Oh hexie, hexie, hexie

The left hand side of this section has been added .... now onto the right side.

.... and, before I knew it ..... just like that ..... this section is done.  Three rows added to the top and bottom!  Just need to do the remaining three sections.

I needed to clear up my design wall to get this UFO up and running.  More on this for a later post.

In order to clear the design wall, all my hexies for the other sections were carefully removed and pinned and labelled onto this fabric.  Don't these hexies look wonderful on that dark fabric?  This is giving me ideas for my next EPP project .... because after this one is done, there are no EPP projects to do.  Mind you, I do have a quilt-as-you-go hexie project .... but why not have another one to fall back on?!  LOL

My sister and I went back to the cottage to set up a bucket mouse trap.  No photos taken, but we are hoping that this will work.  We also caught a mouse in the garage a few weeks ago.  They are looking for warmth and food and any opportunity they come in.  We have had mice in our garage and also our home, but a simple mouse trap is easy to set up and maintain and check on.  Our cottage is closed until next May and if mice do get in, they make a bit of a mess and smell.  So, that bucket is our next option to try out.  In the past, we have set up mouse seed and they do work somewhat, but the mice still make a mess.

Of course, we stopped at the bridge again to take a look at the dam.  What a difference a few days make.  The ice has really taken hold and doesn't the fall of water look interesting with the ice forming at the base.  

The lake has now frozen over with a layer of snow on top.  The ice is not safe to venture onto until we have had a few weeks of very cold temps.

I've been busy making pillowcases for toddler pillows.  No photos.  I just made them and passed them on.

My two grandnieces wanted stockings for their hamsters for Xmas.  One is called 'cow' and the other is 'hammy'.  What do you think of their drawings so far?  I just drew the stocking outline onto the fabric and told them not to draw beyond the solid lines.

Here are the finished stockings.  They had tremendous fun drawing and colouring their designs onto the fronts of the stockings.  The hamster names will be written at the top onto the headers.  They are so thrilled with their stockings and I'm quite proud of them!

On my hubby front .... he is getting help with his speech.  His stuttering is what twigged me to get him diagnosed for Parkinson's.  He does have frozen moments and words just can't come out of him.  I'm glad he will get some help.  It must be so frustrating for him, but he deals with it best he can.

So, that was my life during these past few days!

Cherish your day, cherish your life!

A runner took off

2019.  Good Lord .... where did 2018 go?  It went by ever so quickly.  The year started off at a fast pace and just kept on speeding along.  Like a runner.

Well, my niece that received this table runner is a runner and has a couple marathons under her belt.  So, what better person to receive this?  It was gifted to her for Xmas 2018.

Batiks.  It is not often that I work with batik fabrics and I actually went out shopping for this runner.  Now, there are batiks in my stash .... but not many.  I'm not really a fan of batiks but it is good to have some to add into my scrap quilts.

The fabric colours were chosen based on this painting in their dining room.

Close ups of the machine quilting and for the first time ever for me .... machine applique.  Yes, by machine!  Will wonders never cease?

Now, this table runner didn't go quite so smoothly.  This photo looks like two blocks on top of each other.  Well, yes that is correct .... but they are sewn together.  What the heck did I do?  I don't know, but somehow when I did the machine applique, two blocks were picked up at the same time towards the end when I finished sewing the last edge of the leaf.  The block felt thick when it was removed from under the needle and lo and behold .... sewn together.

I tell you .... there were some blue words that came out of my mouth at that point.  Out came the seam ripper and very carefully, the errant stitches were removed and then it was carefully re-positioned and sewn again.

I'm very pleased with the look of this runner.  All by machine.  Well, I never expected that would ever happen!  By completing this runner, another ufo is crossed off my list.  Singing .... amen, amen, amen ......

Details:
Pattern Name:  Leaves (pattern name:  Autumn Leaves)
Pattern Source:  Workshop by Ruth Kennedy of Dancing Threads from Fergus, Ontario.
Pattern Started:  April 2017
Runner finished:  December 2018
Runner size:  16-1/4" x 45-1/4" (after washing and drying)
Block Size: 8-1/2" square
Machine applique and machine quilting
Batting:  poly/cotton

Could I see myself doing this leaf block again?  Absolutely.  In a bigger quilt for autumn.

My niece sent me photos of how this runner looks on their dining room table.  Lovely.

She also sent me a photo of their Xmas stockings that I made for them over the past twelve years (first ones made in 2006, then 2012 and 2015).  The smaller stockings were made for them after they first married (on the left and right).  Then as they had children, they requested they be made bigger and that is why the ones in between are bigger.  They all match in colours because fabric was stored away in a bin so that as each child came along, the bin was pulled out and the pattern and fabrics to match were all there.  I had my thinking cap on way back then.  Smart, eh! 

What else did I do for Xmas?  A bathroom storage shelf for another niece.  My niece had been pinning shelves on Pinterest and because I follow her, an idea was born for a Xmas gift.  Hubby and I made the shelf and the final coat of sealer was applied just a few days ago and she was able to take it home with her in her car.

It had to be custom made because she has an electrical outlet that is high up on the wall and she needed to be able to put her hand behind the slant of the shelf to plug in whatever she was using.  So, with instructions to her for what kind of measurements to take and photos, we got there in the end.   This is the first time my husband and I made anything like this and we surprised ourselves at how well the shelf turned out.  There is not much storage in my niece's apartment and this shelf will help her in many ways.  She is happy.  We are happy too.

So what did these two nieces and their families get for me?  This.  Boy, was I ever surprised when I opened my gift on Xmas morning to tell me that two months of this quilty box was coming.  I knew that something was coming beforehand and it was being delivered by UPS and to accept the parcel.  But not exactly what was coming.  The box arrived on Dec. 31 from Fat Quarter Shop and I can use everything.  What will January's box contain?  I tell you, this was exciting to open.  How did they think of this?  One niece said that she was doing some surfing on the net and noticed quilters showing photos of different quilting boxes and bingo, she knew this would be perfect for me.  Yep, she got that right!

So 2019 .... bring it on!  Let's see what can be done this year.  New and old projects.

Have a great stitching day!

Linking to: http://www.esthersquiltblog.com/ and http://needleandthreadnetwork.blogspot.com/

Elf busy

Nothing exciting in my corner of the world.  I've just been busy working like an elf.

A lot of appliqueing has been going on.

Some hand quilting, too, when I need to wind down at night.

I did make a Christmas stocking and two pillowcases (only one shown here as the other one has been gifted).

A sheep got prepped for machine applique.

So nice and fuzzy.

Here is a photo of the back.  A piece of knit interfacing was sewn around the edges before the piece was turned inside out and then the interfacing was cut away to leave a bit to stablize the sheep for sewing.  Talk about fuzz .... ugggh.  It was everywhere until I learned to put my sheep in a bag and just pull at the edges and grabbing any extra fuzz that wanted to fly away.

Winter in our neck of the woods is here to stay.  Very cold weather is expected by the end of this week.  A good time to just stay indoors and sew!

I'm linking up the The Needle and Thread Network to join other Canadian bloggers this week.

Have a great day!

These are crazy and blogging

A few years ago, my SIL was making these stockings and selling them at a local craft show.

When I saw photos of them, we just had to have a pair.

They are so rich and crazy in all their glory. The backing is red velveteen and the scraps are lace and satin and velvet and ……. wonderful! :o)

Sadly, today, I learned that Connie is/was contemplating closing her blog due to lack of time for blogging. Reading the comments left on her post, a lot of us understand where she is coming from as there is a problem with time. Time to blog and time to read blogs. Over the past few weeks, I’ve had to re-organize my time spent on blogging as I found that too much time was spent at the computer and not enough time spent working on my quilting.

So, have come to the conclusion that there are 7 days in a week (not new to you, eh) and on Mondays, I will read all blogs that fall within A-C; Tuesdays will be D-G, etc. You get the picture.

There are new blogs and rings popping up all the time now and I want to be able to visit them all as well as my older blogs and I have found that by organizing my list of daily blogs to visit, there is some order of time management in place.

If one of my favourite blogs hasn’t posted in a couple of months, then it’s transferred to a monthly blog that I visit every month. This way, I’m not spending my time looking at an inactive blog.

I know there are bloglines, etc. out there that I can register with, but they have their problems too. Many of us post more than once a week and I would not be able to keep up. So for now, this method works for me.

If you have a great method for blog reading, let’s hear from you.

Have a great weekend!

Stockings, anyone?

I just love these patchwork stockings. They were simple to do and quick with all the quilting done by machine.
Here is the layout that was used to make them up. Browsing through my 2-1/2” squares was easy pickings and my selection came together quickly. Whatever colour was missing, my stash came to the rescue and more 2-1/2” strips were cut to add to my bins of cut pieces for future needs.

The names were hand quilted in. Originally, they were to be done by embroidery, but this way was faster to do.

Have a great day!