Monday 31 October 2016

Trick or treats? Treats!!


And this lady has the perfect kind of treats; sunflower seeds and peanuts. Oops! Camera shy!
She hides some in here too.  Be sure to come by and snoop around. You will leave with a belly full.   ( ')<


The baby quilt is all done: threads tucked in and washed.
Not a minute too soon. This was my OMG challenge for October and we're still in October. HA! I got myself a blister trying to bind this little one. I haven't hand stitch in such a long time, I lost the ability to do it, it seems.


I machine quilted simple straight lines. One in the ditch and two in the middle.
This is the fabric I had for the backing. A fun colourful cotton full of whimsical animals that was dirt cheap. (It has a flaw on the edge.)

As I was basting it, I thought flannel would be nicer for a baby.  So I played in the flannel bins and look what I found.

The perfect match. Oh I love this one! Now what will I do with the whimsical animals fabric? Yes, another baby quilt! :^D


My OMG for November is to finish the month of June in the 365 Challenge block a day sew along. I didn't do any in October, September but one in August. I am also three months behind in the Westering Woman BOM. Talk about falling off the wagon!

So that's what you will see me work on in November, but first, more craft for the sale. :^D I had no idea sewing for a craft sale was so stressful. Another two weeks and then I'll be back to normal, lol.


See you at Patty's place at Elm Street Quilts for OMG achieved challenge link party.
Also joining
Angie at A Quilting Reader's Garden for WIPs Be Gone.
Sarah at Confessions of a fabric addict for Can I get a Whoop Whoop? 

Until next time ....


;^)






Friday 28 October 2016

Baby quilt ....


is all quilted! It has the binding on which I will stitch down tomorrow between chores. After a little spin in the washing machine, I'll take more pictures of it as I know this one is pretty dark. Sorry!

I'll linking with
Angie at A Quilting Reader's Garden
Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict 

for more sharing and more inspiration to see. Hope to see you there too.

Until next time ...

;^)


Saturday 22 October 2016

Saturday's Sharing

It's raining here (again) and will be for the next 48 hours. Perfect weather for some stitching time.

Unfortunately, today I am not up to it. I am not up to much. I usually love days like this because I can turn the oven on and cook and bake til the cows come home, making the entire house smell sweet with lots of Fall's recipes. But not today. I just want to curl up on the sofa with a good book.

Anywho! Since I am in Blogland, I'll share what's on my wall with you.


Okay, so that was not much either. (Just like I feel, lol.)

The aqua pinwheels is the label for my RSC2015, which isn't quilted yet.
The framed 9-patch is an inspiration I got from Lynn Dykstra at Klein Meisje Quilts. She did a few quilts with blocks like: Shoo Fly, Pinwheels, Ship, Flying Geese. So I decided to make a 9-patch, my favourite. I did the block some time this past week but there was something wrong with it and I couldn't figure out what. So I went back to see Lynn's blog. Oh! yes! there it is. It is so obvious and yet I had forgotten about the values. So today I went back to the cutting board.


Ah! That's better. Much better, wouldn't you say? Since yellow is also the colour of the month, I sewed two more.


Yellow and orange. Yellow and hot pink. I don't have a lot of solids, but I have enough to make these simple blocks. I have to cut into the bigger scrap pieces to have enough for the frame. But scrap is scrap, right?

Then, I wanted to curl up on the sofa again with a flannel quilt, a good book and a herbal tea. My bones are really lazy today. Went to my library and picked up a book, grab a flannel quilt and read for a bit. I had nothing to keep my page when I was finish reading so I went down to the sewing.  I pieced a little bookmark with some of Joyful Quilter's scraps. I dug out a piece fabric (that I am jealously hoarding) from Cécile, in France at Patchwork Inspirations so I will  think of her too and a little something from my friend Pink.  It is sewn unto a piece of flannel (which I really love to touch) in a string stitching manner. Some fancy stitches all around and that's it. Went back up and slid it in the book.  Then we all headed out for dinner. :^D



That's all the fabrics fondling I did today. Hope tomorrow will be more productive.

Until next time ...

;^)

Linking up with
Angela at So Scrappy
Cynthia at Quilting is More Fun than Housework
Angie at A Quilting Reader's Garden





Friday 21 October 2016

It's Friday!!

And the quilting has begun.


Orange on orange. Simple double straight lines 3/4 inch apart.  I like it.

Oops! See the middle lines are suddenly a threesome? I started to quilt on the wrong side of the first line. It made a lopsided pattern. I have to unpick about 2.5 feet. Then, I'll zoom zoom through the black.  :^D  It has to be finished before the end of the month as this is my OMG project.  It's full steam ahead.



Linking up with;
- A Quilting Reader's Garden for "WIPs Be Gone!"
- Busy Hands Quilts for "Friday Finish or Not"
- Confession of a Fabric Addict for "Can I get a Whoop Whoop?"


Until next time ...


;^)






Thursday 20 October 2016

Whatever Wednesday ... on Thursday

Last week I shared some pictures of my neighbourhood dressed in Autumn's colours. Let's see how it has progressed.

Over the weekend, I took pictures of my backyard again to compare with those of last Wednesday


Still pretty green but it is more colourful. Note my bush (don't know the name of it, sorry) on the left side, still has red leaves.

Yesterday, I had an appointment in town and brought the camera with me. Let's ride!


This could be really nice if the panels weren't included.  I am not a very good photographer as the camera is not a medium I use to express myself. I much prefer colouring crayons, paint and fabric. :^D

These two are pretty good considering I didn't stop to snap them.  (I was going very slow. After all, there deer in these woods)

Private entrance but oh! so inviting.

We are almost there ....

Here we are, back on top of the hill overlooking Quebec. Plenty of orange this week. Let's get closer.

The trees have lots of leaves even though it was a very windy Tuesday.

It's like the forest is on fire ... without the smoke!

This is one from last week's outing. Nice difference.
This caught my eye this week. It didn't last week. Love it.

How about these two? The odd couple, or what?

And next to them is the little shy one from last week. It still hasn't finished its chores.  (The maple in front of the pines closest to the road.)
Half dried, half changed, one tree.
And my hometown. Main drag, somewhere, Canada.

This morning, I took more pictures of my backyard to see the difference a few days can make.
From left   (Personal note; cut the rudbeckia and the hostas! aka plantain lilies)

to right. Gorgeous!!

Horse track getting covered in leaves.

The bush in the middle of the picture has shed all its leaves on Tuesday. Only the "fruits" remain.
This huge birch is the one from the first picture. Not so green anymore. (the dead branches in the forefront are from the pine tree we cut down this summer. They are ready for the wood stove now.)

That was my neighbourhood in colour.

Next post will be completely devoted to quilty stuff, I promise.

Until then ...


;^)



Saturday 15 October 2016

Got my Orange fix

After my Wednesday post, I found myself in a second hand store and moseyed around. They have a fabric section which I look through every time I go. My heart skipped a beat or two when I found this.

Batiks!! ORANGE Batiks!!! Bliss!
And there was more....


I ended up with 5.25 meters of the real Batiks for $1.99 a piece. Yes, just two dollars a piece! Believe me it was a "Start the car" moment. (see IKEA Start The Car ad here)

I also worked with Orange this past week on my OMG for October.
From this audition ....


to this top.
Hopefully, I can baste and start to quilt this one over the weekend. Today is such a beautiful day that I might spend it outside ... with some other projects.

Talking about other project, here's one that use little snippets.
Hole in the Barn Door blocks.
Not the kind of quilt I can do in a month but whenever I get little pieces I sew them together. Eventually it will get done. I get a lot of little snippets from the 365 Challenge blocks but I try not to sew all the blues and browns together. They are fun to sew as anything goes and you don't have to be accurate about it. To make these blocks, the little pieces are trimmed to 2.5 X 4.5 then sewn to a white piece of the same size. I cut 5" squares for the HSTs, sew them with a white piece and trim them down to 4.5 ". The block in the center is also 4.5". Easy, right?


And that's all I've got ... for now.

Joining Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Can I get a Whoop Whoop?

Angela at SoScrappy for Rainbow Scrap Challenge.

Joining Nicky at Mrs. Sew & Sow for Scraptastic Tuesday!

Joining Angie at A Quilting Reader's Garden for WIPs Be Gone!

And a new-to-me blog and linky party  Myra at Busy Hands Quilts for Finished or Not Friday

Also joining another new-to-me blog, (thanks Lisa) Molli Sparkles for Sunday Stash


Hope to see you as a participant or simply as a browser at these wonderful blogs. Let me get another cup of coffee and I'll be right over.

Until next time ...

;^)



Thursday 13 October 2016

It's so bright!

It's raining today. It's gloomy, windy, dark and cold. Sure feels like Autumn but inside my home, it is so bright!

Cynthia from Quilting is More Fun than Housework hosts a Quilty Orphan Adoption event each year. The Joyful Quilter participated this year with the offering of some of her scraps. Ohhh I so wanted those scraps. Well, I ended up with a consolation prize. Isn't that wonderful? 8^D
Yesterday, Joyful's box of scraps finally made it to my place. Squeeeaaalll!!

It was packed to the top.  

I spent part of the evening sorting through this heavenly parcel. It is soooo much more fun playing in someone else's scraps. I had a ball and a half! Won't show you everything in there but here's a few pictures. 

A bunch of shimmering fabric. Luscious. I know where to use these. :^D


Rich fall colours fabrics. Love the prints on these so much! 


Even Batiks were thrown into the box. Gotta love that, right? Awesome purple, rich rusty colours and green and yellow. Yum! 


Some browns which will find their places in the 365 Challenge. Love the two sunflowers fabric at the bottom. Well ... I love them all!


What about those pansies in blue? Gorgeous! They might end up with the browns in the 365 Challenge. 


And green too. A big pile of greens. I believe Joyful knows I don't carry a lot of green .... because I'm always broke, lol.


Also got some white on white, black, beige/neutrals, pinks, reds and a touch of yellow. No. No orange in sight. She knows that I have a truck load of orange lol. 


Some are tiny little pieces which will be used to make blocks like these:

They are fun to make. No brains were abused here. Just sew little pieces together until it reaches a certain size. In this case, I need 2.5 X 4.5 inches. Trim and attach to a white (or any colour you wish) piece of the same size. (My whites need trimming in this picture.)
On Saturday, I'll be at Angela's place and I'll show her, and you, what interesting blocks they make. Stay tuned.


At the bottom of the box, there were bigger pieces, like fat quarters and one even bigger than that!! The checker fabrics are from Mary Engelbreit. Funny how things just happen sometimes, right? I had in my stash, from a long time ago, this panel of ....


Placemats and coasters from Mary's Design! Well, am I tickled pink or what? Wow! Now I have the perfect fabrics for the backing. It is so Breit! Oh I know I don't have enough to finish all the placemats and coasters but I'll make do. :^D

I am VERY happy with all the fabrics; they are all so beautiful. I have a gazillion of projects in my head and I made such pleasant dreams last night, (U_U) zzzzzz Thank you soooooo much Joyful. You are a most generous person. Whenever you feel like sharing, look me up. :^D



Until next time ... 

;^)