Working on different things

We are almost at the end of August.  Whew, that month flew by quickly!

August and September mean renovations and fixing things up around the house.  Well, the renovations are all done, just a bit of fixing things up to do.

First, though, this quilt is being machine quilted by me.  It is twin size and that I can manage.  This quilt is for a wee niece who is turning 3 soon and has moved to a big girl bed.  More on this quilt later.

Last week DH and I redid this office chair.  It turned out mighty fine!  I'm trying to clean out my upholstery stash and whatever can't be used will be donated to a lady who makes bags.

Next up is this fabric for this footstool.  I've been wanting to recover this stool for years and finally bought the fabric yesterday.  Nothing in my stash worked, so I bought a metre to do the job.

 If I'm careful with the fabric, there might be enough leftover to do this little stool.

 Then, this quilt ladder will get three coats of Varethane to prevent any transfer of wood resin.

September also means spray painting time for me.  There are a few pieces that need to get done.  September usually offers days of less humidity which is perfect for spray painting.  So, I do need to get my butt into gear because cooler days will be coming soon.

The next few photos are Decorating with Quilts.  My bookcase is starting to fill up very nicely but I will run out of space soonish.  There are still 19 tops to be quilted.  Some of those tops will be donated or gifted, but the majority will stay with me. 

The second shelf from the top has most of my EPP quilts, wall hangings and tops.  Yes, EPP.  One day, I will have to do a show of all my EPP projects.   There are still six EPP projects in different stages.  Most of them just need borders and they will get done soon.   In case anyone is wondering, there are two coats of primer and three coats of Varethane on the bookcase shelves to stop any wood resin from coming through.

What's on my bed?  EPP quilt, of course!  There is also an EPP on the ladder.  My ladder also has primer, paint and three coats of Varethane.  Got to protect my quilts!  I will be making sleeves out of leftover batting to cover the rungs on both ladders.   Maybe a bit overkill, but protection, protection is the name of the game.

Soon, my September quilts will get changed on the beds and walls.  Autumn is coming.  There are already some leaves changing colour.  After our summer drought, I'm not sure what the display will be like this year.

On another note, this feline would really love to become our cat.  She tried last year after our dear Miss Ashes passed on and she is trying again this year.  When she sees us, she comes running and meowing to greet us.  As you can imagine, she gets much attention from us.  Problem is ..... she belongs to the neighbours next door.  They have a young child plus a dog and I can only imagine how busy and noisy it can be for this feline.  Our place is very quiet.  Oh dear, it is going to get rough as the weather gets colder and she will want to be inside our place.  Maybe we should keep the extra  container of litter after all?

Have a great day!
Linking to: http://estheraliu.blogspot.com/ and http://needleandthreadnetwork.blogspot.com/

Snowballs, anyone?

Well, this top is finally finished and I'm happy with it.

More vine had to be made and added to finish the last 10".  That got done fairly quickly.

Auditioning fabrics for the larger circles happened next.  This was not the final selection, but it was a start.

Then, all the sewing was complete.   I would do the border again, but do it differently.  My brain is already whirling with plans.

 Oh, so lovely!

Now, I can move on to another project.

Have a great day!

Linking to: http://estheraliu.blogspot.com/ and http://needleandthreadnetwork.blogspot.com/

Well ... that was an oopsie!

My sister and I have been at the cottage for the last five days.  It was hot, hot, hot.  Not much in the way of stitching got done.  The nights were cool and that gave us a bit of a reprieve.  Book reading took over. 

Still, I did some work on my snowball top.  Sitting on the front porch soaking in whatever cool breeze came off the lake.

My sister pulled out her knitting bag and I snickered and asked about the shawl that she has started and tore out numerous times because of mistakes.  I snickered again as she hesitatingly told me that she has it with her and she thinks it is ok.  She has been working on that shawl for the last three years at least.

While we were talking, about 20" of vine was appliqued onto the border.  Oh, so lovely.

Then, horror of horrors ..... it was discovered that I appliqued two borders together!  How in the world did that happen?  This is the backside.  Actually, the words out of my mouth were ..... wtf!  No, I'm not going to translate this in case you are wondering what that stands for. 

So, to make the story longer ..... my sister hears me moaning and groaning and says to me ...... karma is a bitch, eh!  She is laughing at me at this point and yes karma is a ...... as we each sat and looked at each other and started to laugh like crazy.

The ripping out commenced.  Good thing only a bit was done and not the whole border.  I'm still puzzled that the thickness didn't clue me in in the first place.  I'm blaming this on the heat!

With the hot temperatures, it was hard to have anything on my lap to sew.  My thinking cap went on my head and I quickly looked around for ideas.  I grabbed a small stool and placed it over my lap.

Then, when I lifted my legs onto the another footstool, the stool was raised high enough for me to have my top on the stool and that is how I was able to do some stitching,  The stool had air space underneath to keep me cool and the bulk of the top was on the top of the stool.  Perfect.  As I stitched away, I could hear me sister sucking in her breath as she almost make another mistake on her knitting.  Every time she did that, I kept my mouth shut (no snickering) and quickly looked under my stitching to make sure that I did not have two thickness of fabric.  Karma kept me quiet!  🐱🐱

So, after this wee drawback, I did get my second set of vines on the borders.   Another strip of vine needs to be made to complete the bottom border and that will get done in the next few days.  This is the layout that I've decided to go with.  It looks neater and simpler.  I'm happy with that. 

Today is another hot day, but at least we have a/c at home and that is where you will find me.

Have a great day!

Linking to: http://estheraliu.blogspot.com/ and http://needleandthreadnetwork.blogspot.com/

Three at work

There are three projects being worked on in my studio and at the cottage.

Hand quilting the applique on the borders is still on going.  The binding is done and it won't take me too long to finish this job.

Stitch by stitch, this hanging is slowing coming to life.  More embroidery thread was purchased so I won't be running out any time soon.

This ufo was pulled out and the applique borders can continue.  Except for the vine, what you see here is just pinned onto my design wall.  So far, I'm not totally crazy about this design, but it will do.   Those leaves are throwing me off, so they just might get changed. 

The last two projects will come with me to the cottage so that I have something to work on.  When it is too hot to work on them, then a good book gets my attention instead.

We have had some rain here and the fires around our neck of the woods are under control.  The rain has helped and the air quality is much better these days.   At least our windows can be opened to let in cool night air.  Now when we walk on the grass there is only a slight crunching sound.  A couple more days of rain is still needed.

August is going by much too quickly and there is so much that I want to get done this month!  Oh dear me .....

Have a great day!

Linking to:  http://needleandthreadnetwork.blogspot.com/ and http://estheraliu.blogspot.com/