Rainy and cold

plant covering in the background, oh lilac!!

After our first heat wave of the summer, we now have had 2-3 days of rain and overnight it went down to 4 degrees Celcius(40 degrees F for my American readers). So even though the garden is growing and other plants are starting to bloom, we had to cover last night and probably tonight as well. My lilacs are just starting to open, but not ready for a vase indoors. so while on my walk yesterday I stole some from an abandoned yard in the neighbourhood!(they are my favorite) My other favorite is Lily of the Valley, you can almost smell their fragrance in this pic. I finally have some hummingbirds at my feeder. They started to appear around it last week, but this weekend they are actually taking nectar away and sitting a spell on my clothesline. I can watch them from my kitchen window while doing dishes!

lily of the valley

cute little hummingbird

Now for something quilting related. More going on outside than in my sewing studio. I am a week ahead on the quilting because I got to roll it midweek!! yah me!!!see here and here. I started to realize that all the pics I take of this quilt on the frame look the same. This is do mostly to the colours in the quilt. But today I would like to point out the back pole on the frame...there is getting to be less and less fabric on it, which means I am getting closer to a finish!! I didn't get the quilt positioned on the backing like I would
like it to be, so I am hoping that I don't run out of batting or backing when I get to the last roll!! Sending a little hello to the sewing Gods to watch over my quilt!!

My back is doing better although there is no gardening in the foreseeable future. I am okay with that as long as I can still quilt and that seems to be okay. I switch it up with some knitting in a more comfortable chair. That is where you will find me today after checking out what Kathy is up to! She almost fooled me today with two posts...over-achiever!!(we're friends so I can get away with saying that) So make sure to check out her blog and what everyone is slow stitching on today!

Have a good week and remember whatever you do or whoever you see this...the whole world is in chaos...so just be kind. I think that is a little something all of us can do!

Over hump day!

1st tulips

Just over the mid week and I have rolled the quilt once again! With a tender back, I have been able to do lots of hand quilting. The back is getting better, a little each day, I can almost walk normally.... without any pain!

our field of happy

Quilt doesn't look much different so I will post a pic on the weekend hopefully after I have rolled it again! But for today, it has been very hot here so I took some outside pics before all the blooming flowers disappear . We have quite a crop of dandelions this year. I like them and think they look happy and I know they are making the bees happy because there are lots of them too!

sooooo many dandelions, hubby cut them down this morning

started 2nd row

I was up very early this morning, opened the windows in the house and it was peaceful sitting and knitting listening to my neighbourhood wake up! Working on the second row of my own layout for this afghan using design patterns from a book I have owned for years and never used much! Keep in mind, it hasn't been blocked yet so it lays a little funny. Enjoying the lace work of the new block on the needle.

Sunday...ahhhhh

After what has been a busy week, it is nice to sit back and relax. Especially today sitting is about all I can do for short periods of time. Pinched my sciatic nerve and bending over is painful. So that means gardening is out although I can assist DH with where to put things and what should be planted. We managed a day of fishing too. The hottest, sunniest day of the year so far...we both got too much sun and not enough fish!

fresh made muffins

With all that was happening, I still managed to get another roll done on the quilt. I had to work a bit this morning to accomplish it! I am having fun with this one...each roll is something new!
With the warming up of the weather, we are able to eat chives  and the first feed of rhubarb from the garden. This morning I made rhubarb muffins and want to make rhubarb crisp for supper!!

Going to sit down for a bit with a cup of tea and see what Kathy is slow stitching on today. Also checking in with those who follow along on her blog.
I hope everyone is keeping healthy and finding lots to keep them busy, I know I am.

Another week gone by!

This has probably been the worst week for me since this whole covid thing started. Although DH has been great, we have not seen our daughter since Christmas. Sure am missing her, although we talk a lot on the phone. She is a 5 hour drive away(one way) so not practical or deemed essential to see her. As things open up, people are starting to let down their guards. I am not ready or willing to do that yet and we have been pretty lucky where we live with not too many cases. I do think the next two weeks will tell us what we need to know, with mother's day visits and this long weekend.

Sorry for the ba humbug mood. That's what happens when you are in a funk. I will try to lighten it up a bit!

only 5 inches high

oak tree&poppies to be

I checked out what Kathy was up to today. She is all about rhubarb. My patch is not nearly as far along as her's but it will be soon! I also have been doing lots of gardening. It has finally warmed up a bit although the nights are still cold. Today the whole day was spent removing weeds from this flower bed. My little oak tree was grown from an acorn by my dad(so it is a pretty special tree). Most of the green in this bed are poppies that will bloom in a month or two. But when they are done there isn't much left in it colourwise so I plan to add some annuals to brighten it up. You can tell from the trees in the background, leaves haven't even started to unfurl as yet!

With all this being outside getting gardens in and weeds out, the quilting is on the back burner a bit. I get an hour or two each evening. I worked a little extra yesterday so I could roll it. That means that I have been able to go from one side to the other in a week. At that rate I figure I have about 6 or 7 weeks of quilting left to do!!

The Piranhas!!

Today I want to give a special shout out to my Piranha friends. Here's hoping we can soon plan our annual retreat, even if it might be in November!!

Happy Mother's Day

Friday morning

It is a day for moms to sit back, relax and enjoy their day! DH made breakfast and has supper in the crockpot for us. I get a day to do whatever I want...mostly it will be hand quilting. If it were nicer outside, I would be working in the garden but with the snow we had over the last few days ...that isn't happening! How could it be that this past Wednesday I heard this and took video and on Friday we had snow!!
I will also be visiting Kathy and reading what everyone is up to today on slow stitching Sunday. There will be lots of slow stitching in my future...this is a large quilt. Hope you don't get sick of my posts before it is done. I love the feather plume in the border and the rope border too! I don't usually do such a large border but I do believe that I had this in mind when I finished the quilt top in........ May 2012!! Oh my that was exactly 8 years ago. That really isn't a very old UFO!!!right!!

And so it begins

ready to do the first roll

Just a little giddy!!

Why giddy you ask? I am starting a hand quilting project, my first love when it comes to finishing quilts. I promised myself that I would get a couple machine quilted ones done and then as a reward of sorts, I would set up the frame and do some slow needle and thread with thimble stitching!!

frame and quilt ready to go

This quilt was a BOM from guild. My friend Mallory organized it and presented us with the blocks. The BOM was from Sept 2011-May 2012, so needless to say it is about time it got finished. I usually quilt on a large frame but space is at a premium now in my studio so I have opted for this smaller frame. It was purchased from a distant cousin when she was downsizing. I believe that her husband made it for her. It is a bit wobbly but does the job and doesn't take up much space.

tools of the trade, with 1st stitches in place

So this is where you will find me for the next few months. With isolation and no where to go, I am hoping that I can complete it in under 3 months.(pushing for 2 months but we will see). I have told DH that this might be the quickest way to have isolation end, by setting up something I need months to work on. Either way I have all summer!!

"May" I say Spring is here...now!

finished seam with a bit to spare

Although there are still some cooler temperatures, the sun is feeling warmer and the trees are starting to show their buds. My oak tree and lilacs have just the start of buds showing. I am just waiting for warmer temperature and the gardening can start. But until then I will continue with my sewing/quilting, with the hopes of clearing out some UFO, which I would be more successful at if I would stop starting new projects. There's no fun in that!!
Today I am finishing up work on my log cabin quilt. You can read more about the beginnings of it here! The photo of my machine shows me winning at thread roulette while sewing the backing together.
I had to machine quilt one more pass around the outside border. The zig zag pieced border looks great, but quilting it seemed to take forever!! Zig 2 inches turn the quilt and zag 2 inches...repeat!! With that completed, I whipped up the binding.Nothing simple here, I did a two coloured binding. I just love how you can mix and match with a binding like this.

zig zag

Now since getting my new machine, I will have to tweek the application of this binding. On my old machine I used the edge of my walking foot which gave a scant 3/8" seam. My new walking foot makes a good 1/4"seam. The 3/8" worked perfectly so I will have to go back to the drawing board and resize the fabric pieces that I cut for the binding. But for now on this quilt, I trimmed the quilt larger so I didn't lose any points in my border.

binding ready

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binding turned to backing

 So happy to have this one almost finished. My friend Louise has already requested it be on her bed when the Piranhas meet at my house(hopefully this year). This will be my slow stitching work for this evening. I have already visited Kathy's blog to see what she is doing and so happy that she is sewing and stitching again. This isolation is different for everyone. Be kind to those that you see, you never know how they are handling the situation. We can only hope that it will be over sooner than later.