Saying Goodbye to Pumpkins

My pumpkins always come in after Halloween, and and this year that includes my Turkey Trot flimsy.

The original plan was to include it in this year's Quilts for Survivors (QFS) shipment, but the timeline for its delivery was moved up unexpectedly and this one was still on the design wall with work to be done. Not to worry, it can become the seed for next year's shipment (sort of like sourdough starter 😉).

It so cute with all of those squirrels and pumpkins and leaves framed in autumn-coloured polka dots! And it's nice and scrappy, too.

I'm getting better at cutting my remnants into strips and squares and the 2 1/2" pile came in handy for all of the 16-patch blocks.

Still love these little squirrels in their cozy sweaters.

Hopefully all of those fun fall creatures put a smile on someone's face - they still do for me!

At 48" x 64" it meets the size that QFS is looking for, but occasionally I look at it and wonder if it needs a border. Today I'm thinking that it doesn't.....M

Happy Thanksgiving!

This is our Thanksgiving weekend here in Canada, so time for the pumpkins to shine. Usually the leaves on the trees have a spectacular showing this time of year, but it's been so dry of late that many have already fallen. Regardless, the weekend weather is beautiful and I hope that all of those who are celebrating are enjoying your fill of turkey and pumpkin pie.

Planning to start sewing the rows for my Turkey Trot together today - lots of pumpkins, leaves, turkeys and fall colours in this one. Because our Quilts for Survivors shipment went north sooner than I had expected, it missed getting included in this year's bundle, but I'll get it together and it can be the start of next year's. One more thing to be thankful for....M

Rollin' Out My Pumpkins

I've teased about sharing my Miss P flimsy with you, but she's still sitting in the laundry room waiting for a good press, in large part because of these boxes. We've been busy pulling together this year's Quilts for Survivors shipment. Last Sunday they were displayed in the church along with a garland of some of the blocks that we'd made and this week everything came down and was boxed for Jean and her husband to drive them north to Timmins. Big job! Simultaneously, I was organizing a special 100th anniversary dinner at our church so things have been just a tad off the rails.

Needless to say, my house could use a little attention. It's wonderful to have all of those quilts and flimsies (41) and the 34 quilt blocks packaged up and out of the house but it's already October and there's nary a sign of a mum or a pumpkin on my front porch. 

So, I pulled out my rustic Cinderella Pumpkin placemats for a quick seasonal fix. These were finished up in November/December last year so this autumn will be their inaugural run. Still really love them.

In part because each pumpkin is made from a different fabric thanks to a very generous Roberta who let me raid her beautiful stash. It's hard to pick a favourite, but that's part of the fun.

You will recall that they were originally supposed to be all in one runner but I changed that to placemats and added that little picot 'shelf' for each pumpkin to sit upon. It's made from the same brown that I backed them in and is a nice touch; they needed a little something extra. 

And you know that I just love those little pumpkins quilted throughout - such a terrific panto. Roberta used a variegated thread and it adds to much depth.

This will be a great way to start getting me into the mood for Thanksgiving - next weekend, yikes!....M

My Need For Speed

You know me, I rarely work on one project at a time, often motivated by the last thing I pass in the sewing room or see on my TO DO list, and often by the need to feel that progress is able to be made more quickly somewhere else. Well, here is proof positive that I am consistent.

To break up my date with the pincushion in assembling the Miss P blocks (so close!) I started another Quilts for Survivors project. I'd been mulling this one for a while as an experiment for how to use this cute autumn-themed print with funky little turkeys, 

pumpkins and leaves,

and a nattily dressed squirrel. I'm calling it Turkey Trot.

It's fairly simple but I think it does a good job of showing off the fabrics. I raided my 2.5" remnants and also cut several additional 2.5" squares - many of which are remnants from the Falling Leaves charity quilt - for scrappy 16-patch blocks. 

Once I had pairs sewn together I set out sets of 8 so that I would be sure to get the colour distribution that I wanted, and then it was easy to work through the pile.

And then I framed 4.5" squares of my larger print with a tiny polka dot in coordinating colours. Very fun, I must say.

The framed blocks came together very quickly and the 16-patch blocks followed a few days later. I am loving the combination of prints - very autumnal, which is timely as our weather has suddenly turned cooler. 

It's not together quite yet but it's now time to return to my pins and finish getting Miss P together....M

Homespun Happiness

Often when I'm closing in on a finish the blocks stay up on the wall for seemingly forever, but not this time!

I wasn't thrilled with having to pin all of the connecting seams in these Homespun blocks, but there were stretches that allowed for a good 6 - 8" straight run so I just decided that a little patience would get me a long way. And so it did.

Happy, happy, happy! Once it came upstairs into the natural light I liked it even more than I did while working on it. All of those bright colours just make me happy. 

I'm still really happy with my decision to stagger the blocks.

I like it so much that it has me wondering if this one will stay at home, but I have some time to think about that.

The remainder of this mauve was made into a binding right away. Love using up a piece of fabric.

It needs a good press and then it will be ready for quilting.

On to Miss P!....M

Homespun is Getting Close to Coming Off the Wall

My mission to clear the design wall continues. Remember back in January when I started playing with the scrappy Homespun stars? Well, I just kept playing with them off and on. 

I really enjoy the pattern and liked seeing the result of new colour combinations.

Slowly they added up to enough for another Quilts for Survivors flimsy, but how to lay them out? I had just made blocks in colours that I liked with no real plan, and when I started to lay them out I wasn't that keen on butting them up squarely to each other. Ah, the joys of just starting to sew without a plan!

How about staggering them? I liked that. 

So I ripped two blocks into halves, and made a few more half blocks to fill in the gaps along the top and bottom.

But there is still the question of colour placement. I tried transitioning from pink to yellow to green to blue but ultimately decided that it wasn't working for me. 

So on a whim I nestled all of the pink/yellow blocks in the centre and moved the blues and greens to the top and bottom, and I liked that. Stay tuned!....M

Anne Made a Happy Flimsy, Too

Great progress has been made on cleaning off my design wall so that I can move on with Miss P, but before I go there I'll share another Happy flimsy for Quilts for Survivors, this time made by Anne.

She started with the pretty black print that's at the centre of each block and then added a couple of coordinating reds, a green and a white, all from her stash.

I expected it to look very Christmassy, given all of the red and green, but it doesn't. It's bright and fresh and I think the black helps on that front too.

I've said it before and will likely say it again: this is such a great charity quilt pattern because the blocks comes together so quickly. It's basically the first step in a Log Cabin pattern. And it can be made in any number of sizes. Mine were closer to 16" blocks but I think that these are 12", and no need to add borders given that we are working to provide lap quilts. She just finished it off with the same black sashing strips.

If memory serves me correctly, there will be five versions of this pattern in our bundle this year - I've made two, Anne made one, and Jean has made two (not sure that I've shown you Jean's, but they are lovely). There's still a few months to go before we ship our donation so who knows, there might be more happiness on the way....M

Clearing the Decks

Now anxious to dig in and get my Miss P (Posh Penelope) flimsy together, I have a few projects on the design wall that need to be dealt with first so that I can use it for my layout. My second Happy quilt went to the top of the list because all it needed was a few more sashing strips and a border.

The colours for this one are very similar to the first, but I switched out the orange Kaffe fabric for this brown harvest-themed print of baskets of bread and sheaves of wheat that I bought from Linda several years back.

I was using up a piece of beige and wasn't quite sure that there would be enough so the sashing and first border are cut at 1.5", which is narrower than for the first.

Most of the remaining colours for the blocks are the same as I used for the first quilt...

but the black in the bread print led me to using this orange check for the border which has a narrow line of black in it. There are a few pieces of this orange in the blocks as well.

So that's another Quilts for Survivors flimsy finished and ready to be quilted. They both originated from me wanting to use a piece of this lovely cinnamon scrap from our church quilters. I did, and that makes me 'happy'!...M

My Green Stars Are Fini

With everything cut, sorted and stacked, it seemed like a shame not to continue sewing the scrappy green stars, and with a few unexpected windows of opportunity opening up I now have them all finished.

They are 16" squares so I only need a dozen to make a lap quilt, which is what Quilts for Survivors prefers.

There's a little bit of everything in them, including a hit or two of turquoise.

And I'm happy that I included a few prints that had a pop of red, like these roses.

It wasn't until I was close to finishing cutting that I decided that a few checks would be fun too.

Now it's time for sashing. I'm thinking of staying with the scrappy neutrals and maybe something on the narrow side, just so that it doesn't get too clunky. Time to cut!....M

Sewciable

A few of us got together this week for a Sewciable, prepping and sewing Quilts for Survivors projects, a perfect opportunity to start a green scrappy star quilt that I have been wanting to make for some time now. 

I got everything cut and organized the week before, including making all of the necessary HSTs, with the intent that it would make for pretty straightforward sewing. It was, but when you are hosting you never get as much done as you think you're going to. And to think that I wondered if I should have a second one cut and ready! Ah well, it's a good start.

Rather than sewing, Jane opted to be our Girl Friday, spending her time running to the ironing board for us and designing creative layouts for boxes of blocks that were already assembled.

Anne spent the day focused on getting her Second Hand Clothes assembled and did a good job of it; all that's left to do is add the corners and an outer border.

And Linda. Well, she started work on beautiful Log Cabin blocks with teals, browns and dreamy creams, and by the end of the day I think that we had her convinced that this one should be for her.

The centres are cut from a soft collage of birds and plants. The homespun plaids were driving her a bit crazy though. Because the fabric is so soft it's difficult to cut and sew them perfectly straight, but we assured her that it just added to the charm of the quilt.

When she saw a few blocks together on the design wall she realized that the white strip was just too white so there was a job for Jane - rip it out!

We even auditioned borders for it. This is going to look beautiful in her living room. I'm certain that another Quilts for Survivors project will take it's place some day....M