Binding Decisions

So this has been a crazy,loud, restful and now busy weekend. Friday afternoon my family room looked huge but by later that evening...not so much. My hubby is part of a band that jammed here friday night. Nine musicians and gear can sure fill a space. Some of the wives came too...so it was a great evening. That lead to the restful day yesterday...I am not use to those late nights/early morning parties!
So today the plan is a "ME" day!!! I have just a bit of hand quilting to do and then I will be searching out some binding for this quilt. I have two other quilts that require labels before Tuesday. Our guild meeting was cancelled last week due to weather and rescheduled for this week. I can get these two quilts shown at guild and delivered too!

some blocks

That opens up space in my schedule...well not really as I have a workshop this weekend to put together our BOM quilt. We all worked from patterns of the same 12 blocks in our own colour schemes plus we had to make a minimum of 60 nine patches to go with them. Then we have to come up with our own designs to put the two entities together into a quilt top.I finished my blocks months ago and they have been waiting!!
My hexie quilt continues. I have come to the realization that I have to make more diamonds to fill in those empty spots and get the quilt into a more rectangular shape.DH wonders how come I don't see hexies every time I close my eyes!!Hmm never thought of that before!?!

hexies taking shape

I will be checking in with my friend Kathy. She is home from her annual retreat. Check out what she was doing all week and what she and other friends are working on for slow stitching Sunday. I will be settling in with lots of slow stitching myself today as the weather is not so good...it's snaining or would that be rowing...somewhere between rain and snow/sleet. Just messy is all I know!

Slow oh so slow!

small diamonds and starting to join

Have you ever worked on a project and wondered if it will ever be done? This is the one for me. I have been working on these hexies for at least 4 years. I started by making flowers then decided to  make them into diamonds. I am probably only ever going to make one of these quilts so let's go all the way!
Once the diamonds were made, I started to join them onto small manageable units maybe 2 feet squareish. At some point over the years...I accumulated many of these units. I thought to myself...I need to start joining them to see where I am and what (if any) units I still would require.

getting bigger

Now all the 2 feet square units have been joined and I am filling in spots where needed. But as my DH said last night..."that is the strangest shaped quilt" he has ever seen!!! It's not done yet I said...but he fears I will keep adding till it covers the house!!

I do have a finishing plan in my head too. But that will come with time. Now the realization is hitting that getting the top done is only half the problem...after doing all that hand sewing to get it together....it should be hand quilted!!!!
This is where I am now. Only time will tell how long it will take to finish...stay tuned!!

all pieces joined so far

Carnival Weekend

Bernadette's blocks

It is winter carnival in my little town this weekend. Mostly is it a hockey tournament with a few other events mainly for the kids, I worked at this morning's breakfast with my hubby and got everyone feed. We have been helping with the breakfast for a few years now. That leaves the afternoon open...not quite. I helped DH tap maple trees getting them ready to collect sap to make maple syrup. It is a bit early but we are suppose to get some mild temperatures this week and it might start.
So that takes care of what is happening today but yesterday was a free day for me....so I called a friend.

what I am hand quilting

Bernadette was more than willing to come over and sew the day away. She even brought stuff for supper so we had a buffet of all kinds of things and we made a full day of it. She was sewing on a BOM and I was hand quilting. It was a fun day but of course it went by way too fast and I forgot all about a photo op!!!

But this week being Valentine's, I had the girls all here for knitting and treated them to special cookies. I had never made royal icing but it turned out not bad! Just have to show off my handy work!

special cookies

This evening I will be putting my feet up for some well deserved slow stitching time.Looking in on my friend Kathy and the others that are joining her for some slow stitch time.
Happy Family Day to my fellow Canadians. We are headed out fishing tomorrow...maybe we will catch supper...taking chicken out to than just in case!!!

Not just another day!

It's never just another day when you get to play in the snow...well I call it shoveling! or when you get to spend the whole day sewing....well I call it therapy!!
Yesterday was a UFO day at our guild. We gathered with friends to try to finish our UFOs and maybe get some help to finish others. This quilt top happened yesterday for me.

start of my challenge-all from my stash

quilt top ready for basting and quilting

I was given a bit of a challenge after teaching a class the other week. There were triangles leftover after cutting so I saved mine and one of the other ladies gave me her's and said she couldn't wait to see what I would do with them. So I did a little research on the internet about tri-rec triangles. These are not 60 degree triangles. I however found a picture of a quilt and was able to adapt it for my purposes. So I sewed up the rows yesterday during the UFO day and once home and  supper finished, I put the top together with the sashing. Today I added the borders and now it is ready for basting and quilting.Very productive I must say!!!

baby quilt just needs label & wash

The baby quilt I was working on is finished too. I want to show it at guild so it won't be delivered for a couple of weeks yet. You can read about it here!

I made a feather quilt last summer with a little girl in mind. However her grandma is my good friend and a quilter so I didn't want to step on any toes so this quilt was given as a Christmas gift instead of as a welcoming to the family gift. I think she looks pretty happy with her new play mat!!

feather quilt for a little cutiepie

I will also be checking in with Kathy and her slow stitching Sunday. It is always interesting seeing what everyone is up to these days.Have a great week ahead and it looks like I will be shoveling again!!!