Sunimp

Is January Over Yet?

2012-01-27T19:22:00.001-05:00

I’m not trying to wish my life away, but this has been one long, blah month.

I’ve been on a mission to get some quilts that are in various stages of completion finished. Here’s my first finish of 2012.

I quilted this using the Circle Lord Seven Treasures of Buddha template.

I’m trying to sell this one, just to recoup my costs. I donate a lot of my quilts to various charities and give a lot away as gifts, but what do you do with the rest? I want to continue to quilt, but my pile of completed quilts is getting bigger and I don’t know what to do with them. Whenever I start a new quilt, the question I’m always asked is – who is is for? Usually I don’t have a clue – it’s just a pattern or fabric that I like and I want to make it. What do you do with all your quilts?

I started this one before Christmas. It’s made completely from my scrap bin, other than the borders. I got the backing for it cut today and maybe it will get quilted this weekend….maybe.

There’s also been a lot of knitting going on, but I don’t have anything completed to show you – no surprise there! I was delighted to win the book, Sweet Shawletts from Julie at The Needle Emporium. I haven’t received it yet, but I’m looking forward to getting it in the mail shortly.

If you live locally and haven’t been to this store, you don’t know what you’re missing. She has the most beautiful collection of wool that I’ve ever seen in one place. Unfortunately, some of it isn’t there any longer as it came home with me

I also got a nice surprise from A Quilters Dream. They sent me a gusseted quilted bag pattern to try and they included these gorgeous fat quarters to make it with!

My friend Onalee sent me a link to this tutorial for a very easy, no-sew pet bed. I just had to try it, so I made a couple last weekend and took one over for my grandkitties. Abby just loved it and apparently she has been inseparable from it ever since.

It’s a tough life, isn’t it!

Normal is Still Good

2012-01-08T14:15:00.001-05:00

I still haven’t figured out how to fix the font on my posts. Every day is a new challenge with this computer – software isn’t Leo’s strong point and I know next to nothing about it, so I just get frustrated. It’s taken me weeks to figure out Outlook as we used Outlook Express. Enough moaning – well, for now anyway.

Some members of our Guild get together once a month to work on Cuddle Quilts to give to those less fortunate in the community. My friend Lee and I took a bunch home before Christmas to quilt. I didn’t get pictures of the first 2, but I did manage to remember to snap these two that I finished this weekend. Doing these gives me a whole new respect for those who quilt for others. Some of the seams have pleats, some seams were coming undone and they had pieced the batting, but rather than butting it together and zigzag stitching it, they put the two layers together, making it really bulky to quilt through. I also have trouble working on something I don’t like.

Add cropping to the things I no longer know how to do with this new program

I have quite a number of finished tops waiting to be quilted and I’ve promised myself that I won’t start any new projects until I’ve quilted a couple of those tops. This is the next one on the list – I’m piecing the backing for it now.

I made a different version of this quilt several years ago – it just had a different border. Actually, I got carried away when I started cutting and ended up with enough blocks for 2 quilts.

Needless to say, I liked the other version better which explains why it got finished and this one didn’t!

I’m so happy with my orchid – there are 4 glorious blooms on it!

Ahhhhh…..back to normal

2012-01-03T12:45:00.003-05:00

What a wonderful feeling to be back to normal, or at least my version of it. Leo's back to work, laundry is caught up, ironing is done, sewing room is clean - bliss! Not even the fact that it was -13 degrees could dampen my spirits this morning. It's a snow free minus 13 so all is good.

I wish I could figure out how to change the font and keep it changed on this post. It keeps reverting to some blinding teeny tiny font that even with a magnifying glass would be hard to read!

I did get some more pictures to share. This is the Hitchhiker Scarf that I finished before Christmas, but just got the ends sewn in this morning. It still isn’t blocked, but I’m not convinced it needs to be.

Here’s my favourite model, Bruno, showing it off:

I even had enough left over to knit a pair of socks.

I used Madeleintosh Sock wool for these and this wool is quickly becoming my favourite. It’s so nice to work with and has great stitch definition.

I got inspired last night to clean up my knitting supplies. All my long needles are in an old tennis ball container and it serves the purpose very well. However, my circular needles were a different story and I needed somewhere to keep everything together and handy. Enter the Yazzi bag that I bought in Houston.

A lot of people use these for keeping their applique and sewing supplies, but I found it was perfect for all my knitting paraphernalia.

It has lots of zippered compartments and I can keep everything in one little bag.

Still on the knitting topic, Sandra gave me a yarn bowl for Christmas. I only heard about these recently from a girl in my Knitting Group, but if you live in a house with a cat, or are sick of picking your wool up off the floor, this is the answer!

There are two ‘holes’ in this one, the small round hole is if you are working with really fine yarn so the hole helps keep it in the bowl. I’m probably the last knitter on the planet to hear about this, but I just love it and I’m no longer down on my hands and knees trying to find where my wool has rolled to!

Just in case you think I’ve forgotten how to quilt, I have been working on a penguin log cabin quilt. I saw this idea at our Guild’s Show & Tell and thought it was a great way to use up novelty fabric that you have no idea what to do with.

Since I’ve taken this picture, all the blocks are sewn together and there is a narrow black border on it. I’m going to finish it off with a wider red border. This whole top was done from scraps from my strip bins. Unfortunately, it didn’t even make a dent!

I’m off to try and figure out how to ‘fix’ the font on this post as every time I start a new paragraph it reverts to the small font. I just love technology .

Another Year Bites the Dust

2011-12-31T17:23:00.007-05:00

It's hard to believe that another year has come and gone, and harder still to believe that a week ago we were all waiting for Christmas.

We got a new computer, out of necessity, a couple of weeks ago and I’m still trying to get used to it. Everything I go to do is different, including my blog post. I use Windows Live Writer for my blog and it is all different. I don’t like change which I guess is a sure sign I’m getting old!

I have to share the most amazing gift I received from Sandra. She always puts so much thought and effort into her gift giving and I can only imagine the hours she must have spent putting this together. She copied pictures from my blog and Facebook and made this mosaic picture of my baby. I hope you can click on it and make it bigger and you’ll see that each square is made up of one of, or parts of, my quilts. Best Christmas gift ever!!!!

I finished up a baby quilt yesterday for Darren & Sandra to give to one of their friends who just had a baby. I had the top finished ages ago, but it still needed to be quilted, bound and a label made and sewn on. It will be given to the recipient tonight.

I completed a couple of knitting projects over the holidays, but I haven’t got around to blocking them yet, so I don’t have pictures.

You might recall I was waiting for my orchid to bloom and it didn’t disappoint. There are 4 gorgeous blooms on it and I hope they last a long time as 4 years was a long time to wait for the blooms!

An Apology

2011-12-03T17:00:00.001-05:00

In my attempt to ‘keep it real’, I may have been a bit harsh in my last post. I received a very nice e-mail from the designer of the bag pattern I was bitching about from A Quilter’s Dream. She was sincerely interested to learn how she could make the pattern better and also offered to send me a pattern of one of her gusseted bags to see if I liked it. Now that’s customer service and I appreciate the time she took to contact me and try and make things right!

I’ve had another busy week, but at least I have some things to show for it. I finished these socks:

The lighter ones are Knitpicks Stroll hand painted sock yarn, and the darker ones are Madelinetosh Tosh Sock. I love working with the Madelinetosh yarn and I’m anxious to see how it wears. I find the Knitpicks is very soft, but pills quickly.

I made this little Santa bag – it’s wired around the top and can be used to hold cards, candy canes, chocolates, you name it.

Since I was starting to get into the Christmas spirit, I made this little doorhanger kit that had been lying around here for about 5 years!

My Aunt asked if I’d make her a couple of these to give to her neighbours.

With all this Christmas going on, we Leo put up the tree today. This is the first time in 3 years it’s seen the light of day – poor little Molly’s never seen it. I had a light bulb moment when I went to inspect his work. Every one of the ornaments holds a special memory and a lot of those memories include people no longer with us. Maybe that’s why I haven’t been so enthusiastic about Christmas lately.

Finally, I am thrilled to show you this next picture.

My orchid is going to bloom!!!!! I’ve had this for 4 years – I know it’s been 4 years as my sister-in-law gave it to me when we hosted Sandra & Darren’s engagement party over 4 years ago. I made the mistake of cutting off the dead blooms and you can see the dried up stalk towards the back. I was just about ready to give it the old heave-ho, when I noticed a new stalk growing and then the buds appeared! I can hardly wait until it blooms as I can’t remember what colour it was.

This is more exciting than an Advent Calendar – I check the progress every day to see if the bloom is opening.

Ahhhhhhhhhh

2011-11-26T10:25:00.002-05:00

This is the first weekend in a month that I’ve slept in my own bed and it feels great. I don’t have any plans for the weekend and I intend to keep it that way.
Last weekend at Retreat I made this bag.

While the finished product isn’t bad, the pattern was awful. Here’s a link which I provide only so you WON’T buy it. I’ve made quite a few bags, but the instructions for this one have so much waste and the way they get you to put it together is not easy and could be done so much better.
I also got all these strips cut out to make a miniature log cabin wallhanging.

I read in one of Judy Martin’s books that an organizer like this one is a good idea to keep all your strips of the same size together. Now that this is all cut, I think I’ll just put it away and I’ll have my next Retreat project all ready to go!
I’ve made one of these before, so I' know what I’m in for. The blocks finish at 4”.

Our Guild does a secret Santa exchange and each year we pick a letter and the gift must start with that letter. This year it was D, so I stitched out these little fingertip towels yesterday:

The meeting isn’t until December 14th, so I’m actually ahead of the game for once! Now if I could only get my act together and get some Christmas shopping done…

The Merry Go Round Still Hasn’t Stopped

2011-11-17T09:23:00.001-05:00

I had a great time in Houston and showed amazing restraint with my purchases. To be honest, I really didn’t see anything I ‘had’ to have. My friends, however, did more than their part to boost the Houston economy. The quilts were amazing and I got to meet Debra who lives just north of Houston. We had a lot of fun critiquing the quilts and were on the same wave length about most of the techniques.

One thing we just didn’t understand was the abundance of thread painting. You take a coloured photograph, then thread paint over it. I can appreciate the time it takes, but the hardest part, as one of the artists explained, was finding the right colour of thread. What’s the point? Yes the finished product looks nice, but so did the picture and I just don’t understand the need to do it.

We also visited the fourth largest mall in the U.S. – The Galleria. It is a beautiful mall with 3 levels and I managed to do some damage there.

I didn’t take any pictures when I was away. I didn’t want to lug my heavy camera around and there were a lot of areas where pictures weren’t allowed anyway, so I don’t regret my decision.

My baby had a benign tumor on his back paw and had to have surgery. He wore this lampshade for almost 2 weeks, but he got his stitches out yesterday and the vet is really pleased with the surgery.

Doesn’t he look pathetic. It really didn’t seem to bother him other than he couldn’t scratch his ears, so we obliged.

Sandra & I went to Buffalo last weekend for our annual Christmas shopping trip. She got almost all her Christmas shopping done – I didn’t!

Tomorrow morning I leave for Retreat. I don’t have a clue what I’m going to take to work on, so I took a vacation day today to try and figure it out. If you don’t go prepared you aren’t productive.

I swear I am not making any more plans to go anywhere for a while. I’m all ‘showed’ out and I’m totally exhausted. Today is the first day in over a month that I don’t have some kind of commitment – it feels great!

Ian must have been playing around with my camera while I was gone and here is a picture he took of Molly – can’t show one baby without the other!

It’s Been a While

2011-10-29T16:41:00.001-04:00

Life has been like a merry go round here lately and I’m ready for it to stop and let me off and rest for a while. That isn’t looking too promising though, as I’m leaving on Wednesday for Houston. I committed to this trip a long time ago and I’m now wishing the timing were different. Oh, well, c’est la vie!

My dear son-in-law Darren’s Dad has been battling another round of chemo so I wanted to make him a comfort quilt. I had a panel with cottage scenes which was really appropriate as Jack loves going to his cottage. I think it took me longer to find the panel than it did to make the quilt. I spent days looking for it and almost had myself convinced I didn’t buy it after all, when I finally found it.

I also got my woven look scarf finished. Boy, there was a lot of knitting in that thing. I took me almost half an hour to do a row!

I’m really happy with it. I used 3 balls of Koigu, a light purple, dark purple and the burgundy.

Now I can get busy and knit myself some socks. I’m anxious to try the new yarn by Lorna’s Laces called Solemate. It’s supposed to have built in climate control so your feet don’t get too hot or too cold. If it works, I need to knit something for my whole body in that stuff!!!!

Lancaster

2011-10-08T17:12:00.001-04:00

I’ve been trying to recover from our trip to Lancaster all week. It was a lot of driving and since I get motion sickness, I had to do all of it. We did 18, yes 18 stores in 2 days – no wonder I’m tired!

I had the pleasure of meeting Suzan, from The Reluctant Quilter and she is every bit as nice and bubbly in person as she comes across on her blog. I called her on Saturday morning and she told us The Hayloft were closing and had 25% off everything, so it was a no brainer where we would meet! She also brought the antique quilt she has been working on to let me see it. Kudos to her for fixing it all and getting it into a finished quilt. I wouldn’t have had the patience.

Here we are, surrounded by the things we love :-)

My friend Joan (the smartass one) wanted to see a picture of what I didn’t buy. I think I showed amazing restraint.

I bought yardage of the 3 on the left for backings and the rest were just small pieces of things I liked.

While I was busy patting myself on the back for my restraint in the fabric stores, we happened on a wool shop. I didn’t show quite as much restraint there, but I love what I bought!

I need to get busy and knit myself some more socks. My friend Ursula asked me if I would knit a pair for her and her Mum. I took 3 new pairs to bowling to let her take home and try on for size. She came back the next week, minus the socks and wanted to buy them all. I told her they weren’t for sale and she said, too bad, here’s some money, I love them and I want them all!!! Now I have no socks left :-(

I’m trying to get this scarf finished before I start my socks. I was working on this when we were away and since my roommates are used to much later nights than I am, I was up way past my bedtime and managed to drop a stitch. We all tried to fix it, but the pattern isn’t an easy one to pick up a dropped stitch, so I ended up ripping it all out and starting over.

I’m not sure which I’m better at – ripping out knitting or frogging! I seem to do a lot of both.

Happy Thanksgiving to all my Canadian friends.

Go Ahead….Make My Day!

2011-09-18T17:14:00.001-04:00

When I went to visit my Mum today, her nurse asked me if I was her younger sister!!!!! My Mum wasn’t even in the room, so it wasn’t said for her benefit. There are days when I feel 89, but that comment bothered me more than I’d like to admit! I’m going in tomorrow to ask for her resignation :-)

I forgot to show you a knitted beaded necklace I made. I saw the pattern on Ravelry and thought I’d give it a go. I’d never knit with beads before, so it was a learning experience. It takes very little yarn and I thought it would be great for using up all the little bits of fingering weight sock yarn I always have left over.

There are two sizes of beads in this one, but when I make another, I’ll just use one size (the bigger ones) to give it a bit more weight.

Every year I attend the Quilt Seminar at the Amherst Quilt Guild in Amherst, NY. This year Sharon Schamber and Karla Alexander were the national teachers. I took two of Sharon’s classes and I am happy to say I can now draw feathers!!!!! I think I have bought every book on the market on feathers and I’ve taken more than a few classes. We spent all day drawing on freezer paper and I now have the confidence to try them on Tillie.

Of course, drawing them on paper and stitching them out are two different things, so stay tuned!

As some of you may know, Sharon sees auras. She read my aura and was right on the money. I never really believed much in that stuff even though Leo is somewhat psychic – or is that pshycho – but I can’t deny everything she told me is true.

We also had the opportunity to see two of her Best of Show Quilts from Houston – Mystique and Spirit of Mother Earth. She also shared with us that she just got a call on Tuesday night telling her that she has won another major award at Houston this year, but she won’t find out which one until the Show.

Karla gave a lecture and trunk show on Wednesday night and she was highly entertaining. She told the story of her friend who had been burglarized. When she came home from a night out with Karla, the police were going through her house with her husband listing all the damage but wouldn’t let her in. All she could think of was her expensive sewing machine she had recently purchased and hoped it hadn’t been stolen. When the police finally let her in, they told her everything that was missing but said, ‘wait until you see the mess they left in your sewing room’. When she walked into her studio, she exclaimed with relief ‘oh, it’s exactly how I left it!!!!’.

Finally, these pictures are for Rian, because she loves to see pictures of my baby, and I’m only too happy to oblige.

Here he is getting all ready for Halloween.

It’s September Already?

2011-09-11T17:32:00.001-04:00

I remember being told the older you get, the quicker time flies by and I must be ancient as I just don’t know where the time has gone.

I’ve been really busy, but I’m not sure what I’ve been busy doing. I do have some things to show (finally). I’ve been working on these socks all summer, and now that summer is almost over, they are finally finished.

They have a bit of stretch to them – the yarn is called Lanna Grossa and it’s a cotton/wool/polyamide/elite blend. I’m not sure if the stretch comes from the polyamide or the elite as I don’t have a clue what either one are.

After I finished these, I cast on this baby blanket. I’m not sure who this is going to yet, but it’s nice to have a knitted blanket on hand for a gift or for donation.

There is really only one row to the pattern but if you drop a stitch, it’s impossible to pick up and I wouldn’t like to admit to how many times I’ve had to take it back a couple of rows – all 208 stitches!!!

I got my Jelly Braid quilted and used my favourite stand-by, my Circle Lord Swirls. If you click on the picture you might be able to see the quilting better.

I love the backing on this quilt.

I bought a bolt of this fabric ages ago and it’s almost all gone :-(

Finally, I made this little table runner and table topper. I bought this fabric in Paducah and you get both out of one yard of fabric.

It’s just stuck on my design wall as it still needs to be backed and quilted.

Next on the agenda is quilting my Mystery Quilt. There is a reveal party in October and the way the last few weeks have flown by, October will be here before I know it.

I can’t believe I’m doing this, but a couple of friends and I are going to Lancaster at the end of the month. I don’t need any more fabric, but I love the area and I’m mainly going for the fun of it, not to buy tons and tons of fabric. (Remind me I said that when I come back.)

I’ve already been in touch with Suzan, The Reluctant Quilter who is lucky enough to live in the area and she has given me a list of not to be missed stores. We’re hoping to meet up at one of these stores too. I also found out there is a shop hop going on the weekend we’re there, so that should be fun.

I will not buy more fabric, I will not buy more fabric, I will not buy more fabric…………….

It’s Been a While

2011-08-14T16:26:00.001-04:00

I know it’s been a while since I posted but there hasn’t been much exciting around here to blog about and there’s been even less excitement going on in my sewing room.

I finished this top ages ago. It was a kit, and after I put it together I had one of those what was I thinking moments as it was so simple and I didn’t really like it. Then, I got it quilted and now I love it!

I borrowed Lee’s Circle Lord Sakura template and it just brought this quilt to life!

I love the texture this pattern gives such a simple quilt. You can bet I’ll be asking to borrow this one again!

I’ve been really tired lately and I had to make a couple of trips to the ER for other complications. They can tell me what it isn’t, but can’t seem to find what’s wrong. I do feel much better today, so hopefully whatever it was has decided to move along.

Here’s somebody else who looks very sleepy – and very comfortable on the chaise in the bedroom. You’d think those pillows were there just for Molly.

6 Months Later

2011-07-26T17:32:00.001-04:00

My loyal followers will recall that I redid my sewing room just after Christmas. One of my smart ass friends (I have many) commented that it looked great, but she’d like to see it in six months to see if it was still tidy. Well Joan, here it is:

My biggest downfall is ‘piles’. I tend to put everything I don’t know what to do with in a pile but I have tried to be really diligent and look, Ma, no piles!

When I trimmed my Jelly Braid quilt, I couldn’t bring myself to throw out all the triangles that were cut off, so I made this:

My daughter, Sandra, celebrated her birthday on Saturday. She is a real girly girl and shoes are her biggest passion. I’d be embarrassed to tell you how many pairs she owns but she does have a room devoted to them!

Anyway, another friend made these cookies for her birthday – aren’t they adorable and so appropriate!

Ben thought they looked pretty good, too!

Is It Hot Enough For You?

2011-07-22T19:40:00.001-04:00

I know most of the country is suffering through a massive heat wave but for someone with asthma, this has been brutal. Snow is looking pretty good right about now!

It’s been too hot to sew as the air conditioning just can’t keep up – yesterday with the humidity factored in, it was 116F or 48C here. Before this hit, however, I did get a few things accomplished.

I can now share the tea towels I appliquéd for my friend Joan’s birthday. I forgot to take a picture before I mailed them, so she kindly sent me one.

If we have to do dishes, we should at least have something cute to do them with.

I also got my Jelly Braid top finished and it’s going in the ‘to be quilted’ pile. That pile is getting a bit overwhelming, so I need to spend some time on Tillie soon. At least she’s in the basement, so it’s nice and cool down there. In fact, it’s downright cold!

You can’t really tell from the picture, but the flowers in the border fabric are a dark purple which picks up the purple in the braids.

I just received the class lists for Houston. I’m lucky enough to be going back this year and I thought it might be nice to take a class this time. The list is overwhelming – this is going to need some serious thought. Anyone have any suggestions on not to be missed classes?

Queen’s Quay

2011-07-14T18:42:00.001-04:00

I met my friend Shirley at Union Station in Toronto on Tuesday and we spent the day on the waterfront at Queen’s Quay. It was very hot and very humid, but there was a breeze from time to time, so we survived.

We took a boat tour of the Toronto islands and the view of the Toronto skyline was quite impressive!

The dome shaped building is the Rogers Centre where the Blue Jays play and to the right of it is the CN Tower which used to be the world’s tallest freestanding structure. Almost all of the other high-rises are bank buildings – that’s where all the money is!

We had a lovely lunch on the waterfront and watched the ducks and swans swim by. The above pictures were taken with my phone as I didn’t want to lug my camera with me, but they turned out not too badly.

Blogging

2011-07-10T13:42:00.001-04:00

Like most of you, I have a number of blogs that I follow every day – probably way too many! One of these bloggers, who shall remain nameless, has started to have audio advertising on her blog, as well as print ads all over the place.

This really gets my goat, to put it politely. Is it all about money? I know in the past she has said in order to provide free patterns, she needs to have advertisers on her blog. Why? Lots of other quilters offer free patterns and don’t find the need to have ads all over their blogs. It was the audio ads that did me in, though.

I sent her a very polite comment, telling her I had been a loyal follower of her blog for many years, understood that it was her blog and she could do what she wanted with it, but felt she had gone too far with the audio ads. She didn’t bother to respond to my comment and she deleted it from her blog – I guess she only wants nice comments that agree with everything she says and does.

Is it just me? Is there something I’m just not getting? I understand why sites like Quilter’s Cache need advertisers but it is almost like a bible to quilters with thousands of block patterns. It isn’t a blog – it’s a website.

Maybe I’m just in a bitchy mood, but I had to get this off my chest and what better place than my blog.

Ian took this picture of my baby yesterday – look at those eyes!

Construction Complete

2011-07-02T19:09:00.001-04:00

I finished the Construction Quilt and gave it to Alex yesterday for his 3rd birthday.

He was thrilled with it and I don’t think I’ve ever given a quilt that was admired or appreciated as much. Everyone at the party was enthralled with it so that just made my day. Here is the birthday boy showing us on his fingers just how old he will be.

Lee and I had a sew day last week. We decided we’d work on something we both had purchased so we could do it together. This is what we decided on:

It calls for a Bali Pop and a package of clothesline. You fold the 2 1/2” strip in half, then press each side into the middle, then you take the clothesline and stitch THROUGH the clothesline while trying to overlap the ends of fabric to completely enclose the clothesline.

After about half an hour, when we had about 6” of one strip done, we decided this really wasn’t a fun project and we’d cut our losses at the pattern and the clothesline. It was frustrating as neither of our machines were going through all that thickness with ease and the stitching looked terrible.

Then we spent the next hour or so going through all my patterns and books looking for something else we could use the Bali Pop on.

Then it was lunch time :-)

We finally decided on this pattern since almost all the others required a background or other neutral to go with the Bali Pop.

This is what I have done so far:

You can’t chain piece it, so it’s pretty slow going. I also have my Mystery Quilt to finish as they have a big ‘Reveal Night’ in September.

Sandra and I are going to see 9 to 5 tomorrow. Let’s hope it doesn’t turn out to be another children's dance recital!!

This and That

2011-06-19T19:29:00.001-04:00

You probably have to be Canadian to appreciate my excitement over this piece of news. We now have an American ship to address!!!! Sandra, Lee & I split the cost of a U.S. shipping address in Niagara Falls, New York. We can now take advantage of all those great free shipping offers available to Americans that we Canadians never get to enjoy.

The possibilities are endless…fabric, batting, Ebay and Etsy orders, magazine subscriptions, coupons, thread, Sephora and much more!

Since Sandra & I usually go to Buffalo about once a month anyway, we can pop in to the facility and pick up our packages. We’ll save the cost of the address on our first shipment each!

The construction quilt is almost ready to go on Tillie but I won’t bore you with more pictures until it’s quilted.

Instead, I’ll share some pictures of my babies that Ian took yesterday.

I love this picture, even although he looks so sad.

Just chilling out enjoying the sunshine - you can see Leo’s roses in the background. Roses that I have to water every day while he’s gone as well as all the other flowers!!!!! I HATE watering the garden. I HATE dragging out the hose. I HATE rolling it back up and I HATE that I have to do it for both the front and back garden! It also doesn’t thrill me that I have to take the garbage and recycling out too while he’s gone. I know I’m spoiled but I like it that way :-)

Molly doesn’t look too thrilled to be woken from her nap. I have no idea what all that crap is on the window – it looks like it’s filthy, but you’ll just have to take my word for it that it’s not – honest!

Construction is Almost Complete

2011-06-15T19:05:00.001-04:00

My construction quilt is almost finished. I still have 3 more borders to go on, then it will be ready to go on Tillie. I’m not looking forward to that part.

This has been a fun quilt to work on and I’m really happy with how it is turning out. I just hope Alex is as happy when he gets it for his 3rd birthday which is fast approaching.

For those of you with a memory better than mine, I told you about my Ticketmaster woes in my last post. I’m pleased to report that they refunded my money in full and agreed that their website was misleading. Woooo Hoooo – with the money we saved (wink) we’re going to see “9 to 5” in a couple of weeks.

Leo is leaving on Friday for a ten day fishing trip. While I’m sure I’ll really miss him, I am looking forward to some uninterrupted sewing days and just having a sandwich for dinner if that’s what I feel like.

I don’t have a whole lot to say tonight, so I’ll leave you with this quote that my friend sent me today.

Constant use will not wear ragged the fabric of friendship – Dorothy Parker.

Under Construction

2011-06-06T08:27:00.001-04:00

This quilt is so much fun to do and I love how it’s coming together.

There is a large section in the middle that I’m starting work on today.

Yesterday, Sandra & I had tickets to see Cabaret. We’d seen it before, but both of us love musicals and are always game when they come to town again.

When we arrived at the theatre, there were a lot of kids in costumes in the lobby, but since this venue has multiple stages, we thought they must be appearing in another area. When we received our program and glanced at the inside we immediately knew this wasn’t the Cabaret we came to see – it was a little kids dance recital!!!!!

We left our seats and I went to the box office, but was told that since I bought the tickets from Ticketmaster, I would have to talk to them. I called them immediately, spent 35 minutes on hold and was told they would have to e-mail someone but they would call me back in about an hour. Naturally, I didn’t hear from them.

When we got home, I checked Ticketmaster’s website to see how we could both have been stupid enough not to notice. Turns out, on this occasion anyway, we weren’t stupid – the reviews are all for the original Cabaret and no where on the website does it mention that this is a dance recital. I’m not letting this one drop – I’ll be on the phone as soon as they open this morning threatening them with false advertising if they won’t give me a refund!

On a sadder note, there have been a lot of tears shed around here this week. Miss Annabelle, or fondly known as Miss Annie had to be put down on Wednesday.

It’s a bit of a long story – we adopted her 11 years ago from Animal Aid. We were told when we adopted her that she was about 2, but when I took her to our Vet, he thought she was more like 7. She lived with us for a couple of years until we started having some major renovations done. She hated the disruption in the house and was visibly upset every day when the workmen appeared. My Mum, who had just recently lost her cat, offered to take her until the work was finished.

When the work was finished, my Mum had fallen in love with her and begged me to let her keep her. Since Miss Annie wasn’t overly fond of Ben, and as hard as it was to give her up, I let my Mum keep her. I cried buckets for weeks.

When my Mum went into hospital early last year, my Aunt took Miss Annie as I knew she wouldn’t be happy in our house with both Ben & Molly. She captured my Aunt’s heart as well and lived her final years with her in the lap of luxury with her every whim looked after.

While always a picky eater, a couple of weeks ago she stopped eating completely and the the Vet told us it was her teeth and there really wasn’t much we could do. On Wednesday, I took her for her final trip and she died in my arms.

Construction Everywhere

2011-05-30T10:38:00.002-04:00

I’ve been working away on the construction truck quilt.

I needed a grey background to imitate a road and thought Stonehenge would be perfect. I couldn’t find any around here, so Sandra & I made a trip to Buffalo this weekend. I couldn’t find any there either, but I did find a Jinny Byer fabric that I think will work just as well. The cement truck above isn’t on the background yet – it’s just on my design wall.

We had a great day shopping and got some great deals! Sandra is really good about checking all the department store websites and getting coupons, shopping passes, etc. and both Macy’s and Lord & Taylor offer an out of state discount to shoppers travelling. The stuff was so cheap we couldn’t leave it in the store!

On the way home, I took a different route as I wanted to cross at the Peace Bridge as there is usually much less traffic at that crossing. I really like my GPS – it’s built into my car and it gives me the option of various routes – shortest, fastest, etc. What it doesn’t have that I really think would be useful is an “avoid ghetto” route! We drove through some pretty sketchy neighbourhoods and I was really nervous. I kept thinking this is the kind of place where you hear of drive by shootings and for once in my life I wished I had darkly tinted windows so nobody could see two women alone inside the car!

It got me thinking – I don’t think there are any neighbourhoods in Toronto that I would be afraid to drive through. Sure, there are some worse than others, but I’ve never been really scared. Are there areas in your town/city that you would never drive through?

I didn’t feel like sewing yesterday, so I finally finished a pair of socks I’ve been working on for ages. My friend Margaret gifted me this wool and they turned out great. The yarn is Mini Mochie and is really soft.

They aren’t identical but strangely enough, this doesn’t bother me. The part you see below your pant legs looks the same, so I can live with the tops being different. This made me think of another question – do you always get your striping yarn socks to match? I started them both from 2 different balls, but they were wound differently so I just started knitting – life’s too short!

You Can’t Make A Silk Purse

2011-05-26T18:20:00.001-04:00

Out of a sow’s ear – but you can try. This is one of my oldest UFOs. I made it probably 5 or more years ago when I first started quilting and I knew nothing about anything! I’m not sure I know a whole lot more now.

Why did I pick such a blah background – who knows? Anyway, I quilted it last weekend with my Circle Lord Swirls and it’s as good as it’s going to get. This template makes anything look good.

I’m going to donate this one to the relief effort for the victims of the Great Slave Lake fire.

I had quite a time trying to get a picture of this as a certain little someone loves to walk across my quilts the minute they go on the floor. Here she is, enjoying what little sunshine we’ve had lately.

Here’s her brother, my baby, also soaking up the sun on the patio.

I’ve started a new quilt for a certain little someone I know. He loves construction equipment and when I saw this pattern in Paducah, I just had to have it – in fact, there were quite I few patterns in her booth that I just had to have!

Here’s the first block – I think this is going to be fun!

A Productive Day

2011-05-22T18:39:00.001-04:00

I bought this flannel children’s panel years ago, and finally got it finished.

I used the Daisies Galore panto on it as there are a lot of daisies in the panel.

This quilted up beautifully and I’m as happy with the back as I am with the front! I used Superior Thread’s Highlights in the bobbin as it was the closest thread I had in colour to the backing. There is a King Tut variegated on the top.

This ended up being one expensive baby quilt as I paid a small fortune for the flannel backing. Flannel isn’t cheap around here and the backing alone cost me almost $50. This will have to go to a very special baby!

I also finished this table runner.

Mark the calendar – I didn’t do a panto on it, I actually free motion quilted it!

Although it’s really hard to see, I did a feather wreath in the middle of the 9 patches and tried some pebbling on the black sashing. It’s a long way from perfect, but it was kind of nice being outside my box for a little while.

It’s A Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood

2011-05-21T13:37:00.001-04:00

We’re having the nicest day of the year today and Leo has been busy in the garden and I’ve been spending some quality time with Tillie.

I still have a few Quilt Show pictures to share, so here they are:

This one is called Feathers & Roses by Lynne McCulloch. The detail with her thread painting is beautiful.

There were also a collection of quilts from Canada Packers which had been collected from County Fairs over the years.

These quilts are just timeless and exquisitely done.

This gorgeous quilt was hand appliquéd by Kathy Dunnigan. Her work is nothing short of perfect!

This heart quilt was done by Grace Maloney and she incorporated a lot of ‘heart’ sayings into it – i.e. – key to my heart, heart to heart, broken heart, half hearted, etc.

Now that I’ve shown you all the Quilt Show pictures, I’m going to have to get busy and finish some things of my own to show you.

I did get this baby quilt finished last week and off to the recipient. It’s my favourite circus fabric based on Mary’s Strippie Quilt pattern.

Back to the Show

2011-05-18T07:18:00.002-04:00

My lack of a voice turned into a full blown asthma attack which has necessitated me being back on prednisone. You all know how much I HATE that drug but it does explain why I’m up, dressed and don’t know what to get up to at 4 A.M.
Now back to the Quilt Show.
This Dear Jane was done by Karen Horn and she is also working on a hand pieced I Spy which is just as intricate.

My friend and cohort from Paducah, Margaret, did this beauty.

We picked out the fabrics on a trip to Mennonite country last summer.
Here she is with her Pumpkins table topper. I love this pattern and it’s on my to do list (I think it’s #432).

Also from Margaret is our Quilt Diva. She picked up this pattern on a trip to Buffalo last fall and I swear by the time I got my stuff out of the bags, she had her Diva finished!

Another friend and cohort from Paducah, Diane made this beautiful Block of the Month quilt from Marti Michell’s Anniversary Waltz pattern.

This jacket was in one of the Vendor’s booths and I really liked it.

A jacket class is also on my to-do list, but I want to make one that is properly fitted and not just based on an oversized sweatshirt.
Now for some quilts by Bunny Wood. What can I say about Bunny – just that she is one of the most talented people I know. Her talents are limitless – she pieces, she machine quilts she does machine embroidery, hand embroidery, thread painting, makes the most beautiful clothes you’ve ever seen and I’m sure she has many other talents that I’m not aware of. Check out the link to her blog – you won’t be disappointed.

I didn’t get the quilter’s name on this – she’s probably in the looney bin by now anyway after finishing this “Oh My Gosh” – isn’t it gorgeous!

Edited to add: Bunny just let me know that this was done by Robin Petty - thanks Bunny.

This beautiful wool felted piece was done by Rosemary Makhan.

I believe Rosemary did this one too, but I could be wrong – doesn’t happen often – just ask Leo :-)

I have a few more pictures to share, but I’ll save those for another day.

No Voice

2011-05-16T14:07:00.001-04:00

I was sick yesterday and today my voice has completely gone. I can still type, though, so they aren’t going to shut me up that easily!

Saturday Lee & I went to Quilts in the Gardens put on by the Halton Quilter’s Guild. It’s held in the Royal Botanical Gardens which is a beautiful place to visit if you are ever in the area.

There were many beautiful quilts and I did get pictures!

I didn’t get pictures of all the labels, but the one directly above is called “William Morris Stars” and was pieced & quilted by Robin Petty.

This was pieced and appliquéd by my friend Barb and believe it or not, this was her FIRST quilt!!!! It’s called The Queen & Her Court. She also made this beautiful blue and white quilt. She doesn’t believe in doing anything easy!

This next one was one of my favourites – and I stupidly didn’t get the name of the quilt or the quilter!!

I have lots more pictures, but I’ll post them over the next couple of days.

I managed to get my Mystery Quilt stars figured out – I replaced the star points with a different batik and I’m happy with them now. They still don’t show up that great in a photo, but in person you can definitely see they are stars. I also had the opportunity to meet Sherri, the owner of Border Creek Station at the Quilt Show.

Saturday night was our bowling banquet and Leo & I cleaned up!! Our team came in 3rd out of 18 teams; Leo won most improved average; I won highest triple with handicap; and our name was pulled for a door prize so we won a 22” flat screen HDTV. We also won ‘The Twist’ contest – I was dragged up there unwillingly – and won some restaurant gift certificates for that. All in all, it was a good night – and very lucrative too!

Our magnolia tree is in full bloom and looks beautiful. I just had to share a couple of pictures!

Mystery Quilt

2011-05-08T16:27:00.001-04:00

Looking through my Webshots album, I came to the realization that I have finished exactly ONE project this year – my Blooming Nine Patch. How discouraging is that!

I have been working on a Mystery Quilt from Border Creek Station and have really enjoyed the process. However, I just finished putting some of the blocks together and was very disappointed to see that one of my fabric choices is all wrong – the stars disappear into the background.

I toyed with the idea of just leaving them, but knew I’d never be happy, so yesterday I went all over the place trying to find another fabric to replace the brown star points.

I came up with this:

but I’ve decided this is too ‘white’ and doesn’t really look right. Back to the drawing board!

Leo’s spring garden is starting to bloom and since I don’t have completed quilts to show you, I’ll share some of his flowers. We have lots of different daffodils:

The magnolia tree is just about ready to bloom:

The hyacinth smell lovely when you open the front door:

The tulips are just starting to bloom – this is a pretty colour:

I had a lovely Mother’s Day lunch at Sandra & Darren’s, followed by a visit to my Mum. I usually visit her in the morning as she gets more agitated as the day goes on – today was no exception. Happy Mother’s Day to all who are Mothers, and especially to those who have lost their Mother.

Paducah

2011-05-05T12:18:00.001-04:00

I was lucky enough to go to Paducah with 3 friends this year. We were told this wasn’t a good year to judge Paducah, as so many venues had to be moved because of the flooding and this meant that things were all over the place. That aside, I didn’t enjoy Paducah nearly as much as Houston and I wouldn’t go back.

We encountered the flight from hell from Chicago to Paducah. That was the day the tornado hit Alabama and I’m sure we were flying through at least part of it. The turbulence was awful and the flight attendant wasn’t allowed to leave her seat for the entire flight. I actually considered driving home, but medicated myself enough to get on the flight and both flights home were fine.

The quilts were amazing but I didn’t take my camera to the show. It’s a big heavy SLR and while it takes beautiful pictures, I didn’t want to be carrying it around all day. I’m sure the website has better pictures than I could have taken anyway.

I did show ~~amazing~~ some restraint with my purchases.

I dropped a good bit of money at Fern Hill Quilts – her fabrics were gorgeous.

I also managed to find some batiks I couldn’t live without at Hancock’s of Paducah. They were mostly 1 yard cuts for $6.95/yard – practically free :-) but on the whole I found their prices really high. Their Jelly Rolls, Charm Packs and Layer Cakes were the most expensive I saw on our trip.

The American Quilt Museum had a sale on Friday morning. You purchased a baggie for $10 and got all the fabric you could stuff in it. It started at 8 A.M. and by 8:15 everything was gone. Since we had been up since 3 A.M. watching the wedding, it wasn’t a problem getting there on time.

What a wedding celebration we had!

Margaret brought us hats, homemade scones, Devon cream and strawberry jam, as well as English Breakfast Tea and a commemorative mug.

We all met in Margaret & Diane’s room around 3 and the celebration began – left to right – Lee, Margaret & Diane.

A close-up at 4 in the morning without make-up – what I won’t do for my loyal followers!

Notice Margaret made me a PINK hat – does she know me or what!!

Busy Hands

2011-04-12T09:06:00.001-04:00

I think I’m going to have to add “Knitting” to my header as there seems to be a lot more knitting going on around here lately than quilting.

I just finished this scarf by Churchmouse and enlisted Bruno’s help to model it for the picture.

It was very easy – after you get the 648 stitches cast on! The yarn I used is 100% milk fiber. I’m not sure if it will turn to butter when I wash it. Who knew you could make yarn from milk!

It was originally knit in Koigu, which is a Canadian yarn and comes in some luscious colours. Here are just a few that I couldn’t resist buying.

The two on the far left are actually Bamboo from a local company called Dyeversions. I’ve made many scarves from their bamboo before and it is a dream to work with and drapes beautifully.

The three in the middle are to make this. It is knit horizontally too and looks like it’s woven when it’s done.

My friend Lee just got back from Texas and just in case I ran out of wool, I ordered some from Knitpicks and had it shipped to her to bring back for me. This should keep me busy for a while.

I plan to knit socks with this.

As if that wasn’t enough, a friend gifted me this on the weekend:

It’s Mini Mochie and I think suitable for socks too.

I do still quilt – honest – in fact I went to a quilting retreat this weekend. I must admit I spent more time knitting than sewing as I took all the wrong things. I am determined to get all my kits sewn, so I picked a couple and thought I was all set – wrong!

One of the kits was short fabric so I couldn’t complete the tablerunner. When I pulled out the second kit and started reading the instructions, I realized I needed a book which was at home. It was an add on to a Bag Lady class I had taken several years ago and I didn’t realize the pattern was from the book – I thought it was in the kit.

I did get this accomplished though.

There are supposed to be 4 blocks on the right, and they were designed to be placemats with some additional blocks and sashing. I think I’m just going to put them on point, add some set in triangles and call it finished.

My hands and wrists are killing me from all the knitting I’ve been doing, so I think I need to give knitting a rest and get back to finishing some of these quilting projects.

One of These Tops is Not Like the Other

2011-03-27T10:53:00.001-04:00

I’ve been fighting a sore throat and cold this week, but plugged along and got Lovebird Lane finished.

I e-mailed this picture to my friend Joan yesterday then noticed that all the large roses in the border were sewn together wrong. I’ve been looking at this on my design wall all week, but didn’t notice the mistake till I saw the picture. After I’d said “oh, darn it” (for those of you that know me, you know it was a little stronger than that – well, actually a lot stronger than that) I started taking the border apart to fix it.

Here is the corrected version and if there is a mistake in this one, it’s going to have to stay there!

I’m dreading quilting this as I’m a panto girl and there is no way I can do a panto on this as there are a lot of three dimensional elements in the blocks, It’s going to need custom work so for now, it will go in the ‘to be quilted’ pile and I’ll think about that another day.

You all know what a huge animal lover I am and I heard some very sad news yesterday. My friend Deb, over at Rags N Quilts lost Harry, her gorgeous ragdoll kitty. He was only 5 and my heart just aches for Deb. Those of us who have loved and lost an animal know what she is going through.

Delinquent Blogger

2011-03-19T16:56:00.001-04:00

I have so much admiration for people who blog daily. It takes real commitment and you have to make it a priority. Unfortunately, I’m not one of those people.

I’ve been really busy, but I don’t have a whole lot to show for it. I went on Retreat a couple of weekends ago and I had planned to have my Lovebird Lane top completed. Ha – that didn’t happen – it still isn’t completed.

I did get the blocks done

but I’m still working on the pieced border. These are the bows for the corners

and these are 8 of the 18 flowers on the border.

The other 10 flowers have even more piecing that these ones. It’s one of those – what on earth was I thinking quilts!

In between piecing this fussy border, I did manage to go and see Melissa Etheridge and Serena Ryder in concert. I’ve been a fan of Melissa’s for years and I really like Serena’s music too, so the fact that they were together was an added bonus.

Last weekend my girlfriend Ursula and I went back to The Hillcrest Spa. It was a wonderful 24 hours. Now we’re just waiting until we win the lottery so we can go and live there.

The crocuses are in bloom in Leo’s garden so spring must be coming. I hope so!

I caught Molly cuddled up beside “Marmalade” on the chaise in our bedroom – they could be from the same litter!

The weights are purely ornamental :-)

It’s Beginning to Look Like Home

2011-02-22T13:58:00.001-05:00

The dust is settling from the renovation – the floors are done, the painters are finished and all I’m waiting for now are my window treatments which should be here in about 3 weeks.

I got my Blooming Nine Patch finished, but it’s been renamed “The Frog Prince”. I quilted this baby twice – the first time with a small pleat in the backing that I knew would drive me crazy, so I frogged the whole thing. It took me almost 2 weeks, but as my grandmother always told me, if a job’s worth doing, it’s worth doing right. I’m glad I did.

Here’s a close-up of the quilting:

The panto is Ambrosia and after doing it twice, I could do it in my sleep.

I can’t believe that it’s almost March and that is the only quilting I’ve done this year. I’m going on a Retreat in a couple of weeks, so I better get my act together and decide what I’m going to take to work on.

When my sewing room was under construction, I did do a bit of knitting.

These scarves are so popular – it seems everyone who sees one, wants one. There was a lady here on Saturday helping me decide on window treatments and when she saw them, she asked if she could buy one so I did actually knit 5. They knit up so quickly, but now the yarn is sold out everywhere.

I had a wonderful Valentine’s Day spent with Bon Jovi. He put on another amazing concert – in my opinion, even better than the one in July. My favourite quote of his for the night was “Bon Jovi is like Viagra for women”. It’s the smile, girls – his smile just melts my heart!!!!

Tonight Sandra & I are going to see Billy Elliot, the musical. I’m not really sure what to expect. We both watched the movie so know the story – I just hope we can understand them better. I usually don’t have a problem with English accents, but I spent more time rewinding to try and figure out what they said than I did watching the movie!

I’m also missing my best friend Lee. She is down in sunny McAllen Texas for a couple of months and every day I see the wonderful weather she is getting and look out my window at the snow and freezing cold. She wanted me to come down for a week and I really wanted to go, but in order to get there from here I would have to take 3 flights and that just doesn’t appeal to me. As you know, I don’t like flying to begin with and the thought of all those changes and layovers, especially by myself, makes me a bit nervous. With so many flight cancellations due to weather this winter, it would be just my luck to get stranded somewhere like Detroit.

So, I live vicariously through her e-mails and console myself knowing that I can order anything I want and have it shipped to her and she will bring it back for me :-) I wonder just how much fabric a trailer will hold? I don’t think her husband wants to find out!

Questions & Answers

2011-01-20T12:42:00.001-05:00

I had a number of questions on my last post, but unfortunately, they didn’t leave e-mail addresses so I could respond, so I’ll do it here.

Liz asked:

“I am about to get a new quilt room almost from scratch. Did you find a good resource with advice regarding design? I would love to find something like that. “

There are a number of books out there on designing your space, but I find that most of them I couldn’t relate to my room because it’s so small. I really think you have to find what works for you and how you like your room set up. I love having my threads in easy reach, especially when I’m embroidering. I also like my ironing board right beside my table for easy access.

Peggi asked:

“Aww, too bad you already ordered the flannel sheet. I would have suggested getting a couple of yards of el cheapo batting. I find my blocks stick to it MUCH better than the flannel! “

Actually, Peggi I did try batting on it but a certain little Molly cat found it before we were able to mount it on the wall and thought it would make a great scratching post. When we woke up in the morning it was in shreds.

Peggi also said:

Thanks for the info on the Dyson, I'd been thinking about getting one.

I know lots of people own Dyson’s and they love them but my experience has not been a good one. As a follow-up, after my phone call on Monday, Dyson said I would receive a box on Tuesday to send it back to them for repair. It’s Thursday and I’m still waiting for it to arrive.

I’m not too upset though, as when Leo came home on Monday night he went out and bought a new central vac unit. I’m hoping Dyson will replace my vacuum and I’ll try and sell it.

Earlene wrote:

“Irene, One of your scraps boxes should be labeled red-violet. “

Yes, Earlene, it should be red-violet and not the P word, purple. Earlene, or as she’s better known – Lee - and I took a class a couple of years ago from a so-called colour expert and she said you should never use the word purple as it isn’t on the colour wheel – you should call it red-violet.

This same teacher spoke at our Guild last week and reminded us of this statement. I won’t mention her name, but I was less than impressed with her both times I have heard her speak. I just don’t buy what she says – i.e. – you should use a minimum of 50 fabrics and hues in a quilt in order to make it appealing. What about 2 colour quilts – I’ve seen lots of those that I love!

Mary said:

“The room looks great but you're a much braver person than I am to claim there will never be piles again!! “

As I said to Mary, I was hoping that by putting it in writing it would keep me accountable – we’ll see!

And finally Joan said:

“Love your room! Promise me you'll take a picture a month or so after you get back to sewing. I want to see if it's still so neat and tidy! “

Joan, I promise I will take a picture in a couple of months but I can tell you right now, I’m sure it won’t be so neat and tidy.

I hate posting with no pictures, so here’s your cute fix for the day.

See that horrible carpet in the background – well it’s gone – all gone!!!!

Molly loves her door toy.

Half Way There

2011-01-17T15:29:00.001-05:00

We’re getting there – not fast enough for my liking, but I can see progress.

My sewing room is ‘almost’ finished. Here’s a look at it empty after the floor was installed and it was painted.

Now it looks like this:

I still have to put up window coverings and my design wall isn’t up yet either. I had to order a flannel sheet from the Sears catalogue as I looked everywhere for a white flannel sheet and couldn’t find one.

Darren made me shelves in my closet and this has really increased my storage space.

I PROMISE I am never, ever going to put piles in my room again. This is going to be a pile free room from now on!

The rest of our house is still hopping though. The upstairs bathrooms have been painted, and the wallpaper has been taken off all the hallway walls, but next we need to get the new hardwood installed, then the painters will come back and finish painting our bedroom and the upper and main floor hallways.

Leo just called me and said the going rate to install hardwood is $2.00 a foot, which we expected, but what we didn’t expect was they want $2,000 to do 4 stairs – that’s right $2,000!!!!! Why is nothing ever easy (or cheap, for that matter). I’ve called Darren to see if he can help with the stairs, as he did the floor installation in my sewing room for me.

I still haven’t sewn a stitch, but I have been doing more knitting.

I really like the 2 pair on the left, but I’m not crazy about the striped ones.

I’ve also knit a couple of these:

It’s actually a lot more attractive in person than in this picture.

Now comes my rant – my Dyson vacuum cleaner. First, some background. We have had central vac for years, but last year while Leo was away, it died – the motor burned out and I was desperate so I went out and bought a Dyson Animal. Leo has hated this vacuum since day one, but I kept defending it – not because I really liked it, but because I didn’t want to admit he was right! It’s heavy, the ball on the base makes it too large to go under anything (like a coffee table) using it as a portable needs a degree in rocket science in order to put it back together.

Naturally, when I need it most in the midst of this mess, the suction isn’t working. I did everything recommended on the Dyson website but to no avail, so today I called them. After almost an hour on the phone when they had me take this sucker (NOT) apart piece by piece, they determined that whatever is wrong with it is not something that can be fixed over the phone. They are sending me a box to send it back for repair.

My poor cleaning ladies are going to earn their money this week!

I’m Overwhelmed

2011-01-01T11:10:00.001-05:00

For the past several years, we have wanted to get rid of the broadloom in our upstairs hallway, our bedroom and my sewing room. We’ve put it off and put it off as I knew it wasn’t going to be a fun project. The whole place needs painted and we are putting in new hardwood on top of the existing hardwood which is underneath the broadloom.

We decided to do my sewing room first, so everything could be put back in place, then the bedroom could be done without having to move all the stuff in my sewing room onto new flooring.

This is what my sewing room looks like right now after we tore out the broadloom and emptied most of it out.

I’ve been playing with different layouts for my sewing table but it isn’t easy as what you can’t see in the picture is my sewing cabinet has a large flap on the back that comes up which I use ALL the time for cutting.

What you also can’t see in these pictures is what I’ve already taken out of the room.

This is now sitting in our bedroom and what a time we had getting it out as it was taller than the door so we had to try and flip it which also wasn’t easy as it hit the ceiling every time we tried to flip it. We decided to just leave it on its side for the time being.

Then we have this downstairs in my longarm room:

and this:

and let’s not forget this!

I’ve already bemoaned the fact that I have the smallest room in the house with the most stuff. If I’d discovered my quilting passion just a couple of years earlier, before we redid our guest bedroom, I would have knocked the wall down between the guest room and my sewing room giving me a beautiful big space and it would have still left 3 bedrooms on one level just in case we kick the bucket and the kids want to sell the house.

That’s all history though and I have to try and figure out how to make what I have work. I’m looking at paint chips and trying to decide what colour to paint and I’m also open to any and all suggestions you might have – and if you know the number for a 12 step program, that might come in handy too!

Now I Can Share

2010-12-26T14:51:00.002-05:00

Now that everyone has received their gifts, I can show you what I’ve been up to.

I made this for Sandra and she loved it.

It’s easy to make – it’s all in the yarn!

Then I made these for her:

She loves fingertip towels in her washrooms and since they have 4 bathrooms in their house, she can never have too many. I’m glad she’s the one cleaning them and not me!

I got a lovely surprise just before Christmas when these arrived from my friend Joan in Alberta.

Aren’t they adorable! Almost makes me want to go and cook something so I can use them – almost, but not quite!

She also sent me this gorgeous wallet.

The black strip on the left is all divided for credit cards and the thinner black strip on the right is a zippered compartment. I could never make anything this fiddly and have it turn out so well – thank you Joan – you how how much I appreciate it!

Sandra & Darren surprised me yesterday with this wonderful shadowbox gift. The detail is incredible and I am really inspired now to get my sewing room redecorated so I can hang it on the wall.

Ben had a ball yesterday opening all the gifts wrapped in tissue paper. He isn’t really interested in what’s inside, he just loves to rip off tissue paper. I got a few pictures, but they didn’t turn out very well.

The joke of the day was Leo and I gave each other the same present - an iPad. Since I had his engraved, mine is going back. Thank heavens he didn't buy his from Apple and get it engraved too. I think we can live without 2 iPads!

I’ve started to empty out my sewing room today. I want to replace the flooring, paint the walls and have some storage shelves built in the cupboard. I have a feeling that by the time I move everything out of there and into our bedroom, we won’t be able to move. Hopefully this will motivate us to get it done quickly.

Hope you all had a Merry Christmas and I wish good health and happiness for you in 2011.

The Countdown Begins

2010-12-19T18:28:00.001-05:00

What a busy time of year it is. Why is it that you see all these great ideas for hand made Christmas gifts about 2 weeks before the big day? I read somewhere recently – why doesn’t anyone tell me Christmas is coming – and that’s kind of how I feel right now!

‘Tis the season for parties, dinners, Open Houses, pot lucks and brunches but I’m ready to get back to normal. I’m also ready to stop eating so much!

I did get my second sock finished, but you’ll have to take my word for it, as I don’t have a picture and I’m too lazy to go and take one. I’ve got another pair almost done too. These things are very addictive so if you haven’t tried them yet – don’t!

Since the recipient received this gift, I can share it now.

I just quilted it with some silver metallic thread which I’m not sure you can see in the pictures.

I also made these towels for my two little adopted grandsons. I’m not sure what I was thinking when I did these – there were over 40,000 stitches on each one – for a hand towel. At least I know I’m crazy!

Check out the look on Alexander’s face – it was worth every one of those stitches!

While I’ve been running around like a chicken with my head cut off, Ben & Molly have been chilling. They have each claimed a chair – but I think they have it backwards. The chair without the arms is supposed to be the ladies chair – it is my understanding they were made that way to accommodate a lady’s knitting needles.

We were at my girlfriend’s today for brunch and my adopted granddaughters gave Ben his Christmas present – doesn’t he look thrilled!

What Happens In Vegas Stays In Vegas…

2010-12-04T11:45:00.001-05:00

except this sock.

I hate to miss out on anything and it seems like everyone is knitting socks on circular needles right now. I started this in the airport in Toronto and worked on it while we were in Vegas. You are supposed to knit 2 at a time, but I thought I’d learn to walk before I started running, so just started out with one.

I can’t believe how addictive this is! Just what I need, another addiction. I did this on Number 2 needles with a 75% wool, 25% nylon yarn and I love how it turned out.

I’ve been busy working on Christmas gifts, but because they are gifts, I can’t share most of them with you right now. I’ll be giving this one to Sandra today, so I can show this little table topper to you.

It’s got penguins on it, so I hope she likes it.

I made this tote for my Mum.

I made her one several years ago that she never lets out of her sight. It’s starting to fall apart, so it was time for a new one. It’s fully lined and has 2 large pockets inside which you can divide if you wish.

She loves to gather and hoard so I hope she will be willing to give up her old one.

We had a great time in Vegas – did lots of window shopping, had some great meals, saw a show and walked for miles and miles. We also managed to play the slots too!

We stayed at The Venetian and had a beautiful suite on the 27th floor. Our room overlooked the Wynn golf course right next door.

Since Vegas is a city full of bling, I brought my own bling along with me. I purchased this little wallet in Houston last year and embellished it with crystals. It was so much easier than dragging my large bag around with me.

Of course, it couldn’t compare to these gorgeous Judith Leiber purses we saw!!!!

The one we priced was $4,295 – a real bargain!!!

Everything was decorated for Christmas and was so pretty.

We saw so many to die for shoes, but these were my favourite.

Then we get to the food! I wanted to try one of these, but never did have the opportunity.

The gelato:

How’s this for a chocolate fountain!

I’ll share the rest of my pictures another day – don’t want to bore you all at once!

Busy Busy

2010-11-07T13:41:00.001-05:00

I’ve been busy – really busy and it’s been nice. Last weekend I went to a retreat where I worked on my Blooming 9 Patch ALL weekend. I don’t know what I was smoking when I told you I hoped to come home with a finished top. Maybe that was before I realized there were 256 nine patches in this king size quilt! I did get a lot done, and I’ve been working diligently on it since then.

Here it is in 3 pieces – the centre strip still needs to be sewn on – once I receive a 5” square from the place I ordered the fabric. I messed up on cutting the first block and didn’t have enough fabric to re-cut it correctly. As soon as that arrives, I’ll replace the centre block, get that strip sewn in and then put the borders on. This has really been fun to work on and I must say it went together beautifully. I think I owe a big debt of thanks to Debbie Caffrey for all the great tips I learned in her cutting class.

On Wednesday, Sandra & I went to see Wicked and we loved it!

We both love musicals – I think we’ve seen just about all of them. While Les Miserable is still my favourite, this one was really well done and thoroughly entertaining.

I had a great visit with my Mum today. It was probably the best visit I’ve had in a long, long time and what a difference it made. I was tempted to ask the nurses who this nice old lady was and what did they do with my mother!

I have more busy days ahead. I’m working 3 days this week (moan, moan) then Sandra & I are making our annual pilgrimage to Buffalo next weekend to start our Christmas shopping.

The following weekend we’re off to Vegas. Neither one of us are big gamblers but we both love Vegas. I think for Leo it’s the food. I might have already told you this story but Sandra once said if we went to the moon, the first thing Daddy would ask when we got back was what did you have to eat!

I love the sights, the shows and the fountains at Bellagio – I could stand and watch them for hours. We’ve gone at this time of year before and usually all the Christmas decorations are up, so it should be fun.

Blooming Quilt

2010-10-27T18:07:00.001-04:00

I’m ashamed to admit that we don’t have a quilt on our bed. We both prefer a duvet, but we just bought a new headboard recently and I think the bed is crying out for a quilt.

I decided to make a Blooming 9 Patch and here are the fabrics I’m using:

I have all but one of the strip sets finished and since I’m going on Retreat this weekend, I hope to come home with a finished top. That might be optimistic as I get bored quickly, but that is my aim.

Last week, I went to Ste. Anne’s Spa with two ‘old’ friends. It’s located in the middle of nowhere in an idyllic country setting with amazing views.

The blue in the lower part of the picture is Lake Ontario and this was the view outside our window.

We took a one hour walk through a cedar forest and when we came to the opening, the Spa was ahead on the hill. There was still a lot of colour, as you can see.

I think I’m a very brave woman for posting this next picture of me without a drop of makeup!!! This is my forever friend, Trudy. We’ve been friends since we were 5 – you do the math!

Lions and Tigers and Goblins, Oh My!

2010-10-20T18:40:00.001-04:00

I haven’t shared any pictures of my grandkitties lately, so this post is dedicated to them. They are all rescue kitties, approximately the same age and they get along beautifully together.

Here’s little Abby, our princess, all ready for Halloween.

She is such a good natured cat, so loving and tolerant as this picture attests.

Then there is our little cross eyed Lucy all decked out in her finery.

Here’s Abby again, with a change of outfit. If she could talk, I’m sure she’s saying – Get This Off Me NOW…please.

Not to be outdone by Abby, Lucy needed to model the hat too. She looks like she’s scaring herself!

Miles wasn’t up for a photo shoot – he left that to the girls as he’d rather curl up and sleep (typical male).

He looked so comfortable, the girls thought they’d give it a try.

They really are the best of friends.

Dishes Anyone?

2010-10-17T16:16:00.001-04:00

When I first started quilting about 6 years ago, I bought a lot of novelty fabric….and florals. I’ve gotten over the urge to buy the novelties, but florals still call my name.

In my travels, I’ve seen these cute tea towels with a strip of novelty fabric on them so gave it a try. I’m not sure if tea towels is a British expression and you might know them as dish towels, but all my life they’ve been tea towels to me – the ones you dry the dishes with.

I initially cut out each square and satin stitched them onto the towel, but I didn’t like how that looked, so just went with the strip right across the towel.

Sandra, I hope you like the 2 sets of penguin ones because they’re for you!

I also found this with my Christmas fabric

so I’m going to make some of these up and donate them to Animal Aid. Who wouldn’t want to dry dishes with these cute little faces looking at you.

I’ve made about a dozen towels so far and I’ve used about 2 strips of fabric – that works out to about 6”. I guess this isn’t exactly a stash buster!

As Bon Jovi says “It’s My Life”

2010-10-16T17:44:00.001-04:00

My blog has become boring – I know it, you know it. My blog used to represent who I am and what I do, but somewhere along the way, it’s changed and I’ve kept what’s really going on in my life off my blog.

Three days a week I visit my mother in a Behavioral Unit for Alzheimer and dementia patients in a long term care facility in Mississauga. This is just a temporary placement with hopes of getting her behavior and pain stabilized so she can go into regular long term care. She has been IN hospital more days this year than she has been out and I was visiting her almost every day. For the best part of a year I have been getting calls at all hours of the day and night and it sucks the life out of you.

It’s hard to be witty and entertaining with all this going on. I’m not looking for sympathy – I know there are thousands of people just like me dealing with the same thing but it doesn’t help that I’m an only child and we have a very small family. Throw in triple by-pass surgery for Leo in the middle of all this, and you can see where I’m coming from.

It’s pretty hard to take daily verbal abuse for being such a lousy daughter. You would think it would get easier as time goes on, but it doesn’t – it gets harder. I’ve already given Sandra instructions to push me in front of a bus before I ever put her through what I’ve been through.

Since what I am dealing with is such a huge part of who I am right now, I just needed to vent. Please – no sympathy – just make me laugh.

I got two more blocks of Lovebird Lane finished.

I’m going to give this a break for a couple of days as I want to make some dish towels. I’ve seen them done in a couple of places – they are so easy but really look cute, so stay tuned. Besides, it wouldn’t do to actually finish something!

Lovebird Lane

2010-10-14T14:59:00.001-04:00

I’m kind of wishing I’d sat on my hands a little longer before ordering this block of the month. It’s not that I don’t like it – I do, but I have no idea what I’m going to do with it and I’m not looking forward to quilting it as it’s all going to be background fill which isn’t one of my strong points.

This is the first block – I’m only about 6 months behind!

It’s pieced and appliquéd with a few finishing touches by hand embroidery.

I have a few more pictures from the Quilt Show I’d like to share. I don’t think we ever tire of looking at beautiful quilts.

I liked this quilt – in fact I think I bought the magazine a couple of years ago that it was featured in.

This one was wool felt appliqué.

The picture doesn’t do this wall hanging justice – it was stunning!

I’m always drawn to blue & white quilts, and this one was no exception.

I think I need to make one of these.

The quilting on this wall hanging was outstanding.

I have a few more Quilt Show pictures left, but I have a feeling this will take forever to download, so I’ll save them for my next post.

Strawberry Fields

2010-10-10T18:25:00.001-04:00

I can’t remember why I called this quilt Strawberry Fields – I have a feeling the Bali Pops I bought were called that, but I’m not sure. This pattern was a give away at a local Shop Hop a couple of years ago. It was designed by Nancy Nigh who owned Gone To Pieces Quilt Shop.

I finished the top quite some time ago, and finally got it quilted. I used the Vibrance panto on this one, and Superior’s King Tut variegated thread.

Lee and I went to the Brant Heritage Quilt Show yesterday in Paris, Ontario. Here are some of my favourites from the Show.

There were a lot of bargello quilts – and there were a lot of stack n whacks – obviously a lot of people took the same class!

I thought this thread painting was stunning.

I loved this one and when I got closer, realized it was 100% silk – all made from ties!

This jacket was also made from silk ties.

This was one of my favourites.

It reminded me of Nova Scotia which is one of my favourite places.

I have lots more pictures, but I’ll save some for another post.

After the quilt show, we went to Mary Maxim. I’m sure it’s been at least 20 years since I was there and I had no idea they sold fabric (probably just as well I didn’t know!).

It’s Thanksgiving weekend here in Canada so tomorrow is a holiday. I’m off to the Rockton Fair with Sandra & Darren. I’m not sure if I’ll take my camera or not, but Sandra rarely leaves home without hers, so if there is anything picture worthy, I’m sure we’ll be covered.

Happy Thanksgiving to all my Canadian friends.

Memories of Galveston

2010-09-27T14:39:00.001-04:00

You have no idea how happy it makes me to have some quilting time again.

I purchased the fabric for this quilt in Galveston, I believe it was in 2005, when Onalee and I had a magical day there after having our fill of the Houston Quilt Show. We spent a couple of hours in Quilts by the Bay before enjoying a meal on the waterfront watching the world go by. I’ve decided to name this “Memories of Galveston”.

It looks more than a little wrinkled in this picture and the reason why is slinking off in the background. Why is it that no matter where in the house your pets are, the minute you lay something on the floor they have to lie on it?

This could explain some of the wrinkles!!!!

I also finished up this little Christmas table runner made from a Charm Pack.

I quilted this with metallic thread and as always, Tilly was very co-operative and I didn’t have any problems at all.

I also finished this little strippy quilt called “Nursery Rhymes”.

You might notice two little paws on the right of the picture!!!!

I got another quilt quilted this weekend too but I am still hand sewing the binding so I’ll wait until it’s finished to show you.

Seminar Part Two

2010-09-20T16:40:00.001-04:00

On the second day of the seminar, I took Debbie Caffrey’s Open a Can of Worms and Another Can of Worms class. We were working with 2 1/2” strips cutting half square triangles, quarter square triangles and trapezoids. I’ve been playing around with her methods since coming home and I like them!!!!

This is her Road To Oklahoma quilt and it was hung on a folding screen which is why it looks funny in the middle.

This one is called Four Patches and Friends.

This last one is her Bluebonnets quilt and the fabric was just stunning. Once again, the pictures don’t do it justice.

If you ever get the opportunity to take one of Debbie’s classes, I would highly recommend it. I can honestly say I learned more USEFUL information from her on basic quilt making skills than any other class I’ve taken.

Since Leo has been away fishing all weekend, I’ve been busy trying out all the techniques I learned. I just need to get some pictures taken so I can show you.

Finally – Something Interesting!

2010-09-18T18:50:00.001-04:00

Every year, for the past 5 or 6 years, I have attended a quilting seminar hosted by the Amherst Quilters Guild in Amherst, NY. They bring in nationally known teachers for a 4 day seminar of full day classes.

This year, the teachers were Debbie Caffrey and Sue Nickels. Since I’d taken classes from Sue before, I took 2 of Debbie’s classes this year and I wasn’t disappointed. That lady has so much knowledge and information and she is so willing to share.

The first class was her Power Cutting class and I learned a whole new way to cut so that you are moving your ruler, and not your fabric. It makes a huge difference when you are cutting strips and eliminates the need to constantly be squaring up your fabric.

We learned how to make half square and quarter square triangles using the Omnigrid 98L and 96L rulers and the techniques she taught have convinced me I’ll never use Thangles again!

I also learned that it was Debbie that convinced Moda to sell 2 1/2” strips of fabric, now known as Jelly Rolls and also the 10” square Layer Cakes. She was also quick to point out, though, that all the other weird shapes they are selling had nothing to do with her!

She explained that Moda’s strips are the most accurate as they are cut where they are manufactured, whereas all the other strips are cut after the manufacturing process. This would explain why I’ve heard so many complaints about Bali Pops being so irregular.

Debbie’s quilts are not what I would call showstoppers, but she is more interested in teaching techniques so you can go and make your own showstopper. I love the border treatment on this quilt and look how easy it is!

She used sashing in this quilt, not only to add interest, but so she didn’t have to worry about matching seams and adding bulk.

On Wednesday night, we attended Sue Nickels lecture and trunk show. I think I’ll just let you drool over the eye candy!

Look at the unique border treatment on this one!

The pictures of this next one really don’t do it justice. It’s called Tea at Tenby and the machine quilting (all on a domestic machine) is just unbelievable.

And another unique border treatment.

Sue is a wonderful, entertaining teacher and we got to hear the story behind The Beatles Quilt and The Space Quilt and saw slides of the various blocks. Both of these quilts are now in the collection of the Museum of the American Quilters Society in Paducah, Kentucky.

I’ll save the rest of my pictures and tell you all about my other class with Debbie another day.

It’s A Little Chilly Outside

2010-09-05T14:08:00.001-04:00

Nothing improves my state of mind more than a little quilting time and I was able to get some of that in this weekend.

I quilted this simple little baby quilt with a panto called Dragonfly Pond and I’m really pleased with how it turned out.

You can see the pattern better on the back.

I sewed all my leftover strips together for the binding. I’ve never done that before, but I think it worked.

I saw this quilt on the back cover of a quilting magazine at the beginning of the summer and fell in love with it. I e-mailed the fabric requirements to Rachel at The Old Country Store and a week later they were in my mail box. Now usually, I don’t start something I buy right away – it has to age, sometimes forever, but I was anxious to get this one started and I finished it today.

I used a panto called Paisley Playtime on this one as the centre fabric is a paisley (although you certainly couldn’t tell from this picture).

Again, the quilting shows up much better on the backing.

We’ve had a gloriously hot summer, but yesterday we had a dramatic drop in temperature. The jeans and sweatshirt came out today, but I’m not ready to put my sandals away just yet.

Appliquéd Angel Puppy Quilt Top

2010-08-22T15:17:00.001-04:00

Thought I’d better pop in here and let you know I’m still alive. My Mum has been in hospital for the last couple of months so my life seems to be on hold.

Things aren’t going to get any better, so I need to learn to deal with it – enough said.

I did finish the top of my embroidered puppy angel quilt and I’ll share the pictures, since I don’t have anything else to show you. I don’t think there is much going around in my brain either that you’d want to hear, so it’s going to be lots of pictures for this post.

I like my colour and fabric choices more in some of these than others. I’m not sure what I’m going to do with it and I don’t have a clue how I’m going to quilt it, so it will probably have to age for a bit while I ponder that.

It’s August??????

2010-08-01T19:13:00.001-04:00

Bon Jovi was absolutely amazing – best concert I’ve ever been to. Kid Rock opened for him and then Bon Jovi played for 2 1/2 hours straight. We were on our feet from the minute he came on stage until he left. When Jon smiles, my heart just melts – he’s so damned cute!

I made this quilted panel for my friend Onalee for her birthday. An unusual gift to give in July, but at least this way she will have it for the Christmas season. She loves little cartoon mice so when I saw this, it had her name written all over it.

I quilted it with metallic thread and I must admit I was nervous as I’ve never used metallics before. Tilly handled it like a dream and I had absolutely no problems. Onalee loves a bit of bling, so I embellished it with crystals.

I’ve been working on these appliquéd embroidered blocks.

I have 11 of them done – just one more to go then I think I will alternate them with some 9 patch blocks and make a little quilt out of them.

I don’t know how people have their embroidery machine going on one table and manage to get anything done at another. These little guys had about 30 thread changes each so they seemed to demand my full attention.

This & That

2010-07-12T17:11:00.001-04:00

I’ve been really busy lately, but nothing much blog worthy has been going on.

Sandra and I went to see Miss Saigon on Saturday at the Four Seasons Centre in Toronto. We’ve both seen Miss Saigon before but I’m not sure where my head was the first time I saw it, but I enjoyed it much more this time. I didn’t remember much about it, except the helicopter, and I also didn’t remember it being so sad.

After the theatre, we went for dinner at Tundra. Some high end Toronto restaurants participate in what is called Summerlicious where there is a prix fixe menu so us poor folk can enjoy some of the finer dining available. The food and service was excellent!

Leo has gone fishing this weekend so Ben, Molly & I have been holding down the fort.

I got my Birthday Presents top put together and it’s now in the pile to be quilted.

I also got this very old UFO finished and I’ve just embroidered a label for it.

The floral fabric in this is one of the first fabrics I ever bought for my stash. Contrary to popular belief, it didn’t come from the 70s.

I’m not sure how much quilting is going to be done in the next couple of weeks as I have lots of other fun things planned and I also have a date with Bon Jovi next Tuesday – I can hardly wait!!!!

It Must be Monday

2010-06-28T12:52:00.001-04:00

Life threw me another curve ball this week. My Mum is in hospital with cellulites in both legs and a rash all over her body which they believe is an allergic reaction to a pain patch she was on. Her legs are so sore and of course the infection has increased her dementia.

I did take my bag class on Friday anyway, and came home with this:

I didn’t put a whole lot of thought into the fabric I used as I just threw it together late on Thursday night. I’m really pleased with it though. It’s fully lined and stands up beautifully on it’s own.

Now I’m working on a quilt called Birthday Presents by Atkinson Designs. I’m really liking how this is going together.

Pictures are wonderful – I now see that I need to change the first block on the second row – there isn’t enough contrast in the two fabrics. This isn’t the final layout – I have 42 blocks to make so they are just going on my design wall as I finish them.

A certain little someone had her first birthday on Saturday. Happy Birthday Molly!

First Day of Summer

2010-06-21T13:13:00.001-04:00

It’s a beautiful day here and Ben and I just got back from our daily walk in the park and around the neighbourhood.

Speaking of Ben (nice segway) he was complaining that he hadn’t been in my blog for quite some time, so I need to rectify that. Here’s my baby.

Now, I can’t put in a picture of one baby without the other, so here’s Molly.

The reason her nose looks so funny is she was sniffing some lillies in a flower arrangement and got the stamen dust all over her nose! Silly girl!

Not much to show this week in the quilting department. I did get my McKenna Ryan piece finished and put some crystals on the light bulbs and the bows around their necks. They don’t show up very well in this picture. This is another of those pieces that I liked a whole lot more when I bought it than I do now.

I forgot to tell you the best news of all. My Mum’s house sold a few weeks ago with a closing at the end of July, so that will be another load off my mind.

Lee & I are taking a class this week to make this bag. I’m sure we could have figured it out on our own, but the class was only $10 so it should be a fun day out.

Hopefully, I’ll have the finished project to show you by next week.

Busy Times Around Here

2010-06-13T13:14:00.001-04:00

I’ve had another productive week on the quilting front. I made a couple more curved appliqué pieces.

I intend to donated these to our local Humane Society and if they like them, I’ll make some more as I really enjoy doing them. I have LOTS of dog and cat fabric and this is a cute way of using some of it up. They are time consuming but what in quilting isn’t!

I’ve also had this small panel in my stash for ages, so thought it might like to see the light of day.

I have no idea how I’m going to quilt this so I’m open to any and all suggestions.

Yesterday we attended the wedding of Kim’s son. I’ve worked with Kim for the past 15 years and watched her boys grow up. Here are the proud mother & father of the groom.

Kim’s dress was absolutely stunning and fit her like a glove. Since everyone loves to look at a bride, here are the happy couple – Jeff & Mary.

Leo & I decided we’d try and take one of those ‘hold out your arm and take a picture’ of the two of us. Sandra & Darren do it all the time. Here’s our first try:

So we tried again:

Leo kept telling me it was because I was too short – yea, right – just because there’s almost a foot between us! So, after about 10 of these attempts, we tried it this way:

Today is my Mum’s 88th birthday and we’re all going to meet at the residence and help her celebrate. Let’s just hope she knows who we are today.

Some Finishes

2010-06-02T19:07:00.001-04:00

I feel like I have my life back. I’ve been semi-productive and it’s nice to have some time to myself again.

Here is my bright simple quilt done with my favourite Circle Lord Swirls.

While Ben managed to stay out of this picture, I noticed his tuggy didn’t!

I love striped bias binding and decided to put stripes on the back too.

The colours look way off on the stripes, but you get the idea. Here’s a close-up of the binding.

On Saturday I took a workshop on circular appliqué and I’m really pleased with my results.

It’s about 16” x 16” and you quilt it as you appliqué – with a straight stitch.

I really enjoyed doing this and can see more of them in my future. We also got the pattern for a miniature Wedding Ring so that’s what I’m trying next.

I’m off tomorrow to a Shop Hop in the Niagara Peninsula. There are only three stores, but they usually have nice patterns as a give-a-way.

I Must Be Sick

2010-05-28T12:42:00.002-04:00

I pre-ordered an iPad ages ago as I was totally convinced I HAD to have one. Then, on Wednesday night, I cancelled my order. Cleaning out my Mother’s house has affected me more than I realized but I started thinking that all this wonderful device would do was help me spend even more time on a computer. I have a desktop, I have a laptop – why do I need another one? I must admit my decision was also influenced by the fact that I couldn’t load EQ into it, nor could I run my embroidery software from it. Oh, well, I may change my mind, but for today I’m happy with my decision.

This is what I accomplished this week.

It’s McKenna Ryan’s Berry Christmoose. This has been sitting in a drawer for at least 4 years - I'm sure it's glad to see the light of day. I haven’t quilted it yet and I intend to add some bling with crystals on the tree lights and star.

I also got my simple bright quilt quilted – here’s a preview but I’m working on the binding now so I’ll post a picture of the whole quilt when it’s finished.

We’ve had record breaking temperatures this week and our air conditioner decided to die on us last weekend. We had a new one installed yesterday so last night was the first night it’s been bearable in this house all week.

I didn’t sleep much though – I’m excited about picking up my new car today!!!!

My Trail is Over

2010-05-21T09:40:00.003-04:00

Here it is, the completed Trail Mix.

I put a flange on by the binding. I’d done one on the inner border before, but never one by the binding. I like the look it gives the finished border and since you apply it after the top is quilted, it doesn't get in the way of the quilting, like one on the inner border does.

I used the panto Vibrance to quilt this but I had trouble getting a good shot showing the quilting.

I attended a baby shower last Sunday and I knitted this blanket for the baby.

The baby’s Grandma is a quilter, so I knew she would be making a quilt for the baby, so I thought something knitted would be welcome too – in case you’re wondering about my colour choice – they know it’s a girl!

I haven’t decided what to start working on next. Heaven knows I have enough things to pick and choose from. I’m also sitting on my hands trying not to order this:

I swear when it’s slow at work it costs me money! It’s been VERY slow lately, so I’ve had nothing but time to surf Ebay, Etsy, all the Quilting Forums and blogs. Someone on the APQS forum just posted this. It’s called Lovebird Lane and it’s a Block of the Month. I need another Block of the Month like I need more fabric, but I’m very tempted to order it.

I almost forgot to tell you my BIG news! I won the most improved bowler at our bowling banquet last Saturday. My average improved by 22.6 pins over last year and I won $125. Every member of our team won $157 each for our placement in the league (and we were in the middle – I’d like to know what the top place teams won). That would more than pay for this little quilt – right?

I’m Getting There

2010-05-14T14:15:00.001-04:00

This is the first day in a long, long time that I haven’t felt the need to go and work on clearing out my Mum’s house. It’s all done! The For Sale sign went up on Wednesday night and there will be an Open House on Sunday. I hope I don’t have to resort to burying little statues in the front lawn in order to get it sold, but if I do, hopefully Rian can remind me which one I have to buy :-)

I’ve been working on my Trail Mix this morning in between loads of laundry and I have the top together. This is a very bad picture as it’s all wrinkled but I didn’t feel like moving stuff out of the way to properly lay it down – there is only so far I’ll go for my blog readers!

I still have 3 borders to go on and I think I have them picked out. I know scrap quilts don’t appeal to everyone (Joan!) but I’m happy with how this turned out. I think the secret is to look at the overall effect, rather than concentrate on the individual fabrics.

When this is done, I’m hoping to spend some time with Tillie. There are a number of tops that have been patiently waiting to be quilted so I hope I can get to them soon.

Monday Musings

2010-05-03T19:33:00.001-04:00

How did it get to be May? Why is it over 80 degrees in my sewing room? Well, I just solved the heat issue and turned on the A/C.

I’ve finished all the blocks for my Trail Mix and started putting them on my design wall.

The jury is still out. One thing I can tell you is there is one hell of a lot of piecing in this baby!

I found this when I was cleaning out my Mum’s house. It’s a Singer 328 but I haven’t tried it yet. I’m sure it hasn’t been serviced for over 20 years.

I could never understand people that had more than one sewing machine but I may have to eat my words as there are now 4 in my sewing room – no wonder I don’t have any room in there!

Every spring when we open our pool we have some visitors. I’m not sure if they are the same ones every year, but they always show up and have a little swim, then take off.

Leo took this picture – I guess he doesn’t know how to use the zoom on my camera! Anyway, hope you can see the ducks.

Turns out my memory isn’t as bad as I thought. Dorothy IS from Waterford and is familiar with the old Train Station. She also asked me why they call the quilt I’m working on Trail Mix. I have no idea, other than it is a mix of fabrics with a trail running through it??? That’s my answer and I’m sticking to it.

Trail Mix

2010-04-26T17:59:00.002-04:00

Seems like all my spare time lately has been spent trying to clear out my Mum’s house to get it ready to go on the market. It certainly has made me think twice about the things around here that I keep.

I have been stealing a little time to work on this Trail Mix Quilt from Better Homes & Gardens Scrap-Lovers’ Quilts.

So far, I’ve made 32 of these:

and 38 of these:

and 44 of these:

I still have 24 Double Nine-Patch blocks and 42 Nine Patch blocks to do. Nothing like a quick little quilt to whip up – NOT!

I love other people’s scrap quilts, but I’m not sure how this is going to turn out. No matter what anyone says, I think the nicest scrap quilts are controlled to a certain extent – whether it be by colour or fabric period, etc. This one is a little bit of everything, so we’ll see what it looks like when I start to put it together.

Lee and I did a not so local Shop Hop a couple of weeks ago and this was one of the stores on the tour. It’s called Quilt Junction and is located in the very small town of Waterford, Ontario.

The store is located in the old railway station and had one of the nicest selections of fabric that I’ve seen in a while. I’d never been there before, in fact, I hadn’t been to any of the stores on the tour. I’m not sure why, but I have a feeling this area might have been near Dorothy’s old stomping grounds.

I also wanted to give a shout out to Fiskars! I bought these snips quite a few years ago and they weren’t cutting as well as they used to. Since I’d heard they had a lifetime guarantee, I followed the instructions on their website and sent them a picture of my snips.

A week later, a brand new pair arrived in my mailbox. Now that’s service!

Hold Onto Your Seat – Quilting Content

2010-04-12T11:50:00.001-04:00

I did some quilting last week and it felt so good. This top has been lying around for quite some time – I ‘think’ it was supposed to be a disappearing 9 patch but I didn’t like it, so added some sashing and cornerstones. I’m still not crazy about it, but it’s finished.

Since it was such a busy quilt to begin with, I just quilted Baptist fans on it.

I’m not sure what possessed me to make this one. It’s so not me but I really seem to be into mindless these days and they don’t get much more mindless than this.

It’s just on my design wall which is why it looks all wrinkled at the bottom.

Leo got some beautiful flowers this week and I thought I’d share some of the blooms with you.

This hydrangea is just gorgeous.

He also got ‘flowers’ of a different kind.

These ones were good enough to eat!

I’m Walking on Sunshine

2010-04-04T08:56:00.002-04:00

Leo’s heart surgery went well on Thursday and the surgeon is very pleased with his recovery. He was in a lot of pain on Friday, but yesterday he was up and walking and his pain was minimal. They are hoping he can come home on Tuesday. To say I’m relieved would be the understatement of the year.

This surgery has been hanging over our heads since January and I think I was dreading it even more than Leo as I remembered what we went through with his last surgery almost two years ago to the day.

It’s onwards and upwards from now on. My Mum is settled into her new residential care facility and soon Leo will be home and get stronger every day. I feel like the weight of the world has finally been lifted from my shoulders.

I couldn’t have got through this last six months without the help of my family and friends – one friend in particular. Lee has been with me every step of the way and I don’t know what I’d have done without her. Being an only child, I’ve learned to try and handle most things by myself and I’ve never been one to ask for help. Lee never asked if I needed help, she could just sense it and was always there for me.

When we got home from Leo’s angiogram at almost midnight in the freezing cold, she was sitting in our driveway ready to give me a hug. She walked into the waiting room on Thursday and sat with Sandra and I until we got news that things were O.K. She listened to me moan and cry almost daily when I was trying to deal with my Mum.

I’ll be honest – I’ve never had a friend like this before. Most people (myself included) tend to say if you need anything, anything at all, just say the word. I never did say the word – I guess I considered it a weakness if I couldn’t manage myself. This has given me a whole new perspective on friendship and I will no longer just offer – I’ll look for a need and I’ll try and fill it. Thank you Lee for not only being my friend but for teaching me the true meaning of friendship.

If you’re still hanging in here with me, I do have some cute pictures to share with you. Here are my grandkitties enjoying their dinner.

Left to right we have Lucy, Miles and Abby – and notice none of them have their elbows on the table – I have such well behaved grandkitties!

Darren also got this great shot of one of the bunnies in their backyard.

Do you think this is the Easter Bunny?

Production Line

2010-03-19T13:26:00.001-04:00

I spent a very enjoyable day on Monday doing nothing but quilting. Poor old Tillie has been sadly neglected lately but she performed perfectly for me and I got these three little strippy quilts done.

Molly had to check out the back to make sure my tension was perfect!

I know a lot of people who are expecting this spring and although these quilts are so simple, they are what I call ‘happy quilts’ as they are bright and colourful and bring a smile to your face. I used three different pantos on these – the first one was Sprung, the second Bubbles and the third Vibrance.

Completely unrelated, I watched the movie “My Sister’s Keeper” last weekend and what a letdown. I’m a big fan of Jodi Picoult’s books and this movie was based on one of them. Talk about taking poetic license – they completely changed the ending of the book and for some reason it really infuriated me. I’m so glad I had read the book before I saw the movie.

We have had absolutely gorgeous weather here all week – perfect weather for walking my baby – and we’re headed to the park right now.

Stacked Posies

2010-03-10T17:56:00.001-05:00

I’ve really been trying to get out of my quilting slump - honest. It has taken me more time than I’m willing to admit to get these stacked posy blocks together.

Then I tried to decide if they would look better on point?

I e-mailed my friend Joan and she didn’t think the dotted fabric was working, so I re-thunk (I’m sure that’s not a word) the whole thing and decided I’d make a wallhanging, instead of a quilt as I am getting sick of the sight of these tiny little 3” square blocks!

This is as far as I got yesterday, then while at work today I came up with an even better idea and this is what I’m doing with them now!

They are officially a UFO and I have no regrets. Life is too short to spend time on something that just isn’t working!

It Can’t Be March – it Just Can’t!!

2010-03-08T13:10:00.002-05:00

If you are still hanging in here with me, I commend you as there sure hasn’t been anything remotely resembling quilting going on around here lately.

I did get away to Dallas for a few days but the timing of the trip was all wrong. It had been planned before all hell broke loose around here and I should have taken the monetary loss and just cancelled – we live and learn.

There were some good times, though, and this beautiful girl and I shared a walk around the neighbourhood every morning.

We also spent a lovely day out in Rockwall at a friend’s house on the lake.

This is the view from almost every window in her home.

The pictures I am going to show you do not do justice to the beautiful work that Louise does. This embroidered quilt is magnificent and – are you ready for this – this is the first quilt she has ever made!!!!!

Louise is now working on a second quilt, made from dupioni silk and it is going to be every bit as gorgeous, if not more so, than her first one.

There is nothing I hate more than someone who does beautiful work like this AND she’s organized!!!!!

Not a pile of anything in site – and just in case you were wondering, her drawers are all tidy too!

Here we are at lunch at Gloria’s.

Left to right – Margaret, Carol, myself, Louise, Ann & Lee. Poor Ruth was cut out of the picture by the waiter.

Margaret and Carol are also extremely talented. Margaret can make just about anything without a pattern and Carol has done some beautiful heirloom smocking, as well as quilting.

You can’t spend time around these gals and not be inspired – so stay tuned!

Someday I’ll Be Saturday Night

2010-02-08T10:35:00.001-05:00

I’ve been going through what are quite possibly the worst couple of weeks of my life and unfortunately the worst isn’t over yet.

The short version is my Mum has mixed dementia/Alzheimer's and is in hospital waiting to go into a care facility. We also found out that Leo needs triple by-pass surgery as soon as possible so we are waiting for a date for his surgery. Enough said.

I haven’t been able to concentrate on ~~much~~ anything but I have produced a few mindless items.

I made these for Sandra for Valentine’s Day.

They fit in perfectly with her obsession with penguins.

I also managed to do two more baby quilts. I love this fabric so much, I don’t know what I’m going to do when the bolt is finished. This pattern is from Mary’s website.

Our Retreat Group was asked to donate a quilt for a fundraising auction at the place where they hold the retreats. Grace donated a beautiful king sized top and I volunteered to quilt it. I could kick myself that I didn’t get a picture, but I was anxious to get it finished and on to the next person for binding. I’m sure someone along the line will get a picture so I can share it then.

For those of you puzzling over my post title, it’s a Bon Jovi song which goes something like this….

Hey man, I’m alive, I’m taking each day and night at a time; I’m feeling like a Monday but someday I’ll be Saturday night……My life’s a bargain basement all the good shit’s gone!

Seriously though, we WILL get through this and things will get better.

It’s Been a While

2010-01-08T11:39:00.001-05:00

I’m finally feeling better, but my blog has been sadly neglected.

This was my last finish for 2009.

The pattern for this was in a recent issue of Quilts and More, and while it wasn’t difficult, I wouldn’t rush to make another one.

My first finish of the year was this quilt:

You might remember (who am I kidding, I don’t even remember what I had for lunch yesterday) I won this kit a few years ago at a Shop Hop. When I put it together, I really didn’t like it – but now that it’s quilted, it’s growing on me.

I used a new to me panto called Ambrosia and I really like this panto and I can see it being used a lot in the future.

We had a real treat at our Guild meeting last night. Carol Goddu, a member of our Guild and an award winning quilter, gave a lovely presentation of her pictorial quilts and we got to see a lot of them up close and personal. Her website doesn’t do any of her work justice – the detail in her quilts is amazing as is the variety of fabrics and the different techniques she uses.

A Little of This and That

2009-12-29T12:23:00.001-05:00

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas filled with the people and things you love most.

Sandra did a lot of shopping on Etsy this year and I wanted to share a couple of the quilty gifts she gave me.

I love this bookmark and it’s very appropriate, don’t you think?

She also combined my love of bears with my love of quilting with this little guy:

Ian had me in tears with his gift. He snuck Ben out for a professional photo shoot and presented me with this picture:

I haven’t got as much accomplished as I hoped during the holidays as I have my asthma/cough/crud back – AGAIN. This really is getting tedious and I am totally fed up being sick every other month.

I did get my Strawberry Fields top finished though.

Since I hadn’t touched Tillie for several months, I started with this little snowman strippy quilt.

If this looks familiar, it’s because I did one exactly the same earlier in the year.

After Tillie was all warmed up, I quilted this Quilt of Valour. I didn’t do the piecing, only the quilting.

I used a panto called Maple Syrup but I don’t think the maple leaves show up as much as I would like.

Wonderful Surprise

2009-12-14T18:15:00.001-05:00

Today wasn’t a good day. I don’t talk about it on my blog, but my Mother has vascular dementia and I deal with the fallout of that condition pretty much daily. I only had 2 hours sleep last night and was feeling pretty sorry for myself today.

Then, the mailman arrived with a parcel from my friend Joan who lives in Alberta. Whenever I think I’m cold, I think of her – it was minus 42° there this morning. It really doesn’t matter if that’s Fahrenheit or Celsius – it’s FREEZING!

I ‘met’ Joan a few years ago on a Canadian Quilting Forum and through Facebook we have become good friends and regular correspondents. She regularly beats the pants off me at Scrabble.

When I opened the box, the tears started.

I knew she had been making these ornaments and I admired them. I sympathized with her sore fingers sticking all the pins in but told her it would be worth it in the end. I had no idea I was going to be one of the lucky recipients. It is absolutely gorgeous and I feel so lucky.

When I dug a little deeper in the box, I discovered this:

At first I thought it was yardage that had been folded in a very nifty manner. I absolutely love the colours – pink, purple, green – does she know me or what! It’s what I would refer to as happy fabric – just looking at it makes you smile.

It’s not yardage as I originally thought, but a wonderful fold up bag.

It’s completely lined and folds into the front pocket. I just love it!

Joan, you made my day and I treasure not only the gifts but our friendship.

More Strawberry Fields

2009-12-13T19:42:00.001-05:00

I think I might have to keep this quilt. I love it, although it still isn’t finished as there is one more border to go on.

This all came from one Bali Pop and the black background fabric.

Tomorrow I go for my annual mammogram and bone density test. I can hardly wait!

Tuesday my Stitch N Chat Group are meeting for our annual Christmas lunch (Chinese food). I have their gifts all ready, but they still need to be wrapped. I think next year we are going to draw names as coming up with ten identical quilty gifts isn’t an easy task.

Two weeks from today Christmas will be all over and I won’t be sorry. Those that know me, know Christmas isn’t my favourite holiday. I wish I could get back the excitement of it all, but it just isn’t happening.

Strawberry Fields Forever

2009-12-06T10:32:00.001-05:00

I really like how this is turning out.

There are still sashing strips and cornerstones to go on – and the corners, of course, but I like where this one is going.

Sandra & Darren are having a Christmas Open House today so I spent yesterday baking to help them out a little. They just came and picked everything up and that’s the way I like it – it’s all out of the house and the temptation is gone.

I have to work full time this week (moan, moan) so there probably won’t be a lot of progress made on the sewing front. I still have Christmas shopping to do, haven’t wrapped a thing and so far the jury is still out on whether or not a tree is going up.

I laughed at Sandra’s Facebook status the other day:

3 cats + 2 trees = WORST IDEA EVER

Sounds like my little grandkitties haven’t been behaving themselves. In fact, when I talked to her on Friday, she asked me if I wanted to adopt three cats – one that yawns on command.

Wonderful Weekend

2009-11-30T09:29:00.003-05:00

I’m back from a Quilting Retreat and I had a great time. Not only did I get a lot accomplished, but I got to spend some quality time with old friends and new friends.

Before I left, I stitched out two more mylar embroidery designs for Sandra:

At retreat on Friday, I got 6 of these done:

Saturday, I spent the whole day on this bag.

I still have a button to sew on the front pocket, then it’s done!

Yesterday I got this Bali Pop cut out:

and ready to make this:

Both of the snowmen applique patterns and the Quilter’s Harvest pattern came from my favourite local quilt store, Gone to Pieces.

When I was tired of sewing, I worked on this scarf which is almost finished:

To top it all off, when I got home yesterday I unpacked everything and put it all away, unlike what I usually do which is dump it all on my sewing table and close the door!

Now I need to concentrate on some Christmas shopping. As much as I’ve whined and complained, as far as I know, Christmas still hasn’t been cancelled this year.

Leo’s gone to Montreal for a couple of days so I can cross off making dinner from my list!

Manic Monday

2009-11-23T18:29:00.001-05:00

I got this little guy stitched out yesterday:

and this one this morning.

You put mylar underneath the thread you want to sparkle and it gives the effect of metallic thread without all the headaches that metallic thread can cause and it’s also a whole lot cheaper.

Bridge went well today – I had very patient partners. I had my cheat sheets with me so they helped a lot when it came to bidding. I think bridge is one of those games that you never really master, you are always learning.

I just got a call a few minutes ago to fill in at a Quilting Retreat this weekend. Now I need to get busy and get some things cut to work on. Not sure when exactly I’m going to do that as it’s Stitch N Chat tomorrow, bowling tomorrow night then I work Wednesday and Thursday.

I swear for months I do nothing, then everything happens at once!

Another Week Bites the Dust

2009-11-22T13:49:00.001-05:00

I haven’t been very productive this week as I haven’t been home ~~much~~ at all.

I did get my new supply of crystals and added some embellishment to the Christmas wallhanging. New camera or not, it was still very difficult to get a good picture of this.

I could have added a lot more crystals, but since I don’t like it much to begin with, I wasn’t going to waste the time or money.

I told you that I bought a book in Houston entitled “Cotton Theory”. I wanted to try something simple so decided to try the placemats. There is a lot of cutting involved as you cut your top, your batting and your backing as this technique is reversible.

I think I must have been smoking something when I picked out the colours in this, but it gives you an idea of how this works. One side is the front, the other the back.

What appealed to me when I saw this demonstrated is you can use some of the decorative stitches on your machine – you know, the ones you have a hundred of and only ever use 2!

I’m going to donate these to our Guild’s Christmas Pot Luck. My Stitch Group seemed to like them a whole lot more than I do and convinced me someone would like them. I hope they weren’t just being nice!

Tomorrow I’m going to play bridge. I was trying to figure out how long it’s been since I played, and I think it must be about 25 years. I warned my friend that set up the game that I will probably need to learn all over again, but she assured me that she has invited very patient people to play.

I’m almost afraid to put this in writing in case I jinx myself, but my bowling average has improved dramatically this year. It certainly makes it a lot more fun when you don’t have to throw two balls every frame.

I bought some Embroidery Designs in Houston and I’m hoping to get some done this afternoon.

Isn’t this little guy cute! In case you are interested, I bought them here.

It’s Done…And So Am I

2009-11-15T15:22:00.001-05:00

Every piece of fabric is folded and scraps are all in the bins with the blue lids.

Fat Quarters have all been pressed and folded and are in their own containers.

The drawers in my rolling storage units have all been cleaned out and sorted. We have jelly rolls, Bali Pops and Charm Squares

Then we have another drawer with kits:

There isn’t a scrap of fabric left on my table:

Everything has been cleaned and sorted:

These bins contain all my scraps. Novelty fabrics and panels have their own bins, along with Christmas fabrics and flannel. All my Batik Fat Quarters are also in their own bin.

These bins contain fabric that was purchased for a specific project – actually there is a lot of that on the shelves too, but I’ve had it so long I forgot what project I was going to use it on.

It occurred to me that after looking at the mess I had in this room, you might wonder what the rest of my house looks like. Oddly enough, it’s fairly clean and tidy. You could eat off my floors – Ben does it all the time :-)

I haven’t been very productive lately and I really believe the mess in this room was part of the problem. I had piles everywhere and nowhere to put anything. All the stuff I bought in Houston was just piled on my table and it was really getting me down. Now I have no excuse.

The one thing I haven’t tackled yet is the magazines. I’m going to have to give in and put them on my bookcase downstairs in my longarm room as there just isn’t anywhere in this tiny room left to store them.

I am NEVER going to do this again. I am determined to keep it tidy and put things away when I’m finished with them…..honest.

I’m Getting There

2009-11-14T16:48:00.001-05:00

Contrary to what Leo says, I can see a difference.

I can actually see my sewing machine now.

And the pile in front of my containers is gone.

I’m hoping that by tomorrow at this time it will be finished. I may have to make a trip to Canadian Tire to pick up another container to hold all my Fat Quarters – right now, they are sitting on the window seat in our bedroom – along with all the magazines. Just wait till Leo sees that!

A Feel Good Post

2009-11-13T18:47:00.002-05:00

Hopefully, by the time you’ve finished reading/looking at this, you will feel really good. You’ll be so happy that you aren’t me, all your insignificant little problems will simply disappear.

Doesn’t this look nice and neat?

It’s taken me almost two days to get this much done. Here’s what I still have left to sort:

And this:

I’ve got more piles:

And finally this:

And let’s not forget the magazines:

The picture doesn’t show it, but those magazines are double what you actually see.

I am DETERMINED to get this mess cleaned and sorted this weekend. I was thinking that a lot of bloggers post what is on their design wall every Monday. Maybe what I’ll start doing is posting my CLEAN sewing room every Monday and it might shame me into keeping it tidy.

My friend Ann has a great idea incorporated into her stash. She puts pieces of cardboard between every 5 or 6 pieces, so when you want to pull some out, you don't have to lift out the whole pile. I asked my dear husband if he could bring me home about 100 twelve inch squares of cardboard and they are now sitting on my kitchen table. They don't call him Boxboss for nothing!

One of my biggest problems is what to do with fabric that is bigger than a fat quarter, but not a full yard. I do have scrap bins that I sorted all my scraps into a while ago, but what I put in there really are scraps – not half yards. What do you do with all your ‘bigger than scraps’? Right now, I could use all the help and suggestions I can get.

I did have one little helper that I could have done without. I finally had to shut her out as she has a fascination with my pins and I’m so afraid she is going to swallow one.

My Idol

2009-11-10T15:37:00.001-05:00

One of my ~~few~~ many complaints over the years has been that Leo never plans anything – vacations, dinners, weekends, etc. Whenever we do anything, I’m always the one who makes all the plans, then when he doesn’t like the hotel I’ve picked, or the restaurant I’ve chosen, he can blame it all on me.

I recently found out that Bon Jovi were coming to Toronto in July and mentioned that I would love to go and see them. Well, my dear husband found out they were also playing in Vegas in March and thought it would be a great idea for us to go and see them there.

I only found out about this accidentally as he was planning to surprise me, but it turns out the week he was planning to go to Vegas is also the same week I was planning to go back to Texas to visit Ann.

I convinced him that it would be much better to see Bon Jovi in Toronto and then we could go to Vegas whenever we found a good deal and weren’t tied into any set dates. See, the poor guy can’t win.

I LOVE Jon Bon Jovi. He brings a smile to my face every time I look at him and I love his music. Even though he falls into my ‘short man’ profile, I still love him. What, you ask, is my ‘short man’ profile? I have this theory that most short men try and make up for their lack of height by being overly aggressive. Of course, if your husband is short, I’m not talking about him.

This is just a generalization that I’ve found to usually be true – especially in the workplace.

It’s kind of like my ‘life is too short to read sh** theory’. No matter how bad a book was, I always read the whole thing. Then one day I came up with my life is too short theory and I’ve been a much happier person ever since. I give a book 50 pages and if it hasn’t grabbed me by then, it goes back to the library.

Happy Anniversary

2009-11-08T11:40:00.001-05:00

Happy Anniversary Sandra & Darren. It’s hard to believe it was a year ago today.