Family Reunion and Birthdays – July 8, 2007

Yesterday was my DH’s birthday and my SIL’s birthday. My husband and his sister were born on the same date six years apart. While growing up, my SIL told everyone that my husband was more her brother than anyone else’s (there were 4 other siblings around at that time) because my husband was born on her birthday!
We were together as a family yesterday to celebrate the reunion of the families of my FIL and his sister. Both my FIL and his sister are now deceased. It has been at least 30 years since this branch of the family has gotten together.

This is a picture of my FIL and his sister taken many years ago before they were both married.

These are the first cousins.

First cousins again arranged in order of age. Yes, my husband is really the youngest in this photo!

First cousins again………this time arranged in order of height. There was quite a bit of laughter and joking around while we were organizing these photos. Arranging the cousins in order of age and height for photos was a family tradition–“Just like we used to when we were little!” could be heard above the laughter.

These are the children of the first cousins–or at least the ones that were at the reunion. Unfortunately, not all of the kids could make it.

And finally, the grandchildren of the first cousins.

These two stole the show as far as I was concerned. These two boys are sons of my husband’s niece.

Canada Day II Quilt

CANADA DAY - 48.5 inches square - July 2, 2007

CANADA DAY II – 48.5 inches square                     July 2, 2007

I am starting to see the July 4th Independence Day quilts show up on American bloggers’ pages. I decided to make my own Canadian patriotic quilt to commemorate Canada Day. Our flag is red and white and so Mary’s Easy Double 4 Patch pattern seemed to fit the bill. I started this quilt last night and finished it off today.
I cut Mary’s pattern down to 48 1/2″ square.
If you want to make Mary’s quilt in the same size as mine (5 blocks x 5 blocks), the following are the number and size of each strip to cut.
For 12 four patch units: Cut 3 strips – 4 1/2″ wide from colour A and 3 strips – 4 1/2″ wide from colour B.
For 13 sixteen patch units: Cut 7 strips – 2 1/2″ wide from colour A and 7 strips – 2 1/2″ wide from colour B. (You will need to cut one strip of each colour in half.)
For the border: Cut 5 strips 4 1/2″ wide.
For the binding: Cut 5 strips 2 1/2″ wide.
Also, tonight on our news cast there was a story about some Canadian grandmothers who made a quilt that has been signed by some very famous Canadians. This quilt was made to raise awareness and funds to support African grandmothers who are raising their grandchildren who were orphaned by Aids in Africa. It is a great story and worth a look: http://www.greatcanadianquilt.com/index.html
Building a Better World… One Square at a Time.

Customer Quilt

This was today’s finish–a quilt for a customer. This quilt is quilted with 105 concentric circles and 56 part circles with the wave on the border. This quilt has taken me a little longer than the average customer quilt as each circle has a start and stop. It took a day and a half just to tie off the threads and then bury and clip the ends.

Some quilters like to back stitch and then just clip. I prefer the look of no back stitching, tying off by hand and burying the threads in the batting like the hand quilters do. It takes me longer, but I prefer the look.


Happy Canada Day!

Today marks the 140th celebration of Canada Day, which commemorates the day that Canada became a nation.

Because July 1 falls on a Sunday this year, we all get tomorrow off making this a long weekend.

I am behind in meeting my monthly goals — finishing one of the BOM snowmen blue work blocks and finishing off one of the listed UFOs on my side bar each month. I hope to get back on track this month–starting with the extra time I have this weekend.

To those blog readers in Canada–enjoy your long weekend!