WIP Wednesday

The quilt-along block is slowly coming together.
I'll have to find more of the green solid for the background as all I have is a fat quarter. Another excuse to go shopping!

On the computer front, we're hanging in there with the old one till the end of the week. It was crappy timing that the laptop is giving it's last gasp during Hell Week at Ryan's school, so we're fighting with the freezes and crashes to make it through.

Would love recommendations on which Mac to buy next time!

PCs suck

My poor laptop is home for one last night before it undergoes major surgery.

Now that I've filled my iPod with audiobooks to listen to during quilting time, it's ready to go back to the geeks and under the knife.

Hopefully I'll be back online in a week or two with a shiny new hard drive...the third in a year and a half.

I have a few choice words to share about the company that made my computer as well as the big box store that sold it to me. But let me just say, my next laptop will be a Mac, no question. The grass has GOT to be greener!

WIP Wednesday

Scrap buster quilt with the top almost done.

Busted

I caught her fat little highness red handed.

Since her food dish had been empty for a whole HOUR (at least!), Mango felt that drastic action was required. With a single swipe, she managed to dump most of my counted and sorted stacks of scraps on the floor.
Jerk.
She's lucky she's so cute.


On a techie note, the computer's going into the shop and I may not be around for a few days.
See you soon!

Proud Sis

I'm hoping my little sister has caught the quilting bug.
In no time, she whipped up these gorgeous postcards.

And she nearly finished a confetti quilt.

We took a few breaks away from the sewing machines to boil our maple sap.
And got a good pile of sweet stuff.

Can you see why I look forward to sugar season every year?
Hmm...now what to make with it?

Sugarin'

One of the perks of living through a Canadian winter is the relief of a Canadian spring. And the best part of spring in my corner of the world is the sugar season.

My sister Lauren and I tapped two of her trees today to see if we can get any late season sap.

We don't want too much, or it becomes a chore. Just a litre or two.
The sun was shining and the sap started to run right away.
Even Wyatt was excited.
Actually, he's always excited.
Let's hope the sun holds out the rest of the day and the trees give us a yummy treat!

Dresden Petals

It didn't take too long to cut the petals for my Quilt Along through Lily's Quilts. I love the colours together, but I'm wondering about the brown apple print on the right. I'm considering fussy cutting a replacement that has more of the brown so it stands out.
Also wondering about a background colour. Any thoughts?

WIP Wednesday

Took a few minutes today to start a quilt-as-you-go table runner. I had some Frolic jelly roll strips left over and I loved the sunny colours. Perfect for a dreary March day.

Tutorial - Simple Window Shades

For these easy-sew shades you only need a few things:

-Fabric to cover your window (plus a bit extra)
-Ribbon (the height of your window x 4)

You also need a tension bar and all the usual sewing tools. Fray Check is handy if you have it.

Start by measuring the inside of your window. Add 4 inches to the width and 3.5 inches to the height. (Or you can do 4 just to keep it simple.)
Cut your fabric to this dimension.
For example:
window width = 20in + 4 = 24 in
window height = 40 in + 3.5 = 43.5 in

Starting with a long edge and with the right side DOWN on the ironing board, turn up the edge 0.5 inch and press all along the length.


Do you like my fancy blue pressing cloth that looks remarkably like an old bath towel? Yup, we're classy around here.

Once you've pressed up a half inch, do it again so you have a nice double folded edge.

You don't have to use a ruler. There won't be a test later. Just eyeball if you're lazy like me. (I only pulled out the ruler for these pics :)

Some people would pin the edge down at this point. I didn't. Again, lazy.

Sew a seam along the inside edge of the fold.

Do the same thing to the other long side. Then do it again on both short sides (the width). Just be careful at the beginning and ending of the short sides because you're sewing through a lot of fabric. Go slow.

Now go back to the ironing board, with the shade right side DOWN again. Fold up one of the short sides (this will be the TOP of your shade) to 1.5 inches. You want to be accurate here so the shade will hang straight. Press well, pin if you want.

Sew a seam close to the edge. Go super slow at the beginning and end or you'll get a broken needle. Be sure to reverse stitch on both ends to secure the seam.

Give the whole shebang a good pressing.

Slide the tension rod into your rod pocket.
(That sounds dirty, but it's actually quite mundane, see?)

Hang the rod.
Cut your ribbon into two pieces, each the height of your window x 2.
Hang them over the tension rod and shade like so:

I used Fray Check on the ends of the ribbons to keep 'em looking good.

Tie your ribbons at the desired height, and primp the shade a bit to get it the way you like it. And voila!


Much better.
Only cost about $15 and a half-hour of work per window.

Shopping Spree

I took a break from painting etc. to check out Appleseed Quiltworks in Lindsay. Dangerous place.
I found these little frogs and toadstools from the Kate and Nate line by Sheri Berry. I very rarely buy fabric without a project in mind, but in this case I made an exception.


And I picked out the fabric for my Quilt Along with Lynne over at Lily's Quilts.


Ok, enough procrastinating.
Off to paint some baseboards.
Sigh.

Gonna get dirty

No, not in that way.
In the paint-splattery, sawdusty kinda way.

It's March Break, and since I can't fly to some fantastic tropical island, I figured a kitchen reno would be a good substitute.
At least I keep telling myself that.

These before pictures are kind of scary.

We moved in 4 years ago and have reno'ed every room in the house. Except this one. And now we're out of money.

(Gotta love the fishing calendar.)

The new floors, counters and cabinets I dream of are not in the cards. I'll have to make do with some paint, baseboards we've had lying around and some home made curtains.
And lots of de-cluttering / reorganizing. Lots.

How to get an almost-dream kitchen with no budget?
Yikes.
Wish me luck.