One year Anniversary

I knew  it but forgot to remember it!! That's right it has been one year of blogging. It has indeed gone by very quickly! It has been a year of triplets, 2 weddings on the same day, moving daughter not once but twice and numerous other events. What does the next year hold in store is anybody's guess. But I know I will still be quilting, finding UFOs to complete, and starting new projects.

Just the beginning

At guild today, our workshop was on a Ricky Tims design...Cool Kaleidoscopes! There is a bit of prep work making the strip sets, but what fun when you start cutting out the templates.This is just the beginning, but it is shaping up nicely. The finished block will be 36" square! I think I will have to add a few more darker colours to my strip sets too! There is some waste with this method but I think after you do it once you can eliminate some of the waste.You have to cut everything out before you start sewing so it is pinned to batting for now!

 I have also finished a knitted shrug for myself, just need to buy a pin to hold it closed. It was a kit from Mary Maxum. I choose the perfect day to wear it too as the temperature today was -33Celcius this morning with a windchill it was -43!!! brrrrr!!!! The sun made the day bright and sunny though! Gee I really hate pics of myself!!!

Love cameras with timers!

Rolling right along

Basement sewing room looking a little messy

Well things have been proceeding well. I got two quilt tops completed this week and another one pin basted and started machine quilting. The two tops will be going back to a friend (where they came from) to be machine quilted and then back to me to have the binding put on. They are for a charity auction in the Spring.Now to get my stuff done, I started quilting a quilt that has rested for 10 years. It is a BOM sampler that has rest long enough. Time to get it done!
But in between all this I convince DH to open my sewing room up to an adjacent bedroom and now I have almost doubled my sewing space.

Although a ping pong table mostly fills the bedroom(that use to be my daughters). I lost a little wall space in the process but gains a whole room. This is the view of the sewing room and looking in the new doorway(on the left) into my "cutting room". As you can see not all my daughter's things have left yet. I don't think I want her to take all of it!!(sentimental fool I am).









So today while it is snowing and blowing outside I will be finishing up rearranging things, cause this pic makes my sewing room look very disorganized. Then for slow stitching Sunday with Kathy I will be doing more machine quilting on my UFO. Check out what everyone else is up to also!

Getting back into a Routine

BOM blocks to sew together

Well for me the holidays are over and that BIG 50 birthday has passed so now is the time to get back to some sort of a routine! For me that means walking or exercising of some sort and getting at my sewing room and sitting behind that machine. Have you ever had the problem of wondering what todo. Wanting to sew but not knowing which project to start or dig out and complete. That is where I am...enter a quilty friend. She is putting on an auction this Spring to raise funds for the local Lions Club. So she is cleaning out her quilting stuff and has given me two projects to sew together. One is a block of the month. Blocks are made and sashing cut, I just have to sew the top together and she will quilt it. The other will be a bit more work. Two lovely panels and black for the alternate squares, to be made into a queen sized quilt. The colour shows orange but is more rust actually.She wants no other colour,so it the challenge to make this one large enough.Stay tuned for finished tops.

panel to sew with black

I do so want to set up a quilt to hand quilt but with my birthday present being a redo of my kitchen so I am not sure I want to do that. So I guess I will stay working in my sewing room. As for today the slow stitching with kathy will be slow sewing and deciding what project will be next!

Most productive weekend

four patches and flower block from other day

25" square baby quilt
ugly fabric challenge

I spent this weekend with a quilting buddy who lives a couple of hours away from me. We try to get together each month as our schedules will allow. So there is some sewing, movie watching and a lot of chatting that happens. I took a boxful of goodies to keep me busy and did accomplish some including finishing a pair of knitted socks, the quilt top for a baby charity quilt which was a ugly fabric challenge(it is the bonnet fabric), and 80+ four patches for a new mystery I am teaching at my guild. I have unpacked and am sitting down to a movie to enjoy my last night of being 49! OR should I say it is the eve of the anniversary of being 49 again!!! haha Yes tomorrow is the big 50, how can that be?!?!
Our crazy weather is ever changing. I drove on Friday in -30 degree Celsius weather and came home today in -6 and now we are in the middle of a snowstorm expecting 15-20cm of snow!! Good thing I love this winter weather!!!
So with all this happening slow stitching Sunday with Kathy for me,was slow driving Sunday. I was on a road where there were lots of deer so I took it easy. I am a little more careful on this road as I hit a deer this past summer...silly critters who want to across in front of cars!

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2013 in rear view, 2014 full speed ahead

This is the time of year we look back to see what we have accomplished and what is left to do. If you are like most quilters I know, there is more left to do that got done!!!(good English) Lists are our friend, whether you joined a UFO group or a blog where they were encouraging you to get those orphans finished, I hope something helped. Myself, I did get a couple finished. But for each finish, I am sure I started two, some of which never got finished....oops!!!

My Jar of happiness

SQUIRREL!!!( you will understand in a minute)
Last Christmas my daughter gave me an empty mason jar, a pen and some small slips of paper. She asked me to write happy things,special events, or just a thought that made me smile, that happen to me throughout the year. Although at first I wasn't sure, throughout the summer the jar started to fill.You can find that sometimes even the smallest thing can make you smile! Now as I open the jar and recount all those slips, I can see what a great year I had! Not gonna lie, after taking the photo,I  sat down  and read everyone of those slips.Amazing how just a simple thought or memory can make you smile! SQUIRREL!
So writing things down helps and jogs the memory!Make a list and even if you don't share it with anyone, it is there for you and your memory.
So let's not dwell on the past but put "pedal to the metal" and go full throttle into the future!!!Here are a few photos of some of the highlights of my past year! Finally have a treadle machine and a featherweight! DH finally got his dream(which makes me happy too) a John Deere tractor(so out with the old red one) and our daughter got her dream job. It has been a great year!!

Treadle refinished and working

so excited for a featherweight

boys and their toys