I Swear I've Been Sewing

Even though it has been crickets here on my blog, I have been steadily working on my mother-in-law's Pineapple Farm quilt and making real progress. After what seemed like forever I got all of the pineapples done:

I finished all the red pineapples first and then added in the orangey and yellow ones.

 I then had to add the sashing which was a little tricky at first. There are a LOT of bias seams which meant they were a bit rippled, so I followed the rules very carefully and pinned every 3" (which is ridiculous) and then sashing went on MUCH better.

My cat was his usual helpful self.

Smooth sashing. That's better.

This was when I had all the centre sashing done and just needed to add the borders, which are now done.

 I also went on a shop hop with friends on Tuesday (as we are all in education and this is our March Break) and I did a LOT of damage.

There were some awesome deals. I even have a plan for many of these.

And I completed some lined drawstring bags to gift to my nephews at Easter. They are filled with stickers and some treats.

Next up on my agenda is finishing this pineapple quilt and then on to finishing the next WIP. My goal, if you remember from my first January post, is to have no WIPs by the end of 2018. Wish me luck!

Thank You Stephanie: A Finished Quilt

My elder daughter has finished her grade two school year, and as has been tradition since she started Junior Kindergarten, I made her teacher a quilt. To be honest, the way I decided on this particular colour scheme and pattern was my overflowing "cool" scraps bin. I chopped up 3.5" squares from every blue scrap that seemed appropriate (not so much with the sharks, for example). I then went through my white scraps and found a big stack of white-on-white 3.5" squares from I don't even know what project. Meant to be! They formed the middle white squares of these nine patches. The only stash (instead of scrap) I needed to use for the quilt top was some Kona White for the sashing.

I love how all the light-to-dark blues results in so much movement in the quilt.

I did a free motion meandering stipple, despite my recent FMQ practice, because I needed it to be FAST.

 To be honest, if I was redoing this quilt I would do straight line quilting to be more in line with the boxy nature of the nine patches. I used a very light blue Aurafil and it worked out pretty well (good thing, since I was out of white) but the quilting is my least favourite part of the quilt.

Despite not being pieced so well, this particular block has my favourite combination of scraps. I kind want a whole quilt in navy now!

The backing involved this slightly minty print that I've had for ages but couldn't figure out when I would ever use it (or why I bought it!), some leftover Architectures by Carolyn Friedlander from the back of my Tranquility quilt, and some other blue that I had in my scraps.

That mint print is an odd one. What was I thinking? But it worked well for this quilt!

My daughter made the label for the quilt, just as she did last year. 

The teacher absolutely LOVED the quilt. Apparently she kept calling people over to open it up and show it to them. My daughter assures me that this was because she was so excited about the quilt. She sent a lovely thank you note home. As a teacher I know that gifts are always appreciated but not always fitting for the recipient (The flying dove sculpture I received from a student one year still stands out in my mind). I hope that her teacher really does love this gift. 

Linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts' Finish it Up Friday!

WIP Wednesday: The Blues

So what am I working on this Wednesday? Well, it is May, and May means the end of the school year is not so far away. The tradition thus far has been to make my daughter's teacher a quilt to thank her for caring for and educating my awesome kid.

My "cool" scrap bin has been getting unruly, so I knew I wanted to dig into my scraps and put together something that would be for her teacher but also cut down on my scrap problem.

I have a rather generous amount of blue scraps, so I pulled out everything I could find that seemed appropriate (not so much the shark fabric though) and cut a big stack of 3.5" squares.

To be clear, I still have lots of blues in my scrap bins but these did make a dent!

Then I pulled out some white scraps, where I found some white-on-white 3.5" squares that were cut but never used for a project from last year. It was meant to be! I used those as the centers and made 9-patch blue blocks. Then I played with them to get balance and came up with this organization:

I like this scrappy look!

I've now cut out the sashing (from Kona White) and I'll get to work making this a lap-sized quilt for her teacher. Nothing like a hard deadline to get the sewing mojo flowing!

WIP Wednesday: Closer to Finishes

Having some extra free time over March Break meant that all of the current WIPs I'm working on are moving toward finishes.

The Quilt of Belonging blocks made by the second graders all got their colourful borders. There will also be thin strips of black between each block to mimic the real Quilt of Belonging. Currently the bottom row is missing two blocks- one with the name of the school, class and date, embroidered by the teaching assistant from the class, and one made by a member of the Mississaugas of the New Credit First Nations, a local person from the First Nations community where the school was built (on their traditional territory). Then a black sashing strip all the way around and between each row, and I get on to piecing a grey and black backing with a stack of rainbow rectangles.

Rainbow.

I also made a pillow out of the paper pieced butterfly I made for my goddaughter. Now I'm avoiding the hand sewing that is required. I really suck at hand sewing.

Did I overdo it with the clips?

I also managed to baste and quilt AeroPlus. It needs the binding made so I can get this one finished and off to the new, one-month-old owner who lives in Ottawa!

Straight line quilting to match the Greek crosses.

I did have this frustrating glitch. Booo. I was almost finished when I noticed. Fortunately it was near a corner, and with some stitch ripping, some pressing and more 505 Spray,  I was able to smooth this right out with no ill effects.

I am hoping that my next finish will be AeroPlus, followed by Little Eyes, my daughter's I-Spy quilt which is basted and waiting for quilting.

If only every week was March Break!

#QuiltofBelonging

There is an amazing Canadian quilting project that truly captures the Canadian spirit called The Quilt of Belonging.

The project began with the idea of having a quilt block representing each culture or country that make up the Canadian mosaic, a project that ended up taking years, having 263 blocks and being 36 metres (120 feet) long and 10 metres high. The first row of the quilt is made up of blocks created by the First Nations, Inuit and Metis people of Canada, the country's first people. 

Here are some pictures of the stunning quilt:

I can't begin to express the detail in each individual block, made up of the most diverse materials. It is true "textile art." Here are a few favourite blocks:

Libya

The Central African Republic- made up of butterfly wings

Iran

Dakota (First Peoples of Canada)

There are so many, and they are attached using black fabric and then have this woven cord between each block with the colours slowly changing and interweaving as you go. The top of the quilt is a rainbow slowly melding into each colour, just as everyone becomes part of the Canadian fabric when they arrive. How cool is that??
Some local First Nations communities put together a kit for students about the Quilt of Belonging to spread the word that we all belong and we are all part of one big community, unique as individuals but beautiful together. I worked on this kit with an amazing Grade 2 teacher, her teaching assistant, and the First Nations Metis Inuit Resource Teacher for my school board.

The kids learning about diversity and belonging, touched sample blocks and taught others about their blocks and then got to make their own blocks, which I will now sew into a big #QuiltofBelonging which will go on display in the school's front lobby.

Here are the blocks that these little sewists constructed:

Aren't they AWESOME!?!? Some kids brought fabric or materials or beads from home. Others used what we donated. They each are currently 7.5" x 7.5"

This is one of my favourite blocks, meticulously traced, cut out and "sewn" on (note the black embroidery thread on the one side) to represent the khanda, a Sikh symbol of faith. He was SO proud!

So sweet!

There was lots of "quilt block surgery" that I had to do to get them even close to being able to add sashing, and I certainly didn't need another project right now, but I am so inspired by this project!

What do you think? Isn't this so super cool?