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