I Tried, I Really Did

But things aren't easy lately. 

I did managed to sew some PINK.

Along with other colours. 

I work with the entire rainbow while playing with Friends' Favourite quilt. I find it hard to remember which colour this month is, haha. 

These Hollow 9 blocks are my leader-enders. 

I did my favourite little 9-Patch block when I caught sight of this cute daisy print. Resistance is futile. Haha. 

The girls at the Artisanat haven't received any new quilts to finish or kits to work on. They are starting to ask if the baby quilt drive is still on. Yes, it is. Those little Hollow 9 blocks are parts of a kit. 

Not much of a pattern: " 36 Hollow 9 blocks with 36 squares of 5.5" interesting prints. Sew in a grid of 8 X 9. Any and all layouts are acceptable and beautiful." Can't wait to seeing what this kit will grow into. 

Some of you know that I've been sick since February 23rd when I was to go on a retreat. Well I am still coughing. No improvement yet, but the doctor now know what I have. Never mind the medical term (cause I don't remember) but it's an infection in my nose. Yep, in my nose that drips at the back of my throat, irritating it on its way down and my body reacts by coughing. I cough so much that it feels like knifes in my chest and back that moves around when I cough. The meds are to take a couple of weeks to work as they aren't antibiotics but steroids. I'm on steroids?? 

The part that annoys me the most is that after all these weeks of coughing and crunching, (and wetting my pants) I still don't have a six-pack!! What's with that? I deserve a six-pack! These steroid meds better give me a six-pack or else, I want a refund. 

Anywho! 

Back in February, although I didn't stay very long at the retreat, Sonia had brought me a little gift that I want to share with you. 

A little tray and it's orange. It says: The sewing room isn't going to tidy itself, so let's just close the door. Thanks again, Sonia. It's perfect for holding my chocolate eggs while I sew. Haha! 

Now, on a sad note, my mother-in-law passed away on the 31st. She was in the hospital for an entire week. Hopefully, she is the cherry on top of the big ugly sundae that was the month of March and all will be better in April. Like Dolly Parton once said: If you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain. Well, I need a rainbow now please. 

Hope you are under a glorious rainbow and you get plenty of sewing done. 

Enjoy! ;^)

Like me, Raven also love the sunrise's warmth. It was a lovely morning today. 

Check these ladies' link-party for more inspirations

Kathy for Slow Sunday Stitching

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. ;^)

Cool Aqua During a Heat Wave

This week the temperature was like 3 degrees to cremation. Some companies closed their services in the early afternoon because of the heat. The humidity was so intense!

Some of us (like my cat, Raven) aren't bothered much by the heat. I wish I could sleep through this wave too. 

Let's leave that behind and dive into some cool aqua fabric.

I ironed this aqua forest for my April Fool block. Then I saw "it". Whoah! There's something looking back at me in the forest. Lol. How "cool" is that? (It's an abominable Yeti waving.)

Two light aqua blocks were assembled last weekend and a dark one this week. I'm not sure about the teal. Will it play nice with the others? If I remember correctly most of the blocks are light to medium. Is it the only dark one? I need to check this out. I've to search for more aqua fabric too. 

Baby Quilts Kits

I cut more fabric this week for the kits. Since I have a lot of dark blue, I'll make a kit with blue instead of black for the "I Spy with B/W" kit. 

Got the dark blue scrap basket out and from this 

I got this. (I don't know why the photo is so blue. Too hot for the camera to function properly?)  Anywho! 

The basket holds what is not right or not the right size for the kits. The plastic bag has the little bits for crumb blocks. On the left of it is the pile of the "good" dark blue for the kits, to the left of that, Surprise!, some teal was hiding in there as well. On the top step, there's a binding piece and some too-light-to-be-there blue. 

I'm so happy with this progress of scrap sorting that I got the red basket out. I can kit a red and white "I Spy" quilt, right? It would be different. We'll see what comes out of there. 

Same steps as in the previous photo. My deck is not blue. 

Then, I got bored one evening. Fed up of the heat. Too hot to cook or bake. Too hot to clean. Too hot to sleep. Too hot! Too hot! Too hot! I just didn't know what to do with myself. 

In other words, I felt like a teenager looking for trouble. 

Well, trouble was found, lol, in the form of 2.5" squares 

and some strips. Maybe sashing? Nah! 

Got the box of 1.5" squares out and started sewing. 

Still have a long way to go (boy, there's a lot of squares in that little bag), this is what they'll be. The pile of square is close to 2" high still and I got quite a few done.  Will there be enough for a baby quilt? Hopefully! If not, borders will be added. I'm having so much fun with this, instead of working on what I'm supposed to. 😝

EDITED: there are 120 blue squares. How did she packed them all in the little bag is amazing. Anywho, I have 60 done. The count-down is on! 😊

I also did these. No, I'm not starting a new project. Well, indirectly. 

The Hollow 9 blocks are examples to use when we gather for the "Build Some Kits" day at the Artisanat. Some girls in the group might not know what a Hollow 9 block looks like. I'll also bring the  Potato Chip block.

And finally, the usual little 9-Patch blocks made with whatever I get my hands on. 

Hope your weekend is amazing and cool. 

Happy sewing. 

;^)

Want more inspiration? Check these ladies' blogs. 

Angela at So Scrappy

Frédérique at Patchwork and Quilts

Cynthia for Oh Scrap!

Alycia for Finished or NOT Finished Friday

Nina Marie at Creations - Quilts, Art, Whatever