September Quilts

The leaves on the trees are turning colour ..... time to bring out the September quilts.  The pumpkin quilts might even stay out for October.  I saw some pumpkins in the grocery store already.  

Every time I look at this crazy patch quilt ..... I want to make more to use up my scraps.

We have been having a lot of bear sightings in town lately.  Over a week ago, a bear was seen next door eating crab apples on the front lawn.  Then two nights ago, another neighbour saw a mama bear with cubs on her front lawn.  I've been hearing movement in the bushes on the hill behind us during the night.  Yesterday afternoon, I saw a truck pull up and park on the street next door.  It was hauling a bear cage.  It left, but may be back if there are more sightings on our street.  Apparently, there has not been much berry food for the bears and they are hungry and that is why they are coming into town.

I expect to see this cage back here soon .....

.... because this is what another neighbour on our street saw outside her LR window last night.  Look closely in the tree!   Hubby has been warned not to venture outside at all.  He does like to step outside and sit on our patio but this has now become too risky for him because if he did see a bear, he can't move fast enough to escape inside our home.

All of the wedding clothing alterations have been done.   Squares for a memory quilt have been cut out.  The wedding is this afternoon.  So happy to have those things to do checked off my list!  Now to sit back and enjoy!

Cherish your day, cherish your life!

A Pile of Quilts

This is the aftermath of changing out the quilts each month ..... a huge pile of quilts to roll up or fold.

Help is always appreciated when doing this job ...... but this fella kept getting in the way!  He really liked the rolling bit and the string tying.  Play time!  LOL

Sister and I went to the cottage for an overnight stay.  We saw a momma partridge and four babies.  Momma just sauntered slowly across the road in front of my car and her four babies flew across the road.  If you look closely to the left side of the road, you can barely see a baby there.

We've been seeing this deer carcass for a while now.  It has been picked clean.  A pack of wolves or a bear must have brought down this deer.  There were actually two carcasses ..... a doe and a baby deer.  The rest of the bones were plowed off the road by a truck, but something dragged out this carcass.   Sad yes, but that is Mother Nature.

Change of topic from sad to beautiful.  

I don't get many comments for my posts and wonder about those that do not comment.  Do they like what I write about?  Do they like my photos of quilts?  Regardless, I just write anyway and hope that I strike a cord of interest with my followers/readers.

Then out of the blue, I do get wonderful comments and I'm taken aback by their lovely words to me.  Thank you Ruth F for your comment .... it sure made my day!  I couldn't reply back to you as your email is set up as no-reply, but I just wanted to acknowledge you here.

Cherish your day, cherish your life!

Xmas Stars Away!

The year is closing down ..... less than a month to go.  Where has the year gone?

I've been busy working on my new project ..... hummmm ..... squirrel!  Xmas Stars is coming along very nicely.   It will be just a large lap size and if one star is completed per week ..... well, this should be done in a few months.  I'm still deciding about the edges.  Not sure if this will be the final look.

Some fussy cutting is happening.   Loving them!

A little bit of Xmas decorating is changing the look of our rooms.

Hubby and I have downsized our Xmas tree.  I saw on Pinterest how folks are putting a tree in a crock.  Well, since we have two ..... can do!  The tree sits right in the middle of our living room window and is now (what we consider) our outdoor decoration.  It is just too hard now for Hubby to manage the outdoor stuff, so at night with the lights on, everyone can see it from the street and it helps to keep up the look of the season.  This tree is also easier for me to handle by myself.  The two of us have to become smarter about ageing in our home.

Xmas quilts make up the majority of my decor and this quilt is the first time it is on show.  So lovely to see the quilts up.  They do make any room feel cozier!

Cherish your day, cherish your life!

Sew much .... oops .... squirrel!

Sew much is getting done these days, I can't stand it!   No, I lie .... my ufo's are getting dealt with and that makes me very happy.  My sister asked me if I was bored.  I laughed.  Me bored?  Not a chance.  It is just the getting out and shopping that disturbs me but we have to do it smartly and just stay at home.

So, I work away.  In my happy place. 

My apple cores are done and inner borders are on.  Just pondering the outside borders.  The top border will have applique.

Then, a squirrel came along!  There are so many corona virus sew-alongs going on, but I didn't want to make any.  Oh, I so resisted! 

I got thinking about my scraps.  There are just too many to leave them in bins.  After pulling out my bins and bags of scraps, I decided to do something with them.  They were dumped into this huge under-the-bed tray that was bought from IKEA many years ago.  It keeps the scraps under control while rooting through them.  Why not make a hexie quilt?  Sure, why not!  LOL

There will be three panels of hexagons with applique borders between the sections.  A great way to use up those scraps.  It will be interesting to see how many scrap bins there will be after doing this quilt.  "My Corona Flowers". 

Every piece of scrap will be used, even if they have to be pieced together.  These are my odd hexagon shapes.

They fit in quite nicely and add a touch of interest.

Oh, the things we do to amuse us.  It is better to keep my hands busy, otherwise, I would be eating everything in sight.  LOL

Spring quilts have been put out for display around the house.  It is tulip time.  A couple tulip quilts.   It just feels good to make a change to our lives.  Any change is good.

We did have 1" of snow on the ground yesterday, but it didn't stay.  Tulips are starting to sprout from the ground.  It will be a while before the blooms show up.  Guess this would be a good time to put out dryer sheets around on our hill to stop the deer from munching on those tulips.  Last year was the first time we tried it and it worked.  No plants were harmed by the deer.

Cherish your day!  Cherish your life!

Pumpkin time!

Finally, my newest pumpkin quilt:  "A Taste of Autumn".  So perfect for this time of year and I'm so thrilled with it!

Quilt Details:

Block size:  10" x 12" finished

Quilt Size:  57-1/4" x 78-3/4" (top size before quilting, washing and drying: 60-1/4" x 81-3/4")

Top Started:  Nov. 2018

Top Finished:  Nov. 2018

Quilt Finished:  Sept. 2019

Pattern Source:  based on quilt by Thimblecreek Quilts called "Rotogravure"

Batting:  Hobbs polyester

Machine quilted by:  Kat's Quilts

This quilt was made as a sew-along with my friend, Mary, from Toronto.  When I showed her my finished quilt, she laughed because that was the quilt that was on their bed.

To go along with my new pumpkin quilt, here are my other autumn quilts. 

It is our Thanksgiving weekend here in Canada.  Time to celebrate all that we are thankful for with family and friends.

Have a great day!

Displaying my quilts

This cabinet finally got its' quilts for display!  I keep going into the bedroom off my studio and drool over my latest transformation.  I'm so happy with it and there is lots more space to hold many more quilts.  The top shelf holds my wall hangings that have been rolled up onto a pool noodle.  The bottom cabinet holds storage bins but will eventually hold quilts in there too.

The angel and doll were part of an exchange.  The angel is from Iceland and the doll is from Australia.

Waiting in the wings is another cabinet that has started the transformation.  In another week or so, depending on the weather, this cabinet too will display quilts.

Yep, happy summer days!

Have a great stitching day!

Border flowers

I absolutely love this quilt!

That scroll work on the top and bottom is different and sure sets off the whole look.  It looks so dainty!  Those are tiny hexagon flowers in the scroll work.

A close up of some of the flowers:

Marcie Patch .... what do you think of your hexagon flowers now?  I call this quilt "Border Flowers" in honour of you and me (U.S.A. and Canada)

To those that don't know the story behind the above comment, Marcie Patch (designer of quilts in McCall's Quilting Magazine) wrote on her blog (no longer active) Apr. 10, 2009 that she had hexagon flowers to giveaway.  She and her aunt started them but Marcie didn't want them anymore.  I won them!  Yeah me!

When the package arrived, I tried to sew the flowers together but they just wouldn't lay flat no matter what I did.  So, I TOOK them all apart, washed the fabric pieces and using my own templates, redid the whole lot.  The white pieces were added from my stash.

When I looked at her templates, Lordy, there were three different sizes.  No wonder there were problems in sewing the flowers together.   BTW, Marcie knows about this because a photo and email was sent to her after the top was finished explaining what I did to make them work.

So, her castoff is now my TREASURE!  Can you see me doing the happy dance?

Quilt details:
Quilt started:  April 2009
Quilt top finished:  February 2018
Quilt finished:  July 2019
Quilt size:  59" x 87-1/4" (top size before quilting, washing and drying:  64" x 87-1/4")
Batting:  Hobbs cotton poly 80/20
Machine quilted by:  Kat's Quilts

Now that summer is here, it was time to take down the July 1 quilts and out came all the summer quilts.  Take a peek at what is on display in our foyer, dining room and living room. 

Have a great day!

Linking to:
http://www.esthersquiltblog.com/
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