Friday, March 17, 2017

World Quilting Day

Saturday, March 18th is World Quilting Day so I asked my best friend Kim to make some cookies for my quilty friends.  Doesn't she do great work?  Super impressive, I can't believe what she can make with a little flour and sugar.  Tasty too.

Here's a nice assortment of scissor cookies:


And here is a view of a range of scissor, sewing machine, and spool cookies.

Thanks so much Kim!

Thursday, March 2, 2017

Congratulations Sammy!

I'm not finding there's much news around here that's blog-worthy these days, but tonight was an exception.  Sam graduated from puppy/beginner class at PetSmart! 

He's one happy guy as you can see from his photos.  We have a lot of practicing to do, especially "stay" and "leave it" before we can take the intermediate class. 

Way to go Sam!  Doesn't he look like a charmer with his graduation cap on?



Monday, December 26, 2016

Christmas Gift Quilts

Hello loyal readers, I thought you might like to see some of the quilts I gave away for Christmas this year.   Some of them were made last year, and since I'm slowing down a bit with the back pain and MS, not as many made this year for sure.

In no particular order, here they are:

For Auntie Z:


Don't tell anyone, but that quilt for Auntie Z is my fave.  I'm going to make another one with blues and purples.  Isn't it lovely?  It is a large quilt - as you can see I had some troubles holding up the corners.

And here's how well it wraps up Auntie Z!


For Noah:


Yes, it's got Pokemon on the front and a cute Pokemon fabric on the back too.  For my favourite Pokemon Go player.  Here he is all snuggled up and cozy with his new quilt:


For K & B - union jacks all over the place. 


And the union jack front has a pretty cool back, here it is:


Here's how it looks on the bed, it looks like a good fit:


For mom - she picked this one out herself so good news is that she likes it:


And a very pretty back for this quilt as well, lots of daffodils to remind her of spring:


And then a quilt for T:


It's a fabulous fabric selection, all maps and ephemera.  And a great back:


Can't get enough of the union jack, that's got to be obvious.

Sunday, July 24, 2016

Cyprus Lake 2016

As you know dear readers, every year my best friend Kim and I make the trek to Tobermory for our annual camping trip at Bruce Peninsula National Park, aka Cyprus Lake.  This year we made the trip again - it's the best place I've ever been for camping and it is more beautiful every year.

I've looked through the pictures on my phone and see that almost all of them are of Sam, Daisy, and various chipmunks.  Easy to see where my priorities are I guess.

Daisy has taught Sam all the important things about camping.  Lots to learn about chasing balls on the beach, how to swim etc.  Here's Sam applying his lesson about chipmunks (note red arrow to help you find the chipmunk against the forest floor):


Not to worry, Sam was on a long line so no harm came to the chippie.  Not that Sam had a chance of catching him in any event - those chipmunks are crafty little critters.

Sam and Daisy had a wonderfully happy time chasing balls in the water.  Sam finally had some success swimming but he's definitely not a natural like Daisy.  Here he is back at the campsite after a long day swimming and fetching. 


And my love Daisy as well - she enjoyed drying out in the sun after a day at the beach:


And here we have a nice addition to our campsite packing up efforts - now that Noah is a little older, he can help with ensuring the Thule (actually a Yakima Skybox this year) was filled to the brim and not one iota over:


So a nice week away, and hopefully we'll do the same next year.


Monday, July 4, 2016

Start of A Wedding Quilt

As you know, loyal readers, I rarely do quilts on request.  And I don't do commissions or take orders.  The cost is typically much more than people are willing to pay for, and it takes a lot of effort to make one of these lovely comforting quilts.  I prefer to make what I like, and sometimes try to make a quilt with fabrics carefully selected for a special person.

However, I'm up for baby quilts and the occasional quilt for an amazing person.  And that is the case at the moment, when my dear mother asked if I would make a wedding quilt for someone special.  She knows to ask well in advance of the time that it will be needed.

Here's the fabric and rough plan - you can see the pattern I'm starting from.  But, dear readers, I will be veering off to a slightly different arrangement and have a plan for pieced text for the back.  I'll keep you posted on progress - this is a project I'll work on while also trying to get caught up on UFOs this year.


Where have I been?

You must be wondering where I've been, it's been over two months since my last post.  As you know, I've been busy buying a new house and selling my current one.  Now I'm just waiting to close on both houses so I can move.  I'll share some pictures of the new place once that's done.

The last couple of months have been busy.  In addition to arranging all manner of trades to get my house ready for sale, I've been at the pain clinic getting some test injections in my back (not what I would call a pleasant procedure).  I've also been fitting in some of the usual summer activities like celebrating Canada Day with Sam and Daisy, and of course, freezer jam.  Last week Kim and I went to Butt's Berry farm in Eramosa and picked up two flats of fresh Ontario strawberries.


And a little bit later, voila, here's the jam, in the freezer and ready to be shared (maybe).  I seem to have packed all of the 250ml jars into storage, so most of the jam is in 500ml jars.  Not my preference, because it only lasts 6 weeks in the fridge once it's been defrosted, so the larger jars will have to go to a house where they eat a lot of strawberry jam.  :)


For canning pears this year, I also picked up these amazing jars, it's so nice to have something new in the canning department.  They may be retro, but they're new to me.  I don't remember ever seeing canning jars in any colour other than clear, so this is a real treat. 


And this Sunday, I finally finished off my April UFO blocks, the Amy Butler String Quilt.  This took a long time to complete and now I've got to sew the blocks together to finish the quilt top.  But it's almost done, yayy!!  Then time to move on to the May UFO project, I'm going to have to be disciplined in order to catch up to July.




And here they are up on Klara's design wall.  This is how the quilt will look once it's put together.



Saturday, April 2, 2016

Amy Butler String Quilt - In Progress

I was curious to see what this quilt would look like, so I started a few blocks yesterday and today.  This quilt is going to take a LONG time to make - no finishing early this month. 

Here are the first few blocks.  The white strip in the middle is common to all of the blocks so there will be a pattern across the whole quilt.  As you can see, the rest of the block is scrappy-ish with strips of different widths, all from Amy Butler's "Soul Blossoms" line of fabric.  I cut the fabric a few years ago when I started this project, and now I wish I hadn't cut such narrow strips.  There are 100 blocks to do - and each block takes about an hour to do.  That is a lot of sewing when I can only sit for a short period each day!  I'll post some more in-progress photos when I have some to show.