Garage sale season

I have been anticipating a certain church garage sale.  It usually is quite the thing and even Husband has been known to get excited about purchases there.  Off we went this morning and I must say it was a tad disappointing but I did find a few things and Husband found a plant.  Last year, I really scooped some awesome treasures like this Carlton Ware Australian Design toast rack for a mere 50 cents.  Ya, for real!

Carlton Ware toast rack

But today the finds were much more modest.  Some vintage sheets.  Especially one with blue daisies.  Vintage sheets with blue are harder to find it seems.  I also found a wicker laundry basket in great shape.  Destined to be piled with fabric no doubt.  And while at the lineup to pay, several other shoppers wondered why they had missed seeing the basket.  It also proved handy for piling the loot.  I found an envelope with embroidery patterns.  Very vintage.  And I did find some baking pans and pie plates but spared you a photo.  Husband thinks I have a strange thing going on with pie plates.  His message is essentially that I can stop now.  The world has quite enough of them.  I will put them aside for nursey daughter.

Lovely basket and sheets

close up in the sunshine

Husband's plant

The plant is in a sunflower pot.  Very cute.  Daughter adores sunflowers.  It might just find its way to her once she settles into an apartment.

Happy weekend!  And I will link this to Sophie's Flea Market Finds .  Be sure to check out the treasures other people have found this past week.

Happy Birthday Mum!

Think of these as lovely flowers as birthday candles!  I don't think that there are enough (tee hee)

My Mum is one special lady and she is celebrating her birthday today!  I won't tell you how old she is but I bet she wouldn't mind if I shared her age because I think she is proud of each and every one of those years.  So big giant hugs.  Much love and happy wishes to my very best mum.

Mum received the blue beast for her birthday.  Her early birthday present.

on a cold Thursday...

I am messing around trying to make the perfect label for my quilts.  I have used the tutorial available here and I have tried using the fabric pieces that you can run through your printer.  That worked just fine but I really don't like the texture of the fabric.  It is really very stiff.  Using the tutorial above from Patchwork Pottery, your labels come out okay and you then iron them on to twill tape but then you have a label that has that plastic-y sort of texture like when you iron something onto a t-shirt.  Okay, but kind of, well, ewww.  I have not yet found a place to have labels printed up here in Canada.  If anyone knows of a place, please holler.  Or even holler if you have successfully ordered labels from the U.S.

I made a little care tag for the baby quilt because it was being given to son's girlfriend's friend.  It made me happy.

And this also makes me happy.  I was sitting here with the laptop and heard our wee friend swoop in for a landing and a sugary snack.  I had the camera and I actually got a picture before the little hummingpiggy took off.  Cute, or what????

Quilt that I want to make list....

Angela over at Cut to Pieces has a giveaway right now.  I don't often link up or talk about giveaways on other blogs here because... well, I just don't.  I do enter a lot of giveaways but I have yet to win anything!  I did have luck with some scratch tickets that Husband gave me and I think we won a grand total of $8.   Woo hoo!  I would, of course, love to win something quilty and have great faith that it will, one day, be my turn!  The reason I am mentioning Angela's blog, however, is because she asks those entering the giveaway to talk about a quilt that they have seen on someone's blog that they might like to make.  I am always getting great ideas from other people's blogs.  The quilt that I have on my current list of must make is a quilt I saw over at Jeni's blog, In Colour Order last December. This link will take you right to it.  It just speaks to me.  One of the reasons is that it is made of vintage sheets.  Big piles of them.  I have big piles of vintage sheets.    And I really like the pattern.  In fact, it should be coming in the mail any day now, because I ordered it.  Sparkling Cider, by All Washed Up Quilts.

And Riel at the Q and the U received the package I sent her with DS Quilts Collection fabric that I picked up for her in Bellingham.  The package did not go via Antarctica it seems, although I was worried about it.  The tracking information had it received at our local post office and nothing else.  It seemed as though it may have disappeared into the great Canada Post vortex but it did find Riel's house, despite my reservations, concerns and worries!

Spring is late...

We are having a very cold, wet spring.  It snowed again just last week.  It is almost May and we have planted nothing in the garden yet except the onions and garlic.  The only bonus is that the daffodils and tulips are lasting forever in this cool weather.  The leaves haven't popped open on the trees and the fruit trees have yet to blossom.  It is really crazy.  We are definitely at a higher elevation than many but we are still west coast living.  It is supposed to be glorious, warm and spring like.  Heavy sigh!

With all of this, I checked in the woods and found my annual delight.  The wild trilliums are blooming.  And that is a beautiful thing.

And on the sewing front, will be working away at one of the 3 current works in progress this evening because Husband will be watching back to back hockey games tonight!

Card tricks anyone?

Yoiks!  Tons of cutting.  And this is not a good picture.  I have to work on the lighting for pictures when I am at the work table.  Husband says, "TOO DARK!"  I agree.  Anyway, next work in progress is Card Tricks.  So lots of cutting.  That was yesterday.  Mum was sewing rag strips together for her next rug and I was cutting and cutting and cutting.  I must say I did lots of quilt math.  This fabric is from last summer's by the pound sale and is one of April Cornell's lines for Moda.  Very, very pretty.  This pattern is more complicated but once you get the hang of it, I think the result's are pretty snazzy.  The pattern I am using is from Fig Tree quilts and she call's it Clovers but it is really the block called card tricks.  What do you think?  I think it is pretty snazzy that I can get a whole quilt top out of what are essentially fabric samples!  

I make myself pretty crazy working on the points. The 3-d effect of the blocks is most cool.  I have 4 blocks done and 12 to go.  I spent a lot of time today putting the fabrics together in bundles for a block.  The colours really do need to  have enough contrast but must also "play nice together."  I am upcycling the neutral background.  I bought two beautiful European sham covers at the thrift store a few months ago in a lovely buttery yellow cotton and I had just enough for the background.  Perfect for this line of prints.  

 Husband made pie.  First rhubarb of the season and it was so good!  The clan came for dinner to celebrate Easter.  And of course, blueberry pie because if blueberries were gold, we would be rich!  My Grampa declares that Husband makes the "Best Blueberry Pie in the world!"  and that is good enough for me!  Have a wonderful rest of your Monday!

Baby quilt... finished!

 Baby quilt... done!  I made this quilt for son's girlfriend to give as a gift.  This was a lot of fun.  All I had to go on were some lovely pictures of the nursery and the fact that the mom to be has a thing for owls.  I used a variety of Michael Miller prints along with some prints from Momo's It's a Hoot line and Amy Butler's sun spots.  Some Kona solids too.  I think it looks very baby boy and let's cross our fingers that the baby to be, really is the suspected boy that the quilt is for.

Love the back.  It is Zoology in flannel.  Lovely heavy weight flannelette.  The quilting is simple straight lines a quarter inch on either side of the block seams vertically and horizontally with a few extra horizontal lines in white thread.  The white stands out a bit on the back in a good way.  And it is bound in the dots from the Michael Miller line.
 

Just so much darn fun!  And I used a pattern called Crazy Eights by Bits and Pieces.  The pattern calls for 8 fat quarters if you like or whatever and is perfect crib quilt size.

And to finish off the day, we are just waiting for all the family to arrive.  Husband has been baking up a storm.  Look at the bread he made yesterday!!!!!  He is simply amazing.

Easter thrift store finds!

Husband suggested that I find myself a plant as an Easter present.  I suggested perhaps something at the thrift store would make me happy.  Look what I found!!!!  A lovely vintage bread tin.  It won't have bread in it.  I will stuff it full of fabric to be sure!

And some lovely vintage sheets complete with pillow cases...

And another vintage sheet along with some blanket binding.  The blanket binding comes complete with matching thread on little wooden spools.  I have a thing for blanket binding. Mum actually found the binding in a bin and passed it over to me.  She knows I have a thing for blanket binding!

And Mum found a vintage pillow case at her thrift store and bought it for me.  The stack of sheets is growing!

It is an absolutely gorgeous day and the golf course across the way is very busy.  So far 3  5 golf balls harvested in the field.  Not at all close to the record harvest of 12 golf balls from a bit ago.

Happy Weekend!

I will be linking up to Sophie's Flea Market finds .  Check it out!

Happy Friday!

Having a lovely four day weekend.  And the sun is shining splendidly!  Mum arrived at lunch and we scooted over to Fabricland because batting was 50% off.  I bought a whack of batting at the after Christmas sales but I am almost out and we just cannot have that!!!!  The funny thing was that as I was cruising through the store to the batting, I saw a lady carrying a bolt of Sandi Henderson's Meadowsweet 2... the daisy path in robin's egg to be exact!  What?  At Fabricland????  I politely asked the lady where she had found it and we had a lovely conversation while I fell over at the sight of Henna Garden and more!  This was totally surprising to me as Fabricland has only ever carried some Alexander Henry fabrics aside from their own lines.  It is just like what it happening at Jo-Ann's.  More designer quilting cottons available!  And be still my beating heart because if you are a Fabric club member, these lovely fabrics are a mere $9 a metre.  They had to come home with me.  Not a lot, just a little.  What a find!

This morning I finished the blocks for the baby quilt and sewed the top together.  Baby quilts just go together so quickly.  I found a piece of batting from the leftover pile that was just the right size, sandwiched the whole thing together and will get started on the quilting so that I can deliver the finished product on Sunday when the clan is gathering for Easter dinner.  (World record for longest sentence!)

Have a lovely rest of the day!

Quilty Mail!

Thank you, Riel at the Q and the U!  Flea Market Fancy fat quarters!  How very generous!  I picked up some of the new DS Quilts collection on my crazy shopping trip last Sunday for Riel and if Canada Post works according to plan, Riel should have it soon.  Strangely, the tracking number estimates delivery in early May.  It isn't as if New Brunswick is in Antarctica!!!  And I sent it last Monday!!!!

And here is what I found when I opened the envelope from Riel!  A fabulous surprise!!!!!

Having some fun...

Cute, huh?  I am making a baby quilt for son's girlfriend to give as a gift.  I picked up Michael Miller's Zoology Flannel in sea to go along with some of Giraffe Garden from the by the pound sale.  I also picked up some Bicycles and some dots.  And some Amy Butler sun spots.   I think it is just so darned cute.  The Flannel is the back.  Along with some solids and a bit of this and that, we have the makings of a super cute baby boy quilt.  It will come together quickly and I already have about a third of the blocks together.

More to follow.  What did I do before quilting????

And for those of you who did not know, the DS Quilts Collection is now available at Jo-Ann's online.  They do not ship to Canada though.

And there is a giveaway for a complete fat quarter set over at Little Bluebell!!!!

Finished project!

Don't you just love finishing a quilt? Here it is out for a bit of sunshine under the apple tree.  Hunky Dory by Chez Moi for Moda Jelly Roll quilt.  The pattern is Jelly Filled by Thimble Blossoms.  Solid blue border and then blue vines from the same line.  I used a scrappy binding made from a Honeybun from the same line as well.  And the back of the quilt is a thrift store sheet with a bit of a pieced section too.  And I quilted in the ditch around the blocks and within the blocks too.  I am most pleased with it and it is now happily scrunkled (new word of my invention) on the downstairs couch and enjoying hockey games with Husband.

Hello!? A duck in the fireplace????

On Saturday morning, whilst enjoying a weekend coffee with Husband, there was a loud noise in the chimney of the fireplace.  A fluttering and a flopping.  Husband went outside the house to see if he could see the source of the noise.  Nothing to be seen.  Husband opened the damper but left the doors of the fireplace closed and we went out for our regular Saturday shopping adventures.  When we returned, I was attempting to take some photos of some thrift store loot when I heard loud flapping and carrying on... this time right in the fireplace.  I screamed and behaved badly because all I could think of were BATS!  Husband hollered for a flashlight and I managed that despite freaking out all over the place.  He announced that there was a large bird in the fireplace.  A LARGE BIRD!!???  He called for gloves.  I managed that too but was still freaking out because I am a big sissy and I was worried the bird would be injured.  I am really bad that way.  Husband gave instructions as he didn't want the large bird to go flapping around the living room so I had to assist.  And this is what we found... a perfectly lovely female wood duck.  I managed to have my wits together enough to take a picture before Husband let her go.  She flew strongly across the yard and out over the golf course.  I love the white around her eyes.  And yes, our property does back onto a large pond and wetland and there are wood ducks there.  Hopefully she will find a more suitable nesting place.  Not a chimney.  Big oops!

I've joined the club...DS Quilts! Yum!

 Oh Man!  Look what I found!!!  Many thanks to Christina, who tipped me off that she did find the Denyse Schmidt fabric at Jo-Ann's in Bellingham, Washington.  Wahoo!  Off I went this morning!  The US border guards didn't know what to make of the my slightly deranged fabric questing expression.  I bee-lined it for Jo-Anns.  I must say that Jo-Ann's is not the best fabric shopping experience to say the least, but I found the display of DS fabric right away.  Not every fabric from the line was there.  None of the yellow and missing the red tiles.  At first the green and blue dots were also missing but I found them misfiled elsewhere later.  I didn't buy each piece of the lines.  Just the ones I really, really liked.  And I am just so happy to have it and I am sure that Husband thinks I need an intervention.  :  )

And I found some Farmdale too.  I might have to make a quilt for the chickens!  Husband is sure he will come to see that I have quilted the house.

Saturday thrift store stuff

At the thrift store this morning, were these lovely vintage sheets.  I do not have many blue ones so I was most delighted to find these.  I am going to make another vintage sheet quilt sooner than later as the pile is growing!

 And some fabric.  Good lengths- 2 metres plus of the little girls, great unbleached cotton, and a floral.  3 metres of gingham.  Mum likes gingham.

 Cute or what???

And then finally, I am such a sucker for these vintage prints.  It is just so romantic, faded and lovely.

Have a lovely weekend!  I will link this to Sophie's flea market finds so check out more flea market finds there!

What????

This is what we woke up to this morning on April, 14th in the land of cherry blossoms and green grass.  Can you believe it?  All my lovely daffodils were bent over from the weight of the snow.  The branches of the trees that are heavy with buds were all burdened with the extra weight of the wet snow.  CRAZY!!  The snow is gone now but it hung around until at least noon before rain washed it away.  Our pour wee hummingbirds were not happy!

DS Quilts Collection From Heather Ross's blog

On the sewing front, apparently the Joann's in Bellingham, Washington does not yet have the DS Quilts  fabric.  Darn!  The quest will continue because that fabric looks beautiful!  And for those of you in Australia, apparently Spotlight will be carrying the fabrics, at least according to True Up.

100th post today!

How funny is that?  I see on that this is my 100th post!  Who knew???  I am on the quest to find the perfect paper for my paper pieced string blocks.  I was using printer paper and a pretty good quality paper at that.  It was really hard to tear off the blocks.  Not impossible just gave a great finger work out.  I thought of lined, 3 hole punched paper as a student would use.  I gave it a whirl here just now and this is what I thought.  Firstly, the paper is thinner so does provide as stable a base for the paper piecing but still very satisfactory.  I was a little worried how it would stand up to the trimming or squaring up of the block but it was just fine.  And secondly, totally easier to tear away the paper at the end.  Much better and less expensive too.

I must say I am totally jealous that Joann's is selling Denyse Schmidt prints and we are sitting up here in Canada without.  Boo hoo.  The line looks really nice.  And it does not seem to be available on line.  Double boo hoo.  I might have to take a field trip to Bellingham!

Ready to quilt...

The jelly roll quilt is ready to go.  I am still debating the quilting aspect though.  I am a little bored of stippling so I will be thinking about a method of straight line that will still work with this type of block.  I did piece the back with a leftover block, then some of the prints and then a snazzy thrift store sheet.

I have the string pieced blocks on the go.  I think I have made about 30 blocks so am half way there.  They go together quickly but strangely enough the box of scraps does not seem to be diminishing.  It is like a bottomless magic pot.  I think I had a children's book like that.  Tina and the Magic Pot.

I am back to school this evening for the opening night of the dramatic event, "Follow that Rabbit," an Alice in Wonderland play.  Most exciting!

yummy

Husband made cookies.  Darn.  They are really good.  I will have to be on the bike longer.

Butterscotch Honey Cereal Crunchies

Preheat oven to 375 degrees (F)

2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 cup butter or margarine, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup liquid honey
1 egg
1 3/4 cups butterscotch chips
2 cups corn flakes
2 cups crisp rice cereal
1 cup flaked coconut (optional)

Combine flour, baking powder and soda.  Cream butter and sugars, honey and egg.Add dry ingredients to creamed mixture, mixing well.  Stir in the remaining ingredients.  Drop by tablespoonfuls about 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake 8-10 minutes or until golden.  Cool for 5 minutes on the sheet then cool on a rack.  Yum.

Using up the scraps!

Okay, this is almost addictive.  I have been making paper pieced string blocks all day.  I make them in batches and then go and sit beside Husband to rip the paper off the blocks.  That way he doesn't miss me too much.  He was in front of the TV today because not only was it golf but curling.   All he needed was darts and he wouldn't have been able to speak for the excitement.  It was that kind of day.  It poured rain.  POURED all day!!  Hence the poo, from the great manure delivery of yesterday, is still waiting for its moment in the sun.

I threw the blocks on the design bed to get an idea...

And I did sandwich the jelly roll quilt.  Spray baste is my friend.  Man, who needs pins?  It just goes together so easily with the spray.  I did not start quilting, however, because I was having too much fun with scraps.  Never did I think I would say that.  My only question now is, how do you know when a scrap is too small and should be tossed?  I think I am a fabric hoarder.

almost ready to be tossed scraps

Happy Saturday!

Found some good quilting cotton at the thrift store this morning.  3 metres of tone on tone cream quilt backing was quite a lovely find.  A light green print from Henry Glass fabrics.  I think there are about 3 metres there as well.  Another print from Henry Glass... the red plaid.  Some stripes.  And the Disney print is to make Daughter a scrub top.  Making scrub tops is just like making doll clothes but a little bigger.  Daughter doesn't mind if I use rick rack and have fun.

Although I was a bit of a farmer today, what with waiting for a giant delivery of manure for the garden and helping Husband burn all the blueberry prunings, I did have time for sewing.  I finished the jelly roll quilt top complete with borders and prepared the back so tomorrow, should I feel so inclined, I will sandwich and spray baste it.  Secondly, I found a great tutorial here for making paper pieced string blocks.  Be still my beating heart.  Finally something that makes me want to use my scraps.  I grabbed a stack of paper from the printer and cut the paper to 8 1/2" blocks with a fold on the diagonal.  I grabbed my bags of scraps and found all the strips and made strips from bigger scraps.  The strips range from narrow, at a little less than an inch to 2 1/2".  I did not adjust my stitch length for the first block and it was difficult to tear the paper away.  Curses.  I did make the stitch length smaller the next time around and it was much easier to tear the paper away but not super easy still.  I am using fairly good quality paper.  I think it would be better to use cheap, thin stuff.  The tutorial from Film in the Fridge, even suggests that some people may use pages from a phone book.  Go figure!?

bag-o-scraps

block before squaring up, still with paper

woo hoo!  paper pieced scrap string block

We never have any phone books in the house because Husband always recycles them.  He is thinking, and rightly so, that phone books are old school.  When is the last time you actually looked up a number in the phone book?  We always use the computer. I suppose you could use catalogue pages too.   Oh wait.  Those were recycled too.

And I have forgotten to mention our record golf ball harvest from last weekend.  In one small area where we have made a new flower bed along the fence, we found 12!  Yep!  12 golf balls.  Crazy!