This and That...

I have been really busy lately so have not had much time to sew or blog. I promised that I would blog about Roll Roll Cotton Boll (mystery quilt pattern by Bonnie Hunter at Quiltville) in my last post. Christine and I have gotten together twice to work on this mystery quilt. We spent two evenings together so far and have got lots of cutting done and an little bit of sewing.  Above, you can see our pink and brown HST's from step 2, cut out and ready to sew.

Our first homework was to get these sewn and both of us completed this part. However, we did not get them trimmed and pressed before our second get-together.  This past Monday, Christine squared up her HST's and then both of us cut the strips and squares from green and neutral that we need for step 4.  (Yes--we are doing the steps out of order so that we can complete the blocks first and then do the borders!) Christine brought her sewing machine to my house both times and neither one of us did any sewing!

Here are my green strips and squares--I got the neutrals cut as well but I don;t have a picture of them. 

These are Christine's HST's being squared up.

We are getting together again next week to sew--no cutting this time. We have to get steps 2 and 4 completed before we meet again.


Happy Belated Canada Day to my Canadian readers and belated Happy 4th of July to the Americans! My family spent Canada Day in Ottawa this year where we saw a few people some of you might know...

We spent hours standing in the sun to see this handsome young man and his lovely wife.

We were packed in like sardines --no one dared leave to get food or go to the bathroom for fear of losing their spot!  Kate did her walkabout on the other side so this is as close as we got to her. It was lots of fun to chat with the people around us as we waited--one lady had met both Prince Charles and Prince Philip and hoped to have a chance to shake Prince William's hand as well.

We also got up close and personal with the Prime Minister of Canada, Stephen Harper... and David Johnston, the Governor General.

Those of you who know me and how short I am (5'1'') will be wondering how I got these pictures...There was a lady in front of us who had a chair that she sat on while she was waiting and she let me stand on it to take pictures during the walkabout!  I had a great view of everyone!

The Snowbirds also did 2 flypasts in formation--they really travel fast and I just about missed getting a picture!

While we were in Ottawa, I did a bit of stash enhancement at two local quilting stores. The first store, "Quilty Pleasures", had a sale on any fabric with red in it--25% off--to celebrate Canada Day. I bought a few red fat quarters and some fabric to make my daughter another pillow case.

I also bought myself a new 6X12" ruler as I have lost mine and have not been able to find it. Now that I have a new one, the old one should show up!

"Mad About Patchwork" is an online store. I met the owner, Pam, at the recent Quilt Ontario show in London, Ontario. She told me to contact her when I was in Ottawa and I could go to her home to do some shopping in her basement. Lucky for me, she was home and I spent 45 minutes power shopping. I bought some black and white fabrics...

some solids...

And some prints...

There are no specific projects in mind for these fabrics--I just loved them enough to want to bring them home!

I will be at my sewing machine sometime in the next few days working on my RRCB homework so I will do a post when I have it done.

In the meantime, Happy Quilting!