Saturday, February 26, 2022

Postcard from Sweden

Have you seen all the progress on the newest sew-along called "Postcard from Sweden" at https://www.mmmquilts.com/ ?   Some time ago, she offered the pattern and since there was a bin of solids and polka dot fabrics in my stash .... well, I couldn't resist, now could I?  LOL

I received my pattern and then started cutting out as close as possible to the colours in the pattern.   My goal was to use up what was in my bins.  In a lot of cases, my colours were way off and that was expected to happen.

Once my triangles were put up on the wall to take a good look at the colour layout, I didn't like them at all.  So ..... out went the colour placement as per the pattern and enter my own version.  Oops .... I did it again by going my own way.  This is what I'm going with.   There will be borders on my quilt to make it bigger.
There are oodles of triangles leftover but they will be used perhaps on the backing or in another scrappy quilt.  

Has the bin been reduced .... no ..... still lots left.  There will be another squirrel happening with those fabrics!  Yeeha!

The world is in such a tilt these days.  Aggressors (at home and elsewhere) need to take a chill out pill and rethink what they are doing.  Violence is not the answer.  It never is.

Cherish your day, cherish your life!

Tuesday, February 22, 2022

Fifteen years!

Fifteen years blogging!  OMG!

Where has the time gone?  It doesn't feel like I've been blogging that long.  Yet, the math tells me so.

How can I sum up my 15 years?  

When I first started blogging in February 2007, my first post wasn't much to read about.  Would anyone even bother.  Well, yes you did.  It took a while to get into a rhythm and my posts became more interesting as the years went by.  

What happened during all those years?

Older family members have passed on and new ones have arrived to take their place.  The circle of life.

My Mom loved to read my blog posts.  I would print them out for her and take them with me when it was my turn to stay with her.  She passed away in 2008 at age 90.  Miss you Mom!  She would be so proud of me for still posting all these years.  She was the person that started me on my creative journey.  The older I got, the more creative I became and she would always ask me why I had to start a new craft by making something hard to do.  "Because I can" was my reply and I still do to this day.  The more challenging, the happier I am.

Quilts.  I counted the number of quilts (all sizes) made and totally surprised myself.  How in the world did 126 quilts get made?  One by one they came out of magazines, patterns, my own designs, swaps, and challenges.  They sure added up and no, I don't have most of them anymore.  A lot were gifted or donated. 

Patterns.  From time to time, a person will ask me about a pattern for a quilt that I've designed.  Thank you for your interest, but no, I will not be writing patterns to sell.  At this time in my life, there is no energy to do that.

EQ.  Since getting my first EQ software program, I've never looked back.  Designs just flow out of me and there are so many quilts that have been designed but will never get made.  Not enough time in my lifeline to make them.  Still, it is fun to sit and put my creative thoughts onto a computer screen and watch a new design come to life.

Friends.  So many friends have been made through comments over the years.  Blogs that I loved to read are no more.  What happened to all those bloggers?  

Two international friends are Jennifer and Kevin from Australia.  They stayed with us three times (2012, 2015 and 2018) after we moved to North Bay.  Jennifer blogs at http://bronzewombat.blogspot.com/  Who knew that a simple comment would lead to this kind of friendship?  That is what I find so interesting about blogging.  A friend is just a comment away.

We inherited two cats (no longer with us) back in 2008.  Miss Hank (we were her third owner) and Miss Ashes (we were her second owner).  Gosh, how we loved those two girls and they are sorely missed.  They truly loved my quilts and always wanted to help out when I was trying to quilt.

In 2012, Hubby and I moved from Toronto to North Bay.   We have gotten older but are content with our lives and our home.  Three conditions for buying our new home.  There had to be a garage (we get a lot of snow), a studio space with high ceilings for my design wall and walls for displaying my quilts.  Tick, tick and tick.

Quilt Shows and Ribbons.  Since starting my blog, I've entered quilts into three quilt shows here in North Bay ..... and Lordy, came away with ribbons.  Most of these ribbons were for my hand quilting.  Nowadays, my quilts are machine quilted by a LAer, but there will be a small quilt that will be hand quilted.

2013



2016

2019

Slowly, but surely, I'm getting my blog printed into book form.  Three books so far have been made.  The rest of the years will be done this year.  My DH is thrilled and so are my family.  It is time.  I'm not getting any younger, you know!  LOL

Furniture.  My love of refurbishing furniture took a major upturn when we moved here to North Bay.  Our home is much larger than our bungalow home in Toronto and we needed furniture to fill the spaces.  Enter thrift stores and Kijiji.  Our biggest project were these chairs and we are most proud of them!  There are many more projects that were done, but too many to show here now.
Technology is constantly changing and how lovely to sit at a computer and chat away with other quilters from around the world.  Zooming is a new thing for me and so interesting.  I can chat with one person or over 20 in one meeting.  What next?

Squirrels.  There has been so many squirrels over the years and there will be more to come.  I have so many UFO's to keep me busy for many, many years to come.  One by one, they are getting addressed and finished.  This makes me happy!

So, this has been a small recap, but a wee glimpse to what my blog has been about all these 15 years.  

Will there be another 15 years?  No, I don't think so, but a few more years for sure.

To all of you who have hung on since my first post, or to new readers ..... thank you for stopping by and reading my quilting diary!   If only one of you has been inspired to try something new .... something a wee bit harder .... you are welcome!   It has been a blast and it continues!

Cherish your day, cherish your life!

Sunday, February 13, 2022

Done, done, done .... well, almost!

Finally, my Xmas Stars center is done!   My arm is sore from sewing and so are my fingers ..... but Lordy, I have a centre!  Now to get borders on ......

The outer border was almost ready to be sewn on ..... but hit a snag.  I just don't like the way the flower design is lining up.  So, my thinking cap is on and a solution will be decided on.

See the arrow?  I want the flower on the left to line up, but I can't get them to line up at both ends.  One end would be lined up, but not the other end.  Grrrrr   This will never be in a quilt show, so why bother?  Well, it bothers me to no end.
A few ideas have come to mind .... now to decide on which one.

Cherish your day, cherish your life!

Wednesday, February 9, 2022

Getting there!

Oh my, progress has been made on my Xmas Stars.  This is an excellent project to work on while watching the Olympics.  All the remaining pieces have now been prepped, but the sections need to be sewn together.  Very soon, this will be a top!  Oh happy day when that happens.

Last Friday, there was an impromptu garage day with three of us stitching away and getting caught up on news, etc.  It has been over two years since we last did this and it was such a happy visit for us.  Just a few hours to catch up and then back to our homes.

Claudia showed us her hexagon top that she finished.  During Covid, she has made a couple hexie tops/quilts.  Will there be another garage day with more of the girls soon?  Time will tell.

Now, I'm going back to stitching my Xmas Stars and watching the Olympics.

Cherish your day, cherish your life!

Sunday, February 6, 2022

Xmas Stars update

This project is chugging along .... slowly but surely!

Border fabrics have been selected and that is a win-win for me as this is where my projects usually stall.  Even backing fabric has been figured out.  So, I will continue stitching away and hopefully by the end of February, it will be done and ready to send to the LAer.

  
Right now, this project is all that I want to work on.  Borders, etc. on UFO's will just have to wait a week or so .... but this must be done!  LOL

Cherish your day, cherish your life!

Tuesday, February 1, 2022

February Binding Challenge

January was so good for no-blog Mary and myself that we have selected what quilt we will bind for February.

This is my quilt:

Binding has been cut, but not sewn together yet.
This is Mary's quilt.
Anyone else want to join us?  Do you have a few too many quilts that need binding and you need a push?  Join in the fun and complete a quilt for February!

The other thing that I've been working on is getting borders onto this UFO.  It is time.  I was hung up about the borders.  Should there be applique on them or not?  Enough indecision .... too much time has been wasted.  Simple borders will be fine.
Two more blog books have been received.  There are still a number of years to go.  For these two books, two years were combined together in one book as there weren't a lot of posts per year once I started to look at the total.  I'm happier with the look and feel of the thicker books.
Cherish your day, cherish your life!