Getting a Grip

In more ways than one.

It has been a c-c-c-cold April here in Canada's southernmost town.  The Detroit weather dude said we are 10-20F degrees colder than average, and the Windsor weather dude, Arms Bumanlag (don't you just love his name?!) concurred, about 5-10C.  The wind out of the north is freezing; when it's out of the south, because it comes off the lake, freezing as well.  I could count on one hand the number of times I have walked Rocco without earmuffs and gloves.  Yesterday and today I was grouchy the entire walk, barely looking around to admire the burgeoning Spring glory of magnolias, Japanese Cherry, azaleas, Forsythia, other white floral trees that I do not know...

Today I got home, hit the shower, my cheeks (both sets, ha) ice cold to the touch, and started to have a meltdown of frustration and depression and anger all rolled into one.  And then....wait a second.... I grabbed myself by the scruff of the neck (metaphorically, although I did scrub my neck, lol) and said, "Sandra! Get a GRIP!  You are crying about the weather?!  Meanwhile you have made two beautiful quilts that you hope to give to two children...said children who have suffered unspeakable horrors of sexual abuse and YOU THINK YOU HAVE IT BAD???"  Insert steam-out-of-nostrils emoji.

Yeah.  So.  I got out of the shower and told MacGyver the positive aspects of my walk with Rocco:  1.  Just two steps from where he did his first poop (he saved up today) was a perfectly good, nicely folded, just a bit wet from the drizzle, pretty lettuce-green doggie poop bag! (had you wondering, didn't I?) I didn't have to use one of my own, and at about 1.5c each, a girl's gotta save money where she can, snort.  2.  The drizzle stopped not even half way into my walk.  3.  The lawns are the most incredible, lush, Irish green.

Speaking of incredible green (love it when I get a good segue like this), a few days ago, I used a piece of Quilters' Candy Basics from Connecting Threads (no affiliation) from a fat quarter bundle I got from them in early December to make this:

Pebbles and Bark

Flimsy is done!

Pebbles..... and Bark.....get it?

There sure didn't appear to be much of a wind from sticking my nose out the patio door, as well as from my walk with Rocco earlier in the day.  However, this is as straight as this quilt hung for the entire photo shoot!  My next-door neighbour Jude calls this corridor between our back patio/gardens and neighbouring Park Lane, "the wind tunnel". And boy, is it ever sometimes...

This is my flimsy finish for The Inquiring Quilter Jennifer's "Stepping Stones Quilt Along".  I was in love with Jennifer's neutrals version she first posted, and that was the main reason I joined the quilt along; I've always wanted to make a neutrals or low volume, as they say these days, quilt.  I was not in love with my version, rather 'meh not feelin' it,' for most of the process.  Bella however, got involved from the start, and loves this quilt.

She loves the quilt, but she loves my attention more...she's tapping on my forearm as I'm texting in the first photo! She often does this when she wants my undivided attention.

First paste-up of blocks on the design wall Friday night:

A whole lot more 'meh' and disappointment; I'll be honest.  After using, yes, old fabrics (both ivory florals) yet fabrics that were bought from quilt shops, ergo good quality and more than a few $$, I was disappointed that I wasn't really in love with the quilt.  I'd hope for perhaps a 3D look.  iMessaged with Tish of Tish's Adventures in Wonderland that night and she said she did like it, which helped give a little lift to my spirits.  Slept on it.

Got up early Saturday and had a bit of a brainwave just upon waking...what if I grouped the greys together and the browns together?

Liked this much better.  Order.  Pattern.  I don't do chaos.  Random.  Nope.  Ran it by Tish, yep, she liked this better too, as did Judy.  Julie, (sidenote, go look at her Three Naked Ladies Blooming in Moonlight quilt - serious mad love for this one), however, who marches to the beat of her own drum (and we all know the world needs those fabulous, shake-the-likes-of-me-up souls) liked A. 

Too late.  I'd already started sewing and had it nearly together later that day when we connected.  And then, stopped.  Arghh!  Had one block somehow oriented the wrong way, so did a little reverse-sewing before bed, knowing I'd be able to fix it and finish the flimsy after lunch on Saturday during my sew-with-a-friend afternoon.

By now most of you are seeing that Tish's and my friendship is going to a deeper level.  She put me on a stick (Yes! She DID!) so I can sew with her, hunker down in her purse to go to work with her, smile encouragement to her as she drives here and there (she could stick me in her visor, or hang me from her rearview mirror, always wanted to get cray-cray on a chandelier and that's probably the closest I'll come to it...)

Foof!!  um....Where was I?  Oh yeah, My friend Tish.  WE GOT TOGETHER TO SEW SATURDAY AFTERNOON!  WE DID!

Wait... whut?  How?  You may know I am in Ontario, and she is in West Virginia. We are 715 km apart, aka 445 miles.... and no, I did not (yet, ha ha) put her on a stick.

Yay for iPhones and FaceTime!

What's better than Sandra on a Stick?  Tish on a Screen!

Tish sat on my cutting table; I sat on her shelving unit, and we sewed and talked...it was the best!  Bella was quite taken with Tish, hopping up and sitting beside her as you see, but also looking at her, listening to her, ears twitching...she recognizes another servant human methinks....

That or the mama of another feline kindred spirit:

Like the Princess Caroline, Miss Bella LOOOVES fresh sheets on the bed time.  She will let herself be made right up into the bed, and then, wormlike, finds her way out down one side or the other!

Cats don't need FaceTime or iMessaging; I swear they have a memos system.  They are all so freaky in their similar quirks.  Anyhow, Tish and I, Bella and Caroline, even Oliver and Tish's daughter popped in and out...we all had some quality creative sewing time together.  :-)

Back to Pebbles and Bark.

I was still trying to embrace the rich browns in my quilt.  On my Sunday morning walk with Rocco on the Chrysler Canada Freeway (walking trail built on the old railroad), the name came.  The pebbles on the path, and the mostly bare bark of the trees reminded me of the colours of my quilt.  This name will most likely lead to the quilting motifs.  The nature theme, for those of you who know me well, resonates with me.

Rocco and I walked up to Pelee Island Winery for the first time this year.  It's 4 km (2.5 miles) round trip, and yes, it's dangerous to have a winery within walking distance, wink! This is the main sales pavilion; the main vineyards are out on the island in Lake Erie. I wanted to see if 'my' vines were budding.

very very tiny buds; the roses at the end of each row have baby leaves though

Rocco took advantage of the stop for a photo to itch:

Itch? or dab a little eau de animal poop on himself... (oh yes, he's been known to do that.  On more than one occasion.)

This time he smelled fine.  Phew!

The white magnolias are nearly finished, but the pink ones are just starting to open here by the lake. In the city, Windsor, they are a little further ahead.  Pink icing frothy blooms on a branch.  I could just lick them.  But I didn't, don't worry.

Another looking up shot of a different subject:

I thought maybe I could get a full shot of the quilt from underneath since it was blowing nearly parallel to the ground...

Ended up bringing it in and trying to get a full-on shot of it inside.

I like it!  Not often do I have a quilting plan at the flimsy finish stage, but there is a pretty solid one here.

However, it is going to be set aside for an über-exciting project I am starting next.  EEEP!  I guess I can tell you, since Judy did too, and you can buy the book right now on Amazon. (no affiliation)  I am part of the upcoming blog hop for the book launch Crafted Appliqué  by Lara Buccella of Buzzin' Bumble.  I couldn't be more honoured and excited to show you her ingenious new method of appliqué.  The hop starts May 2!

Linking up at
Patchwork Times
Cooking Up Quilts

Hands 2 Help Quilts Done

I am early to finish these two, but they may have spawned a third...

Hanging between Bacchus, or is it Dionysus, and another tree spirit, maybe a dryad? Jude's additions to our beloved American Black Walnut trees

A couple of days ago when I was looking for that perfect backing I knew I had in my stash for the No Bake Jolly Bar Shuffle, I came across a few other novelty prints that would be so great for kid quilts. Two of them, the fish one, and the camping one, struck me as great for boys, and so I know another quilt is asking to be born.

camping fabric left over from backing of nephew #'s baby quilt; fish bought with kaleidoscopes in mind

But let's take a look at these two sweeties, destined for two traumatized sweeties.
The first one I made is No Bake Jolly Bar Shuffle.  I saw this on Pieced Brain Denise's blog.  It was probably her pretty turquoise and grey combination that attracted me, but it was one of those "DREAMI" moments, a term I'm coining right now.  "DRop Everything And Make It."  I blogged about the flimsy here.  Interesting, because I mentioned in that post how this quilt talked to me during piecing!  It told me it was going to go to a child; I had definitely not started it with this in mind.

I knew I had a 10" stack of Amanda Jean Nyberg's Good Neighbors line from Connecting Threads, so I cut the stack in half to make my own Jolly Bars and this little quilt grew up in no time.

Here's the back:

I had no idea how I was going to quilt this baby, just had a vague meander idea, as I find meandering so relaxing.  (quilt meandering as well as brain meanderings, ha).  Loaded it, and realized I just had to do some custom quilting in those delicious blank white rectangles.  Couldn't let that go to waste, right?

And again, the quilt whispered to me...maybe I'm becoming a quilt whisperer, lol.  I seem to do better when I don't have a solid plan but let the quilt talk to me as I'm working on it.  Words.  Vibrations of love and hope and better days ahead, even though scars from sexual abuse remain.  Deep.  For a lifetime.  Some Dot to Dot in the alternating rectangles.

The sun was out, and then went in, grrr, but that lower left word is snuggle; "hugs" is visible at the top of the photo, and "play" is mostly cut off but lower right.

As I quilted the words, writing them first with a blue water soluble marker, I put my feelings into them.  I may be considered a little flaky, but I truly believe those vibrations of care and compassion will be in this little quilt for a little person.  I felt that child crumpling this quilt, snuggling with it, wrapping herself in it, saw her finding the words, maybe getting help from a caregiver to read the cursive writing.

Here is laugh and hugs

I bound this one with the Green Daisy print.  I hadn't planned on that, but serendipity struck again: the leftover backing got placed on top of the leftover green daisy print, I saw how closely the two greens matched, and that decided it.  I also stitched it down with the wonderful variegated thread that Preeti gave me a while back, and I absolutely loved it.  I tried stitching the binding to the back of the quilt and turning it to the front, trying to see which method I prefer for machine binding;I think what I did on No Bake.


Quilt Stats:
Pattern: No Bake Jolly Bar Shuffle by Pieced Brain
Size: 31 7/8 X 39.75" after quilting; 30.25X38.25" after laundering
Fabric:  Good Neighbors and Kona Snow
Batting: 100% polyester
Quilted: on my Avanté
Threads: pieced and quilted with Essentials thread in white; So Fine in the bobbin



The second quilt is Kimberly Jolly's No Bake Jolly Bar.  Tish and I made this quilt together this month.  Unofficially.  I love sewing with her.  It's really wonderful sewing with friends.  Period.  In person as well as virtually.  We each are giving our quilt away to someone in need.  I made mine smaller than the pattern because I wanted it to be the partner to the Shuffle, and I wanted it kid lap quilt size.  The link will take you to her version, also with Connecting Threads fabric.  Cat Lady!

I gave you a peek of this one fresh off the frame a few days ago.  It's meandered with three flower motifs, a daisy to echo that in one of the prints, a flower from years ago I saw in American Patchwork & Quilting, and Vicki's flower motif I saw last week, and loops.

Here is the back:

I bound this one, also by machine, with the Short Lines print from Good Neighbors, available at Connecting Threads (no affiliation).  I love the effect, but then again I do love a striped binding.

Remember I mentioned that Lotta Dots was not as soft a hand as Kona?  After washing, the same: lovely and soft.  I'm glad because I have more of it, as well as another one of their Quilters' Candy fabrics in white.

I plan to donate these to the Sexual Assault Crisis Centre here in Windsor to be given to children.  I have to call them today to find out if they do accept quilts.  For kids.  Failing that, I will give them to Children's Aid.

Quilt Stats:
Pattern: No Bake Jolly Bar from Fat Quarter Shop
Size: 36.25 X 44.75" after quilting; 35.25 X 43 3/8" after laundering
Fabric:  Good Neighbors and Lotta Dots from Connecting Threads
Batting: 100% polyester
Quilted: on my Avanté
Threads: pieced and quilted with Essentials thread in white, binding stitched down with Essentials variegated in greens; So Fine in the bobbin

Linking up with:
Confessions of a Fabric Addict
Crazy Mom Quilts
TGIFF at Fleur de Lis Quilts
A Quilted Passion 

PS I also washed and dried Blue Skies, and love how it came out.  Still no Etsy shop, but I hope to have a not-taken name and shop by this weekend!

You'll have heard about this in QBL already, and I did mention it on my last post, but there is another great deal or a hundred to be had at Craftsy this weekend on classes.  So many are on sale at 50% off or more, both recent and not-so-recent ones.  I am a self-taught longarmer, and all I learned I have learned through Craftsy classes, along with Leah Day's Free-Motion Quilting Designs. 

From these two quilts I've posted today, I would highly recommend Angela Walters' Dot to Dot, her Free-Motion Quilting With Feathers (Blue Skies), and her Small Changes, Big Variety, both of which I reviewed here.   I'm hoping to find time to watch my latest addition to my classes repertoire, Christina Cameli's Wild Quilting.  If you are just starting out quilting and would prefer to use your walking foot, Jacquie Gering's Creative Quilting With Your Walking Foot is also on sale.  Go to Midget Gem Quilts for a great review on the class.  Remember there are a ton of free classes too; one I particularly love is Mandy Liens' A New Look At Longarm Quilting.  Lots to choose from, right?  And remember there is way more than just quilting....gardening, cooking, scrapbooking, knitting, etc. etc.

Speaking of cat lady....or rather cat servant to Bella...

She is downstairs at the moment, calling me.  That's what she does at various times throughout the day...and night, erk!  Yowls.  For a 6.5 pound cat, she has one set of lungs in her tiny chest.  This was yesterday, calling me at 5:33 pm precise (date/time stamp on photo), to come upstairs and feed her.  Other times, like right now, it's, "Come down and sew, Sandra!" or "Come down and let's play!"  How can I resist?

Stepping Stones and Orange Play

I got all my blocks done a week ago for The Inquiring Quilter's Stepping Stones QAL, but haven't blogged about them.  However, I did post a photo on Instagram so Jennifer could see my progress, and enter me into the weekly draw.

Rocco surveyed the photo session this time, not Bella.  Being grey, he looks quite nice with the blocks, don't you think?  Here is a better view of the stack:

I am still unsure about these rather brown blocks...don't tell Bella!  However, it is what it is, and this fabric has languished for a long time, some of the pieces much longer than others, so better off the shelves and into a top, right?  Some is stash, some is scrap.  I am so pleased to have worked in a piece of my New York City fabric from The City Quilter.  I was in NYC in November 2007 for the National Teachers of English Conference, and it was such an incredible time, both English-wise and NYC-wise.  I need to go back.  There are scraps from Shift, from my first paper-pieced project, a chickadee minimini (waaay before the time of the current minimini rave, and pre-blog era), also a piece of soft brown floral from my Trip Around Alberta I made in 2000 as my millenium quilt (not blogged about, maybe a TBT post in the future), some new-to-me pieces, and some old ones, like both floral ivory main prints.  Man I do love scrap quilts!  Even more meaningful.

Ha, there's even a brown piece that is part of a crazy-quilt-style doll vest I improv-pieced probably around the turn of the century too, for a doll that is still bald...I am not brave where her hair is concerned, and so she sits, on the stash bookshelving, the lights glinting off her shiny, hairless head...I should make finishing her up a #bravequilter project for Julie in the near future.  But I digress.  Today is Week 6 of the QAL at The Inquiring Quilter, so I should have a top for you in the near future!  Last week it was announced that I won the Week 4 prize!  I won!  A beautiful handmade prize by Jennifer in her weekly draw for participants who post photos of their progress on FaceBook or Instagram.

Isn't this so sweet?  I had Jennifer send it to Dayna to save her some $$ on postage, and Dayna's photo doesn't do the basket justice, so Jennifer let me use her own photo.

I was able on Monday to finish up my orange row for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge at soscrappy.
Pulled all my oranges, which is not the most plentiful in my stash/scraps:

Because I ended up making a gradation row out of the purples last month, I thought I'd see what I could do here:

a few blips in the light to dark run, but I left it as is

That photo shows the centres done, a dark on the lower right, medium to the left, and on top the lightest.  In retrospect, I could've gone to the peach spectrum, but don't think I'd have had enough peaches.  Hmm, might have to investigate that a little more; the quilt is a long way from assembling!  I ringed the centre rectangles with black batiks, as a little brown or black can be added in with the orange. Angela used a Monarch butterfly photo as her April colour of the month inspiration.

split into 3 groups, light, medium and dark...ish!

And then sewn up and arranged from light to dark:

I found it quite fascinating playing with the yellow-oranges, the orange-oranges, the pinky-oranges, the red-oranges and brown-oranges.  Lots of scraps here, but a little stash too, if I'm honest.

Okay, the other fur kids want in on this post:

A couple days after we got home, took this of Bella perched on the pouffé I forgot, clearly telling me she prefers it to the prettier one IMHO I made her in Florida.

A couple of posts ago, you saw my Christmassy-looking view.  Here's the one I soaked up all weekend from our side of the duplex (that's my neighbour, Jude's stacked up patio furniture on their side). Naala soaked up some rays too, as did Rocco, not pictured, but right beside me.

Bare toes again! So nice to see this much of Lake Erie before the leaves fill in a good chunk of the view. :-)

If your blog is less than 3 years old, remember it's not too late to become a part of an awesome hop experience:

Click here to sign up for this amazing learning, growing, making new friends experience.  I know I was so tickled to find how many bloggers who I now consider friends, live within a few hours' drive of me.  You will also get such great technical advice, and I guarantee you will not only enrich your blogging life in QBL, but your real life by finding like-minded souls/spirits to share this passion. Guaranteed.  The three fabulous hosts are a wealth of resources and knowledge and help.  Not convinced? Shoot me an email (oh darn, gotta figure out how to set up new email for sandra (at) mmmquilts.com!  Eeek that makes me smile) but for now use the gmail address.

AND
Geez Louise, I thought this would be a super-quick post!  Just read Tish's post for today, which was published moments before mine (we are getting freaky in more ways than one of late, 'nuff said, lol) and she reminded her readers that Craftsy has put a whole schwack of classes on sale starting right now.  Uh yeah, if you're thinking of maybe treating yourself to a gift that will NEVER stop giving, as in you can watch it over and over and over, pause, freeze-frame, have handouts you can print out as many times as you want, keep notes right at the spot in the video you feel inclined to write something...need I say more?  btw I have never paid full-price for a Craftsy class.  Confession: I almost never have paid full price for anything for myself...which is why I have both of my patterns in my Craftsy shop as freebies, gotta give back.  Anyhow, if there is a class you have been considering, check out the link on the sidebar, or click here.  There are quilting classes as well as a ton of others on for at least 50% off - gardening anyone? My good friend Lara of Buzzin' Bumble wrote a great review post about the latest class I got, Wild Quilting.  Go here to read her post and see what fabulous FMQ Lara did--WOW!  Once I take this class, uh which is ON SALE right now, crazy-good for a just-released class, I will write up a review post too! There are affiliate links in this paragraph that will give me a small commission if you click through my link and then make a purchase, and I thank you in advance. :-) Lara's post is not an affiliate post, although she is an affiliate; she plain LOVED the class. I have Christina's second book, which I love and use a lot, so I know I will love her new class too.  It's right up my FMQ alley...but I have a couple of small quilts to quilt up this afternoon!

Linking up with Let's Bee Social
soscrappy on Saturday

Q2 FAL List and H2H Check-in

Hmm, the Universe is conspiring against me to get this post published.  I had it basically ready to go except for photos.  Then we had an Internet hiccup that I didn't notice, so nothing got saved, because I was not connected. Quite the surprise when I opened up the draft post today...

First of all, notice the new URL?!  Yep, been thinking about buying the domain for some time, and today, my good friend and partner in crime online shopping and sewing, and now domain-buying, Tish, spurred me on to just doing this already!  This is not because of wanting to open an Etsy shop, but I think it will help when I get to the 'branding' stage.  And, btw, thank you for such a great discussion on my last post! Wow.  I had no idea I would get such a wealth of thoughtful and informative comments, which I have taken to heart.  More on that in another post, but thank you for taking the time to write and for your frankness, input and wisdom.

I had a lot of wonderful quality time spent this past weekend with my daughter Dayna; therefore blogging and, to some degree, quilting, took a backseat.  Totally fine by me; I loved every minute of it.  So did Rocco (photos courtesy of Dayna):

Blue Skies - OMG Finish

I have been pretty productive over the past few days IMHO, now that I'm feeling almost 100%.

You may recall I made this top during the Craftsy Sweetens Up My Quilting Life hop that Julie of Pink Doxies and I hosted earlier this year.  This was a 10-yard bundle of blues, from which I whacked off a 2.5" strip of each print, added in the Pearl Bracelets, another aqua print and some Kona Snow yardage, and made these blocks.

This quilt was inspired by this one made by Preeti, who in turn was inspired by a Cluck Cluck Sew pattern.  Looking at mine, there is not a lot of resemblance to the Cluck Cluck Sew one, but I always give credit where credit is due.

Here is the back:

I absolutely LOVE the turquoise Treasures of the Gypsies print by Northcott, bought some time ago with a backing in mind, and some has been used as such.  I knew I had a blue skies-type print somewhere in my stash and had just enough to add in a strip. Rather à propos, n'est-ce pas?

What a gorgeous day, finally, here. Temperature not where I need it to be, but still, a helluva lot warmer than it has been, and with the sunshine, birdsong (saw my first cardinals this week!) and blue skies, I'm a happy girl.

I think it was Cindy of Stitchin' At Home who said she could see some of my beloved feathers flowing along the white areas, and she was right!  I wasn't sure about fitting them in there, but it worked out great.  I drew the spine freehand with a blue marker (thanks Tish! Love those babies) and then just went for it with drawing in the feathers.  Soooo good to be back on Avril.  I also decided to echo the spine and then fill it with pebbles, as you see.

I picked up some polyester batting at JoAnn's this winter to try, since I love-love-loved the Legacy polyester I got to use last year in the wheelchair quilts for our guild.  It's not quite as soft as the Legacy but it quilts up just as beautifully and has a light airy feel in the quilt, and it shows off such texture!  I just meandered (ahh, love meandering, SO relaxing) in the blue sections.

Okay.  Let's be frank.  Open.  Honest.  Full disclosure.  At several points during this first quilt on Avril in 3 months, I was sweating, doubting, thinking, "Crap, missed touching the spine there; oops, those pebbles are not round; nooo, that feather is not curved properly; yikes, that feather looks like a cat's broken tail..." and so on.  However, I did not rip.  Did not stop.  Well, that's not true; I did stop to fiddle with the tension, which went off slightly as the bobbin emptied, and then was refilled (I went through 2 bobbins of So Fine that I wound and part of one The Bottom Line pre-wound one).

So my point is that it looks great, no?  I'm really pleased with the entire quilt from colours to quilting.  When your nose is up against a quilt, and you're seeing every. single. stitch. it's easy to beat yourself up huge-time.  Try to step back and get the overall effect.  You probably will go "Yuss!" to quote Judy of Quilt Paradigm.

This is my OMG for April, and this is my #bravequilter (for which I missed the deadline for sign-up):  first item for sale in my Etsy store....

...which I went to set up before publishing this post.  And found out....

There is already a MMMquilts on Etsy!!  Noooo....  So now what?  I got nuthin'; somehow "Menopausal Quilts" doesn't sound like a business I'd like a quilt from, LOL.  Any suggestions welcome.  I thought 3Mquilts...m3quilts...  I also thought $65CA.  It's a baby quilt, or a small lap quilt, not that big.  Thoughts on that appreciated. I've seen them a lot more expensive, but, as with my first quilt pattern that is free on Craftsy, I thought I'd start humble.

Quilt Stats:
Pattern: original design
Size: 40" square
Fabric: assorted Michael Miller prints, Lizzy House Pearl Bracelets, Kate Spain Paradiso scrap, Kona Snow
Batting: 100% polyester
Quilted: on my Avanté
Threads: pieced with Gütermann, quilted with white Isacord

Linking up with
Confessions of a Fabric Addict
Crazy Mom Quilts
TGIFF at Faith and Fabric
A Quilted Passion
Red Letter Quilts for OMG

I have a couple other posts forthcoming, Q2 FAL List, WIP like my Hands2Help two, yep, two quilts, my Stepping Stones progress, a knitted neckwarmer, well here's a photo of that enjoyable little project:

This is Fisherman's Wife Cowl, a kit that is only $12.88CA on Craftsy, and that will knit up in no time with this lovely chunky acrylic/wool blend yarn and fat needles.  Perfect for spring with the ever-present wind here in flat Essex County!
Happy Friday!