Two Take-Along Bags

With just a little over a week before we make the three day trip home, I finished sewing up a couple of take-along bags.  The lime green one is a hostess gift for a friend of mine.   We will be staying at her place for a night or two before heading north.  And the dog biscuit fabric one is for her puppy.  She needs her own bag for when she travels, right???

My old travelling sewing machine is ready to be packed up now along with all the projects.  I may pick up my hand stitching project again if I feel the need to stitch.

Quilting the Spiral

I had seen this fun machine quilting technique a while ago and recently came across a tutorial on Pinterest.  

I really like the look.   I put together some scraps from a recent project to give this spiral technique a try.     The hardest part is starting the circle.  I started by drawing the center with a frixion pen.   The stitching gets easier as you go. The hard part is not to stitch fast.  If you do, you will skip stitches.   I really love the look.    

I used two layers of warm and natural batting and now I have a nice scrappy hot pad for my 9 by 13 Pyrex dish.  

Why not give this technique a try.

The tutorial can be found here at the Quilting Edge.

A new (er old) Block of the Month

I've packed up my A to Z Block of the month and will do the April block when I get home.   

A Vintage Christmas
a Bunny Hill Designs BOM

But lucky for me, I have another BOM project to start working on.  This is an older pattern.. I bought a compete kit for this sweet Christmas project.  If I do a block a month I should be able to have this done before Christmas.  

Block 1 almost done.

Here is my first block  It's a sweet Victorian house.  I'm using a dark cranberry red thread to applique the edges.  I like how it defines the outlines.  You can see some of the holly above the house is not stitched yet, and is barely visible.   But adding the outline applique will make it very easy to see.

Is it too early to start working on Christmas projects?

BOM - Applique done.

I had been putting it off the applique for my BOM blocks.  Fear helped me to procrastinate. Yesterday, I had the black thread out and had decided to use it instead of the colored thread...   But since I had the blue thread in the machine, I tried it on the practice piece.  You know, I didn't mind the look of the blue applique.  

The colored applique doesn't show that much.  When you look really close, its visible, but when you are looking from a few feet away, it's hardly noticeable and just adds a hint of color.    

I now have all the January, February and March blocks appliqued in various colors.  I'm waiting now for the April blocks.  Of course, I'll be home in  my own sewing room by the time I'm ready to sew them.

TQS BOM - March H and I blocks done.

It was a rainy day.  A small drizzle this morning turned into a farmers dream.  A steady all day rain.  So a great day to make my March blocks.  As I mentioned before, I purchased a few colors of thread to do the appliqué.

But I'm still working up the nerve to use the coloured thread to applique the letters..  I may do a practice appliqué piece tomorrow.  If it looks good, I'll do the "I" block with the blue thread.

And then there will be no going back after that.

TQS BOM - February B, C and D blocks done

The Quilt Show's Block of the Month quilt is coming along nicely now for me. Last week, once I moved off the problem A block, I found it was easy to take one block at a time and work on it.    After the slow start in January, I am thrilled at how easy the February blocks went.  

I really love this design.     I have a week before the next blocks are published (March 1)  Even then, I've decided that I won't do them for a week or so two after the instructions are released.  If any problems are identified, the quilters are quick to point out errors. 

I had initially thought I would do the applique of the letters when I get home, since that's where my thread stash is.  But since I have lots of time before I start the March blocks, I thought I'd pick up four or five small spools of colored thread and do the stitching on the fused letters.  

The pattern suggests that the applique stitching be done in a color that coordinates with the block.  I would have done it in black so it would not be noticeable.    So colored threads are a bit of a bold move in my books but I will give it a try to see how I like it.    Stay tuned.

Getting beyond my Mental Block!

As you know, I've been working on the A - Z Block of the month project from the Quilt Show.   I've been struggling with the first block - the A block.  It's been a Mental Block to me....   It's been sitting on my ironing board for a couple of weeks.   To get past it, I set it aside.

This week, I went forward with the other two blocks that were in the January instructions.  That helped.  This gave me the energy to tackle the A block once again.  This morning, I took a deep breath and talked myself into finishing the A block... It took 10 minutes.  It's done.  Yippee.   What a relief.    I will machine applique on the fused letters when I get home in the spring.  I have a very limited stash of threads with me here in Florida.

Now I can start the February blocks.  I might actually get them done in February.

Now that's a Croc!

Now this looks like just a normal day here in central Florida.  The sky is blue and the temps are a nice 23 degrees C.   

But when you  zoom in a little closer to this picture, you will see one of the neighbourhood crocs.  We see him out couple of times a week to sun himself.    

I thought the kids would like these backyard critters.  So different from the squirrels and chipmunks we have back home.

Besides the croc, we have seen a pair of bobcats, a pair of big raccoons and a big old owl!

So, what's in your back yard this week?

My new iPad mini

This is a test post from my new mini iPad. WhIle my daughters were here, I had fun face timing with the kiddos back home.  So that prompted us to buy an iPad mini so we can continue FaceTime after they go home.  

Here is a fun picture of the girls taking their golf cart for a spin last evening.  It was a sunny evening, so they are squinty.  

Home made salsa.

I'm back from our vacation from our vacation.  The cruise was lovely.  The new Royal Princess ship has lots of modern amenities that we love.  I don't think we will enjoy going on older cruise ships now that we have recently been on two new cruise ships in the last few months.

Well all that being said, we back at our home away from home, and are well back into our routine of daily exercise and eating healthy.   Although, we don't dare weight ourselves until a week has gone by.

This is an exciting week for us, since two of our girls are coming to Florida to visit.  No kids, no husbands.   They are just coming for some R and R and sun of course.  They promised their kids they would not do anything fun like Legoland or Disney..teehee.  


In preparation for their visit, I thought I'd make some fresh restaurant style salsa using mostly local grown ingredients using this recipe.   My friend Kathy F. would not like this because she has a strong aversion to it, but  I just couldn't resist raiding my friends garden where I picked a big bunch of cilantro.  I picked star fruit and com quoits too but that doesn't go in the salsa.



The salsa is now made and it's mellowing in the fridge awaiting my visitors tomorrow.

My taste tester says it's a bit spicy, but that's the way it's supposed to be.

A - Z for Ewe and Me - Block of the Month

Back of my Canada Day Quilt so far.

I've been working away at three projects here in my home away from home.   I am making good progress on my Canada Day quilt.   It's layered and pin basted.  And I have begun machine quilting it using my trusted old Pfaff.  With the small throat on the machine, it's going slower than I planned, but it will get done sooner or later..












I also have the 48 x 60" Paper Hearts quilt top all sewn up and ready for layering and pinning.   That was the quickest little quilt to sew up.  It helps that this is a big block quilt.  Those 12 inch blocks sew up quickly.   I have another Paper Hearts kit ready to sew up but I'll wait until later on to do that one.







I'm really excited to do my first ever block of the month project.  It's the A - Z for Ewe and Me by "The Quilt Show".   I purchased all the fabrics to do the January, February and March blocks.  

But I'm off to a slow start.   With the A block there was a mistake in the pattern, so I had to re-do the center part of the block.  And then I made a mistake in trimming the center points, so now I have to do it again.... Grrrr....    I hate doing things over.... Do you?    But I will do it in the next day or two and finish the other two letters for the January blocks.    

We are going away for a week, and when we get back, the February blocks will be published, so hopefully those will go smoother.
 

Paper Hearts Quilt

When I got here two weeks ago, I had the notion that I would sew one project and completely finish it before starting another.  Well, that idea lasted one and a half weeks.   I have my sisters Canada Day quilt top done, and the batt and backing is ready.  But I've been too busy to take all this over to the community center (where they have big tables) to layer and pin baste it.   The community center is quite busy this week, so I have to wait until the weekend to do it.

In my small bits of spare time this week, I took out project number two and started.   It's the Paper Hearts quilt by Tula Pink.   Last month, I did a prototype block using my less-waste method of sewing the hearts.   Well, that method turned out to be not only less wasteful, but super quick.  I have 32 half-hearts all sewn up and got laid out the quilt on the spare bed.     It's really cute.  I brought two of these kits with me, so I'll wait and do the next one next month.

I am enjoying having the sewing machine set up in the dining room all the time.   If I am waiting for 10 minutes for anything, while I wait, I sew a bit.  Really, it's amazing what you can get done in 10 minutes.  

But the sewing machine comes down this afternoon since we're having company for supper and we need to use it.   But by 9 am tomorrow, you can bet that  the sewing machine will be set back up in its home away from home.    :)