WIP Wednesday

It is a wet and wild Wednesday , drizzling rain and very windy NOT my kind of day . However I do have a few WIP to report on this week , first off I already posted about the Tisket a Tasket quilt being finished , yeah! Then anyone who has been following me for a while would remember all the crazy patch blocks I made over the last year plus , well yesterday I decided it was time to start sewing a few of those together . I had a total of 30  of what I would call lighter shades so that is where I started my sewing and this is what it looked like last night.

As you can see I still had two rows to sew on but this morning I did get those on ,now I do have a dilemma here as I have 20 darker shade blocks and I am trying to decide whether to add them all around the outside or make a separate quilt , I would need to make at least another 10 ,no it would work out to be more than that but that is not a problem I quite enjoy making these blocks but would love your opinion on what to do , I could also just add a border to this existing quilt what do you think ? Here is a picture of the blocks surrounding this inner section.

What would you do ?

I am also working on my Row by Row Christmas quilt , making slow progress but this is how it  looks right now , I have finished all of the mittens, the cute little penguins and started on the reindeer and oh the santas are also finished , I am quilting this with embroidery floss , no frame just over my lap , a little challenging really but I just cant use a hoop ,never know where to put my hands and I do not own a quilt frame , so far this is working out well.

 I have another challenge I can not quite figure out , what is it you say , maybe you can help , oh that would be wonderful. I am taking part in the Stay at Home Round Robin and have the first two parts complete and the next part is to add a log cabin border to the block I have made that is on point. The block is 23 inches at the moment, I actually was mulling this around in my head all night and think I have an idea but not so sure it will work so if anyone has any suggestions I would really appreciate it. Here is my block so far I have shown this before .

If you will notice the new little icon on the right side bar for a BOM with the cute little pumpkin, well I have also started that and here is my progress so far , I am really wondering what happens to this pumpkin as it is not attached to anything ,  

Blogger is being a little weird today so I am having some issues with photos , oh well I am not complaining .

 I am linking up today to The Needle and Thread Network  and Lee's Freshly Pieced , do check it out there are some amazingly creative people linking up there . 

 Thanks for stopping by and have yourself a wonderful day . hugs Sheila

Tuesdays Treasures

When I seen Melody's post for Tuesdays Treasures and her rooster I immediately thought I would share my rooster as well for this weeks Treasure.  I just love how colourful he is , I bought this at a yard sale a few years back , we had bought one similar to this for my MIL and I always loved it so when I seen this one for just  few dollars I couldn't resist.  There are a few more treasures on this windowsill, the three shortbread pans that the boys bought for me one Christmas , they knew how much I loved to make shortbread and these molds make the cutest cookies .To see more treasures be sure to visit with Melody at The House on the Side of the Hill .
Have yourself a wonderful Tuesday and thanks so much for stopping by.
 hugs Sheila

Weekend photos

Weather wise we had a decent weekend , some sun , lots of cloud cover but when taking photos I actually prefer clouds I think it adds so much more interest and we did have some unusual cloud formations on the weekend. So are you ready for a little adventure of what I saw this weekend ? As I have said a few times now I love the fall and the colors , the leaves are gradually leaving the trees but I did find some lovely foliage to share in the Lochaber area along the lake , just gorgeous , I love the lake and we love to have picnics in this area in the summer months. Sharon I think you will recognize where this photo was taken. as well as a few more .

It was actually quite warm when you were in the sun and out of the wind but a jacket was a nice addition to keep the chill off. 

I love this shot, you can just see a little color across the lake and the shimmer of the water is very inviting. 

This is in a provincial park and as you can see there are still a few leaves with gorgeous colour hanging on ,don't you just love those rust colours ,my favorite :-) 

The same park , it is closed now for the season but we parked the car on the road and walked in , it was worth it .

This is a picture of the lake where our town gets its water supply. Now I just have to tell you a little story about this lake , I think it is kind of a cute story. When our boys were small , lets see 3,5 and 6 we were out driving one day in the summer and as we came across this lake Bill explained to them that this was where the town got there water .Our youngest son was one to always be asking questions , had to know how everything worked and why etc. , well he said "Dad you mean all the water for all the people comes from this lake?" Yes Bill replied all the water for everyone . Wow says Chad , "Can you take us over to the hot side?" He was just over 3 years old at the time and today he is an engineer ;-0  It isn't easy to get a decent picture of it as the area is becoming grown up but it is a gorgeous lake.You could see and hear the geese on the lake,not so sure I like that idea but it is treated .

I just had to take this picture of an abandoned old truck among the hay , kind of neat huh.

On the quilting front I have completed the hand quilting on A Tisket a Tasket so this is my report for Quiltober for today . I have also made some progress on the Row by Row Christmas quilt and not so sure I can complete that in October but I am definitely going to try . It feels good to have this little quilt completed I really enjoyed making this sweet little quilt which was a free BOM from Bunny Hill Designs  a couple of years ago .

Well the sun is shining so I think I will get cracking and get some laundry on the line , it won't be long now before we can't hang them out so I want to take advantage for as long as I can . Enjoy this gorgeous day and thanks for stopping by.

 hugs Sheila

Quilting Gallery

I have entered the weekly contest on Quilting Gallery , this week the theme is paper pieced quilts so this quilt is a BOM paper pieced quilt I did in 2005 ,yikes it doesn't seem that long ago but the label wouldn't lie. This was a ton of work and kind of turned me off of PP , it is not my favorite thing to do so I stay clear of it if possible , sorry for all those pp fans out there .The photo I am showing you is slightly different than the that the photo I entered as it is a photo that was taken at a church quilt show a few years ago and doesn't quite show all of it but I like this picture better and probably should have used it but couldn't find it among my thousands of pictures . So anyway I would really appreciate you considering voting for me if you like my quilt and thanks in advance To vote for your favorite quilt visit the Quilting Gallery ,voting starts tomorrow Friday until Sunday night. hugs Sheila

A wet Thursday

It is raining heavily today and they are telling us we could get as much as 60 mm the last I heard ,anyone know where I can find an ark ? Since it is so darn wet outside I have no choice but to sew , I mean wouldn't you . So what am I sewing today , nothing too exciting really , my grandson Isaac will be 5 later this month and is really into Cars , the movies and everything related to it , he can rhyme off all the names of those vehicles and has been doing so for a couple of years ,some I can't even pronounce but he recogizes them all .In my visits we have played cars many times and of course he always wins the race ;-0 So I have some cars fabric left over from another project I made for him a while back and just enough to use for the cuff of a pillowcase so that is my project for this morning , I don't expect that to take all that long so what's up after that I am not too sure at the moment. Oh I have plenty to keep me occupied that is no problem but for now this is a priority as I have to mail it off to Saskatchewan, I'd rather be going there to deliver it but since that is not possible right now it will go in the mail .
 Before I go I must mention the new icon I have placed on my sidebar , it is a really cute free BOM  over at Rana's life , just click on the pumpkin and it will take you straight there , you will enjoy this if you love fall themed projects which I certainly do.
 Thanks for stopping by and if it is sunny where you are enjoy it , I'm enjoying the rain  ;-0 hugs Sheila

WIP Wednesday

I don't know about you but the weeks just seem to fly by , it seems like it was just Wed. and here it is again. So what was my progress this week .
First I did get a lot done on the Tisket a Tasket quilt , just a little more to go and that will be a finish ,yeah. No work on the Row by Row , can only hand quilt one at a time ;-()
Our quilt guild is going to be swapping postcards with a guild in Saskatchewan soon so I made up a few postcards to show them tonight at our meeting . For some this will be there first time making a postcard .

Our theme will be our favorite quilt block using Christmas fabrics so I made this Friendship star and a crazy patch card as well and I already showed you the log cabin block , if I had time I would do a few more to show but it has been a busy week.
 I wanted a little break from the quilting so made this wool needlecase ,all hand done and so nice to work with , the wool for the main body of this needlecase was a scarf that I bought at a thrift store and shrunk and oh how lovely it is , so soft and easy to work with and I love this little needlecase .

and the inside  ,pretty simple design , this was in a Fons and Porter magazine a few years back .

I still need to get cracking on my Stay at home Round Robin, have a plan just need to put it to action ;-) Oh I sewed the binding on the little Halloween cat so that is a finish . Also since I was playing around with crazy patch quilting I made  a Christmas ornament in the shape of a heart and had fun with some stitches on my machine to embellish it . The shape could have been a bit better but it is what it is ;-0

That is about all my progress for this week , I hope next week to tell you the Tisket a Tasket is finished and the Row by Row is also in progress , wish me luck. 

I will share two more pictures of works in progress , one is mine the other is a friends quilt . Ready?

Here is my Louisa quilt in progress , the way it looked yesterday when we were putting it away for the week. It has shrunk and is looking just wonderful .Then yesterday afternoon the gals put my friend Diane R. quilt on the frame , wow that is one large quilt and took a while to figure out how they would manage to get it on but they are really good at that so I left them to it and continued to work on Louisa . Diane's quilt is gorgeous , just gorgeous , love the blues and the fabrics and batting feel just beautiful so I know this will be a pleasure to work on. Ok I know you want to see it and I know you will be impressed . It isn't quite finished and will need some strips to hold it in place and keep it taunt.There is a fair amount rolled under here to make the boards fit.

To finish off I want to share another photo of fall in my neck of the woods just because I  love it so much .

Don't you just wonder what is around the bend ? I am linking up today with the Needle and Thread Network  so be sure to check out who else has linked up and see some wonderful creative work . Enjoy your day and thanks for stopping by . hugs Sheila

The postman arrived :-)

It is a rainy miserable day here but my day was brighten somewhat by a visit from the postman , a while back I had a couple of wins , I entered my name and my two granddaughters Nila and Elise on the Green Bag Lady and guess what both Nila and Elise won a small Halloween bag , so cute I know they will love them. I already told them about their win but have yet to tell them they have arrived .

 The Green Bag Lady is trying to help reduce the number of plastic bags used and has given away thousands of bags , each one is numbered and the numbers on these bags are 17670 and 17672  ,I congratulate Teresa for her efforts and thank her for these very cute bags .
 Then a day or so later I won this cute little bag from Leka of Leka Quilts  , it is so cute and so well made . She also included a fat quarter of a cute kittie print and some chocolate , yummy , it is already in my tummy ;-0 Thanks so much Leka , I just love it!

How is your Monday going ? I hope it has been a great one . Thanks for stopping by.
 Hugs Sheila

Quiltober

It felt so good to finish off the Mystery quilt that I decided it was a great idea to join Marina in Quiltober  ,my aim is to finish quilting these two quilts , the first is the Tisket a Tasket  which was a free BOM with Bunny Hill designs a couple of years ago , now I have the binding already sewn on and some quilting done but there is still some that needs doing so that is first on my list .

I hate to admit it but that binding has been on there since May as I wanted to have it in the quilt show and I really didn't think they would notice too much that some of the quilting was not done so now you can understand why this is on the priority list ,what a slacker I am. Then there is the Row By Row Christmas quilt a free BOM on Fat Cat Patterns last year .I have had the top completed and did start some primitive style quilting with embroidery floss probably in April and none since , it is hard to sit with a quilt over you in summer , or that is my excuse and I'm sticking to it . 

You can see my needle and thread still in there waiting for me to tackle this job again and I really want this before Christmas so lets see if I can do it . Give me a push won't you . 

I also want to share a postcard I received a couple of days ago but forgot to share , I was taking part in an exchange and the theme was leaves and I received this really unique and creative card from Jaynie in Sask.  ,it is the card on the right ,not that it would take a genious to figure that out ;-0

Jaynie describes her card as an Andy Warhol style ,thanks so much Jaynie! Now for the card on the left , I was teaching my friend Diane to make postcards on Wednesday and we both made the same style of card , the log cabin block with Christmas fabrics. Now if you knew Diane and myself neither of us like paper piecing but  infact you might say we REALLY do not like it but this is how this card was done ,did we have fun doing it , sure :-0 Too bad I didn't have my camera with me or I could have shown you Diane's as well , it was lovely you can take my word on that.
 Oh hang on I do have a rather unique picture to share , ready  okay I have to go get it first.

I know this is not a great photo as we don't own a telephoto lens which is what you really need to get a picture like this, but can you spot the albino deer in the upper right hand corner , if you click on the picture you may see it a little better , there are two deer there but the albino is the larger of the two and we think it is a buck . They came out of the trees just as I was about to have lunch and I told Bill and off he went with camera in hand across the field and got as close as possible without disturbing them , what a lovely sight to behold, the albino has a brown head , just handsome. I know it made my day to see this oddity in nature .

I'll leave you with a quote I read today ,not sure where but it is a great one .

"Art is the only way to run away without leaving home"- Twyla Tharp 

How true is that statement !!

 Enjoy your day creating and thanks for stopping by .

 hugs Sheila

Did you hear it ?

Oh you must have heard it ,heard what you say , well the screams of delight when I put the last stitch in this quilt , I can't believe you didn't hear it I was so overwhelmed with joy ! This has been a long time coming , a very long time , this quilt was a ton of work so it is with much relief to say it is finished but alas I still do need to add that label , you know how the quilt police get a little angry when you don't add a label and I really don't want trouble so that is on my list of things to do . So what quilt am I talking about , why the Mystery Quilt that I took part in and the biggest mystery of all is why I did it , just kidding , it was a lot of work but it was worth it , really , no kidding .Ok enough blabbering ,I'll show you the quilt , I know you will recognize it because it has been shown in  various stages of completion for months ,yikes.

 I wouldn't win any awards for photo taking here but it was the best angle I could get to show the quilt so won't you raise your glasses and cheer with me .Thanks for stopping by and have yourself a wonderful day !!
 hugs Sheila

WIP Wednesday

It is Wednesday again , wow the weeks just fly by . I have lots of projects on the go but only a couple I can share right now ,this first one I should have finished by now as it is just waiting for binding which I do have ready but just have not had a chance to get it sewn on , it wont happen today either so Ill share it the way it is for now.

This cat is in the same Fons and Porter magazine as the pumpkin placemat , I think he has the most adorable grin , I just had to make him.
 As many of you know I quilt with some great gals on Tuesdays at the church and it just so happens that one of my quilts is now in the frame which makes me soooooooooo happy , it has been in the UFO pile for quite sometime.

The name of this quilt is Louisa and is a Moda pattern designed by Terry Clothier Thompson . My dear hubby bought the kit for this quilt a number of years ago and I finally got around to making it a little over a year ago now ,it is a busy looking quilt but I love the old fashioned look to the fabrics and it is really looking great now that some quilting has been done .
 What else do I have going , well the stay at home RR is in the works , my crazy quilt blocks need to be made into a quilt , I need to make some more postcards for a swap and I could go on and on but I dont want to depress you or me ;-0
 It is a gorgeous sunny day here today , wish I was doing laundry and hanging it out but my washer decided to quit on me so we need to call a repair man .
I am linking up today with the Needle and Thread Network so be sure to check out who else has linked up , lots of interesting things to see . As always thanks for stopping by and have yourself a wonderful day.
 hugs Sheila

A couple of postcards to share

I think I am becoming addicted to making postcards because I seem to be thinking up new uses for them. As you may know  I am going to a baby shower tonight and delivering the baby quilt I showed you last week so I needed a card and thought why not make a postcard in place of using a card I would buy at the store so that is exactly what I did , want to see it , ok you twisted my arm ;-)

 It is simple enough , just her name with a little lace and a button and some stitches from my machine but I think it is kind of cute.
 I am in a postcard exchange and the theme is your favorite pumpkin recipe so I thought about that for a while and came up with this plan and I am just so pleased with how this turned out ,who said a postcard has to be a rectangle right.Cute don't you think. Now I need to make three more of these as I want to keep one for me too.

 I know I didn't share this card that I made last month sometime so will show you that even the selvages from your fabrics make great postcards .Colorful and a nice scrappy look.

Am I having fun , yeah I sure am , I just love making postcards . Thanks for stopping by and hope your day is going well. hugs Sheila

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to all Canadians and to everyone else too as we all have much to be thankful for. It is  a gorgeous sunny day with almost summer like temperatures , wonderful and I am very grateful!!
 Yesterday we took a drive out to the ocean and the pictures I am about to share are not exactly the ocean but  the inner harbour and swamp lands as I love how they look this time of year . The swamp grasses turn a lovely golden color just gorgeous.

Ok this is not the best picture as it doesn't show the golden color as well as in person.

 A little better color in this one , I need to learn the settings on the camera to make the most of shots like this.

 A lovely pond a beaver is making home , can you spot his den in the far right hand corner ? You can see the leaves have changed a bit more but still lots of green .

 This is Cape John and it reminds me of the shores of PEI somewhat as the banks are a red color but not quite as red as in the island .

 This is the only sewing I did this weekend , I just had to make this little placemat after seeing one made by my friend Diane, I went straight out and bought the Fons and Porter magazine as there are a couple of other projects in there that have my name written all over them :-0 This was real fun to make and I do have another project well on its way but will show it when it is complete . So in a nut shell that was my weekend , how was yours? I hope it was great . Thanks for stopping by and have a great day.
Hugs Sheila

Small request

I have entered this quilt in the Quilt Gallery fall theme for this week and would really appreciate it if you like this quilt enough to vote for me, to do so go here ,http://quiltinggallery.com/2011/10/07/fall-splendour-quilts/ .I look at the quilts entered each week and decided this time I would try entering as well since I love this wall hanging. Thanks a lot if you do vote for me .
hugs Sheila

Some progress and some postcards to share

Since the weather has not improved much I have been sewing , what else is a gal going to do on a rainy windy day right ;-) As I said yesterday I am taking part in the Stay at Home RR with Sunny of Quilting Dreams and really if you want to participate it wouldn't be all that hard to catch up at this point , so.... anyway I am a tad behind as I just finished Septembers addition but hey it is only by a few days so that makes me happy. Here is what it now looks like .

I have added the 3" triangle border then before I start this months border I wanted a little break so added this 1.5" border and turned it on point which is also part of the next step . I am pleased ,I am really going to try to do this from my present stash so that might be a little challenging as we go along but for now that is the plan.

 I also recently received some postcards in the mail ,the first one I received as part of a yahoo exchange from Monika of My Sweet Prairie and the leaves are from her Shamrock plant ,  it is so sweet , I love it ,thanks Monika ! The one on the right is made by Janet of   ,Caribou Crossings Chronicles Janet was my partner in the postcard exchange I had arranged .Janet chose to add maple leaves , how appropriate for this time of year as there are lots floating around our yard now with these strong winds   ,thanks so much Janet I love it!
I really enjoy making the postcards and I hope everyone in the  exchange enjoyed it too, has everyone now received their cards ?
 The postman has been busy this week as I also got another package in the mail from Annette , I helped Annette with a couple of blogger issues and to thank me she sent this wonderful pattern that she has designed . I love crazy patch so this is a perfect fit for me and I want to make this in Christmas prints . Thanks so much Annette . If you are not familiar with Annette's blog  , In Stitches and Seams I suggest you head on over for a visit , she does lovely work and has a tip or two to share as well.

 I finished up the baby quilt yesterday , how did I make out with the FMQ ,you ask , well it is not great but it is acceptable and I have made a commitment to practise more so the next time I am doing FMQ an actual quilt I just might do a better job. Now to get the label made and sewn on as the baby shower is Tuesday .
 Hope you are enjoying your day , send some sun if you have any to spare , I will soon need web feet lol1
Thanks for stopping by , hugs
Sheila

WIP Wednesday

Have you ever seen sideways rain ? Well that is what we are experiencing right now , we have a small lake forming at the end of our driveway ,lot of flooding around but we are fine as we live on a hill. Not only is it raining but the winds are extremely high and we did loose power for a while this morning and I am probably taking a chance being on the computer so will try to do this quickly.
 Today is WIP Wednesday and I am linking up with the Needle and Thread Network ,a new blog for Canadian bloggers to share their work so why not check it out.
 So what have I been up to this week , well I have almost finished the baby quilt and if you look at this picture you might think it is done since I have the binding sewn on , I know sometimes I do things backwards, however most of the quilting was done and I wasn't quite sure what else I could add to the bear blocks so went ahead and put the binding on .

 My plan is to try free motion stars , hope I can do that successfully. I have several other things on the go and one of them is these six inch blocks , I am not keeping up like I should but do get the odd one made here and there .

I also got the binding sewn on the Mystery quilt that I have shown at various stages , it is all machine quilted now , the binding is on but not sewn down on the back yet , that will be a job for a cool evening when I want a quilt over me ;-) It will be a good feeling to have this finished so perhaps I should push myself .

I don't have a picture to share but I am also working on my Stay at Home Round Robin that I am doing along with Sunny of Quilting Dreams ,hope to have a picture to share real soon on that. There are other projects as well such as the International Crazy Patch  Round Robin that a group of us are doing , Dianne Lynda,Jeanette, ,Martha and Janet (no blogs) . I received the blocks from Janet this week and will now start making a new block , hmm what to make ?
 Thanks for stopping by and hope you have a creative day.
hugs Sheila

What's in a name ?

I decided I would play along with Dawn  of As Sweet as  Cinnamon  and explain why my blog has the name it has , well it won't take a genius to figure it out after all my name is Sheila , now when I started my blog a year and a bit ago this was a whole new concept to me and I had been reading blogs for a little while and finally decided I would like to give it a try so when I got the google account I realized I needed a name and I just put the first thing that popped into my head .Since I am so into quilting these days "Quilt World" was the first thing that came to me, but about a year ago now I got an email from the magazine Quilt World threatening legal action if I did not change the name so I asked them if I added Sheila would that work and they were fine with that so that is where this name came from. I didn't want you all to have to visit me in prison after all ;-0
Why not play along with Dawn and explain where your blog name came from and link with Dawn and you could just win a prize , go ahead we would love to know why your blog has the name it has ,

Tuesdays Treasures

As you may realize by now I love trees and flowers so I just had to buy this flower press when I seen it at a yard sale in Switzerland ,it is made of wood and has such a sweet design on the front and I am sure I did not pay much for it so home it came with me in my suitcase .

 

I do have a few leaves inside but so far no flowers ,want to see what a pressed leaf looks like , ok .

They look like I just picked them don't they but these were placed in there some time ago. 

 One more leaf that I want to show you as it is a perfect shape , have no idea what type of leaf it is but it was so pretty I had to pick it and save it .

This was a pretty shade of deep red but it is more brownish now but I still love that shape . So this lovely flower press is my treasure for this week and to see more lovely treasures be sure to visit with Melody of The House on the side of the Hill.     

Thanks for stopping by and hope to see you soon. Hugs Sheila