Slow Me Down Sunday

What a week that was! Glad it's over. I didn't have time to do the laundry, groceries, cooking, I am so grateful for my husband. (Well, I still have to do laundry today but I won't complain.) He worked for his keep this week, haha. Anywho! Not much sewing got done of course, but I did play with fabric this morning. 

We finally have our Winter Wonderland picture-perfect landscape Saturday! 

It snowed and snowed, up to 10" (25cm) of the white stuff. 

It came down fast and furious.

Everything is so beautiful this morning.

Goodbye brown landscape! I don't recall a winter so snowless. 

Pictured two weeks ago. 

But all is right in my world now. (Except for Covid! 😑)

About two weeks ago, I started thinking "what should I do for Cécile & Corinne's Challenge: Curves? They intimidate me." So, I decided on Orange Peel and applique. Yes, that would be good. I got the die cutter out and some solid coloured fabrics. 

Last week, some cutting happened.  

Way too much cutting happened. 

So today, I will slow down and stitch and pray for a dear, dear friend of mine. I forgot to take pictures of all the "options" I tried but here is what I think my layout will be. Still pondering. But this one looks good. ... Maybe. 

Do I like that dark leaf? 

Have a great week everyone! 

;^)

Joining 

Kathy for Slow Sunday Stitching

Frédérique for Patchwork and Quilts

Cynthia for Oh Scraps! 

Pat for Stitch, Sew and Show! 

Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Smile!

In 2021, I want to work on some of my UFOs. I tagged a colour to the selected UFOs and I will work on it when Angela chooses that colour. In January, she called out Pink. That means I am working on the quilt named Ferris Wheel. (See post here.) 

My son played with his RC Jeep. The next morning, after a fresh layer of snow, the backyard looked quilted. The picture doesn't do it justice. It was really pretty. 

It took me a while to figure out who is the Ferris Wheel. 

Pink HSTs ... of course! 

Then, it took some digging to find it. 

More HSTs and a 9Patch because I haven't done one in so long. 

In my blog, I had changed the name of this quilt to Smile because it makes me smile. In the Excel worksheet where I keep track of my quilts, the name was not changed and I just couldn't remember what it looked like. There's no picture in Excel. But I found it so let's go!  

Here's my beauty with the M&M fabric. 

It needs a back and quilting. I'll try to finish it this month and if it gets bind, well, that will be a bonus. 

Can you believe this fabric is 21 years old this year? Old enough to drink. Oh! My! With all the trouble they've put me through the first time around (back in 2016), it could be disastrous if they don't start to drink before I am done quilting it, Haha! To read the adventure, see this post. 

It's all good memories in the end. 

Now, what to use for the back? It isn't a big quilt. 56 inches, almost square. 

I still have a bit of the M&M fabric so I paired it with another star fabric. 

Framed in yellow, it's not too bad. With all the pins in, it looks like it is already quilted but it's not. I'll try to start on it this weekend.  

Unrelated to quilting but still very dear to my heart, I want to share this with you. 

Have a great weekend! 

;^)

Joining 

Angela at So Scrappy RSC21

Frédérique at Patchwork and Quilts

Tish for UFO Busting

Cynthia at Quilting is More Fun than Housework

Pat at Life in a Scrapatch 

Two Words for You, Year 2020

GOOD 

BYE

(Yes, I know it's only one word) The year 2020 will be remembered by the words "unprecedented" and "weird" as they were the most spoken words by the leaders of the world. Yes, that sums up the year pretty well also. Personally, I am VERY happy to see its taillights heading towards the horizon. 

Nothing is ever all negative. Everything has a positive side. Let's have a look at the bright side. 

January saw the 365 Challenge quilt all assembled and on the header of my blog. I am very proud of completing this challenge. It started back in 2016! It has a grand total of 10,821 pieces. 

Then, I got some new (to me) furniture for the sewing room. Those were nice and pushed me into a cleaning frenzy. I realized that I needed some baskets to store all my scraps. So, some basket à la Fiona were made. Green, multicolour, and red. 

I finished my DS2's flannel quilt. A huge monster with a robotic theme along with Star crumb blocks and 4-Patch blocks. Made all in flannel, it is a heavy one. 

Did my first assignment in 2020. A friend/coworker asked for two car seat covers after seeing mine. She was really pleased with them. 

Bonnie's Good Fortune became my Field of Poppies surrounded with greens. 

I had some trouble adapting to the confinement. Crazy ideas were having tea with me every day. They grabbed the bin of strings and made me do this. 

Needless to say, I just love it. I still have a string problem but Sarah will share her ideas in 2021 on how we can use up our strings. Can't wait to see that and take care of this 3-drawer organizer. 

On the other hand, I did take care of the flannel mess. They were all cut up this year into useful size pieces and stored properly. One cleaned corner. Yay! 

Cécile in France had us sewing along and the theme was Stars. Of course, I had to do some Ohio Stars. My mini is called Brille (Shine). Everyone is a star and we all shine a different light, a beautiful different light. I am very proud of how this one turned out. Love it.

Here's another one of Cécile Sew Along, done the year before. I finally quilted it this year. Les paniers de Cécile used up a lot of tiny little pieces as the basket is made with crumb blocks. That was fun! 

I also finished another mini, one proposed by Temecula Sew Along. This one is called Amid Joy. I love that one too. 

Then, I challenged myself by adding borders to an old UFO. Jacob's Ladder has been waiting since 2013 for its borders. I don't have a lot of imagination (yet) when it comes to borders. Saw something on Pinterest and BOOM! Jacob has borders. 

Sometime in 2020, I decided to jump on the RSC2020 wagon hosted by Angela. I saw buttons on the net and they invited some bobbins in for fun and voilà! A rainbow buttons and spools quilt. I soooo love this one. 

Bits of fabric in the shape of triangles invaded my desk, so I pushed them under the needle. Little by little, a very scrappy HST quilt is being made. More in 2021 on this one. 

What happens when a friend gives you some quilt magazines? A new project is what happens! Here's a tulip block that I fell totally in love with. That says a LOT because I am usually not a flower girl.

But this one is cute. 

What's up in 2021? 

Well, I decided to give my UFOs a hand. Yep! It was fun finishing a few things in 2020 and I want to keep on that track. 

SOOOooo, I decided to give each UFO project a colour. When Angela calls the colour for the month, I will work on that UFO. It doesn't have to be finished but just working on it and bringing it forward is a plus. What do you say? 

Here's my list in no particular order. (I write it here in case I lose the paper, haha) 

    Purple - Framed 9-Patch (2016)

    Red -  Shoreline (2016)

    Orange - Hole in the Barn Door (2016)

    Yellow - Buttons and Spools (2020) 

    Green - Field of Poppies (2020)

    Bleu - Judy's BOM (2014) 

    Pink - Ferris Wheel (2016) 

The next ones are in case Angela calls a darker shade of a colour, so 

    Dark Blue or Aqua - Star in Blue (2016) 

    Dark Green - Tricked Me (2013) 

    Multicoloured - Getting Better (2013) 

I will also make the Tulip block and HSTs (for the rest of my life) in the colour of the month. 

Wishing you all a very happy and healthy year. Enjoy! 

;^)

Joining (as the links become available)

Sarah at Confession of a Fabric Addict 

Alycia for Finished or Not Finished Friday        

Angela at So Scrappy RSC2021

Frédérique at Patchwork and Quilts 

Cynthia at Quilting is More Fun than Housework 

Denise at For the Love of Geese 

Kelly at My Quilt Infatuation 

Sewing and/or Quilting

In my last post, I had planned for three quilts to be ready for quilting. Have I been nice or naughty? 

I've been very naughty because I've done none of them. Jacob's back, which I was so proud of, turned out to be too small. Both ways! Darn! I don't have enough blue and green to make another whatever it needs to be the right side. It really put a flat tire on my mojo, if you know what I mean. 

It's a good thing that the pink tulip was already finished and flourishing on my design wall (the red one has been published but they look so good together),

because I was too annoyed, disappointed, and bummed out to concentrate on much. So, I did some simple HST blocks. 

Then, these little bits jumped on my sewing machine. 

Now, this is fun! 

So I did some of these too. 

They turned out not so bad. 

Well, that's very pretty but I have work to do, so I stuffed it in a sewing capsule for later. 

I did a few masks too. In twenty years from now, the trivia question will be :
"What fashion accessory did everyone had in 2020?" Lol.

  

Then, SEW Sisters had a sale and I got this mask panel.

There's something for everyone in there. Love the rainbow whiskers. 

So I started cutting them up and this got me into the groove again.  

I went back to the HSTs. 

I had fun with the value placement. I like this one. 

Let's try another one. 

Yeah! This is fun again. Now, let's get back to Jacob, and all this quilting I was supposed to do. At least, Ohio Star Shadow is set up on the frame and ready to be hand quilted.  

Here's hoping that you are all safe and healthy. 

Like Chris said: 

Have a Very Merry Everywhere you go and a Happy Everyday! 

;^)

I'll be with 

Angela at Soscrappy

Frédérique at Patchwork and Quilts 

Cynthia at Quilting is More Fun than Housework

I've Got Your Back

It is so important to feel supported when we do something we are unfamiliar with. At work, my new team is wonderful. It's been a month already that I switched departments. They got my back and it feels good.

It is the same thing for quilts; a back is very important. 

(Can you tell I've been playing with backs these past weeks?)

I have this lovely fabric for Jacob's Summer backing. I thought it was very relevant since it is all about summer sports. 

Turns out the piece is just not big enough. I was sour about that as I really wanted to use this one. I didn't feel like adding long strips on each side. Angela came to my rescue. She inspired me to make one like this. 

I love it! Thanks, Angela. (Photograph sideways as it is sooo long and the grass was wet.) 

Eight Miles of Moon Beam has been sitting on the frame for the last 5 years. Well, almost 6 at this point. I can't seem to quilt this one. I didn't like the quilting pattern and now, I don't like the back I chose. 

I found this bedsheet ...

and I think it suits Eight Miles better. So, let's switch!  

The Eight Miles' old backing will be used for Field of Poppies. 

I think it is befitting to have stars on the back to represent all these fallen heroes, wouldn't you say? 

Now, if I could just quilt these three quilts and get the UFO list shorter it would be wonderful.  You will hear how well I did (or didn't do) in a few weeks. Am I on the Nice or on the Naughty list? 😁

I bought a "From me to Me" kind of gift. 

Of course, it's fabric. Just a few fat quarters. I got some grey fabric in case I have to start Bonnie's Mystery Quilt. I also got a few others, in case I need them for something ... you know ... 😏for something. 

That's it for now. I got a gazillion more HSTs done ...

and the leftovers from the backing are already included.  Always in need of more. 

There's also a tulip trying to sprout on my design wall but that's for another post. 

Take care everyone. 

;^)

Joining my friends 

Denise at For the Love of Geese  (Denise has a great Sugar Cookies Recipe on her post. Just saying!)

Sarah at Confession of a Fabric Addict

Angela at So Scrappy

Frédérique at Patchwork and Quilts

Cynthia at Quilting is More Fun than Housework