A Hexie we will go ….

I’ve had a great week ….. got to work on my hexies.  I could just work constantly on this project and not do anything else, but I have a few goals to try to achieve this month.

This is 1/4 of the top.  

The top section is all sewn together as you can see by the white part showing between the sections.  Oh yes, I could easily just work on this.  This will be handy to work on while watching the Olympics next month.

Mr. Ridley is quite comfy to stay indoors these days.  It is -17C this morning and he just sniffed the air and walked away from the open door.  He remembers that was the temperature when we rescued him nearly two years ago and he doesn’t want to go back into that temperature again.  Here he is in his cat tree.  I bought a wicker basket for him to sleep in instead of the flimsy bed that came with the tree.  I had to cover the wicker because he started to chew on it.  The basket is screwed onto the tree so that it will not fall off.  Do you not think he looks like a prince surveying his territory?  He likes to watch the humans walking their dogs.  I wonder what he thinks of the coats and booties that the dogs are wearing?

Deer are back eating the leaves off of this shrub.  There were a total of four that came that day.

Freedom ….. I see the American freedom disappearing daily.  Is this what you really want?  What will you do when you are ordered to show up for an event and clap and cheer like crazy?  Wake up before it is too late.  

Cherish your day, cherish your life, cherish your freedom and cherish your country.  My country will always be CANADA!  Elbows up!

Binding Challenge and a Bit of This and That

October was a good month for me and no-blog Mary.

Mary finished her quilt as well as adding some big stitch quilting to it.  I'm so glad the heat of the summer is over and Mary was able to resume her binding challenge with me.

Mary reached into a bag and viola .... this is her quilt to bind for November.

My October binding challenge quilt will be shown in a later post ..... so stay tuned for that reveal.

But, for November, these are the quilts that I will be doing.  For sure, the first two (they are for donation) and then possibly my log cabin.  Hubby really likes that quilt, so it just may get done and hung up on the wall this month.  All these quilts went to the LAer and were all back a week later.  I love that.  Instant gratification!

October saw me quite busy finishing up a few more tops.  I don't know where I found the time to do these, but they got done and off to the LAer they went.  In fact, this top is now one of the above quilts that will get done this month.

Remember this pile of blocks that was shown in a post last month?

Well, here they are in a top!  This is the second top that I have made using this pattern by Villa Rosa called "Berry Smoothie" and I will be making more of them.

Now, onto the topic of our cottage.  It is now closed for the season.  During our driving in and out of the cottage road all summer long, my sister and I always stopped at this bridge to look at the be.a.ve.r dam.  This last trip, we stopped and just had to take these photos.  It was overflowing big time all along the rim and we actually think that it has broken naturally because of the amount of rainfall we have had recently.

The stream on the other side of the bridge was flowing quite a lot!  All summer, it has just been a slow fall of water, but with the breakdown of the dam, it is flowing wildly now.

Back in the city, below are a couple of deer spotted just a few days ago on our neighbours lawn.  They were munching on all the fallen crab apples and they had a feast.

Halloween night .... it snowed big time.  Still, 32 brave kids came and picked up their treats from us.  The next morning, this is what we woke up to.  Four inches of snow had fallen.  Most of it is gone now, but there is still snow on the ground.  This snow fall is quite early for us.  So glad that my winter tires are already installed on the car.

So, that is me all caught up now.  Whew ..... October was quite a busy month!

Cherish your day, cherish your life!

Dilly Flowers

After a couple of weeks of appliqueing, my Dilly Flowers is a top!

So happy to have this done!  I've been busy frankenpiecing batting pieces for this top.  This is a lap size top, so pulling batting pieces for this is much easier than for a full size top.   My hubby asked why not use the roll of batting instead?  Smaller pieces just need to be used up first; otherwise, things will get out of control!  You all know how that is, don't you?  LOL

I just want to bring to your attention that the vine design is not mine.  It came from Shutterstock.com but changed it up to my liking by using different leaves and adding in dots.

Next up is this project.  This ufo was a guild challenge from a number of years ago.  Imagine my surprise to find nine blocks done instead of just six blocks!  These will become a wall hanging .... so not too much work involved.

This week, three deer came by for a visit looking for whatever they could munch on.  These two came and moved on rather quickly.  Seems like they couldn't find much to eat.

This smaller deer was busy tearing up something right at the roots.  I'm thinking that was a hosta and we all know how only a bit of that root will spring forth a plant.  So, not too worried.

Days later, replace that sunshine for snow .... we are having a snowstorm.  March is trying its' best to go out like a lion!

While we are dealing with snow, I'm also dealing with a case of shingles.  Very painful.  I could have sworn that my doctor gave me a needle for shingles.  Apparently not!

Cherish your day, cherish your life!

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!

Tick off another UFO!

This UFO only needed two border blocks and it could have been done ages ago.  Oh well, it is done now and this top and another are with my favourite LAer, Kathy.

Borders are starting to go onto my Churn Dash quilt, but no photos of that yet.

Early this week, my sister sent this photo of these four deer eating her crab apples.  Awesome photo!

This is what we woke up to this morning ...... it will be gone by the weekend as the daytime temps will be in the mid-teens .... but this is just a wee taste of what will come later next month.  What makes these photos so interesting is the snow on the leaves!  Usually, when we get our first snow, the leaves are off and all we see are bare trees and it looks like Xmas wonderland.  You can tell that this snow is early for us this time.

I think this is a good morning to have some Bailey's in our coffee ....

Cherish your day, cherish your life!

What a surprise!

This is what I saw when the curtains were opened this morning.  Usually, my hubby has them open by the time I get downstairs but not this morning.  Why?  Surprise!

Where have the years gone?  One day I'm 20, then 50 and .... wham ..... 70!  Thank you to my dear family for arranging this.

Another surprise was when our neighbour came outside (holding her baby girl) and wished me a 'happy birthday' but also thanked me for making the NICU blanket for her baby.  What a coincidence.  I'm a bit confused because my name is not added to the label as I prefer to remain anonymous.  Perhaps with the last batch my name was added to the label by someone else.  A mystery.

A call came from another neighbour wishing me 'happy birthday'.  Now everyone on the street knows how old I am.  Darn, I was hoping to keep them guessing.  LOL  Anyway, she informed me that it is their 63rd wedding anniversary today also.  How sweet is that!

  

This is another surprise.  This buck was sleeping on our hill this past Saturday and stayed in that spot until 11:30 a.m. and then finally got up and munched its' way along the ridge.  He was so well camouflaged that my husband didn't see him when he went up the hill to work.  Hubby was just 20' away and suddenly the deer lifted it's head.  My husband slowly backed away and left him to sleep the morning away.

On the quilting front, progress has been made with the applique for my "Gingham Swirls".  These are all completed.

Most of the background fabrics are cut 12-1/2" x 12-1/2", but a few will have four 6-1/2" squares.  From the cutouts from the back of the applique, there is just enough fabric to cut one 6-1/2" square.  Every row will have a patched background block just to make things interesting.

So, I'm planning on having a terrific day!

Cherish your day, cherish your life!

A little bit of sewing.

A little bit of sewing has been going on in my studio.  In between the lull before Xmas.  Gift wrapping to do; Xmas decor is now out and on display and those pesky last minute gifts to get.  Just a little bit of time to do some relaxing sewing and hand work.

This UFO (just the star blocks) hasn't been touched since 2005.  LOL  I was thinking of adding some crazy blocks because the decision was made to reduce the original size of the quilt to a lap size instead.  I just want to move this UFO to a flimsy stage and be done with it.  Will it get done before the year is out?  No, but at least it is out in the open to work on again.

A neutral beige to surround those crazy blocks will give me the look I want.  This UFO is on one design wall.

This project is on the other design wall.  Time to get this project out and worked on as well or it will be shelved and become an UFO.  Side and top/bottom filler pieces are being added to the section on the left.

Oh look, another deer in our neighbour's backyard.

Soon, it will be time to look back this year and see all the quilts and tops that got done and was it a good year or not.  For me it was.  Quite a lot of quilts got finished which is such a good thing.

I have an elderly aunt (she is only 15 years older than me) that is sick with cancer and has only a few months to live.  That is my motivation to get those tops that have been sitting in a bin out and get backings done and move them on to my LAer to work her magic.  No point in procrastinating any longer.  Just get stuff done.

2020 is fast approaching and that will be the next time I post.  Too many other things to take care of for now.

Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas!

Crazy Patch Pumpkins

Sixteen days!  That is how long it took me to make this top!  Shocking, I know!  Usually it takes years before a top gets finished.  Sixteen days.

Before you see the finished top, let me show you my progress along the way.

There were lots of orange/autumn scraps from previous quilts and I wanted to use them up.  Plus two bins of the same colour fabrics to use for the borders and for the pumpkins.

As each row got finished (or almost), the blocks got sewn together as much as possible (see the top two rows).  The piano key borders were cut out for all four sides and any scraps left from those cuttings, got added to my scraps to play with.  I found that if part of the pumpkin was sewn together, it prompted me to work on the crazy patch centers.  Good motivation for me.

My scraps were placed on a piece of Styrofoam that was next to my sewing machine so that I could rummage through the scraps as each crazy patch center was made. 

There were also scraps on my cutting table to rummage through as well.

On a good day, I could get three centers made and then finish sewing three pumpkin blocks together as well as sewing some of piano keys as well as doing applique and embroidery.  There was a production line going on as many parts of the top were assembled during the day.

Oh, so close.  Just the two outside borders to sew on!  I do like my corners on the borders.  Crazy patches there too! 

Ta da!  Top is finished!

On my bench, that is in front of my design wall, are pieces of fabric that will be used for the backing.  That lovely pumpkin fabric is gorgeous and perfect for this top, but there is not enough of it.  So, my backing will be pieced.  It will add to the overall patchy look of this top.  In case anyone is wondering, my bench is made up of two 8' long x 6" wide planks of wood that are scewed together.  I walk on that as stuff is pinned onto my design wall.  Safer for me instead of having a stool that gets pushed along the floor.

A close-up of a maple leaf with embroidery.  My background neutral fabric is leftovers from a backing on another quilt.  Some of the centers for my maple leaves are patched.  If you look closely, you can see a vertical seam in the centre.  Use it up!  🐱🐱

 Here are some of my crazy patch centers.

Once my scraps were cleaned up, this is what was left of them.  Just a baggy.  Now that is awesome!

How did I get started on this project?  My friend, no-blog Mary in Toronto wanted to do a pumpkin quilt and would I join her in this venture.  Sure, why not.  This is her top.  Her centers are signature blocks from a block swap that she joined in.  Clever on her part.  She showed me a photo of a quilt that she saw on Pinterest (no idea where the pattern came from) and I drafted the block for us to use.

So, that is the story of our pumpkin tops.

The last few days we have had a lot of snow.  My sister sent this photo to me last night.  Deer were in her front yard.  This one wanted to check out the Xmas decorations.  Too cute!

What is up next for me?  An old ufo has been pulled off the shelf.  That will be next week's post.  Tomorrow is a garage day.  Oh, what fun we will have and what will we bring to show off to each other?

Have a great day!

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