Salad, Anyone?

I defied the weatherman and planted some leaf lettuce a few weeks ago. It was still cold, but I couldn't wait! Lettuce likes cool temperatures anyway. I planted them in an old wash tub that stands on long legs. I know that sounds rather strange, but there is a method to my madness. I have huge garden snails in my garden! If I planted the lettuce on the ground, it would have been devoured by those slimy critters in no time! This way they can't climb up the metal legs of the tub. My lettuce is safe - from the snails, that is - but not from me. I'm sure I can pull a couple of leaves from each plant and make a nice, tasty salad! Yummmmm!

No Sewing for Me Today! My Garden is Calling!

Today was a wonderful spring day. It was cool, but the sun was shining brightly. Needless to say, I spent most of the day in the garden. I transplanted a few things and tried to dig up a large section of flower bed that had been taken over by Creeping Bellflowers. Let me tell you, it is not easy to weed a garden while sitting in a wheelchair! I came within inches of landing face first into my cottoneaster bush when I leaned forward too far! Luckily my legs are getting stronger and I was able to keep my balance and not fall in!

It seems as if I have been battling this weed forever! It was in the garden when we moved into this house 25 years ago and it is still here now! In fact, it is even worse this year because no one did any weeding last year and this noxious weed took full advantage of that! I had to get DH to help me by digging down as deeply as possible in order to get at the roots which develop a sort of underground mat, making this weed almost impossible to eradicate!

I had been working in this part of the flower bed two years ago, just before my illness forced me out of the garden. I was planning on changing some of the plantings there and I had already removed most of the perennials. Today I transplanted the remaining ones. I will plant some annuals there this year in the hopes of being able to dig out any more Creeping Bellflowers should they come up later in the season. It is so difficult to work around the perennials and since I have to leave the heavy work up to DH, it is better if he doesn't have to decide which plants are weeds and which ones belong in the garden.

As I sat, enjoying the sunshine, a pair of cowbirds came to take a bath. They were fun to watch.

The garden was buzzing with insects today. Here is an enormous bumble bee trying to fit himself into one of the Pulmonaria flowers. This plant has flowers which range in colour from pink to blue. I read, on someone else's blog, that the colour of the flowers changes to blue once they are fertilized. That way the bees know which ones not to waste their time with. I thought about that theory a lot and I cannot believe that bees are that smart! What do they know about fertilization? It might be that they are attracted more to pink flowers. Maybe they can see that colour better. It is probably more basic than even that. I think the blue flowers, the old ones, don't have any nectar left in them. The bees are probably attracted to the pink flowers because of the sweet scent of nectar. Kind of like the way I am attracted to the wonderful smell of pure chocolate. Well, I'm just saying. You know.

Maybe I'm Putting My Foot In

Here is my finished block for this week for the Friday Block Party. See sidebar. It is called 'Flyfoot'. I used up a whole lot of half square triangles that I had in my scrap bin (happy dance!) - only had to make a couple more. Because it is totally scrappy I don't think I got the image (so much) of the swastika that Carol spoke about. But I must admit I sort of thought of that too. Too bad that symbol has come to mean hatred, antisemitism, violence and murder! For centuries it used to be a symbol that meant good. I think the Chinese call it Wan, but I am not completely positive about that. Anybody know? It stands for life and sun and good luck! You know, happy stuff!

I thought my block sort of looked like the ribbons on a May pole. And since I made it on May 1st, I am going to rename this block too! I really don't like Flyfoot! I'm calling it Dancing Around the May Pole.

Taming My Stash!

I think it is time to tidy up the fabrics in my scrap bins! To say "in' my scrap bins is perhaps not exactly correct. The fabric has found its way out of the bins. It is all over the place - on the floor, on my sewing table, on the ironing board and on my machine! My workspace is shrinking. It is time to clean up!

Mimi is going to help me, aren't you my sweet kitten?

"Meow! No way man! I found myself a nice ray of sunshine and I plan to spend the rest of the day napping here!"

Okay, Mimi. I know without an opposable thumb you, well don't take this personally, but you can't do much picking out of fabric and sewing it together. So I'll let you sleep. That's what you do best anyway!

I'll get Felix to help me.

"Oh, boy! Yeah! I want to help. I love this stuff. It's so colourful and soft. I can roll on it for you! What are you making? Is it a quilt for me? Meow!"


Sorry Felix. It is going to be for DD. She wants a 'picnic' quilt. That means it is going to be put down on the ground. It will be walked on, sat on and eaten on. Not exactly uses that I think of when I think of a quilt! But if it will use up a lot of my scraps, I'm willing to make the sacrifice! She wants it sometime in June. Hmmmmm. That doesn't give me much time.

And speaking of scraps and picnics...... The Friday Party block is called "Flyfoot". That could be had at a picnic, I guess. You can go to it via the icon on my sidebar. The pattern calls for 16 half square triangles. And wonder of wonders, I found a whole bunch of half square triangle blocks in my scrap bin! They were left over from the train quilt I made for my nephew a couple of years ago. I think I only have to make a couple more. This is great!

I think I will work on this Block Party block. Or maybe I'll go out for awhile. It seems so nice and it's not raining today. Gosh, I'm good at procrastinating. The stash clean up can wait for tomorrow!

It's a Jungle Out There!

I finally got around to doing the Block Party's block for this week. It was an easy one, even though it is only 9 inches square. It is called "Chain and Cross". I don't like the name. so I think I am going to call mine "Jungle Fever". All of the fabric came from my scrap bin, so I am happy about that.
I have been sort of busy sewing all week. Well, not really busy, just sort of lazy. so I have nothing to show you. Sorry! All of my work has been the mindless sewing of wonky log cabin blocks. They are all at various stages of development. I just sew a few pieces of fabric together whenever I feel like it. I think I will start to square them and sandwich them and maybe do a quilt-as-you-go project. I'll take some photos as soon as I have something interesting to show for my efforts.

Becoming a Computer Geek?

A few weeks ago many bloggers were posting old photos of themselves and their families dressed in their Easter best. I wanted to join in, but I couldn't get my old scanner to work. So I went out and bought a new scanner. The guy in the store told me that I would be able to hook it up myself. Well...... he obviously doesn't know me! I am totally computer challenged, but in order to save myself the installation fee, I decided to give it a try.

I read the instructions. They made no sense to me. I re-read and re-read and still nothing clicked. So I just turned on my computer, put the installation disk in the drive and followed the instructions. There were a few snags, but I seem to have done it! So just call me a Computer Geek. Okay? I am really proud of myself!

I wanted to scan something in order to try it out. So I chose this photo of a quilt I made about 8 or 9 years ago. The principal of my school at that time asked me to make something colourful for the long brick wall in her office. She wanted me to include some of the students' work. This is what I came up with. It is actually one of my favourite quilts, and I would have posted it on last week's Bloggers Quilt Festival, but I don't own the quilt anymore and I couldn't get a picture of it without my new scanner.

I had the kids in our ME (Multiple Exceptionalities) class draw the pictures. We had some really talented kids that year! I created applique pieces out of their pictures. Everything was hand sewn. I did the applique, but the sashing and borders were done by several students in my class. I taught them how to sew and once they got the hang of it, they were off and running! I wanted this quilt to have an African theme. Gosh there are a lot of memories in this thing!

My Friday Block Party Block

With all the excitement of the Bloggers' Quilt Festival, I almost forgot to show you this week's block from the Friday Block Party. This one is called, "Dakota Gold". I like this block. It was easy and quick. I don't know if that is because it actually is easy and quick or if I am just getting better at doing these blocks. This is another 10-inch block, so I used batiks again. I now have a total of eight 10-inch blocks. Only a few more and I will have a small quilt!
Doing a block a week is not a lot of work. In fact, I look forward to Fridays in order to see what the next block will be. This was week 16. That means I have at least 16 blocks made altogether. Not bad, eh? I made some of the blocks twice, so I actually have more. And I don't feel as if I have been slaving over them. Doing only one block per week, and a different one at that, keeps everything interesting.

Happy Earth Day!

Today is Earth Day!

A day to make people aware of what is happening to our planet.

Are you doing something to make our world a better place?

We need to lesson our impact on our world.

Make every day an earth day!

Turn off the lights when not in use.

Say "No!" to plastic.

Recycle!

Take public transit.

Use water wisely.

Plant a tree.

I think I will make a new bag today, something that I can re-use.

If we each do a little, we can all do a lot!

A Cat Quilt

Hi Folks!

If you have come to my blog to view my favourite quilt for the Bloggers Quilt Festival - Welcome! Please scroll down to Friday's post.

If you have just come to look around - Welcome also! I have a small quilt to show you. I finished it a few weeks ago, but I couldn't post about it because it was a present for my uncle who lives in Holland. Since he has now received it, I can show it. It is just a small quilt, made especially for his special cat! I used a lot of cat prints and some colourful fabrics to make it interesting.

Oscar loves the quilt. Don't you my boy?

"Meow! Yeah! KEWL! Can I keep it?"

"No, sorry Oscar. This one is not for you."

"Ah, please. Pretty please with sardines on it? I just want to nap on it. I won't hurt it. Ahhh, this feels so good!"

I know it is difficult for your little cat brain to understand this Oscar, but not all the quilts I make are for you. This one is for Whitey. Here is a photo of Whitey on his new quilt. My uncle put it on a table in front of a window, where Whitey likes to sit. I think he likes it! My goodness! Now that I look at the photo of Whitey I realize he looks a lot like you Oscar! You guys could be brothers!

I also made a couple of place mats for my uncle so that he wouldn't feel left out.

My Favourite for the Bloggers Quilt Festival

Are you ready for the First Annual Bloggers Quilt Festival?

Well, come along.

This should be good!

Here is my entry. I may have already shown you this quilt in he past, but it is my all-time favourite! It is a wall hanging, 34 inches square that I did completely by hand - the applique, the sewing and the quilting. It was my first applique quilt. The course was offered at the now-closed Quilter's Garden.

Each block is 8 inches square. I spent many hours happily appliqueing away. Even when I look at it now I can't believe that I had so much energy and patience to do all of those small blocks! Here is a close-up of one of the blocks.


It would be interesting (for me at least) to count all the applique pieces to see how many there are in this quilt. Maybe I'll do that one day. I haven't hung it on my wall yet because I think I would like to do a bit more hand quilting on it. I was not very good at hand quilting at the time and did the absolute minimum.

Click on the Bloggers Quilt Festival button on my side bar to view the other quilters who are taking part in this.

A Virtual Quilt Show!

This is exciting! I just found out that there is going to be a Bloggers Quilt Show! There are quite a few bloggers out there who are going to participate. From April 17th until April 24th these bloggers will post their most favourite quilt. Oh, boy! I think there will be a lot of really nice quilts in this show! There are even some give-aways for those participating, but I am not really sure how they work. Maybe you can figure that out, but for me the reward will be to see all the lovely quilts!

I love quilt shows, but right now I am in no condition to go on long trips to find them. So this seems like a great idea. Come and join me! Click here to join. Or click on the icon on my sidebar. I am now going to look through my favourite quilts to see which one I am going to post!

Not Much to Show - Just Two Small Blocks

Boy, this weekend went by quickly! The weather was good - nice and sunny! We had Easter dinner at our house. I was ordered by my kids not to buy any chocolate this year, so I didn't. But it really felt as if something was missing!

The Friday Block Party was called "Bouncing Betty". I made the block in the bottom right corner first. Then Kathryn posted a quick way of doing the corner blocks which have the large triangles in them. I just had to try the block again! The top left block is a result of that method. It went together very quickly. I just wish I had made the block in more colours, kind of like the first one, to look more like coloured Easter eggs! The blocks are only 8 inches square. Right now they are orphans. I might make some other 8-in. blocks in the future to go with them. But for now this is all I could put together on this long, but very busy weekend!

Baby Bears

My first finish for April! Yippeeeee! I showed you a part (the little blue bear) of this quilt a few weeks ago. I finished quilting it this morning. There was not much left to do. I had already put the binding on.

It was started at a Bee Night held by our Quilting Guild many years ago. The lesson was half log cabin blocks. I was not happy with the layout of the blocks, so I changed them, laying them out with large white areas in order to leave room for some applique. The bears are my own design. I just drew them and then appliqued them using the freezer paper method. I call this quilt, Baby Bears.

Hetty's Star

Here is my version of this week's Friday Block Party Block. It is called, "Cathy's Star". I changed it a little in the bottom right hand corner, because I didn't think the yellow star points showed up enough. I put dark blue around them. It sort of changed the whole look of the block, but I still like it. I doubt, however, that I would ever make another one of these. What I might try (some day) is to put only one star within the large star - leaving that yellow one out all together. I think it would work, don't you?

A Perfect Spring Day!

I didn't do any quilting today. None. Not even one stitch! But I was busy though.

It was a beautiful day. warm and springlike. The sun was shining. The birds were singing. The crocuses were blooming on my lawn. I decided to take my scooter and go out for a little jaunt. Having no idea of where to go, I let my scooter take me where it wanted to. I passed by the school where my daughter teaches. I stopped in and found a beautiful mural on the wall in the entrance way. It was all made by the students - out of paper mache! They had some help from an artist, but each student had something up to contribute to the mural. This is the part I liked the best. A robin's nest. What could be more springlike?

I continued on my way and my scooter drove me past the school where I last worked. I went in, not really knowing what to expect. It was a great experience! I talked to fellow colleagues who I hadn't seen for years. And there were still some of my former students who recognized me. They looked wonderful, although a little (actually a whole lot) taller! One of the students told me he was graduating in June. He invited me to the graduation. I think I will go!

Then I was back on the road. My scooter took me through spring woods, still sound asleep and then down to the lake. It made a left turn and I ended up......... at a local quilt shop! Oh my! What a great scooter I have. It knows exactly where I like to go. Since I was there, I had to buy some fabric - of course. When I got home I was exhausted, but very content and happy. It was a perfect spring day!

Feeling Better

I think I can finally say that I am feeling better. This cold lasted a long time - over a week. Not only did I blow my brains out and cough up a lung, but I also had no energy. Sewing was a waste of time. I could not follow a pattern. But I did find a very easy quilt pattern on Bee Square Fabrics. It was this pattern by Crazy Mom Quilts. The whole thing is done in long strips which were then cut and sewn back together. I started it sometime last week, but made the mistake of placing it on my 'design floor' and forgetting about it. When I got up the next morning this is what I found!

I am sure this is Mimi's handiwork! She just loves to pounce on my blocks and push them around. She also likes to hide under them if they have been sewn together into strips. But I could not get her to confess! No way! Oscar pleaded innocent too. He says he just likes to sit on anything I make. Open your eyes, Oscar! I want to see if you are telling the truth!


I redid my 'design floor' and sewed some of the blocks together, but I did not have the energy to finish the quilt. Another UFO! Oh, well.

I did finish the Friday Block Party block for this week. It's called the Queen's X. It is another 10-inch block, so I did it in batiks. This one was an easy block, but with my lack of energy it took me three days to complete!

Earth Hour

If we each save a little we will all save a lot!
I guess I'll be hand piecing by candle light this evening from 8:30 - 9:30pm.
Who knows It could be fun!
Let's all do it together.

I Have a Frog in my Throat!

I'm back! Sort of anyway. I have slept for three days, almost non-stop. This morning I decided enough was enough. I got up, had a shower, got dressed in some clean clothes and now I feel much better. Except for this 'frog' in my throat. I haven't had laryngitis for years, but now I sound awful! I wonder if it has anything to do with the Friday Block Party block for this week, called 'Leap Frog'. Probably not!

I still don't feel much like doing anything, but I decided to at least tackle the block for this week. I think it turned out okay. There was a lot of extra cutting and sizing up before I could sew it together. I also did a lot of 'frogging'. Probably my own fault, but I'm blaming that on the block too. When I put it on the floor to take a photo, Mimi and Oscar came running!

"Do you like my block?" I asked Mimi.

"It's kind of green!" She said. "Can I play?"

"Play what?" I asked.

"Leap Frog of course! Come Oscar! Come and play with me."

And they did!

One of My Earlier Quilts

I want to thank everyone who left me a comment on yesterday's post. All of your comments have come into my gmail account and I intend to answer each and everyone of them. But not today. My cold has taken over and I just want to sleep. I will get back to you as soon as I can.

Some people commented on the quilt which I showed a small portion of on yesterday's post. I don't think I ever posted this one on my blog because I made it about 6 or 7 years ago, long before my blogging days. It was from a kit called "Garden Delight", designed by Lydia Quigley, from the Quilt Collectors Series.

I made it with my mother in mind. She lives in the country and wanted something for the twin size bed in her spare room. But I was too slow for her. When she finally purchased a denim 'quilt' at a yard sale for $200 I knew that I had to finish the quilt. The denim quilt was not worth $200 and I felt bad that she had paid so much for it! If I had completed the quilt earlier she would not have bought the denim one. The entire quilt did not fit into one photo, so I took the top half in this shot..........



.........and bottom part in this photo. I used almost every method of quilt construction. It is machine pieced, hand pieced, hand appliqued and paper pieced. I machine and hand quilted it. When I finally gave it to my mother, she almost cried!


.

I even added some personal things that weren't in the pattern, like the appliqued dog and trees block. This was my mother's dog at that time, Also the appliqued flowers were an after thought because my mother loves flowers,

I'll be back soon.

Today is National Quilt Day!

It's a good thing I don't have to do anything besides quilting today. It's National Quilt Day and like.... I need an excuse to quilt! Yeah, right! Actually I am feeling a bit 'under the weather' - sore throat and a stuffy nose. But I won't let that stop me! When life gives you scraps, make quilts and when life gives you a sore throat, sew, don't talk!

Right, Mimi?

"Meow! Keep sewing! I haven't seen a new quilt around here for days! It's nap time! Just wake me when it's National Cat Day. Meow!"

Aftermath of a Sleepless Night

I couldn't sleep last night. The pain in my legs was the worst it's been in a long time! I took 4 percocet tablets and still the pain wouldn't go away and all I did was toss and turn in my bed. So I decided to get up and rummage through my scrap bin. Doesn't everyone do that when they can't sleep? Anyways, I found enough fabric to make another Chimneys and Cornerstones block.



The colours kind of stunned me when I looked at it the block this morning! But I guess that's what happens when you take painkillers and sew in the middle of the night!

I now have a total of 8 12-inch blocks. I did not have a colour theme in mind when I started to do the 12-inch blocks. My only criterion was to use fabrics from my scrap bin. I don't know how I will put them all into one quilt. I will wait until I have a few more. Maybe I'll make two or three quilts!

Oh Jeez! Will you guys get off my blocks! And get that tongue back into your mouth! Sorry about that folks! Just a little gay moment in our household. Okay! Enough! Get off my blocks! Now!


Ah, that's better.

Chimneys, Cornerstones and Chintz

Can't believe it's Friday already! The Friday Block Party block for this week is called, 'Chimneys and Cornerstones'. It's a simple block. All of the fabrics came from my scrap bin! All, that is, except for the darker fabric around the outside. I bought that a long time ago for next to nothing. It's not the greatest and I have a lot of it, so I decided to use some. I really don't have many light fabrics in my scrap bin.


I think it turned out okay!


And now for the chintz! I have been working on a charity quilt for 'Quilts from the Heart'. I took this kit home from our last guild meeting. Little did I know that the fabric inside would turn out to be absolutely hideous! There were 10 9-inch squares of a bright yellow-orange fabric and 10 9-inch squares of a very bright tropical fabric.


These blocks were to be sewn together in a checkerboard pattern. The fabric for the back was a dingy brown. While I realize that the fabrics for Quilts from the Heart are all donated and after all, 'beggars can't be choosers', I have a hard time making a child's quilt out of many of the fabrics that are in these kits. And these large 10-inch squares are not exactly challenging! So I cut the yellow-orange fabric up and added some blue and purple. I did not exactly want to make the quilt dull, but I wanted to get away from the large squares of yellow-orange.


That leaves the tropical fabric to go in between the pieced blocks. But I don't think I like the look of that. It's too busy. I think I am going to do some applique blocks to go in between the nine patch blocks. Maybe a heart or a butterfly, appliqued onto some of the dingy brown fabric that was supposed to be for the backing. Then I will piece the back using the left over brown and some of my own fabrics. I think it will work. It at least makes things a little more interesting!

A Quilting Day

I have not yet decided how I will sew my Bear Tracks block together. Thanks for all your opinions. I really appreciate everyone's input. I think the problem with my block is in the colours I used. I might make a few more sections and see what things look like then. Maybe I'll even end up with two blocks!

Meanwhile............ I am working on finishing some other projects. This first one is supposed to be a surprise for a special someone, so I won't show the whole thing until I know the person has received it. It is almost finished. I even have the binding on it - just a bit of extra quilting here and there and it will be ready to send off.

Today is a dark, dreary and rainy day. I feel as if my eyes don't want to stay open. I don't feel very creative, so I have been sandwiching in anticipation of a quiet afternoon of machine quilting. The quilt is a baby quilt that I started a long time ago. Our Guild used to hold Bee Nights, where we had the opportunity to learn easy quilting techniques.

I was very eager in those days and never missed one of these Bee Nights! For this technique we were supposed to cut our fabric beforehand and bring everything to the Bee Night meeting. The pattern was a very simple half log cabin block. We were supposed to pick a strip of fabric out of a bag and sew with it - no planning was allowed. Well, with my neurotic need for order and my insane perfectionism, I was not able to do much of that! I took everything home and promised to finish the quilt on my own. I tried to do a little more each time I picked it up since then. I even appliqued some bears on the inner light spaces.

Now I have no more excuses. I pulled it out of the UFO bin and realized that I don't have much to do to finish this piece. So that is what I will do over the next couple of days.

Bear Tracks in the Mud

This is my block for week 10 in the Friday Block Party. Can you believe that 10 weeks have already gone by this year? We have melting temperatures and rain - very spring-like, but I'm sure that will change in the next few weeks. Spring is not here yet. One week to go until March Break.

This block is called Bear Tracks. I used scraps from my scrap bin, which was nice. I did not have enough scraps to make the block in two colours, so I used four. It's a fairly easy block. Now that I have been practicing my half square triangles on a weekly basis, they have become quick and easy to make. I just can't decide how to put the whole block together. The pattern calls for a layout as in the above photo. But because I used four different fabrics, I sort of like the layout of the one below.


What do you think? I haven't sewn the pieces together yet. I'm going to wait to get your opinion.

Spring Stripes

This is my version of the Friday Block Party's block for this week. It is called Fancy Stripes. I decided to make it in blues and yellow. Sorry about the quality of the photo. My camera is not cooperating. The yellow is really a nice soft, sunny yellow. I decided to use these spring-like colours in honour of those confused. little crocuses that are growing in front of my house so early this year. They are the colours of hope!

Spring Can't Be Too Far Away!

Look what I found in my garden this afternoon! It is only the first day of March but these little crocuses are already opening their little blossoms in the warm sunshine! I know that they are growing about a foot (30cm) from the house so they are sort of in a tiny micro-climate, but they make me think that spring can't be far off! And that makes me smile!