Tuesday, March 29, 2011

A Little Finish-just in time!

My little thread catcher
 I did it!  I didn't want to end the month without a finish.  
  I had a square left over from a shaggy quilt I made last year, so I bound  it and then made a little thread catcher following the directions  in Kerry  Swain's book.  When I am stitching I usually have a 'stable table' on my  lap and end up with quite a collection of thread ends on it as I stitch away, so this is just what I need to be a little tidier.  
Beware of tomatoes!
They are dangerous for
your stitching!
  It has been a slow month project wise, after an unfortunate encounter with a tomato earlier this month.  Imagine, one minute walking along talking to a colleague and the next falling flat the concrete--with the offending piece of tomato stuck to the sole of my shoe (someone obviously didn't want it on their lunch and had dropped it on the ground!)- Talk about a shock to the system-  I'm still a little tender in some spots and am carefully watching out for rogue tomatoes, as I don't want to repeat the experience!

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Time is running out

The end of the month is nearly here and what do I have to show for OPAM, well nothing yet.  That is the problem with stitching away on blocks that are part of something larger!  I still have a few days left.   Meanwhile the days are getting colder and it has been a wet windy day.  Such a change from yesterday when we went to a wedding held in a garden where it was so hot that a few of us have a slight touch of sunburn.  Who would have thought after the weather we have had here of late!
It's too wet to be in the garden to take photos- there are flowers on some of our evergreen trees while the leaves are turning yellow on some of the deciduous ones- so we certainly know that Autumn is well and truly here. (Some might say that we are still waiting for the summer that never arrived this year!)
I'd best make the most of the next few nights and stitch up a storm and see what I can finish by the 31st!
Enjoy your stitching!

Monday, March 21, 2011

No Work Today.....because it is Anniversary Day

Round Robin quilt
Yes it has been a relaxing 3 day weekend, sunny for 2 days but grey with misty rain today- a day for doing some stitching.  Anniversary Day is celebrated in our province on the nearest Monday to the 23 March.  The colours of our province are blue and gold.  Some years back I was in a round robin quilt exchange.  I liked the Carolina Lily block and so made it in blue and yellow and here is a picture of the quilt that I received back after it had done the rounds.  I really need to quilt it and finish it but haven't ever decided how I want to do that so it has been hiding in the cupboard.  (maybe should have pressed it first!! and the sun was shining through it when I put it on the clothesline to take the photo)  perhaps I should set the target to do this by Anniversary Day next year to get myself moving on it!!  

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

It's Simple...and a finish

Waiting for me in the letterbox when I got home was this book by Kim Diehl - a little light reading and maybe a quilt or two to put on the wish list.









Also a little finish, made with a group I am going to once a month to work through some projects for Christmas.

Sunday, March 13, 2011

It's Orange, (but it's not fabric)

It was Saturday again, the day to do the grocery shopping etc... What to put on the list?  Apricot jam for a change comes the suggestion.. I had noticed cheap apricots on the way home the other day (must be the last of the season surely) - so I thought home made does taste better and even though I haven't made jam for a couple of years now, that is how I spent part of my Saturday night- with some apricots, sugar and some glass jars and did it smell good!-  Here are a few of the jars that I made (12 in all), not quite something to put up for OPAM but it is something that DH was quite pleased with after sampling jar number 1.

Friday, March 11, 2011

Tis the Season- fabric sorted????

After much procrastination I think I have finally decided on some of the fabric for my Tis The Season Quilt.  I'm going to try just a red and green for the block borders and then some of the stripe for the thin border and the binding.  I still have to get something for the wider border- will see how it looks once a few blocks are made.    

Monday, March 7, 2011

Trying Some Things ....

I've been trying a few things out , such as adding pages as tabs to the top of the blog.  I thought I would start to take photos of some of  my unfinished items-

just a few at a time - and then put them into those pages and work towards finishing them.     So to start I have:

1.  A jelly roll quilt that needs a border top and bottom and then quilting.


                                                              
                                                                
2.  Four more blocks to stitch on A Redwork Christmas, and here are 2 of the ones that I have done so far. I must have been on an angle when I took the photo as it looks a little wonky!