Finally been sewing!

Didn't take a single stitch on a quilt from May through August. In September I had to get myself in gear for our first guild meeting of the season. Guilds in our valley pretty much shut down for summer, but in other parts of the state they keep going. Do you "guild" all year long? Just curious how much of an anomaly we are. Or maybe we aren't one at all.

This is "North and South" from Pam Buda's "Vintage Patchwork" book. It was our summer project for guild to have ready to share in September. I grabbed a box full of HSTs and sorted through to find enough matching to make this. There were supposed to be 36 flying geese made to put this together, but I did it all with HSTs. 

There are no borders on the pattern, but I've been tempted to play with some possibilities.  Time will tell if I actually do. It will finish at about 8" x 12".

We also did a 1/4 yard challenge in guild last season, and were to share our results at our closing social, but I wasn't there. This is my final product in flimsy form. It is about 18" square.

I don't hate it, but I also don't know that I love it enough to want to put more time into it. I have a little pile of the leftover fabrics. If you are interested in taking over this project--quilting and binding as is, or adding, or giving it a total makeover--speak up, and I will send this your way.

I hadn't made progress on this next project for quite some time, but I did finally attach the outer border. It is my second Burgoyne Surrounded mini quilt. You can read the story behind it HERE. (If you do read that post, I just want to say, I STILL haven't entered a quilt show.)

According to that linked post, I started this quilt in October of 2015. Still not the oldest UFO in the closet.

I placed my hand in the photo so you could get perspective on the size.

I haven't had this much quilty content in some time, but there is more! This week I attended "ChitChat Finish That" at the shop over the mountain (Village Dry Goods). I haven't been able to go since April, and I also haven't worked on this project since the last time I went, so it was good to get back to it. I got three of the blocks on the right completed, and parts for another block prepped. The pattern calls for six rows of 7 blocks. My plan had been to make more rows for a queen size quilt. But a family member needs a twin quilt, so I will actually be making it just the 5 rows with borders.

This is "Every Little Bit" designed by Pam Buda. It was published in American Patchwork and Quilting in June of 2015. I just looked it up on Amazon, and they still have a copy of the magazine.           

                                               

"Every Little Bit" references the fact that you can use up tiny pieces in the piecing on the sides of the churn dash. The magazine includes a page of foundation patterns you can make copies of for the piecing.

That concludes what stitching I have been doing since summer ended.

But I have also unearthed a few things in my sewing room that need new homes.

On the left is a bundle of 4 wool patterns--three of which include wool, though I don't know if they are complete or not. On the right are 2 sets of Temecula's Mini-a-Month postcard sets. You can see the years in the photo. I already have each of these sets, and was recently given duplicates. The wool projects all go together, and the two postcard sets go together. Leave a comment indicating if you are interested in either one. PLEASE include your email address in your comment if you don't know whether or not you are a "no reply" comment.

Our latest adventure took us to Iceland:

So much I could share, but trying to really limit things. It is called the land of fire and ice--formed by volcanos and glaciers.

Waterfalls everywhere!

Thermal activity...

They spell it Geysir.

Black sand beaches--yes, I got my foot in the ocean.

Below is Mt. Kirkjufell. We were supposed to kayak here, but the water was too rough for the tender boats to take us to shore. :(

We also spent a day at the Faroe Islands. I took a boat trip out among the sea stacks. Incredible!! I hope you can click the photos below to see the majesty of these formations. Maybe I will make one my header photo

We also spent a couple of days in the Netherlands and a day in Scotland, but I will only leave you with a couple of photos from the Scottish Highlands.

First Loch Katrine in Trossachs National Park.

This is what inspired Sir Walter Scott to write "The Lady of the Lake".

And finally, a hairy coo (cow).

It was a crazy busy summer. I am hoping to have more sewing/blogging time as we move through fall, and into winter.

Until next time,

Be creative, and be kind!

Janet O.

p.s. My giveaway from months ago went to Mary at Quiltin' Grandma Blog. In my last post I was still waiting word from her to make sure she had wanted to participate.