A bit of sewing this week…

Firstly…Brenda from Oshawa… you have been so sweet commenting regularly on my posts.  I love to respond to comments and try to do so all the time, because hey – when I leave a comment on someone’s post I love to get a response.  But Brenda you always come up as a no-reply blogger.  Please check out this link to see how to rectify that.

I have managed to get a little bit done last weekend and this so I think I’ll do a mid-month report (well mid-month plus three)…

We’ve had very mild weather and I’ve been out doing a lot of snowshoeing and skiing, but despite that, and being busy at work, I have managed to sew.  First here is our 1.5 hour ski trek today.  Grey out, but warm. We let the men break the trail   Had a little fire and tea/rum break and then the women headed home while the men went off to check out another trail.

Last weekend I finished my January – February 6 inch blocks.  Terry wanted any block in black, white and one other colour.  This block is from the 100 Quilt Blocks magazine Volume 3 and was designed by Leslee Price.  It is a lovely block but I would definitely change some things if I were to make it again.

And I also finished my January - February Adventure block.  Samantha wanted a Saw Blades block in bold and dark colours.  I think this qualifies.

 

And this weekend I completed my Bee Balm bee blocks for Liz in Australia.  She sent us charm squares from the Mama Said Sew line and asked for this really quick and easy block from Jera at Quilting in the Rain.com.  The tutorial is found at Moda Bakeshop.

And since I have been motoring along on my swaps I allowed myself some time to work on the baby quilt.  Here it is with the borders all added and sandwiched up ready to quilt. 

I also made some progress on the cardinal at the class last Monday, but I’m not ready to show it off yet. 

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend!

Janet

BLOG HOP PARTY WITH GIVEAWAYS

The giveaway is now closed.  Thanks for entering.

My it’s been a long time….. but I have been busy.  With what?  Well….
I finished up my additions to blocks for the Modern Mini Mystery Round Robin and for the Quilt U Be Mine Round Robin and sent them on their way.  I can’t show them to you but them involved some of this….

I created these two blocks for Julie in the 6 Inch Block Swap.  She wanted grey, orange and white. 

I finished the binding on this quilt.  A nice tumble in the washer and it will be ready for gifting.  It is for my ex-boss who retired at the beginning of November.

And I decide to play along with Bonnie Hunter for her latest mystery quilt “Easy Street”.  She is already on to step three but I’m still working on step one. 

Today I made some shortbread cookies.  DH has decided that we should stop eating wheat after reading the Wheat Belly book and I’m willing to try it out because I think wheat is largely the culprit behind my reflux problem.  These shortbreads are made with rice flour and are quite delicious.  The recipe came from Andra Banting’s blog The Brighter Side of Gluten Free.  I’m going to try a wheat free Christmas cake as well.  The fruit is soaking in the whiskey as we speak.

And we had visitors today.  They arrived around 1 p.m., ate a bunch of fireweed and willow sticks then proceeded to bed down behind our sauna.  They didn’t leave until around 9 p.m.  DD # 3 was visiting with her two dogs so they and Zeke had to stay in the house most of the day.  And yes, she was eating sunflower seeds out of my bird feeder! 
Someone had told me that there was a rumour one of the calves had been killed by wolves, but they were both with her.

And now for the giveaway.  Quilting Gallery is having their yearly blog hop party with giveaways.  This year they celebrate their 5th anniversary!   I am giving away one yard of this fabric.  The blocks are 3 inches square and repeat every fourth square each direction.  It is very cute.

The giveaway is open to anyone in the world.  It will close on December 16th at 1 a.m. PST and I will draw the winner sometime later that day. 
1.  Leave me a comment suggesting a book I should read.  I like mystery, true life adventure, historical novels, biography, older fiction and any new fiction that doesn’t just follow a formula plot.
2. Followers can leave a second comment for a second entry.
Edited to add – I have received three anonymous spam so far.  So, sorry for those of you that don’t have an id,  but I’ve removed anonymous commenting.  Join Google and you can comment with your id….
I do like to try and answer any comments on my blog, but I still haven’t finished answering the comments from the last giveaway, so please forgive me if you don’t hear back from me.  I really appreciate you visiting.
And please check out the other participants in the blog hop at Quilting Gallery.
Janet

Sew Sisters Giveaway Winner, Sundogs and I’m Sewing Again

Thanks for all the comments on my Blogathon Canada post and your entries for the Sew Sisters Quilt Shop giveaway. 

Sorry for not getting the winner posted before now.  I was at a course on Non-Violent Communication.  It feels a little cult-like to me (peace will be created in the world one person at a time through this method), but I feel that it might serve me in finding peace for myself – a very interesting weekend.  Check it out here if you’re interested in finding out more.

And on to sundogs…. lots of people asked me about sundogs.  Here’s what Wikipedia says:

Sundogs may appear as a colored patch of light to the left or right of the sun, 22° distant and at the same distance above the horizon as the sun, and in ice halos. They can be seen anywhere in the world during any season, but they are not always obvious or bright. Sundogs are best seen and are most conspicuous when the sun is low. (Go to the link to check out more.)

I guess it is the sun low in the sky and the moisture in the air because of cold temperatures and open water that makes them common in the Yukon.  There are some fantastic pictures on the web – but here is one more of my humble pictures.

I have finally done some sewing – the first since returning home from my trip.  My six inch hexies for October/November that are overdue to be sent to Robyn.  She wanted a mixed block in any colours with a touch of blue.  They will be in the mail tomorrow.

And the winner is…. 

I wrote out 214 slips with names on them (there were five which were “third” comments from individuals), cut them up and folded them….

DH mixed them up in the bowl, then pulled out a slip…

And the winner is…. 

Amy wrote “Hello - nice to 'meet' you! I've never been to the Yukon and would love to go one day. I grew up in Ontario :) Fabulous giveaway - thanks for the chance!!!”

Congratulations Amy.  I’ll send you an e-mail.

Janet

Friday Night Sew In Report ??

I have been so busy the last while that I am sure I haven’t posted for forever… and I’m a couple of days late with my FNSI report.  The weather has been glorious here; the best it has been all summer.

Work is crazy busy, the garden wants to be harvested, I have been watching my grandkids a bit with sil being away and dd working night shifts at the hospital.  Today I:

- made chicken soup

- put on a 5 lb crockpot of sauerkraut to do its thing

- canned 11 litres of maple syrup which came in a big jug.  Canning will help keep it from growing mould

- did laundry, three rounds of dishes, tons of paperwork – paying bills and the like, walked the dog, picked some herbs from my greenhouse and took them to a neighbour, visited with two friends this morning

- and then went to a house concert this evening with another friend.  Two women playing and singing sweet Appalachian style bluegrass and folk music. 

I am playing catch-up with sewing obligations.  For FNSI I made the 2 sets of blocks for the 6 inch block swap that I owed for August.  Both of my partners asked for “mixed blocks”, one in pinks, beige and maroon” and the other in “any colours”.  So I made them both the same two blocks.  I think they are all kind of cool.

I had already received my blocks from my partners…. these pretty ones from Kerry in Australia…

And these lovelies from Lorraine in New Zealand.  I have no idea what kind of bird is on the card.  If anyone else knows, please tell me…

I also received some other goodies this week.  The lovely Maria offered to send me some postage stamp blocks and this package full of fun and flirty blocks arrived…along with a card with more birds I don’t know the names of…

And my friend Ida and I did a swap for some postage stamp blocks and I got more fun and flirty numbers from her…

And two giveaway wins this week… Elaine sent me four fat quarters of grunge fabric in colours I would probably never think to buy.  I love them!

And Frances sent me this cross stitch pillow kit, with the pattern stamped fabric and all the thread.  This will be a great take-along when hubby and I go travelling next month. 

There was a deer grazing in the yard yesterday and a bear came through today, but I got no decent photos.  I’m off to a quilt retreat with my friend Dahn on Wednesday evening – the retreat is from Thursday to Sunday. Tuesday night I’ll be staying in Whitehorse with my grandchildren.  So that means I have to get packed and ready to go tomorrow…. YIKES!

Janet

July, July

Our summer has finally arrived and so have the scheduled summer events and company.  First DD # 2 came home from Newfoundland for a one week visit. 

Then DD # 2, DH, two grandkids and I went to Edmonton for a family reunion.  All my siblings were there; my sister from Australia with her hubby and two grown children, my sister from New Brunswick and my brother and his wife from Seattle.  We were lucky enough to see approximately thirty-five of our relatives from both sides of the family.  And the weather was stupendous!  Sunny and 28 to 33 degrees C.  We were on the 31st floor of a downtown hotel.

 

We swam everyday, attended a street festival and a farmer’s market, visited Muttart Gardens, had lunch with both sides of the family and got to introduce our 86 year old aunt to our 92 year old aunt and spent an afternoon at the “official” reunion in the park eating lots of food and playing croquet, Boccia, volleyball and chatting.  I didn’t make it to any quilt shops.

Then one of my dearest friends sent me an e-mail and said she was coming from Toronto for a visit.  Our summer arrived just in time for her visit.  She was here for four days and we had a busy and active time.  We spent two days sailing, attended a BBQ with about thirty friends, walked in the desert….

 

made many things rhubarb – rhubarb and strawberry pie, rhubarb coffee cake, rhubarb jam, rhubarb juice, oh and blueberry muffins.  We had a cookout and hike on one of the mountains….

then a day long visit with one friend and dinner with another couple.  All kinds of people that never make it out from Whitehorse showed up that weekend!

I’m back at work for three days, then we have another couple of friends arriving on Saturday for a four day visit.  Then we are hopefully off on a five day sailing trip with some other friends. 

Needless to say I haven’t got a lot of sewing done recently.  I did make these hexie flowers for my June swap partner…

And these blocks for the July New Bee recipient… 

And these blocks for my July six inch block swap partner.

Sometime in the next couple of days I need to finish my hexie flowers for my July swap partner and my round on the Mystery Round Robin block for this month. 

But since I’m not going to get much other sewing done in the next few weeks I’m going to tackle another creative project.  I’m going to do a seven day picture an-hour-project.  I’ll start this week with tomorrow,Thursday, then do Friday next week, and so on.  I haven’t figured much else out about my rules for myself but I’m sure I’ll make up a few.

See you tomorrow with my photo an hour post!

Janet

An update on swap items

Since the two swap parcels have arrived at their homes I can show you what I made.  The first one was for the scissor keeper swap from last fall.  I got behind on this swap and my partner foolishly said “whenever you have time”.  Well I finally had to just say to myself “NOW” as there was always something else urgent that needed to be done.  Here is the scissor keeper I made for Kerry-Ann who lives in Texas.  You can see my recent sewing influence at work here.  My flower was inspired by Ann Weber's Flower Patch block in the latest Quiltmaker’s 100 Blocks magazine.

The other one was the Friends with Benefits swap.  I received this lovely sewing folder from Lyn in New Zealand.  What gorgeous embroidery!

And here’s what it looks like on the inside.

Lyn also sent a copy of New Zealand’s only quilt magazine.  Pretty quilt on the cover!

I sent Lyn a blue and yellow friendship sampler made in this quilt-along from Joanne at Thread Head.  Lyn had answered my Tag questions from this post so I knew that one day she wanted to make a quilt in blue and yellow, which are the colours of her province in New Zealand.  I also knew that her first attempt at quilting was a sampler quilt that she never finished.  So voila…

 

The finished size of this is about 11” by 7”.  It was challenging to make the tiny blocks and be precise.  I used Joanne’s suggestion to use YLI silk thread for the quilting and I really liked how it looks. 

I forgot in the last post to show all the “extras” that Leslie sent along with my name hanging.  Look at the lovely batiks and a whole lot of fat quarters of pirate fabrics plus a little strip of fireman fabric which I’m already using!

I did my first sewing today for the last few weeks.  I made two blocks for the 6 inch swap for May-June today and got them in the mail.  I am forcing myself to do some sewing as my doctor said I need to “make” myself do things.    My swap partner wanted any star blocks in blue and white.

Janet

Canada Day, Canada Post

Well I thought I would have nothing to blog about today, but I was wrong. It was pouring rain here this morning and I managed to get myself focused and did some sewing. I had started a Canada Day postcard for my sister last night but it turned into more of a fall theme so I started again with my other idea today. And this is how it turned out. I finished it about 4:30 - just in time to get down to the post office and mail it today. It won't go anywhere until Friday as tomorrow is Canada Day, Hey!

And imagine my surprise when I got there and found a little parcel for me. I had forgotten all about this win from Heather's http://alamodefabric.blogspot.com/ birthday month giveaway. My prize was created by Nova of a cuppa and a catch up... http://acardaday.wordpress.com/ and it is delightful. A little pincushion and matching coasters. The pincushion is too cute! Thanks Nova.

Now I'm sure Nova isn't reading this but the protocol seems to be that one thanks people who send one things on the blog. And someone may read it in time. You notice I'm not too worried about my sister seeing her postcard? Hee, hee. I won't tell her I have a blog until she gets it.

And I cannot figure out how to get the pictures where I want them - but I think people will be able to figure out which is which.

Other news in town today:

Game branch are looking for one or two abandoned cubs and a wounded bear. This is all conjecture and rumour of course and I haven't seen a bear around here yet this summer.

A woman is missing in her small boat on the lakes. Pray for her - it's cold and the lakes are treacherous.

Janet