Aurifil BOM

Ok so I came in just under the wire but I made the January block for the Aurifil BOM for 2013
 I just went with fabrics I had in my stash , I wanted to try this block out , I love the look of it so it was more of an experiment as far as fabrics go .

 My Mom gave me a few fabrics when she moved to an apartment so part of this is from those fabrics and maybe if I have enough I will make the quilt for her .
 The wind is incredibly high here today , at times I think the roof is coming off and I probably should not be on the computer so I will keep this short . Thanks for taking the time to stop by.
 hugs Sheila

WIP Wednesday

It has been a few weeks since I have posted on my WIP's on Wednesday with the Needle and Thread Network but since I have a little  to report I thought I would share .As I mentioned yesterday I have been working away at the needlework for the Winter in Blogland project which was a free project which you can find at Ellie's Quilt Place ,it is a delightful blog and she has so many interesting projects and designs. Here is my progress so far ...

The four large blocks and you will see I have added wool in a few places to add dimension , a really fun project although a lot of work in some of these blocks but when you are having fun it really doesn't matter does it ;-) Then there are the three smaller blocks which are corners for the wall hanging .

Aren't they cute , these are just 4" , the larger blocks are 8" ,my dilemma now is whether to finish it as it is in the pattern with sashings then a row of flying geese blocks in various colors , hmmmmm what to do . Maybe for now I will just admire them on my little design wall while I try to make some headway with my UFO'S
Oh I have also been working on my project for the "It's All About Me"blog hop coming up soon , wish I could share my project I am sure it will make you smile but alas I must wait until my day to share . I signed up for the new blog hop also " Stitch me up " blog hop which is not until March so plenty of time to stitch up these adorable little designs .Can you tell I enjoy taking part in blog hops , it keeps those creative juices flowing ;-)
I have also been stitching up some postcards as our guild is exchanging cards with a few gals in Saskatchewan thanks to my friend Annette of In Stitches and Seams who has coordinated things on her end . Hope all of the guild members have now sent off their cards , if not please do so asap as we want them there before Valentine's Day.
 It is a wild and windy day here , raining , yes it has warmed up enough to rain and we are expecting winds of 90 km. this evening , yikes ,I guess it is a good thing this is rain and not snow or nothing would be moving .That is winter in the Maritimes , you just never know what Mother Nature will throw at you next. Thanks for stopping by today and enjoy your day and if you are looking for some inspiration be sure to hop on over to visit the Needle and ThreadNetwork
 hugs Sheila  .

Shabby Fabrics Country Cottages

Progress has been made , I completed the Country Cottages top , after sifting through my own stash for borders I came to the conclusion I did not have anything on hand that would work for these blocks so I did what any girl would do I went shopping on Saturday :-)  I took a few blocks with me as I find that helpful in seeing what works best and I came home with an inner border fabric as well as a coordinating outer border fabric . I had already chosen the sashings from fabric on hand and when I sewed my new choice for the corner stones and inner border I really did not like what I seen so I had to go shopping again , only this time I was able to shop in my own stash and I came up with this combo .

So my borders are all officially sewn on and I love this little quilt , it is just a fun little quilt which I thoroughly enjoyed doing over the year . I am extra pleased to have it made into this flimsy and will get it quilted as soon as possible . Here is another angle of the quilt which may show  truer colors ,I did think about going outside to take a photo but changed my mind .This pattern was a free BOM from Shabby Fabrics  for 2012 .

The bitter cold has broken so it is more pleasant today and we had a little sun poke through now  and then . Thanks for stopping by and enjoy your day doing something you love!
 hugs Sheila

UFO update

It has been a whole week since I have posted , a challenging week , joint wise , I don't like to complain but I will say the Golden Years are not all that golden at times .  I was not as successful with my UFO's this month as I had hoped but I did make progress . I have done some more work on my Home Sweet Home wool project a BOM from Melody ,still lots to go on that though . I finally made the last block for the Autumn Bounty and took the leap and sliced it in half just like the pattern said , that was not easy after piecing this block that had so many pieces , I didn't want to mess it up .There were two blocks the same that had to be sliced and they are now on the project along with a narrow border and a wider border , want to see ... sure you do .

The pattern called for a piano key border which I didn't really want to do as I was already dealing with so much bias I didn't want to add any more stretch to this piece so found this green fabric that had some accents in it that were the same colors as in the project and I am really pleased ,I think it frames it really well , what do you think ?  This pattern was a free BOM from here  I don't have any batting on hand or I might do the quilting on this today , oh well it can wait a bit longer. Funny yesterday when I finished sewing the border on I showed Bill as I usually do when I finish something and he looked at it and said "It's very nice but why are you making that now"  I could have said I am getting a head start on next fall but I told the truth and told him I am trying to finish up some projects  :-)
 I have also been working on the embroidery blocks for the Winter in Blogland project from Ellie's Quilt Place .I am down to the last little block and almost finished with it too , so that makes me feel great as I adore this project , it is still on Ellies sidebar if you want to check it out .I will share photos of those once I finish off this last block.
 It has been extra cold here the past while , but we have had some sun so that makes it a little easier to take the chilly weather . Here is a photo I took on the weekend at the beach , if you are having a hot flash this might cool you off  ;-)

Well that's it for me folks , I'll be updating again soon I hope . Thanks for stopping by and enjoy your day.
 hugs Sheila

Remember these ?

It has been a while since I posted any progress on these blocks so I thought why not update you since I finished the last block yesterday . These blocks were a BOM from Shabby Fabrics for 2012 and I have to say I enjoyed making each and everyone of them ,I looked forward each month to see what the new block would be , now I am not saying I kept up each month but I did for the most part and here is what they look like right now.

I love it and now need to decide on a border fabric , hopefully I have something on hand that will work as this was all about using up scraps for me but I think someone is refilling my scrap bins as they don 't seem to have gone down even a little .
I also finished off a little top that I will share at a later date and worked on some stitching for the Winter in Blogland , almost finished block four , whew I am so slow at this but eventually I will get there.
We had some snow overnight but it has become very mild so is melting quickly but alas they are predicting a little weather system for Tuesday that may bring us 20-25cm. of the white stuff ,if we get that it will be the most we have gotten so far this year , we technically have not had a storm , snow yes but a real down to earth storm has not happened. I am sure Mother Nature is not going to let us off that easy so I think February will make up for the lack of snow so far. I am off now to hem some pants , not my kind of sewing but somethings just have to be done ;-) Hope your day is a great one and thanks for stopping by .
 hugs Sheila

mystery quilt and some mail

Oh I know some will be shaking their heads and wondering why I have decided to take part in Darlene's Mystery quilt when I have committed to finishing off some UFO's , well it is a mystery to me as well but sometimes when you see a project that you love you simply can't resist and this was the case here . I tried to resist I really did but I came across a really beautiful charm pack I have had for a while which was a gift from my friend Linda and I knew it would be perfect for this project, besides the project is so pretty I knew I would have to give in , looking forward now to the next installment and if you are interested in checking this out be sure to stop by to visit Darlene , her blog is well worth a visit and you can find the instructions for this first block .

This charm pack is called Sandhill Plums by Kansas Trouble Quilters for Moda , gorgeous fabrics and colors I love . I had planned on taking part in a workshop with our guild to make a jacket and changed my mind so have a tote with fabrics that I had purchased for that project that I think will work perfectly with these charms.
 Thinking about my UFO's I have made progress maybe not as much as I had hoped but some is better than none I suppose . My SAHRR is now at the quilters , whew that is such a wonderful feeling and I am anxious to get it back and get that binding sewn on .
I also wanted to share a  package I received a few days ago from Betsy of Quilting Fiesta , I was the lucky winner of some Aurifil Thread on her giveaway , lucky me as I love this thread.

It is a variety pack and even has some wool thread in there , should be lots of fun to try these out , thanks so much Betsy !
 We had a fresh snowfall last night which caused our guild meeting to be cancelled , so it was really pretty when we got up this morning and look at our feeder , they were sure busy .

Not much room but it is funny to watch them cram in there and push one another off to get a bite to eat. The deck was full as well , a real flurry of feathers to enjoy :-)
That's it for now folks , hope you are enjoying a nice day where ever you are , take care and make your day special.
 hugs Sheila

In Your Words

We all love words and certain words mean more to us than others , certainly Family and Love being at the top of the list , however when I decided to join our wonderful  leaders Madame Samm and Linda our cheerleaders extraordinaire ,I had different thoughts running through this little head of mine . I have been having some issues with my shoulders and  at one time thought I would have to step out of this hop but if I make a commitment I try my darnedest to follow through . This little vision kept floating through my head so I took paper and pencil in hand and sketched out this very simple scene with the plans to add my words around it. You see one of my favorite things to do is landscape projects , I find great satisfaction in sifting through my containers looking for that perfect fabric for the various parts of my scene so without further adieu here is what I have created .

This little scene is simple yet tells a little about me, I love nature and most often I find Inspiration from being surrounded by nature , once inspired I Dream a little and Imagine what I can Create . In creating this little landscape scene I simply drew some gentle curves and a tree and found fabrics in my stash which I felt would depict a landscape and after the landscape was finished I added the borders and embroidered the words Inspiration, Dream , Imagine and Create .
I also want to share a pillow I created a few years ago and gifted to my dear friend Dianne who had lost her son Harley in an accident . I had just purchased the magazine a short time before this horrible event and knew that I must make this for her .

The Prayer of Serenity , a beautiful prayer and one I hope that has given her some comfort .
Thank you so much for taking the time to visit and be sure to hop on over to the others who are sharing their words today .Here is today's list , to visit all that are participating just click on Linda's blog and it will take you to the entire list.
Happy hopping!

Tuesday, January 15

BQuiltin Studio  (Beverly K.)

Hill Valley Quilter (Britt-Inger)

Bumbleberry Stitches  (Theresa K.)

Buzzing and Bumbling  (Linda W.)

In Stitches and Seams  (Annette S.)

Englating  (Marica from Sweden)

Stitchin by the Lake  (Marlene B.)

Selina Quilts  (Selina)

Sheila's Quilt World (Sheila M.)that's me !

Words & Stitches (Beth S.)

                                               Sew Mollie Sue, Quilt Much? (Pamela A.

Some Days are Diamonds

Some days just can't get any better , my two granddaughters were here this afternoon and we had so much fun .Nila wanted to learn to sew and it just so happens that I was gifted this Singer Athena 2000 this week and it works like a charm so we tried it out.

As you can see Nila is concentrating on keeping the fabric straight while she tried out some decorative stitches. After we played with the machine for a while I thought of a little project we could do , so I got out some fabric and asked them to draw a picture on the fabric . I ironed on some freezer paper first to make it more stable and Elise wasn't long deciding on her topic .

Oh my this shows just how messy my sewing room is at the moment. Oh well we were creating ;-)
Nila is more of  a perfectionist and was trying to make this picture perfect in every way and I think she succeeded , both pictures are just precious, want to see , of course you do .

As you can see by the signature at the top this one is by Elise , a rainbow and she even put in a few raindrops but colored them over .

This is Nila's , now she used a stencil for the clouds but carefully placed one over the other to make different levels of clouds and the sun behind the clouds , rather creative I thought. My plan is to make these into pillow tops for them so they can place them on their beds , I love them and they were pleased as punch.  Even though both scenes contained clouds the sun was also shining and it made my day !!
 Thanks for stopping by and have your self a happy day .
 hugs Sheila

A surprise in my mailbox and some happenings

What a great surprise I had today , Bill came in with the mail and there was a package from California for me , I quickly ripped it open and inside were these delightful house blocks I had won from Beth of Love Laugh and Quilt . Several quilters had sent her house blocks along with orphan blocks and if you sent along a house block your name was thrown in the hat to be chosen as one of three winners . The orphan blocks that were sent along will be made into charity quilts which she donates to various charities . Thanks so much Beth .

Aren't they wonderful , so folksy , I love them !!!
 On the home front I have been working on my In My Words project and finished  up last night , here is a sneak peak .

If you have a few moments be sure to hop on over to today's participating blogs listed below you are sure to be inspired !
                                        

Friday, January 11

Jane's Fabrics (Jane R.)

Jane's Quilting (Jane C.)

Nuts 4 Redwork (Heide W.)

Cherry Blossoms Quilting Studio (Cherry G.)

Bits and Pieces (Martha R.) absent

Life in Every Breath (Jennifer B.)

Quilting Lines (Patricia L.)

Travel Thru Greece (Mara)

Meadowbrook  (Kristen K.)

Count It All Joy!  (Denise P.)

Sophie Junction (Sophie W.)

 You will have to wait until Tuesday to see my reveal ;-) 

As I have mentioned on other occasions I exchange nine patch blocks with my Tuesday quilting buddies once a month or so  and I didn't want to wait until the last minute so got my strips cut a few days ago and sewed them up today . This picture is not really that great , poor coloring but you will get the idea.

I need ten of these and actually made 15 , since they were cut I figured best to sew them up  ;-)
Also a little update on my UFO projects , not much sewing done on any of them , ok none to be exact but I have been working behind the scenes to prepare them for sewing , does that count .Here is my penny rug with my pieces on but not sewn , this cute project was a free BOM by Melody of the House on the side of the Hill  and is so much fun to do .

I know this is not quite how Melody expected us to make this project but it works for me and I really want to finish this in January if possible . Time to get stitching ......
 Thanks for stopping by today and hope you have a wonderful day without too much heat or too much cold ,like the baby bear we want it just right .
 hugs Sheila

 

Tuesdays Treasures

It is time to share our treasures with our hostess Melody of The house on the Side of the Hill ,it is such fun sharing our treasures .My treasure today is Winter , yes this may come as a surprise to some as our winters can be cold and snowy but there is so much beauty in winter and since we can't escape the fact that winter means snow why not embrace it and see the beauty it holds .

 Do you see how the trees cast a shadow in the snow , so pretty and if you were to look closely you would see deer tracks heading to the apple trees , they sure have been visiting often these days and I am thrilled each and every time we see them. Also just look at the skies  they are so different in winter .Here is another view from another direction,ok blogger is not allowing me to load a picture so I will try in a moment .In the mean time let me tell you why I love winter , maybe because it brings back so many lovely memories of my childhood. There were many days we would be building forts in our backyard and having snowball fights or making snow angels , that was always fun. Then on other occasions my friends and I would walk through the woods to our special little pond which we lovingly called the "Frog Pond "and we would spend hours gliding through the various paths between trees skating our day away .It was about a km walk through the woods along a path we created over the years and we would carry our skates on our shoulders and when we arrived would sit on a snowbank and put on our skates sometimes your feet would be so cold you wondered how you would skate but they soon thawed out with the physical activity and we loved every second we spent there ,I often wonder if it is still there . My Dad had harness racing horses when we were very young and in winter he would take us ,along with our friends in the neighborhood for a sleigh ride , we would bundle under some blankets to keep warm and would be singing and laughing  as Samba pulled us along through the back roads , I wish I could repeat that today . You know I mentioned the other day to Bill how much I love the look of a horse in winter , their very heavy coat just is wonderful to me and I want to go run my fingers through it :-)

A view from the other side of our house , I love those clouds , it is going to be a nice day , the sun is shining and the fields are sparkling like diamonds. And just look at our bird feeders this morning , it was really cold early today so I am sure they were happy to find some food set out for them.

The nyger feeder had no room left , I don't think I have ever seen so many at one time, the gold finch and common  redpoll visit that feeder and in the larger feeder there are Evening Grosbeak ,I am so happy to have them this year ,they eat a lot but they are a delight to see . Bill put a couple of fir trees on the deck so the birds have a place to land and they seem to love that. Last evening I was visiting Fiona's blog and seen the lovely birds that visit her garden and feeders which   are so exotic and beautiful , our little visitors are much less exotic but still a delight to see and it is mostly in winter we have this privilege as in the warmer months they can fend for themselves.

  Then there are the gorgeous sunsets you get in winter , incredible skies !! So thanks for visiting and I know many are suffering from the heat so maybe these photos of the cold snow will cool you off for a short while .It was -25C yesterday with the windchill but today it is going to be a balmy +6 so a delightful winters day .
hugs Sheila

Friday night sew in with friends

                                                        
                                                             
This was the first Friday in January which means FNWF,hosted by Cheryll   ,it is always fun to know you are stitching with friends ,now most of these friends are on the other side of this great earth which means it was really Thursday night for me but hey I get a bonus night as I also stitched last night . So what did I accomplish ,well I successfully finished a UFO , that's right , not a big one but a recent UFO .

This little stitchery is by Lenna of Little Green Cottage ,so simple and cute ,I had completed the stitching before Christmas but did not have time to get it finished off so I felt it would be best to get that done before I store it away until next Christmas . I searched in my Christmas fabrics for something to use for borders and this plaid just jumped right out and said pick me so I did . I am pleased to call this my first finish for 2013 and a successful FNWF. Last night I worked on my little stitchery block #4 for Winter in Blogland

Not a lot accomplished there but it is a start and I also want to share my new storage system for my threads .

Bill went out and bought me these plastic stackable containers as I said I needed to have them separated into colors. Let me tell you it took an entire afternoon to do this sorting but it is wonderful and has saved me countless time when looking for different colors, plus it is very portable with a handle on top.
 I also traced and cut some of the pieces for the wool penny rug I am doing with Melody , trying to catch up on blocks I am behind on . So that is my two evenings of work and thanks to Cheryll for being such a wonderful hostess and keeping us stitching together .
 Thanks for stopping by and enjoy your day .
 hugs Sheila

Giving is more Blessed than Recieving .

                                                   

 In  early Dec. I was informed of being one of the seven winners in the Clothworks Great Quilt Giveaway, winning these quilts was one of the best experiences of my life , it truly is more blessed to give than receive. There were fourteen quilts to be given by Clothworks and the winners were to give these lovely quilts to a charity of their choice.The first quilt went to Roots for Youth an organization that provides a safe and caring environment for teenagers  . I am so impressed with the staff of this organization and the work they have done and continue to do to help these young people. This quilt I am about to share will be auctioned off  in their annual Heart and Home Fundraiser and the money will be used for the operation of this home.

Scott  Smith is the Executive Director of Roots for Youth and they were extremely pleased to be the recipient of the generosity of Clothworks and I hope the auction is a success. When I learned that I had won two quilts I was overwhelmed , however it was not difficult to make the second choice for the owner of this gorgeous quilt.

This lady Geraldine Walker lost her home in a fire in early Dec. ,she is disabled and her sisters grandson rescued her from the burning home without injury by helping her through a bedroom window . Very quick thinking on his part as the home was quickly filling with smoke and they were having difficulty breathing. She lost all of her possessions in the fire and the story in the News touched my heart and I immediately decided she would be the recipient of the second quilt .This morning I had the pleasure of delivering the quilt to Geraldine and as you can see she is all smiles ,I hope it will give her warmth and bring some joy into her life for years to come. Thank you to Clothworks for giving me the opportunity to give to my community , you have filled my heart with joy!!
 Thanks for stopping by and enjoy your day.
 hugs Sheila

It is a New Year so.....

Since it is a New Year and most people make resolutions I am by the way not one of them , I know myself well enough by now that it wouldn't take long before I broke them ,BUT I am going to try something this year, I have decided to join Carrie in her UFO challenge . Oh the other day when she posted this challenge I said to myself and then had the nerve to post it on her blog that I did not have enough UFO's to join in , what a joke that is so I have decided to sign up and see what I can do to finish off some of the many projects I have started in the past I won't say when as that varies. The challenge is to post three things you plan on finishing or in my case making progress on as I can't see me finishing these quite that quickly but I will give it a shot.

First off is this wool penny rug a free BOM by lovely Melody of The house on the side of the Hill , I am behind in this one so want to catch up , this one is very doable I think and I love working with the wool so no problem there .

This is my SAHRR that I signed up with Sunny and was doing so well , keeping up then I came to a standstill and couldn't seem to decide what to do ,I had appliqued some acorns on which I hated so that slowed progress deciding whether to just leave it or take them off , in the end off them came and this morning I decided on the lighter brown leaves and I like it so they will be appliqued on and then I will sandwich this one and get it quilted ,it will not get any bigger and I am happy with that decision so lets see how much I can accomplish on this in January.

This poor thing has been sadly neglected and the worst part is I have one block to make , yes just one that will be sliced into two parts , the second one is already made and then this will be ready for quilting . Why did I leave this one when I love it , anything fall I love and had wonderful plans of having this ready for the fall season but that came and went and now we are into winter so time to finish it for next fall.
Thanks Carrie for giving me the push I needed and also the chance to see that I did indeed have quite a few UFO's that need to be dealt with . Now those who have followed me for a while will know that I will also be starting new things and most likely making them into UFO's but that is life and what makes me tick ;-)
Thanks for stopping by and wish me luck , looks like I can use it !
hugs Sheila 

Its official

It is official that I "THINK " I am super woman , yes I sign up for BOM'S , I sign up for blog hops and I even sign up for postcard exchanges all with this little saying come from my lips" Oh I can do that" .Well it seems that I am lacking what so many others are these days ,time with a capital   T , yes there is simply not enough to go around for all that I want to accomplish and do you know I even told Carrie that I did not have enough UFO'S to sign up for her new challenge , again what was I thinking , of course I have UFO'S more than I guess I want to count so I will be signing up for that one as I do need to get a few off my list . To name a few "Henrietta Whiskers " it has been in my hoop for a while now with a few stitches holding it together so I need to finish that off , then there is the SAHRR that I signed up with Sunny , hmmm ,that one was on the design wall for months with no progress so I took it down , better get it back up there . Oh and we can't forget the houses I did with Terry , yikes they are in a box not even sewn together and neither are the cottages from Shabby fabrics but I did keep up with those so that is a plus I think. Should I go on or have I made you as tired as I am . Oh there is more I just signed up for a postcard exchange , candles , think I better light one and say a prayer or two . Let's just say that 2013 is already forecast to be a busy time but lots of fun too so I am looking forward to catching up on a few projects and finishing a few too , how about you , please tell me I am not alone here .
 Now after I got all that off my chest let me show you what I am working on ,oh my I am about to reveal yet another project that will soon be a UFO .

I have completed three of the four main blocks in the little free project from Ellie's Quilt Place , I have block four traced out and will work on that this evening . I have enjoyed this very much but am a tad concerned about trying to figure out how to put it together  , you see even though we use metric here in Canada I have along with all of my friends always used inches not cm. when quilting .weird I know but it is what we became accustomed to and I guess most patterns originate from the US.
 I also did finish off two little ornaments that did not make it to the tree but will be ready for Christmas next year. 


The angel has been unfinished for years , now that is truely sad isn't it , I mean how much work could it have been ;-)
I also did this little stitchery which was a free pattern from Lenna of Little Green Cottage .

 I think it is so cute and in a simple way so now I will have to add border and finish it , that makes this a UFO too doesn't it.Today I did this block which is part of a BOM I am doing with the guild.

 Those log cabins are just three inches , pretty tiny pieces and for the first time in my life I was wishing this was PP , but it turned out just fine without the paper so I am happy. That's it for me folks I know I have kept you all long enough , time is a wasting .  I am linking up to the Needle and Thread Network for WIP wednesday . Thanks for the visit and maybe I will have a finish the next time you stop by . Hugs Sheila

Happy New Year !

                                                 
                                    
Happy New Year everyone , I sincerely hope the year 2013 is your best year ever , lots of happiness , great health and creativity . Thank you for following along with my blogging experience I enjoy your comments and hope you will visit lots this year. All the best and thanks for stopping by.
 hugs Sheila