Of quilts, containers and other things

Wow - time goes fast when you are having fun!!!!

It was so nice to get back to Monday Motivators. I don't think the girls missed me at all. There was a whole lot of quilting going on.

Joyce was working on this cute dinosaur quilt

And making a cute fringe on the edge of the fleece backing. 

Margo teacup placemats

Jackie's LONG project. Jackie has great staying power - she will work on the same project (regardless of how complex) until it is done!!!!!   She is almost finished this one and it is a keeper (although it is a gift!!)

Eleanora finishing a bag from MANY years ago!!!!

That was all the pictures I got of what the girls were working on, although the others were all busy beavers!!!!

And want did I work on?????  After trimming some half square triangles, I decided to start a NEW project. I just bought the kit last week. Why not?????   I hope to have it ready for Halloween. It is so cute!!!!!!

Halloween table runner

All the bits for the runner. Psst - the kit was on SALE and I mean on SALE. I paid $20 for the kit including, pattern, fabric and all the bits. Sorry - I bought the last they had!!!!!

And yes I am quilting up a storm these days. Got another one done yesterday....

One of MY quilts. This was originally supposed to be a present for M - MANY MANY years ago. It sat  all basted with backing and batting for years. I decided to get it done. Pulled off the batting and backing - loaded it on the long arm and quilted it.

Cute quilting pattern

 Then I got the binding on this morning and you know what that means??????

THREE quilts that need hand stitching. I down loaded an audio book yesterday - hopefully I can get started on this pile!!!!!

New fabric for round robin

I decided that I DID NOT like the fabric that I had chosen for the round robin row. So I ripped the row off and started over. Marian helped me pick this - I am NOT changing it again. I have restarted to sew the borders on and should be finished by Friday when I am supposed to drop it off to Carol.

Had to make a stop at Fabricland and there is a SALE!!!!   Picked up a couple of new containers!!!

Metal tin

Metal "vintage" tin

 I had seen them a while back, but was NOT going to buy them at full price. When I saw them at half price - then I could justify buying them.


And Ronda gave me this one a while back (for my birthday!!!)

Suitcase style container

Hmmm - what am I going to put in these tins/containers?????   I am sure I will find something.

And I know you are wondering about the hall closet. Well - I am almost done - just need a bit more sorting and it will be finished. And it is looking amazing - I love this organizing thing. The more you do - the more you want to do.

I used to keep the bug spray and sun screen in the hall closet. OK - how did we end up with so much of each?????   I checked on-line and imagine - sunscreen has an expiry date!!!!!!   I threw out all the dated sunscreen and we still have lots. Yes - I know the stuff I kept is probably still all expired. But what I want to know is HOW did we get so much???????   I decided to store it in the hall bathroom cupboard which has basically nothing in it!!!!!!

Hall bathroom cupboard

Hmmm - no cleaning to be done here!!!!!


Well I see a busy day ahead of me and I had better get myself in gear.

Have a great day!!!


Ciao!!!!!!

Round Robin Update

It is time for the LAST exchange of the round robin. Only a couple of months until the final reveal. I am getting excited. I almost could NOT contain myself yesterday when they were looking at mine and I was waiting it out in the hallway. I almost got up and burst onto the patio screaming - I WANT TO SEE MY QUILT!!!!!!!

However common sense prevailed and I waited it out!!!   I WANT ALL THE QUILTS. Each one has it own personality and they all look amazing!!!   I must confess that I did NOT get my homework complete for this exchange. I had started and even got two borders sewn on. I was NOT happy with my fabric choice and was trying to convince myself that it was OK. Then when I spoke to Marian yesterday and confessed my concern - she piped up - "the fabric is too light". Well yeah - if you thought that two days ago - you SHOULD have told me. GRRRRRRR!!!!   She NEEDS to speak up - then maybe I could have completed the homework!!!  

Oh well - it is an easy border so won't take that long to get it done. Unfortunately I cannot show you any pictures cause it is all HUSH HUSH. I am so surprised that no one has accidentally seen their quilt or that we have blabbed about it in front of the owner. We KNOW how to keep secrets.

When I got home - I decided to get some quilting done and completed this small community project quilt.

Community project quilt

Then I got another one (of my own) ready to go. I loaded the back - found FOUR pieces of batting that together are big enough for the batting. I just LOVE using up those pieces!!!!!!   I will loading the quilt today and hopefully get it done later in the afternoon. I am on a roll!!!!!!   After this - I have one more of mine that I would like to sneak in and then it's time to get busy on customer stuff!!!!   The pile is getting higher!!!  And Marian - where is Wish Upon a Star????????

Today is Monday Motivator. I am excited - it will be nice to see the girls again and get back into some kind of routine if that is possible!!!!!


Have a great day!!!!

Ciao!!!!!

Birthdays and play dates!!!!!

It was my birthday yesterday!!! Yeah - I always try to do something fun and non-scheduled on my birthday. Yesterday was no exception. After capturing the two geocaches the day before and the fact that Marian and I had planned to do some caching yesterday (OK - so we planned it, but I had NO TIME commitments).

After logging in the two caches from the day before, I realized that if I did a cache for the number of years I turned yesterday and added that to the number that I already have - I would reach the milestone of 300!!!!  Hmmm is that doable in  a day????

Well - I thought I would get off to an early start - I got the info for a couple of caches and my bike and I was off!!!!   I managed to snag seven before I thought I had better get home since no one knew where I was. Was great as some of these were in very busy spots and NO ONE was around that early in the day!!!!

Got my stuff together and the geodogs and we were off. We decided to hit the Caledon Trail where there is a LONG line of caches in a row. Is that cheating????   Well - no - we had to search for each and everyone of them. The dogs got a good walk (and so did we!). We were also conserving gas!!!!!  No driving around from one to the other.

And when I say we had to search - I am NOT kidding - have a look at this.......

The cache - camouflaged to look like a leaf!!!!!

All of them were small ones - some like this and some were small tubes with camo tape on them. We almost gave up on a couple of them, but just as we were about to give up - VOILA - there is was.

Then we found another very cleverly disguised one that we almost missed......

The "log"

The cache inside the log

This one was very clever, but if we had of paid attention to the GPS - we would have found it a lot sooner!!!!   It was NOT in THE obvious spot. Very clever indeed!!!!!

Let's just say that we walked and we walked and we walked. It was getting a tad humid in the late afternoon and we were hot and sticky. Oh yes - do you want to see what else we found while we were searching through the trees......

An icky bug!!!!!!    The eyes were pretty cool!

There was only ONE injury the entire day.

A dog leash burn!!!!  On MY leg. And who do you think made that happen????   Oh yes - Miss K!!!!!!!!

And it wasn't enough that she got the back of my leg - she got the front too!!!!!!!

Lesson learned - when I am in the bush looking for a cache - Miss K is supposed to be sitting on the road!!!! She didn't listen too well.

Speaking of hard to find caches - the day before - I found this one.

This is the cache container

The hiding spot

Container in the hiding spot

The hiding spot  - is that NOT CLEVER or what. This took a bit of searching, but I have learned, leave no stone unturned and no stick unpulled!!!!!

And the wildlife we saw on the first day was this....

Heron - on the left bank!

Honestly I wish I would have had the telephoto lens. Well - I guess I could have cropped this picture to make the bird bigger. Let's just say that I carry enough crap when I go out. It was bad enough that yesterday we carried the iPad with us. Imagine - we are on a beautiful country bike/walking path - two people, three dogs and a flipping iPad!!!!!!    Well the iPad saved us the hassle of writing down all the information (yeah - Ronda - I know I could have used the Dakota 20 - but I had loaned it to Marian and therefore did NOT have the right data on it!!!)

The girls were very well behaved in the car. Sparky must like the van and maybe finds the seat bigger than my car. She NEVER sits in my car. She is standing there drooling everywhere, but in the van - well Kaylee and Sparky had the back seat.....

Miss K looks bored - Sparky is excited!!!!

And little Sammy????   Well she laid on the console between the two front seats. Has to be close which is why she is called VELCRO dog!!!!

Honestly while Miss K would run around like an idiot (we had to put her on her leash) and Sparky was investigating, but never far away, we could NEVER find Sammy. Why is that you ask????   Well she was always in our BLIND spot. Literally she is right on your heels. Can't be far away!!!!   So VELCRO dog she is!!!!  

On the way home - the girls were a tad tired and went to sleep pretty much right away!!!!   We made a couple of small stops on the way and Sparky couldn't even be bothered to get out of the van!!!!

Buddies!!!!!!!

Even Sammy decided the back seat was more comfortable than the console!!!!

In total - Marian and I discovered TWENTY-ONE caches. In one day!!!!   That is pretty amazing (OK - I know people have done more, but with three dogs and walking - that was pretty darn good!!!)  In total I found TWENTY-EIGHT. Even more amazing - we found EVERYTHING we went for. NO DID NOT FINDS!!!!!!!


Now what did I get for my birthday??????   Well I saw this sign posted on my door when I got up.....

My birthday card!!!!   That last word is BONDING in case you were wondering!!!!  

But this is my actual present and I LOVE IT!!!!!!!    Captures our trip perfectly!!!!!!

Collage of European trip 2011

Hmmmm - just when you are about to lose faith that your kid will turn out OK and then they do something like this!!!!!    You could kill them one minute and then love them to death the next!!!!  


Now for a couple of updates!!!!

On Friday they started to work on our roof. I knew that it was going to take two days. The pitch of the roof and all the valleys makes it a bit complicated. My neighbour two doors down (same house) had her roof done in June and it also took two days.

Back of the house after one day - they got most of the back and sides done on the first day

The front full of garbage at the end of day one!!!  Although they thoroughly cleaned up the ground at night. 

Day two - yep - my neighbour one door down is getting a new roof as well. 

 Interesting thing about my neighbour. Their roof isn't as complicated as ours, but their roofers arrived AFTER my guys started and were gone before my guys were done!!!!!!   My neighbour was asking my roofers all kinds of questions - why were they doing this, why were they doing that???   Apparently they took the cheapest way to get a roof and it shows. I guess the test of time will be - whose roof lasts the longest!!!!!

Almost finished - they ran out of shingles and will get it finished on Monday. 

The new roof!!!!   Great colour. Got to go out and compare the three roofs - but yes I like what we choose for ours  and I think we got a better contractor. Better be after all the research I did!!!!!

And what about that dish washer you are asking????   Well - it seems to be fixed!!!!!!!   And it cost me $2.26 in vinegar!!!!   I let the vinegar sit for 24 hours - then ran the dishwasher. Then repeated that process. Then I ran a load of dishes through yesterday and NOT A SINGLE CUP had grit in it!!!!!!    Now I just have to remember to let the vinegar do its thing about once a month and we should have no further problems. I must remember to go to the Maytag store to thank Leo for the advice. It really worked!!!!!!!


Oh yes - on Friday Marian and I went to a quilt show. Gosh - I can't remember the guild, but it was in the Sharon Temple which is just north of Newmarket.

Sharon Temple

Cool staircase to get to the second level. Apparently it is NOT in use - the staircase that is.

I took a lot of pictures of quilts, but also QUILTING. Here are a few I'll share with you.....

OK - so this isn't quilting, but embroidery and very cute!!!!

Great idea to go around embroidery!

Part of a lone star

It was a great show and we were able to eat our lunch outside. It has been gorgeous the last couple of days and I am so glad I am able to get out and enjoy that weather. Soon we will be cooped up - then I can focus on quilting!!!!  

We also had a side trip to Evelyn's in Newmarket where there was a 50% off sale. We did not do much damage since common sense is prevailing these days. And the world must be coming to an end because none of us bought a thing in the vendors market. I think I already said that!!!!!

Anyway - on the note of getting some quilting done - I have to get the round robin finished. I'm passing it on this afternoon and just one more row to sew on. No panic, but it has to be done.


Have a great day!!!!!


Ciao!!!!!!

Productivity isn't the only thing!

Despite my list and best of plans, it was not the most productive day of my life. BUT - I did get a lot done.

I started the day with a visit to the gym and my friend Alwin. Had a bad night with the knees so we did upper body. Then he decided I needed some serious stretching. After my pathetic attempts on my own - he made me lie on the stretching table and proceeded to stretch my legs and hips. OMG - I was in so much pain - I thought I was going to die. My eyes were watering the pain was so intense. However I have to say that I felt much better the rest of the day and even had a decent sleep. Yeah - OK OK - so I NEED to stretch everyday. I just can't get away without any more.

And I was told to REST!!!!!  So I did - got home - had a nap in the afternoon and read my book which I finished and yes - entered into the database!!!!

Then I had a lovely visit with Barb in the afternoon. She broke her arm in a very bad place (near the shoulder) almost three months ago and it takes a LONG time to heal. Since she can't drive - I went to see her. OK - note to self - DO THAT MORE OFTEN. It's not about the quantity of stuff you do, but the quality of the stuff you do. Thanks Barb!!!!!

 I had planned to quilt the second community project quilt yesterday afternoon, but as you can tell that did not happen. I was wide awake at 4 AM and thought - why not!!!   So yes - I got the second quilt quilted.

Community Project quilt

Now if customers would give me quilts this size - no problem. But no they give me giant quilts!!!!!!

I went through the batting closet (well the list) and found a perfect piece of batting for the third community project quilt. I am set to load that one later today. It is even smaller and should take no time at all. I even have one of my own lined up after that. Then I might sneak ONE more of my own in and then got to buckle down to customer stuff. I would really really really like to get caught up with all the quilting - that won't be so hard with customer stuff, but with my own - well it will take a long time. And once I have the ones quilted that are ready to go - I have THREE HUGE tubs of tops that need a border or backing or binding and then they are ready to be quilted!!!!!

One thing I noticed when I was quilting the other day - the thread is "sticky" coming out of the bobbin, but not consistently. So part of the thread pulls out smooth and then it gets tough to pull. Adjusting the tension doesn't help since it is not consistent. And it throws the tension on the back in parts. I had heard somewhere that putting your thread in this place would help the situation.....

Thread in the refrigerator

I think it helped - the tension was much more consistent this morning. Of course M and her friend kept asking all day yesterday - why is there thread in the fridge??????

Oh yes - and did you notice the colour of the quilt I did this morning - ORANGE. Not often I get to do an orange quilt. The next one is - can you guess????   Yes - turquoise colour.

I promised to show you some of the stuff I picked up in Europe - here goes.

First I was a tad disappointed in the Europeans. I had heard that they were very progressive in the recycling, reducing, reusing thing. But honestly EVERYWHERE we went - we got a bag. No one asked if we wanted a bag - we just got LOTS of bags. And everything gets packaged so pretty - have a look.

This bag came from the cross stitch store in Brugges. It was a HUGE store. 

In the bag - ONE skein of rayon DMC. 

This bag was from a small boutique in Paris. If you remember from last year - the one style that is very DOMINANT in a lot of stuff is polka dots particularly red and white. 

So I could NOT leave without buying something that was red/white polka dots. And see - even the inside of the bag was pretty - a red/white gingham!!!!

This bag came from a cool store in Amsterdam and in the bag????

The letter E - remember my thing with the letter E

 This store also had a ton of other cool stuff. I checked out the web site for this letter when I got home and I think I am going to put a lot of this stuff on my Christmas list - including the BIG letter e.


Cool gizmos!!!!!

Then off to the quilt store in Amsterdam - I got a bag

And within the bag - the items were in their own bag

An awesome pattern 

The fabrics - the two on the left are small panels with Dutch related motifs, the top right (yes - it is an American fabric that I was going to use in my 30s project I mentioned a while back and CRAP - I already had this one when I got home). The bottom right one is a Dutch designed fabric

And the store label was also in the bag. Talk about packaging!!!!!!   And in case you want to visit this store - here is the link


Bird Blocks Quilt Shop

Let's see - what else did I get........

Picked this up in Paris - it is a kit for a small wall hanging. It's Japanese!!!!!

Picked this up at the same store - another Japanese kit. It is a key holder. Your keys go inside the little puppy. It`s very cute!!!!!!

A piece of authentic French fabric. I am NOT fond of the style so I only bought one fat quarter 

Ines quilt store in Paris. This was the store that was open and I purchased the above stuff. This was one of the pictures that didn`t happen at first because I did NOT have a card in my camera, but since it was close to the hotel - we hopped on our bikes one night and got the picture. Can you see my bike??????

I'll finish this later - I see the roofers are here and Marian will be here soon and I have a mess to clean up upstairs!!!!!

Have a great day!!!!!


Ciao!!!!!!