Busy Braid Week

I spent yesterday at a friend's house. sewing a French Braid quilt.  There were 11 of us in her basement.  Lots of fun!!!  I asked my DD to drive me since I don't have my licence back yet.  She agreed and then I thought she might like to make a French Braid quilt too.  We went shopping for fabric and I spent several days cutting and preparing for Saturday.

Here is the one I made.  I still have to sew the sashing together and then border it with a narrow black border and a 6inch butterfly border.  Don't look at the black strips.  They are too short and I will have to add to them or cut new strips.  I was following the pattern and it said, 'cut 1 1/2 inch strips from WOF'.  That means width of fabric, doesn't it?  It should have been cut from the length.  

And here is the one my DD made.  Isn't it fantastic!!!!!  This is her first quilt done on a sewing machine.  She's a natural!  She picked her own fabrics too.

When I got home last night I was too wound up to sleep, so I went into my sewing room and because it was St. Patrick's Day, I made some green fabric with my green scraps.  Then I turned the green fabric into a Shamrock which I saw on Hillary's blog.  She got the pattern here.  So now I have a cute shamrock all ready for next year.

Flying Geese

Somehow I have lost my mojo.  So many things going wrong at one time, I guess.  My scooter is broken (won't start) and the repair people haven't contacted me yet even though it has been a week since I sent them an email.  A few weeks ago I lost a filling in one of my teeth.  I had it fixed last week and by the end of the week I had lost another filling in another tooth.  I have a dentist appointment next Tuesday.  Because my scooter wasn't working, I couldn't take my library books back and so I had to pay a fine of $6.   I am never late taking my books back, but this time there was either something wrong with my computer or the library's was out of service, so I couldn't renew them online.  Also, I have a headache and my neck feels stiff and sore.  I wonder if I am coming down with something.

So today I didn't feel like working in my sewing room.  I didn't feel like making houses and I didn't even feel like making fabric with scraps.  But then I remembered that Em from Em's Scrapbag is doing a Flying Geese quilt-a-long on Wednesdays.  So I went over there and took down the information.  Then I started sewing my geese.  My sister phoned as I was working on them and told me that she has seen a lot of geese down in the yard where the subway trains are kept.  (My sister drives a subway train.  Cool, eh?)  So it seemed fitting that I was making flying geese blocks.

Here is what I managed to do today.

I feel as if I have been a tiny bit productive.  And I almost forgot to tell you!  I won one month of the Bargain Lover's Fat Quarter Club.  That means I'll be getter 10 fat quarters for free!  That also made me feel more positive.  Thanks to everyone who voted for me!  I think I need to take a nap now.  Oscar is sleeping on my bed and he wants me to join him.

A Conundrum - Edited in Red

I have a problem.  A couple of weeks ago I sent a photo of a quilt I made to Sew Sisters.  It was part of a challenge they gave all of us in the Bargain Lover's Club.  I'll show it again in you missed it.

Initially I thought the quilts would be judged by the Sew Sisters staff.  But now it seems that anyone can vote for their favourite - like 'best in show',  'most original' etc.  So what's my dilemma?

The voting isn't set up to just click on a box.  In order to vote an email has to be sent to Sew Sisters.  It seems like a lot of work, but the part I am uncomfortable with is this.  When you send an email, the party you are sending it to automatically gets your email address.  That seems a bit invasive to me.  I can't ask folks to make their email addresses available to Sew Sisters.  They could use it to send out all kinds of store related sales and events and other nuisance mail that others might not want to receive.  After talking to some quilty friends today, I now feel that it really is not such a big deal.  Emails can be deleted.  I am going to leave this up to my blog readers.  If you feel like voting, then by all means, do so.  I would really appreciate it.  

So what do you think?  Am I being neurotic?  Should I just ask my blogging friends to please vote for me?  I think the voting ends on Monday.  The voting actually ends on Tuesday, March 6th.

In case you want to do just that, go here.  That will take you to all the entries.  Some of them look really good so it might be a nice place to view some eye candy.  My entry is number 31.  Sew Sisters email address is on that page.

Now for something springlike.  The snow we got a few days ago is all gone.  In fact it was all gone by the end of that very same day.  I bought these tulips when I went shopping last week.  They brought me joy all week long as I watched them open up.  They have a lovely springy fragrance too.

Thanks!

Winter!

It's the first day of March and I think winter has finally arrived.  There was snow on the ground this morning, even though the weatherman said it was going to rain.  And it is still snowing.  I think this is the worst weather we have had all winter.

Needless to say I will be staying indoors today.  I have to work on my 'The Queen and her Court' quilt.  I am way behind on that one.  My next class is on Saturday and I want to be caught up by then.

Leaping Lizards!

No that's not right.  But leaping amphibians doesn't sound quite right either.  In honour of February 29th - leap year - I made this frog.

 I got the pattern from the Sew Sister's blog.  I remember seeing these frogs made by the grade 7 and 8 students at the school I was at many years ago.  It was a Family Studies project.  I always meant to get the pattern, but you know how it goes.  There is just never a right time.  I don't even know if they still teach Family Studies with all the cuts in education we have had.

But now I have the pattern and I am happy.    I hope my frog is too.  I may put different eyes on him and make him friend to play with.

If It Ain't Broke...

...Don't fix it.
I first heard that saying from a friend's Mom when I was around 10 years old.  It seemed so obvious to me.  Why would you fix anything that wasn't broken?  I don't use that phrase very often, but it seems fitting for this blogger thing that's going on.  Many of you will know what I am talking about.  All I have to say is this...

Hello!  I'm not in my twenties any longer.  It takes me a long time to learn new things.  

I have downloaded Google Chrome and that seems to be working.  It will take me awhile to figure everything out though.  In the meantime I think I will post more often just to get myself familiar with the way things are.

I have been busy with my Orca Bay quilt.  Bonnie Hunter had this quilt on her blog as a mystery quilt last fall.  It seemed like too much work back then.  But once I saw the finished quilts, I was hooked.  I didn't start it until a couple of weeks ago.  I am making it smaller than the original.  These are the blocks I have been working on this morning.

Can you see that little white furry thing in the top right of the photo?  That's Mimi's tail.  She thinks she is hiding from me.   Here she is.

A Finish!

I am having trouble posting on my blog. I get a message that says my browser is no long supported by Blogger.  Has anyone experienced this?  What's the solution?

Snow on Sedum

What a difference a day makes!   Yesterday I took a photo of my little snow drops.

Then last night we had some snow.  Not much, but it is soft and fluffy.  This is how my garden looks today.  My snowdrops are under there somewhere.

It is very beautiful!  We haven't had much snow this year so this winter wonderland looks amazing.  I think we skipped a couple of seasons.  We went from spring directly into winter.  The temperature is above freezing, which means it is packing snow.  I hope to see some snowmen snowpeople (let's keep this politically correct) on front lawns today.  We are supposed to get another couple of centimeters of the white stuff today.  But this isn't going to last a long time.  It will get warmer over the next few days so everything should melt soon.

I love to see snow on trees and branches and especially on my dried sedum heads.  It's the reason why I don't do a lot of cutting back in the fall.   

Carrying On

I have been working like a maniac on a quilt to enter into the Sew Sisters bargain lovers club.  I have to send in a photo by this time next week.  I originally made 48 blocks and sewed them together.  It looked great!  But then I thought of making it a bit bigger so it would fit a twin size bed.  I tried putting a pieced border on it, but just couldn't get it to work out.  So I thought about it a few days and decided to make it the size it is in the magazine. (American Patchwork and Quilting February 2012 issue).  That meant I had to make 24 more blocks.  22 of them were completed by last night.  And because I only had 2 more to go, I decided to sew a row or two onto my flimsy. 

But something didn't look right.  When I studied it more closely I discovered that I had made the last 24 block upside down.  I could have cried.  I will have to unsew and re-sew.  What a drag.  This is the point where I could easily give up and put my project into a bag and call it a UFO.  But I must get it done.  Argggg!  How frustrating!

I went outside to 'cool' off a bit.  And I discovered these little snowdrops poking their heads out of the ground.  We have had a very mild winter, but this is the earliest I have ever seen these come up.  They helped to lift my spirits - a bit anyway.

Mimi is feeling a bit better.  She has been coming to me when I am reading in bed and walking all over me and getting between me and my book so that I can't read.  She purrs and purrs and if I ignore her she taps me politely rudely on my face with her paw claw.  Here is a shot of her sitting on the heating duct.  This is her favourite place lately.

For Valentine's Day

In honour of this day of love I made a little journal quilt.  It measures about 8 by 11.  I heart this quilt and I heart you!

Happy Valentine's Day

Where Has the Time Gone?

I can't believe that it's been over a week since I last posted something.  Time just seems to fly by.  We still haven't had any real winter - no snow and average or above-average temps.  Apparently our resident groundhog did not see his shadow last week, so we will have an early spring.  That's of course, if you believe in rodent prognosticators of the weather.  Just hope it doesn't snow in July!

I made five houses last week and so far I have four more to sew together for this week.   I like this little task, especially when I don't feel much like quilting.

How many people are still doing hexagons?  I decided to start a new hexie project.  (The other hexie projects are now officially UFOs.)  I needed a hand project to do at our weekly mini group meetings.  When I saw one of the other members working on her hexies, I got addicted again.  Not to finish my UFOs.  Oh no!  Of course not!  I started a new one.  This one will be stars with probably some black and white pieces to join them together.l  I haven't got that far yet - still thinking.  I am trying to use up everything that is in my stash.  This is my evening and Tuesday group project.

I also started an applique BOM.  So far I have been able to keep up.  But it's only February.  Two blocks are posted every month.  I am hand appliqueing them, because I enjoy the handwork.  I find it relaxing.

My Christmas cacti are still blooming.  Some even have a lot of little buds on them.  This is my reddish/orange one.  I love it!  Only one flower right now.  It just opened this morning. 

Want to See What I am Working On?

Thought you might like to see what is on my design wall floor.  This is what has kept me busy this past week. 

I am not sure how big this will get.  The instructions are for a twin size bed.  Mine might only become a couch quilt.

I have also been working on my houses.  I found a piece of dark blue fabric in my stash. 

I think it will work well for the sashing between the blocks.  I also have a huge piece of dark red that I might use for the corner blocks.  I think it may be too dark.  I guess I will make a few more houses before I make my decision.

And here is a photo of Mimi, sleeping out in the solarium.  She seems to be feeling much better, although she still doesn't want anything to do with me after having to do all those medication things to her. 

Thank you to everyone who sent comforting comments and positive thoughts our way.  I really appreciated those.

January Cactus?

While watering my plants this morning I noticed that my pink Christmas Cactus is in bloom. 

This was the cactus that got knocked off its perch and crashed to the ground last year.  Almost every piece, buds and all, broke off.  I almost cried!  But I collected myself and then |I collected all of the broken pieces.  I planted them in a new pot with some fresh soil.  They have been growing there the whole year and now they are rewarding me with some much needed colour. 

We're having a dreary day.  It has been raining on and off all day.  The little bit of snow we had is gone again.  It's as if the colour has gone from the world, so I am glad there is a little bit of it in my solarium.

Guild meeting tonight.  I am getting cabin fever, so I am looking forward to going out this evening.

And here is a picture of Mimi that I took a couple of days ago.  She refused to look at me when she saw my camera.  We are still not the best of buddies after all of the eye drops, pills, water and food I have had to give her in the past couple of weeks.  I am trying to gain back some of her trust of me, so I didn't remove the eye crud,  but she definitely is feeling better.

Sunrise this Morning

This morning\s sunrise was amazing.  I just had to take a photo or two.  I think this means that bad weather is coming our way.  Isn't that how the saying goes?

'Red at night,

Sailors delight.  

Red in morning,

Sailors take warning.'

I am putting this on my header too.  It's too precious to waste.  We haven't had any real winter yet.  Strange for this part of the world.  We've had some rain, a bit of snow and really warm temperatures for the month of January.  Wonder if we will get some snow today.  I hope so.  It isn't winter without snow!

Harry Potter is Finished

I have finished a charity quilt!  My first finish for this year.  Yippeeeee! 

It was a kit from our guild, since this quilt will go to our Quilts from the Heart progrram.  30, 8.5inch blocks featuring a Harry Potter fabric.  Looks easy, right  - just sew the patches together and quilt it.  Not!  The patches were all different sizes, so I had to cut them down to 8.25inches.  Then, as I was sewing them together, I discovered a yellow patch that was only 8 x 6 inches.  I put everything away for a while so that I could think about this dilemma.  That yellow fabric looked familiar.  So I searched and searched through my stash and then my scraps.   And eventually I found a small piece!  I said a little prayer, ironed it and was able to cut an 8.25in. block from it.  I am glad it is finished.

Building Permit LH366

Hardhats must be worn on this site.



I went to Staples yesterday and had the paper piecing pattern enlarged so that the houses will be exactly 3 inches when completed.  For some reason my computer wasn't printing them correctly.  So now I have a total of 7 houses completed.  I think I will be caught up by the end of this month.

Mimi is still with us.  She seems a bit better at times.  At least she is eating again.  She weighed less than 6 pounds when we were at the vet's office last week.  I have to give her 2 pills a day and put drops in her eye 3 times a day.  Needless to say she is not very happy with me at the moment.

Keeping Busy

Oh, look!  I haven't posted for over a week.  I have been playing with my scraps and worrying about Mimi.   So I'll tell you about Mimi first. 

She has not been feeling well over the last couple of weeks.  I am not really sure what is wrong with her.  She has no distinct symptoms, just a lot of little things that I can't get a handle on.  She seems to have an eye infection.  And maybe dental problems.  She is not eating or drinking as usual.  So last night we took her to the 24-hour clinic.  She weighed less than 6 pounds.  They took blood and urine.  Gave her some water under her skin because she was dehydrated.  Told me to syringe feed her.  Gave me drops for her eye and some kind of pills for nausea.  So today it seems as if I am running a cat hospital.  The vet is going to phone me this evening with the results of her tests.  Then we will know more.  Mimi seems a lot better though.  Right now she is sleeping and I won't disturb her until it is time for her to eat again.

And now for my sewing progress.  Last week Em from Ems Scrapbag had another tutorial for the scrap quilt we're working on.  I have a whole box of little 1 1/2 inch pieces sewn into 4 patches.  A few have a 2 1/2 inch piece sewn on and made into a bigger 4 patch.  This week's tutorial was on adding 4 1/2 inch pieces.  I still have lots to do, but here is my progress so far.

Yesterday I spotted a little house quilt along.  The houses are only 3 inches square when finished.  I made a couple of them and then did one at 4 inches square.  I don't know yet if I will join this quilt along.  I have to perfect the pattern first.  They are paper pieced.  I think they are so cute!

My next project is a quilt for Quilts from the Heart.  I was given the fabric to do with what I want.  The blocks were all 6 inch square.  I was supposed to randomly place the blocks together in a pleasing pattern.   Sounds easy.  But some of the fabric was great and some of it was not so great.  I don't like working with slippery polyester fabrics.  So I thought about this quilt for a while and decided that I would do a bit of piecing, take the 'not so good' fabric out and maybe add some of my own.  This is what I have come up with so far. 

I will finish this one this week, I hope.  I have another Quilt from the Heart to make before the end of January.

A New Year...

... And I still have scraps!

Here it is, already the 3rd day of 2012!  I thought I would make a resolution to be more organized this year.  But I have already broken it.  Look at the state of my sewing table!  Lots of scraps and strips. 

So I decided to make a resolution I can stick with and that is... play with my scraps.  That's my goal for 2012, to play with my scraps.  I know it's kind of hokey, but I won't be able to keep any other resolution, so rather than feel like a failure, I will look at my scrappy blocks and smile.  After all, isn't that what life is all about?

I saw a 'Lego Block' quilt on somebody's blog.  I used to love Lego.  My kids loved it too!  We had lots of it.  So this project solves two things - playing with Lego and building a quilt with fabric blocks.

I want to wish everyone a belated Happy New Year.  Hope 2012 is good to you.  I have been too busy to read blogs or answer my mail.  But I'll be back soon.  I have a bit of a sore throat at the moment.  I hope it doesn't develop into something more serious.  I just want to nap with my kitties!  That could be my resolution too - taking lots of naps with my kitties.  I know I won't break that one!

Mesdames et Messieurs.....

Presentation... du Cirque du Soleil Quidam!

My DD gave me tickets to Cirque du Soleil for Christmas.  We went to see it last night.  It was fantastic!  Dancing... live music... rope skipping... aerial acrobatics... clowns... juggling... audience participation... Chinese yo-yo skills... gymnatics... and so much more.

Quidam is French and it is said to mean no one and everyone at the same time.  The Quidam of this presentation is a headless man, carrying a bowler hat and an umbrella.  There is lots of thunder and lightening and other light and sound displays.  The singer was live and she was terrific! 

It's a story about Cloe, a young girl who is bored.  Her parents live their own lives and don't pay much attention to her.  So she dreams up a world of fantasy and imagination to keep herself amused.  Quidam is the person who sings, cries out and dreams in each of us.

 

Christmas Greetings

Hey Felix.  Come here and wish everyone a Merry Christmas. 

"Mew.  I can't."

Why?  What are you doing?

"Shhhhhh.  I'm sleeping.  Purrrrr."

But why?  It's too early to go to sleep now.

"I'm not taking any chances.  I want Santa to come and bring me treats, purr, purr."

Good idea!

Happy Holidays, Everyone!

The Reindeer Have Landed

One of my quilty friends asked if she could see my reindeer.  It's Deb from Patchwork Sanity - A Women's Piece of Mind.  She has some deer in her yard too.  Go check hers out.  They are so cute!  I put mine out on the front lawn today.  These things are getting really old.  I hope they survive the winter.  I made them about 10 years ago (maybe even longer) when I saw some on somebody's lawn.  I didn't have a pattern.  I just drew the shapes on a sheet of plywood that was 4 by 8 feet.  It was a little bit tricky because I had to fit all of the pieces on.  I then cut them out with a jigsaw.  

My neighbour stood in his driveway and watched me, shaking his head the whole time.  Several years later I found a pattern to make these things.  The reindeer in the pattern were much nicer than mine, so I filed the pattern away in a 'safe' place and now I can't find it.  Don't you hate when that happens?  I would like to made a new pair of reindeer some day if I can still cut things out with a jigsaw.  My disability is making things more difficult for me.  I used to love working with wood.

And I thought you might like to see a shot of Mimi.  I haven't featured her on my blog for quite a while.  She is a real opportunist.  I had folded the flannel quilt and placed it on the coffee table.  As the sun moved around and started to come into the living room and shine on the quilt, Mimi saw her chance and decided to take a relaxing nap.



Doesn't she look comfortable?  Shhhh!  Don't wake her.  She hates to be disturbed when she is napping.  Oh, oh.  I guess the camera made a noise.  Did I wake you Mimi?

"Meow!  Go away and leave me alone.  Can't you see I'm taking a nap?  The sun is so nice and warm and this quilt is perfect for napping.  Turn that camera off and go away!  Right now! Meow!"

I guess I'd better do as I'm told.  Can you tell who the boss is in our house?  Certainly not those nice, quiet, well behaved reindeer.  I really should make some more of them.......

A Finished Christmas Tree

A few weeks ago I inherited a huge amount of scrap fabric that had belonged to a fellow quilter who passed away.  Included in those bags full of scraps was a partly finished quilt top.  I thought the quilt was cute - cute enough to finish.  So I took a few seams apart, fixed a couple of crooked patches, appliqued a star on top of the tree and resewed a few seams that had nonexistent seam allowances.  Then I sandwiched it, quilted it and sewed the binding on.  I also put a sleeve on the back so that I can hang it up.  And this is what I ended up with.   

I think my quilty friend would be proud and happy to see her quilt top finished and hanging up for this festive season.

If Life Gives You Flannel Scraps..........

.. make a flannel quilt.  I have come to be known as the 'Scrap Lady'.  Not that I mind!  I keep getting those great scraps given to me.  And I've never met a scrap I didn't like!  There were a lot of flannel pieces already cut into squares in the last batch of scraps.  I added a few of my own and came up with this. 

It's lovely and warm.  My husband was eyeing it last night.  So I decided to make him one for his very own.  There were some wild, outdoorsy flannel scraps in that batch.  I had to change the pattern because there just weren't enough of the 4.5inch pieces.  This will take me awhile because I still have a lot of Christmas stuff to get finished.  And it's already December 1st!  How did that happen?

And lastly, a shot of one of my Christmas Cactus plants, blooming in a gorgeous creamy/peach colour.  My red one has already been in bloom for a couple of weeks and the pink ones are starting to bloom too.  There are still lots of buds, so I hope to have lots of colour for Christmas this year.