A Couple Of Requests

A few months ago both Brianne and Brady made some quilty requests. Of course Mum/Nana will acquiesce! Brady requested a plain grey, (man-style) toiletries pouch for things he might need when he starts Junior High in September, like deoderant. He wanted sections, as I did in his iPod and charger pouch. I felt like trying a new pouch pattern, so I looked in my hard drive and bookmarks and decided upon the Open Wide Pouch by Noodlehead.

It's a great tutorial.

Dark Blue Scraps Sorting Box and OMG

This was my OMG for July, but I didn't get it done until yesterday: make a dark blue scraps sorting box.

Still, it is done and in use, and probably my favourite one yet!

Antarctic Tiles - AccuQuilt Challenge for Island Batik

Squeaking in under the wire with my July challenge for Island Batik. Foof! This has been a crazy busy month, with four quilt finishes, three of them big ones, and three begun and finished within the month. Oh and let's not forget the three patterns I released this month (wow!) in my Etsy shop. 

So this challenge was quite unique. We were given the AccuQuilt GO! Me cutter with two dies. It was not for us to keep, however. We were to make a quilt using only the two dies that come with the GO! Me, and make a small quilt. Then we would give the quilt to someone who is new, or fairly new to quilting, along with the cutter and dies! Merry Christmas indeed!

I have several quilter/yogi friends. It's really quite marvelous how many I've found through teaching yoga. Some are very experienced, and some are fairly new to it. I chose my friend Nancy. She is a teacher too. Like me, she recently retired, and, like me, she has a deep love of trees and nature. She is a creative soul. I thought she would enjoy using this cutter to go a little deeper into quilting. 

Ready to take to Nancy's house

I Like/Love #42

Once again, I'm sharing my list of likes and loves for the month of July, in other words, sharing gratitude. There are several of us who do this, and we welcome anyone who wants to join in. You can write a post weekly, bi-weekly or monthly, and link up with LeeAnna at Not Afraid of Color.

1. I liked being on blog vacation for the first half of July. I love writing, and I will not stop blogging, but it does eat into my sewing time, as does the reading of, commenting on, and responding to comments I receive. It's something lots of us struggle with in finding a balance. Since I was not writing posts during those two weeks, I missed doing a Thoughtful Thursday post, so you will get a bit of that in this grateful post.

2. I love reading. I read several books this past month. I think some are ones recommended by some of the I Like/Love crew, and some are recommended reading, part of my ongoing deep thinking about systemic racism and white privilege.

Ashley Hope Pérez - Out of Darkness. I'd just started this on my last I Like/Love post. I cried through the last several pages. It's an imagined story, within the actual school explosion in New London, Texas in 1936. Well-researched, and plausible events/scenarios that had me upset and shaken because the racism is still going on today.

Desmond Cole - The Skin We're In. - Every Canadian needs to read this. Anyone who wants to educate themselves about racism viewed and experienced through a Canadian-born black man’s eyes needs to read this.

Sally Rooney - Normal People. I also am watching (one episode left) the Irish mini-series on CBC Gem. I love how closely it follows the book. 

Lisa Wingate - The Book of Lost Friends. Another excellent book with two storylines, one in 1875 following Hannie, a freed enslaved person, and 1987, following Benny, a young teacher who moves into a house on the plantation where Hannie worked. Because the majority, if not all, of enslaved families were separated, they were able to post ads looking for lost loved ones in a newspaper that was read out at church services. Benny stirs up a nest of hornets with her student project of researching ancestors when the intertwining of black and white families is revealed within the town, because Black and White share the same lineage through the same white, plantation owner, father. Again, another imagined story but set within well-researched actual history.

Kristin Hannah - Winter Garden. Just about done. I had to return it without finishing it (darn digital books you can't just hang onto for a day or two extra) but I now have it back and I'm nearly finished it. It's about the siege of Leningrad during WWII. I've read another two books about this horrific time. Have I mentioned how much I abhor war?

I finished the Flavia de Luce one, need to get the next one on Audio book; I like reading and sewing at the same time! (ha! See what I did there?)

Shine: Benartex Christmas in July Blog Hop & Pattern Release

Welcome to my stop on the Christmas in July blog hop with Benartex Fabrics. I had the pleasure of working with Nancy Halvorsen's newest line, Better Not Pout.

As with most of my quilts, this one has a little story to it. It is my own design, and yes, there is a pattern for it, and yes, it is available today!

I tried for a bit of a Christmas vibe against our neighbours' cedars and trumpet vine and other vines-covered fence. Christmas isn't snowy and cold in a lot of the world, right? Christmas is about gifts, and so there is a giveaway in this post...

What is in my Island Batik Box #2?

It's been HARD having to wait until nearly the end of the month to show off all the goodies I received in my second box. I will be using these over the next six months. All of the fabrics, thread, batting, bag pattern and notions for it, and needles were supplied by Island Batik, Aurifil, Hobbs Batting, ByAnnie, Schmetz Needles, and Deb Tucker's Studio 180 Designs.

Just look at that collection of colour! They always give us two sets of six Basics and Blenders and several yards of a neutral. I'm so glad I got some pinks and greens and a couple of reds this time. If you'd like to watch me open it live, you can see this on YouTube!

DrEAMi! #42

Are those squirrels still showing up in your sewing room? Are you inviting them, or are they inviting themselves, as squirrels are wont to do...

especially when there are sunflowers to gorge oneself upon! This is one of many squirrels honing in on my dear friend Helen's yard in Arkansas. I have to say if there were free fresh sunflowers seeds (already shelled thank you very much) I'd be hanging out at that place too. You need to go and read the whole story, which is at Word Weaver Art.

Well, I did have a DrEAMi this month, and it was a good one, AND I'm going to share what I did with you so you can just go have a similar DrEAMi of your own!