Design Wall Monday, June 24, 2013

Another Monday, and another week with the same quilt up on my wall. However, all the blocks and all the border four patches are now finished, and I can start sewing it together. There has been a call put out to collect quilts for the victims of the flooding in Calgary Alberta, so this one will most likely be going there. If anyone is interested in sending them quilts, there is a Facebook group page Quilts for Calgary, that has information. They are looking for both finished quilts, and tops as well, since they have a number of long arm quilters who have volunteered their services. I just might end up sending them quite a few of my unquilted tops that I had determined were going to be donation quilts, after I got them finished. That will get them out to the people who need them, and will also clear off some of my mount-to-be-quilted. Not only that, but it will cost less to ship out unquilted tops. If I have a backing already done, I'll send that, too. This is a short one today, as I have phone calls to make this afternoon, and a 3-11 shift to work at the hospital. I'm linking up to Judy's Design Wall Monday , where there is lots of fun stuff to see.

We didn't vanish..

But we did take off for a weeks' vacation at Awenda provincial park.
There isn't wireless coverage there, so it truely was a week off from everything, except enjoying God's creation, and having a lovely visit with Avery. We met up with them at a park in Wasaga Beach and had an hour or so, to play.
After the park, we went to McDonalds for supper, where he had his favourite food..... french fries, without the salt. He is such a sweet and happy boy, and smart. He knows his letters already. There was a sign on the lawn in front of the McDonalds, and we got down in front of it, and he was able to name all the letters on the sign, or at least all the upper case ones. He's 25 months old..... I think that's pretty good for that age.
I did manage to get some sewing done while we were away. I took my sewing machine and a folding table with us. Most of the evenings were too cold to be outside with a campfire, so one evening I set up inside the trailer and did some sewing. And then on Thursday, I set up on the folding table outside in the campsite. Now this is my idea of the ultimate in sewing rooms. LOL! The sun shining, a light breeze blowing enough to be comfortable and feel good, but not strong enough to blow away the fabrics, and the sounds of the birds and squirrels and chipmunks.... absolutely perfect. I think, though, I'm going to investigate one of those folding sewing tables. I was working on getting the second step of the Lazy Sunday Mystery finished, and did in fact, get it done, and the cutting for the next step started. So I can count all that fabric out.
I was planning on doing this and my Stash Report as separate posts, but since blogger has been acting up, and it has taken 3 times as long as it should have to get this one post written, I'm going to combine this one with my stash report. I'm several weeks behind on stash reports, so this one combines 2 weeks.

Used this week:                                1.8 yards
Used this year:                                 72.1 yards
Added this week:                                  0 yards
Added this year                                 131.25 yards
Balance:                                              59.15 more yards in than out.
I'm linking up to Judy's Patchwork Times

Sneak Peek

I'm working away at one of Charlene's quilts. It took me a while to decide what to do with it. I wanted something that would emphasize the strippy layout of this Chinese Coins. So I decided on free hand ferns going in opposite directions. Five rows done, six more to go.

Design Wall Monday, June 10, 2013

Not much new here. I've added 3 more blocks to my 36 patch quilt, and that's it. We got home from our short trial camping trip last week on Friday, and I was supposed to be working on Saturday and Sunday. Saturday morning, I woke up with my eyes all scratchy and itchy. A quick trip to the doctor confirmed what I guessed...... pink eye, also known as conjunctivitis..... very contagious, therefore no work this past weekend. The patients at the hospital wouldn't have appreciated me passing it on to them. But it also meant that my eyes were too tired and scratchy feeling to do any sewing either. They are better today, though.
I have the fabrics for the last 4 blocks cut, and the strips are almost all sewn together. If I can get some time this week, I might be able to get all the blocks finished, and maybe get started on sewing it together.
I'm linking up to Judy's Design Wall Monday. Tomorrow, I have a customer quilt to do, and then I think I'll do the last blocks for this quilt. Then I'm hoping to get back to working on the Lazy Sunday Mystery quilt that I am now slightly behind on. And the Grandmother's Choice blocks, as well. Thursday is the guild yearly banquet, and Friday I'm booked to work 3-11. The Saturday we're going to be heading out again for a week, to a campground we've never tried before, Six Mile Lake Provincial Park. It is only an hour away from Avery, so I hope to be able to spend some time with him. Laurie is going to come out to the campsite with him on Sunday, which should be fun. I'll have to get together some books and some beach toys to take up for him. We're also thinking of doing some touristy things while we're up there. Maybe some cruising around some of the islands in Georgian Bay, and maybe some site seeing in the area. I'm seriously tempted to take a sewing machine with me when we go, for those times when we just want to stay put. Anyway, all this means that I need to do something about focusing and getting caught up on what I'd like to accomplish this month. So, with that in mind, I'll post this, and then go back to working on those 36 patch blocks.

Dreams can come true

It has been a dream of mine for many years now, that when Scott and I retired,  we would upgrade our travel trailer from a hard top tent trailer, to what is called an expandable or hybrid trailer. They have the small size and weight that we needed in order to be able to pull it with our existing vehicle, but have the floor space and features we wanted for comfort. Well, on Tuesday, that dream came true. We took possession of our new Surveyor Cadet. Tuesday morning was spent getting the new tow package put on our car, and the afternoon was spent with an orientation to how the thing works. Then, because there was no way we could leave it there and not use it, plus we needed to reinforce everything we learned, we decided to take off with it for 3 days to the Pinery Provincial Park. The Pinery is only an hour from where we live, so it was a perfect test destination. So here we are, all nestled quite comfortably under the trees. It took quite a bit of trial and error to get it backed in there under the trees. There is quite the learning curve to backing it up and getting it to go where you want it to go. But no trees, trailers, cars or husbands or wives were injured during this production. *giggle*

This park is huge, and has the most glorious sand dunes between the campgrounds and the beach. We went for a walk this afternoon, and took this picture from one of the boardwalks that crosses over the dunes. Something about all the colours found in this scene spoke to me - browns, beiges, green and blues, my favourite colour combinations. The campsites, for the most part, are large, with plenty of space between them for privacy. There aren't a lot of people here at this time of year, but it isn't empty like the ones we went to back in May were. But the population is distinctly older, at the moment, since schools here don't let out for the summer until the end of June. Another bonus to this park, besides that fact that it is beautiful, and close to home, is that it is too far south for bears, or at least I'm assuming that's why there are no bears.
Anyway, I think I'm going to end this off here, and knit on a pair of socks for the rest of the evening. I started my fifth pair of socks for this year last Monday.

Maureen's Easy Street

Maureen brought me her version of Bonnie Hunter's Easy Street mystery quilt. It is a beautiful example of how the same quilt pattern can look totally different, depending on the fabrics and colours chosen. There are a bunch of pictures of Easy Street quilts here on the Flicker site set up by Bonnie for people to share their versions and progress during the mystery. I believe the mystery ran from Dec, 2012 to Jan, 2013. Unfortunately, the lighting in these pictures isn't the best. I usually try to get outdoor, natural light pictures, but it had been raining before I took these, and I didn't want to chance getting her quilt wet or muddy. But you can see the warm, rich colours that she used. I love these colours together. I quilted it using a pantograph called Angelwing Begonia by Patricia Ritter. The leafy design suited the fall themed feel to the fabrics. It also had the added bonus of fitting perfectly into the border.
Thank you, Maureen, for trusting me with your work.

Design Wall Monday, June 3, 2013

I have a whole pile of 36 patches and 4 patches up on the wall. It's interesting to see how different it looks in the picture that when looking at the real thing. For instance, looking at the picture I can see that the 36 patch square that is in the second row down and 3 in from the left isn't working. The contrast between the lights and darks in that square aren't as crisp as they should be. Maybe that one will end up on the back. I really like having the left over 4 patches acting as a border on it. I've been wondering what to do about a stop border between the body of the quilt and the four patches. Right now it's just the design wall showing through, but I think I like the way white looks in there. So maybe, instead of trying all kinds of different colours, I'll use white as the frame. I have 23 of the blocks done, although if I remove the one that's not working, that makes  22. Eight more to go and this baby is done. It is a perfect piece to work on while resting my brain from working on Meteor Shower.

I have 2 blocks finished and a third about half done. The third one is all blues and oranges as well. The next ones will be pinks and oranges. It's complex, but I'm enjoying doing it. I'm linking up with Judy's Design Wall Monday, then I'm going to play with a few more 36 patches before going in to work this afternoon.

Stash Report, week 22, 2013

I was rummaging around in some boxes in the laundry room/furnace room/storage room a while back, and found a project that I started back in January as my first Newfo of the year. I'd actually listed it on my sidebar as one of the quilts I'd like to start this year. It's a 36 patch quilt, using 2 1/2 inch strips out of my bin. I've used up most of the long enough and suitable enough fabrics out of the strip bins, so this past week I started cutting into some fat quarters to add to the project. I love how fast it goes together, and how easy it is. Sometimes a girl just needs some mindless sewing and almost immediate gratification of seeing something come together quickly. The bonus, or downside, depending on how you look at it, of cutting into some fat quarters is that it has added back into the 2 1/2 inch strip bin. But that's OK, I have a few other projects in mind that they'd work perfectly in. I'm going to alternate today working on the 36 patches and Meteor Shower, and I'll get a pic in time for tomorrow's design wall Monday post.

Used this week:                                                  1.9 yards
Used this year:                                                  70.3 yards
Added this week:                                                   0 yards
Added this year:                                            131.25 yards
Balance:                                                                60.95 more added than used.
I've used up over 50% of the fabric that I've added this year, so that's good. I'm pondering adding more, though. While we were up in the Sudbury area in the middle of May, I was struck by the colours and formations in the Canadian Shield rocks, thinking that the colours would make a fabulous quilt, and that maybe a Bargello design would capture the motion and the colours in the rocks.

Wouldn't that look fabulous in the Stonehenge line of fabrics? I'm still in the thinking stage of this, and researching how to do Bargellos, and whether I should design my own, or purchase a pattern already done. This one here has caught my eye, and seems to have the correct shapes and movement.

I love the colours in this particular picture. I'd need to do some work and moving of the colour contrast, but it's a lovely inspiration starting point, with the beiges, rusts and greys, and just a hint of blue at the top.
Anyway, I'm linking up to Judy's Stash Report. Then I'm going to get something to eat, and start to do some sewing. It's a lovely day outside, so I think I'll open up all the doors and windows, and let in the air and the sounds of the birds and the breezes in the trees.

May Newfo Challenge

This past month, I decided that the new quilt that I would start would be Judy Martin's Meteor Shower. I left it rather late in the month before starting, it, so I didn't get a lot done on it. Add to that, it is a very complex pattern that requires full brain engagement, so it hasn't gotten very far. I spent most of last night working on the second block.

I have over half of it done now, the second block, not the quilt. I really like this one, so I'm going to keep going on it. I may start something else new in June. Actually, it's almost guaranteed I will start something else new in June, I'm just not sure right now what that will be. I'm so excited about the way this is looking that I actually am having a hard time thinking about any others. I wonder how long that will last? I'm linking up to Barb's Newfo Challenge link box. Stayed tuned for more of the story...... will she or won't she.........