Feline Friday

Meow.  Hey Mom.  Oh, wow!  What are these?

They are some of the blocks I am making for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge that Soscrappy is doing.  Do you like them?

Meow!   I loves them.  They's so purrrrty!  Meow.

Keeping My Mom Warm

Meow!  It's soooo cold out.  And it is snowing.  Yikes!  I don't likes snow.

'So I will go and sleep with Mom.  I's sure she is cold too.  So this is the least I can do for her.

I loves sleeping with her.  I loves her.  She only has a hospital bed, but that means we can be closer.  As long as she doesn't move all night, I is comfortable.  Prrrrrr.

And the snow scares me.  And the cold too!  This is the best place to be.

Linking up with Sarah and Zorro at Feline Friday.

Felline Friday. Groundhog Day! - No! No! That should be Felix Day!

Meow!  Oh, look. Mom!

The sun is shining,  I sees my shadow.  You knows what that means.

I predicts 6 more weeks of winter.  Well at least 6.  Maybe more.  Who needs a groundhog when you've got a Felix?

We are linking nup with Sarah and Zorro 

Feline Friday

Meow!  Me Felix.  Cute, eh?

My Mom loves me very much.  I is posing for her 'cause she needs help.  She took the battery and photo card out and now she needs to make sure they are back in her camera the right way.

Smile!  Well, maybe not.  Meow!


Linking up with Sarah and Z at sarahdidit.blogspot.ca

A POTC Update

Sorry, I do not have a photo for yesterday because of circumstances beyond my control.  But I do have a few hexies to show you today.  I took all of the POTC blocks I had made to see what colours I should use next. I discovered that I had 9 blocks made already.  I think that is enough.  I wanted to make this pattern, but I did not want to make a full size quilt.  A wall hanging will be just fine with me.  My blocks are not completely done and they are not in any particular order.  But this is what I have so far.

Now I am off to do some chores and catch up on yesterday.  There are so many things that have to get done that I had to make a list!

October 3, 2014

 

 

A quilt with a cat on it always looks cuter!

 



 

 

I am linking up to Angie's A Quilting Reader's Garden.

Stuff

It's been a week since I last posted anything.  Not much sewing has been going on here, so there is not much to show.  I have been working on my hexies, though.  About 150 are prepped and just waiting to be sewn into the the quilt top.

On Monday evening I decided I needed a few more dishcloths.  So I found some nice spring coloured cotton and got started.  Felix sat on them as soon as i put them down, but he refused to look at me when I took the photo.  I still love him though!

Last week I showed you a photo of the crocuses growing in the front of my house.  I was hoping they would be in bloom by now, but NOT!!

It's been way too cold.  Below freezing temps and lots of wind.  We did miss the storm that moved through just south of us and hit the Maritimes with up to 50cm of snow, the biggest storm they have had this winter.

The only things growing are inside.  This is an Amaryllis that I bought a couple of years ago.  It went dormant and now it is ready to bloom again.  There are two buds on this one and another plant has one bud.  Can't wait for these to open up.

And my Streptocarpus is doing fantastic!  It went into a dormant spell, but now it is blooming again.  I love these blue flowers.  I know these plants are indoors, but they give me hope that spring will arrive one day - soon, I hope.

Tomorrow I will be 24106 days old.

Coming Up for Air

I've had a busy month, but now I can finally breathe again.  On the furry feline front I've had to deal with Mimi's passing and Felix's diabetes. He is doing well, but he really hates to have his blood tested.  Hopefully we will soon work out the right amount of insulin to keep his diabetes under control.  I hate to see him unhappy.

On the quilting front I finished my 'Garden of Hope' quilt and it is now at the LAQ.  It should be done by the third week of March.  That gives me time to bind it before our quilt show on the first weekend of April.  This quilt top almost didn't get finished.  I only had a couple of rows to still sew together.  Most of the blocks were done, so that was really no problem. I had to go out and buy some backing fabric because I didn't have enough.  That was no problem either.  I was even able to add a few fat quarters to my stash.  LOL

But pressing the finished top almost drove me to pull my hair out!  It was very wrinkled and because I made most of it while I was a patient at a rehab hospital some years ago, I did not have an iron to press each block as I finished it.  Many of the blocks needed some help from a spritz of water.  I guess I used too much water because some of the red fabrics bled into the lighter backgrounds.  I wanted to cry.  But then I decided all was not lost.  I took the damaged blocks out and remade them.  It took me a whole day to remake and sew them back into the quilt top.  I don't know why that happened because I always wash my fabrics with a colour catcher as soon as I get them home.  But maybe a lot of the fabrics in thisquilt were from before the time of colour catchers.  I plan to wash the blocks and see if I can restore them to their original beauty.  Then I will make them into blocks for a project (Soy Amado) that Little Island Quilting is doing for children in a home in Mexico City. I have several other orphan blocks that I can donate.

I was also asked to do a demonstration of English Paper Piecing at our Guild meeting on Monday evening. That meant finding finished quilts and partly finished quilts to help teach the technique.  It was a fantastic experience.  My fellow quilters were very interested and some of them went away with a pattern sheet to create their own hexies.  I took my camera so that I could take a photo, but I never got to use it.  There just wasn't enough time.  The demonstrations were done in a round robin fashion.  That only gave me about 12-15 minutes with each group.  I did see someone come over with a camera, so there probably will be a photo at some point.  I hope to be able to post it later.

100 more hexies to sew together

The weather here is still cold and white.  We have had the most 'severe cold weather warnings' of any year since these records have been kept - about 28 days since the beginning of the year.  Today's high temp is -10C, (14F) but it will feel like -20C, (-4F).  The snow has not melted either and there are still huge piles of it at the sides of our driveway.  It rained a bit this past weekend, creating large puddles everywhere that froze into huge patches of ice.  Hospitals in our area are reporting an average of 4 slip and fall accidents per hour.  So I am staying indoors and waiting patiently impatiently for spring to arrive.

Now I am off to work on some of my current projects, mostly charity quilts.  It is a pleasure to have some time to work on those. I also went to the library and got some books to read.  Life is good.

Monday Morning, On My Design Floor

Here is what's on my design floor this morning.  Still working on Easy Street.  I have decided to make mine smaller than Bonnie's.  Hers was about 100 inches square, I think.  Too big for me. So I am making it smaller.

Here it is on my Design Floor.  I hope to have this one done soon.  I'm sure I couldn't do it without Felix's help.  A few days ago I had left this quilt on the floor overnight and at 4:00 am I heard Felix heaving up a gigantic furball onto the centre of my quilt.  I thought it was because he didn't like it.  But he says he actually adores Easy Street and was just trying to add some of his own creativity.  I was able to clean it up without any problems.  Thank goodness.  I asked him nicely not to do that again.  And he agreed. So now he is helping me by just sitting on it and adding some love.

Back to the sewing room.  Are you coming, Felix?

Another Wiggly Whimsy Strip

It is March the 1st.  Time is flying by, but when I look outside it still looks like winter.  It is sunny, but cold.  No more snow is forecast for today.  So is March coming in like a lion, or a lamb?  Maybe more like a dopey kitty.  This is Felix.  He is my huge kitty!

Here is this month's Wiggly Whimsy strip.  I am doing this along with Terry.  With her help I was able to put the photo onto Flickr too.  Thanks Terry!  I have posted lots of pictures to Flickr in the past, but for some reason it wasn't working for me this time.  Hope I can remember how to do it for next month.

I seem to have a lot of lurkers on my site.  Yesterday I had 160 hits.  But only 3 people left me a comment.  I really need to read your comments, folks!  So if you stop by today, please leave me one.  Thanks!

My First Day of Christmas

Today is the first day of my Christmas this year.  We are getting together for a family Christmas this afternoon.  Lots of food, presents, fun and family.  The way Christmas should be.  There are four grandchildren all walking around this year.  It should be good.

To get me into the Christmas spirit and help celebrate this first day, I made a little journal quilt.  It measures about 9 inches by 11 inches.

I am busy doing some laundry, baking an apple pie, preparing veggies for out pot luck dinner and wrapping presents.  Felix is helping me.  Well, sort of.

My sewing room is a disaster and Felix loves it that way.

It's Tuesday so I will Show You my Scrappy Logs

I have two rows of my scrappy log cabin quilt completely done.  And I am working on row 3.  This quilt is going to be very colourful.  Which I love!  I think I should have finished the top this week, but since I am making 70 blocks, I need more time.

Felix loves the colours too!  Actually he had just woken up and wanted me to go away and leave him alone.  He was not finished with his napping yet.  But as soon as I put my camera away and left the solarium, he jumped on the blocks. You can't fool me, Felix.  I know you love them.

'Meow!'

Linking up with Needle and Thread Network.

A New List

Not much sewing got done today.  We took a little day trip down to St. Catherines so my DH could make a delivery.  St Catherines is near Niagara Falls.  But we didn't go there.  The weather was not the best today.  It was dark and dreary and cold.  Occasionally a few drops of rain fell on the windshield.   We just enjoyed our lunch in downtown St. Catherines and then drove home.

Today my list is non-existent.
But now I have a list for tomorrow.


                              List

Make 2 more kindergarten book bags - yesterday I was able to make 3 of them
Make orange scrappy log cabin blocks
Work on the quilt-as-you-go quilt - I managed to complete 4 blocks this morning before we left
Prep more hexies - I always need more of these
Work on the challenge quilt

Thank goodness the laundry got done.  The dishwasher got emptied too, but it filled up quickly.  By tomorrow I will have to wash them and empty it again.

Because I don't like a post without a photo I will show you a pic of Felix.  Isn't he cute?

Wednesday's Flowers

It's Wednesday again and I have some hexie flowers to show you.  I love working on these when it is hot.  And it has been hot!  The fan on our air conditioner stopped working and we were without AC for the entire weekend.  Luckily the guy came to fix it on Monday so by bedtime the house was cool again.  This first shot is of some of the sections that will go around the outside of my latest hexagon quilt.

And here are some of the flowers sewn together.  They will be in a basket made of brown hexies.  I have come to realize that hexies can be sewn together to represent anything you wish to display.

I now have to go and get some things ready for dinner.  My DD is coming over for dinner and bringing a couple of Japanese students that she is hosting his week.  I am in the middle of making potato salad.   I will serve them hamburgers and corn-on-the-cob also.  I even baked a zucchini loaf, not especially for my company but because I have so many zucchinis in my garden that I have to do something with them.

Doesn't it look delicious?

And here is a picture of Felix, trying to keep cool.  He is sitting on the register taking in all the cool air.  What a smart pussy cat.

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!

A New Camera

My old camera stopped working on the weekend.  I had taken it with me to Edward's Gardens (a beautiful park).  I wanted to take some photos of the fantastic scenery and gorgeous flowers that are there.  But it seems that my LED screen stopped working.  It showed some bands of colour, but not what was in the view finder.  It wouldn't let me take any photos.

So I stewed about my camera for a couple of days and then went out to Staples and bought a new one.  This camera has a few more bells and whistles, so I am spending all of my spare time today, reading the manual.

I did manage to make some fabric this morning.  I am going to make another bag and maybe a baby quilt with these string blocks.

I have also been busy with my hexies.  Three more were sewn into the quilt top last week and 6 more hexies were made this week.

When I went outside to take the photos, Felix tried to follow me.  He only goes as far as the doorway.  Then he gets scared.  It's a big world out there and this morning there were several cats who came visit.  So he placed himself at the top of the stairway so that he could keep an eye on me.  When I came inside I still had my camera turned on - and like I said before - I need all the practice I can get. 

So I took a photo of Felix.  He is a big cat!  I am sure he would qualify as a watchcat.

A Whole Week Has Gone By!

Gosh! I just realized that I haven't posted for a whole week. It went by quickly, but I think that was because I had my Bernina back! It's all fixed and the tension is perfect. It just hums when I sew. I love my machine!

Let me first show you the fabrics I got this month from the Bargain Club at Sew Sisters. These look like Japanese fabrics, but they are by Northcott. Beautiful cottons in beautiful colours. I love the one with the bird on it. Don't you?


And here are the fabrics I received in January from the Bargain Club at Sew Sisters. Pretty pastels. Think a baby quilt is in my future. No time to start it now though. I have too many quilts to finish first.


So... having said that... here is a project I started last week. I know, I know! I shouldn't have done that, but I couldn't help myself. It's a Trip Around the World pattern. I cut the fabrics last week, but I didn't dare start to sew the strips together because my old machine does not do accurate 1/4 inch seam allowances. This is going to have to be a WIP because I can't do much more than a few strips per day. But I love how it is turning out. I'll show you more as my work progresses.

And last, but not least is my hexagon Wannabee Quilt. In order for the end sections to fit, I have to add another row of hexies to the inside section. So that is what I am doing now. There are a lot of these little pink hexies to sew on. It will take me awhile before I have this part done.

But Felix doesn't mind how much is done or not done. He just loves a Quilt in Progress!

Another thing that is keeping me from sewing is my new kitchen. Well, it hasn't actually been installed yet, but I have picked out the cabinets and the colour of the counter. I have also bought a new fridge - a nice stainless steel one. It will be delivered in the beginning of March. I'll show you photos when I actually have something to show. This past week the contractor came and built me a kitchen in my basement. We had always intended to have a kitchen down there. It is part of a one-bedroom apartment we built. I have been using the kitchen part of it as my stained glass studio. So even if we never rent it out, I will now have a beautiful full kitchen in my studio, with a sink, cupboards and a stove and fridge. We are still waiting for the upper cabinets because they were out of stock. As soon as they are installed I will post a photo. The kitchen downstairs will also serve as my temporary kitchen while the main kitchen is installed. I'll keep you posted.

Flowers on Wednesday, But No Hexies!

I have some flowers to show you, but they are not hexagon flowers. Those are still at the planning stage and I haven't quite figured out how to fit the next section in. I have some thinking to do.

But I do have some wonderful flowers. This is my yellow, almost green, orchid. I have had this one for several years and it never lets me down when it comes to flowering time.

This one is a pink orchid. It has also been here for several years. Only one flower this year, but there are still a few buds that I hope will open soon.
We have shivered through an extremely cold weekend. On Saturday we went to do our weekly grocery shopping. It was snowing. And it was frigid. But these tulips caught my eye. I couldn't help but think of spring, so I bought them. They are a lovely peachy colour.
A couple of weeks ago I was 'talking' to Saskia of Dutch Girl Quilting about the horrible illnesses that can strike anyone, including family members and friends. It came to me that a positive attitude is necessary to recover from them. We need the four F's, faith, family, friends and fortitude. Now I am adding another F, flowers. They brighten our lives. They give up hope.

I finished the comfort quilt I made for my friend, Linda, who is going through radiation therapy at the moment. I used all my bright flowery fabrics. I had hoped to have it done sooner, but things always take longer than I imagine.

Felix has given it his approval. He is a good tester for my quilts.

It's a nice quilt, isn't it Felix.

"Meow! It's wonderful! And now you can add a couple of more Fs. Meow!"

What do you mean?

"I'm Felix, right? That's one F and I am a feline. so that is another F! Please don't make me get off. I love this thing! Meow!"

I hadn't thought of that. Felines named Felix are definitely a wonderful commodity when it comes to curing what ails you. So that is seven Fs - faith, family, friends, fortitude, flowers, felines and Felix. Thanks boy. Just don't leave any fur balls on that quilt. Okay?

A Flimsy Finish and a Call for Christmas Charity Quilts

Just a reminder that SewCalGal's Christmas Quilt Show only runs until tomorrow. You can still enter. If you dropped by my blog to see my Christmas Quilt entries, please scroll down a couple of posts. Thanks.

If you came by to see what I have been up then let me show off my Charm and Scrap Quilt flimsy. I used up a lot of scraps on this one. But I have enough scraps to make several more. Felix helped me with this one too. Here he is trying to get under the top.


Here is another photo of the quilt top, including the 'lump'. This was fun to make. I hope to have it quilted as soon as possible. But first I want to take care of some Christmas charity stuff.

This is a photo of a kit I was given at my guild. It is supposed to make a child's quilt. The red fabric is for the centre of the quilt... just a plain red fabric. I thought it would be boring, so I plan to do an appliqued snowman in the centre. I have until Monday evening to finish this one. Then it will be given to Quilts from the Heart.

I have joined this group in their quest to make 100 quilts for charity. It has been organized by Aunt Spicy and Swim,Bike,Quilt.
Go over and take a look. Maybe you have a quilt lying around or scraps that you could make one out of. It's for a good cause!

Working on My Chinese Coin Quilt - Sort of...

It's a dark, rainy, fall day here in Toronto. No one is home this afternoon so I have lots of time to sew without being bothered. I have done some work on the charm quilt and have almost finished the Chinese Coins. Just part of one strip of coins to go. Then the borders. I could probably do this a lot faster if Felix wasn't helping me.

Oh, well. He makes me smile.

Just One of Those Days

If I don't post something today I will have wasted two weeks of NaBloPoMo. So let me just say that today I did some quilting, some knitting, some cleaning and fixed a small family crisis. Also had some errands to run in the afternoon - a stop at the bank, the drug store and library. I never used my wheelchair or scooter. It was all done under my own power. Now I'm exhausted! Think I will curl up in front of the TV for the evening. Since I don't believe in a post without a photo, I am giving you Felix! Don't let those little slanty eyes fool you. He is quite harmless.