Last post for 2016

This past year has been filled with all kinds of happenings - good, bad and otherwise...  I've managed to accomplish a number of projects, and, as always, I have a pile of other ones to finish.  Well, I have to have something to look forward to next year, right?!
One of the biggest projects I worked on in 2016 was the Quilty 365 project - making a small quilt block for each day of the year.  I wasn't sure that I'd make it through the whole way, but I'm happy to say that I now have 366 little Dancing Plus blocks to assemble into at least 2 quilts!  I'll work on putting them together sometime in January.  These are the last 31 blocks, with a special festive red and gold "fireworks" block to celebrate the coming new year (or the end of this project!) - you can decide which version you prefer...

I also finished, and sent off, 4 "hot and cold corner" blocks to Kat's "Covered in Love" quilt block drive.  

 

I also made 6 blocks for the Canadian Quilting Association's Big Quilt Bee - they will be joined together with blocks from other quilters across Canada, to benefit 1,000 kids at Ronald McDonald houses.  It's a special project to commemorate Canada's 150th birthday / anniversary.  Each block was to be made slab-style, using fabrics from specific fabric lines.  My blocks were made using the Stonehenge "Oh Canada" line.  They were also mailed out a few days ago.

And, we can't forget Christmas!  I made a few gifts for my very special soon-to-be-2 year-old grandson.  He knows that cars drive on roads, and what sounds they make, so I thought he should have his own set of roads and a few cars to play with.  This mat is made with a panel from Northcott; it's one of a collection that can be sewn together to make an entire town.  I just needed one section for now.  The ends have compartments for his cars to be stored in (I bought a few little cars to add to his selection).  

My daughter has also mentioned that she wants us to take our grandson fishing when he gets a bit older, so I was excited to see this cute fishing "game" on a site a few weeks ago.  You sew a washer into each fish's mouth - the fishing "pole" has a worm on it, with a magnet sewn into it.  Bring the "worm" near the "fish" and click! the magnet connects to at least one "fish".  Our grandson was thrilled with both of these gifts!

So, that's the end of a few projects - and there will be new things to take their place.  I just heard about another Canada 150 project - a Calgary quilter has researched 150 Canadian women, and has matched each of them up with a 6.5" quilt block.  I've already started that (3 blocks are released every week), and I'll be sharing them here starting next week.  It will make a queen-sized red and white quilt, that I'm going to make for myself.  This project runs into next summer, I believe;  making just 3 small blocks a week is do-able, so piecing the top should go fairly quickly.

I'm hoping for lots of good days in 2017 - and hope that each day of the new year is special for each of you!  Thanks for reading my blog!

Linking up to Quilty Folk; Confessions of a Fabric Addict; and Quilting is more fun than housework

The reveal - finally!

I'm sorry that I didn't get this finish posted yesterday like I'd hoped - my hubby's and my schedules didn't work out together, and I couldn't get a picture until this evening.  But, I really hope it was worth the wait, because I've FINALLY finished my test of Cathy's Geese Around the Tulip Patch quilt.
It was fun to make, and I really like the pattern.  I had planned to make the crib size, but I ended up making the twin / throw size instead - throw in a few family emergencies / situations, and this took longer than I'd originally anticipated, but I think it turned out really well!  I still need to quilt it, and then comes the really hard part - deciding who will end up with the quilt!
Here it is in all of it's glory!  (Ignore the tassel in the upper left corner please...)

Here's a closer look at some of the design elements:

I think the pattern will be available in the new year...

December "doings"

I'm finally going to reveal my big project tomorrow, but I have a few small things to share today.  Along with my Quilty 366 blocks, I have a few other scrappy projects on the go.  Some of them make great leader / ender projects, which in turn end up in scrappy donation quilts.  But I discovered a new project a few days ago, and I'm really excited about it!
If you're Canadian, you'll know that Canada will be celebrating it's 150 "birthday" next July 1st.  To mark this momentous occasion, there are a number of quilting projects / challenges popping up.  I had already heard about "Canada's Big Quilt Bee" - a project that aims to collect 1,000 quilts for kids at Ronald McDonald houses across Canada.  I've already started piecing a few slab blocks for that.  But a fellow blogger mentioned a new endeavor - 150 Canadian Women, and I'm so excited to be one of the many Canadian quilters that will be producing great quilts, but also learning something about 150 women that were an integral part of forming the fabric of Canada!  Unfortunately, I missed out on the introduction of this project, so I've missed the first 2 weeks of pattern releases, but I downloaded blocks 7-9, and stitched them up yesterday afternoon.  I shared this project at our guild meeting last night, and it sounds like a few more of our members are going to sign up for this great challenge.
Here are blocks 7-9:

The bottom block represents Viola Desmond, who was just chosen to be the first Canadian woman depicted on a Canadian bill - the $10. bill in this case.  She's often referred to as Canada's Rosa Parks.

As this was our last guild meeting before Christmas, we were encouraged to bring a small, wrapped gift for a game we played.  I thought of a number of gift ideas, and then remembered the box of Dresden plate "blades" that I came across last week.  I hadn't done anything with them after I cut them, so I sewed them together into a rectangle, and made 2 mug rugs from them.   This was a great way to use up some scrap fabrics, and make something useful for this time of year!  (the bottom one seems to have a wavy right side, but that's just an optical illusion!) 

I'm going to share these projects with Cynthia's Oh Scrap! blog post, as well as Leanne's Scraptastic 

Tuesday link-up.

Hope to see you tomorrow!

Time marches on...

Actually, most days, I think it's actually racing!
I have my November Quilty 365  blocks to share - I now have 335 blocks finished (and I believe that I haven't repeated a fabric in any of the blocks - not sure whether that's something to brag about!).  When I finish the 31 blocks for December, I will have completed a complete year - a block for every day!  Of course, I chose not to do the circles that many were doing - I probably would not have reached this point if that were the case.  These blocks finish at 6 1/2", and I think they will make at least 2 quilts, and possibly 3.  They will be donated to a charity that provides warm blankets to 3rd world communities, and all sizes are needed, so I'll have to see how large the quilts end up being once the blocks are assembled.
Here are the 30 for this month:

Of particular note is this one - my teardrops - tears of joy, shed as we celebrated the birth of our second grandson on Nov. 17th.  We were thrilled to be able to stay with his older brother while mom (and dad) stayed in the hospital for 2 days - of course, that meant 2 days with no sewing machine...

Thankfully, all is well with mom and baby, and big brother is adjusting to his role quite well (he's almost 2).

Finally, my test quilt for Cathy is SO close to being finished!  I goofed up some of the instructions, and had to buy more fabric, which ended up costing me 3 days, but I'm almost ready to put the whole top together, and take pictures.  Cathy has been VERY patient with me, and I really need to get this done - there are a few Christmas gifts to sew and knit yet, and I need the time to work on them too.  I hope to have a finish for you by Wed. or Thurs.!

Thanks for stopping by!

I'm going to link up to Quilty Folk .

Design Wall (Table?) Monday...

It's been a REALLY long time since I've done a design wall post - partly because I don't really have a wall to post things to.  So, today, I decided to try using the table on my screened in porch that I use for layering quilts, and it worked fairly well!  The only real downfall was that I couldn't get out there until after 5 pm; the time change on the weekend made the space a little dim, and there's no lights out there (I use that area primarily in the summer - there's no heat out there either!)  But, I really wanted to get this posted today, and the pictures turned out reasonably well...
I had mentioned that I was testing a pattern for Cathy - I've been plugging away at this for a few weeks now, and I just want to get it done!  It's not a complicated pattern, but life got really busy for a bit, and then hubby was diagnosed with influenza which meant that I got to put my nursing skills to work for about 9 days.  With some of the other craziness going on, I didn't pay enough attention to the instructions, and ended up making a goof that required ordering more of my feature fabric - and waiting for it to arrive.  It finally came, and I'm on a roll again!  The pattern is Geese Around the Tulip Patch, and here's my version (so far):

The pattern uses these 2 blocks for the body of the quilt:

I'm hoping to have all the blocks assembled by this weekend!

I'm linking up to Patchwork Times

Little things...

It's that time of the month again - time to reveal my 366 blocks for October.  I have been doing this for 305 days!  (plus the first 3 for November... but we aren't going to count them just yet).  Taking a quick look at the blocks when I photographed them, I see that I did a lot of black and black-and-red blocks.  I cut out stacks of black and white, and black and red and white, and white and black blocks for a quilt I'm eager to do.  It was too hot to sew, so I cut fabrics instead (the air-conditioning didn't reach to my sewing room... and we had some HOT days in October!)  I also cut the fabrics I needed for our quilt guild's place mat donation - I was assigned to use purple - and that colour also made an appearance in my 366 blocks.  So, now that you know why some colours appear more abundantly than others, you can see the blocks!

Another little thing that I've been busy with is tiny "bead bags".  We have an excellent Children's Hospital in the city near us.  One of the neat things they do is to give every child a "bravery bead" every time they have to have a procedure done - x-rays, scans, bloodwork, chemo, etc. - and the kids need a place to keep those beads until they collect enough to make a necklace.  That's where these little bags come in.  I was asked a few weeks ago if I have fabric - YES!  I do!  Then I was asked to make some of these little bags - so these 14 are ready to go tomorrow morning.

Here's a close-up of some of the fun fabrics I used - and I have LOTS more cut and ready to sew up.

I have a BIG project in the works too - I'm testing a quilt pattern for my friend Cathy - it's called "Geese Around the Tulip Patch" (there's a pic on her blog!) - mine is in greens.  I'll have a picture of my progress here in a day or two...

 Linking up to  Quilty Folk, My Quilt Infatuation, and Quilting is more fun than housework.

Late again...

I always seem to have good intentions...  and then LIFE happens!  Too many things happening, not enough time to deal with it all!
I did manage to keep up with my Quilty 365 project - I've finished 9 months!  That works out to 274 days (if my math is correct!) - so, I can make a commitment and keep it - sometimes better than others!  Making commitments isn't my problem, it's keeping them going!
I'm busy working away on a few quilty projects - don't have anything I can share just yet, but it's happening behind the scenes.  SO, I only have my Dancing Plus blocks to show right now.   Here are September's blocks:

So far, I haven't had to repeat a fabric - don't know if that's a good or a bad thing!, and I still have lots of stash to choose from.  The best quilty news in September was that I won a FQ bundle of fabric, so lots of new pretty pieces to choose from!  

I'm busy working on testing a pattern for a friend, and have a baby item or two on my knitting needles (all things that I need to blog about - SOON!), but that will have to wait for another day.  

I also finished the top that I blogged about in mid-September, but for some reason, I don't have a picture of it, so I'll have to work on that too.  

Stay tuned!

 Linking up to Quilting is More Fun Than Housework's  Oh Scrap post.

Scrappy Saturday Sewing

It's been a while since I could just sew for the afternoon - apart from trying to keep up with my Quilty 365 project, but today I finally decided to "just do it" as the slogan says!
I've had a HUGE pile of 2 1/2" x 4 1/2" blocks cut since last year - one of the guest bloggers for last year's 'Hands2Help' challenge said that she cuts her scraps into rectangles based on those dimensions and then sews them into blocks.  I started using her method of using up my scraps - it makes for a great Leader / Ender project - and eventually, you get a pile of blocks!  Today was the day I finally made time to put them together.
I made great progress on this top - it still needs another 2 rows to be a "proper" quilt, but I'm pleased with what I've accomplished today!
*And now it's Monday - I put my post on hold to get a picture, but it didn't happen until today - it still needs those 2 rows - they'll get added sometime soon, I hope (before month's end if I have any say in the matter!)
This is what it looks like now:

I see a few rows where I have matching blocks touching each other (of course I didn't notice that when I sewed the rows together...), but I may just leave them.  That's the charm of a scrappy quilt, isn't it?  Thanks for stopping in!

Linking up to She Can Quilt and Quilting is More Fun Than Housework.

August Quilty 365 report

It's that time of the month again - time to share my Quilty 365 progress!  I'm a few days late - I had 29 of my blocks done, and had to scramble to find enough time to finish the last two blocks - but they're finally done!
I knew that August was going to be crazy, but I had NO idea how crazy life could get - until it actually happened.  I've been helping to care for my dad in supportive housing; then, late last week, he moved into long-term care.  He had a really rough start, and I wasn't sure that he'd actually still be around by the end of this week, but he's starting to settle in, and I've finally had a sort of quiet day.
I was able to work in my sewing room for almost 2 hours today!  I finished my August blocks, and here they are:

I also finished 10 or 12 blocks for Kat's August block drive for Covered In Love.  I was a little hesitant to commit to participating, because there was the danger of our postal employees going on strike, but that, thankfully, has been averted, so the blocks are somewhere in the postal system.  The day after I sent them, I realized that I'd forgotten to take a picture of my blocks...!  BUT, I loved the block that Kat chose (a disappearing 9-patch with black and white fabrics, surrounding a central block in either lime green, Caribbean blue, or sunny yellow) - and I've decided to take the fabrics that I had left-over, and I'm making my own D9P blocks!  The only difference is that each block will have a different Kona solid at the center of the block - and I have quite the assortment of colours!  I worked on a few of those blocks today, and hope to have time on Monday to cut and re-assemble some of those blocks.  I'm excited to see how the different colours will look together!

And finally, I needed a card today to accompany a prayer shawl that one of our craft group volunteers made for a member of our church.  The prayer shawl will be going to a man fighting cancer, so I needed a masculine-looking card to go with the prayer shawl - and this is the finished card:

  It's a little hard to see, but there's a "patchy" diamond design embossed onto the top of the light card-stock.  I love the image of the tree - strong and immovable - as I hope  his faith is!  

I'm going to link up my blocks to the QuiltyFolk website - there are already a number of blocks posted!  And, as always, thanks for stopping in!

Scrappy sewing!

For once this year, I have a very good excuse for not getting much sewing done - it's the Olympics...  Yes, I'm totally addicted to watching the different sports - things that I'd never watch throughout the year, but for some reason, I'm hooked on them now!  Well, maybe part of the reason for that is that the TV happens to be in the only air-conditioned room in my house - and WOW! have we needed the A/C this summer!  I'm not complaining - I've been waiting for summer since those cold days back in January and February; now that it's here, well...  Also, my garden has been producing like a house on fire!  Which means lots of picking, canning and freezing.  I'm SO thankful though!
But, back to the sewing...  I've been doing a lot of cutting - parts for on-going projects, parts for new projects - because I can cut fabric and watch the Olympics at the same time.  I need to cut pieces for my Quilty 365/366 blocks, and, while I have the fabrics out, I may as well cut block parts for a new project.  Katy over at KatyQuilts designed this block, and shared the pattern.  I fell in love with it immediately, and I've started cutting fabric for it every time I cut fabrics for my daily blocks.  I've got quite the stack of fabrics ready to sew.
As well, Kat posted her August block  for her Covered In Love charity block drive.  She wants black and white fabrics to make Disappearing 9-Patch blocks, using either lime green, bright yellow or Caribbean blue for the center square.  I have LOTS of black and white fabrics, so this is an easy one for me!  I grabbed the box of B/W fabrics, found some lime fabrics, as well as a suitable blue and started cutting.  I had to go shopping for a yellow fabric (what a hardship, right?), and quickly assembled these blocks:

  They're ready to be sliced up and re-assembled into D9P blocks.  I actually have about 8 more blocks ready to cut up.  

One last quick project was for a wedding shower at church.  Our church life coordinator is getting married next month, and we showered her with love and gifts earlier this evening.  Her fiancee has honey bees, and they enjoy "creating" honey and honey-based products, which they sell at our town's Farmer's Market.  She also sews, and I was sure she'd enjoy these "bee" inspired coasters - all of the fabrics either have bees in the print, or have bee-striped influences.  The coasters will be put to good use, I'm sure!

I'm linking up with Quilting is more fun than Housework's Oh Scrap! post, and she can quilt's Scraptastic Tuesday post.

My July finishes

July is behind us now, thankfully!  It ended up being much busier than I had anticipated, and that impacted what I could finish.  It's almost embarrassing to show the few blocks that I got done, but at least I got a few things accomplished....
Kat asked for patriotic red / white / blue 'star' blocks for July's Covered In Love quilt block drive.  I pulled red / white / blue fabrics and found a pattern for a great star block designed by Judy Martin.  I cut enough fabric to make a few blocks (quilt rule #11 - cut enough fabric to try out one block - if you like it, cut out more, but if you don't like it / have trouble making it, you've only committed to one block).  How many blocks did I make? None...  I found another star pattern in an older quilt magazine, and I liked the story behind it, so I cut enough fabric to make 5 blocks (remember quilt rule #11?)  How many blocks did I make?  Parts for 5 blocks, but none of them got finished, because I found another even better star block!  Cut enough to make 7 blocks (remember quilt rule #11?)  I did persevere with these blocks though, and managed to finish all seven of them - at least a week later than I should have....  But they're done! and in the mail!  (And Kat has posted the pattern for the Aug. block drive - so guess what I did last night?  Yep, cut enough fabric to make at least 10 blocks...  But I've done this block before, and I love making it!  (I already have 4 blocks partially sewn).
AND, I worked diligently on my Quilty 366 blocks - I did keep up with this challenge - even though I managed to sew one block half right side up, and the other half wrong side up.  I even pressed it, and didn't notice....
So, pictures of all of these blocks - first the star blocks:

And the Quilty 365 (366?) blocks - some of my patriotic fabrics showed up here, including a very Canadian maple leaf print.  

See the red block on the far right side?  It's covered in hearts, and is my July 1st block - I love living in Canada! and am so thankful for the blessings and freedoms we have here.

I'm going to link up with Quilty Folk and Quilting is More Fun Than Housework's "Oh Scrap" posts.

Thanks for stopping by!

What I'm working on this month...

I really haven't had a lot of sewing time this month - I've been working some nights, and that messes up my internal clock.  When I finally have the urge to sew, it's often supper time, and then it's too dark in my sewing space.  So...  not much getting done!  Well, there are pickles being made, and veggies and berries being picked and processed, but you didn't come here to read about that!
I have managed to keep up with my Quilty 366 blocks (I'll share them all at the end of the month).  The only other project that I've worked on is Quilts for Pulse .  There's been such a huge outpouring of support, and the organizers of this project will be able to make quilts for each survivor, for the families of each victim who perished, and quilts for the first responders.  I've already mailed off a pile of blocks, and then a few days later, found a few more sewn up, plus a couple of smaller blocks that needed to be joined together.  Those blocks are all done now too, and ready to go out in the mail tomorrow.
The first photo is the original heart blocks that I made, and the 2nd one is the stack that will be going out tomorrow:

We were expecting to have a postal strike in Canada, so I wasn't sure that I could participate, but the strike is on hold for now.  That's really great news, because I can make a few blocks for Kat's Covered In Love block drive.  She has asked for star blocks in red, white and blue fabrics - I've chosen my fabrics, and my star patterns, so, as soon as I get up tomorrow morning, I can get to sewing them!

I'm linking up to She Can Quilt for Scraptastic Tuesday, and Quilting is More Fun Than Housework's Oh Scrap posts.  Thanks for reading!

June wrap-up

Wow - June flew by!  (Is that a sign that I'm getting old?  Every month lately seems to be gone before I know it!)
So, I've already shared most of my June projects / finishes, except for my Quilty 365 blocks - and here they are!  I've now made 182 blocks.

I have very specific reasons for choosing some of the fabrics; others were just handy...  The top right corner fabric from Fig Tree's Mirabelle line marked my birthday; another fabric celebrated the birth of a friend's baby boy.

Unfortunately, the last block marked a very sad day - the fabric reminded me of a fire.  On June 30th, one of my local quilt shops (Cornerstone Quilts) went up in flames, with approx. 12 other businesses in a strip plaza fire.  The cause is still unknown.  Thankfully, no one was injured.

I'm linking up with Quilty Folk to share my Quilty 365 blocks.

Two finishes!

I know, I know, I'm late for Friday's reports - but I had to wait to get pictures of my completed projects, and that didn't happen until just 20 minutes ago.
So, the good news is that I completed 2 baby projects this week!  One is the little sweater for baby Charlotte - her mom is one of my youngest daughter's best friends.  The baby shower is tomorrow, so the sweater really needed to be finished today, and there were a LOT of ends to finish off!  But, I got it all done, and it's wrapped and ready to go.  Here it is:

The pattern is from King Cole, and the yarn is "Drifter" by King Cole - it was wonderful to work with, and I'd knit this sweater again (in a solid colour next time though)!

I also got the quilt done for baby Evan!  It's my version of an I-spy quilt.  There are 2 "copies" of each print in the quilt, so it can work as an I-spy, or match-up game; it can also be used as a counting tool (how many blocks have animals, etc.) and a colour-teaching tool - so, lots of things that can be done with it.  I'll wait a few weeks before I go to visit and deliver this quilt.

(I just realized that the quilt is upside-down - sorry!)  You get the idea though...

I'm off to link up to Judy's "On the Needles" post, and Sarah's "Can I get a Whoop-Whoop?" post.

Thanks for stopping by!

My latest scrappy project

This quilt might look a bit familiar...  I blogged about some of the blocks here - and I finally had time to put them together and add them to a previously started quilt.  These scrappy Trip Around the World quilts are addictive!

I've also been working on an I-spy quilt for a new baby - the son and DIL of a very dear friend were expecting their first baby, and I wanted to make a quilt that would take him or her beyond the baby stage. Hopefully, this will be a gift that would become a fun activity for this baby, and for any future children that they might have.  It's mostly assembled, and I'll share the picture of the finished quilt in a few days.  Thankfully, little Evan was born yesterday, and is already the joy and delight of his parents!  This is what he has to look forward to:

I'm going to link up to Judy's Design Wall post, plus Leanne's Scraptastic Tuesday post, and Cynthia's  Oh Scrap! post.  

On My Needles (a few days late)

It's been a little while since I've shared a knitting-project blog post, and I thought it was time to change that.  My life is still far more crazy right now than I prefer, but setting aside some knitting time every day helps a bit.  It also helps that both of my daughters have friends that are expecting!  DD#2's friend actually just had her baby, a little girl, and that made me so happy!  I had bought some really pretty pink tonal yarn a few months ago, hoping that one of the expected babies would be a girl, and the first one was!
So, I finally get to knit another sweater from my new favourite baby book!  This sweater is the cover design - I loved it from the start!  I'm not so sure now that my yarn choice was the best to highlight the openwork, but it is what it is....
The body of the sweater is done, and now I'm working on the sleeves:

I'm almost at the point of starting the raglan shaping.  I've worked to make sure that the stripe pattern in the yarn matches on both sides.  Then I'll just have the button bands and neck ribbing to knit.  I'm still debating whether to add the hat....

I'm linking up to Judy's On The Needles post for June 10, 2016.

May wrap-up

Another month has flown by - but I know that it was full of all kinds of activities, some happy, some not so much...  So, maybe it's a good thing that tomorrow we turn the calendar page to June and start again!
I did get quite a few projects completed in May - my Hands2Help quilts of course, and my Quilty 365 blocks; I also finished a Twisted Sisters quilt and a wedding gift quilt.
I'm going to share the Quilty 365 blocks first - normally I would have shown you week by week, but with our computer issues, I wasn't able to show the first 2 week's worth, so I decided to just show them all at the end of the month.  I started this project on Jan. 1st, so I've now completed 152 Dancing Plus blocks!  Here are the latest 31:

I'm sorry that it's not the best picture, but I

it's my only option for right now.

Next up is my Twisted Sisters quilt (pattern by Ami Simms) - the background fabric is a"cloud" print, and I took my pinwheel colours from that fabric.  I had some yellow binding left from my big H2H quilt, and I thought that it would work on this quilt as well; it was obviously meant to be, because I had EXACTLY enough to bind this quilt with about 4" left over!

Finally, the wedding quilt!  My son was the best man for the wedding of his best friend since grade 5(?) - and we were all really happy when he met, courted, and proposed to, and married his beautiful bride.  The happy occasion needed a quilt!  It's a "throw" size - it should be big enough for them to snuggle under when they watch movies together, or to curl up under when one of them has a cold or the 'flu.  The pattern is called "The H Quilt" but I labelled it as "H is for Happiness" - and we hope and pray that they're blessed with lots of happy days!

I think I'm ready for June!

(I'll be linking up with Quilty 365 and Oh Scrap)

I'm back!

Hello all!  I'm sorry for my sudden absence - we had major computer issues - and while we quickly got a replacement, it took hubby quite a while to get our files transferred to the new computer.  Add in some major family responsibilities, hubby's full-time job, my computer illiteracy, and you get an "absentee" blogger.
So now that we seem to have things mostly back to normal, I can share some of the things I've been doing the past few weeks!  I'll spread it out over 2 or 3 posts, or you'll be reading this way past your bedtime....
I'll start with the most important things first: my Hands2Help quilts.  This is my second year taking part in this charity challenge, and I've had a lot of fun both years.  The charity that will be getting my quilts is the Yukon Women's Transition Home.  They need quilts for the women and their children that have fled abusive situations; they'll be starting new lives with the help of the Transition Home, and the donated quilts.
I made quilts for both a girl and a boy,

and a mom.

The "mom" quilt was a New Year's day mystery quilt from 2 or 3 years ago.  I finished the top, and then put it aside because life got busy.  A few months later, I found a great print for the back, so it got layered and ready to quilt, and then was set aside again - until last week.  Now it's quilted and bound and ready to go to someone that needs some encouragement.  They'll be going out in the morning, and I'm linking up to Sarah's linky party.

Have I already said how much fun I've had making these quilts?!

I've been busy!

I can use that as my excuse for not posting lately - really!  I have been busy - just look at what I've done...
First off, I forgot to post my Quilty 365 blocks for last week, so I'll start with them:

Some of the fabrics came from my stash, and a few will show up in one of my later photos.  These blocks are for Apr. 17-23.

Then, I spent a morning at a friend's house - a few of us gather there every second Monday morning to make cards.  It's a hobby I've been enjoying for about 11 years.  

I realized last week that I had completely run out of birthday cards, and I know that I'm going to need a few in the next week or two, so I managed to make these 2 (and a few others) that morning. Hubby and I have a wedding to attend in a few weeks, and what better wedding gift than a cuddle quilt?  I had to go shopping for some of these lovely prints, and I may have to get one or two more lime greens.  I'm not so sure that I'll be keeping the 2 grey and lime circle fabrics...  The quilt is a quick sew - large blocks, separated by Kona Snow sashing and grey cornerstones.

And finally, I have done some more significant sewing - these are just a few of the 12 Scrappy Trip-Around-the-World quilt blocks I've assembled in the last 2 days.

Now I'm off to run some errands - the fabric shop is calling my name!

I'm linking up to Oh Scrap!

Some scrappy fun!

I've been putting off a very important task - something I've needed to do for at least the past 6 months - cleaning out my sewing room.  My sewing space started off upstairs, then got moved to the basement - and I vowed to sort it out long before Christmas.  Well, I'm sure that you know what happened - nothing!  There were too many gifts to make, then quilting challenges came up... and it was always too easy to come up with an excuse to put it off.  But now I'm working on my Hands2Help quilts, and I needed a bigger space to work in - so I got some of my space cleaned out.  And guess what - I found a whole pile of sewn

 and cut up strips, ready to be reassembled into scrappy Trip Around the World blocks!  So I had to put everything else aside to make up a few blocks: 
But then reality struck, and I figured that I'd better get to work on what I really needed to put together - my Hands2Help quilts.  These quilts will be going to the Yukon Women's Transition Home, for the women and their children.  I had already sewn the individual blocks up for both the boy and the girl quilts; I had even auditioned a few layouts, but then I decided to make both quilts a little bigger.  I played around with different layouts, and finally decided on 2 different ones.  Here's the boy quilt top:

and the girl's quilt top: 

Finally, while I was on a roll, I decided that I should share my Quilty 365 blocks for this past week - the 

yellow one is today's block, celebrating that spring (and the sunshine!) seems to have finally arrived; the pink floral is for my dear friend Ila, who would have celebrated her birthday yesterday.
I'm going to link up to Sarah's Can I Get a Whoop-whoop, and also Leanne's Scraptastic Tuesday posts.

Orange and purple flowers...

I'm still plugging along on my various scrappy projects - the Rainbow Scrappy Challenge, and Quilty 365. You may remember that I didn't actually finish my purple Pieced Tulips for March's Rainbow Scrappy Challenge - but I've not only caught up with the purple blocks that I should have completed for last month, but I've leapt ahead and made all 5 blocks in April's chosen colour (orange)!
On top of all of that, I've still keeping up with my daily Quilty 365 (Dancing Plus) blocks.  I'm trying to make a few quilts for the Hands2Help quilt project, and I have 2 newer projects to make, sooner rather than later. One is a quilt for one of my son's best friends.  Mark, and the love of his life, Ashley, are getting married in about a month, so a quilt is definitely required.  I chose the pattern a few months ago, and I've been picking up fabric here and there, but the time has come to get that quilt assembled!  As well, the son of a very dear friend and his wife, are expecting their first baby early this summer - again, a perfect occasion for a quilt!
So far, only the Pieced Tulip blocks and the Quilty 365 blocks are ready to show - so, first are the five purple blocks from March:

Two of them were done in March (the lightest and the darkest blocks), but I finally made the other 3 blocks.

I was on a roll, and I decided that it would just make sense to carry on with the April blocks in orange!

And, while I had the orange fabric out, I cut a block for the Quilty 365 project - it's here with the blocks for the first 9 days of April.

Just in case you're thinking that I haven't done much the past few weeks, let me assure you that a lot of knitting has also been accomplished - nothing that I can share right now - but it's taken up some of my valuable "crafting" time.  I've also been spending a lot of time with my dad - he just turned 87 at the end of March, and needs a little extra attention... and I managed to spend a day looking after my favourite (and only!) grandson.

I'm planning to post two quilt tops that I've assembled for Hands2Help in the next day or two, so pop back in Tues. or Wed. to see what I've done for this wonderful charity project - or click on the button on my sidebar to check out what they need - maybe you can help them out too!

I'm off to link-up with So Scrappy - there are lots of lovely orange projects there!