What's With This?

Two posts in one week! I can't believe it! Not that there is much happening, but I have missed blogging.

Tony is off today (and all weekend) to watch the Shaw Charity Golf Classic in Calgary. I bought him the tickets last January for his birthday so he can a few guests as well. Today he is taking our son in law, and some friends tomorrow. My daughter is coming to meet me today for a pedicure and lunch- a girly day.

Tomorrow and Monday I plan to get some time in my sewing room. I have been working on so many things at once, I think I need to slow down and focus on just a couple of things. I need to clean the closet where I store my scraps as I've just been throwing things in there, and not being organized at all.

 Usually I cut 5" squares or 2.5" strips from small scraps, and fold and store by colour the larger scraps.  Not so much lately. That seems like a good job for a cold or rainy day, and we've had such a wonderful summer it is hard to feel like doing a chore like that in a room in the basement.

I have been working on this trellis, or over/under pattern, but it is definitely not something I can do if I am tired. This is a "first thing on a Sunday morning" job. I find I really have to focus on this and probably only going to make a couple blocks at a time.


Well, off to shower. My daughter will be here in a hour, and I want to read a bit before I have to leave to meet her. Have a great Labour Day weekend!

Quilting Week

I just had the past week off work and had a staycation in my sewing room. I really enjoyed the week, and got lots done, but now need to clean up this room, and the adjoining work out area.

I got a bunch of future projects cut out, labeled and ready to go for those evenings when I am too tired to cut. I make too many mistakes when I try to cut anything out when I am tired.

These are piles of blocks done and ready to be laid out on my design floor. I think there are 5 projects here ready to go.

 I got the binding added to this quilt, so I think I will hang this somewhere.

And not pictured, I got 2 quilt tops done for a quilting group I belong to that make quilts for cancer patients. 

All in all, a very productive week, but unfortunately, back to work tomorrow. 

Projects on the Go.

We are in a deep freeze here (not unlike most of North America!), so today is an organizing/sewing/trimming of blocks day. I have, as always many things on the go, and many to prepare.

I am finishing off Brocante- a Schnibbles by Miss Rosie. This is a scrap quilt and will be a table topper.

Right now with Tony not working, I can't afford to get any of my completed quilt tops quilted so making Schnibbles allows me to do the quilting and have completed projects. My back just can't handle quilting anything much larger than a table topper size quilt. I am ready to lay this out on my design floor and get the top set out to my liking.

Next up is Imagine, another Schnibbles. This is mostly cut out, so will come together quickly.

And this week I used some of my Christmas $$ and bought Sewing Box by Gina Martin:

Beautiful rich colours, and I plan to make a wall hanging for my quilting room. I am going to make Spools by Camille Roskelley I may start cutting out to day or tomorrow.

Tonight we were invited by friends to go to Yuk Yuks, playing at our local town Performing Arts Centre, so are looking forward to that. It is in an old church, and quite small, but the seating/viewing is good- still the old pews.

Keep warm, and have a great week!

Progress

Well progress is being made on my Lazy Sunday quilt, but I did not get into my sewing room much this week at all.

Ready for round five on this pile-only 179 blocks!

We've had beautiful warm weather thanks to a chinook weather pattern. This was our sunset last night with the high chinook arch.

 So, even thought there is snow on the ground, it was warm enough for this yesterday afternoon....

Cheers! Have a great week.

Lazy Sunday

Most Sundays are the day I choose not to do much. After working full time all week it is nice to just chill, read, sew, go for a walk, nap...

Today we have already gone for a walk, cleaned up after guests for dinner last night and now it is "my time".

I am making a Quilt called Lazy Sunday Quilt, pattern by May Chappell, found on Craftsy.  I'm making a king size quilt for our master bedroom. I have always loved log cabing quilts and this is a take on that.

The fabric colours are great, Crossroads by Jan Patek. And of course there is red, as there should be in every quilt!

There are 179 blocks, so there is a lot of sewing, and strip piecing. I am on strip # 4 with a total of 6, so today I hope to get to the end of 4, and starting on 5.

I will post my prgress next week. Have a wonderful week!

Cold and Wintry

We are having an extremely cold day, so a good one to hibernate.  Tony's birthday is tomorrow so we are having his brothers and sisters and assorted spouses over for lasagna tonight. The lasagna is made and since we also had guests for dinner last night, the house is clean, and I really just need to give the floors a quick sweep and make sure the guest bathroom is still clean.

So most of the day is mine...and judging by the state of my sewing room, I need to take some time to tidy up a bit.

What is the expression about messiness and a creative mind? Can't think of it, but I like to think this applies here...For me it is like a messy desk- I know where everything is, and what the plans are for the assorted piles, but it can feel a little crowded at times.

I had one vacation day left from 2013 so I took the day off work tomorrow, so the plan would be to (re)organize my sewing room today and spend the day sewing tomorrow.

I should also start putting the Christmas decorations away too, but I love the way the house looks at Christmas.

Have a wonderdful week, and I hope to have a few projects to share next time.

Welcome To 2014

Well 2013 was a difficult year, and after much reflection, I have decided that 2014 can only be much better!

Starting early in 2013 Tony was hospitalized and had surgery to remove a kidney stone, and from there our year has a "few" issues. We lost a few friends to cancer, Tony's Mom Perry passed away in May, and we had to put our beloved Chloe down on October 8. We miss our beautiful girl every day.

In between, Tony was very ill again with another issue, and then was laid off in October. He is still looking for work. Also our son Neil decided to take a 2 year contract in New Zealand, and left in July.

We've had a lot to deal with, but there is always happiness and joy to be found. One thing giving us joy right now is our daughters upcoming wedding in May 2014. There is not a lot I have to do in the planning aspect as they have hired wedding planners for that, but it is exciting to realize that in 5 short months we will be attending her wedding and welcoming a terrific young man into our family. It also means Neil will be home for the wedding.

Quilting still gives me much joy, although I have fallen behind this year on projects, and only in the last couple of weeks have I felt up to carrying on. I have a pile of quilts waiting to be bound, and have started a new project.

I realize that quilting helps me relax and deal with any anxiety that I may have. So, it is important for me to continue on. I have a beautiful relaxing room, don't I?

So, bring on 2014!