Wool

I finished the second wool wallhanging from the Block of the Month I did a few years ago. The pattern called for pennies around the outside but I thought it would look sloppy hanging on the wall. I think it's better without them. Edit: The pattern is from Waltzing with Bears and my version pictured here is 18 x 36.

I'm so happy to see the flowers blooming around the garden after a wonderful few days of sun. The bleeding hearts are looking pretty and the pansies are easy to grow. But now Easter weekend is going to be a wet one for us.

Wishing Everyone a Happy Easter! 

Gorgeous Fall Morning and Ruby's Finished!

I've completed Ruby's garden quilt and I'm so happy with how it turned out. It's a great quilt to have finished for the start of a gorgeous fall day.

Here is a view of all 12 stitchery blocks. The quilt looks a bit wrinkled from washing and drying.

I had to get this picture really fast before the sun changed position. This is a garden feature in my back yard, I love how the sun cast a shadow of the garden girl on the fence. We moved this rock fountain from our old house, my husband never let me forget how heavy she is and if we moved again.......she will stay put.

Enjoy your day!

Le Jardin Block

I finished the second block of my Le Jardin BOM. I'm still using the Hugs and Kisses freezer paper, I hope the washing will make the applique soft when it's all done. Has anyone use this product?

The dill pickles are canned, have to wait a month to give them a try.

This is a small sampling of the cucumbers and carrots we are harvesting from the garden. I wasn't sure there would be any cucumbers growing because we were late planting them. They are so tasty in salads, crisp and sweet.

Enjoy the long weekend. I still plan to make bread and butter pickles this weekend.

April Showers

I'm making some progress on the Lori Smith blocks, the first one I made is here. I don't have a definite plan for these yet, maybe put in a quilt....any suggestions?. Now that I'm looking at the picture, the vine block doesn't really go with the basket and bunnies. Swoon quilt is coming along, I hope to make some progress this weekend.

Spring has sprung and we had a gorgeous week of warm sun. The cherry blossoms are blooming, I planted this tree last year so this will be the first time seeing it bloom. With spring comes April showers and it's started raining again, the garden will have to wait a bit....it's too wet outside right now.

I found these flowers popping up in my garden, they needed rescuing so I put them in a pot by the back door. I thing they look so pretty.

Happy Spring!

Busy Weekend

I've been thinking (sort of) about how I can improve and organize my sewing room, I know it's going to be a work in progress for a very long time. I currently don't have much on the walls, so I might as well start with something fun to go in my room, how about a wallhanging. As soon as I saw this pattern in the newest BH&G Quilt magazine, I had to start cutting right away.  This past weekend in between digging and planting, I sewed the top together.

We were also busy in the garden. I was so thrilled about how this tipsy pots planter came together, it's so simple, 3 pots and 1 dowel. You can see how it's done here. I can't wait for the plants to fill in more. Also my DH built a couple planter boxes in the garden for veggies, I planted carrots, spinach and lettuce.....we'll see if anything grows over the summer. 

The roof is finished so I'm enjoying the peace and quiet over head.
Happy Quilting!

Spring is Here!

 It's been a long cold April, and now May has arrived with warmer days and it actually feels more like spring. I might even be able to put my tomato plants outside and get them out of the kitchen. I made this cosmetic bag using a freebie stitchery from Bird Brain Designs. I think it's perfect for taking on a summer vacation, now I just need to have a place to go.

 My daughter brought me these lovely flowers for Easter, I couldn't put them out because it was too cold at night, I can now enjoy them on the front porch.

Do you think Boo wants in? He loves being outside all day but just likes to check on me....I'm still here Boo.

Maple Leaf

If you read my blog regularly you might remember this Maple Leaf table runner I made a few weeks ago. I made the runner for a friend and in trade her husband made this wonderful garden stone for my garden....I'm so tickled to have it. The stone template is made from a large maple leaf. To give you an idea of the size, the stone is 2 feet across...it's ginormous...and it's heavy. I love how you can see all the leaf veins etched in concrete forever. I'd say I'm a pretty happy girl to have this addition to my garden.

Summer Quilting

It happened again...the week has just flown by...were does the time go???. Summer is here and I suddenly realized my watermelon quilt wasn't quilted....eek, I couldn't let the summer go by without getting this one done. I had intended this quilt to be finished by now. It was time to get busy and get it quilted, I did a all over stipple and then a little tea dying on the lawn. The tea didn't come out very dark, I might do it again...I haven't decided yet.

I almost fainted when I got an email from Carol, she said I won her charm pack giveaway. I asked her if she was sure.... because I never win anything. I'm so excited...Thanks so much Carol, I'll have fun playing with my little charm pack.

I'm almost finished another quilt, this one is smaller but still another flimsy out of the closet is a good feeling.

We've had a lot of hot sunny days and very little rain, the garden is loving this weather. I'm feeling more and more like a slug in the hot weather. I think it will cool off next week and I can get sometime done.

I hope everyone is doing well.

Lazy Summer Days

Since sewing has almost come to a screeching halt with the warm days of summer upon us, I thought I would share what I have been doing, working in the garden. I love puttering around in the garden, planting, finding just the right spot for each plant and just plain enjoying a pretty backyard. Here are a few pictures I took around my garden today. Oops I don't have any flower pictures here....next time.

I did say almost no sewing...a couple of things I was playing around with last week. A applique table topper done in bright colours and a fabric collage inspired by this amazing designer.

Have a great day, next time I'll have a quilt ready to show....woohoo a flimsy out of the closet....finally.

Stitching Garden

Stitching and gardening have been consuming my time lately. Here's a peek at what I've been working on today, since it's raining and I can't work in the garden...a beautiful basket of roses. I've been doing lots of weeding, planting, cleaning up and moving a few things. DH has also been planting bricks (as he calls it), edging around the garden. We had some old bricks from the house, it gives a nice edge between the grass and garden area.

A few plants blooming right now. The bleeding hearts do really well in the shade.

White bleeding hearts, they look so pretty right now. Oh look you can see some of the planted bricks in the background.

I don't know what this little guy is called but I really love how it looks in the planter.


Quilts, like friends are different, colourful, fun, warm and comforting.......And you can never acquire enough of either.

Garden, bags and UFO

Holy Cow!....it's been over a week since my last post. Where did the week go??? I've been cleaning up the garden, visiting the nursery and contemplating how I'm going to reorganize my sewing room. Since the sewing room is too big of a MESS to conquer in one day, I then decided gardening was much more manageable....I'll just keep procrastinating for a few more days. It's too sunny to be inside anyway....I'll have to get busy in my sewing room on the next raining day. Darlene has done a fantastic job in her room.

I promised my daughter a pretty bag she can take her lunch to work in. Here's what a came up with after looking through many patterns. This one was easy...YES....I like easy. I still need to put the plastic lining inside. She requested the plastic, it's the stuff used for table cloths, I picked the light weight plastic which won't be too stiff inside. I think she'll like it, her birthday is on Monday, I'll give it to her then.

I found this little cutie in my UFO pile. I only needed to add the outer x-stitch border and it was done. I have no idea why I didn't finish it, when I was so close to being done.

Happy Stitching.

No Sewing, Only Yard Work

Not much sewing going on when there is so much yard work to catch up on before winter. We down sized our yard when we moved into this house two years ago, I thought there would be less to do but somehow it still seems like there is sooooo much clipping and pruning to do. I cut back the ivy, a couple of bushes and hubby mowed the lawn and that was 2 trips to the recycling depot, I can only put so much yard waste into the back of my Subaru.
Since I don't have any progress to show on stitching, I took a couple of pictures of these older quilts "old to me but new to you". I haven't shown these yet. The top quilt is a Blended quilt I made over 5 years ago and I would guess the crow and chicken stitcheries are just as old.
The chickens haven't been quilted yet....on my "to do" list...along with many other flimsies. I should finish this one, I like how the tea dying turn out and it would look nice in my kitchen.
Wendy

Painting is Done!

There you go, what was a drab basement bedroom is now bright and fresh...darn it I should have taken a "before" picture. Being in the basement I needed a colour that was cheerful and won't look dark in the winter, I think this room now sings to me and will be a pleasant room for guests to sleep in. The shelf under the window runs the whole length of the room. The colour is Benjamin Moore paint "Castleton Mist" and the trim is "Cloud White".
The first piece of furniture I bought last week at a Kids store called "Kiss a Frog", such a sweet store with lots of painted furniture similar to this one. Wouldn't it look so nice with a lamp and a couple of books next to the bed....oh that's right I still need to find a bed....minor detail....LOL
I had this window frame and have been waiting for the right place to hang. This new bedroom seems like the prefect choice. I was thinking of putting this old quilt behind the window but now that I see the picture it isn't working for me. Help....I need some advise on this one. What do you think I should do, leave the window empty or possibly make a more suitable quilt???? I was looking through some of my quilting books last night and found a Window Quilts by Ginger Cookie Co, there is a really cute flower one that would fit the frame, you might know the one I mean.
Since I'm taking pictures in the basement, how about that Loo??? Have you seen anything so small??? There's a reason for the redwork quilt being so high, I'm trying to cover a very ugly window. I'm told this room would have originally (96 years ago) been the coal room and that window is how the coal was brought in....sounds like a dirty messy job to me. One day hubby would like to open one side of the wall to join this room with the shower and sink room. That would be a big job so it's way down the priority list.
I'll leave you with a garden picture. The hydrangeas are taking over the side of my house. I can hardly walk down the sidewalk anymore, I've cut these back a couple of times already, they look so beautiful right now I don't want to cut them.

Happy Stitching.

Pretty In Pink

I belong to a stitching group that meets most Tuesdays and two of the ladies in this group are going in for a cancer operations very soon. The group decided it would be nice to make Yvonne and Bernice a quilt to comfort them at this stage in their life. We've chosen this Pretty Dresses block for Yvonne, each of us is making one block using fabrics from our stash, the only requirement is that we keep the fabrics soft and pastel. The finished blocks are 10"x12" so if we get 20 blocks that will make a good size quilt.
This is the Mug block for Bernice, the fabric requirements were to be brighter and cheerful. I think the mug might need some extra embellishment....don't know what...big sigh.... but I'll come up with something. The sashing will be wonky so all the mug will be tipped in different directions when completed. I've hand appliqued both these blocks using my favourite method with freezer paper.
From the Hydrangea family but I'm not familiar enough to know what the name is. It's so lacy and delicate looking....pretty in pink.

Thanks for visiting, I really enjoy all your comments.

Sneak Peek and Retreat

What's this? I'm working on a bag for a Dear Friend and this is something to get her excited. I don't want her to see it yet, so I'm teasing with a sneak peek before is all completed. I will be finishing this at retreat next week and then I can send it to her. Speaking of retreat I think I should be packing. Gotta go and get ready. Have a great week!



I couldn't resist sharing this Iris growing in my garden.