A Carfree, Equinox, Victory Kind of Day!

Today marks the Autumnal Equinox, or September Equinox. Fall arrives at 5:18pm, our time this afternoon. It has been sort of rainy and humid today. It looks like fall, but it is still warm, like summer. Don't get me wrong. I love fall, but this year our summer was a little to cold and wet for my liking. Hopefully we will have some lovely fall weather to enjoy the changing leaves. I am not ready to give up on the outdoors yet!


It is also Worldwide Carfree Day today! Everyone was asked to leave their cars at home and walk, take public transit or bike to work (or play) today. This is only a one-day thing, but it is hoped that people will continue to leave their cars at home, thus reducing our carbon footprint on the earth. A carbon footprint is a measure of the impact we have on our environment. It relates to the amount of greenhouse gases we produce in our day-to-day lives by burning fossil fuels for heat, transportation and electricity. I am curious to know if other people celebrated this day in other parts of our wonderful world.

And in the hopes that we can reduce our carbon footprints on our planet, let me show you my Victory block from this week's Block Party. It is called, "Nelson's Victory". Nelson being Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson and Victory being the HMS Victory, a flagship of the Royal Navy.

It is a 12-inch block. Easy and quick! I might do another one in a 9-inch size using a fun fabric in the corners. But that remains to be seen. I am sort of busy at the moment and the atmospheric changes have left me exhausted. Think I will go and take a nap now.

A Buggy Finish!

I have been working on and off on this 'bug' quilt all summer. It is going to Quilts From the Heart at our Guild this month. The quilts will be donated to various organizations, but mostly to shelters in our area. This one measures approximately 38in by 52in. I hope it is not too big. I did my own thing with this one.

Can you tell I'm addicted to nine-patches? I wonder how many more I will have to make before that's out of my system. Oh, well. At least one more of my UFOs is in the finished pile. Now back to the sewing room. I am trying to tidy up a bit. I can't find anything at the moment! And that drives me crazy!

Fruits From the Garden and Sewing Room

We have had a very cool, wet summer and now we are having a nice mild, totally dry September. But that's okay. My tomato plants are finally starting to produce some ripe tomatoes. I decided to experiment a bit this year. I didn't have much room for vegetables, so I only planted a few tomato plants. They are heirloom tomatoes. I have no idea what that means, but they are kind of interesting. One plant bears a dark burgundy fruit with a darker (greenish) top. Another one has pretty yellow lines on a bright orange fruit. The third one is a little red tomato that has an excellent tomato flavour. I love this one in salads. And finally, the fourth plant bears little clusters of yellow tomatoes. These are like candy! I just go out into my backyard and pop them into my mouth! Delicious!

I have not had much time to spend on sewing this week. There have been doctor appointments and other things that took me away from my sewing machine! But I did manage to finish another journal cover. This one fits a full-size notebook. I used cat fabrics and I love it!

I am just working on finishing the binding to another charity quilt. I will photograph and post about it as soon as I am done.

Block Party Block - Week 37

This is the block for week 37 of the Friday Block Party. It is called, "Hope of Hartford", and dates back to around 1945. It's a very easy block to make.

I got excited when I saw it on the Block Party. That little central square seemed like a perfect place to do some fussy cutting of a kids focus fabric. But halfway through the construction of this block I remembered that this is a 10-inch block and all of my 10-inch blocks have been done in batiks. I have used novelty fabrics for my 9-inch blocks. Duh!

So I make another block. This time in batiks. I like them both.

Searching and Searching

Tax officials of our Canadian government, in their infinite wisdom, have decided that I am holding out on them. They claim that I have contributed more than I was allowed to my RRSP. (Registered Retirement Savings Plan). The amount we are allowed to contribute is deducted from our yearly taxable income. I always tried to contribute a few dollars. I have no idea how much they think I owe them. It could be hundreds or thousands of dollars or maybe just a few cents.

I don't get it! I never had enough money to put in too much. They want me to show them all of my tax bills for the past 10 years. Not just the tax stuff they returned to me after I had sent it in, but all the income and taxable deductions as well and of course, all of my RRSP stubs. Ten years is a long time to keep old tax records. I thought only businesses had to do that.

So now, while Harper is having an expensive lunch with dignitaries, flying around the world in a private jet and staying in fancy hotels, all at the expense of tax payers, I have to search through all my old files and papers and try to find what I have to send them. Aaaaachoo! All that dust! I am sneezing a lot as I go through all of those old boxes and files. I know these papers are here somewhere, because I never throw anything out. I came across a few very, very old letters, from girlfriends who had moved away many years ago. It was kind of an nostalgic moment - almost enough to make this search worth it.

But I have to stay focused. Searching and more searching. I wonder what they will do to me if I don't find those documents. Will I be stoned in the public square? Hung and quartered? Maybe sent off to fight the war in Afghanistan? Nah, probably none of those. They'll probably just charge me more tax! But it's the principal of the thing. I want to be able to say I was right. So I continue to break my nails and cough and sneeze!

But sometimes searching is a good thing. Look what I found in my mailbox yesterday! The Calico Cat had some kittens to give away! And I was lucky enough to have her send me some! Lots of really cute cat fabrics and some other fun 'I spy' fabrics. Thanks Amy! These are great! I've already started to cut some strips to add to a cat journal cover I was working on. But more of that tomorrow. Now I have to get back to my files.......

Some Bag Patterns and a Block

OMG! Look what I found. I know I already posted something for today, but I just had to tell you about this! It's a site with free instructions and tutorials for making bags. Lots of different bags. It's fantastic! I love this. Go take a look. I have put the link on my sidebar.

I found it on Barb's blog. I have been looking for bag patterns for a long time. Now I have more than I can handle! I always knew I was meant to be a bag lady!

I also finished this week's Block Party block. It's an 8inch block called, Double Quartet. I love this pattern. It was quick and easy and took me all of half an hour from start to finish, including taking a photo! I used scraps from my scrap bin as well as some background fabric from my stash. I think I might make another of these, except in a 12 inch block.

Last Weekend of Summer

Today marks the unofficial end of summer. School begins tomorrow! Where did the summer go? Last June one of the teachers who works with my DD asked me to help with a felt 'quilt' her students had been making. Each student had designed a felt square and then those squares where supposed to be joined together to make a wallhanging. But their efforts to sew everything together had not resulted in anything that could be hung on a wall. The problem was that the 'squares' weren't square.

So I squared them up and decided to add a sashing. I used a quilt-as-you-go sashing. I think it gave the individual parts more definition. I also had to sew down some of the decorations, because the students had used white glue, paint and hot glue to add their decorations and pieces of felt and these were falling off. It was difficult to sew through them, but after much calculating, cutting, sweating and hand sewing, I came up with this.
I think it came out okay. And Mimi and Oscar seem to like it!

Mimi: "Meow! I'm not staying. I'm just passing through!"

"Thanks Mimi." I think Mimi just wanted to be sure there would be lots of white cat hairs on the quilt when I take it over to the school tomorrow.

Yesterday we took another trip up to Haliburton to visit my mother who is still in the hospital up there, waiting for a space in a nursing home. On the way up there, we stopped at a roadside picnic spot to eat our lunch.
I am pleased to be able to tell you that my Mom looked well - probably the best I've seen her since her strokes and other problems and ultimate admission to the hospital. We took her outside to sit and visit with her in the warm sunshine. It was a nice way to end the summer.
Our next trip to Haliburton will probably not happen until the Thanksgiving long weekend. And by then they could have snow up there!

Another Journal Cover

Not much going on in my sewing room this week. The weather is just too wonderful to sit inside. We have waited all summer for weather like this! Figures it would arrive in September. I did make another journal cover though. I copied the idea from Em's Scrapbag. I thought my DD would like it now that school is going to start next Tuesday. She has already been there all week, getting her classroom in order. She will be teaching Language to the grade 7 and 8 class this year! Also some science and phys ed to other grades. Her classroom looked rather bare and I thought a nice journal cover would brighten up her desk!

Mimi: "Meow! You mean it's not for me? But I like it. I want one too!"

Me: "This one is not for you sweet kitten!"

But I will make another one. I love these things and I am still having problems getting the size right. This one is still a bit on the small side, but I'm sure that after a few more tries I'll get it right.

Building Castles in the Air and Piglets in a Square

This is my block for this week's Friday Block Party. We're at week 35 already. Can you believe that? The year is going by quickly! This is a 12in. block. I used some batiks and I think it looks okay. I followed the instructions on the quilter's cache site. When I saw this same block made by one of the other Party members, Rosa, I realized that by placing the centre outside units all in the same direction, I could make a sort of friendship star block.

I decided to make this one in a 9 inch size. I wanted to fussy cut a centre square for the middle of the block. Most of my other 9in. blocks have a fussy cut children's fabric in the centre. I turned the corner units because I thought they detracted from the friendship star look. I like this block, but now I think I have made up a whole new block. And look what happened to my little piggy in the centre! When I sewed the corner triangles on, I cut off one of his ears!

Can't have that! I quickly needle turned another tiny ear onto the block. Now he looks better! I think my piglet is happy in the centre of his new block!

Labels!

I love labels. I spend more time reading labels than actually shopping when I go to the store. If I forget my glasses, I have to go home and get them. I just must read labels!

Many years ago I figured out that those little 'Chiquita" labels that were on bananas had some interesting info on them. They had the country in which they were grown. I loved seeing where my banana came from each week. Wonderful, hot, tropical places where bananas could be grown! They fascinated me! This week's bananas are from Ecuador. Neat,eh? And my nectarines are from New Jersey. See? I wouldn't have known that if I hadn't read the labels on them.

I am even label bilingual! Because French is our country's official second language, everything must be in English and French. I have become quite good at reading labels in French. But don't ask me to speak it. That's just not going to happen. I can read "papier photo glace", "confiture de fraises", "jus de pamplemousse", "sans gras", "mode de preparation", "creme glacee" and "moka et amandes au fudge". (sorry, I can't figure out how to get the accent marks in there) Okay, I have to stop. This is making me hungry.

When it comes to fabric, I also love to read the labels. The salvages are a wonderful source of information. They have the name of the company, the colours used in painting the fabric, often the name of the designer and maybe even the country where the fabric was produced. In the past I always cut a small piece of salvage and kept it somewhere just in case I needed more of that fabric. Of course, I could never find it when I needed it.

Today, after seeing so many wonderful things made with selvages, I cut them off and save them. I even look for fat quarters with selvages on them. I have a huge bin full of selvages! But until now I have not made much with them. Then I saw Exuberant Color's blog yesterday and I got inspired to make a journal cover using some selvage scraps I had sewn together a few weeks ago. Here it is. It doesn't fit quite right, but I learned a lot in the process and I think I see a few more of these in my future. Maybe something along the line of Em's Scrapbag's journal cover, which she also made yesterday. Isn't hers great?

I also spent a few hours trying to decide what to do about the picnic quilt. I really like the watermelon top and I don't think I will make a picnic quilt out of it. My DD understands. So I will go back to the blocks I started at the beginning of the summer. I plan to finish these - most are already started and almost done - and sandwich them and quilt them before I put them together in a quilt-as-you-go technique. I had to figure out the size of the strips for the sashing that holds them together. I have used this technique several times before, but I have to figure out the size of the sashing strips each time. You'd think I could remember that, but........ Here are two blocks put together. I am using a red fabric for the front sashing.

And on the back I plan to use a gold colour. I think it will look okay. And maybe I will have it ready by next summer's picnic season!

How Cool is This?

I always thought that all my quilting buddies lived in my computer. But yesterday afternoon I had a real, live blogging friend come over! How cool is that? It was Vicki of Felines and Fibre Arts. She had a give-away last week and I won one of the prizes. Again - how cool is that? Since Vicki lives in Toronto, she brought my winnings over in person! Now I ask you, how cool is that? Tres, cool = no?

Look at what I won! Eight fat quarters of black and white fabrics! Cool - right? And two meters of Amy Butler fabrics in pink and turquoise. More cool, - yeah! And also a box of Nestle's dark chocolate delicacies! It just doesn't get any cooler than that folks!

Vicki also showed me the quilt she has been working on over the past few weeks. It is all quilted and she is giving it to her friend today. I was so happy that I was able to see it before she gave it away. I have been following her progress with this quilt on her blog for weeks. It looks good in her photos, but I have to tell you..... it looks absolutely amazing in real life! The colours are fantastic! The fabrics are beautiful and the quilting is totally unique and awesome! She used a friend's embroidery machine to download outlines of dinosaurs and then quilted those shapes with the embroidery machine! I didn't know this was possible. The outcome was stunning! Go check it out! Now how cool is that?

A Couple of Flimsies

I know I haven't posted much lately. I've been busy, but have had nothing to show for it. Now I have finished a couple of flimsies. The first one is the watermelon 'picnic' quilt I was making for my DD. Still not completely sure if I like the idea of putting it on the ground and spilling food on it. I like how it turned out and I think I might just quilt it and use it as a fun summer quilt. But quilting it is the opportune word here. I still have to sandwich it first and that is the hard part for me. Hopefully DD will help me.

Then there is the red and white quilt I have been working on the past few weeks. It is based on the blue and white lap quilt I made for my mother. You can see it here. I also have a tutorial for it on my other blog. This top measures 36in. X 48in. I think I might make it a bit bigger. Sort of like a sofa quilt to cuddle under while watching television - in the winter when the weather is raging outside. I think the red and white would make a nice Christmas quilt. Maybe I'll just do a few more blocks or maybe I'll put a border around it. I haven't decided yet. And then, of course, there is the sandwiching and quilting. Hope DD helps me with this one also!

A Star is Born

This block is called Northumberland Star. It is this week's block on the Friday Block Party. I love star blocks and this one turned out really nice! But gosh was it ever difficult. I tried to follow the instructions on quilterscache, but finally gave up and just did my own thing. It is a 12-inch block, but it took me hours to complete. By 3:00am I only had half of it done. Would I have the patience to do this one again? I doubt it.

I also want to let you know about a give-away that Vicki at Felines and Fibre Arts is hosting. Go check it out. She has lots of great things to give away!

Wordless Wednesday - Mimi and Friend

Variations on Mosaic 3

I discovered a great new way of making a flying geese block! The instructions are on the Friday Block Party on my sidebar but you can find it here. I posted the original block (Mosaic 3)yesterday. Afterwards, I started thinking about other blocks I could make using this method. I wanted to do a Dutchman's Puzzle, but this is how it turned out. But I was really tired yesterday!

Then while lying in bed this morning, I began thinking about the block and remembered that the'geese' parts all have to be a colour and the rest of the pieces are background. So I went to my sewing machine and made this one. This is Dutchman's Puzzle!

I learned to do this block in my first quilt course, but I hated it. The points would not line up in the centre and my block was really wonky. I made that first quilt without this block. Now that I have found this new method , I think I could actually see myself making a whole quilt using this pattern. Now I just have to find the time.........

A Big Thank You and a Couple of Blocks

Before I do anything else, I want to thank everyone who left me such wonderful, encouraging and understanding comments on my last two posts! It felt so good to know that others have gone through similar things. Having studied psychology and social work, I know the importance of peer groups. It is always good to hear what others, in a similar situation, would have done or would advise.

My sister and I went to Haliburton yesterday. We had beautiful weather, cool and sunny! The drive up was nice as we chatted about everything and nothing. We had lunch in a small town restaurant and we stopped to buy local blueberries to bring to our Mother.

Mom looked a lot better than when we saw her last weekend. Both my sister and I were grateful for that! We talked, fed her blueberries, sat outside in the sunshine, helped her with her dinner, and made her coffee in the ward's kitchen. She was lucid and able to talk to us most of the time, which was nice. She had just been complaining to the nurses that she was cold when we got there. I gave her the quilt and she was very happy - warm and happy. She loved it. She is now on a waiting list for a nursing home. She has resigned herself to staying in a hospital and being looked after. I guess we have all resigned ourselves to that fact too. The only thing we can do now is wait until a space becomes available.

I was tired today. Didn't do a lot in my sewing room, except tidy up a bit. This week's Friday Block Party block looked interesting, so I made it. It is called Mosaic 3. The instructions for this block were interesting. I had never done the flying geese pattern the way it was explained. It is good to sometimes do things a little differently. I tried the new instructions and liked the way the block turned out. It is an 8inch block.

I also realized that I didn't post my block from last Friday. It was called Queen Charlotte's Crown. It is a 12inch block and I really like it. I looked up 'Queen Charlotte' and found lots of information about her. She was the wife of King George III. If you are interested in reading about her go to the Block Party on my sidebar and look for my post.

Happy Weekend everyone!

de Blaauw - A Blue and White Quilt

I am planning another trip up to Haliburton to visit my Mom today. My sister is doing the driving. There is a lot of paper work to do right now. I also want to bring her this quilt. I made this a few years ago at a Bee Night that our Guild held. It is a very simple 6in. block repeat. The star-like pattern is a secondary pattern that just happens when the blocks are put together. I love patterns like that! It is machine pieced and quilted and measures about 40in. by 60in.
Although not too big, I think it will make a nice lap quilt to replace the tattered hospital blanket to keep her warm while she sits in her chair all day. I call this quilt "de Blaauw", which means "blue" in Dutch. That was my mother's maiden name.

Paintings to Remember

We drove up to Haliburton, in central Ontario, on Sunday to visit my mother who is in the hospital there at the moment.

She is doing as well as can be expected, I guess. She is suffering from dementia as well as a series of small strokes. These have left her left side weak. She cannot walk anymore. She slipped in and out of reality while we were there. In her lucid moments she was funny and bright, her old self, but in her cloudy moments she could not follow a conversation and kept asking unrelated questions. Her hand are gnarled by arthritis. Her fingers weak and twisted. She kept reaching up and holding her head, as if she could push her brain into submission and send signals to the rest of her body. It was useless. She even had trouble holding a spoon and feeding herself.

But those arthritic hands had once held a paint brush. Canvas and oils were her medium. In her spare moments she had created some beautiful paintings. I am lucky to possess a few of her works. My sisters and brother have many more. She lived in 'cottage country' and painted the world around her. The old homes and barns.


The trees and rocks of the Haliburton Highlands. The flora and fauna in her world.


I have no words to describe how I feel today. The long drive up and back took a toll on me. Physically I am exhausted. The sights and smells of a hospital are not what I associate with the gorgeous countryside of Haliburton. It was a very stressful visit for all of us, but especially for my kids. They had not expected to see their grandmother in the state she was in. I know it was a shock for them. Nothing could have prepared them for the sight of their Oma, slumped over in a reclining chair, covered in a tattered flannel sheet, sitting in the hall outside the nursing station. It was a shock for me too. That's why I have taken photos of the paintings that hang in our home.

I know that aging is a natural part of life, but right now it seems unfair. Her paintings are a better way to remember the contribution she made to our lives.

In Progress

I am trying to turn my PIGs (Projects in Garbage bags) into WIPs (Works in Progress). Mimi is helping me - sort of. She wants me to show you this one that I am currently working on. It's going to be a fun quilt. I got the pattern out of "The Best of Black Mountain Quilts" by Teri Christopherson (That Patchwork Place). I love this book. I don't think there is a quilt in there that I don't like. I bought the book many years ago but I have not finished one thing out of it yet. This one will be the first! It is called, "Watermelon Picnic".

I have made almost all of the blocks, but because I am making it one row wider than the original pattern, I need eight more blocks. So I have 6 of the red block left to do. I hope to get them finished this evening. They are really fast to do once I get going on them. I have actually made 2 green block too many, so now I have to decide if I will make it a little bit longer. It will mean making a total of 6 more block on top of the 6 I have left to do now. My DD wants to use this as a picnic quilt. Can you imagine? She is going to put it on the ground and sit on it! Ouch! That hurts! If I make it 8 by 8 blocks it will be 60inches square. If I add another row it will be 60in by 72in.

Mimi says, "Just keep making those blocks, I love them!" But I'm not sure. What would you do?

I Love Ewe!

I finished the lamb baby quilt! There is no ivy in my version of this quilt, so I am calling it "I Love Ewe". I wasn't going to post a photo until I had given it to the new parents, but I have no idea when that is going to happen. They probably won't read my blog anyway. So here it is! I'm happy with how it turned out. And I got it finished before the new baby graduates from college!!!

Finished The One a Day Nine-Patch Quilt Along Top

I promised to take a photo of the finished one-a-day Nine Patch flimsy. I draped it over a railing and a chair and then let the rest of it fall onto the ground. It turned out really large! But I think you get the picture. Those nine patches are addictive. I really enjoyed making this top. I'll keep you informed of my progress on the second nine-patch quilt along. I'm not making that one quite so big. I think a lap size will be nice.And here is this week's Block Party block. It is called, "Hearth and Home". It's a 10-inch block, so I used batiks. I think that is what I was using for the 10-inch blocks. Sorry, my brain is not working very well today. This one is fairly easy and straight forward. I didn't like the cross in the middle so I made that part in a sort of pink colour. I was hoping that this progression of colour would give the feel of a star, bursting out from the centre. Well, I don't think I accomplished that, but I like it all the same.

It was rather difficult to do any quilting today, so I just worked on the weekly Party Block. My DS is here today, shovelling sand into the hole that used to be our pool. The sand people dumped 24 tons (!) of the stuff in my driveway a couple of days ago and now DS is moving it, shovel by shovel, wheelbarrow by wheelbarrow. It's quite a job and he keeps me busy, feeding him and getting him water and juice to drink.

I also got a call from my aunt this morning to say that my mother is back in the hospital. She had a series of small strokes which have left her kind of spacey and unable to walk. She keeps falling and her better half cannot pick her up anymore. We hope she will feel better soon. Hospitals are not a fun place to be in the summer.

Start of Another Nine Patch

It was a dark, rainy day here in TO! I had to turn all the lights on in order to see what I was eating for breakfast. I decided to spend the day in my sewing room, putting the borders onto my nine patch from the Nine-Patch Quilt Along. It is finished now, but I will not be able to photograph it until tomorrow. It turned out quite big! I need help to hold it up and photograph it.

So in the meantime, I should have gone through my UFOs and picked out something else to finish, but NO! I did not! I actually started another Quilt Along! Same place, different fabrics. I have decided to do this one in Christmas fabrics. I will make it a bit smaller than the first one - maybe just a lap size quilt.

I didn't just start this today. I have been working on it for about a week now as soon as I learned that Crazy Mom was doing another quilt along I am only doing a couple of blocks a day and I have 14 blocks done. When I placed them on my design floor Oscar immediately took possession! I think he likes them!

"Purrrrr! Yes! Love them! Thank you for making these especially for me! Meow!"

"Actually Oscar. they are not for you. But I am pleased that you approve."


Then I asked him nicely to get off. But he wouldn't. So I left the blocks on the floor and continued to sew another border strip onto the first quilt top. When I came back into the solarium awhile later, Mimi had taken possession.

"Thanks for making these for me! Meow! I love rolling on them. They are so pretty. Christmas stuff is my favourite! Meow!"

Mimi is not telling the truth. She actually doesn't care one bit about Christmas or any other celebration for that matter. She just loves to roll around on quilt blocks! Go figure!

Not My Choice!

I am busy quilting the lamb baby quilt this weekend, but I just couldn't resist making the Friday Party block. We're at week 29 already. This week's block is called, "Mrs. Morgan's Choice". It is a 12inch block. QP thought it reminded her of the blades of a Dutch windmill and I agree. And because I am originally from Holland, I decided to do the background in a blue and white fabric - sort of reminiscent of Delft Blue pottery.



I used a wild batik for the blades because I wanted to give them depth. I thought the block would be 'flat' otherwise. I don't know how long it took me to make this sucker, but let me just say that it was a long time! Lots of half square triangles and a lot of patience! I like how it turned out, but it definitely is not my 'choice' for a block. This is definitely a one of a kind. And now back to quilting the little lambs!

A Cave for Felix!

I bought myself a new fan a couple of days ago. It was getting too hot to work in my solarium, so I thought a fan would be a good idea. I put it together this morning and left the box on the floor. I was not looking forward to cutting up that heavy corrugated cardboard and besides, we are in the middle of a strike by our city's garbage collectors. My recycling bin is already full and I have no idea when it will be picked up. What do you think Felix?

"Meow! I love my new cave! It's so cool in here. And exciting! Can you see me? I hope not. I promise I will hunt down any and all bats that are living in here. Meow! Thanks Mom."

Ahhhh! Great idea Felix! Reduce. Recycle. Re-use!

First Quilt - Last Quilt - A Parade of Quilts

I think I am too late, but I am going to join this parade anyway. On my own if I have to. Camille and Carrie are hosting a Parade of Quilts! How fun! I went to their site and discovered that I could not leave a comment or join in at this time any more. Oh, well. I have always been known to walk to the beat of my own drummer, so here goes.....We are supposed to show a photo of the first quilt we ever made and also a photo of the last quilt we made. And talk about what we learned - or something like that.

Here is the first quilt I ever made. Sorry about the sunshine! I had to take the photo when my DD was here because I could not spread it out on the lawn without her help. I took a quilting course sometime in the middle of the 1990's. It was my introduction to quilting! I had no idea what colours to choose for my quilt. We made one block a week. All sewing was done by hand because there was not enough room to plug sewing machines in anywhere. I made a few extra blocks in between classes. I was a real keener. When all the blocks were done and all the sashing and borders were hand-stitched in place, I put this baby away in a dark closet. I just couldn't face having to actually quilt it. About 10 years later my Guild asked me to be Quilter of the Month. I decided to finish this quilt in order to show my beginnings. I also used it to practice on. It is hand quilted in places and machine quilted in others. But I got it done! This is my latest quilt. It is hanging in my DD's front entrance. I think I probably used some of the fabrics that were in the first quilt. I have learned a lot since that first project. The "Winterberries" is my own design. It is machine pieced, hand appliqued and machine quilted. I originally thought that quilting had to be done a certain way. Now I realize that anything goes. Anything that I can draw can be hand appliqued. I love my hobby!

Trying to Keep Up With All My UFOs!

This is the block for week 28 of the Friday Block Party. It is called "Envelope Motif". I don't know why it is called that, but I really like it because it looks more like a star block to me and I love those!

I'm afraid that I broke all of my self-imposed fabric rules on this one. Instead of digging through my scrap bin, I used the fabric that was beside my machine. The colourful centre fabric and the pretty background fabric were purchased yesterday. Yes! I know. They have only been in my sewing room for one day, but they were calling to me and I was dying to use them. The turquoise fabric, however, is from my scrap bin, so that should make everything okay.

I am working on several (maybe 6 or 7, but who's counting!) projects right now. The baby lamb quilt just needs a backing. I have to piece a few more hearts because I don't have enough of the backing fabric and I will have to do some back art to make it fit.

I am also working on the one-a-day nine patch that Crazy Mom Quilts has been doing over the past 10 weeks. I am right on schedule though - just putting the sashing and borders on.

Then there are all the other projects I have started lately. I need to feel productive, so I will have to finish some of them before I move on to newer projects. I hope to be able to show you some finished quilts in the next couple of weeks! That's my plan anyway. Mimi is helping me.

Just Doing it for Fun

After posting my not-so-lined-up block-of-the-week yesterday, I received a few comments about how nice my block looked and how I should allow myself to be less perfect. When I read these comments, I realized that I am being kind of anal about matching seams and pointy points and turning out a perfect block!

By coincidence, (Do you believe in coincidence? I do!) I read this morning's meditation for women. I receive one of these inspirational messages in my email inbox every morning. These messages are always positive and although they sometimes don't mean a lot to me, I can usually get something out of each one. This morning the topic was about making mistakes. How timely! It got me thinking.

The message talked about the fear of making mistakes. Everyone seems to have this fear. It can hold us back from doing many exciting and fun things. Too many joys may go undiscovered if we don't try because of fear of failure. I wholeheartedly agree with this. But it is not just about staying on the safe path in life and not venturing into the unknown, it applies to quilting too.

How many times have I decided not to make a block or quilt because I feared that it wouldn't be perfect? Too many, I'm afraid. I think my decision to join the Friday Block Party was to learn to make mistakes and try more difficult blocks that I would otherwise never have considered doing. So I want to thank everyone who left me a comment yesterday. Your comments made me think. (which is a good thing!) From now on I have decided to journey into the world of difficult blocks and just enjoy the trip - mistakes and all.

"Meow! Hey Felix. Listen! I have a secret to tell you. Psst! Meow! Purr! Psst! Nice blocks to play on! Meow!"

Windmill 2

I just finished this week's Party Block. This is week 27. Over half the year is over! I can't believe it! This one is called Windmill 2. Having been born in Holland, I kind of like the name of this block. But that is about all. It's a small block, only 8 inches square. Almost every piece of fabric in this block had a bias edge. My points didn't line up and there was nothing I could do about it. But it's finished! That's all I can say.

Even my furry critters didn't want to sit on this one! Sorry Karen!

Diz iz Z Cross

I am finally posting my block in the Friday Block Party for last week. Usually I am way ahead of myself, but this week was crazy busy (graduation, house sale, lawyers, banking, Canada Day) well, you get the idea.

This block is called Z Cross and it is a 10-inch block. I'm not really sure if I like it. I wish I had used a different fabric for the cross. Maybe I would like it better. But it came out of my scrap bin and I am glad I was able to use it up.