Maple Syrup Season

My fluffiest EVER biscuit from wood cookstove

The snow is melting and the sun is shining and warming things up so that only means one thing in Northern Ontario....it is maple syrup making season. There are large operations making the liquid gold for sale to the public and there are others that do it just for themselves and family. This year with DH retired, he and my brother in law decided they would try their hand at it. Of course the variables to making sap lie mostly in the hands of Mother Nature and she can be quite contrary at times. So they have been boiling the sweet sap all week from what they gathered last weekend (60 plus gallons)and all that sap may make 1 gallon of syrup....not a lot but ohhhhh so delicious!!I went in for a visit this weekend so not much sewing was done here.

miniatures for some stuffed bears

What does all this  have to do with quilting....well while he is away in the bush I get ME days to complete lots of things. Okay maybe not complete but at least I worked on lots of projects. So the baby quilt I have been working on is finished and will be delivered this week. I also worked on these little wonders. A guild member gave me a bag of hst...very small ones so I decided to make little quilts. You can see by the photo that they aren't much bigger than my cutter. I know crazy but they were paired with small stuffed animals and are going to be used for children in crisis or accidents situations.I have been putting some hand quilting into this quilt too. We have a challenge going this year to finish quilts. We were to make a list of 12 UFO. Each month a number is drawn and we are to work on that quilt for that month. This month is for this pink and brown one. This is what I will be stitching away on this evening of slow stitching Sunday with Kathy.I also finished a quilt top and it is sandwiched waiting to be machine quilted. I will show that one later as the camera battery is dead right now.

hand quilting baptist fans

As the snow creeps away from the house I see that my daffodils are above ground 3 inches but I haven't seen a single robin as yet. Here's hoping Mother Nature let's the sun shine this week and we can get on with Springtime!!!

Happy sewing week everyone!

Springing Ahead

our creek is opening up

Yes it is that day...Spring ahead those clocks!Not sure about what a friend said about more heart attacks and car accidents at this time of the year but I do have a bit of Spring fever! I want to clear out the old projects and get started on some new ones. So hopefully over the next week I can do that! I said hopefully!!! With DH in the bush making maple syrup, I will have lots of time to "get it done"!

forest friend

For the last two weeks I have been working solely on this baby quilt. I appliqued a block a day so I could get it to this point. This evening will be a binding marathon as I have it to do along with three small NICU baby quilts.
Now that the binding pile has grown a bit, this is a sure sign that I am almost finished and I love that.  I have missed my time at the sewing machine now I can get back to piecing. There is no shortage of things to do. Blocks for a challenge, finish my daughter's quilt of curved blocks, my workshop from the other weekend.....oh where to begin!!! And there are workshops on the horizon.

So although I will be in the sewing room, later I will be slow stitching along with my friend Kathy.
Join in and see what others are up to in their sewing and
living rooms!