Final Finish

I finished the last grandchild quilt yesterday morning.  Now I can leave for Australia on Wednesday with a clear conscience.

Another Finish

I finished sewing the binding down on this one yesterday.  Now I have one twin quilt to finish before I leave for Australia next week.  I have one side almost done so I'm hopeful...

Twin Quilts

These are the quilts I have made for my twin grandsons.  The middle blocks are the same but the sashing and borders are different.  The bottom one is not quilted yet but hopefully I'll get it done before I leave for Australia. I have 10 days but tomorrow I'm having a family get together so probably  won't get much quilting done.  Can I do it???  I hope so.

I have this one all assembled and the backing is ready.  The back is a black and white paisley design but I had to piece in a row made of the leftovers from the front because it wasn't quite wide enough.  Now it gets into the lineup waiting its turn on the quilting machine.

Half Way There

I now have half the blocks put together and the rest are cut out. This one goes together very quickly because the blocks are so big.  Now I need to find another big piece of backing fabric.

The Next One

Free's quilt needs the binding sewn down. Sky's quilt needs border fabric. Summer's quilt needs backing fabric. My Kaffee Fassett needs a wool batt.  So it seems appropriate to start a new one. I'm sure you quilters out there understand.
These blocks are big, finishing at about 21 inches square. The darker ones are bordered with white which doesn't show up well in the photo but looks good in real life.
I need to cut fabric for six more blocks so I can mix them up a bit  more.  I think this may be a nice one.

Ready to Quilt

I have this one  all pieced together and I put it on my queen sized bed to see if it would be big enough. It's 76x62 and just fits the top of my bed so I'm sure that's big enough for a twin bed.
Now to find some backing and get it quilted.

The Challenge

I have finished the blocks and sewn them into strips. I only have the four vertical seams left to sew. Matching those orange strips is quite a chore for someone as precisionally challenged as I am. There has been quite a lot of force fitting going on.  I am relying on the old quilting adage: It will quilt out.
It is supposed to finish at about 60x72. I may put a border around it to make it a bit bigger but if not, I'll bind it with the orange fabric.

Getting There

I have to make three more blocks and then I can start to sew them all together. I'll probably spend a bit of time arranging the blocks but I know that's  a slippery slope. Once you start it's hard to quit.

More Progress

I have added some more blocks and started sewing some of them together. My design wall is full and unless I sew them there is a danger of them all falling down. Not a good thing. The top left three are sewn together and you can see how it will look when all the orange strips are matched. (Or as closely matched as I can get them.)

On a different note, I have started a blog about the hikes I have been doing with friends and family. There is a link on my side bar. It's called Take a Hike. I hope you check it out and that you enjoy it even half as much as I enjoy doing them.

Progress

I have started adding the alternate blocks that are solid in the middle. I have  5 made and need ten more. They go really fast so I should be done piecing the units and be ready to sew the blocks together soon.  Before that though, I'll probably spend some hours (or days) arranging and re-arranging, trying to get a random look. Random is harder than you would imagine.

More Blocks

I made some more blocks with different purples. The question is , should I mix the purples in each block or have three different purple squares with all four sides the same...I'll make some more before I decide.  The middle one is sewn together so it may stay that way. The seams are on the diagonal so ripping it apart would probably stretch it all out of shape.

A New Start

I have started piecing a new quilt. Once again, this is a pattern from a magazine.  I am making a larger quilt for each of my nine grandchildren so I am using patterns. I haven't done that in awhile.
This pattern is quite complicated but fun to do.The orange will stay throughout the blocks but the dark purple will change to other dark colors.

More Fabric?

I  have the second twin quilt pieced but I don't seem to have a good border fabric. I have a piece of dark green but there is not enough of it for a wide border. It seems I will have to go fabric shopping.
Again.  Sigh.

The Next One

This is the second quilt using the same inner blocks but with different outer pieces and different sashing.
I haven't been in the studio much lately because the gorgeous autumn colours have been luring me outdoors.  Winter will soon be here and then, hopefully, the quilting will kick back in.

Rae Trail Hike

On Sunday I went for a hike with friends on the Rae Trail which is north of Holland, Manitoba and a couple of hours drive from my home.

It was supposed to be a 15 km (9.5 miles) so we packed a lunch which we devoured an hour and a half into the hike. What tastes better than food eaten outside!

The leaves are in full autumn colour right now.

From here we could see the Assiniboine River below us in the distance.

Some of the beautiful red foliage is Poison Ivy.

Taking a rest at about the 9th  mile. The trail was not well marked and there were lots of  ATV trails that confused us so we ended up walking in circles a bit.We did know that if we kept walking more or less east we'd end up at the highway and the car.  We eventually did but a mile south of where the car was parked.

It's very sandy country.  This was a long slide that we could have gone down but that would have meant climbing back up. Maybe if we had found it earlier in the day...
We ended up walking for about 18 km (11 miles) and enjoying every minute of it.  I do think a GPS might have been a good idea though.

Bordered

I put a dark brown border on this one and now it's finally ready to quilt as soon as I get some backing fabric.

Pieced

It's pieced together but needs a wide border to make it big enough. The red is actually more of a rust colour. I'm happy with this one. Now to use the other half of the blocks to make a similar one but first I have to buy some fabric to use where I have the green on this one.

Sky and Free

I am making two similar quilt for Sky and Free (twins like similar but not identical it seems).  I made doubles of each block but the sashing and borders will be different. I'm thinking this one may get a wide border to make it a bit larger but haven't gotten the fabric for that yet. There is not enough of the green and I got it at Faye's Henhouse in Mayville which is quite a hike from here. I'll make a decision once I have all the blocks together.

Sacha's Quilt

Here is Sacha's quilt all finished and on her bed.  Her walls are more gray than it seems in the photo and the quilt looks perfect in the room.