365 update

I finally got my 365 challenge quilt entries updated this week...here is a photo of some of my blocks ready to sew together. I had started working on the November entries a while ago, then got distracted with the MIL crisis and never got back to it until the end of the month. However, it is right up to date now and I am so happy about that.

I also have some fabric for the sashing and borders which fits perfectly with the theme of the quilt. The fabric is called "Letters from abroad" by Woodrow Studio. I'm sure there is also enough fabric for the binding and backing too, so I am all set to make more progress on this quilt.

Happy Thanksgiving!

It is Thanksgiving Day here in Ontario, Canada and of course we have a big turkey cooking in the oven. It is a celebration of the harvest - and all the good things with which we are blessed. I am thankful for so many things, and will spend time writing about them in my journal today. I am especially thankful for the gathering of my husband's entire family this weekend. We arranged for a rafting trip down the grand river (through this most wonderful company called Grand River Rafting Company) on Friday afternoon and we had record breaking weather for our trip....sunny and hot, and unbelievable for October! Here is the view we enjoyed rowing down the river.
We also attended some of the Oktoberfest celebrations, and the Saturday morning market. We saw the most spectacular arrangements of colourful vegetables. Look at the peppers on the right, the huge radishes on the left, and have you ever






seen purple or yellow cauliflower before?!?!

I am also thankful for many special quilting related happenings.

1) I was able to get to the fabric sale that Debbie told me about and got a great deal on some fabric for quilt backings. I also found some 3/4" fusible bias tape that I have been looking for.

2) I received my fabric strips this week, which Juliann organized for the 365 challenge members...thanks Juliann! I hope to update my 365 entries tomorrow.

3) My big quilty news is that I have decided to attend Quilt Canada June 2-7, 2008! This annual quilting conference is held in a different Canadian province each year and I have never been able to attend due to either family obligations (taking care of children or elders) or lack of finances. All of the money I make with quilting related activities, teaching and lecturing, from now until then will go into my Quilt Canada 2008 account. I have already written a cheque for over $1,000 which only covers the registration, classes, and food! I still have to pay for my accommodations and air flight to Newfoundland! But this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, so I am very thankful that I am able to make this dream come true! I have poured over the list of 79 classes and had the difficult task of narrowing it down to 4 choices. I would be thrilled to attend most of them, except applique classes which I don't love. How would you decide?!? I narrowed down the choices by first eliminating the topics I am not interested in, which still left me with 70 classes. Then I eliminated the teachers that I could take a class with at other venues closer to home, but that still didn't help much since the teachers are from all over the world. I will be thankful just to be there and don't really care which classes they put me into!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Piecing blocks

I haven't had a lot of quilting time this week between working, and running the kids around to their activities. I did make time to piece my two blocks for the UFO friendship club's group charity quilt. Joan organized the project, cut out the patches for the blocks from donated fabric, and gave us instructions to use a scant 1/4" seam. There are two block patterns in this quilt, and it is a pattern from Quilters Newsletter Magazine. I'll post a photo in a few months when all the blocks are together. You can see our group's quilt from last year by clicking here.
I also updated my 365 quilt. I have now finished 4 months and am realizing how huge this quilt is going to be (based on the size of 4 months of entries), especially if I add some sashing and borders.

Good as new!

I had a wonderful and relaxing quilt retreat this weekend.  

I made a list of all the things I'd like to work on and spent some time with each one. First I updated my 365 quilt entries. Here are my 3 months of strips hanging in the storage room. I bought a couple of new Zig millenium pens since the two I started out with seemed to be getting a little worn out.

I also worked on my Journey of a Quilter BOM and finished the stitching on block one. This was very relaxing and I am really enjoying this project. The photo is a little bit yellowy, but it was late at night when I finished. I made a couple of changes, such as I took out all the stitched blocks of T pins - just a personal taste thing - I didn't like the look of them, so I'm replacing those pin blocks with regular fabric. And instead of using the DMC floss colours Leanne recommended, I am using up the floss I collected from my days of cross stitching in the late 80's. Then I finished tracing the stitch patterns for block 2 and pieced block 3 which is the photo on the right.

I also did some hand beading and worked on an abstract challenge piece that is not anywhere near ready to see the light of day (it's ugly!).

I fixed a big mistake on my President's Challenge mystery quilt - I had sewn the last two rows on upside down! You can see these rows here. I carefully ripped out that seam and resewed it the proper way around. Then I added some borders and pieced the backing. I am so proud of myself for using all stash fabrics from start the finish. This is the backing made from leftover pieces from the quilt top. So now I am thinking about how to quilt it - I still have a month left to finish that.

Mostly I enjoyed the peace/piece and quiet of my studio. I sometimes listened to music, and sometimes listened to the birds singing outside. I feel well mended and ready for the second half of summer vacation with the kids.

Quilting addiction

I realized yesterday (again!) that I am truly a quilting addict. I have been so busy with family trips - with both sides of the family, scheduled back to back, that I haven't had any time for quilting. Now, I know that quilting will wait for me...patiently, forever, as some of my UFO's can tell you. But I can't wait for quilting! I had taken along some hand beading on the last weekend trip and did have a couple of wonderful hours to work on it, but it didn't satisfy me! I was so irritable last night that I really felt as if I was craving quilting.
My LSH (long suffering husband) gently suggested that maybe I'd like to go to the quilting studio and relax! Translation = please go somewhere else and leave us in peace! Good idea! As soon as I started cutting and sewing my fabrics, I immediately felt better. I imagine that this is the same feeling as alcoholics have when taking their first drinks - ahhhh, much better. I have joked around a lot about my addiction, and done many talks to quilt guilds about this problem, but I renewed my visceral awareness that it is really necessary for my mental health. My craving is not satisfied by reading quilting blogs, shopping at fabric stores, or even beading a quilt- it has to be the 100 % pure, real thing -sewing a quilt!
I spent a couple of hours cutting strips for my 365 quilt and updated my entries. On the right are my entries for last half of June lined up and ready to sew together. I am now completely up to date and have finished 2 months of this quilt project. I am proud of myself for keeping up with my goal and not falling behind or giving up on it.
And I feel MUCH better after my quilting fix and can continue happily with my life. I am working a lot of on call shifts (48 hours) this week since we are short staffed due to prime vacation time. I don't mind, since others will be doing the same thing next week to cover for me. And what will I be doing? Yet another camping trip. These trips are wonderful to plan and anticipate in the dead of winter, but when it comes time to shop, do the laundry, organize gear, pack up, etc - I wish I would give myself more time to prepare (and to quilt) in between! I am planning to take some hand piecing and embroidery stitching along on this next trip and hope that will help me get through the week!! Wish me luck!

365 progress

I spent some time today working on my 365 quilt. This was an idea that was started by Leanne Beasley on her blog. (Click here to read her description of the project.) On the left are my fabrics...I am only using neutrals, even though I have already been told that it is "boring to look at" (by someone who shall remain nameless)! Well, it is interesting to me and I really think that my children will appreciate this effort in the future. Every day I write an entry on strips of fabric ironed to freezer paper - shown on the right. I try to alternate fabrics so that they will be spread evenly throughout the quilt. When I have time, I cut the entries apart and sew them together in chronological order. I plan to insert pieced mini blocks (4" wide) and embroidered month labels. I enjoy the process...thinking about what went on each day that I'd like to remember - where we went and what we did. Here are some of my entries sewn together into long strips.
It was a good project to work on after spending most of the weekend with my extended family. It was wonderful to see my siblings and their families. We stayed up too late into the wee hours of the morning, playing games and laughing until our bellies hurt! And as always, it was a blessing to be able to spend time with my brother and my father this weekend, both of whom have had such serious health issues that we never know how long we will have with them. We treasure every memory...that is what I wrote for my 365 block today.

Family memories - 365 Challenge

I am very interested in creating positive family memories and stories, and spend much energy documenting our extended family's development, our adventures and our challenges, in many different ways...photography, scrapbooking, quilting, etc. Here is a quilt I made in 2001 called "Ten of my mothers". I made this quilt for a guild challenge in which we were to make a quilt with "10 of something", celebrating the guild's 10th anniversary. I chose to honour several of the women who were guiding and nurturing forces when I was growing up, including my aunts, grandmothers, and one greatgrandmother. My mom worked full time and went to night/summer school to get her university degree, so we were often in the care of other women. Lucky for us, at that time, all of the other women in the family were homemakers and were available to help out. I wanted to make an antique looking quilt, and used only neutral fabrics for the quilt. On the right is a photo of my favorite aunt, who was a marvelous baker, knitter, and nurturer. My brother and I went to visit her grave today and give thanks for all the love and care we received from our Aunt Lottie. On the left is the quilt label. Today this quilt hangs right next to my Mom's bed and is one of her favorites! We look forward to visiting her tomorrow to wish her Happy Mother's Day!

I have started a new family memory quilt and you can read more from the woman who has started this great idea at her website called Leanne's House...click on the top right "365 challenge tutorial". I started the quilt on May 1st and have been documenting the life of our family...quilts I am working on, places we go, ordinary family details, and activities...anything I think I might like to remember from all the ordinary days we enjoy together! I have the fabric strips cut out, and similar to the memory quilt above, I am using only neutral fabrics to look like pages from my journal. I plan to do some embroidery stitching but am still deciding at which stage I will do that. If this sounds like fun to you, it's never to late to start your own family journal 365 challenge quilt!