Enjoying My Special Day

No sewing going on today.  I've been shopping and driving around on my scooter, enjoying the spring weather.  I am 23,377 days old today!  So I have been getting lots of emails, phone calls and regular mail.  It's been great!  Everyone has been singing to me!  I love it!

Want to know how many days old you are?  Go here.  And because I can't post anything without a picture, I will attach my Pulmonaria (Lungwort).  I have never had this flower look this beautiful on my birthday.  Usually it is still covered in ice and snow.  This definitely is special!

A New Hexagon Quilt

I wasn't able to go to Fabricland on Friday.  My scooter was willing, but the weather did not cooperate.  It rained all morning.  Even in the afternoon the weather people said to carry an umbrella.  So I didn't go.  And in my depressed, irritable state, I wasted spent a couple of hours exploring blogland.

To my great delight, I came across a new hexagon block. It's called Rose Star. There is a tutorial for it here!    And it's a wonderful, portable, handwork project, perfect for the summer.  I made a couple of blocks and I just love them.  Don't you?

Where Did Spring Go?

It was another beautiful day.  The sun was out.  The sky was blue.  The temperature was hot.  It seems we have gone from winter directly into summer.

I have some news regarding my scooter.  Someone finally came yesterday afternoon to pick mine up.  It needs some bearings replaced and other miscellaneous things done to it, at the shop.  It may take a few days or several weeks, but the good news is they gave me a loaner for the time being,.  That meant I was able to go out!!!!   Tomorrow I want to try going up to Fabricland.  They have a 50% off for membership holders only.  I really don't need much, but what the heck.  Now that I have a scooter, I want to go places!

Here are two of my flying geese blocks that I have been doing with Em from Em's Scrapbag.  The one on the right is week 2 and the one on the left is week 3.  I did week 2 in reverse, but I don't think it will matter.

Mimi sends her love and thanks everyone who left such nice comments about her.

Signs of Spring

Yesterday Marilyn from Marilyn's Maze showed some signs of spring in California.  I couldn't even recognize most of the plants she showed.  It looks nothing like our springs.  But it did arrive yesterday and there are lots of signs out there right now.  Today the temperature is around 25C but with the humidex, it feels more like 30C. That's a record breaker!  The weather is perfect for being outside!  My garden has never looked so green.  Everything is coming up far earlier than usual.  So here are a few photos which I took in my backyard this morning.

These are some of my purple crocuses.  They really look good this year.  And here is a purple striped crocus variety.

The squirrels have been busy digging and pulling up tulips, crocuses and even hyacinths.  They don't seem to like the daffodils.  I think I should plant some more of those in the fall.  Lots of buds on this one.

Some early insects have also come out.  Can you see that huge bumble bee in this little crocus?  He buzzed around me for several minutes.  It was such a nice summer sound.

I planted some fall crocuses last year.  The squirrels had them dug up by the next morning.  But this one is seems to have survived and is doing well.  Do you see that brown stuff around it.  That's Cayenne pepper.  It is supposed to keep the squirrels away.  It works, but it has to be sprinkled around the plant almost every day,  Especially after it rains.

Mimi asked me to take a photo of her favourite garden herb.  It's catnip and there is lots of it this year.  Shhhhh, don't tell Mimi, but I am going to have to pull some of it up.  There is just too much of it.

What was that, Mimi?
Oh, you want me to leave all of it in the garden?
Okay my precious.  Since you asked so nicely.

"Purrrrrr.  I love catnip and fabric!"

Mimi is sleeping on my fabrics.  I started to clean up my sewing room, but only managed to make a bigger mess.  Mimi doesn't care.  She likes my fabrics to be all over the place.  Doesn't she look happy napping there in the sunshine?  

I am now going outside to sit in the sunshine too. 

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!