If I work fast....this could be a July finish!

I spent last evening making a mile of binding for my Sailor Boy's quilt, and the morning sewing it to the front.  If I work really fast hand stitching the binding down to the back, I could count this as a finish for this month.

Remember what it looks like?

I'm on holidays this week.  No big plans - we're having a 'staycation' in order to accommodate some appointments, chores and to-do's.  I would like to play with some ideas for small projects that I've 'pinned' on Pinterest though!  

February Goals in Review

I wasn't able to accomplish all of my goals for February due to my thumb injury - which is healing nicely, but still lacks some feeling, and dexterity.  It's hard to match raw edges with a raw thumb!

But I did finish the borders on Black & White.  It needs to go to the quilter.

I got the borders on this Log Cabin.  My goal was to finish this bad boy, but alas...

And I did finish my four Grandmother's Choice blocks!

I haven't gotten any solid plans for March yet.  I'll consider this today, and post tonight.  

Oh....I think this has got to be one of my favourite all times

I'm telling you...this cat...
As soon as he hears the camera turn on, he's photo bombing

Get lost, Gibson!

Finished measurement is 95" square

I am absolutely delighted with how this turned out.  And it occurred to me last night that this is my own design - - no pattern. I am responsible for all of the idiosyncrasies - for example, take note of the 1/2" black strip just inside the final pieced border.

Let me explain - I had intended the hourglass blocks to be 6" finished, but cut them wrong, and ended up 5" finished.  I needed to add only 1" , although I probably could have eased the final border in, but went ahead and added the 1/2" to ensure that the final border lay straight, without any ruffling.

The blocks in the centre were created according to the instructions on this tutorial.

Snow Day

I had scheduled today off, using up some "in lieu time" I had accumulated at work.  I was looking forward to a day at home on my own, tucked under the sewing table.  But Mother Nature had other ideas - and Hubby is home on a Snow Day!

Oh well, I have managed to do some sewing anyway - - I've assembled some borders for Black & White.  (The strips on the wall belong to Aunt Lizzie's Scrap Basket)  I hope to have the top totally assembled before the end of the weekend.

I've been working away on my hexie flowers together this week too.

What? I'm HELPING!

one...

 ...two...

 ...four... 

...excuse me?

Trying to pin pieces together, and who shows up to 'help' me?  First he LAYS his flabbiness directly on top of the sections I'm trying to put together, then he proceeds to pull pins out of the pincushion, one after another, and toss them around--undoubtedly for me to find 'the hard way' later on!  Oh, Gibson!

Girl's Joy

We spent most of the day in Brantford yesterday, visiting with Itty Bitty.  He took me to all the thrift stores there.  I didn't find anything too exciting, BUT I did pick up two pillow forms for $1.99 each.  I need them for two cushions that are on my UFO list, and had looked at them when I was at Michaels last week - - they were nearly $20 each!  Holy moly!  Even with a coupon, that's still a heck of a price. So here's a tip - if you need pillow forms, check thrift stores first.

So, I didn't get to this week's Grandmother's Choice BOW: Girl's Joy until this morning. I wish I had used a higher contrast between the medium black and light-medium red, but I'm pretty pleased with this finish.

I'm working on the Black & White quilt as well, and decided that this will be a gift to Sailor Boy, as we welcome a new member to our family circle.  Hmmm...I'll have to think of a pseudonym for her.  Well, she's relocating from Newfoundland to join Sailor Boy in Halifax in April.  We haven't met her yet, unless you count Skype, so hopefully we will be able to travel out to the Maritimes this summer once they get settled a bit.  I'm almost done piecing the block units for the three borders I have planned.  I think the young couple will enjoy the monkeys, tattoo flash, hearts and music fabrics.  

Just Rewards: Retail

Last Tuesday was my birthday, and my lovely mother-in-law sent me a Happy Birthday cheque in the mail.  I hadn't thought that I would be doing any stash enhancement with it - - what could I need?  But as I started to cut the pieces for the borders on Black & White, I realized I was all out of white on black prints.  

So, today at lunch, I did a quick trip to the LQS - Greenwood Quiltery to pick up a couple of FQs.  But who could resist the new "Type" fabrics?  Evidently, not me.

Thinking on my February Goals

January was a pretty good month!  But what will February's goals look like?

So I've sat down with pencil and paper to consider what's on the list, which seems like it might be a little ambitious, but I'm going to give it a shot!

1) 4 Grandmother's Choice BOW blocks
I've been able to keep up with this all of the month of January by making it my Saturday morning project.

2) 4 Dear Jane blocks

3) Finish adding borders to Black & White quilt top

4) Finish piecing Shirt Stripes top, piece the back together

5) Sandwich & pin baste Heart of the Home, machine quilt on domestic machine, and bind. I think I will take another look at this and possibly add a border.

Progression

My boss reviewed my (last year's) vacation time, lieu time, and sick time on Wednesday - - and insisted I start taking some time off.  So, I didn't have anything booked for today, and decided to take a day off to spend with Itty Bitty before he goes back to university.  Instead of doing something fun, we actually ended up doing chores - laundry, groceries, cleaning.  But that leaves the weekend free for fun!

So, I thought I would post tonight about my progress with January's goals.

I did go to the library on Wednesday to get some books (inspiration!) for how to finish some of these partial quilt tops, and spent the last couple of evenings leafing through them. For Virginia Bound, I am going to do a scrappy piano key border, and tonight I sketched out the borders for Black & White, and the Tulip appliqué.  I also made a decision about how to finish my Sylvia's Bridal Sampler (which involves making four more blocks).  It will be similar to this, but a little longer: 

When designing the borders for my quilts, I had to figure out just how big I wanted them.  So, I consulted a few websites.

Standard Quilt Sizes

Worksheet for Calculate Your Bed Quilt Sizes (pdf)

and from Pinterest:

I also finished the 10 bookmarks, and took them into work to give to my colleague.  She was very excited to donate them to Action Read, and picked one out for herself to keep.  That made me feel good about that finish!

Partial finishes of goals: 1) I've caught up with Grandmother's Choice blocks - four more to go, and 2) I have one Dear Jane block done - one more to go.

It's coming together....

I've got the blocks sewn into rows.  It's big, so you are only getting an idea of what it will look like finished (what I could fit into the camera frame!). 

I need to make another row of blocks though.  For some reason, the layout calls for 9 rows of 10 blocks.  That's just weird...you can't use an even number of rows or columns when you have a two block design.  So, I've decided to have 11 rows of 9 blocks.  Finished without borders, that works out to 81" x 99".

Yes!  Another repurposed shirt project!  This time I controlled the scrappiness to blues and browns. I like it a lot.  I hope to have this top done before the end of the weekend.

And then what?  Well...I suppose I should get back to my Black & White quilt. Since I picked up all those great fabrics at the St. Mary's quilt show, I have a nice selection of B&W prints, and no excuse not to finish it.

...and a good time was had by all.

As promised, the second block of my Baltimore Folk Fusion is done.

I had a great time at the quilt show in St. Mary's yesterday, particularly enjoyed the vendors!  I became aware of a new source "Pastime Pieces", an online vendor from Blenheim.  I checked out her website this morning, and while that was rather disappointing, I'll be looking for her at future quilt shows for sure! 

And yes, indeed, I found lots of B&W prints. Here are two of my favourites:

Going to a Quilt Show!

I'm heading out this morning to St. Mary's to see the Huron Perth Quilters' Guild & Stonetowne Quilters' Guild show with a couple of quilty friends.  Just saw the list of vendors...whoooo hoooooooo!!!!!


I'll be looking for more black and white prints - - Gail and I have come up with a plan to expand my Black & White quilt to bed size.


I'be been working away at my Virginia Bound blocks.  I have 48 'sub'blocks completed, and another ten half-finished.  It's completely joyful sewing.  Mindless, zombie quilting.

I spent hours and hours outside yesterday, digging around in my dirt. There's a patch of garden between the church next door and the driveway we share with two other neighbours, which I had sort of "adopted" two years ago.  I got that piece all cleaned up, and then went next door to meet the new priest. Nice, nice lady. (Maybe I should mention it's an Anglican church?) I think they are from B.C. Her husband is a retired social worker (MSW), and her daughter is going to be going to the same university where I am to work on her prerequisites to get into the BSW program. We had a nice chat about the church, St. Thomas,  social work, and King's, etc.


She told me the church had sold the rectory (which is on the other side of street) so when I got a chance yesterday afternoon, I went over and introduced myself to one half of the new neighbours. I invited them to stop over for a cocktail on the deck sometime, and I hope he and his partner will accept my invitation.  They have been doing a fantastic amount of work outside, and the property is looking gorgeous.


Late in the afternoon, I sat in the sunshine on the back deck and read my book.

It was an Oprah Book Club choice from 1998 and it's really good!  I have had marginal success with Oprah choices - sometimes really good (A Map of the World, A Million Little Pieces, Fall on Your Knees) and really not so good (The Reader, Daughter of Forturne, The Measure of a Man).  It's written by Chris Bohjalian.

"On an icy winter night in an isolated house in rural Vermont, a seasoned midwife named Sibyl Danforth takes desperate measures to save a baby's life. She performs an emergency cesarean section on a mother she believes has died of a stroke. But what if Sibyl's patient wasn't dead—and Sybil inadvertently killed her? As Sibyl faces the antagonism of the law, the hostility of traditional doctors, and the accusations of her own conscience, Midwives engages, moves, and transfixes us as only the very best novels ever do."

Last night, I worked on another Baltimore/Folk Fusion (this is the name I've invented for these applique blocks) and had only five more little leaves to stitch down, and then popped the eye of my needle through the end of my finger.  I guess my quilting calous must have gotten thin in my hiatus from sewing!  It was too sore to put a thimble on last night and struggle through those last few stitches, but I bet I'll have a photo to share of my second block to share tomorrow!

Weekend Update - a little of this and that

In keeping with my new goal of completing 9 UFO's this year, I dropped Shirt Stripe Boxes off to Mr. Quiltman on Monday evening.  Since then, I've been piecing the borders for my Black & White Quilt.  I got the pieced border on tonight, and now I don't know what to do.  It's only 70x70.  Too big for a lap quilt?  Too small for a bed quilt??  What do you think I should do???

Two more weeks of school left!  Next weekend (the long four day Easter weekend) will be filled with assignments to be handed in. 

Gotta tell you...it's been a sad week.  My friend lost her husband last Saturday, and while I've tried to be supportive for her, I feel AWFUL!!!  I suppose it's got to be the accumulation of lots of stressors and losses since the New Year, but truthfully?  I am terribly depressed. I find myself thinking about my friend all the time; getting choked up and misty eyed. 

I'm just going to power through the next couple of weeks, and then I can take some time and get some perspective on everything I've experienced these past two or three months. It's been challenging - between my ill health in Feb, the death of my ex-husband, Sailor Boy moving to the Maritimes, and now my friend's husband's death, not to mention the rapid-fire trauma of a high-school guidance department - - so many crises, two student deaths in three weeks,  horrible stories, and frustrated efforts to be helpful. It ain't easy, particularly when all I really want to do is snatch up some of these kids and bring them home with me!!! 

Hubby and I took a day off to ourselves today.  We went to Komoka first, to a Nostalgia Show.  That was fun.  I saw a couple of things I would have liked to have brought home with me, but oh my! the prices!!!  OUCH!  Still, it was fun to browse around.  Then we had lunch at the Little Beaver in Komoka and then off we went to the Spring Gardening Show at Canadale Nurseries.  The local hospital was having a fundraiser there with an old time "penny sale". I bought $5 in tickets, and put a lot of them into the draws for some lovely pieces of stained glass and garden ornaments.  No calls yet, so I guess I haven't won! SHUCKS!! But it was fun to see all the spring flowers, and interesting items.

We sat down tonight and made up our "to-do" lists for the week.  Itty Bitty and I are completely swamped.  Not one extra thing can be squeezed into our tightly scheduled calenders.  But we HAVE to get our passport photos done this week - - ugh!!!  I want to come home from Nova Scotia through the States next month (I'd love to see Portland,ME again!) so we need to have passports.

Sewing Sunday Morning

Good Morning Gibby Kitty!

Doesn't he look terrified?  He's fallen in love with a shirt that I bought at a church rummage sale yesterday.  We were quite worried that he'd suffocate inside the plastic bag it was stored in, he simply could NOT get enough of this stupid shirt, so we wrapped him in the shirt, and oh my!  THE LOUDEST purring ever.  What a weird cat.

Up an at 'em early this morning.  I finished six more blocks for my Black & Bright quilt.  It's now coming off the design wall for the time being.  And I've pieced an uncountable number of HSTs for the border of my Black & White quilt.  So, it's going back up on the wall, so I can figure out what my intentions are with the border.

Holiday are coming to an end...

So...it's time to get some things DONE! I sewed together all of my Black & White blocks, and added a narrow border. Unfortunately, I haven't got enough HSTs to do all four sides yet. I'm ALL OUT of black and white scraps.

Also, did some more work on Black & Brights.

This is what I'm currently reading: "Lost Continent: Travels in Small-Town America" by Bill Bryson. While I was surprised to see that it was published TWENTY years ago, there's nothing DATED about this book. It's not nearly as funny as Notes from a Small Island , which was absolutely HYSTERICAL!!!

"A travelogue by Bill Bryson is as close to a sure thing as funny books get. The Lost Continent is no exception. Following an urge to rediscover his youth (he should know better), the author leaves his native Des Moines, Iowa, in a journey that takes him across 38 states. Lucky for us, he brought a notebook."

Just a few days left

WHAT?!?!?!

Yep, it's true. Just five more days of holidays left, then back to school!

Yesterday, I spent the day with a group of ladies who gather weekly to craft together, including my mother and one of my sisters. I'm often invited, but this is the first time I've been available to attend. I was the only quilter - - most of them were scrapbookers (who are just quilters in denial, right?)

I finished the last ten of my blocks for the Black & White quilt. I'll be rearranging the blocks before the final assembly, so that the blackest and the whitest are positioned in such a way that will highlight the secondary, and tertiary patterns formed by the blocks.

Unfortunately, what I wanted to work on was the blanket stitching on the ME jelly roll quilt I started on Christmas Day. But somewhere between home and the site of the crafting day, I LOST MY FOOT! Yes, the presser foot for blanket stitching fell off my machine, so that little job is going to have to wait until I find the foot in a snowbank somewhere, or I replace it....or talk someone else into finishing it! ;)

no...seriously...holidays ROCK!

I've made 14 of these Black & Bright blocks, but no more Black & White (even though one snuck into this photo!