Almost Threw In the Towel

I'm at my tipping point with Blogger. I had more than enough of its sh*tnanigans but I've been patient. This time though I almost quit. What happened you ask. None of the posts from the hundred of blogs I follow showed up in my reading list. Not one!! Well, what kind of crappy monster is that ??

Am I to go in my list of blogs I follow and open them one by one to check if you've published a new post?? Like I have nothing to do all day?!! Although, I did see that many haven't post in a very long time. :^(


ANYWHO!! 

I turned on Blogger every other day or so, to check if they'd fixed the problem. I was thinking of publising just one last post with the news that I am moving to Instagram and am cancelling my blogger account when Blogger finally populated my reading list with the latest posts. I was this close. THIS close!! 

Which makes me very sad because I've met so many lovely people and I was missing them these past weeks. 

Moving on. 

This MIA baby quilt was found.
It was safely in a bag with the other
baby quilts but under a different number. Yay! 

You can now see the quilts made for the baby quilt drive in the tab ^Baby Quilt Drive^ on top of this page. I stopped adding the photos when Blogger shunned my reading list. Hopefully, I'll be able to add the others this weekend. I need to take care (or empty) my garden in containers too. The nights are very cold lately. Sigh! It's that time. 

Slow Stitching

The red dye from the chicken fabric started to bleed onto the neutral piece next to it. That's very weird because the quilt hasn't been in water yet. So, why did it start to bleed? Why is the blue-lined piece not affected by it?  

Since we are talking about Friends' Favourite let's check the stats. 

Friends' Favourite Stats: 

If I quilt one block a day, it will be done by March 18, 2027.

Monday, August 24th: required blocks 47 

                                    blocks done 64 - 4 rows finished 

Monday, September 7th: required blocks 61 

                                    blocks done 96 - 6 rows finished 

Monday, September 21th: required blocks 75 

                                    blocks done 128 - 8 rows finished 

The half point has been reached. Yay! Yes, I am doing one row per week so far. I have the firm intention of finishing row 9 this weekend. If I can keep this up the quilt will be done before Christmas. I'm in shock. I didn't thought I could find so much time to quilt. Working only 4 hours per day at the office really helps me accomplish this though. 

On the Crumb Front

Crumb blocks trimmed at 4.5 inches. 

Crumb blocks trimmed at 6.5 inches. 

Picture of the bobs and bits bag taken in June. 

Picture of the same bobs and bits bag this morning. It has the Mary Popping's bag ability of refilling itself, lol. I started yet another bag of bob and bits so I'll stop adding to this one and finally see it diminish. 

I'm thinking of doing a crumb sashing for the crumb star quilt. I keep the end of the rolls of the thermal paper from the payment machine from the office to sew the bits on it. I did one. I won't do a second one. I don't like this technic of sewing on paper. So, this container is now empty and the crumb sashing will be sewn like any other crumb blocks. 

What else have I done? Oh yes. 

Remember these squares I received from Françoise? They were sewn back to back, ready to become a rag quilt. I unstitched them.

There are 44 pairs of these. 

I now have 88 squares and a little hill of used thread. They will become a pieced backing for a baby quilt (or two) at some point. 

The Sewing Room Saga

The reorganization of the sewing room continues. I got this little white shelf cabinet and stuffed it with what needs to be cut to useable sizes. On top and under the ironing board are the containers of the useable sizes I use. On the far right, there's a box of whites and under that some all prepped bindings. 

You might not remember my rainbow shelf so here's an old photo of it. These shelves are next to my computer. Not the best of place for scraps, so . . . 

. . .  the shelves now hold my sewing projects. Well, some of them. 

The milk crates are holding the rainbow scrap baskets and bags. This wall is behind me when I'm at my sewing machine so it's more convenient this way.

It's not perfect but I'm getting there. In the crates on the right, top and middle one, are fabric I either have to cut or add to the bobs and bits bag. Again! Lol. The bottom crate tries to hold the brown scraps. 

In a previous post, I showed photos of our Wednesday Sewing Club in Lucie's garage. Some of you asked about the garage "window" in the photo. Here's another photo of it. 

Her husband made some panels/sections with 1 X 1 inch sticks and covered with screens. They get screwed together every summer and set in the garage door opening. No bugs can sneak in. Such a cool idea.  

This is what the ladies were working on when I was there last. 

I didn't get a photo of what Lucie was working on. Also missed Claire, Sonia, Michelle's projects. Sorry. I'm a bad photographer when I talk. Haha. The garage is now closed for winter. :^(

That's it for now. I wish you all some happy sewing time and good health. 

;^)

(I hope my post gets in your reading list.)

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

Kathy Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching 
Cynthia for Oh Scrap!

So, You Made a Scrappy Quilt

and you THINK you've mixed all the scraps up so that the colours are well balanced across the whole quilt. You've looked at it and looked at it again and again, from every angle, and you've removed certain prints to add more variety or you've moved them around several times to see WHERE was the best place for this or that pattern. You made all the decisions yourself to make sure everything was perfect. 

Riiiiigghhtt!!!! 

And you are so proud of this beautiful scrappy quilt that you decide to hand quilt it. 

The brain is such a wonderful piece of art. Since the beginning of time, humans have sorted and stored things. Innocently, it started with grains and seeds to grow them again the next year, making sure not to mix the seeds, etc., and things evolved and we started sorting and storing bigger things by groups and categories, and labelling everything, etc. 

I believe this process is now in my brain's DNA. Look at a close-up of the image above. What do you see? 

Circles,  

Circles, 

Circles!! 

These 3 prints are one above the other one, meaning in different rows but same column. My brain told me the colours were evenly spread. I forgot to ask my brain if the PATTERNS were repetitive! 

Now, if we look at the left of these circles, we will see a fox (and circles)

Look up at the print above this one and you will find 

a fox ! 

I am NOT kidding you. Go back up to the second image and look at it again. You'll see. It's all there. 

Did you see the green dot to the left of the fox? Guess what? 

Yep! 

Dots, dots, dots!! 

I have one of the craziest brain. Even when I don't want to overthink something and have it all sorted out, I do it anyway! I'm SO good. 😇😂 

I've been doing very well with the quilting on this quilt - Friends' Favourite. 

If I quilt one block a day, it will be done by March 18, 2027. That is the challenge. 

Meaning on Monday, August 17, I should have 40 blocks done. Instead, I had 48 blocks done, INCLUDING the sashing. Three rows were done. Yay me!! 

The hardest part is the first and last block of each row. As you can see the quilt is so big that it's very close to the frame. It is very awkward and cumbersome to sew the end blocks. It takes me longer than the rest of the row. 

 

Some crumbs got together

There are 16 blocks per row. So, I was thinking:  if I quilt 2 blocks a day there would be 14 blocks done at the end of the week. So, if I were to quilt 2 blocks and a bit, I could finish  one row every week. 😲

More crumbs

I know I shouldn't push myself like this because I don't want it to become a chore. It is a relaxing exercise and I want to keep it that way but GOSH! it's tempting. 

Just one more crumb block, I promise

With September sitting on my doorstep, the winter routine will start soon. Actually, September first is my group first meeting, so I wouldn't be able to quilt that evening. Then, the baby quilt drive will take center stage once again, not to mention a retreat in October. This means many evenings with no quilting time. As life gets busier, it will become harder to keep that fast pace of 2 blocks and a bit per day.

Did a crumb star instead, lol. 

So, on Monday, August 24, I had the fourth row finished. WHHAAATT!!?? Yes, because I though I might as well make the most of it while I can because soon I'll be too busy. There are days when I don't really feel like quilting and then I hear myself say "get the sucker done and move on" and I just do it. Lol. (Blocks required : 47 - Done : 64) 

Now that my fingers and wrist are stronger compared to the first few days of quilting, I can quilt longer. The issue now is my back. It's started to complain. It doesn't like the long sitting session, bent over the quilt. It will be another thing to take into consideration in my 2 blocks and a bit per day shenanigans. 

This one, I did do on purpose.
They aren't the same print as the little piece
is not perfectly arched like the square one is but they are so cute. 
Maybe this is where my brain thought it was okay to do associations? 

While I sewed some pieced-backings for the baby quilts, I managed to get a few crumbs blocks together. And a star. (Shown in the photos today)

Hope all is well with you and you get to sew a little bit every day. 

;^)


And 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

Kathy Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching 
Cynthia for Oh Scrap!

More Fun Time

In Canada, we had a long weekend (August 3rd). Yeah for some time off. And then, my supervisor surprised me with the rest of the week off. What??? Believe me I ran out that door before she could change her mind. WhoopWhoop! Vacation time!!

I decided to drive south. South as in Cornwall, Ontario. My friend Pink lives there and we haven't seen each other in WAYYYY TOO LOOOONNNGGG. What joy she is! A balm on my overstressed system. A reboot was what the Doctor prescribed and she is the best one to help me accomplished that.

And we went shopping! Oh no! Yes, I did bought a *few* things. Haha. 

I'm sorry but in my excitement of being in a fabric store I forgot to take pictures. :^( 

We went to Auntie Em's Quilting. My sewing friends go there but it was my first time. A lovely little store. 

The purchases: I bought a Mystery bag of 10 fat quarters. I thought it would enhance my stash (like it needs enhancement??!!) to finish some projects. To my surprise, the bag contained this: 

Ten matching fat quarters. This is a quilt in itself. So I guess I just *accidentally* added another project on my to-do list, lol. 

This Sewing Tote kit came home too. It has the hardware and the zipper included. I'm sure I can find some fabric in my stash for this. I will have to purchase the foam stabilizer and fusible batting it requires. 

Then, Pink gave me some fabric too. Oh MY!! 

Lots of fat quarters here too. So generous!! Thank you so much sweet friend. 💗

What else have I done? Hand quilting. It is so pleasant. 

You can see that I'm now on the third row. Whoop Whoop! So much time to sew when one is on vacation. 

I switch the chair to the other side of the frame. Since I'm left-handed having the window on my left side caused me to work in my shadow. Now it is so much brighter. 

My friend Lucie opens her garage during the summer for her quilty friends to gather and enjoy some SEWcializing. We were 7 quilters in her garage on Wednesday. I'm planning to go again as she does this every Wednesday. 

I had so much fun there too. Of course, I bragged about my Parking Spot plate that Pink gave me on Saturday. (Yes, another gift from Pink. 💕) 

Lots of jokes and comments were said about that one, lol. 

Lucie assembled her batik quilt. It was a kit she bought a few months earlier. Planning the borders now. 

Michelle worked on her Delectable Mountains using 1.25 inch strips. 

Françoise did the binding on another baby quilt for my drive. Isn't it a gorgeous one? 

And these are the other baby quilts that were ready for me to pick up. 

I didn't bring my sewing machine but worked on an old project turned UFO. Lori from Humble Quilts did this quilt-along back in 2023. It's Parsonfield. 

I did a heart in the centre and some straight lines on the diagonal. I was there for the social part of the gathering much more than for the quilting part, lol. I brought everything I needed except for my scissors. Sigh! How can a quilter forget the scissors?? Lucie lent me hers. 

They have a little heart for the tip so they don't pierce her sewing bag. It's so cute! 

Some photos from my *Bucket Garden*. 

Mint and radishes. This is the second batch as the first batch of radishes drowned. It's so wet here. 

The beans took hold of the patio table's leg and won't let go, lol. I'm not expecting a big harvest from that one. 

Bucket full of carrots. 

The sweet peas are not liking the wet summer we're having this year. Or is it my poor gardening skills that is killing this plant? 

Cucumbers. I might harvest some of that. Fingers crossed. Well, at least I tried. And yes, I will try again next year. I believe it's time I weed out this garden bed. Lol. (it's a hose, not a snake.) 

Raven is very happy to have me home all day. It's funny how he sleeps exactly in the same position that I do. 

I'm heading back to the office on Monday, but my intentions are to enjoy this weekend to the fullest. What about you? 

Okay, just one more picture because it is so cute! 

I will visit these talented ladies' link-party this week. See you there.

Angela at So Scrappy
Frédérique at Patchwork and Quilts
Alycia for Finished or Not Friday
Kathy for Slow Sunday Stitching
Cynthia for Oh Scrap!