Goodbye 2015

It's hard to believe it's the last day of the year!

 We have had such a full, exciting year here and now I'm looking forward to what 2016 will bring.

I've been having a quiet week. I find I need some downtime after Christmas these last few years just to recuperate. I've spent some lovely time in the sewing room trying to get caught up on Allietare, Bonnie Hunter's Mystery.

During the last week I've fallen a bit behind on  my Day in My Life/Quilty365, but spent some time this morning appliquing away to get caught up. I don't want to fall too behind on this project or I'll lose interest!

Another project slotted for my holiday was to get a quilt top together from all the signature blocks our guests signed at our wedding in July. I have at least got them up on the design wall...

I'm not certain on whether to arrange them to be more pleasing by colour....or leave as is. I have them up with our more immediate family members toward the centre of the quilt, which pleases me. If there any other opinions out there, please pipe in as I'm open to suggestions!

I wonder how many of us are going to attempt the 365 Challenge this year? As of now, at just after 9a.m., the Challenge has actually started since it is originating from Australia and they have already rung in the new year! I've had a bit of trouble getting in to see the first block, but I'm sure the bugs will be hammered out shortly! Woohoo!!!

Have a great New Year's Eve!!
xo

Oh my goodness!

I thought to take an hour today to get caught up on this week's clue of Allietare. So far, so good!

A nice pile of "headless geese, just needing the other triangle sewn onto them....

I stopped for a moment to remind myself of what size rectangles are needed to sew onto the geese to make a complete unit.

I don't know why I didn't clue in earlier....especially after seeing the ones I'd finished on the design wall earlier this week....

Anyone see a problem with these? I used my neutral instead of my constant grey!!!!

Oh well, won't take too long to fix. I guess I'll do some un-sewing while watching tv tonight.

Here is one of my Day in My Life/Quilty365 hearts appliqued recently. I like this one a lot!

For anyone who is interested in what may be a fun quilt, check this out, the 365 Challenge.

I'm not going to say anymore about the 365 Challenge at the moment, only that it sounds like fun. Maybe this is why I make silly mistakes like the one with my neutrals/grey.....could it be that I have way too many projects on the go?? (rhetorical question, no need to answer!)

I'd better get back to my "real" job.

Have a great day!

Allietare, week two!

I wasn't able to get as much sewing done on the weekend that I had hoped what with prepping the house a bit for Christmas and some Christmas shopping. Although, I have to admit, we did a lot of damage at Kitchen Stuff Plus but it was all for ourselves! Oh well :)

I did make headway on my microwave fabric bowls, most of them just need the final bit of sewing around the edge....

As of this morning, I am caught up on my Day in My Life/Quilty365. I'm still loving this little project. Now I'm wondering whether or not to start joining them up somewhat along the way so I don't have 365 to sew together in the end. I think I will!

I did manage to sew a bit on Bonnie Hunter's mystery, Allietare. I'm liking this step for a couple of reasons, one being that the reds in my stash are probably some of my favourite fabrics. I've also liked learning to use the Companion Angle ruler for this step. I haven't used this ruler much in the past. Here are my "headless geese", as Bonnie calls them....

When I read the post over at Kathy's Quilts this morning, Kathy mentions using this tape to help mark the proper spot on the ruler for this step.....

As soon as I read her post I remembered that I had purchased this product sometime in the past but as you can see, it's still in the package! I'm sure I bought it to mark rulers I use while on the longarm, but obviously I'd forgotten all about it.

Here's how it will be used in this step in the mystery....

Thanks, Kathy!, but I wish I had read your post a few days ago when I cut a few pieces incorrectly by putting the top edge of the ruler along the top of the fabric edge! Luckily I noticed fairly quickly my mistake.

Today I will be joining in at the Mystery Monday Link-up hosted by Quiltville. You can take a look at everyone's progress HERE.

I hope you can hunker down and do some sewing on this dreary day!

Busy times

It's Friday already!

 Like I've said before, this time of year is super-busy for us longarmers. This morning I have a few people coming and going with drop-offs and pick-ups. When this happens, I hesitate to work on the longarm since I won't hear the door-bell.

So....I took a bit of time this morning while waiting to do a bit of sewing!

As many of us know, today is the start of Bonnie Hunter's mystery, Allietare. It's always good to get some of each clue's sewing done before the next clue comes out. But before I can allow myself to get at it, I really had to finish up what has been lurking on the design wall much too long. It's a Christmas present for my son and his wife and I at least want the top done....and now it is!.....

Hopefully, it will get quilted in time for Christmas, but it will have to wait til all my other longarm obligations are done. If it doesn't, then there will be plenty of time between Christmas and New Year's!

This quilt was my first time using the Quick Curve ruler. It was a slick process and I'll probably use it again, but you can really tell I'm a novice! I tried pinning the rows together, but, honestly, I had better results without them.

Of course, it did make things easier since I had my lovely stiletto that was made for me by a good friend!...

Still, how can I get perfection like this....

....and in the very same seam, get this.....

Hmm, I'm just glad this is a learning quilt....and I'll ask my son to not let people look too closely!!!

As for Allietare? I am just going to make half of the quilt, due to time constraints, and this if fine since we are a family who likes to curl up on the couch with a quilt!

Also, to save time, I am using a "constant" fabric as my background.

This morning's clue was to make a pile of 1-1/2" HST from backgrounds and the grey fabric. I just wanted to see how many I could get out of a WOF....for me it's 29, not bad!

I was going to use Thangles for this clue, but I figured I would try to commit to Bonnie's preferred method of using the Easy Angle ruler...

It worked out pretty good, but I did find I get better results if I feed the units thru' the machine "tip" end first. When I feed them thru' the other way, I tend to get a bit "off" at the pointy tip. I'm going to blame my feed dogs!

As for the pressing of the HST's, I've never followed Bonnie's suggestion of leaving the chain of
units connected. I don't know what's going on with me today, but again I figured I'd give Bonnie's way a try.....

....and, what do you know, she's right again, it was a time-saver!

I haven't checked the size of them yet, hopefully they are close to 1.5"!

Here is a peek at what's on the frame today. It's an absolutely stunning quilt called FairIsle....because it has the look of a Fair Isle sweater! This needs to get done pronto so it can make it to Quilt Junction in time for their  Christmas Open House next week as the featured quilt.

Have a great day!

P.S. (added Nov.30) I'm going to attempt to link this post to Bonnie's Linky party today, so visit her at  http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2015/11/mystery-monday-link-up-allietare-part-1.html to see how everyone else is doing on this first clue!

It's a Purple day

Today I'm experiencing what I think is Sciatica pain. Not a good thing any day, but has me a bit panicky since a lot of my day today and the days of the next three weeks involves standing.

As any of my longarm friends can attest to, these next three weeks leading up to Christmas require careful planning. Almost any quilt that will be done now will be one that someone needs as a Christmas present.

So, what to do? Push through it, or take it easy for a day?

As I am pondering the fabric for my daily heart applique for my Day in the Life/Quilty365 I am wondering what colour could represent a bit of pain. I've decided on purple, even though I do love purple!

I really don't mean for aches and pains to be a part of my blog postings, I guess today it's just not good timing for this!!!

Especially when I have this facing me at the ironing board.....

....fabrics that need pressing for the beginning of Allietare tomorrow......woohoo!!!! I can hardly wait til tomorrow to see what the start of this mystery is with Bonnie at Quiltville.

Even though it was difficult sitting in my applique chair this morning, I did stitch a couple of "off the block" flowers for Auntie Green's Garden. It was nice to work on something other than green leaves and stems for a change! I do like the simple work of stems and leaves.....but I think that's ALL I've done for the last two weeks. Oh, except for my wee hearts!

Have a great day!

Unexpected retail therapy!

What's a girl to do?

I finished work early, then I got the call that my dentist appointment was cancelled, so I got the notion to call my quilty friend to see if she felt like an outing to our local quilt shop, Quilt Junction in Waterford.

Of course, my friend said, "of course!"! lol

I knew that I needed to get out there sometime this week. Now that I've decided to take part in Quiltville's mystery, Allietare, I needed to get a piece of grey fabric. I don't have much in the way of grey in my stash. The mystery starts Friday! I will only be making half the quilt this time, but that should be big enough for a couch quilt, I'm sure.

Here's what I've come home with...

I don't work a lot with black fabrics, so figured I'd feed the stash a bit with a few fat quarters. Also, to make it more do-able this time for me, I've decided to go with one constant fabric for the background.

Luckily, I have a lot of reds and golds on hand to add some scrappy flavour to the project!

For stocking stuffers this year, I've decided to try making fabric microwaveable bowls. These are to hold the bowl in the microwave and to hold onto as you lift the hot bowl out of the microwave.

I was going to use stash for these "bowls", really I was. Last week I was wishing I have more in the way of cherry fabric since cherry trees are sentimental to my family. Well, what was the first thing I laid eyes on at Quilt Junction....

Couldn't resist!!! Now to get them made.

That's all for now. I'd better go pick out today's fabric choice for A Day in My Life (Quilty365). I'm still keeping up with one a day!

A visit to Sparta

What a beautiful looking day! All sunny and no wind....although I hear we are in for more wind mid-week, similar to the wind we experienced last week, yikes!

I had a full day yesterday, starting off with the introduction of the new Border Creek Station mystery club called "Quilters' Legacy" being hosted by Quilt Junction. The pattern in being offered is two colour-ways and here is the stack of lovely fabrics that I will be working with....

I was really having trouble liking the green fabric, so I've had to swap it out for the red one in the picture....this feels so much better for me! I hope I haven't compromised my quilt, but probably not. The fabric line is Mon Ami by Moda.

I'm still determined to keep up with doing a heart per day for my version of Quilty365. It's funny how things work out sometimes. I had thought to do a heart in memory of the awful news out of Paris this weekend, so I appliqued a blue heart on Saturday....then went to the first mystery class. At once I noticed that the above green fabric is all about Paris, going so far as to have pics of the Eiffel Tower and the word Paris....

So bizarre! So today's heart is a no-brainer...

For more on this project, visit Audrey over at Quilty Folk! I swear this is only taking approximately 15 minutes of my morning applique time....worth it!

After my morning at Quilt Junction, we headed out for an afternoon drive to Sparta, Ontario. I have never been but heard a lot about it through friends. Of course, the first thing people say is that you have to get the candles!!!

So, yes, we bought candles...lots of them!....but most will be stocking stuffers.

Everything in Sparta is quaint and the buildings/architecture is old. Lots of little shops, featuring different artist's studios, as well.

Sparta Candles...

A shot basically capturing most of the town....

There were many quilt blocks on buildings and barns in the area, but I only thought to get a picture of two....

We took the opportunity to visit a couple of the local wineries, Quai du Vin (I meant to ask how to pronounce it, but forgot) and Rush Creek Wines. They were both lovely and friendly and we'll visit again if we are in the area.

I didn't realise that Rush Creek was all fruit wines, no grapes. I think a little-known fact is that if you are one to get migraines from wine, that it is probably the tanins from the grapes and fruit wines shouldn't bother you...at least this is what I have been told!

I bought a nice Pear wine which was much like a Reisling and another berry blend wine that I thought would be great for the Christmas table...yum!

It was an adventure finding one of the wineries....I'm sure we missed the "easy" way but we saw this tiny, tiny sign and followed it....

It led us along a winding, steep road that, I have to admit, made me scream a little, but we eventually ended up where we wanted to be!

Needless to say, after a busy couple of days I was ready for some extra applique time this morning. I'm still stitching away at my Auntie Green's Garden. I think, at this rate, by the end of the month I'll have both side borders done.

Have a visit with Kathy over at Kathy's Quilts to see what others are poking at today!

Have a great day!

P.S. This is a message for RG....you have swayed me, as evident by the return of the Allietare button off to the right! lol

Just a quick note!

I have been trying to talk myself out of doing Bonnie Hunter's mystery this year.....trying really, really hard.

I made the mistake of looking again at her Introduction to the mystery which can be found HERE.

I have quite a few friends who all excited to get started and I guess I've gotten myself caught up in their excitement.

So, this little post has no pictures or stories....I guess it is my way of making the commitment to join in the fun! I will probably just do half the blocks and make a couch quilt.

I have posted a "button" in the sidebar...."Allietare", which is the name of the mystery quilt. I think this button should take you to Bonnie's site (sorry, not too experienced with this yet!)

Maybe some of you will decide join in the fun if you haven't tried one of Bonnie's mysteries yet. Be forewarned, they are a lot of work , but her instructions are super easy to follow and she is a pro at writing these up!

There is one picture in this post, after-all. An impromptu one of one of the first mysteries of Bonnie's that I took part in......

Have a great day!