Another one bites the dust.......!

Tah dah.......!

This is Fairy Garden, a twin size quilt for dd. She's getting quite the collection!

I started this quilt back in September 2006. I fell in love with the purple fabric in the half square triangle.

I was going to use it for the border but I made a cutting mistakes. I forgot that I was working with half square triangle and cut too many squares. That's what you get for designing a quilt as you go! lol Oh well, it gave me an opportunity to buy more fabric! lol

The renovations are coming along!

These are the stairs in my sewing room. Aren't they pretty? They're much better than what I had before.

The finishing touches always seem to take longer to accomplish. Stephen is still plugging away at the closets. With the old wood that we salvaged from the renovations he's making closet shelving. Beats painted shelves! lol

I need to vent about something that annoyed me this week. Last year Gayle from Strawberry and Rhubarb asked me if I would monitor Libby's class at VQF. Being the sponsor and provider of the sewing machines, she wanted someone who could assist the students with the Bernina machines should something go wrong. She felt that she wanted to keep her trained staff for the booth. So, I gladly accepted. Around February of this year, I confirmed if all was well for VQF; she said she would call me a bit before the show to provide me with all the details. A couple of weeks prior to the class, having received no calls, I phoned her shop and left a detailed message. No reply! I phoned again a few days before the show and still no returned call. I'm having a difficult time with this and find it disrespectful. If she no longer needed my services, why not just tell me so that I can free up that time! I haven't decided yet how I should deal with this. Thanks for allowing me to vent! ;o)

Have a great day everyone and thanks for stopping by!

I've been a quiltin fool.....!

And a painting fool to boot! I'm happy to say that the bedroom is now painted! That was my job last Saturday and Sunday.

The room is coming along nicely!

Benjamin Moore calls this colour Celestial Blue. It has a purpulish tone to it. We originally went with Feather Soft but once on the wall, we found it to be a tad too dark.

Stephen still has the baseboards and one window to finish and it's onward to making the closets functional. I'm hoping to be in the room soon.

On the quilting front, gosh have I been sewing! I have been tackling that long UFO list. Of course this finishing/flimsy business does have some hidden costs. ;o) I've had to shop for a backing for 2 (two) of the quilts I completed! ;o) It's rough but some one's gotta do it! lol

Here's the pink & brown quilt called In the Pink!

I cannot say that I enjoyed piecing this top. My blocks were not that square. I had to fudge to get it to look half way acceptable.

I pieced the blocks for this quilt on Bernina 180. I've come to the conclusion that I do not like to piece with that machine. Due to the 9mm stitches, it has a large feed dog area, which makes it difficult to be precise. It also doesn't like bulk, another factor in precision. I know they say you shouldn't change machine in between, but I completed the quilt top on Bernina 1090 and had no issues. I do like the 1090 much better for piecing.

When I worked, and I used that term loosely ;o), at Quilter's Courtyard (Burlington, VT - now closed), in 2001 they offered a Saturday Sampler that employees could participate. You had a choice between whimsical or Batik fabric. Never having made a Batik quilt, I decided on that sampler.

Eleven (11) blocks had been "in waiting" since November 2001. The motivation was there to tackle that quilt. The blocks are only 10 inches finished so I added a frame around the blocks and 3 (three) borders to make it fit a twin/double bed.

On the school front, allow me to share some good news with you, I passed my exam! Yesterday, when I received the results I just cried! I cannot begin to tell you the relief I feel. I had been in a state of mega stress for quite some time.

For now, it's onward to the next quilt on the UFO list. Thank you so much for stopping by! Have a great day everyone!

In friendship!

Have I been quilting......

Yesterday, I was determined to get something finished. As you know, I should be receiving my new toy mid July and the race is on to finish tops. I've got to have quilts to play with! ;o)

So, I headed for my sewing room and did a bit more cleaning, ensuring the dirt wouldn't interfere with my sewing. Once satisfied, I went looking for my pile of " blocks in waiting." Those are the "I've got to piece the blocks to make a top" pile. Keeping the quilt in blocks was easier for me to store than a flimsy. I use the past tense as this will no longer be the case once I have my new longarm! I'm so excited!

Tah dah..... Of course I had to sneak in a bit of the new floor! lol I started this quilt back in October 2007. The pattern is from the McCall Quilting magazine .

As you can see, the quilt is kitty approved! Allow me to introduce Princess Stella. When you meet her, you'll see that her name suits her.

I also worked on the pink and brown quilt, In the Pink, from Buggy Barn. I have the center pieced and have the borders to add on. I'll post a picture once it's at the flimsy stage.

I won't have the opportunity to quilt as much today as I have an appointment with the physio therapist, my sciatic nerve has been acting up. Afterwards I'm off shopping for paint and running some errands. I do need a backing for that quilt! ;o)

Have a great day everyone and thank you so much for stopping by!

I'm back.........

The insanity has ended, for a little while anyway! There was so much going on and to top it off, the renovations! You should see my home, it's a mess! But, no way am I cleaning that part of the house. Today is a reward day. For what you might ask? Well, for the past 5 (five) weeks I have had my nose in school books studying for one of my comprehensive exams. My time was spent at the library. Really, I should have moved my bed there! lol As of yesterday, after a stressful 4 (four) hours, the exam is behind me. Now it's time to work on my sanity!

Guess what was the first thing I did when I got home? I opened a bottle of wine, poured me a class and had some cheese and crackers. Then I headed off to my sewing room! lol

Yep, I got right down to cleaning. Unfortunately, we're not at the stage where I can do a total cleaning and reclaim my space. Stephen has some work to do around the door area of my sewing room.

That didn't stop my need to sit at my machine and quilt. I can manage. So once I finish with this entry, I'm heading right on over, take my machine out of hiding and sew, sew, sew and sew! All in the hopes that I'll have something to show you!

I want to thank everyone for your support and interest. It was such a pleasure to read your comments. It really kept me sane.

Have a great day everyone and thank you for your friendship!

Reno updates....

Brought to you by none other than an overly intellectually stimulated zombie! lol

Presenting...... drum roll please....... The finished floor!

Stephen did an amazing job! If you recall it was painted brown. Strangely, all the floors in this house were painted brown! Could there have been a sale at some point on brown paint? lol

And now ladies and gentleman, the closets and the new doorway.... Ta Dah........

As you can see, Stephen has been working really hard. He's on vacation this week and hopes to finish the taping. At which point, it will be up time for me to shop for paint. I still haven't decided on a colour, but periwinkle blue is starting to sound more and more appealing!

Nothing going on on the quilting/hand embroidery front. Too busy in other areas of my life.

The weather has just been crazy around here. We had a tornado watch...... It's quite unusual for my neck of the woods. Luckily, all is well!

Thanks for stopping by! I hope to be back to my "normal" self soon.

A break in the break....!

Ya know, all work and no play makes Carole grumpy! ;o) Time for some renovation up date!

Will ya look at that!

Stephen has been working really hard making sure that we're keeping with our schedule!

We decided to leave the chimney exposed, as it is purty! ;o) The bricks do need a tad more cleaning, but in due time.

We have two fire places in our home, one in the dining room and one in the living room. This is the dining room chimney.

The fun part about renovating an older home is learning about it's history. It would seen that there was a stove pipe that came through our bedroom from the dining room and vented through the chimney (see the hole in the chimney). In our basement, we do have compartments filled with coal. Prior to our time, there must have been a coal stove and the pipes ran throughout the house for warmth.

Saturday morning Stephen worked from 2 a.m. until early afternoon sanding the floor. He said he couldn't sleep! Gosh, that sander makes a lot of noise. Of course, neither could anyone in the household sleep! lol I was a tad worried about my neighbours, but given that we have a pyro on the bedroom side who loves to fire up pyrotechnics at 10:30 p.m. on a school night, I figured it was pay back! ROFLOL! This is not a complaint, we are blessed with wonderful neighbours!

Meet a 150 year old wood floor! Isn't sweet!

Of course you have to be a lover of the "older look" to appreciate it's beauty! ;o) The photograph does not do it justice. It is much prettier in person!

Stephen has applied one thin coat of polyurethane. There will be a few more coats to apply before we can move on to building the closets.

It's exciting for me to see the progress! It will be one sweet looking bedroom! I still have to choose the paint colour! I was thinking about a purplish blue, perhaps periwinkle blue. We'll see as the room progresses. The room is on the north side of the house, so I do need a light colour. I'm sure the floor will help brighten things. Prior to the renos we had a medium green carpet. Yuck!

Time for me to get back to the chaos! ;o) Thanks for stopping by!