It's been awhile...

Wow over a year since my last post. I wish I could say that I have a bunch of quilts to show you but the truth is I did nothing up to a few weeks ago. I hadn't even looked at my favorite blogs. What got me out of my funk? I don't know. Could be a combination of things, I'm not sure.

A co-worker unexpectedly passed away at the end of last month. He left a wife, 14 and 3 yr old daughters. To say I'm devastated is an understatement. He was the most soft spoken person I've ever met. The project we work on is a nightmare, has been since day one and for over 4 years we'd been partners in crime. He was the good cop to my bad. Though we'd only met once in person 10 yrs ago we worked closely together and I miss him daily. His death has put a few things in perspective in my own life.

DH got a new job at the beginning of June and now works Mon-Fri 9-5 about 10 minutes from our house. Quite a difference from 3 13's an hour away. He used to be in bed by 8 and out the door before 5. We rarely saw each other days he was on shift. This new job has him doing a variety of things and he's one of 9 employees which is a big change from the corporation's he's worked for the past 25+ years. He is in love with his job & I couldn't be happier for him! With this job there is a sewing aspect that was previously sent out. Chris loves sewing, so he decided to take this on.  In trying to figure out the best method long story short I ended up pitching in to get a job done. It felt soooo good to run that fabric through my machine.

From there I started picking up fabric but nothing spoke to me.

Then I saw a piece of the Laundry Basket Cold Spell in my scrap pile. I have a full jelly roll and charm pack left from goddaughters quilt. I love this fabric. After a few false starts and some wasted strips I decided to make my favorite ... yep I started making simple stars.

There is a gap between base of the points, I probably should have cut my charms down but I love them. Imperfect but beautiful. From there I've started catching up on my favorite blogs, some have taken a hiatus but others are still going strong. I've already started mentally planning the next 2 quilts for when this one is done. I've got the itch back!

Only 2 weeks away from annual vacation. I'm hoping to put a dent in this one and get to quilting my kids tops that have been sitting waiting for me to get my act together. If I bring the top, batting and backing to my mom's, she loves helping with the pinning so if I get organized & stay on this motivated train I probably can have them done before I go back to work. We'll see.

Does it matter how your quilt is used?

I've been reading a lot of blogs and Facebook quilting groups where I see a ton of people commenting on how disappointed they are with how the quilts they gift are being used or not used. Of course I would love to see all quilts I make used and loved.

Which brings me to the first quilt I finished - my puppy quilt which was stashed in a safe spot and taken out every few months to be washed, admired, then refolded and back to its storage spot. I DID NOT want it be ruined by the dogs (it being my first quilt) About a year ago I took it out to show someone and it was left on the couch which the dogs quickly took advantage of.  I was annoyed and kept saying to myself next time I wash it it's going back into storage but after each wash it just ends up back on the couch and loved up by the dogs. I've finally come to the conclusion it was made to be used and is washable.

My second quilt was Dick and Jane quilt that I made for my mother. It was on the back of a chair in their living room then moved to her rocking chair in the second spare room. This room has all the memories from mine and my sisters childhoods. So it's fitting that it's in this room on the rocking chair her father gave her when my oldest sister was born and the rocking chair I used for all 3 of my children. While it's not being used I know it's cherished.

My others get pulled out on occasion but go back on the quilt rack after each wash until the next time they are needed. I like to believe the quilt I made for my goddaughter is used. Her mom says it is so I'm taking that at face value and feel good about it.

So how do you feel about the use of your quilts? Do you care if they are used by the dog? Do you squirrel them away only to be brought out on occasion? Does the use or lack of use detract from the thought, love, care and money you put into a gifted quilt?

I read one commenter who has a method to her quilt gifting. She said when a person she'd like to gift a quilt to visits, she has few different quilts out, if the person visiting is drawn to a quilt she tells them to take it. She said that way she knows the one they chose suits them and they will appreciate the gift. If they ignore the quilts she doesn't bother offering one.

Thinking about this reminded me of my great aunt Molly, she painted and made crocheted animals with clothes and other things I'm sure. She always had stacks of the animals in the corner of her room. When we visited we always played with them and ended up leaving with one we played with the entire visit. She passed away when I was very young but I remember playing with them and treasuring those animals for years and never forgot who gave them to me. I think that's the trick in gifting handmade items and a good model to follow.

Since my vacation not much has been happening in my sewing room or anywhere else. I wish I could say it's the beautiful weather but it's been a pretty rainy summer so far. I've got so much I could be doing and I think that's part of the problem. My space is a chaotic mess, I'd moved things and scrunched things together to use the room as a storage/sleeping area while we did the flooring in the girls room. The basement has been a catchall for all the stuff  no one wants in their room but isn't ready to commit to toss either. Up next is our bedroom then my sewing room. Can't wait!!

Hopefully next post I'll have something quilty to post!

Vacation time over and a finished top

I took 3 weeks of my annual vacation early this year. I have to say it flew by in flash. This year's vacation was more of a renocation. We've been laying oak hardwood. We didnt get as far as we hoped with waiting for home depots yearly flooring sale, long weekend bumping delivery a full week, then acclimating the wood and Chris's work schedule. We got one room done, have two last rows on second room which Chris will finish tomorrow (the beauty of working rotating shift work - he only works 3 days a week and has a full seven day off shift stretch every forth week) The second room was fully painted and started laying flooring down on part of one hallway when trying to figure out the girls doorways. We ran into some major frustration with both rooms doors and bathroom being angled toward each other & door frames were butted up against one another. Did I mention we also discovered our walls aren't straight and in some areas actually concave. Still to go is our room, my office, the hallway to my office and the stairs.

1st room done

Seeing we had to remove the baseboards and doors/closets we decided to take advantage and give them all a wash and fresh coat of paint. What I always forget is how much prep work is required before you can do your first paint stroke. We did find that working as a team the job of laying the hardwood goes much faster but I've used muscles I forgot I had!! The only sewing I got done was EPP, my office was out of commission with moving the girls stuff in there while we worked on their rooms.

2nd room in progress

I did finish the top to Madison's petal patch top the weekend before vacation! Yay! I probably won't get it finished until after the floors are all done and we have everything back in its proper rooms. Here is a quick picture of it - I just noticed it still needs a trim on the heart of that last side. There are some mistakes and fudging that happened that are fairly apparent but I am so happy this one is ready for the next stage!

Well that's it for now. I'm exhausted, have more splinters than I can count but its back to the grind bright and early. I will need to be at my best to try and tackle my work inbox which is going to be a nightmare!

Petal Patch on hold while I finished this...

My daughter Madison got a new tablet last week, so I decided to surprise her with a case. We'll what started off as a quick project took a lot longer than I expected.

I made Hazel Hedgehog from Fancy Forest for the first time using the same fabric from her quilt. It turned out a bit more crinkly after the wash then I anticipated & took two turns in the dryer to  dry. If you're wondering how it went read on ...
First face, Surprise! my quarter inch was not exact (was slightly larger) and as you can imagine with this pattern accuracy is a must. So I remade all the pieces for the face.
Second face, I oriented the body/leg the wrong way even after reading the warning. I even flipped it down before cutting but still didn't catch it so big slice down the face with the block going the wrong way.  So on to making face number three, I have to say by then it was going much easier.
While working on the third, my presser foot broke. The lever went up and as soon as I moved my hand away it fell. The foot, well it never moved from down position. Yep, my trusty model singer I bought in '92 was having a bad day. Thankfully, as Chris was at his parents 5 hours away, I jumped over to the 128k that has been gathering dust off to side in my sewing room. Actually this turned out to be a blessing in disguise. 9 layers of fabric and batting for that one section with that front pocket & binding. My '90's model while pretty darn rugged never would have gotten through all that! It was slow going at times, broke one needle and after a needle change & a good clean she kept on chugging. I forgot how much I love that machine, no searching under my desk for foot peddle (knee peddle in table) and as far as straight stitch -she's a dream.
Quilting was done on the 128 and my powerquilter 16. I need to practice a lot more, my free motion is a bit too free at times lol.

Hazel or maybe I should say Myrrh the hedgehog (Madison's Christmas gift 2 years ago pictured above) tablet case has been given and is now protecting her tablet.  I will make this block again along with the other blocks in the Fancy Forest. Next time with a few learning lessons in my quilting toolbelt.

Hope everyone had a lovely weekend 🌷🐞

May already

I have no clue where last month went. I haven't made much progress on Madi's quilt since last post but I have to say, I've been whipping through hexies at a good rate. I've been working on them each evening while spending time with the family. All the the middles (25 in total) are done and I started surrounding them in black. I was going to try to make each into square blocks and orient them all going in different directions. I obviously didn't think this through completely (surprise, surprise) they aren't going to turn out into a perfectly centered square block size.

I'm discouraged its not going to be how I envisioned it. Truthfully,  it's all I can do not to put these aside and start on my next hexie project. Whats stopping me is I still haven't decided if it's going to be a star pattern or grandmothers flower garden (minus the extra border). I already bought the fabric Early Bird by Kate Spain. I do love anything stars but I think this fabric in a mass of flowers would be stunning.

Plans are still underway for our vacation reno projects and I'm getting more excited about it as it gets closer. It has gotten me thinking about other little touches we can make around the house to spruce it up. Like new lighting fixtures in the bedrooms, rearranging furniture to maximize our space (we really need to do a major purge first - seriously where does all this stuff come from?!?). We also found an incredible sink on sale that would really change the look of our powder room, but we'll see about that. Most importantly, I think we have finally decided on a new paint colour for the main living spaces (which I'm already starting to second guess). I will show you after its all done. As for my sewing room, it will stay the pale pink we painted last year. I can't believe it's been a year already since Martin moved to his own apartment... and yes his quilt is still waiting for me to sandwich and quilt it. I swear it's next on the list.

Madi's Petal Patch blunder

Spring has sprung in Ottawa!!  This past week was rainy and between 3-10°C , today 17° and Monday they are foecasting 22°! Thats 62 and 71 F for all those in US

I didn't get as much time spent in the sewing room as I was hoping for the past few weeks, but I did get a good chunk of the pinwheels cut and sewn into hst's last weekend for Madi's quilt. I got all the pinwheels made yesterday and started sewing them on today.

Now for the blunder- On Wednesday after work I was putting together a few more hst's to make the pinwheels and checking they were correct size once together. Then started thinking (never a good thing). So these pinwheels are 5 1/2 which will be ... WAIT!! I need them 5 1/2 finished (insert your favorite expletive here because I probably said it at least once). So back to basic math which got me in this mess to begin with if I add small strips between each pinwheel that will work. Crisis averted but sadly it took awhile to come up with that. Having to fudge it as I go it's slower moving but it's coming along :) I'm hoping to get some time in this week to get the 3rd and 4th sides on before the weekend.

As I mentioned last post, Reeg's quilt design continues to weigh heavy on my mind... no decisions yet. When talking to her she mentioned one of her friends is moving soon and she was hoping to make her a house warming quilt.. yes you read that correctly - she wants to make a quilt! I have heard this before so we'll have to wait and see.

I've started picking at hexies in evenings again. I have no clue what I'm going to do with these but I just enjoy the process of sewing these little piece together. I would love to try the other shapes and actually finish something. I currently have 3 hexie projects in progress at different stages but then get so far in and then it starts I should have done ... I didn't get enough fabric, what was I thinking when I... you get the picture.

The countdown to my holidays is on - 5 weeks & 4 days to go! At this time our plan is to tackle some bigger projects on our honey-do list. More on that when it happens.

Madi's quilt & a catch up

This wasn't the beginning of the post that I was expecting to write. I know its been awhile since my last post so you'll have to take my word for it... I've updated the look of my blog. Blogger popped up change your look then showed me the online and mobile views. The mobile view was horrifying. I'll be honest I hit post and never look at what anyone else sees. I try to make my pictures large size so it's easy to see without having to click on the picture to fill the screen then I orient it left or right and put text beside. Looks good online but is unreadable by mobile. It shows the picture and beside it a few characters then new line, more characters...

Heres an example what I saw on the mobile view
Imagine the picture is here then text : thi
                                    Picture continues:  s is
                                    Picture continues: My Q
                                    Picture continues: uilt
             
While I was playing with the layout I decided for a new theme. I may change it again now that I will be looking at the previews on posting. Lesson learned.

Enough of that and onto the quilt progress. Madi's quilt has been back up on the wall since finishing my Christmas quilt at the end of Jan. I've put a lot of thought into what to do with this. It's taken me 6 weeks of picking at it here and there. Flowers have been appliqued, blocks were trimmed and connected into 4 patches.  I'd been dreading stitching the fused flowers but once I got going it wasn't so bad - there will be no question if this is a homemade quilt though LOL. With the center done I played around with adding multiple borders to fill the rest of the space but it just isn't the look I want. At the moment I'm thinking pinwheels as the next section ... I did make a sample (actually a few) and the purple'ish fabric is too dark as the background. I went scrounging for the right white. It's not bright white and just a touch off snow, seems plain white I bought a mini bolt of for my farmers wife is the winner. I need to label my fabric and write the colors down for my projects ... another lesson learned. Pictured I still need to trim the borders and join the patches. You can see that pinwheel peeking from the top left

The leaders and enders quilt is slowly growing and I have stacks of 2, 3 & 4 patches which I need to join to make rows of 5. It's such a happy spring quilt! Pictures were taken at night. If you squint at that picture I kind of like the thinner white gap between the bottom blocks. Hmmm something to play with before joining them.

While I'm not working on Madi's I've been searching for inspiration for Reeg's quilt. I guess my over buying fabric is really working in my (her?) favor, if I change direction again this will be the third attempt on her quilt. The scraps from the previous two fails will be pulled apart and go in a scrap bin. Reeg had her 19th birthday since my last post - it's her lucky year so maybe I'll actually get her quilt done... I've only been sitting on these since Sept 2014.

For international quilt day I spent it glued to thequiltshow.com. I can't believe how talented their guests are. They break down the process so well it takes some of the fear out of trying new techniques like curves. I really enjoyed the site!

In other news, I can't believe we are in the home stretch of March already. I've got a handle on two of my 2017 goals ..time to add another. I'd like to say it will be my 15 minutes daily in the sewing room I guess I'll try adding them all and see which one sticks. My 9 to 5 job has been hectic & I'll leave it at that. I've been in meetings all week, thankfully I can do them remotely. They wanted me to travel but it's not a good time for my family and honestly I over did the work travel for a few years and just don't have the travel bug right now. Even though I'm not in the room I've been staying out of my emails and apps. I know if I multitask I'm going to miss something important and be sorry later.

So that's it for now. Hopefully I will have more progress to show by the end of the weekend & a new haircut if my daughter can find the time. It's nearly waist length and I'm wanting something light going into spring/summer. Unless I chicken out again and just have her cut off a couple of inches.

All Wrapped Up done!

I have finally finished my Christmas quilt! My first finish of 2017 and am already tied for the number of quilts I fully finished last year. I'll be honest I can't wait to put it to use next Christmas. Pictures were taken right after I pulled it out of the dryer. This is my favorite part of making a quilt. I love the feel and smell of a freshly washed quilt. I get such a surge of happiness and sense of accomplishment seeing it all done! I really need to step up my game so I get to have this feeling more than once or twice a year...

With that done it's time to look at what to work on next. Sigh I know the girls quilts have been neglected way to long and they ask about them everytime they see me in my sewing room.

My list of changes for the 'Year of me'  has continued to be hit or miss. I do really well with one or two things and rest go ignored. The past few weeks my focus has been on my health, this is really helping me have a more positive outlook overall. I still would like to be more consistent with that 15 minutes of sewing play and extra organization each day and blog more. I'm a continual wip and I'm ok with that.

Here's a last look this time of the back. You can't tell from the picture but the quilting after the wash made it puffy and the chenille is so soft!

Wishing everyone a wonderful week!

Changes

Quilting is half finished on 'All Wrapped Up' and I'm hoping to finish that today. I started with an all over stipple and didn't love it so ripped it out and tried something else. While I was doing it I kept thinking octopus shape without tentacles, then it started looking like ribbons. So either way I'm really happy with it. I'd like to have binding finished by next week, then a quick wash and it's ready for next Christmas.

What to work on next? I really should finish Martin's quilt but I need to figure out a better method of sandwiching and basting. My back aches after being on the floor and I need to pick up more safety pins - I have no clue where they all went.

Madison's petal patch quilt keeps begging for attention. I need to push through and get it off my UFO list. With that one comes Reeghan's kansas troubles donuts... maybe if I put 15 minutes a day on one of these then swap to another project it will go better. Hmmm tricks we play on ourselves to get the job done...

After my last post I worried that it was TMI or came off as 'poor me'. It wasn't meant that way, that post has been written in some form or other 4 or 5 times since my birthday but deleted before publishing. I decided if this was what each blog post morphed into, it was time to get it out and actually do something about it

All of the goals have been hit and miss but I have found that they are at the forefront of my mind at all times and have already noticed a difference. Bought an elliptical which will be delivered this week so the 15 minutes of exercise should start improving. I do need to schedule my day better. Honestly, I need to get up earlier and do my exercise first thing in the morning..

Happy 2017!!

This year will be a better year. In order for that to happen I need to make some changes. Some of these changes are the same as previous years - get organized, lose 10 (or more) pounds, exercise daily, eat healthier ...  others are more related to the past few years. Somewhere along the way I lost my happy. I used to be the first to laugh at myself. During stressfull times at work, I used to tell my boss the glass is half-full and there is a full bottle on the table and we'd get through. I'm not saying I didn't have moments, but they just made me dig in harder to solve the issue always with a positive attitude. Thats how I lived in all aspects of my life. So it's time to start re-evaluating and find that happy positive me again. Some I can put down as actual tasks, others are mindset.

I've decided to start small so its not overwhelming and build from there.
For the next 365 days I will make time daily to have:
15 minutes of sewing related activity epp hexies/cutting/sewing
15 minutes of exercise (preferably outside of the house)
15 minutes of cleaning/organizing something (junk drawer, closets, etc)
Track my food - making smarter choices (this includes cutting back my coffee consumption)

Once per week (minimum)
Write a blog post
Bake or cook something that's not our usual 'easy night' meal
Take a picture of something that makes me happy

The biggest thing for this year is to stop allowing others negativity/issues affect me at work and at home. If others don't want to do their job that's on them, I'll do what I can to help and if it gets passed on to me thats what I'm paid for. If someone wants to bitch/moan I don't need to take their baggage on myself. I don't have to compromise myself or my thoughts/feelings in order to try to placate others.

I've discovered that negativity is a very tangible thing. When others start adding to my stress or whining or huffing or stomping or bitching, I can feel my chest start to tighten, my face and ears start to burn, my mood immediately changes, I start eating junk and a headache is soon to follow. No more!

This seems like a bit of a bummer post but actually it's a post of hope. 2017 WILL be a better year because I'll make changes within myself that bring positivity back in my life.

Blogger gone crazy...& an update on the Christmas quilt

Seems I published my last post 3 times!?! I hit publish and it went to a blank post, going to dashboard it showed my post as draft so I went in and hit Publish again same result. So I closed then went back in -- still at draft. Repeated the process a 3rd time. After that final publish where it finally took me back to dashboard after publish it showed 3 publishes of the same post. Gahhhh... so if you saw my post mulitple times last weekend I do apologize.

I didn't get my Christmas quilt sandwiched during the week as I hoped. Saturday was a lot of running around, Sunday morning cleaning while Chris did the groceries. I finally brought the backing, batting and top downstairs Sunday afternoon and got it done using spray adhesive then pinned. I have some leftover backing that I will have to make a mini quilt for the dogs with. As soon as I layed it down the dogs were all over it. I don't blame them the backing is incredibly soft.  I had thought about how I was going to quilt it while watching season 2 marathon of The Fall on Netflix. I think I'm going to start by an all over stitch in the ditch and go from there. I may make the mini quilt first, quilt it and see how it looks from the back before start in on the lap quilt. As you can see in the picture there are two identical blocks side by side. The only rule I set for myself on block placement was no two blocks the same side by side. I didn't catch it until I uploaded this picture. Don't you love the flash glaring off the pin -the joys of flash photography using your cell.

What I learned this week from other peoples posts: Stitch in the ditch is actually stitching in the ditch created from pressing to the side. I thought it meant stitching directly over your seam. There was a huge discussion about it on one of the groups I follow on Facebook. As expected there was some differing of opinions which caused the post to be closed to further comments to end the nastiness that had started. The explanation was that stitching directly on your seams can split the thread and weaken the seam but beside the seam strengthens. A few that sew directly on the seam brought up a few other well known quilters that teach to sew on the seam but it was pointed out they all press seams open which changes the rule. This is where I got confused - wouldn't that also cause weakness to your thread and therefore seam?

Honestly, when I'm quilting stitch in the ditch 1/4 end up on the seam, then others one side or the other... and lastly, the ones that end up no where near the seam so that would make me doing it right about 1/4 of the time no matter how you look at it. To loosely paraphrase the admin of the group her final thought was: do what you feel is right and if you sew on the seam and never had an issue keep on keeping on.

Radio silence and a finished top

My blog has been greatly neglected... which indicates how my sewing progess has been going. I've picked at things here and there but not enough to start some momentum. Excuses, well I can come up with a hundred. All valid, but when push comes to shove they are just that - Excuses. This year is speeding through and I have only one full finish so far. I'm all over the place and I jump from one project to the next before completing anything. I was itching to work on something easy but I had so many wip's and ufo's that its hard to justify starting another project. What to do?

The good thing is while I haven't done much of anything, I also hadn't been hitting the fabric stores to add to my fabric hoard. I've discovered my fabric tastes change constantly so unless I need something to complete a current project or I'm going to start a project immediately I'm going to refrain from visiting stores & online shops. Now that I said that, you know a bunch of fabric lines that I will fall instantly in love with are going to start popping up in my social feeds...

Last weekend I took a hard look at what was on my design wall it all seemed too fussy for my poor cluttered brain. Honestly, I can't take anything more intricate right now than strips for a log cabin, rail fence or maybe a rag quilt. With that honest self evaluation the decision was made. That jelly roll from last Christmas is exactly what the sanity police ordered.

I added in the elf material because I just love it. I started by cutting all the strips in 6.5 lengths and a white jelly roll into 2.5 squares. Simple chain piecing sewing one white to one of the Christmas stack.

It didn't take long to get a fair number done, from there combing two strips together then 4.... and voila! Can you believe it? While I know many can fully complete an easy quilt like this in less than a day, it took me about 20 hours from start to finish. I have to say I didn't stress making this one, I just enjoyed the process. I thought it may not be 'Christmassy' enough but my husband thinks it looks like wrapping paper. lol i'll take that as a win and started thinking of this one as All wrapped up..

With the top done I realized I didn't have anything for backing so went to the local fabric shop this afternoon for the first time in months and bought 2 meters of chenille and discovered it was a 40-50 % off everything sale weekend. I stopped myself from looking at anything else and only bought what I went in for.

I'm sure I've mentioned before that I love chenille/minky backs on my quilts I think it makes them a bit more cuddly. So far I've made nothing larger than a lap quilt so I really don't have the worry of extra weight and living in Ontario the warmer the better in winter months. Picture was taken after dark, it's actually more turquoise and matches the colour in the top.

I hope to get this sandwiched and start quilting it by the weekend! Thinking simple quilting and red binding but we'll see once it's all quilted. I haven't been this excited to finish a quilt in a long while!

Radio silence and a finished top

My blog has been greatly neglected... which indicates how my sewing progess has been going. I've picked at things here and there but not enough to start some momentum. Excuses, well I can come up with a hundred. All valid, but when push comes to shove they are just that - Excuses. This year is speeding through and I have only one full finish so far. I'm all over the place and I jump from one project to the next before completing anything. I was itching to work on something easy but I had so many wip's and ufo's that its hard to justify starting another project. What to do?

The good thing is while I haven't done much of anything, I also hadn't been hitting the fabric stores to add to my fabric hoard. I've discovered my fabric tastes change constantly so unless I need something to complete a current project or I'm going to start a project immediately I'm going to refrain from visiting stores & online shops. Now that I said that, you know a bunch of fabric lines that I will fall instantly in love with are going to start popping up in my social feeds...

Last weekend I took a hard look at what was on my design wall it all seemed too fussy for my poor cluttered brain. Honestly, I can't take anything more intricate right now than strips for a log cabin, rail fence or maybe a rag quilt. With that honest self evaluation the decision was made. That jelly roll from last Christmas is exactly what the sanity police ordered.

I added in the elf material because I just love it. I started by cutting all the strips in 6.5 lengths and a white jelly roll into 2.5 squares. Simple chain piecing sewing one white to one of the Christmas stack.

It didn't take long to get a fair number done, from there combing two strips together then 4.... and voila! Can you believe it? While I know many can fully complete an easy quilt like this in less than a day, it took me about 20 hours from start to finish. I have to say I didn't stress making this one, I just enjoyed the process. I thought it may not be 'Christmassy' enough but my husband thinks it looks like wrapping paper. lol i'll take that as a win and started thinking of this one as All wrapped up..

With the top done I realized I didn't have anything for backing so went to the local fabric shop this afternoon for the first time in months and bought 2 meters of chenille and discovered it was a 40-50 % off everything sale weekend. I stopped myself from looking at anything else and only bought what I went in for.

I'm sure I've mentioned before that I love chenille/minky backs on my quilts I think it makes them a bit more cuddly. So far I've made nothing larger than a lap quilt so I really don't have the worry of extra weight and living in Ontario the warmer the better in winter months. Picture was taken after dark, it's actually more turquoise and matches the colour in the top.

I hope to get this sandwiched and start quilting it by the weekend! Thinking simple quilting and red binding but we'll see once it's all quilted. I haven't been this excited to finish a quilt in a long while!

Radio silence and a finished top

My blog has been greatly neglected... which indicates how my sewing progess has been going. I've picked at things here and there but not enough to start some momentum. Excuses, well I can come up with a hundred. All valid, but when push comes to shove they are just that - Excuses. This year is speeding through and I have only one full finish so far. I'm all over the place and I jump from one project to the next before completing anything. I was itching to work on something easy but I had so many wip's and ufo's that its hard to justify starting another project. What to do?

The good thing is while I haven't done much of anything, I also haven't been hitting the fabric stores to add to my fabric hoard. I've discovered my fabric tastes change constantly so unless I need something to complete a current project or I'm going to start a project immediately I'm going to refrain from visiting stores & online shops. Now that I said that, you know a bunch of fabric lines that I will fall instantly in love with are going to start popping up in my social feeds...

Last weekend I took a hard look at what was on my design wall it all seemed too fussy for my poor cluttered brain. Honestly, I can't take anything more intricate right now than strips for a log cabin, rail fence or maybe a rag quilt. With that honest self evaluation the decision was made. That jelly roll from last Christmas is exactly what the sanity police ordered.

I added in the elf material because I just love it. I started by cutting all the strips in 6.5 lengths and a white jelly roll into 2.5 squares. Simple chain piecing sewing one white to one of the Christmas stack.

It didn't take long to get a fair number done, from there combing two strips together then 4.... and voila! Can you believe it? While I know many can fully complete an easy quilt like this in less than a day, it took me about 20 hours from start to finish. I have to say I didn't stress making this one, I just enjoyed the process. I thought it may not be 'Christmassy' enough but my husband thinks it looks like wrapping paper. lol i'll take that as a win!

With the top done I realized I didn't have anything for backing so went to the local fabric shop this afternoon for the first time in months and bought 2 meters of chenille and discovered it was a 40-50 % off everything sale weekend. I stopped myself from looking at anything else and only bought what I went in for.

I'm sure I've mentioned before that I love chenille/minky backs on my quilts I think it makes them a bit more cuddly. So far I've made nothing larger than a lap quilt so I really don't have the worry of extra weight and living in Ontario the warmer the better in winter months. Picture was taken after dark, it's actually more turquoise and matches the colour in the top.

I hope to get this sandwiched and start quilting it by the weekend! Thinking simple quilting and red binding but we'll see once it's all quilted. I haven't been this excited to finish a quilt in a long while!

August the month that kept on giving ...antibiotics?!?

Normally, I hate to see September arrive as it brings with it the end summer which is my favorite season. This year is another story... August couldn't be over fast enough! It gave us a run of nothing but health issues. I started the month with a head cold that turned into Bronchitis and a sinus infection. 10 days of antibiotics cleared me up then Chris lands in the hospital with a perforated colon from diverticulitis. Thankfully he responded to high doses of anitbiotics and was released after 5 days and was off work for another week. His work is very physical and with 13 hour shifts I won't say it's been an easy road the past weeks but at this point I don't think he'll need surgery. He has a follow up with the surgeon this week, hopefully with the major dietary changes that have happened while he's healing then once healed high fiber lifestyle minus nuts/seeds or corn/popcorn for him will be enough to prevent another bout.

My day job has been more insane than usual but since Chris being discharged we've been walking in the evenings which is really helping me shake off the stresses of the day.

On the sewing front not a lot to report but and I almost have the top of the surprise quilt done after a power session over the long weekend. Hopefully I will get it finished next weekend.

Most of our spare time has been spent looking at the house with a critical eye and discussing how to make our house work bether for us. The want list is high and many are on the someday plan but a few have made it to first priority list. More on that when the ideas are more than a planning phase.

Hopefully next post will be full of quilted goodness

Tales from a slacker

My title pretty much sums up my last month. During the workday, I look longingly at my sewing machine and never make my way back after dinner. My days off, I couldn't get my butt up to my sewing room. This week has been the exception....

My husband put a project on my plate (probably to motivate me). I'd post more but it's a gift and he keeps telling people to check my blog. With my luck that one person would see the post. He even bought a fat quarter bundle online last week which arrived Thursday.  The fabric is bit dark so on Saturday afternoon I bought some orange for the background to brighten it up. Again, this quilt has stars (not really a big surprise I love stars!).

Also getting me going was starting an fmq sampler. A few months ago I joined the facebook sit down free motion quilters group, I hadn't done any of the exercises but enjoyed looking at what everyone posts. A bunch of new followers got together to do the sampler that was first released when the group was created. This all happened Tuesday and I responded I'd do it as well, I check the post around 8pm Wednesday and apparently it started that day. I got my whole clothcut sandwiched, printed off the work sheets to build muscle memory and worked those for a few days. I finally got ready on Saturday and I'm pretty pleased how it turned out. A bit shakey in areas and some holes but overall not bad for my first attempt. More importantly I'm looking forward to the next lesson!

Lastly, just a quick kid brag moment. My youngest graduates from high school at the end of June. She finished her self directed classes early so she has 2 spares out of 4 classes for the rest of this semester. Long story short she asked the art teacher if she could do a painting just to burn time until her last class of the day started. To the left is the result of that few hours.

Busy busy busy

It's been awhile since my last post. My new sewing room/office has had a bit of jigging, hutch moved out second design area put up and a new to me sewing machine has moved in.  

Mom has been holding on to her mothers sewing machine for over 30 years and decided it was a shame for it to be unused. My Grannie Jean bought this machine in the 60's brand new and was her pride and joy.  Its a Singer touch and sew model 600. She was self taught sewer, knitter, crocheter. She made most of their clothes (8 kids) and was an incredible smocker. All the pieces are in the accessory box and in a cabinet she bought for this machine with knee control. The stool is a trasure trove sewing box full of needle, pickers, pins, thread, etc with a few things added by my mom over the years . This machine needs some minor TLC (oiling, cleaning) but is in fabulous shape considering it's been sitting since her death in '83.

Sewing box 

This Thursday (May 19th) would have been her 102 birthday.  She was an incredible woman and I think of her everytime I see this machine. I am very lucky to have received this incredible machine

I have made some progress on M's Petal patch quilt and my leaders/enders project. More on that next  post!

Sewing room relocation part 2 with pictures

As I mentioned last post, my sewing room prep was finished by Thursday and after work Friday we kicked into high gear to get my stuff upstairs. I had high hopes that I'd be able to fold and organize as I set up, but that was too slow with so much to move. So it was more of a whirlwind of activity of grab and stuff. By 8pm we were fizzled but we had most of big items in the new space. Pictured Chris and his constant entourage.

Friday night

Saturday morning we were back at it. As we went,  Chris suggested some changes to the arrangement of furniture - design wall covering the closet, pfaff moved between the shelves, hutch on opposite wall. The minute it was out of his mouth I could picture it because we'd pushed the pfaff against the shelves Friday night to keep the room free as we brought more up and the having that extra space kept the room feeling spacious. Saturday night I put M's Petal Patch quilt on the design wall and am feeling inspired to get working on this again. I'm really spoiled to have this space!

Tested my Internet, hardwired I got 145 mbps (megabits per second) download 11.5 mbps upload and in my new room which I currently can only use wifi... 60 mbps download and 10.5 mbps upload. Still pretty nice speeds, we will be figuring out how to get a LAN cable up from the basement to the room, but in the meantime I'll be roughing it LOL there's a prime example of a first world problem. Can you believe dial up was 56 kbps (kilobits per second) and until we became hispeed junkies that was awesome!?! I decided to try putting my monitors on the high shelf - previously my desk was switched docking station was under the shelf and monitors on the single desk. I also got rid of the keyboard tray and raised my chair. It's an easy switch back if I don't like it.

MT left his 21 inch tv, he bought a 4k 50" tv that was on sale for half price. I decided that it was all I need for my room. We attached a chromecast, connected Netflix and called it done. Chris thinks we need a a larger tv but thats not high on my priority list. On the same shelf are my Georges. I might have mentioned before I love monkeys, but I'm especially partial to Curious George receiving my first George at 4 when I went to the hospital for the first time. The three closest to the tv represent a time when I needed strength/comforting and we're given to me by my mom. The little one was the first gift my youngest R bought for me on her own - she found him at a garage sale and brought him home. The angry birds the furbabies found in the back of the closet and they thought it made a great chew toy.  That needs to go in Mt's treasure box.

My cold is at its worst today, I'm completely exhausted. My room is done and I really want to sew but I can't find the energy to cut fabric. I thought about working on hexies but I have a whack of 2.5 squares that I'm using for leaders and enders. I set my iron up right beside my sewing machine and I'm hoping these will help scratch the itch

Sewing room relocation

With MT leaving the nest, his room was up for grabs. Our home was built as a 3 bedroom with bonus family room on the upper floor. It was perfect for our large family. Originally this room was shared by the girls, Mt had the smallest room & CJ and B shared the other when they came over every second weekend. As needs changed, the 3 that lived here full time were moved into their own rooms and the basement was finished for the boys. MT grudgingly took the largest room because both girls felt it was too big. This 16 x 19 foot room is over the garage and has big windows that let's in a lot of natural light during the day. (Picture below was taken around 8:30 pm so lighting is yellowed )

One major item I want but just can't do at this time is put in hardwood flooring. So here is the plan -  as mentioned before we did a complete paint job & steam cleaned the carpet. Once carpet was dry we put up shelving on one wall. The other wall is going to be a design wall, my primary machines will be in the middle of the room and my cutting table in one corner with some shelving mounted above.

Here's where we were waffling - should I move my office upstairs and what to about lighting. Moving my office would really make my days brighter with all the natural light and I could even sit facing the window, but it's going to eat up real estate lol. This room has its own hallway leading into the room, so Chris suggested making my design wall smaller & using the hall walls for additional design walls (seeing I always have multiple projects on the go) then I can switch them out as wanted. This should give me space for my office. For lighting, he is thinking multiple overheads across the cathederal ceiling that daisy chain to the light switch.

This weekend we move everything up and find a solution for my Internet. For work I prefer to be hardwired, we have some spotty areas in the house and this room seems to be the worst. There must be something in the walls interrupting the signal ??

Unfortunately, I've been popping Advil cold and sinus pills since this morning. I have a cold starting and I'm fighting tooth and nail not to let it kick my but but I know the minute the med start wearing off and it's not pretty. Fingers crossed I can keep going because I'm hoping to have everything done by Sunday so I can get sewing :)

Mt's Big Move

Well, the big move is done. It was harder than I ever realized it would be to leave without him. Chris had taken the truck back around 1. My dad and I stayed to finish up - Dad and Mt putting furniture together and me washing & setting up the kitchen.

When we were all done my dad turned to Mt and said ready to go? After a second or two of silence we all had a quiet laugh. For weeks we'd been focused on this day and had spent all day unpacking Mt and in that moment reality hit. From our front door to Mt's aptartment is only a 20 minute drive, but pulling away felt like he lived much further.

Mom called me shortly after dad got home and we made arrangements to take Martin out today (Sunday) to continue our search for curtains. We started off at Ikea and picked up a few things like dish rack,  plastic mat to go under computer chair but no luck on curtains. Off to Walmart, we did find curtains in colours that would work in his apartment but no ceiling mounts.

My Dad thought about a drapery store he saw in one the malls near by. We found the hardware we needed but boy they were expensive. Back to his apartment he and dad installed the curtains while mom and I did some dishes and small things. It was hard leaving again but we've left him in a really great place so I'm trying to stay focused on that.

Chris took advantage of the cold day and started working on my sewing room. He got the pin holes filled (my kids really love tacking stuff all over their walls), walls wiped down and had just started painting when I got home. By 7:30 he finished the entire first coat.

I washed the windows and scrapped the Crayola window clingers off the windows. Those were originally put up by the girls years ago. We did try taking them off at one point when Martin moved into the room but we didn't get very far - they had baked on and I was concerned I'd break the window so we left them to deal with another time and forgot abut them. Chris looked through his tools and found a razorblade scraper. It took over an hour of scrapping to get those sucker's off. It must have been loud outside, everyone who walked by looked up and waved. LOL I think they thought I was banging to get their attention. As you can see, we still have a few things to clear out of the room. Chris has some touch ups and wants to start the trim after work tomorrow. I'm hoping I'll be able to steam clean the rug Wednesday night. If things keep moving, we might be able to start moving stuff up next weekend!

Hope every has a great week!