Friday, November 29, 2013

FRIENDSHIP BLOCK FRIDAY

Oh. My. Word.  November is over already.  With this being the last Friday of the month I am supposed to share my progress on the Friendship X and + blocks I am making and trading with Cindy
Here are my eight pair of blocks--8 to keep and 8 to send



and here are my blocks mixed in with four that Cindy sent me   : )



I think it will be a wonderful mix of scrappy blues/greys/greens by the time we are done. Time to start on December's.
Happy Thanksgiving to all my American friends !

Wednesday, November 27, 2013

WIP WEDNESDAY AND A WINNER

Happy Wednesday!  I've got several works in progress as usual. This week I've received 'squishy' mail three times! Blocks from the Simply Solids group are half here  : )


On the knitting front I bought yarn to make gifts for some of the girlies on my list.


I started and ripped out a little sweater for Janie twice, but I think I'm settled on this one.  click click click


My forest of trees is growing. There are several waiting for the trunks to be added.


Someone mentioned they couldn't see how the trees are 3D so here is a photo. After all the trees are pieced I need to sew little pinwheels in the corners


and another little project just for fun  : )


Thanks so much to everyone who left a comment on my give-away.   Mr. Random Number chose..........






Stephanie @ quarter Incher.  Congratulations Stephanie! I have sent you an e-mail.

As a side note there were so many comments that were 'no reply'.  If you didn't hear back from me it's because I had no way of reaching you  : (         I tried --really I did

linking up with Freshly pieced

Sunday, November 24, 2013

INDIAN SUMMER

How I wish we were experiencing that, but winter has hit with -18 this week. When I took these photos it was -7.  This line of fabric has been around for a while but I finally got my hands on it.  I envisioned something simple and quick.  I just love the colours--so soothing.


My favourite is the little teepees 


I quilted it with a square stipple. For the most part I'm happy with it.  Not perfect by any means but finished is better than perfect right?



backing is Little Apples by Aneela Hoey and the binding is 5 different grey jellyroll strips from my stash trimmed down to 2 1/8".  It just worked!


Done.


quilt stats:
pattern- made up as I went along
fabrics- Indian Summer and 1 piece of Road 15
background is Moda off white
40 x 58
pieced and quilted by me

If you haven't entered my give-away yet there's still time. You have until bed time on the 26th  : )


Thursday, November 21, 2013

GIVING THANKS BLOG HOP WITH GIVE-AWAYS

GIVE AWAY IS NOW CLOSED
Once again it's time for the Quilting Gallery's Blog Hop. These are always a lot of fun and a great way to discover new blogs and 'meet' new people.  It's also a way for us who have quilt blogs to thank all of you for stopping by and leaving such encouraging comments.

My give-away consists of something hand made and something purchased. These little buckets were fun to make and are useful too! The big one could hold scraps, so to get you started how about 4 fat quarters of Jenni Bakers' Nordika. The little one is a thread catcher and it looks like it has already snagged a few spools  : )





To enter, just leave me one comment on this post. Give-away is open until November 26 at which time I will use Mr. Random Number generator to choose a winner. Yes, I will ship internationally.

The list of all the participating blogs will be available later this afternoon. Click here to visit all the other blogs and enter the give-aways.  Enjoy the Hop and good luck  : )


Monday, November 18, 2013

CARLI'S QUILT

Sometimes boredom can work in your favour. This last couple of weeks my daughter's boyfriend was out of town and she found herself facing some loooong days with nothing much to do. I suggested she find her pile of quilt blocks and work on them  : )
I had been teaching a beginner class at the shop and she asked if she could come and hang out and work on her quilt. After a couple of days she had the top done!

We ventured out for a photo shoot but the wind wasn't cooperating


 She used two lines of fabric in this-- one of them being 'Textures' by Angela Walters and I can't remember the other one. After piecing this, she's a pro at sashing. I may have to wait for her boyfriend to leave town again before I suggest she start quilting it           : )



It finished at about 64 x 80 ish

There is a Quilting Gallery blog hop starting on November 21st. Come back for a chance at a give-away : )

Friday, November 15, 2013

WORD SCRAMBLE

Yesterday I spent the morning in my sewing room and it was good therapy : )  I even tidied up a little and finished piecing all my letters for the Heal group.  Can you guess what my word is?



How about now?


If you guessed 'Comfort' then you are right


Words are fun to piece and aren't hard at all. This is my contribution to the quilt we are doing for Hospice in November.  I'm really looking forward to seeing what Melissa does with all our blocks.

We were also asked to make a second block of our choosing so I made another spider web block. That pretty much takes care of my scraps of 'Dori' by Benartex. What a cheerful line of fabric!


I mentioned in my last post that my Mom had turned 80. For her gift, my sister and I hired a photographer to do an all girls, four generation photo shoot. This is a picture the photographer posted as just a teaser for us.

l to r--DIL, Miss J, my daughter, Miss S, me, my Mom, and my new DIL
With three more sons yet to marry, I'm excited to see what THAT picture will look like   : )

Enjoy your week end.


Wednesday, November 13, 2013

EXCUSES EXCUSES for very little sewing

.........oh but they're good ones!  This past week end we celebrated a very special birthday. My mom turned 80 on November 11.  My mom-in-law came to help us celebrate too, and she was staying in my sewing room.

Here is Mom cutting her cake with her little helper. I hope I look that good at 80. I hope I look that good at 51.......


We also had a few out of towners show up for the occasion. They arrived in this


the next day I had everyone for brunch and we took this photo just as they were leaving


Anyway, back to my sewing room I went and made my block pieces for Rene in the Mid century Modern group.  She doesn't want them sewn together so she can sprinkle them throughout her quilt.



my blocks are starting to arrive from the Simply Solids group. I think this will be a fun quilt when it's all done


the Christmas quilt is ticking along


and I started my letters for the word block I am making for the Heal@do. good stitches group


and lastly, a while back I bought this piece of fabric to make Janie a spring dress. I was itching to knit again so started a little sweater to go with it. I am so slow on this but there is a hockey game tonight so I will make some progress.


linking up with Freshly Pieced and Random Thursday

Thursday, November 7, 2013

GLORIOUS FALL -----A YEAR LATER

This day last year I went up to the park and took this picture of 'Glorious Fall'



I went home and over time added one more row to finish the pattern, and then it sat.  I added it to my fourth quarter list in the hopes it would motivate me to get on it. Then I saw this quilt by Maureen Cracknell and knew that I wanted to finish mine that way. So, with permission, I forged ahead.


As you can see by the photo, winter has come a bit earlier this year.



Although I'm not really a purple person, this plum colour framed it so well so I ran with it!


The quilt top measures 53 by about 80. A good twin size


I have some ideas for quilting it following the zig zags with different quilting designs. I think it will be fun trying things out. So, one year to the day, I'm a step closer to having it done!

Monday, November 4, 2013

COUNTDOWN TO CHRISTMAS and A SPECIAL DELIVERY

So it's November already, and with a new month comes a clean slate and new starts. A couple of years ago,  I made a quilt called Countdown to Christmas.



I have started another one and am planning to make it a bit bigger. The trees are three dimensional and use a lot of fabric. I think I can use the waste fabric to make the little pinwheels freeing up some fabric for more trees. That's the plan anyway  : )

we've had our first snowfall

You may remember a few months back I sent a quilt off to Nicke that I had pieced for Hospice. Well, she delivered the quilt and sent me a picture to share with you.



I'm honoured to be part of the Heal group of do.good stitches. I hope this brings him much warmth and comfort.

Enjoy your day