Snow in October

Yesterday, it happened.  After a warm and sometimes even hot Fall, it got cold outside.  I had to put on my warm jacket when my husband and I went to our local farmers' market in the morning.  When I was coming home from doing an errand before lunch, it was raining and then, for a few minutes, there was some snow mixed in!  Yikes!  I was not expecting that!

Speaking of snow, I added some more snow to my counted cross stitch picture this week.

This photo was taken in the car on our way to my MIL's house last weekend.  Last night, I managed to get some more snow done.

This is a slow process!  This week, I will be spending lots of time waiting, so I anticipate getting lots of stitches added to this picture.

Speaking of snow...I went and picked up my Christmas quilt at the quilter's house yesterday.  Here is a sneak peak at the quilting--you will never guess how it is quilted...

Yup...snowflakes!  Would you believe me if I told you the snow theme was not intentional for this post?

I trimmed my Christmas quilt last night and cut the binding.  I hope to get it sewn on to the quilt by machine today so it is ready for hand sewing.

I am linking up to Kathy's blog with all of the other slow stitchers.

Slow Stitching and My Christmas Quilt

For many months now, I have been working on blocks for Lorna's Holly Jolly Christmas quilt.  She released a block pattern every couple of weeks and I managed to keep up with making the blocks. A couple of weeks ago, I fixed the one block that I did not like. This week, I cut out the sashings and borders and put the quilt top together.  This picture was taken before the last two rows were added.

I love how the blocks look with the dark grey Essex linen background.  I pieced the backing and added a label. Today, I took everything to Cathy, my long arm quilter. 

I have some red and white striped fabric picked out for the binding.  I will show the entire quilt when I get it back from Cathy.

Today, for the first time in weeks, I did some work on my counted cross stitch picture... I outlined the second snowman and now you can see that he is holding a tray with a bird on it.   I will be spending some time in the car tomorrow so I hope to do some more.  

I will be linking up with Kathy and the other slow stitchers on Sunday morning.  

A Blue Partridge

I made this Partridge in a Pear Tree block for my Holly Jolly Christmas quilt back in March. It has been on my design wall since then. I decided early on that I did not like it--the colours did not go with the rest of the colours in the other blocks. I was not keen on the idea of taking it apart and changing the colours of the partridge and played with the idea of making an alternate block instead. In the end, I decided to make a blue partridge. I took the block apart and remade the bird.  I am much happier with the blue partridge...

The "blue bird of happiness" co-ordinates much better with the other blocks!

I have an idea on how to change my tree block so it fits in better as well.  This will happen next and then I will put the blocks together into a top.  My quilter, Cathy, is ready to quilt this one up as soon as I get it to her.  It will be done in plenty of time for the Christmas season.

Moving on to Outlining

We spent part of our day today at my cousin's farm where we went through his corn maze and had a BBQ with everyone in the extended family.  It was a beautiful fall day--the sun was shining and it was not hot like last week.  I took this picture in the maze--most of the corn had brown and shrivelled up silk but this one was bright pink. I did some sewing in the car on our way to the farm.  Last week, my picture looked like this:

I managed to finish the snow in this section as well as the bird.  I started on the outlining today in the car after doing the last few stitches of the snow

I like the way the outlining makes the snowman stand out against the snow. 

There's still more snow to do at the other end of the picture but for now, I think I will continue with more outlining. 

I am linking up to Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching link up tomorrow. 

Baby Quilt for the Talent Auction

My church is having a talent auction this weekend to raise money for a new roof.  My talents lie in the area of sewing and quilting, so I decided to make a baby quilt for my donation to the fundraiser.  I found some fat quarters in my stash and purchased the yellow background fabric. The pattern is from 42quilts.

I cut out the pieces and sewed the blocks together one night, and added the borders another night.

I found the backing fabric in my stash and had to add a light blue strip to make it wide enough for the quilt. I added a label before quilting.

The animals on the back are fun!  I used the serpentine stitch on my sewing machine to quilt it with my walking foot.

Christine was here to sew last night and she voted for red binding.

I hand sewed the binding last night and this morning, before I went to work.  Tonight, I showed my finished quilt at the Elgin Piecemakers' Guild meeting.  I will deliver the quilt to the organizers of the auction tomorrow.

My favourite quilt holder helped with the photo shoot.

I will be linking up with Crazy Mom's Finish it Up Friday tomorrow and to Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching link up on Sunday. .  There are links in my sidebar...


I hope someone likes the quilt enough to buy it!

Fall Weekend

It feels like summer here this weekend with sunshine and temperatures above 30 degrees Celsius.  My husband and I had lunch out today on a patio and these lovely flowers were beside our table. I took a few pictures while we waited for our food to arrive.

This is unusual weather for this time of year where we live. We were very thankful for air conditioning this weekend.

On our way home, I did some sewing in the car.  Last time I showed my counted cross stitch project, it looked like this:



I have managed to fill in a lot of the snow in this section.

There is one bird left to do in this part and then I will fill in the rest of the white.  The other end of the picture still needs to be done as well.  Maybe I  will do some of the outlining after I finish the snow at this side...Come back next week to see what I decide!

I am linking up tomorrow with Kathy and the other Slow Sunday Stitchers.

Libs Elliott Class: Embracing the Chaos

Last Saturday, the London Modern Quilt Guild hosted Libs Elliott to teach an "Embracing the Chaos" workshop.  I signed up for this workshop months ago, but of course waited until the night before the shop in my stash for suitable fabrics and gather my supplies.  I needed to find around 10 co-ordinating fat quarters --I started with the fabric in the middle of this photo and added the other fabrics to the pile.  I ended up using the chartreuse fabric on the upper right but not the yellow on the upper left. 

Some of these fabrics have been in my stash for a while and a couple were recent additions.

Libs told us about how she designs her quilts using a grid and a randomizer on her computer to place pre-chosen blocks into the grid.

She brought along three quilts to show us and we spent quite a bit of time examining them and asking questions about how she chose her fabrics, colours and how she put the blocks together to make her quilts.

She recently was asked by Absolut vodka to design a special label for their Canada 150 bottles.  Several of the quilters brought along their bottles for her to sign.  (All bottles remained sealed during the workshop!)

Some people used pencil crayons to colour their designs before cutting into their fabrics but I jumped into using fabric and picked the fabrics as I went along making the blocks.

By the end of the day, I had all my blocks pieced except one. I pinned my rows together and labeled them so that I would be able to lay them out when I got home.

Earlier this week, I put my last block together and sewed all the blocks into a 30 by 30" flimsy.  I have picked out some thread for quilting and just need to get this top pin basted and quilted.  I will do another post when it is done.  This was a fun workshop and I would recommend taking a class with Libs if you ever get a chance.