Hello there ... do you remember me?

Wow, it's been a while. So much has occurred since my last post.  It's been a busy couple of months.

My churn dash sew-a-long is going. All of my fabrics are cut!

Everything is set up by the machine, background matched, ready for me to tackle it.

I try to find little pockets of sewing time when ever I can in between my busy schedule. They are rare these days.

When I do find a little pocket, the next thing I know, my pile of blocks higher.

I do like the scrapiness of it. Although I cut over 50 blocks for this quilt, it didn't seem to make much of a dent in my fabric craps. I'm starting to think it reproduces when I'm not looking! Oh well!

Thanks for stopping by. Cheers!

Summer days and the Churn Dash SAL

 Wow, July has blown by ... I've been busy enjoy the summer. We've had some wonderful weather ... a tad hot but still wonderful. 

I finally cleaned the dumping ground clutter on my cutting table. Somehow, I always managed to put something on it ... creating more clutter.

Time to get to work! I cut the last 10 fabrics I needed to complete the required number of blocks for my quilt. You know ... I looked at the scrap bins and it sure doesn't look like I made a dent in them. Sigh!

Now, it's piecing time .... Yes ... I powered my machine and got to work. Voila! First set of blocks done! I'm a tad late to the game but ... I'm getting there.

Thanks for dropping by ... Hope you are enjoy the season! Catch you all later. Cheers!

ZOOM ZOOM .... Chookyblue shed meet!

 Thank you ladies for a wonderful and inspiring time.

Always a treat to meet like minded quilters. 

Thank you Donna for hosting these.

M.I.A.

It's been a challenging couple of weeks. I apologize for not replying to your emails and comments. I do want to thank all that sent their heartfelt thoughts regarding Stella. I miss her so much. She was such a huge part of my life. The house feels empty. Sigh!

I have not been quilting ... haven't even given it a thought. When things are challenging, one of my methods of coping is ... cleaning/purging. And purging I have been. I have so much stuff! I don't think I'll live that long to use it all. Off it goes.

If I want to get back to the S.A.L. I do need to clean my cutting table. It has become a dumpling ground.

I guess now it's not about purging but cleaning up the dumping station! 

Off to get some tidying up done so that I can get motivated to work on the Churn Dash blocks. I still have ten (10) prints to cut up and then it's piecing time!

Cheers   !

I made up my mind ...

 I've been thinking about the Churn Dash SAL and what size quilt/blocks I wanted to make. One thing I was certain, I wanted to use up some of my scraps. 

I've decided on the 9 inch block and a bed size quilt.

I pulled out my scrap bins and got to work sorting and cutting ... my goal? To reduce my scrap stash!

Since it's a scrappy look, I didn't think about the fabrics, placing myself in a 1850's frame of mind ... use what you have.

Then, I came upon this fabric ....

And I'm thinking ... "it's my last piece, I can't cut into it" ... "I can't get this fabric anymore" ... What is it about fabric that makes me one want to hang on to it? I seriously started to think about this ... "why do I want to save this last piece?" ... finally reasoned with myself ... instead of having a large piece of it, I'll have it safe in a quilt ... chop ... chop ... LOL

This is what I have cut up so far ... all the backgrounds for the 50 blocks ... I'm still missing a few prints for the blocks.

Now, I'm just making sure the colours are balanced out. Do like what I have so far ... and I didn't even think about the colour choices ... just cut! ;)

Are you participating in Chookyblues Churn Dash SAL? If so, how are you coming along?

Thanks for stopping by. Catch you all later?

Zoom ... Zoom ... Chookshed party

 It was a hectic work night ... short staffed, busy as all heck ... I didn't think I was going to make it to Chookyblue's zoom party. But after a way too long work night, I finally said enough is enough .... 2:00 am (ET) I turned off my work computer.

Went downstairs, made myself a drink and joined the party ... Chookshed's 10th Anniversary Celebration!

It was great catching up with everyone. I so enjoy these zoom gatherings. I find them inspiring. 

Thank you Donna for hosting these ... Happy Anniversary!

Churn Dash Sew A long

Donna from Chookyblue blogspot is hosting a Sew-A-Long and I thought I would join in. Heck, you must have read yesterday's BREAKING NEWS! lol

I decided to open EQ8 to work out the layout. I am not that fond of EQ8 but it is what it is. Sometimes updates are not always a good thing. I've owned EQ for numerous years, since EQ2 ... let's just say I had to update due to Apple's recent change in their system ... we'll leave it at that.

Back to the quilt. The suggested block size is 9 inches ...

I love small blocks and have been thinking about doing a 6 inch block. I'm going for the crappy look. This is what the layout would look like. 

That's a lot of blocks to piece ... but so pretty. I do like small blocks, they require smaller pieces. It would certainly put a dent in the scrap fabric stash. My bins are overflowing!

Now, this is what the quilt would look like with a 9 inch block ... less blocks to piece!

A different look, but pretty none the same.

Well, I guess I have some thinking to do. 

Catch you all later! Cheers!

Zoom ... Zoom!

 Had a Chookyblue zoom meet! What a lovely way to start the new year ... catching up with everyone

Thanks for the creative inspiration!

Chookyblue Zoom Zoom ...

 Yesterday, I had the pleasure of catching up with like minded gals. I so enjoy Chooky's Zoom Zoom gatherings. The ladies are all so wonderful. As a bonus, I get to practice understanding the Aussie Accent! lol

I did a bit of knitting on a pull over I'm working on for Pumpkin. The pattern is called Le Classic by Espace Tricot. It's free on Ravelry.

I also worked on Seaside Cottage, a kit/pattern by Primitive Gatherings: a new wool piece I started a couple of weeks ago. 

It's a great feeling to catch up on the various wool kits I have on my "To do" list. 

Hope you all had a wonderful December 25th! 

Catch you all later! Cheers!

The Wool Box

 I couple of years ago, I signed up for Primitive Gathering's wool box. I'm enjoying receiving happy mail ever couple of months. Sadly, the boxes have been sitting, patiently waiting for me to start the projects.

For our December Sew we Gather group, we all decided that we wanted to work on whatever project we wanted, allowing us the opportunity to tackle Christmas projects that needed completion. I took the opportunity to work on a project from the wool boxes ... Posey Party.

Drum roll please ...... Tad dah!

The best part about this project, instead of using the greens from the kit, I took the opportunity to use all my small scrap wool.

It actually made a dent in the wool scrap bin. At $80.00 a yard for hand dyed wool, I save a lot! 

Thanks for stopping by! Catch you all later! Cheers!

We have a finish ...

 It just dawned on me that I neglected to brag post a project I actually completed for our Sew we Gather back in October. The re-arranging of the quilting studio really did the trick!

I project started out with this ...

It had been so long since I had hand appliquéd. Seriously, I think it's been over five (5) years! But, it's like riding a bicycle, it comes right back!

Then, it moved on to lots and lots of these ....

Oh, how I love half squared triangles! They are my favourite.

And made it to a complete project!

The pattern is called, Esther's Garden Box and is from the book Simple Whatnots II by Kim Diehl. The quilt top measures 14.5" x 14.5"! 

I must admit, I do love the way my quilting cabinet is looking!

Hope you are enjoying some productive creativity! Catch you all later! Cheers!

Chookyblue zoom .... zoom!

 Friday evening well into Saturday morning, I had the wonderful opportunity to catch up with these lovely ladies.

Always a treat to chat about life the universe and quilting. It's so inspirational! Even more so since I seem to have found my quilting groove! I also got to meet Swooze for the first time. 

Thank you Donna for hosting theses wonderful zoom get together!

Catch you all later! Cheers!

Chookyblue Zoom time ....

 On Monday, I had a wonderful opportunity to zoom sew with quilters from across this beautiful planet. It was great to meet new quilters. We chatted as we worked on our projects.

Wow! Looking at the picture and noticing how long my hair is .... Covid hair I guess! lol

Gosh, I came on at 2:00 pm and left around 10:00 pm EST. I worked on an EPP project, Star Quilt. As you can imagine I managed to get quite a bit sewn ... Progress is a good thing! 

Voila!

I've been plugging away. I'm really enjoying working on this project.

Hoping you are finding time to relax and work on your favourite projects. Catch you all later! Cheers!

Chookyblue's Zoom Sewing

 This early morning I had the wonderful opportunity to join Chookyblue and other like minded quilters for a Zoom Sewing Gathering. Given that I finish work on Fridays at Midnight, it was the perfect time to log on and get to know some wonderful quilters.

I poured myself a drink .... It's 5 O'clock somewhere ... and joined the gathering!

I had an early coffee date with friends in the morning ... So I stayed till 2 am .... I probably should have stayed later, as I was to wired to fall asleep. lol

Thank you Donna for allowing to join. I enjoyed chatting with everyone.

Thanks for stopping! Catch you all later! Cheers!

It's 5 o'clock somewhere!

Enjoying my Chookyshed Sewing Day!  Cheers!

Will the seasons please make up their minds?!

Brrrr ..... it's a cold one today!  Hot and humid yesterday to ...  turn on the heat today!

Last Tuesday, Pumpkin and I spent the day in Montreal.  We had a wonderful time walking the streets, admiring the architecture of the Old Montreal as well as the downtown area.  It is amazing how much the city has changed since the last time I was there (approx. 6 months ago).  St Catherine street - the major downtown street - is closed off to cars between Bleury and St Laurent and becomes a summer park.  People were playing street chess!

How cool is that?

On the quilting front, this weekend I am participating in Donna's Chookshed Sewing day!  In other words, it's a Parrrtyyyyy - using Sponge Bob's pronun-ci-ation!

My plan today is to finish up this quilt top!

I am using a Moda Jelly Roll - Daysail by Bonnie & Camille.  I love that line!  This is my first time working with a Jelly Roll.  Let's just say that it's pushing my OCD over the top! LOL

Off to get started on my project!  Catch you later!

It's been a while..... yet again!

I do want to apologize for my absence, more so because of the give way that is now closed. Thank you so much for participating in a bit of fun with me. I will be drawing a name soon. So, please stay tune for the winner.

As you can all imagine, life is a little intense for me. So much is going on in terms of possible life paths and projects. The planning can pre-occupy so much of my time. Now, with that, I still have my graduate degree that I'm hoping to complete by the end of December. I'm presently studying for my last comprehensive exam. Wish me luck! ;o) Once my degree is complete, life, I presume, will be back to normal. At least I hope to get rid of this headache that I've had for the past week! Despite the busyness, I still manage to get some quilting done. It's what's keeping me sane! lol

The retreat at Wadhams was wonderful. I didn't take any pictures. There really wasn't much to photograph. We were all busy working away. Besides, some were in their pjs and I don't know that they would appreciate my posting a picture on my blog! lol It was wonderful being in a productive quilting energy.

I brought with me quite the basket! I spent a couple of weeks cleaning out my closet and finding the projects that I thought I would want to work on. Of course, I didn't work on all of them, but some. As they say, it's better to bring more than not enough.

I did get quite a bit accomplished given that I had not done much cutting before hand. It's amazing how much cutting can take up so much time! The one quilt I did cut ahead, I had forgotten my black thread for the piecing. Oh well, not a big deal! As you can see, there was plenty to work on!

I did finish this project, Charming Holiday Quilt Kit! It was a gift from Santa who, believe it or not, shops at the Fat Quarter Shop! I love Santa! lol The pattern is called Scalloped Charm by Black Cat Creations. There was enough fabric to make a smaller version, which I did. It's machine quilted and like this one, ready for the binding.

I would strongly recommend going to a quilting retreat. It's wonderful to have no distractions. Well, okay, I did visit a quilt shop called Fiber Options. I mean, how could I resist! lol The drive was beautiful. I did learn that there's an Amish community around Ogdensburg, New York. It was fun to see buggys! Anyway, the shop had such a unique collection of fabrics and a lovely decor. I would say that she was contemporary in her choices. Adjacent was a cute wool shop. Oh...... so nice to fondle. But, I won't go there, been there done that! I do NOT need another hobby! lol

That's been by life since Hollows Eve, busy, busy, busy. Thank you so much for your kindness and patience. I will attempt to have the drawing on Monday!

My week!

Lots has been happening and yet I've accomplish nothing I set out to do. sigh!

I had booked some time with the Gammil Dealer in St Albans in an attempt to finish some flimsies.

This is the pantho I purchased for my brother's Corn and Bean quilt.

I thought it would work well for the quilt. So I did a bit of practicing for an hour or so and decided to tackle the quilt.

I loaded the queen size quilt and made the attempt. I quilted about 12 inches of the pantho and decided that I didn't like it.

Given that the bulk of the quilt is light, I didn't want to use a dark thread. I didn't like the fact that you could see clearly the inaccuracy of my inability to follow the pantho accordingly on the borders. So I ripped it out and decided to do some custom quilting.

Well, that didn't work very well either! They did not have the lower attachment that you use to guide the machine for stippling and I didn't have enough control from the top. So I ripped those stitches out and re-attempted the pantho with the understanding that I needed to live with whatever came out of it.

Unfortunately, the machine started to beep so I had to stop. When I went back to the pantho, I didn't head in the right direction and stitched over what I had already done. More ripping! After taking the extra stitches out and six (6) hours later I decided it was time to leave before I start crying in public. At this point, I didn't even want a long arm anymore!

After a glass of wine and some thinking, I decided that I needed to go back the next day. I was determined to get it right.

I set up the quilt, found where I thought I left off on the pantho and had Beth (the instructor) check everything. She informed me that it was the exact spot I left off and told me which direction I had to go.

Well, guess what? Same mess, twice! I was fit to be tied! I could not bare to do more ripping at $15.00 an hour!

So, I took my quilt off the machine and decided to go to my Friday quilting bee.

The girls had decided to give me an "unbirthday party". So there were these beautiful flowers, a cake, a bottle of wine and a candle for me.

To think I blew these girls off! Thank you again Jennifer, Lora and Joann for making me feel better. You guys are the best!

So, $150.00 later, I have nothing to show but a huge mess.

What have I learned from my experience you might ask?

1) It dawned on me that I don't have to load fabric to test a pantho. I could have just followed it with the laser light to get a feel for it. It takes time to load a quilt/fabric on the machine. The meter adds up as you pin away.

2) If I buy a long arm from this dealer, I'm pretty much on my own (unless they have other instructors that I am not aware of).

3) Don't blow off your friends for long arm rental! ;o)

I did book more time on Tuesday but guess what? I'm cancelling it! I do not like the light thread and since they cannot show me how to do the center with the pantho, it's pointless for me to learn on my own at that price. Mistakes are a great way to learn, however I would like it much better if it was on my own machine. I do not need the stress of a meter running!

Thank you for reading about my week!

In friendship!

Happy 75th blog posting anniversary!

What a beautiful day it was!

Given that I'm feeling much better, I took the opportunity to attend my Friday Quilting Bee. It's so wonderful to be amongst quilting friends! Best of all, Holly also had a chance to join us, which was such a treat. I did some hand sewing on the binding for Against the Grain Quilt!

Our Quilting Bee meets at Jennifer's house, whom I have convinced to start blogging. I'm presently working on Holly and Lora. ;o) Please pop on over to encourage Jennifer. She is an amazing quilter and as far as I'm concerned, a Saint. She has five (5) beautiful children who keep her quite busy and she still finds time to quilt. We won't get into the fact that she just adopted two (2) of the cuties puppies.

Given that this is my 75th post, I want to have a little surprise give away. Leave me a comment and I shall have a drawing on Sunday. I will be going for some quilting therapy tomorrow with this particular drawing in mind. ;o)

Thank you so much for taking the time to visit my blog.

I'm thankful for the amazing friends I have made here on blogland.

Have a great weekend everyone!

In the Pink!

I want to share with you my new distraction, I mean my next quilt, In the Pink by The Buggy Barn (Henry Glass & Co.). I am not a pink and brown kind of gal, but when I saw Laura, one of the ladies from our quilting bee, work on hers, I just had to make one. It really is a sweet looking quilt in real life. Two of the other ladies also have the kit. Joanne has finished hers and Jennifer, well it's still in a bag. Jennifer assured me that there were still some kits available.

After our little get together I headed to the Altona Quilt shop, Maw & Paw to pick up the bundles of fat quarters. Marie, the owner, had them organized as per the pattern requirements. For the borders I decided to keep with the brown, however I changed the inner border to the pink plaid. What you see are the fabrics, washed and ready to be cut. I also bought the backing, a Robyn Pandolph fabric from her Sentimental Journey. It is the pink and sage plaid fabric in the photograph.

I promised myself that I would not start this project until my paper is finished. Best case scenario, the Against the Grain quilt has to be machine quilted, ready for binding before I start sewing the new quilt. Well, so much for UFO's.

Another hindrance to starting that new quilt, is that my daughter's birthday is coming up in early June. She asked that her Fairy Garden quilt be part of a birthday gift. That little brat! lol The quilt is part of my stashbuster list of "UFOs to complete" for the year. So much pressure!

It's so difficult to work on UFOs when you're constantly being teased with so many wonderful projects that my imaginary friends in blog land are working on. I guess, I can reason with myself knowing that most of my UFOs are hand applique, so technically I do get to work on them. ;op

Happy quilting everyone!