Sewing room chaos

 I was determined to get something done today. I took a pic before I got started. In this pic there are 5 projects at various levels of completeness. I worked on these blocks, cutting the snowballs off and squaring up the larger blocks. I then added strips to the snowball pieces. This is a quilt we did a guild. You get two quilts for the price of one. Fun to do but a lot of no thinking sewing, 36 blocks all the same.

Half way on my journey to complete this venture, my old Singer foot pedal started sizzling. Quickly unplugged it and let it cool down. These old machines I notice that the foot pedal gets warm especially if you are doing a lot of chain piecing. I took the pedal apart and cleaned out the cobwebs, oiled the machine and was back sewing in no time.

Thursday my friend Natalie and I took a short trip to a quilt store sale. The large paper bag is full of my purchases. I will share more on that another day. Stay tuned for that  and come back to see how many projects got done or if I got anywhere. Might be hard as the  final bonspiel of the season is tomorrow.

Curling, rocks, brooms and houses!

Yes curling has taken over my house this week. Watching the Brier Canadian men's tournament and getting some sewing and hand quilting done at the same time. For years I would always have a quilt set up on my frame and I spent many hours stitching and watching sliding rocks. I also skipped a team at my local club this week for ladies day. We had lots of fun and enjoyed the day but sadly finished last! 

After being busy and not home much this week, I was looking forward to Friday. Sewing was planned but only hand quilting stitches were put in place. It took till Saturday when my friend Natalie was dropped off by her daughter for a "play date"! I find some times lately I need a kick in the butt and today was the day. We got batting sewn together and a backing made. That quilt will be quilted later this week at Natalie's. Then we started cutting up strip sets for a quilt for guild later this Spring.

Today I was sewing these triangles together. Fairly easy sewing but I know it is going to be tougher when I join the rows and all the seams I have to match. One row done and 18 more to go!

I will be checking in with Kathy and see what everyone is slow stitching today. I watched her floss tube video yesterday and she has so many projects on the go. How do you keep them all straight Kathy?? 

It has been a busy weekend with International Women's day and turning the clocks  ahead, I am wishing all the ladies in my life many thanks for all you do for everyone. I hope losing an hour isn't too exhausting.

Hocus Pocus...Focus

With a little magic and a lot of focus on my part....I finally can say the bear is done. I was making a bear for a friend and it has been over a year since she gave me the fabric. She is very patient!
There has been much procrastinating on my part.

 

quilt from 2020

Honestly as I sit here looking around my quilting room, I have not accomplished very much at all this week. Of course to get anything done at home...you must stay home! Last week I taught a class at guild, new kitchen counter top installed, curled in a bonspiel on the weekend and this week has been more curling, sewing with friends, a day of shovelling snow, fixed a sewing machine for someone and finally Friday supper out at a friend's house. That is quite the list, guess I was busy after all.

machine fixed and ready

The top of the to-do list is to get my hexie quilt on the hand quilting frame, after that I have strip sets all ready for the next quilt I am teaching in the Spring and should start putting that together. I have a small quilt from 2020 that needs a backing and also some batting pieces sewn together for it. The next in line would be a quilt for a friend that needs a binding to finish it. I may have to do some finessing to the sandwich in order to accomplish that. So many things to do and seeming not enough time to do it. More hocus pocus required.

hand stitched quilt top

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         I also rescued this hand stitched log cabin quilt. A guild member's mom pieced it and now it needs some TLC to complete it. Of course with it being hand stitched it deserves to be hand quilted!

My apologies for the weird spacing, still learning how to place the pictures without moving my words all around! Have a great week!

A little late this week!

 This week got away from me and now it is Thursday and I am just getting around to posting. I am challenging myself to post at least once a week if not more. So here we go with this week's happenings.

Sunday evening while watching the curling final, I accidently spilled very hot tea on me. Needless to say OUCH!! I have a pretty red tummy and one bad scar. You get the good, bad and the TMI on this blog. So it has been light weight shirts and sitting up very straight to keep it from hurting. Today it is finally itching so must be healing. Looks like a really bad sunburn.

guild quilt to finish

sneak peek of baby quilt backing

In the quilting department it has been a week of bindings. The quilt I had machine quilted last week is bound and finished. I believe it was a Bonnie Hunter mystery 2023. No need to rush to finish these quilts!!haha  Today I put the bindings on a quilt for our guild and binding on a baby quilt that I am making for a cousin to gift to her friend. It needs finishing and soon as that baby could make an appearance any day. I am going to keep a pic of it and share later once it has been gifted.

As promised here is an after pic of my sewing room. I moved all the furniture and cleaned. It doesn't look much different but my table is bigger and I have a side table for tools. Most everything else is the same. It hardly looks cleaner but I have been productive this week.

I found many things while I cleaned. Some I knew were there and some that I had totally forgotten about. Ohhhh more projects. 

Next on my to-do list is a memory bear. I am planning to work on it this weekend.

On a good note I got to help out a budding quilter. She is just taking a beginners class and asked if I had some scraps....do I have scraps!! I also collected a cutting board, cutter and a ruler. Wishing her good luck and hoping I have found yet another quilting buddy!!

January in Ontario

my pup & snow

 The snowy month of the year is staying true to its reputation. At my house yesterday it was -39! I stayed home warm and snug in the house cleaning. I have been cleaning and purging stuff with lots of encouragement from my sister. She braved the cold to walk the short distance to my house to help out. I forgot to take a before pic of my kitchen but will definitely take a couple shots after the renos are finished. Today I was in my sewing room clearing and cleaning. Moved everything and oh my the dust bunnies!! It doesn't matter how many times your vacuum or dust. I found many UFOs, projects I would like to do, some cross stitch projects I had forgotten about and lots of scraps!! Will show the after pic once everything is back in place...stay tuned!

before cleaning

next month's quilt project

pine burr

This week was guild meeting. I showed the quilt that we will be working on next month. I worked on it in September when I was in the Bruce peninsula with some friends. Pics were so perfect with Lake Huron as the backdrop. This quilt looks difficult but actually is pretty easy to construct and put together. At the meeting the group was given a kit of precut fabric for a block called pine burr. It was a challenge for most but I think everyone enjoyed trying something that they would normally not do.

I spent Friday with my friend Natalie and her long arm machine. The guild made blocks in the Fall and the blocks were sewn together to make charity quilts. We made 3 for charity and the fourth one is the one we were quilting on Friday. So I have yet to put binding on it.

One more thing that I have forgot to post about. My annual dump of spools that I have emptied over the year. Not so many this year due to the time I took away from sewing all summer. Hope that my little bucket will be much fuller next year.

I am on a roll

And when I say I am on a roll it definitely isn't in the sewing room. This is my second blog post and I am pretty proud of myself.

This week there has been lots purging and cleaning of my house rather  than sewing. It is time for me to do this but I am doing it only when I feel like it or if my sister comes over and eggs me on. No pressure. One car load of clothes, coats and other household things has already left and I feel lighter already.

I wish I felt that lightness in my sewing world. I have a few deadlines that are fast approaching. It is my own fault of course. I will get to them all.  Guild meeting is Tuesday and it is my turn to show a project that I will be teaching the following month. With all that comes fabric requirements, step outs and necessary steps to complete the quilt. I think it will be fun. I will show a pic of the quilt in my next post. A little sneak peek, this is what we will be working on at guild. So much fun to put together. I am attempting a feathered star tonight, wish me luck!

It has been like a snowy crystal ball here today with the snow falling . I spent the morning outside cleaning up the snow from last night. My dog loves the snow but loves walks with mom more.
Happy shoveling to my southern friends. Up here in Northern Ontario the snow is still pretty to me as long as the snowblower keeps working!

The beginning of a New Year

 Happy New Year and I hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday.

I feel like I need to introduce myself and tell  a little about myself as I have been absent for far too long. I couldn't believe, when I looked, that it has been 1 1/2 years. Much too long! Maybe that should have been a clue for me. 

As most of you know I lost my hubby in February of 2021. Life goes on  and and it did and so did I or so I thought. After 4 years it all caught up to me and life stopped for a couple months this Spring. Grief isn't something you go through but something that is with you for the rest of your life. I am learning to allow the grief in because where there is grief there was a great love. I truly believe that and hope sharing my story will help someone else.

So with that all said it took me a long time to get back into sewing. I did do embroidery when I finally felt like doing something. That lead to hand quilting and slowly I am getting back to my hobbies. There are days when I just want to sit and do nothing and other days when hand quilting gets me going and I don't want to stop.

 I have a few deadlines of projects that I have to get done. Nothing like a deadline to get you moving. First up is a baby quilt made from a great grandfather's shirts. A little hard as I don't know if it is a boy or girl. After that memory bear, finishing a quilt for a friend that her mother started and repairing 2 quilts that my grandmother made. Add to that some work for my guild, I am part of the program committee and samples have to be made.

I am trying to make this year a positive one and year of small changes that will move me forward. Not with leaps and bounds but baby steps. So come along for the ride with me and see what is going to happen!

Getting it done!

3quilt from gift box

not enough binding

 

This week has been a week of designing, my favourite thing I think! I was "gifted" two boxes of a quilter's sewing room. They were filled with some books, rulers and lots of fabric. Not all the fabric was 100 percent cotton but it does make nice quilts regardless. Polycotton is where I started on my quilting journey and it makes you very thankful for real cotton when doing projects. Seasoned quilters will know what I mean! There were also some blocks already made so I decided to create two quilts. They will go to my niece's two girls whose great grandmother made them(she was also where the boxes came from). I also made a smaller quilt for the NICU at my local hospital. I just couldn't let that little poodle panel go! My niece also asked if I could make a baby quilt for a little girl. It will also come from the gifted box of fabric. There was a panel I found that I will add blocks to but I haven't got that one done yet. It is still in the designing stage. I also included a pic of some binding, I didn't have quite enough by 1/2"...argggh!! Luckily I had more fabric and just had to add in a bit!

birthday gift

My other finishes include a quilt for my brother-in-law for his 70th birthday! He is a hunter so this was very appropriate. And OMG my hexie quilt top is finished. It seems like I have been working on this one forever. I have been blogging since 2013 and I had already started it then by a couple of years. You can read about that here. Although I didn't work on it full time, in the last three years I have put the push on to get it done. It will be going on the quilting frame soon.

The summer is continuing and I have a couple projects that I have to work on and get done before September. A friend and I put together a mystery quilt for our guild to do over the summer and the final reveal will be in September. So I want to have my first sample finished and have the second sample at least put together!

OMG so excited to start handquilting

                                                                                                                         

I visited my friend Kathy  and she is stitching up a storm.  I always feel like I am not doing enough when I see all that she is up to. Today is slow stitching day, so put some thread to fabric and relax!

Things to do....Squirrel!!

Beautiful eyeliner lilies

garden is growing

Popping in to visit when I should be binding, sewing or stitching. The hot weather has taken a break and I have all the windows open even though it is a bit chilly. The fresh air feels so good and thought it would help me to get moving but here I am typing on my blog and playing catch up with all of you!

Everyone said it was going to be a hot summer, so far hot and muggy  spells mixed with rainy days a nice mix. All that rain is making the garden grow. I can already see a difference from May blog post to today. I am finally eating fresh lettuce and onions and the peas have become pods and are growing!

blocks done, top to come

The sewing room has been buzzing. I pieced a toddler quilt and it sits blocks done waiting to become a top. My hand quilting has become a Wednesday with the girls project and is about half done. Two friends and

hand quilting in Q-snap frame

 I are doing the 365 blocks quilt with Kathryn Kerr. I have fallen behind and hope to be caught up by this weekend. You can read about my start here. There is another finish about to happen but will share more on that after it is gifted.

My long term hexie

 project is nearing completion. I have a small part of the last border to attach and complete a section of one of the other borders and the top will be done. Then I will have to think about how I would like to finish it. I do believe with all the hand stitching I have done on it, that it should be hand quilted. My quandary is do I follow the lines of the quilt or do an all over pattern like Baptist fans? I do not want to go around each hexie!

August will be prepping for guild in September as a friend and I are the program committee. We plan all the projects we will be doing for the coming year. We left them in June with the start of a mystery quilt. They got to see the quilt top but they are getting clues each month of the summer to finish and in September we will give them the layout. I have made two of these quilts and hope to have at least one done for the reveal in September.

Hope your summer is going well and that you fit in some quilting/sewing around vacay and family gatherings!

Holiday weekend

 The first long weekend that signals the beginning of summer. While I was suppose to travel to visit my daughter, plans changed and I am home getting lots of things done. I have been working on my gardens and have only a few more things to  plant. My body however has other plans and is warning me to sit and rest. So once again in my favourite chair on the front porch enjoying the gentle breeze and the shade(for now till the sun comes around the house). Been here too long the bugs have found me!

mini quilts for stuffys

This past week I was part of a mini retreat. We rented a banquet area of the local golf course and had 3 days of sewing. I unfortunately could only go Monday and Wednesday. My furry critter doesn't like me being gone that many days in a row. I didn't do any sewing by machine at this retreat, I set up my Qsnap frame and did hand quilting for the two days. Oh how I have forgotten how much I enjoy hand quilting. This might be the kickstart I need to getting one onto the big frame soon! While at retreat I was given a couple baggies of scrap triangles. I have turned most of them into little stuffy quilts. Last night I sandwiched, quilted and bound them. Quick work fun and done!

lilacs almost ready

Today after working outside a bit and then cleaning inside, how does it get so messy if I am outside!?! I am planning on catching up on my 365 blocks. I am about a week behind.

After I see what Kathy is slow stitching today, I will be heading indoors where it is much cooler. I like the sunshine but not the hot temperatures anymore.
Have a great week!

forget me nots in bloom

Let me introduce myself....

 It would seem that maybe I should re-introduce myself as I have been away from blogland for way too long. I have heard from some of my readers that they thought I disappeared. Let me catch you up!

March was a warmer than usual month, well our whole winter was warm with not much snow so when the temperatures started to rise it didn't take long for the snow to leave. So in March when the snow starts to melt I start thinking of maple syrup production and this year it happen early. I started around March 2 and was all done in two weeks. The week I finished was the same week last year that I began so that tells you how early sapping season was this year. Before I knew it March was over and we were into April.

April was a crappy weather month. You just didn't know from one day to the next or even from morning to afternoon what was going to happen. I spent April catching up in my sewing room. I took on the 365 day challenge, doing a block a day for one year. Friends Mallory and Pearl are also working on the same challenge with me. Took most of April but I did get caught up and now I wait each day for the next block to come out. If you haven't heard of this Kathryn Kerr has been doing it for a few years. Check it out! This is my top so far, no surprises I am working in blue.

stuffies with quilts

charity quilt

 I have also finished a couple quilts for gifts for friends, some charity quilts and even completed a few of my own UFOs. My friend Natalie and I are doing a sort of mystery quilt for our guild ladies. We have started the installments and they will continue to receive them all summer. Our hope is they will play along and in September we will give them the final instructions on how to put all the blocks together. Pics of that quilt will come at the end of summer. I have already made one top and the blocks are made for a second one. Luckily it is not a large quilt.

playing with scraps

Call it Spring fever or cabin fever, but this Spring I have found myself "squirreling" a lot! My mind is wandering and I can't seem to settle. So it is no surprise when rereading all that I have done in April that I now find myself in May!! Now my sewing/quilting will have to share time with gardening and lawn mowing!

tulips about to open

spent some sitting time

Fighting a head cold, I couldn't resist going outside for a bit yesterday. I installed  the wooden screen door and brought out my favorite chair. I even planted some gladiola bulbs that had started to grow in my garage. Thought the fresh air would make me feel better and it did, also aired out the house and hoping to chase those nasty cold germs away.

Although I have been MIA, I am still very much a blog reader. Keeping up with the goings on here and there and especially with my friend Kathy and her slow stitching day. Sunday afternoons are my stitching time while I watch the Nascar races!! Will check in with Kathy and all her followers once I get this long post up!!

Spring runoff just about done

You just never know!

 The other day a friend texted me and asked if I recognized the photo she sent me. It was a photo of a quilt, one that I had made last year and donated to our local hospital. She told me her granddaughter was at the hospital for a procedure and it was the little one's birthday so the hospital gave her the quilt. When my friend saw the quilt and the label she just had to let me know. It feels good to know these quilts I make and donate do find a home. For the most part I don't know where they go or who has them. Needless to say that made my day!! You can read about this quilt from a previous post here.

mystery clues almost done

This week I have been catching up on my Bonnie Hunter mystery. I thought I had 3 clues done, nope only 2 completed. I now have up to clue 6 done and clue 7 is on the machine to work on today. That is my daytime work and for the evening I usually am found watching a movie and knitting. I have finished my socks so I started a sweater I bought the yarn for last Fall. I think it is time to get to it!

A couple friends and I are also starting the 365 challenge quilt. It started January 1 so we are a bit behind!!They are small blocks mostly 6 inch finished but the starting blocks are 3 inch finished. Shouldn't take long to catch up. I have a bushel basket full of scraps and my intention is to use it only to complete this quilt. Wonder if I can do that!?! We are planning to only work on these blocks on Wednesday when we sew together. I will keep you posted how things go with that.

Once this is posted I will pop in and visit Kathy and all the slow stitchers.

Hope you have a great week!

P.S. short post as the computer isn't cooperating!

Batting has arrived!!

 Why is the fact that batting has arrived important...before Christmas I ran out! I did not even have big enough pieces to sew together for a quilt. I was fortunate to be gifted some for Christmas (thanks Louise) and some for a birthday gift(thanks Barb). My piranhas are so good to me!! Then another friend played pick up and delivery service for an order of two rolls. I should be good for a bit!!

latest finish

So to put the batting to use I finished a quilt for a friend to gift. I made the quilt and she put the words on it. Looks pretty good, the words make it even more special. You can read more about this quilt here. Also the socks in that blog post are finished too! Then I moved onto finishing a quilt of valour as I needed the safety pins that it was basted with. This week I have finished a lap quilt that I will be gifting in February and have basted a toddler quilt for my great nephew that I hope to get to today. Wow that seems like a lot but in between there I have been curling and there was one full week of shovelling. Seems more like Spring here right now but I know winter isn't done with us yet!

Here is a fun thing that I have done for a couple of years now. I save all the thread spools that I empty and see what I have at the end of the year. Of course not totally accurate as some were used in the previous year and some spools aren't empty yet but it is a good showing of the sewing I have done. A couple of those spools are hand quilting thread too.

It is getting to be that time of the year for me, I usually set up a quilt to hand quilt during February and March so I can quilt and watch curling championships on TV. I wonder which one in my pile I will chose...might be next week's post when I get to that!! But for now going to get a coffee and sit and see what the slow stitchers and Kathy are up to today.

Have a great week everyone and remember there is always something, however small, to be grateful for!

So much has happened

 Christmas, New Years......My Birthday!!! This year was a big one too 60th! My daughter put together the best day for me. Morning into afternoon was with some girlfriends. Some games, lots of laughs and giggles and snacks! That was followed by a family dinner. All this and I didn't have to do anything!! It really was an amazing day with lots of hugs. My only moment of sadness was knowing I was doing this for myself and my dear late husband. He was meant for other things and never got to celebrate turning 60. This year I dedicate to him, going on adventures, doing things we wanted to do and finishing things we started together.

quilt for a friend

Those are some hefty goals for me but I am determined to see what I can do. But you have to know that my quilting and knitting will be there with me too. 

I fell behind on the Bonnie Hunter mystery over the holidays. I have finished step 3 and have the rest of the clues. I was going to start that this weekend but I got an order for a quilt from a friend. I have made one for her before to give away and this one is the same. I will go into more details once it is delivered but I have included a pic to see where I am. It will also be my slow stitching for today as I do the applique on the ribbon. I will check in with Kathy and the gang later to see what they are all slow stitching on. I am sure Kathy will be cross stitching something today!!

socks for me,new chair table

We went from a green Christmas to winter wonderland just in the last week. So I have also been sidetracked with snow removal. But coming home to my sewing room is very relaxing and slowly I will get back into the swing of things. My friends want to do the 365 day challenge. Hmmm....it is January 14 so that means I am already 14 days behind. It is a make a block a day challenge but the blocks are fairly simple to start so should be able to catch up in no time. More posts on that in the future I am sure.

Well blogging is caught up and I have some applique to get to. Enjoy your day and the week ahead!

we had to wait but winter came

Happy New Year!!

 Holidays have kept me busy with no time to sit and blog. Then after the gifts were opened, food ate, wishes and hugs shared  and all company had left...I got sick! A nasty head cold has kept me on the couch and I am just starting to feel like doing something or anything!

I was in bed early but a book kept me up till midnight. So I was awake when the new year arrived and today it is kind of sunny ,cold and a few snowflakes are falling. Although most of the yard is green which is very unusual for us here in my neck of the woods!

quilt and guilty party

Not much quilting has been done in the last few weeks(reason above) but I have been knitting again. I got two pairs of socks done for Christmas for my daughter and I to match our Christmas pjs. This week while recuperating I was able to finish another pair for a friend.

This week I am back into the sewing room and am working on a special project. It is a repair for a quilt I made for a little friend. Her puppy decided he REALLY liked her quilt and chomped a large chunk out of it. I was going to bind the jagged edge and leave the hole for story sake. BUT  she wanted the hole filled in because and I quote she said "my quilt looks like a pair of pants!" She is not wrong! Okay Lauren I will try my best to get it fixed and have it ready when mom stops to pick it up!!

part of repair

The funny part of this story is I have some of the original fabrics but Lauren has loved and carried this quilt with her lots in the 6 or so years she has had it, that I can't use them. They just wouldn't look right so I had to improvise and use different fabric so it would kind of blend it with the rest of the quilt. Not sure if this follows any rules for quilt repair but it is what I am doing. I will post the finished repair later in the week.

I am late but joining up with Kathy and catching up with everyone and all  the slow stitching.

Wishing you all a Happy New Year and hope you all have lots of quilty/stitching projects to work on!

Putting in time

clue 1 done, clue 2 to come

 Putting in time is sort of the theme of the week. I have run out of quilt batting so no projects will be getting completed for the foreseeable future. So what is a girl to do....well there are no lack of projects to work on! Clue one of Bonnie Hunter's mystery is done and clue 2 is almost all cut. I am working on a top that will be gifted to a friend after Christmas. Then there are the countless other quilts that I want to make, so not to worry I have lots to do. But to fill in time I pin basted a charity quilt that had all the parts I needed to complete it. One more thing to clear off my table.

 blocks to be made and added

Yesterday I went shopping, you could say the start of my Christmas shopping! Who knew that the hardware store had wool and yarn. I found some lovely sock wool and decided I think I have time to make some Christmas socks!! haha we will see about that one!

starting socks

Christmas decoration are slowly going up and it is getting a little more festive here especially with snow in the forecast. With coffee ready I will check in with Kathy and her slow stitchers  and then get to those socks with the Christmas music set to go! Enjoy your week.

outside decorated