Social/Sewcial

Tomato/tomato....

Happy start of a new year, both exciting and a bit daunting as one looks down the next stretch of 364 days. I hope you spent last night doing just what you pleased. I did. More on that in the second half of this post.

Social

I am super-excited, and pinch-me-I-can't-believe-I'm-doing-this and well, yeah, a wee bit nervous, to announce that I am one of the co-hosts for the 2018 New Quilt Bloggers Blog Hop.

Don't you just love the button Beth made? I sure do.  Some of you will know what this is all about, and well the title and sub-title pretty much explain it, duh.

However.

It is so sew so much more.  In the coming weeks we will be giving more details, but for now here are a few deets that need mentioning:

• registration opens February 1
• if you are a new or relatively new blogger, which means your blog is under 3 years old, then you are welcome to sign up

Singer Featherweight Love #1

This is the first in an installment of five, maybe more, posts on vintage Singer sewing machines.  You may recall from this post that in finally actively pursuing my long-held desire to own a Featherweight after seeing Paula Nadelstern's in her tiny NYC apartment, that I inadvertently am now the owner of 4 more vintage Singer machines. I already was the proud, albeit a bit ashamed owner (I still haven't taken the time to get her up and running) of my grandma's treadle machine.

Here you see the three of the four gals that now belong to me, in various stages of their spa treatments.

I Like/Love #5

1. I like rhododendrons, especially when they are mine!

This beauty came with the house, and she's pretty big:

Mini Round Robin - Round 3 and Final Reveal

Along with the summer speeding on by, our Mini Round Robin has come to an end and I can hardly believe it!  Of course there will be the final reveal of the quilted mini at the beginning of October.  The original centre, called The Attraction Block, is Tish's.  Julie added the first round.  Here is what I received from Cindy.

I knew two things, well three if you count the fact that I LOVED what Cindy did on her round!!  Okay, first I knew I had to do angles, not angels, angles, although I needed some angel guidance as August neared its end...45-degree angles are in each round as well as in the centre.  Second, I knew it needed pretty much all black and red as it was reading pretty white.

But what to do...

Tish had talked about her colour choices of red, black and white as classic, so I knew the final round should be in that theme.  I thought of a fancy appliqué, and I kept thinking 'classy' and classy ladies, and black tie affair, and tuxedo, and tuxedo cats (one of which chose Tish as his human), black cats, which Tish told me often find their way to her, and I, too, have a soft spot for black cats...

My darling cat, Raffi, had her from age 4 weeks (bottlefed her for two weeks) to the ripe old age of 17 1/2 years. Her whiskers and even her paw pads were black, AND she was a polydactyl.  She had 'thumbs'.

So a frame was added.  I had just the fabric, bought a piece when it first arrived in my LQS, Moda's Black Tie Affair by Basic Grey.  Thus ensued the math devils...my angels deserted me...

This is the second frame I added; the first had to be ripped off as I'd done the math wrong for calculating the width.  The block was 16 3/4", a most unusual size, so I knew I needed to bring it up to 18 1/2".

I remembered a mini log cabin pattern I had that had 3 1/2" (I thought) log cabin blocks. Log cabin is a classic block, my second favourite block after stars.  I'd made several of the runners over the years.  Did I still have that pattern?  A little digging, and yep.  Sadly, the blocks finished at 3 1/2", so they wouldn't divide into 18".  Still, I loved the idea and knew I could do something with it.  What about offset log cabins? They can produce some wonderful curves.  (You're thinking, 'Wait, Sandra, thought you were doing angles?' and...bada-bing! Welcome to my muddled menopausal melon.)

I pulled out three fabrics from the stash and scraps to make a few test blocks to see what size they'd end up.  Math had already gotten the best of me, so best to make some rather than trust my calculations...

Nope. Sadly these ended up at 4 1/2" unfinished, so 4" finished which did not divide into 18.  Should I pull off the frame and add a thicker one to make the starting block 20"?  That would mean the mini would finish at 28 1/2" not 24 1/2" as we were supposed to...still it was under 30" and somewhere along the way I thought we'd determined we could go that big if we wanted to add more to it when we got our own back...but that would mean more ripping...nooooo. There had to be a way.

The offset log cabin blocks didn't really curve the way I wanted anyhow with only two rounds and with only half a set of four, so I thought I'd go back to the log cabin runner pattern.

White centre squares.  I did 1/3 of them in an embossed white that looks like the exact same fabric in Tish's centre, that 'box' around her red centre.  But I noticed she also used black on white, and so did Cindy, so I looked through my thin stash of that, and came up with two, one with flowers on it (I remembered Tish sending me a photo of her newly planted flowerbed in early May) and another with sketched cat faces on it:

Perfect.  The grumpy ones are Bella and Princess Caroline LOL

Red and black for the logs.  The blacks in this block weren't solid, so I found one I'd bought last winter at a quilt show with a large line-drawn floral pattern, and then... in my MacGyver's flaming skulls quilt (yet to be made) stash I found a black with white pawprints on it fabric.  Tish and I both love animals; especially our pibbles, but we have all dogs' and cats' pawprints on our hearts, so I knew I had to do one round using this fabric.

Right.  The math was still worrying me, but I figured I'd start adding rounds as it was uh, August 28; time was a-ticking.

As you sew, you think.  It's very meditative.  Somewhere along round two, I thought of doing two sides with the red logs in and two with the black logs in.  Placing the red logs borders where Julie's black frame was, and the black logs where her red half-frame was.  Keeping the 'attraction' theme.

Yep I think that will work...Bella was helping as per usual...now this pesky math...

I'd somehow only made 20 blocks, not 24, 6 per side...don't ask me what I was thinking as I don't even know. Five a side??
Made four more blocks.  The logs finish at 1/2".  Just sayin'.  They're pretty small.  Sewed 6 together per side.  What to do in the corners... All black?  HSTs of red and black?  What a minute...

Tish's centre is two right triangles sewn together on the 45.  Julie picked up on that by mitering the black/red seams in her round.  So I followed that theme, placing a solid black square in one corner where the two mainly black log cabin borders meet, and a solid red in the opposite.  For the corners where the black meets the red I did an HST.

After all the ripping and hair-pulling it took with the math issues I am pretty pleased.  I also noticed that my tiny white square centres echo Tish's red centre, and Cindy's black squares on white fabric!  That wasn't planned but I'll take it!

You can see the other finished flimsies below:
Cindy at Stitchin' at Home (she did the final round on my centre and I just LOVE it!!)
Tish at Tish's Adventures in Wonderland
Julie at Pink Doxies

Linking up with
My Quilt Infatuation
Crazy Mom Quilts (Yay! Amanda Jean's back!)
Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Jeez Louise I only posted 6 times in August.  I reached (bashful face) rather a milestone in my bloggy life a week or so ago, over 250 followers now on bloglovin'.  WHOA Nelly.  (see? Louise and Nelly both got in this post) Should make a quilt and call it that...there will be some celebrating in my future. Which is looking rather busy for the month of September...but I hope to post more than six times sheesh!

Update: My bad, but I went to link to the Friday parties this morning, and I see I have an email from Brittany at Craftsy (I am an affiliate):  I guess all their classes are $199.99 ...oops! LOL had to leave that for a giggle.  Make that $19.99 (under $20 just so we're clear) from right now through Monday, Sept 5 11:59 pm MDT (that's because their classes can be bought and downloaded worldwide.  I will be reviewing one coming up that isn't even live yet, so watch for that. Previous reviews can be found here, and you KNOW how much I rave about any and all of Angela Walters' classes, worth every cent.  Did you HEAR?????? She has another book coming out with Tula Pink!!!  17 quilts that Tula designed and you guessed it, Angela shows how she quilted them. Cue the choir of angels already! I haven't even finished reading through her Shape By Shape 2 Collection 2 yet!! (no affiliation)

Okay I got sidetracked by Angela news (that girl can sidetrack me anytime, I do not mind)  Anyhow might be a plan to check out a class you have had on your wishlist for a while; that's what I do; I never pay full price (shh)... Speaking of 'under the radar' stuff, did you know that there are still amazing deals to be had on fabric at Craftsy? You do not have to wait for their sales.  I came across some screaming good deals on 4-yard cuts (think backing fabric right?) for $8CA a yard, like $6US.

Here is a Bonnie and Camille Hello Darling one, and here is a Kate Spain Canyon one. There are LOTS more.  I've bought these before, 1 yard cuts and a 5-yard cut of RJR Handspray in black.  Just like for clothes, you can never have too much black.  I see several of the Handspray precuts are on 35-40% off too.  Might be a time to investigate a little stash enhancement. ;-)

Friends

I have the very BEST friends, and I shake my head literally and figuratively when I contemplate how they enrich my life, and make me feel loved.

You all know that Rocco had to have surgery May 10 for a torn ACL.  We have been housebound for much of the time since that surgery, one of us with him 24/7 up until a couple of weeks ago.  Because Rocco has not ever liked his crate, associating it with being left alone, something over which he goes to pieces, crating him to prevent movement for the first 6 weeks was not an option.  We tried.  I stayed right beside him for more than two hours the second time we tried it, moving his crate in the main living area of the house as opposed to the bedroom, doing my yoga practice for one of the two hours, reading/computer stuff after that.  He panted and trembled the entire time until about the 2-hour mark, whereupon, probably because he was so exhausted, he lay down and stopped panting and trembling.  That is no way to heal, we decided.

So my husband, aka MacGyver, being the repair and inventive type guy that he is, figured out a way to contain him using the rug under the coffee table as the 'crate' boundaries.  That did require one of us being with him in the room at all times, which is what precipitated me moving my sewing room to the dining table.  No dates or dinners out; we turned down or postponed suppers out with friends because we couldn't leave him alone.

When I mentioned this to one of our friends, and that going out for dinner consisted of me picking up subs at Subway on the way home from teaching yoga, she decided to give us "dinner out".  She showed up for one of my Friday Yin classes in May, and after class said she had something for me in her car.  Opening up her trunk, she pulled out a large box inside of which was this:

Appetizer: homemade bruschetta with baguette slices; a salad with homemade salad dressing, a bag of feta cheese to sprinkle over it, and the pièce de résistance, homemade vegetarian lasagne, toasty warm.  I was blown away by this thoughtfulness and care.  We enjoyed it all so much.  We didn't get just one meal, we got three!  MacGyver and I both agreed it was the best veggie lasagne we'd ever tasted.  I still have to get the recipe as well as the one for her dressing, yum.  We 'fought' over the last of it, LOL.

That same month I received this letter from my friend Linda.

used with permission :-)

I just love the explanation Linda writes as to why she took the time to write me this lovely long letter.  Linda and I worked together for 15 years.  We share a lot of common loves and interests.  Being of nearly the exact same age, we have shared many a laugh at ourselves, as well as the angst of going through this 'interesting' stage of life called menopause. She has a wicked sense of humour, as you can see in her 'So what's happening in my "Oh so exciting I can hardly stand it" life?' line.  The fact that she took all the time to hand write the letter to me (something which is harder to do these days when nearly all of our writing takes places on a computer keyboard) meant even more, and the timing was terrific what with feeling like a shut-in at that time.

MacGyver was out in Alberta for 2 1/2 weeks near the beginning of July, (he's back home now) which is why I haven't been as active in QBL of late; all the dog stuff, house inside and out, meanwhile teaching and doing yoga, was in my hands.  No big deal really, but with the worry of Rocco doing something to aggravate his healing leg or damage the good back one (40% of dogs tear the other ACL apparently), has meant not as much free time.  He and Brady had a blast the entire time.

Preeti called me about a month ago, a wonderful surprise, chatting about this and that.  In a care package I received from her in the spring was this Mysore Sandal Soap from India, and I have been alternating it with my bodywash.  I again told her that I cannot get over how the smell gives me such a strong memory and sense of well-being.  Maybe a yoga studio I used to attend burned sandalwood incense?  I was Indian in a past life?  Anyhow, Preeti said she can't get over how much mileage in the form of thanks from me she's got from one bar of soap!

And then a couple of weeks ago I received this care package from Tish, who you know has become a very close friend:

Now I knew she was sending me the DVD of "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" because neither of us have seen it, yet we each want to.  She came across it while shopping and told me she had picked it up to send me.  We had planned to watch it 'together' while MacGyver was out West, but Tish's MacGyver, Dave the Quilt Engineer, decided to be at home on opportune weekend watching evenings, so we have to reschedule.  I like how she staved off the loneliness on the part of the DVD by including a few fat quarters!

Another very close friend, Judy, sent me a care package that arrived the morning MacGyver left.  What impeccable timing, that I should get to drink coffee out of a mug from her!  This is MacGyver's (Yes! She got him one too, knows him very well...her own MacGyver might have this particular trait too...) 

The pretty pink Gerbera daisy is added by moi so no one will er, be offended

I think he smiles (even if it is just inside) each time he has used it for his morning coffee.  Now THAT just does not happen; not only is MacGyver not a people person, he is not a morning person.  Back.  Off.  Don't.  Talk.  I'll let you wonder what appropriate saying is on my mug, wink.

One thing I love about QBL is the support we give to each other.  I decided to support Ruth of Charly and Ben's Crafty Corner by joining her Rainbow Rose Quilt Along.  It has been fun, and the final linkup deadline is this weekend.  I just might have finished mine!  Come back tomorrow and I'll show you.  For now here is a photo of it earlier this week:

Seem to have a thing about ghost geese lately...

I got to thinking about all these wonderful friends (and there are many many more, like Pat, who reads and comments on every post, and told me last week she'd missed me), how they are like the pillow I made Tish earlier this year:  I was disappointed that after having had to wash it, it had crinkled up more than I'd anticipated, and then sending it to her put even more wrinkles in it, but Tish had said not to worry; it was fine.  And yes, like that wrinkled pillow cover, good friends really don't care if the other sees their 'wrinkles'; they see the soul, and that is all that matters.

Next on the agenda is an ongoing project with some more friends!  The Mini Round Robin.  I have oh, 3 days to get Round 2 complete and in the mail to Tish...

Linking up with
Sew Fresh Quilts

Mini Round Robin

It's all Cindy's fault.  She writes at Stitchin' At Home; we met in last summer's New Quilt Bloggers Group.  Cindy asked Julie of Pink Doxies fame if she'd like to do a swap over the summer with a few friends.  Julie ran that thought by me, and I said cool, but how would we swap in a group...hmmm, we had a think...and then I asked, what about a round robin idea?  Make it small so it's quick.  Easy and fun.  Went back to Cindy.  Thumbs up.  So I asked Tish, of Tish's Adventures in Wonderland, if she wanted in, and she immediately said, "Cool!"  And thus we had our group of four, already good friends thanks to several hops and activities and emails and iMessages and FaceTime.  Oof-da!!  :-)

I don't believe anyone in QBL has done a Mini Round Robin!

So what are our guidelines?  We determined that in order for it to be a Mini, it should have a finished perimeter of approximately 24" a side.  With four of us in the group, that meant each round should total about 6" finished.

This 1/3 yard fabric was hanging on my sewing chair, not sure why or when I pulled it out, but last night it told me it wanted to be the centre; all I have on the selvage is (Ro) Gregg for Northcott

The centre block would be a maximum of 6" finished, but it could be less than that, and it didn't have to be square.  You could have a 5" finished block, or a rectangle, or a triangle, hexagon.... Each round would total 6" maximum finished, so 3" finished if doing a round on all four sides, or 6" if only adding to two sides, or 7" if the centre was only 5"...and the endless creative possibilities begin!

We have to have our first block in the mail on May 31, shuffle to be determined by good old MacGyver.  The first round has to be done and posted about at the end of June, in the mail June 30, Round 2 by July 31, Round 3 by August 31, and finished quilting and final post Show 'n Tell in early October.

Final decision:  Northcott quilt shops, Nana's Abstractions by ?, Julie's gorgeous hand-dyed batik, and Good Neighbors by Connecting Threads, a fitting background

How hard can it be to whip up a 6" block?  I had a couple of ideas, but let them percolate over this past rather eventful month on the quilting and on the personal fronts.  One of the events was my mum requesting a quilt to take to my aunt in England.  Another was Lara's blog hop, (that'll take you to the schedule) for her first book, Crafted Appliqué, (no affiliation) which resumes tomorrow and culminates in some AHH-mazing giveaway prizes June 4!!  And then I decided I couldn't send my Auntie Joyce a quilt without sending one for her husband, my Uncle Frank, who is my mum's brother.  The quilting is finished on it; I had a BLAST quilting...

Third pass of wavy line FMQ motifs along some of them.  My Muse and I, along with Avril, were in such sweet harmony (ha, pun not originally intended). I think I may have created an original FMQ motif with the music notes under Christina Cameli's 'Leafy' motif.  Eeep!

and might have not torn myself away from it until it was completely done last night, which is why I got a rather late start to actually making my 6" block.  I might have also changed my plan...

Pat Sloan's Row 1 block in American Patchwork & Quilting, appealed to me as a great way to showcase the quilt shop fabric. Also, traditional meets modern with both older and new fabrics, all in a 'new' block!

It was 12" finished, but how hard could it be to make it 6"?  Cut everything in half, right?

Block on the left is the correct size; block on the right will grow up into a ... 'nother mini?! That or a pincushion!

BZZZ!  Nope!  It was soon apparent that we had a problem, Houston.

You do cut the finished measurement of each section in half, and from there add back on the 1/2" for the seam allowances.  After 9 pm, my brain doesn't fire on all cylinders at the best of times, but add in the menopausal brain farts I am plagued with, and the plan goes awry.  I went to bed.  5:30 comes early...

I was stressing about going to yoga this morning when I should be re-doing my block and taking photos and writing the post, and then I thought, 'Sandra!  It's a blog!  You aren't going to be docked pay!' And so I did what yoga teaches: live in the moment.

It's a beautiful thing, doing yoga, making that 45-minute drive back home, which is when the lightbulb first went on, grabbing a coffee at home, and going straight to work... and it WORKED!!

1.25" squares on 1.5 X 3.5" rectangles; direction matters!

The trickiest part was those little squares.  MacGyver and I talked this morning (after all he is a math guy):
Me: So I think I need to do a ratio to figure out the size of the little squares.  2 is to 2.5 as what is to 1.5?
MacGyver: Well you're talking 80%.
Me: 80%...oh! 20 out of 25! (translate it to teaching...ergo test scores...and I am up to speed)
MacGyver: Yeah.  So the second number would be 1.2.
Me: Like 12 out of 15!  Hmmm...1.2 isn't going to happen...I'll have to do 1.25 and hope for the best.

I did a happy dance that it worked:

Woo hoo!  Wait...it's not square, and I knew it wouldn't be, because Pat Sloan has you add a 2.5X12.5 strip to one side of her block.  Hers are symmetrical; mine is not.  Direction mattered in the placement of the squares with the green triangles, and in the subsequent placement of the rectangles with green triangles.  Drat.  Well, I could leave it as a rectangle; our guidelines had determined that.  Did I want to do that to the next person after the math crap I'd just gone through?  Uh, no.

It would not do to have the house off to one side by adding a strip as per Pat's plan.  Could I split the strip and sew half to each side?  We determined that using the 'X' background fabric would make it look like there was a mistake.  Tried the green (how I adore this hand-dyed by Julie fabric!!) hmmm, not quite right; what about trying the blue? Yep, we both liked the blue.  And so it is!  6.5" square, ready to be sent off.

MacGyver did his shuffle work this morning, so my block is now going to be mailed to Tish.  You can check out the other blocks here:
Tish's
Julie's
Cindy's

And! Tish made us a not only a button (see sidebar), but also a #miniroundrobin hashtag!  She's SO computer savvy, that girl.  You may recall she has made me some block and layout diagrams for my Blue Skies & Sunny Days pattern which David, her husband, should be finished testing this Memorial Day Monday!  If you're on Instagram, he's posted a few in-construction photos.  Might have a release of the pattern very shortly...

If you would like to join in on our Mini Round Robin, please do!  All you need to do is form your own group of four.  Follow our guidelines, or make up your own.  Post your progress at the end of each month.  I will set up a linky for us to share, and perhaps see about some prizes of some kind, depending on interest.  New groups of four will be one month behind us, but that is okay!

Linking up with Cooking Up Quilts!

And Free Motion By the River

Knitty Kitty Mats

This is my OMG goal for March: a cat mat aka cat pouffé for Bella, and two mats for cat kennels that I'm donating this year to the kitties who are waiting for their forever homes in Animal Welfare League, a no kill shelter.  Update: I've just dropped them off this am at the Suncoast Humane Society, which is where I took those I made last year.  We took the dogs there to get their heartworm tests, so I thought it fitting to give them a little extra thanks.  I've taken all the photos and written up some of the directions for the tutorial for both designs too, so pop back soon. Pretty easy peasy.

You may remember that I forgot Miss Bella's cat "pouffé" at home in Kingsville.   You may recall that I found some perfect cat fabric, "Knitty Kitty" at the Port Charlotte Quilt Show.  Bella put her fuzzy butt stamp of approval on it.

Warm Fuzzies

I love this term, one from my CGIT (Canadian Girl In Training) camp days (that takes me back).  It means something, tangible or intangible, that makes you feel warm and fuzzy in your heart.  A few weeks ago I had the absolute joy of receiving not one, but three surprise packages in the mail.  They were well-timed little warm fuzzies.

Tangible warm fuzzies such as this hand-made gorgeous bracelet that my friend Vicki of Vicki's Crafts and Quilting made me.  Several months ago, I'd surprised her with a fabric bowl at a time when I knew she needed a little pick-me-up.  Well, somehow she picked the perfect time to send me this.  How did she know I am a bracelet-loving girl?  I was always known at school for pretty bracelets, wore them every day.  Vicki, you do beautiful work; so intricate, and it's the perfect size. She stalked my yoga pics and decided I was pretty small; guess we have tiny wrists in common, as she used her own as a guide!  I love this and have worn it several times.  She is so talented! AND she just published her first Island Batik post as a new ambassador for their fabric company.  Her project is a beauty.

Sunday Stash Share

Another first for me.  I see bloggers doing this, but I never seem to have my stash additions timed quite right.  In the absence of any quilty pics (but some stuff has been going on this past week), I can actually participate in this activity today!  Glad I can do it on the right day; we have been without Internet for nearly 3 days.  The tech said it might have been a power surge that affected the outside box, but he also replaced our router with the new and improved (faster, and better range, and best of all, no charge) version.  I need a whoop, whoop! there for sure.  May I just say it was revealing (not that I ever doubted it) how much time the cyber-vortex sucks from my day.  Yet so much good does come of this fabulous Internet, as we all do know.  Okay, onto some good right here, right now.

John loved his quilt

We had a great day on Tuesday, humans and doggies.

My shirt is not straight, my shirt is not straight; ya I'm obsessing

 I said Brandy is allowed on his quilt; he said only on the houndstooth (back) side!

Yesterday we went to Panera (as if we needed an excuse) to get some java/tea/scones (orange-to die for)/wifi yesterday afternoon, and also to get some thread at Expert Sewing Center (online store is Sewing Supply Warehouse, great selection of and pricing on threads, not affiliated, but love them) for the current quilt.  At the register, with a mere 10 minutes left before they closed, I found out that she was giving me their special: 30% off my entire purchase from the Punta Gorda show this past weekend (that I FORGOT about, I cannot believe this still).  Instant hotflash of oh-no-I-want-to-take-advantage-of-this-what-do-I-BUY-but-husband-is-in-the-car-outside-waiting("I'm just getting thread" famous last words)-and-it's-hot-outside-aaaaah feeling.  Sigh.  Big one.  Especially when the clerk said, "Do you want to go and shop some more?" (clearly making up for her dismissive tone with me earlier when I said I wanted Isacord thread and she'd said, "But that's for machine embroidery").  However, with an oh my god I don't believe I'm doing this shaking voice, I asked if they were doing the same thing for the Sarasota show in two weeks.  She imagines so.  Phew!  Time to scheme plan an intelligent (okay who am I kidding, burst of what-the-hell) use of my funds for then! So I kept exactly what I was buying on the counter, paid, and with a "Go directly to Jail. Do not pass Go. Do not collect $50" march in my step, left the store.  Still having withdrawal from that missed opportunity.

Hmm, 3 or maybe 4 different projects in mind for these, but I'm liking the way they all play together right here! Who knew.

1/3 (why? I do not know!) yard of an ivory batik for a design that is still residing in my head, but wants desperately to come to fruition; 1/4 yard black (isn't this fabulous?) Michele D'Amore Designs (hey! same designer as my new bag fabric) Benartex for um, the Bento Box quilt (I probably have enough blacks and whites for 2 now, lol); 1/2 yard of the Diane Phalen P&B Textiles green just because I loved it, and it was on their $5.99 rack, bought not yesterday but when I got the dark green for the border of John's quilt. The pink is Dottie by Moda, 1/4 yard.  I have long admired Rita of Red Pepper Quilt's quilts of many many squares, and when I saw Lorna's rendition this past week, well, 'nuff said.

Bought at Alma Sue's Quilts about a month ago.  Bento Box, right?!  Besides, it's French!

Those of you who entered my giveaway a week or so ago know that these 5 pieces were the first prize, 5 fat quarters.  I actually bought 5 1/2 yard pieces and cut them in half...give something you yourself would love, right?!

These are from Jennifer Sampou's Black & White collection.  Not sure if a Bento Box quilt is where they will end up, but I had to have some.

So there you have it.  This Bento Box quilt is long overdue, I'm thinking.  Might have to make it a March goal...I'm doing pretty good on the finish goals so far this year!

Sneak peek of what's going to be revealed on the blog this week: (eek!)

Ya, that's Rocco, his version of pattern-testing for me.

Linking up with Confessions of a Fabric Addict, and Molli Sparkles, (it's my first time; be gentle) for his Sunday Stash Share.

Shamrock

Welcome to my 200th post!  Cue choir singing, and trumpets ... well, trumpeting.  Two hundred mini-essays, complete with photos, since September 2013.  Who'd have thunk it? Although I don't have that many followers, really, it's a WHOLE lot more than for the first 6 months when I had hmm, 3? My daughter, my sister and my mum...oh wait and one of my aunts.  I think so many of us start off blogging for two main reasons:  first, to share what we are up to with our loved ones, especially if they live far away, and second, to keep track of what we accomplish.  I know this is true for me.  However, it has become so much more to me.  I have made some very good friends, kindred spirits really, learned way more than I EVER expected to learn (and me a longtime quilter, but then I consider myself a lifelong learner.  Period.)  Quilting blogland has become everything that the guild to which I used to belong when we lived in Alberta was.  Thank you to all those who have read my little (and not so little, ha) posts, given me so much positive feedback, and shared, connected with me on so many levels and topics.  And thank you to my sister, Linda, and my daughter, Dayna, for so much support on this venture.  All right.  On with the show.

I am starting off with a dish!  I made this for the first time last winter when we were in Florida, and I made it a couple of nights ago.  Why am I not making this more often?? Like once a month!

This is Red Lentil and Sweet Potato Curry with Spinach.  Yup it's a mouthful.  In more ways than one. Ha!  You will find the recipe if you click the Food! Glorious Food! tab up top.  I've been remiss of late in sharing some of the dishes we eat...maybe because we haven't been eating anything spectacular?  Hmm, should work on that.  Let me just say that the curry was divine.

The second topic for this post is my finish, another on my list for the 2015 Finish Along.  This is Shamrock.  I'm mixing metaphors, make that occasions, with this giveaway so close to Valentine's Day, during February, which is Random Acts of Kindness month, and adding a pinch of the luck of the Irish for the draw.

This quilt is going to our dear friend John, Brandy's human.  John is a bit of a dog whisperer himself.  He, along with his beautiful lion-eyed girl, Brandy, are a huge part of our lives here in Florida.

Yes, Rocco is wearing Brandy's Christmas collar! We forgot his at home that day.

Both he and Brandy helped our Rottweiler, Naala, come out of her shell and trust people and other dogs.  Our fault, all of it, for not socializing her enough during her crucial first few years.  We lived in the boonies then.  Still.  John is the youngest 75-year-young man we know.  My husband always says, it's not how old you are, but how you are old.  We both agree we want to grow up to be like John. (wry grin - where's emoji when you need it?)

We met John and Brandy two years ago.  They, like us, winter at the condos where we used to live.  Even though we are now 45 minutes apart, we still get together twice a week to walk the dogs together, and to visit.  It's as good for the dogs as it is for the humans.

At The Celery Fields Park, last week

John is Irish, and proud of his roots.  I am proud of this quilt, which is my own design, and another scrap quilt.  I love scrap quilts.  I included a few nods to the Irish:   I used a lot of green, also his favourite colour; the pattern itself is Irish chain; I quilted a Celtic style chain in the outer border; and I quilted a shamrock in the lower right 9-patch.

I wanted a masculine feel to the quilt, and I think I've succeeded.  John appreciates colour combinations; he commented on how vibrant the colours were in my Over and Under quilt last year.  Many of the fabrics are symbolic.  The green forest you see in the above picture is a nod to the Catskills, where John lives the other half of the year.  There is a rusty red-brown within the red 9-patch blocks, a symbol of his beloved Brandy.  The backing is houndstooth print, (get it?) in green. There is a blue with apples on it, for me, a teacher, and a few of the blues and one of the reds have snowflakes on them, for us northerners.  The ivory sashing fabric is a sand and sea themed fabric, symbolic of our meeting in Florida, and his love of this state.

Most of this quilt was done with a walking foot, rather unusual for me, but it just evolved this way.  I did three different designs in the sashings, a leaf FMQ design in the green 9-patches that form the Irish-chain, and a "groovy look" design of Angela Walters, her words, from her book, Shape by Shape in the coloured 9-patch squares.

I will update this post with more pics once the quilt is washed and blocked.  I inadvertently scheduled this post and giveaway for a crazy couple of days, the Friday of which we are away for 12 hours!  Doh!  I am anxious to see what it looks like after washing, as this is the first time I've used Quilter's Dream Wool.

And so now we come to the giveaway!  Fat Quarter Shop came through with the parcel arriving Thursday, perfect timing for some pics.  I have two items to give away in celebration of this milestone, and appreciation for all my followers.

First is this set of 5 fat quarters of Jennifer Sampou's latest line, Black & White.  I entered her giveaway and admired the creations of the designers in her blog hop, and so hoped I'd win, as it is just gorgeous fabric.  Sadly, I didn't.  But that is when I thought, THAT is what I will give away!

Second is a charm square pack of this pretty fabric, Castlewood, by Jan Patek, for Moda.  I just love Moda fabrics, so I had to give something of theirs.

How do you enter?  It's easy peasy.  All you have to do is leave a comment below telling me how you follow me, if you do(!), and tell me your favourite sweet treat on Valentine's Day!  I will draw two random numbers from the comments, (numbering them in order), on Monday and post the winners on this post, as well as notify them by email.  You don't have to be a blogger to enter, but be sure to leave me your email.  Be sure you are not a no-reply blogger!

Linking up with TGIFF at Quilt Matters as well as with Can I Get a Whoop Whoop? at Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Oh Scrap! and WIPs Be Gone (see buttons on side bar).

And the winners are:

Nancy from Pug Mom Quilts! Congrats.  Nancy and I "met" over zippers and makeup/etc. pouches.  She has a great tutorial that shows how to shorten a zipper by adding great zipper tabs here.  Hope this will help chase the mountains of snow blues away.

And

Cheryl was #20.  I had an entrant by email, whose comment kept disappearing into cyberspace...she was #13, so everyone after the 12th comment you see on the post is bumped ahead one number.
Cheryl's blog is Meadow Mist Designs.

Thanks everyone for entering my first giveaway; maybe I'll have a few more entrants for the next milestone!

Washed, blocked and ready to rock to its new home.

Thankful Thursday #8

Today I'm thankful for good times, memorable times, laughter-filled times, with good friends.

I talked with a dear friend from Alberta earlier this week on his birthday.  So glad, and thankful, that nowadays phonecalls are so reasonable (in our case, free, as we have magicJack).  When we lived here in the late 80s, it was incredibly expensive to call, so calls had to be timed and infrequent.  Now we have FaceTime, or Skype, both of which shrink the 2000 miles between provinces, or between countries, in the case of some of our American friends--

This past week we also FaceTimed with another dear friend who winters in Florida, but lives in upstate New York.  He was actually in Vermont at the time, so we got to see the campground where he spends the summer weekends in his 5th wheel trailer.  So cool that I can now picture him there.

Last night we had two other couples over for a BBQ.  We'd already been to each of the others' houses, so it was our turn.  And it was a great evening.

I was once again reminded of how very lucky I am to live in such a bountiful county, also known as the Sun Parlour, Essex County.  We enjoyed wine from Pelee Island Winery, from grapes grown on Pelee Island, 17 miles south of our house in the middle (literally) of Lake Erie.  The retail and secondary operation is just 2 km from my house.  Dangerous...

Bread from our bakery, homemade by moi tapenade

 Yep, that's an Alberta Wild Rose spoon in the tapenade, a nod to my home province.

I thought this was really neat - I will now be on the lookout for Lucky Stones!

We enjoyed a couple of terrific salads off pinchofyum.com, and finished off with homemade baked peach and raspberry cheesecake from an old recipe book.

Gotta love leftover cheesecake, yum!

The weather cooperated magnificently, as did Mother Nature with no bugs (I think fishfly season is over, fingers crossed) so we enjoyed everything from appetizers to dessert, on our patio, the labours of Joe's gardening green thumb to enfold us at one end and Lake Erie upon which to gaze at the other.

And just because I've had two suppers of terrific new foods, here's another Pinch Of Yum from tonight's supper (there was virtually no leftover salads from last night, which is, really, a good thing, right?)

Healty Pesto Baked Rigatoni

Good food, good friends, good wine, good times.  That's what really matters.  Tomorrow I'll show you what I've been working on over the past couple of days.  It's not amounting to much, sigh.