Florida and beyond

Today, we are in Florida.  We're making our way to Port Everglades to catch a 10 day cruise around the Caribbean.  Our ports of call include Haiti, Costa Rica, Columbia, Panama, and the Grand Cayman Island. 

For my trip, I decided to make a new bag.   This is a bowtucks bag, without the bowtucks.   The inside has many pockets to hold lots of essentials like cell phones, cameras, pens, wallets. 

I'll post a few pictures from ports as we sail along. 

Mitchell's quilt - Week 2 of 6

The weather has been good, but I have managed to get in a bit of sewing each day this week on Mitchell's quilt.  I have about a quarter of my birds done.  42 to be exact.  

I discovered that in cutting my kit, I cut exactly half the number of half square triangles that I needed.  It's a big goof on my part... I'm not sure what I was thinking.  So my plan is buy more blue fabric and sew up the extras needed.   

I'll be away next week so I'll have to work extra hard on the following weeks to catch up.

Ebay Mail.

I received eBay mail today.  I ordered a quarter inch foot for my new Singer Featherweight. I haven't tried it, but it looks like this foot will also fit my Pfaff.  Wouldn't that be something if it did... That means I have a whole bunch of quarter foot options for my Featherweight.   I'll be testing this out when I get home this spring. 

I also ordered these 1/4" feet for my Juki TL98Q.   You'll notice that there are three.   I ordered one for me, and two for my friend Linda G. who got a new Juki TL98Q for Christmas.   I have been using this same foot for about a year now.  I really like it.  It's solid.   I have been unsuccessful at finding a good 1/4" foot without a sidebar.  So my plan for my extra foot is to take the sidebar of this foot, and have the extra side part of the foot removed.  That way, I can sew things like half square triangles etc., with ease.

  

I have Amazon Mail

In today's mail, I received 2 of 4 books that I ordered last week.   The first book is a Featherweight 221 book.  It has an extensive history of this highly collectible Singer.  It will definitely give me some good information on how to own my Featherweight.

The other book is Hari Walner's Continuous Line quilt designs.   I have one of her first books and love it.  I may have to make some plain place mats to try out some of these really nice machine quilted designs.

Mitchell's quilt - Week 1 of 6

I'm hoping to have Mitchell's quilt done in the next 6 weeks.  My plan is to have it done by the end of March and send it home with one of the snowbirds returning to Fredericton.  It'll be quilted and ready to bind by the time I get home mid-April.  

I have a good head start on it in that everything is cut, and all my 1/2 square triangles are sewn but not cut apart.   Today is day one.  Even though I haven't sewn a stitch, I have my sewing space all set up I'm already to start stitching. 

In my estimation, the 147 birds in the air blocks will take most of the time to sew. I'm reserving the final 2 weeks to assemble the center, and then add borders.  So that means that I'm going to try to have the birds done in 3 - 4 weeks.  On my sewing extention table, I have the first of 147 birds in the air blocks in place, ready to sew. 

Check in next Thursday to see how many I have done. 

A Beach Sunrise

Today will be our first full day at the Beach.  We love starting our day by watching the sunrise from the bedroom door.  These photos were taken 15 minutes apart this morning, right around 7am.  

When the sun breaks the horizon,  it's impossible to see the solitary bright star.  I am guessing it's the North Star, because it's north of us. 

We are so looking forward to getting into routine.  We're just itching to go for our daily beach walk.  The purpose of our walk today will be to mail a birthday card.    We'll look for dolphins too, but it might be a bit early in the month to see them.

Tomorrow, (OK, maybe this afternoon) the sewing machine gets set up.   I think my first sewing will be to continue working on Mitchell's quilt.

Only my hairdresser knows for sure!

I've been trying to get to my daughter's salon in Saint John all week.  First it was a snowstorm, and I rescheduled my appointment for today.  Then earlier this morning we discovered a baseboard heater problem and now we are waiting for the electrician to show up.  I had to cancel my afternoon appointment.  

So, armed with some professional product, and with some phone instructions from my daughter, my hubby agreed to at least color my hair. 

He's such a good sport, and by the way, he was feeling pretty confident about the whole thing by the time he had applied all my color.  He then kindly offered to do a cut, but I politely declined.  I told him I didn't want to ruin my good Fiskars fabric scissors on hair...ha ha.   So,  I think I'll just get a cut next week in South Carolina.  

Packing up some projects!

The weather looks good, so the countdown is on.  We need to do some serious packing if we're going to leave this weekend.  I haven't sewn a stitch all week, but I have been enjoying some time organizing in my sewing room.  I've been thinking about the big and small projects that I'll do while I'm at the beach.   The big projects are organized in boxes and all sitting in the hallway, ready to be  packed in the van.  

Since last summer was fabulous and hot, there wasn't much time for sewing at the cottage.  So my summer project, Mitchell's quilt, will be coming to the beach condo with us.  If we get cool weather or just can't take the hot sun, I'll have time to finish it.    I'm also taking my Goose Quilt with me.  It's a cottage quilt for our bed at the lake.  I started it last fall knowing I could take it with me to the beach condo. 

Now, it's just a couple of smaller projects I need decide on and pack up.

Look who's turning 3!

How quick the years are going by.   It just seems like yesterday we were driving in a snow storm to be part of Aurora's birth.   And and today, after a snowstorm overnight, we are driving to help her celebrate her 3rd birthday.

We had a great afternoon with all her relatives there to help eat pizza and cake.   The kids helped her blow out her "3" candle, and then we ate the Dora cake that her mom made.  Great job on the cake.  Aurora had the blue part of the chocolate cake.

Then it was time for presents.  She got many nice things, she really loved this soft bunny bear that her God-parents Scott and Michelle gave her.  It was so cuddly and she loved it, can you tell?

Look who's turning 9 today!

Today, the triplets turn 9 years old.  They're such beautiful children.  They've developed their individual interests and it's going to be hard getting the three of them in the same picture this year.  The girls are having a birthday party at Michaels Craft store with 10 of their closest friends.    And at the same time, Mitchell is having a curling party at the curling club with 7 of his closest friends.   Grammie - thats me - and Grampie are going to help out at each of the venues... Don't both parties sound fun!!

Here is a little trip down birthday memory lane.



1 Year old Triplets



3 year old triplets



5 Year old Triplets



Triplets 6 years old

 

8 Years old - At Disneyland for their birthday



Happy 9th Birthday kiddos.

St. Anthony's Quilt - End of January update

We have been quilting on this quilt one afternoon per week since the end of September. We lost some time over Christmas.  And it seems to snow on Wednesday afternoons in January, but we're moving along nicely.  Next week will be a big week.  The stars on both sides are mostly done and we'll be taking 2 rolls on each side.    Our goal is to have this finished by the end of April.

We had a guest quilter join us this week, and in addition to being a very fast and knowledgeable quilter, she was very entertaining. Cecile told us of her quilting days in Williamsburg, and other stories about her family.  We were also impressed at her passion about helping those folks at the rooming house too.      We hope she comes back on another day for a visit.

Itty bitty boy quilt - Finished

I'd like to present Itty Bity Baby quilt.  I had set out to do this quilt in 1 hour daily chunks.  By doing that, it would leave me to do other things and not be so focused on just one project.  I also thought it might help me keep track of the time I spent to make.   Today was the last day I worked on it, and I probably spend about 3 hours to finish machine quilting, and then to bind.    So all together, I think this Itty Bitty Quilt took a total of 11 or 12 hours. 

Just in case you missed the link in my initial post about this baby quilt, I'll give you details about where the pattern came from because I know you will want to make one too.  The pattern was designed by Natalia at http://www.piecenquilt.blogspot.com/.  She designed it for the Moda Bake Shop, and the link to the free pattern can be found here. 

I love the very different and unique look that this quilt has.   I will be definitely keeping this pattern in mind for when another baby or two comes along. 

What's for supper tonite?

I've been dying to try my friend Linda H.'s Turkey Braid ever since she posted it after on New Years Eve.   I saved 2 cups of left over turkey just for this...   So last night we had it.  It was a breeze to make and it was Yum-mm-my....It's a large recipe, so we have enough for supper tonight too.   Next time you have turkey, why not save some leftovers and give it a try.  I know this is a keeper of a recipe for us now.  Thanks Linda.

I have another hour done on the Itty Bitty Boy quilt.  Now I just want it to be done because I have other things I want to do before the weekend.  So today, my one hour a day thing, is going out the window and I'm going to sew, and sew and sew some more until it's done.   It's impossible to see from the front of the quilt, but I chose to do the stitch in the ditch for the argyle part of the quilt.  I like it.    The next time I show this quilt, it will be quilted, bound and ready for the new baby boy...Jackson. 

Itty bitty quilt - Hour 7

The machine quilting is taking a bit longer than I expected but I'm really pleased with the results.  I free-motioned straight stitch around all the letters and did some big meandering around the white area of this quilt.  Whew, that hour flew by quickly. 

I still haven't decided what to quilt in the "plaid" part.  I'm thinking of machine stitch in the ditch on either side of the blue plaid strips.   Still thinking...  

I like how it looks from the back.  The words can be seen easily.

It's only about 1/3 done.  So I estimate another two hours of machine quilting... which pushes the finish off until later this week.  

No problem.