December and January binding challenge

Well, we DID IT!  No-blog Mary and I bound at least one quilt per month for 2022!  A few extra quilts  were slipped in by both of us but mostly we stuck to one per month.  Sometimes, we each waited until the last day of the month to show our quilts and other times, our quilts were done well in advance of the month end deadline.  Still, we got at least 12 quilts done and that is such a beautiful word!  Ahhh, the feeling of success is wonderful!  What a great way to end 2022.

This is Mary's December quilt:

and this is her January quilt:

My December quilt is my School House quilt and there will be another post next year showing this quilt in full.

For January, my quilt chosen will be my red/white "Gingham Swirl".  The binding has already been cut and sewn together.  Just need to sew it onto my quilt and I will be happily sewing the binding down on one of our cold winter nights.

Wishing you all the best for 2023!

Happy New Year!

Cherish your day, cherish your life

Another top done!

It feels good to get this top done and ready to bring to the LAer in the new year.

This top went together rather quickly which is so surprising to me.  What I try to do is assemble pieces to make at least one block before going to bed.  In the morning, those pieces are ready to be sewn together.  This way, it feels that something is getting accomplished and it motivates me to get more ready for the next day.  It was a good evening when five to ten blocks got ready for the morning.  This top came mostly from scraps and I had to dip into my stash just to get a nice variety of fabrics towards the end.  Win-win!

I've been doing this also for borders and binding and it seems to be working ..... because I got this top done too!  Talk about magical!  This project has been on the go since .... well ..... many, many ages ago!

Then, I plugged away at some knitting and this hat got done!  You can't really see, but that is an elephant head on top of the hat.  So cute!

The project I'm working on now is this old ufo.  Will it get done before the new year?  We'll see.  I'm not really thrilled with the fabrics and am seriously thinking that this will turn out to be UGLY and I don't do UGLY!  LOL

With all the talk of that major storm ..... we got snow, but not a whole lot but it is still coming down.  This evening, I put a hot pot of soup outside (just outside our kitchen patio doors) on top of the snow to cool down and I could hear what sounded like freezing drizzle hitting the top of the snow.   In case you wonder, I do this quite often in the winter because the hot pot (with cover on) and whatever is inside cools down quite quickly.   I do this only if the temperature hovers around zero or way below zero .... you know, food safety.

Wishing all who celebrate Xmas and other celebrations, to have a safe and happy time.  

Cherish your day, cherish your life!

"Candy Crush"

This was a fun quilt to make and there is another already cut out and just waiting for assembly.  This has become my go-to pattern for kiddie quilts.  This would also be good to make out of boy fabrics and plaids and stripes.

Some close-ups of fabrics used.

Quilt Details:

Source:  photo on Pinterest

Block size:  2" x 4" finished rectangles

Started:  September 2022

Finished:  November 2022

Size:  61" x 84" (top size before quilting, washing and drying:  62-1/2" x 86-1/4")

Batting:  Hobbs poly

Machine quilted by:  Kathy Wareham using "Belladonna" design by Lorien Quilting

There .... another quilt ready for Xmas giving to a great niece.

Cherish your day, cherish your life!

Stars, stars and more stars

I'm hoping that my great nephew loves his new quilt that he will be getting for Xmas.  It has been awhile since his last quilt and he was due for a new one.  Ignore the shadow in the bottom part of the photo .....

Here it is sideways.

A closeup of the quilting called "Sea of Stars" by Christy Dillon of My Creative Stitches.

A cotton sheet was used for the backing and if he wants to reverse the quilt on his bed, he will have an interesting look there also.

This was a fun quilt to make ..... until those stars.  Ugh.  They were paper pieced and not my favourite to do.  This quilt got stalled because of those stars.  Now, it is done and ready for gifting.

Quilt Details:

Source:  My design using EQ7

Block size:  7-7/8" x 7-7/8"  Why didn't I make the block 8" square?  I'm puzzled by that size.  Oh well.

Started:  April 2021  Top finished: October 2022

Finished:  November 2022

Size: 56-1/2" x 80" (top size before quilting, washing and drying:  59" x 84-1/4")

Batting:  Hobbs poly

Quilted by:  Kathy Wareham

It feels good to get this quilt done and ready for Xmas giving.

Cherish your day, cherish your life!

Ozark Cobblestone quilt

I've been meaning to show this quilt but the timing for photo taking wasn't good.  We had snow and then a thaw, then rain and it would have meant this quilt would be dragging in the dirt.  So, indoors it had to be.

A close-up of the border (an altered version found in EQ7 called Combed Swag Border).

A close-up of some of my fabrics.  The block was found in Blockbase and it is called Ozard Cobblestone or Y007, but I changed the name to Ozark Cobblestone as it sounded better.  Tehe.

All these pieces were hand pieced using EPP (English paper piecing) method.  This was a labour of love and I so enjoyed the hours put into this quilt.

Quilt Details:

Started:  October 2010 (top finished March 2021)

Finished:  October 2022

Quilt Size:  100" x 100-3/4" (top size before quilting, washing and drying:  101-1/2" x 101-1/2")

There wasn't much shrinkage as this quilt was dried (folded in half) on a clothes rack.

Batting:  Hobbs poly

Machine quilted by:  Kathy Wareham using "Augusta" design by My Creative Stitches

There we go ..... another quilt finished and being used.  I'm so glad that the plunge was taken to have my quilts machine quilted by another person.  To me, at my age, it is so worth it.

Cherish your day, cherish your life!

December Binding Challenge

Only one month left for no-blog Mary and my binding challenge.  It has been a good year so far!

This is Mary's quilt to bind:

and this is my quilt:

Now that December is here, it is time to haul out a few Xmas decorations and change all the display quilts over to Xmas quilts.  

Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells .... jingle all the way .....

Cherish your day, cherish your life!

November Binding Challenge

The year is running out .... just one more monthly binding challenge for this year.

No-blog Mary and I met our November challenge.

Mary did two small quilts.  She took photos of one but the second one was gifted before she remembered to take a photo.  Mary did say that Xmas gifts will be very easy this year .... a number of her finished quilts, runners, etc. will be gifted.  A win-win, I would say!!

My two quilts got done plus a third one.  Wow, bonus!!!!  Posts will be coming for these two quilts.

In the process, I have a new favourite binding fabric which is perfect for kiddie quilts and my more colourful quilts.  This is the second quilt that I've used it on and it will be used many times again before it runs out.  Originally, this fabric was purchased to make a jacket, but that idea got tossed and since there are a few metres around, binding to the rescue!

  

Now, the third quilt .... it is not mine.  I picked up this top from guild quite a few years ago and had it quilted for me.  Since there are a few skeleton fabrics in the quilt, it was hard to pick a charity to give it to.  It has a gorgeous horse fabric but the skeletons are associated with death, it was not suitable as a QOV (I did ask) .... nor for a cancer patient ..... nor for someone in hospice.  So, instead, it (along with the quilt in my last post) will be going to a women's shelter in a nearby town.  Halloween was recent and a child would think of Halloween and enjoy the quilt.  It is not a big quilt but perfect for a child.

The beige top and bottom borders were added to make it longer.

Fabrics have been pulled to make pillowcases to go along with the two quilts I'm donating.  The pillowcases will be stuffed with kiddie things to do.

While finishing up these quilts, I happened to find a bag that had a half finished knitted hat in it.  Well, perfect to finish and hand over along with the quilts.  Viola .... that owl is so cute, eh!   I have another hat kit with an elephant, but that one will be knitted up and given to my great nephew for Xmas.

A cold virus came by and caught me and three weeks later, I'm still coughing a bit.  So, for three weeks, binding happened and also some painting of wooden ornaments.  They were fun to do and kept me entertained.

Such a good way to end the month of November!

Cherish your day, cherish your life!

A Fun Scrappy Quilt

I've been meaning to take photos of a few finished quilts ..... but life keeps getting in the way.

This was a sweet and easy quilt to make and it went together very quickly.  A perfect quilt for donation.  

Can you see the snow in the background of the above photo?  Unless we have a thaw, this snow will be staying until the spring.

Quilt details:

Source:  just starting cutting and placing on the design wall

Block size:  2" x 4" finished

Quilt started:  November 2021

Quilt finished:  October 2022

Quilt size:  54-1/2" x 69-3/4" (top size before quilting, washing and drying: 56-1/4" x 72")

Batting:  Hobbs cotton/poly 80/20

Machine quilted by:  Kathy Wareham

You know .... some squirrels came by to play and before I knew it, a new project!  LOL

I was reading on this blog about her finished quilt and knew that I had to get the pattern going and start making my own quilt too.  The pattern is from Sentimental Stitches called Fragments of Cloth.  If you compare, my version has been changed up a bit.

All the blocks were made mostly from my scraps!  I had to dig into my stash for the last few remaining blocks to get a good variety.  Next up will be to start sewing the rows together.    Was there a dent made in the scrap bins?  Nada .... but in the process, I did get a zippy bag of scraps ready for donation to my guild.  Win-win situation!

  

Not to be outdone, this oldie project is off the shelf and has been worked on.  There will be applique on the top border, but it has to be reduced as it looks too big right now and is overpowering the bottom section.

 

Stuff is getting done, but it is just taking time.

Cherish your day, cherish your life! 

I'm Done with the Pyramids .... or Trees?

Are these pyramids or trees?  My hubby says 'trees'.  Anyway, the top is currently at the LAer and I will get it back in a few weeks.  I can't say this was a fun EPP project to do as it did give me some issues that I was able to overcome.  So glad this one is done and I can move onto something else.

My churn dash quilt is back from the LAer.  This has been added to the pile of quilts to bind next year.

With the huge X-stitch craze going on now, my sister sent me a photo of this little one using his cup that I had x-stitched decades ago for his mother.  So long ago that I had forgotten that I made it.  What goes around, comes around ....

Cherish your day, cherish your life!

October and November Binding Challenge

Another month gone and no-blog Mary and I each completed our binding challenge.

This is October's by no-blog Mary:

and mine (more on this quilt later):

We then pulled our quilts for November .... two each this time.

Mary's quilts are small, so she thought she should do two this month.

So, not to be outdone, I also chose two.  LOL  These are needed for Xmas gifts and I might as well get them done early.  These were picked up from my LAer this morning and they are already trimmed.  Binding for one of them has already been cut.  

My sister and I are heading back to the cottage for a few more days.  The weather is going to be lovely again and we might as well take advantage of it.  Usually, when we close at Thanksgiving, that is it for cottage season.  This year is an exception.

I just might take one of these quilts with me to work on.

Cherish your day, cherish your life!

Tick Off Another!

This is a long awaited ufo that has finally been ticked off the list!  Thanks to Chooky and her Churn Dash Challenge ..... this was pulled off the shelf and the top is done and will be going to my favourite LAer, Kathy, next week.  It was so nice to show off this top when I zoomed with Chooky last week.  Oh, happy, happy days!

This past weekend and this week, we have been having glorious weather with the temps going up to mid-twenties Celsius.  So nice, that my sister and I and our brother and SIL made a trip out to the cottage for a few days.  There was still some outdoor painting that needed to be done and that was achieved.  Yeah!

Here are some views of our lake.  Leaves have fallen and trees are bare now.

When we sat outside beside the fire one night, there was a lone wolf calling on the other side of the lake.  Just one howl that it kept repeating until in the far distance another wolf answered the call.

Chooky asked to see photos of our cottage.  So here they are but are closed up for the winter.  My sister and I share the cottage closest in this photo.  The green cottage is the bunkie for family and guests.  The far cottage is my brother's and SIL.  They are nothing fancy, but these are now over 50 yrs. since being built.

Status on the squirrel and it's abundance of cedar seeds .... they are still on the deck and on the ground.  We have seen signs that it is eating the seeds, but it doesn't seem compelled to store them away someplace.  Oh well ....

On our way home from the cottage, I said to my sister that it wouldn't surprise me if we didn't get stopped by the Ministry of Natural Resources.  It is moose hunting season now and there are a lot of hunters and sadly, poachers, around our cottage area.  Yep, we did get stopped and was asked if we had firearms.  Nope, we don't and off we went.

Now that work at the cottage has been completed for this year, I'm home more now and decided to pull another ufo off the shelf and get borders on it.  This top has two sides with first round of borders and then for some reason .... probably a squirrel came by ..... I stopped and binned this project.  Let's see if I can get the remaining borders on for next Tuesday to bring it also to the Kathy.

When I dropped off two tops with her a few weeks ago, Kathy mentioned to me that someone had started a rumour that her machine quilting business had stopped.  Now, why would someone do that?  Competition or just plain mean spirited?  So, anyone in my area reading my blog and wanting a top quilted, Kathy is still in business.  I'm in the North Bay, Ontario, Canada region and Kathy can be contacted at:  kitkat.harris17@gmail.com.

Cherish your day, cherish your life!

Tick off another UFO!

This UFO only needed two border blocks and it could have been done ages ago.  Oh well, it is done now and this top and another are with my favourite LAer, Kathy.

Borders are starting to go onto my Churn Dash quilt, but no photos of that yet.

Early this week, my sister sent this photo of these four deer eating her crab apples.  Awesome photo!

This is what we woke up to this morning ...... it will be gone by the weekend as the daytime temps will be in the mid-teens .... but this is just a wee taste of what will come later next month.  What makes these photos so interesting is the snow on the leaves!  Usually, when we get our first snow, the leaves are off and all we see are bare trees and it looks like Xmas wonderland.  You can tell that this snow is early for us this time.

I think this is a good morning to have some Bailey's in our coffee ....

Cherish your day, cherish your life!