One week to go!

first snowman of this winter!

Christmas is only one week away. WOW has this Fall and early winter ever passed fast. We are just starting to have snow sticking around to make it feel more seasonal! My shopping is all done and I just have a couple little projects to finish up and then the wrapping and I will be ready!

I have kept Christmas simple this year. The gifts are well meaning and come from the heart(or my hands). This year the season has been filled with longing  and sad sentiments. It is hard to put up the tree with all those ornaments we have collected over the years, remembering that a big part of my life is no longer here with me but trying to keep his memory alive as well. 

one done one to go

Nat's quilting is super

                                                                    And so I keep busy whether shovelling snow, I got to make my first snowman of the year, curling and visiting with my sewing/knitting buddies. I spent the other day with a friend Natalie and she long arm quilted a  quilt for me. I have been to her house twice this winter and each time it snows! Starting to wonder about taking my PJs next time!! She is helping me clear out old UFOs that are finished tops but just need to be finished quilts.

No time to be typing away on here. Checked in with
Kathy and now to go and do my own slow stitching to get things checked off my list!

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! just in case I skip or miss a couple of weeks. 

Been a busy quilter

 It has been a couple weeks of not posting but here we go with what I have been up to! There is no shortage of things going on in my sewing room. 

my PIKO quilt top

I had the privilege of helping edit and then doing my version of a new pattern. The pattern is PIKO by Carla Alexiuk of Quilting by the River. This link is to her blog but she is also on facebook. I have helped look over a couple of her patterns. I find the pattern making process challenging but fun to do. I chose to do my version of Piko in shades of purple with the outside border being changed to be smaller on my quilt. It is sitting in time out waiting to be quilted.

Last week I went to my friend's Natalie's "She-Shed" and she long armed two quilts for me. I have yet to finished the binding on them so they are in another pile of things to finish.

double wedding ring hand quilting

I loaded a quilt on the hand quilting frame. It has been on my cutting table waiting to be basted. I was originally going to baste it, machine quilt some of the arcs and then hand quilt the large negative spaces. But I decided I would hand quilt the whole thing. Hope you don't get bored with it, it looks like this might be an all winter process!!

I finished the top for a baby quilt and will wait to find out if it is a boy or girl and I will add the backing accordingly.

baby quilt

               On top of all these starts, stops, and half finished things....I cast on a new knitting project. It is a knit along with Lauren from Sweet Yarns (check out the store on facebook too)in Sudbury.  

knitting new shawl

Oh my when I read this I get exhausted and want to sit and relax. There never seems to be enough hours in the day to get things done. Now add Christmas season on top and WOW life just got a whole lot busier!! That is a good time to check in with my friend Kathy and do a little slow stitching today. Maybe those bindings will get done.

Have a good week everyone and enjoy this Christmas season!

Is it late Fall???

 We turned our clocks back last night one hour but seems more like we turned them back to September. The weather here is wonderful. Temps have been like late summer, early fall but we will take it because all too soon the winter flurries will be coming. We had some heavy winds last night that took out the power overnight but all is good now.

It has been a very productive week for me. I finished a scrappy quilt that I wrote about last week. It will be a prize in a penny sale I am working at next weekend. Then I  started a toddler quilt and am in the process of finishing the machine quilting today and might even get the binding on it too before race time at 3pm!

That leaves me with what to do next...I have a couple of single bed quilts that need sandwiching and quilting. Then I have a few larger quilts that need backings made and get them ready to send to a longarm quilter.

A few months ago, a friend Mallory brought scraps home from a retreat. We all shared them and I even sent some as a bit of a joke to another friend Nicole, who had moved away. We all had a great laugh we she received them and she called us on the day we get together to sew. This week, I received a small zippered bag from her as a thank you for sharing. Yup you may have guessed it was made with some the the very scraps that I sent her!! I haven't quite decided what to use it for but I am sure something will come to me!

keeping practiced at embroidery

I have already been visiting with Kathy's blog to see what slow stitching she is doing today. I will be trying to finish that embroidery I have been working on for awhile. Need to clear it out so I can get back into some knitting. There are six panels 18"square and I have this one to finish and one other. Then I will have to decide what to do with them!

Enjoy your day and the week ahead!! Happy sewing!!

I am backkkkk

zoom quilt pattern

 Not that I went anywhere but it has been a busy few weeks. The weekend of October 22, I had three friends visiting and we had a mini retreat. Three of us were quilting and one was knitting. We were so busy sewing and chatting that I didn't even think to take any pictures. We did zoom with another group of friends that were retreating south of us. We all did a project together. 100-5 inch squares with simple directions became a large table topper. I of course added more blocks once I knew what we were doing and now have a single bed sized quilt top that was border and had binding made. It will get finished at a later date.

I have finished the memory project I was working on but can't show pics as yet. This past week I completed a quilt top that I started at my retreat. It is my version of a new pattern that is not out as yet. I made it all in purples. Pictures will come when I am able to release them by the designer. Yesterday I started a new project. No time to lally gag..got lots of things to do. It starts with a panel and I will add blocks all around and an outside border to finish it off.

purple quilt my version

After all that, I need to get some of these projects actually finished. Which is sandwiching and basting in preparation for machine quilting. Or I might have to engage my friend Nat to give a hand with her long arm machine.

I have a little time to do some sewing but then will settle in for an afternoon of slow stitching  I have 6 blocks to embroider and I think I am on the third one. I will get lots of stitching time while watching the race...Go Denny!!

I'm a bad blogger

lightest purple roses

 I can admit to you all, I am a bad blogger! So much for my once a week post. It has been over a month but life happens. I received a lovely bouquet of roses from a friend, they were so pretty! I couldn't not share this pic with you all.

Once September started it was like summer is over and now it is time to plan for the next event in my life. That event was a celebration of life for my husband. The timing was right and I knew if I didn't do it this Fall it was probably never going to happen and that wouldn't do. We were blessed with a beautiful Fall day, lucky because we had had so much rain and they were predicting it for that day. So many friends and family joined us for the  day, many hugs were received and given. We ended the evening with a potluck supper with a few close friends and family. It was an emotional and exhausting day but something that I needed to do to honour Ted and his memory.

sneak peek

Now we are deep into quilting season otherwise called Fall! I am elbow deep in a secret project so there will be no full pictures(maybe a tease)  but it is coming along. Three quilts to be ready for later in November. I have a few borders to do then the machine quilting will begin. I might even add a bit of hand quilting!

finished wallhanging

Quilt guild has started for another year as well....bring on more UFOs!! I started this year with 4 projects(you can see that post here)Two are completed and have been delivered to their forever home. The other two are completed tops that are waiting for quilting. One might even end up on the hand quilting frame for this winter! Maybe January, I will start a new list but it might be all UFOs!! I know in the next few months aside from Christmas gifts, I have a couple baby/toddler quilts to get finished. Good thing I have my sewing days during the week and a couple of retreats coming up this Fall. Lots of time to get some sewing done. I have finished a few things, cleaning out the sewing room!

one toddler quilt top finished

The garden will get cleaned out soon. I dug potatoes last week. I only planted 5- 20 foot rows but I think I have lots of potatoes to keep me eating all winter and maybe my neighbour too!! Frost has hit so now the only things growing are plants that can withstand the cold. I see cabbage roll making in my future! Then it will be time to put summer things away hunting season and getting ready for winter. I do love the snowy winter season. It is just the shovelling of mounds of snow and the sketchy road conditions if I want to go somewhere that can get a person down, if you let it!!

I have been MIA and did some catching up on my blog reading the other day and today I checked in with Kathy to see what she was slow stitching on today. She even included a story last week about a quilt top that I had finished and entered in the fair while she was here visiting for the Piranha retreat.

Happy sewing and I will pull up my socks, put on my big girl pants and get blogging! Enjoy the week ahead!

Piranha Weekend roundup!

us Piranhas

third time's the charm

The tables are packed up, the sewing room has been returned to the family TV room and everyone has gone home. The weekend went by way too quickly. We got in visits with other friends, got to meet a deer(a real life Bambi although she is a girl) and got to visit our local Fall fair. That is alot to pack into a day and still get some sewing done.There is more about the piranhas here.

toddler quilt

I finished a postcard for a guild member and sent it out last week. I worked on a toddler quilt that will be gifted later. I got the blocks sewn together and on my Wednesday sewing day, I got the top together. The photo isn't the best, the blue is actually dark teal and I think it works very well with the flannel kitty print in the middle of the blocks.

toddler quilt top

This week I have started a new project. I can show this much but for the rest of the story, it will have to wait till they are finished and gifted!

new project

I will be doing some slow stitching today to finish up these heart blocks then more knitting while the Nascar race is on!! Check in with Kathy, apparently I helped her alot while she visited. Nothing I wouldn't do for a friend!

Enjoy your week ahead, it will be a shorter one as Monday is a holiday!

Fair and Piranha Weekend

 So much fun to pack into one weekend, I am so happy and enjoying every second of it. Friday morning I gathered all my entries and took them to the arena to be judged for the local Fall Fair. Then I would have to wait till Saturday to see how well I did with the judges.  

Next the Piranhas started to arrive, supper and we settled into sewing without skipping a beat. Hours of chatting and catching up and a bit of sewing. Our weekend production cannot be measured by what we actually got finished that will be for sure. I have finished one project...it was a postcard but size doesn't count. It will go in the mail later today! Next up for me to sew is a baby quilt . I have to do a practice block first and then will finish the rest of the cutting.

My fellow piranhas, Kathy is making thousands of hst for the Oh say can you sew  mystery quilt, Louise is machine quilting a table runner and Barbie is outside as I write this doing some rust dyeing with all the metal things in my yard! Later this afternoon we will go out to my gazebo for some

slow stitching Sunday with Kathy "beverages"  might be consumed.

This is our last evening together and tomorrow the gang heads home until we meet again! I will have more posts  later this week!

A bag of many tricks

It is all about bees!

Another quilt top has been completed from the scraps I discovered in a bag in my sewing room. The backing for the quilt top was more challenging than making the quilt. I have 1 and 2 meter chucks of fabric or 5,6 or more meters for backing. But these single bed quilts for the most part need 3 meters...argg! I had to do some deep stash diving and came up with this floral to back a honey bee quilt! I used up more small pieces of stash to make a scrappy golden binding! I am hoping some young person will love it once it is donated to a local charity group.

I finished machine quilting  another quilt that will be going to Quilts of valor. I will post the final pic once the binding is finished. It is the last of my Christmas presents. You can read about  what I am talking about here if you don't know! It got misplaced in a pile of fabric so it is getting finished now.

binding and backing

The garden continues to grow way too fast and these got made today! Yummy dilled beans! Feels good to put away the veggies and will get to enjoy them in the winter!

Enjoy the rest of the week. We have had cooler weather but sunny so it is lovely

Dilled beans

 

Busy week

snuggly critters

 It has been a quiet week but I have managed to get lots done. Six little stuff animals have their own quilts to go to their new homes with. I make small quilts to go with stuff animals for charity. The quilts were made with some of the scraps that I found while cleaning last week. You can read more about that subject here. I also finished this quilt top for charity. I added some of my own fabric to more found scraps and voila...another top to machine quilt.

finished quilt top

I have had a quilt pin basted and sitting and waiting and yesterday I started it. I hope to finish it today and get the binding on it. That will be my slow stitching when I join Kathy for some needle and thread time. It is so warm and muggy here but suppose to cool off so I might be able to sit in my favourite chair outside and do the binding!

front porch sitting

Before the rains come and knock down the poppies...I thought I would share them with you. They are so large and fluffy but only last a day or two once they open up. The garden is doing well too. I have been eating and freezing beans and peas. Lettuce, onions, kale and zucchini are being eaten as they grow! I love planning meals from the garden.

I may open another sewing bag of goodies. Come back and check the blog and see what I may get into this week!

gardens are filling in

Getting ready for fair season

 After being away on a short vacation, I have returned and have a renewed want/need to clean out my sewing room. I need to empty those many boxes, bags and containers if for no other reason than to find out what I have. Some have been sitting around for so long I have forgotten just what is there. My daughter suggested that as I go through the bags I should blog about each one. So here is the first bag.

Upper left lots of pieces, some hst, quarter square triangles and some other pieces. Looks like leftovers from a quilt. I started to put them together into a quilt top, adding some of my own fabric where needed.  I am hoping it will become a single bed size!

Lower left is a kit from guild of a drunkard's path. No one wanted to put it together so I will give it a try at a later date. A small baggie of yellow and black hst, some orphaned pink blocks and some orange and navy 4 patches. I think all these will become small mini quilts for the stuff animals that I then give to charities to be given away.

hoping it will be single bed size eventually

Earlier this week I finally finished this quilt top(see below) that I was determined to finish before I started anything else. I increased it by two rows on the width and 2 rows on the length. There will be no borders just binding. It is one of the four projects that I started at the beginning of the year. So far 2 of 4 projects are done and the other two are finished tops. Not bad and I am hoping to have them finished before the year is done!

needs ironing but quick snap outside tonight

           I also pin basted a quilt top. It is the last of the promised Christmas gifts I gave this past year. The quilt when done will be donated to Quilts of Valor in my friend's name. You can read about my idea here.

It is very warm here today so I took the afternoon off and went to visit family at the cottage. So tonight as it cools off I will get in some slow stitching and join Kathy as one of her followers. So glad to hear that she is feeling better. She is part of my fabric piranha group and we will be getting together at the end of August, always a good time.

Addicted to chain sewing

 For the last week and a half I have been working on my little blocks. It is the last project that I picked to work on from the beginning of the year. I have all my blocks ready and will be starting to put the top together later today. I would have been done last week but I decided to increase the size of the quilt and that meant making more blocks.

My intention at the beginning of the year was to get the four projects I chose done and in June pick 4 more to complete by the end of the year. Oops...I may be just a month or two behind. I think the next four projects might be UFOs. Tops that are done and just be sandwiching and basting then quilt them! Yup that sounds like a great idea. With Fall fair time coming at the end of August, I could have a couple ready to enter as exhibits at my local fair!

The past two and a half weeks I have been knitting up a storm. I joined a challenge to see how many pairs of socks we could knit in the month of June...sockapaloozza!! I put off starting then got one pair done and the leader of the group extended the deadline over the holiday weekend. I had enough time to make a 2nd pair. All total in the month the group made 15 pairs of socks. Pretty good showing

The garden is growing and flowers are starting to bloom so while they do their thing, I will be trying to get things done in my sewing room!!

Let the fun begin!

 I am settling into summer. My mom's house is sold and we are relieved it will be with new owners this coming week.

I went on a mini vacation....well I visited my daughter and helped do renos at her house. At first sight it doesn't look like I did much but lots was accomplished.

panel quilt top completed

my winnings from guild

This week guild also finished for the summer and we had lots of fun and I even won a prize. A member brought in a yoyo quilt and I guessed closest to the right number of yoyos in the quilt. I finished this quilt top from a panel class we had a guild this year. I made it bigger so I could finish it for a charity quilt. It will get finished at a later date.

I had to do a little catching up with my friend
Kathy and her blog. I have been working in the yard and garden. The plants are growing but so too are the weeds. I spent a couple hours out there this morning ridding the garden of the little devils. This gives me the rest of the day to sit and sew. I am working on my never ending small blocks that you can read about here! My slow stitching will happen later this afternoon when the Nascar race starts. I have a pair of socks that need finishing for the end of the month and I only have one sock completed so far!!

Enjoy your day and putting needle and thread to fabric...or knitting whatever slow stitching relaxes you today!

Making hay while the sun shines!

new mower

Joining in late with Kathy and all the slow stitching girls! Yesterday was such a beautiful day I couldn't not work outside. Lawn was cut with the new lawn mower, bigger mower less time!! And as my friend Louise does...it has a name...meet Pumpkin! While I was waiting for the grass to dry from overnight, I weeded out my raspberry patch. I am almost caught up on the gardening scene. Today we are expecting lots of rain so it is a good thing I did that work yesterday! So I will be having a slow stitching Monday! Cheating maybe but I am getting this post in just under the wire!

This also happened this week. So I have one less worry on my plate these days. My sister and I have been working to clean, purge and get our mother's house ready for sale for the past 7 months. It is great to know a new family will be calling it home.

Today will be cleaning up a couple tables in my sewing room. Every now and again it must be done and stuff put away that is no longer needed. Then I will settle down to some serious sewing. Still working on these little blocks. They are 5 inch finished and I need 97 of one and 98 of the other. I have lots to make. It is a pattern by The Rabbit Factory called "When this you see".

Hope you enjoy your Monday and whatever you get into! 

Almost June..when did that happen

forget me nots

 I have gone from wanting to post at least once a week to just barely getting in once a month. Where does the time go. This week will be the start of June and as we head into summer, I am sure the time is going to fly by!

lilacs about to bloom

I am just about finish cleaning and moving at my mother's house. It went on the market last week. Hoping for good news this week that it is sold! I have also been cleaning up my yard. It is rather large and lots of places to hide things, but it is time for it to move on. Now to clear off my "to do list" which seems to grow daily then I can get back into the sewing room. I unfortunately added one more thing to the list too. If I don't want to push mow my lawn for the summer, I have to go and buy a riding lawnmower. It has been in the plan but I thought I had some time to go!

rest in pieces...it's broke

I really have been doing more knitting than sewing lately although I do get in a bit of sewing. There are many 5 inch blocks in this latest project.97 of block A and 98 of block B. That is for the size on the pattern but I might make mine just a little larger. I will decide that later.

 More yard work to do while the day is nice and before the rain comes, so I will be checking in with Kathy later. But you can find out what everyone is up to this week if you visit Kathy and all her slow stitching followers.

lonely tulip and lily of the valley

I'm back!!

Yes I am back but not that I went anywhere! It has been a busy Spring and now to catch up with all of you who check in with me.

March was maple syrup season. My daughter and I are carrying on from where my late hubby left off. This is the second year we have done the syruping without him. It was a short 2 week process this year and in that only one really nice day. I did get a pair of socks knitted while I waited for the magic to happen and 12 bottles of syrup!

Once syrup was done, I moved inside and cleaned house.  Mine but more so my mother's. She is in long term care now and we are getting the house ready to sell and cleaning it out to have a yard sale that will happen this coming weekend. Each day I spend time at her house, I come home and spend time cleaning my house too. I have given away 5 quilts to Quilt of Valor and at least that many to the Adolescent Mental health unit at our local hospital. This still leaves me with many projects to finish that are patiently waiting!

3rd project that needs a border

An update on the projects that I chose at the beginning of the year. You can read about all the projects I want to get finished here. So far I have 2 of 4 done, 1 is almost a top and needs borders and the last one is one that I think I may do with a friend. She wants a scrappy project and it would be perfect. We will each do our own version. So even though I have not been blogging, I guess my sewing and completion rate is not that bad. I have also finished knitting a pair of socks, a shawl and just last night tucked the ends in on a baby blanket!

Maybe I will have to set a new goal. Maybe at the beginning of June I will pick new projects to get completed by the end of the year. I will search them out and see what I can come up with!

panel project from guild

Our guild meetings have been small but quite productive. This was a panel that was cut up and pieces added. (it is not trimmed or pressed as yet)A good way to use up some of those panels in your stash. I must admit though that I bought a panel for this exercise but will look into my stash for more. I am hoping to make it into a single bed quilt to give away.

I am a day late but will be sharing my blog with Kathy and her slow stitching friends. It is always interesting to read what everyone is doing. You all keep me motivated and are the major reason I am blogging today after I saw how long it has been since I was here. Here's hoping there is more sewing in the coming days before it is time to get outside and do gardening and yard work!

"Never discourage anyone who continually makes progress, no matter how slow. That includes you!"

Sunday again already!

original kit

Well where did this week go? I know a lot of my week was spent sewing, quilting or knitting! It is that time of year, nothing to do outside and all caught up on other things inside(if that is ever possible). Soon it will be gardening time but before that the sap will be running and that will get me outside. My daughter and I will be setting up for that next weekend so I better get the sewing room cleaned up!

my version of the kit

double wedding ring in pieces

I have been working on two projects this week. Back in January I chose 4 or 5 projects that I wanted to complete this year. You can read about it here So far one is finished and waiting to be delivered, the second one has the binding on and needs it hand sewn to the back(although this picture of it was before the final two borders, hate when camera battery dies!) and I have started the third. The second one was a kit but  I only used  parts of the kit and added a charm pack and some navy blue for sashing to change it up a bit. As I watch the curling competition this week on TV, I will continue to work on the third one which is the double wedding ring quilt. There is lots of pinning that is easily accomplished while sitting! In between all this I am getting closer to finishing my knitted shawl/scarf.

I have been so occupied with curling today that I haven't even been to Kathy's slow stitching blog yet. But I will be slow stitching and cheering on my favorite teams tonight!