Thursday, April 22, 2021

Bloglovin'

With FeedBurner shutting down their service of notification of my posts going directly to your email, here is a link to another blog who investigated into Bloglovin and what that service can offer you.

https://quiltdivajulie.blogspot.com/2021/04/following-by-email-using-bloglovin.html

At the same time as looking at Bloglovin', you can also discover a new blog if you aren't already aware of this fantastic quilter. 

Cherish your day, cherish your life!

Edit April 23, 2021:

Nina (thank you!) gave a link for other alternatives.  I didn't know there were so many out there

Check out this link and read for yourself.  https://www.feedburner-alternatives.com/

Tuesday, April 20, 2021

Oh dear, borders!

I seem to always get stuck on borders.  Nothing seems to satisfy me these days.

Take this top for example.  The centre is all together.  I love it!

Then, the 'what if' game started.  What if those stars get extended into the borders?  Yes, that works for me.   Now, what to do with the rest of the border fabric?  There is not much fabric left of the blue strips, so that can't be used.  There is lots of the neutral fabric that was used in making the stars and lots of navy blue.  It's ok ..... but ..... all that neutral fabric in the borders is not working for me.  It is just too 'blah'.
Again, the 'what if' came out to play!  What if some of the rust squares get added in those neutral squares?  It brings out the squares in the stars and the corner stones.  They add that certain something, something that was needed.  Yes, this works for me.  Finally!
Now, I can get this top going again.  Not that it has been around for very long, but I just want to get it done.

Hubby and I had our first Pfizer covid-19 vaccine yesterday.  Arm is a bit sore, but that is all.  The whole process was very well organized.  Our 2nd vaccine will be in August. 

If you are one of my followers that receive emails every time I post, then come July, that process will end.  Some blogs are talking about using Bloglovin, but I don't know anything about it.   So, just be aware that come July you will not receive anymore email posts from my blog.

Cherish your day, cherish your life!

Thursday, April 15, 2021

What's New?

Well, first thing, I've thrown my back out twice in the last two weeks.  You would think by now that I would've learned how to bend properly?  Nope ..... it seems to take back pain for me to think twice.  Lucky for me that since I have been doing back exercises, my down times are short and after a few days, my back is almost normal again.

I did start a new project, then had to pause because it hurt too much to sit at my sewing machine, but now that pause has ceased and I can finally sew again.

After the pause ..... but then noticed an oopsie!  It is an easy fix.  Just time consuming with my seam ripper.
I haven't abandoned my UFO's.  There is a bin of about one hundred of nine patch blocks and I've been playing with them for inspiration.  If I do hand pieced blocks as an alternative block, then this will be perfect for taking and working on at the cottage.  Cottage season will start next month and I do need to be prepared.  Other UFO's will be looked at also for take-alongs with me.
There are about six quilts that need binding and those will be coming out with me also to work on.  They will be perfect for those cool mornings and evenings and will help to keep my legs and feet warm.

A number of you have been asking about my tulip quilt.  Finally, finally, a border fabric was found and that is what I will be doing this weekend.  Photos will be coming soon.

My sister, her hubby, my hubby and I will be getting our first vaccine shot on Monday!  As one of my nieces said .... "wow, date night at the vaccine clinic"!  Our shots are about 20 minutes apart as we booked our appointments one after the other and chose the same dates and time frame.

More elastic has been bought because we will need more masks as hubby and I will be out and about more now that the nice weather is coming.  

Cherish your day, cherish your life!

Wednesday, April 7, 2021

Hand Quilting .... holy cow!

 LOL .... did that title of this post catch your attention?  Yes, I'm going to be doing a bit of hand quilting.  Only on small projects.

Like this small 24" x 24" wall hanging.  Yes, you can't see anything except for a glimpse of something beneath my stencils.  Why?  

This hanging is for an quilt exchange that I'm participating in with Humble Quilts.  The exchange is now closed with 70 swappers and I have already received the name of the person that this hanging will be going to.  Our work can be showed, but if the recipient reads my blog then it won't be a surprise when my package is opened.  For now, this is all that you will see.

It was fun to go through my Civil War fabrics and pick and choose what to use.  At the same time, it has come to my attention that there is a lot of that fabric in my stash.   Time to bring them out and use them up ..... in about 10 quilts ..... at least, if not more!  LOL

For the last week, nothing else was worked on except this project and it is now at the hand quilting stage.  It has to be mailed by April 30, so my time will be consumed finishing this hanging.

It has been quite some time since I participated in an exchange.  I wonder who will be sending me my quilt and what will it look like?  Oh, the anticipation!

Cherish your day, cherish your life!

Friday, April 2, 2021

Getting borders on!

The centre of this top is now complete .... time for the borders!

There will be red gingham inner border and then blocks of different dark red fabrics for the outer border.

Then, you are probably wondering what is going on with this dark beige piece in the side setting triangles?    I wanted to continue the look of the dark beige seams into the setting triangles.  These will be appliqued in place.  But why?  I did consider cutting smaller triangles and squares and sewing strips but nixed that idea because I did not want to see white seams in those triangles.  That meant that the seams had to be ironed to the inside but so are the seams in the joining areas above and below that piece and that would have been so difficult to keep it smooth and flat.  How to get around that problem?   Applique is my solution.  I so love it when a solution is at hand for making something impossible ..... possible!
On Wednesday, my sister and I drove out to see our brother to help celebrate his 71st birthday.  All of us sat in their living room, distanced apart and we all wore our masks.  We decided not to have cake and refreshments as that would have meant taking our masks off.  Keep it safe and that is what we did!

Yesterday, more elastic was purchased to make more masks because despite having more and more humans vaccinated, those variants are floating around and we will still need to keep wearing masks even after vaccination.  Hubby and I are waiting for our age groups to come up so that we can then register to get ours.

Along with the elastic, some red fabrics for borders were also purchased.  Already, plans are underway for my next UFO to be removed off the shelf.  Cottage season is fast approaching and that project will be my handwork over the next few months.  More about this later.

Cherish your day, cherish your life!