2 Quilts (one complex & one simple), What's Cookin'?, and Covid numbers

PLEASE NOTE THAT I ONLY HAVE A FEW OPEN SPOTS BEFORE CHRISTMAS - GET IN TOUCH SOON IF YOU WILL NEED QUILTING DONE.

Here's the complex quilt, with a medallion setting and a bunch of paper pieced sharks teeth.

And curved piecing.  Don't forget the curved piecing.

This quilt took me back in time.  When I was a kid, Mom had made me a skirt that I loved - dark grey with box pleats.  The inset in the box pleats was pink with a tiny black print.  I felt so sassy when I wore that...every step showed off the pretty pink.  To this day that is still one of my favorite colour combinations. 

Lots of s.i.d. and straight line quilting on this one.

Here's the simple quilt.  Well, not simple exactly - it's all on point, which makes the outer edges really stretchy when it's time to add the borders.  But simple in the sense that it's a one-block quilt, and the blocks are only 2 pieces.

This is from a Fons & Porter magazine, and the maker requested quilting similar to what was in the pics.  I love her colour choices, and she did a great job with the layout.

WHAT'S COOKIN'?

There have been lots of PIES coming out of the oven lately, both savory and sweet.

1.  tomato sauce, mozzarella, mushrooms, cooked sausage, green peppers, tomatoes, onions
2.  pesto, mozzarella, shredded cooked chicken, tomatoes, onions
3.  tomato sauce, mozzarella, diced ham, pineapple, onion
4.  peach (plus another one in the freezer!😁)

And I've been doing lots of sweating over a hot stove.  Peach marmalade, blueberry marmalade, peach-rosemary jam, mango chutney.  I will save DH's reputation and not tell you the story of how I came to be in possession of enough mangoes to necessitate the making of chutney.  You can use your imagination for that.   Not shown are the 21 quarts of diced tomatoes which I finished on Friday.  By February you can expect to see my arse another size larger.

COVID NUMBERS

Worldwide: 25 million cases and 843,000 deaths.

USA:  5.97 million cases and 183,000 deaths

Canada:  128,000 cases and 9,113 deaths.

Ontario:  42,000 cases and 2,800 deaths.

PERSONAL COVID UPDATE

I had my Red Hat girls over last week for a brown-bag-lunch-at-a-distance on the back patio.  Our patio isn't fancy, but it is nice and big.  We hadn't seen each other in MONTHS so it was really good to have a chance to catch up in person.  A few of the gals couldn't make it, but that's par for the course.  Since we're all members of the Caledonia Grand River Quilters' Guild we did a bit of guild catch-up too.  Our guild donated a quilt to the Fair Board to raffle as a fundraiser (see the Guild Feb. 9th post), so many of us bought raffle and/or 50/50 tickets.

I was supposed to leave for two weeks in Italy on Friday.  Yeah, no.  I have actually received a refund for what I'd paid to date, which is good.  I have not yet received anything regarding my seat upgrade for the flights...still waiting on that. ✈

I have another HAIR appointment next week. 👩 Yaay.  This stuff is way too long, and way too hot.  It's going to get a very generous trim.

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 WORD.  Long 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.

Christmas Quilts

Most years I show you my same three Christmas quilts - one for the King bed, one for the Queen bed, and one for the living room.  THIS year I'm showing you some customer quilts.

This is a gorgeous selection of Cardinal fabrics.  It's not exactly a Christmas quilt, but the birds always evoke winter.

This one's really cute - just squares of Christmas fabrics stitched into a throw.

There's a ton of work in this one - Round the Twist or Garden Trellis quilt.  This version used a lot of half-square triangles.

And a very Canadian hockey quilt.

Since I'm officially on vacation until Jan. 6th, this TFUQ is getting booted off the list.  The blocks were cut using JAWS (the Accuquilt die cutter).  I dragged this around as a UFO for quite a while, and finished it earlier this year.  With the curved Apple Core piecing I need to do some extra-careful perimeter measuring for the binding.  And the binding must be bias to maneuver around the curves.  For curvy edges I also like to cut the binding just a wee bit narrower - usually I cut 2 1/2", but for this I'll cut 2 1/4".  And I'm not foolish enough to try attaching this binding with the longarm.

I have a big to-do list that I really hope to complete.  I have a bad habit of writing things down, and feeling pretty virtuous because I wrote them down.  Note to self... that doesn't actually get anything DONE.  So far all I've crossed off is the quilting for one Quilt of Valour.  That still needs the binding, but I'm waiting for some QOV labels to arrive in the mail, since I ran out of them.  Bookkeeping is also on the list.  I've managed to tick off an hour per day three days in a row (fell down on day four, but getting back on that horse today!).

Tobermory Retreat Recap & Technology Mixed With Idiots & Scammers

I abandoned hubby for six days - he and the dog were feeding each other kibbles and bits for a week.  Although, a friend took pity on him and had him over for a roast beef dinner mid-week so he didn't starve.

I played THREAD CHICKEN and won.

The railing with completed projects.  This is always such a satisfying pic!  Debbie definitely took the prize this year - completing all those wee monthly quilts.  So cute.

Of course, cocktails.

I work on my Double Wedding Ring for one day every year.  The Tobermory cottage is a great space for it.  This year, to my horror, I discovered that I used bad math when I had the pieces cut several years ago by a quilting buddy, using her GO die cutter.  The quilting buddy has fallen off the face of the earth, and of course I no longer have any of that white fabric.  (Non-quilters may not realize that there are a zillion different fabric versions of white, so yes, this will show in the end.)  I threw in the towel around 3:00, poured a glass of wine and curled up on the couch with a book, nursing my angst.

This is the top I pieced, I managed to get it quilted and bound this week.  So girly.  I used up lots of strips that I have been collecting through the Strippers Club at the Caledonia Guild.

Now we wait until Winterruption for our first retreat of 2020.

TECHNOLOGY MIXED WITH IDIOTS & SCAMMERS

Dear God.  Did you see this story?

Attempted sextortion leads to call for stricter phone porting rules

I do feel great sympathy for the idiot.  His cell phone number was stolen.  Once the scammer accomplished that, he gained access to the idiot's emails, personal files, credit cards, and (of course) his personal sex tapes.
Why do men think they need to make sex tapes of themselves and their partners?  Why does ANYONE think they need to have nudie photos of themselves and/or their partners on their phones?  Do they get bored while they're standing in line at Starbucks and think "hmm, maybe I'll pull up one of my sex tapes and jerk off while I'm waiting for my Grande Mocha Latte"?  Or, in a boring meeting at the office do they decide to get the conversation started by showing pics of their former girlfriend's boobs?  Seriously.  Get a life, idiots.
This fella has admittedly compromised his own reputation, but Dear God, also the poor people who were intimate with him.  They will be on pins & needles for the rest of their lives, wondering if and when their pics/videos will be shared all over the web.

Not that anyone cares what I think... but my suggestion would be that you don't take photos and keep them on your cell phone or send them up to the cloud.  Really.  Simple.

Beautiful Double Wedding Ring, updated to-do, and blah, blah, blah

As you may or may not know, I have been working on a double wedding ring quilt for several years.  I complete one row per year when I'm on retreat up in Tobermory with the Beach Girls.  Every once in a while the Universe teases me, and has a customer bring one for quilting.

This is so pretty.  I just love these quilts and look forward to someday completing my own.

Nice plain back that shows off the quilting. 💗

When I posted my to-do list last week, one of the items on the list was to "Marie Kondo" my corner of the living room.  OMG, look at the piles of mess on my table and in the bookshelves.

BEFORE

DH and I were heading out for Chinese food and I told him that I'd been working on Marie Kondo-ing my corner.  He had no idea what the hell I was talking about, so I had to tell him all about Marie Kondo.  If you've ever seen HIS corner of the living room (or his garage, or the shed, or his truck, or...) you would know that she is not his kind of girl. 😛

AFTER

I kept a small collection of magazines that I still need to go through before I decide their fate.  And that little pile of remaining junk will be dealt with today.  The Quilts Japan magazines will go upstairs where I have saved every issue I've ever purchased.  I may take them to the crematorium with me when I die. 😄

This is the pile that I'll plow through to see what stays and what goes to the guild for redistribution.  There are lots of Modern Quilting magazines and Machine Quilting magazines and a few random quilt magazines in here.  And my seed catalogue.

Here's the to-do list as it currently stands.

It has been a wonderful long Easter weekend for working on stupid chores.  We had no plans for a fancy Easter dinner, and it has been pouring rain for three days straight.

My quilting machine is broken and I can't do anything about it until I talk to Nolting on either Monday or Tuesday - whenever they are back to work.  Why is it that stuff always decides to break just before a long weekend?

In my forced down time I decided to join up with  #The100DayProject.  I have chosen a combination of two things, which doesn't seem to be against any rules.  I will either do some personal stitching OR I will do yoga.  The commitment is 5 - 10 minutes every day for 100 days.  The official start date for 2019 was April 1, but again, starting when I did is not against any rules.  If you follow me on Instagram or on Facebook I'm planning to post my activity there most days.  But don't expect to see any pics of my arse up in the air as I'm doing a Downward Facing Dog.

This is the stitching project I've been working on.  It's a Bonnie Hunter design Nine In The Middle from one of her books.  Today when I go and stitch for 10 minutes I will actually be PRESSING for 10 minutes.  If you check out that link to her site, scroll down to the quilt with the light blue background fabric and the red border...that's what I'm making.  Mine is in reds/greens/yellow-browns.  It will be for guests when I make up the sofa-bed in our upstairs tv room.  It should look nice with the room decor.

Drunkard's Path (or, I Am Not To Be Trusted!)

Part I

I used to teach an 8-week quilting class twice a year, and I always wrote my own patterns.  I have an Accuquilt die cutter (see JAWS tab above), so I designed a Drunkard's Path quilt.  I asked a friend to test my pattern instructions, and she made this quilt  That was, I think, in 2009.  When I was visiting her last fall the quilt was STILL flopped over her design wall.  Every time she's mentioned this quilt she would get an unhappy tone in her voice, which always made me think she was having a hate/hate relationship with it.  So when I was visiting in September I stole it. I figured I would quilt it, get it off her 'annoying' list and she'd be super happy with the nice surprise. I packed it in my suitcase and snuck it out the door.

Part II of the story... 

We have a UFO challenge every year.  Geez Louise - doesn't she decide that THIS QUILT is going to be her first project.  During our weekly phone call she tells me that she spent A WHOLE DAY looking for this top and couldn't find it anywhere. OMG.  I didn't know if I should fess up...then she mentions that she also couldn't find the preview papers with her quilting ideas.  I never saw them and didn't take them - I only pilfered the quilt. Knowing that she had no plan any more I decided to keep my mouth shut and get the darned thing quilted.  

I finished it, wrote a stupid poem to pack in the box with the quilt and shipped it back to her in the hope that she loved me enough to forgive the skulduggery.

Part III - delivery 

As she was leaving for her knitting group she saw a parcel thrown in front of her garage.  First, she thought it was for the neighbours, then realized that no - it was addressed to her, from me.  She threw it in the car and continued on to knitting.  When she got home a few hours later and opened the parcel, what she saw was the light blue backing. She didn't recognize the fabric, so that made her think I had mistakenly mailed a customer's quilt to HER.  Then she noticed the piece of paper and the poem.  She laughed and laughed.  I have been forgiven and have a new reputation of being very sneaky and able to keep a secret.  She loves the way it turned out and is quite happy to knock this off her UFO list.

I did s.i.d. around all the piecing, to outline the colour bands and the floral centers.

The straight line quilting nicely contrasts with the "Nemeshing".

There's also a lovely border design which doesn't show on the top stripe, but looks really pretty on the back.

Later today...

Well, yes, I'm cheating a little bit.  This is LAST year's photo, but I'll be doing the same thing with different fabrics.  Gotta watch the Super Bowl commercials!

Christmas VacationTo-Do List Wrapup

Chic Picnic - quilted & bound & labeled.  Many of the fabrics in this have special meaning for me, so the whole time I was hand stitching the binding I just felt... happy.

The fabrics are so busy that the time spent to custom quilt this was wasted, but since it's mine... I figure I'm worth it.

I used up some random fabrics on the back.

In keeping with the "word" theme of the quilt, I included my QUILT GIRL comic strip yardage.  (Spoiler alert:  she saved the day.)

I made two kids drag-around quilts which I'll donate to the Catholic Children's Aid.  A big pat-myself-on-the-back for the mitered striped border on the right.

It was a few years ago that a friend gave me the panel, the border print, and a half meter of the stripe.  I had the remnants of a whole bolt of the stripe in my own stash, so I used it on the back.

Sixteen placemats quilted for Meals on Wheels.

I completed eight out of fifteen items on my list, and the day is not over yet.  I've already taken Sadie for her walk (brrr - chilly wind!) and DH has supper under control, so this afternoon I will tackle the mending pile. 

Animal Quilts (and reflections on humiliation) & One of My Own

I've seen some of the cutest animals this fall...

It's almost enough to make me want to be a kid again.  But... um, no.  Maybe not. 
Highlights of my childhood involve lots of teasing over my name (surname of Marshall was always being translated into either "martian" or "marshmallow").  Also being called "four-eyes" because of the glasses.  And being the shortest kid in class meant I always had to be at the head of the line.  Being the worst at sports meant I was always the last one chosen for any sports team.  I remember school being let out early the day Kennedy was shot, and some asshole bully punched me in the stomach while I was walking home.  Then there was the bully-brat down the street who would not let me pass.  For God's sake.  I was in KINDERGARTEN.  I went home crying and mom had to walk me to school.  So...many memories of humiliation.  I'm happy to leave them behind me. 
In adulthood I'm often referred to as a snob (because at heart I am actually quite shy).  And I've had people get sooo pissed off at me and throw taunts of being "a hotshot" which was, in truth, the funniest one.  That came from a woman who got mad at me because SHE didn't know how to use word processing software (she should have - that was part of the skill-set required for the job).  After weeks of her interrupting my work by asking me how to do this, and how to do that, I finally called her on her poor knowledge and suggested she should spend some time learning this stuff HERSELF.  People can be lazy and stupid and mean sometimes.  I try to ignore it now, but sometimes I... just... can't. 😬  Several years ago I told an asshole in the grocery store to shut up because he was mad about the little old lady who was taking too long with the cashier.  She needed assistance, and needed her groceries to be double bagged because she had to take the bus home. All I could think about was my mom, and how she was probably in exactly the same boat on many occasions.  So, I told dickhead to shut up.
Wow.  Now I've put myself in a crabby mood with all these bad memories!

Anyhow. I managed to finish the Apple Core top.  All of this was cut using JAWS. Over the holidays this baby should get quilted.  I seem to have a growing pile of tops that need to be finished.