Sunday Stash Report, Week 18

On a beautiful Sunday morning, in a place where spring usually means rain, which would you rather you do?

 

Weed the garden or....

 

 

Baste your latest quilt top!

 

(I pulled together my completed Thangles blocks and called this layout Garden Gate, and I'm gifting it to my co-worker's sister, who has just been moved to hospice)

 

When I have a bunch of tops to baste, I like to use spray baste, but don't like to use it indoors.  Usually that means I make flimsies from October to about June, and then when it dries up long enough, I set up on my deck and baste away.

 

 

I start with an old sheet taped to the deck boards, but I forgot to buy some so I raided my pantry.  One can got really covered with the spray and was quite sticky,

 

 

so made up a yummy bean salad!

 

 

Good thing I did, because my daughter called me to come over and enjoy the first barbeque of the season! I had planned a day of quilting "Garden Gate", but I have also resolved not to turn down any invites this year, so I headed over.  It hit a record 31C today (88F) - we don't normally see those temperatures around here, and if we do, it's not until August. It was acutally 34C in the shade on the deck, over 90F.

 

 

Only the little pool was ready for this weekend, I think the big one is going up this week because this weather is supposed to last for another 10 days!  Zoey couldn't wait for it to fill up and first went in her shoes and socks, she is such a water baby!

 

 

The heat tuckered her out and she decided the dog bed was a great place for a nap!

 

Oh, yeah - this was supposed to be a stash report!

 

Besides "Garden Gate", I basted two more quilt tops and 2 pillow tops before it got too hot.  I have at least three more tops to baste before this stretch of good weather ends.

 

I bought some solids this week with the plans to start a Super-Mario quilt for my nephew for Christmas, and a few fat eigths.

 

 

 

Added this week: 2.3 metres

Added Year-to-Date: 58.5 metres

Used since last report: 8 metres

Used Year-to-Date: 17.5 metres

Net used/Added for 2013: 41 metres

 

I want to do one quilt for everyone in my extended family over the next few years so I'm starting with the oldest grandnephew and once the kids are done, I'm going to make one for each of my nieces, then my sister and her husband (I actually gave my brother and his wife quilts last year for their fiftieth birthdays, so I don't have to do them!)

Sunday Stash Report, Week 17

It's been 5 weeks since my last stash report, and despite my best efforts, I haven't been able to spend a lot of time in my "Happy" room.

 

 

A reminder to relax and enjoy 'me' time!

 

I'd like to show you more but right now, I can barely find the floor.  When I get busy, I tend to "dump and run", which means the 15 minutes I have found here and there have been dedicated to sewing, not certainly not putting anything away.

 

 

Some things that make me happy - a jar filled with notions from my mother's and grandmother's sewing supplies.

 

In the last month, we've celebrated Easter, been to the zoo in Seattle, I've hosted a scrapbooking retreat, babysat most weekends and worked some overtime on top of my full time job. I've also been having issues with my left shoulder and knee, had X-rays and finally got to the physiotherapist on Thursday.

 

My grandmother's button tin - I've had this since I was 18 years old.

 

The good news is there is no signs of oestioarthritis nor wear and tear, but simply a strained knee and bursitis in the shoulder.  Luckily, we've caught it early enough to prevent frozen shoulder but it has kept me out of commission for a bit. 

 

To cheer myself up, I did stop by my favourite fabric shop and picked up a few little things: 

 

 

 

Added this week: 1.75 metres

Added Year-to-Date: 56.25 metres

 

So far, I haven't broken into any of it, but I did finally finish one of my many UFOs!

 

 

Used since last report: .5 metres

Used Year-to-Date: 9.5 metres

Net used/Added for 2013: 46.75 metres

 

It didn't use more fabric because I repurposed this wool melton jacket that I haven't worn for a few years.

 

 

 

Using this adorable pattern from Liesl Gibson,

 

 

and lined with Aneela Hooley's A Walk in the Woods,

 

(it does hang straight on a proper hanger ;o)

 

and nicely fits a cute little girl, if she hadn't just woken up from a nap.

 

 

She kept trying to pull it off, so I didn't get a great picture of her in it, especially once she discovered she could twirl in it!

 

 

I wonder if she will be Little Red Riding Hood for Hallowe'en this year?

 

UFO Parade over at Patchwork Times!

One of my favourite bloggers, Judy at Patchwork Times, is hosting a UFO parade today!  What is a UFO - why, an UnFinished Object, of course!  And being the queen of UFOs, I must join!  So far, I have counted, drumroll please, 48 UFOs (sewing projects only).  I know I'm still missing a few, but seriously..48???



 

(No. 1 on my list to finish - I've put it aside for almost 3 months now)

Blogging has been both the source of my success starting and finishing projects (about 25 last year alone, mostly new ones) but has also been my downfall in starting more than I can handle (added about 20 to the UFO list, while only completing about 7-8). 

 

(No. 2 on my list to finish - I'm only making it a table topper size)

Last year, I tried joining a couple of UFO finishing challenges which helped.  I even created a separate page to track my progress.  It needs some updating, but you can find my list by clicking on this link  Terri's UFOs or on the second tab above.

 

(No. 3 - this cute little cape and 3 summer dresses for Zoey.  The cape has been cut out since last November, but the dresses got cut out in March, so do they really count as a UFO?  In my books, yes, because they have been put aside like so many others!) 

 

If you haven't already, come join the parade. And every Wednesday, Judy is going to have a UFO Progess linky party so we can share our successes - perfect for me because I get most of my work done on a Sunday until late in the evening.)

 

Looks can be deceiving

I like to pretend that I have my supplies under control and organized.

 

As I come across scraps of lace and ribbon, I drop them in this biscotti jar.  My latest project had me rooting around for more than what was in here:

 

 

I remembered I had a box of ribbons, eyelet and lace from the days when my girls were little and I was sewing little girl and doll clothes.

 

Found it! It's the size of a large shoebox or small apple box.

 

 

Some of these were hand-me-downs from my mom's sewing room, which reminded - where did that tote go?

 

 

Some of these trims go back to the 1970's for sure, and I suspect the '60s are represented as well.

 

Here's a sneak peak at the project that got me hunting:

 

 

 

 

 I also have a smaller tote filled with bias tape, zippers, seam bindings, buttons and more.  My sister, her daughters, my daughter that sews, and my girlfriend and her daughter all come to me first before heading to the store.  I'm going to have to get them to start raiding this bin as well.  Either that or open an Etsy shop!

 

One of my other hobbies is genealogy, and last night I found information that one of my maternal great-great grandmothers was also a seamstress in addition to being a homemaker. That extends my sewing heritage back to 5 generations, 6 if you include my daughter and my nieces.

 

It's no wonder I have hoard all this, when it goes so far back in my blood!

 

 

Today was a Good Day!

Hope you all had a good Easter!  We celebrated yesterday, because Alex's mom had to work, so we had fun in the backyard instead!

Spring has sprung where I live!

 

Although I originally come from Ontario, Canada, I am so grateful my parents made the decision to retire on the West Coast.  I affectionately refer to it as the Wet Coast due to the amount of rain we get, but I honestly feel I live in the most beautiful place!  And that is no truer than this year, where we are having the warmest, sunniest March in 30 years.

 

 

Blue skies have been around for a week now, and are expected to last at least through the Easter weekend!

 

The bald eagles have arrived for the salmon run!  Here in the Fraser Valley we have one of the largest congregation of bald eagles every spring.  On my way home from work last night, there were seven or eight flying over my car, so I followed down a dirt road to see more roosting in the trees.  I'm sure glad my phone has a great camera.  Even the zoom function was better than my first digital camera 10 years ago.

 

 

Where else can you ski and golf on the same day?  This is my view on the way home from work (here I'm only 5 minutes away from my house)

 

 

And on my way in!  I live in a community nestled at the foot of the Cascade mountain range, the same range that follows the coast of Washington and Oregon states, through to Northern California, but I can drive on the flat roads of the Fraser River valley and the temperatures are quite moderate due to the influence of the ocean less than 100 kms west (60 miles).

 

 

 

I get to see mountains from every window in my house, and from my back deck, where I am enjoying the sunshine today.

 

 

 

 

And my garden is starting to bloom!

 

Of course, not every spring is like this and even if it is, we can still go from this:

 

 

April 14, 2011

 

to this overnight!

 

 

April 15, 2011

 

How is your spring shaping up?

 

Hope you have a wonderful Easter weekend, however you may celebrate it!

 

(This post is part of a series Project 365. Day 4 - Be more grateful and be more impulsive! For more, see here) 

 



Project 365, Day 1 (non-quilty post)

Note:  This was supposed yesterday, March 26th.

No, this is not about photos and the popular Photo-a-Day concept.  This is about 365 days to a revitalized me (and I won't necessarily post everyday).

 

Monday was my birthday, and I've always viewed it like a lot of others view the New Year - a fresh start, a chance to change things I don't like and try to establish new habits, etc. So to that end, I want to have a strategic plan to get there by my next birthday.  I've already figured out my non-specific goal:

GOAL:  Be the best I can be, the woman I know I am – strong, independent, happy, fun, outgoing, vibrant, healthy, fit, and ready to take on the world .

 

And this is the most important thing I want to do for the rest of my life:

 

 

Me with grand-nephew Brayden (9 months), and grandkids Alex (4 1/2) and Zoey (21 months)

 

Enjoy my family, close and extended!