Basketing Around

So this has been simmering along for a good while (think years) ...

And now I am ready to quilt it I think.

So I set up the dining room table for some machine quilting...

And I got busy - well a start any ways.  With Christmas coming and me hosting Christmas Eve this year I better get to it.

Row Along

So I visited Bee in my Bonnet's blog and was totally seduced by her cute row along.

I think this is row four.  Ok, not, it's row two.  I am using the fabric that the Sew Sisters sent me last month as part of their bargain club.  each row goes to gether well with Lori's straightforward instructions.

Smells of the season

I found a recipe for spices to add to mulled wine for the Christmas season.  I liked the sound of it so I filched the idea for my christmas tree.  (Normally I would link you here to her site but I saw it on Google reader and my history button doesn't show where I have been.  Darn it. )

I do not have a real tree so I thought I would hang a small pouch of spices on it.  It works really well.  The smell isn't predominant all the time but it comes and goes.  I like that.  Yesterday evening it was nice and spicy - maybe cause the furnace comes on more.  But this morning I'm not smelling it so much.  Suits me.

Here's my recipe:  6-8 whole cloves
                             6-8 whole allspice
                              6-8 whole cardamom pods, slightly crushed
                              a cinnamon stick

I made a small cheese cloth bag like you would for bouquet garni in your stew pot.  I put the spices in, splitting most of the pods open.  Then I tied it shut, adding a cinnamon stick on the outside.  Don't forget the cardamom it is really important to round out the fragrance.

I will leave you with a picture one of the beautiful ornaments my mother in law made me before she passed away.

My Niece was here how Nice

Caroline came for a visit and some sewing.  What fun.  She was imagining some new Christmas stockings for her and her guy and thought I might be able to help.

After some work on her part drafting up her ideas...

Then a quick lesson in paper piecing...  She was a quick study...

What a great start.  I hope I get to put up a picture of the finished project....

Look what's in my mailbox

Oh Boy, oh boy, oh boy oh boy ohboyohboyohboy !!

Those folks at Sew Sisters are pretty prompt.  I love this.  Can you tell that this is the first time I have ordered fabric on the internet.  What great results.

Let it Snow

It's Saturday, why talk when a picture will do.

Spinning Star Blocks

I'm not quite sure when I started these but I came across them and decided I would just do a few more before I put them away again.  I remember them being a bit tricky but I think I was trying to learn partial seams.

I realize that things like pinning that I avoided at all cost back then, come quite naturally to me now.  Needless to say they are going together great this time around.  But now I am willing to spend the time pinning ( less ripping )

This is how the pile looked when I first dug it out.  Hmmm....

What is this mysterious block??  Let me tell you; that jog stitch in the centre of the block is amazing in that you get four HSTs exactly the same (no mirror images).  So you put the two contrasting colours together right sides facing.  Draw two diagonals on the lighter square.  Start sewing 1/4" to  left of a diagonal line.  When you reach the line crossing the one you are following stop with needle down in that crossline.  Make a ninety degree turn. stitch 6 stitches (at 2.0mm stitch length) Turn 90 degrees again.  Now you are on the right side of the same diagonal line you were following at the beginning.
Do the same for the other diagonal line.  Press.  Rotary cut the square apart on the pencil lines.  Press seams open of course.

Amy Butler Magazine

Wow, Amy Butler has done it.  A huge ezine of pretty.  And best of all it's free.  To see this lovely thing go here.

I think she has a great idea.  I liked the format.  Just the right size for viewing on my screen.  I'm guessing it will work well on tablets to as the page size appears to be smaller.

I took this picture myself but it made me think of what Amy is doing with her new magazine

Neck Warmer

Yesterday, I got a notion that I needed desperately, a neck warmer.  You know the kind with rice inside.  The kind you can heat in the microwave.  I've seen many that are essentially rectangles filled with rice or wheat or something.

Mine of course must be different.  After my visit with the physio this a couple of days ago, I realized that my neck warmer needed to extend over my shoulders and upper back too.  I was picturing it to be BIG.

So I started with some fabric and got busy with the scissors.

Next I started filling controlled sections with rice.  I found that less is more especially when trying to leave space to sew around.  But then the piece de resistance was a neat little stand up collar.

Then came the flannelette cover.  I just used the same pattern as the rice pack and added some velcro on the back of the neck so the two layers would stay together.  The real test came after putting it in the microwave for a minute.  

Ahhhhh,... 

The Canadian Blogathon

So I was zooming around in the blog - o - sphere, and I found this Canadian Blogathon that is going on right now.  And then on someone else's blog I see that the hosting store in TO has a club or something like that that will send you 10 new fat quarters every month for a reasonable price.

Much searching later I found it on the Sew Sisters web site.  So for 18.99CAD you get 10 new fat quarters.  Oh, yeah, and that includes postage...Sounds grand (and cheap too...)  Here's the link to the Bargain Lovers Club on the Sew Sisters Shop Site.

Winter is here and the sun starts setting by supper time...It's pretty though.

Diagonal Bars Block

I saw some wonderful blogs about a block like this one.  Then I thought I would paper piece it so I drew out a block 7 1/2 " square and drew on some lines.

Then I added some colourful bits...

Trimmed it down to the proper size...

I like it alot.  I see why others were excited about it.  It's very versatile as to the placement patterns too.  I'll see how it goes.

The Most Ridiculous Thing

I bought a new nightlight for our master bathroom outlet.  It's LED but too bright at night for our dainty eyelids (can't sleep with a light on anywhere syndrome )

So I started to work in an organic way to make a cozy for my nightlight.

I cut 1 inch wide strips from two fat quarters.  Then resewed them together to make a grid.  The result was four tiny squares by 9 tiny squares.  I cut a piece of white fabric and lined it by sewing the two long sides.

Taking two smaller rectangles for the back part... sandwiching in the checkerboard part...

The very top (upper right in photo) is open raw edges.  Then I made a lid if you can believe it.  Sort of shell shaped as this is my bathroom...

I turned it and made some shell like hand quilting lines on the lid.  Then I attached the raw edges with a small seam and topstitched it down.

Here it is in situ.  After one night we love it.  It is just the right amount of darkness and easily removed for more serious business.

Christmas Wheel Quilt

I made this a few years ago and it always makes me smile when I pull it out this time of year.  It is all hand pieced and hand quilted.  It was fun to make and I realize how much pleasure I get from looking at all those careful and not so careful stitches.  I think in this fast paced world we  cannot forget the pleasures of slow both during a project and after.

When a quilt is finished by machine there is a great sense of accomplishment that goes with the finish and after, at a job well done but I challenge you all to try the slower pace of the hand made for a deeper sense of how our foremothers operated and as a testament to what we can accomplish with our own two hands.

My Amy Butler Weekender

I acquired the pattern for this Amy Butler wonder shortly after it came out a few years ago.  I went straight on and made this bag.  I love it.

I am seeing it in lots of other people's blogs and I thought I should show off my early efforts.

The instructions were so well done that I didn't make one mis-step.  It's a very useful size for real travel.  I only wish I could figure out a way to make the bag itself lighter - without sacrificing stiffness...

Watch for my next blog to see what I used to stuff the bag with for shape holding purposes...

Hexagons, the progress

I have been positively addicted to these.  Between company and housework I have been making really good progress.

lots of blue, huh ? But look at this...

More of the browns here. I'm not quite sure how the two will interface but I must figure that out soon and join them.  I am about 2/3 done I estimate by the hole between these two sections on the floor.

Maybe I shouldn't have laid these down on the rug for picture purposes but it was such a lovely sunny day and they were handy here.  You can't see but I have lots of little papers to remove from the blue hexs but I will get to that too.

Bear Head Hat

Pretty cute.  I used a Simplicity pattern I got on sale at Fabricland on the weekend.  It is supposed to be fully lined but the polar fleece I bought is reversible.  So I did it in a single layer so as not to be so hot.  It's orange on the inside.  T and I thought the fabric looked like a red panda.  Maybe we weren't so successful but I think he's over the top cute.

Blue Hexagon Love

More is more,

I don't quite know why I keep at it.  It just calls to my inner hexagon I guess.
Maybe my DD will come by and remove all the basting threads.  That is a chore for a long view of Downton Abbey I think.

Happy Halloween Jacks

Yeah, I know it was yesterday, but what the hey...

I think they are so simple, cute... kind of like two chummy old dudes taking in the season and doing a little people watching...

OK so no trick or treaters came by last night - wait, is that a small tear I see....?

That is what happens in an ageing neighbourhood, the kids grow up and leave us - sniff- all alone....but we're still smilin'...

                                       (all that chocolate just for me!!)

Blue Circles on my Design Wall

Here's something new on my wall....

I'm trying to figure out how to lay them out.  These circles are all made from the same piece of christmas ball fabric - very old now.  The 3 1/2 " blocks have been sitting in a box for a few (ok, quite a few) years... but I'm getting to them.  Maybe in time for Christmas this year...

The Embroidered Babies

Here they are complete with borders... now with all the hand work on the top I'm wondering if I should hand quilt or machine....

Machine would be quicker maybe....what do you think??

Here's a Top that's done...

Wanna see it from the other side??

Blue Hexagons - what else?

I am constantly working on jigsaw pieces to fit in with the part that is done.  It's pretty fun.  Do you see the orange dot in the centre left side of the picture... that is there at the suggestion of my granddaughter.  It sort of sticks out but I think I will keep it.  Another of her suggestions (or should I say demands - she is 4 you know) is the Tweety centre on the right side a bit lower down.

There is Tweety again but now just above the left corner of my tray... actually a re-purposed card box...

Little Bitty Blocks

This is a cut up nine patch I have posted about before.  The blocks have been cut for a while.

 But I just had to lay out a block and then sew it together.

Sometimes I like the back almost better than the front...

To see more of these and the beginning search 'nine patch'

Another Blue Star

Paper piecing is tricky but so satisfying when complete.

First the piecing with the paper...

Then the piecing of the triangles.  Those perfectly matched seams are gratifying...

And there the final block.  Yummy, huh?

Oh, those Hexagons

Oh, those little babies are calling my name.  They look so lush but...

I do have other projects as well....