late summer bounty

Didn't we just check the zucchini vines yesterday?!?

That's a 2.5 litre pyrex bowl, for the sake of perspective.  Apparently our tiny vegetable patch is not yet exhausted.

Today also witnessed delivery of some sewing-related goodies:

If you haven't yet explored Z & S Fabrics 50% off sale, you had better get your tush over there right now...it ends tomorrow.  The site is easily overwhelmed by web traffic, so it takes some patience to get your order placed, but it's well worth it. I think the Kona solids are all sold out, but if you search patiently by manufacturer you'll find some treasures.  This bundles includes some yardage of Kona snow and plum, and more "Miss Mod" prints for my Mystery Quilt.

I also received 20 little lovelies (Anchor pearl/perle cotton) from the U.K.

This fills out my stash of perle cotton very nicely...especially for someone who only just started to experiment with hand quilting.  Advice and suggestions are most welcome!!

Last but certainly not least is my Big Birthday Present:

Advice and suggestions for getting started with EQ7 are also most welcome!  Anyone for an EQ7-along?

I'd love to know what the last days of August have yielded in your neck of the woods!

Sweet Pea

I had a lovely birthday today -- thank you so much to friends and family for their good wishes (including this sweet post by my dad, which made me cry!). My 43 years have not been uneventful, and there have been many difficult times, but I can say that overall I feel very, very lucky. I am a happy birthday girl today.

And here is "Sweet Pea" -- another quilt finished, which makes me feel a wee bit better about the summer coming to a close.  This quilt is for my littlest one, packed with little surprises (scraps of various Heather Ross prints, Japanese fairy tale and other cute fabrics) and featuring some of the florals she likes best; some gnomes on the back, because the girl loves classic gnomes (smart cookie); straight line quilting and a little hand quilting around the inner pink borders.

Hubby fell asleep on the sofa after a long day, so it was just me, the camera and the quilt this evening.

Today I think I'll let the photos do the talking.

rambling thoughts and a sleepy Sunday

My hubby has taken the little one for a bike ride (although a whispery early morning phone call has me suspecting that this outing is connected somehow to my birthday!  Tee hee, lucky me!).  It is quiet here, there's a breeze tinged with Fall coming through the window, and I thought it would be nice to document a few moments from this lazy morning.  This will be a rambling, meandering post, but I hope you'll indulge me!

There was train play this morning on my orange string quilt -- such a nice use of a quilt, if you ask me. Looking at this set-up also makes me feel a little nostalgic, because these Thomas the Tank Engine trains were my son's when he was just the age our littlest one is now: 2 years old -- and that was 15 years ago.  It seems like yesterday, it really does.

The passage of time -- when you have children -- is a strange, strange thing. 

My son was playing with these very trains the night his sister (my older daughter) was born. 

He woke up around 4 a.m. and emerged bleary-eyed from his room to find me, his dad, my best friend, the midwife and the birth assistant all in the living room.  "It's like a party!" he said, happily.  And he was a little guy who loved parties.  He played trains while I laboured.  When things got a bit intense, we reminded him that it was hard work that I was doing.  "Don't do hard work, Mommy!" he pleaded, hanging on me.  "Do EASY WORK!"  Wise words from such a little guy. 

He covered his baby sister with kisses when she was born, still connected to me by her cord.  The trains were forgotten for a little while.

And now 14 more years have passed, and here I am about to turn 43, and with another little sweetie playing trains.  Sigh.  I don't know how this happened so quickly, but it's nice to feel so happy with my life.

And here are a few sneak peeks at another little labour of love, finally -- after sitting dormant for many weeks -- coming close to completion.

First it had to be basted (and being a bed-sized quilt this required moving all the living room furniture and rolling up the rug), and test-driven by Penelope.

There was a good amount of straight-line quilting done, and then some polka-dot binding cut (3" widths this time around, to show the Savon Bouquet dots to their full advantage!).  I thought I'd throw in a gratuitous shot or two of my favourite cutting tool, the June Tailor Shape Cut Plus.  If you don't have one, you really should get one!!  It makes cutting piles of evenly sized strips a breeze.

And now I'm hand-quilting (first time, so it's a little wonky...but still cute, I think), stitching around the inner pink border of every block with DMC Perle cotton in variegated rose.

 

With just handstitching ahead of me (the remaining quilting and then finishing the binding), it's all easy riding from here on in.  And when I'm sewing by hand my mind seems to wander, drifting through a sea of memories.  I bet I'm not alone on that one.   

Monday morning feels very far away right now, and I'm just going to enjoy that! I hope you do too.

waste not

Things are heating up for me, work-wise, and the stitching time is going to be limited for the next few weeks.  But I just had an interesting experience during a blissful stolen hour, making a block for week 13 of the Farmer's Wife Quilt-along. 

As soon as I made the conscious decision to devote some time to sewing -- to turn away from the constant stream of work-related e-mail and the many, many tasks related to my book manuscript -- as I was setting up my sewing machine on the dining room table,  pulling out my box of FWQAL scraps, my rotary cutter, and my mat, a wave of pleasure swept over me.  It felt so familiar and so lovely to be doing just what I was doing.  I think I need to sew even -- or especially -- when I'm so busy and stressed out!

So here is Block 92, Waste Not.  I paper-pieced it, removed the paper but have not pressed it...forgive the wrinkles please!

Today's experience was just a reminder to choose wisely what I do with my "spare" (HA!) time.  Messing around online isn't very therapeutic, but sewing certainly can be. 

I think the next sewing item on my agenda is the basting of my little one's new green-and-pink quilt.  The top has been complete for a couple of months now, and I think that it will feel really good to get that project done!

Farmer's Wife QAL, week 12

This week's sanity sewing: two blocks this week for the FWQAL, both paper (foundation) pieced. 

First, here is block 66, Periwinkle.

Next up, block 82, Spider Legs. 

I found these slow-going, for some reason; I don't think they were particularly challenging, but I found the paper piecing tedious this time around. 

I think I'll return to playing with the good, old-fashioned templates next week, accuracy be damned!

In other stitchy news chez moi: my Loulouthi hexies are looking pretty lovely...but I'm going to hold out on that one until my 2" diamonds arrive and I'm able to fill in some gaps.

I'm getting to close to finishing the Garden Fence quilt top.  It certainly brightens up our otherwise dingy back porch!

Must run...but I hope everyone finds a little brightness and beauty today!

hexie update...and a new project

I have stalled a bit on my hexagons (part of Lynne and Gayle's Hexalong) -- primarily because my 2" diamonds are all tied up, I'm waiting for some more precut ones, and I don't feel like using homemade ones.  But here is where things stand, with many (most) of my hexies put to the side for the time being, and the "constellations" taking centrestage:

I know what you're thinking: that woman should sew less and paint more!  Boy, does our front porch need to be re-stained.  In my own defense, I have been planning to tackle that project, but this summer has been too hot and steamy for painting.  For now, I hope you can just appreciate the rustic look.

In an effort to use less paper I raided my stash for 5 yards of fabric and turned it into a whole lotta napkins.  But since there are five of us, I think I might need more yet.

And a new project is brewing; can't tell you much about it, but here are the first 10 blocks using what you might recognize as Cynthia's "Garden Fence"design.  More to come!

So there we go: one project on hold, one very mundane project complete, and one fun project begun.  Whatever you are tackling today, I hope your week gets off to a good start!

returning to the Farmer's Wife quilt-along blocks

It now has been several weeks since I made any of the FWQAL blocks -- and I knew that my participation in that QAL would have to be in fits and starts, despite the fact that the rest of the QALers are humming along at the nice, steady pace of 2 blocks a week.

I made 26 blocks in the first six weeks or so, and now finally here are 2 new ones.

#102, Whirpool

#103, Whirlwind

It seems like a good time for a group shot.  Note that block #3, Basket, is currently undergoing handle relocation surgery and couldn't be present for the photo.

  

Back to work!  Have a lovely day, everyone :)