Wednesday, January 30, 2019

More time for piecing...

Hmm, I seem to be getting a bit more time for piecing lately. I know it's from me changing up my daily schedule and I'm liking the productivity!

I usually have some progress on my handwork...and that goes for this week, also. I have finished this block for my Simple Folk...


I wish I hadn't fallen so far behind on  Simple Folk, which was the Sarah Fielke BOM for 2018. Especially since the first installment for 2019's BOM  is being released in the next 24 hours.

I also sat down after work yesterday for a coffee break and some hand-piecing on this week's block for the Hand-Pieced QAL....




I am happy with block #2 of the Harry Potter QAL hosted by Lorna at Sew Fresh Quilts. This block is Hermione. It's not too late to join in on this one!


(note to self....clean the lens on the camera so as to get clearer photos)


I've been working at my Border Creek Mystery. I think this will be a bright quilt!


I've been dabbling with some Dear Jane blocks. This one has been on my bucket list for a very long time, but I've always struggled with tiny blocks. I think I'm ready (really????)...and now is a good time, as there is a sewalong beginning in mid-February on Instagram, so there would be motivation and accountability (really????).



Here is the block on the design wall so you can get an idea of "scale"...




Now it's time for a bit of an abashed confession...I seem to have two more "starts" looming in my near future. I'll go into that at a later time.

For now, it's time to make the long commute to the longarm. Believe me, on a frigid day like today, I'm even more thankful to be able to stay indoors. 

Stay warm, stay safe!! xo

Today I am linking up with Susan at Quilt Fabrication for Midweek-Makers.

Saturday, January 26, 2019

Hand-Pieced QAL

I was supposed to go out for a run early this morning....but it was -18C....so I made the executive decision to make a change of plans.

I don't really mind the cold, it's more the dicey footing on snowy days that I don't like (which wasn't an issue this morning, mind you). It just felt like a good idea to curl up in my chair and begin the first block of the Hand-Pieced QAL. 

I had pretty much talked myself out of this QAL since I have so many hand projects on the go....but after reading Kathy's post the other day at Kathy's Quilts, which you can find HERE, I thought I'd give it a try. (That Kathy can be quite an enabler!)

I have done hand-piecing before, and enjoy it (of course), but you never know when you may pick up some new tips and tricks along the way.

I usually mark my stitching lines with pencil and just eyeball the seam allowance with scissors, then sew on the pencil lines. Not long ago I bought this nifty new ruler, the Jinny Beyer Perfect Piecer. 

I don't know why I bought it, other than the fact that I'm a bit of a gadget girl. Did I really think it would make a difference in my piecing....to be honest, probably not!



There are little holes in the ruler that you use to mark little dots using a mechanical pencil to indicate the sewing line.



I honestly have to say that I've never, ever such a nicely pieced block!! Two thumbs up for this little ruler. 

I also used another gadget that I've picked up lately, a seam roller, which is also useful for paper-piecing.




All-in-all, a pleasing session of hand-work this morning. The block went together nicely and I'm happy now that I've joined in :)



I will be linking up with Kathy's Quilts on Sunday morning for Slow Sunday Stitching (I'm cheating and writing this on Saturday as on Sunday morning I'll be running the Robbie Burns 8k!).

I am also linking up with Elm Street Quilts for their first link-up party for the Hand-Pieced QAL.

Friday, January 25, 2019

One Monthly Goal - January finish

I'm just popping in today for a short post since it's the time of the month to report on One Monthly Goal

I wasn't sure I would accomplish my goal of getting eight blocks done on my Farm Girl Vintage quilt, but I have...


I think there may be just 8 or so blocks to do to complete the blocks needed for this quilt, and I need to re-do two of the blocks from a while ago. I'll show you why in a future post! 

I'm liking that I'm moving this UFO along. I just might make this my goal again for February's One Monthly Goal, but I'll think about it over the next few days.

That's all for today....hopefully you have met your goals January, too.

I am linking up with Elm Street Quilts for One Monthly Goal, and with Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Can I Get a Whoop Whoop?.

Wednesday, January 23, 2019

Today's design wall.....

Today I thought I'd share a picture of how my design wall is looking. Last weekend everything had to come down and now it seems a bit refreshed for some reason.


It also reinforces what I know....that I can never seem to resist a sew-along! Surely I'm not the only one?....lol, I know I'm not!!!

I'm still loving the temperature quilt (along the top of the picture) and am looking forward to February, when I'll start adding a second row.

The large block on the right is a new sewalong called Miss Lizzy Blooms. The blocks are 18", nice and big and cheery.....there will be one block per month.

Below that are my first two blocks for the sewalong offered by the Canadian Quilters Association....#52blocks52weeks. I'm using my 30's prints because after all this time I still really love them.


There are a number of my Farm Girl Vintage blocks on the wall. Doing eight blocks of that quilt is my One Monthly Goal for January and it looks like I may be able to accomplish it. This was a sewalong a couple of years back and I'm sorry that I fell off the rails on this one because it results in a pretty sweet quilt.

My "braid" is on the design wall to remind me to get back at my I Am Enough quilts.....I'm pondering this being my goal for February.

And, finally, there is my Harry Potter block!!!


I love it!

This is the very beginning of a quilt-along that Lorna is offering at Sew Fresh Quilts....we've just started, so a great time to join in!


A quilt that has fallen by the wayside is my Simple Folk quilt. It is a BOM that was offered in 2018 by Sarah Fielke. 

I don't know why it's been months since I've worked on it, but I did prep a block a couple of days ago and have been poking at it.....I still like it and want to keep at it. I wonder if it's back on my radar because Sarah's new BOM starts next week????


So cute!

And, a bit of a tip here.....you'll notice that I fussy cut the bird in such a way that the pattern in the fabric will kinda represent an eye where the bird's eye should be?....well, that was a design choice instead of having to applique a very small circle/eye. I was going to use the opportunity to try to use the Appliquick tools that I bought a long time ago....but I chickened out once again :(


Today I am linking up with Lorna for Let's Bee Social (hopefully we'll see a few more Harry Potter blocks!), and with Susan at Quilt Fabrication for Midweek Makers.

Well, it looks like a messy morning out there and I have to get ready to go out in it. Hopefully you get to stay inside and do a bit of sewing!

Sunday, January 20, 2019

Baby, It's Cold Outside!

We finally have a bit of winter this weekend.

Yesterday was blustery and by the look of it outside, I plan on staying in again today!

I plan on having a bit of sewing time today and will work on a couple of things.

Here is the design wall this morning....


Along the top of the picture is the beginnings of my temperature quilt....I can tell already that I am going to love this quilt! I'm sure that today's block will include a dark purple for this extremely cold day.

The bottom block with the yellow in it is my first block for the #52blocks52weeks that CQA is hosting. My blocks will be made of 30's fabrics.

Just peeking into the bottom left corner of the pic is a bit of my I Am Enough quilt....which I thought would be the main focus of my sewing session today.....but, nope, I will be determined to do a couple of blocks of my One Monthly Goal, which is my Farm Girl Vintage blocks....three of which are done (in the middle of the picture).

So many choices, so little time!

The design wall got a major tidying up the other day as we needed to move it to the living room for a photo shoot. 

I needed to get a full-on shot of a quilt and finally had the brilliant idea of using the design wall. This meant taking everything down off the design wall and moving it to the living room....which meant moving all the furniture....which meant a chance at getting at all the dust bunnies that have been lurking under the couches....this was quite the process! 



We managed to get a nice shot...



If the quilt had been a couple of inches bigger I don't know what we would have done!



My slow stitching this morning consisted of some English Paper Piecing. This project is one I intend on working on when I need something for "on the go".....but I don't have anything else prepped at the moment so it got some attention today. This is for my Tula Nova quilt.



I think this quilt will probably progress quickly, for some reason. I haven't done EPP for a while and I do enjoy it. I'm thinking there should always be an ongoing EPP project!

I am linking up with Kathy for Slow Sunday Stitching, and with Anina at Twiddletails for updates on Temperature Quilts.

My husband just commented on how it looks cold outside. Can it "look" cold????.....yes, I think it can.

A good day to stay indoors and get some sewing and reading done!

Sunday, January 13, 2019

Channeling my inner Sue Spargo

All of a sudden we are nearing the middle of January....and, hoping I don't jinx it, we haven't lifted a snow shovel yet. I'm good with that!

Today I'm dreaming a bit of my perennial garden. Last summer it got zero attention so by the end of the season I wondered if I should just give up on the idea. Nope, this year my focus will be the garden and rejuvenating it. Now I just have to be patient for a few months!

Lately my slow stitching may be considered somewhat boring, but, funny enough, I don't mind it at all. I've been prepping pieces for my English Paper Piecing project, Tula Nova.




Here are the pieces so far....


When I began this quilt I was doing a bit of prep, then a bit of sewing. I soon realised that it made more sense to me to take the time to do all the prep-work before joining the pieces....I can't explain my thought process, but I'm happy with how this is going.

I'll be going to my monthly applique afternoon this week. I think I'll dive in to the prepped pieces and actually get going on it.

On Friday I attended the first class at Quilt Junction on embroidery stitches for wool applique. 

We each got a little Sue Spargo kit and instructions for our first four stitches.

I've only tried the Bullion Stitch once in my life. This one is a challenge, but will be worth mastering.

Here is my block after the first lesson. The red bumpy stitches are supposed to be the Bullion stitches....not bad for my first attempt, but not pretty either, lol....



This morning, I tore out the stitches and started over, determined to "get it"...



Oh my!!!, such  pretty little stitch.....my excitement was short-lived as I realised that I "only" had to repeat this another fifty times or so!!!

So I carried on for a bit. I will pick it up again later, but these stitches were enough for one sitting...


Hopefully by the time I get to the other side of the ladybug I will be a bit more even in my stitches....but I'm happy with this so far. I can't wait to see what we learn next month :)

I hope to do a bit of sewing today. I have two days to add to my Temperature quilt. I think that's how this quilt will progress, keeping track of the temperatures on my calendar daily, then doing the actual block construction twice a week or so.

You can see how it looks so far in this post.

It's Sunday, and you know what that means!....we get to visit Kathy to see what others are doing for Slow Sunday Stitching. I think I'll have an extra cup of coffee and visit the slow-stitchers to see what they are working on today.


Friday, January 11, 2019

First "new start" of the year

I was finally able to begin my Temperature Quilt this past week!

Each morning I will check the forecast for the day. 

For the high temperature I will cut a rectangle that measures 2.5" x 5.5". For the low temperature of the day I will cut a 2.5" square and use it to snowball the first fabric.

Here are the blocks representing January 1 -10....




I like it, so far!!!

I am using my Simple Folded Corners ruler....



....then I am sewing the cut-off piece to make a bonus HST, something I normally don't bother doing. I will save these little HST's to hopefully use in a border treatment when the quilt is done.

I will say...the design for my Temperature quilt is not my own...I was inspired by another quilter on Instagram who did this for her 2018 Temperature Quilt.

To get inspiration for your own Temperature quilt have a look around on Instagram and Pinterest....lots of great ideas!

Not much else to share today, except that I hope to get started on a little organisation in the sewing room. I'm also looking forward to the first class today at Quilt Junction demonstrating Sue Spargo embroidery stitches!

It's quite a cold start to the day....but sunny! Hmmm, I wonder what colours will be added to the Temperature Quilt today??

Today I am linking with Sarah at Confessions of A Fabric Addict for Can I Get A Whoop Whoop?, and with Myra at Busy Hands Quilts for Finished or Not Fridays

I am also linking for the first time with Anina of Twiddletails for the Temperature Quilt Along.




Sunday, January 6, 2019

Sunday stitching.....

It sure does feel like the perfect day for some slow stitching!

I haven't slept well this week....today I've been up since 3:00. I'm not sure what's going on, but I do know that it makes for extra stitching time!

The last couple of days I've been working on the next block of my wool applique...


The instructions for this pattern ask that you secure the pieces with a whip stitch using a single strand of matching floss, which is what I've done here. It's an extra step, but for some strange reason I'm liking it.

I think I'll hold off on the contrasting blanket stitch until after the next week.

I've signed up for a class at Quilt Junction that will teach different kinds of stitches for wool applique to get the Sue Spargo look.  The first class is next Friday and I hope to learn a couple of fancy stitches that I can incorporate into this current project.

I'll also have to remember to go shopping for some tiny beads for the birds' eyeballs!

Hopefully in my next post I'll show my progress on my temperature quilt. All I've done so far is take note of the daily high/low temps since January 1st since I've totally changed my mind on fabrics and am waiting now for something in the mail. 

Is anyone else making a temperature quilt this year? If you are on Instagram you can do some various searches and see all the ideas that are out there.

Have a nice day doing some stitching. I think I'll do a little prep-work for some applique before I go this afternoon to see Mary Poppins!!

I am linking up with Kathy for Slow Sunday Stitching




Wednesday, January 2, 2019

Happy New Year !

I had a difficult time figuring out what my goal will be for January.

I've chosen to work on my Farm Girl Vintage quilt...




I have completed a couple more blocks lately. This will be a UFO that definitely needs moving along this year!

This will be a completed quilt in 2019!!!!

So, my goal this month will be to get eight more blocks done. I was going to say six, but nope, eight it will be!


I finished my little bit of colour that I started on the weekend. I needed a quick colour "fix" and this was quick and easy. Love it!



It's back to work for me today after a nice two weeks off. 

I had intended on doing some organising and straightening-up in the sewing room. What got accomplished?....nothing :(

It will actually just be a half-day on the longarm as I'll be on an outing to Niagara Falls this afternoon to run an errand. 



I did get my run in on Sunday....wasn't sure how it would be with the bit of snow we'd gotten overnight, but it just made for a beautiful run on the trail. 

Here is my running buddy, enjoying the moment ....



That's it for now....Happy New Year everyone!


I am linking up with Lorna for Let's Bee Social (I'm looking forward to her Harry Potter Quiltalong!), Susan at Quilt Fabrication for Midweek Makers, and with Elm Street Quilts for One Monthly Goal - January.