Surprise! & Sewing with Scraps

This week I was quite surprised while I was visiting my girlfriend Lynn, she presented me with a handmade birthday gift that she had finished! What a surprise it was!!  :-)

 

How sweet is this angel?!! I just love her Lynn! Your talents never stop surprising me.

 This sweet angel has detailing that is so special, she has bells on her wings & toes & so much hand sewing on her. Thank you Lynn, I love your labours of love for this birthday of mine!

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Sewing with scraps!

This was put together from the table runner that is now in Russia.

Years ago I purchased a perpetual quilt block calendar...I did blog about making the end blocks of this runner. It's from January 1st block & I enjoyed doing it so much I made two! with the intent that year to do 'a block a day'...how easy that would be...NOT! Life does get into the way of our best made plans. lol  

I do go to that calendar when I'm looking for cornerstones pattern or a special block size. I'm just glad that it's a 'perpetual calendar' & I can use it year after year! lol

 More orphan blocks were found from other 'project leftovers'. These were originally half square triangles that I cut & resewed into the hourglass squares to make this block.

This one didn't line up too well, my squaring was off? Oh well it's meant to be used not displayed! Only a quilter would notice this little misfit. lol I'm just glad that the scraps left now go into the scrappy strip bag for the beach blanket. I'm doing it on the side from my sewing project scraps that are just strips now.

But wait there's more..............

As I was sorting out my reproduction fabrics I found more orphan blocks from the Underground Railroad quilt that I had made for Nicholas years ago. I do say 'years ago' a lot lol! I'm glad I have that perpetual calendar,  I get tied up in my Kyrotime daily, giving time wings & having it fly by.
I don't know how or why people say they're ever bored!

 This was done with leftovers from one of the 12" blocks that are in the quilt, the block was intended to be a 12' pillow. Not now,  I used canvas on the back & Liz's experimental sewing on the inside. My girlfriend Liz, is a longarm quilter & sandwiches castoff fabric to try new patterns or to check her tension. She saves some of these pieces for me & the animal shelter, some pieces are too small to use as pet blankets for my yearly trek out east with cats in crates & were remade into the batting for these bigger potholders.

This one was really scrappy.  I used every little piece leftover that day!  the fabric was very expensive & nothing was going to go to waste. I like this one better! sew much design to view. :-)
It's fun designing without any boundaries & the design just talks to you for placement.

 Here we go again... Years ago lol I made Winter Memories, a small redwork embroidered quilt. Well, the skates were not done right & I redid that block but had this one left over. So I thought it would make a cute little pillow that would enhance our winter sport of skating. I watched a lot of skating in the Winter Olympic Games this winter.  So with all the wee leftover scraps I came up with this design & yes those hourglass squares came from half square triangles!
Hourglass squares to me represent time, I use an hourglass to let me know & appreciate what an hour really is as the sand of time shifts...wasn't there a soap opera that used it, yes! Days of Our Lives! LOL

Again I used canvas for the lapped over back, now I just need to make a custom pillow for it. The self satisfaction from making something from scraps that most would just throw away makes my day & satisfies my creativity.

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Ideas are flowing....

 Cousin Ann was working on one of her quilts & I saw this pattern called Blueberry Swirls from Fons & Porters, Spring 2014 magazine, she popped over for tea & surprised me with this pattern & another that I'll blog over later as it's made into a 30's fabric quilt.

Here's my fabrics for this quilt.

The swirls are done in cream colour & a black/grey batik.

The stars were to cut 6" finished, that's were your 6 1/2" squares come in handy!

How gorgeous are these bears! This quilt is for Mitchell & he's one to give me the tightest 'bear hug' I've ever felt! lol
As I fussy cut these bears & other wildlife out, the sides of the fabric will be used for the border. The original quilt had no borders but this one will. I'm going to use the flannel wildlife  camouflage fabric for the backing, making it a good warm & cuddly quilt like the one it's made for. ;-)

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 I notice the sky differently now since I've done painting classes, before I use to take in the colour now I notice the design & structure of the lines.  Last week whilst brushing my teeth I looked out the window to see this truly unusual sky. The white streaks went horizontally & vertically! something I've never seen before.

The weather has been crazy this winter & it continues! Today it's sunny & 6 C. & tomorrow the temp is dropping 20 degrees with 10-15 cm of snow! with a NE wind of 50 up to 70km , making driving difficult, it's cold & crazy here this winter.
SW Ontario is usually warmer? Records have been broken frequently/nearly weekly, this year. Nasty little groundhog with his predictions of a longer winter...it's going to be spring in a week & a half & were still getting a lot more snow!!

Well I'm planning on cutting out a quilt tomorrow & maybe having some time to sew together some of the blocks. I know what the pets will be doing!

 Boris will whine till I put the fireplace on & Tommy will cozy in next to him, just like they do when it's cold outside.

Then they ignore me & take in all the warmth of the gas fireplace.
That will be OK because I too will be busy in my Kyrotime! ;-) Waiting this winter out.

Thanks for stopping by & stay safe & warm as this winter comes to its end.