Monday, February 17, 2020

Winterruption Recap

This year Winterruption took place from Feb. 13th to Feb. 18th.  Since Feb. 13th is GALENTINES Day, I made us all tiaras.  These girls are such a fun bunch, we wore them every night. 💓

These pics are actually from the 14th, which we spent running around having a fun time in Brantford.  We went to:

  • Rose Hill Liquidators
  • Value Village
  • Zanders Restaurant
  • Michaels
  • Just Like New (which actually has a different name, but still a vintage shop)
  • Butcher & Restaurant Equipment & Supplies
Lunch at Zanders was quite late because I had a heck of a time getting these girls out of Value Village!  I have to say, it's a nice large store and Karen & I both scored big with Tupperware.  That night we had an easy charcuterie board supper, along with soup.  If you can see the glass plates we're using, those were my mom's which she probably received as a wedding gift in 1944.  They are such a throwback - they're partitioned, and one of the sections is an ashtray.

They forced me to eat cake (which let's face it - was not much of a struggle!) since my birthday is at the end of this month.
Saturday was our day "in" when we mostly sewed.  This is the quilt I pieced during the SuperBowl, using three charm paks that came from Missouri Star Quilt Company a few years ago.  I needed to add 16 squares from my stash.  I still have two more charm paks from that trip, in soft baby colours...who knows how long it will take me to use those.  Oh yeah, AND two layer cakes, AND a cutting template.

I finished the top (at this point it's been cut diagonally twice, then had borders added).  I really like the bright, bold colours in this.

After the girls left on Sunday I loaded it on Pretty Boy Floyd (my longarm) and quilted it.

Fun variegated thread on top.

Bright yellow backing shows off deep teal thread.

Hopefully this afternoon I'll get the binding cut and applied, then I can call 'er done!

Deb & I see each other at a monthly guild meeting, and Karen & Diane see each other for random outings, but the FIVE of us won't be together again until the SOLO meeting in mid-April.  We always breathe a big sigh of relief when Mother Nature accommodates the driving dates for Winterruption with decent weather.

...until April!

Saturday, February 1, 2020

Two More Off The List, Superbowl Prep, and the 2020 Pet Peeve

Every year I make a list of projects that I want to complete.  I call it my DO-IT CHALLENGE.  The first week of January my new list for 2020 included "complete 3 UFO's".  Well, by golly, here it is just past the first month end and I've knocked that one out of the park already.   

APPLE CORE  The pieces were cut using JAWS, and I used a pattern from the Accuquilt web site.  I increased the size of the quilt by quite a bit - it's plenty big enough for DH to take a nap under.

This is for the living room, to replace a quilt that has seen better days.  My plan for the OLD quilt is to cut it up into smaller bits and donate the little quilts to the SPCA.  I need to contact them to see what size they'd prefer.

I really like this pantograph, it has a nice modern feel to it.

STRIPPY HEXAGONS  Using the 2-1/2" strip die for JAWS made this quilt a lot easier than you'd think.  I pulled out leftover bits of cool fabrics, along with yellows & cream/whites.  Sew three strips together, then use a 60⁰ ruler to cut triangles. This gets you two blocks from each strip.

The colours make me think of Easter.

Pretty, leafy pantograph.

Along with the star quilt UFO from my last post, there's my three UFO's done. 

As a little reward for myself, being so GOOD about my challenge list, I granted permission to me to start a new quilt tomorrow.  Tomorrow is the Superbowl.  I will stitch during the game, but watch during the commercials and the entertainment bits.  I know some people might think that's a little backwards.  They're probably the same people who think cutting up perfectly good fabric is weird.  What do they know.  Hmm?
The traveling sewing machine is upstairs by the tv, along with a prepped project and the necessary supplies.  DH still has to fetch the card table for me.   The quilt is very simple, using charm squares that I bought at Missouri Star Quilt Company a couple years ago, on one of Diane's bus trips.

Supper will be a frozen lasagne popped in the oven, and if I get really ambitious I'll make a salad.

THE 2020 PET PEEVE

Geez Louise.  Longarm is ONE WORDLong arm is an adjective and a noun.  I do not have a long arm, I am actually rather short.  Longarm is a noun or a verb, depending on it's use in a sentence.  I use a longarm quilting machine to perform longarm quilting (or "to longarm").
This is seriously driving me crazy, people.  I know that all of our "devices" change it to two words but if you persist, your device will eventually accept the new word.  Take back control - don't let the devices rule the world.