Lazy days of summer!

Not much quilting is going on in my life right now.  This is cottage time and my sister and I have been busy doing a bit of redo ...... painting and flooring.  It never ends, but we enjoy our work done so far.  I even cut down a wee tree by hand.  It took about half an hour of sawing, but it got down.  This little cedar tree was blocking my sister's view of part of the lake and she asked if 'we' could cut it down.  I knew what the 'we' entailed ..... me!  LOL

A few weeks ago, I attended a guild meeting and the project that night was making a quilt barn block.  This is my version .... a churn dash block!  How timely this project was as I'm in the middle of a challenge making a quilt with this block!

My real churn dash quilt has stalled.  Border fabrics have been purchased and I'm ready to go ..... just need time at home to do those borders.

A bit of binding on my August challenge has been done.  Just need another strip of binding to be sewn on and this can be completed before the end of this month.

Recently, we had a girl family outing to another city for shopping and I sat beside my young great-niece.  She was bundled up in this quilt that I gave her back in 2018.  As we rode along, I kept glancing at the fabrics used in her quilt.

This is the quilt that I made her.  Looking at it now, it wasn't my best design but she is using her quilt and that is all that matters.

Now, I need to chat about squirrels.  No,no,no .... not the quilting kind .... the real four-legged kind out in the wild.  LOL

At our cottage, we've noticed a lot of cedar seeds out on part of the lawn and on the deck and picnic table in front of our bunkie.  What is going on?  Then we figured out that a squirrel is drying up the seeds before storing them away for the winter. 

We haven't had much rain lately, and this part of the property is somewhat protected and gets lots of sun.  A perfect place to dry seeds.  There is another area out back on our road, there are seeds drying there too.  The thing is, this is the first time that we have seen this happen.  I wonder what the signs are for our upcoming winter?

A few nights ago (around 10:00 p.m.), my sister and I were sitting in our cottage reading ..... when suddenly out of the corner of my eye ..... a mouse quietly went past my legs and under the sofa.  Oh crap!  It had to go outside fast!  As a team, we got brooms and pounded on the sofa and finally got the mouse out onto the screened-in porch.   The door to the cottage got quickly slammed shut.  Now what?   We pounded on the door and then very quickly ran out into the porch and slammed the door again.  It was not going back inside!   Again, as a team we systematically pounded with the brooms and finally got the mouse out of the porch.  Phew .... that was a good deed done!  I wonder what the neighbours thought of the noise and the yelling?  At night, it is so quiet out there, but no one came knocking to see if we were ok.

Last week, we lost a BIL to Covid.  He was 92 and in poor health.  So, for those of you who think Covid is over ..... think again.  We still wear our masks and wash our hands.

So, that is what's happening in my life right now.

Cherish your day, cherish your life!

Getting stuff moving along!

There are only have a few more days left this month to get the binding done on my April challenge quilt!  This is the home stretch.  After this, there will be a sleeve and a label to add to complete the challenge.

Much progress has been made on my "Dilly Flower".

Everything right of the zig-zag line is completed.  All the flowers that have the pink paper on them means that the background hexie has been prepped but not sewn together.  A bit more cutting and basting on the other flowers are still to be done, but I'm so pleased on how well this project has come along.

I'm still aiming to get this UFO completed before month end.  Better get cracking on that!  There truly is not much work to do to complete this top.  All I have to do is concentrate on those two star blocks in the border.  The rest of the blocks in the border have already been done.

I foresee some tie-dying in my future.  A grand niece wants tie-dyed bed sheets and since there is a kit in my stash ..... fun time ahead.  I've never done tie-dying before, so this will be an adventure for sure.

On the Covid issue ..... I did not get it from my niece.  My sister and her family are all doing ok now.   My grand niece's Covid fingers are slowly improving.   But ..... I may have been exposed again to my quilting garage friend who has tested positive.  So, I'm in the wait and see and isolate mode.

Cherish your day, cherish your life!

Busy, busy!

I've been busy lately.  A few projects got borders on and are now at the LAer.  I'll be getting them back in a few weeks.

First up .... this "I Spy" top.  It was in strips for quite some time and after a few days of concentration, viola a completed top.

Then, my "Xmas Stars" finally got the last two borders on.  It is not really what I wanted, but I'm happy with my decision.  This top is also with the LAer as well.

It feels good to get a few more projects off the shelf.

So far, Covid has not visited me.  Today is day 12 and still no symptoms and when tested, it came back negative.

My sister was not so lucky.  She says it is like a very bad cold.  Hopefully, the antibodies from the two vaccinations she received will help her.

Soon, it will be the start of cottage season.  There is still too much snow on our property to venture in.  A neighbour did the trek, got stuck in one place and took photos and sent them to my brother.  Yep, way too much snow there.  Whereas, where I live, the snow has mostly melted except where there is a lot of shade.  Tulips are starting to venture out of the ground and soon, I will put down some dryer sheets where my tulips are growing so that the deer don't come by and munch on them.  The deer do not like the dryer sheets and they have worked for me for a few years now since I first read about that tip.

Cherish your day, cherish your life!

Wheels on the Cart!

A lot of work has been happening over the past few weeks at our cottage.  One bedroom that had dark panelling was transformed with a couple coats of white paint.  A new floor was also installed.  What a change.  Plus the outside of our cottage went from beige to Wedgwood Blue.  Sorry no photos, but we are happy with the changes.

While driving to and fro from home to the cottage, the fall foliage showed us its' glory.  This section of the gravel road to our cottage is mostly yellows.  Other sections are beautiful reds and oranges but we didn't stop to take photos of those trees.  We didn't want to linger on the roads too long as it is hunting season and we weren't wearing orange vests.

This was taken at our lake.

I've been admiring this cedar tree for many years.  It is over 50 yrs. old and was already there when my parents bought the property.  How beautiful those cedar trees have grown.  It would be perfect to take photos of one of my quilts hanging from a branch.

Here is my latest finish!  Whooohooo ....

The breeze was blowing and I had to quickly take my photos as the quilt danced in the breeze. 

Quilt Details:

I started making hourglass blocks in October 2020 during a sew along with Cluck Cluck Sew.  All my blocks were made using charm squares.  Yippee ..... that stash was greatly reduced along the way!

Then, I started playing with EQ7 to see what interesting design I could come up with to use all those hourglass blocks and viola "Wheels on the Cart" was born.

Started:  October 2020

Top finished:  January 2021

Quilt finished:  October 2021

Quilt size:  74-1/2" x 93-1/2" (top size before quilting, washing and drying:  76-1/4" x 94-3/4")

Batting:  Hobbs poly on a roll

Machine quilted by:  Kathy Wareham

Another quilt is done and the top was finished during the start of a long covid lock-down!  What can I say except how happy I am to have this quilt finished and ready to enjoy this winter.

This past weekend was Thanksgiving here in Canada.  This year, it was decided to spend the holiday at our cottage.  It has been over 25 yrs. since we last did that.  The weather was perfect and the temperature was warm and that is something we haven't seen in many years.  The younger generation hit the trails and roads on their atv's and what fun they had. 

Cherish your day, cherish your life!

A bit of progress!

I've been doing a bit of sewing lately and progress has been done on my newest project.  All the hour glass blocks are done and now I'm working on the stars or wheels.  I'm doing something outside the box and those stars are going to go right out into the border.  I'm excited to see how this will turn out!

Update with my sister and her cancer.  After her last treatment next month, her oncologist is going to release her from the treatment program and she will be dealing with her family doctor going forward.  He is very pleased with her results and this is a man of few words.  Good news, for sure!

I just dropped her off for her IV treatment this morning and will be back to help her later this afternoon.  Stew is already in the slow cooker and tea biscuits will be made later for supper.

My days are busy with her and helping out as much as I can.

So, a day in my studio is most welcome.

Here in Canada, we had our Thanksgiving mid-October and we are now seeing a spike in Covid cases.   Today, across Canada, our new cases are 4981.   The health experts say it is the family gatherings that are the spreaders of the virus.   Family gatherings and travel are not good to do right now.  For those of you in the U.S.A., think about that and don't gather or travel.  My husband and I have already decided that we will not gather for Xmas or New Year's.  Our health are more important now so that we can enjoy family later when Covid is not an issue.  We wear masks and keep our distance and stay away from crowds.

Cherish your day, cherish your life!