Wheels are moving!

In the right direction!  This top is now done and will be going to my lovely LAer pretty soon.  Just need to get a backing together and frankenpiece a batting.

My vision for this top came true and I am very happy with the way it turned out.   Cross one project off the UFO list.  

Now, another UFO has already been pulled out and it will be worked on this week.  More on this next post.  

Cherish you day, cherish your life!  Wash your hands, wear a mask and keep your distance.

Borders? What Borders?

I'm at that point with my "Corona Tulips" that it was time to pull out fabrics for borders!   These are the fabrics chosen to finish off my thoughts for a cheery spring quilt. 

Masks, masks and more masks!  My niece sent me this photo of all her masks drying.  Two kids times 3-4 masks each child per school day = lots of masks.  She was having a hard time keeping track of masks for sending off and masks for washing/drying.  The additional masks that were made last week are helping the task.

Yesterday, an UFO was pulled out and a bit of work was done on it.  More on that later.

Until we get our vaccination, we are wearing our masks, washing our hands, no family gatherings and keeping our distance.

Cherish your day, cherish your life!

Halfway tulips!

That is an odd title, but that is where I'm at with my tulips.  Halfway done.  Feels good to accomplish something!  "My Corona Tulips" is what I've decided to call this project.   We have been in lockdown since Dec. 26, 2020 and that is when this project was started.  During lockdown.  I'm glad this project will be pretty to look at as we need something pretty right now.

We don't know when we the vaccine is coming to our area.  So until then, we are wearing a mask, washing our hands and keeping our distance.  I'm only going out for groceries and the pharmacy.  Staying home and sewing!

Cherish your day, cherish your life!

Making progress?

Well, I do think I am making progress with my tulips!  Four rows done and all sewn together.  My plan is to do one row of circles and one row of tulips per week.  Only 9 rows total to go.  At this rate, this top might be finished by mid-March.

What else got accomplished?  These three chairs!  If anyone complains to me about the cost of having someone do upholstery, I will tell them that every penny is well earned.  These chairs were hard for us to do.  My hubby and I learned many things along the way and we had to go back and fix a few areas.  We are not professionals at all, but darn it, I think we did good!   We can afford for someone else to do the work, but we look at the job as a challenge and to see if we can do it.   Can you see the amount of snow we have in our backyard?  Not as much as normal.  We have had a period of warmer weather and some of the snow has melted.  Today, we are back to cold weather.

 

What else?  Thirty kid's (15 each) masks for my two nieces.   When they go to school now, they have to have 3-4 masks per child to change throughout the day.  One of my nieces wore a disposable mask last week and disliked it very much.  She informed her Mom that if she couldn't wear one of Aunt Rosie's masks, then she wasn't interested in wearing any mask.  They do have masks but not enough for the amount per day required.  So an urgent SOS text to me to ask if I had fabric, elastic and time and would I please make more.  Yes, of course!  Way back in August last year, I purchased approx. 50 metres each of black and white elastic because I had a feeling.  After all the mask making, there is just enough elastic to make a few more.  More elastic will need to be purchased if another request comes my way.

Now that those projects are out of the way, my next task is working on an UFO.  Chop, chop!

Cherish your day, cherish your life!

Making circles around the tulips!

A surge of energy came over me and those tulips kept being made until ..... finally ..... all the tulips and circles were prepped.  This is it!  Mind you, everything you see is just pinned in place.  Now comes the task of appliqueing.   I'm happy.  I love this top!

One block of circles done ..... many more to go.

All those pieces have been taken down, marked properly and placed into baggies ready for me to work on at night while watching t.v.  My design wall is needed to work on an UFO.  That was my promise.  When I mentioned this to my garage friend Darlene, she responded with two words:  chop, chop!  LOL

In my yearly recap of 2020, a few things were not mentioned.  What else was made last year?  

My niece sent me photos of the homework holders that I made for her two daughters.  With on-line learning happening again here in Ontario they are sure handy to hold their homework instead of piling the books, etc. at one end of their table.  I made these for Xmas gifts, but tucked interesting items into the pockets.  No one wants just homework holders, eh!  Upholstery fabric was used.  The holders are nice and sturdy.

I also made a bunch of quilt journal covers for my binders.  I have been keeping journals since the beginning of my quilting journey and have extra binders for all of those quilts still to come.  I wanted fabric that would be sturdy and not fray or wear down over time.  Upholstery fabric was the perfect choice.  A piece big enough was in my stash.  Win-win.

Masks.  Between 200-300 masks were made last year.  I lost count but a lot were made.  A dozen here and a dozen there; they all add up.  I'm happy.  Folks are safe.

On that note, until we are all vaccinated .... wear a mask, wash your hands and keep your distance and don't gather.

Cherish your day, cherish your life!

Time for Tulips?

Not outside for many months to come.  But in my hands and on my design wall ..... I can create tulips!

A new project got started last week.  Why, oh why when I have tons of UFO's?  Because I just needed a new tulip quilt to put on display along with my other tulip quilts?  That is all the reason that was needed!  LOL

You see, a list was made of new quilts that I wanted to accomplish this year in 2021 and tulips was on that list.  The time was now to start if this quilt is to be completely finished and hanging on the wall come April/May.

The source of the applique pattern came from https://quiltyfolk.blogspot.com/.  Audrey offered up a free (not anymore) applique tulip pattern for a limited time to those that were interested.  Well, I was and she so graciously sent it to me.  

EQ7 to the rescue for a layout and viola, I was off and running.  See those dots?  My garage friend, Darlene, made a quilt this fall that was all dots.  Well, those dots settled into my brain and I just knew that something would surface with them in a quilt.  

Everything is just pinned in place.  No hand sewing yet but that will be soon.

This photo was taken last night before going to bed.  My stash was raided and fabrics selected to fill in empty spaces.

So, thank you to Audrey for her applique pattern!

A photo was sent to my garage friend, Darlene, to show her what she got me started making because of her dots quilt.  She questioned why was I making a new quilt when there were so many UFO's.  Yes, yes, yes.  Don't you just hate it when someone reminds you of what you need to finish?  LOL  Oh dear me!   So, my friend,  I will be dealing with a UFO as soon as the prep work is done on this quilt.  Promise!

I do miss meeting in the garage because we all kept each other on our toes and reminded each other about UFO's and to FINISH them!   When they read my last post on last year's recap a few of them will have mild panic attacks on how they will deal with all my UFO's if something were to happen to me.  Yes, yes, yes, my friends, I will deal with them this year, for sure.   Oh my, I can hardly wait for the day when we can assemble once again.  It has been a year since we all gathered!

It is cold outside and we can't go anywhere except for groceries and pharmacy.  So, I will be cozy inside sewing away this week.

So, until we can resume our normal lives and until we all can be vaccinated ..... wear a mask, wash your hand and keep your distance!

Cherish your day, cherish your life!

Looking back

So, another year has already started.   How many of us will survive the virus?  Right now, our area is in lockdown for two weeks.  There is community spread of the virus in our area and the experts are trying to get it under control.  The rest of the province is under lockdown for a month as their cases are higher.

So, I will just sit tight and sew on.  Excursions to get groceries will be limited.

Looking back to last year, for me, it didn't feel like much was accomplished in 2020.  My goodness, but I was sure surprised.  Seven quilts were made.  Seven.  I had to look at the Quilts 2020 tab at the top of my blog (under the large photo) and look to see what quilts were made.  Seven!  What a surprise.  Go there to see them better!

Now, this is where I have to actually look at the stats to see what tops and UFO's were there at the beginning of last year.  It is my way of keeping tabs on what is remaining to be quilted and what UFO's need to be pulled off the shelf and worked on.  It is also to remind my readers that I am a bit of a nerd when it comes to this type of work.  LOL

Tops: 

Ten at the beginning of 2020.  Look at all those x's!  How lovely it was to x off a top once it was finished!

Now for the beginning of 2021 .... only 4 tops!  I'm still debating on sending all of them out for quilting or to keep a few and hand quilt them?   Oh, what to do, what to do?

Quilts that need binding

There are four quilts and they will be worked on during the winter months to help keep me warm while I sit and watch t.v.  A new folder in my files had to be created for these quilts because I actually forgot about the second quilt from the right.  It was quilted back in 2018 and it has been hidden away since then.  You can imagine my surprise when it was discovered recently.  How in the world can you forget about a quilt?  My guess is a good clean up and sort is badly needed in my studio!  LOL

UFO's:

The year 2020 started with 33 UFO's.  Sadly, only three were x'd.  Not as good as I hoped for.

I don't know how it happened, but my UFO's increased to 35 at the beginning of 2021.  Oops.  Can I do better than finish three UFO's this year?  Let's see what can be done this year?  No promises.  No resolutions.   Nope, not going there.

So, that is my recap for the year that wasn't!

Will any new projects be started?  Definitely!  I can't just work on old stuff, you know!  LOL

On another note, it is time to de-clutter our home.  When my Aunt and cousin passed away, it was the task of my sister, her daughters and me to pack up and move their belongings here to North Bay.  A lot of their furnishings are in storage, but boxes are sitting in my studio bedroom to go through and decide their future.  Keep, donate, sell or toss.  They had only an apartment.  We have a house full of stuff.  That was an eyeopener to all of us.   Getting rid of clutter in our home has been ongoing for a month now and we are starting to see the difference.

What about in my studio?  Lordy, that is a topic for another day, but cleaning out has already started.

We all have high hopes for 2021.  Things have to get better?  Right? 

Until we all get vaccinated ..... wear a mask, wash your hands, keep your distance and don't gather with family and friends.  We are getting close to getting the virus under control and now is NOT the time to drop our guard.

Cherish your day, cherish your life!

Last finish for 2020

Happy New Year ..... we all hope!  It will be interesting to see how the next few months play out.

I got this quilt finished just under the wire.  What a good feeling to get something finally done!

"Four Seasons" is the name of this quilt.  It looks more like a fall quilt, but there are spring greens and summer greens in the quilt along with yellows of our flowers that grow in our front and back garden.  Look closely and you can even see some snowflakes!

Quilt details:

Started:  April 2014

Finished:  December 30, 2020

Block name:  9-patch block  (7-1/2" x 7-1/2" square).  No pattern.

Quilt size:  60-1/2" x 87-1/4" after washing and drying

Batting:  poly batting

Machine quilted by:  Kathy Wareham of Kat's Quilts

Another UFO ticked off the list.

Done!

I don't know about you, but I'm so happy to see 2020 in the rear view mirror.  It was an awful year starting with the passing of my Aunt last January; Covid-19 hitting the world; my sister being diagnosed with colon cancer and enduring her treatments that ended last month; my hubby being diagnosed with Parkinson's; and finally the passing of a cousin early last month.  Yep, I'm so glad to see the end of 2020.

Hubby and I had a quiet New Year's Eve and day.  No gathering of family.  We will not contribute to the spread of the virus in our community nor amongst family members.

So, until we can all be vaccinated ..... wear a mask, wash your hands and keep your distance.

Cherish your day, cherish your life!