Knitting day!

The sun is shining and finally I get to open the window of the house and air it out. We have been having cooler than normal days with lots of rain. It is so nice to be able to hear the birds and the creek while I go about my day.
I have cleaned the house and am ready for visitors. The girls are here for our knitting afternoon today.Always a fun time of catching up (some of us haven't seen each other for a day or two!!)haha

I have take the last couple of days to just play in my sewing room. Really playing. I pulled out a small box of scraps and just created. Now with them being small scraps of course all I did make was small quilts. The smallest ones are 1: finished squares. I make small quilts to go with small stuffed animals that are given to a group in my area. It is a victim help group. They attend scenes of accidents, domestic disputes and other such things. If there are children involved the stuffed animals can be a way of keeping them occupied while police and medical persons do their jobs. Such a little thing that can be so helpful.

In between sewing I have been experimenting with the wood cook stove we have outside in our gazebo. Once the fire is on and the stove is warm...oh the delicious things you can cook. I baked chicken with veggies(what was left in bowl), stewed rhubarb on the top and baked a rhubarb dessert for the girls today!There really is a different taste cooking this way. I think I may have been a pioneer in another life!! Tonight we are trying a pork roast and one day homemade bread maybe!!

Enjoy your Wednesday...hump day!!!

Lost in my stash

That is how I am feeling...so much stash and I just don't know which project to work on! This always happens to me after finishing a big project.How about anyone else? Do you find yourself wandering around your sewing room, cleaning and moving things about, thinking you might find something that will peak your interest. Let me assure you, it is not from lack of UFOs
or projects set aside to start.
Oh well it will happen I am sure.

Me(left) and Evelyn

I did finish "that quilt" and you can read about the delivery of it here. Evelyn was so happy with what I had done and was happy to have her quilt back! Her appreciation of my work made all those days of quilting worthwhile!

It is June and for most of us guild meetings are coming to an end for the summer which means banquets and potluck dinners. It also means challenges are due!I have four due. An ugly fabric challenge, orphan block challenge, and 150 Canada challenge. I only had to make 3 as I will be using the 150 Canada piece at two different guilds! That is also the one that I still have to finish, the other two are done! I will show pics of them later as I don't want to spoil the surprise.

turning into a poppy flowerbed

I am also busy knitting. My best friend became a first time grandma and I was so sure it was going to be a boy. So now I am knitting a little girl's sweater!!! I have two weeks before I head to grandma's house for a visit and be able to see the baby. We are also heading to the  CQA show that weekend. One van, six or seven ladies and a road trip! There is sure to be talking, giggling and shopping! CQA is the Canadian Quilter's Association show in Toronto. A juried show of quilts from across Canada with vendors too.

couple of sad but happy flowers in my garden

Today I get to sew and maybe finish my challenge because it is rainy here. Yesterday was my sewing day but the weather was nice  and the bugs were few...couldn't pass that up!!! So more of the garden was put in and some flower seeds planted. These are the flowers that are blooming in my garden now. Also the lilacs are in full bloom in the neighbourhood..you can smell them!

Also today I am playing pioneer of sorts. We have a new addition to our gazebo...a wood cook stove. DH has been baking suppers in the oven. It has made amazing chicken pot pies, baked potatoes and corn in husks. Tonight I am making roast chicken.

I am also checking in with my friend Kathy and her slow stitching Sunday and seeing what everyone is up to. She will get to see our stove first hand later this summer. Maybe DH will even cook for us as we sew the weekend away for our annual Piranha Retreat!

Hope you all have a great week!

Signed, sealed and delivered!

Evelyn's Mother

Yes "the quilt" has been delivered to its rightful owner. I finished the quilt in early May and had to wait a couple of weeks to deliver it to the owner. She was so excited to see it and loved it once we got it out of the bag and onto her bed. She said she was sure her mother was dancing in heaven seeing the quilt finished. It looked so perfect on her white bed and she was even dressed in pink to match. It was nice to chat with her for a bit and learn more about her.

Evelyn and myself.

So I talked to the owner Evelyn to get the story of the quilt so I could make the label. She was 10 years old when the quilt was made and finished in 1945. Her mother and sister worked on it and Evelyn got to do some of the work on the flowers. The mother's sister crocheted all the trim on the quilt. The quilt was a wedding gift for the sister from her mother. The sister passed away a couple of years ago and Evelyn bought the quilt from her niece. It will be part of Evelyn's family now and will be passed down to her daughter and or grand daughter.
What a special story and quilt and I am so happy to be a small part of that story. For more pics from other posts, you can see them
 here and here.

Now that that is done, I can play catch up in my sewing room. Many challenges to get completed for June meetings. I have 4 to do and they are all done except one that still needs quilting. That is what is on the agenda for today.

Gardening Season is here

raspberry patch

Yes it has arrived along with the black flies and mosquitoes! I took advantage of the beautiful weather this week to get my gardens ready, weeded and some plants transplanted. This has meant that nothing was getting done in the sewing room. The closest I got to sewing or stitching was a few hexies at guild on Tuesday and some knitting each evening to relax with.
Today it is cool and light rain and I might go out and put in some seeds to get things going.Nothing that is going to freeze though as we had -2 Celsius and some small snowflakes yesterday.

bigger garden

flowers are still blooming

Yesterday was a full gardening day...cleaned out raspberry patch and made a bigger one. Then moved closer to the house and weeded flowerbeds. But the biggest job of increasing my main garden(hubby has his own at another lot we have). There use to be a garage there which was moved and we took out the cement floor last fall so it could settle over the winter. But the most exciting part was I finally got my own greenhouse/potting shed. It is a little rough looking but does the job nicely.

my potting shed

Sorry for the non quilting related post but this is the life of a quilter too!
I am hoping for some slow stitching time but it will be later tonight. For now I am heading back outside in rubber boots and a warm coat. Check in with Kathy and follow along as I do with everyone else who is slow stitching!

Mother's Day and ME days!

Belle&flowers from my daughter

 Happy Mother's day to all moms today! What makes this day extra special is it is a sewing day for me with a friend. DH has been away for a "boys" weekend so it became a "ME" weekend for yours truly.
I have a few challenges that are due in a month at two guilds. I really need to get working on them. So yesterday was orphan block day. I received an otphan block from a guild member and I have to make something with it and return it to that member.  I have decided to make a large quilt carrying bag or tote bag. Yesterday was designing and getting things to fit together. No scraps were harmed in the creating process....but chosen with care.(can't you tell by the mess left behind)
Today I will be quilting it and preparing to assemble it.
As many guilds are doing, the other challenge is for Canada's 150 birthday. I have used blocks from a recent workshop and incorporated them into a wallhanging for this challenge.
I am keeping things under wraps for now but will show pics later on.(two of them are in the picture if you really look)

Digging in the scrap bags

Yesterday I had a friend join me in my sewing room. Bernadette and I probably did more talking than sewing but some sewing was accomplished. She was working on her challenge too. She is returning today for more sewing. We were so busy sewing, I forgot to take any photos.
Enjoy your day with family and if you have time join me in checking out what others are doing today with slow stitching Sunday at Kathy's blog.

Rain rain go away......

May 7, 2017

Careful what you wish for. It has been raining for most of three or four days now. Creek levels in our backyard are back up to near the same as in the Spring. BUT this morning we woke up to this!!!
Snow in May. Not so unusual for this area  but a surprise just the same. Guess gardening will have to wait a few more weeks. But that only means that I get to stay indoors and get more sewing projects done.
The "quilt" is almost finished. I am working on hemming the last edge. Notice I didn't say binding! There was no binding this quilt as the top had finished edges. You can see here what I am talking about.
When this is done and delivered to the owner, I will be in my sewing room trying to figure out what to do next. I will have that dreaded disease...finishitis or what to do nextitis!!!When you have finished a quilt that has consumed alot of time and all the quilts and projects that were left on the back burner simmering, can now come out to play! Maybe I should start a list?
It was nice the other day to get to play with fabric. Well in a way. I had to clean off my table and in order to do that there was fabric that needed cutting into usable sizes and put away and hexies to be cut to put in my kit for travelling.While cleaning I found a couple more projects that need finishing..oh my!!

So with the weather outside..I will be in my sewing room getting things done. Later today I will be joining my friend Kathy for some slow stitching. No day is complete without some relaxing slow stitching. Enjoy your day and whatever you chose to do and have a great week!

Quilting is DONE!!!

quilt waiting to be trimmed

WooHoo and hurray!! The hand quilting on this quilt is finished.Now I just have to trim the batting and backing and do a knife edge finish on this quilt. Because the top was already finished and a crochet edging added, this is the only way I have of finishing the edge. No binding will be added here.

pinned in place

stitching away

finished edge

I am timing this perfectly. I should meet my deadline with no problems.Then  I can catch up on other sew projects. Not to mention that it is getting close to gardening season. Although you wouldn't know that by the weather. Chance of snow this weekend.
Enjoy your Friday!