OK - so I went overboard!!!!!

As much as I say ENOUGH is ENOUGH, I can't help myself when it comes to S.E.X.

Hey - get your mind out of the gutter - I am talking about a Stash Enhancing Xperience!!!   And while I was very good when I was on my bike, once I got off - well all rational thought went out the window.

Two FQ in black with primary colours (got a project in mind for those!)

Halloween panel

A Halloween FQ and a pack of Halloween charm squares

 Yes - I know - more Halloween fabric - not that I need any more - I blame Carol for this fetish!!!!

Existing basket of Halloween fabric!!!!!   Oh yeah - I need MORE!!!!!!!

Couple of meters of cool Christmas fabric

A six inch square (yeah - this was a freebie from one store!)

Flannel strip on the DIAGONAL. I have used this in the past for bindings for children's flannel quilts and I ran out. I couldn't resist. Only bought one meter.

Oranges that I bought to make my bracelet - remember that bracelet????

The bracelet pattern I bought at the beginning of the trip

More orange for the bracelet

Apparently this fabric was from a line called Dear Jane (which I want to make)

Dear Jane book (in case you have no idea what Dear Jane is all about!)

Flower panel (yes I know they have them locally, but I saw this one at the quilt show and it was very heavily embellished and looked gorgeous. I finally caved!!!!)

Fabric by Amy Bradley and how could I resist when I already have the pattern (OK - so I haven't made it yet, but now I have the perfect backing!!!!)

Quilt Diva pattern

BLAH BLAH BLAH - Maxine fabric, but it is WORDS and I love WORD fabric

But the fabric has all been put away where it belongs. But I really really do NOT want to buy more. This bloody obsessive nature of mine. If I could only be obsessive about NOT buying fabric. No wonder I hate shop hops!!!!!   If I don`t go to the store - I am not tempted!!!!

Although I have to say that yesterday I went to Ruti`s to get the binding for the quilt I am working on and that is ALL I bought - just .75 meter of fabric to make the binding!!!!   Why can`t I do that everywhere??????   I need a budget and CASH.

I mean when this happens to you - how can you actually justify buying more.

Sadly the last issue of FiberArts magazine (the company is going to focus on Quilting Arts magazine!)

But remember that contest with the studios. Well I grace the last issue having won the BEST STASH part of the contest. I guess I should be embarrassed!!!!!  But I love that room. It is inspirational, now I just need the time to do what I am inspired to do!!!!!

In case you were wondering - YES - I managed to get the customer quilt done!!!!!!   The binding is on and I will be hand stitching for the next while. Yeah - just glad to be done the quilting. 

Customer quilt

Oh - and in case you have no idea what Day and Night quilt looks like (I mentioned it yesterday) here it is.

Had a good workout with Alwin yesterday. Don't feel sore today at all so that is a good thing. All that hard work is paying off. However my knee - well it felt pretty decent yesterday and today is HURTS like crazy. I need to sit with an ice pack and since I am just binding today - I will be able to do that.

On that note - I'm out of here!!!!


Have a great day!!!!!


Ciao!!!!!

What a NOVEL(ty) idea!!!!!

I like novelty fabric. I have made a number of alphabet quilts.  I chose a particular letter and then cut 6 inch squares. Each square was a different thing that started with that letter. I have made quilts with C, B and M and thought at one time that it would be neat to make one for every letter. Yes - I know - what a dumb idea!!!!!

Anyway - I have a soft spot in my pocketbook whenever I see novelty fabric. I really really try NOT to buy any more, however when I was away - well - I couldn't help myself.

Skittles or candy

gingerbread men and women!!!

cows or holsteins

dice (this is actually for someone who wants me to make them a small bag with dice on it!)

sharks

ice cream cones

beer

tractors

cup cakes

snow mobiles

nuts or hazel nuts (I think that is what they are called)

phone booth

cucumbers

whistles

Now it wouldn't be so bad EXCEPT - this is what I already have for novelty fabrics.......

Laundry basket overflowing with novelty fabric

OMG - laundry basket NUMBER TWO also overflowing with novelty fabric

See what I mean!!!!!    There is enough fabric in those two baskets to make MANY MANY novelty quilts. I had better start!

Actually when September comes - I am going to have to get better organized. There is so much to do and so much I want to do. I had better figure out my time and become EVEN MORE efficient.

The other day Marian asked me if I ever got bored of quilting. I am certainly not bored yet, but I wish I had more dedicated time to sew. Always seems to be some distractions. Sooooooo - got to figure out how to get rid of the distractions!

Yes - I am making good progress on the quilt. I am almost finished, but was getting so tired last night that I decided to leave it until today. Then got to buy some binding for it and get that on ASAP. Anyone want to come on Friday and help hand stitch down binding?????

Progress on my knee is coming along nicely. More laser and more electric current at the chiro - amazing how that can fix a muscle, but it seems to just be a muscular issue so that is good. I am working out the knots in the leg muscles as well and it seems to be helping. One more time today and then we'll see. Then off to the gym - yeah - I'm so excited about that. But since I lost a few pounds on the bike trip, there is no excuse to put them back on. And I was amazed at the chiro yesterday - he was working on a tiny baby. This baby was just a few weeks old. Sounds like the baby has colic and I guess they figure something is not right.

I managed to eek out a bit more sewing on the One Block Wonder. Here is what it looked like yesterday.....

And here is what it looks like now.....

Can you spot the difference??????


Anyway - when I was laying out the blocks - I was ONE block short - with One Block Wonder - it is luck of the draw. I didn't want to fiddle around with adding the blocks into the borders or anything like that. So I found a similar green (as close as I could get) - hey - I already told you this story. Anyway I made up the extra block this morning. I split it so it wouldn't be quite so obvious.

Top right of quilt

Top left of quilt

And only two more columns to piece and then I can stitch the columns together. Takes a while to sew just to keep the pieces in order.

While sewing these - I also managed to get two blocks sewn together. These are for someone who asks me to help them out.

Blocks for Christmas Heart Light

Hopefully today will be a relatively quiet day - HAH - it is already half booked and I still have a quilt to finish and get the binding on.

On that note - I need to lay down for 15 minutes with a cloth on my eyes - allergies or something has hit me and they are itching like crazy!!!!!


Have a great day!!!!


Ciao!!!!!

I've gone DOTTY

You arrive home from vacation and what do you do???  Yes - you unpack, do laundry and all that. If you are a quilter - you also unpack all your purchases and admire them. As I was admiring them and sorting them into categories to make it easier to put away, I noticed something VERY STRANGE.

It seemed that I was on a dot kick. Don't believe me - have a look at this........

Big white dots on orange (loved it and bought all they had - 3 meters!)

Multi sized dots in green - hmmm - I really really like this. Perhaps I should get some more. This came from The Quilt Patch - HEY - don't buy it all!!!!

Small white dots on brown. This is gorgeous in real life!!!!   Also purchased at The Quilt Patch. They had the MOST amazing selection of browns and taupes. I wish my suitcase had of been bigger!!

Big white dots on red!

Yellow and orange dots on yellow!

Small white on brown. I've seen as stems in applique and just gorgeous!

Small white on red

Small white on orange/yellow

Can you believe that?????   I had a good chuckle over that. Since they had been purchased over a period of 5 weeks and once they got packed away, I didn't really see them again until they surfaced this week.

I also bought a few trims - Hey the Fabricland in Penticton was selling off all their stock - I mean ALL their stock. Something about the store changing hands and the new owner wanted everything NEW????   Go figure. Thank goodness the sale was almost over when I arrived!!!!

I LOVE rick rack. The two packages were bought at The Quilt Patch - they use rick rack a LOT. The loose stuff I got at  Fabricland. The rick rack in the packages are VERY large. 

Trim for seascapes (yeah - some day I will get to it!!!!)

Cool coloured zippers - yes I already have a couple, but these were on SALE!!!!!!

Also picked up some iron away stabilizer that I have always wanted to try

Had a good day yesterday - did make good progress on the quilt, but it is going to be a long day today as I need to finish it today. No breaks today!!!!!

Also had a visit with the chiro about my knee. OK - so doesn't seem to be anything serious, except that it is going to take time to heal and I need to work out all the kinks in the muscles surrounding the knee. I KNEW it was going to be painful. CRAP - well back again today for more treatment - they run electric current through it and it did feel better after that. But it didn't last!!!

Oh yes - while cleaning up your sewing room is a good thing, it is also a dangerous thing to do. I got a list of the classes I will be teaching at one store. One of the classes (Day and Night) is something I taught before and I had made the quilt blocks at that time, but did not get the top sewn together. I decided that I would dig out that project and I could try to get some of the blocks together (hey - maybe even the entire top!!!)  Well I knew WHERE the project USED TO BE, but do you think I could find it????  I searched in several places and then finally searched on the other side of the closet from where the project was originally and VOILA - it was in a box - even LABELLED!!!!!   OK - should have looked there first!!!!   So yes - ANOTHER project to sew - but no time for that right now - that quilt is calling me.




Have a great day!!!!


Ciao!!!!!

It's GREAT to be HOME!!!!!

As far as a travel day could go - my day was PERFECT!!!!   I left my brother's at 7:30 AM. Had a beautiful drive to the airport. Almost forgot to fill the car up with gas. I hate that decision when you rent a car - fill up the car yourself (got to make sure that you plan the extra time and know where the gas station is) or do you buy the tank from the rental company - then you have to make sure that the tank comes back almost empty. Well I am cheap and decided it was best to fill the car myself.

Besides they are going to have fun CLEANING the car. What do you think?????

Saskatchewan DUST!!!!!   The entire back window was covered at one point and we didn't spend that much time on the gravel road

BUGS!!!!!!!

Oh yeah - there are a LOT of bugs. LOTS and LOTS of mosquitoes and lots of dragonflies

I packed less in my bike box so it would be easy for me to handle on my own, but then I had two duffle bags.  Which meant that I was going to have to pay $20 for each of TWO extra bags, plus $50 handling fee for the bike. When I tried to check in online the cost was silly. I ended up doing the old fashioned check in and was charged for only ONE extra bag and the bike. Yeah!!!!!

I must say - the Saskatoon airport needs to fix their doors into the airport. They are single doors and have you tried to put a bike sideways through a single door????   Had to unload the cart and hand carry some stuff into the airport. But that was the WORST thing that happened all day.

Got everything checked in - the bike box was inspected and then sealed and I went to wait for a few minutes before boarding the plane. Arrived in Toronto and once we landed we had to wait for 5 - 10 minutes in the hallway before we could get into the airport.

Once I arrived in the baggage hall (where the heck did everyone else go????? ) I waited a few minutes and my luggage arrived. I mean there was NO ONE else at the carousel. They must have got lost getting off the plane - I was the ONLY one from my flight waiting for luggage. Then I went and got my bike - no wait there either. I think the flight landed at 3:15 and I was out of the airport within 20 minutes!!!!!!!!    How cool was that.

I love GOOD travel days.


Home to deal with the mail........

ICK!!!!!!   I did manage to rip through it very quickly. Those new organization skills made it easy. 

But not before I was greeted by TWO VERY HAPPY DOGS!!!!!!!    Sparky and Sammy were all over me - happy that I was home and I was happy to see them!!!!!!

However yesterday was a WRITE-OFF!!!!!   Once I did get up (which was very late for me), I just had no energy. I ended up going back to bed and stayed there for a good part of the day. I did read a book, but otherwise did NOTHING. Actually felt great to not be entertained or entertain anyone.

And I am trying to sort out all the goodies that I brought home. I'll share them from time to time with you.

First project - this is a pattern from a number of years back.

 UFO

My plan was to make this quilt from 30s fabric and a neutral cream. I even had most of it cut out......

Strips and squares already cut

There was no time before I left to make up a shopping list. At one of the stores, I discovered some 30s in orange. Hey - I could add to my project. Well I found a few more. Then when I went through my project box last night - I discovered this......

Oh my - TWO purples and FOUR oranges that I already had purchased

Perhaps I DID NOT need to buy all these oranges.........

Oranges I bought on my trip. Can you believe that there were NO duplicates!!!!    That was a fluke!!!!!

Hmmm - maybe I need a few more purples????  Well not that this is my priority but I think I am going to finish cutting this project on an upcoming Monday and it will be one that I can take on our upcoming retreat!!!!!   

Let's see - what else did I buy????  Oh yes - some buttons.......

Buttons - I love buttons and these will be perfect for a kitchen themed quilt that I want to make. 

And look at these buttons........

These buttons are JUST BECAUSE - I LOVE orange and an entire bag of orange buttons - how awesome!!!!!!!

And I actually got my sewing machine going this morning!!!!   I am teaching a class on the weekend - One Block Wonder and it would be great if I could get this sample finished. I already have one done, but why not push and get this done and then I can free up my design wall for something else. 

One block wonder!!!  

At this point - I have no idea what needs to be sewn. I had tidied up pretty good before I left!!!!  I think I will just focus on one thing at a time. Oh yes - I had better work on the round robin FIRST so I can pass it to Carol. 

One house I visited on vacation had beautiful baskets with quilts in it all over the house. I just love the look so while I was at the thrift store yesterday (OK - so yes - I did get out of bed for a bit!!!), I found this basket. While it isn't the colour that I would have chosen, it was a nice basket and it was cheap. Got to dig up another quilt for the other side. I just LOVE LOVE this look. Hmmmmm- when Miss K comes to visit I might need to put all these away. Well I only have one basket right now!!!!

Quilt in a basket

 And when I was going through my mail - guess what I found. Someone sent me this beautiful fabric postcard as a thank you. How thoughtful. Thank you Sheree!!!!!   I've already got it up on my bulletin board.

 

Well I see it is 8 AM and I have a crazy day. Yes - I have a quilt to work on, but my priority is to get my knee looked after. I popped a muscle (I mean I heard it go POP) four weeks ago and it has become a pain to walk on. Somehow I don't think he is going to prescribe me a pill and tell me I will be fine. This is going to take some time and pain to fix. CRAP!!!!!!   At least it didn't screw up the bike trip!!!!


Have a great day!!!!!


Ciao!!!!!!!