Work-in-Progress

 “People are just as happy as they make up their minds to be.”
~ Abraham Lincoln

My nephew's quilt is nearing completion

and that makes me happy.

This is a snuggle size quilt for one person.

I would like to make more time to work with my hands.

I find it relaxing.  But as I do it so seldom, I tend to do it to excess 

as I don't know when I might do it again.

I still have to quilt it and I haven't decided whether to do it by hand or by machine. 

I will only do a "light" quilting job so that the finished effect is more or less, reversible.  

This throw has has a nice loft making it extra cosy.

I'm joining up with  I Heart Macro for this post.

BREAKING NEWS:  In sad news, there was a terrorist attack on innocent citizens at an upscale mall in Nairobi, Kenya yesterday. See more here.  Please pray for the government and security to get the perpetrators and bring security for their citizenry and tourists.

My Next Project

Our lives are like quilts - bits and pieces, joy and sorrow, stitched with love.

Quilting Quote from Greenfairy Quilts.
 

My next project....

I made a start with cutting the fabrics.

My apologies for the colour and quality of the next photo.  My night lighting is very poor.

This quilt will be for my mother or my nephew. I haven't quite decided yet.  I do have fabric and quilt ideas for several more quilts although I still have to purchase the batting and backing fabrics.

 One of the quilts I have in mind will definitely be for my nephew. Originally I thought to make it for his birthday but that date has passed. I will likely give it to him at Christmas.

 I'm still new to quilting and I'm realizing that I would save a lot of time both in cutting and in finding coordinating fabrics and colours if I simply bought pre-cut fabrics.  I'm also finding that a lot of the new patterns I've been admiring are designed to be made from pre-cuts (jelly rolls or charm packs).

What about you  dear reader?
Do you cut from fabrics you've carefully selected or do you purchase already coordinated pre-cuts?

Skyward and Inward

Well we had quite an interesting day weather wise today.  I'm sorry I didn't have my camera at the ready to show the different moods of the day but I was bored with cloudy skies, lol

Today started off sunny and bright but by mid-afternoon was extremely cloudy. I'm glad the sky was cloudy as it allowed me to do some work to finish my project (see below). Tonight the sky turned beautiful again and we are expecting a fabulous weekend ahead.  Some of my garden has been fertilized now but the other half still needs to be done. Hopefully that is my weekend project as next week will be busy with other things.

I've been going on about making my niece a quilt for some time. I've never worked with a printed panel before and I thought it would be easy. But this panel was not the typical quilt panel with printed blocks.  It was one long continuous scene from the Wizard of Oz. My niece absolutely loves the Wizard of Oz.

Anyhoo, I wasn't quite sure what to with it. I thought I would simply do some hand stitch quilting around the different characters but nixed that idea. Then I thought I would stitch some lines around lines on the panel, like along the yellow brick road. I nixed that idea also. Then I thought, I will simply hold the quilt together with some old fashioned yarn ties. I did do that but found that the fabric I selected for backing kept puckering up and was very difficult to keep smooth. This proved to be a bit problematic throughout the finishing of the quilt. I think it would be far easier to use adhesive spray for quilting but it is somewhat of a luxury item. I don't buy it because I don't make so many quilts but perhaps in future I will treat myself.  In the end, I decided to do a little stipling along the yellow brick road (top and bottom of the panel only). It is my first attempt and it breaks all the rules, lol. But my niece won't care a bit. All she cares about is Dorothy in her red sparkly shoes, the yellow brick road and the wicked witch.

All the fabrics and batting in the quilt are new.  However I did recycle a chambray denim skirt and used it to make the binding for the quilt. It was a newer skirt I bought in the thrift store but never wore. I'm glad I could put it to good use.  The binding picks up the blue in Dorothy dress quite nicely.

Now that I've figured out how to use my walking foot (the fact that the long piece that has to rest on the top of the bolt that tightens the needle had me confused) and my free motion foot, I can practice on more quilts or sample pieces.

I found I really didn't like working with a quilt panel. I prefer pieced quilts and that is what I will make next like the one I made for mom at Christmas. Ever since then my nephew has been asking for one too so I've been thinking about the fabrics to use.

On a blog related matter, I understand that the Google reader service will soon be discontinued.  I currently follow a lot of blogs using this service and  I hope I can still find them afterward.  But if you don't see me visiting your blog in a long while, please do leave me a comment so I can find you again! I'm not sure whether I will use BlogLovin and/or migrate my blog to another blog platform altogether.  There are pros and cons of migrating. I had been considering the move to Word Press for awhile but someone I follow said she was leaving there over copyright issues concerning her photos. I'm not sure where she has moved to yet and somehow I'm not sure that things will be any different on a different platform.

I'm linking up with Skywatch Friday. Thank you so much for visiting me. Have a wonderful weekend!

My Week So Far

Since I returned late Friday from visiting my mom, I've been very busy. I'm planning a far away trip for the summer and have been busy looking at travel routes, checking points for air travel and hotels, reactivating points programs, checking costs & making bookings where I can.

Sweater & top for mom

I've also received a few more things for mom's wardrobe which I have to label, pack and ship to her as they didn't arrive in time for my travels to visit her.

Purple top for mom

Before I went for my short trip, a friend asked for help with his taxes due to the high cost of hiring a tax preparer.  The base cost at one local preparer is $70 Canadian and at another it is $100 (charges for a very simple return and the price goes up substantially if you have more than 2 receipts).  Some of you will remember that I don't really like doing taxes but I was willing to help this friend so he can learn to do it himself. Since I also needed help with my garden and he is a very good gardener, I asked him to at least pluck up the garden weeds. He said he was happy to do it and he did a great job. He is much faster at this sort of thing than most people are.  His taxes are now filed and he stands to get a good refund so he is very happy.  Today I thought the garden could do with some fertilizing but it was so windy here (and cold too) and this task will have to wait for a calmer day. Maybe tomorrow.  My Solomon's seal is almost fully grown and yet nothing new has been planted due to inclement weather. The hosta bulbs I ordered a month ago finally arrived today.  I'm happy I have something to plant in the shaded parts of the garden.

I have an unfinished simple quilt to make for my niece. It's been sitting in my dining room, cum sewing room, since November and I need to finish it soon.  I want it ready for her visit to me this summer for her birthday.  I finally cut out the binding today and hope to sew it up tomorrow.  I will attach it in a day or two and finish up the quilt.  I've also been searching the internet for some beautiful quilt fabrics and trying to decide whether to order them to add to my fabric stash. I've already got several "WIPs" and no more room for it all.  But I do plan on sewing more now that I've made several skirts for mom this week and gotten the quilting underway again.  Perhaps I can go ahead and order the fabric which I'm sure won't be available later and I would really hate to miss out on it.  On my recent out of town trip, my nephew reminded me again that he is waiting for his lap blanket.  He wants one similar to the one I made his grandmother.  I've been planning to surprise him for his birthday but haven't actually gotten started yet. Time is running out as his birthday is in about a month.

Today I felt like having home made pizza for dinner.  I tried a "new to me" pizza dough recipe from Wolfgang Puck, renowned celebrity chef and restauranteur. The dough was far less sticky to work with than other recipes I've made so I will likely use it again. If you'd like to try it,you can find the recipe here.


Other than these few things I haven't been so terribly busy this past few days.  I've had a bit of a cold and have a fuzzy head as well as a headache every day. I hope it all goes away soon.  I did do a bit of reading but not much. I can't concentrate that long.  Currently I'm reading Tess of the d'Urbervilles on my Blackberry Playbook, and Holman Quicksource Guide to the Dead Sea Scrolls in a paperbook.

I have lots of tasks to accomplish this week. None of them are large in and of themselves but require my focus and attention. If I don't get to visit your blog this week, please do forgive me. I will be by to repay your visit as soon as I am able.

I'm linking up with Our World Tuesday today. Do drop by and see what other people around the world are doing this Tuesday.



Have a wonderful week!