La Mer

I have finished the second of my hopefully twelve UFOs for the year. I bought the pattern, 'Sea Glass' off Craftsy several years ago (details below), collected a few turquoise, aqua, sea-green, and lime fabrics for options, got started on it within a year or so of purchase, and then it sat for a few more years. I cannot tell you how satisfying it is to have it finished, and how much in love with it I am.

These are MY COLOURS! And yes I sort of yelled/sang that. Oh, they speak to my soul. So does the fuchsia of the crabapple tree. Makes me want to make a quilt in pink and turquoise, mmm.

Night Watch

I am on a roll! Two challenge pieces done well ahead of time! This month the challenge came from Aurifil, "to use any fabric art/non-traditional quilting/sewing/thread-painting technique using three Aurifil thread weights." We were to include three photos of how weights were used. Photos is never a problem for me! 

All of the fabrics, threads, and batting were provided to me by Island Batik, Aurifil and Hobbs, respectively. Allow me to walk you through the process that ended with this not-square, not round, not oval quilt.

Postcard Swap Blog Hop

Welcome to my stop on Patty's (Elm Street Quilts) Postcard Swap Blog Hop! There are 14 of us in the hop, so I hope you will make a little time this weekend to sit back with maybe an extra cup of coffee or tea and visit some of the fanTABulous postcards that were created.

The postcards were to be 4X6" and were to be mailed by March 17, no extras in them, keep it simple. What I didn't realize was that we weren't partnered up. I was given a name to make for, but she made for someone else, and my postcard came from a third person in the swap! Kind of like a Secret Santa exchange.  We got one word as a jumping-off point.  I gave 'water' as mine. It seems kind of odd, me being a Fire sign, Aries, but I have loved water, being in it, on it, by it, listening to it, gazing at it, my entire life, be it a river, a pond, a northern crystal lake, or the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico, or the almost terrifying infinity of the Pacific or Atlantic. I know all those bodies of water well. Jen @hwksgirl who lives in Chicago, (just 4 hours' drive from me!) got my name. She made me this!

Once In A Blue Moon

I am often late. There, I said it. However, work-wise, I am on time, and I am also known for keeping to deadlines, the very important ones, that is. Thus, it is with a red face and downward cast of eye that I admit that I missed the important deadline for posting my mini quilt challenge which should have been done in February.

Note that I was provided the fabric by Island Batik, the batting by Hobbs, and one of the navy threads by Aurifil. Without further ado, here is my mini, 'Once In A Blue Moon'!

I Like/Love...

This is a (mostly) photos post.  Good luck with that, Sandra, I can hear you thinking! Here are about 10 items for which I am grateful.

I've stashed some of these photos for a while..

A few weeks ago we went to the Edison and Ford Winter Estates in Fort Myers.  It is a place I've wanted to visit for ages.  It did not disappoint.  Clockwise from top left: Mysore Fig Tree in the distance on the left and a stately row of palms leading to the Caloosahatchee River on Ford's estate.  Next is a closeup of another massive Mysore Fig in front of Edison's home. I wanted to do a headstand in front of Ford's tree. Too many people around but that would've been so cool! Mysore is the style of Ashtanga I practise, which originated in Mysore, India.  (yes I'M-sore LOL after some days of practice!)  Close-up of one of my all-time favourite Florida plants, Bougainvillea, and then a row of a few colours of these "paper flower" bushes on the estates.

I love animals.  I love my own three fur kids; they are a part of our family, each with their own wonderful personality. I love that they often gravitate to my sewing room, clearly a place of extreme happiness, completeness, and peace.  I love that Bella, like Naala, will often lie beside her cushion, and use it to rest an elbow and head on!

Clockwise from top left: turkey buzzards; Norfolk Pine and bougainvillea; Design #8 Sunset in the City; a leaf bug

We live in an area that is not built up very much, although it sure has had a housing boom over the past two winters.  As a result of the lack of houses, there is a lot of wildlife and nature.  I find turkey buzzards both hilarious and a bit creepy.  Hilarious because they are so big and perch in these dead trees, or on the neighbours' rooftop , two of them, a few days ago, much to Naala's annoyance.  She raced around the yard, deep growling in her chest and leapt into the air at them!  They, in turn, flipped her the bird, lol, by buzzing relatively low overhead, flapping (loudly! they're huge!) their wings. Nature is beautiful but also cruel: I saw a dead (looked agonizing) possum yesterday at the side of the road, mostly eaten out but head and legs and fur very much there.  Quite possibly killed or half-eaten by one of the many bobcats we see; munched on, or will be, as well by buzzards.  I love Norfolk Pine trees (not as much as those Mysore Figs) which also get humongous. I just found out they are native to Norfolk Island in the Southern Hemisphere, east of Australia, not Norfolk, VA! Orlando is their limit for how far north they can grow. Seems so odd because when I think of a pine tree, I think snow, northern climate, right?
Design #8 - Sunset on the City: I am quite amazed at how much I am enjoying fiddling around with design, especially colouring with pencil crayons! This design above, #8, was inspired by the fabric below,

which I purchased on sale from Hawthorne Threads.  May I interject that I love sale fabric as well?! I couldn't afford to quilt without finding deals. I bought it to go on the back of my House Blocks RSC2017 quilt.  I wrote a tutorial for the block in my last post, or you can download a PDF for free right here. That is an affiliate link.😉  Finally, last photo in the collage above, I am not a fan of bugs per se, but of some, yes.  No clue what this leaf bug is that MacGyver scared out of the jasmine when he was watering, but look at the size of it! At first I thought it was a Praying Mantis. I actually saw it wipe its face on the leaves of the viburnum right after I took the photo!

I love the first installment of my Christmas present from MacGyver, a fat eighth subscription to Art Gallery fabrics from Pink Castle Fabrics.

Nope, I would not have bought a lot of these...lemons anyone, for example!  But seeing and petting them, possibilities are forming.

I love hummus.  Tomatoes.  Good cheese (this is Swiss) and spinach on a wrap for lunch.

I love scraps.  I love figuring out ways to get more out of my scraps.  This Card Trick block called for cutting 3.5" squares in half twice diagonally which would leave two extra for all four colours used in this block. I used two white triangles cut from a 3.5" square as templates so I only had to cut a 1.75" rectangle to get two.  This also is a great block for another love, playing with gradation in colour.

I like Tuesdays because we get three more 6" blocks!  We are now 20% done the 150 Canadian Women Project at Next Step Quilt Designs.  Here are this week's ladies:

28 - Emily Carr, famous Canadian painter; 29 - Madeleine de Verchères, who, when her parents were away in Montreal, successfully defended her family's fort at the age of 14 against an Iroquois attack; 30 - Henrietta Laetitia Tuzo, first Canadian born woman mountaineer.  Mount Tuzo, on the BC/Alberta border, bears her name.

Here are the first 30 blocks! I will be sewing sashing and cornerstones to them, but haven't got the fabric from Sew Sisters yet because it's been delivered to my friend in Ontario!

Yep, I LOVE!

I love my country, Canada; I've made no secret of that.  It has inadvertently sneaked into this blog over the past year, unplanned, but I'm happy that it has. We celebrate 150 years as a country this July.  I feel very fortunate to be able to escape a few months of the Canadian winter and sojourn in Florida's sunshine.  I love sunshine.  I admire and deeply respect American's outgoing president and, without getting too political, because I don't have the right to express my opinion on choices for president here since I can't vote, but I do have the right to express my opinion on a fellow human being.  Let me just say this phrase: President Obama and Chelsea Manning, which makes me both smile and choke up at the same time with emotion.  So thankful.  Kudos to you, Mr. President.

I like pattern-testing.  I've learned about writing my own patterns by testing for others.  The 10" blocks I've done for Cindy over the past several months have challenged me:  to find the right fabric for the various components, to evaluate the instructions for clarity, and to apply pieces a quarter the size or less of my pinkie fingernail!  I am so thankful for Lara's Crafted Appliqué!  I've done no stitching on the four appliquéd blocks I've made and they all have held wonderfully.

Tried for a nighttime scene for the moose block. It's actually a bit darker in real life.

The Parliament Buildings, Ottawa.  I added some greenery on either side of the main building, the walk and an attempt at the Centennial Flame that burns at the approach to the walk.  Might have to add a bit there.  I also was true to the roof colour as of the present.  They are replacing the copper roof, which has a lifespan.  So the Peace Tower is still the light green that aged copper goes, while the Centre Block building has changed to chocolate brown, which I read it does shortly after being installed.  I've had that sky fabric about as long as the twinkle stars one, but this sunset piece was just an 8X10" piece I picked up on a shop hop somewhere.  Thanks for the flag Cindy! And for being patient with my slow testing.  Appliqué and I are not always the best of friends...

I love the saying on Instagram posted by Fat Quarter Shop.  This could apply to anything: yoga, your body, your parenting, or any hobby or activity.  I love Angela Walters, who said in this week's episode, "Finished is better than perfect" and notes on her blog that she purposely left mistakes in her videos to show that she herself is not perfect and she is totally okay with that.  "Fibre in my wine...hmmph!...meh, I'm okay with that, " and she takes another swig.  I LOVE her.  None of what you see in her videos is forced; she is truly that spontaneously funny in person.  Another great quilter whose YouTube channel I subscribe to, is Jamie Wallen and ...... DRUM ROLL .... I am going to be taking a couple of his classes when he is at The Quilt Bee in Ontario this May!!! EEEP!

Linking up
Whims and Fancies
You can hop over to Not Afraid of Color if you'd like to read LeeAnna's "I Like" Thursday post and find a few other bloggers who write similar ones.
and also with
Confessions of a Fabric Addict
Crazy Mom Quilts (no finish here, unless you count the finish of pattern testing Cindy's Canada blocks😉) 

Some Blocks and A Quiche

I've been doing a little pattern-testing for a couple of friends and here is another of Stitchin At Home Cindy's appliqué blocks for her Canada Quilt for her guild's BOM.

Isn't it a fabulous design?  And how about the Moda Grunge as a fabulous ice fabric?? Who knew...

I used Lara's (Buzzin Bumble) Crafted Appliqué method and it works like a damn!  (Sorry, but it really does, especially on fine details like those trees, gulp.)  Sidenote: check out that link to Lara's blog where she is having a giveaway of her book, and also is offering a beautiful free pattern she designed for a Christmassy tabletopper.

This hasn't been stitched down yet, but there's no lifting going on.  I thought the embossed flowers white fabric that has the palest of mauves mottled here and there on it would effectively replicate the blue-whites and mauve/pinky-whites of real snow as well as provide a contrast to the white of the ice.  I'd like to say I planned that white 'blob' area to land there to evoke the glare of the sun on ice, but nope, a happy accident!  This is an example of what Lara calls the need to back-coat some fabrics; see how the snow fabric became sort of opaque or see-through where it overlapped the mountain fabric?  I was really pleased with how well the brown fabric did work for the mountain.  I had chosen another grey/black denim-look fabric but then thought, hmm, I wonder if the white blotches here and there might evoke thoughts of snow... Yep!  Goes to show to try fabrics you would think would not work when doing appliqué.  This fabric has sketched-in-black flower shapes with bleached-out-looking areas and even has glitter on it!

I've also started a quilt along called 150 Canadian Women...150 blocks to be made which finish at 6".  Hope I can do better than I have been doing with Tula Pink's City Sampler blocks (gulp).  I need to do blocks 1-3 yet, but here are blocks 4-6:

From left to right: Major Margaret C. MacDonald, (first woman to attain the rank of Major in the Britsh Empire), Nellie McClung, (one of the Famous Five, one of Canada's greatest women's rights activists) and Alice Wilson (Geologist who was not granted a car to do her field work, but a bicycle, because women 'shouldn't drive' -- she went out and bought her own Model T!)

I get overwhelmed with emotion when I read about the accomplishments of these women in the face of incredible chauvinism, racism, and a multitude of other obstacles.  This is a BOM from The Next Step, a quilt shop in Calgary, Alberta.  I first saw it on a blog belonging to another Sandra, Quilting at the Cro's Nest and was intrigued by the symbolism and educational component (shocker, I know).

Tip Time!
I've mentioned this method before, but when I showed Beth and David at our retreat at Julie's in October, they hadn't seen it, and thought it a cool method for cutting your HST squaring up time in half.  So here it is again.  Two at a time!  Note that this method means you're going 'to the dark side' as Angela Walters does... one more day until her show, squeal!  In other words it requires pressing your seams to one side, the darker of the two.

1.  Lie two HSTs atop each other, nudging the seams together so they nest.  Peel back the top HST if you want to check, but you will soon develop a feel for the nesting with your fingetips.  You don't have to, but in order to not touch the nested pair, set them on a small rotary cutting mat which is on top of your larger one, or on a revolving rotary mat too if you have one.

2. Lay the 45-degree line along the seam, leaving a little wiggle room to eventually cut all the way around the HSTs.  I'm going for 2.5" squares, but you can see I have my left and bottom marks at about 2 3/8". Cut the first two sides, as I have done if you are right-handed.  It will be the opposite two if you are left-handed.  Rotate the mat.

3.  Now line the 2.5" marks on the ruler with the just-cut two sides, and the 45-degree line again along the seam. Trim both sides as before.

4.  Lift off the top HST and voilà!  (not viola, that'a a flower, or a musical instrument) you have two 2.5" HSTs.

The other day I had a hankering for quiche and decided to use a tried and true recipe that I've had and used for decades.  It was a hit, and I am very glad I doubled the recipe and made two!

Yum!  Enjoying another year's use out of my Snowman placemats. ⛄

Below is the recipe in case you'd like to make one! Now I cheat and just buy a pie crust (sorry Mum!) as I can't be bothered to make that part from scratch.  I omitted the bacon, making mine with cauliflower and broccoli.  We had a Caesar salad on the side.

Linking up with
Freemotion by the River
and woo hoo! Beth still has Main Crush Monday open at Cooking Up Quilts
Quilting Jet Girl for Tips and Tutorials Tuesday

Quiche Lorraine
May be frozen.  Line 36 muffin cups with pie pastry or a 9x9“ pie plate.

6 slices cooked (crisp) bacon

2 oz natural Swiss or cheddar cheese

2 eggs

1 c whipping cream or Half & Half

½ tsp salt

pinch of pepper

pinch of nutmeg

1 tsp sugar

Heat oven to 400°.  Shred cheese.  Combine eggs, cream, salt, sugar, nutmeg and pepper.  Beat to blend well.  Sprinkle bottom of pie plate with chunks of bacon and then cheese.  Pour filling over.  Sprinkle with nutmeg.  Bake 30-40 min at 400° or until egg mixture has solidified.

Walter 2

Always a favourite fish to eat when we were in our camping/fishing days as a family, a favourite to catch (they fight hard!) and a favourite to look at, marvel over...those EYES, this fish ranks #1 in my MacGyver's mind.  This was another goal on my Q3 FAL list.

So of course I had to make him one.  We have Walter #1, who measures just over 25" long, weighed between 8-9 pounds, and whom we got mounted many years ago.  He lived in Jackson Lake in northern central Alberta when my husband caught him.  He is a big fish for an Alberta lake.

I made this mainly using Henry Glass fabrics from the Desire to Inspire Challenge I did in June.

This was another idea I'd had to do using the fabrics, make a hotpad/potholder but I ran out of time.  The backing which you see above is one of the squares in the panel I received.

I used a double layer of Warm 'n Natural batting because I didn't have any Insul-Bright left.  The water fabric is an old one out of my stash that I do not know whose it is; only a "Y" and the colour circles are left on the selvage.  That fabulous black I used for binding (of which I had a 3" strip left, that's all) is a Michael Miller.

I cannot for the life of me recall where I used this fabric, something that is not like me; I can usually place every piece!

Walter 2 is not exactly true to colour, but pretty darn close. That dark green Henry Glass fabric for his main body is really perfect for walleye skin/scales.  Love the random placement of a gold star near his tail.  Speaking of his tail, MacGyver it was who told me I had to make that white 'chunk' on the lower fin.  I didn't know they had that!  The gold Henry Glass fabric worked well for his fins.  For the fish shape/outline, I used a line drawing I got off a free online colouring book.

You know me with my quilts in trees pics so just had to do one, trying to get the lake in the far background.  It blends into the sky though.  I see our clematis is trying to climb up the Nootka Cypress! Better get it back on track on its trellis.

This potholder that could actually double as a mini, was all done with Lara's Crafted Appliqué method.  Love it for no fraying crisp edges.  For those that like to zoom in on photos, you may notice a teensy bit of fraying on one of the brown reeds I freehand cut.  Guess I missed getting the fabric treated right up to the edge, doh!

For quilting I just followed random lines in the water fabric and outlined all the fish parts as well as stitched in some gills detail.  Most of it was stitched with Exquisite thread in green with the white and grey stitched in Madeira Polyneon in silver.  Both of these threads have a lovely glint to them when the light catches them.

Speaking of getting back on track, the quarterly Finish Alongs really do help me, cough, try to stay focussed.  I have Dayna's quilt to blog about yet this week for another from that list!

Quilt Stats:
Pattern:  Original Design
Size: 10.25" square
Fabric: scraps and stash
Batting: Warm 'n Natural 100% cotton
Quilted: on my Bernina 180 Artista
Threads: appliquéd with Exquisite 100% polyester in olive green, and Madeira Polyneon in silver.

Linking up with
Connie at Free Motion by the River
Lorna at Sew Fresh Quilts
Leanne at She Can Quilt for the Q3FAL
Nicky at Mrs. Sew & Sow for Scraptastic Tuesday