What the heck???

I've been sewing a bit here and there on my Snowflake quilt as it is my One Monthly Goal for October, to have the top completed.

It's a pretty easy pattern and is going together rather quickly. It's put together in panels of squares and HSTs...

 Here was the the first row of panels up on the design wall...

...and here are a few of that row's panels sewn together...so far, so good...

Last year at a retreat I learned a method of taking all of the pieces of the panel to the sewing machine in one, nice organised pile to sew together. It was similar to what I've previously done, with a wonderful tweak. 

On to the second row of panels...

This is when I say, "What the heck???" (although I may have actually said something else, lol)

Something is just not right! How on earth did I do that???

I guess at some point in the sewing-together method my little pile of squares and HSTs got turned around somehow. It's too big a mistake to ignore....so a date with the seam ripper is in the cards today.

Something new I wanted to try the other day was dyeing a skein of yarn.

I soaked the yarn in some water and a bit of vinegar like I saw on YouTube. I wanted to try the method using the little Kool-aid packets for dye.

I went into my small town where we do have 2 grocery stores...no Kool-aid to be found. I haven't looked for it for probably 2 decades, so I don't even know if you can buy it any more.

I looked for food dye....both stores don't carry it.

I was a little peeved because I had already started the process by soaking my yarn. I don't know how it came to me, but I decided to use some spices I have in the house...I remember the first time I did something with turmeric and had yellow hands for a couple of days!...so why not!

I used turmeric, dry mustard, paprika, and powdered bay leaf. Coincidentally I was cooking beets in the Instant Pot that day and saved some beet water to use also, which is what you see in this picture...

After the yarn was dry, I did find that I had food dye tucked way back in the corner of my baking cupboard, so I wet the yarn again and sprinkled a bit of the red dye randomly.

Here is my result, I'm quite happy with it. I'll let it dry even longer before I wind it into a ball...it feels dry, but I want to be sure...

I want to start knitting with it right away, but there are Christmas gifts that need to be knitted first.

I did do some knitting this week. I've had a pattern for Mermaid socks for a while now and finally had to try it. I finished the first sock this morning...

I really like the picot edge, and I like the stitch that is used. I'm really going to like the asymmetry of the pair of socks. 

I used a yarn by West Highland Spinners which I've never used before....I liked it so much that I've gone online and ordered some more!

I will share with you that this has been a particularly difficult week. I'm sure I'm not alone in this....feeling like it's a bit hard to cope after all these months of Covid. 

Yesterday I took some time to get out into nature for a nice long walk. Man, did that ever improve my mood! I encourage anyone who is feeling blue, weepy, anxious, to get some fresh air....it really does work wonders. Even if it means just sitting outside on your front stoop. 

Mother Nature makes good medicine!

Today I am linking up with Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Can I Get a Whoop Whoop?

Scrappy days...

I'm taking a couple of days to work on some scrappy quilts....my favourite.

I know there are so many UFO's in the sewing room (as someone was kind enough to remind me), but I couldn't resist the 15-day mystery sewalong hosted by Edyta Sitar.

Here is my quilt, made of 30's fabrics from my stash...

There's a couple of bits I would change if I did it over, but I'm pretty happy with it. I was not going to do a border, but Edyta showed us a few options and I really like the pieced option. I think it would set this quilt off nicely. On the other hand, it would be nice just to call this one done! lol


For a long time I've wanted to do Jen Kingwell's Halo quilt and it's actually started. Now there is an Instagram sewalong for Halo, where you try to finish and post 2 blocks per week. I've joined in as it seems like a good way to get back to this quilt. Here are the four blocks that I had already pieced...

This would be a good one to piece by hand....but I already have enough slow stitching projects on the go.


Next bit of scrappiness??....my ongoing leaders-and-enders project, log cabin blocks made of 1" logs...

I know there is not a lot on contrast, but I also know that I am going to absolutely love this quilt. I can already picture it on my bed!!

Does anyone else find that once you start down the rabbit hole of fussy-cutting you tend to try to incorporate it all the time?

For instance, the peace sign...

....and my hedgehogs...I wish I'd purchased more of that one!...

 ...some bunnies...

 ...I love the kiwi fabric...

..and some words...

I keep a stack of partially made log cabins next to the sewing machine and they turn into finished blocks surprisingly quickly.


Last bit of scrappy for today is the mystery quilt that Bonnie Hunter is running currently, called Unity. As always with Bonnie's quilt patterns, there is always a lot of piecing involved!

Even a bit of "ghastly" fuss-cutting going on...

I feel a little guilty to get this personal sewing time, as we as quilters have been called on to make items for "the cause", but I'm going to sweep that guilt away....we've all been doing what we can.

I did get some scrub caps made for ICU nurses...there was a call out for some in a city near here....

I know my daughter's girlfriend seemed to appreciate getting a few. She works across the border in health care and says it's pretty bad there :(

This weekend we all expected to be sewing gowns for our local LTC facility, which has been hit especially hard but the kits for the gowns did not arrive before the weekend. So I am taking this bit of personal sewing time for myself, knowing that it'll be a busy week ahead.

I am linking up with Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Can I Get a Whoop Whoop?.

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

A year of finishes???...off to a good start...

On this last day of January 2020, it looks like I already have two "finishes" under my belt.

Maybe I'll be making up for 2019, when I had very few quilts that were finished.

This week I'm putting the finishing touches on my Temperature Quilt for 2019.

It didn't take long to quilt as it isn't very big... 60"x60"...

I worked on the binding this morning...only a little bit to go. I even managed to put on a label. I learned this method of putting a label on from Bonnie Hunter's blog, Quiltville.

Here it is on the design wall, almost done....

Not a great picture, but I am glad to say it is actually nice and square. I'm happy with the result.

Now, on to my Temperature Quilt 2020!

In a previous post, which you can find HERE, I wrote about this year's temperature quilt...and about my doubts of how it was starting out.

 Well....later that same day I change things up! At this early stage, I knew that it was the time to change my mind if I was not enjoying the process already, only two weeks into the year.

This is the new start of my Temperature Quilt for 2020...

There will be a flying geese unit for each day, showing the forecast high temperature of each day. After each round of geese there will be a sashing of background before the next round of geese.

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Well, I have to admit that I didn't get a speck of sewing done to complete my "one monthly goal". 

My goal was to complete the rest of the blocks for my Farm Girl Vintage...

I am rolling that goal over to February...I really want to get these blocks done! It would be nice to have this quilt completed at some point this year.  

Today I am linking up with My Quilt Infatuation, and with Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Can I Get a Whoop Whoop?. 

I am also linking up with Elm Street Quilts for One Monthly Goal for February.

FOMO? Start-itis???

FOMO....Fear Of Missing Out

Start-itis...a term I discovered at some point on Kathy's blog at Kathy's Quilts.

I'm trying to diagnose which of the two I am plagued with. I think I have to come to terms with the fact that it may be both!

I've been tempted lately with a new sewalong offered on Instagram called the Scrap Bag Sampler.

You can see all about it using the hashtag #scrapbagsampler. There will be a small block released every Friday and in the end we will incorporate all the blocks into a bag pattern that we will be given.

There are a few quilters involved in the designing of the blocks. I am choosing to follow @justsewsue. To read all about it you can have a look at her introductory post on her blog, which you can find HERE.  Then you can check out the first two weeks' blocks...the second of which was released today.

Here is my block for Week 2...

I am going to use mostly Alison Glass scraps...and once I picked my fabrics it literally took about 10 minutes to complete.

I will do Week 1 sometime today or tomorrow...it is a small strip of flying geese done by paper-piecing. Again, should be quick and painless!

Please, join me, won't you?  lol....it would make me feel so much better!!

I can't remember if I came across this one on my own, or if my friend (SS) pointed me in the direction....I just hope to lure her in with this post!

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I mentioned in my New Year's post that I was finally, after a few years, beginning my Halo quilt, designed by Jen Kingwell.

I was pretty nervous about this one, but I've finished two blocks and I'm going to love it! 

Here is the first block...

The blocks are 9" and my goal will be to complete 2 per week.

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I finally finished quilting my Queen's Garden quilt...now just to sew down the binding.

The feathered border was a whole lot of fun to do. I'll try to get a shot of the complete top for a future post.

Life is just starting to feel like normal. We had guests all last week from Alberta....and had a big Christmas meal on Saturday since we finally had the whole family together. 

Luckily I got a couple of decent pictures of all the grandchildren together. I don't think they've ever all been in the same place at the same time!

Have a great day!...I'll be trying to get a few things done before our forecasted snowstorm tomorrow.

I am linking up with Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Can I Get a Whoop Whoop?.

Happy New Year 2020

A whole new year, a whole new decade!

I'm sure you are the same as me, in that you think ahead to which quilts you'd like to complete, continue, or, dare I say, begin.

I have an actual finish this past week...my Temperature Quilt for 2019.

Well...the top is finished. I hope to have it quilted up very soon, though. We have visitors next week from Alberta, so quilting will have to be put hold for a bit.

I learned that I need to make sure there is a bit more contrast in my colours for a Temperature Quilt...way too many similar reds, I think. On the other hand, you can't really plan ahead too much, as the temperatures dictate how the quilt will play out, right?

I hope you will consider a Temperature Quilt....I thoroughly enjoyed doing mine. I had thought to put off doing another one until 2021, but didn't I come across a beautiful bundle of fabric, on sale, that would be perfect for a Temperature Quilt....and I came across a pattern that called out to me.

Here is my layout for 2020...

It's not a very big quilt and it done with English Paper Piecing. Each star represents one week of the year. I will only be using the high forecast for each day, but there is an option using highs and lows. If you google Fiona Sandwich I'm sure you can find the pattern if you want to play along.

Here are January 1 and 2...with my thimble so you can see the scale of the blocks...

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This year I am motivated to get back into participating in the One Monthly Challenge hosted by Patty at Elm Street Quilts.

For January I'd really like to have to blocks completed for my Farm Girl Vintage quilt. This has been a UFO for much too long now and I still love it, so would like to see it graduate into becoming an actual quilt!

Here are the blocks I have done so far...

I have to give a shout-out to Karen Z for designing the Canada flag block to use instead of the American flag....awesome!

They aren't in their proper layout yet. I think I have 8 more to go, so it's definitely an achievable goal. There are a couple of blocks that I was going to replace...

....they are the ones with the red "cheerio's" in the background fabric. I thought it would be nice to introduce a second background (maybe 2 years ago, lol) and it wasn't until I put them with the others that I noticed that it isn't a white fabric like the original background fabric. They look dirty to me. Actually, today they don't look as bad as I'd thought....but I think I still have to replace them :(

I did manage to do a block on Tuesday morning...to get the ball rolling. Well, I'll have to call this my "humility" block, if you get my meaning...

I do like it though...it uses a few of the new fat quarters I've picked up lately. 

One of the "pushes" to get this one done is that Santa brought me a new book for Christmas, Farm Girl Vintage 2...

....and I really shouldn't start this one until the original Farm Girl is done!!!

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Now I'll confess to the new quilt that I will start this year. It's a Jen Kingwell pattern called Halo. I've had the pattern now for a couple of years and I think I've put it off as it's a bit intimidating to me.

I don't have a picture to share yet as I've just started a bit of cutting and don't have any blocks done yet.

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Another finish this week is my first pair of knitted socks in a very long time....

I am very happy with how they turned out and happy to get back to knitting, especially socks. I learned three techniques on this pair, one of them being knitting them from the toe up, which I really liked.

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I usually have a two-week break from longarming at the end of each year, but I'm extending it a bit this year as we have house guests arriving next week for 5 days. 

I'm taking advantage of this time off to get one of my own quilts quilted, my Queen's Garden quilt.

As always, I started with doing the Stitch in the Ditch work...especially so since I wasn't sure what I'd do in the borders. All I knew is that it would be some sort of feathering, reason being...I just really feel like doing some feathers, lol.

I looked back at notes from some longarm classes I've taken in the past years. I did a bit of doodling the other day to try to get some creative juices going. 

I'm always so nervous to get started, but then I start and it becomes lots of fun.

I'm liking the first bit of stitching...

I only did a bit more before the lighting started to make it difficult to go on. For this picture, I actually shut the light off hoping to see the effect of the quilting a bit better...

I like it, and it's turned out to be a lot of fun to execute. I will try to fill the space more as I progress. It would really "pop" with some pebbling in the negative space, but this quilt will not be so heavily quilted.

I wish I had time to do more today, but I'll be going out soon to a friend's house to do a bit of "wet felting"...we'll be making cat caves! 

Today I am linking up with Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Can I Get a Whoop Whoop?, Elm Street Quilts for One Monthly Goal, and with Alycia Quilts for Finished or Not Fridays.