Happy New Years!

Here's to a healthy, prosperous and joyful new years!

It's a magical time ...!

Wishing you all a joyous, magical and peaceful Christmas!

Cheers!

Santa's comin' to my town ...!

I just love Santa. As a matter of fact, I'm one of his biggest fan!

Are you ready for Santa's visit?

I sure am!

Oops, I need some carrots for the reindeers! Be right back! lol

I sit a lot .... quietly!

As I've mentioned in a past post ... I haven't been up to much these past few months. I mainly sit quietly .... solitude and silence has been my constant companion as of late. Not complaining, it's what is at the moment .... what I need. As Sara, a friend, would say, "hanging on to my peace!"

Last Sunday, I went into Montreal to celebrate my mother's 82nd birthday. There is this wonderful book store on the West Island that I just love getting lost in it's many aisles of books. Chapter's is a must to visit when you're in the city. I'm all for supporting local bookstores ....

I picked up this wonderful book ... The Subtle art of not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson.

A potty mouth book with wisdom. If you are easily offended, I would not recommend it. Like I said, potty mouth ... but it does make valid points! It's NOT a book about being indifferent ... au contraire! Choose wisely what you are going to care about and care deeply ... FULLY give a Hoot! Using clean language here! lol It all makes sense to me.

A passage that caused me to reflect ... regarding the positive thinking movement ...

A wise book to cuddle with on a cold winter day ....

Thanks for stopping by my little corner in cyberspace!

Catch you all later!

Festival of lights ... !

May the light of love and peace always shine brightly in your heart now and forever more.

Shalom - Peace

Getting in the spirit .... !

Attempting to get in the spirit of the season! I just love celebrating the holidays in December. So much to be grateful ... so much to celebrate!

I decided this year that I was going to get a tree. I took off to shop for lights and ended up in Whoville! Have you ever been? It's a marvelous town! lol

I fell in love with a gorgeous tree and I just had to have it! It's so moi!

Voici a Seuss Spruce!

No sooner did I have the Seuss Spruce up .... A guest showed up!

He's been hanging out ever since! lol

I love my little tree! It's perfect!

Hope you are getting into the holiday spirit! It's truly a wonderful time of the year!

Catch you all later!

Life challenges .... !

Sometimes ... cheesecake is all I need to get me out of a funk!

Spent the day in Albany ... wondering aimlessly in Barnes & Nobles bookstore ... I love books!

Now, I just wish I could focus and read the books I've bought!

Catch you all later!

Thanksgiving 2018 ...!

So much to be grateful this year ... and always!

Enjoy time with friends and family!

Cheers!

Happy Birthday ....!

Another birth year! Wow, amazing how quickly time flies as you get older!

I used to think that 40 was old .... then 50 and now ... well, I sort of don't think 80 is old at all! lol

When I was much younger, I thought I had all the time in the world. Now that I am moving on in age, I don't feel quite that way. I now understand what my father means when he talks about life expectancy statistics ... and he's 84 years young!

I haven't been up to much these past few months. Certainly not on the quilting front.

Life has been challenging as of late ....

Catch you all later!

Cheers!

inching my way to the finish line ....

As I get closer and closer to the finish line ... my motivation starts to get at a all time high again ... like when you start a new project. So, I got busy sewing on the border.

Voila!

She's a done deal. I'm ready for a play date with Penelope.

I loaded Beauty all Around on Penelope and got quiltin'

It's a good thing I like ruler work!

What's new with you?

Thanks for stopping by my little corner in cyberspace.

Getting closer to the finish line ....

It's a great feeling when you are getting closer to the finish line. It's a boost in motivation ... All of a sudden you just want to get it done! Indeed ... that's what I did.

I organized by colours so that the sashing would be balanced. I pieced these blocks using scraps from the various quilt I have made throughout the years. In some way, it's a memory quilt! ;)

So, I started piecing the sashing ... balancing the fabric colours accordingly.

Notice block 12 on the bottom right? Yea, I did stitch it ... just forgot to take a picture before I started working on the sashing!

Now I'm ready to put the border on!

What have you been up to lately?

Thank you so much for stopping by my little corner in cyberspace!

Catch you all later!

Back on the stitch wagon .....

After taking a bit of a break I got back to working on the last two (2) blocks of the Beauty All Around BOM.

When I'm doing hand work, I tend to put on a documentary and stitch away as I absorb knowledge, usually having to do with either science or history. However, lately I've been in the mood for ..... well ... more of a slow pace ...

Not sure why ... I just needed comfort ... some form of predictability. Yea, my life has been quite chaotic as of late ...

I finished stitching block 11

And ... block 12

Oops .... forgot to take a picture ... Oh well ... It's done ... ! lol

Now, it's time to get down to piecing the actual top.  I'm pretty excited to be closer to finishing this UFO. What have you been up to as of late?

Thanks for stopping by my little corner in cyber space. Catch you all later! Cheers!

The last summer ice cream ...!

My favourite ice cream shop is closing for the season ...

Hard to believe that fall is in the air ... I do love all the seasons .... each brings it unique beauty!

On the quilting from ... Modern Building Block being all done, it was time to tackle another UFO ... Beauty All Around.

I got stitching ... Block 9

And Block 10

Catch you all later! Cheers!

Down time ...!

I do love all of the quilt making process, including hand stitching the binding. For me, it is a time to relax and catch up on some documentaries.

As much as I try to focus ... a little kitty by the name of Stella always seems to want to help, which as you can imagine, creates a challenge. lol

It does look comfy! I don't want to disturb her.

So, I use that time to actually look at the documentary, as opposed to just listening to it with a casual glance up every now and again ...

Voila! All washed and ready to be loved ...

I really love how it turned out. I may just keep it for myself as opposed to giving it to Pumpkin for graduation! LOL I wouldn't dare ... maybe! lol

Catch you all later!

A date with Penelope!

Modern Building Block quilt top finished ... it was time to set a date with Penelope!

My original thought was to use the Good Vibration pantograph designed by Patricia Ritter...

But ... I could not get the curves to look good. The thickness of some of the seams caused my hopping foot to hop somewhere else ... yuck.

So, I did a bit of croaking and resorted to straight lines using my horizontal lock mechanism.

I spaced the rows 3/4 inches apart. It was actually harder than I thought.

In order to keep the lines spaced properly and evenly, I needed to quilt within approximately 12 inches max from the space bar. Otherwise, even though I had marked 3/4 inches from the last line, as I moved the machine head towards the other side of the quilt, the space became more one (1) inch apart. Not sure why that was. It certainly made the machine quilting take a bit more time to complete, especially with using the seam ripper! :o/

The quilt is now totally machine quilted and I do like how it looks.

What's new with you? What projects are you completing?

Catch you all later! Thanks for stopping by my little corner in cyberspace!

Cheers!

Focused and determined ...!

Well, the last blocks of Modern Building Block quilt were a challenge. Not sure why, because they were simple blocks. I think by then, I just wanted to get it done.

It took me forrrrrrever to get the half square triangles sewn on in the right direction. I lost count of how many time I used the seam ripper!

I also could not, for the life of me, figure out how to piece it. Thinking I made a cutting mistake, I cut more larger half square triangles ... LOL Yea, an hour later the block was pieced correctly. It was as if my brain just, for whatever reason, could not wrap itself around how the block was constructed.

Oh, and this one, well I way over cut the pieces required!

Anyone need any half square triangles? lol

Finally, once those last two (2) blocks were pieced ... I didn't dare attempt to piece the top. I mean, it would have been seam ripper city here. LOL

I took a small break ... and Voila!

Now, it's time to set a play date with Penelope!

Catch you all later! Cheers!

We're on a roll ....

I have pieced the last of the 48 blocks for the Modern Building Block.

Hurray for me!

Now to get the quilt pieced and ready for Penelope! Focus Carole, Focus!

Catch you all later! Cheers!

Plugging away during a heat wave ....!

You're probably tired of reading about our heat wave in the way northeast I can see Canada from my house ... I'm pretty tired of experiencing it myself. It's early morning and already we're at ... 25C

With a high of 33C! Of course add the humidity factor in there and it's friggen hot and muggy! I'm not complaining ... I just want to remember this summer so I can be grateful during our bitter cold winter! lol I am truly thankful for my a/c, which allows me to experience a mild winter hide in my sewing studio and quilt away.

I've been plugging away on the Modern Building Block quilt. I'm hoping to have a pieced top by the end of the week.

Nine (9) blocks pieced with ten (10) more to go ... Guess what I plan on doing today? lol

What are you working on?

Enjoy the day! Catch you all later!

A change of scenery .... !

I think I have been pretty good keeping focused on completing quilting UFOs. But, there comes a time when a girl has got to start something new! lol Seriously, variety is the spice of life!

So, I got busy on this little pattern by Bonnie Sullivan of All through the night called Frosty!

I figured working on a snowman would be a great way to keep cool in this hot weather. You know, think about snow and all ... lol

Here is my version .... framed and all!

How cute is that?! I just love snowmen!

So, what have you been working on?

Catch you all later!

Back to hand work ...!

Sometimes I just want to sit and watch something on TV. Well, for me it's my laptop. I don't watch television ... I actually pay for my programming. Amazon Prime has some great documentaries as well as Netflix.

Yeap, that's what I watch went I do hand work ... documentaries ... I call it learning by osmosis! lol

Voici Block 8 of the BOM Beauty All Around by Geoff's Mom Pattern Company.

Onward to another block! It's so sweet when they are all prepped!

Cheers!

Back to Modern Building Blocks ... !

How are you all doing? Here, I'm just grateful for a/c. We did have a bit of respite from the high heat and humidity ... And so it begins ... back to a freakishly hot summer!

For you Celsius people, actual temperature 32C but it feels like 35C. A summer like this is not normal for us. A couple of weeks ... sure ... not a full summer!

I'm thankful that the evenings are a bit cooler (around 20C) allowing me to actually sleep without the a/c. I like peace and quiet, which you don't get with an a/c.

On the quilting front, I have been tackling the Modern Building Block UFO quilt and have the following done:

These blocks measure 6 inches finished. So far I have 29 out of 48 blocks done ... a bit more to go ... slowly but surely.

So what have you been up to?

Catch you all later! Cheers!

Reducing my foot print .... !

With my little Pumpkin studying Environmental Management, I've been more conscious of my impact on this planet and have been looking for ways to reduce my foot print on this beautiful earth. More specifically, reducing my use of plastic. No more plastic straws for me or the use of shopping bags. I bring my own.

In the fruit and vegetable department, I was looking for fabric mesh to make reusable bags ... That is, until I found these at Target.

They work beautifully and even come with a small carrying bag. I bought two sets! They are now part of my shopping bag routine!

Not much quilting going on at the moment. It's way too hot and besides, lots of changes to take place soon!

Catch you all later! Cheers!

A break from the DSM ... !

Is it hot enough for you people in the northern hemisphere? OMG, I think this summer is going to be in the category of one of the hottest in a long time. 

Took a little break from machine piecing and picked up the UFO - BOM Beauty all Around and worked on stitching a couple of blocks.

Block 6

And block 7

What's nice about this UFO is that all the blocks are prepped. All I need to do is stitch around the wool pieces. That's the beauty of taking the time to prep all of your blocks. When you are done with one, you can pick up another ... it's a production line! ;)

So, what have you been up to today?

Respite from the heat and humidity ... !

OMG, it's been hotter than ever. I'm soooooo not a heat lover. I much prefer being cold, at least I can put on layers. When it's hot, you can only remove so many layers! lol

For you Celsius people, that's about 22. It's so comfortable ... Nice cool breeze coming in the quilting studio! Haven ....

To get away from the sweltering heat, I have been doing a bit of quilting on the recent pick, you know, off that UFO list ... Modern Building Blocks by Moda. I opened the box and found ...

I had put the box away with a total of six (6) blocks pieced, so I got busy.

After a while, I ran out of pins, not to mention that it looked a tad disorganized ... I decided to start piecing together what I could ... tah dah!

Much more organized, don't you think? And, four new blocks were added.

There are 48 blocks in this quilt. I presently have 24 more blocks to go. 

Guess what I'll be working on today?

Catch you all later! Cheers!

Enjoy celebrating with family and friends!  Cheers!

Onward bound .... !

I finished hand stitching the binding on Peace and Unity. What a great feeling to complete a project.

It has been washed and now put away in that special quilt cabinet! Now for the next project on that list!

I decided to work on Modern Building Blocks, a quilt designed by Moda. 

I started this quilt back in February 2015. The few completed blocks have been sitting on the back of my chair, you known, that architect chair that seems to be THE place to accumulate unfinished projects!

This quilt was "suppose" to be Pumpkin's high school graduation quilt, but .... Hey, she'll be graduating from college soon, so it's still a graduation quilt! lol 

Stay cool and hydrated! Catch you all later! Cheers!