Celebrating with Blue

While it seems that I have done nothing but work with blue at a frantic pace over this past week, there was also much to celebrate.

1. First I must say that I am very fortunate to have the time to quilt and a good job that supports my life style

2. that I have a fabulous family that I get to hang out with. Like on Saturday when Odessa was in town for a swim meet. Little swimmer is only six and looks so tiny in the McEwan U pool. What a little athlete she is...wow

3. that I did finish my slab quilt (well to flimsy stage) this week with the help of my very good friends Kim Caskey who drafted out a pattern on the whiteboard at work and Trish Krynowski who climbed up on the chairs to pin in the first row so we could get the blocks up on the wall. This is the room at the hospital that my Wednesday lunch time quilt group meets in...every Wednesday.

4. that I got the binding on "My Sisters the Caribou" wall hanging. Designed by my sister Connie, distant hills and foreground appliqued by my sister Marg MacKinnon and then quilted by moi...the baby sister. This quilt is one for me to treasure. I have an idea to add a few crystals on the far shore line.

5. that I finished another selvedge rug. This one will be for Tanea. This is her little dog Mr. JR trying it out for her.

6. while still in the vein of working with blue in hopes of getting trough the stack, I made a couple more blocks for my ''Farm Girl at Heart" quilt. Northern Lights was simple enough, but that Four Winds, it was a little complicated so I HAD to follow the fabric map.

Four Winds

Northern Lights

7. that on Wednesday night was the first guild meeting of 2015 and that I get to see so many of my good quilting friends after the Christmas break. I really don't know what I would do if it were not for the guild and all of the very good and positive relationships I have formed there. Today was the CPR (Community Projects Retreat) where 50 quilters got together and all day we worked on making quilts for our charity this year, the Be Brave Ranch for children that have been the victims of sexual abuse. There were pictures taken at the end of the day and I did not get pictures of the group, I do have one of the one I was sewing the binding on (and somehow they are no longer on my camera, but are on my facebook page)

All that and so much more to be thankful for and to celebrate this life with, and I still have a LOT of blue scraps. To see what others are doing to celebrate with the colour blue, head over to socrappy.

love and warm hugs
Kathy

It's a 16 Patch Throwdown.

I have had so much fun this week. Simple things...take a pile of blue scraps and divide it up into blue and 'not really blue". From these I have made more slabs, 17 in total. I will need 36 slabs to make a decent sized quilt for one of my little boys.

and more 16 patch/Sawtooth blocks.

I have also used the scraps from cleaning up the table after my Grand Illusion finish and have 'sewed-ahead'. Will show those blocks when the time and colours are right. But they are finished blocks in the bin and ready for their great reveal when that month comes.

I have a cutting plan for the alternate blocks with the Sawtooth Stars and have started to cache my 2.5" colour squares into the RSC15 bin.

It doesn't matter how many times I count my "Farm Girl At Heart" Blocks I come up with a different number. 1, 2, skip a few, 3, 4.... Ah well, how about sewing up a few more with some blue scraps. I started the one on the left with 1 3/4" squares...nope...ended up with a 7" unfinished block. Okay do it again with 1 1/2" squares...nope, this one is a perfect 5 1/2" square. When really all I want is a 6 1/2" unfinished square. These two will go into the orphan block bag!! Can anyone out there provide the math?

Next up for the Grand Illusion is to have it quilted in time for Christmas gift presentation 2015, until then it can go on the shelf for a few months.

See what else is happening with the colour Blue at SoScrappy.
Happiest in the studio
Love and Hugs
Kathy

keep on Greenin'

SoScrappy is leading the scrappy charge for April and suggests we use up those green scraps. I am dedicating my green scraps to my other challenge, Farm Girl at Heart, another project lead by Randy over at the Barrister's Block. Two-birds-one-rock time.

This and That

No where is it written that we cannot move to some very old blue greens in the pursuit of scrappy happiness.

Darting Birds Set

I had great intentions to make one a day for the past week, but LIFE happened. So in the days ahead I will have to double my efforts to achieve my goal.

Mosaic

They are a little infectious, just want to quit my day job and make little tiny quilt blocks. This block, Chained Star, features some very-greyed out greens, but green none-the-less.

Chained Star

On Wednesday night my bee group met here and we auditioned sashings and cornerstones....standby for updates on that. There are still another 30 blocks, more or less, to make. In the meantime, are you wondering what others are doing with their green scraps...head over here.

Love and hugs
Kathy

Farm Girl at Heart...cont'd

# 80 Carrie Nation

This is such a light airy block...just love it. I was delighted to use some tiny amber coloured 1 1/4" squares from my friend Brandis, leftovers from a mystery class we took part in 3 years ago.  Is that too long to keep those tiny pieces?

Patio Lanterns that I made with my tiny 1 1/4" pieces from the same class. The Quilt pattern was called Trail Mix.

One of the other benefits of quilting is coming across a block named Carrie Nation. The discussion could end there, or I could Google this name and learn about the very determined woman from the American Temperance League that this block was named for.

This experience reminded me of when I used to collect stamps as a young teen and I wondered who was this Alfred Noble guy that was featured on so many of the Swedish stamps.

Keep on asking questions, keep on learning, keep on creating.

love and hugs
Kathy

April means Green

April means green over at SoScrappy this month. We are all encouraged to get those green scraps out and used up. So while I do have a "few" WIP, I think I will put some concerted efforts into adding greens to my Farm Girl at Heart Quilt and close the gap on the finish line.

# 81 Gentleman's Fancy

Not an unrealistic goal when I consider that this is #81 out of a possible 111. Heck, if I applied the "1 a Day" theme here, I might see the end of this before May rolls in.  Fingers crossed folks.

Check out what others are accomplishing over at SoScrappy in the name of Green. Of course this also makes me just a little bit more excited (if that is possible) to be going to Ireland in just 62 days with Sew Many Places and the International Quilt Festival of Ireland...you know you want to come with Kim Caskey and I! Check out Kim's photos and experiences from her time there in 2012 and get back to me with just how excited you are to come with us.

love and hugs
Kathy

Three beautiful Saturdays in a row!

Life sometimes throw out little nuggets that I just love.
For instance I recently had a flat tire and while thinking how am I going to get this fixed (or moved to be fixed) I thought about my Hyundai Roadside Assistance...so the road is in front of my house so that qualifies. Well it qualified indeed...they sent over an AMA truck within 60 minutes. Donut on and I was off to the tire repair shop (screw in tire!!).



Creative time included a stop at Urban Scrapbook to register for my Thursday Techniques Classes (cannot show you any pictures as these are intended to be used a family gifts), and then home to finish a Disappearing 9-Patch for the EDQG charity project and another block for my Farm Girl at Heart, #77 Smokehouse and #78 Domino Net

#77 Smokehouse

#78 Domino Net

 

 

 

I have also started another mystery quilt over that the Prairie Quilt Mercantile site...this one they are calling Plenty of Fish, I have chosed to use 50 shades of grey and have finished step one.

50 shade of grey step one

love and hugs
Kathy