December 18 already.  I haven't even started to do Christmas shopping yet or decorate the house.  It just hasn't felt like Christmas till today.  I think my Christmas spirit doesn't kick in until there is snow on the ground.  Well we had snow today, those big fluffy flakes that make you think of sleigh rides in the country.  I'm stuck here at work for another 1/2hr.  When I leave it will be too dark to take pictures outside, so I will try to take some tomorrow morning.  I hope I get some taken as they are calling for warm weather on Thursday which means it will all probably melt, but then the weather men are usually wrong, and this time I'm hoping they are.  I want a white  Christmas. 
 Hubby and I as our Christmas gift to each other decided to get a new puppy.  We have 5 dogs now, but our oldest dog is getting to be really old and her time is coming to an end, and she is our guard dog. So we wanted a new pup that will be a guard like Trish, so I wanted a smart dog and decided I wanted a German Shepard.  We wanted a female as our big dog Buddy gets along better with females than males.  So found the litter 9 puppies in the litter 6 cute little German Shepard pups, and 2 black and whites pups that looked like Bernese Mountain dogs.   Well lets just say our new pup Amy is black and white.  She is a real cutie, but some how I don't think she is going to be much of a guard dog.
Only 3 more days of work till I have 11 days off for Christmas.  I'm so looking forward to the time off, I can do some work on projects that I have around the house.  I should make myself a list of things that I want to finish in 2013, and start getting at them.  I am also making a promise that I will post at least 4 times a week in 2013.  Oh and I'm also going to quit smoking on January3,2013.

my favorite corner

this has become my favorite corner in the house.  The couch my dd made many many years ago, the cushions on it had become recked after having had 4 kids jumping on it for years.  I always wanted to get around to recovering those cushions, maybe one day I will.  The quilt on the wall is the second one I made.  The picture on the wall of the little girl wringing the bell is a cross stitch I did, I always loved this one.  The small picture is one that a friend painted, and gave me.  And of course the cushions on the couch are different cushions I have made.

Below is a picture of the mice I was knitting, it was my face for a few weeks.  I have some more done now, must remember to take another picture of them.

I am curently working on christmas balls.  Will take a pic soon of them.

Spring is here just look up

I love living in a country that has 4 seasons, some of course are shorter than others.  Some times I think that if we blinked then we would miss the arrival of the seasons.   On a warm day in May I looked up and saw this.  I loved the colour of the sky.

Three weeks later I looked up and this is what I saw.  Only 3 weeks, what a difference there can be,  mother nature does know how to work quickly.  I wish I was as quick at making a quilt.










I have been working on quilts, but the process has been very slow.  I spent a week in the hospital, and then when I got out, my pointing finger on my right hand swelled up.   For a good month I couldn't use the finger without it hurting, doctor said there was probably some fluid in there, and that it would eventually work its way out.  It is back to normal now, but for a monthe it was ver difficult to d any quilting.

Right now I am working on a baby blanket.  I'm following a shawl pattern that starts in the center and works out in a square.

Ok I finally took some pics of the extra room I'm working on.  This table topper is one I just finished, and will also be a quilt.  Insatead of using it as a table tooper I decided to put it on the bench as a seat cover.This is one of the doll cupbords that I have my dolls in, also hanging abouve the shelf is some bracelets I made during my beading period.

In a previos post I talked about some wall shelves that I wanted.  Well here is a picture of the wall where we mounted them.

 

 

Here is a close up of the box.

and of course here is what the bax really is. A dollar store find.  I love dollar stores.

Enough pictures for today.  I'm still working on the knitted mice and hope that Pat will help me pin one of my quilts this weekend.

 

Winter is coming ..sigh… It’s not that I hate winter, ok but after 55 winters here in Montreal I should be use to it.  It’s dark at 6:30 in the morning now when I’m getting ready for work, it makes me think it’s still night and I should go back to bed.  My sitting room, as the bedroom has become to be known as is coming together.  I have to take some pictures of it.  There are some unique things in it.  The couch my dad made, has a lot of cushions of it that I have made.  The curtains were made by my grandmother.  I wanted little shelves on the wall like shadow boxes but not clear glass on the front.  Instead of having made them I bought Kleenex boxes at the dollar store.  These are made of wood with the cutout on the top[ to let the Kleenex out and the bottom slides outs  so you can put a new box in.  The boxes were painted black then the side with the opening was screwed to the wall.  So looking at it, it looks like a shelf that has s sliding door on the front.  I love it. All my Baby Face dolls are in the room now.  These dolls were only manufactured in 1991,1992.  They are all the same doll really except the facial expressions are different.  Most have blue eyes and blonde hair but there are a few with different colored hair.  The table runner that I made from the Dresden plate design fits perfectly as a seat cover on the bench.  Here is what the dresden plate looked like when I first started it.

I’ve put sewing on hold right now, and taking a break to do something different.  The local wool store at Christmas usually has a set of mice in the window.  So I went and got the pattern for the mice, they are by Alan Dart who is from England and they are the cutest set of mice.  This weekend I finished 2 mice and have the pieces made for another one.  I’ve made one out of finger weight yarn and one out of DK(as the pattern calls for). I’d like to make a lot of them along with the sewing pattern I have for mice, and then have them on display on a box that is behind the couch in my sitting room.

 

 

Friday at 3:10, only 40 more minutes till the weekend, Halleluiah I’m so looking forward to the weekend.  This weekend I am working on setting up one of the spare rooms, ok let us call it Willy’s old room.  My son decided a few months  ago to move to the basement, I left his room alone for a while to make sure he didn’t want to come back, but it seems that he likes the basement, so that means I have another spare room.  The other spare room is known as the baby room, as it has a crib in it, and a lot of baby dolls.  So Willy’s old room has been painted my favorite color, maple leaf.  I bought a carpet for the floor as the floor was a mess.  I moved one of the benches I have to in between the cupboards, where my bigger dolls will sit.  I found some old curtains we had packed away in a case.  The house I now own was built by my father over 60 years ago and when growing up in it there was my grandmother, grandfather, mom dad and 3 brothers.  My grandparents and father never threw anything away, I think that is whee my love of quilting began,  my grandmother would never throw old clothes away, she would recycle them into quilts or aprons.   The curtains I found were handmade by my grandmother, and along with them I found a camera from the 1940’s.   I’ll be moving a couch that my dad made years ago into the room, I want most of what is in this room to be hand made.  I want to make a list of things that I want to finish up, it seems I start a lot of things but am slow at finishing them.  I want to make some pillows out of some stuffed bears I have, the bears take up too much room and I need the pillows for the couch.  I'm going to hang a quilt on one wall, and of course will have one on the couch.  I also want to get a trunk for a coffee table.

Summer is over the trailer is closed for the winter.  Hubby starts coaching hockey and I spend my weekends at home relaxing.  I love the trailer during the summer I look forward all week to getting away to the country, but as soon as September rolls around I love the idea of staying home on the weekends tually getting things around the house done.   I did get to go to the place where the wood was sold, it is such a lovely place with horses and goats.

This is the seen as you drive into the yard.  I wanted to pick up some pieces of wood cut into cookie size to spread among the rocks in the rireplace area.  I also wanted to make some tables just from logs split in half.

I wish they had horses in quilt stores, I would have no problem dragging hubby alongn if they did.

The one on the left met us when we pulled in he was friendly.

this little guy seemed thirsty, he shared the water with the dog.

I am amazed at people that can create or build things, the gentelman that owned this built the saloon and the benches, and he had built dog houses and lots of other thins you had to look for as in a sandbox, a shed.

I really loved the tranquilty of this place, and loved all the animals.

Here is the trailer where I spend my summer weekends, if you look on the chair right in front of the trailer you will see a quillt I was working on.  Yes there is a trailer there it just has an add on in the front of 12 feet by 24 feet.  During the summer I spend most days outside sewing or knitting or crocheting or planning things we need our hubby's to do. I choose a series that I haven't seen and watch it on my laptop at nights.  In the past I watched Boston Legal one summer Lost another one, and this summer I watched The Gilmore Girls. 

At night hubby sits at the fire and talks to the neighbours, and I love the look of the spot as it makes me feel so calm and relaxed.  You can see the wood cookies in among the rocks and the log tables if you look closelely.

 

One of the women in the campground was pregnant this summer and hubby asked me if I would make her a blanket, so I picked this panel out and quilted it over the summer and gave it to her at the beginning of the summer.  It worked out perfectly as she decided the theme to the baby's room was going to be under water, and so I'm sure she would need a Noha's ark.

 

 

 

HOT Just Way Too HOT

Oh well the best plans sometimes just doesn’t happen.  I was so looking forward to going to see that “mill” this weekend, and it didn’t happen. The weather at the trailer and here also was just to hot to do anything.  You know those days where just lifting your arms is taxing and the sweat is rolling down your back.  We left after sundown on Saturday to come home.  With 4 dogs, the heat wasn’t good for them or for us.   I came home and did some sewing.  I actually set up my sewing machine .  Sewed a border around the Noa’s baby blanket, a single blanket with dogs on it and the hexagon table runner.  I also took apart this gold material that I had bought for backing for the first quilt I ever made.   I decided to use the gold in 2 ½ ‘ strips around the small Dresden plates.  I know I should take pictures, I carry my camera with me all the time yet never take pictures.  I promise to take them this weekend.  Pat painted the outside of the add-on for the trailer, it looks much better brown.  It blends in with the forest more, it use to be white but white never stays clean looking.  Hopefully I’ll hand sew the 3 bindings on the pieces this weekend.  It is not supposed to be as hot as last weekend, so I might actually think about having something in my hand.  Oh and how stupid can I be, imagine trying to teach someone to knit with worsted weight wool when the temperature is 32 degrees celsius or 91 fahreneit which felt more like 105.

Hot weekend .....

Friday, heading into the weekend.  It is going to be a hot one here in the 30’s all weekend.  I’m heading off to the trailer for the weekend.  Went up yesterday just for the day and Left Pat and 4 of the dogs with him.  I came back last night as I only work ½ days on Friday’s.  Left him some work of course to keep him busy,  He’’s paint the outside of the add-on.  The trailer is a 24 foot trailer with a 8 feet by 24 feet structure built onto the front of it.  It is going to be a hot weekend and we don’t have air condition there, but is is more country and so hopefully it will be cooler there that in the city.  I’m taking the small Dresden plate squares with me to work on.  I have a few more plates to sew onto the squares.   I still have some more petals cut out but haven’t sewed them together yet.   I don’t feel like dragging out my sewing machine and taking it up to the trailer.  I need to measure the square size and decide what border I want around the squares.  I probably won’t get much sewing done this weekend as a friend wants me to teach her how to knit.  I learned to knit when I was a little girl, I’m going to start her off knitting a scarf.  I have tons of needles and of course a stach of wools, just home it’s not to hot sitting outside to knit.  On Saturday I want to head over to a place about 5 minutes away from the trailer, we went there on Thursday but they were not home.  This is a man that has a “mill” well he cuts his own wood, and a lot of the campers go there to buy firewood.  I want to get 2 inch cookie like pieces of wood cut to place like patio stones under a sitting area w have and then fill in with small rocks around the wood.  I am so looking forward to going over on Saturday, as he has a saloon he built and he has 2 horses I saw,  I hope he lets me take pictures. 

How to stop smoking and trying not to go nuts

I made the decision to quit smoking in mid April. Had been thinking about it for awhile and I got up one morning and said today is the day. I was doing fine then from May 7 to May 11 ended up in the hospital with a bacterial infection in my leg. That was even ok, but then 3 days after getting out of the hospital my pointing finger on my right hand was sore and swollen. Ok not a big deal right? Well I couldn't sew or even cut material out. So for a week and 1/2 I basically couldn't do any crafts. So for the whole month of May I haven't gotten anything done on my quilts. This weekend I am able to use my fingers a little so should be able to get some sewing done. I want to finish that table runner that I posted about earlier; I still love doing hexagons. I have decided that I want to quilt like my grandmother did; I want to recycle old fabric. I went to a second hand store this week and bought some pillow cases and duvet covers, got tons of fabric and cost me $20.00. This stash should give me enough material to make 2 quilt tops and even the backs. Now to pick a pattern I like. The material is also 50%polyester and 50% cotton, so guess it won't matter what thread I use.  Oh and I still have managed to stay sane and not smoke

Another week gone by and I still haven’t gotten very far with my quilting. This weekend on Saturday went up to a trailer we have a bit south of us. In Quebec trailer parks are used like summer homes, only open during the summer. Ours will officially open the weekend of May 11th, but you can go into the park on the weekends before it opens, but no electricity or running water. We don’t have a generator so it isn’t the best idea, and this weekend was rainy and cold, so we only stayed up there for an hour or two, then hubby and I both came down with a cold on Sunday. I love the trailer it’s a place to get away to, like camping, there is an add on at the front of the trailer, this pic was taken last summer, I had to crochet this blanket to go onto the couch.

I'm still working on my Hexagon quilt.  I am taking a little break as I want to make a table runnner for the small table we have at the trailer, I want to do it in Hexagons, and finish it, as I want to get an idea of how I will finish the quilt.  this table runner is made from a jelly roll I bought at Walmart of yellow and blacks.  Some of theses colors also are in the lagre quilt.  the trailer's add on is not finished in the inside.  After we had it built its 12 x 23 roughly I couoldn't decide how to finish the inside, no matter what you did you would always see the trailer wall, and aI didn't want it to be like a house.  So I bought grey and black sheets and hung them up around the walls.  I have a grey/black sheet left over and I think I will use this for the back to the runner and the trim.  Here is a pic of the runner i'm working on when finished it will be 5 hexagons by 24 hexagons.  The picture of it is taken at my desk at work, I always bring something to work on during my lunch hours.  Just ignore my computers I'm a computer geek in my none quilting life.

I hate being sick

I had so much planned to do this week I love my sewing. I was able to try and machine quilt a quilt this weekend. I don't think I like it at all, but then the quilt I was trying was one of the first ones that I made so the squares probably didn’t fit perfectly to begin with then buy the time I used the machine on it…well let us just say I’m not happy with it. Then came Monday, either I have the flu or a leg infection. Monday afternoon I had the chills was running a high temperature and ached all over. I started taking antibiotics in case it was an infection. From Monday to Friday I don’t think I even picked up a needle for 5 minutes. This weekend the trailer was open. Ok well not quite open, let me explain. We own a trailer in the country around 1 ½ hrs from Montreal, that we use during the Summer. The trailer park doesn’t officially open till the May 11th weekend, but you can get the last 3 weekends of April and the first weekend in May as an early bird special, except you don’t have water or electricity. We decided to take it this year. Went up there on Saturday for the day opened the trailer and raked up the leaves. Came back Saturday late afternoon as my brother and sister-in-law were coming out for dinner. We then went back up on Sunday, I didn’t take any of my sewing with me. I’m still trying to keep working on the hexagon quilt.

Last night I finished 3 cathedral window pin cushions from
the tutorial at http://www.modabakeshop.com/2012/03/cathedral-window-pincushion.html
Which I had sewed this weekend. I like the pincushions but would like to try one leaving the square a little bigger for the turn over and not folding the cushin as many times as they do. I hate the quality of pictures I have, but unfortunately there is not much natural light yet as it is only the geginning of April and am at work most of the day light hours. Will try and take some better one this weekend. I am trying to find a balance on working on
the hexagon quilt and other projects too so that I don’t get bored and give up
on the hexagon quilt. I am determined to finish it. Right now I have 8 of the
diamonds sewn together and have another 5 finished waiting to be sewn. I’ve calculated that the quilt will need to be 8 x 5 diamonds as each diamond is 12 x 19 which will give a finished size of 84 x 95, and then if I want it larger I can add some more black hexagons around the outside. So I need 35 diamonds at 49 hexagons for each diamond which means I need 1715 hexagons with extra hexagons added on the outside to make the edges even.
I also tried the paper piecing pattern to see if I like paper piecing.



Which I found at http://www.quilterscache.com/StartQuiltingPages/startquiltingthree.html

I like paper piecing, but after having done one square I realized that I needed to print out more copies of it, if I wanted to make more squares.
I like the idea of paper piecing as that you are sure the squares are
going to be exact, but it will take longer to sew. I want to try the tumbling blocks using the paper piecing technique, but the only paper templates that I have found are the English paper piecing ones or the paper piecing ones in a triangular
one. I worked on a paper template today that will give me a template that does one square and also on the template is one for hand piecing or I can use it as the diamond to machine sew the block. I’ll try then tonight or tomorrow and see what they look like. Did some work on the hexagon quilt last night, I sewed 4 of the 5 diamonds together.
I keep looking at the patterns for sunbonnet Sue and am interested in applique also hubby has 4 pair of jeans that he doesn’t wear anymore, so can use them as the base. I would like to make a baby blanket with sunbonnet Sue and Sam on it and use denim as the base fabric. Haven’t decided what I will work on tonight but this weekend as it is a 4 day weekend, I promised myself that I would machine sew two quilts that have been pinned for months now.

hexagons hexagon... more hexagons

Its' almost Easter, and I started
quilting last May.
I don't know much about quilting,
all I have learned has been through the net or reading in a book. Here in
Quebec quilting doesn't seem to be popular, you would think with 8 months of
cold weather we would be interested in quilts.
There are only 2 quilting stores near me , the one that is 30 minutes
away only offers courses in French and the other one doesn’t offer courses. I
have developed a love for quilting in this past year, it is like creating this
connection to my ancestors. I can remember my grandmother quilting when I was
younger, and a treasured wedding gift was a hand made quilt from my aunt. I was
off work from August 1,2011 till
February 1,2010 during this time I decided I was going to bond with
my sewing machine, so I bought some cheap cotton and decided that there would
be a lot of sewing in a quilt , so set out to create a quilt. Now I started out with a ruler and a pencil
and pair of scissors, it was very time consuming to draw on the fabric the
squares and then cut them out with scissors then sew them all together. After a few months my machine and I came to
an understanding If I changed its needle regularly and used good thread it would
sew the seams I wanted sewn. Now that I
am back at work I wanted something I could take to work with me to work on
during lunch, one day I was surfing the net and found something called paper
piecing, which used 1 inch paper hexagons that you covered and sewed together
to make a hexagon quilt. I found a paper template for a 1 inch hexagon on the
net and printed out tons of the hexagons.
I’ve been working on this quilt now for a month or so, and have
convinced myself that I will finish it.
Here it is as of today, but I have 5 more “diamond” shapes ready to add.