A Start and a Finish

Gung Hei Fat Choy!

First I want to wish everyone who is celebrating the Chinese New Year a wonderfully prosperous and healthy year of the horse!  That's the start I am talking about.

And now for the finish.  It's not a complete finish, but it is a flimsy finish.  I finally got the hexie flower basket quilt top done.  A couple of days ago I was approached by my guild to see if I would do a hexagon demonstration at our February Guild meeting.  I said that I would be delighted.  That gave me the incentive to finish this quilt top.  

Sorry for the 'crazy' photo.  I didn't have anyone here to hold it up for me.  But that's okay, I am doing a lot of things alone these days. Yesterday I took Felix to the vet so they could do some kind of diabetic curve on him.  They gave him a dose of insulin and then monitored his blood on an hourly basis to find his glycemic levels.  When I picked him up last night they taught me how to give him his insulin and how to check his blood.  This morning I gave him his insulin shot all by myself.  I was very nervous and didn't think I could do it, but he was no problem.  I offered him a couple of treats and he sat nice and still for me.  I don't think he ever even noticed that I put a needle in the scruff of his neck.

I am linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts and Hexie Friday today.

Happy Sewing!

Hexies on Wednesday

I wanted to show you what I have been doing with the bright and colourful hexies.  This top is coming along nicely.  Here is what I have done to date.

I would have posted this earlier, but I had to take my kitties to the vet this morning.  Yes, that's both of my cats! One has been diagnosed with diabetic neuropathy.  I will find out tomorrow or the next day what his treatment will be.

Mimi, on the other hand, is not doing well at all.  She has stopped eating and is having trouble breathing.  The vet showed me her X-ray.  She is retaining water in her lungs and around her heart.  I have diuretics to give her and a heart pill to see if we can make her well again.  I have to keep reminding myself that Mimi is not a kitten any longer.  She is almost 17 years old   But I am hoping for the best.

Economy Blocks

I've been seeing Economy Blocks all over the place on the internet lately.  We used to call them 'square in a square' blocks.  Who decided to change the name?  Just wondering.  I decided to make a few of these blocks this morning, sort of like 15 minutes of play.  I thought they might get my mojo going.  But so far I have done these three blocks and nothing else.  I just used the fabrics I had close at hand.  I really like them and I know I will make some more soon.  But now back to the Trip Around the World quilt.

Yesterday I gathered up my fabrics to complete that quilt.  It took me awhile, but I finally found all of the fabrics I needed and I managed to complete one more row of the quilt.  Now I have to make some strata so I can continue.  I don't enjoy making them.  Don't know why... they are super easy to do.

It's Friday already!  Can you believe that?  This month is going by quickly.

Have a Wonderful Weekend, everyone!

One Flower Wednesday

A while back I started to make a hexagon quilt using lots of scraps that people had given me. It became an overwhelming project that I tired of quickly.  But I still had all those hexies, all prepared and ready to go. Then yesterday, we started our Tuesday morning quilt group again. I needed some handwork to do while there.  So I picked up the prepped hexies and started to sew them together.  I love how this is coming together.  And it will have lots of donated fabrics from quilty friends and will give me something to work on on Tuesdays.  Bright fabrics for our cold, dreary winter.

A couple of weeks ago, Bonnie Hunter wrote about words for the new year.  She thought 'balance' was a good word.  I have to agree with her. 'Balance' has been my special word for a long time.  So how do I work this into my quilting projects?  Well, this is sort of a new quilt.  But I am balancing it out with my basket hexie quilt which is almost finished.  And I am also working on a couple of other new projects, but I am balancing those out with a UFO that I am about 75% finished.  It's a Trip Around the World pattern.  I hope to show it to you soon.

I have decided to link up with The Needle and Thread Network and HeLP for Hexie-aholics for this week.

Still Trying to Shed this Crazy Cold

Not much sewing got done this week.  Not much of anything actually, unless you consider sleeping as something.  I have been fighting this crazy cold all week.  And my cold is not the only cold I could do without.  The temperature has gone down each day to well below normal - even lower than it has been in 20 years or so.  A cold-weather advisory was issued for Toronto,  my daughter only had 8 kids show up for school, water mains broke and all kinds of things were cancelled.  But I missed it all.  I just slept through it all.. Mimi wasn't feeling well either.  She hates the cold and slept on the heating duct all week.  I invited her into my bed, but she didn't want to catch my cold.

I had promised myself that I would work on some UFOs, but that did not happen.  My mind was not sharp enough to figure out where I was and what I had to do next in each project I picked up.  So I just worked on a few blocks for Terry's 'Goodnight Irene Sew-Along'.  I managed to make 5 16-patch blocks and two of the cross blocks.

I also worked on Bonnie's 'Celtic Solstice'.  I really like the 54-40 or Fight blocks.

So that's it for the week.  Hope to get my Mojo going so I can do some more sewing next week.
The weather is turning warmer and we could get some above freezing temps for a couple of days.  That would be nice.  Right now everything is frozen.  I am looking forward to spring!

Have a Great Weekend, everybody!

Another Storm

We got another winter storm last night.  It snowed several inches and now it is raining.  I don't know what will happen if the temperature goes down.  I can't handle any more freezing rain storms and power outages. Five days of sitting in the cold and dark were enough for me.

I did finally get the super heroes quilts done for my DD's friend's kids.  I gave them to the boys on Christmas, but I hadn't attached the labels yet. When the power stayed out I didn't get a chance to do that. But now they are done and I can show them to you.

I have no idea what I will work on today.  Probably not a lot.  I seem to have caught a nasty cold and I feel like sleeping all day.  Wish I had something to read, but I haven't been to the library in weeks. Chicken soup will probably be on the menu today.

A Few Finishes Over the Last Few Days

Even though our power was out, I kept myself busy by knitting some hats and mitts.  I still have to sew a few of the mitts together, but I hope to have that done by this afternoon.   Can you see those turquoise mitts still on the needle?  I decided to knit both mitts at the same time.  I often get 'second mitt syndrome', which makes it hard to finish the second mitt once I have already finished the first one.  I can never remember how many stitches and how many rows and I spend a lot of time counting and trying to figure out what I did this first time around.  This way I don't have to do that.  I still have some more yarn and I may make another hat or two.

I also made some bags to wrap gifts.  I promised myself to make several each year so that I could stop buying and using paper bags and wrapping paper.  I thought it would make my Christmases 'greener'.

I also made a couple of rice bags to give as Christmas gifts.  These can be put into the microwave and heated up.  They are great for sore muscles or cold feet.  I plan to make some more of these.

And now I must get back to my cupcake baking.  My DS is going to be 40 next week.  YIKES!!!! How did that happen?  I guess I can no longer say I'm 39 years old.  My DD is hosting a dinner at her house tomorrow night for DS and his friends.  We have been invited because hubby is bringing the beef.

As I was trying to bake, take a shower and do a load of laundry, our power went out again.  I just held my breath and hoped for the best.  The power went back on an hour or so later. Thank goodness!  I guess the hydro folks are still working on our lines.  Now that the power is back on I am going to finish making the cupcakes and throw another load of laundry into my washing machine.

Have a great weekend, everybody!

The Beginning of a Brand New Year

This post has been edited in red.  
This is just a test.  I am still having trouble uploading collages to my blog.  It is 2014 now and hopefully I am a bit more computer savvy.  Here are some of the smaller projects I completed in 2013.

More to come if this works.

Oh, my goodness!  I think it worked!  Now if I can only remember what I did so that I can show you some more completed images.  Edit:  I think it will work now, so here is a collage of the quilts I worked on in 2013.  Some are completed and have been given away and some are tops that need to be quilted.  I need to send them out because it is getting too difficult for me to quilt them on my Bernina.  Some of the images are ongoing projects not yet finished, but I am working on them.

Hope everyone had a great New Year's Eve.  We stayed home.  I fell asleep early on in the evening, but I woke up to watch the ball drop in the Big Apple.  Then as I went to shut down my computer I found Bonnie Hunter's solution to her mystery quilt, Celtic Solstice.  So I had to go and try a block or two.  Not as exciting as I would have liked.  I'll show you after I have done a few more blocks.