On the Needles, Oct. 11, 2013

I have an almost finished, so close that I can taste it Dreambird Shawl. I think I have enough of the main colour yarn to do one more repeat, and then another feather, and hopefully enough of the burgundy to finish off the edge of the next feather. And then it is done. Woohoo!! Maybe by the end of this weekend.
I'm linking up to Judy's On the Needles and then I'm going back to knit some more.

I thought it was done....

I finished the last two Great Granny squares last night. I was patting myself on the back and saying "good job". Then, I came up here today and added them to the rest of them on the wall. Well, all I can say of one of them is "yuck!"  That one on the bottom right does not fit at all with the others. So I'll be making another one and the awful yucky one can maybe go on the back.

Sneak peak

I'm working on one of Maureen's quilts. It's a lovely traditional block. I had thought it a weather vane block until I checked for what that block looks like. It's similar to this. All that to say I don't know the name of this block. Whatever its name, I love the colours and fabrics that she's used. It is being quilted with a Trellis Vine pantograph by Threadsongs. 

Design Wall Monday, October 7, 2013

I still haven't adjusted to this whole October thing. The summer just flew past, and I think I missed it. It's even harder to believe that this coming weekend is the Canadian Thanksgiving! There will be turkey and stuffing and pies and all kinds of other good stuff cooking around here, probably on Saturday. We want to go to church on Sunday, something we haven't done in a large number of years. It was just too difficult trying to work 3-11, with all the body clock issues that in turn created. But, I've been retired for almost 3 months now, so the body clock is slowly readjusting itself.  So, if we do most of the cooking on Saturday, there won't be the frantic rush to get home and get everything in the oven. We'll get the meat off the turkey, and package it into aluminum foil and then all we'll have to do is throw it in the oven to heat up on Sunday. Noel will be here, too, which will be wonderful.

I have my Great Granny Squares up on the wall today. I want it to be 4 blocks wide by 5 long, so I need to do 2 more blocks, and then that part of it is done. I'm going to be putting coloured corner stones at the intersections of the sashing, and probably a pieced border of some sort, not quite yet decided.

And here is Orca Bay, all finished and ready to go into the fast track lane for my projects to be quilted. I have this one, and one other, also a full sized quilt, that need to be done before the beginning of December. I'd better get some more work order forms printed out, and get them into the line up.
I'm linking up to Judy's Design Wall Monday. Then I think I'll go back up to the studio and work for another hour, and then maybe get the last 2 GGS's done.

Stash Report, week 40, 2013

Not much usage this past week, since we were away for part of the week taking advantage of the beautiful fall weather we were having. I did some sewing while we were out in the woods, but it had already been counted. The only new usage this week was .5 yards for borders for Orca Bay. However, this week is already looking much better, and it only started today. The good news is that there was nothing added this week, which makes 4 weeks in a row without any fabric purchases. I'm not saying there won't be any more added this year, though.

Used this week:                                  .5 yards
Used this year:                              104.95 yards
Added this week:                                0 yards
Added this year:                           163.55 yards
Balance:                                         58.6 more yards in than out.

I've been working on Great Granny Squares today. I've done 3 of them so far. That's on top of putting the last of the borders on Orca Bay today, as well. I'm on a finish it roll!! Woohoo, this is fun! If all goes as planned, pictures for design wall tomorrow. It's thunder storming right now, but hopefully it will be dry for outdoor pictures tomorrow, otherwise I'll have to settle for indoor pictures, and there isn't a whole lot of space here for them. Unless I borrow Matt and Becca's enormous front entry area. Hmmmm..... now there's a thought. I wonder if I can get away with it....
I'm linking up to Judy's Stash Report.

It's been a lovely day

 It has been a perfect day today. Bright and sunny and warm, and barely a cloud in the shy. We decided it was a perfect day to explore one of the many trails in the park. This one was fairly close to our campsite, so we were able to walk over to the trail, rather than having to get into the car.

 There are a lot of sand dunes here, which means a lot of stairs and boardwalks. I always seem to end up only getting pictures of Scott's back whenever we go out. It probably has something to do with his 6'2" compared to my 5'1". I usually have a hard time keeping up with him, so he frequently ends up in front of me.

There were mostly pine and acorn trees on this trail. The post with the information about the trail says that the black oak trees that grow here, are normally found in the Carolina's, but because of the ecology of these dunes, they grow well here at the Pinery.
After we got back from our walk, I had fully planned on setting up my sewing machine outside, in some shade, and sewing to my hearts content. However, the yellow jacket wasps had other plans for me. Those things are nasty, and there are tons of them and man are they persistent and aggressive. So my outdoor sewing plans got changed to indoor by the big window where I could see out, but they couldn't get in. I got 8 leaf blocks sewn this afternoon, and I might start putting them together later this evening.
We walked down to the beach again for the
 sunset, and it did not disappoint. Glorious, just glorious.
Then, after the sunset, we came back for a bit of a campfire and some star gazing. There are bonuses to camping at this time of year. Star gazing can happen much earlier in this evening, like at about 9 pm instead of 11.





However, it is good to come prepared for the cooler temperatures. Being a quilter has its advantages when it is chilly out by the fire, and something warm to wrap up in is required. My wonderful husband just had to get this picture of me all snuggled up in front of the fire. It looks like bright daylight, but that's just because of the flash.
The cooler temperature ended up chasing us inside, which gave me the time to sit and write this. Scott's sitting at his computer playing a railways game, and my sewing machine is there, waiting for me to come and play.

Sunset at the Pinery

Here we are at the Pinery, day one and first sunset we've actually seen all year. It's so strange to think that it's the first of October. It's actually warmer now than it was back in august. It's gorgeous and I am enjoying every minute of it. I'll post this and then go join my husband.