Winterizing and packing

Not much quilting happening here.  I do have projects that I would like to work on, some small things, this next week but we are busy outside, trying to winterize our home for the El Nina wicked winter that is being predicted.  Also packing and organizing for our trip south - so hard to know which UFO's and PIGS to take with me?
It is hard to winterize dahlias that are still blooming and hanging baskets that are still flowering.

However, it is Hallowe'en this weekend so we do have our pumpkins carved and have been lighting them every night. We put them on the ladder and in the dark, they look like they are floating in the dark night! 

 Enjoy your spooky night on Sunday! 

Time to post

I am trying to spend less time on my computer and more time working on the things that need to be done around here!
Am actually finishing up painting my kitchen cupboards.  The ones damaged during our kitchen fire got a fresh coat of paint but it made the rest of the cupboard doors look old and tired so, with the leftover paint, am giving them a clean, nicer look, covering up years of nicks and scratches and abuse.


And, I have made a new table topper for my kitchen table. 

I also worked on my monster mystery quilt.  I was determined to get this quilt quilted and bound and out of my sewing space.  It was taking up too much space and yet I was dreading the pulling, pushing and shoving that was required to get it through the machine.  The quilt was too large for our B-line set up and I didn't think that it warranted me spending big bucks for professional quilting so I did it myself.  PHEW!  Done, finito, bound and on a bed.  I is totally  made from scraps from my quilting leftovers.  Even the binding is made from leftover binding strips from other quilting projects.  Am so happy it is finished!! 

I also found an old quillow, made for my daughter, 20 years ago that was in sad shape, badly torn and worn.  I didn't do much to it but fixed up the major tears and thought it was worth salvaging as it has obviously been well used and hated to throw it out. 

So, while I haven't been spending time adding to this blog or on the computer much at all, I have accomplished some other projects and it feels GOOD! 

Welcome Fall

At 8pm this evening, fall officially begins.  Funny how it always feels like fall long before the actual, official start of the season?
I have brought the Rubbermaid container out of the attic and gone through my quilts and wallhangings as well as table runners and table toppers and my house now has autumnal decor in the living and dining rooms.
One of my yahoo groups, Fiberwizards, posted a very cute, extremely quick to make, pumpkin wallhanging last week so I sat down on Sunday and it was as fast as promised! 

One reason I was able to sit and sew on Sunday was the incredible amount of rain that fell that morning... definately a stay inside and keep dry kind of day!  The gutters couldn't handle the amount of water that came from the skies and overflowed drastically!  The bonus of all this rain in September (we have tripled the average September rainfall) is that fields and grass are green although, means back to cutting weekly!

Yesterday and today are gorgeous fall days - time to dig out some of my outside fall items that I like to have in my yard. 

And, it is raining, again!

Such a lovely morning and early afternoon and now, back to rain.  Oh well... I finished up two projects for my neighbour who is off to Alberta for the sewing/quilting shows there next week and both projects were from fabrics and/or panels that just arrived in her shop a few days ago. 
Time to clean up my sewing spaces tomorrow.  I have some very messy batiks as well as 'stuff' from the workshop I taught on Tuesday at guild for QOV quilts, bits of stuff everywhere.  Rain is good weather for doing inside tidy up jobs! 
I did bring in all my houseplants from outside - figured that the next few days of moisture on top the rain last week would be too much water for the poor things.  Usually they get left outside until the first frost is predicted but having wet roots for too long won't help them to be happy and healthy! 

The project on the left is a little girl's apron and would look quite adorable on a child/toddler.  The second is an Advent wallhanging made from a panel - all the numbers are small pockets to hold a wee gift and do the Christmas countdown.

I had a great report today from my optometrist - my eyes post surgery look good and, best news of all, no more contact lenses - ever.  He has written me a prescription for glasses and I had fun choosing a new pair of frames.  For the first time in my life, I didn't have to worry about the actual size of the lens area as I no longer need coke bottle lenses (the smaller the lens area, the thinner they could make the lenses) - so had fun and the gals working at the optometry clinic had fun with me, helping me to choose.  I love my transition lenses, perfect for watching tv, sewing and or reading while my dh clicks through the channels during commercials.  The distance isn't  a very strong prescription but will give me superwoman vision!  However, like everyone over the age of 40, my close up vision is the pits and so I will have great vision for all distances.  Can't wait till next week and surprise everyone with my new look!  However, having said that, I am legal to drive with my eyes just the way the opthamologist gave them to me during cataract surgery... just need a bit of tweaking to see the little details when watching tv from a distance.  Am doing a happy dance! :)

Crazy September weather

This is the craziest September weather... we were warm and comfortable on Saturday with the doors and windows open and by Saturday evening, needed the gas fireplaces on and everything shut as we got bombarded with rain!  It continued to rain until this afternoon, when, once again, it was warm and a perfect summery afternoon?  With all the rain, I managed to accomplish a few more necessary projects. 

The first is a quilt top that I made for my neighbour.  He owns a quilt shop and is off to Alberta to the sewing and quilting shows and this will showcase some of their newest fabrics.  Cute and fun for a child! 

I also managed to get the blocks joined and a border added on my Autumn harvest quilt.  This is a Debbie Mumm pattern available for free on her website. 

My Orion Star, a Quilt in a Day with Eleanor Burns pattern has the borders added and ready for quilting.  I have a few quilts here that I need to get layered, quilted and bound! 

  It feels good to be back quilting and actually accomplishing some projects.  We also have had the painter here finishing up some of the final painting after our house fire in June.  Hopefully our home will be fresh and clean and ready for us to list it for sale next Spring? 

Back to school today - but not me!

Being a retired teacher makes the first day of school for the year very enjoyable! 

With fall weather arriving in a major way with lots of rain and dark, cooler, dreary days mixed in the sunny days, I have been able to take the cover off my sewing machine and have accomplished some sewing, finished off a few projects that have been hanging around for too long.

This is the second preemie quilt that I made using the BQ pattern - quilted and bound and ready for guild meeting next Tuesday.

I also worked on my Quilt of Valour and hope to get permission  to show how simple it is to contruct this block for a quick demo and inspire others to make a quilt for injured soldiers. I found the pattern in McCall's quilting, May/June issue and it is called Paradigm Shift.  This quilt is made from my stash and fits the term SCRASH quilt - scrappy and made from stash fabrics only.

These are a couple of block ideas that I have been playing with and will show these as inspiration for a  Quilt of Valour  - two sizes and again, made totally from my stash and are scrappy.

I also made a double sided baby quilt for my neighbour who owns a quilt shop - to showcase a sweet panel and coordinating fabrics.  A warm, soft flannel quilt perfect for a sweet baby girl?

I am also working on another SCRASH project - an autumn quilt made from all my bits and pieces of batiks. The pattern is from the Debbie Mumm website and a link was posted on my Yahoo Fiberwizards group.  After checking it out, I decided to give it a try and was a great use of 8" scrappy squares.

A successful labour day weekend! 

Now, time to think about some other projects around my house - salmon to can... lots of salmon that needs canning with the bonus sockeye run this year.

But, now that I am sewing and am all set up and organized, it will be easy to work for an hour or two a day and get some of these projects from the beginning or middle stage to being finished quilts! 

Late August

We enjoyed a really nice day yesterday with relatives that we had either not seen for a long while and some we had never met (great nieces, a great nephew, once removed).  At the last family funeral, it was decided that we should have a family gathering during happy times and not wait for the sad moments to get together.  All the children had fun, the teens seemed to enjoy themselves and the adults were all relaxed and we enjoyed some good conversations as well as reminiscing about the past. 

One fun activity I did with the family I hadn't seen for awhile and the great nieces we had never met, was to pull out of my linen cupboard a variety of quilts that were samples from classes in the past.  I let each family member root through the pile and choose a quilt for themselves.  It was interesting to see who made an immediate choice and hugged their quilt closely while others had a really hard time making a decision - maybe I didn't have quilts in their favourite colours to offer them? 

I did manage to get a couple of quilts quilted this past week and also managed to get the binding onto one of them so watch for pictures in the next few days as I complete each project.

This is the quilt that I posted in my last blog but it is now quilted and bound and ready to donate to the preemie SCU at our local hospital.