Looking for my quilting mojo

If it takes small projects to find my mojo than that is what I am doing! Today I completed two calendar blocks as part of a guild program. We are to make one for each month and these are my first two completed ones. I forgot there is as much work in these little ones(8x9) as in a baby quilt....haha!

This was also part of my slow sunday stitching. All the stitching, small amount of thread painting and quilting was done on my featherweight. They really are quite versatile little machines.
I spent most of the afternoon rummaging and searching through my stash for fabrics for three baby quilts. There are a lot of little ones that have been born over the summer and a few yet to come including a set of twins. Can't wait to make those princess quilts!
This evening I am resting this aching back and doing more hand stitching on my hexies. This seems like a never ending project but when I lay it out it is coming along nicely. I just love how the '30 prints play with the white. This will probably be the only one I make so I am going all out and going to keep stitching till I run out of the center purple colour. Then I will have to decide how large I will make the quilt. I was originally going to put in a green path but I let that idea go but I had already make a bunch of green hexies so there will be a white border all around the quilt and a larger green border...whenever I get to that point!!!

Every now and again you get reminded....

last night's finishes

The old saying is true. you never know what you have till it is gone or in my case almost gone! I had great plans for this week and then on Monday morning while getting ready I reached down to pick something up off the floor and BAM!!! I couldn't move, well I could but it wasn't easy. I had pinched something in my back. So needless to say no triathlons for me...getting in and out of bed was enough! It is coming along, had physio yesterday and have some exercises to do. So after resting most of the week, yesterday I thought enough!!
I tried to clean up some little projects in my sewing room. So finished this little baby quilt for the NICU and put together this pillow that will go into the fair next year!(needed to practice a little handquilting so I did the pillow)

only 12" left to go

Also today I want to put a few more stitches in this quilt. I can see the end, can you? I find this the hardest part of hand quilting...you want to be done but you don't want it to end. Oh well I have many more to quilt just waiting patiently in line.

almost like a jar of candy - so yummy!

While I was away last weekend, I had one day of sewing. I took my featherweight and a box of scraps. These are what I got done! 8 1/2" blocks. I have to say they don't look like much alone but when you lay them out, I think there is definitely a WOW factor happening. I will have to make a few more so I have enough to do something with. I will just say also that I hardly put a dent in my string box of scraps!

Now to decide what to work on today...finishing up something or starting something new? What are you doing in your sewing room today!!!

Off again!

Yes I was travelling again. This time a 5 hour drive took me south to my daughter's then onto a weekend visit with my Fabric Piranha quilting buddies, Louise and Barb.  I arrived on Thursday and was able to go to Louise's "after hours" quilting class. I was a nice evening visiting with some ladies that I had met before. After the class we got to go to Judy's (the teacher) house. Her home is the perfect quilter's paradise...bedroom, bathroom,kitchen, living room and the rest of the house including the basement is devoted to quilting!! I surely could live there.
I had the whole day Friday to myself so what is a girl to do....SEW!! Yes after sewing hexies in the morning, I dug out my featherweight and my scraps and made string blocks for the rest of the day. Once my buddy was done work, I picked her up and we met up with Barb and visited a new quilt store in the area.

a girl and her tractor

trailer full of pumpkins

On Saturday we were off to Quilt Expo in St.Mary's. Lots of vendors and a small unique quilt show. Each vendor made a quilt or wallhanging that was their interpretation  of the same original pattern. It was amazing to see how and what each vendor  did. They were all so different and visually appealing. So I didn't get any pics!!! We also stopped at a couple of quilt stores on the way home and one pumpkin patch. Pauline, who has her very own tractor, has a large pumpkin patch too! All shapes and sized of pumpkins including tiny gourds too!!
To finish off the day we went visiting. The skies that evening were so unusual. There were bright spots and not so bright areas. These pic don't really do them justice but it was the best I could do.

sunny but ominous

Now today was suppose to be a busy day for me......right up until I pinched a nerve or something in my back as I tried to pick something up off the floor. So now today is a sit in a hard chair, heating pad, book and maybe some hexies till the traffic jam in my lower back disappears. Arrggg....getting older is not nice!! So although there was no slow stitching done yesterday....I am thinking I will be making up for that today!

Just another kind of busy!

Where do the days go? I always thought that once summer ended and the kids headed back to school things would settle down and there would be more time for "stuff"!! Well for those who stop by my blog regularly you will notice....I can't even find time to blog!!!
Now I will start by saying this cold I caught from DH is still hanging on...nasty cough. Today at our guild meeting I wasn't the only one coughing and hacking, some were even sniffling! It even messes with your head and thinking. So no heavy quilting math for me!!

We should all be grinning when sewing with a friend

Last weekend I did a small road trip all by myself. I went back to my home town and visited my local and most favorite quilt store. Two hours just seemed to fly by. I also got to say hi to a few old friends. From there I met my friend Susan and we went to her house for the weekend. Although I brought lots with me, I didn't get much done. I took the opportunity to play in my string and scrap buckets. This was prep work for some demos and a workshop that will be going on at guild later in the year. I was able to put together string blocks and sashing to make a baby quilt for the NICU at our local hospital. As you can see we take over her dining room table that just gives us an excuse to eat on the couch!

baby quilt flimsy

This weekend I am heading out again! I am heading to see my fellow "fabric Piranha" quilt friends. We will be doing some shopping at quilt stores and attending a quilt show. We always have fun.I also have to look up a sewing machine that is for sale...not jinxing it so you will have to come back and see what happens.

The view out my front window

 We have been having some beautiful sunsets this past week. I couldn't resist going outside and get a pic...although it just doesn't do it justice!!!
Enjoy the rest of this week and whatever you decide to do with it!!!

Timing is everything!

Ain't that the truth! This past week I got to go on a shop hop with friends that you can read about here. Although I had a sore throat the worse part of the cold was yet to come. And come it did, I have been battling it ever since and the only good part is all I want to do is sit and relax...enter hand quilting!! I have  managed to get this quilt almost half quilted in one week!! YES timing really is everything.

patiently waiting for dad

Also this weekend there are two big events, fall fair in a neighbouring town and a rodeo. All of which DH had to put in an appearance as deputy mayor. So Belle our dog had to stay at home with me, she really doesn't like it when the truck leaves without her!!Doesn't she just look so sad!
 I am hoping all this down time will help me to be well again as the next two weekends I am suppose to be travelling. A quilting weekend with my friend Susan and then the next weekend an overnight visit to my daughter enroute to a quilt show with my fabric piranha friends! There is just no time to be sick!
So today will be more slow stitching/hand
quilting along with Kathy. Check out her blog and see what everyone is up to on this long Labour Day weekend!!!
Good luck to all the kids returning to school next week and to those who have already started...that roar you hear is all the moms cheering!!!!

Three gals and a road trip!!

Doesn't that just start visions in your head! Well yesterday myself and two friends set out on an adventure. Two and a half hours later we were at our first destination of the day Cookstown. We headed west from there to Alliston, Shelbourne where we stopped for lunch. Now we cued up the GPS and headed for a store the owner at Alliston told us about, Conn. A minor snaffu with the directions and two phone calls later  we found the place. Good thing we had the phone number!!

my need to haves!!!

Then we headed north to Markdale for a quick stop. We still had two stores we wanted to get to. By the time we got to Maxwell ...it would prove to be our last stop. We decided to really enjoy this store and spent a little more time wandering around and chatting with the two ladies that were working.
Now I did have a plan...I needed a couple Stonehenge for a project, a couple chocolate browns(they are hard to come by like 70% dark chocolate colour) and I needed some white tone on tones. I needed a hanger for a monthly project we are making at one of my guilds. So thus this pic..I think I did very well! I did pick up a couple row by rows for a friend who couldn't go with us but the license plate is for me.
However as most of you may know, a quilter is seldom that controlled!!! Once you enter into some of these stores...your mind goes into hyper-drive with all the projects you could do or want to do!! YIKES!!!! Nevermind if they have deals...or that sale rack...who could resist!!! Ya not me!!!

Oops...the can't pass up!!

best deal of the day

But I think the best deal of the day came from the Conn store "Creekbank Sewing Machine Store", she had surprise grab bags for $9.95...I can't resist these as all my quilting friends will attest to! I even managed to convince my travelling buddies that they really had nothing to lose, so we each got one!! Five batik fat quarters, spool of mettler sparkly thread, pen and two pkg of buttons. It was like Christmas!!!

Realtree  deer panel

As we loaded up and headed for home, our exciting day wasn't over yet. We stopped for a late supper and while we were in the restaurant, something happened out in the large mall parking lot. There were police cars all around blocking exits, one ambulance and fire trucks. Have no idea what happened but we were able to get out of there and head for home and our beds!! We left at 6:50 in the morning and were home by 11 pm and travelled over 650km. Yes we are crazy quilters!!

So today I am resting and  hand quilting on this quilt. Seems I have caught the cold DH has had for a couple of days. Sore throat really hurts.








 I would like to give a special shout out to Lilac Lane for the water and cookies in our bag and to the Maxwell store Threads that Bind for the cloth shopping bag(love the green)!!!