One Continuous Line

... is what time is. It is the last day of the year and yet it is just a regular day before another regular day. Nothing different will happen. No big bang. No threshold to cross. No ritual to do. Well, maybe the clinging of wine glasses but time is just one continuous line. Humans make it the last day of the year. We have to separate things, quantify them and categorize them. When I look back, all I see is one life, mine in one continuous line.

I didn't do a lot of sewing lately but did a lot of quilting. The goal is to get Stars in Blue finished before the end of the year. Almost there. 
This was my Personal Rainbow UFO Challenge for the month of July and August 2021. I got the top together and the backing magically appeared so I sandwiched it right away. It's been waiting ever since. 

The big stars were quilted with one continuous line. I hope you can see it in the next picture 

A loop in the corner going up to the Hourglass unit side where I sew in the ditch (not that easy when you don't use the walking foot) across the bottom and up the other side to make another loop and round I went. The middle square ends up being sewn all around and everything is well secured. 

The little stars got a different treatment. 

I went loopy all around this one. Free motion with no marking so each one is unique and crooked differently, haha. The white spaces around the middle block are quilted in tight straight lines. 

That's it. Nothing very fancy but I like it and it is done. Now, what to use to bind this one? Blue? 

A scrappy binding of blue, orange, and red? If I want to finish it before the bells of New Years' ring, I better hurry and decide soon. I still have all those threads to bury too. Where is my Fairy Quilting Godmother? 

Another thing I've been doing lately is puzzles. Like this. 

Don't get me wrong. I love Bonnie's quilts but when they look like this, they are a nightmare. 

As you can see, I did manage to get some done but that yellow Spider Web quilt is a doozer! But I'm stubborn; I'll get it done eventually. 😉

Here's my Snow Panther. Haha! He is Snow nothing. He really doesn't like snow. He will only step in my footsteps or those made by other animals. He fell through the snow once and never again. He makes sure his footing is secure before he steps in. He's so funny. 

May you all be blessed with a wonderful new year. May your family, friends, and a smile be with you always. May health be by your side throughout. Let's not forget those who have left and cherish those that are with us. Blessings to you as I am blessed with you as my friends. Here's to another year of blogging, sewing, helping out, laughing out loud, counting units, separating blocks, categorizing fabrics into colours, because this is what humans do. So let's enjoy it all again in 2022. 

Cheers! 

;^)

 

Joining Alycia Quilts for the first time for Finished or Not Friday.  

Joining Angela at So Scrappy for Rainbow Scrap Challenge

Family Gathering and Quilting

A simple little post for those who are alone and wish to see some quilty stuff and some fabrics. Like Rebecca, it will be just us with the boys today. A simple family gathering to enjoy. 

In my previous post, I mentioned a bag of cream, grey, and poinsettias print triangles that I sewed and trimmed. They grew into little HSTs and I played with them until I was happy with the layout. 

It was fun playing with these little Broken Dish blocks at 2.5 inches. 

I should have taken more pictures as I was constructing this one. The gold fabric is not cotton and was ... (let me find a nice word) ... umm ... "unpleasant" to cut and sew. It was just a little piece that was given to me and I really liked it but not anymore! I thought it would bring out the gold highlights in the poinsettias fabric. I should have made that border slimmer but it doesn't bother me enough to change it. 

Let's try another picture to capture its real colour. 

Somewhat better. 

The last border is also a given fabric so nothing in this little mat (12.75 X 10.5) is from my stash but all were saved from the trash. The backing will be as the border fabric. It will go to the quilting pile which I need to do something with. 

While sewing the mat, I made 9-Patch blocks as my leader-ender. Here they are in order of completion. As I took the picture I realized that I am easy to influence. The more I worked on the mat, the more I picked the same colours. 

Stars in Blue is at the ready for quilting but I am not. I need to practice before I tackle that one. I feel rusty. I will practice on a placemat or something before I do anything on this one. Hopefully, a practice session or two will happen this weekend. 

Hope you enjoy this day any which way you can. Be it with family, friends, or fabric. 

;^)

Joining Angela at So Scrappy 

Cynthia at Quilting is More Fun than Housework

Bring On 2022!

Edited: If you are looking for the RSC with Angela, it is about halfway down the page. Thanks. ;^)

 

Hello again. It's me. I'm coming out of my shell a little more every day and I'll try this posting business one more time.

(So blogger is still having fun with some stupid changes, I see. I'll try to fix that when my head's in a different shape.) 





I haven't done a lot of sewing, to the point that the machine is gathering dust. My! Do I remember how it works? I fed it a few pieces and it went well.

These were eventually made.

 


Yep, that's the same sewing machine block from my last post. Nothing in the sewing room has moved since then.
November is always a difficult month for me. This year, it started before November even came. Then, very unexpectedly, my father-in-law passed away. We were shocked, numbed, lived on auto-pilot for the rest of the month. I miss him so much. My husband grabbed his old coat to do outside work here. Every time I see him with the coat my soul cries a little. Hubby probably finds comfort in wearing his father's coat so I keep my peace. We all grieve in different ways.


Back to sewing. In October (or about) I found a bag of triangles and started to sew them together. Now I trimmed them down to 1.5 inches and played with them a little.

 
                                             


Like most of you, I am thinking of RSC2022. There are so many lovely inspirations out there that I don't know what I want. Actually, yes I do know; I want them all. 😄 I'll try to be reasonable and respect my limits. My energy level is very low lately.

One thing I am sure of is my Personal Rainbow UFO Challenge. I loved it so much that I want to do it again next year.

What is the Personal Rainbow UFO Challenge?
It's very simple. Just tag one of your UFO quilts or projects to a colour. When Angela calls the colour of the month, you have to work on that UFO. You don't HAVE to finish it, but working on it, and bringing it forward is the name of this game. (Bonus point if you do finish it.) Care to join?


Here's my list in no particular order. (Some are repeats from last year as the project didn't get finished.)

Purple - Framed 9-Patch (2016) (same)
Red - Start a new project - new (well, we all need a perk every now and then, right?)
Orange - Hole in the Barn Door (RSC2016) (same)
Yellow - Buttons and Spools (RSC2020) (same)
Green - Field of Poppies (2020) (same)
Bleu - Crumb Quilt for DS3 (2017) flannel - new
Pink - Westering Woman (2016) new

I might switch some for HST quilt #1, Ohio Star Shadow, Expect Some Flurries, etc. 

The next ones are in case Angela calls a darker shade of a colour.
Dark Blue or Aqua - ???
Dark Green - Tricked Me (2013) (same)
Multicoloured - Getting Better (2013) (same)
Black, grey, or neutrals - Shoreline (2016) (same)

Obviously, I still have some thinking to do on that list. 

I would also like to do a BOM that was gifted to me. We'll see how the months go before I sign this one in. 

                                        🎇✨🎁🎄

I want to take a few minutes to wish you all the very best for the Holidays and the New Year. One thing that is certain is that nothing is certain, so live your life now. Don't wait. Don't let Covid or what's his face distract you from enjoying what you do and being happy. (Looks who's talking? Haha.) 

Anywho! I do think of you all and I hope to "see" you all again in Blogland next year. 

Take care. 

Love always. 💛💚💙💜💝🧡

;^)

Joining Angela at So Scrappy for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge 2022

Orange Sewing and Much More

Are you tired of hearing about the Hole in the Barn Door? Well, your misery is almost over, lol. 

More sashings were done...

... only three more to go. Yay! 

The assembling process has begun. 

Not sure what has happened at this intersection but no amount of pressing will flatten this out. The seam ripper rescue team has been called. 😋

And then... 

Hole in the Barn Door is a top! 

There are so many fabrics in here. One day, I'll sit down and count the pieces ... Buhahahaha! 

Do you see circles? When I look at one block, I see circles in the corners of the block. I didn't know it would do that. It's cool. 

I am using my DS2's empty room as a photographing room. All my pictures were dark because it is raining again here. Then it dawned on me - I have a vacant room with two fluorescent lights! Awesome! It was my sewing room when the boys were small. Now, one boy has left the nest. Sigh! 

Mommy, where is E? 

As I connected the last rows together, I did this little sewing machine as a leader-ender. 

It is so fun, I want to make some more. It's a free pattern from the Fat Quarter Shop. It comes in different sizes and I did the 6" one. I don't know why it looks so crooked in the photo. 

But before I embark on anything, I need to clean the mess a crumb quilt can leave behind. 

It needed lots of variety of colours and prints. Every bags of little pieces I have are present or emptied on the cutting table. At the top right you can see that even the drawer of my desk is open in order to have more "flat surfaces" to place bags. I'm quite funny that way. 😁

I found something at the thrift store I didn't know I needed until I saw it. Don't you like it when that happens?

IKEA's storage with baskets. The price I paid barely covers the cost of the baskets. It will be put to good use as I clean and reorganized the sewing room. 

That's all for now. Take care, everyone. 

;^)

Joining
Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict
Angela at So Scrappy
Frédérique at Patchwork and Quilts
Cynthia at Quilting is More Fun than Housework

Tiny Little Bits of Fabric

I am still working on the Hole in the Barn Door Quilt.

Another orange block was made ... because you can never have too much orange in my book. :^D  It has some bees and tomatoes. 

More sashings were done too. I still have miles of those to do. 

A rabbit, a cat, and lots of flowers. 

Little birds and another rabbit. My friends have such interesting leftovers. 

Here's that cat again. I love this one. Sorry for the blurry image but you can see that I had a lot of fun with the middle piece in the purple block on the right. 

Christmas lights and laundry along with the lyrics of a song I do not know.  The smiley face in the corner is a giraffe. 

And of course, this cat that I also love. 

"Mom, please, I am not ready for pictures. Let me wash up."

Well, hurry. I don't have all day. Can you say Hi! at least? 

"Hi, everyone."

I have to drive 4 hours round trip to get a car seat for my son. He will turn it into a video game racing car. Oh, the things we do for our children, haha. Hopefully, I'll get some sewing time after. 

Have a great week, everyone! 

;^)

Joining
Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict
Angela at So Scrappy
Frédérique at Patchwork and Quilts
Cynthia at Quilting is More Fun than Housework
Beth at Love Laugh Quilt
Pat at Life in a Scrapatch

Sewing, Rain and Procrastination

That resume my week very well.

More tissue covers were made last Sunday, bringing the grand total to 30 little gifts.

They were very well received by the girls at the office who were all ohs and ahs over them. 

These are my four favourites ... so far, haha. 

I did a lime green block before I knew which colour Angela picked for October.  Great minds think alike. 

There's still a lot of work to be done on this crumb-border quilt and I won't stop just because September is over. There are way too many bags of fabric all over my sewing table to put them all away.  Since I found a white fabric that works, I might as well get the blocks all done while I'm up to my neck in tiny little bits. Right? 

Lime green is missing in the picture has it's under the needle, getting a nice, colourful border. 

It's raining here again so taking nice photos is practically impossible. 

Hope to have better pictures next weekend. Have a great one and take care. 

;^)

Joining
Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict
Angela at So Scrappy
Frédérique at Patchwork and Quilts
Cynthia at Quilting is More Fun than Housework
Beth at Love Laugh Quilt
Pat at Life in a Scrapatch

Lots of Sewing For a Small Progress

I did it again. I sewed, sewed, and sewed with barely something to show. I feel like the second hand running ever so fast round and round on the clock's face only to get the hour hand to move just one step. My week's of sewing has produced very little progress. 

The newest blocks: 

Lime Green block 

Yellow Gold block 

Rust block and last week Aqua block

Sorry for the clothespins but it's a windy, sunny, exquisite Fall day today, blowing my blocks all over the place. Just. Love. Days like these! 

I got to the bottom of one (1) bag of tiny little bits of fabric so far. Not much of a dent as the bag was small but one less bag is still progress though. 

Not the final layout. 

Unfortunately, I am at the end of the white fabric roll. It was from my mother's stash, measuring 5" X ?? 25 feet? I really don't know but it was really long and I'm at the end of it. It's a sturdy cotton, almost linen quality. I hope I can find another white fabric suitable from her stash. 

I have a hot pink block almost finished so maybe it will be a 4X4 layout instead of a 4X5 if I don't find a replacement. The cornerstones are from the same fabric too. The sashing makes me so happy. I just love it. 

Cynthia, at Quilting is More Fun than Housework, let a squirrel into my house and it crushed my sewing time. 

Wait for it. 

Aren't they cute? They are facial tissue covers. They will be gifted to my coworkers on Monday when I get back to work. (One week's vacation is never long enough.) They are so easy and quick to whip up. The pattern is from Two Brown Birds and you can find the tutorial here. Remember, they are addictive! 

I added a little loop of tape to attach them to a diaper bag or a key chain. Many of the girls at work told me they love purple, pink, and blue. So I try to stay within those colours. I have 7 or 8 more cut and ready by the sewing machine. 

My bag will be full soon. Whatever the girls don't take will be sold (if and when we can have craft shows again) or given as gifts to the ladies at the Artisans' Club. Looking forward to seeing them again. 

I got a little bag of the tiniest triangles yet. They barely go beyond the one-inch mark. Substract the amount of fabric needed for seams and you are left with nothing. I have to tell the girls my fingers need pieces a little bigger than that. Haha. They were great at starting the bonfire last night though. 

Enjoy! 

;^) 

Joining
Angela at So Scrappy
Frédérique at Patchwork and Quilts
Cynthia at Quilting is More Fun than Housework
Pat at Life in a Scrapatch

 

It's a Funny Thing

Memory has the ability to forget. Isn't that funny? 

I forgot how many blocks I had made but I was so convinced there were 12 blocks that I didn't even count them. Ha. 

I looked all over my blog and the last picture I have of Hole in the Barn Door is a 9-blocks picture. 

More blocks were added since that picture but no group picture was taken. At this point, it makes a throw of 47 X 60 inches. I'll push on to get a 4 X 5 layout (60" X 75") for a nice twin-size quilt. I like that better. So 9 more blocks to go. Ironic! 

Do you know that Hole in the Barn Door has a white square in the middle? It didn't take me long to switch to a Shoo Fly/Churn Dash type of block, didn't it? So what now? 

Do I make one quilt with HitBD and one with SF blocks? Or just keep both in one quilt? I sure have enough scraps to make two like this. (Carole brought more scrap bags this week. Yay!) On the other hand, time is short. 

An aqua block has joined the group. 8 more to go. 

I need another red block, or two, a green one, a pale pink (maybe), a yellow-lime, a rusty one, and some blue. :^D 

The last tulip got done too. This quilt is ready to be assembled. Yay! 

My, my! I am so productive lately. Must be Fall. :^D 

Have a great one! 

;^)

Joining
Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict
Angela at So Scrappy
Frédérique at Patchwork and Quilts
Cynthia at Quilting is More Fun than Housework
Beth at Love Laugh Quilt
Pat at Life in a Scrapatch