Xmas Wrapping Paper

Finally got this quilt finished as it was being used for a demo at my night guild September meeting.  

Ridley (who got out of his harness) sauntered by to check out the quilt.

Then he was off to check out the hill outback.  Hubby and I will not even try to catch him now as he is just too fast and we can't afford to hurt ourselves in the process.  He came home about an hour later.

Quilt Details:

Source:  A photo was shown on Pinterest and I changed the format a bit and came up with this version.  No idea who the original owner is of this pattern.

Block Size:  3" x 6" finished.  Sashings are 1" finished.

Quilt Size:  51-1/4" x 77" (top size before quilting, washing and drying:  52-3/4" x 79-1/4")

All kinds of Xmas fabrics were used and the quilt looks like a bunch of samples of Xmas wrapping paper.  I love it!  I can see using this pattern for I Spy, autumn fabrics, Kaffe fabric, Tula Pink fabrics, plaids and stripes and the list goes on.  A great pattern for using up larger pieces of fabric from my stash.  This quilt was easy to assemble and my goal was just get it done to be used by someone.

Machine quilted by:  Kathie Wareham using "Let it Snow" quilting design.

Batting:  80/20 Hobbs

Cherish your day, cherish your freedom, cherish your life and cherish your country.  My country will always be CANADA.  Elbows up, Canada!

BTW .... I'm seeing more and more Canadian products on our grocery shelves lately.  What a nice change.  Again, Elbows Up, Canada!  Found out that the U.S Ambassador to Canada isn't happy about us saying "Elbows Up".   He is very disappointed.  Oh well, too bad, so sad .... put your big boy briefs on and deal with it because it ain't going away.  Oh, and in case y'all haven't figured it out yet, the only country in the world that is paying for the tariffs on imported goods imposed by the Orange Clown is ..... the U.S.A.  Full stop.  Only the U.S.A.  Let that sink in.  Have a good day.

On a Whim

So far, this month has been a bust for quilting.  Life has been busy and I'm tired by the time evening rolls along.  Now that it is mid-month .... I had better get my butt into gear and get something done!

I did pull out my donation box looking to see what was in there that could be used.  These two blocks were pulled out and I wondered what could be done with them.  There were other blocks but .... blah .... they just didn't work.  So, these blocks stayed and then I started to play.

At night guild, we were shown a new block to do and once instructions were sent to me, viola, here is the block.  Except, I did a boo-boo and didn't quite make the block correctly.  I'm ok with my mistake and all four blocks will stay as is.  No, Jack the Ripper is not coming out.

Then, in the box was a strip of these pinwheels and they got ripped out and used.  Four churn dash blocks got made.  The blocks are starting to add up and fill in spaces.

Then another four blocks of this one.

Below is what my top is looking like so far.  There is still one more block to do and I'm searching for a pattern.  I'm thinking of doing the potholder method to quilt this top.  I've been wanting to experiment with this method for some time now and think this will be perfect.  If it doesn't come out the way I envision, it will be a utility quilt for the cottage.  If it looks nice, then it will be up for donation.

Last week, my sister and her two daughters and I had a marvellous evening out dining in a dome outside on the restaurant patio!  We were told to dress warmly and in layers.  The dome was heated but we were provided with blankets to wrap around our feet and legs.  The temps was just above freezing and we just sat back, drank and enjoyed the food and company.  We had a blast!  My sister's hubby did the driving of us back and forth so that we could drink and not worry about who would be the DD.  Below, is my sister (on the left) and I.  There is a photo somewhere of the four of us, but I just couldn't find it in my files or phone.   

The month of January and half of February were like spring.  No snow and daytime temps were above freezing.  The snow was melting.  Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear.  Then, we had a dump of 6" of snow yesterday.  So, so happy to see that for this summer and forest fire season.

Two deer came around this morning and nibbled on our euonymus plant.  We think it is the same deer that decimated it last winter and remembered and came back again.  No problem, the leaves will grow back in the spring as it did last spring.  No photo of the deer, just their footprints in the snow.  Hubby woke me up at 6:15 a.m. this morning to show me the deer.  After admiring the deer, I crawled back into bed.  We were busy later shovelling the snow.

From time to time, I receive emails from followers who have been reading my blog for many years now.  They just want to say how much they enjoy my blog and how much they have been inspired.  Some, I can reply back to but most are no-reply addresses.  Thank you, kind readers.  I'm getting close to 1.3 million views, so I know that I have reached out to many quilters over the years.

Yesterday, I received an email from a gentleman whose wife has terminal cancer.  She is an avid reader of my blog and he reached out to me to tell me.  So, if you are reading this and you are the wife of Jason Burnside, 'hello' and thank you for reading my blog.  I hope that you also have been inspired by something on my blog over the years and have enjoyed reading about and seeing my quilts.

So far, I have made over 200 quilts ..... from NICU blankets, to runners, place mats, lap size to queen size quilts.  You, dear readers, have been part of the reason for me making so many items.  You have kept me motivated to show something on my blog and the results are there for me to see.  Many of the quilts have been kept for hubby and I ..... but quite a number of quilts have been gifted or donated and I'm moving into more of the donation period now.

Next week, I will have been blogging for 17 years.    As long as my eyes and my hands work and I'm alive, then I will be blogging for many more years.  Heck, I have the stash to keep me busy!  LOL

Cherish your day, cherish your life!

Collection for a Cause - Friendship

I've been working on this UFO whenever I had a moment to just sit and sew.  Slowly, but surely, it is starting to come together.

Cornerstone fabric was selected, but it needed something.

Circles in the cornerstones!  Yes, that did the trick and so I started to applique the circles onto the fabric.

You can see that I did a mish mash of sashings and I love the look!

My original plan was to use white in the side setting triangles, but found this red printed fabric that suited better.  Major problem .... the beige cornerstones looked blah against the printed fabric.  So, all the cornerstones were pulled .... any circles that were appliqued were ripped out and white fabric was used instead of the beige.  Much, much better.  The fabric looks pink, but is a red print.

I'm pretty close to finishing the center of this top.  Just one more section needs to be sewn onto the top and bottom sections and then borders can be added and I will be happy to call this UFO done.

The stars aligned in my favour this week and ..... viola ..... we have a completed top!  Backing is ready.  Just need batting and I will probably be using scraps that will get frankenpieced.  This UFO is done.

Binding was sewn onto my log cabin quilt.

Sewing down the binding happened and before I knew it, 1-1/2 sides were done.  I'll putter away at the remaining sides and finish it before year end.

I've been noticing that my hubby has been having difficulty eating his dinner.  We like to watch recorded t.v. programs and sit in our comfy chairs while eating.  So, I got handy in the garage and made him a tray that would sit onto the arms of his chair and sit higher so that he can eat better.  His food now doesn't end up on the floor from his shaking hands.  I've been doing more and more work that my hubby would normally take on and I'm becoming quite handy with tools ..... which is quite fun to work with!  LOL  When I told my sister what I made, she laughed because she never knows what I will end of making these days.

Yesterday, a friend sent us this photo that she had taken of us just before we moved from Toronto to North Bay.  How much we both have changed in 11 yrs.; especially my hubby.

Life is getting busy right now.  I'll be back in the new year with a recap of all that got accomplished this year.

Whatever you celebrate, happy holidays and a Happy New Year.

Cherish your day, cherish your life!

Hexie Quilt-a-long and 46th wedding anniversary.

Much, much progress has been made on this project .... because ....  that is the only thing I'm working on right now, except for bindings!  I'm obsessed with these hexies!

After looking at this photo, I realized that most of the hexies have been turned around ... so great progress has been made.   Since this quilt will be reversible, I want the back to look interesting too and colour placement is crucial.  You can probably see some triangle scraps sitting on top of some hexies.  Those are the back colours that will be used of which some are off on the side waiting their turn to be used.

A lot of batting pieces have been used up in the process, of which I'm totally pleased about and a lot of charms as well.  My charm bin is reducing, but there are a few more quilts that can be made using them up.

The program that hubby is on for Parkinson's is working for him.  He can now get up off the floor or ground when he falls.  Gardening is now better for him.  He can pull weeds without falling over while on his knees.   He still has issues with walking, but there are still two more weeks to get into a good pattern for that.  There has been improvement, but more to come.  The important thing is to keep up the work after the program ends.  Heck, the program has been good for me too.  I participate in the warm up exercises and then sit back and observe for the rest of the session.  Next up that I need to obtain is a doctor referral for a speech therapist and another for dizziness.  He is having great difficulty speaking some days and the dizziness is an ongoing situation for a number of years now.  He has had an MRI showing nothing to cause it.  Dizziness is part of Parkinson's, so that could be the cause.

Cottage season is now here.  My sister and I took a run out with a load of supplies.  A beaver has been busy chopping down a tree.  I didn't take any photos but will next time out there.  We did have some flooding in our area and our lake was up about 4-5 feet above normal.  We can tell by the debris left on the shore how high it rose up.

Today is Mother's Day as well as our 46th wedding anniversary.   I've never spoken of this to too many people as I didn't and don't want sympathy.   I'm writing this for posterity for my descendants to know the story as this post will be published into a blog book as well as recorded on the family tree info.  This is a happy/bittersweet day for us.  We were married in 1977 at 2:00 p.m.  My Day died from a massive heart attack on the way to the reception.  He was gone around 4:00 p.m.  My brother's girlfriend had a baby girl around 6:00 p.m.   To compound the issue, my Dad's mother passed away on the same day in 1969.  A day full of joy and sorrow.

I remember telling my parents our plans and they looked at each other when they found out the date.  I wish they had said something at the time as the date could have been changed for another day.  After the funeral, my Mom asked me why that date was chosen and I told her that was the only time available for the church as well as venue.   Would it have changed the outcome?  Probably not.  It is what it is and life goes on.   I was 16 at the time my Grandmother passed away and I didn't keep track of important dates back then.  I wish I had.

In hindsight, our wedding was small with only immediate families on both sides.  Our parents were our witnesses to our wedding and what an honour to have their signatures on our wedding certificate.  A friend of my Mom's was going to write up about our wedding in our local paper because this is how weddings were done before the invention of the current wedding parties.  

So, now you all know.

Cherish your day, cherish your life!

P.S. Comments have been turned off for this post.

Dilly Flowers

After a couple of weeks of appliqueing, my Dilly Flowers is a top!

So happy to have this done!  I've been busy frankenpiecing batting pieces for this top.  This is a lap size top, so pulling batting pieces for this is much easier than for a full size top.   My hubby asked why not use the roll of batting instead?  Smaller pieces just need to be used up first; otherwise, things will get out of control!  You all know how that is, don't you?  LOL

I just want to bring to your attention that the vine design is not mine.  It came from Shutterstock.com but changed it up to my liking by using different leaves and adding in dots.

Next up is this project.  This ufo was a guild challenge from a number of years ago.  Imagine my surprise to find nine blocks done instead of just six blocks!  These will become a wall hanging .... so not too much work involved.

This week, three deer came by for a visit looking for whatever they could munch on.  These two came and moved on rather quickly.  Seems like they couldn't find much to eat.

This smaller deer was busy tearing up something right at the roots.  I'm thinking that was a hosta and we all know how only a bit of that root will spring forth a plant.  So, not too worried.

Days later, replace that sunshine for snow .... we are having a snowstorm.  March is trying its' best to go out like a lion!

While we are dealing with snow, I'm also dealing with a case of shingles.  Very painful.  I could have sworn that my doctor gave me a needle for shingles.  Apparently not!

Cherish your day, cherish your life!

Deer and Quilty Stuff

One morning last week, I looked outside the kitchen patio door and saw something dark at the top of our hill.  Did someone throw out a Xmas tree or a garbage bag or was it a person?  What was it?

Upstairs to my bedroom and looking out the window, I got a better look .... but I still couldn't make out what it was.

Zoomed in for a closer look.  Nope, still can't see what it is.  Lordy, it is big .... was it a bear?  No, wrong colour as the bears here are black and this is kind of brownish.

Suddenly, the thing had ears ..... it was a deer and it had been sleeping!  To the left in the bushes, there was a bit of movement and it was another deer but you can't see it in the photos.

Later, the two deer got up and moved off into the bushes.  They came back a few days later and munched on our shrubs and leftover titbits of leaves that were not clipped off in the fall.  We've had a bit more snow since taking the photo and the temps are a bit cooler (-7C).  Still, this is not our normal winter as we should be around -30C now with lots more snow.  

Now, onto quilty stuff.  There were a number of quilts that needed to be stored away.  A few sleeves were made for the foam pool noodles and quilts were rolled up and stored.  A shelf in my studio was cleared off and taken out.  It has now become the perfect place for quilt storage.  This area will be shown later as there is some painting that needs to happen first.

The sleeves on the back of my quilts are made larger and the roller fits perfectly into the sleeve and then the rolling of the quilt starts.  

Here it is ..... all rolled up, tied and ready for vertical storage.

I've been busy ordering more books of my blog.  Depending on the number of posts per year, some books have just one year of posts, while other books have two years of posts.  I use Blog2Print and take advantage of their sales.  The best sale is one that offers 50% off which happens a couple times a year.

I'm happy to see the years in book form.  So is my husband and my family.  These are things that they won't have to worry about when I'm gone or unable to function.  Instructions have been left so that if there are more books to be made, they can replicate the format of what was done in the past.

Cherish your day, cherish your life!

Another top done!

It feels good to get this top done and ready to bring to the LAer in the new year.

This top went together rather quickly which is so surprising to me.  What I try to do is assemble pieces to make at least one block before going to bed.  In the morning, those pieces are ready to be sewn together.  This way, it feels that something is getting accomplished and it motivates me to get more ready for the next day.  It was a good evening when five to ten blocks got ready for the morning.  This top came mostly from scraps and I had to dip into my stash just to get a nice variety of fabrics towards the end.  Win-win!

I've been doing this also for borders and binding and it seems to be working ..... because I got this top done too!  Talk about magical!  This project has been on the go since .... well ..... many, many ages ago!

Then, I plugged away at some knitting and this hat got done!  You can't really see, but that is an elephant head on top of the hat.  So cute!

The project I'm working on now is this old ufo.  Will it get done before the new year?  We'll see.  I'm not really thrilled with the fabrics and am seriously thinking that this will turn out to be UGLY and I don't do UGLY!  LOL

With all the talk of that major storm ..... we got snow, but not a whole lot but it is still coming down.  This evening, I put a hot pot of soup outside (just outside our kitchen patio doors) on top of the snow to cool down and I could hear what sounded like freezing drizzle hitting the top of the snow.   In case you wonder, I do this quite often in the winter because the hot pot (with cover on) and whatever is inside cools down quite quickly.   I do this only if the temperature hovers around zero or way below zero .... you know, food safety.

Wishing all who celebrate Xmas and other celebrations, to have a safe and happy time.  

Cherish your day, cherish your life!

November Binding Challenge

The year is running out .... just one more monthly binding challenge for this year.

No-blog Mary and I met our November challenge.

Mary did two small quilts.  She took photos of one but the second one was gifted before she remembered to take a photo.  Mary did say that Xmas gifts will be very easy this year .... a number of her finished quilts, runners, etc. will be gifted.  A win-win, I would say!!

My two quilts got done plus a third one.  Wow, bonus!!!!  Posts will be coming for these two quilts.

In the process, I have a new favourite binding fabric which is perfect for kiddie quilts and my more colourful quilts.  This is the second quilt that I've used it on and it will be used many times again before it runs out.  Originally, this fabric was purchased to make a jacket, but that idea got tossed and since there are a few metres around, binding to the rescue!

  

Now, the third quilt .... it is not mine.  I picked up this top from guild quite a few years ago and had it quilted for me.  Since there are a few skeleton fabrics in the quilt, it was hard to pick a charity to give it to.  It has a gorgeous horse fabric but the skeletons are associated with death, it was not suitable as a QOV (I did ask) .... nor for a cancer patient ..... nor for someone in hospice.  So, instead, it (along with the quilt in my last post) will be going to a women's shelter in a nearby town.  Halloween was recent and a child would think of Halloween and enjoy the quilt.  It is not a big quilt but perfect for a child.

The beige top and bottom borders were added to make it longer.

Fabrics have been pulled to make pillowcases to go along with the two quilts I'm donating.  The pillowcases will be stuffed with kiddie things to do.

While finishing up these quilts, I happened to find a bag that had a half finished knitted hat in it.  Well, perfect to finish and hand over along with the quilts.  Viola .... that owl is so cute, eh!   I have another hat kit with an elephant, but that one will be knitted up and given to my great nephew for Xmas.

A cold virus came by and caught me and three weeks later, I'm still coughing a bit.  So, for three weeks, binding happened and also some painting of wooden ornaments.  They were fun to do and kept me entertained.

Such a good way to end the month of November!

Cherish your day, cherish your life!

Tick off another UFO!

This UFO only needed two border blocks and it could have been done ages ago.  Oh well, it is done now and this top and another are with my favourite LAer, Kathy.

Borders are starting to go onto my Churn Dash quilt, but no photos of that yet.

Early this week, my sister sent this photo of these four deer eating her crab apples.  Awesome photo!

This is what we woke up to this morning ...... it will be gone by the weekend as the daytime temps will be in the mid-teens .... but this is just a wee taste of what will come later next month.  What makes these photos so interesting is the snow on the leaves!  Usually, when we get our first snow, the leaves are off and all we see are bare trees and it looks like Xmas wonderland.  You can tell that this snow is early for us this time.

I think this is a good morning to have some Bailey's in our coffee ....

Cherish your day, cherish your life!