Toddlers and Tiaras

We have a new baby at our house.

Meet Grayson.

Isn't he cute? He is about three months old, and will be staying with us for awhile while he recovers from an infection in his ears, eyes and upper respiratory system. It has been some time since we have had a little boy like him in the house. We had forgotten about the "shark attacks" from under chairs and tables. Watch your feet!

Meanwhile, my grandcats were competing in the Fundy Fanciers Cat Show this weekend. The Lovely Purrfessor Minerva Mojito McGonagall got the gold medal for Best of Best Household Pet! Mini is trying not to let it go to her head. Her best buddy, Virgile looked very nice, too.
They got great swag.

I think the ribbons may be bigger than the cats.
Here is Mini celebrating her victory.

The Great Cleanup Begins

We are having a family celebration in May. It is just a small party to celebrate a couple of significant milestones, but family is coming from East and West to celebrate, and they will all be staying with us.

I seem to remember that there is a foldout couch in my sewing room, but it hasn't been seen in awhile, so I am trying to find it. Of course, other parts of the room need to be tidied as well, so I started on my cutting table.

A recent speaker at my quilt group suggested cutting your scraps into 2 1/2" strips, so they can be used for projects that call for jelly rolls, or to use as scrappy bindings. Today, I started to cut the scraps laying on my sewing table.

They have been ironed, cut, and placed neatly in a box. The box is from Home Depot and cost under $1. I bought a stack of them sometime ago, to corral my scraps.

These are the piles still in need of cutting, however it is possible to see the top of the table now.

I squared this scrap off to use for my next project. I think it is just the right size.

I didn't take pictures of the rest of the room. It is too embarrassing. However, when I find the couch, I promise to post a picture. Then I think I may move the couch to another room and replace it with a place to store fabric, officially!

My own Radiant Orchid bloomed on Sunday. I have had the plant for 3 years and this is only the second time it has bloomed. I think it was inspired by the Pantone 2014 Challenge.
There is still time to vote for your favourite. Click on the link, and scroll down to see all the truly awesome quilts. You vote by clicking on the heart in the corner of your favourite.
I am entered in the mini catagory (just in case you would like to vote for me (shameless plug)).

Since I am working hard at getting the sewing room tidy, I am linking up with WIP Wednesday at The Needle and Thread Network.

Me and You ...and You and Me

I finished my Mystery Knit Along Shawl. It ended up much bigger than I expected.  I chose to knit the large size without fully considering how big it was going to be.

Here it is , pinned to my foam tiles, drying after blocking it.

Each of the tiles is 24" square, and as you can see, I had to bring in reinforcements!

Here is a closer look, before it was blocked.

Now I just need to weave in the ends and it is ready for spring.

I wonder what I will do with the 84 gm of red yarn I have left over. I had to buy a second skein just before I finished it.

In case you missed it, my Radiant Orchid Tablerunner is finished, and can be seen here.

Spring Comes To Arts and Socks - Not!

The daffodils are lovely, but they are in a pot and behind them you can see the snow piled up in my backyard. It was -17C again yesterday, which broke a record for March 13, but not a good one!

So, I have been creating some springtime in my sewing room.  Karen Neary introduced a bright and cheery pattern on her blog, back in January. She called it (at my suggestion, grin) Polly's Posies.

Shortly after that, I discover the 2014 Pantone Quilt challenge: Radiant Orchid hosted by Adrianne of On a Windy Day and Anne of PlayCrafts.

It was obviously meant to be. So I dove into my stash, and found some orchidish fabrics, made a quick trip the the LQS for a background fabric, and set to work.  It is now finished, including the quilting and binding, and I am entering it into the challenge in the Mini Quilt Category.

Quilt Stats:

Name: Polly's Orchid Posies
Pattern: Polly's Posies, by Karen Neary
Size: 36" x 12" (92 cm X 31 cm)
Date Started: 4 Feb 2014
Date Completed: 14 Mar 2014
Paper Pieced and Quilted by : Me!

Karen has some lovely free motion quilting on hers, but I mostly quilt in straight lines.

It will now take up residence on the new dresser in the new guest room (formerly kid bedroom, but kid has his own place now).

Like the purple shade on the lamp?


I found this in my stash, and I think it may become a wall hanging for the same room.

It just needs a nice purple border, right?

I am linking up with the 2014 Pantone Quilting Challenge. 
You can vote for your favourites until Friday, I think. (maybe mine? :) )

Radiant Orchid Challenge

I love all things purple, so I was thrilled that Pantone's Colour of the Year was Radiant Orchid. I discovered there is a Radiant Orchid Challenge at On the Windy Side (the link is in the side bar), and I knew I had to enter.

The Challenge linky is next week, so this week, I need to get my Polly's Posies quilted and bound.

I don't know about you, but I hate to waste batting, so this morning, I was joining scraps together to make a piece big enough for the table runner. I lay one piece on top of the other, with a slight overlap, use my ruler and rotary cutter to make a straight line to join them, and then use my stitch-in-the-ditch/ edge joining foot, to sew them together.

I use the stitch on my machine that I was taught was the faggoting stitch. I hear there is a more PC name for it, now.

I marked my runner with some lines before I basted it to the batting. I am not good a free motion quilting ( I don't practice enough) so I have it marked in straight lines.

It is now basted and ready to go.

Isn't it wonderfully Purple!

I am linking up to Needlework Tuesday and WIP Wednesday.

Shawl Progress

My Me & You and you & me shawl is progressing nicely. I had a lot of long rows to knit this week before the next clue arrived and I was about 8 rows short of finishing yesterday morning, when the new clue was due. Luckily, Ravelry was late in sending the clues out, so I had the rows finished before I got my next clue.

The shawl is too big to fit in one picture:

I am loving the pendents that are appearing.

I am running out of red yarn, so I think I need to make a run to the LYS. I called to check and they have some more of that colour.

Meanwhile, Serenity has become more social and posed for a glamour shot for the blog.

I am sure she will find a forever home quickly.

Cupcakes

They look more like cupcakes and less like toast, now.

I used this pattern.

Kitty Update:
The foster cat's name is Serenity. It is amazing how long it took for us to figure that out.

When is a Quilt Not a Quilt?

My church quilt group received a donation of blocks along with the left over fabric. There were eleven blocks and just barely enough fabric to make one more block.

The twelfth block was made , then we went in search of some fabric for sashing and borders. We found something compatible in the church stash, and found some yardage at the quilt shop that looked like it would work.

The top was made and the quilting began. It was finished in June of last year. When one of the ministers saw it, she asked if it could hang in the church for the summer. So it hung on the wall, enjoyed by all.

This week, I brought it home, sewed a label on the back, and made it a matching pillow case.

This morning, it was in our church one last time.

The children hid under it during children's time. It was admired by all, then it was handed over to a group who are leaving this week to help build a Habitat for Humanity home in Virginia.

It is no longer merely a quilt to be admired. It is on its way to its true mission, to be a warm hug for the family who will live in the house, full of the prayers of the entire congregation.