Thimbles

This was another purchase at Kenilworth Castle - a reproduction of a medieval thimble.

All I can say is, they must have had tiny hands way back then.

Another Pin Cushion

Another place we visited in England was Kenilworth Castle. It's a lovely ruin, with a beautifully restored garden. There were two gift shops, and I fell in love with some of the tapestries for sale - especially one of the Tree of Life.

Unfortunately, the price didn't fit my souvenir budget, so I came away with this instead.

Why, yes, I do collect pin cushions. Why do you ask?

Fat Quarters

These pretty Fat Quarters followed me home from the Patchwork Cabin in Great Bookham, Surrey. It's a lovely, friendly little shop, and I highly recommend visiting if you happen to be in the area.

Cutting Table Wednesday

It's cutting table Wednesday. Let's see what's on the mat today...

It's a tiny pincushion I purchased as a souvenir in a charity shop in Great Bookham, Surrey, UK.

What's on YOUR cutting table today?

A Small Finish

You might think, in reading my blog, that I rarely ever finish anything. And perhaps you might be right. However, once in a while something gets completed, and even makes it out of the door to a new home.

This is my completion for June.

It's a small blanket for donation to either my vet or a local animal shelter. It's only a small gesture, but we have personal experience to know that they can be appreciated.

On June 7, we said goodbye to George - our oldest male cat - almost 17 years of age. He had a tumour in his face, and we looked after him and comforted him as long as we could, until it was finally his time to go.

My husband took him to the vet to see if we could help him in some way to keep him with us - but he was beginning to be in distress with the tumour.  To keep him comfortable while he received his final needle, the vet brought out a crocheted blanket just like this one - so that he wouldn't have to lie just on the metal table. In fact, it was a blanket I had crocheted before, and given to the vet's office.

We were glad for this small kindness for George, and happy that there was a small blanket like this that he could lie on at the end.

If you have an overflowing scrap basket, or extra yarn, why not consider making a small blanket to donate. It may comfort an animal in distress - and if the animal is one of the lucky ones - it may even accompany them home to their forever home.

Happy Canada Day!

I know it's late in the day, but I'd like to wish Happy Canada Day to all!

And is it my imagination, or did CSI actually use a Darwin Award winner as inspiration in one of their episodes?

Raccoonzilla?

Another Find

So what's this jaunty little fellow doing on my cutting table?

I have a fondness for collecting sewing items, and this was my latest find in an antique store recently.

The poor little duck has scissors through his head. On either side, you can see little waves, on which are pins for spools of thread, or a little thimble, or a very old measuring tape...

And underneath is a drawer which is full of old "bits and bobs". To be honest, I haven't gone through it yet. LOL

Guess I'd better move him off my table now so I can actually get some work done.

And yes, I'm also trying out another layout for my blog. I don't know if I'll keep it, but they say a change is as good as a rest.

So, how is your sewing summer going?

Barn Swallows

For many years, we have had a barn swallow nest above our front door, and there are usually 2 to 3 hatchlings.


Now, *this* year...

As you can see, we haven't taken down the Christmas lights for a while.

Four Patches

I've started a new project. It's going to be a small quilt made up from fourpatches and neutral sashing. I saw one on a blog somewhere, but I can't remember which one.

At tho top you can see two of the completed blocks. They finish at 4-1/2". I haven't figured out how many I'll need yet, but it's a start.

Colour Revisited

I said I would take a picture of my four patches - and I finally did.

There's a saying that done is better than perfect. This little top is about half completed, and it is nowhere near perfect. But I am happy to say that my corners are matching better than they used to.

And I haven't totally given up the alternating dark/light pattern. However, this particular top is mainly a jumble of squares. I'm considering it a learning experience. And one thing I learned is that the 2" squares are not all 100% cotton. Some of them shrunk a little bit when I ironed them. It makes life interesting.

Colour

I've posted a pic before of the top for a small cat quilt which I made. It's totally scrappy. There is no logic whatsoever to the colour in that quilt, and I'll admit to thinking that perhaps I didn't do it "right".

So, I started making fourpatches from 2" squares, alternating light and dark. It's a more traditional fourpatch. And I found it boring!

Now, I'm back to mixing up colours. I'll take a picture of some of my fourpatches tomorrow and post it.

Warning - my piecing isn't great. :-)

Nearly Free Quilts

This lovely book arrived in the mail today:

It's full of lovely suggestions, together with a scrap saver system, on quilts to make from scraps leftover from making other quilts. Or, in my case, to make scrappy from fabric in my stash.

I'm thinking it's time to recharge the battery in my camera.

Sewing Ticker

On a recent blog I visited, I saw a progress ticker. I'd like to add one to my blog to count the days I actually spend sewing in one year. I've got a temporary one at the bottom, but as you can see I've modified an Exercise Ticker. I suppose sewing can count as exercise, but I'd really rather add something more appropriate.

Can anyone point me to a site where I can find such a thing?

Thanks!

Edited to add: I managed to figure out how to create a custom ticker. But if you know of a better one, please let me know.

A New Project

DH has decided he would like the quilt on the front cover of this issue of  Quilt Magazine - so now comes the task of picking through my stash for fabric.

Pictures will follow. :-)

Scrappy Patterns

A very kind blogger, who knows that I like scrappy quilts, sent me this pattern.

Thank you, pennyquilts!

Sewing Machine Addiction

I am a sewing machine addict.

It's not my fault. Really.

And I know I said I was only going to collect toy ones now, because they take up far less room.

But, what's a girl to do when she finds something like this?

I just had to open it up to see what was inside...

The machine is cast iron, and the design is part of the machine itself, instead of painted on.

And it DID come with accessories.

I guess you've figured out by now that it followed me home. LOL

There are more pictures, but they'll keep until tomorrow.

Happy sewing!

Quilt Fever, New Books

We had a lovely day - picking up Quilting at the Cottage and then heading out to Sew Sisters and after that Quilt Fever in Etobicoke.

Not only did I pick up Liberated Quiltmaking II, but also this lovely book: Small Blocks, Stunning Quilts. There are some amazing quilts in here, and I've decided I want to make one of them.

So - I have a question for all you quilters out there - what is shirting? I know it's supposed to be fabric used to make shirts, but that's too simple. How would I recognize it in my stash, or anywhere else for that matter?

As for Quilt Fever - I forgot my camera, but Quilting at the Cottage brought hers - so I expect to see some more pretty pictures on her blog soon. I managed to restrain myself in the Merchants' Mall - only bought two scrap bags, and some thread. (Well, maybe a lot of thread. LOL)

Road Trip

The weekend is almost here, and I'm looking forward to a road trip tomorrow!

We start off with a trip to my favourite quilt shop, Sew Sisters, to pick up my copy of Liberated Quiltmaking II.

And then we're off to the Etobicoke Quilters Guild's quilt show, Quilt Fever 2010. Perhaps we'll see some of you there!

A Win

This cute fabric and lovely card were the result of a contest on Scott Hansen's blog, Blue Nickel Studios. He had a caption contest, which can be found here. He liked my suggestion, so I won one of the two second prizes.

Aren't these great fabrics? Now to think of the perfect project for them. Hmmmm.....

Speaking of projects - I'm now looking for my next one. I've finished a small quilt top for donation to an animal shelter (after sandwiching, quilting, etc.) but I want to try something different now. I've got some lovely scrappy patterns in mind, and I've started pulling some fabric for one of them. I'll keep you posted.

Cats and Books

This is one of the reasons we sometimes run out of shelf space for our books.

Batiks

Here's the other fabric I purchased yesterday.

It's two sets of 2-1/2" batik strips - Bali Pops from Hoffman Fabrics. There are 40 strips in a package - 2-1/2" x 44". The darker set is called Kiwiberry, and the lighter set is Berry Bliss.

I'm thinking a batik log cabin. :-)

National Quilting Day

It's National Quilting Day (in the US, anyway) - so I felt it only appropriate to celebrate here in Canada by going to an LQS.

If I told you this followed me home, would you believe me?

This will join my probably very large stash of music fabric. Some of it will be used in a scrappy Irish Chain that's currently a UFO/WIP. And the rest - well - we'll see what inspiration hits.

By the way, these were only 4 of the 10 or so possible choices on the shelf. Apparently it only came in recently - and I finished the bolt on the gray/white fabric.

I'll show more of my purchases tomorrow.

Friday WIP

Today's photo is some of the small pieces I sewed yesterday, and a scrap of fabric which has since been cut into 3-1/2" squares to alternate between the small 4 patches.

I probably have thousands of these 2" squares. Once upon a time I thought of making a postage stamp quilt, but my accuracy right now just isn't up to that. On the other hand, if I keep practicing, it should improve - right? I have no idea where the scrap came from. I have a friend who picks up fabric for me at yard sales, etc, and it may have come from her. Or it may have been from any one of a number of scrap bags I've picked up from various quilt stores.

Have I mentioned I'm addicted to scraps?

Victorian Pin Cushion

As promised in an earlier post, here is a picture of the Victorian Pin Cushion that I purchased at the world's cleanest antique store.

If you look closely at the pegs on the bottom, you will see that the one just to the left of centre is slightly larger around, and a different shape from the others. I'm guessing it's the spot for your thimble.

And after the little pushes that I received from friends in my last post, I went into my sewing room and did a little sewing today. Thank you to all for your suggestions - I'll do my best. :-)

In a Slump

I'm in a sewing slump these days. I'm caught between my old, very small sewing room, and my much larger, still mostly unorganized sewing room. Everything is sort of betwixt and between, and as a result, I've been doing nothing much of anything lately.

So why am I blogging about it? Well, because I started out as a blogger with great intentions, and I'd like to continue. But I need a little push.

So, I'm asking for suggestions. I'm going to try to write a little bit every day. If you have a suggestion of something for me to blog about, please leave me a comment. If there are no suggestions, I'll try to have a quilty picture of some sort (preferably something in progress), with some commentary. I'm hoping that a kick start here will translate to a quick start in my sewing again. And I so very much want to get back to my quilting machine...

The Lake Grill

This isn't a quilty post. On the other hand, since food is necessary to keep us quilting, perhaps it is. LOL

We found (as in - were recommended to) a new favourite restaurant in our area. It's The Lake Grill (www.thelakegrill.com). The food was absolutely amazing, and they serve brunch on the weekends. If you get a chance, I highly recommend a visit!

One tiny note - the site is best viewed in IE - it just doesn't work in Firefox.

Toy Sewing Machine

This is the second of the toy machines I purchased. It does work - sewing a very loose chain stitch (there is no bobbin). I've no idea whether this can be adjusted. But it *is* cute!

Tiny Treasures

I decided a while ago that collecting toy sewing machines takes up a LOT less room than collecting the full sized ones. Having said that, don't ask how many I have of those, okay? LOL

This is the first of the two little machines I picked up on Sunday.

 

I haven't tried sewing with it yet.

Shopping

We went shopping at a local antique mall on Sunday, and I have to say it was the cleanest and best organized antique place I have ever seen.

I picked up two toy sewing machines, and a Victorian pin cushion. Unfortunately, the battery in my camera died, so pictures will come later.

Yuck

Having a cold sucks.

Lounging Event

I think Gandalf has the Lounging Event in the Catalympics pretty much sewn up.

Collectibles

This is one of my little sewing machines. It's actually a pincushion, with a tape measure at the base on the right. And on the left is a Singer sewing machine oil bottle.

What do you have in your collection?

More Christmas Goodies

Here are the fat quarters that DH bought me to go with the quilt book.

In the foreground you can see a little light that you wear on your finger to help you see your work better.

And here is my new itty bitty rotary cutter:

Isn't it *cute*?

Christmas Gifts

This was one of the items on my Christmas list, and DH truly spoiled me.

Of course, once I have my sewing room organized, I'll actually be able to find my black and white fabrics to make those lovely trees.

The Lounge Competition

I just thought Smudge and Lester should know that they may have a bit of competition in the Lounging event. :-)

Do you think maybe Maxine might have a chance?

To Blog or Not to Blog...

... that is the question.

I don't have any pictures (on *my* camera, that is) and while I'm working on a couple of things right now, I don't actually have anything to show you.

And my *to do* list is getting longer and longer. :-)

But I've been away from my blog for too long, and I need to get back in gear.