Sunday report

I did not do any sewing during the week, this week.  I was very busy at work and tired all week.  But on Saturday I decided I had to do something.  So I cut some more pieces for En Provence and then I put together one block, because I was so itchy to see what it is going to look like.

My verdict - this is going to be an interesting looking quilt.  Most of my yellows are darker than these ones.  And gee, I didn't realize how purple it is going to be.  But I think once the neutral borders go on that will be toned down a lot.

No hexies to show this week.  I didn't work on them at all :(

Spring is definitely coming, even though it was grey and windy today.  I saw my first crocuses earlier this week.  These are the very first spring flowers that we get here.

The ice is melting off the lake and the creeks and rivers are opening up.

There are birds everywhere, calling and hooting.

Today we watched about six eagles.  One had caught a fish and the others chased it around and around, trying to snatch it from him.

I hope you had a wonderful weekend!

Janet 

Friday Night Sew In Report

You may be wondering why I haven't posted for Friday Night Sew In.  Well.... I mentioned that I was going to a quilt retreat this weekend and I did do a lot of sewing.  But my tablet computer malfunctioned and I couldn't use the keyboard.  I could still use the touch screen, but it is way beyond my capabilities to type anything on the pop up keyboard.  So no responding to emails and no writing blog posts for me this weekend.

But I am back in action now and I have a few things to show.  I have no memory of what I actually did on Friday night though!

One of my two main projects for the weekend was straight line quilting this quilt.  Some of you may remember seeing this quilt before.  I'm not sure how long I have been working on this quilt but I see that I posted about it when I first started blogging, circa July 2010, so it is at least seven years.  I decided this year that it is time to get her done and I am close enough to taste it!

 
The blocks are 2 inches finished with a half inch sashing between them.  I am straight line quilting on each side of the cross ways red sashing.  I have seventeen more rows of quilting to do, then trim and bind and it will be done, done, done!!!

I also worked on En Provence this weekend.  I had hoped to get one block put together, but I am still cutting pieces.  I only have the light and dark purple four patches to finish cutting - 168 blocks needed and I have 55 done.  But I think once the various components of the quilt are all ready the blocks will go together quickly.  I am hoping to be ready to start building blocks at my next retreat which happens the weekend after next!

I only finished one hexie flower all weekend - but it's a wild one!!

And I made a set of second round hexies for my April swap partner.  She asked for bright, happy colours and these fit the bill.

There were lots of wonderful quilts being worked on at the retreat.  I took pictures but most didn't turn out too well because the lighting was poor.  But I'll show you a few of my favourites.

Exquisite hand stitched applique.

Pinning the border on a colourful star filled quilt.

Another star quilt.  I love this funky fabric.

And here was someone as crazy as me.  These pieces are tiny!  I think the blocks are 1.5 or 2 inches square.  She is making a wedding quilt for her son.  The idea is that the guests will sign the white strips.  

That's all I have to show.  I hope you had a great sew-in.  Check out Wendy's blog to see what others got up to, if you haven't already!

Janet 

Easter sewing

It was so lovely to have a four day weekend for Easter.  I am sad to say that I don't go to church, but I think about the meaning of Easter.  We had a family get together at my nephew's house - lots of good food and all the local family plus a couple of friends.  Of course everyone else was under 45 but they accept us old fogeys hanging around anyway.  And along with the fourteen humans there were eight dogs in attendance.  Here is DD # 3 giving them all a treat. :)

I did manage to sew some more hexie flowers over the weekend - four in fact!

As you can see I have been having fun picking some bright and colourful second round fabrics for the flowers.  Don't you love the candy swirl one?!

Spring is definitely almost here.  I washed my car outside in my yard yesterday!!  There was so much mud on it that you couldn't tell what colour it was.  There are a couple of rabbits who come every morning to graze on the grass in my yard and day by day they are changing colour.  

White fur....

And brown...  So well camouflaged!

It's time to sign up for Friday Night Sew In hosted by the lovely Wendy at Sugarlane Designs.  I am going to a quilting retreat Thursday through Sunday so I will be doing lots of sewing myself, and hope to be able to share some of it with you.  Hope to see you there!

Janet 

Friday Night with Friends for April

I forgot to sign up for Friday Night with Friends on Friday, but only because I was so busy sewing!  What did I sew?  I bet you'll never guess!  Yup.  Two more hexie flowers.

But then today (Saturday) I had a sewing day with some ladies from the quilt guild I belong to and I worked on the En Provence quilt,  This is a mystery quilt by Bonnie Hunter that I started before Christmas.  She does a free mystery quilt every December - I have no idea why she picks right before Christmas of all times!  And she only leaves it up for a short while after all the clues are revealed.  I made one of her mystery quilts before - Easy Street (this seems to be the only picture I posted of it. I did get finished and gave to my nephew and his wife as a wedding present!)

But about En Provence.  It is made up of smaller pieces than Easy Street and I have been cutting and cutting and cutting. I decided to try and make it all out of the mountains of small scraps that I have, which increased the cutting required a lot! But today I got to start sewing!!

64 quarter square triangle blocks.  They aren't trimmed yet but will be 3 1/2 inches when they are.  This whole quilt is made up of 3 1/2 inch squares!  I am not sure why I get myself into these things but I do, over and over again!

Here are what some the others were working on today.

My friend Dahn put together a lot of scrappy blocks from bits and pieces of her hand dyes mixed with some old fabrics.  She is going to cut 24 inch blocks out of these.

Wendy was working on an art quilt piece from our workshop with Elaine Quehl last spring.

And another women, whose name I never did learn, was working on a bunch of scrappy quilts, all made from a fat quarter bundle of Kaffe Fassett fabrics.  Some of them were to go to a Canada 150 project to make 1000 quilts for Ronald MacDonald House, others were going to our local cancer ward.  Here is one that I liked a lot.

So, all in all, it has been a good sewing weekend thus far, and there is still Sunday to come! 

I hope you had a great sewing time on Friday night or sometime over the weekend too.  Please check out  what everyone else accomplished too.  

Janet 

It has been a slow week as far as sewing is concerned.  Just too many other things on my plate at the moment.  Year end books for the association that I do bookkeeping for.  Getting ready to do income taxes.  Spring skiing.  Visits from my grandkids who were on spring break.  Archery. The list goes on and on.

I did get hexies made for my March swap partner and got them in the mail before the end of the month.  She wanted red and white petals and any colour centres.  I found this combination difficult for some reason.

I have six hexie flowers ready for my Grandmother's Flower Garden.  I can't remember how many more flowers I said I am going to need but as of now I have determined that I need 27.  Here are the six that are ready to go.

When my granddaughter was visiting last week she finally finished her stuffed panda that she started making last fall.

Look at the intricate piecing on the top.  She did a really good job of this.  I told her what to do, but she did all the cutting and sewing herself.  And fabric choices.

And here is the piece my friend Donna was working on at our sewing get together the weekend before last.  She hadn't finished the circle that day, but did so last week.  This is from a class that Donna and I took with Canadian quilt instructor, Elaine Quehl, last spring.




That's all she wrote for this post.  I hope you are having a wonderful week.

Janet