Vintage looking 25-patch quilts

Gawd, don't these quilts belong in the renovated cottage by the seashore? Sooo pretty!


My goal for this holiday weekend is to finish my red/yellow/green quilt for the class I'll be teaching, and get going on the quilting. I am supposed to have it finished before I leave for a retreat at Margaret's Thursday morning. Ya, right, good luck with that! That would require a little french maid to keep the house tidy and throw food down into my workroom occasionally. Although... really, the pieced borders are almost pieced. So maybe??

Garden Harvest and Car for Sale

I was playing Susie Homemaker on the weekend. I paid too much for the blueberries at the grocery store and made 7 small jars of blueberry marmalade. Very sweet - I think I'd prefer it to be a little more tart (kinda like me in the olden days, ha ha).

Here was yesterday's garden harvest... enough green beans for supper and some for the freezer. Oops, I ATE all the ones for supper - "sorry darlin', you can have leftover corn". I save the big fat ones for Sadie... she loves green beans as much as I do.















It's time to sell the Escort - if you know anyone who's looking for a fairly reliable but older car. This would be EXCELLENT for a student. Gas mileage is around 10 L. per 100 KM. Nice and clean, driven by a little not-quite-old-lady quilter.

1999 Ford Escort, 180300 km. Asking $2000 firm. You will not find a better car for this money. Not certified, but should not need much, if anything.

Contact me at 905-765-9162 or thehuberts@mountaincable.net

Automatic, pwr steering, pwr brakes, pwr door locks, pwr windows, alarm, air conditioning, am/fm/cassette. Everything works.
Transmission repaired and new tires in 2007. Front brakes done in 2008. Hmm, something else done recently too... I'll update this when I figure it out.
Flaws: rust spot near gas filler, cracked rear bumber, small starburst on windshield.

Beach Day With My Longarm Friends

There are a bunch of longarm quilters who are blessed to have Diane as a friend.

Diane invites us to her house every year for 'beach day' (altho we normally don't make it to the beach 'cause it's too stinking hot). We have the BEST show & tell, eat the BEST food, drink the BEST beverages and take the BEST walks, all the while having the BEST time with each other. Then, a few of us get to stay overnight because we live just far enough away. And we do the same thing all over again the next morning!!!

I habitually take a 'departure' photo. This is Debbie and I heading out Thursday morning.











Carol Anne, Mary Anne and another Carol Anne (this can get a little confusing??) enjoying show & tell.

























Here there is a bit of playing and information sharing going on at Diane's quilting machine.


This is the coolest little change purse Diane brought back from her trip to Bangkok.












Bedhead and silk scarves. Don't we know how to dress, eh? Too much coffee clouds the fashion brain, I'm thinking.

Antique Basket Quilt and Zinnia Quilt

Here is a quilt made with antique basket blocks. I was hoping to quilt feathers in the yellow alternate blocks and in the border but Floyd will not stitch properly on polyester fabrics so I went with straight line quilting. The customer is sending it out west as a wedding gift. Lucky couple!









Have I mentioned that I LOVE zinnias? They are my favorite part of the summer garden. And living in the country I always have lots of Queen Anne's Lace (a rampant weed here, and apparently I'm not a very tidy gardener. I wish I could find some practical use for dandelions, thistles and chicory.). But Q.A.L. looks very pretty in a bouquet. I've also thrown in a couple of Coreopsis flowers and some leaves from the Siberian Iris.









This is my Atomic Zinnia quilt. I entered this in the Northcott Challenge a few years ago. It took an Honourable Mention in the applique category. I originally bought a whole bolt of that grey/black background fabric. I'll be searching high and low for an alternative when it's all gone - it makes a great background for applique quilts.

Birdhouse Quilt and Rod Stewart (Rod Stewart??)

I was working on a really cute birdhouse quilt. I needed to quilt some flora & fauna in the alternate plain squares, but I can't draw worth beans. Out come the heavy guns... Have I mentioned that I love Dover books?






















What's with Rod Stewart you ask? I just looove my
sister-in-law.

She called me Saturday afternoon to see if I was busy that night. Helloooo - I'm married, so NO, I'm not busy on a Saturday night.



"Well" she says, "I have free tickets (FREE) to see Rod Stewart tonight at Ontario Place".

"Hmm," I said, "I was going to work tonight. But you only live once."

The tickets were for lawn seating, and with all the rain we've been having (see previous posts) the lawn was really very slippery muck, on a slope no less. Risky to dance in flip flops in those conditions, as the woman in front of us could attest (tee hee).

Here is the souvenir I brought home. I was not allowed to bring in my plastic bottle of water (dangerous goods???) but I WAS allowed to drink alcohol if purchased on site. Much safer - whew, I'm glad they are watching out for us! Although, to be fair, we all sang way better, and louder too, after a couple of drinks.

Guild Sewing Day and Project Status

Yesterday was our guild sewing day. Aren't the girls working their little fingers to the bone??? Actually, they were plotting a UFO event for the guild... shhh... big secret!















These gals are working so hard (pedal to the metal... needles just a-smokin') they popped the breakers on their side of the room. We had to call the caretaker to find out where the breaker panel was.
















This was my project for the day - the NOW UFO (must update it's ufo status on my list). It still needs borders. It must be finished by the end of the month because it's a sample for a class I will be teaching. Registration for the class is Sept. 9th. Aaack!! Must hurry up!!

Braid Quilt & Yard Update

Yes, I am still quilting here. Sue made a wonderful scrappy braid quilt and asked for feathers. I quilted 'ribbon candy' in the narrow yellow border.















Well, here is what is left of my beautiful climbing hydrangea. Three weeks ago it was ripped off the wall in a huge rain & wind storm. Then it fell prey to the backhoe. sniff, sniff.








But the basement is coming along, in between the downpours. The clay down in the hole sticks to everything... work boots look like they have morphed into pontoons.

Note to self: it does not pay to whine about the dry summers - it WILL turn around and bite you in the bum!

yard update & new ufo soon

Whoa... that's a whole lotta gravel that has to go back in the hole. Three dump truck loads, to be exact. My friend Sue popped in yesterday to tell me she almost drove off the road when she saw our driveway. She said 'oh my God' a lot.


Someone will have a great set of abs when THAT is all shovelled. Heh, heh, heh, but it won't be me.





I'll be cutting fabric for my unstarted (status changing as we speak!) challenge. Then, when my poor hands are weary I will save just enough strength to pour myself a niiice glass of red wine, pop in Season Six of Sex & The City, and curl up on the couch.