A Small Finish

You might think, in reading my blog, that I rarely ever finish anything. And perhaps you might be right. However, once in a while something gets completed, and even makes it out of the door to a new home.

This is my completion for June.

It's a small blanket for donation to either my vet or a local animal shelter. It's only a small gesture, but we have personal experience to know that they can be appreciated.

On June 7, we said goodbye to George - our oldest male cat - almost 17 years of age. He had a tumour in his face, and we looked after him and comforted him as long as we could, until it was finally his time to go.

My husband took him to the vet to see if we could help him in some way to keep him with us - but he was beginning to be in distress with the tumour.  To keep him comfortable while he received his final needle, the vet brought out a crocheted blanket just like this one - so that he wouldn't have to lie just on the metal table. In fact, it was a blanket I had crocheted before, and given to the vet's office.

We were glad for this small kindness for George, and happy that there was a small blanket like this that he could lie on at the end.

If you have an overflowing scrap basket, or extra yarn, why not consider making a small blanket to donate. It may comfort an animal in distress - and if the animal is one of the lucky ones - it may even accompany them home to their forever home.

Happy Canada Day!

I know it's late in the day, but I'd like to wish Happy Canada Day to all!

And is it my imagination, or did CSI actually use a Darwin Award winner as inspiration in one of their episodes?

Raccoonzilla?

Another Find

So what's this jaunty little fellow doing on my cutting table?

I have a fondness for collecting sewing items, and this was my latest find in an antique store recently.

The poor little duck has scissors through his head. On either side, you can see little waves, on which are pins for spools of thread, or a little thimble, or a very old measuring tape...

And underneath is a drawer which is full of old "bits and bobs". To be honest, I haven't gone through it yet. LOL

Guess I'd better move him off my table now so I can actually get some work done.

And yes, I'm also trying out another layout for my blog. I don't know if I'll keep it, but they say a change is as good as a rest.

So, how is your sewing summer going?

Barn Swallows

For many years, we have had a barn swallow nest above our front door, and there are usually 2 to 3 hatchlings.


Now, *this* year...

As you can see, we haven't taken down the Christmas lights for a while.

Four Patches

I've started a new project. It's going to be a small quilt made up from fourpatches and neutral sashing. I saw one on a blog somewhere, but I can't remember which one.

At tho top you can see two of the completed blocks. They finish at 4-1/2". I haven't figured out how many I'll need yet, but it's a start.

Colour Revisited

I said I would take a picture of my four patches - and I finally did.

There's a saying that done is better than perfect. This little top is about half completed, and it is nowhere near perfect. But I am happy to say that my corners are matching better than they used to.

And I haven't totally given up the alternating dark/light pattern. However, this particular top is mainly a jumble of squares. I'm considering it a learning experience. And one thing I learned is that the 2" squares are not all 100% cotton. Some of them shrunk a little bit when I ironed them. It makes life interesting.

Colour

I've posted a pic before of the top for a small cat quilt which I made. It's totally scrappy. There is no logic whatsoever to the colour in that quilt, and I'll admit to thinking that perhaps I didn't do it "right".

So, I started making fourpatches from 2" squares, alternating light and dark. It's a more traditional fourpatch. And I found it boring!

Now, I'm back to mixing up colours. I'll take a picture of some of my fourpatches tomorrow and post it.

Warning - my piecing isn't great. :-)