UFO Monday - 10th and 11th Finishes.

 This lovely bag was donated by Sandra or Ramona from Vic a couple of years ago. It was almost finished but needed to have the sides stitched and bound. They had done all the hard work of making the internal pockets etc.

 I always intended to finish it but it wasn't high up the list.  However, it will make a lovely bag for the Peter Mac Cancer Centre to raise funds in their auxillary shop and now it's finished and can be donated.

This little cot quilt top was donated about 10 years ago as a block.  I added borders, quilted and bound it and it will also be donated to Peter Mac .
 So I have 2 more UFO's finished which makes 11 for the year so far. A lot of these UFOs weren't started by me but donated to me to finish, so it's  a great feeling to get them finished, off the shelves and donated where they can be loved.
Hugs, Jan Mac 

Weekly Catch Up.

 It's been another busy week with crocheting blanket squares and some baby knitting but I did get these 2 lap sized quilts finished for Peter Mac. They asked for some smaller quilts which would be suitable for patients in wheelchairs so I finished these and I have also been busy finishing off a couple of UFOs which I will share soon.

 This little baby's cardigan was another finish this week in time for the impending arrival of Jake's little brother, so not as much quilting but still pottering along with my many projects.
Hugs, Jan Mac

A Special Day.

 I was very honoured to be invited to Peter Mac's volunteer luncheon in the city yesterday and it was lovely to share it with 2 other quilters who are involved with AQA' s Gift Quilt Program.  The Peter Mac volunteers do a wonderful job of making life a little easier for the patients and family as they undergo the challenges of treatment.

 It was lovely to see 2 of our quilts shown on the Power point presentation and it was also a great opportunity to hear others talk about their contributions and hear about other ways we might contribute.

I spoke with volunteers who sell donated, handmade items through the hospital's auxiliary shop to hear what items are popular for sale and where the raised funds are used.

We all really enjoyed our day and I came home inspired to keep working to support their programs. Of course, all of you who have donated tops, blocks and quilts, have been instrumental in this quilt project and I  sincerely thank you all. Anne, the co-ordinator of their volunteer program spoke about the difference our quilts have made to their patients when they are going through hard times.

Many thanks again for all your help.

Hugs, Jan Mac 

Cross Stitch Tuesday.

 Well I didn't manage to finish the block this week as I've been busy knitting and sewing for the arrival of our expected second grandson. He should be here in a week or two and I am still making some last minute jackets for him as well as some items for the nursery.
     At least the cross stitching is finished and I only have the outline stitching and beading to add.

 Looking at last week's photo you can see that I have made progress, even though I didn't finish it.

Soon it will join these other finished blocks. We're having lovely sunny autumn days and Jake is having fun running in the back yard and picking flowers while I hang up washing. It's lovely to be able to enjoy some simple pleasures of being outside.
Hugs, Jan Mac 

UFO Monday - 9th UFO Finish.

Yesterday our quilting group held our Biggest Morning Tea event to raise money and support cancer research. We had a very interesting guest speaker, Dr Laura Forrest, who spoke about her research into the psychosocial impact of inherited cancer genes.  We were also thrilled to donate 76 quilts to Peter Mac from our Gift Quilt Program,  to be distributed to their clients in need. It was a lovely social event with some fun games and lots of chat and yummy food as well as raising money for a good cause.

I was a lucky winner of a lovely scissor keep/ pin cushion made by one of our members. 

As for the UFO finish, there was a group challenge of transforming a tea towel and I decided to finish a long term cross stitch project to decorate my apron made from tea towels. I made a pocket from the cross stitched piece and I now have a pretty apron and another UFO off my list. So many left to finish but each one off my long UFO list is a win for me.
Hugs , Jan Mac 

Weekly Catch Up.

Now that I've donated all the finished gift quilts it's time to get busy making more.  I decided to work my way through a box of donated QAYG blocks and I plan to keep working on more QAYG quilts as they are easy to make when I don't need to find batting or backings and I love that they all look individual.

 I also finished off 3 baby jackets to donate to Peter Mac Cancer Centre to be sold in their shop which helps them to raise funds. I have so much baby wool that I will be knitting for a while and baby jackets sell well as gifts.

I also made 4 pillowcases which have some of  Jake's favourite things . I also made 6 burp cloths for the new baby but forgot to take photos. It's been a mixture of finishes this week and I'm still crocheting squares for blankets so there's no chance of getting bored. I asked for a photo of me with Jake for Mother's Day as I am usually behind the camera and I was thrilled to have this one taken in the park.
Have a great week everyone,
Hugs, Jan Mac

Quilt Delivery Day.

 Today was a big day of delivering quilts and I finished 2 more just in time. Having lots of QAYG blocks on hand made it fairly easy to put together this quilt for Anglicare and the donated top, shown below, was donated by Lesley L. from Rochester Vic. My quilt holder was busy so I took some quick photos with them draped over the fence on the deck.

Then it was off to Anglicare where I delivered 24 quilts, a single bed sized crocheted blanket and a hand knitted baby jacket to be used for their clients. From there I drove to drop off 21 quilts to the Peter Mac Cancer Centre and I had also recently donated 3 quilts to clients of Odyssey House.
   Everyone was thrilled with the quilts and my storage areas are empty of quilts after donating 48, so it's back to work again getting more tops quilted and UFOs finished and ready to donate. Many thanks to everyone who has donated and supported these quilt projects.
    Anglicare told me they had a lady seeking help yesterday and they offered her a quilt for her children from some I had dropped off previously. She declined as she has 3 children and didn't want to be greedy. Luckily they had enough for all the children and she was in tears to receive lovely quilts to keep her children warm, and as you know, that is why we make and donate to the needy.
Many thanks for your help.
Hugs, Jan Mac 

Cross Stitch Tuesday.

 This must be a less complicated pattern than the previous one as it seems to be progressing fairly quickly. I only have the border, outline stitching and beading to add before it's finished.

 This was last week's progress photo. Hopefully I will finish it before next week but more time is being taken up with preparing some baby things as he could be here in  a couple of weeks time,  so they will have to take priority this week.

Completed blocks so far which will make a lovely wall hanging.
Hugs, Jan Mac 

UFO Monday- 8th UFO Finish.

Everything looks better quilted!
Finally this UFO from 1998 is finished and ready for donation. Yesterday I wasn't sure if I would get this UFO finished in time for today's blog post but I pushed on and did some quilting in the evening so it's finally finished.
   Looking at the top from last week, I decided that it was too long so I removed the bottom row of blocks.  I prefer rectangle quilts to measure with the width about 2/3rds of the length. Now it's been adjusted I like the dimensions and the adfition of borders and quilting makes it look much better.
  Of course now I have 3 leftover blocks but I'm much happier with the result and another UFO finish.
Hugs, Jan Mac 

Weekly Catch Up.

 This week was busier baby sitting than I expected but we won't complain when little Jake brings us so much joy. The first 2 quilts were tops I quilted for AQA. The first one was a much larger top which I reduced in size and now I have to remake the pieces I removed and add borders to make another donation top.

 I also finished another 2 QAYG quilts from donated blocks and I have been packing quilts ready for donation.

I also quilted 3 more tops but there are no photos yet as I have to finish their binding. I hope you are all enjoying a lovely Mother's Day and some time to stitch, during the week.
Hugs, Jan Mac 

News From New Guinea.

 I received these lovely photos of the kids in New Guinea wearing the beanies we sent. They live in the Highlands and as you can see they were very happy with their new and warm beanies and I hooe you are able to recognize the beanies you made.
The beanies and blankets were distributed by one of my niece's friends, who volunteers at the maternity ward of the hospital and various other community projects.


 She wrote that she could see a lot of joy and thankfulness when she distributed the beautiful beanies, crocheted blankets and quilts. She distributed them in remote areas and focused on widows and their kids. She also distributed some to new mothers at the hospital .
She finished with "Thanks again for the many beanies and blankets! May God reward all the women who knitted them!"

I hope the lovely blog readers who sent beanies can see the joy on the faces of the children and know that they have made a difference to their lives. I'm waiting to hear if we are able to send more over this year so if you like to knit I know that there are many groups here and in New Guinea, who would love to distribute them to the needy.
Many thanks for your ongoing support with these projects to help the needy.
Hugs, Jan Mac 

Cross Stitch Tuesday.

 This must be an easier pattern than the last as I have only stitched on it for 2 or 3 nights but the progress is very evident. I decided to jump a few months and stitch tye October block as I think my background fabric is whiter than the original. I still gave enough to stitch a few more blocks with the original so I will mix them up so it's less obvious if there is a difference in shades of white.

Seven blocks finished and 5 to go until they're finished and it will be fun to show my DD when it's finished as she doesn't know that I am stitching more blocks to go with what she gifted me.
Hope you're all enjoying some stitching time too.
Hugs, Jan Mac 

UFO Monday.

 These blocks from 1998 are finally a top and I plan on adding borders and quilting it this week. It almost didn't happen as it would have been easier to just quilt some more tops than work with making these blocks fit together. However, as I am blogging about my UFO progress, I decided that I needed to just get it done. Now the hard part is done, the rest should be much easier.

 I've also finished another hand appliqued block which was a donated Block of the Month for AQA. I'm enjoying stitching them when I have time and as there is no time pressure to finish it's still progressing. The 2 blocks below are what I finished previously.

Hugs, Jan Mac 

Weekly Catch Up.

 I'm still quilting donated tops and the first 2 were donated by Ky Valley/ Rochester quilters via Lesley L. (I think ) and will be going to needy kids supported by Anglicare.

 This top was quilted for AQA to donate for their Gift Quilt Program and it's another great example of using scraps effectively. My co-workers do a great job with making kits from the donated fabric we receive and they make beautiful quilts as a result.

 More evenings were spent crocheting squares to join those from Linda A. and I finished another large blanket which has been donated to the homeless.

 Making larger backings by adding 6 inch strips of blocks to backing fabric has also been a priority as I've found more donated tops to quilt and want to have suitable backing ready so I can keep busy quilting them, as time allows.

The weeks are going quickly now that I am reporting on my UFO progress as well as my cross stitch progress but reporting my progress is making sure that I make time for my own finishes as well, so it's been a positive for me.
Hugs, Jan Mac 

Antique Quilt Restoration Finish #2.

 This is my second restoration finish for the year and it really only happened at the moment because we organized my quilting storage space and I was able to find it. I bought it in the mid 1990s from Hickory Hill antiques in the US. That was in the time before the internet sales and I used to select purchases based on the dealer's description. It worked well but the purchases were a surprise when they arrived.
   This was a 1950s quilt top, made in the style of the Gees Bend quilts, i.e. a utility quilt made from household textile remnants. There are pieces of taffeta,  probably from petticoats, shirting and dress making fabric in a mixture of weights.

I had to make some repairs first as some of the seams hadn't held, despite apparently being used, although it may have been used as a summer coverlet. The fabric shown above is a cheater cloth which adds interest. The fabric pieces vary in size and are hand stitched together. The top rippled a bit but it is a good representative of utility quilts of that era, and I thought it was worth restoring and quilting it to ensure its survival.
  It was a fun project to work on and I have a few more of these restoration projects currently in the works.
Hugs, Jan Mac