Canada Day

July 1st is a holiday in Canada and what did I do? 

Nothing!! 

Why? 

Because my press iron decided to quite on me. Traitor!!

Yes, this is Friends' Favourite. I needed to press the back again before trying to roll it, again, on the quilting frame . . . straight!! Doing things outside is always so nice, right? 

While my DH was changing the electric cord on the iron, I decided to move a piece of furniture closer to the stairs. My SIL wants my old sewing cabinet. Yes, please. Get it out of here since I'm not using it. Make room. Anywho! I digress. So DH comes down the stairs and gives me back my fixed-iron and says: 

Do you really think you can bring this upstairs all by yourself? 

My reply: Is that a dare? (Lol.)

DH comes around the cabinet to help me but his foot caught on the stairs/cabinet and he loses his balance, fell on his side where the furnace is. Fearing the worst, I panicked for a minute. Somehow his head missed the furnace corner, somehow his wrist, arm, hip, knee  didn't break when hitting the cement floor that hard, but he cut his thumb. Badly! One trip to the emergency later, he now has 5 stitches on his thumb and they weren't done by me. (We still haven't figured out on what he cut himself.) 

By the time we came back home, the storm was in full swing and we had a power failure. No sewing! I was so annoyed that I went to bed. Such an ugly and frustrating day off. Not fair. I want a refund.

(My patience level)

P.S. Yes, the cabinet made it up the stairs and into the garage, waiting for SIL to pick it up. My sons did the hauling. 

Anywho! On the 2nd of July, we had a new girl starting at the office. Yes, I'm the one training this one too. Danika will be our receptionist as I am being "promoted" to different tasks. I get home very tired because training someone takes a lot out of you. So, again not much sewing. 

(The clean space beside my sewing machine didn't stay clear for long. Sigh!)

But things will change soon. Once Danika is comfortable at the front, I will move at the "back" of the office and do accounting and paperwork stuff. I will still be the receptionist during her lunch break and vacation, but I'll mostly be away from phone and clients. I'm SO looking forward to this change I can barely wait. Yeah! No more phone calls. 

Can you see the *beautiful* yellow plug my press iron now has?  Lol. I don't care. It works and that's all that matters to me. A few weeks ago, I got a neon light under the window because in the evening this corner gets very dark. 

DH added a plug for the neon and it can accommodate the iron plug too. This makes it easier on me as I don't have to bend down behind the milk crates anymore. Yay! Not very pretty, but again, I'm the only queen who will see this. Ha, ha! 

Do you have a super power? I do. I'm a *Piler* ! 

I'm excellent at piling things on any AND every flat surfaces. (Maybe I should add this skill of mine to my job resume, lol.) Under this pile of fabric is the box of crumb blocks made through the years. Instead of just removing the box from the bottom, I sorted, folded or cut and put away every single pieces. 

Awh! I'm so proud of me. Now, my goal of emptying the bag of bits can continue. 

Speaking of! I finished the red star and did a second one in the colours of the month. I used a green centre. 

Needless to say, it will be a very interesting quilt. 

While working on emptying the bag of bits, I found a tiny little piece that I couldn't throw away because the letters C and P are on it. 

So, I turned it into a mug rug just for ME with lots of orange and aqua. 

You know what the C stands for and I bet you can figure out what is the first letter of DH's name. I'm such a romantic. The scraps in here come from the bag except for the cat strip on top. I dug it out of the "dark whites" because I wanted more cats. It's ready to be quilted. 

I had lost Angela!! *So Scrappy* and *RSC* posts weren't coming to my Reading List anymore. I went to the list of blogs I follow and clicked on the name of her blog and all I got was her June 27th post. No newest post. I clicked on that, the post opened, clicked on her Home page in order to have the latest post. I unfollowed her blog and closed the page. Reopened the page and clicked on Follow in order to have her back in my feed. Sigh! 

Is this happening with the comments too? If Angela was to comment on my post, would I get it? 

I wonder what will Blogger think of doing next to get on my nerves!! How many others have I missed because of its shit-nanigan?

Anywho!! DH is getting the stitches out today. Hopefully, he will return to being a useful partner. Lol. And I have to continue sewing the flannelette backings for the baby quilt. I am not as far along as I would like to be. Pedal to the metal, girl.  

Some pieces are measured. Need to figure out which one will go with what. 

Have a happy sewing week! ;^)

As always, I'll try to catch these talented ladies' link-party. See you there. 

Angela at So Scrappy

Frédérique at Patchwork and Quilts

Alycia for Finished or Not Friday

Cynthia for Oh Scrap!

Look At My Bag!

Well, it didn't diminish as much as I thought it would but still . . .

this week (June 26)

when first started (June15)

It's smaller. I'll keep working on it as I have other ideas floating around my head. Always ideas. Lol.
BTW, Sara, you have a lovely sense of humour. I might have steer you into thinking this was my only bag of bits, but I assure you I have more, lol. Not only are there other bags but the containers in this photo are also holding some bits; those that are properly cut like 1.5" squares, 1.5 X 2.5" rectangles, and 2" triangles. Do not worry for me, please, I have plenty of scraps to play with. Thanks.😁

I goofed on one block. Of course, it was the last block in the making. 😒 The blue fabric is cut in a 9.5 X 8.5 inches "square". Then I cut once at an angle, any angle, don't measure from the left or the right side, just go at an angle and slash! After the rectangle of bits is added, it gets trimmed to a proper 9.5 square. I cut the last blue "square" on the 8.5"! Sigh! 

See what I mean? 

Yes, the block was completely sewn and ironed before I realized my mistake. Just leave it, girl. At this point, I went to bed. Too tired to stir some sh*t. 

Next sewing session started with the hunt for more of that print. Thank goodness my stash is STILL extensive. Ha! 

I'm losing the cow print but what can I do? I'm not unstitching that log with all those seams! No! Just sew up another one. Much simpler and more fun too. 😃

I looked at this one for a while and thought: why not make another quilt with 8.5 squares instead of 9.5"? Here we go again! Straight into another project, lol. 

EVENTUally, the bits turned into a top. This is the fastest quilt I've ever made. It stands at 37 X 46. 

I really like it. It will be added to be the baby quilt drive. Do I have enough red chunks to make a second one? LOL !! (please, stop me someone. Anyone!!) 

I managed to piece 3 backings from flannelette scraps for the baby quilt drive. The fourth is almost big enough; just one more long strip to add. Only 16 more to go. 😶

Now back to the bag: I continued working on the bits and bobs. Sorry but some HSTs didn't want to behave this morning. They kept curling up. 

Crumbs blocks standing at 4.5" and a new project.  OF COURSE a new project, because you know I needed a new one, lol. 

Some blocks are monochrome-ish while others are whatever-comes-out-of-the-bag. (yes that is a blue trimming from the top.)

This tiny little rainbow piece in the centre of the block (rainbow lines on aqua background) is finishing at 1/2 by 3/4" long. Don't ask me why. Please, don't. Lol. 

The first goal is to use up the bits in the bag: the second "goal" is to make Crumb Stars. (Wait. What? Who decided that?) 😆

The idea isn't very far along here but I'm sure you'll get my drift. The pink point will stay in this one but the other points will all be red. If I keep all the star points in one colour I think it will unify it a little bit. What do you think? 

Well, that's all I have for now. Next Wednesday is Canada Day, meaning, finally, a day off work. Hopefully, more sewing will happened. 

One more picture because why not?  

P.S. this is the link for the original pattern: tilkkunen.com/products/scilla-quilt-pattern?

Enjoy! ;^)

As always, I'll try to catch these talented ladies' link-party. See you there. 

Angela at So Scrappy

Frédérique at Patchwork and Quilts

Alycia for Finished or Not Friday

Cynthia for Oh Scrap!

Instead Of Doing What Needs to be Done

I ended up doing some mindless sewing. . . 

just sewing bits together . . . 

. . . and something new got started. Sigh! 

I'm ashamed to say that I am not as well organized as Terry is (check her post about string piecing here) but I'm trying to empty this big bag of bits.

This bag is my catch-all. These bits aren't big enough to go in the strings box. They are the too-tired-to-cut-them-into-a-useable-size square, and the don't-want-to-throw-it-out bits. As you can see, it's pretty full. 

Not everything in there is a linear bit; many are odd shapes and cutoffs from blocks. So, some of these bits get a different treatment. 

I was able to get a little 2" HST out of the green piece before adding it to another "string" bit. 

The width needed is 3.5". 

And this process happened again and again . . . 

It's always handy to have spare parts already made, right? 

I keep adding strings until I have a long and narrow rectangle. 

The pink bits on the left are the cutoffs from Stained Glass block. Didn't even bother to unstitch these, and yep, everything goes in that bag. 

Then, I added the blues. 

This is my newest project. I'm supposed to be sewing flannelette for the backings for the baby quilt drive but I just needed a break from everything and this happened. They are fun and require not much brain juice which is perfect because my juice is running low lately, lol. 

Anywho! This is another of Cathy's inspiration. She finished a top called *Busy Quilt* (very lovely) and she added a link. Of course, I had to click on the link. Why?! If there's a rabbit hole in front of me, you think I'll think twice before jumping in? You don't know me very well, do you? LOLLL ! 

The first Rabbit Hole : tilkkunen.com/products/busy-quilt-pattern

and I clicked on and on to see more rabbit holes pages and this one opened up 

tilkkunen.com/products/scilla-quilt-pattern?

and there you have it! My new project. I'm calling mine *Inside My Blue*. When I get the blues, that's what's going through my head, lol. 

Only a few blocks are made so far. More will be made with a variety of blue backgrounds. This is not the final layout but it pleases me so far. 

Friends' Favourite is still not straight on the frame. So I thought of buying some tailor's pins or T-pins because they are flat tops and not bulky. So, early this morning, I went to Fabricland Store to buy the needles and the much needed tailor's pins. 

I got home with this. I don't recall having fabric on my shopping list so I don't understand what happened . . .  but they sure are pretty. Lol. (There was a $5/meter sale!! Just my luck. Haven't been in that store for a year or two and the day I walk in, they decide to have a sale just for me.) 😁

And the comments are still MIA in my inbox. Sigh! 😒 Thank you all for your suggestions.

OMG! I just found your comments!! They are in my junk box!! I've rescued them out of there and hopefully your next comments will be saved in the right box. WhooHoo! I'm so happy! 😍

Hope you are well and find time to sew. I need to take care of my garden in containers this weekend. We had SO much rain this week that everything is over-watered. 

Enjoy! 

;^)

As always, I'll try to catch these talented ladies' link-party. See you there. 

Angela at So Scrappy

Frédérique at Patchwork and Quilts

Alycia for Finished or Not Friday

Cynthia for Oh Scrap!

It's a Top!

Another week has gone by and look what I did. I'm SO happy!!

Friends' Favourite was missing a border (?), sashing part (?), whatever, it was missing a few little bits of scraps. As I sew the quadrants together, these little bits were added. And then . . . 

TA-DAH! 

I couldn't take a picture outside as it was raining here last week. This morning, before I thought of taking more photos of it, I started (and finished) setting it up on the quilting frame. It is way too big for my little domestic machine so it will get the hand quilting treatment. Lucky one! 

It's 100 X 100 inches and it was quite a workout to get it all straight (not even sure about that) and on the frame. 

Luckily I found some yardage in my stash. Yards and yards of this rainbow dot print was given to me a long time ago. At the time, I thought I could get 2 or 3 backings out of it but nope. It mostly all went in this one. 

Notice anything peculiar in this photo? Nothing is the right answer. There's nothing at all in the selvage. No company name, no designer name, not even "100% cotton", etc. just the colours and they aren't even aligned properly. Ever seen this before? 

I'm happy to be using it because there's a big empty space on the shelf now. 😁

While putting away all the fabric needed to make a scrap quilt like Friends' Favourite, I found these bits. 

It's a dizzying print in person. They weren't cut in any size I could used, so I trimmed them all down to 2.5" squares. They were joined to dark green scraps and grew into this. 

I found the same print in brown and chopped it too and used dark brown this time. It's easier in the brown colourway to see how dizzying this print really is. 

I have to admit that the polka-dot one is not my favourite. It might go to OR this weekend to have a "face lift", lol. I have no idea yet where these blocks are heading. Time will tell. 

Reply to comments from previous post: 

Thank you all for your lovely comments. 

Nann suggested to continue sewing the pastel blues together then applique colourful flowers. I SO love this idea, Nann that I will get on it this weekend. I'm thinking a nice little placemat for lovely self. Thank you for the inspiration, Nann. 

Cathy wrote about my issues with comments not coming to my email: 

As far as comment notifications to email...I go into the blogger settings and under the EMAIL heading there is a "comment notification subscribers" section. In the box under there enter the email where you want to receive the notification. That's what works for me. - that way I am a subscriber to comment notifications! Also, I don't know if it makes a difference but I don't moderate comments.

Well, paint me yellow and call me shameful!  I have to be a subscriber to MY OWN blog now? Everything is by subscriptions or with cookies now a days. Sigh!  Anywho! I went straight to the settings and subscribed to my own blog. Fingers crossed (again) that it works.  

Cathy also said that some of those pastel blues look like TriRec Ruler cuttings. 

You are right and I'm thinking of just adding the missing triangle in the middle. They could be use as a border for something, right? They are now in the spare-parts box. 😊

That's all I have for this week, friends. Hope you stay cool (this week, we almost hit 40 Celsius because of the humidity and it's only June!!) hydrated, and able to sew. 

Take care. 

;^)

As always, I'll try to catch these talented ladies' link-party. See you there. 

Angela at So Scrappy

Frédérique at Patchwork and Quilts

Alycia for Finished or Not Friday

Cynthia for Oh Scrap!

What's in the Bag?

Angela announced June as Pastel month. I don't do pastel much. Whatever I have is stashed away with its own colour. (The blue with the blue.) Then, I found this bag given to me a while back (probably longer than I remember) with metal blue, icy blue, grey, etc.

So, I opened it. 

This is what came out. I'm not very good with Y seams and all these pieces are triangles and angular trapezoid shapes. I'm stuck. 

It would be easy to use this piece in a crazy quilt or in a pieced backing but 

what about this one? 😦

Maybe if I add more pieces to shape it into a rectangle it could be used in the same backing as the first one. 😶 ?? There are lots of pieces left. 

These are in pairs. They can be easily sewn into blocks. . . 

or together, into rectangles. 

Decluttering continues! The centres for Friends' Favourite last rows weren't framed in white. Last weekend I worked on that and then put all the white leftovers away. 

Oh look! a clean place. Wow! 

All the blocks are done and assembled into quadrants formation. This weekend, I shall get this space behind the sewing machine cleared so I can sew the long rows of Friends' Favourite without pushing everything off the desk. 

It will be nice to have this one turned into a complete top. 

Good news: next week, at work, I am going back to my regular hours of 8:30 to 4:30. It will be nice to have a regular schedule again. And some energy left for some sewing in the evenings. 😀

On the other hand, your comments are not good news. I still don't receive them in my email inbox even with Joy's help. Here's what I'm thinking: I'm in Canada and Joy is in the States. We all know that Google (producer of Blogger) is International but each country has it's own Google Motherboard (lol). Even more, I believe that Canada and the States have more than one each. I'm pretty sure Joy and I don't have updates at the same time nor for the same issues/reasons, nor are the updates coming from the same main office. I'm sure what she has suggested works for some of you. Lucky you. Just not for me. So, I shall continue to reply to you here. 

There were many comments about the new blocks. Thank you. 

- Frédérique asked if the newest block is made with a partial seam. Yes, it is. The long rectangles are sew to the little yellow square in the middle, starting with a partial seam. 

Do you know what I'm thinking now? Only 11 more blocks to do for a baby quilt for my quilt drive. Lol. 

There were also comments about my garden in containers. So far so good. It's still growing and green, not brown like dead weeds, lol. We have rain today that will continue for the next few days. I shall bring my garden indoor so it doesn't drown. Gardening is so much work! 😁

As always, I'll try to catch these talented ladies' link-party. See you there. 

Angela at So Scrappy

Frédérique at Patchwork and Quilts

Alycia for Finished or Not Friday

Cynthia for Oh Scrap!