Sunday Stitching

 We've had such blustery weather this week here in Southern Ontario...nice weather for catching up on some slow stitching (although, do I need an excuse???).

Today is much brighter, but very cold...not a bad day to get outside for some exercise except for the fact that all my joints are achey this morning....so another fine excuse to get some slow stitching done!

I've been poking away at my A Curious Journey BOM. This is a mystery sewalong, but I thought I'd put everything up on the design wall to see how it's looking. I have no idea yet how the blocks will go together, other than the fact that the four large blocks are sewn together.

I was working on these blocks this morning, many of the blocks have a bit of embroidery with perle cotton...

There are also 25 Windswept blocks to add to the mix...

....and I have quite a few of the 6" blocks still to do. Hmmm....maybe a bit of prep-work is in order for the day!

Again I've had my Auntie Green's Garden out to evaluate...

Even though it's been in the time-out pile for a couple of years, I still love it! This quilt will be my main focus after A Curious Journey comes to an end.

This was the first week of the Boho Heart Quilt Sewalong. I did manage to get this week's blocks done and I really like how they turned out. I'm determined to keep up with this and not let it fall by the wayside (famous last words!).

I am linking up, as usual on Sundays!, with Kathy for Slow Sunday Stitching. Enjoy your day!

A new quilter and a new runner....

I had to laugh....

This week my sister-in-law came around with her second quilt ever. It's very well done. Her first one was like a Turning Twenty quilt....not a lot of precision needed. This one is more traditional with points, flying geese, the whole shebang.

Her comment was, "A quarter-inch seam really matters, doesn't it?".

But that's not the funny part.

I don't see her very often, so I took the opportunity to show her my Quilty365/Year in My Life...

She loved it, and asked, "but wherever do you get all those different fabrics from?".....I laughed and laughed....my husband laughed and laughed. 

She is so naive....I'll come back to this conversation in 5 years and see how her stash has grown. I'll remind her of our conversation.....and she'll laugh and laugh!!! She was then taken aback to realise that most of the backgrounds in this quilt are different also.....oh my, the look on her face!

So much fun to see quilting through the eyes of a beginner! Love it!

....and it continues...

I showed her my FlowerGarden quilt....

....and she asked, "So what is the purpose of this one, why did you  make it?".....that got me laughing again as I explained to her that most quilters I know make a quilt for the fun and/or the challenge, etc. She is still at the newbie stage of making a quilt for a purpose or buying a piece of fabric just because it is needed (remember those days????). 

She did admit to having a feeling during the sewing of her sampler that she was itching to get to the next block, and so on.

And so it begins!....we have recruited our next quilter! If only she knew what she is in for. Although, maybe it's better that she hasn't a clue of the obsession she is about to enter???

I think she was well and truly hooked when I handed her a bag of about twenty civil war fabrics....bought long ago for a quilt that just never happened. Oh, the twinkle in her eyes as she peeked into the bag....priceless!

The weather here in Southern Ontario has certainly taken a turn towards Winter in the last 24 hours. As I sit here writing the wind is is quite blustery and there is a bit of the white stuff out there. A lovely morning to be curled up with some Slow Stitching, don't you think?

I finished a section of my Auntie Green's Garden. Now I have to prep a bit more before continuing...

I finished up the bit that was left on my current Life is Beautiful block....

....and then I was able to do some hand-quilting for a few minutes. I wish I could stay curled up with that all morning, but it's not meant to be!

Today is the Santa 5K in Hamilton. It is my first race and I've been excited and a bit nervous, lol. This morning, I'm thinking I may be a bit crazy.....why couldn't Friday's weather be happening today!!??...we had temperatures of 20 degrees, beautiful!

At the moment my phone is telling me it is -1 feeling more like -11!

The race is going to be down by the bay on Lake Ontario and I think the wind will be wicked. But I'm sure it will be a blast....everyone in their Santa suits...running with an old friend and some new ones. I'm sure I'll remember this day with fondness...and the weather will just add to the story of it.

I'm going to finish this post later today, hopefully with a couple of pictures of the race. Wish me luck!!!!

********************

Well, I'm back and lived to tell the tale!

What a blast!!

It was windy.....and wonderful! So much good cheer.

So windy, my beard kept blowing up in my face on the trolley ride to the starting line...

There were a few people I knew from my running group...

So many Santa's in one room....so much fun...

At one point I wondered if I was close to halfway....then I saw the 3K marker.....awesome!!!

I had a time in mind that I would like to run the race in....and I think I beat it by a few minutes....again, awesome!

What an exhilarating day!

I had a couple more pictures to share, but for some reason they are not transferring over. Oh, well, this post is getting long enough anyway!


I am linking up with Kathy at Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching and with Cynthia at Quilting is More Fun Than Housework for Oh, Scrap!.

Have a great day!

Circles!!!

Well, these might be the smallest circles I've ever appliqued!

Circles were definitely the hardest thing for me to master in my applique, and now I feel back to "square one" looking at this wee beasties!

....but as you can see by the dime these are quite small, so I'll just decide to be happy with them. I have to admit that after the third one I had the thought to search my stash for some polka-dot fabric that could be fussy-cut for these bits!

They do look better now they are actually appliqued onto the quilt....

After this morning's coffee and applique I have all the pieces appliqued that I had had prepared. I hope to find an hour of time today to get some more pieces ready.

Here's how Auntie Green looks this morning on the design wall, I think I will try to pick a perfect colour flower for the bottom right-hand section today. I am worried that the greens I've chosen for that section are quite dark, so I want to balance it out with a good fabric choice for the flowers.

I'm still concerned with the pale yellow flowers on the upper left border. I think they look better now that there is more going on around them, but I'm still not sure. I think part of me just doesn't want to take them off and do them over, to be honest, but in the grand scope of this quilt it wouldn't really take much time.

I don't see many Auntie Green's Garden quilts so it was so odd when in the space of half an hour I spotted one on Pinterest and then the same exact quilt on a blog I came across! This one is done in all neutrals and is exquisite!

Here is a picture.....
....and another....

 
I encourage you to visit Hilda at Every Stitch to see more of this beautiful quilt (the quilt shows better in the pictures on her blog). You will also see the lovely quilting she has done on her Auntie Green!

I came across Hilda's blog thru' the Linky for Quilty365. Her take on this project is done in indigo fabrics and you can be inspired by her post HERE. 

I think on my Quilty365 for today (aka A Day in My Life) I'd like to try to be a bit more creative. I do have some precious time available for sewing today (woohoo!), but with Allietare, Border Creek Mystery, fabric bowls needed for Christmas presents, will there be time?.....oh, yes!!

Have a visit at Kathy's Quilts to see what others are taking time to poke at today!

Have a great day!

Stitching on a Sunday

I'm making wonderful progress on my Auntie Green's Garden. I'm still so happy with it and could have been finished the left border except for the fact that the fabric I had chosen for the very last flower was very much a wrong choice!

Here is how it looked yesterday up on the design wall....

I enjoyed my stitching this morning, I think because I like doing this type of flower.....

I was also able to pick a few fabrics for the right-side border, so I hope to make good progress on that in the next couple of weeks.

A project that has to get done soon is fabric bowls for the microwave. These will be stocking stuffers for Christmas. The pattern is so simple, what could go wrong? Well. my first attempt doesn't look anything like the picture on the pattern.....

Sometimes it doesn't pay to hurry!!

I had a quilt on the longarm this week that sure put me in the Christmas spirit......

The pattern is called Fair Isle and the quilt will be featured in Quilt Junction for their Christmas Open House later this week. Love it!

I feel so indecisive today. I have decided to celebrate Christmas in  "minimal" way. I don't know why I don't have it in me to do all the regular decorating. I'm still looking forward to putting on the huge dinner, so that's ok.

I've bought a cute little EASY tree...

It literally took less than 5 minutes to put up! The picture isn't the best, but in real life it's all lime green and glittery. Cute!

But now I'm totally re-thinking it! I think I'll miss putting the beloved ornaments up. I also miss having a real tree, which we haven't had in about 5 years. Oh well, change is okay, right?

Have a visit with Kathy over at Kathy's Quilts to see what others are working on today.

It's a Purple day

Today I'm experiencing what I think is Sciatica pain. Not a good thing any day, but has me a bit panicky since a lot of my day today and the days of the next three weeks involves standing.

As any of my longarm friends can attest to, these next three weeks leading up to Christmas require careful planning. Almost any quilt that will be done now will be one that someone needs as a Christmas present.

So, what to do? Push through it, or take it easy for a day?

As I am pondering the fabric for my daily heart applique for my Day in the Life/Quilty365 I am wondering what colour could represent a bit of pain. I've decided on purple, even though I do love purple!

I really don't mean for aches and pains to be a part of my blog postings, I guess today it's just not good timing for this!!!

Especially when I have this facing me at the ironing board.....

....fabrics that need pressing for the beginning of Allietare tomorrow......woohoo!!!! I can hardly wait til tomorrow to see what the start of this mystery is with Bonnie at Quiltville.

Even though it was difficult sitting in my applique chair this morning, I did stitch a couple of "off the block" flowers for Auntie Green's Garden. It was nice to work on something other than green leaves and stems for a change! I do like the simple work of stems and leaves.....but I think that's ALL I've done for the last two weeks. Oh, except for my wee hearts!

Have a great day!

Stitching on a Sunday

Looks like nice, bright Fall day, but as I look out the window I find I'm already missing the leaves on the trees and sitting out in the evening with a glass of wine. This summer went entirely too fast!

I started my day with some catching up on my Day in My Life (Quilty365) hearts. I have prepared them each day, but this morning appliqued them. 

Next was poking at my Auntie Green's Garden a bit. I'm a bit nervous that the green fabrics in this section are on the dark side. I think it could be remedied with the perfect colour flowers....maybe?

I'll have to audition some fabrics carefully for this, I think.

Sometime this week I plan to get it all up on the design wall to make some colour choices. I finally am getting the feeling that I'm getting over the hump on this quilt! 

As usual, it's a good day to visit Kathy over at Kathy's Quilts to see what others are working on today. Altho' as of this moment she is having trouble with her usual Sunday Linky....so maybe we'll see later on today. (....and, it's always a good day to check out her blog!)

A visit to Sparta

What a beautiful looking day! All sunny and no wind....although I hear we are in for more wind mid-week, similar to the wind we experienced last week, yikes!

I had a full day yesterday, starting off with the introduction of the new Border Creek Station mystery club called "Quilters' Legacy" being hosted by Quilt Junction. The pattern in being offered is two colour-ways and here is the stack of lovely fabrics that I will be working with....

I was really having trouble liking the green fabric, so I've had to swap it out for the red one in the picture....this feels so much better for me! I hope I haven't compromised my quilt, but probably not. The fabric line is Mon Ami by Moda.

I'm still determined to keep up with doing a heart per day for my version of Quilty365. It's funny how things work out sometimes. I had thought to do a heart in memory of the awful news out of Paris this weekend, so I appliqued a blue heart on Saturday....then went to the first mystery class. At once I noticed that the above green fabric is all about Paris, going so far as to have pics of the Eiffel Tower and the word Paris....

So bizarre! So today's heart is a no-brainer...

For more on this project, visit Audrey over at Quilty Folk! I swear this is only taking approximately 15 minutes of my morning applique time....worth it!

After my morning at Quilt Junction, we headed out for an afternoon drive to Sparta, Ontario. I have never been but heard a lot about it through friends. Of course, the first thing people say is that you have to get the candles!!!

So, yes, we bought candles...lots of them!....but most will be stocking stuffers.

Everything in Sparta is quaint and the buildings/architecture is old. Lots of little shops, featuring different artist's studios, as well.

Sparta Candles...

A shot basically capturing most of the town....

There were many quilt blocks on buildings and barns in the area, but I only thought to get a picture of two....

We took the opportunity to visit a couple of the local wineries, Quai du Vin (I meant to ask how to pronounce it, but forgot) and Rush Creek Wines. They were both lovely and friendly and we'll visit again if we are in the area.

I didn't realise that Rush Creek was all fruit wines, no grapes. I think a little-known fact is that if you are one to get migraines from wine, that it is probably the tanins from the grapes and fruit wines shouldn't bother you...at least this is what I have been told!

I bought a nice Pear wine which was much like a Reisling and another berry blend wine that I thought would be great for the Christmas table...yum!

It was an adventure finding one of the wineries....I'm sure we missed the "easy" way but we saw this tiny, tiny sign and followed it....

It led us along a winding, steep road that, I have to admit, made me scream a little, but we eventually ended up where we wanted to be!

Needless to say, after a busy couple of days I was ready for some extra applique time this morning. I'm still stitching away at my Auntie Green's Garden. I think, at this rate, by the end of the month I'll have both side borders done.

Have a visit with Kathy over at Kathy's Quilts to see what others are poking at today!

Have a great day!

P.S. This is a message for RG....you have swayed me, as evident by the return of the Allietare button off to the right! lol

Stained and Trimmed

Trimmed

Cooper has been getting thick, long hair and it's been hard to keep up with the matts he's been getting....so I booked him in for grooming this month.

I was brushing him last night and one thing led to another....

That is about half as much as we trimmed last night. Usually he won't let me come near him with the scissors, but he seemed to put up with it this time. I think I'll have to invest in some proper tools if we are to do this on a regular basis. I'm almost embarrassed to show the picture of how he looks now but I know if we do this a couple of times we'll get better at it, right????? lol

One ear seems to be a lot shorter than the other :(

Stained

I was putting some stitches in my Auntie Green's Garden this morning. I'm always so careful so I don't know when this happened....

Can you see the coffee stain on the background right in the middle of the picture?

I'm not sure what to do. I think this is a first!

I almost tried to spot clean it with a bit of soap and water, but was hesitant since it may remove my placement markings. I think I'll try it when I'm finished this end of the border.

The other option would be to applique a nice circle over the stain... that's probably the easiest remedy! We'll see.

It's Remembrance Day, a day to be proud of the young men and women who serve our country. I feel even more pride this year now that I call this man my stepson...

We are so proud of you, Sergeant!

Decisions, decisions!

So many decisions and preparation this week leading up to retreat with some friends this weekend!

First, the figuring out of which UFO (or three) would be fun to work on! That's actually not a hard choice afterall......I've planned for a while that I would assemble what I have ready of my Flower Garden. So exciting! I can't wait to see it all together.  Here is how it looks before retreat...

Just a pile of blocks! I have all the blocks done and one border. Now they get put together with sashing made of 1.5" squares. I hope I have enough!?

I

Oh well, I'll sew as much as I can and stop if I run out!

This morning I didn't have as much time as I would like to applique, but I did finish a bit of my Auntie Green's Garden. I really enjoyed the soft yellow flowers......but then I hung it on the design wall and now I'm not sure they are going to be a "fit". Hmmm, good enough to leave for now and see if they grow on me (nice pun?). They seem a little washed out with the other flowers, but maybe they'll play nicer once there is more appliqued around them.

 I realised this morning that this border is going together faster than I had thought, (woohoo!!) so maybe I should try to have a bit of the right border prepared for the weekend? Possibly the stems and leaves could be ready. For me, the prep work is what takes the time. At least I have the pieces all drawn out on freezer paper...but cutting them out will be time-consuming also. It is a job that can be done while watching television, though.

There they are, the next 138 pieces! I should really be keeping tally, shouldn't I? It would be something to say,"Here is Auntie Green's Garden and there are 2,580,000 pieces in it"! lol, maybe I exaggerate a little, but I'm sure there could be a couple thousand.....or a few hundred?

I have to say, that seeing the picture of this quilt makes me realise how much I still love this quilt. The thought makes me happy, since I've been working on it so long and still have a lot to do. I did have a quilt that took a long time to make and by the end I didn't even want to look at it. I really don't want this to happen with Auntie Green!

Here is the quilt that took so long. It now resides on the rec room wall. Still not my favourite, but at least I can look at it, appreciate it , and maybe admire it just a little.

Have a great day everyone! (and wish me luck on the next phase of my Circles quilt, which goes off to the next level today)

November!

I can't believe it's November! Wasn't it Summer last week?....I guess not, but it feels like it.

What a nice day we had on Saturday. We took an impromptu drive to my favourite town. I'll show a couple of pictures first to see if you can guess where we were.....

It's Niagara-on-the-Lake! I love it. Just above is Greave's Jams, one of my favourite shops. I took the time to try on some clothes at my favourite boutique, where I had found my wedding dress earlier this year. If I suddenly had $1000 to spend, I would probably use it on a shopping spree there!

We actually didn't have time browse at Greave's or any of the other shops. We were just down to use a gift card we had received as a wedding gift to the restaurant in the Prince of Wales Vintage Hotel. We'd never been inside before and it was so beautiful!

I wish I was the type of blogger to remember to take a picture of a nice meal before actually starting to eat, but I always forget, obviously....

....but I did remember to get a couple of pictures outside...

This morning I had a nice start to the day putting a few stitches in my Auntie Green's Garden. I wanted to get some stems appliqued on....

.....and they went on so nice and quick that I got a couple of flowers done, also.....

Here it is up on the design wall so I could see how it was looking...

This left border is moving along so quickly that I'm going to have to do some prep-work on the next section!

Have a great Fall day.....and check out what others are working on today at Kathy's Quilts.

Now to head outside and enjoy the day.