Funny how things happen...

Yesterday I decided to let go of the Splendid Sampler. 

At first it was a hard decision since I felt a little like I was giving up, but it's the right choice for me. 

The blocks are beautiful but there are so many more applique blocks than I anticipated and I have a few other applique projects on the go that take priority that I can't take time to do the ones in the Splendid Sampler. Once I made the decision to stop I felt a bit of relief, so it must be the right choice!

No sooner did I make that choice when another quilt-along came to my attention (thanks to a friend that knows how much I like TulaPink fabrics!).

This one is the Tula Pink City Sampler Sew Along #100blocks100days. If you want to read about it you can check it out here at Sweet Little Pretties blog.

As I was contemplating this project this morning during my coffee and applique, I think I was given a sign....the heart I was poking at happened to be a TulaPink one...

That clinches it! lol

Puppy update

I guess this is the last puppy update. 

All the new families have remarked on this being a good experience all around. 

I think it was, for a few reasons. We sold the pups early, at 3 weeks old. Our grandchildren had named them, which really personalised them for the prospective families. Finally, the ability for the families to text me for updates and pics of their pup really created a bond and anticipation in these families for their new pet. 

Today we say goodbye to Ana, the last of the pups...

Here's Marshall's portrait from Sunday when he left...

....and here is a picture of him in his new home with his new "sibling"...

I'm linking up with Sew Fresh Quilts to see what others have to share for Let's Bee Social. 

Slow Stitching

How funny this quilty life is!

 I've realised that I may have taken on some quilting projects that I don't love, so it could be time to cut them loose....just to give myself a break! There are too many beautiful quilts to be made. It doesn't make sense to me to be working on some just because you happen to have started them. 

But as soon as I make that decision, another project tempts me!

I've had a pattern by Jen Kingwell for a while now and wasn't sure when I'd ever get around to it. It's called Sweet Greens and Beans.


Haven't I stumbled across a Facebook "support group" that is just starting this quilt together!!! What's a girl to do? (don't answer...rhetorical question!)

We'll see...if it's an easy-going time-frame maybe I'll take part.

It's been a first-time sleepover at Grandma's for my grandson. I'm sure I'll need a nap this afternoon! I'll just have to push on thru' though for a couple of days as there are some very busy days ahead!

I'm preparing for my trunk show at the Hagersville Guild on Monday evening. So, this afternoon will be spent packing up my quilts. It should have been done by now but the days are going by much to fast. 

Then there is the new Tai Chi classes to fit into the schedule! We've been to a couple now....and quite enjoying it! I'm a little achey, but it's a good kind of ache.

I did take some time on Friday during my lunch break to prep the next border of FlowerGarden. It was a toss-up whether this would be next to work on or AuntieGreen'sGarden. It doesn't really matter which...I've set myself a goal of having them done for the Fair in 2017, so no problem!, (she says confidently, lol!).

I've neglected my hearts for the Quilty365/Year in My Life this month. This is definitely not a project that I want to let go by the wayside!

I don't have any rows of hearts sewn on since last time I reported in...

...but I do have a stack of hearts waiting to be appliqued...

I do love the horse fabric on this one!

My goal for May will be to catch up with my hearts. I'm still loving this quilt and the process.

I'm linking up with Audrey at Quilty Folk to see how others are doing on their Quilty365 blocks.

I have a few blocks to do to get up-to-date with my Splendid Sampler, but I did manage to get an easy one done while waiting for my grandson on Saturday. This one is called Lina's Gift by Pat Sloan...

Today was not a usual day for some slow stitching with my coffee since my grandson has my attention. 

I did manage to do a wee bit on my Rowdy Flat Library Quilt, though!

I am linking up with Kathy's Quilts so we can check out what others are working on today.

I'm also linking up with Cynthia's post over at Oh Scrap!

Looking back, this post seems a bit choppy, but the best I can do while having a wee break while babysitting!

Have a great day!

A return to back-basting

In January I shared my attempts at back-basting applique (which you can see here).

Yesterday at my evening guild I was asked if I've kept on with this technique. I have to say I have thought about it but it seems that old habits die hard and I end up prepping my applique the old way without even thinking about it. 

This week though, funny enough, I had been thinking of giving this more of a try. I told my friend that, in fact, I have been preparing a couple of items for back-basting.

I have a pile of hearts ready to take to my day guild today....we sit at tables so a lot of people bring hand-work to do while the meeting is on. It's nice to take an easy project to work on as well as seeing what others are working on!

There are a few hearts ready for back-basting, except for a rogue squirrel that I did the old way...I think because at this point this method is easier for me to fussy-cut.

I also decided that back-basting would be the way to go for this Splendid Sampler block....it's quite finicky and this method was probably best.

With the thimble in the picture for scale you can see how small these seagulls are. I'm doubting my fabric choice on this one but I'm not going to do it over. Maybe I'll outline the seagulls with a stem stitch to define them a bit better.

In the end, I have to say that I still like this method and am going to try to remember to do it more often.

Have a great day, and I hope it includes a bit of stitching time!

Is this what "creativity" feels like?

In my last post I lamented on what to do with my neutral blocks.

They are part of an exchange with friends and my theme, obviously, was neutrals.

All of the blocks were beautiful and expertly sewn.

......but.....on the design wall they just didn't seem to "go"....

Also in my last post, I said how if I left the blocks up they may soon speak to me. 

Well, on Wednesday morning they not only spoke to me.....they actually raised their voice and shouted a little!

The idea they were presenting terrified me and thrilled me at the same time! Could I do as they asked? What would my friends think of what I would do with these lovely blocks they had made for me?

 It didn't take me long to realise that I wanted to love this quilt, so I had to be ruthless and go for it!

So I took all those blocks and sliced them up into 3.5" squares!

As I did this, I stacked them into 5 piles...light, light/medium, medium, medium/dark and dark. 

I hesitated before cutting the last block, the feathered star that I had painstakingly paper-pieced.....

...but, yes, it got chopped up also!

I had an idea to start at the centre of the quilt with the lightest 3.5" blocks and work out toward the edge with the darker ones...

As soon as I had them all up on the wall I could see it was a "picture" of the moon...

Here is the finished piece. I am calling it "Moonlight through the trees".

The very centre of the quilt is an appliqued circle from what had originated as an dresden plate block...

To take time to look at all the little individual blocks is fascinating. I took the original blocks and made them into 182 beautiful little abstract blocks! Here are a few...

Even my feathered star is included...

It's so strange to me how this idea caught hold and had me slicing and sewing like a whirling dervish. I know that at the beginning of the year, my hope was to try to explore creativity. Well, I certainly felt creative this week!

I do hope when my friends see the finished quilt they will understand that their hard work is still there, just in a different configuration....and in a quilt that I love!

While trying to think of ways I may quilt this, I thought it might be a nice piece to try "big stitch" quilting. I've got a few balls of perle cotton that would be just right to try this out.

For all the creative sewing I was able to do this week, it feels like my applique is moving at the speed of molasses. Oh well, even a little a day gets the projects moving along!

I'm getting so close to finishing the bottom border of FlowerGarden. I'm so glad because I'm afraid I'm getting a little tired of working on this one. Thankfully, the side borders will go a lot quicker.

I've appliqued a couple of little birds just to give myself a little break from the neverending circles that are on this border.

...and managed to put a few stitches into last week's block of The Splendid Sampler...

I'm linking up with SoScrappy for her ScrapHappySaturday so I can show that I've started my RSC16 in purple for March. I am doing the blocks she is sharing in her Column-along, a butterfly block...

A nice easy block....only eight more to go, no problem!

I hope today is as nice as yesterday as we plan to plant some peas today. We emptied our compost into the vegetable garden in the Fall and the soil looks wonderful. I love this time of year when you can feel the nice weather just coming around the corner!

I'm linking up with Kathy over at Kathy's Quilts to see what others are working on today. 

I am also linking with Cynthia for OhScrap over at Quilting is More Fun Than Housework.

Have a wonderful Spring-forward day! 

Is this what "creativity" feels like?

In my last post I lamented on what to do with my neutral blocks.

They are part of an exchange with friends and my theme, obviously, was neutrals.

All of the blocks were beautiful and expertly sewn.

......but.....on the design wall they just didn't seem to "go"....

Also in my last post, I said how if I left the blocks up they may soon speak to me. 

Well, on Wednesday morning they not only spoke to me.....they actually raised their voice and shouted a little!

The idea they were presenting terrified me and thrilled me at the same time! Could I do as they asked? What would my friends think of what I would do with these lovely blocks they had made for me?

 It didn't take me long to realise that I wanted to love this quilt, so I had to be ruthless and go for it!

So I took all those blocks and sliced them up into 3.5" squares!

As I did this, I stacked them into 5 piles...light, light/medium, medium, medium/dark and dark. 

I hesitated before cutting the last block, the feathered star that I had painstakingly paper-pieced.....

...but, yes, it got chopped up also!

I had an idea to start at the centre of the quilt with the lightest 3.5" blocks and work out toward the edge with the darker ones...

As soon as I had them all up on the wall I could see it was a "picture" of the moon...

Here is the finished piece. I am calling it "Moonlight through the trees".

The very centre of the quilt is an appliqued circle from what had originated as an dresden plate block...

To take time to look at all the little individual blocks is fascinating. I took the original blocks and made them into 182 beautiful little abstract blocks! Here are a few...

Even my feathered star is included...

It's so strange to me how this idea caught hold and had me slicing and sewing like a whirling dervish. I know that at the beginning of the year, my hope was to try to explore creativity. Well, I certainly felt creative this week!

I do hope when my friends see the finished quilt they will understand that their hard work is still there, just in a different configuration....and in a quilt that I love!

While trying to think of ways I may quilt this, I thought it might be a nice piece to try "big stitch" quilting. I've got a few balls of perle cotton that would be just right to try this out.

For all the creative sewing I was able to do this week, it feels like my applique is moving at the speed of molasses. Oh well, even a little a day gets the projects moving along!

I'm getting so close to finishing the bottom border of FlowerGarden. I'm so glad because I'm afraid I'm getting a little tired of working on this one. Thankfully, the side borders will go a lot quicker.

I've appliqued a couple of little birds just to give myself a little break from the neverending circles that are on this border.

...and managed to put a few stitches into last week's block of The Splendid Sampler...

I'm linking up with SoScrappy for her ScrapHappySaturday so I can show that I've started my RSC16 in purple for March. I am doing the blocks she is sharing in her Column-along, a butterfly block...

A nice easy block....only eight more to go, no problem!

I hope today is as nice as yesterday as we plan to plant some peas today. We emptied our compost into the vegetable garden in the Fall and the soil looks wonderful. I love this time of year when you can feel the nice weather just coming around the corner!

I'm linking up with Kathy over at Kathy's Quilts to see what others are working on today. 

I am also linking with Cynthia for OhScrap over at Quilting is More Fun Than Housework.

Have a wonderful Spring-forward day! 

Stitching on a Sunday

Well, not much time for slow stitching today. I am such an early riser but there's the odd time that I actually sleep in!

 Not the best day for that as we are heading down to have lunch with some of the family at a wonderful restaurant called Johnny Rocco's. It's one of my favourite restaurants and I especially love it when it's a first it's a first time visit for someone....today that person is my daughter. I hope she likes it!

This morning's applique was just one little heart for my Quilty365/Day in My Life...

This was a heart for yesterday, commemorating working on a lovely scrappy quilt made by a friend of mine for her granddaughter's first big-girl bed. The heart is a wee scrap I stole from the leftover scrappy backing of my friend's quilt. The piggy background used because my friend always seems to incorporate a pig fabric in her quilts...

The quilt turned out great, it is one of the prettiest I've ever seen...

Usually working on my Quilty365 I try to pick fabrics that reflect the day, but it's not always easy. This week, though, it seemed I had a few good ones!

On Tuesday I heard a wonderful speaker from Ottawa, Elaine Quehl. She is a prolific dyer of fabrics, saying she does about 5000 yards of dying per year!

 Here is my heart for that day....using a hand-dyed fabric out of a stash I've been coveting since 2007 and the heart is one done by me in my short experimenting with dying many years ago...

I quite enjoyed dabbling in dye. I don't know why I didn't continue.

And here is my heart for Leap Day. I was hoping to have a bit of frog fabric, but all I could come up with was a couple of little bunnies...

I've been successful in keeping up with The Splendid Sampler so far. I quite like Thursday's block. It went together nicely. I'm not quite sure of my fabric choices, but I did want to define the pieces. I didn't want to lose the design. In the end, I'm sure it will play nicely with the other 99 blocks!!

I'd better get started for my outing....but will share a picture of little Miss Minnie basking in front of the almost-done fireplace. I'm positive she thinks we installed it just for her....if it's running you can be sure she's stretched out in front of it!

I'll be linking up with Kathy's Quilts to see what others are stitching today.

Have a good one!

Circles, circles and more circles!

What a lovely Sunday morning. The sun is shining and it feels quite mild already. 

I started my day, as usual, with a bit of applique. I seem to have been stitching small circles on my FlowerGarden forever, and now that I've hung it on the design wall to take a picture I can see I have a long way to go! I don't know whether to persevere to get this border done, or pick up another project for a couple of weeks.

I also embroidered the stems on Block #4 of the Splendid Sampler this morning. I wanted to get it done so I'll be ready for the release of the next block today.

This is a pretty sweet project so far, and still not too late to join in!

We made good progress on the fireplace on Saturday. I think I just have a bit of tweaking to do with the caulking gun and a dab of paint here and there. I have a sneaky suspicion that this is going to develop into a full-on paint job of the living room. I can tell it must be getting close to Spring.....I love to paint a room and this year it will be the Dining Room and upper hallway. Nevermind watching out for robins as a sign of  Spring...just look for me at the hardware store in the paint department!!!

Of course, being Sunday, I'll be linking up with Kathy's Quilts to see what others are working on today. 

Kathy's post today makes me a little envious as she is showing progress on her Life is Beautiful quilt. This is also a quilt I've been working on, but I really am not ready to get to the step that she is....I'll probably wait 'til at least this Fall. I do think I'll prep a block so I can take it to Guild this week for some take-along stitching.

Have a beautiful Sunday!