What I live for ....

A week off !!!! Woohoo ! of course the fabulous weather started today, Sunday, the last day off - grrrrr. None-the-less I had a fabulous week off :) Why you ask? well, I went to a great Quilt show with a friend (in her new SUV) - the Quilts of Great Britain. Thanks Cynthia it was a great day!
Here's a peak of what we saw

 My current obsession - Lucy Boston Patchwork of the Crosses.

 

I still like the Celtic look and someday ..... will do another quilt with this technique!

I also love the William and Morris look and have started to collect some of these fabrics. Who knows .... maybe

Sorry - the pic is not so good, I just loved the horse quilted
into this one about Sutton Hoo.
Of course it appeals to me with my current obsession for
anything Viking!

 

Aren't the colours in this one just absolutely gorgeous!!

Another one that speaks to me - for some reason I love red berries on an icy blue background. Even though it evokes memories of winter, I still like it!

 

 

And this one was too cute with it's cat theme!

I also just loved this one ... She used old linens for the tablecloth - not just one but layered linens on each other (hope you can see that in the pic). I also love the fact that the tablecloth drops down below the "quilt" !

What else did I manage to accomplish on my week off? Well, I did some housework, and some gardening, and read a good book - Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne. I saw the movie several years ago with Maggie Smith and cried my eyes out. The book also made me cry, sniff sniff. I also accomplished some sewing ... got this new mug rug completed for the mater for her Bday in June. 

My favourite quilt store, Cornerstone Quilts and More, (shameless plug) had the perfect green rick rack - woohoo! She also ordered the Lucy Boston Patchwork of the Crosses book for me. I know - I could order it online myself, but I believe in supporting my local Bricks & mortar shop and ordering through her! I have almost completed a new door hanging for the mater as well - here's a pic while still at the machine being quilted. This was the first time I used that plastic ring driver thingee (anyone know what it's called?) Anyway, I wanted to outline quilt the Dresden fan blades and this seemed to really help me keep reasonably even distances from the previous rounds .... Here's a pic of it all quilted, not yet bound!

 Time to get baking - Bday celebration today for the B-I-L and I'm bringing the cake (Chocolate!) then lunches to make in prep for my return to work :(.

TTFN

 

Good Morning Sunshine :)

Good morning :). Well, it's the long weekend (at least here in Canada) and much awaited. This is what we have all been waiting for and much deserved after that long long cold winter! Had breakfast on the patio - yeah, listening to the wee chicks chirp away everytime their parents come home with some grub! Last year it was a family of Cardinals in my Forsythia bush, this year it is a family of Red Wing Black birds just on the other side of the walkway. My Caragana is starting to blossom, so the bumble bees have arrived. In fact I had one reallly big one in the house last night! That makes one live mouse and one live bumble bee so far this spring!!

I spend the evening cutting out Dresden plate blades in blue, pinks and yellows. In fact I thought I had cut out enough for 2 wall hangings and 2-3 mug rugs. Well, I guess it's been a while since I have done this as I forgot how much they shrink once sewn together ...

Looks like I have some unsewing/reverse sewing and some more blade cutting to do for this afternoon. OK by me as I have a whole week OFF WORK- YAHOOOOOO.  Eat yer heart out all you out there who have to work next week ;)
TTFN

How's your Sunday going ?

How's your Sunday ? I know, it's Mother's day, but being an independent woman (aka not married) and not a mother it's one more day in the calendar when the world excludes me from it's celebrations :( . I spent yesterday with my mother, treating her to brunch and a lovely Zinnia plant for her balcony. I've had a pretty good, that is exhausting day today, so far :). My b-i-l and nephew came over and did some work in my garden and put my patio together for me to enjoy next week while I'm on VACATION - oh yeah ..... So, we went from this broken down dried up garden

with rotten mini tie holding my mini garden,  to this

2 new mini ties - check, a whole lot of new red cedar chips- check, black soil tossed about so I can, once again this year, sow some grass seed - check, patio furniture set up - check, A/C unit setup & ready for the upcoming heat - check, winter stuff put away - check. YEAH  - I'm ready for some serious sitting on the patio reading a book time :) THANKS GUYS !
So, since I am being stingy with myself and not splashing out for this year's end-of-year Quilt guild banquet, last week was my last chance for show-n-tell. I managed to get the beastie done, and here's the finished pic I promised ... all bound and ready for  ????

She's not big but she's done. Her reception was pretty good as they all shouted out "Quilt Show", which I gather means they want Felines and Flutterbies exhibited at our guild show in the Fall.  Sounds good to me. Now, what to start next, hmmmmmmm ? Mother once again has asked for a new hanging for her door. I have one in mind .... stay tuned :)
TTFN

Awhhhhhh

Life is good again - after a whole month of no Irish Breakfast tea, I found it WOOHOO! So I bought 3 boxes and will go back for more ...  Breakfast was wonderful again, oh and the sun is out also . All smiles here :)
Not that I'm superstitious but, I'm going to whisper this one, I think Spring is finally here. My Forsythia bushes are gorgeous this year, thanks to a trim up from my brother-in-law last fall, my Daffodils have finally opened and my Peonies have broken through. It's a riot of yellow and I'm loving it !!

My favourite non-quilty website, Arts & Letters Daily led me to an interesting article, Confetti Uncut. It's a fascinating article about the history of Confetti - who knew! Here's the best sentence I've read in a very very long time:

"These novel fistfuls of paper, thrown by parading merrymakers under a flapping tricolore, thus complete the dynamics of bourgeois counter-revolution in that century, whereby gaudy rubbish (the byproduct of capitalist accumulation) was retailed back to workers, who celebrated therewith, in collective rituals that borrowed liberally from religio-aristocratic forms, their suicidal devotion to the rising bitch-god of nationalism."

That's a teaser, you'll have to read it for the sentence to make sense.
Another terrific bonus is that I not only got my taxes done (on time) I FINISHED, yes, finished Felines & Flutterbies. Another big WOOOHOO! The binding goes on this afternoon, and I'll spend the next couple of  evenings hand sewing it to the back. Just in time for the last guild show-n-tell.

Here's one last look at it on the design wall - next week I'll post a pic of the bound final edition.
Now, what to work on next ? My To-Do/Wish list is HUGE, and the patio is calling me. I've started to accumulate some summer reading - Kafka by the Shore, 100 Year Old Man who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared, Flight Behavior. I need something to do since Vikings and Downton Abbey have reached their season finales :(  .
TTFN

 

My tribute to spring. Wish I could claim I made this one, but alas, I am still (yes still) working on Felines and Flutterbies ....  I also wish I could claim Spring is here, but also alas, Easter weekend was a tease. Today is sunny and bright but chilly. My Forsythia are in full bloom (yeah), but my Daffodils remain stubbornly in bud. Personally I need some serious UV treatments as I am still recovering from the bronchitis I had a couple of weeks back and a rather stressful work week. 

I spent Saturday at home, in my chair quilting borders and watching a 9 hour Vikings marathon - oh yeah, Ragnar ...... and doing my taxes - yuck.

Easter weekend was busy busy busy. Family gathering, cakes and salads to make, and of course a pic of the wee one ...

TTFN

Happy Easter, Happy Passover

Simone has discovered her basket .... finally! "She who can not be touched" has been secretly sleeping outside my bedroom door all winter and  I only just discovered this. I'm told that Siamese cats are very loyal. It makes me happy that she wants to be near me, even if she won't let me pet her. Now that SPRING has SPRUNG (yeah!) she's outside as much as possible and loving it! So am I ! Oh joy oh bliss :).

So I decided to make a carrot poke cake for Easter dinner - a new recipe - from scratch - using Biscuit. Looked lovely, smelled lovely - tasted God Awful!!! :(. So it spice cake for us, luckily I had a mix in the back cupboard!

I've been quilting, and managed to finish the last block - WooHoo!!! Now, since no one answered my plea for hints or advice, I jumped in and started quilting the lattice strips. Since I refuse to mark this quilt it is all eyeball work - ok, not exactly, I'm using pins to give me an indication of where I want to quilt. I'm doing X's. Not evenly spaced and I don't care, as the whole quilt is "liberated hand quilting". I figure it may take me well into May to complete the lattice and border quilting, then the binding. So I'm hoping for a June 1st finish!! Wish me luck!

One of my colleagues at work has been nagging me about the Cardinals on my bulletin board, saying I'm the reason Spring is late and she needs to see something Springish on my board. She's right, I desperately need new hangings to post at work. I vow to myself that as soon as Felines and Flutterbies is done, I will alternate my Xmas sewing (got to do that in the summer or it will never ever get done!) with a few new wall hangings FOR ME for work ! We'll just see how long this resolution lasts, my "I'll not buy fabric this year" resolution didn't ....

Not sure what I'll use these fat quarters for - but I'm sure something will come to mind ;)

TTFN

Spring has Sprung :)

Spring has sprung - for real - YEAH

I know it's real because I have a Robin hopping around in my backyard as I write! Yeah ! The sun is shining and the temp is up, I even have the back door propped open so Simone (she who can not be touched) can slip in and out at will. We are loving it!! The snow has almost all melted, my Daffodils are up an inch already - YEAH again! Oh how I love the spring!!
I'm getting close to finishing the Felines and Fluttebies - the blocks at least. Here's the 2nd last block almost finished = this week's quilting.

My experiment with 3D butterflies seems not to have worked out as hoped. Instead of standing proudly their wings are curling unnaturally. What's a girl to do? Any suggestions ????? You can see the pins I've stuck in the wings in an attempt to straighten up the wings - to no avail. As soon as I take the pins out the wings curl up again! I'm thinking of trying to starch the wings with some heavy duty starch. In hindsight I should have used heavier heat-n-bond (I used light weight stuff). Any other ideas out there ???? Would appreciate any advice! Perhaps I'll get into the sewing room and do something else one of these days when Felines is finished!!

TTYL

DIY Gone Wrong

Always loved the soup Nazi from Seinfeld, even better as the weather Nazi ;). None-the-less it IS another sunny Sunday, so I shouldn't be complaining. Remember last week's DIY gone wrong ? Well here's the $75.00 culprit .... This silly little broken plastic clip - 2 visits to the car shop (part had to be ordered) and of course can't just order the plastic clip, had to have a whole new rear wiper arm!!! All better now ...

Last week the family gathered to celebrate the birthdays of my niece and nephew. Of course we did some 4 generation pictures :)

And this week's slow progress on Felines & Futterbies

I think I'll call this block Simone after my "Don't touch me" baby. The block certainly shows the attitude Simone shows me most days. Why is it off centre? who knows, but for whatever reason that's how it is and it suits me fine. I think I like this block the best of all the kitties on this quilt.
Now, before I leave to do all my Sunday chores I want to leave you with this phenomenal work of art I discovered in my blog hopping last week, "Macrame Art by Vladimir Denshchikov"

Don't get me wrong, I'm not hugely religious, but, I remember years ago when a girl friend macramed her wedding head piece and I was duly impressed, not having developed the art of macrame myself. Well, if you are a fan of macrame this web site will blow your mind - WOW!
TTFN

Let the Sun shine in :)

It"s Sunday and the sun is shining and I'm in my kitchen soaking it up. YEAH. And it's a good thing because I managed (silly me) to break my car's rear wiper. Well, not the wiper actually, I was attempting to replace the blade. As I was telling myself "this shouldn't be this hard to do" the plastic thingee which holds the two pieces together snapped!! DARN IT - now my "save yourself some $" project is going to cost me who knows how much to replace the silly plastic thingee :( In case you're wondering, the yellow j-cloth is tied on to the amputee as a visual reminder to me to NOT use the rear wiper. Appointment at the car shop on Wednesday morn...

The cats and I are going crazy. We all want the snow to just disappear and warm weather come and stay. The snow is slowly melting, I can actually see an inch or two of the patio ! We actually had a couple of days above zero last week, which didn't help me much as I napped through most of it. Consequently I am making very slow progress on Felines and Fluttterbies. The cold weather is back today, but at least it brought the sun.... 

I must be going winter mad .... I find I'm watching the same TV shows over and over and over again! Last week it was Sherlock, with Benedict Cumberbatch, same episode for the 3rd time, and Vikings , with Ragnar Lodrok - double episodes, also for the 3rd time!!! What's a girl to do ? Can't get enough of these two guys .... Anyway, off to bake a cake for my niece as we are gathering for her birthday and a 4 generation pic.
TTFN,

Hello Claire :)

Well, I finally made it down to my niece's place to meet wee Claire. :) :). She is such a sweet little one, and she was awake for our entire visit, well, sort of. Great Aunt Sada got to hold her while her mommy and daddy opened her presents. They were very pleased with the Owl quilt, the diaper bag, Teddy Bear, receiving blankets, bibs, carrier cover and onesie. I took down great grandma's gifts as well as she wasn't feeling well that day. The lovely white gold birthstone necklace from great grandma was a hit as was the purple Owl piggy bank! Claire's daddy was especially pleased with the vintage child's rocker and liked the fact that it was originally bought for Great Grandma. So, not only is it an antique but also a family heirloom. Sorry no pic - I forgot as I had my arms full :)
This past week was a bit of a bust for me as I was exhausted for most of the week - we got another, yes another snow storm on Wednesday followed by another extreme cold snap. ENOUGH ALREADY!  When not at work I spent the rest of the week snoozing/vegging out in my chair listening to the TV, but did accomplish this much on my Felines and Flutterbies. Just 4 more blocks to go!

Found this lovely little poem in my travels recently in Blogland:

I've embroidered a frock,
   And I've sewn the long seams,
While I stitched up a heartache
   And mended my dreams.

I've patched a torn garment,
   And darned a big rent
While I've worked in new hopes
   And a sweeter content.

Why stitching brings gladness,
   Or ease for Life's pain,
And healing from sadness,
   I cannot explain.

But for little hopes baffled,
   And foolish tears shed,
I have sought and found comfort

   With needle and thread.

from The Book of Good Needlework no.4  ( 1930's)

TTFN

Impulse buy

 

So this is my flat-to-the-wall (aka china cabinet). I bought it maybe 20 yrs ago when "antique" prices were high. Whoever had it before had done a horrible job of refinishing and the inside was electric blue! It took most of a summer to refinish the outside. I never was able to get rid of the blue, so stripped it then repainted the inside with a nice blue milk paint - popular paint at the time. Now a days I would probably use chalk paint. I've never been truly happy with it, always suspecting its a marriage of several parts. The one corner was broken off/repaired, the bottom doors are obviously not original and they never shut properly, but it holds a lot of china ;). So, this past week while perusing Kijiji I saw something advertised that took my fancy ..... 

Now, I have to be honest, I don't actually believe the hype in the Kijiji ad. This piece is not from 1880's, and is not a jam cupboard. I also suspect there have been some alterations to it. However, it is in better shape than the current bottom half to my fttw (flat-to-the-wall). I have to do a wee bit of work on the right door hinge and find a skeleton key/handle of some sort. At some point I will have to empty the fttw and get "the boys" (brother-in-law and nephew) over to help make the big switcheroo. BTW, those Hydrangeas on the top are from my front garden! In the meantime I'm kinda liking it's new location and have already found lots of stuff to store inside. Uhohhh !

Of course this has meant a shifting of other pieces on my main floor and now the hall stand is further into the dining area which means it is further for me to go to hang up my keys everyday, but Iris has already decided she likes its and has made it her new go to place. Meanwhile Simone is upset as her food dishes were moved and she is discombobulated - hey ya gotta shake up their world somehow!  They are both feeling terribly house bound and suspect Spring is just around the corner. In fact they have both just stepped outside onto the back step - mommy shoveled it for them. There's no place for them to go as there is still 2 feet of snow out there, however they are outside !! Woohoo!

So that's been my excitement for this week, how about you?

It's March !!

A friend just reported on FB that she saw a flock of Robins in her backyard! Hard to believe considering we got another - yes, another 5cm of snow last night !! None-the-less I'm sooooo sick of winter I'll believe anything about now. I was going to bundle up and go shovel the sidewalk - again, but I see they're out there (finally) plowing and shoveling - yeah for condo living.
Above is a wee collection of new patterns - I do have grand plans - just never enough time! Meadow Lily was picked up for 10 cents at the guild rummage sale, Oh Sew Charming sometime this past winter, and I just picked up the Dancing Umbrellas. Think they would make a cute April square for me Table frame -if I can get to it!

I'm back to Felines and Flutterbies and am working my way through the blocks. Here's this week's block. My quilting doesn't show up too well in this pic - instead of just random quilting I tried to follow the subtle swirl pattern in the background fabric. I plan in quilting in a butterfly in the top left corner. Thought I was almost done, but when I laid the quilt out on the floor just now I realise I have 6 more blocks to quilt! YIKES - then I have to decide what I want to do with the borders and lattice strips between the blocks. Any suggestions???

All day Sherlock marathon today in BBC Canada - totally hooked, got to get moving and complete the day's chores so I can sit and quilt while watching these 2 guys. Also re-hooked on Vikings. This past week was the premier of season 2 - oh yah , Ragnar Lothbrok - oh yah ;)

TTFN,