Resolutions for 2016

We had a wonderful Christmas. Pictured our 'Fabulous five' left to right Cj, MT, B, M & R (funny enough they are lined up by age oldest to youngest which I didn't realize until now). We are so proud of each and every one of them. They've all grown into incredible people I'm so delighted to call my family.

I can't believe 2016 is already here. The past few years have flown, it feels like life is on super speed. I don't think I've been living life to the fullest. Resolutions for the New Year - I need to find a life balance. This year it's time to make some changes. I need to get organized, set a routine and stick to it while finding a way to stop and smell the roses. I want to accomplish the goals I set for myself. I had whopping 2 finishes in 2015 Not very impressive  - 2015 seems to have been the year of procrastination. I really love the two I finished but I spent most of the year waffling and putting off the girls quilts.  2016 is the year I will finish the girls quilts which have been in progress in one form or another since 2014. I have my incredible powerquilter waiting for me to put it to work and a nice stash begging to be used. Time to get cracking!

Wishing you all a safe and Happy New Year!

Christmas 2015 post

Christmas is almost here. It will be a green Christmas this year, 9 (48 F) today, 16 (60 F) Christmas Eve and 5 (41 F) Christmas Day. No snow for Christmas in Canada's capital city ... crazy!   Our shopping is almost done, just a few odds and ends left. We did things a bit differently this year, we wrapped as we went and added the presents to the tree. Usually we spend Christmas Eve wrapping and we don't put any presents under the tree until then. Looking at that pile it boggles my mind I was ever worried/stressed what to buy. We are having Christmas dinner at my mother's on Christmas day. I don't know how she does it a hot meal with all the trimmings for 20. I love having Christmas dinner at her house, they have lived in the house over 50 years, and no matter where I've lived or the memories built in my own life, her house is home. My mom is the heart of our family, she watched my kids when I went back to work and is always there for any of us in any way she can. She has an incredible relationship with all her grandchildren, she is my inspiration.

I haven't gotten much done on my Christmas quilt, I'm working on the stockings, the wreaths are done. I love how this is turning out. Hoping to get some time today after a bit of cleaning.

Wishing you all a very Happy Holiday.

Trees, new phones and a Christmas lists rant

Monday's come around much too fast, especially at this time of year. This weekend I planned to get the wreaths and trees completed at minimum but life got in the way. Here's where I am... Trees are done. I'm thinking I better get a move on or this is not going to get done by Christmas and will most likely end up in my ever growing ufo pile.

Last time I briefly mentioned spray starch, it's not really any extra effort but I can't believe what a huge difference it's making in accuracy. Blocks are coming out to the correct size which is really encouraging! I'm really happy with how this is coming together.

Friday night, Chris's cell phone decided to stop working. Since handing over my Samsung when M lost her phone a year ago and buying a second hand iphone 4 for me, my phone has become nothing more than something to make quick texts to the kids with, take an occasional picture or make a call when in the car (Bluetooth hands free through radio was a must when I bought my car). My samsung tablet has been doing double time since I made that switch. I just never 'took' to the iphone, while we have friends who swear they are the best phone it just wasn't for me. Using the ever growing cracked screen as justification (too much in my hands one evening I dropped my phone screen down under the car) I decided it was time for me to upgrade as well. We did some research and decided on LG G4's. Off to Rogers we go Saturday afternoon, an hour later Chris has LG and I have a Blackberry Priv its a bit pricey compared to the LG.  I tried really hard to convince myself to stick with the LG but Priv is Android AND with a quick slide of the screen there's the old blackbery keyboard!! I loved my blackberry but the biggest thing I missed when we went from a household of blackberries over to androids was that keyboard. Within 5 minutes I was back to double thumbing correctly spelled texts instead of the finger pecked autocorrect nightmares my texting had become in the past few years - this wasn't just iphone issues, i had same issue with my samsung s4 I blame it on fat fingers.

The rest of the day was spent playing setting up my new phone, grocery shopping and cooking then more acquainting myself with my new phone. I made shopping plans with my mom for Sunday. I didn't get much but really enjoyed spending time with my mom. I have to say since the kids first hit mid teens Christmas has gotten more and more difficult. With the youngest R turning 18 in Feb and the older kids working or in college, I really miss the days when 90% of our shopping could be done in Toys R Us and every third commercial 1 (or more) of the 5 kids would yell excitedly I Want That! Getting ideas out of them is like pulling teeth these days. 

Hopefully R can help me out with M who wants nothing except a hedgehog (last year I said No to a ferret). That is the picture she sent cause she knows I'm a sucker softie and I'm working really hard to stay firm to my no more pets policy - we already have 3 dogs, a pair of lovebirds, a rat and a guinea pig.... R is very particular so she makes detailed lists. As long as it hasnt sold out by the time I get there, its usually good. I have ideas for MT who graduates from college next week, starts his new job first week of Jan and is planning on moving out in the spring . He needs almost everything to setup his own place so this year anything I buy will be great, not exciting but needed.

CJ and B are both working full time and are already living on their own, CJ can only come up with a list on boxing day. I guess getting a bunch of stuff he didn't want makes him realise what he was really hoping for!?! I'm not going to think too hard on that in case there is more truth to that than I want to admit. B's lists are one or two things if we are lucky and again this year their mom (we're a blended family) texts us she bought it (it as in one great gift idea and a video game) within an hour of getting the list. BLahhhh!

The most exciting time has turned into a stressful season! I will get through it, we always do and by the time the last present is opened Christmas day my worries will be replaced by the joy of being surrounded by the people I love most of all which I need to remember is the most important part of the season. And on that note the rant is over.

Next week I'm hoping to have wreaths and ornaments blocks to show and some presents bought and under the tree. Wishing everyone has a fabulous week!

Spray starch and a not so terrible mistake.

Last weekend I tidied up my sewing area and put away the girls quilts, I don't know what is up with me and making progress on their quilts. I need get serious about them in the new year.

What I'm working on now:
Chris printed out the instructions for Fat Quarters shop Deck-ade the Halls  last week and we picked out the fabrics for each block and away I went. I pulled out my never used spray starch to see if it helped with accuracy. Best decision ever!!

I started with the gingerbread men. Something wasn't right, the heads were noticably different sizes. I had noticed the strip was 2 inches longer on the first before joining them together but thought I cut the white wrong. Nope! That said, Chris's initial impression was I cut the second too small. We both agreed the oversized head was more gingerbread'ish so I measured the original to figure out what went wrong and recut the second  and then the third to match.

I do find the fabric a bit busy on the first (I guess I don't need to mention thats middle one above), the bow tie and buttons get lost and may remake him but the decision doesn't need to be made until much later. Theres going to be plenty of leftover fabric.

I've been brain burned after work lately and have picked up my hexies while watching tv in the evenings. Not sure what I'll do with these but just enjoying it.

One last thing to share - for over a year I've drooled over a quilt at the local quilt shop. I happened to ask if there is a pattern for it when I was last in, they had sold out but ordered it for me. While I have seriously contained my shoe fetish the last 20 or so years, this will be a quilt just for me.

Your Powerquilter has arrived

Less than a week after we ordered the machine we got the call saying it was in. Chris was already out so he went and paid the balance and picked it up. We had it set up by lunch time. I played around while figuring out the tension issues (nested threads on bottom). Free motion is sooo much easier on this machine. I still have lots of practicing to do but I really love this machine. In my limited playing I found the speed that works for me (very slow), the biggest issue is my own jerky motions.

I had made a few black on black with white thread for play and testing. Then I started on the printed halloween placemats I bought a few months ago. I made the decision that if they tuned out a a mess that's OK but they have a ready made pattern to follow working on control.

There are a few little hiccups but overall I'm pretty happy with how the placemat turned out. I love this machine!! Chris is asking for his turn so I need to make something up for him to give him a chance to play as well.

This has given me a renewed surge. I've put the girls quilts away for now, I want to start on Fat Quarters shop Deck-ade-halls. I doubt I will have it done by Christmas but no harm trying.

Have a seat....

I don't know if I've mentioned how incredible my husband is. He supports me in everything I do and listens to my frustrations. The past bit we've been talking about how to make my sewing area better and make my quilting easier. This morning some headway was made on re-arranging the basement in an effort to make my sewing area better. Feeling inspired we dropped by the local quilt shop for some black fabric. I walked toward the back and he stopped in front of the sit down longarm and called me back. The sales lady called over her co-worker who has owned one for two years and she gave us a demo and answered all our questions. We'll I didn't end up buying that black fabric but as soon as it is delivered I will be the proud owner of a pfaff powerquilter 16.

Picture is from pfaff website

Our LQS has the machine on sale until the end of year and comes with the table, bobbin winder and stitch regulator. We did discuss the stitch regulator which she prefers not to use and looking online seems to be the consensus. When we got in the car, Chris said Happy Birthday (which is next month) I've let him know that he is now off the hook for Christmas and quite a few birthdays to come. I'll be honest, I feel overwhelmed and in shock at dropping that amount in less than an hour even though we've been looking at (and dreaming about) them for the past year. I will have to pick up the pace on my quilt tops to be able to make use of this incredible machine.

Tonight I'm going to finish the reorg on my sewing area so tomorrow I can start making test sandwiches and keep moving forward on the girls quilts.

August shopping spree

I have been MIA for quite awhile. I have no clue where the summer has gone and can't believe back to school is only a few days away. I haven't made any progress on anything. I have been itchy to sew just never at the right time - usually around 10 am during the week... which for obvious reasons can't happen

Work is finally becoming somewhat sane. We hired another admin who is awesome and we are finally making a dent on the back log even with others going on vacation I'm starting to feel less stressed.

I did break down and ordered some fabric (seen in pictures throughout this post) I've been in love with cold spell batiks by Laundry Baskets since I first saw it. My goddaughter loves blue and I plan to do a rail fence quilt in time for her 21st birthday next March. I need to find something for her mom  - she loves jewel colurs especially purples and greens who's birthday is one day after. I also picked up more Sweetwater Feed Company, and Ho Ho Ho by Deb Strain. I have big plans for the christmas fabric.

This and that and a bit of progress

Favorite from my garden

Last Canada Day holiday I started on Dick and Jane quilt and had the top done and basted before going out to see the fireworks. Quilted, bound and handed off to mom by end of the month. This year Canada Day fell on a Wednesday so I took the Thursday and Friday to make super long weekend. I was hoping to get a lot of sewing time in and make dents on the girls quilts. It didn't happen. As usual, life got in the way. I knew there was no way I'd finish their tops by the end of the weekend but I would've loved to see a significant progress. I've been procrastinating on these long enough!

To say I got nothing done wouldn't be accurate -I just didn't get nearly as much accomplished as I was hoping. As you can see there are a few more Donuts done on R's quilt. They are taking alot longer than I expected. The blocks themselves aren't difficult. I think the issue is I'm trying to give variety as I go but really only need to get the blocks done then go back and layout as last steps. I think I need to find a better method. While working in the sewing area Chris and I watched The Honourable Woman. We weren't sure after ther first episode but we're both glad we continued on watching. What an incredible yet complex series.

Earlier in the week Chris made a template cut out of an old cutting mat for the flowers for M's. Using heatNbond these are coming together nicely.  Sizing looks off, but the flower blocks have a thin border that goes around each block that still needs to be added. My main singer with zig zag stitch is still having tension issues so Chris suggested pulling out his green Elna. Once I have all the flower blocks done I'll figure out which centers to use for each, then get that set up so I can go around all the edges.

Thats about it for sewing, but I have to tell you about our Cherry tree. Each year we are getting more and more cherries. It was so loaded with cherries this year the branches were bent under the weight. So far a full 4 Litre basket for my sister and 3 huge bowl fulls for my parents and we still have oodles more to pick.

Yesterday afternoon I took a quick trip to drop off the third bowl with the girls. Mom is making cherry pies and freezing them. While the girls were chatting with my dad, mom and I took a walk through her garden. She really has a way with flowers. I don't know if it's because it was my childhood home or mom's (and dad's) influence but the house and yard are so calming. I've added a few pictures of my favorite flowers from her garden below.

On a personal note, I haven't booked any summer holidays this year. I get tons of personal time off (6 weeks a year which is for sick and holidays) but I've been using it up on things like Dr's appointments,  migraines, etc. I have took a week in Jan and another in May to keep my batteries recharged. Lots going on at work over the summer with coworkers holidays, systems upgrades so I'm thinking of taking a week in October around Canadian Thanksgiving. Next year I'm hoping to be able to save them up and take a 3 week holiday over the summer.

Hope everyone has a lovely week.

No progress but new goodies

As I mentioned a few weeks ago Chris and his dad did a whirlwind trip to visit his brother in Edmonton. Before he left I had him set up an instagram so he could take pictures as he went. I'll be honest I suck with social media. I rarely check Facebook,  never tweet even though I have an account, I'm slightly better with instagram but haven't figured out the #. I see people hash tagging everything and wonder how do you know what to hash tag?? So I asked my daughter apparently everything & anything is a valid hash tag...

Chris is already back home and i have no progress to show. I should have worked on my girls quilts but once I was done work each evening I gravitated upstairs and didn't go back down again til the next morning. I really need to keep working on these. Over a year since I bought the fabric and the girls just want them done. The extra Bali pops Parrot fabric for Mineral Springs came in weeks ago. I could have gone back to that -only a few rows for a completed top but felt it was important to keep concentrating on the girls quilts. I would love to have these done by end of summer at the latest.

While away Chris dragged his dad, brother and sister in law to a local quilt shop Earthly Goods Quilting. The ladies were all really helpful and sweet. They showed them how the long arm worked and kept them interested. He bought me a layer cake Zen Chic Reel Time and The Adventures of the Amazing Alphabet book by Pam Holland (Pictured are a few of my favorite blocks). We are going to work on this together. The funny thing about the fabric is I already have a layer cake and jelly roll of this line but was kicking myself for not getting more so I could make a decent sized quilt. The minute I saw this fabric a few months back I immediately new this would be a quilt for my son M (who is 6 foot something and celebrated his champagne birthday yesterday 22 on the 22nd). For now it's waiting in the ever growing line



#balipops #quilting #reeltime

slow going

It's been slow going on the girls quilts, I've been working on both simultaneously. They aren't complicated I just keep changing my mind on the best way to go. I don't have as much variety in the gold color for R's quilt as I do the others so I'm using the two different gold that I originally bought for the back. It didn't start off that way so I do have more blocks than shown - perfect for pillow cases. The batting is queen size which is bigger than I anticipated. I've got it pinned up so it isn't dragging on the floor/getting stepped on. It looks bad but is practical for my current purposes.

M's quilt changed somewhat. I originally made blocks with no white,  but decided it would look better with white in the mix. I completed blocks and stacks of 4 ready to go that I ended up taking apart to add the white between the blocks. These are just a small portion that I've managed to get back together. I'm not sure how big these quilts are going to end up, I'm going to keep plugging away and see how far I get.

I also started making hexie flowers with 3 Sisters Favorites. I seem to go through spurts of hexies. I really should be working on my table runner though. I don't know what it is about making hexies in solid white that I find uninspiring, this feeling is what helped determine that the flowers would be joined as is instead of surrounding them by a solid colour.

Looking at other blogs I keep seeing Elizabeth Hartman's Fancy Fox. It's really grown on me and I may add it to my wish list. We'll just have to see where my head is when I get the girls quilts off my plate.

On a personal note, Chris is driving up to Edmonton to vist his brother and sister in law with his dad later this week. They are going up with a trailer to drop off some furniture and is going to be a long drive for them both. It's going to be a strange few weeks with him gone - I'm usually the one leaving for a work thing. It'll be good for him to see them, Doug is older by a year and 13 days, they've always been really close but we've only seen them once since they moved 4 years ago. I wish I could go nut I just don't have the time banked at work and next week is exam week at the high schools. I can't believe how fast this year is flying. Next week we will be halfway through June already!

Getting started on the girls quilts

I have put Mineral Springs on hold. I was able to get everything on my design wall joined with the exception on that last section but it's really short. I can easily add another 8 rows (there is about 3 times the amount of batting space at the top as shown at bottom). Would I be happy  the size it is? No, so I ordered another jelly roll of Parrot from Hamels so it will be about 2 weeks until I receive the order.

What to do next... enjoyed the backyard looking through the magazine Chris brought home the latest Better Homes and Gardens Quilts for Every Occasion. I saw this pattern and thought wow R's fabric would be stunning like this, showed the girls and M said Do my quilt that way and R responded Flowers? Really Mom?  I pointed out the centers didn't have to be flowers could be stars, hearts... skulls.... whatever she wanted. Seeing she has finally started wearing pink in small doses again And while she'll never admit at the ripe old age of 17, Pink is her favorite color but has refused to wear it other than as a hair color after someone made a comment that was the only color she wore (this was in kindergarten). I thought maybe she'd want something a bit more feminine but it was a no go.

Pulling out other quilt magazines looking for she'd go for something, she focused in on this. She really liked this one out of Fons & Porter Quilting Quickly May/June 2015 issue

Final decisions?
M Petal Patchwork in Blackbird Fabrics - Plum Sweet
R Mini Donuts in Kansas Troubles - Token of Friendship.

Lessons learned this weekend:
One jelly roll isn't enough for Mineral Springs
Nothing is ever set in stone

Where I sit now, 3 Sisters - Favorites is free for whatever I want, back to the drawing board for Farmer's wife. Hmmm, maybe I should go with Farm girl vintage - After all, it's a womans perogative to change her mind ;) lol my girl's don't fall from the indecision tree.

Planting is done and one more day of the weekend. I love long weekends! Tomorrow is the day to get started on both quilts so there is no more mind changing.

binding blues and finally a finish

Cherry blossoms 

Nice weather has arrived and we've been taking advantage of each beautiful day and evening. I haven't been in the sewing room much. This past weekend Mothers day was the start of our monthly family barbeques at my parents. We all get together at least once each month from May through October. I really look forward to those afternoons. As you can see our cherry tree is thriving, we should be able to make lots of jam again this year.

Front of wall hanging 

I really expected to have published a post announcing a finish a few weeks ago... I did get my quilting done and started the binding on my wall hanging over 2 weeks ago. I finished attaching the binding on the one side, and went to turn it over and pin. That's when I noticed my 1/4 seam varied in areas. Could I have made it work - probably but I wasn't happy with it so started the ripping. Got all that re-attached and started on the other side only to have missed stitches and breaking threads. More ripping to clean up my mess. Chris has been working on my machine but every time we think he's got it I jump back on and I lose all tension on the top thread again.  It's starting to look like my machine hates me. Hand bound my wall hanging which didn't take as long as I expected it would.

backing looks yellow but is actually a nice green

I really wanted this wall hanging done so I could get moving on other projects like M & R's quilts. Before that happens, Mineral Springs is still on the wall and I need want this one in the finished pile before I start on theirs. I tried multiple centers on the blocks and we found plain old white made the blocks pop. I don't know if using a solid with batik is flaunting some unwritten (or written) rule but I like it and that's what counts. I still need to fill in the some holes. I'm going to use this quilt as practice for consistency on 1/4 inch seams.  If I can get this nailed down I'm hoping the girls quilts will turn out beautifully (or at least not so unplanned wonky).

I set up one of the old singers, so Chris has time and isn't feeling pressured to work on my machine. I forgot how these old machines sew like a dream. I'm about a third way through piecing, I'm going to continue using this one for this quilt.

I didn't take pictures of the table runner as I'm sure you are sick of seeing it. I did find an oops on one of the panels. I have 6 section when 2 are attached make one of three panels. I attached one hexie side lower when joining two sections so I'm going to have to change it a bit to connect the panels to make them line up. BUMMER!

Work has been nuts lately (more so than ever), but the Victoria day long weekend (which also happens to be our wedding anniversary weekend) is finally here. I'm looking forward to the much needed downtime.

  

Changing directions ... again!

Table runner 

It's been a slow few weeks for me sewing wise.  I did get some work done on the quilting of my wall hanging during lunch hours and more progress on my table runner. I find both are slow going and while the finish line is in sight for both I can't seem to get there.

Wall hanging

I really like the look of this wall hanging and I just love everything about this pattern. M took one look at the wall hanging and asked me if I could make her one just like it but bigger instead of what we initially chose. I'm not surprised, the colours are more in line with her preferences over the years.  So it looks like I will need to use something else as my next hexie project. 3 Sisters favorites jelly rolls have officially been repurposed.

While I haven't been making tons of progress, my head was whirling with possibilities. I had been thinking about how I should start back up on my Farmers Wife but with a mishmash of fabric choices and no reoccurring color theme, it feels very disjointed. If there is way for scrappy to be done wrong this would be a perfect example of it. I was eyeing different lines thinking it would be so nice to start over with consistency. I'd managed to reign myself in though and stuck to my self imposed fabric buying detox. I have tons of Plum Sweet if I'm switching M's quilt and it won't cost a dime. Works for me!

While I'm feeling energized to get to work on M's quilt R's is still uninspiring. It's a simple pattern but I just don't love anything about it when you mix in the fabric, it's just dark and drab (picture to the left was brightened). I feel really guilty saying that - I want to love everything about this quilt. So I've been reevaluating her quilt the past couple of weeks. Checked out what l've got left of the Token of Friendship fabric that hasn't been used already making the strip sets for the original pattern. I still have quite a bit (who knew my over estimation when ordering would be a blessing in disguise) I'm hoping to come up with something more exciting. Probably something with stars - I really enjoy making them and the look of them in completed blocks.

This week's plan:
Finish wall hanging
Decide on final layout of mineral springs (still on the design wall)
Complete white border on 1 of 3 of the blocks of the table runner

Backyard cleanup complete, another month before we can start planting but my irises are breaking through in the front garden. Hoping my clothes line gets put back up soon.

wall hanging progress

I came across katies-quilt-pattern from the Missouri Star Quilt Co a few weekends ago while looking for a nice pattern for my wall hanging. It wasn't until I started putting it together that I realized its very similar to my Puppy Love quilt, only combinations of 4 patches instead of solid blocks and a bigger scale. (center block is 8.5, puppy love was 5.5) Apparently, there is something about the blocks and stars that appeals to me over and over.

I was struggling with bobbin issues that caused tension problems and continuous thread breaking.  We've got it fixed now. Some of the blocks on the top row turned out wonky - not sure what I did or didn't do (probably has to do with my lack of patience the past few weeks). Sometimes I wonder if I try for wonky if the blocks will be less so... I have been productive though, picking away at the wall hanging a bit each day. I'm about a quarter way through quilting. Hope to have it done by this weekend.

I've begun laying out mineral springs using Bali pops -Parrot and really like how it's looking so far. I haven't been ignoring my hexies, there has been some progress on my table runner. I love how it's turning out but it's slow going.

Back to work today after a lovely 4 day weekend.

paint colours and wall hangings (warning lots of pictures)

Here is my last finish from earlier this week in use. I'm not sure if the comfy factor is the chair we inherited from Chris's GG a few weeks ago or the quilt, but Grimace sure loves this spot while l'm working today. That chair is from Chris's earliest memories of visiting his grandma and one thing he wanted when she passed last month. It was his 45th birthday yesterday to put the age of the chair in perspective.

Dining room 

As I mentioned last post, we are in the process of painting our home. Gone are the Ralph Lauren Suede in deep grey and deep blue accent walls. Everything including the ceilings and baseboards are getting freshened up. We've started on the first level, the only wall we didn't touch was the Venetian plastered wall in the kitchen. It was the very first wall we painted in the house it goes perfectly with our floors and we still love it. (Didn't think to take before pictures)

We had a hard time choosing a paint color. Our house has been builders standard egg shell, cafe au lait, and gun metal grey (which turned out more blue than grey). The thought of going back to any range of those colors didn't appeal in the slightest.

Looking from entry way

We came across a color called white mountain which looked in the book to be a hint of a sunset on a snow covered mountain - up against the primed wall it looked like a shade of blue... So we went out of the box and started looking at cotton candy, blush ... light pink tones (not to be confused with peach). It was a leap off the deep end for us.  We knew it was going to turn out one of two ways - absolute brilliance or utter disaster. Settled on Behr Prism Pink. When the first strokes started drying I had a moment of horror. Against the white primed wall it was looking pepto bismal pink. As more went on the wall it seemed to dull & blend and look more like the colour we picked. We've agreed on a one year commitment to this colour. Both pictures were taken around 5 pm so there is a lot of shading going on especially with the second picture. As you can see we are a real mish mash of style when it comes to furniture choices ... that is an original 60's Seeburg jukebox on the edge of our dining room.

With the new paint job, we evaluated our love bird situation. They are incredibly sweet but messy!  Our walls need constant cleanup behind the cage. Solution - washable wall hangings. After evaluating the new colour I pulled out the extra squares from my grand mothers flower garden. I have those 3 jelly rolls of Favorites and another unopened 6 packs of Paris Flea Market on top of stack of squares from the original 6 packs, a bunch of cream and sage fabric of the already completed hexies. For a bed cover the combination wasn't what I was looking for but a wall hanging to go with our new paint colour - I think I can come up with something that will work nicely.

So back to work with Paris Flea Market.

I do have my next quilt pattern and fabric picked. From Fons & Porter March/April 2015 Quilting Quickly. I'm hoping to get started as soon as the wall hangings are done.

I'm waffling on starting the string bean challenge quilt. I'm just not loving options that I have in my stash to add to it. After my last fabric frenzy I've put myself back on a fabric buying diet ... 

A whole lot of ripping and some sewing ends in a finish

Chris surprised me on Friday with this little bit of sunshine to celebrate the arrival of spring. It was snowy and cold all weekend seems old man winter isn't finished yet.

After last weeks post, I got my act together and have spent time in my sewing room everyday since and I finished my Amethyst Cream quilt!

By Friday night I had all the blocks ready to go. It took a few hours to come out with the layout and started to sew them into blocks of 4 while watching the Glee finale. Started early Saturday morning and had the top done and basted by early afternoon.

Tried a few things with my embroidery machine. I didn't like the result (front looked great but back wasn't very neat) ripped the stitches out. Started straight line stitching got 1 of the 4 sections done, again I was unhappy with the result. I decided to sleep on it. Up at the crack of dawn Sunday morning, I made the decision the quilting took away from the quilt, so another 6 hours with my ripper. It was a heck of a lot of lines and backing is a light cream minky chenille which was a real pain. In hindsight I should have taken it down to my mom's where we could have visited and ripped them together in half the time.

Stitches all gone I tackled my quilt with chalk and rulers again. Finished the quilting while catching up on The Blacklist.

Last night after dinner, I got going on the binding. With that finished into the washer for a wash and fluff dry. I am so happy with the result. The girls are already telling me this quilt should be on the love seat in the family room (where they tend to camp out).

Had a hard time getting pictures, all our furniture is pushed to the middle of the rooms. We are in the middle of painting the entire first floor.

My hexies haven't seen much action. Next up wall hangings to go behind the bird cage. Our love birds are sweet but sooo messy! More on those next time.