TWO of my own finished and the Garden Terrorist

 I set a few challenges for myself every year, in a feeble attempt to accomplish something.  Otherwise, Facebook, you know?  This year's UFO portion was to finish any three UFOs, and I completed that at the end of May.  I already showed you the Vintage Tulips a couple months ago - that was #1.

#2 completion is the sampler quilt that the Binbrook guild ran as a block of the month from 2017 through 2018.  I managed to finish it in only three years!  Woo hoo!

The objective was to make each block twice, but reverse the colours on the second one.  So, take your lights and swap for darks.  It was a fun exercise and I was very happy with the end result.

Here's a lovely shot of the back.

And a closeup of the quilting in the blocks.

My third finish is the X's and O's that I've been dragging around with me to endless retreats for several years.

The front is quite busy but the plain squares show the quilting motif very nicely.

This is a better photo of the pretty, delicate border design.

I'm more than half way through hand stitching the binding, so I'm calling this one finished.

The remaining items on my Challenge list include several projects that I want to get started on, as well as making sure I get at least five donation quilts ready before the end of the year.  Last year I took quite a stack to Martha House and I'll probably take this year's there too.

THE GARDEN TERRORIST

I always know that summer has truly arrived when as dusk descends I notice the white noise of frogs and toads singing in the background.  My friend's husband Larry - we call him Mr. Science & Nature - explained to me the difference between frogs and toads.  Frogs are water creatures, whereas toads live on land.  In pre-covid times when I had the luxury of going OUT somewhere in the evening, it was always fun to come home in the dark and notice the little toads hopping out of my way as I'd come up the walkway, from the driveway to the front door.  Then approaching the porch and before I opened the front door, I would check the upper corner where the walls and the roofline meet to see if our resident bat was lurking up there.  (I learned that little habit the HARD way.  Use your imagination!)

My little TERRORIST friend lives on the back patio.  This year I was ready for him so I paid very careful attention when I was mucking about in the flowerbed.  I saw him before he hopped away, and avoided having to explain to DH that "no, it's ok, I'm fine, nothing to see here".

Then not a half hour later, the little bugger.... !!!!  Scared the POOP out of me.

Comfort and Blessing Quilt and 2020 Year End Posting

 This was the last custom quilt of the year.  I love working on sampler quilts.  This is Comfort and Blessing by Piecing The Past Quilts.

Lots of s.i.d. with some common elements throughout the blocks.

It's a little easier to see the quilting on the back.

Here's a shot of the borders.

This is such a pretty pic of a sunset on December 10th.

Hmm.  What else?... Christmas was quiet with just DH, Sadie and me.  I had to cook a turkey, which I'd almost forgotten how to do.  Normally 1-800-LUKE takes pity on us and invites us for dinner but this year we all stayed safe in our cocoons.  Although we did have a nice driveway visit with Luke and his wife a few days beforehand.  Oh, I miss hugging people. 😢  New Years Eve tonight will be the same thing - two people and one furbaby.  To celebrate kicking 2020 to the curb we're eating junk - frozen appetizers (along with some veggies - I do have some standards).

New Years Day is normally spent in person with a friend who comes over and sews with me, and then she stays for supper.  This year of course, no go.  We'll stay in our own messy sewing rooms and keep in touch with messenger video chats.  The two of us are always part of a bunch of quilters from Ontario having our New Years Day Sewing Marathons, so lots of emails and photos will be flying back and forth.  I am putting DH in charge of supper.  It will be pork tenderloin in the crockpot, with some kind of veggies and some kind of potatoes - I'm leaving that all up to him.

COVID-19 UPDATE

WORLDWIDE:  83 million cases, 1.8 million deaths, 444,400 new cases yesterday

USA:   19.8 million cases, 343,000 deaths, 229,300 new yesterday

CANADA: 579,000 cases, 15,600 deaths, 7,476 new yesterday

ONTARIO: 182,000 cases, 4,500 deaths, 3,328 new yesterday **record numbers, AGAIN!

HAMILTON:  6,057 cases, 168 deaths, 156 new yesterday

The provincial lockdown didn't happen on Dec. 24th as anticipated.  The Province delayed it until Dec. 26th.  Stupid, stupid, stupid, not that anybody asked my opinion.  The Premier decided to let people "shop" and get together for dinner.  I think he also wanted to let religious people have their church services, since they are a big part of his electoral base, but he didn't say that - that's just my thoughts.

Besides that, the latest asinine behaviour was the Minister of Finance for Ontario.  

Keep in mind that the government of Canada AND Ontario have instructed all of us to stay home and travel ONLY FOR ESSENTIAL REASONS.  So, what does idiot Mr. Phillips do?  He goes on a two week vacation to St. Barts.  AND posts fake videos on his twitter feed to make it look like he's enjoying Christmas at home.  Dickhead.

His boss, Doug Ford, the Premier of the Province, tried to tell us that he didn't know his minister was down there. Huh. But as soon as he found out he told him to come home.  Huh.  However, the next day, Ford has to backtrack and admit that well, yes, he DID know,  but not until after Phillips had already arrived there in St. Barts.  So he was going to give Phillips "what for" and wouldn't tolerate that kind of thing "any more".  So...clearly not firing the idiot.  

THEN... we find out that this same idiot had gone to Switzerland for a vacation in August.  WTF?

OMG.  I need the head exploding emoji here. 

To recap:

• the Minister of Finance took a trip out of the country but pretended he was still in Canada, all while the REST of us have been told to stay home and stick to ONLY OUR HOUSEHOLDS.
• his boss, the Premier, pretends he didn't know.
• then his boss, the Premier, confesses that he lied - he DID know.  (my word not his - he would not be honest enough to say that he lied to us)

The final note to this story is that Mr. Phillips has resigned his position as the Minister of Finance.  Probably as soon as he got off the plane in Toronto.  I figure Doug Ford threw him under the bus and made him resign.  Doug has already had so much bad press over the Covid  response that he really cannot afford any more shit going down.

Dear Universe, 

Could you please have a cannabis cookie?  

We really need 2021 to be a bit more reasonable. 

Thanks, xxoo, Helen

Away From Home Quilt

AWAY FROM HOME is a book by Nancy Rink Designs.  Link HERE.  If you went to the quilt show in Ingersoll last weekend you would have seen this quilt hanging in the show.

I really love the combination of pieced blocks, multiple borders, and applique.

There was a great deal of s.i.d. on this quilt.

Cross-hatching behind applique is a very time consuming endeavour.

Such a pretty back.

I didn't make it to the show in Ingersoll, but I did get to the Quilter's Tea in Hagersville.  It was hosted by the Haldimand Quilters' Guild.  They had a guest quilter present a trunk show - Ruth Kennedy from Fergus.  I know Ruth through longarm quilting, and she put on an excellent show.  The event consists of lunch, door prizes, gift basket draws, a penny-sale, and grab bag draws.  There were eight people at my table - six of them won a bunch of stuff but I was not among the lucky ones.  Well, it's not like I need anything.  Although it was a bit of a bummer going home empty-handed, at least I don't have MORE stuff to think about getting rid of.  A blessing in disguise.

A Few Great Edge-to-Edge Quilts, A Little Rant, and the Zucchini Report

When I post photos on my blog and discuss the quilts, the focus is usually on custom quilted work.  In reality, most of my work is edge-to-edge quilting.  It's way faster, and way less expensive.  Considering that most of what we make, as quilters, is utilitarian quilts that will be loved, used, puked on by the kids and the dog, and thrown in the washing machine?... e-2-e is the way to go.

This was a block of the month that we did at the Binbrook guild last year.  My blocks are all done but the top's not yet assembled.  Ruth always gets her stuff finished.  I love the pink!  I love sampler quilts!

This is a really cool quilt that the maker completed by cutting the curvey bits with a template.  I looove curved piecing.

Now who doesn't love turquoise in the summer?  And look how beautifully it pairs with scrappy browns.

My little rant is with Microsoft.  I have used PAINT for years.  It's a free program (so I should stop my bitching right there)  that I use to shrink photos and add all the fancy circles and arrows and text that you see on my pics.  It appears that now I will have to get it from the Microsoft Store and download it.  Still free, mind you, but now a P.I.T.A. (pain-in-the-ass).  Why can't these companies just leave me alone with my OLD STUFF.  I'm happy with my OLD STUFF.  I know how to use my OLD STUFF.

Anyhow...
ZUCCHINI REPORT

Picked this week:  12
Picked YTD:       116
Gave away this week:  6

What did I do with it this week?  I made four more zucchini loaves, two of which I'll give away today when we go the the BBQ/Pool Party.  I made four loaves last week too - gave away one and split the others in half for the freezer.  I also broke down and cooked a zucchini for my supper!  First I sauteed some onions, then added sliced zucchini and gently cooked until slightly soft.  Completed by adding a couple of diced tomatoes and letting them reduce a bit.  Yum.  Sadly, the plants are starting to look a little ravaged.  A few were torn out over the past two months because of bug infestations but that still (as you've noticed) left me with PLENTY.  I expect that the next two weeks will see their demise.

Sampler in Black & White, Asparagus Recipe

I can't make up my mind what I love more - the Black & White part, or the Sampler part.

This quilt was interesting to work on because in spite of the "modern" appearance, the maker requested the quilting be done in a more "traditional" style.

I tried to accommodate her request for 1/4" outline quilting as much as possible.

 Many places required MORE quilting (in my opinion) so I used straight lines to continue the mood.

Some curves were needed too, to soften the hard, angular edges.

Yum.  I love curved piecing.

If I live to be one hundred I probably won't figure out how to effectively photograph black quilts, so hopefully you can see the quilting of borders, etc., on the grey backing.

I try to blog weekly, but that doesn't always pan out.  The last few weeks have, um, challenged my serenity.  DH and I took his truck to his brother's shop for some major repair work, which ended up taking three weeks due to some unforseen circumstances.  During that three weeks hubby and I were a one car family.  Working at home is great for such occurrences but my ZEN mentality requires a weekly reboot at my yoga class.  Which didn't happen.
Thankfully, the Universe provided me with a love of gardening, so I spent many hours out in the mud, and occasionally the rain, weeding and  planting... side dressing with the occasional curse word.
If you want the lowdown, I have planted:

• 2 jalapeno peppers
• 10 sweet peppers
• 8 lettuce
• 8 celery
• 6 cabbage
• 20 tomatoes (4 different varieties)
• a dozen garlic plants transplanted, and six clumps given away
• a lonely potato volunteer transplanted beside the other potato volunteer
• beet seeds
• bean seeds
• pea seeds
• zucchini seeds! 👍
• butternut squash seeds
• basil seeds
• Thai basil seeds
• flower seeds, several varieties

Planting asparagus a few years ago is paying off in such a wonderful way!  (mind you, I'll be sick of it by the end of June)  Try this... sooo good! 

If you are too lazy to click on the link, here is the recipe.

Asparagus/Tuna Pasta

from Outoftheoffice.com

INGREDIENTS:

100g dried pasta- we prefer bowties for this recipe

• 2 bunches asparagus, trimmed, cut into 2cm lengths
• 425g can tuna in olive oil, drained, flaked
• 1 cup thin cream or PHILADELPHIA cooking cream (low fat works too) 
• 2 teaspoons lemon zest
• squeeze lemon juice as desired
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 brown or red onion- finely diced
• 2-3 cloves minced garlic
• fresh parmesan cheese for garnish

INSTRUCTIONS:

Cook pasta in a pot of salted water, until al-dente- and set aside.

In a separate pan- add oil, minced garlic, onion and chopped asparagus. Lightly fry for approx 5 minutes.

Add cream, lemon zest and tuna.

Toss pasta through the sauce

Add a small squeeze of lemon juice and a generous shaving of fresh parmesan cheese. Salt & pepper to taste.

Pansy Park by Thimbleberries

This quilt has been around for a long time.

I'm sorry... did you say EIGHT borders???  OK!  Well then, we're just going to pretend the skinny ones aren't there, alright?

You know I love sampler quilts, though.

The old ruler got a good workout.

This past Sunday was the semi-annual SOLO meeting (Southern Ontario Longarm Operators).  There was an EXTRA prize for costume-wearers.  Sadly, I did not win - that went to Louise from Tillsonburg, the lucky duck.  I still had fun with my like-minded friends.  And I DID win a door prize - a $25.00 gift certificate from the Quilting Bee in Fonthill.  Now, to find an afternoon for a field trip.

Our guest speaker was Kathy Wylie, taking us through the judging process for juried quilt shows.  She did a great presentation and I think we all learned a lot.

Speaking of juried quilt shows, the IQA show in Houston opens today.  If you're there, please have some fun for me while I stay here, slaving over a hot needle. Thankyou.  If you are stuck at home too, HERE is a link to the winning quilts.

Current Events & CQA Quilt Canada Show

Current Events:  I have a new 'ride'.  A black (oooh, mistake!) Honda CRV.   Photo courtesy of Gail, taken on our Red Hat outing last week.  No, I don't have my hat on yet in this pic.  But I DO have my lipstick on.

For the rest of the week I was at Quilt Canada in Toronto.  With the Beach Girls. :-)
Yes, I think we'd had a glass of wine by this time.

Carol Ann gave us all 5 fat quarters as a challenge for October's trip to Tobermory.  So it's her fault my stash report will look bad again this month.

As usual, I took a zillion photos and I won't bore you with them.  These are just three quilts that I found particularly interesting.

I thought this quilt was very creative.

The whole darned thing is made from clothing labels.

This is a really lovely gift of love for her daughter.

Chains and clock bits and all manner of weird & wonderful things.

This one caught my attention because I love samplers.

I love everything about this quilt.

And it was beautifully quilted, too.

We closed off Thursday night with a lecture by my all-time favorite quilter:  Jane Sassaman.

Now, it's back to reality.  Asparagus beetles and laundry.

Plantation Garden Quilt & month end stash report

Quilt name:  Plantation Garden.  Oh my gosh, so pretty.

As you should know by now, I love sampler quilts.  For this one I 'themed' the quilting around daisies & feathers.  The braided cable in the borders turned out fabulously, don't you think?

A cute little daisy vine in the ribbon border.

Daisies were repeated in most of the blocks.  Feathers were placed in the repeated setting blocks - you can just see a couple of corners in the photo below.

More daisies and feathers.

Continuous curves and straight lines were used to add unity throughout.

STASH REPORT
Ooh, the stash report is not looking too good this month.
Used this month:  0 m. Yup - ZERO.

Used YTD:  29.54 m.

Added this month:  .5 m (I went to a quilt show, and as you can see I was really living it up!!)

Added YTD:  70.8 m

NET 2016:  + 41.26 m.

However, you just stay tuned for next month.  I have finished piecing a baby quilt and that will be done before the end of June.  And I have the paint chip/border challenge quilt on the frame right now being quilted.  So that will also be coming off the report.  Granted - these are both small quilts but they will still probably add up to about 10 m.  I hope.