a laundry basket.   We all laugh, but we are all so impressed at her productivity.     Well, this recent appointment as chairperson of community projects in our guild  has her all fired up.     She has spent countless hours at our Veterans Center with her father.  So one of her big goals is to cover every one of the 70+ single size beds with a nice bright and cheery quilt during her two year term.   We're all going to have to pitch in and I'm starting now.   

I think I will do a single block quilt using Anita's Arrowhead block made out of scrappy blues..  See, now that I'm finished my Winter Wonderland quilt top, and the binding is made, the bunch of blue fabrics that been out on hold until I finished that project can now be returned to my stash.  But before they were folded nicely and put back in a bin, I ripped off a 9 inch strip of each color.  Over the next couple of days, I'll iron these strips, match them up and cut them into 8 inch light and blue pairs, enough for say .. a kit of 65 blocks.  I'll keep them handy, and  I'll work on them here and there over the summer.    I have a feeling that these blocks will be addictive.

Winter Wonderland - Top Done

Well, I'm so pleased to have those border blocks done on my Winter Wonderland quilt.  But just because the 24 blocks are done, didn't mean I was done with this project at all.  I realized that there was much to do yet.  Most of my rainy Sunday was spent cutting sashing and filler strips, measuring, piecing the border sections together.   Then today, the final step was to sew the borders to the sides of the stitched center piece.    

Even though the main feature of this quilt is the hand-stitched blocks, I do intend to machine quilt it myself.  I know what I would like to do, so I will mark the quilt soon, and then machine quilt this summer sometime.  Whew, I'm feeling so good for having this one done.    

The sun is out today, so I'm not starting anything big this week.  Might make a small project or two.   

Our Cottage is Officially Open

But who wants to go to the cottage when it's cold and rainy out.  No sense waiting, rain or not we decided to do the inside work.    We've moved all the outdoor furniture out on to the deck, made beds, hung curtains, started up the running water, washed out the fridge and turned it on, washed dishes, and washed more dishes, swept up bugs, hung the TV, started up the satellite service.  Whew, sounds like a lot, but with the both of us working, we had it all done in about three or 4 hours.  

A single trillium.

Next week when the sun comes out, we will concentrate on raking the yard and mowing the grass.  We'll also tend our little gardens.  The lilies are all coming up nicely.  I was pleased to see these special wild flowers enjoying all the rain.  We didn't spend too much time looking, because the bugs were eating us alive!!

The first of our lady slippers
ready to bloom.

Winter Wonderland - Almost there!!

I'm sticking to my plan.  Sewing a couple of the border blocks a day.  I decided to place the blocks I have done around the center stitched piece.  I love the look and now I'm really motivated to keep moving on.   I have 7 blocks to go.  With the continuing rain, I will no doubt get them done today and tomorrow.