Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Rolling Stone

Last week I was all about my delectable mountain blocks which didn't work out for my bee blocks, but I found a solution--the rolling stone block!  Mountains, stones, see the connection?  When I made one to see how it looked, I realized that although it's called rolling stone, it could actually be called a flower.  At the end of January how could I resist something floral.

I don't reinvent the wheel here, so I won't give a blow by blow of process.  If you're interested, I found very good instructions here. It's my go-to site for 12 inch blocks and usually, the directions are simple and well explained.

I decided to go with small floral fabrics, brights and anything that made me think of spring.  My first block sold me on the idea.  Really, anything with polkadots is a shoo-in.


Then I made another just to confirm that I loved the idea.


And before I knew it there were four up on the wall and I will look forward to see what my bee mates make with their stash.


Winter is still upon us with cold temperatures and lots of snow.  But on the plus side, the days are getting longer and the light is very different during the day.  You've got to be a hopeful kind of person when you live in the northern hemisphere.


On cold mornings Mont Sutton starts making snow long before dawn.


As I have mentioned before, my mother  lives in a nursing home and is very well looked after, but she is starting to lose her speech, making it difficult for us to have any chats together.  Lately I've been taking my recorders down when I visit.  I play some music for her and I guess for the rest of the rooms on the hallway too.  So far no one has complained.  It gives her pleasure and I'm happy to do it.


On a sad note, my faithful companion of 13 years is no longer with me.  For all of you who have known and loved a dog, when I say she was the best of dogs, you know what I mean.  I miss her terribly and keep thinking that I hear her coming down the hall.  I am still surprised to I find my shoes where I left them as one of her favourite pastimes was collecting footwear to decorate her bed.
I have been lucky in the dogs I've had over the years--she won't be the last probably.



Have a good week and don't forget to make something!

Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Delectable Mountains

Isn't that a wonderful word, delectable.  Somehow, the C and the T stuck side by side give a marvellous clarity to the sound and what on earth am I going on about?  Sorry, there's a reason for it.  February is my month to be bee leader and I like to find a block that is both a bit of a challenge and makes some sort of secondary pattern within the quilt .

I was wandering around quilt land when I happened on Elizabeth Hartmann's blog (as I often do) and noticed a beautiful quilt pattern with gradations of solid colours making a fabulous pattern.  She mentioned that it was a variation of the delectable mountains quilt block.

My sewing world's window overlooks my "delectable" mountain, Mont Sutton.  It's where my children learned to ski and snowboard and where we spent many happy hours en famille.  In this very grey, gloomy and cold winter, it struck me as perfect.  So off I went to create my own version of this block.

I've been admiring monochromatic quilts for a while and thought that being February, a red and white block would be perfect, so I made one, just to see how it went.


Then I made a few more, because I wanted to see the pattern.



And then I made many of them--because I was in love with how they looked. I used a tutorial by quiltsbyjen that was very useful. Unfortunately, I couldn't get a picture of the many, but I'm sure they'll show up again!

They look so simple, don't they, but I spent many an unhappy moment up close and personal with my seam ripper.  But, then I had the awful realization that the block size didn't match the requirement for the bee.  Grrrrrrrrrrr!  No matter, I shall continue on my own and finish them.

We finally had good enough weather to go on a sleigh ride with friends and their children and grandchildren.  Good thing too as it was the only day above -20 that week.  I was a lovely ride, but we all got cold by the end.



This morning is another winter wonderland, but I loved the sun dog glinting on the side of the trees.


It's another cold one, but it is winter!

Tuesday, January 6, 2015

No Resolutions Here!

So here we are, 2015, and once again, I have no resolutions, no "word" to guide my creativity, no "issues" that I need to deal with (ones I'm willing to share anyway), and aren't I lucky. Both of our children were able to join us for Christmas which was such a joy as both  have  punishing work schedules.  I am just so glad to see them when I can.

I did make some little gifts for people in the shape of earbud cases. They sew up very quickly and I find mine very useful.  They're also wonderful to use up bit and pieces of fabric that you don't want to get rid of but can't think of a use for.





Before Christmas we had such wonderful, picture perfect weather--blue skies and fluffy snow everywhere.  We were all pumped for snowshoe expeditions and maybe some skating.


Then Christmas Eve it started to rain, and by the next day, it looked like this.



The last few days I've been puttering around with Elizabeth Hartman's fox pattern.  I  bought the giant fox and made one block, but found it very fabric intensive.



I decided  to spend some time reworking the numbers to make a more scrap friendly version.  You can just see the single block edge on the left, proof it IS big! So far, I'm using up all sorts of leftover bits of jelly roll. I will have to go get some more of the navy background fabric, but that I got at a local shop, so very easy to get more.  I'm thinking this might be a baby quilt for an expected infant.


Now that the deep freeze has hit I have more incentive to stay indoors and sew!