Sunday, September 17, 2023

A Flimsy Finish!

 I have some friends who bought a cabin in Tahoe during the pandemic.  We are going to visit them there for the first time in Oct.   I thought I would make them a special host / hostess gift.  Their whole family ski and snowshoe and all those Winter activities so I figured I'd make something with that Theme.  I found this panel and companion fab on-line and it seemed the perfect choice for a Winter sports vib.

It feels kind of  masculine to me so for the mom in the family i picked a nice soft (more feminine)
backing fabric
It was a stash find which was really nice and it's a lovely soft flannel.  Always my pick for backings...
I have a couple of weeks to quilt and bind it .  Phew,  way ahead of schedule for me! LOL

I hope your Sept is going well!
take care, cw




Wednesday, August 16, 2023

Lots of Sewing not much posting...

 Hi all!  It was not my intention to put my posting on pause for so long.  In fact I started the new year thinking I would try to post at least once a month. 

Ha!  That did not work out.  Oh well.  But I do find that posting pix of my quilts does help me keep track of my finishes in a temporal way.  A record as it were.  And so I will try to renew my unofficial new years resolution.

I try to sew or quilt a bit everyday to move some projects along.  My efforts are somewhat random but over time I do accumulate a fair number of finishes.  Here, in no particular order are most of my finishes since my last post...

It seems baby quilts were in big demand.  Here are 3 that I've finished since January.

I started this quilt thinking it would make a good Vet quilt.  But my daughter saw it and ask if she could give it to a friend who just had a baby boy.  This pic is at the border adding stage.  I did finish it but forgot to take a "finished " pic.

I made this quilt for my niece who is expecting her first child this month!  We are all very excited for her especially since this baby is the first grandbaby on that side of the family!  I thought the 'eye spy' theme would be fun for everyone!
This quilt is for a close friend of my daughter's whose having her second child in Oct.

I'm still working on finishing small quilt tops that were leftovers from the CZU fire victims project.  Geez, that was three years ago, although I think I got the 'leftovers' maybe two years ago!  Now with the Maui fire so fresh in the news it sure reminds me of all the devastation!  
This cat quilt was fun to finish.  I added the borders.  Fabric from my stash!

These next three all came with batting, backing and matching bindings!
People were so generous with there quilts and tops.  We got donations from all over the country!
This one was even pin basted all over so I just went ahead and quilted it on my short arm.
This one was really fun to quilt with all the motifs. 

This quilt top was a flea market find.  All it needed was a top an bottom border to make it the right size for a Hospice patient quilt.  The aqua fabric was another lucky find in my stash.  Good match ?!
And another kid quilt... I actually made the top for this one!  LOL
These will all get donated to various charitable organizations that my Guild works with. 

We had a family gathering in July at our cabin and I wanted to make some new quilts for my grand daughter's beds at the cabin.   Nothing fancy but something that they could associate with their Summer vacations at the cabin.
I love flannels.  They are so cozy. So I used up a whole bunch of large scraps to construct these two quilts.

They measure 60" x 90".
My granddaughters are 6 and 9.  Their tastes run towards the pastels and brights so
 just in case the dark hodge podge of the scraps was not to their liking I made the backs matching with these pretty flannels from Beverlie's.
Well that covers my quilting activities since January moreless.

Life goes on in other ways...Slaving in the garden is a constant but mostly rewarding activity and we've traveled a bit.  A trip to Egypt in Feb. ( I highly recommend the OAT tours).  We had a fabulous time and we learned, saw and experienced so much!  
Egypt had been on my bucket list for a very long time.  I feel so fortunate to have finally traveled there.  The people are so friendly and very pro USA!  I was kind of surprised by that but people just walking down the street would ask "Where you from" and we'd say U.S.  and they'd say something like "Very good!"  or put a thumbs up to show their approval.  It happen where ever we went!
I have about a thousand slides but here are two that I think capture a lot of what is Egypt today.

On the one hand, Egypt has some of the most amazing antiquities in the world.  The Sphinx and the Pyramids at Giza are just the tip of the iceberg. This is the Iconic view out in the desert...
But turn the camera around and
Not to far in the distance you can see the Modern city of Giza which is very close to Cairo.
Cairo is a sprawling mass of humanity, 22 million people live there.  Almost half the population of Egypt!
But even in Cairo you still see carts being pulled by donkeys.
Egypt's history is very rich but it struggles with Modernity.  

Well that's all for now.
I hope your Summer is going well!
take care, cw














 











Wednesday, January 25, 2023

January, A Great Month of Sewing!

 We are drying out now, but phewph, what a lot of rain we had!   We are fortunately up in the hills on solid ground so no major damage to us personally but that series of storms did a lot of damage to many places here along the Central Coast of CA!!

For me the up-side of all that rain was a lot of indoor time for sewing.  I tried to make the most of it!  I got two quilt tops quilted,

Simple quilting with squiggly lines on the diagonal.
And this top was a donation to the CZU project but a lot of the small quilts / tops were never distributed
because people really wanted bed size quilts.  So we are finding home for them with hospice and the Vets project 'cause they want Lap size quilts like this one.
I used my favorite doodle- all-over-pattern to quilt this one.
I also Finished this top from my last post.
I know I've said it before but I really do like these row by row quilts.  It makes the math really easy!
And since Valentines day is coming up I made this scrub cap for my Daughter in-law.
I think this is one of the prettiest V-day prints ever!
And of course I made it reversible.
This print is pretty cute too!
I a weak moment I volunteered to make some Door prizes for our Guild's up coming Quilt Show.
I inwardly groaned with the gal in charge of Door prizes asked me to sew these microwave holders.
But when I sewed one up and tested it out in my microwave I have to say they are pretty nifty!
I even sewed 3 extra, 2 as gifts for friends and one for myself!
What a useful Door prize!
Well that all for now.  The sun is out and I gotta go out and clean up the yard!!
Take care, cw