Pondering and Planning

It is time to think about the new year. Looking at my projects, I realized that many will cross over to the new year as only one got finished. Sigh! What was done and was is left? Let's see.


I tried to push a few quilts forward this year and will continue my focus next year. A few quilts saw progress but nothing major, well, except for Field of Poppies. 

Framed 9-Patch got assembled but then I decided to add a border made of light-coloured Framed 9-Patch blocks, so it is still a WIP (Work In Progress). 

This variant of Buckeye Beauty isn't assembled. Does it need more blocks? I hope the answer comes to me next year.  

Scrap Jar Star definitely needs more blocks and I have a plan for this one. I'm looking forward to it as I love making this block. 

The Crumb block quilt "Chaser" needs a few more blocks too. I have enough of the grey border fabric to do the missing blocks and only those. It will finish on the small size but that's okay. Look at all the little bits of fabric that didn't end up in the trash. Yay! 

Jericho Wall is being assembled this month. Will it be a top before the end of the year? 

Star Bloom will continue next year as it doesn't have enough blocks to be a quilt. I'm still debating if I should make the block with one colour or have a mix of colours in each block. What would you do? 

Since Field of Poppies (aka Good Fortune) is finished, I pinned another one to quilt on my DSM. This is Jacob's Summer (aka Jacob's Ladder). 

Unfortunately, I ran out of pins. Where are all my pins? Someone needs to go shopping, or else, clean up the sewing room. Talking about that ... 

The reorganization of the sewing room is also important. With all the scrap bags I receive from friends, I need to stay on top of the game, or drown! 

Remember this "contribution" to my stash? 

I'm still amazed by it and I also remember this mess. Sigh! 

The group Artisanat de Ste-Félicité did a sewing bee. We made 84 adult bibs for our local residences. What a great day that was. Thank you girls for welcoming me into your group. You are wonderful!💓

One friend got me a Go cutter and another friend gave me some dies. I'm blessed. What more can I say? 

I'm slowly learning curve sewing. Perfection is still far away, lol, but I'm willing to try again. 

The year 2022 saw me playing with my paintbrush again. This little bird was made for my MIL who is living in a residence. I wish you good health and lots of laughter in the new year, sweet MIL. 

Raven got a rough year. He had to visit the vet a few times before he got better. Now that he's neutered, he doesn't fight other cats anymore and he's so much better for it. He put on quite a bit of weight too. Those eyes! His gaze is always so intense! 

If you made it this far, I'm grateful for that. I wish you all good health and peace in the New Year. May you be safe and happy always. I appreciate each and every one of you. 💟 and quilt on! 

;^)

P.S. I'll talk about my projects for 2023 in the next post. 

Spending time with 

Angela at So Scrappy

Frédérique at Patchwork and Quilts

Cynthia for Oh Scrap! 

Finishes - The Placemat, the Bird, the House

The placemat: 

I thought of doing a green placemat this month but I could only finish the black one I started in September. 

Instead of the usual white background, I chose a light grey fabric. I had to use some white-on-black strings as it was getting very dark. Used a piece of the M&M print to bring some fun, JOYFULNESS, to it. 

The back is a fun dot print. I had that print in red too and you can see just half a circle of it in the triangle on the front. 

My goal is to make a light/lime green one in November. I've barely touched the sewing machine in two weeks. Gotta get back on that horse soon. 

The house: 

We finished painting the house and I didn't post a final picture. So here's my pumpkin house. 

Next year: landscape! 
 

The bird: 

I just couldn't keep it alone!

I HAD to retouch the chickadee's back. I find its wing too low, and adding a few more feathers would help the issue.

As I opened the paint bottles, some drops splashed onto the plaque! I tried to remove them but of course, the wood immediately absorbed the droplets and I just smeared them on.  

They are close enough to the tree to become another branch, so it's not the end of my world. While at it, I might as well retouch the whole tree. It looks pretty weak.  Ok! Deep breath. You can do this, girl.

A couple of hours later ... 

And Ta-Dah! 

I decided to just elongate the first feathers on its shoulder. I'm now sealing this to protect it from me touching it again. 

The Ste-Trinity Astisans meeting is Nov first and I want to show it to the members. They don't know I paint. Then it will be given to my MIL to decorate her door at the residence. I'm so happy I was able to do this for her. 

Back to the sewing room, I go. Some catching up needs to be done. 

Take care everyone. 

;^)

Joining 

Joy for Table Scrap Challenge

Angela at So Scrappy

Frédérique at Patchwork and Quilts

Cynthia for Oh Scrap! 

Another Week - Another Project

Back in July, my SIL asked me to paint a plaque for my MIL (her mom) to decorate her room's door at the residence. I've humbly accepted the challenge.

Since then, I've been playing with my paintbrushes. I haven't done any painting since ... well a very long time ago. So I've doodled a lot at home and at work. I've played with paint, trying to get my brain to remember how to use paintbrushes. (It's really not like colouring pencils.)

At one point, I decided to fly on my own and just go! This is my progress.

I'm pretty pleased with it. I'll keep it like this for a bit before glazing it. I might work its back a little bit more ... but the boys say it looks fine. 

Anywho! Who wants to see some fabrics? Let's go! 

Jericho Wall in green.  

My sewing machine has been at the sewing Doctor's for a week. I've missed it a lot so I did some prep and cut the fabric for these blocks. 

They went together super fast. 

These are the last blocks needed for the Jericho Wall quilt. I can start working on the layout and get the sashing cut. 

That's all! I hope you have a great weekend. 

;^)

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

 

Sewing Scraps Today ...

There are still so many blues to sew. The crumb blocks might use a little bit of this but you know it will not deplete the stash.  

I added 4 blue Star Bloom blocks to the one already made. I really love how they play together.

I have a long way to go to get a quilt out of these. They are only 8" at the moment. 

Little 3.5" 9-Patch to go with the Stars. 

The placemat is completed. 

For the back, I used another leftover bit that needed one seam to be big enough for the placemat. I trimmed it before I was done sewing it so I could use a strip of it on the front. Love those daisies. 

The binding is waiting for the next sewing session. I know what you are thinking. I did way too much binding for such a small project. I keep using the same fabric for all the placemats I made for years. Whenever I use it, I add to it so it is always ready for the next project. 

The binding is made with these pieces I received a long time ago. They are cut at almost 16 X 9 ish and lots of fraying occurred. It's made with a good thick thread but loosely weaved. Good enough for a double folded binding.  I still have enough for another dozen of placemats and more. Yeah! 

My personal Rainbow UFO Challenge got zero attention. For blue, I had called a flannel quilt that needs borders. I didn't feel like getting all the flannel fabrics out just for that. On the other hand, I got tagged with another kind of project on which I did work a little. 

I jotted down a few ideas and did a few sketches, something to get my hand back into the swing of drawing what my eyes see. More practice is needed. 

I went on a wine and cheese tasting with the girls and it was such a wonderful day. I wish we could do this every other week. We stayed way past the allowed time but since there weren't a lot of people, the owner didn't mind at all. 

We will have to do this again as 4 girls couldn't make it this time.

Michèle knows how to fix little bits of cheese. Yummy! I just spread that cheese onto crackers and call it good enough, lol. 

Don't look at the hair-dos as it was pretty windy. It calmed down after an hour or so. This is my bestie, Christiane, on the right. We are both team assistants. We get along so well you would think we were friends all our lives. 

That's all I have for now. Let's purple on! 

Take care. 

;^)

Joining

Angela at So Scrappy 

Frédérique at Patchwork and quilts 

Cynthia for Oh Scrap! 

Challenge Accepted ?

June is the blue month - bright and dark - I love blue! 

I used ALL the different solid blues that I have for these blocks. Since there was only one light blue and I didn't want to wait for the light blue month, it got done this week too. 

I dug out the plastic bag with all the smallest dark blue scrap I have. There was a piece big enough for a Star Bloom block, so it got done this morning. 

I used Fiona's way to cut the HSTs for the Star Bloom block and it was really fast. Check out her blog if you want to know how she does it. She also has a lovely top done. Just saying. 

Too bad the HSTs for this one were already done, haha. 

One more is needed. It's probably hiding in the dark blue scrap basket. I'll get it out today. 

I'll have lots of chances to use Fiona's way to cut HSTs as I have a mind to replace all the stained blocks in Spinners quilt. You can read this story here.  The light yellow yardage I used in most of the smaller HST was cut while we were without electricity last month.  

Little by little, it will get done. 

Odd 9-Patch blocks this week. 

The two little rascals (pink) blocks were playing hide and seek under my sewing machine since April (the Pink month). In no time at all, they were sewn and added to April's tally. 😊 Then a dark blue one, then ... a green one? It told me that it missed its exit and it ended up with the dark blue fabrics. (I don't believe that for a second. I bet alcohol was involved. haha!) 

Last Wednesday, my son said that SIL came by to bring me this plaque, saying: "Mom would like something beautiful to decorate her door at the residence. So I got you this. Work your magic. There's no rush! Thanks." 

I love my MIL and I would do anything for her. Looks like my SIL knows that too. So I will dust my paintbrushes, but I haven't painted in this century yet ... that says a lot and it's scary. Can I still do it? Do I still have it in me? Is my painting skill still good? What if I fall in love with painting again and abandon quilting? Do I accept this challenge? Sigh! 

Stay tuned. 

;^)

P.S. Thank you everyone for the lovely comments concerning Raven's operation last week. He is so much better that I removed the cone and the leash, and opened the patio door. He is somewhere out there this morning, happy and free. 

Joining 

Angela at So Scrappy 

Frédérique at Patchwork and Quilts 

Cynthia for Oh Scrap!