Spring Ahead

Well, I didn't get the memo and forgot to change the clocks before heading to bed.  Luckily my ipad is programmed to change and it did and when my alarm went off at 8:30 a.m., I thought it was 7:30 a.m. because that is what my beside clock said.   Nope.  No problem, I can have a nap later to make up for the lost hour.

Yesterday afternoon, I went to my niece's hockey game.  The calibre of play was incredible for under 11 yr. old girls.  They lost their game but improved for their next game this morning which they won and then won a shootout to determine who was going to the playoffs.   They are now off to the playoffs.  Woohoo!

What did I accomplish this past week?  Well, more than I first thought.

My four corner blocks are done for my Down Home Christmas project.  This is a night guild challenge and I want to get it done to show at our Xmas meeting in December.  There will be about six applique blocks to be done and they will get prepped and ready to sew while hubby and I sit in our new gazebo this coming spring.  Spring is definitely coming as the temps are hovering above zero for the next few days.  Such a nice, lovely change.

I've also been busy prepping for the next three sections on my hexie project.  See all the paper hexies pinned in place?  That means that the fabric has been cut out for the next three sections.  The blue borders are already all prepped, so I can start on the next border any time now.

These are my three little piles of fabric cut for the next three sections (there are lots more in their section baggie).  It feels so good to make a start on the cutting.  I could have cut all the fabric at one time, but I didn't know how it would look and instead decided to concentrate on just the first section.  Now, it is full steam ahead.

I was looking for another UFO project and will be doing a clean up on a few shelves in my studio.  I also found a pattern that I have been wanting to make for about a decade.  Some fabric had already been pulled to help me make a start anytime now.  I need to resist until a few other projects have been dealt with first .... unless a squirrel happens to drop by ...... LOL!

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

Elbows up!

Scrappy Xmas Trees

It is time to show you this finished quilt.  It didn’t get displayed for the holidays.  It was brought to my night guild at beginning of December for Show & Tell and it stayed in the bag since then.  I simply forgot about it until today.   Jeez Louise.

It was fun going through my Xmas scraps and pulling anything that would work and I’m very happy with the results.

Quilt Details

Pattern Source:  corianderquilts.com

Block size:  12” finished

Quilt size:  62” x 74-1/2” (size before quilting and washed and dried:  65” x 77-1/4”)

Quilt started:  November 2024

Top finished:  January 2025

Quilt finished:  December 2025

Batting:  Hobbs poly

Machine quilted by:  Kathy Wareham 

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

Binding time

It is snowing outside and binding this quilt is keeping me nice and warm and Ridley is keeping me company.  He is anchoring me to my chair to make sure this quilt gets finished for December display.  This quilt will be shown soon!

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

Too many irons in the fire ….

Speaking of irons, mine died and I bought a new one.  Black and Decker is my go to and that is what I have again.  Now, I’m back to sewing and making blocks and more blocks.

The squirrels have been busy again and I’ve started a few new projects.  Oh no ……..

More rail fence blocks were made.  Just 18 more blocks and I can start laying out.  These blocks were made from my stash and scraps.  

Then, this Xmas quilt has been one that I have wanted to make for years and now is a good time to start.  It is in the December 2008 edition of American Patchwork and Quilting.

With my night guild, we are making a Xmas quilt.  This is my first block.  Not all the blocks appeal to me, so there will be changes and I will be using brighter Xmas fabrics.

 

There is also a hexagon project started.  No pattern as I’m winging it.  No photos yet as it is early stages.

These projects should keep me busy for a while.

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

Xmas Wrapping Paper

Finally got this quilt finished as it was being used for a demo at my night guild September meeting.  

Ridley (who got out of his harness) sauntered by to check out the quilt.

Then he was off to check out the hill outback.  Hubby and I will not even try to catch him now as he is just too fast and we can't afford to hurt ourselves in the process.  He came home about an hour later.

Quilt Details:

Source:  A photo was shown on Pinterest and I changed the format a bit and came up with this version.  No idea who the original owner is of this pattern.

Block Size:  3" x 6" finished.  Sashings are 1" finished.

Quilt Size:  51-1/4" x 77" (top size before quilting, washing and drying:  52-3/4" x 79-1/4")

All kinds of Xmas fabrics were used and the quilt looks like a bunch of samples of Xmas wrapping paper.  I love it!  I can see using this pattern for I Spy, autumn fabrics, Kaffe fabric, Tula Pink fabrics, plaids and stripes and the list goes on.  A great pattern for using up larger pieces of fabric from my stash.  This quilt was easy to assemble and my goal was just get it done to be used by someone.

Machine quilted by:  Kathie Wareham using "Let it Snow" quilting design.

Batting:  80/20 Hobbs

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

BTW .... I'm seeing more and more Canadian products on our grocery shelves lately.  What a nice change.  Again, Elbows Up, Canada!  Found out that the U.S Ambassador to Canada isn't happy about us saying "Elbows Up".   He is very disappointed.  Oh well, too bad, so sad .... put your big boy briefs on and deal with it because it ain't going away.  Oh, and in case y'all haven't figured it out yet, the only country in the world that is paying for the tariffs on imported goods imposed by the Orange Clown is ..... the U.S.A.  Full stop.  Only the U.S.A.  Let that sink in.  Have a good day.

Tulip Time

Not up here where I live, but tulips in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada.  My sister, her youngest daughter and I took a quick trip down (about 5 hour drive south) to see the tulips and the magnolia trees in bloom.  

We went to a tulip farm and what a pleasant time we had there.  We were each allowed to take 10 tulips from any row we wanted to and we did.  It was a beautiful day and the temps were not too hot for us to stroll along the rows of tulips.  We went at the right time as most of the tulips were in mid bloom.  Another week and the petals would be dropping.  Same with the magnolia trees as some were already dropping in places.

I took a selfie of myself among the rows of tulips.  I used to take selfie's of myself when I was in my 20's, but had to wait until the film was developed to see how they turned out.  Nowadays, it is instant.  How times and technology have changed how we live today.

From our hotel room, we had views of the falls.  This one is the American falls.

There was often mist shrouding the Canadian falls.

We had great meals throughout our stay.  We did a bit of shopping and donated money to the casino and then it was time to go home.

Back home, this little guy was happy to see me.  He snuggled in and slept like a baby in my arms.  

Fifteen minutes here and there on this project has progressed to a few rows sewn together.  This project has all Xmas fabrics and it looks like Xmas wrapping paper.  Love it.

Two quilts came back from the LAer and this quilt in being trimmed and soon binding will go on.  It will be gifted later this month.

I will be taking half an hour of time to clean in my studio before heading to bed each night.  So far, it has been working and I can see some progress in the scrap piles.  Scraps are getting sorted, cut down and ready to be sewn into blocks.  Happy about that.

Cherish your day, cherish your life and cherish your country!  My country will always be CANADA .... glorious and free and we stand on guard for thee!

A Christmas Quilt and a Rant!

Binding got put onto this quilt in time to put up for the Xmas holidays!  I'm happy it is done.  

I have been collecting a lot of Xmas fabrics from other quilt guild ladies when they put a pile of scraps on the table for minimal $$.  A lot of those fabrics went into this quilt and gave it a nice variety to look at.

Quilt Details:

Quilt Name:  Unallocated by Michelle McKillop

Quilt Size:  49-1/4" x 76" (size before quilting, washing and drying:  52-1/2" x 79")

Quilt Started:  December 2023

Quilt Finished:  December 2024

Batting:  Poly

Machine Quilted by:  Kathy Wareham

Tick, tick, tick ...... another one done and dusted and enjoyed!

When it comes to politics and my blog, I'm usually quiet ..... but not this time.  Nope, not this time.

Thanks for the invite "Rubber Lips" but Canada is not broken and we are good up here.  I'm PROUD to be a CANADIAN and will always be a CANADIAN!

What about those Americans, who pin a Canadian flag onto their backpack or suitcase because they are too embarrassed to be recognized as an American in other countries.  What flag will they pin on when they travel, eh?   I have seen this done many, many times over the last four decades of my travels.  Apparently, it is better to be seen as a Canadian rather than an American.  Pretty sad!

Cherish your day, cherish your life ..... cherish your country ..... and I cherish CANADA!

One Step Forward, Two Steps Back!

Well, here I was sitting quite smug with myself.  Row 7 of my Chevron Log Cabin was ready to be sewn onto the quilt.  Wait a minute .... something wasn't quite right!

See the column on the right?  See those white squares?  The backing for those two blocks were the wrong fabric.  How in the world did this happen?  I was so frustrated that the quilt sat for almost two weeks before it was pulled out, those offending blocks ripped off the row and then the deconstructing happened.  All the hand quilting removed.   All the hand stitching removed.  Then the correct fabric pieces were pulled out and the hand stitching and hand quilting resumed.

Finally, Row 7 has been sewn on and Row 8 has been started.  Four rows left to do.

Then .... a squirrel came to play here.  I ignored it and even threw snowballs at it.  It kept dodging those snowballs and kept taunting me ..... until ..... I caved and started a new project.  A Xmas tree project.  It is a free pattern by corianderquilts.com called "Scrappy Tree Quilt".

I try to get one block laid out at night so that it can be sewn up in the morning.  The red hst's need to be made up, so this block is not quite ready.  At least it is a start.

It looks like winter has arrived here.  Snow is on the ground and it has stayed this time.

Ridley is finding it cold in our home and likes to cuddle for warmth or sit in front of the fireplace.  When he has enough of my hand sewing, he is not shy about putting out a paw to halt me in my stitches.  LOL

Late at night, we are both looking for warmth while I watch t.v.

Cherish your day, cherish your life!

More squirrels!

In an effort to get rid ..... use up most of my Xmas stash ..... at least three new projects are in the works.  You know .... squirrels!

So, what are the projects?

First:  a Disappearing Four Patch.

Second project:  some 3-1/2" x 6-1/2" rectangles.

Third project:   2-1/2" x 4-1/2" rectangles.

There just might be a few more squirrels joining in the fun.  LOL

Large pieces of fabric will be used for backings.

Whatever fabric is left over is going to a friend.

Once Xmas fabric is gone, that will be it.  

I'm at that stage in life where certain theme fabrics need to be used up, gifted or donated.  Xmas fabrics are the first to go.  At least two bins will be empty and space on the shelf will be free.

Cherish your day, cherish your life!