Month: February 2021

PHD in 2021: February Report

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How are you doing with your PHD in 2021. So far I have 4 UFOs completed, but I still feel like I’m cheating. Three were started in December and were easy finishes. All of these were made with wonderful Island Batik fabrics. The 4th was a panel, so that was also a quick finish.

I have started working on the Echo Lake T-shirt quilt. The T-shirts are cut and interfacing is on each piece. Now, to decide the layout and how to piece it together!

Linky Party

Link up and show us your PHD in 2021 Progress.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter
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Do You need Help?

A fellow candidate for PHD in 2021, Sheila from “So This is Kentucky” posted about using Trello. It’s free to start with and gives you a visual of what projects you have going. See Sheila’s post HERE. You may also find it helpful!

Rainbow Scrap Table Topper

February’s colour is Yellow. I made another coaster. Again, I used Island Batik fabrics. The yellow fabric is “butter” that is available year round. I’m not sure what the beige is (but it is Island Batik) and the green was in a stash buster bundle. The pattern is a free embroidery design from Kreative Kiwi – the Mother’s Day coaster. Obviously, I omitted the writing. On the rose, I used my yellow and oragne inktense pencils to add a little more colour.

A Book Review

The guild librarian, asked me to have a look at a new book they got in the library.

“The Big Book of Little Quilts” by Martindale.
This book is jam packed with a variety of small quilts.  They range from a fresh, modern look, to homespun and many can be scrappy or controlled scrappy. Some of the patterns are pieced, some are paper pieced, some have applique and some have hand embroidery.  There is something in this book that will appeal to you!  It is a book I will definitely take out from the library when I’m looking for something small and a little different. 

DrEAMI

This month I had a DrEAMI project. DRop Everything And Make It. I will be linking to Sandra @ MMMQuilts. These little baskets were quick and easy to make! You can read more about them HERE.

One who sleeps under a quilt is covered by LOVE!

Happy Quilting! 
Gail 

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Linking to:

Friday, Finished and an Unfinished

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Finish

I did finish the Raggedy Andy doll for the “Show your Stripes” Blog Hop. Thank you everyone for your kind comments! He was a fun finish! You can read more about him HERE.

Unfinished UFO

I’ve got a lot of T-shirts cut and interfacing on them. They are temporarily laid out on the bed. I hope to get sewing them together soon! There are lots of small spaces that I will use bits and pieces of the T-shirts to fill in.

One who sleeps under a quilt is covered by LOVE!

Happy Quilting!    
Gail 

Linking to:

Show Your Stripes blog hop

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Carla, from Creatin’ in the Sticks has organized this blog hop. Here’s what she said: “Add a stripe, or two, or three to your project.It can be striped fabric, striped binding (a favorite of mine), or strips of fabric to make stripes.It’s your interpretation of a striped project.  Anything with a stripe.  You decide.Just “Show Your Stripes!“

I finished a Raggedy Andy doll that was started by a friend of mine. When she was first diagnosed with cancer, she knew that she would not be able to sew again. She asked if I could make one for her newest great nephew. Of course, I said “yes.” In mid-January, I obtained the box that was to contain the supplies for the doll.

There was lots of fabric for a Raggedy Anne, but not Andy. However, the body parts were made and the face had been embroidered by my friend. Bonus!! Here are the unstuffed body parts lying on the floor.

I have a stash and found a white and red gingham for the shirt and the navy fabric for the pants and hat. It was strange to be making clothes with 5/8″ seams and pressing them open. When I was making the clothes, I thought that Raggedy Andy, with his striped legs, would be perfect for this blog hop!

Well, Raggedy Andy just had to go climbing the apple tree!

Blog Hoppers

Here is a list of all the “Show Your Stripes” blog hoppers. Make sure you visit them all and see what they have made!

Monday, February 22nd

Tuesday, February 23rd

Wednesday, February 24th

Thursday, February 25th

One who sleeps under a quilt is covered by LOVE!

Happy Quilting!    
Gail 

SAHRR – Round #6

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Just to remind you … SAHRR is Stay At Home Round Robin. If you missed the previous posts about this year’s SAHRR – you can see them

Today is the day that Susan told us to add Log Cabin blocks. Again, I’m rebelling! I am not going to do the blocks all around the quilt. Just in the middle of the next round. This quilt is getting bigger than I had planned and this will keep the size down. The logs started out at 1.5″ wide strips and finished at 1″ wide. As you can see, I paired the colours with the white fabric.

Again, I continued to use a variety of fabrics from Island Batik’s Ohana collection.

Next week will be our final round!!! I’m loving the variety of quilts that are being made!!! Aren’t they wonderful? MARK you calendars for March 29th !!! I will have a linky party for everyone to show their final quilts or tops!

Make sure to visit all of the other co-leaders and link up to Susan’s linky party to show us your blocks! HERE

Here’s their links:

Island Batik’s blog hop “Create for a Cause” is over. I hope you enjoyed it!!! If you want a lot of wonderful eye candy – you can go HERE to see all of the quilts in one place!

As well, one of our ambassadors has put together a wonderful video that shows all of the beautiful quilts. You can view it HERE.

AND … just in case you forgot – I had a giveaway on my blog when I posted my “Create for a Cause” quilt (see HERE.) And the winner is …. drum roll … Donna H. She has sent me her address and I hope to get it in the mail soon!!!

Design Wall

Piecing:

I’ve started the Echo Lake t-shirt quilt that has been on my UFO list for … well, um … ah … yes … well … It’s about time I started on it!!!!

There’s a huge pile of t-shirts. I’ve cut some and I’ve learned 2 things.

  1. Use a pressing cloth when ironing the interfacing on. Fortunately, I realized that the interfacing would stick to my iron if I didn’t use a pressing cloth!!!
  2. It’s best to iron on the interfacing right after the shirt is cut. When I didn’t, the edges started to curl in. I’m cutting the shirts much larger than the logos so that when I lay it out, I can trim them down.

Quilting: 

I’m working on my March Island Batik project. Sorry, no pictures yet!

Stash Report

I finished the guild’s Jan / Feb mystery quilt. I used Island Batik fabrics for the top, but I did back it with flannel from my stash. So that fabric will be included as “used this week.”

You can read more about this quilt HERE.

  • Fabric Used this week      1.5  yards
  • Fabric Used this year:       6.5 yards
  • Fabric Bought this week:  0  yards
  • Fabric Added this year:      9 yards  (my husbands amounts as well)
  • Net Fabric used                   – 2.5 yards
  • Husband’s purchases:  0 yards (which are added into my total amount of Fabric added this year). For those of you who don’t know … my husband often buys more fabric than I do … so, I’m keeping track! Unfortunately, he doesn’t sew!

Stitchin’ Time

I’m aiming for at least 30 minutes a day.

I have stitched for over 30 minutes each day

  • January –  31 / 31
  • February – 21 / 21
  • Percentage = 100 % 

For more Stitchin’ Time, you can check out Kate’s blog: Life in Pieces

TO DO 

Chris from ChrisKnits is hosting it “To Do” every week. You can check out her blog HERE.

Last week:

Well, I worked on everything that didn’t get done, but I was successful with a few things! And, even a little progress is moving forward!

  1. Work on final round of SAHRR   partially done
  2. Start quilting Moorewood Mystery  not done
  3. Work on March Island Batik challenge   √   done
  4. Do NOT be distracted by any SQUIRRELS!  √   done
  5. Tidy & clean studio for 30 minutes      √   done

This week’s list:

  1. Complete final round of SAHRR
  2. Finish  March’s Island Batik challenge
  3. Start quilting Moorewood Mystery
  4. Cut all the t-shirts and iron on interfacing for the Echo Lake t-shirt quilt.
  5. Do NOT be distracted by any SQUIRRELS! I NEED this continual reminder! 
  6. Tidy & clean studio for 30 minutes

One who sleeps under a quilt is covered by LOVE!

Happy Quilting!    
Gail 

Linking to:

I can finally show you …

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I organize the mystery quilts for the quilt guild (Boundary Bay Quilt Guild). Of course, I HAVE to make each mystery prior to presenting it to the guild. Our latest mystery was designed by Sue Pontifex (of Piece Arch Quilters) and I originally made it around 2013.

Here it is! It is an alternate layout to Sue’s original. And yes, I used Island Batik fabrics, Aurifil thread and Hobbs fusible 80/20 batting. The free motion quilting is a simple hook with flower petals around it.

Here’s the original one I made in 2013, following the directions!

Members of the guild that have made this quilt will be forwarding me their finished tops and I’ll put them all here on the blog. From what I’ve seen, there’s going to be some pretty fantastic quilts!

One who sleeps under a quilt is covered by LOVE!

Happy Quilting!    
Gail 

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Linking to:

Island Batik Blog Hop: Week 3

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Lots more fabulous quilts coming this week. Make sure to check them out!

February 15:

February 16:

February 17:

February 18:

One who sleeps under a quilt is covered by LOVE!

Happy Quilting!    
Gail 

SAHRR – Round #5

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Just to remind you … SAHRR is Stay At Home Round Robin. If you missed the previous posts about this year’s SAHRR – you can see them

Today is the day that Wendy told us to add wonky stars. I’m a rebel … and I did friendship stars instead! I used the Accuquilt to cut the half-square triangles. Do I ever enjoy using it for those!

However, I didn’t do the math very well and I have extra stars left over. I wanted to leave the cornerstone as a plain white block, so … who knows what will happen with those extra stars?

Again, I continued to use a variety of fabrics from Island Batik’s Ohana collection.

Make sure to visit all of the other co-leaders and link up toWendy’s linky party to show us your blocks! HERE

Here’s their links:

Design Wall

Piecing:

I’m working on my March Island Batik project. Sorry, no pictures yet!

Quilting: 

I took a Silly Moon Ruler Quilting class on Saturday by Zoom. It was fun and I learned some things. Believe it or not – the fabric is dark blue and the thread is light grey . Obviously, my phone did not pick up the true colours!

Stash Report

I

No change from last week!

  • Fabric Used this week      0  yards
  • Fabric Used this year:        5 yards
  • Fabric Bought this week:  0  yards
  • Fabric Added this year:      9 yards  (my husbands amounts as well)
  • Net Fabric used                   – 4 yards
  • Husband’s purchases:  0 yards (which are added into my total amount of Fabric added this year). For those of you who don’t know … my husband often buys more fabric than I do … so, I’m keeping track! Unfortunately, he doesn’t sew!

Stitchin’ Time

I’m aiming for at least 30 minutes a day.

I have stitched for over 30 minutes each day

  • January –  31 / 31
  • February – 14 / 14
  • Percentage = 100 % 

For more Stitchin’ Time, you can check out Kate’s blog: Life in Pieces

TO DO 

Roseanne & Sue’s “TO DO” Tuesday is no longer. However, Chris from ChrisKnits is going to be hosting it from now on. Her blog is HERE.

Last week:

Total success this week!

  1. Work on next round of SAHRR  √   done
  2. Sandwich Moorewood Mystery  √   done
  3. Work on March Island Batik challenge  √   done
  4. Do NOT be distracted by any SQUIRRELS!  √   done
  5. Tidy & clean studio for 30 minutes      √   done

This week’s list:

  1. Work on final round of SAHRR  
  2. Start quilting Moorewood Mystery  
  3. Work on March Island Batik challenge  
  4. Do NOT be distracted by any SQUIRRELS! I NEED this continual reminder! 
  5. Tidy & clean studio for 30 minutes

One who sleeps under a quilt is covered by LOVE!

Happy Quilting!    
Gail 

Linking to:

A FANTASTIC finish this week!

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I think I had a fantastic finish!!!

The Island Batik “Create for a Cause” Blog Hop was this week. Are you following the blog hop? Did you see my quilt? You can read about it HERE, but I’ll also show you a picture. This is going to my guild’s “Comfort Quilt” committee. When Covid is over, it will be delivered to a cancer agency and gifted to someone in the midst of dealing with their diagnosis / treatment.

If you want to see all of the other quilts in this week’s hop, visit Island Batik’s blog … Plus, you have an opportunity to win a 10″ stack or a 2.5″ strip set of Mystery, the awesome fabric I used in this quilt!

One who sleeps under a quilt is covered by LOVE!

Happy Quilting!    
Gail 

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Linking to:

Create for a Cause Island Batik Blog Hop

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I donate a LOT of quilts through the guild (Boundary Bay Quilt Guild): Baby Quilts, Comfort Quilts for Cancer patients and Quilts of Valour. The quilt that I made for this blog hop is going to be a comfort quilt. There’s not a scrap of red in this beautiful collection … and I’ve already got several baby quilts ready to donate. So a Comfort Quilt it is. This has double meaning for me as I lost a friend of 48 years to cancer last week.

Aren’t these fabrics wonderful? So rich!!! I love the purples and greens with a touch of blue! This collection will be shipping to your favourite quilt store this month.

I started out by making a design in EQ. I absolutely LOVE using the Island Batik fabrics in EQ as I plan my design.

I really like using quarter square triangles. I used the same technique (although MUCH smaller) and using the Accuquilt GO!Me when I made the Christmas tree wall hangings last year. You can read about them HERE.

Once I had decided on my design, I cut 9″ squares, using my ShapeCut Ruler.

Marked the centre line and sewed a ¼”seam on each side of the line.

After that, the squares were cut in half and with right sides together, nesting the seams. they sewn together with another set of half-square triangles. Again, a centre line was marked. Seams were sewn on each side of the centre line.

The centre line was cut, resulting in quarter square triangles. These were then trimmed to 8″ square. On the design wall, they were rearranged until their final position was decided upon.

Custard is the lovely neutral that was used for the background.

The squares were webbed together (you can see how to web a quilt HERE.

Once the quilt was a flimsy and sandwiched together … I started quilting, using the 3″, 4″ and 5″ Silly Moon Cupid rulers (the 5/3 and the 6/3). After I finished one of the hearts, I back-tracked along the ruler and made a heart of a different size, going in all different directions.

I used the Hobbs Poly-Down batting. I’m in LOVE!!!! This batting is awesome!!! It’s light. It’s easy, easy to quilt and it has a fantastic loft!!! You must give it a try!!!

This was quilted with Aurifil #5003 – wine on top and #2000 – light stand in the bobbin.

The binding is “Square Circle Mardig” from the Mystery collection. I love how it changes colour from purple to blue to green. The binding was sewn on with Aurifil #2370 … sandstone that blends in nicely!!!

Make sure you visit Michelle @ Creative Blonde today. She is my blog hop partner and is using the same fabrics! I’m eager to see her Create for a Cause quilt!

There are 2 Give-aways!

Island Batik is offering a 10″stack or a 2.5″ strip set of Mystery. There are 20 different fabric designs.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I’m offering Ten 10″ squares of Mystery to a blog follower that lives in Canada.

a Rafflecopter giveaway https://widget-prime.rafflecopter.com/launch.js

Disclosure: The fabrics, thread, batting and needles were generously supplied by Island Batik and the following companies:

One who sleeps under a quilt is covered by LOVE!

Happy Quilting! 
Gail 

SAHRR – Round #4

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Just to remind you … SAHRR is Stay At Home Round Robin. If you missed the previous posts about this year’s SAHRR – you can see them

Today is the day that Roseanne & Sue instructed us to add checkerboards … These took me forever to make. I used scraps, 1.5″ squares, no strip piecing … uggg … it took forever! But I like it! Here it is … !

Again, I continued to use a variety of fabrics from Island Batik’s Ohana collection.

Make sure to visit all of the other co-leaders and link up to Roseanne’s linky party to show us your blocks!

Here’s their links:

Design Wall

Piecing:

#1 I’m working on my March Island Batik project. Sorry, no pictures yet!

#2  Moorewood Mystery: You can find out more about the mystery and all the clues HERE at Meadow Mist designs. I have the top pieced together. I like it!!! Now to decide how I’m going to quilt it!

Quilting: 

I finished quilting the current guild mystery quilt. Sorry, but until the guild members have the final clue, I can’t show it to you.

Stash Report

I

Nothing finished, nothing bought! No change from last week!

  • Fabric Used this week      0  yards
  • Fabric Used this year:        5 yards
  • Fabric Bought this week:  0  yards
  • Fabric Added this year:      9 yards  (my husbands amounts as well)
  • Net Fabric used                   – 4 yards
  • Husband’s purchases:  0 yards (which are added into my total amount of Fabric added this year). For those of you who don’t know … my husband often buys more fabric than I do … so, I’m keeping track! Unfortunately, he doesn’t sew!

Stitchin’ Time

I’m aiming for at least 30 minutes a day.

I have stitched for over 30 minutes each day

  • January –  31 / 31
  • February – 7 / 7
  • Percentage = 100 % 

For more Stitchin’ Time, you can check out Kate’s blog: Life in Pieces

TO DO 

I’m linking up to Roseanne & Sue’s “TO DO” Tuesday. Their blog is “Home Sewn by Us.”

Last week:

Total success this week!

  1. Finish piecing the current round of Stay at Home Round Robin  √   done
  2. Start on the next round of Stay at Home Round Robin not done
  3. Work on the next Moorewood Mystery clue  √   done
  4. Work on March Island Batik challenge.  √   done
  5. Tidy & clean studio for 30 minutes      √   done

This week’s list:

  1. Work on next round of SAHRR
  2. Sandwich Moorewood Mystery
  3. Work on March Island Batik challenge
  4. Do NOT be distracted by any SQUIRRELS!
  5. Tidy & clean studio for 30 minutes

One who sleeps under a quilt is covered by LOVE!

Happy Quilting!    
Gail 

Linking to:

Island Batik Blog Hop: Week 2

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February 8:

February 9:

February 10:

February 11:

You can WIN!

This week you have an opportunity to win a 2.5″ strip set (20 fabric designs, 2 of each) and a 10″ x 10″ stack (20 designs, 2 of each). The fabric collection is MYSTERY by Claudia Pfeil!!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

One who sleeps under a quilt is covered by LOVE!

Happy Quilting!    
Gail 

Another Squirrel and TGIFF

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Yup, I was distracted from my focus of working on, um … er … 5 quilts at once. And just HAD to start something new.

If you’re not familiar with “Squirrel” when it comes to quilt projects, check out THIS BLOG POST, where I explain it.

I like having various containers to hold things, clips, pieces of blocks, and a zillion other things. I saw the Petit Four Baskets byAnnie. It’s a FREE pattern and you can get it HERE (look under free patterns).

SEW … of course, I HAD to make one (or two) just so that I have more baskets!!!

I started looking through my Island Batik scraps. Voila! In no time at all, I had with 2 pieces of Primo, designed by Ebony Love for one basket and Opalescence (light mauve) paired with a nameless Island Batik fabric in soft pastels with turtles and seahorses on it for the other.

If you have extra 10″ squares, you can use them for this bag!

After, picking out the fabric and cutting what I needed … I was an extremely good girl and re-folded the scraps and put them neatly back where they belong! MIRACLE!!! It was obvious that this squirrel was meant to be!!!

In a very short time, I had my 2 little baskets … aren’t they cute?

TGIFF

The linky party will open in another window. Show us your Finished (or not) project

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

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Island Batik Blog Hop

Have you been following this week’s Create for a Cause blog hop? There are some pretty fantastic quilts!

Check out Island Batik’s blog for a recap of this week’s quilts!

Plus you have an opportunity to win!!!!

You could win one of 2 Fat Quarter Bundles of Citrus Sun! Make sure you enter the rafflecopter …a Rafflecopter giveaway

One who sleeps under a quilt is covered by LOVE!

Happy Quilting!    
Gail 

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