Oh the Weather Outside is Frightful

I mean…it’s a little frightful, but not much. The weather network is calling for up to 10 cm, but given that this is Southern Ontario in November, that seems unlikely. It was nice to wake up to white stuff on the rooftops though - particularly because I don’t have to go anywhere today!

Our tree is up, so that’s nice! It adds to the Christmas Spirit, which we needed since we’ve all been down with colds for the past 10 days - UGH. 

The process

The end result

I got some Christmas baking started too - this is everyone’s favourite Brown Sugar Skor Shortbread and there are 174 of them! My youngest son actually prefers the mini chocolate chip ones that I make, so those are next on my list. 

This year, I’m heading back to a craft fair! You’ll find me at Fair December on December 3rd and 4th. It’s being held at Cawthra Park Secondary School in Mississauga. I haven’t done a craft fair in YEARS, so I’m both excited and nervous. 

I’ve been doing a lot of Christmas crafting for the fair, so that has been fun! Check out some of what I’m working on:

Folded Fabric Star

Wristlet/Keyfob

I’m also in the process of hand binding a one of a kind table topper that will be available for purchase at the show…if I don’t decide to keep it myself!

Quilted and ready for binding!

The hand binding part is my favourite!

What’s YOUR favourite part of the holidays?

It's March - New Block!

 I work in retail (Starbucks to be precise), so my weekends aren't regular "weekends". I have two days off in a row, but they just happen to be Friday and Saturday. Sherri over at A Quilting Life releases the blocks for her 2021 quilt along on the first Thursday of each month, so I was very excited to get up today and get to work!

Here's the fabrics I chose for today's twist on an Ohio Star:

Sherri recommended cutting the squares to create the QST a little on the larger side. I cut mine even larger because I ALWAYS mess those up! Something about creating a seam on the bias throws me for a loop. Fortunately, I know this about myself so wasting a bit of extra fabric from the start seems less offensive than having to recut and start the blocks all over again!

The first step today was to complete the corner pieces by using the stitch and flip method to add and extra touch of colour to the corners of the background squares. I use the off-cuts to make four little 2" HST. I'm not sure what I'll use them for, but they sure are cute!

The next step was to create the QST around the centre square:

I did make them extra large and trimmed them down - the result was great! Here's the whole block before assembly:

I stitched all the pieces together and got this:

There's a couple of puckers, but my points are all lined up! And I figure that by the time it's quilted and washed, no one will even be able to see those puckers. I just love the way this block turned out!

What are you working on this week?

Keep your machine oiled and your needles sharp!

Meanwhile...

While I'm waiting for the next instalment of the mystery quilt over at A Quilting Life, I thought I'd check out what was going on over at All People Quilt. They've got a quilt along that just started, so I popped out and purchased the magazine so I could get started!

I ordered some fabric from Lindley General Store that I really liked, but what I REALLY wanted to use was this Print Shop Layer Cake from Sweetwater for Moda Fabrics. When I went looking for it though, I couldn't find it - so sad! I was so happy when I finally found it later this week and will surely use the new fabric I ordered for another project.

Now **technically** we're only on week one which is the week we're supposed to gather fabric. Yep! Did that...and then I started cutting - EARLY!

I thought I was being clever with my cutting and somehow convinced myself I could get enough fabric from one 10" square to make two blocks - OOPS! Not so much! I had to rethink my plan and work to get just one block out of each piece. Fortunately, as I need 30 blocks, there will be more than enough in my layer cake to finish the quilt top.

And once I had done some cutting, I just couldn't help myself and had to assemble a block! And then I just kept going!! And between yesterday and today, I made these:

Seven blocks down and 23 to go! I'm having so much fun! I've also cut the sashing and corner stones, so those are ready to go too!

What's on your sewing table?

Keep your machine oiled and your needles sharp!

HST as far as the eye can see!

I pull no punches when it comes to HST! They are my least favourite part about quilting...especially when I need to cram FORTY-EIGHT of them into a 12" block! As HST are generally a basic part of quilting, I tolerate them as best I can. Once they're all together, they look FABULOUS! When I knit, I'm not a fan of purl stitches, but the end result when they are on either side of a complex cable stitch is SPECTACULAR!!

As I was doing the HST, I noticed my bobbin getting low - quilter's nightmare!

I messaged my friend Joyce and we were stressed out together - LOL! We're both knitters too and we very often play yarn chicken - hoping we can finish the bind off on a project before the yarn runs out!

But I finished ALL my HST before my bobbin ran out! SEE?

I ended up with about 6" of thread when all was said and done - YIKES! That was a little too close for comfort! I loaded my bobbin back up and got set to complete the block.

Here's my final layout before I stitched all the pieces together - SIXTY FOUR 2" pieces of fabric!

And here's the finished block. I am SO in love with this fabric!

The pile of scraps/off-cuts at the end of the day. Not bad for a days work, wouldn't you say?

I'm very much looking forward to March and another block to stitch! Meanwhile...I think I'll make some placemats!

Keep your machine oiled and your needles sharp!

It's been a minute!

Not long after I decided to start this blog, life took over again. Up until yesterday, it had been months since I'd even looked at my sewing machine! I went back to work, we moved houses, the pandemic is STILL going on and here we are just a month away from "celebrating" the one year anniversary of when this all started! Can you imagine??

I finally did finish those quilt blocks I was working on, but it's just sitting for now...I need to square up all the blocks and get to the sashing and finishing. As you may remember, Jonathan has claimed the quilt, so together we chose the backing and the binding. Squaring and sashing is a HUGE project on a twin size quilt and is something I'm not quite ready to attempt - LOL!!

So...for the time being, I'm going to start on a mystery quilt that I found while looking for some quick and easy projects. I made some potholders yesterday - they are UGLY, but I kind of love them - HAHA!

Today, I'm starting on the Mystery Quilt - you can see it over at A Quilting Life where Sherri is on month two of her 12 month journey! I'm a little late to the game, but that just means I have two blocks to work on and I'll already be caught up. Sherri posts the blocks on the first Thursday of each month, so you'll want to look up January 7th and February 4th, 2021 on Sherri's blog.

Let's get started!

For this project, I'll be using some fabric that I ordered from Hamel's Fabrics last year as well as some Kona Solid in the Butter colourway. The Blush and Blue line was designed by Kim Diehl for Henry Glass & Co.

These colours are perfect to match our sofa, so I think I'll turn the mystery quilt into a lap quilt! I made a lap quilt last year and absolutely LOVE IT!!

This was the finished top before I quilted it - so pretty!! This one was another mystery quilt that was done by Sweet Treasures Quilts on Instagram. I just love Terri's style! She was so sweet as we all worked through the quilt - making sure we all knew what a great job we were doing! Terri does beautiful work, so you should definitely check her out!

Today, I'm working on the January Block from Sherri's Blog:

It's called the Churn Dash block and this one is scrappy! Sherri suggested cutting the required little rectangles a bit bigger than mentioned in her tutorial, so I cut them 2 ½" long. This works out great as I'm already envisioning using a scrappy binding with the leftover 2 ½" strips!

I took a bit of a break for the AMAZING breakfast my daughter made:

Chorizo hash with poached eggs and hollandaise - blessed to live with a chef!

And then finished up the block! I'm in LOVE and think it turned out great! Now...wish me luck as I tackle the February block with its eleventy-bajillion HST - YIKES!

Keep your machine oiled and your needles sharp!

Quarantine Quilt - Day 10!

Welcome to day 10!! At least day 10 of this quilt...it's day eleventy-billion of quarantine, but that's a whole other issue.

I was THRILLED that there were no HST (half square triangles) in this one! Don't get me wrong...they're an effective technique, but I was glad to have a bit of a change today!

I've been loving my time at home, but it's time for me to go back to work. I work for Starbucks and we have LOTS of protocols in place that will keep everyone safe. While I originally decided to stay home to keep my two medically fragile children safe, it's time to look after my mental health and get back to interacting with my peers and customers. I have requested to not be the "door" partner, so I won't really be spending time with my favourite customers (though I'll be thrilled to wave at them from afar!), but I'm looking forward to being in the store environment. My amazing manager and coworkers know my situation and will be taking every precaution to make sure I stay safe. I can't wait!

Keep your machine oiled and your needles sharp!

Quarantine Quilt - Day 9!

Welcome back! It's day 9 and today I'm combining Tree of Wisdom Fabrics with Stonehenge Fabrics! I got both of these from Lindley General Store in Collingwood, Ontario and I'm DELIGHTED that they and several other quilting shops that are still shipping. I'm completely smitten with their packaging - check it out:

Tree of Wisdom

Stonehenge

The little ribbon and fabric tag just make my heart so happy!

Here's how block 9 turned out:

I ran out of the dark turquoise Tree of Wisdom fabric, so I had to improvise - LOL! I'm still loving the way these are turning out and have ordered backing and sashing. My youngest son Jonathan has decided that he likes the colours and has claimed the quilt! Turns out that with sashing and borders, the quilt will be about 70" x 90" so it's the perfect size for a twin bed.

Keep your machine oiled and your needles sharp!

Quarantine Quilt - Day 8!

It's Day 8 today! That means we're ⅓ of the way through! I lost some of the contrast in one of the blocks, but I'm still pleased with the way they turned out.

Tomorrow, I'll start using a combination of Tree of Wisdom Fabrics and Stonehenge Fabrics  - I'll use those for days 9 through 16.

Keep your machine oiled and your needles sharp!

Quarantine Quilt - Day 7! And a peek at my Kindness Quilt!

It's day 7! That means tomorrow is day 8 and we're ⅓ of the way there! My Stonehenge fabric should be here later on today so I'm pretty excited about that!

Today's block was pretty simple to put together and I'm seriously getting the hang of those HST (half-square triangles) so they're fun to put together now!

Here's a peek at my Kindness quilt!

It's all washed, dried and wrinkly and I love it!! In the evenings, when it gets too dark to sew (let's face it, I'm getting old!) it keeps me warm while I do a bit of knitting. It's just perfect!

Keep your machine oiled and your needles sharp!

Quarantine Quilt - Day 6!

I'm running out of Tree of Wisdom fabric!! Thankfully my Stonehenge fabric should be here tomorrow and then after Block #8 I'll start mixing and matching for blocks #9-16.

I figured out that this quilt is going to be larger than I thought...which bodes well for one of the boys who will now have his very own quarantine quilt! How cool is that?? Not so good is that I didn't order enough backing fabric - OOPS!!! I guess I'll have to make ANOTHER quilt - LOL!

Keep your machine oiled and your needles sharp!

Quarantine Quilt - Day 5!

Another day, another block - heehee!!

My new favourite block! I love the kind of off centre points produced by the HST on these - kind of like pinwheel gone haywire - HAHA!! What do you think?

Keep your machine oiled and your needles sharp!

Quarantine Quilt - Day 4!

Welcome to Day 4 - I'm still using Northcott Tree of Wisdom fabrics and loving it! There's not quite as much contrast as I'd like between these two fabrics, but I still love the way the blocks turned out.

I ended up redoing the QST (Quarter Square Triangles) because they came out just a titch small. I've learned that I prefer to cut the pieces larger than I need them to be and trim to size. It makes for a little more waste, but I'm much happier with the results!

Keep your machine oiled and your needles sharp!

Quarantine Quilt - Day 3!

OOPS!!! I made a little mistake in this one, but I still liked the way it turned out, so I'm keeping it!

The four corner squares should be swapped out for the other block. Does that make sense?? But I really like the look of the blocks, so I'm going to leave it. As I used to tell me card making class participants - no one is going to know exactly what the sample looked like, so if you like what you're doing, keep doing it!

Keep your machine oiled  and your needles sharp!

Quarantine Quilt - Day 2!

Welcome to Day 2 of the collaboration quilt! Here is today's square:

What do you think? I just LOVE the stark contrast between the colours on this one! And I'm wishing I'd ordered more of this fabric!!!

Keep your machine oiled and your needles sharp!

A Quarantine Quilt - yes, another one!

Today is the first day of a collaboration quilt between Figo Fabrics, Banyan Batiks and Northcott Fabrics. Since my first big fabric purchase was from Figo Fabrics, I now get all their emails (this is ok, though my wallet may disagree!) and decided that this would be a fun endeavour when I needed a break from making masks.

This is the first block! I'm using some Northcott Fabric from the Tree of Wisdom line - I love it!! I've also ordered some more Northcott from the Stonehenge line - I think they'll go well together! There will be twenty four block designs in all and each block will be made twice. My plan is to use the Tree of Wisdom Line for the first eight blocks, a mix of Tree of Wisdom and Stonehenge for the second eight blocks and Stonehenge for the last eight blocks. I haven't received the Stonehenge fabric yet (it will be here next Monday), so I'll let you know if it works out!

If you're interested in the masks I've been making, here's a picture:

I'm using the design by Riley Blake and you can find a YouTube video for that HERE. Please keep in mind that this is NOT a medical grade mask! I'm making them for friends and family who want a little extra protection. We are being told as a country to act as if we're infected and don't want to spread the virus, so that's what we're doing. If we have to wear masks at least we'll look cute doing it!

Keep your machine oiled and your needles sharp!

Look mom! No clips!!

While it didn’t happen during yet ANOTHER viewing of Frozen II (we were actually watching Onward - thank you Disney+), I finished up the binding on my little Mini Wonder Quilt!

Then I washed it up and am THRILLED to report that the red fabric didn’t bleed! Check it out:

I was so excited to pull it from the dryer and note that it had in fact done that really cool puckery thing that I see on all the beautiful quilts online. Then I was reading somewhere, that if you want less pucker, you should wash in cold water and for more pucker, wash it on warm - COOL!

Today, I’m finishing up the quilt top for the Kindness Quilt, so I’ll be posting pictures of that very soon! I think it’s safe to say that I’m HOOKED!

Keep your machine oiled and your needles sharp!

The Kindness Project - Day 2!

I'm behind on this one...mostly because like I said...I had stash, just not QUILT stash! Since the start of my stash has arrived, I've been busy!

Day 1 of sewing the quilt was to make these railroad units. They've been set aside as instructed. But...since the quilt instructions have already all been posted, I know where they fit in. Some of my prints are directional, so I'll have to remember that and be extra careful when assembling the pieces.

Day 2 of sewing was these GORGEOUS star blocks! I just LOVE how they turned out! As this is only my second actual quilt, I was pretty impressed with how everything lined up. Full disclosure: I did become ridiculously well acquainted with my seam ripper!

The next step is to add some borders to the star sections I think, so check back in later on this week and see where I'm at!

Keep your machine oiled and your needles sharp!

I'm a knitter, not a QUILTER!!

I'm a knitter. That's what I do. Before that, I was a paper crafter. Before THAT I was a cross-stitcher. My point is, I've had a LOT of hobbies!

MANY years ago, my mom tried to introduce me to quilting and I gave her a VERY FIRM "NO!". The last thing I needed was to add ANOTHER hobby to my list. Plus, we lived in a tiny condo at the time and there was simply NO ROOM! That worked for a very long time (like at least 20+ years) and now...here I am.

Last week was National Quilting Day and the lovely people at Fat Quarter Shop were kind enough to give the quilters of the world a free quilt pattern to play with. It's still free and you can find it HERE. The Mini Wonder Quilt is, in my opinion, perfect for a beginner! It consists of mostly squares and half square triangles (HST) that even I managed to figure out.

I used fabrics that I had been gifted - fun fact: back when I was a Stampin' UP! demonstrator, Stampin' UP! created a line of fabrics that coordinated with our Designer Series Paper! It wasn't the *best* fabric money could buy, but it was GREAT for someone still learning (and I have LOTS so I can practice new skills and ideas when they come up).

I'm just about done (you might notice the clips in the photo above). I've already discovered that I prefer hand binding over machine binding, so that's a process. Last night, I watched Frozen II (for the eleventy-bajillionth time) and learned that one viewing got me through about ⅓ of the binding process on my small quilt. So, two more nights of Frozen II and it'll be completely finished - YAY!!

Did I make mistakes? Oh yes! Probably more than I can count. Am I OK with that? Well, since I didn't tear the whole thing apart, I'm going with yes - LOL! Any new hobby is a learning experience!

While I was finishing up the quilt, I came across the Kindness Project on Instagram, hosted by Terri Staats of Sweet Treasures Quilts.

I was excited because it was a pull from stash project (use what you have) and I have some fabric stash. Of course, it turned out that I didn't have NEARLY enough fabric. I was explaining to my friend Joyce (the culprit that got me into this mess!) that fabric stash is kind of like yarn stash. Do I have a lot of yarn? Yes! If I wanted to make a sweater, do I have enough of ONE yarn to make it? No. I don't have any "sweater quantities" of yarn. Do I have fabric? Yes! But because I NEVER intended to start quilting, all my fabric is in small ½ yard to 1 yard quantities. I sew project bags to house my knitting projects. :) I didn't have "quilt quantities" of fabric, so off I went to the internet!

I was DELIGHTED to learn that there are (surprisingly to me!) a whole LOT of quilt shops in Canada! I found an extensive list on Facebook (there's lots of quilting groups too!) and started exploring. I knew how MUCH fabric I needed, I just wasn't sure what kind of fabric I wanted. Enter Erica at Studio 39 Fabrics! The bundles and additional fabric that I was able to order from the Eloise's Garden line were just PERFECT!

Since all quilting shops are closed right now, due to COVID-19, it's nice to know that small business owners like Erica are keeping us in fabric so sewers and quilters can stay occupied during this difficult time. Erica is still working hard to ship out fabrics to all of her Canadian Quilters and I SO appreciate that she is! And it arrived quickly too, so I'm off to cut fabric now...

Keep your machine oiled and your needles sharp!