Little Progress ... little project

I have done little quilting progress lately.
Literally!


Like a 3.5 inches block for the 365 Challenge,

and a 6.5 inches block. Not much of a scrap buster but it's still mean that two more days are done on the big 365 Challenge quilt.  Yay! :^D

July 4th's block is called Fourth of July with 17 pieces, (left in the picture) and Star and Pinwheels on July 5th is at 32 pieces.

Next block is a 6.5 block and is asking for 109 pieces.  Like I said very little progress. Lol.

My son's girlfriend also love to do little progress.

Boston Cream donuts anyone?

She works with Fimo Clay and makes little charms for bracelets. She did these for her mother over the weekend.

She cut the smallest sliver of white clay to write Tim Horton on the coffee mug. Does she has talent or what?

The biggest piece is barely 3/4 of an inch.

We had fun working with minis.



I want to take this opportunity to wish everyone out there, a safe and joyful holiday season, whether you celebrate Christmas or simply the family gathering. Remember, there'll be plenty of time after the festivities for quilting.

Enjoy!
;^)


Joinin Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Surprise X two

Do you like surprises? I do! I do!

Spurred by Sarah's Wednesday post, (go read it, it's a good one) I started to change things around in the sewing room. I have been neglecting a lot of things lately so there was a lot to be done (still not all done but getting there). I am very encouraged by Sarah's new linky party too. Oh! It'll be fun.

Anywho! Do you remember the missing block in my 365 quilt? I thought I was going crazy for losing a block and not being able to finish this inner border.

Well, with me tidying up the sewing room, look what I found. Clipped together was this little bundle of pieces. Now, which block are those pieces for?

I measured them all and looked at every single block on the 365 challenge list to see if I could find a match.

And I did. These pieces are for the WTC Union block, posted on June 19th. Thinking I had finally found the missing block, I got the flimsy 365 out and searched for the said block. Yep, it's already in there. It's not the missing block. :^(
The mystery continues. But at least, now I know I am NOT going crazy. YAY!! :^D 😁



Then, I got another surprise! Such a nice one too.

Look! I got a squishy envelop. Even better it is recycled envelop. I so love that.

The Joyful Quilter  and I decided to swap a little mug rug back in November. I will have to make another post to show you what I made for her because, well, it's a long story. Anywho! I have received the mug rug she has made for me. YAY!

Isn't it gorgeous? I so love it. Oh wait! Maybe the little arrow in the middle should be pointing upward.

Okay, that's better. I am so in love with it. The little + signs are made with tiny little pieces, like 1/2 inch finished tiny. WHOA!!  It is soooo awesome! I love the colors, I love the design, I just love it. Joyful used all the colors of the rainbow because it is where we have met, under the rainbow, at Angela's Rainbow Scrap Challenge (every Saturday).



But wait, that's not all. I was in for another SURPRISE! I turned the mug rug around and what did I see?


Another mug rug! Whoohoo! That's awesome!!

It is a nice star of some kind made with repro fabric. Mmmm so gorgeous!

But wait, that's not all! I also got this.

A piece of York chocolate, yum-yum, and two soda-pop can tabs. (?) I had to ask Joyful what was that for and she said you sew them to the back of the mug rug and they hold the rug on the nails, for my Fabulously Famous Quilt Wall.  Duh! I didn't know that. This is such a great idea. Joyful is a very talented lady and very smart too. I wouldn't have thought of this in a million years. Another happy surprise.

But wait. On which side am I suppose to sew these tabs? I love both sides. Oh no, what do I do?


I decided to do what I usually do; hang it with old dulled pins. Ha!

Here it is with the others Fabulously Famous Quilts. I will flip it in about a month time so I can enjoy the other side for a bit.

Thank you so much Joyful. Seriously I ♥ it a LOT. It looks like it's saying I have + + + friends around the world. And you, Joyful, are one of them. ♥

The little bird house was given to me by Rhonda (at Ravelly1) from Texas, back in August 2014. And that's when the Fabulously Famous Wall began. The cardinal has its twin in France at Cecile's house.

Of course, Azure has a little niche too. She comes from Mangofeet's farm (New York State). I added some grass with tiny little flowers. The quilting is wavy with some swirls so she can hear the wind as she is running around in her field of flowers. She loves to run. I framed her with a bias tape of pink gingham because, you know, she's a country piglet. I love her.

Abundance, a quilt-along hosted by Lori at Humble Quilts in Oregon. I so wanted to join in for Palmateer Point but alas, it wasn't meant to be. I have kept the instructions and, one day, I will have my own Palmateer Point on the wall. :^D

The big log cabin heart was made with Cecile's help. She and Béa hosted a sew-along. Well, you sew whatever you wanted as long as it was made of log cabin blocks and it had at least 16 blocks. (You can see more of it here.) It was fun. These two French girls are doing it again in January 2018. It will be the same rules but with basket blocks. Any basket design will do. Traditional or modern, it's up to you. Want to join? Just follow the link and put your name on the list. It's that easy. I'm in. :^D

I still have plenty of space on my wall because there are so many more quilters I have to meet still. :^D


That's all for now. See you soon.

;^)



Joining :
Sarah at Confession of a Fabric Addict
Angela at So Scrappy
Cynthia at Quilting is more Fun than Housework

Rescued from the dust

Look who I found under a pile of dust bunnies!

It's my 365 Challenge, the ultimate sampler.
The basket with all the fabric I used so far also came out of its hiding place.

In this drawer, the smaller pieces of fabric are waiting their turn to shine in a block.

Yep, sometimes, I use this old home-made tall dresser as a cutting table. The height of it helps my posture. But I digress.

While searching in my blog the last post mentioning the 365 Challenge quilt, I noticed that some blocks were never properly presented to you. Let's start with them, shall we.

June 29 - Contrary Wife - 41 pieces

June 30 - Beggar's Block - 57 pieces

The total of pieces for June's blocks (the biggest month of the year)  - 1455
Bringing the grand total to 4997 pieces. And only half of the quilt is done!



Now for the newest blocks.

Maple Leaf - 15 pieces and
Clown's Choice - 24 pieces for July first and second. These are only 3.5 inches

July 3 - Temple Court - 45 pieces

July 4 - July Fourth - 17 pieces

Oops! Not done yet. :^D

A little while back, I won a bag of scraps from Julie at Julie K Quilts. Yeah me! I received it this week and hold me down somebody ... WOW!!!

 It was no small package! Look at the shipping price on this box.  Yep, it's a big box.

 And it was filled to the brim with scraps! Heaven!

So full of gorgeous scraps. AHHHHhhhhhh! It's so exciting!

Some lovely flannel, (I found more at the bottom of the box), and 5, (yes, 5) lovely fat quarters. Ah! Pinch me!  Notice the lighthouse piece please, you will see it again soon.
Thank you soooooo much Julie. You know I will use every single piece there is in this box. You have made my week! ♥ ♥ ♥



That's all for now.
But I'll be back. ;^)


Joining Sarah at Confession of a Fabric Addict.
Joining Cynthia at Quilting is More Fun than Housework.

The weatherman said the "F" word

Yes, he did!!

Naughty weatherman!

(taken from Internet)

He said we have a chance of ... flurries. Yikes!! :^{
I am not ready for this. Neither is my little car. She needs some winter boots. This is my first winter driving her. It's kind of a scary thought. Howling winds, blinding flurries, snow drifts, ... and she is so small. Will she be able to plow through all that like the hummer does?  I think I'll switch vehicle with husband for the winter and get the hummer back. :^D  Hubby's a much better driver than I. Besides, he works in the city where the streets are always cleared right away. I get the scenic tour through the woods. I usually don't mind, I love my commute drive, with the pines full of snow and ... oh shit!

Anywho! Hiding in the sewing room for the moment and I did get to accomplish a few things. Let's see.

Oops! This is some secret sewing. Can't show it to you yet.



I worked on my RSC 2017 blocks. November is Dark Color month. Navy is a dark color, right?

Hole in the Barn Door. Just take my words for it, it is navy blue.

After I trimmed this piece, I noticed how small that sliver of orange on top is. I should have centered it better in the piece and would have ended up with more of a splash of orange color. Duh! Can you spot this tiny little piece in the block Hole in the Barn Door above? 

Did you find it? Ridiculous, right? Too bad. Not starting over. :P

Then Diann at Little Penguin Quilts inspired me with this post.  I too have some alphabet fabrics. So I started to play with the idea and had an audition session. What have I came up with?

No letters, but, oh! what a statement! I have a gut feeling this one will be focal point of the quilt. :^D

Then, I played with flannel because Mr. Weatherman is still talking dirty ****! Now, he's calling it a sn*w storm!

Of course, this kind of weather also calls for soup, right? I found these pastas at the Balk Barn store, where you can buy everything in balk. Aren't they wonderful? I just had to buy some.

The description said no artificial coloring, no artificial flavor. They must be made with spinach, beets, carrots and the likes. I have no idea what the black is made of. Let's try it.

Added chicken broth, chunks of chicken, onions, carrots, spices and pastas. Yumm! It was so delicious, I had a second helping. With some healthy crackers and cheese it was just perfect.

To follow such a good meal, dessert has to be healthy too, right? So I did a fruit salad.

No, not that kind...




This kind!

(for my overseas friends, these are M&M candies)

LOL!! 😝

(This weather does not agree with me.)




Until next time ...

;^)


Joining Sarah at Confession of a Fabric Addict
Angela at Soscrappy
Cynthia at Quilting is More Fun than Housework
Esther at Esther's Blog

Productive vacation

A few weeks back, I took a few days off work and started working on a new project; an afghan on the loom.

I graduated to the big loom. Here, the ladies are loading it up.

Fifteen threads per section.

Here are the sections, each containing the 15 threads. It is a cream colored thread so we can choose any colors for our afghans.

The counter to make sure the threads in each sections are the same length. Can you image the problems if they weren't?

The very high-end 21st Century technology gadget that assures the threads aren't tangled; a comb. :^D  Hey, it works like a charm. You can see the sections better in this picture.

Now I can't remember how many sections were used to make it to 50 inches wide. Afghans are usually made 75 inches long. To me, that sounded like a time-consuming project, like 3-4 days long. So that's why I took a few days off work.  Before starting on the project, one has to fill up the big wooden shuttles with the wool (which I forgot to take a picture of). There's many shuttles to be fill to make an afghan. The motion of rolling the yarn around the shuttles tired my arms pretty quickly. I thought this project would never get finished if my arms were already tired and it hasn't even started yet. :^(
So we sat, my teacher and I, and started to weave at around 10 am.

And we weaved and talked and weaved and ... then we were done!! Yes, we were done. It was 1:25 pm. It went by so fast that I forgot to take pictures of the process. (Sorry!) My teacher was laughing, saying: What are you going to do with the rest of your vacation?  "Don't worry, I'm sure I can brew more troubles before the day is done, ha!"

So, here's my afghan, all weaved, wrapped on the back of the loom.

For the final touch, a fringe needs to be added at both ends. Each little length of yarn needs a knot at each end otherwise, it will look like a woolly mess in a few months. After, I use a regular crochet to pull the yarn through, then I slip the ends through the loop. It's a slow process but a much needed one as it hides the not-so-pretty beginning and ending of the cream colored threads. You can see it in the previous photo.

Click on pictures to enlarge.



Joining Kathy today for a Slow Sunday Stitching.

Until next time...

;^)