Design Wall Monday Oct. 31

 I must confess to totally enjoying this time off work. I have managed to get soooooooooo much done, both finishing a couple of older projects, and starting a couple of new. Beach Cottage, from the book Scrap Basket Sensations is now a flimsy. It is actually off the "design line" and onto the longarm for quilting. I'm going to try a free hand meandering feather on it.  On my actual wall are a couple of things. The crumb quilt for the Crumb along is almost done. I need to finish off a few more letters, and then some squares for the last side.

Then, I succumbed to the temptation to start a new quilt. It's a pattern I've had for quite some time, called Summer Rental by Miss Rosie's Quilt Company. I'm using the fat quarter bundle of Etchings to make it. I've just started to get into using fabric lines when doing quilts. Beach Cottage was the first time I'd ever used a complete fabric line, in a jelly roll. This is the second time I've done this. So far, I'm happy with the results. These are some of the alternate chain blocks for the quilt. I'm hoping to get started on some of the star blocks today. It's looking rather Christmassy right now, but it won't stay that way. I go back to work on the 12th of November, and would like to see if I can get this one done before then.

I'm linking this post up to the Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times where there are lots more sights to see.

Stash Report October 30

Well, my purchase numbers went way up this week. That bolt of white that I ordered arrived. Fifteen yards at one swipe. Yikes. Good thing I'm not doing this in order to reduce stash, but just for curiosity, or I'd really be mad at myself right now. I've been doing a fair amount of sewing this past week, and also had a couple of finishes. One completely quilted and bound, and another to flimsy stage (pics tomorrow). I've picked out a fabric for backing, and am going to try and get that done this afternoon, but it will show up in next weeks numbers.

Used this week:                                                5.6 yards
Used this year:                                             119.7 yards
Purchased this week:                                      20.5 yards
Purchased this year:                                      156.5 yards
Balance:                                                                 36.8 more yards in than out.

There is more fabric coming this week, as well. I found a perfect fabric for the backing for Sweet Treats and couldn't resist. And that's it for today. Time to go make that backing. I'm linking up to Patchwork Times for the weely stash report.

Bloggers' Quilt Festival

 There is a festival of quilts happening over at Amy's Creative Side I've spent some time over there this afternoon, and there is a LOT to see. I've decided to jump in, and add one of my own. When I was over there grabbing the link, there were a whopping 271 entries, so far. That is a lot of quilts!!! We can go to a quilt show, and never leave the house. And, with the wonderful Pinterest boards, there is a great way to save the favourites of them all.

So, to my entry: it's a quilt I did 3 or 4 years ago, before I started blogging, called New England Beauty. It is from a book by Judy Martin called The Block Book. I actually received this book as a Christmas present from my parents shortly after the book came out in 1998. I fell in love with this pattern as soon as I saw it in the book, but had to wait a large number of years before my skills were up to it. I've mentioned before that I love Judy Martin's patterns. They are well written and easy to follow. I particularly love patterns that create secondary designs, and this one definitely does that. The individual blocks disappear into the overall effect of the quilt. I'd had my longarm for a few years by the time I did this quilt, and so was confident enough to be able to do some custom quilting on it.

There are feathers in the backgrounds of the eight pointed stars, as well as feathers in the points of the 4 pointed stars. This is one of my favourite quilts, and it has place of honour on my bed. If you get a chance, go over and browse through some of those quilts, but be prepared to get caught up in all those quilts, and lose track of time. I think I'll try to portion them out to something like 20 at a time.

There are feathers in the backgrounds of the eight pointed stars, as well as feathers in the points of the 4 pointed stars. This is one of my favourite quilts, and it has place of honour on my bed. If you get a chance, go over and browse through some of those quilts, but be prepared to get caught up in all those quilts, and lose track of time. I think I'll try to portion them out to something like 20 at a time.

Another finish.....

I have another finish!! Yippee, woohoo, hurray!! Finished as in quilted, bound and first wash so that it is in its soft and cuddly self. It's a pattern from Judy Laquidara's Patchwork Times site called Connect the Dots.  She offered it as a mystery I'm not sure how long ago, but I must confess to having cheated. I saw a picture of some one's partially finished quilt, and so I had a good idea of what the finished product would be, before I selected my fabrics. I am extremely happy with the way it turned out. It is quilted with a curvy spiral pantograph that I adapted from a border stencil. I like the way the diagonal lines of the quilt are reproduced in the spiral, but the curves soften the angles a bit. I used my favourite binding technique of faux piping, which I first saw demonstrated here It is a nice way to do binding completely by machine, and have it look really good. I had bought a large amount of the blue fabric, and so I was able to use it in the top, binding and backing. It was a purchase from Len's Mills when they had one of their 50% off the lowest ticketed price sales a few years ago. The quilting design is quite visible on the back. I'm linking

this post up to a blog I started following recently, called Crazy Mom Quilts She has a linky party specifically for finishes accomplished during the week. It is actually a good motivator. There is also a linky over at Amylouwho show and tell friday that I'm going to link to as well. It's worth while checking out both of these. I have a couple more that I want to see if I can get finished before next week. It's a great way to establish a goal, and a timeline to work towards. And now, I'm off to go work on one of those quilts.

Design wall Monday Oct 24

I've made some progress on the Beach Cottage quilt, using the Charlevoix jelly roll I had in my stash. I have the first 4 rows sewn together. And the bonus triangle units are all sewn together into a partial pieced border, to go on opposite corners of the quilt. I am thinking, at this point, that I will do up the same number of four patches per side, as the triangle units, to go on the other corners, to balance it off. I'm not sure what I'll do to make up the distance left between the four patches and the triangles. I think there will be another green border, and then I have a whole pile of 2 1/2 inch squares left from the jelly roll to make another pieced border. At that point, it will measure somewhere around 63 x 75. Does that classify as a twin sized quilt? Hmmmmmmm..........  
I'm linking up to Judy's Patchwork Times for her design wall monday linky party, where there is always lots to see.

Stash Report October 23

There has been sewing happening here. Lots of sewing, so there is fabric usage to report.

Fabric used this week:                   4.7 yards
Fabric used this year:                  114.1 yards
Purchased this week:                      0 yards
Purchased this year:                     136 yards
Balance:                                           21.9 more yards in than out

I'm planning on getting a couple of quilts onto the longarm this week, which means next weeks numbers should be good, for usage. There is fabric on order that is in transit, so I suppose I should at least try to even it out. We were supposed to get the trailer put to bed for the winter yesterday, and the fabric part of the gazebo taken down as well. But the best laid plans can get all changed when a phone call from Scott's brother comes and he needs help getting to a doctor. So, we'll try again today, since it is bright and sunny out. Maybe there will be some more sewing done later on this evening. I'm linking to Judy's Patchwork times where she hosts a linky for stash reports.

The day after the night before......

I decided yesterday to participate in the Friday Night Sew-in along with, at last count, 198 other bloggers. It is going to take a long time to go through all those posts to see what they were working on last night. I could ration them out....... maybe 10 or 20 at a time? It is so much fun to be able to see what other people are working on, and find new blogs to read. Anyway, I sewed yesterday like a mad woman. I had a leaders and enders project that was ready to go to the next stage. And then this weeks assignment for the Crumb along which was to sew the centre blocks together and add a border.

The first thing I started working on was the leader and ender quilt that I was working on, using the Charlevoix jelly roll that I ordered from the fat quarter shop quite a while ago. As soon as it came in the house, I cut it up, and started on it. Yesterday's job was to finish adding the triangles to the corners of the blocks. It took twice as long to do, since I double sewed them in order to be able to use the triangles that otherwise would have been discarded. 
It is going to have a narrow border of some sort added to this, probably a green of some sort, which might mean a trip to the fabric store, depending on what I can find in my stash.. Then, I am going to use those bonus triangles as a border, and I have some 2 1/2 inch squares left of all the fabrics to use as another pieced border.  And I just now noticed, looking at the picture, that one of the squares in the bottom row is turned the wrong way. It's not sewn together yet, so that's an easy fix. This is a pattern from the book Scrap Basket Surprises by Kim Brackett called Beach Cottage.

Then there is the crumb along quilt. The centre is now all sewn together, and is waiting for a border of some sort. I haven't quite decided which fabric to use for it, other than I think it needs to be something fairly light.  There seems to be a lot of darks in the centre of this, and I think it needs some lightening up. I'm also supposed to be working on the outer border blocks, of whatever kind I decide to use. Stars seem to be a popular choice, as are letters, either as an alphabet, or a name. I have a few ideas perking around in my brain, but nothing solidified as yet. I would love to keep working on these today, as well, but there are things around here needing doing. We have to put the trailer to bed for the year, and there is a gazebo in the back yard that needs its fabric taken down and stored. I'm limited by not being able to lift in what I can do to help in these tasks, but I'll do what I can. Which means, I'd best get off the computer, get some clothes on and do something.

"Sweet Treats" is a flimsy

I spent most of yesterday in my sewing room, and finished up "Sweet Treats". It is wonderful being able to see again. The second cataract surgery on Wednesday went well, and I now have the vision that I had a a teenager. Woohoo!!!!! Anyway, now that Sweet Treats is done, I'm going to work on a leaders and enders project that is ready to go to the next stage, and also on my Crumbs quilt. I'm going to link this post up to Finish it up Friday , where there are other pictures from people who have managed a finish in the past week. There is also a Friday Night Sew-in happening tonight with all kinds of people from all over blog land participating. When I was over there just a minute ago grabbing the link, there were already 172 people signed up. We all work on our various projects to night, and then go back tomorrow to check out what everyone accomplished. Kind of like a virtual quilting/sewing retreat. It's a fun thought, to think of all those people, all sewing and crafting along. So, I'm going to post this, and then go get a head start on my evening, and start this afternoon.

An "oops" moment, and how a pin saved me $800.00

I'm working on my second block for the Fat Quarters Star Quilt Along . It's a fairly easy one. Large pieces, and not a lot of them. Easy, peasy, done in the proverbial shake of the stick. Hah, that's what I thought, but I should know better by now, than to think something is easy to do, which means I don't pay close attention to what I'm doing. I got everything cut, and all the individual components sewn, and took them to the ironing board for pressing. And that's when I discovered it, an oops moment.

I'd sewn a couple of the units together wrong. Drat, some ripping to be done. But, not to worry, I have a ripping tool that reduced the task down to, literally, seconds. It is my handy, dandy $10.00 Walmart mustache trimmer. Someone showed this to me at a quilt show once, and my jaw dropped with being so impressed with the simplicity and the speed of it. All it takes is to gently pull the two pieces apart, and gently touch the blades of the trimmer to the threads, and presto, it quickly cuts those threads, without getting close enough to the fabric to cut it. I had 2 of these to rip out, and it literally took less than 30 seconds. So, I was able to get that done, the pieces sewn together the correct way, and finish my second quilt along star.


I've noticed lately, that my sewing machine hasn't been working the way it should. It wasn't doing its part in the "let your sewing machine do the work" for feeding pieces through the feed dogs and presser foot. I was reading on someone's blog that they were researching for purchasing anew sewing machine, and asked if she could pass the info on, since it looked like I'd be needing a new one. The last time I was in a store that carries machines, I was looking at a Bernina, on sale for $800.00. I clean my machine, and get all the dusties out fairly frequently, because we sew together, a lot. I use a small paint brush to get at the places that are hard to reach. Last night, as I was sewing away, and getting more and more frustrated because the fabric wasn't feeding through properly, I had one of those sudded "aha" moments. I took the throat plate off of my machine and looked at the feed dogs. Where there should have been space in between them for them to come up  into the throat plate to grab the fabric, there was lint. So much lint, that the paint brush I use to clean them with, couldn't budge it. I had to use a pin to get in there and get the lint out. Then, I put the throat plate back on, started to sew, and worked....... the feed dogs grab the way they should, it's not getting snagged in the seams, and it's working the way it should. Phew!!!!!

Design wall Monday Oct 17

This must be what it feels like to be retired. Days and days of nothing to do but enjoy the fact that it is cold and rainy and damp outside, so what else is a girl to do but sew. (Lets not mention the house cleaning that needs to be done, shall we) In addition to all the crumbs I've been working on the past week, I've also been working on my Swoon quilt, which is going to get renamed Sweet Treats. My goal for yesterday was to get 3 more blocks sewn together. I almost made it........ 2 1/2 done. For today, I would love to get the next 3 at least cut out, and hopefully some of them sewn together. So far, there are donuts and muffins, jelly beans and those hearts shaped candies with words on them, and cupcakes and ice cream treats, in this quilt. I have 2 more sweets fabric, so I'm going to have to repeat one of them. Either that, or I have a fun cell phone fabric I can put in, just for fun. I'll have to see how the colours work out, once the next 2 sweets squares are done. And now, come on over to Judy's Patchwork Times with me and browse through some other design walls

Stash Report Week 43

It would appear that I have missed a few weeks in reporting, here. Oh well, I've been keeping track of incomings and outgoings, and there has been more in than out the last few weeks. I've been doing a fair amount of cutting and sewing in the last couple of days. A lot of that has been crumbs, which by their very nature, take a long time to use up any appreciable amount of yardage. I've done 27 of the 6.5 inch crumb squares in the last couple of weeks, which roughly works out to about 42 inches of fabric. It sounds like a lot, but the drawers and boxes that it came out of don't look any emptier. I suppose it could have something to do with how tightly packed it all was in the drawer. In my travels around the blogs of the other people participating in the crumb along, they all seem to express the same thing. I also cut out 3 more swoon blocks on Saturday, that I'm hoping to sew up today. Each one of those blocks take 21 inches of fabric. Now, on to the totals:

Fabric used since week 40:                       3.7 yards
Fabric used this year:                              109.4 yards
Fabric purchased since week 40:                 7 yards
Fabric purchased this year:                      136 yards
Balance:                                        26.6 more yards in than out.

I've discovered in the process of cutting out for Swoon, that I'm running out of white fabric. I've been using a lovely Kona Snow, and there is only about a yard and a half left of it. So, there will shortly be a large influx of more of that. It is a staple for every quilters sewing needs, sort of like flour, or sugar for a kitchen. I'll probably get a bolt of it, which will bump those in numbers up by 20 yards. But there are so many quilts on my want-to-do list that all will use it, so it will go out fairly quickly. (That's my excuse, and I'm sticking to it. giggle) This bolt that I'm currently finishing was actually ordered before my daughter's wedding. We looked all over the place for something that would look good as the white runner down the aisle. But everything that we saw in the stores that was purposed for that was a really cheap, thin, ugly plastic, that was priced way too high, and was useless for anything else afterwards. So I had the bright idea to order the bolt of white fabric, use it for the runner down the aisle, and then use it for quilts afterwards. Using that timeline, since they were married a year on June 12th, I've used 19 yards of white fabric in 16 months. Not bad, not bad at all.
And now, I'm going to link up with Judy's stash report linky at Patchwork Times and check out what some other quilters have been up to this past week, while I finish off my coffee. And then, it's time to sew Swoon blocks together.

Knitting up a storm

Every few years, I seem to get caught in the craving to do some knitting. It's great while it lasts, but for some reason, it doesn't last. I've also discovered that I do the same thing with knitting that I do with quilts. I can't seem to work on just one thing at a time, but have multiple projects going at once.I've had a few requests for pictures of what I'm working on, so here goes. First off,  a scarf, done in the drop stitch pattern. It is basically finished, except for weaving in the ends. Then there are, or should I say will be, a pair of mittens, with roving knitted in to them, to make them extra, extra warm for this coming winter. The green roving peeking out of the top of the mitt, reminds me of those Troll dolls I used to play with as a kid. Then there is that wonderfully soft and silky feeling blue scarf, that is almost done. I really like the basket weave pattern in it. This way there is no right or wrong side to try and get facing out. And lastly, a really sweet looking baby sweater. Not that there is a need for it, but just because the yarn is pretty and soft, and I felt like knitting.
The pattern is from a great book I found, while I was in the shop where I bought the lovely blue yarn. It has charts in the book that detail how to make baby cardigans from the top down, using any yarn that you happen to have. Check the tension information on the yarn wrapper, and match it to the chart, and it will give the amount of stitches needed to cast on, and the rest of the instructions needed to finish the sweater. It has sizes 3 months to 18 months. Best yet, they are knitted on circular needles, and there are no seams to sew up afterwards. The sleeves are done on double pointed needles. It's called Need a Baby Cardigan I have no affiliation with this company, but really like this book. I'm finding that I like having knitting sitting beside my chair in the living room, to pick up when watching/listening to TV. It's replacing the applique that I used to do, and is actually more relaxing than the applique. I have lots of different yarns sitting around the house, some of which I can use for more sweaters.

Crumbing along quite nicely

I spent all of yesterday, except for food breaks, and computer breaks, playing with crumbs. This week's assignment was log cabin blocks. I did six of them, for in the regular manner, and 2 as courthouse steps variation. I had thought, when I started them, these will be so cool, I'll love them.......... nope. They're OK, but they aren't my favourites. I went on and just started pulling stuff from the crumbs and strings drawer/box/plastic tote beside my sewing table, and I've decided that, so far, I like the free form, add whatever fits in the space style best. Between the log cabin blocks, and the free form, I've done 21 more crumb blocks.                                                                             
Jo, at Jo's Country Junction, who is guiding us along on this Crumb Along challenged us to take all our blocks and lay them out, to get an idea of how they play together, what colours or block styles need more or less. So, I gathered my courage, and laid them all out. 
She said to look to see if we needed to add more of the accent colour. I don't think I have an accent colour, not a planned one, at least. But I do see a fair amount of red poking through, and there is a fair amount of a blue background, with red hearts fabric in it too. Does that count? Anyway, I'm going to leave these where they are, for now. We're supposed to have 42 finished for next week, and there are 45 here, so we'll see where we go from here. I'm linking up with the rest of the group that are crumbing along. They are at that link that I put in earlier. Go take a look, if you have a few minutes. The variety is fascinating. I'm going to try today to see if I can get the Swoon blocks I have cut out, sewn together.

Design wall Monday Oct 10

There are a few more crumb blocks up on my wall today, and I've arranged them all up there, and put them all together as if they were going to be sewn together. There are 24 of them up there, and it so far measures 36" x 24". Not really big enough to do much with, just yet. But, there are lots more crumbs left from where these came from. So, as soon as I can see better, I'll get back at them.

I went and visited my sewing machine last night, after we got home from our Thanksgiving weekend. She was looking rather lonely, so I decided to sit down and figure out what, if anything, I could do with her. I quickly found out
 that any kind of precision sewing would definitely
 not be happening. But then I remember a project
I started last year, using crumbs and scraps and
 stings to piece together some wedge shapes in order to get an Endless Chain quilt going. I can see well enough to know when a piece of fabric is big enough to cover the needed space, and well enough to aim for the black line to sew on. So I can play some with these when the sewing bug bites.  I need 336 of these wedges, and I have 247 of them done already. Trimming will obviously have to wait. But, the added bonus will be to help shrink the amount of stuff in my odd shapes and crumbs scrap drawer. I've been thinking I should sit down sometime and go through this drawer and sort of sort it out. Well, doing these wedges will do that. And, if I get these done, I might start one of Bonnie Hunter's quilts called Out on a String. I made one of these shortly after she published the pattern, and would like to do another.

And now, I'm going to link up to Judy's Patchwork times and then go out and do some knitting on the porch, and enjoy the fabulous, record breaking warm weather.

Thanksgiving weekend Part 2

One of the things I love best about our family thanksgivings, besides being with family, of course, is how the work load is shared. Noel generally does the turkey and the vegetables. He makes a fabulous sweet potato casserole. I do the pies and the stuffing. Scott will peel and chop all the potatoes and sweet potatoes. And Matt and Becca generally do the clean up of the pots and pans. Laurie looks after the organizing of everything, and Becca also looks after the table setting. So no one is swamped with all the work. This leaves plenty of time for everyone to be able to visit, and especially to have fun with Avery and his newly discovered Jolly Jumper. I couldn't resist taking a video of him in it. He's looking at and talking to one of his favourite people, his Grandma Jan, Laurie's mom. They live here in the same town with Noel and Laurie and Avery, and get to see him almost every day. It is so nice that they are here, and able to be a close source of love and support. But, I must confess to just a teeny bit of envy. (sigh) But, I will enjoy the time we have with him, and take as many of this kind of thing as possible, to remember him with when we can't be there. He is just sooooooooooooooooooo cute!!!!!!!!!

Thanksgiving weekend

Well, this is rather fun. I'm typing on biggie sized pages so I can sort of see what I am doing. I have one sort of OK eye, the one they fixed on Wednesday, and then the other one that is pretty bad. Therefore I am rather unbalanced at the moment. (I know, so what else is new. I walked, or in this case, typed, right into that one. giggle) My depth perception is rather off, and so is my perception of where things are on this keyboard. But the next surgery is less than 2 weeks away, and that should make the world of difference. There is a HUGE improvement in the one that was fixed this week.

We are up seeing 3 of our favourite people this weekend for the Canadian thanksgiving...... Noel, Laurie, and that super cutie, Avery. And then 2 more of our favourite people are coming tomorrow, Matt and Becca. Rather than camping this time round, we are actually staying with them at their house, so there is a lot more Avery time to enjoy. He's doing lots of fun new stuff, playing in his exersaucer and play table 
and his swing.  And this Grammie is having a terrible time remembering that I can't pick him up. But there is lots of fun stuff to do with him, without picking him up. He has discovered the joys of the Jolly Jumper. We took a video of him in it, and Laurie has some more on her blog It takes me a while to figure out how to do the youtube stuff, so you can gets lots of cute Avery in the Jolly Jumper over at Laurie's.

Crumb along

I've been playing with crumbs this evening, and having a blast. This weeks assignment from Jo who is hosting the "Crumb Along", and where there is a linky party that I'm going to hook up with, showing other people's crumb blocks, was to use triangles in the squares. I think these are my favourites, so far, and will probably do the bulk of the rest of my blocks using them in various ways. I think the constant colour in these squares is going to be the greens. I have tons of these little green triangles left from trimming the Rose Log Cabin quilt I did a few months ago. I am hoping to be able to do a lot more of these next week. Jo says we need at least 50 blocks for what she is guiding us to.But, that is going to depend on the results of the cataract surgery tomorrow, and if I can find a pair of drug store reading glasses that will work for me. I suspect the two eyes are going to need different strengths. So, I'm seriously thinking of buying a pair of each of the strengths I need, both pairs having the same frames. Then I can hopefully pop out, and exchange the lenses to the ones I need to make a pair that will work. It's worth a try, anyway. And now, since it is 11:45 pm, and I can't have anything to eat of drink after midnight, I'd better go and have a drink and a snack while I can.

Design wall Monday Oct 3

There isn't anything new on my design wall, but there are all kinds of walls to see over at Judy's Patchwork Times I do have pictures of the almost finished Batman quilt. All it needs now is to be bound, which is this afternoon's job, and then run through the washer and dryer. I've used a thicker batt than I usually do, because it was a request that the quilt be "thick and soft", just the way my son likes them.  I designed an overall meander pantograph just for this quilt, using the fight words from the Batman series of the 60's and also from the comic books. The words show up quite nicely on the solid colour sections of the quilt using a Rainbows variegated black to white thread. I think Noel is going to like this, a lot. It was a lot of fun to do. After I get this done, I think I'm going to play with crumb blocks. I don't think I'll be able to get many more done for the next 3 weeks, due to the coming cataract surgery on Wednesday on the right eye, and then the left eye on the 19th. I am looking forward to being able to see again, without the shadows and ghosts around everything. That is the thought I am trying to hold onto, when I start to think of the scary thought of someone coming at my eyes with a laser, or whatever it is that they use. But, I know both in my head and in my heart that God is in control, and I will trust Him to guide the surgeons hands.

Stash Report Week 40

Now that is a scary number.....40 weeks of the year have gone by already. That means that there are only 12 weeks left in the year. How on earth did that happen so quickly? I haven't managed a whole lot of stash reduction this week. But I did manage some enhancement. One of the packages of fabric arrived this week, from the Fat Quarter Shop. It contained 7.5 yards of fabric. There were 5 half yard cuts of fun food fabrics for the Swoon quilt
paired up here with their coordinates. Then, I acted on impulse and purchased a layer cake, (40  10 inch squares) of Flurry, since I am in love with the Christmas Present quilt, and a jelly roll, (40  2 1/2 inch strips) of Flora, for another quilt I want to make, called Avignon Picnic  I have no idea when these will get done, but the stuff is gorgeous. So, on to the numbers

Used this week:                6 inches for the Fat quarter stars block
Used this year:                  105.7 yards
Purchased this week:        7.5 yards
Purchased this year:          129 yards
Balance:                          23.3 more yards in than out.  

I'm linking up to Patchwork times where there are other stash reports to read. Some, like Judy, who hosts the stash reports, have used quite a bit of fabric this past week.