Of Spring, Sewing, and Bats

WORLD NEWS:  Spring is in the air, AND in the ground.  I have snowdrops and crocuses blooming in the front flower bed.  And dandelions that have turned a lovely bright green, in time for St. Patrick's Day which is this coming Sunday.  Yesterday was sunny and 17c., perfect weather for walkies on the rail trail.  Today will be 18c. and maybe sunny (?).  That's VERY warm for this time of year.

GUILD NEWS:  I did a demo for the Binbrook guild on Improv Curved Piecing.  Working on these was quite fun.  Prep involved a few Youtube videos.  I swear, you can learn anything on Youtube.

SEWING NEWS:  A client gave me a big box of fabric for use in donation quilts, so I've started with the panels that were in there.  These need to be trimmed and bound. 

STORY TIME:  I'm pretty sure everyone has at least ONE bat story.

It was summer, several (many) years ago. DH was sitting in his chair in the living room, minding his own business.  Reading a book.  It was evening...8 pm?  9 pm?  I was in the kitchen, also minding my own business, reading the newspaper.  Enjoying a bowl of ice cream because being summer, the weather was hot.  I was having a problem with my eyes, though. I kept noticing a dark swirling as I was reading the paper, but it was very intermittent.  I'd look up -  things were fine, then I'd look down and dark swirling would start again, then the whole scenario would repeat.  Finally, one of the times I looked up I saw that something was flying around the room.  At first I thought it was a bird, but then the "thing" landed on the small kitchen speaker up in the corner at the ceiling.  Holy Mackerel Batman!!  (Hah, notice the pun?)  And, yes, I am a girl at heart, so of course my first response was a bit of a scream.  Then another scream for DH who, as many men would do, said "whaat?"  I continued screaming:  THERE'S A BAT.  THERE'S A BAT.  THERE'S A BAT.  And again, as many men would do, he said "what do you want me to do about it?".  I'm thinking to myself:  Uh...wtf?  This is why I got married?  I did a little more panic-ed screaming at him, until he finally came into the kitchen... to make sure it was a bat and that I wasn't imagining things.  Since, you know, ladies don't always understand these wildlife things.  Apparently.  Uh huh.  Then he got a light jacket out of the closet and managed to fling it over the bat as it was whirling around the kitchen.

The poor thing was lobbed out the front door, jacket and all, where it eventually made it's way to freedom.  We assume that it flitted into the house from it's normal roost by the front door when the dog took a little too long to come inside.  

I no longer say "Oh, look,  honey - there's a bat living by the front door.  How cute is that?"

 

2024 In Pictures...

The apron I made for my egg-providing neighbour.  I know she appreciates these...I popped over there one day for a visit and she was wearing a tattered apron that I'd made her a couple years earlier.  Ever since then I make her a new one every couple years.

I'm lucky enough to have friends who I meet at Mapleview Mall for an irregular dinner date, maybe a half dozen times a year?  We met through our work at Royal Bank ...so many years ago I don't even want to think about it.  Somehow these new shoes managed to come home with me last night.

Today's completed wall hanging, not quite in time for Valentines - the hand stitching won't be finished, but I CAN take it to the guild tomorrow for Show 'n Share.  In the fall of 2021 when things were starting to open back up after the pandemic, our guild meetings were being held in the church gymnasium.

We all had L O T S  O F  R O O M  T O  S P R E A D  O U T.  

I couldn't book speakers at the time, so I did a lesson on one-patch quilts.  This is all 2.5" squares, from stash/scraps.  Any simple shape can be pixellated like this - it makes a fun, easy project.  The first one I made was a Christmas tree, but the heart has been on my to-do list for the last few years.

Did you watch the Superbowl?  My sewing machine was by the tv - I stitched during the "game", then watched the commercials and the half-time show.  I make this "Simply Squares" quilt every year during the Superbowl....it still needs two borders, then it will be ready for quilting.  I buy one charm pak, then cut up another 40 squares from my stash and use all 80 in this top.

I saw a quilt online that was made with those triangle blocks on the right.  I had to google the instructions, then I made a sample for myself.  This is another quilt in my "To-Do" file.

I unthinkingly put my hand up and volunteered to do a quilt ruler demo for my guild.  When I got home I realized that I had to MAKE something so I could do the demo.  This is a Double Four-Patch quilt and I really like the way it turned out - all scrappy, using light (all the creams), medium (all the yellow/golds) and dark (all the blacks).  Hey - did you notice that my NEW SHOES match this quilt?

I'm also doing the Mystery Quilt that is being hosted by the CQA.  Duh - the last mystery quilt took me 25 years to finish...is my head actually screwed on????  Instructions said "do not use directional prints" (whoops - my black is directional).  And "do not use large scale prints for the background" (whoops - my red has large snowflake-ey motifs in different colours).  Apparently I'm a rule breaker?

  

Knowing that I sometimes forget what my intention was when I put something in the freezer, I guess I recognized my limitations last fall, when I wrote the name & page of the cookbook.  lol...  The apples, btw, were from my same egg-neighbour. ❤

 Pretty, calm & sedate Coco.

Nina.  Hellraiser on four paws - now six months old.  My theory:  puppies only have two brain cells, and one of those doesn't work.

Lots of things to be grateful for so far this year. ❤

Happy New Year - UFO's and Stash Report

Aah, New Years Day. 🎆 Time for a reckoning.  I set some targets every year so there's an endpoint where I'd like to find myself.  I don't manage to fulfill ALL of my goals, but taking a few minutes early in the year to think about where I've been and where I'd like to go does help to give me some focus.

This is a quilt I started several (!) years ago.  It's a Bonnie Hunter leader & ender pattern TO THE NINES from one of her books.

Occasionally we have enough sleepover company that I need to put the sofabed to use, but I didn't have a quilt that looks nice in that room AND that fits properly.  So woohoo!  Problem solved!

My target for UFO completion in 2023 was finishing up any THREE ufo's.  I only managed to take two off the list but I'm still happy with that result. 👍 Especially considering that one of them was 25-ish years old.  Good Lord.

As for my stash, like many quilters I probably have more fabric than I will use in my lifetime.  I set a moratorium on purchasing but, well, that didn't work out for me this past year.  In 2022 I generally only purchased fabric that I needed for a specific project.  But in 2023 I got a bunch of stuff at the guild, either for free or dirt cheap.  I also bought some fabric just because it was pretty.  AND I bumped up my collection of reds.  When all that intake happens during a year when not many projects were finished, the numbers tell a sad story.  2023 target was net OUT 50 M.  What actually happened was net IN 1.8 M.

My targets for 2024 will remain the same - finish any three UFO's and a net stash OUT 50 M, along with a minimum of 5 donation quilts.  If you see me in a fabric shop, wandering around with a couple of bolts in my arms please make me put them back!

SLEEP AND DOGS

I used to be able to sleep like the dead.  My head hit the pillow and I'd be zonked out within about three minutes, falling into such a deep sleep that an atomic bomb wouldn't wake me up.  Now, I often DO manage to fall asleep in short order, and then within a half hour something...usually a hot flash, wakes me back up.  Aargh.  So frustrating.  Or, I fall asleep and then wake up in the middle of the night and can't get back to dreamland.  Today it was 4 am, so I stayed in bed for an hour, then gave up and got out of bed at 5.  It's a good thing I prep the coffee the night before and don't wake anyone up when I flick the coffee maker on.

This is the vision I took with me to la la land.  10 or 1030 at night is when playtime starts.  Again.

I think Nina was trying to do a Thread The Needle pose, maybe?

I have NO idea what anyone was trying to do here besides creep me out with the whites of her eyes.

I will be spending today sewing with a friend, then we're having Chinese food for supper.

And, speaking of UFO's, maybe I'll get something done with this in 2024.

I hope you have a healthy, happy, and productive year!