OMG 72 000

Oh! My! Gosh! I almost forgot to post about my monthly challenge. So many things happening outside the sewing room, that I haven't been in blogland in a while, well a week actually but regardless, I'm happy I didn't miss it. Let me show you what I DID ... and DIDN'T do. :^D

I hope you can see the subtle damask sort of design on this tone-on-tone cream /butter fabric. It is very lovely and I had it since ... been saving it for ... ever, you know that kind of fabric. Well now, I DO have a project that deserves this fabric.

Yep! It will be the border on the hexagons quilt. It's actually a bed sheet 104 X 101 inches. Pretty sure I have plenty to go around the quilt, lol. I DID try many, many yardage and some were too small or down right not playing nice with the quilt. But look at this one ...

Yes, I like it a lot.  The photo doesn't do the fabric justice. (blame the photographer lol. ) (A better picture is come up shortly.)

Remember this picture? I DID manage to remove all the border that was already attached to the quilt.  I was so afraid of piercing the fabric. But that's some thing I DIDN'T do. Yay!

This picture shows the fabric in all its beauty. 

Because the sides were done, I had picked out all the paper from the hexagons. Needless to say, reversed stitching three sides was a slow process.  I DID only one blooper. I am sooooo impress with myself!

The border was navy blue and this diamond is also navy blue. In my defence, I have to say it happened while I was watching the Olympics. My thoughts were more on my team than my quilt. (For those of you who want to know: both - the quilt and team Canada - lost. :^( And it's not because I didn't cheered them on.) On the bright side, it is just undone and not a hole. It'll a very quick fix. Yay !!

Now, you would think I had started to attach this new border on, right? Nnnope! That's the second thing I DIDN'T do. BEcause ... I want to applique some ... diamonds? rosettes? Which one would look better ? Both ? Another thing I am unsure about is, since the sides of the quilt are much more straighter than the top and bottom, am I suppose to cut the top and bottom borders larger than the sides or all the same? At the moment they are all 7 inches. I truly appreciate your input on any of these questions or other suggestions, as always. ;^)

Now, you might have asked yourself what this has to do with the 72 000 in the title. Well, I just wanted to write it down so I remember. When I open my blog today, the pageviews was 72 000. For real! I thought that was cool.

Okay, back to business. For my September OMG challenge, I know that I DON'T want to work on this project. I want something else but ... not sure what. Let me sleep on it.

Until next time ...

;^)

Linking up with Heidi for OMG.

365 Challenge: June begins

On the 365 Challenge project, I've (finally) started the month of June, which is the month with the most pieces so far, and the more pieces you have in a block, the more room there is for mistakes. (Please, don't ask me how I know!)

These are 6.5 inches blocks (finishing at 6).

The month begins with Arrow Points - 61 pieces

Crow's Foot - 40 pieces

Fox and Geese - 57 pieces ( I love this one!)

Aunt Mary's Double Irish Chain - 32 pieces. It was calling for mitred corners and I kind of avoid escape skirted the issue by piecing it in a different order. Hehehe.

Odds and Ends - 28 pieces (another one I really like)

Reversed Flying Geese - 54 pieces but simple enough. In this one, I used many little leftovers from the blocks and made a random layout instead of the more colour shading unit the pattern called for.

Blythe's Best - 53 pieces (not as simple as it looks)

and group photo as usual

In this picture are 325 pieces for 7 blocks. Next block has 73 pieces and there's one with ... let's keep that for another post, shall we?

Grand Total of pieces sewn so far : 3 867 and counting!

Joining Love, Laugh, Quilt for Monday Making!

Patchwork Times for Design Wall Monday.


Until next time ...


;^)

Whatever Wednesday

Not a quilting post but still about fabric.

Sue at Suebee's World had sewn a Jelly Roll together but didn't like it much.  She gave me a large piece of it and I had fun hunting some matching fabric in my stash. This past weekend, this mess slowly  ...

... turned into this:

horizontal bag

and then, this:

horizontal bag from other side and vertical bag

I so love my new bags. I did remove a few of the strips from the horizontal bag as it made it too deep. I used the strips for the handles of bag #2 on the right and the inside pocket.  The outside pocket fabric comes from my stash. I think it works well.

The green lining fabric was bought when I did DS1 last quilt (named "Take 21") but I didn't liked it. I sure do like it in this project though. The handles are the leftover binding from a quilt named "Far Away". The bags look very beach-y and summer-y, you know, fun bags!  Thanks again Sue!

I prepped 24 butterflies to decorate a dozen hair pins. I will bring these to the craft sale in October. Can you image that it's in two months ? Gosh! I have to hurry on these projects.

I had a lovely visitor on Monday. The rain had finally stopped and I stepped outside to find Mr. Neighbour's cat strolling in my backyard.  He is usually very shy and skittish, and I can't approach him much.

On Monday, he must have been happy to see me too because we played together for more than 30 minutes.  I had so much fun. I so miss having a cat.

He has a very soft purr, very low. I don't know his name. I should ask Mr. Neighbour.

Not sure the chickadees would appreciate me having a cat!  _^..^_

Anywho! Back to fabric. 

When the time comes, I will link up with:

Sarah for Can I get a Whoop Whoop? 

Cynthia for Oh Scraps!

Nicky for Scraptastic Tuesday 

as it might inspire others who hoard fabrics love projects made with scraps. :^D

Until next time ... 

;^)

Surprise Mail

The surprise box from Suebee's World has arrived from Florida today and (sssssqueeeeaaaalllll!) it is sooooo full of great goodies. Want to see?

When Sue says she filled up the box to the top, she isn't exaggerating one iota!!

I opened the box in the car with my car key as I couldn't wait until I got home to have a peek! (you know, ADHD people are like that.) That's when I started to squeal (and haven't stopped yet)!

Between the box and the lid there is a pattern tucked in there. That's how full the box is!!

Ta-dah!! It's the kind of package that once it's opened, you can't closed properly anymore. 

Sue managed to put all this in an 8 X 8 box. Wow!
Now, let's see what's in there. (Squeal!)

A quilt pattern from Atkinson Designs called Cheese and Crackers. A Sweet Treat Bag pattern by Moda and a messenger bag kit by My Mind's Eye. So cute, all of them!

Eight fat quarters of flannel. (I love flannel!!) Just in time as I have started to think of playing with my flannel bins.  A jelly roll named Aviary from the Three Sisters for Moda. So soft colours in this one. Yumm!

Needles, two spools of thread (the kind I use for hand quilting : Mettler and Gutermann) in pink. How did she know which colour I was missing ? A charm pack named Wildflowers by Sentimental Studios for Moda. A package of blades, embroidery thread, a measuring tape, a heat bond tape, and another jelly roll ... in soft blue! (laying opened under the measuring tape)

Nope! Not done yet. There's still more.

A variety package of cords to make necklaces from Jewelry Fundamentals (necklace making is something I want to try with the origami butterflies. Again, how did she know?) A compartment organiser for the little things needed for the butterflies and necklaces, I suppose. (so thoughtful!) A mini charm named PotLuck from Moda. A bag of hexagon templates.

Am I thrilled or what?



But wait, that's not all!!


She even gave me some of the lovely fabrics she used to make tote bags I admired so much on her blog. I can now have a tote bag just like hers. YAY! You can see the fabric underneath all the goodies in the fourth and sixth photo.  You can see Sue's lovely totes here.


Sue, you are soooo generous ! I thank you so much. I totally appreciate Every. Single. Item!   :^D

I know someone who can't wait for some sewing time. Do you?

Until next time ...

;^D   (ssssqueeeaaalll)

P.S. I wrote this post late last night and before publishing this morning, I thought of adding  a couple of pictures.  This morning, I couldn't stop myself from playing with the Jelly Roll Race "fabric" that Sue didn't like so much. Here's what I got so far. 

I believe I have enough for two tote bags, so I'm auditioning some fabric for the handles. It's always more fun to play with other people's stuff, isn't it?  :^D

I'm in a hurry to get things done ...

....Oh I rush and rush until life's no fun ... (lyrics from Alabama song)

That's what I did yesterday and this morning. Now a whole bunch of things are done (cleaning, laundry, baking, sewing) only the chicken to be put in the oven for diner and I can (finally) sit, take a deep breath and enjoy life once again. Siiiiggghhhh!!


I did finish the month of May. Yay!  These blocks finish at 6 inches.

May 27th was Roman Cross - 33 pieces (pictures acting up again!)

Garden Maze - 41 pieces (another contender for RSC2017)

Eight Hands - 37 pieces

New Hour Glass - 44 pieces (had some issues with this one. I put some blue grapes in the middle and the brown grapes on the outside.) Needs a trim.

And May 31st : Rolling Pinwheel - 36 pieces for a total of 191.

Group photo! lol. Windy day!

The total for May is -   1 252

The total for the first five months of the year is -   3 542

Pheew! That's a lot of scraps! 

Now this being said, I want to slow the pace right down to a crawl... it is windy today and I love windy days, so out the door I am going. Of course, I'll bring something to keep my hands busy. 

I have a few butterflies prepped, waiting for the final touches. I also would like to put a few stitches in Shakespeare that has been so neglected. 

I will be at Kathy's (Kathy's Quilts) for Slow Sunday Stitching
and at Cynthia's place (Quilting is more fun than Housework) for Oh Scraps!
I'll cross the ocean to be with Nicky's place (Mrs Sew and Sow) for Scraptastic Tuesday! She is preparing a quilt a long. Come and see.

Hope to see you there!

Until next time ...

;^)

Another Week Done, Another Week Late!

I finished another week of the 365 Challenge.  YAY!

Last time, I had done all the blocks up to May 19th. So on with May 20th which looks like this;

Weathervane - 37 pieces

May 21st - Arrow Crown - 81 pieces

May 22nd - Corn and Beans - 44 pieces

Union Star for May 23rd - 45 pieces (I can see this as a RSC block) :^D

May 24th - Night and Noon - 33 pieces

May 25th - Cut Glass Dish - 60 pieces (I love this one. Maybe for RSC too?)

May 26th wants to be funny and keeps flipping to its side, oh well! It is Strawberry Smoothie (which I now call Strawberry Wine lol). It has 29 pieces.

Making a total for the week of   329 pieces. Only 5 more block and the month of May will be done. Since we are already in August, that means I am nine weeks behind. I am one week later than I was before. Oh well. Life happens! Sometimes it happens like this;

We had to remove my favourite spruce to make the driveway larger.  We have a car and a "tank" (my van) plus a company van that DH drives to work. Last month, DS1 bought a car which gets to park in the garage and our car now sleeps outside. (Since it's an old thing and his car is newer, we don't mind.) On weekends, when all the vehicles are parked, it can get tricky for me to come out of the garage with the tank. So, we waited until all the nests in the tree were empty and doom day came during the long weekend of August. Darn!! (I have already planted another one in the backyard. :^D) The lower branches were more than six feet long. It did took a lot of space. The boys dragged all the branches into the backyard. There's pine cones everywhere. Sooooo many pine cones! This tree was an excellent bird feeder. Sigh! This week end, DH and the boys will deal with the stump. Next year, we might finally get the driveway paved. Maybe.


Anywho! I have to get back to un-stitching hexies and stitching the last of May.

Until nest next time ...

;^)

Linking up with Sarah at Confession of a Fabric Addict for Can I Get a Whoop Whoop?