Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Boo!

I'm spending a lot of time quilting something, but it's not ready to show, so I'll just put out my little girl ghost quilt again as I finally finished it off.  It's not an original design, but I already blogged about the link, so just scroll down if you're interested in making your own.


I like how it turned out and will take it down to my mother's nursing home this morning to hang on her door.  I decided to use a 100% cotton variegated thread from Gutermann but remembered half way through why it was sitting unused in my sewing box.  I spent a lot of time rethreading the machine and muttering under my breath as it broke a lot.  Good thing it was a small project.

The other thing I wasn't thrilled about was the way it pooled on the solid borders.  Now that is something I could have thought about ahead of time and used a matching thread, but unfortunately, I didn't, and it's not in my nature to rip out and redo!  Just to be fair to Gutermann threads, I use their polyester ones all the time and have never had issues with them.


I also finished up my Wee Bee Canadian blocks before the end of the month and mailed them off.  The block was Road to Tennessee and scrappy Christmas with no white was requested.  I dusted off my festive scraps and made these.


Some of these fabrics have been in my scrap bag for years, so I was happy to put them all together.  I hope they can blend in with the other blocks!


I'm linking up with The Needle and Thread Network and Sew Fresh Quilts today.  I love looking at what others are working on and get lots of inspiration from them.

Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Joker

I've been sad lately so my sewing is suffering.  No, it's not my aged mother, nor is it my children or husband, but I am still sad.  I've lost a friend and a way of life is over.  Joker was a great horse, one that made me laugh and carried me over the fields and through the woods with great joy.  There was nothing he liked more than striking off into the unknown with his ears twitching as I chatted with him.  I have owned many horses in the last 40 years, but he was special, and my last one.

It feels very self indulgent even mentioning the loss of an animal, but this place is my record of how I feel and what I'm doing, so I decided to share.


In a typical move, here he is after bunting me in the back as if to say, let's get this show on the road!


And here he is doing what he loved best--eating!


Wednesday, October 8, 2014

I Bee Sewing



Most of my sewing this week has been for WeeBee Canadian.  We were asked to do any block we wanted, and this stumped me.  I can still remember in elementary school being told by the teacher to draw "whatever we wanted".  How is any child supposed to do that.  I always drew horses, but maybe flowers would have been good, or pigs, or birds....... Too much choice is never good for me.  I have the same problem when I go shopping for clothes!

So, I trolled the internet and decided to make blocks that were more complex than those I ordinarily choose for my own quilting.

My first one is called Gentlemen's Fancy and I included some crossword puzzle fabric as an homage to my mother's obsession with puzzles.  I can never remember her without one!


The second block is Castles in the Air.  Every morning I sit and watch the sun come up over the mountains while drinking my coffee.  Then the birds arrive and there's a flurry of activity at all the feeders.  It gives me such pleasure just to watch  and think.  


Yesterday's sunrise looked like this.



This is my month to receive blocks as well and I chose an x and + block.  I think that since winter is coming, I'd like bright happy colours to cheer up the grey November that's coming.  This is my example and I'm eager to see what my bee mates come up with.  Think it's bright enough?


Since it is also the ghost and goblin season, I thought I'd try out a cute tutorial at Bryan House Quilts to make boy and girl ghosts.   I made a few changes, using just a solid colour in the frames and am still debating if I'll add a colourful extra row to brighten it up. I like the polka dots and think it might be fun added around the outside.  


I'm linking up to the Needle and Thread Network and hope you take a look.