Loads of slow stitching

border with vines and other pieces ready

 Yup loads of slow stitching is in my future. I have finally settled down to finish this quilt. The top is pieced and the last large border has a vine, leaves, flowers and some birds. I have already put the centers on the 44 flowers and have been cutting out the rest of the pieces. The vine is pinned onto the border fabric and I will be sitting down to stitch this afternoon and watch nascar racing with my DH!!(that's dear hubby not Denny Hamlin although cheering him on too!)

quilt top without borders

I am trying something different with this quilt. I didn't want to attach the border and then have to applique with the whole quilt on my lap so...I have sewed the mitered corners of the border together. Laid the vine and pinned it and now I will only have one join in the vine. The pattern definitely didn't say to do it this way!! I will have to be very diligent when I finally sew the borders to the quilt and pin them to death so they fit perfectly!!I have been working on these borders and applique pieces for a few days. OMG it is taking longer to do the border than the whole rest of the quilt.

                                                                                            I have fit in time to visit  Kathy's blog and see what everyone is working on these days. Being her Northern Blog stalker...I must do my job!! haha  We were not able to get together for our annual Piranha retreat but we will definitely be making solid plans to do it next year...maybe even two visits to make up for this year!! 

Enjoy your week and whatever it holds in store...Bonnie Hunter's mystery quilt colours should be coming soon. Anyone joining in on the fun? Before I can sit down and stitch today, there is homemade chokecherry wine that needs bottling!! So many things to do and I just want to sit and stitch or knit!!

Getting this day started

 It has been an early morning for me. Hubby who is a volunteer fireman, has been out at a fire all night. I woke up and he wasn't home yet so there was no more sleeping happening so here I am!

boardwalk McGregor Park

my neighbourhood on my walk

It has been a busy and productive week. Sewing day with two friends...social distancing of course! I have been working on a new baby quilt and  helping a friend by proof reading a new pattern she is doing as a sew along. With it being a short week because of Thanksgiving, it didn't take long for Saturday to arrive!!

We got our first taste of winter weather yesterday...rainy with a bit of slushy stuff fell. I prefer these pics from Thanksgiving weekend when we visited our daughter.

I will have lots of time today to sit with a coffee and check in with my friend Kathy and see what all the slow stitchers are doing. I will not be attending my annual quilting retreat which starts later this week but that won't stop me from quilting/sewing and hopefully getting some projects finished!

sunrise Monday morning

Lake Huron

beach finds

This is a block from the baby quilt. It is 4 1/2" unfinished, yes that makes that nine patch 1 1/2 " finished....isn't it cute!! Do you see Eeyore in the corner? This fabric has Pooh characters all over it!! I hope to have it finished this week!

Have a great week ahead and I think a nap might be in order later today!!

I'm back!!

some pickling 

 I  can't believe it has been a whole month since I blogged. I am going to have to pull up my socks!! It has been a busy month and things are finally starting to settle down and get into winter mode. The gardens are empty except for some potatoes and all the pickling is done!!(thank God)!! We alo fit in a week of camping/fishing with our daughter and her boyfriend. So now I am ready to get back into my sewing room and settle down for the long winter ahead!

A good start for that is a friend has asked me to proof her newest pattern and sew it up in my colours. Nothing like jumping in with both feet...quilting math will get you started and make you want to continue. The proofing was done last weekend and then I couldn't wait to start on the actual quilt. The quilt is called "Marquise" by Carla Alexiuk whose blog is Quilting by the River. She used Studio 180 rulers so things are all squared up and sewing is easier and more accurate. It took no time to get the sewing done (once I got to it) and today I finished the borders so I could show the finished top. I think this top was meant to be as I had just enough of the blue and gold fabrics to put them where I wanted. With the Canadian theme of the quilt(there are words to the national anthem on the blue and cream fabric) I think this quilt may become a donation to Quilts of Valor. You can contact Carla through her blog for more information or if you want to buy the pattern. (shameless plug for a friend)

finished quilt

sample shot of block

The knitting needles have been calling. A few friends and I have started meeting again to knit. We are a small group so not to worry. So I started my Christmas knitting on Friday. It is going to be a slow project as it is really challenging me to keep the correct stitch count going! It will be my VERY slow stitching for this afternoon when I join Kathy and others in taking some quiet time for myself.

But right now I have a sewing room to tidy up and get ready for the next project. I think a new clue came out this week for the Morewood Mystery and I have two projects from last year's guild to finish. No lack of things to do!!

September...ahhhh!

 The rush of summer vacation, visiting relatives, or just relaxing in the sun is over really before it even began. It has been a strange summer I am sure for everyone. In our area we are trying to be as normal as we can with a few exceptions because of Covid. This past weekend we got together with DH's family for a corn roast and we took our trailer to have a weekend camping trip. The rains came and went all weekend but yesterday was a beautiful sunny day(just in time for us to leave)

tried to find a pretty photo spot

In the sewing room...there has been slow to no progress. I am finding it hard to stay motivated to sew. I can do lots of hand stitching or knitting but sitting at the machine..not so much. Now I have spoken of this before and had many others agree with me. So I am hoping that with the Fall weather approaching that will change. I did persevere and finished this top this past week. I going to blame Kathy on this one. When she was here visiting last year at this time, she was making these free form stars from scraps. I fell in love with them. She was using scraps but I decided I could do them with 2 1/2" squares. I had hoped that that would clean out a box of squares that I had been cutting, saving and wanting to use. NEVER MADE A DENT!!

Closer view

Deciding on sashing and borders was a bit difficult as I don't have large pieces of yardage. So I improvised and used two different fabrics.I plan to bind it in black or  black with small white print to keep in the gray/black theme and offset the bright colours of the stars.

Although I am a day late, I am still joining in on Kathy's slow stitching and sharing my finished top(it still needs quilting). I am spending today stitching hexies into the main body of a quilt. Terrible headache due to shifting weather patterns has me not wanting to do much but sit and rest and stitch! That is never a bad thing!!

Mini holiday

 We took a couple of days and went to visit our daughter. She had arranged for us to have family pictures taken that was a Christmas gift for me.It was a fun mini holiday. I also got to meet my friend Louise's newborn granddaughter. With all the Covid rules in place, I was happy to just get to see her...but I was able to hold her too just no kisses or snuggling!! Apparently it is an "older" lady thing...wanting to see and hold babies. What do these young kids know!! haha

Other things don't stop just because you are gone for three days. The garden kept growing and producing and I have been in pickling mode once again. This picture shows today's work, pickled beets and some from the other day ...more dills.

On our drive this week I got in some knitting and the evenings gave me time to make these hexie diamonds. Any other time....I was sleeping or sitting with my poor tired feet up!!

With a coffee in hand, I will be checking in with Kathy and the ladies and looking for some inspiration to get sewing. I have heard from many and they are all saying the same thing...blame Covid!!

Have you seen my quilting mojo!!

Yes my mojo seems to have disappeared and I don't know where to look for it or some inspiration. I have been knitting and working on my hexies so not totally useless. I did do one afternoon of sewing on these cute little wonky scrappy 6" star blocks.(these are also Kathy's fault/influence) I think I almost have enough to put together a quilt top.

There has also been lots of fabric petting going on. I went searching for fabric for a mystery that Kathy has enticed me with. I thought I had the perfect fabric but they said no directionals. They offered a sneak peek and I took it...yup no directional so back into the stash to find something else. I was a member of a fat quarter club and I have many so I wanted to use them up and also didn't want a beige or white for the background. So I went in search of a background fabric that had 4.25 meters. I found this dark tealish blue with black swirls. Now how to contrast the other colours...make them pop....black to gray with a bit of white! These fabrics have been sitting on my ironing board for a couple of days and I still like them so today there might be some cutting happening. This is for the Morewood mystery. It is a monthly mystery and it isn't too late to join. So far we only have fabric requirements and cutting instructions that can be found at their website.

fabrics for mystery

Pickling and baking happens as I continue to reap the benefits of our garden. Some things will be in the garden way into September...lots of squash and zuchinni.

With  a coffee in hand I will be checking in with Kathy and friends this morning. Can't promise that any slow stitching will get done today but always fun to see what others are doing. Maybe just maybe something will spur me on in the sewing department. Have a fun day and a great week ahead.

Quilting Hiatus

flower bed 1

cone flowers

hens and chicks

It seems as though that is exactly what has happened. I have not been in my sewing room for well over 2 weeks. I have worked on my hexies while fishing with DH but sitting at the sewing machine...nope!!

Now to explain...of course there is always an excuse reason! One of my closest friends became a grandma again. So of course I had to make something but she is a quilter as well so I leave quilts to her. I have been in knitting mode instead.  I will be delivering them next week and hopefully will get a peek at the new little addition!

purple poppy

But today is for me...to get back into the sewing room and find something to do?! Really what I mean is figure out where I left off on any given project that I might want to work on. I am posting a day late to join in on the slow stitching with Kathy. But know I was busy with a different kind of thread and did check in to see what everyone was doing...and get some inspiration.

Hollyhocks

pots of portulaca

So I decided that this post will be a view of my gardens. The other day I went out and took pics of all the blooming flowers and one of the continuing to grow gardens(we  have 4 gardens in various places).

Pickling(dilled beans) has begun and also the zuchinni loaves are being made and frozen for the winter.

Sorry about those little white squares and rectangles....posting pictures in this new format has a bit of a learning curve.