Monday Meanderings 7 - 31 - 2023

Phew -- a fast week -- it just zipped by but it was a productive week. Sharon stayed through Wednesday morning. She got 3 fairly big quilts finished while she was here. Ruthie was on her best behavior!  

Is it just me but is anyone else surprised that August starts in another day? Yikes.  As someone has reminded me I haven't even started the Christmas ornaments for the 4 grands. I better get on that one soon. 

In the meantime let's look at my goals for last week.  Look at all those check marks! 

7/24/2023

✅Bind Moose in Winter quilt — finished. Needs a label.

✅Bind Floral String Bean Blocks — finished! Also needs a label.

Make one more FCQ Equilter block and put in the mail — not in the mail yet.

✅Sew Two by Two blocks into a top —done.

✅Pick a quilt to quilt— back is loaded.

Here's my String Bean quilt finished.  I used a lot of florals in it. It is a very fast sew if you have all the strips cut before hand. On the other hand, it takes a long time to cut out all the strips especially if you are making it scrappy.  

Not a bad week. Now this week. 

7/31/2023

Quilt big pinwheel quilt

Mail blocks to FCQ Equilter

Figure out dog biscuit recipe and cutter

Finish border of 30 Something quilt and sew top together 

Sew Flower Song blocks together. 

I've got a couple of things scheduled this week that might cut back on my sewing time. But I'm hoping to have a successful week regarding goals. 

I also finished putting my Two by Two blocks together. (That's Accuquilt's name for the block as I cut them all with one of my dies.) Here's the finished top.

Again, this was a fast sew up.  The blocks at 9" finished about 45" x 54". I was thinking it needed another row but when I measured it I realized it really didn't.  What do you think?  Does it need a border and if so what type? I don't think I have enough of any fabrics in the block.  And, no, I probably don't have backing either. Hum, the second row, third block in -- I might have enough of that to border it with. (or maybe a backing...I need to check.) Whoops! The beige around the quilt is the carpeting in the studio. 

And now, the last full day of our cruise on the Baltic Sea. It was the only day we had bad weather -- it rained.  But really it wasn't terrible. We docked in Helsinki and took a bus tour to Porvoo, Finland. Talk about a long history! After a lovely scenic drive we arrived in Porvoo.  Yep, 1346 is a year. Porvo was colonized by the Swedes in the 14th century according to this article at Wikipedia. These buildings overlook the Porvo River.  

And, these wooden storehouses are also on the Porvoo. 

 

Porvoo has chosen to maintain their old town and built a newer section next to the old section.  Sometimes the newer buildings echo the old buildings but with a bit more modern look. Check out the way new housing echos these buildings by scrolling down the Wikipedia listing above. 

We had some free time in Porvoo so we did a little shopping.  I fell for a beautiful hand dyed sock yarn.  I'm not sure when I'll make it into socks but one of these days. I'll try to remember to take pictures of some of the things we bought on our trip.  You may not see some of them until Christmas as they are presents for some people. We really didn't buy all that much. And surprisingly we didn't need to declare anything coming in to the US. 

As we rode back into Helsinki we stopped at the Helsinki Cathedral. One of the national churches of Finland is Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Church. The other national church is the Orthodox Church of Finland. This church is the cathedral for the Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Church. It was finished in 1852. Originally, it was  built as a tribute to Tsar Nicholas I of Russia who was also Grand Duke of Finland. Notice the white dot below the door?  That is a person walking up quite a steep set of stairs to reach the church. (no, we didn't hike up!)   You can see some of the more than life-size statues of the Apostles on the roof line. 

 

The church makes up one side of the Senate Square. On one side is the Government Palace. The Prime Minister's office is in the building along with several other government offices. 

On the opposite side is Helsinki University in a building that looks like the Government Palace. It houses the administrative offices along with Faculties of Theology, Law, Arts, Behavioral Sciences and Social Sciences. Senate Square is used for all sorts of different events including art events, concerts and even Christmas markets. 

I also found some quilt inspiration at the Senate Square.  See the block below? I'm pretty sure it would be called a Bright Hope block. It uses partial seams when making the quilt block but it not for this square.

One of the things I noticed throughout the countries we visited around the Baltic Sea is the use of decorative panels to block the view of construction sites. We saw all sorts of panels throughout our trip but I took pictures of a few in Helsinki.

I don't know if these were screen printed or original art. But I took photos of several different panels.  This one was more detailed than some. ⬆️

This one was less detailed but interesting to see nonetheless.  Hum, could this be the basis for a quilt?  Maybe. We didn't see a lot of graffiti but the pink on this panel is trying to cover some up.  In the background is our cruise ship. 

I still have a few more photos to share as we were heading home and some around the ship. (I have to get some from Pat as I didn't take more than one or two.) I might share what I find next week or wait a few weeks from now.  

Now it's time to end this post and think about going to bed.  As usual I am linking up with my favorite beginning of the week Linky parties. Please try to visit some during the week. 

Oh Scrap

Design Wall Monday

Monday Musings

To Do Tuesday

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie