WE HAVE A NEW GRANDDAUGHTER!

She was born at 11:33 this morning, and weighs 7 lb 5.5 ounces.
Her name is Yuriana Rose, named after her Russian great-grandfather, and her Canadian great-great aunt!  She will be called Ana.
We picked our grandson up from daycare, and took him to meet his new baby sister.   He was sad to leave Mom and Dad, but we'll be visiting each day until they return home.

Mother and daughter are doing well, and she is a pretty baby, the first girl born in our family in 48 years!

TWO FINISHES!

My first finish is another quilt for young miss, who is arriving on Friday!  This is quite a celebrations, as girls in DH's family are few and far between.  This will be her Christmas gift this year, along with a few other goodies.

This is made with yellow and green prints from my stash, along with a floral print stripe that has been hiding in my stash, just waiting for this quilt!
The pattern is "Fabric Gal" from Quilt in a Day.  The original is made with four colours, with a dark and medium shade of each in the pinwheels.
The quilt on the left is my first version, made in 2008!
 It uses brighter, 30's fabrics and striped border!


My second finish is one that has been waiting in the wings for a few years.  This is my version of Hip Bag Hybrid - pattern from Studio Kat Designs.  It can be worn around the waist, as a shoulder bag, or clipped to a walker or bicycle handlebars!


It has a zipper pouch in the back, a front pouch with magnetic catch under the flap, and a hidden storage area in between!

I chose to make the front flap pieced, rather from a single piece of fabric, (an option provided in the pattern!)  My lining is white with black, to make it easier to find things.  I used a black and white purse zipper and shiny silver findings for the rest of the bag.  I can't wait to use it!
I love the patterns from Studio Kats - extremely detailed, with lots of illustrations of each step, and helpful pictures and tutorials on line!!!!

ANOTHER WEEK WITH OUR GRANDSON!

We started out with a visit from our older son - he arrived by train on Thursday, just in time for dinner.  One of his friends picked him up and they headed out to spend the evening with the game club. 
Friday morning, I changed our bed and collected laundry.  DH and I packed a bag for the weekend.  We had a great visit with our son.  Both sons are in town for a gaming weekend - board games, that is.Our younger son arrived by train just before lunch, and we dropped him off at a local restaurant to meet friend.  Over 20 members of the game club joined him, including his brother.  After lunch they headed to the game site, and played various board games with the gang until late.  They were back at it all day and evening Saturday, and returned again on Sunday morning!
DH  and his friend had a performance at a nursing/senior home, and when he returned home, he unloaded his equipment, and we headed out to visit our daughter-in-law. We made exceptionally good time on our trip, and arrived before our grandson went to bed.
Saturday, while his Mom did some shopping, our grandson (3 1/2 years old), helped me to fill the firewood box that is just outside the garage.  We pulled loads of wood and kindling until it was full.
DH emptied both of their sheds, swept the floor, and put everything back neatly.
After lunch, the other 3 headed to a medieval fair, while I stayed home.  I got ribs ready for cooking, making a rub, and getting them ready to cook in the pressure cooker.  I did dishes, cleaning up the mess I made, and washed everything that wouldn't go in the dishwasher.  Dinner was yummy!  We packed our grandson's clothes for the week, and collected bits and pieces that we'll need for the week.
Sunday morning we were up early, had breakfast, packed the car, and headed home.  We called our sons when we arrived, and our grandson talked to his mom back home.  The "boys" arrived home about 1:30, almost gamed out!  Our younger son was taken to the train station about 2:15, and our older one at 4:15.
Our grandson has had fun playing with all the special toys that live at our house, and after dinner, headed up to bed.  Granddad reads him 3 story books every night, after a clean-up and brushing teeth!

We have a busy 5 days planned, and then we'll return him home next Saturday.  I hope to have a couple of minutes to do some sewing, and check my email, etc., but we'll see.  We love our grandson, but he never stops from morning until bedtime!
 

MY HOURGLASS QUILT PROJECT

This quilt has been on the back burner for quite a while.  I only worked on it as a "leader and ender" project, only at my northern home, and only when I had leftover 2 1/2 inch strips in the right colours!

As you can see, by the picture of the finished quilt "with feet", DH held the quilt so I could get a picture of the completed project.

I made a narrow binding for this quilt, that matches the backing fabric, and I managed to use all but a few inches.  It feels good when I use fabric from my stash!  
Sometimes I have to change my mind on colours, and the amount of scrappiness in a project, but my goal is to use my stash before I go, so my family doesn't have to deal with it!

MORE PLACEMATS

When I finished quilting my hourglass quilt, I decided to make another set of placemats.  They used 4 fat quarters that were gifted to me by my southern quilting group last spring.

I'll take the to my community quilts group on Tuesday, so they can also go with the collection of placemats for Meals on Wheels recipients.

MORE MACHINE QUILTING

For the past couple of years, I've been making scrap hourglass blocks.  I finally decided that I had enough fun, and called the top complete!  I  found a large enough piece of fabric to make the quilt back and binding, so spent part of a day pin-basting.
 
It is now under my needle, being machine quilted!  I am using an all over design, just to make this quilt comfortable for snuggling.

Tonight is my guild's first meeting of the season. I have several quilts to take along, as well as goodies for the snack table, and the remaining photo CD's from our June quilt show - I've had requests from some members who were away during the show.
I have 2 community quilts that I quilted and add binding, the Diamond Tiles quilt that I am donating, and two quilts for show and tell.  I'm looking forward to seeing lots of familiar faces tonight!

STASH REPORT AND QUILT PICTURE

Fabric used this week  7.875 yards

Fabric used year to date  83.5 yards

Fabric added this week  0 yards

Fabric added year to date  62.125 yards

Net used 2018  21.375 yards

I seem to making headway - keeping the fabric used from my stash!

This is my version of Bonnie Hunter's Diamond Tiles block.  Block pattern was available in the May/June 2018 edition of Quiltmaker magazine.

All the blocks were made from leftover strips and squares.  Some of them should have had better contrast in the colours, but I used what was already cut - no exceptions!  I did use additional fabric for the sashing, setting triangles and binding, to brind it all together.  I am slowly working my way through years of leftover fabric strips!

 

ANOTHER FINISH!

I just put the last stitch in my Diamond Tile quilt.  The block pattern was found in the May/June edition of Quiltmaker magazine.
This has been a very popular pattern, by Bonnie Hunter, in her Addicted to Scraps column.  There have been many variations shared on the internet!

I decided to set mine on point, and used sashing between the blocks.

I quilted with Monopoly by Superior thread, stitching in the ditch for the sashing and also in the blocks.

I stitched a flower in the centre square of each block, using Rainbows by Superior thread, colour 801 - it has lots of bold colours!

  I then finished by quilting a similar flower in the setting triangles, and a wavy border, using So Fine thread by Superior, in a neutral shade.  I wanted the quilting to give dimension, but not detract from the colourful blocks.

This was a great way to play with scraps, as each block is different, although I used the same fabric in two of the centre squares!

I'll get some better pictures posted soon - DH, my quilt holder is out at the driving range, hitting a bucket of golf balls!