September starts and stops

The start for this month: I finished a little fall quilt to hang in my window. It was easy and a temptation to do some free-motion practice, but maybe later. I had other things happening...

One was a quilt for a refugee that is now on the longarm. Picture later. It is coming along fine, but I'm off my feet a bit, but not fully stopped because of this other thing that happened...

Our youngest son got married on Friday, the first of September. We prayed for good weather -- it rained Thursday and the smoke from wildfires in BC was so bad Saturday that people were advised to stay inside. The wedding was outside on Friday and the weather was PERFECT! Thank You, Lord. Our kids were all here and the wedding was lovely. The bride > stunning. The photographer is going to try and get her on a magazine cover. Then we drove from the botanical gardens to downtown, and my hubby dropped me at the restaurant where the reception would be. The foyer was dark, the curved staircase long and when I stepped off to go down, I stepped into thin air.

Headfirst. I thought instantly to turn sideways and roll rather than go head over heels, so stopped about halfway and could not move for a long moment. Then, with a little help, got up and walked to the banquet room and sat down. Ice packs, concerns, but the good Lord had me focused on the wedding and the guests, even though they were not there yet. I had bruises on my arms, but they vanished before the meal was over. 

Then I slept all night, and was feeling okay next day except for two places: left foot and right shoulder. The foot was soon black. The shoulder bruise came up today, six days after getting battered on those metal-edged risers. However, I'm not broken and not sore all over, just bruises everywhere. Our oldest son remarked that he thinks I must be moonlighting as a stunt woman. 😄

So if anyone reading this wonders about guardian angels, wonder no more. Thank you God, for not only protecting me from far worse, but also giving me peace and joy so I didn't whine and feel sorry for myself and put a damper on an incredibly lovely day. 

Now, back to that quilt...

August Quilt

Had to make this in a hurry then forgot to hang it until August 2 and forgot to take a photo. So here it is, as promised. Told you it was simple. Making plan for September but don't you know it . . . making plans does not equal making the quilt! 😊

Also finished quilting a lap quilt and will post it soon. Life has been so hectic that I have to write everything down or it will get lost in the pile. Sigh. Wedding (youngest son) soon, good and sad family events, invitations, meetings, friends that need prayer, invites to dinner, appointments, and all sorts of calls and texts that seem important at the time. When this rush is over . . . 

I'm still here...

Whew, has life been busy. I have finished another quilt for a refugee couple and have four more on the go for their family. Also whipped up a little August landscape for my dining room window. We have had so many things going on that I'm too tired to describe them all, but healthy, enjoying lovely weather, trying new recipes, and quilt, quilt, quilt 'til I wilt... literally.

This is the quilt for the refugee couple. They asked for this but sent a picture of a knitted afghan... fortunately there is a pattern online for the quilted version. It is called "Pixelated Rose" and the pattern is pink but their photo was blue. And no, I did not cut a zillion 2.5" squares. If an area was bigger, then it was cut accordingly. It is quilted with a panto called "Leafarama" using Glide in white 60 weight, which amazingly shows up as texture on the white background and almost disappears on the colors, even those dark leaves. If you have never tried Glide, give it a go. It never breaks and comes in many colors and variegated also.

The August window quilt was a quick one I just sketched on an 11.5" x 17" paper and cut out/pasted/sewed the pieces and put a backing on, turned it and did a bit more quilting. It is little but kinda cute.

Oops, thought I took a photo. Here is the sketch showing the values. I stuck to normal colors except the upper sky has a strip of blue-green that we really don't see very often!

Added to this, we welcomed a refugee family of five plus grandma, in July, sponsored by our church, at the airport and helped get them and their luggage to their new home. It was instant bonding, just like our own kids/sister/brother. Feel like we've known them all our lives. Lots of emotion and joy and getting them settled. And the hubby and wife are both world class cooks as well as being all-around incredible people.

Besides that, our youngest son is getting married in 3 weeks. Glad he and his honey are doing everything. I just have to tie balloons to some chairs and loan him my easel! At least so far...

More Scrap bin browns. . .

 I took the last quilt top posted and two other tops plus a table topper finished to the 'sew days' of our local guild outreach department. This group will quilt and finish the tops, including labels, and give them where needed. We support several charities and gave away about 200 quilts this past year. If I go to the place where they work together, I talk too much and don't get much done, so I drop in, pick up fabrics etc. and take them home where I can work without the lovely distraction of gabbing with friends. Of course, when dropping something off, I get in on the chatter.

These are the tops and the little quilt that went in today... and the one yesterday also went in. See it here.

This one has peach even if the photo looks pink. The one below it has a soft warm beige sashing that looks grey on my screen. Sigh.

The little one is a truer color.

Now I'm making more refugee quilts for another family arriving next month. The family of five came last week. We were part of the group that met them at the airport. What a night that was! I will never forget the instant bonding. They and us too felt as if we all belonged together. They were in danger for nearly 10 years and are thrilled to be here with no need to look over their shoulders.

 

Out of the scrap bin...

The brown scrap bin yielded 150 slab blocks at 6.5" and looks like I will get three quilts from this pile of scraps. I've added bits from larger pieces and fat quarters, but the brown bin is now empty! How long that will last is anyone's guess.

This first top was designed around an orphan block that someone donated to our guild. Many donors are people who cannot quilt for health reasons, or from families who have lost their quilting mother or grandmother. The block is 18.5" so was perfect for my 6.5" blocks. I had plain ones also so used them to give some space to this orphan. Putting the slab blocks around it was pure fun. 

This top is 63" square and going to the guild community outreach group for quilting. I did make some binding, also leftover scraps, that will work and have some brown backing that will do this one and the second one on the design wall. Photo of it later...

 

This one is for QofV

detail

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I finished this quilt last week. It was quick and easy, a simple log cabin. It will go to Canadian Quilts of Valour next week at our Guild Sew Day. The leader takes donations to each charity. This group will take tops to finished quilts. If they come in unfinished, they are sandwiched and quilted, bound, labeled or whatever is needed. The Guild gives away more than 200 quilts a year. They will put a label on this one.

Size: 60.5" x 81"
Panto: Leafarama
Thread: Glide "Yellow Whisper"

Then I did a quick sew for this June window quilt. It was done in a day and is hanging until the end of the month. June Birds is 20.25 x26.75 and totally made up with a little help from a couple of bird books. It isn't much, but will be viewed from the sidewalk outside our yard, about 30 feet away! 😀

Our Guild show was last weekend, one of the best shows ever! I have no pictures but eventually the posting for the show will be on the EDQG.ca website. More than 200 entries, fine workmanship with the difficult decision of voting for Viewers' Choice. It took me hours to decide and I could have marked my ticket with almost any number. 

Now I'm tackling a box of scraps. It was labeled "BROWN" but anything close got tossed in, like orange or yellow with a bit of brown (or not), taupe, and tans and a few strays in other colors. I started making 6.5" slabs, then strip blocks the same size, a few pieces big enough for plain blocks that size, and am at nearly 100 of them. There is a plan in mind, but we will see what happens on the design wall. Hard to believe what can be done with a box only 12 x 12 x 17. It was stuffed, now empty with a few strips hanging on my longarm. This is (almost) mindless sewing and very relaxing.

We did get a good rain that settled the smoke and some of the fires. It is still dry and smokey a bit again this week, with more rain needed. Many people lost everything and our guild is now making quilts for them also.

Another Finish and praying for rain

Five quilts done for a family who will arrive in Canada in early July... and the fifth one is finished. They are excited to finally have tickets and I am so glad to have their quilts completed. This one is square, will work on a bed but also to keep warm in our cold winters. It is called Sleeping under Stars and Flowers because there are stars all over the backing. The quilting on the big blossom isn't showing well here.

Now I'm working on a simple log cabin. Blocks were done weeks ago. Since it is 6 x 8 blocks, I had to get creative with an arrangement but have two rows sewn. Picture next time.

With the wildfires in our area, being outside is not pleasant. The air quality is off the charts. Rain is forecast next week so hopefully we will get reprieve. More than 15,000 people have been evacuated from various areas and the news two days ago said the area burned was 20 times the area of Calgary, a city with a population of 1,640,000 and with a typical prairie city sprawl. 

The fires are not close to where we live, but the smoke has reduced visibility like no fog ever has. Our air quality is 11.7 times above the recommended limit given by the WHO. Normal is 4-15, we are at 228 and it could go higher. This is a daytime image. Glad for AC and tight windows.