Exciting Things Coming for us!

We're moving!

Three years ago, we moved to lovely Guelph in order for me to accept my DREAM JOB!!!  which I love, love, love. However, this week, I was given an offer I simply could not refuse; so good that it wasn't even a difficult choice! So, we are moving to Kitchener.  The new job starts June 2nd, and I will commute for a couple of weeks, but hope to be settled in K-W by Canada Day.

I know there is a big community of quilters there - - so I hope to join the local guild, and meet some new stitchy friends!  If you know any quilters in Kitchener, can you pass the word along?

Sunday checking in

My much anticipated, and much needed loooooong weekend has been messed up by a bad cold.  Gah!  I feel like crrrrrrrrrud! I'll be keeping this short and sweet...

My plan to do morning sewing to bust some UFO's is going well:

I picked up some remnants this past week:

Made some tissue holder from scraps left over from the totebag I made last weekend.

I've also been working on the latest blocks for "Love Blooms Here"- a 6 part series in Quiltmaker magazine.

Sunday Checking In

My plans to do some morning sewing in order to get on top of some UFO's is working.  I completed some more blocks for A Grateful Heart.

But this weekend, it was time to work on WHATEVER I WANT!!!  

I made this tote (a pin from Pinterest!) is from a Moda Bake Shop tutorial: Hushabye Tote 

In addition to this tote, I also played around making some blocks to add to the growing piles:

• 18 - 3" nine patches (for a total of 111)
• 10 - 6" crumb blocks
• 6 - 6" split nine patches

On Friday, Hubby and I had a bit of time to go for a bit of a drive.  Two of the stops included Cherished Pieces in Tillsonburg, and Quilt Junction in Waterford.  I made a couple of purchases - - but mostly books rather than fabric!  Here's this week's new additions to the stash though.  

I've been drooling over the Tim Holtz fabric for months - and was delighted to come face-to-face with it in Tillsonburg!  I treated myself to a bundle of 10" charms.  They were offering a class of a great pillow using these fabrics - - too far for me to take part, but look as some of these projects on Pinterest.

I also found some solid FQ's in the $2 bin.  I can always find room in my stash for solids.  Moda's Sweet Serenade charm pack and a matching FQ came from Waterford.  I must have been in the mood for "ephemera" type prints that day.

I meant to spend the afternoon working on the next blocks in the Love Blooms Here 6-part series from Quiltmaker magazine.  I had been looking for this issue for nearly two weeks, and finally found it yesterday at the drug store.

Instead, I learned that my great nephew was playing in a basketball tournament in town, so Hubby and I went over and watched a very entertaining and exciting game!

So tonight I'll try to make a start on those Love Blooms Here blocks while I catch this week's episode of Mr. Selfridge on PBS.

Yet another UFO strategy...

I've tried a number of different strategies and resolutions and challenges to get my UFO's done and out of the drawers, bags, and boxes.

On Monday, I was listening to the January 6th APQ podcast on my iPod on the way home from a day of outreach.  In this episode, Pat Sloan interviewed Jennifer Keltner and she discussed the "48 Hour Challenge" issued to the staff of American Patchwork & Quilting last year.  In this challenge, they HAD to take an hour out of their work week every week to work on a quilting project, for a total of 48 hours over the year.

Okay, so .... follow me here... one thought led to another, and it occurred to me that I could fit an hour of quilting into my day (pretty much every weekday) before work.  Instead of surfing facebook and watching Dog the Bounty Hunter, I could spend one hour drinking my morning mug o' tea, listening to the local CBC morning show on the radio, and devote that hour to working on a UFO.

I also decided that I would only work on the UFO for ONE WEEK -- although I will carry over to the next day(s)/week(s) as long as I like, until it gets boring again.  And then switch to a different UFO the next week.

So, I started with the top of the pile with "A Grateful Heart". No sense in over-thinking this.  I had about 1/4 of the blocks pieced, and a stack of FQs set aside to do the rest. I'm not sure exactly why I lost interest in this project.  Tuesday morning I made this block:

Today I made three 4" Economy blocks, and some HSTs and flying geese.  Tomorrow I have another 12" block in the plans.

I started this sampler project about four years ago. It's from the Winter 09/10 issue of McCall's Quilting magazine.

Weekends generally get some more dedicated sewing time, and I will allow myself to do whatever I want - - recently I've been enamored with small sewing projects that I've seen on Pinterest, but I'm not sticking to any hard rules for the weekend.

Working through some Stash

Another Pin: NAILED!!!

I saw this on Pinterest: http://seaside-stitches.blogspot.nl/2013/03/fabric-box-tutorial.html

So, using some of the scrappy stuff from my thrift store find from Friday, I whipped up a couple of boxes and matching mug rugs.  They need some more hand stitches yet.

  

Another Pin: NAILED!!!

And I saw this on Pinterest as well: http://www.modabakeshop.com/2013/08/quilted-patchwork-pouch.html

The tutorial called for a Moda mini-charm pack, but I found a stack of HSTs at 2.5" that were going to waste, so I used them.  I still have a few left over HSTs, so I'm going to make a smaller matching bag.

I believe I have 71 Split Nine Patches done now.  The pattern calls for 80 blocks, but I think I could just keep going!

Aaaaaand, just when I had my stash all whipped into shape, I couldn't resist purchasing a bag full of fabric samples when I was home on Thursday.

Thrift Store Find of the Quilty Variety

I had a breakfast meeting this morning, and slipped into a thrift store that is located in the same strip mall - - and I'm sure glad I did!  There's even a stack of 8 point star blocks of various sizes.

Someone got tired of a project that will fit quite nicely into my stash.  Also, some yardage, and a giant apothecary-type jar, some thread and a pattern booklet.  YAY!!!

Fast and Fun

Another Pinterest Pin: NAILED!

I recently pinned this tip to one of my Pinterest Boards

Image from: http://mikkidesignho.me

Couldn't find these mesh bags at the Dollar Store, but I did find patterned tulle and a roll of ribbon, and quickly (maybe 30 minutes?) sewed up eight sachets, and I think they are just as nice! (And so does Gibby!)

I cut the tulle ribbon 12" long -- it's about 4" wide I reckon -- folded in half and stitched 1/4" inch from each edge.  This was a good excuse to tidy up a couple of shelves of our linen closet.  The last few were tucked into my dresser drawers.