All Stuffed and now for leftovers!!

jars of beet pickle and soup broth

Yes filled with turkey and stuffing and now leftovers. Well I won't have that much, most of it went home with other family members but I got the turkey remains. And this is what happened to half of it today...boiled it down to make soup later. Also today I pickled beets. I can't seem to grow them in my garden so bought them from a friend who has a green thumb and has a huge garden...well okay a farm!!
DH is gone guitar playing for the evening so it is just me and the dogs to sit and relax and get some slow stitching in with Kathy and the rest of the ladies!
Are you sick of puppy stories yet? Well here is one that is not so funny but I am sure will be in a few days. I have been knitting this pair of socks for myself. The other day I came to the realization that I had done something wrong and had to take out all of the knitting to the cuff. So I did and left it on the couch. Next day I thought the dogs were sleeping and I was doing housework. I came out into the family room to find the knitting on the floor and 3 or the 4 bamboo needles and a piece of yarn  chewed. ARGGG!!!! I just keep saying "she's cute...good thing she is cute!"
So tonight I am knitting from scratch...it is a kind of stitching and believe me...it is definitely slow stitching!!!

will need new knitting needles

 Hope you're enjoying your weekend!

Happy Thanksgiving

Well to my Canadian readers, this is turkey weekend with family. Our plans are very low-keyed, dinner tomorrow with DH's family and the rest of the weekend is finishing up the outdoor chores before the snow flies. I also have to pack and get things ready for my quilting retreat which starts next week on Thursday till Sunday!!  3 1/2 day of sewing, eating and talking.

marcus sew along top finished

I have been cutting and kitting some projects but I am considering taking a machine quilting project too. But that would mean taking two machines. Has anyone else done that? I have come to love piecing on my featherweight but would need my other machine to quilt on. OR I might just get that quilting done this weekend. The quilt is from the Marcus Sew along. I showed part of the top in the last blog entry and I did have enough fabric for set in triangles and was able to find border, backing and binding fabric yesterday. The backing is peeking out from under the top. Those squares are whiskey labels. Lending even more of a masculine feel to the quilt. I am also taking some handwork along for those times when you just need a break from the sewing machine!!

Belle is now 12 weeks

Zoe & Belle(8weeks old)

Life with a new puppy is getting better. She is almost sleeping through the night and she is growing too. There is almost not enough room for both of them on the one bed anymore but she tries to fit!! I will try for a better pic of her alone but she doesn't sit still long unless she is sleeping!

I have been doing some embroidery in the evening and have one block done. When I took out the second block I realized I had drawn the pattern on the wrong side of the fabric....oops!! Back to the tracing board! Embroidery is almost as relaxing as hand quilting!

Hope everyone has a fun,turkey and family filled weekend!!
  

Quilting Season

I have heard the Fall referred to as quilting season more than once this year. Well I guess it is the time of year once all gardening and flowerbeds are put to sleep for the winter. We find ourselves with time to do more. For me here in Northern Ontario...the winters can be long and playing with fabric and quilting keeps me hoping for Spring. I do love the winter and snow but sometimes it is nice to watch the snow falling from inside sitting at a quilting frame or sewing machine!! This is also the time of year I go on my annual quilting retreat. Seventh year for it and I was there for the first one and haven't missed one! But I get an extra holiday this year cause a friend and I are going shopping for a couple of days before the retreat. We are planning on hitting a few quilt stores and some other shopping. A couple of days away from home to shop, relax and road trip from store to store!!! I call this my hunting season! For the week after DH will be gone hunting.

all cut and ready to sew, will also work on embroidery

So in the quilting room I have been putting projects together, doing the cutting here so at the retreat I just have to sew. I find figuring out the cutting at home alone in quiet much easier. Let's face it at retreat there is a "wee" bit of chatting going on!!!

my layout...have to sew it together yet

I have also been working on my Marcus sew along. Although I have figured out I don't have enough fabric to complete the alternate blocks. So yesterday I had to go into design mode! And voila!! A creative opportunity presented itself and I was able to come up with a plan. It worked out well. I wanted to use the bright plaid but didn't have enough but I didn't have enough of the fabric I was suppose to use according to the pattern. So a compromise was born....use both of them. Also that way I have enough fabric. Now I am left wondering if I have enough background for the set in triangles. No miscalculations...I used only scraps from my stash so I am being forced to make due!!!

A local church is having a Harvest supper tonight and DH is taking me out.That's big in our house. So I have to put sewing away for now and will do some slow stitching tonight. Check out Kathy's blog and see what others are doing today on slow stitching Sunday!

Hello colours!!

even our oak tree has some colour

looking over my veggie garden

Yes the colours of Fall are really showing themselves these days. All around our yard you can see them. My garden is almost not visible under a layer of elm leaves and our precious oak tree that my dad planted from an acorn is doing well. We have moved this tree 4 times...so we are fortunate to have it doing so well.

not sure how she fit in there

Life with a new puppy is settling down. My daughter thinks she is my dog...well by this photo maybe. She spent one morning following me around the sewing room and finally settled into a spot for a nap!
She continues to grow, in one month she has gone from 11 to 22 pounds! She is very energetic so I am not sure how she is gaining so much, but puppies do grow!!
I have been trying to get old projects done from my sewing room. Ones that maybe have sat long enough. I mean really what am I waiting for, they aren't gonna finish themselves!! haha
So this barbie top was already sewn and I sandwiched it and did a simple grid work on it. Now it is ready to go to Project Linus. These snowflakes(from a shop hop in 2011) I made back in July during a girl's weekend for my birthday. I added some sashing and some hand quilting(which was what I did on slow stitching Sunday) and now all I have to do is finish the binding. I am not sure yet where this will find a home. There is no end in sight to the UFOs I can be finishing.

Scattered on my cutting table is the next project. An embroidered quilt with patchwork blocks around the embroidery. Once I have it started I will post some pictures.It was suppose to be done as redwork but I am going to do it in blue instead. Now to find just the right shade of blue thread to do the embroidery. hmm a trip to the store is in order.
I have to start thinking about what projects to take in October to my quilting retreat. I am thinking that if I have the projects in kits it will be more productive but I have to get on that. Hmmm wonder how many projects I can get done in a four day stretch!?!

Fall has arrived!

baby quilt with puppy prints machine quilting

one of the best paws

Although it isn't officially fall till tomorrow, I do believe it has arrived and is staying! It is a very damp and dreary day outside which makes it a good day to be inside sewing and slow stitching with Kathy. I might take a page from her blog and start a new project today. I have a blue work embroidery project that I would like to do that is then surrounded by quilt blocks. That might be what I start!
It has been a productive week and weekend for me. I have finished a small baby quilt for the hospital, a puppy quilt which is in Belle's cage,single bed quilt is ready for gifting and some blocks for the Marcus challenge. And yesterday I made a batch of mincemeat with all the green tomatoes I have, that made the house smell heavenly all day!

two more Marcus blocks

waiting to deliver

With all my recent finishes, I won a draw and  was gifted a 8 pack of fat quarters from one guild for finishing a project  over the summer. My week has also been busy with the new puppy Belle. She is growing like crazy...17 lbs already.

sitting still on her new quilt...for a second!

sleeps but not at 4 am!!! arggg

First Frost

It has been cold the last couple of days but this morning we got our first frost. So there I was at 7 am outside dressed warm including a toque, picking green tomatoes. I am hoping some of them ripen but I will have to do something with the rest of them, just not sure what maybe mincemeat!?!

some of what I made today, the rest is in the freezer already

When you are up that early you either whine about being up early or get all those odd jobs done, and that is what I did!
One batch of pastry made 2 apple pies, 1 apple crumble, 2 shells for pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving and 1 dozen mincemeat tarts. I also used up 3 zuchinni and made 2 loaves, 2 dozen muffins. Don't you wish you could smell it...it is heavenly!Most of this is for thanksgiving and some DH will take to work tomorrow. I really don't need or want it at my house...I will eat it!! Now that everything is cleaned up and put away...I have a cup of tea and the computer for a bit before thinking of supper!
All of this so I can have tomorrow to sew. This pile of scraps has to be made into two blocks for guild on Tuesday and I have to finish the binding on a quilt also for guild.

large scrap pieces to make two blocks

So my slow stitching with Kathy will happen after supper into the evening but I will have all of Monday to play at the sewing machine.

I'm not perfect!!

Had to eat a little humble pie yesterday. Well really is it my fault that people think I don't make mistakes? Everyone does but this was a big one. I sent a quilt to my friend to be long arm quilted. She called me to say the backing was too small for the top. OOPS!!!! But how could this be. Well she thinks and I agree that I measured the quilt top before adding borders and made the backing to fit BUT then I added borders to the top. YIKES THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT I DID!!! My borders are the same fabric as the backing and I had to make sure I had enough fabric for both and somewhere I screwed up....that's right I am not perfect, I made a mistake. Will I ever live this one down? I will just settle for the fact that I will have another quilt finished, actually by the weekend I hope to have 3 finished.

96 " square to bind No 1 of 3 to finish before Tuesday

Old dog reluctantly sharing her bed