Finish it up FRIDAY...?

OMG ~ Ocra Bay is sooooo close to being finished. About a dozen red blocks to be made, cut in half and trimmed to the required measurements needed. Oh, how I hated those red blocks!!

 

OMG ~ Carolina Crossroads in Xmas fabric is ready for the final sewing! Rows are numbered and it's only a matter of sitting & sewing (omg  ~ and matching up seams)

 

 And memories of childhood!! I did this as well as my son ~ so funny!! Likely true for everyone!!

Tidy up Wednesday

Tidy Up.....The ends of the 3 scarves - weave in the ends and add a fringe on both ends. The pattern called for adding tassles at the colour changes on the zap - I opted out, as I know the kids aren't fussy about having something like that, floating in their faces.

 

 Revisiting Carolina Cross Roads re: Bonnie Hunters Mystery Quilt. Hmmm, what year LOL!!!! I pulled it out once again - counted, sorted, tallied up....and will finish cutting up the required pieces and either continue to sew on it or kit it all up for another day. I did this quilt in my Christmas fabrics and really wish I would move my butt to finish it! Even if only the flimsy top......sigh!!!

 Hopefully, the last lawn cut for the season. Very nippy out today, but very refreshing. My backyard has given me grief since we bought this house 8-9 years ago. Large parts were covered in "wandering charlie" and I've done every thing organically to get rid of it. 1st pic: reseeded this spot about a month ago & it's growing like crazy.

 2nd pic: With the heat we had this summer, compounded with lack of rain - the lawn died a crispy death ( which is fine usually) but, it's coming back full of @*&$&#^ CRAB GRASS and I've been slowly digging it out and reseeding.

 3rd pic: The lovely creeping charlie. Another patch that needs to be done and I'm giving up. Spoke with the other half and told him we need to hire a lawn company that's licenced to use heavier chemicals to finally rid the lawns of it. This cuts into my sewing time - don't you know *wink wink!!

The weather forecast calls for COLD weather and rain. Tis a good reason to get the outside jobs done, so I can play inside!!! Sounds good to me!

Happy Thanksgiving

Today was Canada's Thanksgiving Holiday! Lots of turkey, stuffing, veggies and belly aches!

We went driving outside of town to view the fall colours before the leaves completely fall from the trees. Lots of corn still in the fields ~ as well as soybeans waiting to be harvested!

 

 

 Good Grief ! I knew we were heading in this direction, but I honestly didn't expect to find Mary Maxim's open on a holiday Monday. I had the store to myself (sort of) and yes, there were husbands out sitting in their cars while the wives shopped. It's always funny to see! Mine included ~ I could hear the radio in the car being turned up as I walked towards the store ;-)

 I bought nothing ~ really, really weird feeling! LOL I was enjoying our country touring and just wasn't in the mood to shop. Sorry Mary Maxim.....but I did pick up their latest catalogue ( for browsing only) ;-)

Wet wordless Wednesday

Fall Knitting & Bow Ties



 

Zig zag scarf pattern from the Better Homes and Gardens magazine called "Knit It" - dated 2002.

I try to knit or crochet new scarves for my young niece & nephew each year and this one really checked all the boxes for being cute & different. It's working up really quickly and while the pattern calls for colour changes on each zag, I opted for multi-coloured yarn through out!

 On the agenda for this evening is knitting during the half hour of Coronation Street and if Bonnie has quilt cam tonight - I'll be cutting up these 3 piles of fabric for bow ties. One pile is for the men's shirt bow tie quilt, middle pile is for the more floral/feminine bow tie quilt, and the top pile consists of 5" squares from a trade I did with a British group of ladies. They'll be cut up also into bow tie units!

Must fit in a hour or so up in the attic. Lots of odd bits & pieces of poly cotton fabric and older craft/knitting/crocheting etc books & magazines have been weeded through and boxed ready for the "Bibles for Missions" thrift shop. I try to divide my donations up between all the thrift stores in my area and we visited this shop on the weekend and with their recent move to larger quarters, they are in need of restocking - so, I can help with that! ;-)

It's the 1st day of October ~ I look forward to a very productive month!!

My Plans for October

Hopefully, that will be this October - not 2013, 2014 LOL!!! But first, a pretty picture!

 Fall colors ~ not a lot of trees have turned in our area, but I spotted this one on my walk yesterday.

 My attic before, during & after my hissy fit today!! While some folks would love a full size, walk up attic - it's been a curse to me. Let's load it full of craft stuff....year after year after year.....!!!! Let's look for one craft item which we know is up there....somewhere....and the melt down happens!

 Another lovely picture from my walk on Monday. Taken at our local golf course just before the sun disappeared and when I realized I'd be running home ~ can't miss Coronation Street at 7:30pm ;-)

 Ya...back to the attic! Big sort going on with all the bits and bobs of yarn. Sadly, the white boxes are from my office working days - I left in 1990 and the boxes are still going strong. Likely full of the same CRAP from that time period also....shakes head!

 And because I need another lovely picture in this pathetic posting ~ the front window at our local garden's office/potting shed!

If you never hear from me again, you know where I am......the @*&%* attic!!!

Can't see the forest......

You can't see the forest for the trees......!!!

Well, actually I can - not directly, but I know it's there!

With my slice & dice fever still happening - GOD - does this fabric breed or what....I'm still waving my rotary cutter around like a wand. Just wish I had the magical powers to get everything done with a simple 'ta-daaaaa'.......umph!

My containers are all labelled and stacked and I've added two more larger containers to hold the pieces for these two quilts. I must remind myself not to look at anymore old quilt books. Best to donate them back to the thrift store for another victim to buy them ;-)

The 1st is from Lady's Circle Patchwork Quilts, dated March 1986. Delectable Mountains Variation and I've resized it (hopefully) for a larger block. The original HT squares were just to small for my patience. I love the pattern, the colours are iffy here - but I thinking more reddish, less orange. But, seriously.....it's all coming from stash, so the colours will be...hmmm,whatever they are! LOL

 2nd Quilt added from American Patchwork & Quilting dated June 1996. This one will be a good stash reducer quilt.

I think when Bonnie Hunter starts her next mystery quilt in November, I'll continue on with finishing up all my UFO ones. Actually have a couple of Bonnie's mysteries to finish.....not sure how that happens ( who am I kidding) I love being involved with these mysteries and the camaraderie of all the quilters combined. I just need to stick to the quilts that I've started and am drawn towards.

ROFL ~ this is me....scratching my head and figuring out the size I want to work with!! Ha ha ha!!! Grade 12 math was many eons ago for me, but I think I've got it hammered out!!!!

Now....back to cutting!!!

Pineapple Blossom ~ Done....?

 



Well...sort of!! I've been dragging this quilt inside & outside, upstairs & downstairs over the past year or so.....ahem!!!!

The hand quilting is taking a looooong time & I didn't want to mess it up any further than I have already!

So....last week as I dragged it back inside after sitting outside hand stitching in the lovely, warm sun ~ I managed to catch the bottom corner ( without knowing) and it pulled the batting out, about 6 to 8 inches of it! Grrrrr....!!! That was it - the binding was made and applied - PRONTO!!

I'll continue to hand quilt it during the colder months and the fear of shredding anymore of the batting and outside border has been taken care of - good grief!!!

 

I picked up this stamped embroidery piece at the Mennonite Thrift Store for $1. I noticed it was a little wonky, no problem - I just want to start practising my hand stitching and this hit the nail on the head price wise. On closer inspection, someone had written in INK, the different colour codes onto the actual fabric...hmmm. Again, it's a sample piece for me - so I shouldn't worry.

Well, sort of......!!!!

Kitting Up the UFO's

 

 

I have a knack for starting quilt projects ~ then starting another one ~ then another, and then realizing I've used the same fabric in several of them AND holy crap, I'm going to run out of that fabric and be stuck with several unfinished quilts due to my knack (aka: stupid DOH moment)

 

See this picture.....Yup!!!

I've got several quilts on the go, all using men's shirts! Plus, I'm now cutting the shirts all up into itty bitty pieces (cuz I'm rather sick of them at the moment) and putting those pieces into the scrap saving system.

 

STOP!!!!!!

 

 

OK....breath deep! Out come the UFO's, put on floor with pattern - take picture and then load on computer, put on computer screen and proceed to find, cut & bag up all the required missing pieces!!I'm going to try and do this everyday.....everyday, EVERYDAY!!!

I just read Bonnie Hunter's blog post of being on quiltcam tonight ~ I'll be there, working on this Bear Paw Quilt!! Good Luck to me - Yah!!! LOL

 

Sewing at the beach

Headed to Lake Huron for some quiet sandy beach time. Took my hand piecing, didn't do as much as I'd like as it was windy & hard to hold the little pieces.

I did play around with some beach rocks and made some tiny little animal prints ;-)

 

 LOL ~ just a shot looking thru my lovely granny sunglasses! Finally caved into getting a pair of sunglasses that fit over my prescription glass & have those bling sides to them also ~ gotta save those eyes, only one pair per lifetime!!!

 Just another shot of my little hand piecing project that went camping with me back in August. I was at the campground laundry mat, perfect time for some stitching! So, it's getting around this year! Lake Superior camping and then Lake Huron for some beach sitting. Totally forgot to take it with me on the 3rd of this month, as it was the airshow in Toronto and that's on Lake Ontario. Just need a trip to Lake Erie now...LOL!!!

Time zooms by........fast!!

Holy Cow ~ It's September already!!!

 Camping - boy, did I miss our family tent. You know - the one that is 8 feet tall in the middle and sleeps 8 people LOL LOL!!!! And it poured rain on my second night which was fine - sort of, I had thrown a larger tarp over the tent & fly, but the weight of it sort of collapsed the sides and I got wet!!!!

 I did a little of this on the beach of Lake Superior. Wish I had more time to do more of it. I had collected some small pieces of drift wood to put on the grave sites of my two dogs that are buried in the area. And then forgot to take my backpack with me when my girlfriend drove us around St Joseph Island. DOH!!!

 ROFLMAO ~ this is the entrance to my old house. I lived on 2 acres in cow country and was surrounded by pines. Umph ~ I use to keep the ditches totally cut. It's a single guy that owns the house now, so I guess he has different priorities LOL!!! It was a great little vacation for me!

 Wow ~ Bonnie Hunter is onto 'spools' now for her leader/ender project and I'm still cutting fabric for last years bow ties!! But look, this is exactly the look I'm going for with my bow ties! It's McCalls Quilting mag from spring of 2001. The bow ties are the exact same size, and I nearly croaked when I read just how many is needed.....YIKES!!! 810 blocks for a 82" x 91" quilt with NO larger outside borders. I think I'm nearing 50 ;-0

 Off to the thrift store and I pass these moo cows and just had to snap their picture! My total take at the store was around $6 bucks. Just had to buy this lovely vintage flat sheet ~ don't think it's been washed yet ~ woozer!!! I grew up with these sheets and they came in all sorts of colours. I actually used a lighter blue one for my son's 1st quilt. Will dig around for that picture. The large cone of 100% cotton thread was $4 and tons left to use. And of course, patterns at 50 cents each - both complete. Not sure if I'll use them ~ just another collection to dust.

And blogger won't load my other pictures, so maybe......later I'll complete my blog post. Lets not hold our breath!!! ;-P~~

Lost & Found ~ Thanks to Bonnie

Yep ~ Bonnie Hunter!!

I've been following Bonnie on her quilt-cam ( or whatever we call it) and was deep into ironing all my scraps which are heading into the scrap-saver system that Bonnie created. When I grew tired of cutting up the scraps, I went looking for some older squares I knew I had. Lo and behold, under the pile of squares....I find the lost ! Heck, I can't even remember what the pattern was called ~ never mind ~ they have been uncovered. My eyes roll when I think of the mess I made in my sewing room trying to find them. I unearthed everything and they still hid from me ;-(

When my young niece & nephew are here, I always let them play with the older squares as I'm not fussy about what happens to them and they have loads of fun laying out their quilt ideas. Why my other hexagon stars (lets call them that!) were underneath them in a storage bin that I wasn't going to check......I have no idea....blank brain!!

 Ya....I"m going camping - all by my stinking SELF!!!!! But first, some repairs on my old tent as I'm not hauling our large family tent with me. Recycle - reuse!! The bottom zippers were toast, so I replaced them with the zippers from our mosquito curtains from the old deck canopy that was also toast!

 Ya....what a mess!!! LOL I don't care ~ I'm going camping by my stinking SELF!!! I hand basted the newer zippers in and thought - just whip it thru the sewing machine - what a mess!!! But, it's done and hopefully will keep the bears out!! LOL
The tent must be at least 27 yrs old and sooooo out of fashion!! Who cares...right?

And when I'm back at my camp site, I'll be working on these. A great little project for camping and again, I've been using those men's shirts with a few ladies throw in!!!

 I"m heading back to where I lived over 12 years ago. Visiting with old girlfriends & co-workers and just relaxing as I drive along the Trans-Canada hwy in northern Ontario. I've missed the pines, the lakes, the farms.....the peacefulness of country living. I may take a few pieces of the Lady of Lake quilt with me - just because!! ;-)

Enjoy life everyone!!! ~ Lori~

One Bow Tie = Four??

Hmmm, ya....that's the final count - I hope!

 1st Bow Tie is the Men's shirts using white sheet ( my obsession) and the left overs of all the shirts I've been using. OK! Size of blocks are 2 1/2" and 1 1/2".

2nd - Bonnie Hunters Bow Tie Cheddar L&E. I started off cutting the men's shirts again into the 2" & 1 1/4" size. The orange squares at the right of the picture are my cheddar ~ as close to that colour as I could find at the fabric store. Hmmm, not loving that colour.

3rd - As above...BUT...using all my fabrics - floral, birdhouses, everything including the kitchen sink. Tea Dyed Muslin for my solid colour. 2" & 1 1/4 " blocks.

4th - As above...BUT....using all the vintage bits & pieces that I have.  Not sure what the solid colour will be? I'll try one with the cheesy cheddar, one with the tea dyed muslin and I'll dig out some white on white and test that. 2" & 1 1/4" blocks.

 It was time. I bought a new cutting mat back in '09 !!! Finally decided it was time to dig it out and retire the old one. I'm having problems getting use to the lighter orange colour of the numbers...not good, not good!!!

 And a quilt top nearing it's finished quilt top look!!!! Need to measure it and decide if I want it for a single bed, double or queen. I have extra squares cut out to use in a border of some fashion....will let it sit so I can think on it!  Oh, painted one of the deck chairs BRIGHT YELLOW!!! Love it, just need the energy & time to sand and paint the 2nd one.

And what I should be working on. Our house is 70-80 yrs old and covered in as many layers of paint. We have a full size, walk up attic and I've been wanting to take that door off for years to refinish it. For some reason 'the man' of the house didn't want me to take it off, as he considered it a 'outside' door - keeping the attic and house separate - air wise. OK, but in the dead of summer it's OK to take it off for a few days - RIGHT??? Seriously, I was just making a mess trying to strip it in the up right position in a small hallway with plush RED carpet underneath...... It came off and is laying in the basement on the work horses just waiting for a new paint job. @*#@&^(&^!!!!!!

I just dug thru my old pictures but couldn't locate the snap of the original condition of the door. Right before we bought this house, the previous owners covered everything in beige paint. This door must have been the last one done after they had dropped the paint roller a couple hundred times in lint, dog hair and anything else that was gross. There wasn't a square inch on this door that was smooth and free of hair and lint. Nasty gross.....!!

More Vintage Fabric

Opps.....I knew I had a few more pieces of vintage material ~ hiding !! Opps.....didn't realize I had this much ~ hiding !! I have a separate plastic tub that holds new reproduction fabrics that I buy on the rare occasion. The rare occasion being a $12/yd price, now marked down to $3/yd. So..?? Was I hiding all the these LOL !!
So, more fabrics to play with. Rainy, overcast day here & the sun popped out during this picture.

 9" x 17.5' are the measurements of these fabrics below ~ a common cut (actually 'rip') even back then. The pink on the left has "Copyright #1342" in the selvage, so not sure of the vintage date for it - I like it, it's going into the quilt!! LOL (the other selvage was cut off, so no proper width size for it)

 Wasn't sure about the look, but with just a few pieces cut & laying out hap-hazard, I'm smiling.

So.....more sorting & washing. More line drying aka hanging around the house! More ironing! More smiling ~ tis a good thing!

Vintage Fabric Day

Wash day for all the bits & pieces of vintage ( & maybe not vintage) fabric.

Glad I let them soak first as I didn't realize just how dirty they were. Mind you, as I'm just as old as some of this fabric ~ I'm sure I'd be a little on the yellow side also!!!

 A tidy of the shelf holding my larger pieces of vintage fabric. Didn't realize I had that much in the solid colour selection.

And last ~ the pattern I'm going to use. I've been all over the map (or quilt patterns) do I want to use the double wedding, dresden plate or bow tie pattern etc etc and I'm tired of farting around. I just want a quilt that will showcase all the different fabric patterns and not overwhelm me. You simply can't get any easier then this one!

Small squares are 3 1/2" square and the larger is 7 1/2" x 3 1/2", the white strips are 1 1/2" wide.
I have lots of little pieces to measure and trim, hopefully to the larger size required. Coronation Street and the cutting board - here I come!!!