Sunday 27 February 2011

Sneak Peeks . . .

and that is all I can show you right now!


You know the only reason I show you these things is just so that you know that I'm not just sitting around just doing my nails or something.

I really am working on some projects - actually mostly binding this week, but soon I'll be able to move on to something different.


These two need to hit the mail truck sometime this week so the pressure is on to get them done and outa' here.


We also had to say goodbye on Friday to one of our little family members who has been with us for the past 18 1/2 years.  We will all miss Shadow and we're going through a bit of a mourning process this weekend.  Life and death are hard, especially the goodbyes and adjusting to not having them close by.

Monday 21 February 2011

The End . . .

to my long, productive weekend . . . so very sad.


I'll show you what I did today though.
This was the boring start to my morning - 1 1/2" strips just waiting to become something.


This little angel was completed just in time to be added to . . .


my "blocks-are-completed" Snowbound quilt.
Of course there is still lots to do on this particular quilt, but it's come a long way from where it sat this morning!  I think it is going to be the perfect Winter-time quilt when it is all done - just need to find some border fabrics, square up all of the blocks and get them sewn together and then quilting . . .

Great long weekend if I do say so myself!!  Can't wait for the next one.

This Is SEW Much Fun!

I've been able to get almost two quilts completed.


All of the quilting is now done and just the ends need darned in and the binding done.


Blogger and I are fighting right now - how do you use this program?!?!!?  I need to get the LiveWriter downloaded on this computer . . . it would make posting a lot more fun, let me tell you!
This picture is supposed to be rotated a quarter turn counter clockwise - so you'll just have to imagine this one.  The yellow thread I used for this background was wonderful, silky and shiny stuff that was bought at the same time as I made this quilt (which was about 5 years ago!) - there is no label left on the spool, but it was gorgeous to work with!



When it came time to quilting the borders - I was stumped.  What to do?  I came across this simple little freehand design with the loopy that carries on into making a double heart type of design which flows into another loopy.  Love it!  Unfortunately the borders are so dark that you can't see the design until you turn it over and look at the back - oh well, I'll make sure and use this pattern in another quilt.  It's always nice to learn something different than regular meandering and loopy meandering - now I have something new in my quilting toolbox.

 
I then meander quilted the background of my little pumpkin quilt, but really wanted to add some dimension to the actual pumpkins.  I had initially thought I would use one of my white marking pencils and then remembered this little tool that I had.  It's called a Chaco Liner by Clover and it worked really great for marking on the sewing lines.  I'll have to remember what drawer this gets put into when I'm done - very handy, and rubs right off!


And this is what they look like all quilted up.  I love those oranges and browns together.


And here is a bit closer up look at the quilting.  Something so simple adds so much dimension and I think once it's hung up on the wall in the Fall I'll see a lot more of the dimension.  This one will have to get tucked away for a few months, but at least it's ALMOST off my PhD list (see sidebar).


So there we have it - two very-close-to-being-finished projects.  I have two quilts coming back from the machine quilter tomorrow and I need to get the binding done on them right away so these will have to sit patiently and wait their turn to have their binding completed.  You will be seeing these one more time when they are all done.

Now I'm moving on this morning to working on the filler blocks for the Snowbound quilt.  I'll be back later to show you my progress on that project.

I love long weekends . . . 

Sunday 20 February 2011

Things are moving along!

Not only did I get the one quilt ready to quilt . . .


I got three!
What a great feeling that is.


And then while watching a movie last night, I was able to get eleven of the twelve blocks done and the twelfth one is almost done on the Snowbound quilt.  This morning I have found the coordinating fabric to use for the chain blocks and have also proofread two patterns.

Not too bad . . . it's not even 9 o'clock here yet!

What are your plans for the day?

Saturday 19 February 2011

Today is the day . . .

to get things moving around here!


I've got my roses to keep me company . . .


I've got my trusty sidekick (not exactly enthused about sharing her space) . . .


I've got the backside of one of my PhDs that is on my list (see sidebar for details) . . .


and I have the front side of one of my PhDs . . .


and I have one more rose to keep me company also - they are just so darn pretty and won't be lasting too much longer I'm sure - enjoy them while we can!

I have grand plans to get some things done in the sewing room this long weekend and I hope to be back a few more times over the next three days to keep you posted on my progress.

I hope everyone is also having a productive, creative weekend - let me know what project you're working on.

Tuesday 8 February 2011

Catchin’ Up . . .

I need to catch up with this blog thing . . . I’m falling so far behind on everything in life right now!

On January 15th, my daughter and I went to the Winnipeg Kitchen and Bath Show – a huge trade show held annually.  My daughter is a Kitchen and Bath Designer so it fit right in with what she wanted to do that weekend.

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And, of course, she found out early on that Sarah Richardson from HGTV was going to be on hand, so tickets were quickly purchased for that show.

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For those of you that do not know Sarah Richardson she has had numerous shows on the HGTV network and she also indicated during her show that there was a station down in the States that was going to be carrying one of her shows.  Here is her website so that you can go and check out the best paint colors to choose and for some really interesting decorating solutions http://www.sarahrichardsondesign.com/.  Her presentation was great and so was the glass of wine that we had.  Even more fun was watching some of the people in the crowd . . . wow, there are some interesting people out there!

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My sewing room has been rather busy, but it is projects that I can’t show too much of.

One of these has just headed out the door to the machine quilter and the other is getting pretty close to that stage as well.  Once they are gone I can get back to concentrating on my PhD Challenge – its almost the middle of February already and I’ve only got one of the nine done so far . . . gotta keep moving . . .