Cardigan progress

Finished most of the cardigan this morning. Just need to sew the arm opening close at the armpit and add the button band. I probably have less than half a skein left and am hoping if I have enough yarn to finish it. Will have to make a trip to JoAnn's to buy some buttons so I can pick up another one if I have to.

My son is home today with a cold and decided he wanted to compare his cardigan to Grandpa's. 

So dad, what colour buttons do you want? Black? Brown and wooden? Pink? Flowers? Blue? Let me know or I'll let your grandkids pick them out :)

Blocks and boxes

2 boxes I shipped yesterday. On top is the 3 pillowcases I made for Conkerr Cancer on Friday Night Sew-In. In the big box is the string quilt and a baby quilt leftover from my etsy shop. They are on their way to New York.

Sunday morning I was able to get 28 of the 44 blocks I had cut out Friday night. Hope to get the last 16 done soon so I can start playing with the layout. Already thinking about how I'm going to quilt it and leaning towards Elizabeth's Orange Peel quilting.

A busy Friday Night Sew-In

Here's what I got done yesterday for April's Friday Night Sew-In.

3 pillowcases for Conkerr Cancer. I would have made more as they were very fast to make but I don't have many big pieces left in my stash. Since I'm trying not to buy any fabric until after we move this summer, I used what I had and was happy to make 3. The ladybug fabrics I've had for a while. Glad to finally use them.

I cut the remaining 44 blocks for a quilt I need to finish by June/July - a gift for my husband's current supervisor. I paired a Prayer Flag fabric jelly roll with a cream jelly roll and cut them in 2 1/2 inch pieces. I put a finished block in the corner so you can see what they are going to look like.

Each strip makes enough for 2 blocks (8 pieces each) with 1 piece remaining. I am keeping these pieces and looking forward to playing with them. Or if I am feeling generous I may use them to make matching pillows for the quilt.

Yesterday I also decided to make this quilt for the girl next door who turns 10 the first week of May. She's in my daughter's class and they are always playing together and I thought she deserved something that wasn't store bought. I made this quilt over a year ago for my daughter - thanks to my sister who gifted us the pattern and some fabric. I picked the fabrics yesterday and my daughter approved them. She's going to help trace the shapes on freezer paper.

I finally finished this pillow last night. All I had to do was sew the opening close of the pillow form, put it inside the crocheted pillow and finish that. Probably took 20 minutes. Why has it been sitting on my desk the past 3 months? My son is having fun kicking it around this morning.

After all that, my husband and I settled down to watch "Lost" episodes. We finished season 2. This is his first time watching it but I've seen it already. I kind of forgot how good it was. Anyway... while we watched I worked on my dad's cardigan. I've decreased over 50 stitches since the last time I posted a picture and am almost halfway done the decreases for the shoulders and neck.  His birthday is also in the first week of May and I wanted to give the cardigan to him then but I think it will be a little late. 

Visit Heidi's blog to see what others got done last night, or visit the Flickr pool. 

Don't ask...

... because I'm not sure what I'm doing. I took a rectangle of fabric and doodled all over it. Now I'm embroidering the doodles. Not sure why or what I'm going to do with it. I don't even think I'm doing the stitches right.

It all started on Sunday with these 3. I drew these last summer and finally embroidered them. Not sure what I am going to do with these either. They're just fun to do. (the pen I used will disappear once I iron them).

Fat quarters I won for completing my Fat Quarter Stars quilt top. Thanks Konda for hosting such a great QAL.

Finished the sleeves of my dad's cardigan and got them joined to the body. Now I need to do the shoulder and neck decreases. There are almost 370 stitches on the needles so that's as stretched out as I can get it right now.

It's been an introspective week here. Last Monday, a 22 year old undergraduate student had a stroke while swimming. She worked in the same lab as my husband, different supervisor. I met her once. At first she was awake, smiling and laughing, even though she was paralyzed on one side of her body. Then her brain began to swell and although she had surgery to relieve the pressure she passed away. This Monday her organs were donated. I've been reading online and in the newspaper about what an amazing person she was - she went on service missions during her breaks, was going to join the peace corps after she graduated and volunteered with the fire department. She was a very giving person. Even in death her organs are giving others life and hope. 

 The university community here is small and it seems everyone has been touched by her passing. One lesson I hope we all learn from Karen's life is to Give. Whether it is your time, money or a quilt, we all have the ability to help others and there are so many who need it. Last week my husband donated blood and both of us are organ donors. Please give blood if you can and be an organ donor, and let your family know that you are.

Want to help? Part of Friday Night Sew-In this month is to make pillow cases for children battling cancer. I think we can all spare our time and fabric to bring a smile to a young face. Visit Heidi's blog for more information.

Quilt Show!

This weekend was the local guilds Quilt Show. Part of the show was a colour challenge that some guild members took part in. We were given a random colour and then had to make a quilt that read as the colour of our colour card. I guess this was done last year at the Sisters show. I got the colour orange-yellow and had no oranges that would work in my stash. My sister and SIL gave me some oranges from their stash and my mom bought me some for Christmas. We were allowed to use the complimentary colour as well. I used blue thread for the quilting instead of adding blue fabric to the quilt.

I found the orange that is used for the circles, which is almost an exact match, in the remnant bin at JoAnn's near the end of last year. I have enough of all the orange fabrics to make a second quilt for me to keep. I might give the other one away - maybe to a sister that loves orange way more than I do. I have to admit I do love my final quilt and am glad I have enough to make a second.

Every quilt member was asked to bring 2 dozen cookies to share at the show, so here's my little helper monkey helping me make peanut butter, chocolate chip cookies. They are super yummy. 

Here he is with his quilt. He voted for it as his favourite large quilt.

It was placed with another blue and yellow quilt. They looked very good together. ( I spent 3 hours helping set up the show Friday morning and actually spent most of that time up on the ladder hanging quilts. I was unsure of ladders when I started but totally conquered the fear by the end).

I love green and purple together. I have to put a green and purple quilt on my bucket list.

My husband and both kids came to the show this year (my husband didn't go last year, I think he went birding instead). My husband walked around with our son and I walked around with our daughter. My husband and I both voted for this one as our favourite large quilt - but didn't know we both did until we walked by it at the end and he pointed it out. I guess this needs to go on the bucket list too.

This is a wall-hanging and not a bed quilt. Those pieces are really small.

I voted for this one as my favourite medium sized quilt.

Part of the colour challenge series.

Here's mine hanging with its friends.

Purple and green. Love.

It was hard to get a picture of the whole thing, so you will have to imagine. 

My daughter liked this one. It was made by a child and she was unsure if she would be able to make it herself. I took a few minutes and showed her it was just a bunch of squares and rectangles and broke it down by block and row. I think she'd like to attempt something like this for her next quilt.

My son voted for this one as his favourite small quilt.

Hope you enjoyed the pictures.

Oh My Stars!

I finished my Oh My Stars QAL quilt on Tuesday. I rushed it outside for some quick pics before I had to start making supper. I'm going to call it "SuperNova" since I made it for my son, Nova. He has been enjoying it the last few nights and I'll be taking it to the quilt show Friday morning. I also finished my colour challenge quilt but didn't get pictures taken in the daylight. Will try to take some tomorrow before I take it over to the show. Enjoy all the pictures. My son and I are very happy with the quilt.

Since he had space on the front he got earth on the back and I used a lot of the rock fabric I have collected over the years, a big piece of road fabric and some map fabric.

And when I wasn't quilting this week I cast on this pair of socks. Finished the first sock this evening. Using leftover blue from my husbands socks, green from my SIL's socks and the brown from my mom's socks. Should have enough to make its mate.

Still have all the ends to weave in but that can wait for another day.