We're All In This Together

Hi!  I am Sandra and welcome to my corner of Quilting Blogland.

Me with Brandy, our dear friend John's Pibble (75-pound lap dog) Feb. 2015

I am taking part in the 2015 New Quilt Bloggers Hop which is hosted this year by four amazing bloggers:
Stephanie of Late Night Quilter (my hive leader, woot! woot!)

Cheryl of Meadow Mist Designs (currently testing two patterns for her, awww yeah!)
Terri of Childlike Fascination
Yvonne of Quilting Jetgirl
I am truly in awe, not to mention so very grateful for the extra time these gals are devoting to helping us improve our blogs.

In 2012 my husband and I made a rather bold decision:  we quit our jobs, he a few months shy, me a few years shy of retirement age.  On top of that, we left Alberta, where we had spent the past 23 years raising our two daughters, and moved to southwestern Ontario, a place we had lived for 5 years in the 1980s.  We had set the wheels in motion a few years prior to the actual move, but it was quite the be-still-my-beating-heart, outside of the box kind of thing to do.  Prior to, during, and after, and even still today, nearly 3 years later, I had and have many deep thoughts, aha moments, profound events occur, thought-provoking incidents, all of which led, and still lead, to much pondering about life in general. I also had time to pursue more fully my passions, sewing, yoga and reading.  I wanted to keep in touch with my family and friends back in Alberta, and I wanted to document not only my quilting projects, but also to share with them my journey in this new and exciting phase of my life.  Thus, "Musings of a Menopausal Melon - mmm quilts" came into being.

Menopause really is a profound time of change in a woman's life, and although I question on a daily basis just where my brain cells have gone when it comes to mundane tasks like opening up a recipe on the computer (3 tries later, after getting sucked into "just checking email, just looking up this Ontario tree, just seeing if I could fix the damn Pinterest button"--which is ugly I know--I finally did get the recipe and the cake made and it was actually delicious--more on the trials of baking with a menopausal absent melon in another post...), where was I? Oh yeah, I find I really think more deeply about the big stuff, the important stuff.  Important stuff...like let's get on with the post!  I hope you are starting to see the blend of humour with profanity. Wait!  Not profanity! (another menopausal issue, can't think of the appropriate word when I want it)  "blend of humour with profundity."  That sounds archaic, but I checked and it's a word, as is profoundness.  I think you get it.

I've quilted for 20 years.  It always interested me, but I thought it too fiddly and time-consuming when I first had a go, armed with scissors, pencil, and corrugated cardboard templates, to make a Grandmother's Fan block into a cushion.  Then when I won blocks in a BOM draw at the LQS, urged to enter and "just make one block, Mum, it's only $1" by my eldest daughter, age 9 at the time, I signed up for a class at said LQS, and, well, garment-making took a backseat to quilt-making!

Fleurs, a challenge from last year:  guild executive-directed, sew your own rounds on an orphan block (love this, still need to quilt it)

My nana, my mum's mum, was a seamstress and a knitter, so I guess I inherited her love of textiles and all things sewing-related, as no one else in my family sews.  I've mostly made traditional pieced quilts, and very early on began quilting them on my 1979 Elna Air Electronic.  I was addicted to HGTV's "Simply Quilts" with Alex Anderson, videotaping episodes, taking notes, drawing diagrams in a scribbler I still have.  There is where I learned so much about the craft.  More knowledge was gained when I found a guild and became a member.  How wonderful to gather with like-minded people! ....

Which is exactly how I've come to view the online blogging community.  When I moved here to Kingsville, it was really hard to find out information about local guilds, and when I did find a guild, Erie Shores Quilt Guild, very difficult to "break into" that guild.

Seaside Rose, one of my all-time favourite quilts, Lake Erie in the background

The online friendships I made fed my creative soul more than I ever imagined; I was wildly inspired by the online quilting activities, the tutorials, the classes (Craftsy is just the best!), the stores, the unabashed sharing that goes on between us whether it be of sales, tips, new techniques, epic fails, frustrations, finishes...and ...... modern quilting. Oh. Holy. Wow.

Summer Breeze, one of my first modern quilts

How absolutely wonderful to see young women embracing a craft that is often viewed as being only for blue-haired, overweight, gabardine-wearing grandmas!  How invigorating to see bright new fabrics and colours, and so much room (now known as negative space) to FMQ!! Since buying both of Kathy Sandbach's books (after I saw her on "Simply Quilts") and taking two classes at a sewing machine store, one on stitching with decorative threads, the other on McTavishing (by a guy who had bought Karen's old machine), I was in love with FMQ.  So now, to see the explosion of all the FMQ designs was music to my ears.

Yoga mat bag designed by moi

I am so happy I took the plunge and started this blog.  It has enriched my life more than I could ever have envisioned.  Truly.

So, to wrap this up, I have a couple of tips for you:
First, a blogging tip from me is to answer your comments by email (unless you are having a giveaway and have like lots!) and then visit the commenter!  We learned last week that answering them directly on your blog does not automatically send an email to the person who wrote the comment.  Emailing and visiting the commenter has led me to making some invaluable friendships with other bloggers, friendships I treasure, talented women with whom I frequently chat.  I love sewing "with" them, thinking (knowing!) they are at their machines right at this very moment, creating beauty, all across the continent, and around the planet.  :-)

But I interrupt my tips with a question for you:  how do you balance your time on the computer with your time on your sewing machine?  Any tips would be much appreciated, as this is something I am struggling with this year in particular!  I keep joking that I need a secretary...

Second, a quilting tip is one I learned on "Simply Quilts", and it is a timesaver when trimming up HSTs!

Layer 2 HST squares right sides together, atop each other, wiggling the diagonal seam together with your fingers so they abut

Lay your ruler down (I love my 8"square from That Patchwork Place) as shown, so the diagonal line is right on top of the seam line. I'm trimming these to 3 1/2"

Trim

Ta da!  TWO HSTs perfectly trimmed.

And finally!  Are you still with me?!  Here is some quick trivia about me:
1.  Dream Vacation Spot:  a tropical small island, set up for one couple only
2.  Favourite Book:  SO many!!  Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon, The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, Cutting For Stone by Abraham Verghese, The Thornbirds by Colleen McCullough, The Lord of the Rings trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien, Kingdom of Shadows by Barbara Erskine, pretty much all of Charles de Lint's books, The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley...okay, I'll stop, but there are more
3.  Favourite Movie:  "The Princess Bride" with "The Commitments" and "Chocolat" coming close behind
4.  Favourite TV Show:  Downton Abbey, Call the Midwife, Once Upon a Time, Outlander
5.  Random (fun) fact:  Other than I have a difficult time making decisions (and picking one favourite!), hmmm, I learned to do a wheel and a headstand in my 40s and as of last year, age, egad, 54, can do splits with either leg in front.  This is thanks to yoga.

I hope you might poke around a bit, stay a while, grab a java or a cuppa, and maybe pop back in on a regular basis!  :-)

QC inspector and sewing coach Bella makes frequent appearances on the blog

 As does Rocco, my sweetheart Pitbull.  Naala, our wise Rottweiler, makes occasional entrances too!

I hope you also check out my hive mates' posts for today on this first week of the New Bloggers' Hop:
Johanna at Sewing Time With Brownie
Jinger at Trials of a Newbie Quilter
Kelly at Quilting it Out
Tessa at Half Square Quilts

Orphan Adoption Winner!

Wow, you ladies have sure inspired me with all the charity opportunities that abound.  Truly.  I even thought, and I hate to admit it, and if Cynthia reads this, she will burst out laughing (again), "Maybe I should keep these squares and the black and sew up a quilt for (insert name of awesome charity here).  Seriously.
However, I slapped myself up side the head, and said, nope, woman, you have another set with which you can do just that!

So these beautiful fabrics, which do wash up really nicely by the way, are going to....

Comment Number 7, JoEllen!

How did I come up with 17 when there are 21 comments?  Well, 4 commenters, you will notice, did not want the blocks, just made a comment.  So they were out of the drawing.  When I figure out, with the New Bloggers' Hop help I'm getting (notice some more changes?) how to number my comments, giveaways will be much easier.  So I just skipped them in my numbering system and counted down to #7 by hand, (not including Linda C or Cynthia) which meant JoEllen won. Thanks, Linda, for suggesting (reminding me, duh) to insert her comment. ALS silent auction, a most-worthy charity.

So, JoEllen, I'll shoot you an email in a few minutes, get your address, and I can send these off to you asap!  My only hope is to please please send me a photo of the finished quilt!

Thank you to everyone for writing your comment, for telling me about your charity or charitable ideas for a quilt.  And thank you to Cynthia at Quilting is More Fun Than Housework, for dreaming up this great idea.  There is a great site, The Minimalists, that Lara of Buzzin' Bumble sent me during a conversation we were having, and this site is well worth a look.  Take a look at their post on an expensive watch purchase or The Minimalist Game.  Thought-provoking.  Purging, getting rid of stuff one no longer uses or needs is rather liberating!

I've Been Published!

Yep!  This was one of my personal goals about a year ago, and I'm so happy to say that it has happened.

I first heard of Moda Bakeshop at my guild meeting when a member held up the Herringbone Placemats she'd made.  I went right home and onto the site!  Made these as my first project:

And I've made several others, the Quilted Patchwork Pouch, the Strippy Charm Pouch and the Cake Clutch.

So I had this idea somewhere back in January, played around and wrote it up.  I submitted the idea for the pouch with some photos of the test one I'd made, on February 1.  If you saw me featured on Cynthia's Oh Scrap! Feature post on March 29, you'll recognize this:

Not even 2 days after the tutorial for this little makeup or sewing tools bag was live on my blog, I got an email from Moda Bakeshop saying there had been a technical glitch in their email system and some emails never got sent out.  Did I get the email below? they asked.  Um NO!! It was the acceptance, dated February 9!  I was ecstatic, freaked out, mad, worried, and filled with panic all at once.  I was mainly concerned that they would no longer want the project since I'd posted a tutorial on how to make it on my blog.

Not the case at all! They do not mind one bit if you submit a project you have already shown on your blog!  I know magazines are very particular that you have not shown anything of a project you submit to them.  Not so with Moda.

On their home page, on the right hand side, just under their social media buttons is a button that says "Project Submission".  Click it and fill out the form. The instructions are straightforward. Go for it!

If you click the new button on my sidebar (yeah! That makes me smile when I see it! I just got it sent to me two days ago.) it will take you to the project on the bakeshop.  You can also just click here.

My daughter, Dayna, for whom I made the first one, the purple prototype pouch (got a thing for alliteration, I know it) used it on the Memorial Day weekend when she went away for 4 days. She said she, (and I quote) "LOVED it.  It fit EVERYTHING!"  It is surprisingly roomy despite its narrow base. It measures 11" high and has a 12" zipper across the top.  Having taught French for 30 years, and been in love all my life with all things French, I just had to choose French General's Joyeux Noël line to make the one for Moda.   And, if you choose to make one, from just one Charm Pack, you will have enough to make two pouches.  I like that!

Speaking of "I like that," on one of my blog buddies (we are each in a group of 4, and then in a larger "hive" group of 16 for the New Blogger Hop I'm in)...anyhow, on Eleanor's blog, Cat Approved Quilting (Bella and I love that name; Bella is miffed that it is not the name of my our blog), I saw a terrific tutorial that I was able to put into action last night.  It's for quickly marking the diagonal on a whole bunch of squares that are destined to become HSTs.  Now, one of my two current WIPs (ya, you can snicker, because you know I'm lying...TWO?! snort), I am testing Sea Star for Cheryl of Meadow Mist Designs, and I am faced with making a few hundred of these babies, so when I saw this I was ecstatic.  I tried it out last night, since I haven't finished cutting out all the white ones.  Look!

Try it; I think you'll like it! And if you make a Pyramid Pouch, please send me a picture.  I'd love to see it!

Linking up with Let's Bee Social and WIP!  Hop on over and join the parties. :-)

84!

Huh? You are probably thinking.  84... uh, pieces you've cut for the next quilt!  wait... the number of FMQ designs you have tried? no... if you think like my sister, Linda, you'll be dying to say, "years old?!" bahaha.  Wrong on all. (hmm, maybe not on the FMQ designs, ha)

Two things.

84 km I walked in the month of May.  That's 52.2 miles!  (I have a great app, May My Walk, that I use for walking, and my husband uses it for biking.  Free.)  That is a few kilometres short, because I did not record a couple of walks, like when my mum was here visiting.  I'm pretty impressed that I regularly walk 20 km or more per week with Rocco.

I think, but I'm not sure, that this is a black walnut tree, massive in any case!

84 followers on Bloglovin'.  Um, wow.  There has been a big jump lately due to the New Quilt Bloggers group I'm in, (see the sidebar button) as we follow each other, critique each other, learn, and improve our blogs.  You might start to see some changes as a result of being in this group! (It's taken another little jump since I started writing this post on the weekend!)

What am I working on right now?

Two things. (Okay, three if you count the handquilting I am plugging away at a bit each day, on that Christmas runner which is on my list for the Q2 FAL at On the Windy Side)

One is the next quilt pattern of Cheryl's I'm testing.  I couldn't decide which one, so I said, meh, I can do both...probably.  Out the window with my Q2 FAL list for Adrianne at On the Windy Side...

Here is the progress so far on Sea Star.  Fabric:

A 16-pack of pink fat quarters from Art Gallery fabric bought from Fat Quarter Shop this winter

This, however, is more like, OMG I-So-Love-Pink Star!  And well, I do!  Which takes me back to 1984-ish, and the dusky pink I had in our living room for the ensuing several years and through two houses...but we won't go there. Where we will go is my niece.  This quilt is going to her.

Progress on sewing the multitude of HSTs:

not a lot; it's been a run of rather non-sewing days, more yoga than sewing, which I'm okay with; more computer than sewing, which I'm not okay with

The other current project on the design wall is this blue quilt. This is on my list for Q2 FAL.  I had a brainwave to try my Stars quilt I designed and made for H2H with the blues!  Brilliant, n'est-ce pas?  I had planned on doing a different star quilt in one of Pam and Nicky Lintott's books, but then I came up with this plan with a few small changes.  First change is the blocks are 16" finished!  Bigger than the charity quilt.

Another little difference is the strip set centres (try saying 5 times in a row) compared to the first version as well.  Third difference: I'm turning the strip set blocks 90° as was suggested by a couple of people, to see if I get a woven effect.

You know there is something to be said about accumulating a rather large stash; it gives me some freedom to try something like this, to see, "what if I did this...", you know? That and keeping the walls insulated is my reasoning!  It was great fun to pull a ton of blue pieces out, some left over from previous projects, others destined for future projects (ahhh, when I was working full-time, and had the freedom to buy fabric just because I loved it and could visualize it growing up into a quilt...)

Eileen at Eileen Stitches and I had a conversation just yesterday about the similarities in our two cats.  OMG check out her current kittens quilt! Just saw it when I went for the link to her blog.  She said how her girl now loves to be on the cutting table, and I'd already taken this photo of Bella doing just that!  We both agree that fabric is like an aphrodisiac to our cats, and I would add that it sure is to us, too!  ;-)

Bella got as excited as I did at unfolding some not-looked-at-for-a-long-time fabrics!

If something doesn't quite work out in the "what if" department, I can always set it aside and use it in a seniors-in-wheelchairs charity quilt (I seem to have started something there).  That, or let Bella get all ecstatic and loll about on it, pose on it, crunch it up for an elbow rest...

You really didn't have to fan this out just for moi, but gee, thanks, mmrrrooowww!

Look at this beauty I snagged a photo of on Friday:  I just learned, from Wikipedia, and this Ontario site, that it is the symbol of Kentucky, and is a member of the magnolia family.  It also grows in only three places in Ontario:  the southern shore of Lake Huron, the northern shore of Lake Erie, where I am, and in the Niagara Peninsula.  There are many here in Kingsville.  This one, a massive tree, is just down the street from me!

Tulip tree, aka Liriodendron tulipifera

Speaking of down the street, that's where I'm heading right now, put some more kilometres on that app!

I'm linking up the blue stars quilt project with Scraptastic Tuesday at Mrs. Sew and Sow. The background of the pink stars quilt fits the scraps category too come to think of it!

And also with Patchwork Times' Design Wall this week!

Orphan Adoption Event

Cynthia at Quilting is More Fun Than Housework has come up with a brilliant idea.  Brilliant...if you can bear to part (um that might be moi) with an old, dusty WIP or maybe it's not even at that stage yet, then add your link to her Orphan Adoption Event!  Even if you don't have an orphan to link up (then my hat is off to you, whoa!) you can still 'bid' on those that are up for adoption.

Enter one of my WIPs, not really at that stage yet!

Several years ago, a very good friend of mine and I had the brilliant idea to buy enough of this rather cool marbled fabric to make several of these Magic Tiles quilts and sell them. 

We often shared patterns back then, and somehow, I usually ended up with the photocopy...

We each made a couple quilts.  And?  We never sold a one! So our brilliant idea kind of got snuffed out, and the squares we cut ready to assemble in more quilts....yeah, got nuttin'... might have another set languishing...

Anyhow, this project consists of twelve 14" squares plus about a metre of black "grout" fabric, and the pattern.  There is no fabric to make the inner border.  Don't feel obligated to make this pattern!

I would like the person to donate the finished quilt to a charity.

Since I live in Canada, and postage is often ridiculous, (don't get me started), I will ship this free to anyone within the continental US or within Canada. I do hope that you would sew it up in a timely manner (unlike the giver of said project, ha) and I'd love it if you posted about it if you are a blogger, and let me know when you do! Maybe you'll inspire me to do something with the second set.

How do you bid on this?

Simply leave me a comment telling me what charity you would sew it for.  If you are a no-reply blogger, please leave your email within your comment so I can contact you.  If you would rather email me personally regarding the charity you would sew this for, then you can contact me at ephdra (at) gmail (dot) com

I will leave this open until mid-week, so June 10 at midnight EST.  If there are loads of takers, I will use the random number generator to make the final call. I will include emails in the draw, no worries!

Check out some of the other projects up for grabs!  Cute cat blocks, Amy Butler, Kaffe Fassett, to name a few, and tempt you...

Linking up with WIPs be Gone at A Quilting Reader's Garden.

Grande Scrappy Tiles Flimsy

The top is done for the pattern I'm testing for Cheryl, at Meadow Mist Designs, and I just love it!

Had to hold it down with some pottery coasters and a small block as it is WINDY today!

I wrote two posts, here and here so far about this quilt.  After I'd sewn the first four blocks, I decided to lay out the remaining six so I could ensure even distribution of fabrics and colours and values.  I had 4 on my design wall and one squished onto my sewing table.

I still managed to repeat fabrics on more than one occasion, but phew! I caught it before I sewed it.  It was beginning to make my head hurt a bit: as well as ensuring no two fabrics were alike in each block, I also tried very hard, and succeeded except for one rectangle, in having each fabric in a different place within each block!

This part bored Bella to ... well, to sleep

Once I finished all the blocks, my design wall wasn't quite big enough, so I laid them down on the floor to start to play with the orientation of each one.  Here are the first six blocks as I make sure no two alike colours touch and that the fabrics are evenly distributed over the quilt top.

THIS part, she adores.  The blocks got scrunched up each time I walked away

There's something about newly laid out pieces of fabric, whether it's for cutting, for sewing if I stack things beside my sewing machine, for arranging blocks, or for admiring a flimsy laid out on the floor, she's just gotta get ON it and either hunker down as in the above photo, in readiness to scamper away, or curl and twist in purring cat happiness.  Sigh.  Cat fur is a fibre sadly lacking in the textiles I purchase apparently.

Yep, think this layout should work.  I like to take a picture at this point too, in case I get blocks turned around as I transport them from design wall, or floor here :-) to the sewing machine.  Oh yes, the voice of experience.  And in case Miss Bella decides to romp across them...

So that was around suppertime yesterday, and then today I finished up the sewing and got my outside sunshiney pics, wind and all.

Ha, the wind started to lift the one section in the top right, but at least this photo got the bottom corner in.  I didn't even have time to stand on a patio chair for better height; it was okay! Held down, quick! Run to the end!  Snap! Snap!

Not fast enough for the last pic but I kind of like the wavy effect!

Lake Erie is spectacular today, so many shades of blue and an east wind whipping up frothy whitecaps...who needs the Gulf?  (ask me that in December)

Glad to get so many of these old fabrics into a rather pretty quilt, if I do say so myself!  I think I am going to meander quilt this on my Avanté with the Lily Pad design from Christina Cameli's book, Step By Step Free Motion Quilting that I used on one of the seniors' quilts, or possibly the Bear Claw motif I just got note of today from her blog, which I follow by email.

Lily pad motif is on the quilt on the left

Oh!  I dropped off these two seniors' wheelchair quilts this morning on my way home from yoga, and were they ever pleased!  They turned out to be a perfect size, and they were SO impressed with the ties that I'd sewn on.  These will go to those seniors who have little to no family that visits them, so that makes me pleased.  And, my guild has approached me to ask if I'd mind if we do this as our charity project for the Christmas party!! Uh, NO?!  I love it.  :-)  The year before last was placemats for Meals On Wheels that I wrote about here. Wow, that was only my 9th post... my #1 fan, faithful commenter, my sister, Linda, has not missed one post, reading, commenting, and telling me of any typos I may have made (oh and I do!)

So back to Grande Scrappy Tiles, soon available through Meadow Mist Designs.  I also had a thought to use flannel (once I pre-wash the snot out of it so it won't shrink) as the batting and have it as a summer quilt on our bed.  What say you?  Anyone done that before (other than me, in table runners)?  It's not quite big enough for a queen-size bed, but I never have just one quilt on our bed anyhow, so no biggie!  I think I will bind it with the original, the strongest, floral.

Linking up with WIP Wednesday and Let's Bee Social, see buttons below. :-)  So much always to admire, to be inspired by, and always new bloggers to meet.  I have to say, being part of the New Bloggers group has been so gratifying already and we are only 3 days in!

What's On My Design Wall Today

Well, on the mainstage of my design wall that is!

Two blocks done of nine!

This is Grande Scrappy Tiles, and it's a pattern I'm testing for Cheryl of Meadow Mist Designs.  For the post that describes how I chose the fabrics for this sweet scrappy quilt, go here.  I'm pretty happy so far with how the prints play together, as well as the colours and the values.

There was a fair bit of cutting, and because I went shopping only in my stash, I didn't have just fat quarters, but some leftovers from other projects and some pieces that I had bought together with a future quilt in mind.  So this randomness added to the cutting.  Where I was able, I would cut a fat quarter and stack 2-3 and then cut as per the pattern.  I like that!  Three!  Three pieces in one!  (that will date me for those who know the mints commercial I'm parodying...didja get it?!)

Here is how I kept my pieces organized at first:

Seeing this on my sewing table makes me HAPPY!! Bubbles of quilty possibilities bouncing around in my chest...you know!

Once I had them all cut, which was right after I took the photo, I separated them into stacks of same-size shapes.  (ha, now I see the alliteration there...trying saying that 3 times in a row!)

And let the fun begin!  Here was the first block:

And....that's where I stopped last night because I was doing some um, dumb things which meant some reverse-sewing was in order, and I thought, 'Okay. Time to stop and start fresh tomorrow!'  The second block went together without a hitch.

So now I am building two blocks at a time on the design wall, so I can get the 21 different fabrics distributed evenly.  I can just see with my luck, having 3 or 4 pieces of the same fabric right in the last block or two!  You only use 15 of the 21 fabrics per block, as you can see, so I am going to control, control-freak that I can sometimes be, the scrappiness!

Layout for block #3

You might have noticed a couple of new buttons on my sidebar, one of which is the New Quilt Bloggers group I've joined this year.  This should be fun and informative for me!  Last year I was too shy to join in, had like 3 followers, lol, but through linking up in various linky parties and joining in with (my favourite) Scrap-a-Palooza over the summer, I met some amazing, just amazing and genuinely wonderful people, and have had my quilting life, make that my life, so enriched.  So...here's to a whole bunch more enrichment about to happen, and improvements about to be made.  Hang on to your hats!  I'm hanging on to mine!  I'm off to write my intro to the group right now!

Linking up with DWM at Patchwork Times.  It's always fun and inspirational to see what others are up to.