Back from Away

 Well, I have definitely been away for a while,

Here are a few hints on where I've been!

Yes, it was amazing an amazing trip.

Definitely a sampler of all" over the ocean" has to offer,

We are still a little bit jet lagged 

but back to basics and everyday life.

On with the quilting! 

Today, after finishing up the mending,

I'm starting to quilt the little "Eye spy" top and 

 the goods are waiting in the to be quilted pile.

As my walking buddy said,

That will give me the bes feeling of progress

to get me back in the flow of quilting.

Here is the pile.

And here's the quilt first quilt going under the needle.

It is already have completed . 

I ran out of time pretrip.

Lots of packing and luggage weighing was happening.

The back is pieced

and used up more of the flannel basket.  

Have a great week sewing!

( Did you figure out where we went?

The statue on the right in the fourth

picture is Amerigo Vespussi. 

I think he looks concerned?!)

Whupside Down I Spy

Yes, there are still loads of I Spy 

blocks kicking around my sewing room.

The first brick one is up on the wall after

a brief hiatus to make room for

the GK's 5 " block I Spy projects. 

Unfortunately, a few of the bricks are upside down.

A quick pick out with my handy mini rotary cutter

and I was back in business.

Now it's time to audition some sashing.

Putting in some lighter colors as sashing 

is always unsuccessful but

 like a bad movie plot, I try it again

and it always does not work.

Here is the second go round, 

The last one to chose from, 

and finally a pile of the winners. 

One winner turned out to be precut pieces 

for backing so they were sent down to the 

backing bin. 

The cutting was all 2 1/2" strips which

will also double as binding. 

The first top measures 42" x 58" 

but the subsequent ones will be 

a bit shorter at 42" x 52"

Nice pile of strips here and 

minimal leftovers too. 

Enough to do 4 quilts!

Have a great week sewing !

Stay Safe and Sew On!

Linking up with :

Sew & Tell

Monday Musing

Design Wall Monday

SrSPS

Handmade Monday 

To Do Tuesday

Wait Loss Wednesday

Put Your Foot Down

I Quilted This 

Finished or Not Friday

Off the Wall Friday

Retreat Success

Oh,  retreat was good to me!

Lots of stroller tops are done up so I can get quilting this week.

The mini vacation for me is coming up,

so I'd like to have them quilted and ready for binding

before I head off to the woods.

Here's a little show of what was finished last weekend.

Found pale blue  5" squares paired with I Spy blocks,

and this little stroller quilt was the result.

Cute as a bug and fun to look at.

Next up was a visit to New York to see the

 Rockettes march across the stage!

Just a few misplacements and 

the garlic knot quilt top was complete.

It's just spicy enough to be fun and should be great to quilt .

The salmon were sewn up quite nicely

 although one setting block did get lost in transportation.

As luck would have it,

a perfectly good triangle was found in a scrap bag

given by a friend. Spring spawning was saved!

Not be outdone, 

some 6 1/2" blocks got into

 the mix and went together in a cutesy

5 x 7 arrangement of I Spy fun.

Just look at those happy pigs in the corners!

I will be swapping out one of reds in the 

top row.  Those dancing cats just didn't behave!

There was also an interesting little floral block.

Paired up with even more leftovers from other projects,

it turned into a sweet little quilt that is sure to delight.

The fused centre will be 

grid stitched quite tightly so 

there's no danger of the applique lifting

Finally, there were bricks of two sizes 

waiting to go into column quilts.

These were leftovers from the I Spy block cutting frenzy.

These will be paired with some interesting fabrics and 

make some fun quilts for gifts or donations.

Just a few more blocks for equalizing the 

 length and they should be ready.

The smaller bricks ( 5 1/2") will find 

their design this coming week. 

Till then, happy stitching!

Stay Safe and Sew on!

Linking up with:

Sew & Tell

Monday Musings

Design Wall Monday

To Do Tuesday

Handmade Monday

Life in Pieces

Wednesday Wait Loss

I Quilted This

Put Your Foot Down

Home Matters

Finished or Not Friday

From Bolt to Beauty

Design Wall Friday

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Patchwork & Quilts

Oh Scrap

Stitching Stuff

Retreat Season

Retreat season is upon us. 

Just like hunting season or ski season, 

we pack up our bags, 

all our equipment and off we go.

 

 I'm gearing up for the 3rd and last retreat of 

this spring retreat season.

I still  have projects that I can take.

Obviously, I'm either well prepared or 

I just have too many projects.

So let's see what's in the works for the next retreat.

I've got quite a few more rainbow scrap 

blocks to  put together for the 

next strip quilt. 

It is still lacking the remaining colors.

The bags of strips and scraps are ready to go

except for the red .

 I am going to harvest some chunks

and root thru the scrap drawer 

to make a goodly bag for the red squares. 

This is some of my chunk storage. 

Lots of red in this one.

I hope to have a number of baby quilts 

ready to bind,

and a few more I Spy quilts ready to stitch together.

Surprisingly, there are still lots of interesting 

fabrics in my stash, so I had another bit of fun

cutting out more I Spy blocks. 

Remember all those big ziploc plastic bags

I was gifted?  They are perfect for retreat projects and 

making up kits to take.  They are more space efficent 

and keep me a bit more organized!

These will certainly certainly keep me busy

 for another weekend in the country.

Two of last week's stoller quilts are

still waiting, so they will go back into the mix. 

The last retreat was at a lovely hotel 

within the city but the next is out in the country 

so it will feature a few walks

 through the woods 

in springtime.

Right now I'm going to pop outside

 enjoy some 18 C/ 64 F weather.

Stay Safe and Sew on!

 

Oh, That Garlic!

 These garlic knots are picking my biscuit!

They keep getting moved around and around,

 put out on the sewing table,

but never making any progress.

That's how many of UFOs are born.

They have some sort of glitch 

that makes us set them aside to deal with later.

Well later has arrived! 

The glitch with these was choosing

fabric for the background 

that was in short supply.

When a new background came into play,

the whole project kind of got pushed aside.

So now let's dig out some low volumes,

and get this plan in motion.

Count up how many blocks are complete,

and go from there.

Here is the block with the first  

low volume background. 

I counted up the blocks and 

there are more than enough for

 a very nice stroller/ baby quilt!

No more garlic for me!

The extra strips will be used to 

shadow lattice some crumb blocks I have

waiting in the wings.

 

 

Any square backgrounds remaining

can be used as alternate blocks in baby square top

I've been waiting start.

 Amanda Jene Nyberg says it best,

" No scrap left behind!"

Stay Safe and Sew On!

 

Add it All up!

 Finding matching blocks on that Discovery table,

leaves room for lots of different ideas.

These blocks were all leftovers from Chains of Love 

that I did ages ago for my brother.

I ended up making two, a small and  a large, 

because the blocks were fun to make.

It seems no pictures exist of those two quilts. 

Here is the pattern from the book.  

Notice how most of the blocks look nothing like the pattern?

I made the plus blocks and 

put triangles on the corner using the stitch and flip method.

Then I would cut them down to

 the proper size for the X blocks.

Oh the things we learn.

Thinking back on the name of this quilt,

it was a bit of foreshadowing, 

but that is a story best told elsewhere.

Anyway, I'm going to put these plus blocks

 together as nature made them,

and use a half block as the border. 

There are 26 of the 6" blocks to start with. 

They could go into a small stroller quilt

 but there are many whites waiting for a purpose

and I'll let them shine in this quilt. 

The pattern is from this book that I've featured before.

It has beautiful quilts in it as well as the

 occasional heartwarming story. 

 It is just a wonderful book.

The X blocks went off to quilt Canada for 

the block challenge. 

Can't wait to get started on more plus blocks!

Stay Safe and Sew On!

Linking up with :

Monday Musings

Design Wall Monday

Monday Sew & Tell

Handmade Monday

SSPS

Home Matters

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Oh Scrap!

Swimming Up Stream

 It's almost a time for the salmon to start 

going back to where they were born.

These little blocks were discovered 

when I was packing up blocks

for the quilt Canada leftover block challenge. 

I feel good saying that 190 blocks 

are on their way to go into charity quilts

to be done at quilt Canada.

These little fishes will be starting to swim upstream

on a background of white on white.  

Ripples will be sewn into the white squares 

a water effect.

I would love to have it ready for this 

month's meeting but I'm not sure how far I'll get today!

So, here is where it lands this morning!

Some precut 5 1/2"  strips made great

background blocks and it is ready to stitch!

It will certainly be ready by next month's meeting.

And also that time of year again.

I have another retreat coming up!

Most of the prep for that is done.

I just need to recharge the sewing kit and

 verify a few projects and I'll be ready.

My little featherweight

 with the handi work tray always goes along to retreats.

Have a great week stitching!

 Linking up with: 

Monday Musings

Design Wall Monday

Sew and Tell

SSPS

Put Your Foot Down

Wednesday Wait Loss

I Quilted This

RSC 2026

Patchwork & Quilting

Finished or Not Friday

Off the Wall Friday

Oh Scrap!