afternoon update

The storm is over for now. I'll plug Floyd back in and start quilting. The nightgown is finished. So I'm only up one ufo for now (groan....).

Rainy Day Project

ICK - well, the weather outside is frightfull...hmm hmm hmm... Oh, sorry, got carried away with a Christmas song. But you get the idea.















What I'm listening to, over the pounding of the rain and the crack of the thunder.














What I'm making (at least starting) today. The long slip will be a summer nightie, then the short version of the robe to co-ordinate. I got SUCH a deal on the fabric that even though I SWORE I would not buy any more, I just had to. I'm such a fabric junkie.

















The best $17.00 I've spent in the past year. At Zellers, rechargeable. I use them all the time to cut batting, but for lots of other stuff too. CAUTION - FINE PRINT: remember to keep fingers out of the way OR also purchase lots of gauze and bandaids while at Zellers.

UFO out of the bag and on the machine

Necessary tools for longarm quilting:

• wireless headphones for music listening without turning the stereo up to 845 db so I can hear it over the quilting machine and/or dehumidifier and/or fireplace fan (depending on the season)
  
• zinger to clip to my shirt, with itsy bitsy scissors attached
• reading glasses (lovingly referred to in this house as 'barneys') serve two purposes

1. assist me in actually SEEING what I'm doing
2. protect my pretty green eyes from flying itsy bitsy scissors when I inadvertently lose hold of the zinger. YOWZA!!!

The quilt top was made late last summer as the sample for a Card Trick class I was teaching. During the winter I planned the quilting designs. In February I spent an hour here and an hour there marking the whole thing with blue washout marker. Now, I'm taking a week to get moving on the quilting. First I will quilt the basic outlines of the designs, which will nail down the top to the (lovely wool) batting and backing. Then I will go back and add the 'gingerbread trim' (so to speak) to the quilting designs. Pebbles and lace and curlies, and background fill to pop the designs.

A good week getting better

Yesterday we got so much rain that a few hours later the dog was going 'sploosh sploosh' across the lawn to get her frisbee. So this morning I thought I would go out before today's rain started and pick a bouquet.













While I was out there I discovered I needed to HARVEST my cucumbers. Yum yum - cucumbers in sour cream with supper tonight!















Then, I came in and opened up today's box of tricks to work on, and LOOK AT THE CUTE SCOTTIE DOGS.

Sunbonnet Sue and a recipe for dinner

Isn't this a cute quilt to be working on? The weather today is horrible - pounding rain, thunder & lightning. I have Pretty Boy Floyd (my longarm) unplugged because he is very sensitive to hydro surges. For now, at least, I will be sewing. This is a quilt 'finishing' job. Susie needs borders, and the backing put together. Then I'll quilt and bind it.

I'd rather be working on something of my own on this kind of day, but you-know-who is very busy chasing her tail and needs someone to BRING HOME THE PUPPY CHOW. Hence, the work for pay. At least I love what I do for a living.
















Recipe - UBER easy
Spaghettini with Broccoli and Ham, serves 4

8 oz (250 g) spaghettini (or whatever pasta is in your pantry)
3 C. (750 ml) chopped fresh broccoli
1/4 C. (50 ml) olive oil
8 oz (250 g) extra lean ham, sliced or diced, however you like
1/2 C. (125 ml) grated parmesan cheese
2 green onions, matchstick sliced

• cook pasta, adding broccoli for the last 2 minutes
• drain & return to pot
• add olive oil, ham, cheese, onion and toss to coat
• open a nice bottle of wine (for the cook who worked so hard!)
  

Quilted Fish and Postcards

Last night we went to the 'fancy' theatre in Oakville again and saw the new Batman movie. It was really good but seemed kind of looong. As all reviews are saying, Heath Ledger was EXCELLENT.

I love quilts that give me the opportunity to be creative.
This is actually a large black quilt with coloured patchwork on it. The fish design was adapted from a Dover colouring book: Japanese Designs. Love those Dover books!







Postcards are a favorite thing to make, so when my friend Martina turned 50, well I just had to get out some fabric.













And since I can't show just ONE postcard, here's one I made for Margaret back in March.

Red Hat Day

Yesterday was Red Hat day... yippee!! A day out just for us girls. Anne had us out to her trailer. It was very hot & humid - we went to the restaurant in the park for lunch, then watched a comical video from a Red Hat conference in Texas.


We kept our hats on for lunch - but it was kind of hot to leave them on all day.


Anne (standing up, wearing the red hat (little r.h. humour there) was our hostess.









A couple of us went swimming then spent the rest of the afternoon lounging on the front portch. What a great day. Madeline did not need to go swimming, she was QUITE cool after having all that ice water dumped on her at lunch. Mmmm, very refreshing!!

UFO Update and my Stupid Dog

The dog was playing with something in the yard and I couldn't figure out what it was, but it was sounding kind of 'crunch crunch crackle crackle'. Turns out she has not lost her taste for pots. Last summer she had an absolute blast playing with the empty (empty) pots. This summer it seems she's not so particular. I've renamed her 'Rosemary-puss'.


UFO UPDATE
UFO's completed - none (waaahh!)
UFO's started - none (heeyyyy, ok!!)

The centers are all appliqued on the blocks.









The backs have been cut away.














One side of the sashing has been sewn to each block.

A Pretty Border and the Guild Sewing Day

I still have the plague, but I have been trapped in the house, under self-imposed quarantine for over a week. So I went to guild sewing day on Wednesday - I told the girls they had to stay five feet away from me. And I brought my hand sanitizer. Today I went to a quilt show in Stoney Creek - that was fun. I even bought some Christmas presents! No, silly, not for me. sheesh. Thank goodness my eyeballs are no longer red - I was looking like a werewolf for several days there.

GUILD SEWING DAY
We did some work on what will be the guild donation quilt. We made all the sashing strips for a 20 block quilt. The 9-patches were made in a relay race we ran as a program one night - the losing team had to bring the treats for the rest of the year. The blocks have come from the Block of the Month samples that get made by whoever is doing the b.o.m. that month. Sue and I separated them into 'white-based' blocks for this quilt, and non-white based blocks which will go into another quilt.

THE PRETTY BORDER
These two border treatments look just beautiful together. The narrow border is 'ric rack', which is done freehand using the piecing as a guideline for consistent spacing. The outer border is 'orange peel' and I use circle templates to stitch that.

Evil germs, flowerbed volunteers and quilt inspiration

Well, my nasty cold/flu/whatever is hanging on very tightly. This morning my eyes were glued shut - what gives with that???? I look like I was drinking boilermakers for breakfast. Yes, I do enjoy my glass of wine and occasional martini, but not at that time of the day. :-0


I bought the lovely RED lily last summer. The yellow lily, orange lily, sunflowers, cosmos and candytuft are all volunteers.


This is my favorite room in the house - it's our former (and sometimes, still) tv room. I love to do my yoga in here. However, we need a new quilt for the sofa, AND I have an unstarted challenge UFO on my list - serendipity, no????

This is a Scotties box I've been hanging on to because I love the colours. It has been clipped to the UFO pattern for several months. I think this will all come together nicely.

Binding quilts

I am sooo sick with a sore throat/cold/fatigue/muscle aches I have not been up to anything. I've been on the couch watching Sex & the City dvds, and The Other Boleyn Girl. However, I DID use the lavender eye pillow my friend gave me last year when I lay down for a nap yesterday. Thanks Jean! I got upright for about an hour, late yesterday afternoon. I was up at 5:30 this morning because my throat hurt too much to get back to sleep. Pity me, please.

One of the sewing machines I have is an industrial with a binding attachment.  The Bindall.

I buy precut binding 2" wide (from the USA of course - nothing is available here in Canada). This does a very serviceable job on quilts that are not necessarily heirloom, but will be used and loved.

As a personal testimonial, this binding is on my very first longarm (actually shortarm in '99) quilted bed quilt. It has been through the washer and dryer a zillion times. It's fine.