Back from Toronto and EPP link party post

I had a great time in Toronto last week, although it seems like it is almost forgotten already.  I came home to a huge snowfall that took about four days to get cleared off the roads.  And now it is –40.  Brr!!

The highlights of my trip were a visit to the textile museum where there was a special exhibit on Mayan fabric, attending Friday night knitting group with my friend, seeing Wynton Marsalis and Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra at Massey Hall, a weekend visit with friends north of the city and a quick trip to Niagara Falls.

And I got to make friends and play with this cutie…

I managed to complete the pathway round on one of my hexie flowers while on the plane coming home.  One of the ladies at the knitting group tuned me in to using a dental floss container to cut your thread on the plane so that they don’t confiscate your scissors.

One down and seventy-four more to go!!

I received one of the two missing pieces for my flower ball.  I just love the bright, fabrics that Kelli used in her piece (the happy pink and red flowers at the top of the ball)

The two big pieces on the left and right are all stitched together, but not to each other.  And I still have that pesky upside down piece to fix. 

I’m adding this update on my English Paper Piecing projects to Hydee Ann’s In-hand EPP link party.  Check it out to see other fun EPP projects!

Janet

It’s December!!

This year has whizzed by and continues to do so!  I am off to Toronto very early Tuesday morning to visit a friend, but I need to put up a post before I go.  Otherwise it will be close to a month before I get a post up and that won’t do!!

I have to stay in town tomorrow night as I have to be at the airport at 4:45 a.m. to check in for my flight.  Brutal eh!  Ah well, I arrive in Toronto around 3 p.m. which will be nice.  If you have any suggestions for things I just have to do while in Toronto, please leave me a note.  My friend already has quite a bit of our visit time booked up, but we can be flexible. 

The last couple of weeks have not produced tons of sewing.  I was busy all last week creating an Advent calendar for my Newfoundland granddaughter.  I had to get it in last Monday’s mail if it had any hope of getting there for December 1st.  I haven’t heard from DD # 2  that it has arrived but Canada Post’s tracking site said it was being delivered on Friday, so I’m going to take a chance on showing it.  (DD was working all weekend so probably didn’t have time to pick up a parcel, or open it with her stepdaughter, or call me. )

This is a panel.  I did outline quilting around all the shapes and left it at that as it is only going to be hung on the wall.  Santa’s bag is full of fabric discs with pictures on them that get hung on the buttons, one per day.  The pattern didn’t have any directions for a place to store the discs.  I came up with the idea for Santa’s bag and I think it is ultra cute, although I should have made it slightly smaller. 

The “ornaments”…

DH asked “where’s the chocolate?”  Oh dear, there isn’t any…. but one could hang chocolates from the buttons and take one off each day prior to hanging the ornament…

The only other sewing I did over the last couple of weeks was my flower for the flower ball.  Here you can see where the two pieces I haven’t received yet go.  My flower is the very bottom one on the right.  Each of the two big pieces on the right and left are all sewn together now, but not sewn to each other.  My next task is to fix the upside down piece.  And hopefully someday soon I’ll receive the other two pieces.

That’s it for now.  I have to get some sleep, although I’m pretty excited about taking a holiday and may not be able to fall asleep.  But I’d better as I do still have to work tomorrow.

Janet

Friday Night Sew In Report

I had a productive night of sewing last night.  Woo-hoo!! 

I made this block for the November Simply Solids swap.  I cannot pick up the true colour in this photo.  It is much lighter than it appears and the colour is much more green/aqua. 

I made these two setting triangles for Easy Street.  I am getting excited!  I only have three more blocks to make and then I can start putting Easy Street together!

I finished sewing together this piece of the flower ball.

And I got one completed leader and ender block out of the evening.  Pinwheels are my leaders and enders right now.  Isn’t the baby loon cute.  

How did your Friday Night Sew In go?

Janet

English Paper Piecing

One of the things that inspired me to get back to blogging now was coming upon hydee ann's Linky Party for English Paper Piecing projects.  I have two such projects on the roster right now and am feeling excited about one of them….

I joined a Flickr group swap early this year – Get Your Hex On.  My group has members from the UK, USA, Germany, Switzerland, Italy and then little old me from Canada.  I’ve had a chance to make some interesting EPP pieces – teeny tiny bits and in a variety of shapes.  My month was August and I asked the group to help me make Geta Grama's Flower Ball.

 

I am a little disappointed with this swap.  I am still waiting for two of the pieces, although one is in the mail, I’m told.  And two people made their pieces upside down.  I have fixed one of them but still have the other to do.  As the pieces are not uniform shapes, I will have to remake that whole block.  But I do think this will be gorgeous when finished – right now I am sewing the various blocks together and I have to make a flower that was assigned to me.  I haven’t decided what to do with this when finished.  Probably either a round table topper or else I will applique it on to a quilt. 

My other project is a grandmother’s flower garden.  I’ve been a member of the Inchy Hexagon Flower Swap since it started back in 2011.  About a year ago I took over managing the swap and felt I had to stay on as a member a couple of months later when I decided I had enough flowers.  So I started getting my swap partners to send second round hexies for my flowers and this baby is starting to be put together!!

My stack of hexie flowers.  There are 70 or so flowers in that pile.

The start of my second rounds…. eight done so far.

And a view of what I am using for my stepping stones, or garden path.  I haven’t decided yet whether to put white diamonds in between the paths.

I have NEVER seen a grandmother’s flower garden quilt and I haven’t found a picture online that helps me to see sizes and finishing options.  If you have any suggestions for where I can find more information I’d love to hear about it. 

I’m excited to be part of the EPP linky party.  I am hoping this is going to really inspire me to get some hand stitching done each month!!

Janet

Hello, It’s Been a Long Time, How Are You Today?

Life has been busy.  Summer seemed to whiz by and sewing and blogging both fell to the wayside. 

We had a fabulous sailing trip…

Mama moose had a new set of calves…

DD # 2 got married…

We had tons of company…

We got to spend time with our new granddaughter…

 

The garden was productive…. and we had a successful moose hunt…

I’m back in the swing of sewing now and I’ll be back to show you some of my projects that are lined up for the winter. 

Janet

Modern Mini Mystery Round Robin Reveal

Many thanks to Kim, Julianne, Kathy, Heather and Karyn for making me what looks like a super awesome Modern Mini Mystery Round Robin piece. 

Unfortunately it is still making its way to me.  Canada Post at its best – it was mailed on June 24th from Michigan. 

But I have a photo – thank-you Kim!!

Isn’t it fantastic?!  I can’t wait to see it in real life.

Thanks Michele for organizing this fun event.

Janet

Year of the finished project for June

June has not been a stellar month sewing wise.  The weather has been stupendous.  The garden is growing profusely.  We have had company galore.  The boats have been launched and used.  Life is busy.  I have been working 2.5 days a week.

1. Six inch quilt block swap Done  Two blocks and a little sample of a postage stamp block for my partner.

I’ve decided to take a break from this swap for a while, even though I love making this little blocks.

2. Bee Balm block swap The instructions and fabric only arrived last week and I barrelled into getting the block done and MADE A MISTAKE, cutting into the fabric I was sent.  After looking for a week I’ve found a replacement – not the same but as close as I’m gonna get.  I still have to make the block.

3. Block swap adventure Done

4. Inchy hexagon swap Done

5. MMM Round Robin Done Last month for this one.  Here’s a sneak peek.

6. Simply Solids block swap Done 

7. Get your Hex On bee Done

8. Charm Pack Table Runner for Terry. NOT DONE

9. A birthday star block for Quilt Diva Julie. NOT DONE

10. A mug rug for my secret partner in the Flickr Mug Rug Revival swap. Done 

As well I am going to:  

***** Finish Easy Street!  Or try to any way.  I have 16 square blocks to make and 10 triangle blocks.  And borders and quilting.  Yikes!  Oh well, I will try..  But I wasn’t too successful.  Only four blocks done…

**** Finish the table mat I started for the Stitch Me Up blog hop. NOT DONE

*** Work on the X and + quilt .  I’m going to try for ten more blocks again this month.   NOT DONE

** Continue making leader/ender postage stamp blocks. These are coming along!!

* Make the prototype dress for DGD’s doll.  I need to decide if this dress is the right one for my GDs for the wedding in September…. DD#2’s wedding… NOT DONE

JULY LIST

I am probably setting myself up for failure but I have to get this sewing done sometime!!

1. Bee Balm block swap – No word yet on the instructions for July, but I am getting June’s block in the mail tomorrow.

2. Block swap adventure – 1 - 12.5 in block – mail by the 25th.  Carol wants any block and she likes purples.  I’m looking for a fun block pattern.

3. Inchy hexagon swap – 2 hexies per month – mail by July 31st.  Lori wants “different fabrics”.  Should be fun finding the right ones.

4. Simply Solids block swap – Mail by July 26th – Annie wants a spider web block.  I’ve wanted to make one of these for ages! 

5. Get your Hex On bee – mail by July 31st.  Stacey wants grouped hexies of different sizes on a grey background.  Fun!  I’m waiting for my package to arrive.

6. Charm Pack Table Runner for Terry. I have a plan and the fabric and pattern.  This will hopefully be done this week.

7. A birthday star block for Quilt Diva Julie.

8. A postcard for my partner in Sheila's postcard swap.  Due by July 31st.

9. Some kind of homemade goodie for my secret partner in the It's a Sister Thing Swap.  I have until the end of August to finish this one, but I’ll be thinking about it and hopefully making something sooner.

As well I am going to:  

***** Finish Easy Street!  Darn it!  I am going to finish it this month.  Because August and September are too busy for me to try and do it then. 

**** Finish the table mat I started for the Stitch Me Up blog hop.  This one would probably take a day to finish.  I need to get it done!!

*** Work on the X and + quilt .  I’m going to try for ten more blocks again this month.  

** Continue making leader/ender postage stamp blocks.

* Make the prototype dress for DGD’s doll.  I need to decide if this dress is the right one for my GDs for the wedding in September…. DD#2’s wedding… And okay this one now has top priority!  Because I’ll have to make the dresses for the girls next!

Janet

Goodbye to Spring; Summer is Here

We are having wonderful weather so far this year.  Sun, some rain, more sun, a little wind to temper the heat.  Life is busy with anniversary parties and weddings, visits from my sister and brother and other friends coming soon and just the general mayhem of summer.  The garden is growing well and we are already eating lettuce, celery, cilantro and other herbs.  There are flowers in abundance, both wild…

And tame….

I’ve done some sewing.  Easy Street is moving very slowly and I won’t have it done before the wedding, but I’m okay with that.  My latest projects have been these Katherine Wheel ones for swaps.  Pattern from Charlotte at Lawson and Lotti.

And yesterday I had the opportunity to attend a silk scarf dyeing course.  I tried some Shibori methods…

But didn’t make my knots tight enough on this one and the design is quite faint.  See the blue one below.  The others turned out great though. 

Shibori method 1, Scrunch method, Shibori method 2, tied and died…

 

It was very fun but this kind of intense activity is still tiring for me.  I am at least more than 50% better though and getting more so every day. 

We are off boating now. I hope you’re having a fun and happy day

Janet