Friday Night Sew In Report

On Tuesday I had a knee arthroscopy.  The surgeon said six weeks recovery time and so far it is going well.  Day 1 I was in bed and only hobbling to the bathroom.  Day 2 I was up and hobbling around with a cane.  Day 3 more hobbling but exhausted.  Today the swelling is noticeably down and there is little pain.   Here is the gruesome photo.  Don’t look if you’re squeamish. 

The surgeon told me I had a “large meniscus tear”.  I am looking forward to being pain free as it has been almost constant for the last three months.  I want to get out and exercise and maybe even run again! 

Yesterday morning I sewed a little.  I put a round on the Mystery Round Robin block for May (can’t show…) and I made these two blocks for Billy for the April 6 inch block swap (only a little behind…)

And then exhaustion hit and I had to lie down on the couch.  Later in the day I thought “It’s Friday Night Sew In.  I must get up and do some sewing.”  I wanted to work on the quilting for my Friends with Benefits gift (which is a little bit more behind).  Because it is some fine work I wanted my reading glasses.  I looked for them for half an hour, thinking they must have fallen on the floor when I took them off to answer the phone in the morning.  I finally discovered them, in their case, and realized I actually hadn’t used them when sewing that morning! 

At that point I realized I was probably too tired to try and sew.  Instead I looked at Bloggers' Quilt Festival posts and viewed a lot of lovely quilts. I hope you have the time to browse them.

Janet

BLOGGERS’ QUILT FESTIVAL

 

http://amyscreativeside.com/2012/05/18/bloggers-quilt-festival-spring-2012/

There is so much excitement all over blogland about Amy's Bloggers’ Quilt Festival.  I was going to enter, then I wasn’t, and well, now here I am….

The quilt I am showing is “But Granma, Where’s the Quad?” made for my grandson last Christmas. 

Front…

And back….

I had lots of help from my friends in collecting all the fabrics for this quilt.  If you would like to know more about the details of the fabrics, size etc.  you can see them on my blog post here.

I’m off to check out all the other lovely quilts in the festival. Click on the link at the top of the page to check them out too.

Janet

Mail, mail, mail!

I’ve been promising to show some mail receipts for a few weeks, and the time keeps slipping by.  So here I am with a few goodies to show you. 

I am participating in a Bee organized by Victoria on her 15 Minutes Play blog.  The blocks incorporate "made" fabric.  April was my month and my blocks have been arriving one or two a week. 

Cathy’s block

Victoria’s block

Lauren’s block

Kathy’s block

Em’s block

Chris’ block

My block

I asked for the block to be made in any two contrasting colours – maker’s choice.  You can see that pink/red and blue/green have been popular choices so far. 

I’m still waiting for three blocks to arrive.  In the meantime I’ve been playing with layouts.  Any suggestions for a background colour?

What else have I received?  Alberta and I did a swap for 2 inch postage stamp blocks and along with 100 blocks – which I can’t show you because I added them into the pile before I remembered to take a photo – she sent this lovely mug caddy. It is cute, such a neat idea and her sewing is absolutely impeccable!  I have it loaded up with all my marking pens and pencils.

A couple of prizes from the St Patrick’s Day Blog Hop Giveaway arrived.  I received these three videos from Christine.

And this super cute pattern from Susan.

I showed you the three purple postcards I sent earlier.  Here are the fantastic ones I received from Karen, Wendy and Linda.

From Maggie, my February Inchy flowers.

And from Medora, my March Cathy’s Campfire blocks for the 6 inch block swap.  She sent me the scraps of leftover fabric and some embellishments too.  So sweet!

Lots of fabulous goodies!

Janet

This week, May 7th to 13th, I….

I didn’t get to participate in the Christmas Quilt A-long yesterday.  It was hosted by Sharon at Vrooman's Quilts this month and I hear that she had a great breakfast recipe and a tutorial for some cute ornaments, as well as the next instalment for the Christmas mystery quilt.

And what was I doing instead you ask?  DH and I attended DD # 1’s graduation.  She is now a licenced practical nurse.  Or she will be after she writes her licencing exam this week. 

All ready to go in her white robes; excited and happy.

And the accolades are delivered.

Shawn A-in-chut Atleo, National Chief of Canada’s Assembly of First Nations, was the keynote speaker.  He gave a very inspiring talk and his presence at the little college graduation is a huge honour.

Hats off to all the graduates!

On the drive home, we spotted a bear and DH pulled up beside it so I could get a picture…

Now this is closer to any bear than I would normally want to be.  Look at those claws.  He was chomping on that little patch of grass by his paw, and continued on eating for a moment, then abled up the hill.

Not much sewing this week.  I have a project on the go that I can’t show, but I made good progress on it.  And the tongues of the mukluks are ready…

I’m back to class on Wednesday to find out what the next step is.

Janet

Mukluks 101

A few people asked what mukluks are.  They are traditional – Indian and Eskimo – boots.  They are the best thing to wear in the bush in the cold.  Your feet stay warm and there’s no plastic to freeze hard like a rock.  There are many different styles and ways to make mukluks.  Traditionally they would have been made totally with hide from moose, deer, seal and probably any available animal.  Nowadays there is canvas, Melton, Stroud and other fabrics used in them, and they are decorated with rick rack, beads and other trim, instead of porcupine quills and fur.

The mukluks I’m making are for a friend of DD # 3.  One of the kids who calls me her second mother.  I’ve made mukluks before, but I’m not an expert and I always learn something new about the methods for sewing them.

These are my mukluks, a present from a friend who is one of the best traditional First Nation sewers I know.  Canvas tops, hide bottoms, rickrack and trim.  The liners are wool.

These are DH’s mukluks, made by me.  As taught by my friend.  I made four pairs of mukluks that winter, one for each of my DDs and one for DH. 

The recipient of the pair I am making right now asked if I could make them dark blue or brown.  I’m thinking about dyeing the canvas.  I know I’ll never find the heavy weight cloth that I could use in place of canvas. 

Janet

Spring Bear

This evening DH and I took a drive down to this place.

If you’ve been around my blog for a while you’ve seen this place in several different seasons.  It is a favourite place to go.  In the spring we go there to look for fishing lures.  Lots of people go there to fish in the summer and there is a steep drop off and lots of rocks; many people lose lures when they get caught in the rocks.  In the spring the water is low and the lures can be retrieved.  This is one of DH’s favourite spring outings and we go once or twice a week. 

Today we drove down the road and a truck pulled in and followed us.  Turned out it was the game wardens, one from Yukon and one from B.C. ( this place is about five miles from the B.C. border – you’d have to look at a map to understand).  I guess it is spring bear hunt season; they had to check out these people who were turning down a side road. 

Well it must have been good luck because on our way home we saw our first bear of the season!   A little brown bear. 

And then close to home, five caribou on the road.  I’ll show you a pic, but I did not get a good one so the picture is just for proof… I always get so excited when I see animals that I take more bad pictures than good ones.

Janet

This week, April 30th to May 6th, I…

Finally got some sewing done!  I am mostly catching up on swaps right now.  I feel like – no, I AM -  behind in a few of them. 

Firstly, I made and sent the April Inchie hexies to Deb in Australia…

Next I added a border to the Mystery Round Robin block I had to work on for April .  I can’t show the whole block, but here’s a sneak peek at the fabrics I used…

Then I made this block for Beebee who is the May recipient in Victoria's New Bee swap over at 15 Minutes Play.  I think this is the first time I’ve ever made a 15 inch block!

I still have quite a few swap items to catch up on, so there will hopefully be more to show next week…

I am taking a mukluk making class here in my town.  The first class was on Wednesday evening.  Here are a couple of the ladies working on their mukluks.  I don’t have a photo of me working on mine…. Next week maybe.  The class is on Wednesday evenings, but there is sewing on Thursdays as well, so I may get these done quickly.

I also packaged and mailed three sets of 100 two inch charms and four sets of 50 two inch gift charms for Mary’s Postage Stamp Swap this week.  I think the mailing part of things takes longer than the sewing  

Although it has looked like this a good deal of the past week…

the crocuses are out!

I know I still owe you a post about all the goodies I’ve received in the mail lately…. It is coming soon…

Happy Spring!

Janet