Finishing Odds and Ends

Yesterday my daughter took me for a belated birthday lunch. We decided that since it was a lovely sunny day that we would head towards the mountains. We drove about a 15 minute drive to Black Diamond and had a tasty lunch in a great little restaurant. The view towards the mountains was a bit hazy, but still and always beautiful to look at. I just never get tired of them, even after 26 years of living in Alberta.
Today I have the house to myself again, and spent a lazy morning reading and now will head into the studio to work in finishing some projects. I have a lot of binding to hand sew and about 5 projects to finish. In keeping with my goal to make quilts for my many nieces, one nephew, and one great niece and one great nephew, I have to complete projects before I let myself get distracted by "shiny" new projects. I think I will sit out on the deck later and work on some binding, and enjoy the beautiful day.
I have ordered two new quilting books from Amazon with their great no shipping fees, so I look forward to those and will browse through them,but have promised myself not to start anything new until I finish what I am working on. I have taken a vacation week so have plans to get lots done....I also have plans to go through the latest Quilter's Home magazine as there is a 5 page list of favorite websites that I want to take a look at.
Wish me luck at staying focused!!!

Sunday, Rainy Sunday

This is a perfect day to spend reading, quilting, scrapbooking - it is about 11 degrees out and alternating between rain and wind. I have laundry on the go and my trusty Golden by my side, so will start with the quilting part. I am going to sew the binding on this Christmas quilt made partly with "cheater" panels. I bought a kit called Wintery Days about 3 years ago I think, and have enough to make 2 of these. I love snowmen and love the colours of the fabric.I want to have this ready for this year to hang in the front hallway somewhere. Then I am going to tackle finishing some scrap book pages and get some pictures organized for new pages...then, I am going to read some of Lady Killer by Lisa Scottoline. I am only about 10 pages into it, so just enough to pique my interest. Since it is Father's Day, I guess I will be in charge of dinner, so better think about that as well.

Well it seemed like a long week, but in reality I had Friday off to go to some medical appointments with my daughter, so I did have a long weekend. And now it is Sunday and I have to go back to work tomorrow! I wrote my mid term on Wednesday night and did well, but unfortunately that means the final is looming. I have 4 more chapters to read, and then write a 3 hour final at the end of July. So, as far a projects go I am not going to continue with any or start any new ones until the exam is over with...I am satisfying myself right now with cutting fabric in preparation for my exam being over and having more free time.
This morning Tony is off coaching his rugby team, so he gone into Calgary and will be back around lunch time. I have my coffee and music and am puttering in my studio. Earlier this week I made two Father's Day cards- one for my Dad who lives in London, Ontario and one for my husband. I also almost completed a scrapbook page that I am going to put some pictures of my parents. Tomorrow I am getting some quilts back from a new long arm quilter lady that I found so am anxious to see how they turned out. Since I am on a strict budget now it is my goal this year to make a quilt for each of my nieces and nephew as well as my little great niece and nephew. Lofty goals I know, but it will force me to use up "old' stuff and that is a "good thing"!
This afternoon we are going to our local Okotoks Dawgs baseball game, so hopefully it won't rain... and then this evening I think I better get back at studying...

Snow, Rain, Sleet and Sun!!!

This has been a crazy weather day! I have been sick all week with a cold and on the road for 2 days with work, so am happy to be home today. However, the weather is crazy- for June! We have had a bit of everything today as the title suggests, and right now it is raining fairly hard. I was up to walk Chloe at 6:45 and the snow on my back deck was just starting to come down. Luckily I had moved my some of my flower pots in the night before so they will be fine. They are still sitting in my dining room and will be probably until tomorrow morning. I spent the morning reading and napping, and being generally unproductive. This afternoon I started on a pattern I had cut out a few months ago called Candy Bar Road by SuzGuzdesigns and am using Beach House fabric. It is looking good and is a very simple design and a good one for donation quilts. Chloe was helping me again by laying on the fabric - for some reason when I lay fabric on the carpet, she loves to plop herself down on top of it!

Finally!!

On Sunday afternoon I finally managed to spend a few hours in my sewing room, and got my quasi bento box put together. I made the 1/4 blocks in the winter and had done nothing with them. Yesterday I put the pieces of the blocks together to make one big block, and then put the blocks on the design wall, and then, sewed the quilt top together! I like the way it looks and I like the fact I feel more motivated. It is made from a fabric I bought several years ago called Star Struck by the Buggy Barn for Henry Glass. I also had blocks made from a scrappy bunch of Christmas fabrics that I have laid out and am putting together. It is quite busy so may put black borders between the rows and around the quilt just to tone it down. More on that later...I also had my quilting room helper, my muse, there to lend a helping hand. She loves the sunny room so comes in to lay in the sun and keep me company.