One week already!

DH helping in the kitchen

I will be one week post eye surgery tomorrow! My week has revolved around naps and eye drops. You can read about my busy week in my last post here.

this was my yesterday +3 bottles in the fridge

I have been able to do little things and DH has been really good about helping carrying the laundry to the clothesline and vacuuming the house(you have to when you have a shedding dog)! He is even learning how I do pickling as everything seems to be coming ready in the garden this week! So yesterday I made pesto from the basil in my garden, dill pickles and dilled carrots. I had more cucumbers so I made some buckets pickles which just stay in the fridge indefinitely!
This coming week is our last guild meeting. We will be awarding our prizes for all the challenges we put on this year in our program. Being on program I know some of the winners but we have a couple random draws so I will tell you more about those winners later this week.

Last night while DH was out at a fundraiser, I did an Outlander marathon on Netflix and finished the binding on my Metro Rings quilt. It is similar to double wedding ring but it is stripped pieced and cut with a curved ruler. I had taught this class last year at guild. You can read about what when we started and getting the top done and how long it has taken me to get this finished. And now I can finally take photos of the finished quilt.

Metro Rings+my sunflowers

Today I am bored with sitting still and not lifting and being a patience patient!!! I know I still have to follow the rules so my eye heals but I just want to play in my sewing room.

I have checked in with my buddy Kathy and her slow stitching day. Slow stitching for me today might be trying to finish the sock that I have been knitting.  Fine hand stitching is out of the question for me just yet.

Busy Week!

runner-up

another of my quilts

It has been a busy 7 days. Medical interview for an aging parent, quilt show this past weekend and eye surgery two days ago. Nothing like getting it all done at once.

Nicole white gloving

The quilt show in the barn was another success. We raised just over $2000 for a charity that is building a much needed hospice in our area and also with this draw we donated $1000 to our guild's charity group to continue to make quilts for those in need in our area. My best news from the weekend was one of my quilts was runner-up for the viewer's choice. No prize for that but it is great to know that scrappy quilts can still win something!

taste of the ombience of the barn

After a busy weekend working at the quilt show, I just barely caught my breath and early Monday morning into surgery I went for a cataract removal. At 54 years old, I figure I am young for this...well looking also at the others getting it done that morning you would have thought I was in the wrong place for sure! I had other surgery on my eye 11 years ago and that may have hastened the cataract growth. For now everything is great and I continue with the daily eye drops to ward off infection and inflammation.

You have to know there's a story, naughty parrot

Tuesday dawned with me wanting to do more than sit quietly or sleep and rest. So I dug out some knitting as hand sewing like hexies was out of the question just yet! I did manage to  finish the hand quilting on a quilt and today I have put the binding on it. So I will be able to stitch that down and have my last of 5 UFO ready for our year end banquet!!

I am hoping for continued good recovery and back to quilting and sewing!!

Mini Holiday

straight line quilting

DH is off to another music festival and I have chosen to stay at home with the dog and get some much needed sewing/quilting done.I came to the realization that this is the last weekend before our quilt show and I have one more top that needs to become a finished quilt before Wednesday!It isn't a large quilt so it shouldn't be a problem. I pin basted it yesterday and worked on it till it just got to warm to be wearing Machinger gloves and have the bulk of the quilt on my lap. So I switched over to hexies. I am hoping I can finish it today and get the binding on it.

Funny story to this quilt. As I was quilting away on it yesterday, I noticed a box of fabric(ufo) next to me and there at the bottom of the box was some fabric that I bought for the backing of this quilt....oops....oh well guess it will go into the stash for another quilt!! haha

welcome to cottagesfest

I have a great finish that I can now share as it has been gifted. My friend Stephanie came to me with  an idea. She has a friend who organizes a camp fest each year for the neighbouring kids on their lake. She has all sorts of things planned and ready for them when they show up on this one weekend. She also made a large banner and the kids sign it or doodle on it each year. She has not been able to do this for the last few years do to health issues. Stephanie and another friend Karen found the banner and wondered what they could do with it so their friend Tracy would have a keepsake. They checked with me and their idea was given merit. I had a three week deadline and instructions to use blue and think cottage but not country. The banner was 42x120 inches....I trimmed it down a bit, added borders and found a great flannel backing for it. I did simple loop de loops fmq and finished it with matching binding to the outside border. The quilt was delivered to Tracy this week and I am told it was a success. Tracy loved it and even cried.I only have pics of the finished quilt and I will share other pics when I receive them from Stephanie!

my version of Bonnie Hunter's leader and ender

With four full days to myself, I have also been playing at my other sewing machine. I took time out to make curtains for our newly renovated trailer and I sewed up one block for the leader and ender challenge for this year. I am working in green! This photo doesn't do it justice though it is much brighter, it looks very washed out here. I have enough hst given to me from a friend's leftovers so it won't be a big quilt but might be perfect for a baby quilt for one of the many little ones that are coming along in the next year or so!!!

Although I am not slow stitching most of the day, I will still join Kathy and see what everyone is up to today in the land of needle and thread. Hopefully I will be stitching binding by the evening!!!

Slow stitching Sunday

working on the outer borders

I am taking a day to relax and get caught up on my hand quilting. I have moved from the center using the wooden hoop to doing the border with this square hoop. During this past week, it was one thing or another that kept me from stitching. I had to spend one day outside tending to the gardens. I have a few large jobs to get done in the coming weeks. I have to have eye surgery mid August and will be laid up for a few days(I hope only a few days). Being in my mid fifties, it was surprising to find out I have a cataract that needs to be removed. I will be using drops for at least a month afterwards but hope that I can get back to sewing soon after the surgery.

on deck-to finish for quilt show

I have one quilt top that needs to get finished for our quilt show in two weeks. I laid it out today to look at, as I have had trouble deciding how to quilt it.After having it spread out for the afternoon,  I think I will be machine quilting it with just straight lines with the walking foot. Keep it simple and get it done. More to come on that one in another post.

it has been a hot &dry summer

There is still a fire burning 1.5 to 2 hours west of us, among other places in Ontario. We are getting residual smoke when the wind is right. The other day it was bad enough I had to shut the house windows to keep the smell out. I don't know how those fire fighters do it....day in and day out!Kudos to them for the job that they are doing!
This pic I copied from facebook.

The garden is starting to produce. These are jars of homemade pesto. I will freeze them and they will be yummy addition to pasta this winter. I have also pickled some dill green beans with more to come I hope!

fresh pesto

Enjoy whatever you are up to today. Join Kathy and get in some hand work and check out her blog and see what everyone is up to also.

Heat wave and fires!

As I write this the smell of smoke is in the air around me. Strong enough smell that I have to close the windows. We have large forest fires burning 1 hour south of us and an hour and half south west of us. The fire fighters have got control of one 1.5 hour north of us too. This summer is crazy dry. We have had rain but just not enough and when it rains, there is usually lightening and more fires start!!!

On a quilty/sewing note. I have been doing lots as it is too hot outside to do anything! A friend asked if I could finish a top into a quilt. Well it was a banner 42"x 120". It will be an odd sized quilt but it is done. I will show pictures after I know it has been delivered to the recipient.

hand quilting is coming along

I have also been slowly working on my hand quilting. It is coming along and working in a hoop on a table on these hot days is the only way to go. Once all the inner blocks are done, I just have to do the border and binding. It will be my last of five finished UFOs that I have finished this year for a guild challenge. This is what I will be working on today and joining my friend Kathy for some slow relaxing stitching today

leaders and enders ready to go

With the little bit of actual sewing on the machine that I have been doing, I have started Bonnie Hunter's leader and ender challenge for this year. I have hst triangles from another project that someone gave me so I am using them and adding the four patches. So this basket is all the neutrals and green to make four patches. They sit beside my machine and I can sew them up when needed.

Kathy this one is for you!

I was doing a practice piece of machine quilting this week. This picture is just for Kathy! When we had Piranha weekend, she was machine quilting and quilted a fold in her backing fabric. We giggled and snickered at her. Now it is my turn. This was just a mini quilt but once I was finished I flipped it over only to discover this little mess. Nothing else to do but get ripping and re-sewing!! I can hear you giggling Kathy!!! :)

 Have a great week ahead. I am off for another appointment at the eye doctor. Seems I have developed a cataract and need it gone. Tomorrow I go to set the date for the surgery. Wish me luck!!

ME Weekend!

no walking foot...quilting not bad

Yes it has been a quiet, no work only sewing weekend! DH has been gone since Thursday to a music festival and I am home with the dog. It has been three days of sewing. I have been  machine quilting this quilt and now I can finally get to the hand quilting. I thought it would be quicker to do the machine quilting...but THREE days. That was after I spent an afternoon quilting on my big machine only to have an issue and have to rip all the stitching out again. I don't have a lot of faith in my big machine at the moment. It will be going to the doctors shortly to see if we can find an answer to my problem.It is a tension issue that leaves little bird nests on the back of my quilt when I sew over a bulky area. SO I machine quilted this quilt on my 301A with no walking foot.It worked out very well except on the full straight lines...there is a bit fullness and some rippling but not too bad.

ready set .....get quilting

The weather has cooled a bit to 23-25 degrees Celcius during the day. Much better weather for hand quilting since I am using a hoop. I like my squarish wooden hoop for most of the work but this plastic one is great for doing borders(which will be necessary for this quilt). So today slow stitching Sunday with my buddy Kathy will be all about hand quilting. I am most excited to start on that.

Also today a friend is dropping by with a quilting job for me. She has a large banner made from cloth 4'x9' and she wants a border put on it and it made into a quilt. And I have 3 weeks to accomplish it. Stay tuned there will be more on this in a future post.

during the chase

after the chase

A little funny for today. This is Belle and she has a love/hate relationship with squirrels and chipmunks. She loves to chase them and hates when they are faster than she is(which is most of the time). She managed to chase one under the van and she is not so patiently waiting for it to come out again. In the process is getting cover with undercoating from the van! Oh Belle, it is a good thing that you are cute!!

The Story of a Quilt

the individual block unit

It's a mystery they said, it will be fun they said, do it with us they said. Who is they you ask? And why oh why did I listen?!!?!
Don't get me wrong, I love mystery quilts. This one however was a bit simple in structure but had lots of options for layouts. But as luck would have it with the fabric I chose and how I used it in the quilt, there was only one option for me. So I sewed and completed the top and that is where it sat till this week.

the finished quilt top

I didn't like the finished top ! The fabrics I chose were lovely and a favourite of mine(the seashells). I have taken it out of its box a couple times, looked it over and put it away. This week I took it out once again and decided NO...I just don't like it and I can do something about that. SOOOO!!! I reversed sewed the blocks out of the quilt top. I thought maybe there was another way to rearrange the blocks. After more wasted time, I decided there was no other way to go so there they lay on my cutting table. I am going to reverse sew the blocks too. I will be left with hst of various colours combos and plain and coloured squares. I will make another quilt just not sure what it will be using all the pieces from this quilt.

my 2nd try at a layout

The colours show more vibrant in these pics but in real life the light teal and the off white are just too light I feel.I will post when I have decided what will become of them or what great creation I have come up with!!!I like all the fabrics and thought they would play nice together but they don't in this top. Maybe they are just asking to be put into another quilt top design!!!

pile of blocks that need further un-sewing