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Sunday, December 31, 2017

Sunday Stretch #25

I've already noted that Sunday Stretch (Yin yoga poses) is coming to an end, since there are basically about 25 poses we use.  I did not do a SS in November, so I will do my final one at the end of January., unless I find another pose that might be helpful to us quilters. I do have a good hips one yet to show you. So, I think this month, with all its busy-ness, along with this weekend, heralding the start of a new year, needs another meditation post. Just 10 minutes a day for a little quiet, inner-listening time can really do wonders. I know I need to get back into this regularly; it was very worthwhile, and Miss Bella sure enjoyed the 12 minute app I use on my phone:
She just knows when I do the meditation, and personally I think it adds a little something extra: a warm furry body purring on my crossed legs.
This is the free app I use:

You can personalize it with the style of sounds you'd like to remind you of intervals of time and beginning and end. There are different screenshots too to put you in a reflective mood.

I wish everyone peace in 2018. Peace in your heart, and peace that you spread throughout your life. Here is Kino MacGregor again:

Please come back Monday for a very exciting announcement!

Saturday, December 30, 2017

Goddess Eyes

Woot! Woot! A sort of unplanned finish for 2017.  Here is Goddess Eyes. Apologies for inside at night pics; hope to remedy this tomorrow! This is on my Q4FAL List, as and either this RSC2017 project or that one to finish. I'd hope to get 'that one' as in the Migrating Geese done, but this one jumped the queue!
Outside Sunday am in the frigid -12C weather...oh what I do for quilting pleasures. 😆

DREAMi Linky #11

Well, believe it or not, but I had no Drop Everything And Make It Moment this month. I actually focused, and completed one of my Q4 items on the list, possibly another...there's what almost 48 hours left in the month and year, right?! It's been fun seeing all the distractions everyone has suffered, the squirrels we've chased...
'bout says it all, right?!

Note that I've changed the acronym so it's all caps but for the final i, just easier, and in keeping with the iPhone the iPad etc etc, ha)

Okay hold the phone, I guess I kinda/sorta did have a bit of a DREAMi...
This is not on the Q4 list, and there are still two items ON that list I should be focusing on...AND would you believe that is a wild oranges variegated Aurifil thread I'm using?
But the flannel backing wasn't quite dry for me to load it to quilt the migrating geese flimsy, which IS on the Q4 list, and I was itching to quilt something, and this top had come together when I used it as a leader/ender...so before I knew it I had cobbled together a backing, found that with a little Franken-batting I could cobble together the remainder of the Hobbs 80/20 I used in my mum's quilt, Forever Flowers, and well, about 90 minutes of quilting (love, love a large meander, like watching goldfish) it was done. Binding happening Saturday. And loading of migrating geese. Pinky swear.

There were lovely projects linked up last month, so hard to choose...

So I didn't. Here are all eight lovelies:
Nancy of Pug Mom Quilts made this bright Elmo baby quilt - LOVE this photo!
Anja of Anja Quilts made this super-cool bag to carry her Featherweight (I may need to make one for mine!)
Louise of Quilt Odyssey made this fabulous Cat quilt, her Splash of Colour project - and it's a DREAMi because she doesn't do QALs, but this squir---uh cat sunk its brightly-coloured claws into her and had to get made! And now!
Liberty LOVE! Helen of Midget Gem Quilts made this beauty for her visiting grandson to cuddle in. She showed you the flimsy that just HAD to get made, and here is the finish.
Just LOOK at this gorgeous Supernova quilt made by Tanya at Tanya Quilts in Colorado, another baby quilt
Janine of Quilts From the Little House designed this, and then it wouldn't get out of her head until it grew up from paper to finished door hanging!
Preeti of Sew Preeti Quilts had not one but TWO DREAMis, happy scrappy baby quilts for twins!
Are you seeing a theme here?! I know it struck me this particular month. Baby!
1930s grabbed the attention of Allison of New Every Morning...I wonder if her quilt top is now a flimsy or perhaps a finished quilt?
Thank you all for linking up such bright joyful projects! I'm contemplating switching to a thumbnail linky, because you know you need to see the photo just in case it's a juicy squirrel, and making a little moola through being an affiliate means I can pay the bucks to get those thumbnails, methinks.

Well, here's to the last DREAMi of 2017.  I wish you all the very best fat furry bright-eyed and bushy-tailed squirrels you can find in 2018!




Thursday, December 28, 2017

I Like #11

First of all, thank you to LeeAnna for hosting these each week. I write one a month, but I snap photos and make notes all month; putting my month-long gratitude into one post is just my way of cutting back on computer time. I love the new people I've met through this, and I like that there is a place for us to share. I used to write these posts a couple of years ago, but felt like an island, so this is truly wonderful.

1. I like magazine surprises.

I cleaned up (okay straightened up a wee bit) my sewing loft and one of the things I did was stack together any magazines partially read or not read yet (saved for Christmas Day) and tucked them in the bookcase. A few weeks later I pulled the three of them out, and decided to visit another shop in Quilt Sampler. I savour these reading about a shop a week or so. Well, Rumpled Quilt Skins was the shop I opened to...wait! I've been there! Shortly after it opened. :-) I purchased a panel and fabric for matching valances for my then sewing room to make. I think I should make the valances for my loft at the very least! The wallhanging will have to wait because I have no wall space until we do some renovating, unless I rotate wallhangings...

The second magazine surprise is turning the page in the one I still subscribe to, American Patchwork & Quilting, and seeing a pretty quilt in an advertisement. As I always do, I look for the designer's name, and who was it buy Lisa Ruble! She is the editor of Modern By the Yard, and also the Paintbrush Studios contact. I've gotten to know her through doing my Freefall QAL, and through having my designs published in the ezine.
Isn't that a fabulous quilt?

2. I like cardinals.
That would make the most perfect Christmas card wouldn't it? If I could photoshop out the upside down patio chair legs, that is LOL. When I posted this photo along with two others on Instagram, Tish reminded me that cardinals can be seen as a visit from our loved ones.

3. I love the sun...
Here in its crystalline cold beauty, setting over Lake Erie,

and a thousand miles to the south in its tropical glow, setting over the Gulf.

4.  Although I do not like this Arctic cold one little tiny bit, I do like being cosy, and cocooning.
I also like these two minis hanging on the stairs wall of my sewing loft.
I love the fairy lights along the window ledge, and the little Christmas touches

5. I love making all the Christmas food.
Not pictured: the salad and the squash.

A few things on the go, but to the left are the Baby Christmas Cakes being iced with marzipan and then icing, a recipe surprise shared with me by Jean of All Points of the Compass. Delicious! I ate one while I typed part of this post. ('part' because it took me so long due to interruptions, good ones, like company popping over, and not so good ones, like Airdrop not working for a couple of hours!)


6. I like this ornament I sent to Brady.
Yup, I scribbled with a tool on my phone to erase MacGyver's face; he likes his anonymity.


7. I like the architecture of the old buildings in Detroit.

and these Christmas decorations, subtle and beautiful

8. I like my new planner, same company as 2017's, and I like that again, I got it with a $5 off coupon at Bealls Outlet in Florida. :-)

Speaking of coupons and sales and saving money, just sneaking this in, so plug your ears if you aren't going to take advantage of any more sales this year. Go to #10, no judging here. I got a couple of emails, and I checked them out (didn't buy anything...yet) but Craftsy is having quite the year-end clearance. Connecting Threads is also having a flash sale, 40% off books (and they have some terrific current titles) and up to 50% off select fabrics. Those are affiliate links, and let me also say how very grateful I am to those of you who DO click through on my links. Basically 10% of a sale, sometimes less, sometimes more, comes back to the affiliate. I like ways to support and help others that don't involve digging any deeper into my pockets than I already am, right?!

9. I love dogs. A profound, mad love for these wise canines, especially those who have graced my life. Thank you for all your thoughts and words of comfort over October and November while Naala recovered overall so amazingly well from her splenectomy. She had a 2-month critical period to get through, and Dec. 8 was the 8-week mark. With basically no warning, we lost her (still cannot write or think the 'd' word about her) on Dec. 9. She was our gladiator, our mama bear, as I called her, MacGyver's adored 'little rottie puppy' and she will be forever deeply missed. Our hearts are so heavy. I said to my husband, "Her absence is such a presence..." I know it will take time, so we put one foot in front of the other and know that our memories will help us. So I am so grateful for my brain. I make jokes about my menopausal melon (melon as in head) but I am so grateful that I have my memories.
2007, age 5 months, perched on the console between us, in her beloved truck, on our Oregon trip. She was the very best, and 10.5 years was much too short, yet we treasure her presence for every minute of those years.
Linking up with LeeAnna of Not Afraid of Color
Many wonderful posts are shared here, reminding us to be grateful for life's treasures, most of which cost nothing.


Reflections and Intentions

Reflections Part 1: Celebrations

Each year, during the last week of the year, Cheryl of Meadow Mist Designs hosts a party where you look back over your posts and choose the best five of the year. You choose them however you want.
May I just take this opportunity to say, this button rocks, Cheryl; I love it!
I'm not one to look at my stats more than a couple of times a year. So I was rather surprised when I looked now to see how many posts I've written so far this year, and I see that many got well over 1000 views! That is pretty amazing when I realize that just a little over 4 years ago I was regularly getting a number of views I could count on one hand. 😇 I've written or am about to publish 130 posts this year, probably a few more because of my DREAMi and Sunday Stretch posts this coming Saturday and Sunday and maybe another finish.

Tuesday, December 26, 2017

Quilting Confessions

Okay.  Deep Breath.  Here goes...

I get sidetracked pretty easily. In life, a bit (I can see MacGyver busting a gut laughing at that), so, since this is a confessions post, okay fairly often. This is why I work so well under pressure. Put the blinders on. Focus. Pedal to the metal kind of thing. Therefore, I have quite a few UFOs.

Blogging has been both a positive and a negative when it comes to UFOs.

  • A positive: joining in with FAL to get things done, prizes to motivate, pulling out some older projects to put on the list
  • A negative: like a magpie or is it a crow, I am easily distracted by shiny objects; like a dog, I am tantalized by squirrels and rarely pass one by, (I started a DREAMi monthly linky that kind of celebrates those chasing squirrels moments); and, getting designs published means pushing the FAL list to one side while a deadline takes precedence...


Enter Tish and her mission for next year to help us tackle the skeletons in our closets, pretty plastic organizers, IKEA Kallax units, drawers, top shelves, bottom shelves, under beds...wherever these cotton skeletons lurk. Her post about it is here.

I'd asked Tish if we should count the projects that are still in our heads and we'd maybe just bought a few pieces of fabric towards making them...she called them mythical quilts (I love that!)... well, it would take a few posts to list all the wannamakes in my brain. Know that some of the quilts on my list below are in the mythical quilt category!

All right, full confession: this is not a full confession, LOL. I did start a list in Word, however, and I plan to get those, as well as more lurking UFOs, organized and put them out here... well, maybe. It's a good way to maybe stop the buying? Make myself reread the list before I hit 'check out' at the online sales...ya, okay, I'll let you know how that goes.  I admire Lynette at What a Hoot Quilts for her candid post she linked up. Interestingly, reading Lynette's post on the Henry Glass Fabrics projects she created is the reason I got involved in the Henry Glass Desire to Inspire challenge in 2016. Cool how our paths cross here again! Her list is very much like I suspect my own would be were I to actually sit down for a day or ten and itemize every project in my sewing loft. She is running 18 in 2018, which you may want to check out. I may participate in that too. Anything to move these projects along!

Without further stalling, here is the abbreviated list of projects I need to move along over the next year:

Quilts partially quilted

Brr Park (this one has been started quilting on my Bernina) red face of shame that it has been put aside for two years now...

Flimsies awaiting quilting

RSC 2017 Migrating Geese
Stepping Stones
fleurs (Self Round Robin done at my former guild)
Wayward Transparency
Lazy Daisy
Kaleidoscope #2

I see I have created an A list, a B list and a C list of UFOs! Well I tweaked it a bit to get this, but I like it, but then, that doesn't surprise me, because as crazy as my UFO list is, I do like order.

UFOs (Blocks stage)

RSC 2016 Pop Rocks
RSC 2017 Strings
RSC 2017 Houses
150 CA Women
Splash of Colour
Scrap Vortex
Canada Quilt tested for Cindy
Stack n Whack green/coral
Magic Tiles

UFOs (Cut fabrics stage)

Box A Lot
Hometown Charm Jelly Roll (MBS by Rose)
Celestial (McCalls Quick Quilts) *about 1/4 of the strips are cut
Sea glass Quilt

UFOs (All, as in various, stages)

Tula Pink City Sampler (x2)
Flag
Cat mats (at least 2, hopefully 4 this year)

Kits

Downton Abbey b'day quilt
Gravity
Sea Swept (Quilt Sampler Cotton Patch LQS)

Patterns I want to make (some fabric already pulled/purchased) 

Aunt #3
Cats quilt
Postcard From Sweden
Sewcial Sampler with Tish
150 Canada pillow
With Glowing Hearts
My Guy
Geode
Dandelion
Modern Hand Drawn Lily & Loom
Suburbia with Boundless Blenders
Puzzle Tropics

38 items!  Won't happen.  However, seeing them in print here, and then checking back, will, I believe, help me get these done and in use or given to whoever they may be for, including charity. Some of these will also show up on the quarterly Finish Along and monthly OMG in which I usually participate. I've found these to be excellent motivators.

Hope you may consider joining Tish!






Sunday, December 24, 2017

Last Sunday Stash of 2017

It would appear that I've been in a bit of a stash addition binge, since I posted just a week ago about just shy of 6 yards I picked up while in Florida. I am confessing in this post (and in the ensuing one which has to do with the projects the stash additions are intended for) that I did take advantage of some Black Friday sales. Here's my loot, my Merry Christmas to Sandra from moi:
My first stop was one for whom I am an affiliate, Craftsy. I told you that I had this beautiful fat quarter bundle in my cart. Lily and Loom, 'Modern Hand Drawn'. (yep, it's still available, yep it is still at a terrific price and yep, that is an affiliate link that will take you there)  It is absolutely as lovely as shown on their site and prettier than my fluorescent lighting shows. I got a yard of the navy. Yes I have a plan...don't ask me right now; it will come to me, it will. 😬

What a lovely surprise! In with my fabric was the charm pack of Boundless batiks. Contrary to what I usually do, I opened it (I know, shocker) to get a better look at what was inside:
Simply delicious, yes?!
I also visited a favourite online quilt shop of mine, Fat Quarter Shop, no affiliation. May I say they have one of the very best sale sections, and their 24-hour Flash Sale has drawn me in more than a few times...
This is what caught my eye, a Bloomsbury charm pack for $1.49 (you read that right!), the Free Spirit Spectrum Designer Essentials charm pack, for .89c(!!), which I tilted so you can get a glimpse of the beautiful rainbow within (no I didn't open it, left these two all purty, just like to riffle through them), and a new Olfa cutter, snazzy colour, no?

They seemed a little small and forlorn, right, so I checked out their sale section.  Wait, what?

Some Hazel by Allison Harris? for $4.30/yard?!! Be still my beating heart, two pieces I do not own. I seem to have a small collection started thanks to, you guessed it, a sale (are you seeing a theme here) earlier this year at Connecting Threads (affiliate link which will take you to the wee bit of Hazel they have left).

Somehow, I do not know how, but maybe they were near to each other in the sort by price feature, I found these:
'Chalk and Paint' by Sew Caroline
Sandra's head:  What project are these for, Sandra?
Sandra's heart:  I dunno.
Sandra's head:  Why did you buy them?
Sandra's heart:  Because AGF. These colours! These motifs! Mad love for their fabrics.

They may grow up with some bari j I got from Bernie of Needle and Foot to do the Geode quilt by Blossom Heart Quilts. They may not. I will pet and fondle them for now so they know how much they are loved. Have you FELT the hand of Art Gallery Fabrics? I'll never forget my first caress...eyes widened...wow! This is cotton? Yup.

Finally not because of a Black Friday sale, but because I visited a blogger through a linky somewhere, who had the most gorgeous quilt in purples, who lives in Michigan somewhere; clearly I do not recall who she is, I am sorry to say, but you know how the vortex goes... Anyhow, the background of her quilt was this beautiful twinkly stars fabric from Lizzy House. She said she'd got it at Hawthorne Threads, she has no affiliation, nor have I. Well.
Ya, ya, there's the tea mug again, 3 times it's peeked into the photo, frighteningly close to the fabric. Meh, I knew what I was doing, and, like Angela, with her 'piecing potion'--OMG how I love her--haven't had a spill yet. Besides this was just herbal mint tea, so no biggie if it did spill.
Like the blogger where I saw this fabric said, it is difficult to show just how pretty this is. I got 3 yards so I got a slightly better sale price, a nice feature at Hawthorne Threads. What is the piece on top you're wondering?  It's 'Heart Melodies'.

Oh yes, I have a project. But I don't feel quite like talking about it just yet. One day. And... because AGF, right? and also on sale.

I wish all my readers and their families a most joy-filled Christmas, lots of quilty goodness, and special times to make good memories. That's what is the most important in life is memories. I also wish anyone whose heart is aching for whatever reason, a quiet time if that's what you need, a time to reflect perhaps, or special times with good friends or with family, if that helps you heal. Christmas isn't always joyous for everyone. I will leave you with a photo I took a few days ago, wine bottles decoration I painted and stencilled two Christmases ago, as seen on Pinterest. I just heard on CBC radio that pretty much all of Canada is going to have a white Christmas. It really is so pretty and magical. I can almost hear sleigh bells...

Wednesday, December 20, 2017

Pink and Mint

Pink and Mint are the new Christmas Red and Green. I couldn't be happier. Don't get me wrong: red and green and gold as well are still right up there in my Christmas colours cupboard, but there is something about this combo, with a little silver bling for a punch, that I love.
I showed you the flimsy that was a near-fail a few weeks ago. I'd not followed my own tutorial instructions closely enough, and had incorrectly oriented the large tree blocks. The mug rug would have been rather tall and skinny as opposed to a nice rectangle. However, all was not lost as I had the idea to add the sashing strips as a frame, and voilà!  A new spin on my Leaning Tree mug rug. You can find the original tutorial here.

Both of these have been given away (it feels awkward in my lingo to say 'have been gifted'), one to one of my yoga students who knitted me a pair of yoga socks (they're da bomb), and the other to a person who reads this blog, so mum's the word until they arrive. The pink and mint poinsettia fabric is an old, er, vintage one from Hoffman that I love, not much left of it now. The other pinks and mints and the burgundy are leftovers and scraps from other projects. Wait, the crystal-looking green one used as sashing and binding in the top mug rug is a fat quarter from JoAnn that I picked up a couple of years ago.
These mogul pines make a very Christmassy backdrop don't they? This was pre-snowmageddon a week ago. You'd never know it today though; it's nearly all gone. Used my mmm! quilts labels from Ikaprint of course. No affiliation (but buy through Lorna of Sew Fresh Quilts, as I did, if you wish to support a blogger), great labels and great service.

I used Sulky Holoshimmer threads again to quilt these with both my walking foot and free-motion foot for FMQ. It's so difficult to show off the sparkle of this thread which is flat like a ribbon.
I laid them on the grass to catch the later afternoon sun and so this does give you a better idea.

Two tips when sewing with this thread: 1) use a Metallica needle (I like Schmetz) and, 2) feed the spool horizontally, set up away from your machine.

I set mine in a former candle holder jar, using a knitting needle on which I feed the spool, like a toilet roll holder. Then I feed the thread up and over my stand-alone thread guide, keeping it flat the entire time, and from there into the machine. Tip #3, shoo the cat away. Repeat if necessary. 😼

Here's an inside, 'working' photo!
You also see the shimmer of the thread in this photo too, and that they are rectangular, not wavy, lol and lie flat!

Do you notice the beach glass in the vase at the top of that photo? Well I put some more to work, making another bowl. I'll write more about the process in another post. This one is quite large, 9.5" diameter but only 2 3/8" high.

Below, it was nearing completion. I love the various shades of the beach glass, white, several shades of seafoam, mint, light pinkish/purplish, green, and very rarely, brown.
You use another bowl for the mold. This one I tried what my friend Elaine suggested, Press 'n Seal. I was trying to avoid the creases I got when I used Saran wrap on the first one. It did go quite a bit smoother, but the bowl was larger and not as sharply slanted too. However, I got the imprint including words and dimples(!) off the Press 'n Seal. I'm sure it will come out with the Dremel. I must say these are rather addictive, like a jigsaw puzzle!

While I was in Florida, MacGyver did the tiling for the backsplash.
He did such a nice job! All the grout is done now. He put spray foam between the window and frame to seal it up (previous owner had this one installed and it was um a tad drafty) and then he'll put up the casing. He's building some shelves of reclaimed barn wood on the sink wall, once he does some recon to find the wood he wants.  Pretty soon I'll give you the before and after final tour of the kitchen.

Mug Rug Stats:
Pattern:  Leaning Tree mug rug (my own design- link is in this post)
Size: approximately 6.5X9"
Fabric:  scraps and stash
Batting: scraps of Warm 'n Natural or maybe Pellon Nature's Touch
Quilted: on my Bernina
Threads:  pieced with Gütermann cotton; quilted with Sulky Holoshimmer in pink 145-6054 and green 145-6018

Linking up
Sew Fresh Quilts
Quilt Fabrication
Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Sunday, December 17, 2017

Sunday Stash

While I was in Florida last week, I made sure of a couple of things: more than one visit with my second favourite pibble in the world and her human, John,
Reclining on our dogs' mats, doubled up for comfort! You can see the scar on her thigh from where they purposely broke her leg and threw her in as a bait dog to force other dogs to fight. The guy who did this was caught and did time...but not enough. John rescued Brandy, and she now is literally 'the Princess'. Sleeps on a human bed with her human, spends her days going for walks, meeting others, has hopes of catching a squirrel, and evenings snuggles up on the couch to watch TV or snooze. 

This little Maltese cross was super-friendly, even stood with her front legs on Brandy's chest to say "Hiya!" Brandy was her usual gentle self.

and a stop in on Wacky Wednesday at my favourite LQS, Alma Sue Quilts. If you are ever in the Sarasota area, be sure to stop in to this wonderful little shop where you can buy fabrics modern and traditional, watch Amish ladies hand quilting around a frame and listen to them speaking their language.

Wacky Wednesday is when Ella puts all her $5/yard sale fabric down to $4/yard. There wasn't much left... But she had put her seasonal fabric (Christmas and Fall) on for $5/yard too. I got a few yards...
Adorable Scotty dogs, Merry Christmas text, and a pretty grey scroll 
Such an interesting and happy tree print and a great red
The Scotty dogs weren't in our house more than 24 hours and they'd already been cut and started to be transformed into...
a Christmas pillowcase for Brady!
You can see my older Christmas pillowcase shams on the left, and a new bright 'for sleeping on' pillowcase behind Brady's. I made it two years ago when I had to ensure, "Santa had barfed up Christmas all over my house," words of Dayna, for me being all festive for Brianne and Brady's visit that year. I'm thinking the trees might need to become new shams for our bed, but then they wouldn't quite go with my Buggy Barn Crazy About Hearts and Stars Christmas quilt... maybe a Christmas cushion cover?

Anyhow Brady's pillowcase is all wrapped up and in the parcel to be mailed off tomorrow.
I remembered to sew in my label 😁
Brady loves dogs, pugs especially, so I think he'll be quite tickled with this new pillowcase. The pattern is Roll It Up off All People Quilt.

Linking up with Molli Sparkles... well I was going to but there isn't a new Sunday Stash, nothing since last Sunday. Hope all is well down under with him.