Thursday, October 16, 2014

Time Flies!!!

I see my last post was way back in July!  Not sure how I ever had time to work - retirement takes up a lot of time!!!! 

We've been getting out on our bikes almost every day for a bike ride - trying to get in some long overdue physical activity - and the weather has been fabulous for outdoor activity all summer (with the exception of a freak snowstorm that passed through early in Sept - happily we were on our road trip in BC when that happened so we missed it, although we came back to a lot of tree carnage in the city).  Of course now that it is October, it is cooling off, but we're still getting out when the weather is cooperative.

I have been busy quilting/sewing most days.  I signed up to do the community craft sale again this year so trying to be a bit more prepared this year, and I've made a few quilts and have been quilting for other people as well. 

Here are a few pix to prove it:


I signed up for a paper piecing class on Craftsy so I've been practicing.  This is a really cute (free) block pattern for a paper airplane.  Every year at Christmas, the folks in my (former) office have a paper airplane contest.  So I'm going to give them a little mini as per above that they can use as a prize.  I made two - this one is for Stan who is the historical winner every year - so I'll just give it to him.  Maybe he'll win the second one, too!

 
Then I went on to make a little quilt.  I wanted to have the quilting look like the paper planes were blasting into space with lots of "explosive" swirls, stars, and other stuff.  I called this one "Blast Off!".
 
I typically buy 1m pieces of fabric if I don't have a specific project in mind - that's why I ran out of the blue used in the blocks.  I had to find a similar blue to finish off and the blue with circles on it seemed to work, although I would have preferred all the same.  But I got the blue in Portland so couldn't go back to more.

 
Here is another paper pieced block!  I love this one!  It's in a book called Spellbinding Quilts.  I've ordered this book, but it's taking forever to be shipped - in the meantime I'm using the library copy.  They must be going to some deep dark corner of the globe to get it! 
 
Anyway, this particular block is for Horst.  Horst also is a former colleague who often would give me a lift to a train stop after work.  We would have very enjoyable conversations on our way home.  This is just a little "thank you for the rides".  The reason a dragon is that Horst is a fan of an unknown-to-me computer game that features a character named Lofwyr - a dragon.  This is his favourite character - he has a vanity plate with this name on it. 

This is also put together using a free on line block pattern - this one from My Fat Quarter shop.  This quilt is for my daughter-in-law's mother, who loves getting manicures.  Jess also told me that her Mom likes dragon flies so I incorporated them into the quilting. 

If you're interested in more detail on the quilting and "how to" - check my other blog. 
 
Finally - as evidence of our good summer weather, check out the blue sky below.  Why this pix?  I like the railing and shadow - it will turn up in my quilting as a design sometime.