It's a Friendly Thing

What is Friendship? Friendship is like peeing in your pants. Everyone can see it but only you can feel the warmth of it. 

(BwaaaHahaHa! 🤣 Sorry, but sometimes I crack myself.)

Friends' Favourite was started in January 2023. I "stole" the pattern from Fiona's blog who got it from a friend, who was inspired by another friend's quilt, hence the name Friends' Favourite. 

I worked at it here and there. I wanted to use prints that I like, that talk to me because it will be my quilt. We all know that working on quilts in this fashion takes forever to get them finish.  It was brought to the retreat to get it moving forward. 

The retreat didn't go so well. I got sick. So sick that I called DH to pick me up. What was supposed to be a four day retreat ended after 30 hours. I'm happy to say that none of the ladies got sick . . . yet. 

Anywho! 

While I complained about feeling like a road kill, I managed to sew! And cut! 

There were 133 centres missing to make the 240 blocks needed. I cut those. I framed (25 centres at a time) most of them before it occurred to me that I should lay them out to see if there's a colour I need more of.  

It didn't take long to see that GREEN was in short supply. It's was an easy fix. 

Other colours were added too because they talk to me. 

Needless to say that there are waaayyy too many centres now. I'm sure I can use them in one of the baby quilts. 

This weekend, I shall continue to frame the centres and hopefully get this one together before the end of the year. 

The baby quilt drive is moving along very well. My previous post shows a few finishes if you care to see. I'll try to get better pictures once the snow stops and we get some GOOD lighting for photos. 

Dr. Seam Ripper was called for an emergency surgery this week. He did an excellent job as always. 

Happy ending. 

Hope you are well and sewing to your heart's content. I should be back at work on Monday if this flu skedaddles out of here. So far none of the boys (husband included) are sick. 

Take care! ;^) 

Check these ladies' linky-party for more inspirations

Angela at So Scrappy

Frédérique at Patchwork and Quilts

Alycia for Finished or Not Friday

Cynthia for Oh Scrap!

Show and Tell (part 2)

Five more finished baby quilts made their way to my door steps. Want to see them? 

This one has a piece backing in many different prints. We do what we can. 

This one was made with the lady's own fabric using my pattern called "I Spy with black and white patches". She used the same print through out with navy and yellow patches. I love the Scotties. 

That's all for now. 

Have a great day. ;^)

Show and Tell

Although I have done nothing quilty this week, I still have something to show you. This lady worked hard on the baby quilts and she did a great job!

 

Front - I Spy with black and white

Flannel backing 

Done by Yvonne (a lady at the Artisanat group) with her own fabric. The second one is very inspiring. Check it out. 

The backing and binding of the first quilt comes from my stash (my way of de-stashing) but the second one is entirely hers. I'm in love with it. She contacted me yesterday because she has done the 2 others I brought her and would like to have some more. "More than 2" she said. Gosh! This girl is a machine, lol. So, I'll get the ones she has finished and I'll try to post them before leaving for my retreat next week. 

What else happened this week? Oh, yes, I splurged. 

I got a pre-paid credit card from my boss at Christmas and decided to spend some of it on sewing notions. 

I got a wool-felt mat for ironing. (I'm not sure why I got that because I have no space for it. I'm blaming impulse purchase because of the great price; $3) Also purchased a 12.5" square ruler, some needle threader shaped like little umbrellas, a bag of little clips in a rainbow of colours and 10 spools of variegated thread. 

Aren't the colours pretty? 

That's all I have for today. Hope you are well and can find time to sew. Enjoy! ;^)

Check these ladies' linky-party for more inspirations

Angela at So Scrappy

Frédérique at Patchwork and Quilts

Alycia for Finished or Not Friday

Cynthia for Oh Scrap!

A Revelation

(Wouldn't that be a great fabric print?)

I'm still rethinking my sewing room. I got more milk crates so the board is now as high as my elbow. It is a little too high, but I'm managing. (I put bundles on it to hid the horrible brown stains. Yuk!) 

For the last 2 weeks, I've been finishing work later due to my co-worker being on vacation. One night, I came home and DH had a surprise for me. 

A wooden box! The board is now higher than when it had legs but lower than with the milk crates. It's at the perfect height for me. What a sweet man. 💓

As I was working on the sewing room reorganization, I had a brain fart. 

Call it a "New Year's resolution", call it a "sewing room rule", call it "Darn, why didn't I think of that?" but I decided to declare 

the ironing board for ironing ONLY!

Flabbergasting, isn't it?

The rule is "If something does NOT need to be ironed, it can NOT "rest" or "sit" on the ironing board." No more piles of fabric for a future projects, or fabric that needs to be cut, or put away, or boxes of PhD, etc. I have to be firm with myself and diligent. It's so nice to have a clean board that I think I can pull this one through the entire year. 🤞

You can see some of the binding on the ironing board's photos above and here's more that are done. The smallest binding is 175" long; the biggest ones will be cut to the needed size. Three need folding and ironing. 

I'm also sewing some Hollow 9 as leader-ender while doing the bindings. 

Oh, look! I almost have a double 9-Patch in this picture. 😊 I got my 2" square tub on the kitchen counter so I can "kit" some little Hollow 9 while the soup boils over simmers. 

All those little piles on the right of the tub are blue Hollow 9 but I'm sure I can find more green ones in there. 

That's all I have, friends. Hope all is well with you. Have a great week, everyone. ;^)

Join me at these ladies' places for more inspirations

Angela at So Scrappy

Frédérique at Patchwork and Quilts

Alycia for Finished or Not Friday

Cynthia for Oh Scrap!

Work in Progress (WIP)

These three words can apply to so many things and even situation. Like my sewing room. Hahaha.

Hollow Nine as leader/ender. Red, blue, purple, aqua. 

I started last year to (again) organize my sewing space. I talked about it with the girls at the Artisanat group and was relieve to hear that I am not alone with this "task". One even said that she sews at the kitchen table because there's no space in her sewing room. (So, she does have a room specifically for sewing but …) okay. In a weird way, it made me feel good because, at least, I still sew in my sewing room. 👌 

Regardless, a reorganization was needed. (See this post for the beginning of the journey)

More milk crates added 

Then, DH removed the legs on the ironing board which I always deemed a waste of space.

 

So much better now. I need more crates as the board is too low for me but it works for now. 

BUT am I sewing? 

Not much to show besides the Hollow Nines. I'm mostly sewing backings and bindings. 

On Saturday, Jan 17th, we (five ladies and myself) gathered to cut the batting for 42 baby quilts. I should had taken pictures but forgot, sorry. 

This is what I brought home. 

Each bundle consist of a top, batting and backing (in one piece or in pieces). I have 34 quilts with me. Two of the ladies wanted to bring some home to finish right away. 

One of the ladies had strips of flannelette that she generously gave for the cause. I'm sewing these strips together for the backing. She had some gorgeous prints. 

I'm in love! 😍

Anywho! I'm cutting and sewing binding too but that makes boring photos. 

While reading Sara's blog, I was reminded to check my fabric purchases for 2025. I keep everything on spreadsheets. (I love spreadsheets!) I was surprised to read a total of $185.33 was spend on fabric. It doesn't include the $25 spent on bonding interfacing (steam-a-seam) for the Table Scrap Challenge with Elvis. In 2024, I did real well spending only $56.39. I'll try to do better this year. 

This big boy celebrated his fifth birthday. I was finally able to take a decent picture of him. Raven is usually camera shy but seems to be okay with a phone picture. 😊

We had snow, then snow, then snow, then a "heatwave" of +6 Celsius, then we had snow, and snow, and then . . . frigid cold at - 40 Celsius this morning. (There are no typos in the previous sentence.) This year promises some wacky surprises. Better buckle my seat belt! Lol. 

Join me at these ladies' place for more inspirations

Angela at So Scrappy

Frédérique at Patchwork and Quilts

Alycia for Finished or Not Friday

Cynthia for Oh Scrap!

Have a great week, everyone. ;^)