Deer and Quilty Stuff

One morning last week, I looked outside the kitchen patio door and saw something dark at the top of our hill.  Did someone throw out a Xmas tree or a garbage bag or was it a person?  What was it?

Upstairs to my bedroom and looking out the window, I got a better look .... but I still couldn't make out what it was.

Zoomed in for a closer look.  Nope, still can't see what it is.  Lordy, it is big .... was it a bear?  No, wrong colour as the bears here are black and this is kind of brownish.

Suddenly, the thing had ears ..... it was a deer and it had been sleeping!  To the left in the bushes, there was a bit of movement and it was another deer but you can't see it in the photos.

Later, the two deer got up and moved off into the bushes.  They came back a few days later and munched on our shrubs and leftover titbits of leaves that were not clipped off in the fall.  We've had a bit more snow since taking the photo and the temps are a bit cooler (-7C).  Still, this is not our normal winter as we should be around -30C now with lots more snow.  

Now, onto quilty stuff.  There were a number of quilts that needed to be stored away.  A few sleeves were made for the foam pool noodles and quilts were rolled up and stored.  A shelf in my studio was cleared off and taken out.  It has now become the perfect place for quilt storage.  This area will be shown later as there is some painting that needs to happen first.

The sleeves on the back of my quilts are made larger and the roller fits perfectly into the sleeve and then the rolling of the quilt starts.  

Here it is ..... all rolled up, tied and ready for vertical storage.

I've been busy ordering more books of my blog.  Depending on the number of posts per year, some books have just one year of posts, while other books have two years of posts.  I use Blog2Print and take advantage of their sales.  The best sale is one that offers 50% off which happens a couple times a year.

I'm happy to see the years in book form.  So is my husband and my family.  These are things that they won't have to worry about when I'm gone or unable to function.  Instructions have been left so that if there are more books to be made, they can replicate the format of what was done in the past.

Cherish your day, cherish your life!

School House

Well, this quilt has been long in coming!  It has quite the story behind it too.  So, let's begin.

There are a few posts about this quilt and it is best to start at the beginning and you can click onto them here to read about the start and the progress along the way:

Mar. 2, 2011 .... May 23, 2011 .... June 16, 2011 .... June 25, 2011 .... Jan. 19, 2013 ....  Jan. 30, 2013 .... Mar. 30, 2013

There could be others, but I couldn't find them at the time of writing up this post.

After this top was finished, it sat for many years.  Why?  Hand quilt or machine quilt?  That was my hang up.  In the end, it was sent to my lovely LAer and she did her magic very quickly and then it sat waiting for binding.  Enter no-blog Mary and our monthly binding challenge and ..... viola ..... this quilt is finally done and hanging in our dinning room.  Oh, such joy to finally have this gorgeous quilt finished.

Now, after reading all those posts, there is a titbit that was never written about, but it is time to talk about it.

I've given credit to Andrea Blackhurst as the designer of this quilt pattern.  She may be the designer as per the quilt in the quilt magazine, but I based my quilt on that raffle quilt at the Kingston, Ontario, Canada quilt show and they based their quilt on an antique quilt. So, IMHO, I do think the original designer is the person who made that antique quilt.

When Andrea contacted me and claimed she was the designer .... fine .... I'm happy for her and she designed a gorgeous quilt and I've since amended a few of my posts to give her credit.  She also mentioned to me that if ever I wrote a pattern for sale, she would sue me.  Oh my .... 

If you have been a reader of my blog for many years now ..... never, ever have I offered any of my designs or drafts of quilts for sale.  I think I was tested not too long ago if there was a pattern for this quilt.  Was she a friend of Andrea's?  I was suspicious at the time.  Anyway, there is not a pattern for sale and there will never be from me.  Instead, I did a tutorial and it is on the link for June 25, 2011.

If you are interested in a pattern, Sentimental Stitches has a pattern for the houses and you can purchase it here.  Gay did this quilt as a free BOM and then retired it and then brought it back for purchase.  I knew that Gay would have her pattern for sale at some point and gave her a head's up about potentially being sued by Andrea.  Gay wrote back and said that she had a team of lawyers to work out any copyright issues.  After she looked at my posts, Gay thought that my quilt was different from Andrea's and I could claim it as my design.  Thank you and that was a surprise comment!

So, I will leave it up to you who is the designer .... but .... I think I will just enjoy my efforts and the struggles and simply enjoy my quilt .... as a quilt.

Quilt Details:

Started:  Feb. 2011

Finished:  Dec. 2022

Block size:  12" finished and 6" finished

Quilt size: 81-1/2" x 83-1/4" (top size before quilting, washing and drying: 85" x 86")

Batting:  Hobbs cotton/poly 80/20

Machine quilted by:  Kathy Wareham using Clam shell Feather by Christy Dillon of My Creative Stitches.  

I enjoy designing quilts and also making quilts from a pattern (usually with some kind of twist) and credit is given to the designer of those patterns.   That's it ..... I just love making quilts.  Not selling them, not going into pattern writing, etc.  That is way too much work.  Writing a tutorial takes a lot of time and effort and I no longer write those anymore.

I have seen some of my designs or part of my designs published by others.  Intentional?  Who knows.  I'm not going to send those folks threatening emails.   A few bloggers have approached me and asked permission to make and publish a pattern from one of my designs.  They were given permission and I have received a finished pattern as a 'thank you'.  I was happy for them.   As you probably have guessed, I'm a giving sort of person and not spiteful.  Life is too short.

Cherish your day, cherish your life!

First UFO off the list!

I'm so happy that this UFO is done!  It nearly got finished at the begging of the new year ..... but I got sick again with another cold and then ..... gasp ..... I broke a front tooth!  Not a good beginning to the new year at all.  So, nothing was done to finish this UFO off until a few days ago as my comfy chair and TV called to me instead.

Not only do I have this top done, but there is a second one almost done too.  Just need to add borders.  That top is laying on the bench (at bottom of photo) and it is the same block but mostly different fabrics.  No photos yet.  These will be donation quilts.

So, a good and not so good beginning to the new year.

Cherish your day, cherish your life!

Recap of 2022

Happy New Year!  Bring it on 2023!

I brought in the new year zooming with Chookyblue and other friends from around the world.  Mostly, all were already in 2023 but I and another lady from Missouri were still in 2022.  After midnight, that was it for me, but the other ladies down under kept on zooming.

On the most part, I'm happy with the results of my quilting year.

Let's start with the good stuff!  How many quilts got finished last year?  Thanks to the binding challenge with no-blog Mary, 15 quilts got done.  Very good indeed.  Goodness, just look at all these beauties!  If it wasn't for the challenge, I'm not sure these quilts would be finished, but would still be in a pile waiting for their turn.  To me, the binding challenge is very rewarding!

On the quilt binding challenge, so far, there are 7 quilts to bind.  That will bring me to July.  There will be more tops going out to the LAer, so no problem with having 12 quilts to bind this year!

Now, onto the UFO's.  Progress has been made and ..... finally ..... am under 30 projects!  First time in many, many years.  Woohoo!  Very happy about that.  For 2023, only 6 projects have been selected to finish and .... of course ..... there will be new projects.  There is NOOOO way I'm going to just be working on old stuff.  Nope, that is not ever going to happen.

For my 6 UFO's that I want to finish ..... no, I'm not going to show or list them.  You will see them as they become a finished top.  Not going to put any pressure on myself.  Whatever gets done, gets done and I will be happy with the results.

So, 2022 was a good year and I look forward with excitement to see what I do in 2023!

Cherish your day, cherish your life!