Time to Finish Another UFO

As I was working on the Chinese Coin quilt, I realized that it was a new quilt I had started. I promised myself I wouldn't do that. I was going to finish a UFO before beginning anything new.

Then I found this UFO. It's on my design floor right now, but it is not sewn yet. This pattern is especially good for using 5inch charm squares or scraps and I am using scraps. So I figured this quilt is very similar to the Chinese Coins. Perhaps I can work on them at the same time. The fabric I can't use in this quilt can be used for the Coin quilt. Am I making sense? Have I bitten off more than I can chew? I'll ask Mimi to help me. Oh! Maybe not. Never wake a sleeping cat, especially a cat named Mimi!

Wednesday's Flowers on Thursday

A new crop of flowers have bloomed in my garden. I can hardly believe it, but I made 9 new flowers this week. It's a good thing too, because there are no more flowers in my outside garden. Only these leaves on my Cranesbill (perennial geranium) give the garden some colour. This is a real bonus this year. I had beautiful blue flowers all summer and now these gorgeous orange leaves. It has been a good year for my garden.

Chinese Coin Progress

I know it is Wednesday and I should be showing you my hexagon flowers. But that will have to wait until another day. A friend (no blog) asked me how to make a Chinese Coin quilt. So I took a photo of what I have sewn so far. I have lots of 'coins' cut and I hope to work on it some more later today. The coins are from the scraps Vicki gave me last week and also from my own stash. It feels good to use up some of my fabrics.

All of my Quilting Interests are Keeping Me from my Quilting

I have been busy with my quilt groups the past two days and as a result I have almost nothing to show you. Yesterday I went to Bee Night, but I did not make the project for the evening - a table runner. It just didn't turn me on. So I mostly sat and socialized.

Then this morning I went to the mini Tuesday quilt group. I worked on my hexies, but mostly I drank tea and ate cake and socialized some more. Here are my prepped hexagons. I should be able to sew some flowers tonight to show you tomorrow.

I wanted to take a photo of Mimi, but as soon as she saw the camera she turned her back to me.


When I finally did get her face she was already looking away. She jumped down as soon as she saw the flash. Yes, I had to use my flash. It is really getting dark early. Maybe it's a good thing. It will give me more time to sew my hexies.

Star Dish Cloths

I made a couple of star wash cloths. These are knit. It was kind of nice to knit something for a change. I think I will make a few more of these for the bazaar - in Christmas colours.

I am going to Bee Night tonight. We are making table runners and tree ornaments. I still have to make dinner and gather my stuff together. NoBloPoMo. More tomorrow.

Red Flowers on my Cactus

We set our clocks back an hour today. I love getting that extra hour on the first morning!
When I went to water my plants I noticed some flowers on the red Christmas cactus.


This is early. It's not as if I haven't thought about Christmas though. I crocheted this dishcloth for a church bazaar. I want to make several more. I love this pattern. It's easy, but it looks complicated. Here is a better photo.

Just wanted to check in so that I don't mess up my NoBloPoMo. Dinner is almost ready. I made a stew today. Something nice and warm because it was chilly outside.

Tooth Fairies and Chinese Coins

Thank you to everyone who wished me well yesterday. It was an awful day I never want to have to repeat it. I still have a headache and some low grade pain in my face, but the worst is over. Now I just have to come to the emotional terms of dealing with a lost tooth.

So I had to smile when I opened Emily's blog this morning. She had made some Matyroshka dolls with a pocket to hold a tooth for the tooth fairy. She even had a link to a tutorial, here.
These are so cute. I didn't follow the instructions too well, so I will keep these two for myself, sort of as a prototype. But I will make some more. They are so much fun! For the next ones, I will embroider the face before I sew it to the doll and I will sew it to the doll before I sew the back and front together. The one on the left has a pocket to hold the tooth. Too bad I didn't have my tooth any more. I could have hit the tooth fairy for an ipod or something. Well, I can dream, can't I? I think these would be great for Christmas!


I did not sleep well last night. I guess that was because I napped the whole of yesterday away. So I got up around midnight and started sorting the scraps that Vicki had brought me. I discovered that a lot of them were 2 1/2 inches wide. I thought they would be perfect for a Chinese Coin quilt. I have never made one, but always wanted to. So here is my first row of coins. The colours are fantastic!

So it seems that my post is money related. Tooth fairy pillows and Chinese Coin quilts. Perhaps I am going to come into some money. Do you think I should buy a lottery ticket?

Just One Square to Share

It rained today. The sun never came out. It was dark and gloomy. I thought it was because I had to go to the dentist, but no, it was just awful out.

I did a lot of napping. Oscar shared my bed. I slept from the time I got home from the dentist until Vicki from Felines and Fibre Arts phoned me. She wanted to come over to bring me some of her fabric scraps.

Well, that got me up in a hurry. I can never resist some more scraps! She brought me two bags full of them. I couldn't wait to go into my sewing room after she left, to see what was in those bags. It was so much fun! By the time I had looked them over and put them back into the bags, there seemed to be an extra bag. How did that happen? I think those scraps were starting to multiply already!

So I sewed one 5 inch log cabin square. That's all I could manage. I had to have my tooth extracted. It was just hanging by a thread. The dentist didn't think a root canal and a cap would work. So he pulled it. And now I have a hole in my mouth and a throbbing pain in my face. I will have to have a bridge put in later. That's if I ever go back to the dentist again!

A Pain in the... Tooth

Not much quilting was accomplished today. I have a toothache. It has been bothering me for a few days now, but today it was real bad. I broke that tooth awhile back. The dentist can see me tomorrow morning. I am trying to be optimistic, but with all the luck I've been having lately... well, I just don't know. Arggg! Perhaps a root canal is in my future. Think I will go back to sewing a few little hexies together. But even that isn't cheering me up today.

Does this count as a post for NaBloPoMo?

Flowers on Wednesday

I made five flowers this week. These are all done in shades of red because I used some of my new fabrics. I still have a lot of old fabric to sort so I think I will make a few more from those before I sew them all together.

Tuesdays

Did everyone have enough candy to eat yesterday? I had more than I needed. There were only a few kids who came 'trick-or-treating' at my house on Hallowe'en. It was too cold out. So I had lots of chocolate bars left over. I spent most of yesterday sneaking a piece of chocolate many pieces of chocolate!

Then this morning I went to our mini quilt group and someone had a birthday, her 80th. Here she is with tears in her eyes as she tried to compose herself enough to blow out the candles. The cake was delicious, by the way. (more sugar)
I also want to show you what arrived in the mail. I joined a fat quarter club at Sew Sisters. Only $17.99 per month for 10 fat quarters and no charge for postage. This month's fabrics are coffee related. I think I will make a wall hanging for the kitchen. Can't live without coffee. At least it's fabric and not sugar!

This afternoon I felt kind of tired. (Duh!) I think it's from eating too much sugar! So I worked on some little log cabin blocks made with left-overs. These measure 5 inches square. I have no idea what I will do with them. They are just a great way to use up scraps and keep me busy. (and out of the candy jar!)

NaBloPoMo?

Okay, so here's the thing............

I just finished blogging every day for the whole month of October. And now I am thinking of joining the NaBloPoMo and doing it again for the month of November. Should I seek professional help? I have been thinking about this all day, trying to decide if I want to join in on this or not. I have another hour and a half before the first of the Month is over.


Mimi wants to play. She thinks I spend way too much time on the computer as it is.

"Meow! You don't need to do this! If you have time on your hands you can just come over here and give me a little skritch on my tummy. I love that! Meow!"

Okay Mimi. Will you promise not to up chuck a furball in my sewing room? Maybe I can do both. Should I NaBloPoMo or not? Okay, here we go. This is my first official post for the month of November.

"Meow! Okay, but I'm not making any promises about that furball thing. Meow!"

Ghosts, Goblins and Flowers from Outer Space

I have edited this post. Thanks for your help in identifying the designer of this pattern. The edited parts are in red.

Today is day 31 of Blogtoberfest. I made it!

Not only that, but I am joining the Bloggers Quilt Festival that Amy is hosting. I have a finished quilt to show you! Yes! Finished!!!

This is the one I have been working on for the past week. I finally got it quilted and last night I put the binding on. I started this quilt many years ago. Unfortunately I can't remember where the pattern came from. If you recognize it, please let me know so I can give credit, where credit is due.

Edit: The pattern is called, 'Flowers', by Linda Brannock. It was published by the Star Quilt Company when Brannock was the owner. She has since retired and this pattern is no longer published. Having learned that I am even happier now that I finished this quilt. Thanks to all who left me a comment on this.

When I was working on this quilt, my son used to tell me that these flowers reminded him of aliens from outer space. I am calling it Alien Flowers just for him. It's a fitting name since today is Hallowe'en.

And here is some pretty Hallowe'en colour.

I worked in the garden yesterday and picked these flowers. They are the last ones for this year. My obligations for Octoberfest have come to an end. Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.

BOO!

Murphy's Law, I Guess

Today is day 30 of Blogtoberfest. Only one more day to go.

Did you know that Amy from Amy's Creative Side is having a blogger's quilt show this week? Well she is! And I wanted to show my primitive flowers quilt, but unfortunately it is still not done. Oh, I've been working on it, but things just aren't going right for me. I broke my thread many times, changed threads, put a new needle in, re-threaded my machine - but still it kept giving me problems. Then Mimi got into the mess. Walking all over my quilt. Trying to get my attention by scratching my fabric bin. I have put her down for her nap now, but she is not asleep yet.

Just pretending to sleep.

And then, as a final assault on myself, I ran over my thumb with my machine when I was just about finished all of the quilting. Ouch! That hurt. I am putting the quilt down for awhile. I hope to get the binding on later and sew it down tonight. For now I think I will go and do some shopping. Still haven't bought any Halloween treats yet. I think I will buy something especially for me. I really need something to make my thumb feel better - something chocolate!

Done!

Today is day 29 of Blogtoberfest.

I finished the rest of the blocks which I showed you yesterday. Once I got them going they were not too difficult. I frogged the two blocks I did wrong yesterday and fixed them, so I only had to make three more. If you want to see more of our Row Robin, just click on the robin on my sidebar.

I'm Seeing Stars!

Day 28 of Blogtoberfest and I got nuttin'. Well not much anyway.

I joined a Row Robin a few months back. My row is supposed to be done and shipped to the next person by the end of this month. I am not going to make it. Procrastination! I should have started it earlier, but never really had the desire until this morning.

This row is supposed to be a row of stars - in bright colours. I had this star block done last year with the Friday Block Party. It's called 'Hope of Hartford'. I really like it. And no one had done one of these yet. It seemed like the perfect block. The only problem was, it's a 10in. block and the block for this row should be 9 inches

So I got out my graph paper and designed a 9in. block. Sounds easy, doesn't it? But I guess I measured wrong because the first block I made came out 1/4in. too small. That's the yellow one on the left.

Back to the drawing board!

I made another block, but it was the same. I don't know how I got it wrong twice, but I did. Not even going to show you a photo of that one. I went back to the drawing board and tried again. And I finally got it right! It's the pink one on the right.

So now I have to make 5 more blocks.

Note to self - measure twice, cut once.

I hate unsewing!

Flowers on Wednesday

Today is day 27 of Blogtoberfest.

I have been busy with my hexagon quilt this past week. I love these little hexies. They are so much fun to do anytime I have a spare moment. I have now come to a rather large area that needs to fit perfectly or the hexagon shape will be distorted. So I am auditioning hexies at the moment. This is what it looks like so far. I am not sure about those two yellow hexagons. They look like eyes to me. Maybe I will make them in a different colour (darker) so they won't come to the foreground so much.

I have also sewn all of the flowers that I have prepped so far for the flower quilt. I have several more flowers cut out. I just have to baste them. And I need to make more green hexies. I am hoping that will happen this week.

Tuesday Things

Today is day 26 of Blogtoberfest

I tried to get back onto Blogger last night, but my internet provider was giving me problems. I could not log on and I could not leave any comments. So I went to bed. I've been busy the past few days.

I want to thank Vicki of Felines and Fibre Arts for finding a link to the Japanese Manhole covers and leaving it in a comment on yesterday's post. I am not going to leave a link on this post because I can't seem to get it right and it just won't work. It must be me. They are actually very easy to find. I am going to show you a couple of photos from of the book. I'm sure this isn't allowed but if I say it is from the book called, 'Quilting with Manhole Covers' by Shirley MacGregor maybe I can get away with it. The photo on the left is the quilt and the one on the right is the manhole cover that inspired it.


Here is another one. Quilt on the left, manhole cover on the right. The quilts are about 16in. to 40in. in diameter. I want to start making one of these, but I have way too many UFOs to even give it any consideration. Maybe when the cold winter months make doing anything outside impossible. Something to look forward to.

I went to my quilt group this morning. The person who made that real-looking doll a couple of weeks ago brought in a monkey to show me. She makes these too. She buys the parts and paints them. Then makes a body and inserts the hair a strand at a time with a felting needle. Wow - patience! Isn't this guy (girl) cute?

Guild Night

Today is day 25 of Blogtoberfest.

The manhole covers book is fascinating. The manhole covers we have in Toronto are kind of ugly and boring. They have not been given much thought when it comes to creativity. But the ones in Japan are beautiful. They depict history or something interesting about the region, like boats, fish, flowers etc. The book shows some of them along with round quilts that quilters have appliqued in beautiful fabrics. I still have a lot to read and I don't know if I am going to be clever enough to turn one of those gray pictures into a colourful quilt. But we'll see. You can google 'manhole covers in Japan' and that will give you some idea of how intricate they are. I would find that link for you, but I am in a hurry at the moment. I have to be at our guild meeting in an hour. And I am still cooking dinner and getting ready. If I have time when I get home tonight I will try to be a little more helpful.

The Creative Festival

Day 24 of Blogtoberfest

My husband and I went down to the Creative Festival today. Had a great time and met lots of fellow quilters. I bought a few metres of fabric to replenish my stash. The reds on the left were from Len's Mills. Gosh I love that place. It was a bit difficult to maneuver around in their section, but I did find a few nice reds. The fabrics on the right were 2.99 per metre. Not bad for backings or baby quilts. And the fat quarters in the centre were 4 for $10, more reds and a couple of light coloured batiks.

I also got a few extra things that caught my interest. A new cutting mat and a ruler with 30, 60 and 90 degree markings, some seed beads, and a ball of Rozetti Cocoon Multi. I saw something like this on Cybele's Patch. I think my daughter will like this once I have it made up into a scarf. The book looked interesting - Quilting Manhole Covers. I didn't buy it when I first spotted it. It's a book full of quilt patterns based on the manhole covers in Japan. As we were leaving I decided that I just couldn't leave it behind, so I sent my husband back to get it for me.

We took the GO train to Union Station. It is almost completely wheelchair accessible now. It was a fast and economical way to get downtown. Now that I am home I can feel my exhaustion. I need some sustenance and then a nap. And I also want to take a closer look at that book. Talk to you all tomorrow.