Plotting and Planning

I hope everyone has had a wonderful holiday season… we certainly did !
It was really good to have everyone home and relax for a few days and just be together. Unfortunately my husband came down with a bad cold so he was forced to slow down from his usual go-go pace. He’s on the mend now but I swear… next year I will be dragging both my son and husband (probably kicking and screaming) to get the flu shot. I had mine back in early November but they were too busy.

O.K., pleasantries over, what do you think of this fabric pull ?

Sorry this picture is a bit too sunny – I’m not that good with a camera – please click on the picture for a better look. I don’t know if I can actually call this a “fabric pull” as most of the fabric is from one collection, Mo Bedell’s Hothouse Flowers. I did add in 3 shot cottons and the green pearl bracelets, I think it is called verbena.
The pattern I am considering is from an e-class that ran during harvest last fall. I knew that I wouldn’t be able to participate real-time but Rachel provides an excellent e-book at the close of each class so I knew I would be able to work through the class at my own sloth pace this winter. Anyways, I am trying to decide if I should use the Hothouse fabrics with the Indian Blanket quilt or the Starbright quilt. I love them both but I don’t have the background fabric in my stash for the Starbright quilt. If I go with the Starbright quilt – what background fabric to
use ???? White-ish, maybe Kona Slate ( a blueish medium grey ) or perhaps Kona nightfall ( a dark blue ).

While I was contemplating the above I started another quilt :

This idea has been brewing for awhile. I have been saving my son’s discarded jeans for… lets just say “awhile”, shall we ? I didn’t have a real plan for the jeans at the time I started saving them but it just seemed like a waste to throw them away when they were mostly perfectly good. He usually rips them in the same place, along the crotch seam and you just can’t repair that in such a way that they are still comfortable. Connecting Threads just happened to put their Robert Kaufman “Mammoth” flannel on sale and so began the denim/flannel rag quilt ! This flannel is just beautiful – thick and oh-so-soft. I am sandwiching little squares of batting in between the flannel and denim and then sewing an x from corner to corner through the three layers. I don’t remember where this idea came from but I hope this is the right way to do it. If you have ever made a rag quilt, feel free to let me know any tips. The comment thingie is at the top of the post on the left by the date.
Wish me luck !

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Merry Christmas !

The above christmas ornament is probably considered an antique by now. It’s one my Mom gave me a long time ago. It is enameled copper and beautifully handmade.
I want to thank you all for visiting my blog, it makes me so happy to see that people are seeing all the silly little things I’ve been stitching – even happier yet when you take the time out of your day to leave a comment.

May your Christmas sparkle with moments of love, laughter and goodwill,
And may the year ahead be full of contentment and joy.
Have a Merry Christmas,
Sincerely, Colleen

Winter Wonderland

hoar·frost/ˈhôrˌfrôst/
noun
a grayish-white crystalline deposit of frozen water vapor formed in clear still weather on vegetation, fences, etc.

The last few days have seen perfect conditions for the developement of hoar frost.
It’s just beautiful walking around our farm yard so I thought I’d share some pictures here today.
(you can click on the pictures to make them bigger)

This is the entryway to our farm when you drive in off the highway.

Our antique windmill.

See how thick the hoar frost is ?

Bulrush or cattail to some.

Everywhere the hinterland has been dressed in a sparkling coat of frost.
Even the power lines. That, unfortunately has led to several power-outages over widespread areas as the lines have come crashing down. I’m so glad I have my Bernina on a very heavy UPS. This protects the sewing computer from power surges and brown outs. I learned the hard way when I first got her two years ago when the motherboard was fried. Thank goodness it was still under warranty and it didn’t cost me anything to replace it. The first thing I did after picking her up from the repair man was drive over to the geek store and purchased a very heavy duty power back-up which also filters uneven power caused by brownouts, spikes and surges.
If you are a rural dweller it is a necessity for computerized sewing machines !
Just sayin.

Friday’s Finishes

It has been a productive week !

I have several finishes to show you. First up is the Buck-a-roo quilt that I showed you as a work in progress here .
This little quilt finishes up at 35″ x 41″. The big surprise is that it is already
sold ! A friend of mine has bought it for her business partner and it will rest easy as a table topper instead of the more demanding career as a baby snuggler. Her business partner has decorated the entire main floor of her house in a country and western theme. So this little piece has found a good home.

If you were here on Wednesday you would have seen the little whoops I had with my seam ripper.
I was able to fit in making two more hot pads and I am happy to say they are without the tear ! They measure 8″ square and I even remembered to put a hanging loop on the back. I used some ribbon that came with a stack of Riley Blake precuts. Kinda funny because I’m pretty sure none of the fabric is RB. I know there is some Benartex but all of it was purchased at a local fabric store so it’s all just a mash-up of whatever I had on hand.

Thank – you to all the good suggestions about repairing that tear. A friend of mine came over to buy some pottery and I showed her the hot pad, explaining how it was foundation paper pieced and how the tear came about. She was in awe of the whole process. She seemed to like the piece quite a bit so I gave it to her. She was so pleased ! I felt more acknowledged with that flawed little gift than when I have given larger whole pieces ! It was nice to see how happy she was to receive it. She said she was going to sew a little button over it – I liked the suggestion of embroidering a little star

Well, I hope you have had an equally productive week. Ready for Christmas ?
Thanks for stopping in !

I’d love it if you left a comment. The thingie to click on is up at the top of the post by the date.

I’m linking up with Amanda for her Finish it up Friday

Whoops

Yesterday I thought I would do a little foundation paper piecing, you know, because I’m all caught up on everything else, hahahahaha.

I have had a template for a christmas tree block for awhile now and gave it a spin… you know what’s coming don’t you…
Everything went well, see:

until you look a little closer and there it is, there’s the whoops.

zoom out for reference:

I didn’t notice this little tear in the fabric until after I had my hot pad bound and I was admiring my work ! This is the first time this has happened to me and I’m pretty sure I poked my seam ripper through the fabric when I was removing the paper from the back ( gasp ! ) What does everyone else use to remove the paper ?? I will probably make another one you know… ‘fall of the horse and get right back on’, kind of thinking. I might try and put a few tiny stitches in the tear but maybe not – best to move on !

If you’d like to make some christmas trees of your own – without the tear, please. Here is the link.
Or maybe you have a suggestion on how I can hide fix this one, let me know !

Thanks for dropping by, the comment thingie is at the beginning of the post on the left by the date.

I think this project will qualify as a WIP because thanks to that tear I will be making another ! Linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced

2 Gifts Given

I was able to get the “placemat” done that I showed you on Wednesday. Hopefully my sister will like it. I did write to the person who wrote up the tutorial but she hasn’t gotten back to me about linking up. I’m sure it is just the time of year – everyone is super busy. So I’ll post the link here and if there is any objection I’ll just take it down.
edited to add: Julie contacted me and she said, “Thanks for linking to my tutorial. I appreciate it!”
If you have been to my blog before, you may have heard me whining about how slow I am with projects. Well, this one even I did pretty quick – 2 afternoons and done ! I decided to stitch in the ditch for the quilting and decided to try out some invisible thread. It ended up being just the right choice… after I got my tension adjusted properly (#3 on my Bernina)

I think it looks a little bigger in the picture than the 15″ across it actually is. I think if I ever make another one I will fussy cut the square-in-square block. I realized this would have been the thing to do after the fact !

Oh yeah, and the binding was a little scary, not being 90* and all. A blog reader even sent me a link to her tutorial for just this kind of situation but I was half way through the binding before I realized I was doing it my own “special” way… jeeze. Oh well, it worked out and my sister doesn’t sew, perhaps she won’t notice, shhhhh.

Here’s the back:

The second gift I have given this week is this table topper I showed you as a WIP back here
I’m in a constant state of learning with my projects. With this one I made the drunkards path block with it’s curved seams for the first time and did some drunken looking FMQ (I think Shirley noticed but was very kind in her comments) and I also gave bias binding a try… definitely need practice there !

I finished it up just in time to give it to my 91 year old mother’s home-care provider. Shirley has just been angel to my mother. I’m happy for her that she is able to retire but we are going to miss her sooo very much !

Have a wonderful weekend everyone !

I’d love it if you left a comment. The thingie to click on is up by the date on the left hand side.

linking up with Amanda and her Finish it up Friday

PIP = Placemat in Progress

Happy Wednesday everyone. It seems as though the last few days are really picking up speed as the year comes to a close. Anyone else feel this way ?

Today I’m working on a little christmas themed placemat but it is actually a birthday present for my sister. I printed off a tutorial for this project last December and am just getting around to it now ! I looked for a link to the tutorial but haven’t been able to find it. I’ll contact the person that wrote it and see if I’m just not looking in the right place.

What do you think of the color scheme ? I love aqua and red together ??

Hope you are all getting in the Christmas spirit, I better get sewing !

linking up for WIP Wednesday with Lee at Freshly Pieced

I’d love it if you left a comment – the thingie to click on is up at the post title by the date.

“Buck a Roo” in progress

Do you ever name a quilt before it is even finished ?
I am not particularly good at naming quilts but sometimes the fabric will suggest something and it just fits by the time I am finished.

The quilt started with a charm pack that was a ‘daily deal’ from the Missouri Star Quilt Co. The price was great but then I had to find co-ordinating fabric to actually make something with it. Luckily I live in an area that has alot of farmers and ranchers so the local fabric shop does bring in alot of western themed fabrics. I was able to continue the western theme of the charm pack and started putting together a disappearing 4 patch baby quilt.

Speaking of Missouri Star Quilt Co., I received this e-mail from them in Nov:

Let’s face it, even though you Canucks are our next-door neighbours (notice my Canadian spelling), you pay A LOT more for shipping than our customers down here in the US do. I mean, it’s probably because once your package reaches the Canadian border, it then has to be transported by dogsled or moose-back to your igloo, and on the way, the mail man has to stop seven times to grab a Tim Horton’s coffee to warm himself up. But still, shipping rates from the US to Canada are, as you would say, “hosers”, plain and simple. And just because you have free-healthcare and we don’t, doesn’t mean that your shipping rates have to be so painful.

So a couple of months ago, we decided to make Canadian shipping rates as simple as the metric system. If you hadn’t heard, we introduced $20 flat Canadian shipping. So you can order quilting supplies that weigh as much as 14 hockey pucks, 12 large poutines with extra cheese, Bryan Adams, all the extra letter “U’s” that you guys use when you spell stuff, a bathtub full of maple syrup, a wad of multicolored currency, a treasure chest full of twoonies and loonies, a Newfie, and the entire starting line of the Toronto Maple Leafs, and it’ll still only cost you twenty bucks! So get oot and aboot (out and about) and gather your Canadian quilting friends and make an order the size of the Northwest Territories (the size it was before Nunavut came into play), and we’ll ship it for just $20!

I’d say they know quite a bit about Canadian ‘culture’ !!

linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced here

I’d love it if you would leave a comment – the thingie to click on is up at the top of this post on the left by the date.