Orphan Blocks & EQ6

I dug out some log cabin blocks that I had started months ago - I remember at the time that I wasn't at all sure that the pattern for which these were made was going to be the actual top that would result. I love the look of log cabins, but I've never actually made one yet.

I got a dozen blocks completed, then started to play on EQ6 and my design board. This is what I've come up with so far - I'm going to let it sit on the design board for a few days.

EQ6 is one of my favourite, almost must-have tools for quilting. I can take a pattern and change the colours and the size and immediately see the results. I can put blocks on the design board, transfer the idea to EQ and play some more. Quilt University (www.quiltuniversity.com) offers great courses for EQ6 - Fran Gonzales is the instructor and she gives a huge amount of detailed info and great support so you never feel lost. I took the Drawing class this past spring, and finally learned some tricks that take me beyond trying to draw everything with a nine patch grid, lol. In August (bad timing for me, but I am so looking forward to this new class) Fran is instructing a new program at Quilt University on EQ layouts - I'm sure I"ll love this one and get some fresh ideas and new techniques and shortcuts.


Week one almost done

Scott has been terrific about attending his summer school - I think he's enjoying it but won't admit it. He does make a point of saying it was boring, but later a few happier comments escape. Meanwhile Wendy is acting like the monster of the morning. She has to be up at 6:15 and out the door at 7:00 for her volunteer work at a summer camp - there is nothing I can do right according to her - any suggestions for her breakfast and lunch are snarled at; tears and whining that she can't find a hat or sunglasses that are right where they were left the night before. I sure hope this act doesn't carry over to next week. Meanwhile, I'm enjoying some nice days cleaning up some projects while I await for the quilting to begin when my sewing machine comes home.

Fun with Bleach? Who knew!

Yesterday I was thinking about white - solid white - quilting fabrics. I've found that there are "wimpy whites" and "heavy whites". I've been working on a sampler top - more about that another day - that is made up of blocks using a wimpy white. This is a quality name brand white - I've forgoten though who the manufacturer is - but I call it wimpy because even with starch or sizing it has little body, very soft and thin. Fine for machine sewing, but I wouldn't want to use it for hand applique. I wanted a white that was similar to some other solids I have - I do know that two of these are from Kona and Moda. These other solids are thicker, have a firmer hand, and are heavier.

I have a couple of yards of a Kona that is an ivory or bone. Part of my job requirement for the illness I have is one or two short naps a day - lying down on the couch, my mind started wandering and wondering about fabric descriptions "bleached white" and "white pfd" (pfd, prepared for dying). Bleach!!

Being one of those few summer days we get without the icky high humidity, I jumped up and filled up a bucket of hot water and bleach, plunged in the Kona cotton, and hoped for the best. I love the smell of bleach on clean sheets -but this was a little overwhelming. Fifteen minutes, half an hour, one hour later and it still wasn't white. Why when I do laundry or cleaning with bleach it takes seconds to get a bleached spot on my shirt, but my ivory won't turn white?

Well, I was having fun - believe it or not - and I decided to pull out of my stash three yards of a solid cotton dark burgundy/rust colour. I had no idea why I had this, I didn't like the colour particularly, and I know it had been around for a few years. So that went into a fresh bucket of bleach - my goodness! - very quickly, even before I got a chance to stir it - there was this wonderful colour - a bit tie dyed, but wonderful none the less -

I'm looking forward to finding the perfect project to use this colour - I don't think the picture really shows it right - in some lights its more coral than pink.

Here are the two fabrics drying on the line. Isn't it great to hang things on the clothesline - there is nothing better to sleep on than sheets dried outside.

Off topic, but not really, is a comment about a recent kerfluffle in our part of the world - subdivisions, and even towns, that outlawed clotheslines because clothes drying on the line offended people and/or deterred from the beautiful neighbourhoods that some people wanted to live in. Now I'm not a fan of looking out my kitchen window and seeing my neighbour's bras, underwear, and her husband's boxers - but - its okay with me if that's what she wants to do. Thankfully, "they" have struck down these ridiculous bylaws and now clotheslines can be used by one and all.

How to ruin a Mom's summer

This past week has been pretty quiet as my daughter has been away at horse camp - leaving 14 yr old Scott to have full control of what he wants to watch on TV, where his friends can be, how long he can be on the game stations, and when and what he wants to eat. He's had a great time with his vacation from his mothering older sister, but now its all over - because....

Summer school!! Scott just scraped by his Grade 8 year and he has to do a review (I'm calling it study rehab) for three weeks starting Monday, to prep for high school. This means that I get to drag him out of bed at 7:30 each weekday, after arguing with him on how late he should stay up. Argue with him about washing his face, brushing his teeth (boys this age aren't good on hygiene :))- argue some more about eating breakfast or bringing a snack for the bus, more discussion about lunch packed or bought, then get to greet a grumpy sullen kid at 3:30 in the afternoon, just to start all over again the next day.

He has attended overnight summer camp for several years, and this year I paid for 2 - two week sessions in August - telling him that's his reward for getting through summer school. Ha! That's my reward for getting him to attend summer school every day, somewhat prepared for learning what he should have learned when the opportunity was first given to him!

Piecing Tops

Yesterday I actually got some sewing done. I pieced together the strippy rows of a basket and stars quilt that I haven't yet named. This pattern is from Fons & Porter, and it was intended to have applique in the centre strips, but this is the quilt I mentioned in a previous post that, in the end, I thought it was getting too big if I had continued to follow the pattern, and I actually liked it just fine the way it was turning out without the applique.



I also had a great time yesterday piecing the blocks for the sashings on the Folk Art Finery quilt top. Sometimes when I'm piecing, I can get in to a very calm, almost meditative state. Of course, this only happens when your pieces are cut and ready to sew, there are no calamaties with the sewing machine, and few interruptions. In the process of piecing, cut fabric to cut fabric, adding on one piece at a time, pressing, and continuing on the circle - I can get very quiet, and my mind can actually declutter itself - just watching the fabric feed through the sewing machine.



Pictures to follow later today, when Mike can help me by holding the finished top and the finished centre section of Folk Art Finery.



Canada Day!


Lists and surveys always create a lot of conversation. Of course there was published in time for Canada Day - what do we like most about Canada? or what are our symbols of Canada? I had to laugh to see Tim Horton's in a top 10 spot on the list - multiculturalism was number 1.



Our town has an annaul fireworks and party at a local park. We've been living in this town for 15 years - when we moved here it was still pretty much a rural town on the outskirts of Toronto. Now its a full fledged suburbian city with thousands of new homes, big box stores, a performing arts theatre being built, and numerous changes that go hand in hand with development. Our local fireworks continue, as the crowds continue to grow, and I'm so happy and thankful that our town continues this tradition, expands it to allow even more participants, and that all of us, those born here in Canada and those recently arrived, together can peacefully and joyfully celebrate Canada's birthday.