April Showers....

filler'up we're hungry

bring snowplowers in our neighbourhood!! Yes we have had snow again, last week 8-10 inches and we got a couple more over night. It is looking more like early December. I have to say it is prettier than all that yucky brown Spring stuff but enough already ...it is April. Even the poor little birds are confused!!

Oh well it just means I have more time to sew and that if what we did on the weekend. We had a workshop with the subject being  the "one block wonder"! I have to admit, not one of my favorite quilts but I was willing to try. Sorry to say but they are seem to look like a "dog's breakfast" or a hodge podge of blocks with no rhyme or reason. I made my blocks and needed a few more to fill in so I added the cubed blocks and this will be the end except for the fillers on the two sides. I am thinking right now they will be a solid black. Maybe it will have a couple borders too, so there will be more pictures as it moves along and more decisions are made.
I also finished the binding on my Allietare mystery from Bonnie Hunter. I even went the distance and did the wavy outside border. That is what I was working on last evening for my slow stitching with my friend Kathy


Today will be spent sewing one block wonder rows together. One seam at a time till it is all joined together. Turning on the tunes and getting it done!!

Hello again

our little Belle

On a good week, I am only posting once so it has been awhile! Like most people in the north I took a vacation for a week. Now don't laugh!!! I went to my DH hunt camp with him and our dog to collect sap and boil it down into a delicious treat of maple syrup.

abandon nest close to the ground

It is something he and my brother in law have wanted to do and now they can stroke that off their bucket list. Although the time there was relaxing and I got lots of knitting done...I did miss my sewing machine and quilting. With a 20 minute four wheeler ride into the bush, I was packing light and took only hand work to do. On the warmer days(not many) I sat outside knitting and watched as the sap slowly boiled away and got darker....till finally we were able to bottle our hard work to enjoy later.Did you know that warm(rather hot) sap is delicious with a tea bag in it or just alone. Talk about a sugar high though!!

moving sap from one barrel to another

So after getting home and getting caught up on laundry, groceries and all those other things we have to do, I am settling in to do some sewing. I hope my machine remembers me. My Allietare quilt came back from the long arm quilter and I got the wavy border marked and now I just have to make bias binding and sew it on. I also want to machine quilt a curvy quilt that has been waiting in the wings to be finished.So hopefully by the weekend I will have more to show quilting-wise but for now I hope you enjoy a peek at maple syrup making!!

our sugar maple bush

playing with my camera-our sap evaporator

The final result

boiling in progress

The view out the front window of the hunt camp shows we still have snow and more on the way this week. I am hoping Spring arrives soon! Have a great week.

Maple Syrup Season

My fluffiest EVER biscuit from wood cookstove

The snow is melting and the sun is shining and warming things up so that only means one thing in Northern Ontario....it is maple syrup making season. There are large operations making the liquid gold for sale to the public and there are others that do it just for themselves and family. This year with DH retired, he and my brother in law decided they would try their hand at it. Of course the variables to making sap lie mostly in the hands of Mother Nature and she can be quite contrary at times. So they have been boiling the sweet sap all week from what they gathered last weekend (60 plus gallons)and all that sap may make 1 gallon of syrup....not a lot but ohhhhh so delicious!!I went in for a visit this weekend so not much sewing was done here.

miniatures for some stuffed bears

What does all this  have to do with quilting....well while he is away in the bush I get ME days to complete lots of things. Okay maybe not complete but at least I worked on lots of projects. So the baby quilt I have been working on is finished and will be delivered this week. I also worked on these little wonders. A guild member gave me a bag of hst...very small ones so I decided to make little quilts. You can see by the photo that they aren't much bigger than my cutter. I know crazy but they were paired with small stuffed animals and are going to be used for children in crisis or accidents situations.I have been putting some hand quilting into this quilt too. We have a challenge going this year to finish quilts. We were to make a list of 12 UFO. Each month a number is drawn and we are to work on that quilt for that month. This month is for this pink and brown one. This is what I will be stitching away on this evening of slow stitching Sunday with Kathy.I also finished a quilt top and it is sandwiched waiting to be machine quilted. I will show that one later as the camera battery is dead right now.

hand quilting baptist fans

As the snow creeps away from the house I see that my daffodils are above ground 3 inches but I haven't seen a single robin as yet. Here's hoping Mother Nature let's the sun shine this week and we can get on with Springtime!!!

Happy sewing week everyone!

Springing Ahead

our creek is opening up

Yes it is that day...Spring ahead those clocks!Not sure about what a friend said about more heart attacks and car accidents at this time of the year but I do have a bit of Spring fever! I want to clear out the old projects and get started on some new ones. So hopefully over the next week I can do that! I said hopefully!!! With DH in the bush making maple syrup, I will have lots of time to "get it done"!

forest friend

For the last two weeks I have been working solely on this baby quilt. I appliqued a block a day so I could get it to this point. This evening will be a binding marathon as I have it to do along with three small NICU baby quilts.
Now that the binding pile has grown a bit, this is a sure sign that I am almost finished and I love that.  I have missed my time at the sewing machine now I can get back to piecing. There is no shortage of things to do. Blocks for a challenge, finish my daughter's quilt of curved blocks, my workshop from the other weekend.....oh where to begin!!! And there are workshops on the horizon.

So although I will be in the sewing room, later I will be slow stitching along with my friend Kathy.
Join in and see what others are up to in their sewing and
living rooms!

Winter Wonderland

this past Thursday

How appropriate that I am working on a quilt called winter wonderland when we seem to be living in one. Last week we received 8-10 inches of snow and the weatherman is calling for more this week. If you needed a good reason to stay in and sew that would be it...but who needs a reason!
I am checking my "to do list" and stroking things off it. I worked on this flimsy for a friend. She will be quilting and finishing it. She had the panel and gave me fabric to increase the size. She had some black but I didn't use it....WHY you ask? Well it ripped like paper...tissue paper. I have had this happen before and the fabric was rotten. I learned that black is especially bad for that because it is so over-dyed. Good to know and takes only  a second to check.
I have spent the last couple of days working on a baby quilt. Don't want the recipient seeing it so no pics or discussion about it but there is applique happening. It was a bit of a challenge for me, I only had a photo to make the patterns from and I am not a drawer/sketcher. I can take shapes and makes beautiful quilts but don't ask me to draw anything! I have a month to get it done so I should be okay.

In other happenings in the sewing room, I have a couple classes coming up. One is a curved pieced class next weekend(must pick out what fabric I am going to use) and the other is a One Block Wonder class(that fabric is chosen already). Like I need to start a new quilt!!!Oh well it keeps things interesting and I can't say I am bored.

Today is Sunday so that means joining Kathy with some slow stitching. I will be appliqueing the afternoon away watching Bonnie Hunter's quilt cam from the other night. Check in and see what she is up to and who is joining in on the fun.  First I have to do some snow removal!

Quilting Days

three baby tops with their backings to finish

I had one today, it was our annual baby quilt workshop. We get together and make small 24" square quilts for the neo-natal unit at our local hospital. I had one top finished and was going to quilt it there but instead I made two more tops and got the backing and batting ready for all three. That was a fun-filled day. As a guild member we are asked to make two of these each year.

Allietare is FINISHED!!! Well the top is and it is at my long arm quilter to be quilted. There was no way I wanted to quilt that one. I do think I will do the scalloped border but not sure what to use for binding as I have none of the outer border fabric left and the backing won't work(even if I had enough). So I am thinking a scrappy binding of the reds I used. I will look at that once it is back.

This week is production week. Well I am hoping for some productive time behind the sewing machine. I have started a list of the quilts and or projects I want to work on. I just have to settle down and pick one and get on with the business of sewing/quilting.

But for this evening I will be joining Kathy and doing some slow stitching on my winter wonderland blue work embroidery that I have been trying to finish. Peek in and see what others are slow stitching today. I think it is time for a chick flick and needle and thread! Enjoy!!!

Carnival weekend

Of course it is carnival weekend here in my little town. Good thing everything is indoors with a temperature of -34 this morning and only expected to rise to -25, it is a cold one.  I think it would be a good day to be ironing...something...anything just to stay warmer!!!
I have spent the week sewing up Allietare. WOW there is a lot of sewing to put this top together. I have also decided it will be going to my local longarm quilter for quilting. I am not going to wrestle with that large quilt and I am at a point now where I just want it finished. I have a few commission jobs on the horizon that need to get started and finished so that will free up time for me. I did get a small baby quilt top made and put together my star from the paper piecing class.

paper pieced hearts for a baby quilt

might be a pocket for a bag

My  sewing machine that I do my machine quilting on, was at the doctors for a checkup and cleaning and I just got her back. She is purring and ready to go. I have finished  some pieces from my paper piecing workshop from last week and they were waiting to be quilted and now I can do that.

I have picked up my embroidery project from last winter. I started it and thought I could finish it but decided no, I could get it done this winter. Hmm...well maybe it will be done for next winter. I forgot that embroidery is almost as slow as hand quilting. Oh did I mention I have a quilt basted and waiting for hand quilting too. How many irons(so to speak no pun intended) can one quilter have in the fire at once. Oh well it keeps life from getting boring.

Supper is going into the crockpot and I am off to work in the canteen at the carnival. Dressing warm even got the long johns on!!! Now I wonder if a vehicle will start or should I just walk...BRRRR!!!!

Adding a little here to complete the weekend. Sunday morning -37 and I had to go out and help make breakfast at the carnival. Cold morning..haven't seen one like that for over 20 years since I lived in Kapuskasing in Northern Ontario. Not much in the line of sewing or stitching got done today. It was an afternoon of napping and recouping for me. But check in with Kathy and see what others were slow stitching on.