December OPAM and a year's recap

December OPAM (One Project a Month) was a good month ..... for me ..... a lot got done.

3 Christmas stockings

2 adult bibs, 1 candy cane ornament, 8 octagon coasters

1 ottoman (first done in 2001 and then refurbished this year to a more modern look). 

5 Chairs with new upholstered seats:

While working on my chairs, I happened to notice Miss Ashes making a swipe at Miss Hank's tail ... it was just too tempting.  A quick hiss from Miss Hank had Ashes backing off in a hurry.

 

So, what quilts did I finish this year? 

 

ZERO

 

NADA

 

NONE

 

ZILTCH

 

Oh dear, so sad.  No quilts finished at all.

 

This is the first year since starting my blog that no quilts have been finished.  Yikes, that had better be switched around for 2014.   So, what in the world did I do in 2013?  Here is a recap of some quilting things. 

 

Four tops did get to the flimsy stage (yay, yay, yay, yay):

Five new projects got started:

The following three projects have never been shown on my blog so far.  Posts in the new year will be coming to explain more.

 

The blocks below belong to my day guild's BOM challenge:

Some UFO's did get worked on, but they are still not to the flimsy stage.  These are the UFO's that are still on the go:

 

After sewing on borders, I stopped short of adding the applique onto the borders:

I'm still switching the white strips to blue strips in the sashings .... there is a lot of ripping out to be done first and I do the sashings in stages and I seem to get bored with it very quickly:

Borders just need to be added:

3/4's of the centre is done..... more pieces were sewn together since this photo was taken.  A lot of prepping has taken place over the past few months and since this has been deemed as my cottage quilt, guess when and where I will be working on this UFO? 

The hand quilting on this quilt is never.... ever ..... ending.  Will it be done by the end of 2014?  That is a challenge that I must set out to accomplish!

Two trunk shows were presented to my quilt guilds:

While not one quilt got finished this year, a lot of other things did get done.  A lot of painting and renovations got done in our home and that is where most of my energy was spent.  By night time, I was just too tired to do much of anything else.  It was easy to catch me napping in my chair with the TV on and some handwork and a cat on my lap.

The OPAM (One Project A Month) that Peg and Kris offer each year has helped me a lot.  I will be joining it again for 2014.  It is a good motivational tool for me and for others around the world.

With my night guild (Northern Lights Quilting Guild), I've taken on the position of producing the monthly newsletter and for my day guild (Near North Quilter's Guild) I'm on the Programme Committee. 

I had better get my butt into gear and finish a few more tops ..... because there are a number of new projects that will get started and there will be a few upcoming posts to show you what is planned for next year!  Plus, our guilds' next quilt show is in 2015 and I must have some hand quilted quilts ready for showing and at the pace that it takes me to finish a quilt, I need all the extra time possible to get ready.  This is a warning to myself to get going!!!!  :o)

You know, looking over my recap, it was a good year after all! 

Happy New Year and all the best for 2014!

November OPAM and a prezzie

My November OPAM (One Project A Month) has resulted in 8 adult bibs for a local nursing home, 3 dish cloths and 4 kitchen hand towels.

The prezzie came from Australia.  My name was drawn as one of the winners of either July/August OPAM.  Kris sent the following to me:

 A piece of fabric, embroidery floss and the pattern is her own design:

Thank you, Kris, for drawing my name and I do love all the goodies that you sent to me!

Her little stitchery (way on the bottom) is hanging in place of honour on my international wall of treasures.  I do think those two little hangings need to be moved as they sort of get lost there on the bottom of the wall.

Oh, in case some of you are wondering about your treasures that you have sent to me, they are on display in other areas of my studio:

 The angel on the shelf and the doll beside the quilt:

There are more; but they have been tucked away in my seasonal bins and are displayed during those seasons.

Last month at my day guild, I did a trunk show about all the international exchanges that I participated in and all of your quilts/items were brought in and talked about.  A lot of ears around the world must have been buzzing that day.

Have a great day!

October OPAM and this and that

I'm back from my trip to Aruba where we enjoyed the sun, sand and beach and hot, hot weather.

I did bring along one hand piecing project with me, but it was too breezy sitting on the beach to be able to do much.  One day, the breeze was a tad too strong and it whipped open my box and 3 EPP pieces went waltzing towards the sea for a dip.  Guess they were a tad too hot and needed to cool down.  :o)

So, this is all that was accomplished on my trip.  That is better than nothing and I will be happy with this lot.

My DH came to me a few days before my trip to Aruba with bits of rags in his hands.  Could I make him a new bag to replace the one that got chewed up by one of his tools?  Yes, I could and did and that is my October OPAM (One Project A Month).

 Have a great day!

Furniture up-do and September OPAM

A little bit of quilting has been going on .... upcoming posts will show you what I've been up to .... but most of my time this past month has been spray painting furniture.  The weather has been perfect; low humidity with lots of sunshine.  Now is the time to take advantage of the nice weather before it turns cold.

I have lived with dark furniture for all of my married life and it was time for a change.  Besides, with so much inspiration on Pinterest, I got hooked to make changes.  So, here is how my dining room looked like before mayhem came for a visit:

Do you see all those dark chairs above?  Well, they are slowly becoming like this chair below.  New upholstered seats complete the look.  Can we say yummmm?  The new stapler works like a charm and is so much easier to handle/use.  It is odd, but the camera has some how picked up a flaw in the fabric that I bought for the seats but there isn't a flaw when I look at the fabric.  Odd, for sure.

Once I got started, our living and dining room quickly became a workshop.  So much sanding and removing upholstery/staples going on. 

I think my DH looks a bit bewildered.  He looks scared to enter through the doorway!  :o)

This table leg ...

.... has become this colour.  DH will make a top for it and it will become a plant stand.  I'm going to play around with tile and grouting.

Two end tables, a magazine rack and the base of an ottoman changed colour:

This is my spray painting station.  It is high up the hill in our backyard.  Who needs a stair climber?

While shaking up my can of spray paint, I get a good view of the tree/roof tops and I can see Lake Nipissing in the distance.

It is so beautiful up there right now .... the leaves are changing colours.

Here is another group of chairs just waiting for their turn to be transformed.

So, for my September OPAM (One Project A Month), there are two completed chairs, 3 dish cloths and a pair of curtains for the dining room.

 

Have a great day!

It's that sprig!

When something small catches my eye, the lightbulb comes on and away I go with the idea.  The idea caught me by surprise and I keep changing the original design (Promise of Spring by Kim Diehl in American Patchwork & Quilting magazine, Feb. 2007).  It has been 6 years that I have drooled over this pattern!  The pattern can also be found in her book Simple Comforts (the pattern name has changed to Serendipity Sampler).

This is the original first block:

My version has subtle changes that makes the block look less busy: 

See this little sprig of berries?  This is when the lightbulk clicked on.  This little sprig is starting to pop up all over the blocks.

In the center section, I had the big red pointy piece in the center all sewn down and then wondered what it would look like if some sprigs were placed on the diagonal.  Yep, I love it!  So, with a little bit of ripping out, those sprigs are going there.  It is the little things like that that changes the whole look of a design.

Here is a better view of the center:

Here is the original center block below.  As you can see, my center section has been widened a lot so that the design is not crowded.

I have been collecting plaid and striped fabrics for many years now and have added some thrift store shirts to round out the look that my blocks needed.   A couple of plaid/stripped charm packs is what decided the size of the background blocks.  Having 60 blocks already cut out pushed me into the direction of the bigger blocks that you see on my version.  My blocks were cut down to 4-1/2" square because after my charms were washed and dried, they were no longer 5".

Now, I'm wondering what else will change as the remaining blocks are worked on?  Plus, there is a border that needs some planning since it is not in the original pattern.  Whatever is done, it has to be in keeping with Kim Diehl's look.

P.S. In case anyone is wondering, I'm not affliated with Kim Diehl in any way ..... I just love her patterns and books.

Now that two of our wall units have been painted and the paint has had time to cure, the time has come to figure out what to put back into the units.  I had just put in this gold/blue quilt on one of the shelves and later noticed that Miss Ashes had made herself quite comfortable. 

Miss Hank has made herself comfortable in this unit in the master bedroom.  Their hidey holes keep changing all the time.  We never know where they will be and we have to be so careful when closing a closet door.

My July OPAM has a total of 11 dish cloths and 4 kitchen towels.  As fast as I make them, they are given away or replacing older worn out items in our kitchen.  At some point in time, my obession in making these pieces will come to a halt.  For now, I will keep churning them out.

Have a great day!