Green Work, Pumpkin Placemats and DrEAMi! #66

Two thirds of the way through writing this post and I looked at the date and realized tomorrow is the last Saturday of September (just WHERE did that month go?) so I need to double up and make this the DrEAMi post too. The pumpkin placemats at the end of the post are actually a Drop Everything And Make it project!

My RSC work is done for this month. Angela asked us to work some more with blue, but I've already done light blue and turquoises, and I'm itching to work with bright green, so that is what I did, making another hot air balloon block. This makes a total of eight.

I plan to make one more for the layout I have in mind. I think it will be a multi-coloured one.

Mason Jar Cover Tutorial - A Gift for You For My Blog's 9th Anniversary

Happy anniversary to mmmquilts!

I cannot believe: A. That my first post on this blog was nine years ago, September 18, 2013, at the beginning of my second year of retirement, and B. that I've been retired from the teaching profession for ten years! (C. and that I'm now 62 - egad, feel more like 42.) Thank you for finding me, and reading my posts, for coming back, again and again, for following me however you follow me, for participating in blog activities, and for taking time to write such kind and wonderful comments over the years. I've met so many good people, many of whom I consider good friends, several of whom I've met up with in person, many with whom I've shared email letters, FaceTimed, texted, all wonderful ways to connect with other humans. 

Sidenote, in true SandraJaneQuilts, aka mmmquilts, fashion, I want to let you know that we have Nasir Ahmed to thank for the technology that has allowed us to FaceTime, Zoom and other video-calling apps, as well as given us high-def TV. Yes, I learned about his work on an episode I recently watched in Season 5 of This Is Us. 😊 I have been making sure to tell people his name whenever I get the chance.

So I have two gifts for you, dear readers, today. The first is a tutorial for the Mason jar holder that could even be a pencil/tools/makeup pencils and mascara, etc. holder. The second is for my readers, a discount code for 25% off patterns in my Etsy shop, SandraJaneQuilts. Thank you for your ongoing support of my blog activities and of my Etsy shop! I won't be advertising this on Instagram, just here on the blog, for you! Aaaand, I may have another small surprise up my sleeve later this week just for my followers.

Without further ado, here is an easy little project that can use up a few more of those pesky pervasive strips! It came about because of a request from my daughter, Dayna, who uses a Mason jar for her morning smoothie. It sweats, and even with a coaster underneath, the sides are still wet, so she asked if I could make some sort of coffee cozy-type affair with a built-in coaster. No problem! 

Here it is in use at Dayna's.

On the Garden Path

I have a finish this week, and it's the table topper or wallhanging option of my newest pattern, The Light Within. I've called this one 'On the Garden Path' because of the path-like appearance, the garden blooms and birds in Pat Sloan's beautiful new line, 'Bird Song' by Benartex Designer Fabrics.

It truly is a thrill when something you've designed and mocked up in EQ8 comes alive in fabric.

It goes together super-quick!

Two Tuesday Tips

I am popping in to give you a quilting tip and a piecing tip on this warm sunny Tuesday afternoon. I said I'd tell you how I quilted the pantograph design I'd seen a year or two ago on Instagram. There was no indication of what it was called, but Nancy of Grace and Peace Quilting had commented that it is 'Swells'. My Avanté is quite able to do pantographs; I'm just lazy to do the setting up and the figuring that goes with it to balance them so I just have never done one in all the years (since 2013) I've had my longarm. This design caught my eye for the wonderful all-over texture, so I used it on Drift.

Great texture, n'est-ce pas?

DrEAMi! #65

Welcome to the dog (or dare I say squirrel?) days of summer Drop Everything And Make it party, where we celebrate those squirrels that chase us, or that we chase! I love this adorable albino squirrel named Yarrow who lives at WILD North, @wildnorthab  an animal rehab centre in Edmonton, Alberta.

They've been socializing her, and she met several kids at the Wildlife Festival in Edmonton last weekend. I've had a virtual festival of squirrels in my sewing room over July and August, and I'm looking forward to seeing the herds -correction- a scurry of squirrels aka a dray of squirrels, in your sewing rooms as well! Who knew a group of squirrels was a scurry or a dray, ha!

Grapefruit Pizzazz

I have a quilt finish, and it was totally unplanned, but it grabbed me and would. not. let. go. This kind of quilt happening is a DrEAMi. Drop Everything And Make it. And this one is a true DrEAMi, because that is exactly what I did, despite having a few other projects I should have been doing.

What a pleasant surprise to see how well it goes with the impatiens and greenery!

Gratitude #66

Ah summer, my favourite season of the year. I am grateful to live in a place in Canada where we do get four distinct seasons, and for that reason, I've come to love three of the four. I tolerate winter better now we live in southwestern Ontario, though I'd still prefer to be away and in warmer climes for the two months it's most unpleasant: January and February. But enough about those two months! Welcome to another post about gratitude! Here is my current view as I type this post, on Thursday morning.

Morning coffee in a favourite mug bought in Monaco, mug cosy removed for the photo; smoothie in my also favourite Angela Walters 'Quilting is my Therapy' cup

Pretty idyllic, I'd say. It's going to be another hot and humid day. I don't mind a bit. This morning, like most others, it's already 24C at 9 am, and the humidity is such that the air feels soft. Crickets and katydids are singing, and soon the cicadas will join in the chorus. I love the symphony they create.