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!

Displaying quilts

You all know how much I love to display my quilts and there are a couple of cabinets to hold them.  You have seen them before, but here they are again.  These are old photos and the cabinets were not completely full when these photos were taken.  Fast forward to now and there are too many quilts and I'm running out of storage space .... again.  No, I'm not giving away or selling any of my quilts (which my family would love me to do).  I love to change out my quilts every month and now have quilts to coordinate with the seasons.  Oh yes, I do love my quilts!

They are also rolled up in a huge wicker basket and a big plastic bin.  There is also a quilt ladder that holds quilts.  Whatever is needed does the trick.

To store quilts in a basket or bin, I use pool noodles rolled up in the centre of a quilt and ties help to hold them in shape.  The only problem is when the quilts are extra long/high.  The pool noodles just can't keep them up straight and they kind of flop over a bit.  

How to solve that issue?

Enter garden stakes.  Yep, garden stakes.  The bamboo or metal kind.  They are both strong and perfect size for slipping inside a pool noodle.  Buy them while garden season is here because once they are gone, they are gone until next season.

The green stake you see below slips into the hole in the centre of the pool noodle.  The white sleeve covers the noodle and the quilt is then rolled around the noodle.  

Edit:  Depending on the length of my quilt, I will tape two stakes (unless I can buy a very long stake) end to end and then slip inside a noodle and a half noodle to ensure a proper length.  The fabric sleeve holds everything together as the sleeve is made for a tight fit (it is a bit of struggle to get the sleeve onto the noodle, but it works).

Why a fabric sleeve?  It helps protect the quilt backing from whatever chemicals are in the noodle.  This advice I got from a quilt appraiser.

Fabric selvedge strips are good for tying up the roll.  

Here is my basket of rolled up quilts.  This basket will hold up to 10 quilts.  A piece of fabric is used to cover the sides and bottom of the basket so that no resin from the wood will transfer and eat into the bottom and sides of my quilts.  Got to protect my lovelies!

A funny story .... I was at the $ store and was buying more stakes.  A lady passed by me at the checkout and wanted to know what I was going to use the stakes for?  There was no way I was going to tell her exactly what my intention was because that would have involved quite a long discussion, so a quick answer was to stake up plants in the garden.   She was happy with my answer and away she went.   If only she knew!  LOL 

So, this solution works for now ..... until the next overflow of quilts and then something else will come to light.  Sigh .... too many quilts but I'm such a happy camper!  LOL

Cherish your day, cherish your life!    

Binding away!

Yesterday, I got "My Corona Flowers" back from my lovely LAer.  Last night, binding got started until my eyes were just too tired to sew anymore.  Today, the rest of the binding is now on.  Nights are starting to cool so sewing binding is what I will be doing soon.

So ...... how many more quilts need binding?  See the top shelf on my quilt cabinet?  There are six quilts that need binding!  Better get cracking and get them moving closer to the finish stage.  Every time I look at my cabinet, I start to drool.  Do you blame me?  LOL

Binding, binding, binding .....

Cherish your day, cherish your life!

It has been a while ....

I forgot to post about what I've been up to lately.

This feline is keeping my hubby and I busy.  She is only a few years old and wants to play, play, play .... and then sleep the day away.

Anything and everything is a toy for her.  Ripping plastic bags .... why not!  Especially when those plastic bags hold a kit for a block.  Sure rip away and hopefully everything can be found afterwards when I need those small pieces of fabric!

Your block instructions can improve with a few holes in the paper ..... right?  Yep, rip away!

Plastic bags are fun and the bigger, the better!

Looking out the window at the passing world is interesting!

Squirrels in the backyard is keeping her attention!  She was a street rescue and has lived the last few years in high rise apartments or a basement apartment that don't look out onto street life.  Our home is perfect for that and is a novelty to her.

On the other hand, she is a great helper!  Sometimes!  LOL  Do you need any help holding this thing that I'm sitting on in place?  Actually, I do need some help, thank you, Revvy!

I was putting a sleeve onto this top.  More photos about this later.

What do you mean I have to move?  I want to stay right here, thank you!

Now, onto quilty stuff.  What in the world are these cylinder things?  Pool noodles with sleeves on them.  I brought in a wall hanging to be appraised at our quilt show in September and when the appraiser saw just the noodle, she told me to put a sleeve onto it to protect my hanging from any chemicals in the noodle.  So, that is what I've been busy doing.

See, quite a number of my larger wall hangings are rolled up around a sleeved noodle.  This way, they will not have those dreaded creases when it's their turn to be hung up.   

Soon, I can reveal my secret project.  Lots of photos have been taken during the process, so you can follow along as all is revealed.

Revvy is sleeping now and I can get some sewing done without her help.  Thank heavens for small mercies!  LOL

Have a great day!

Ribbons again and quilt storage!

Yep, it happened again.  Our Quilts by the Bay-North Bay (Ontario, Canada) had another quilt show and I won three ribbons for hand quilting in the Viewer's Choice section.

First is for my bed quilt.  This quilt is fading in places and it has a patch from when our Miss Hank cat tore a piece of the fabric.  Still, she is a beauty and viewer's thought she deserved first place.  Thank you!

Second is for my Kentucky Flowerpot wall hanging in the middle.

Third is for my Xmas yo-yo tree wall hanging.

It is time now to consider doing some more hand quilting as I have run out of quilts to enter for the next show in three years.  Got to keep that craft alive and show my work again.

Nothing was entered into the Judged section of the show ..... because I was a judge!  Never in the world did I ever think that is something that would happen in my life.  It was interesting to judge, but due to my mishap at the cottage, it was very difficult and painful for me to stand and bend.  Who knows if quilt judging is something that I will ever do again?   Tick that off my bucket list, although it was never on it!  🐱🐱

Quilt storage!  This cabinet is finally finished and now it stands back in the corner, but this time we can see it better.  Brown to white truly transformed this cabinet.  During the sanding process, it was discovered that the inside was just stained.  No varnish, no protective coating for my quilts.  So glad that was caught and now my quilts are protected from any wood resin.  Two coats of paint and three coats of Varethane. 

Autumn and fall colours are in full force up here in the great white north.  Next post will show my autumn quilts that are hanging in our home.

Have a great day!

Displaying my quilts

This cabinet finally got its' quilts for display!  I keep going into the bedroom off my studio and drool over my latest transformation.  I'm so happy with it and there is lots more space to hold many more quilts.  The top shelf holds my wall hangings that have been rolled up onto a pool noodle.  The bottom cabinet holds storage bins but will eventually hold quilts in there too.

The angel and doll were part of an exchange.  The angel is from Iceland and the doll is from Australia.

Waiting in the wings is another cabinet that has started the transformation.  In another week or so, depending on the weather, this cabinet too will display quilts.

Yep, happy summer days!

Have a great stitching day!

Wildflowers

Another quilt done .... yippee!!

My husband has been working hard on our terraced hill flower beds since we moved here seven years ago.  I drool over fabulous photos shown on blogs and on Pinterest and often wish that I had someplace nice too.  Well .... duh .... I do have a fabulous spot up the hill in our backyard now.

DH is holding the quilt.  Thanks Hon!

How about in the tree?  Oh yes!  I'm so glad that I persevered and put the applique in those setting triangle spaces.  The pattern did not have them, but the top just didn't look finished to me.

DH has often said that I should put a bigger quilt on this wall in our living room.  I always said 'no' too big would not look nice.  So, instead over the years only smaller wall hangings were hung there.  One day, I decided to take his advise and put up bigger quilts and they do look ok after all. 😻😻

Quilt Details:
Name of Quilt:  "Wildflowers"
Pattern Source:  "American Wildflowers" quilt by Audrey Hiers, McCall's Quilting Mar/Apr. 2015
Block size:  10"
Started:  March 2017
Top Finished:  July 2017
Quilt Finished:  August 2019
Quilt Size:  72" x 87" (top size before quilting, washing and drying:  73" x 89")
Batting:  Hobbs 80/20 cotton/polyester
Machine Quilted by:  Kat's Quilts

What else am I up to these days?  More spray painting.  This cabinet is about to get changed over to white.  A lot of sanding has been going on.  This is the time of year that is perfect to do these jobs and I'm taking advantage of the weather while I can.

There are other things that are being worked on, but that will be for another day.

Have a great day!

Where, oh where

I'm still binding those 5 of 7 quilts that came back to me last month.  In doing so, I got to thinking where, oh where are these going to go?  I'm running out of storage space.

There are still 22 tops that need to be quilted.  Plus 30ish projects on the go.  Some will be gifted, some donated, but most will be staying here.  Some forward thinking needed to be done.

So, where are my quilts stored right now?

As well as on three beds here and two at the cottage, two more quilts can go on this ladder.

My mini quilts are in a basket

This wall in my dining room always has two hanging; plus a few in the basket in the corner (you can just barely see the basket).

On the opposite side in the dining room, another one hangs there.

My display cabinet can hold another big one or two small ones.

 The foyer always has a quilt hanging as well as one quilt or two on the railing.

This quilt hides (very cleverly) a baby chair and all the odds and ends required for eating.  Once that baby chair is no longer required, it will be stored away and a pile of quilts will sit there instead.

In the family T.V. room, another quilt could be squeezed into this basket.

 This basket in the corner could hold one or two more quilts.

So .... that is it.  No more display space.

I've been trolling Kijiji for a cabinet of some sort.  Something sturdy is needed.  One was found.

Next step was to tell DH my plan.  He was sitting outside enjoying the moment.  I sat down beside him and one look at my face told him that I was up to something.  "What is going on?" he asked.  I let out a big sigh and told him we needed a bigger house.  LOL  We don't need a bigger one, this one is big as it is.   So, I told him of my plan and he agreed that we needed something else to store quilts in.

Out we went to look at the bookcase and it is sturdy.  Way too heavy for us to take home.  We needed help.  The Kijiji man offered to deliver the bookcase to us.  We didn't barter the price.  If he was willing to deliver, that was a great deal.  Later that afternoon, the bookcase arrived and soon after, it got spray painted and Varathaned.  One more sanding and a coat of Varathane and it is ready to be moved and ready for my quilts.

This bookcase is huge.  86" high, 16" deep and 42" wide.  This bookcase will hold many quilts.

Here is the bookcase with just a few quilts.  I figure that it could hold at least 32 (8 quilts per shelf) big queen size quilts plus more if the quilts are smaller.  The bookcase still needs another coat of Varethane and a good sanding to ensure there are no rough spots for my quilts to rub against.

Another quilt added .....

Yep, I'm happy now.

When I mentioned to Garage Girl Darlene about my new bookcase and how it will hold 32 big quilts, the topic lead to how many tops to be quilted and how many UFOs did I have.  I mentioned that all these items were on a computer file.

So ... how many finished tops waiting to be quilted by a LAer or by me?  There are 24 in total so far.

How many UFOs are there?  How about 38?  There are a number that have never been talked about on my blog.  One day there will be a story about them.

Oh dear God, we will need a bigger house!

Have a great day!