What am I up to ?

It's Sunday!  YEAH!

Last time I posted, I was thinking of starting a new project. So what do you think I've been up to?


P.S. my camera broke so the photos come to you, at no extra costs, from my son's phone. (meaning NOT the best pictures but I just couldn't post without some pictures!) 


I sew some of these.

I've cut some of these

to make these 

I've cut some a lot of these

to make one of this.

I've cut some of these

to make nothing of it ... yet!

 I've cut some of these to make one of this.

Sorry for the lame pictures. 

So! What do you think? Am I up to no good again?? !! LOL!!

Tonight I will sit down (yes, please!) and finish slow stitching block 6 of row 3 on Take 21. Yes, that is MY plan!! Well, that is after I've looked at all the links at Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching.  

Hope you can find more time to sew than I can.  Enjoy! 

It's Slow Stitching Time

A beautiful sunny day for us here in the Outaouais Valley but windy and chilly.  Good weather to stay inside and stitch you say? Yes I guess. Although I would like to work on my chair a little bit again. Heck no it's not finished but I am happy with the progress I've made last week. It's back on my try-to-accomplish-this-today list. :D

On to quilty things: I finally manage to do the last of the Marcus Designer Sew-Along block. I tweaked it a little bit. (it looks wonky in the picture lol.)

The directions / instructions for the alternate blocks and settings were posted on the Marcus Fabric site. Like the good girl that I am, I followed the pattern and cut out the cream and the black fabric. I assembled part of the 9 patch blocks, I got on my knees and put the quilt "together" to get a feel of it and ... I don't like it.

My eyes keep going back to the 9 patch block and ignore the clolourful blocks.  I have worked so hard on for these blocks, I want them to be the center piece of the quilt not the simple 9 patch! So I am trying some different settings.

 

I bought this green fabric especially for this quilt and I don't like it. I've cut and sewn some black 9 patch blocks that I don't think I will use.  Ooohhh! Where is Rebel when you need her??!!

So I cannot finish this one. Fine, I can live with one more uncompleted project! I still haven't figured out what to do with the Spool quilt either. Okay so two uncompleted project to add to the list!! Maybe it's time to start something new!  YEAH!! Something new sounds delicious right now. Okay so what about a Jewel Box? (I've been wanting to do this one for a long time.) Or maybe, blue and red 9 patch for the playroom? Or maybe a string quilt à la JulieK? (Love her work.) Yes, that sounds fun. What about Attic Window in flannel? Or maybe ...  Okay enough already!! Personally, I need a cup of coffee after this. Anyone else has a looooonnng list of quilts to do? It would be faster to ask who doesN'T have a long list of quilts to do!

This morning (like every Sunday morning) I read Kathy's post,  and I will share a secret with you; I too keep track of progress. I do hand quilting on a frame that rolls the quilt so it is easy to lose track of where you are. Since I am the kind who gets discourage when a project is too long to finish, keeping track is very encouraging for me. So I do this on the old chalkboard:

It is a quick reference. I have the rows done on the Quilt of the Century (row 24 is almost done), the hand quilted blocks of Take 21, third row - fourth block is done and the number of blocks  done for the next crumb quilt. When I need a better reference, I go to the computer and open Excel. The Quilt of the Century is a particularly long project so I have made a spreadsheet with the upcoming fabric I want to use less I forget.

I also keep track of what needs to be done on my Uncompleted Fabric Objects (quilts). Oh oh, here comes the ugly truth lol! Well since it is pretty small, I guess you can't read how bad I am.  :) I will at least explain to you what the far left column means. The yellow highlights the uncompleted ones, the blue is for those I am working on (actively working on) and the green ones are, yes, the forever growing to-do list.  :)  (Yes, I am a colour coded person and the stats keeper at the office lol. )

Okay, enough of the ugly stuff! Lets get down to the REAL business: stitching! I will think of my  next project while hand quilting block 5 of row 3 on "Take 21".  Hope you can join Kathy and I in some Slow Sunday Stitching. Does it really need to be just ONE new project?

Enjoy!

Friday Finish

Just a quick post to show you my finishes.  (Yes, I know it is Saturday morning but I was too tired last night. :(   Sorry.)

"Specks of colours" (an old leader/ender project) is finished in red bindings. All machine quilted. I had fun doing this one. It still has a few threads that need to be tucked in. It finishes at 68 X 51.

front

back

Fall table runner is also finished. Also machine quilted in the ditch, I used the same brown fabric from the blocks to bind it. I love the back and would like to use it on that side too so I am hesitant to add a label.  Maybe later. (yeah, we all know what THAT means right? ) Since I always do my bindings by hand, I did a lot of hand sewing during the evenings this past week.

Ok enough of Friday! Onto Saturday now ... :) I would like to finish one or two more projects before I start something new but I am really itching for some new stitching. AAaaaarrrrrggghhhh!  All the beautiful fabric I've bought while visiting my friend haven't been cut up yet, believe it or not!!

Hope you enjoy some fabric fondling today.

Enjoy!

EDITED : I am linking to Nicky's Scraptastic Tuesday

A glorious morning

Ahh! Sunday morning again! My favorite time of the week. Bonus! it is a sunny one!

Hot coffee in my favorite cup, jam on whole grain toasts, sitting on the deck in the sun, listening to the Chickadees singing and

arguing who's next at the bird feeders. When I put my hand out filled with sunflower seeds, one of them do land on my finger and feed from my hand. So cool! Can it get any better? Yes, it can ... I have time for slow stitching! Woooonnnnderful!!

On this beautiful day, I will remove the paint from a chair I've picked up for free. I have a few ideas (a few too many) for its cushion. But first ... the paint.

I will continue machine quilting my table runner.

I will finish to attach the hexie label to the crumb quilt.

I also have some hexies diamonds to add to the Quilt of the Century. No, it is not finished LOL.  You will probably see it more often now that I have time to sew during my lunch break at work. These four diamonds will complete row 24.  

I will also try to finish hand quilting a block on "Take 21".  I am working on row 3 block 3.

How about you? Any quilting today? Join us at Kathy's place for a virtual show and tell. I know I will be attending. And then I will hop to Billiebee's place who is hosting for Angie's Hexie weekend. Looks like a perfect day to me.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving in Canada.  I am grateful for days like these and reconnecting with long lost friend and living in Canada where, even when you are sick it is so much better than many other countries.  Of course, I am grateful for my wonderful family, for the roof over my head and food in my belly. But most of all, I am grateful I woke up this morning! My motto in life has been summed up beautifully in this image.

I am thankful for being Mom to my children for one more day. Yep, my cup is SO full.
Do take a few minutes and pour yourself a good cup of gratefulness.  To say out loud what you are grateful for is such a humbling and yet gratifying feeling.  Hope you find your cup overflowing too.


Enjoy!

And what a surprise!!

Back in September, Angie from A Quilting Reader's Garden asked us a question with  "An envelope of goodies to who guesses right. What in the envelope?  That's a surprise." as an incentive.  Well I was the lucky winner and what a surprise it is!! Just a little envelope but she managed to stuff it with a lot of goodies. Like ...

An astronaut quilt kit. Very blue, very beautiful fabric, very much in love and so are the boys. (I will keep this one and bring it on the retreat in May 2015, since it is already cut and packed!)

A fat quarter of lovely yummy candy fabric and a stencil. As a hand quilter, I love these. But that's not all. 

I also got another kit to make a sunflower. Look at the lovely fabric. I am so happy. (You might see this one again as an embellishment on a bag I would like to make. I think it will go well with the fabric I've picked.)

Thank you, thank you, Angie. So generous. I love it all.

As for me, well, this week I finished machine quilting the charity quilt called "A speck of colours".  I am binding it today between loads of laundry and some pumpkin baking. I did the embroidery on the label for my son's flannel quilt. I know the first picture was the reader's favorite but I went with the last one. I wanted to see it with the embroidery and ... I like it.

It looks pretty good, wouldn't you say? For those of you who do hexies, no I didn't fussy cut this one. It just happened by chance. Isn't that fun? Only his name is missing and then to stitch it to the quilt. And that will be two quilts completely done! Yeah!

Hope you too find some time to whip stitch something together.

Until next time. ...
Enjoy!!

Fun, Fun Sun Day!

I had a lot of fun today. I hand washed 49 fat quarters. Yes I did write 49. No typo! I met with a girlfriend of mine yesterday.  We haven't seen each other in ... oh boy 10 - 12 years? Sounds about right. Anyway, we spend the day together and since we are both fabric addict, she showed me the LQS in her town. I was floored. Amazing!!  Just to give you an idea, here in Ottawa, fat quarters go for $4.50 - $4.99.  Yesterday I paid $1.00 at her LQS! That's it. I almost left with the entire baskets. And such beautiful fabric too. Have a look.

(Sorry I took the pictures before I wash them.  The camera decided not to download the pictures.  After many trials, I took a break from cursing at the darn thing and started to wash the FQs.)

Of course, I bought some fabric by the meter too.

This beautiful pumpkin fabric will be the backing of my fall table runner.  I did have a fabric for it but I much prefer this new one. :D

Then I got some flannel FQs. Oooh only a few of these.  And one panel which I forgot to get a picture.  I also bought a few patterns, buttons and threads. 

It was so nice seeing her again.  We so talked and talked and talked and talked. It was like we had seen each other a month ago. We picked up right where we had left. Amazing friendship. Oh I so cherish her. And her generous heart. She gave me so much from her stash. Oh my! I'm so blessed. My cup is overflowing with gratitude.  She lives a hour and a half from me so I can't go every weekend but I will go back before Christmas hopefully.

Now I am completely pooped out. All the fabric is washed and most of it has been ironed. Regular laundry and house cleaning are done too. Tonight, I feel my age. lol

So I will sit and add a few miles of thread on "Take 21" while thinking about all the things we two girls talked about and what I forgot to tell her.  It will finish my wonderful weekend so beautifully. Oh and why not? Let's add a glass of wine to the picture. :D

I am joining Kathy for a Slow Sunday Stitching.  Hope you too have enjoyed this weekend and found a few minutes to play with some fabric.  ;^)

Enjoy!