What a Difference a Border Makes....

Hi There!

Gilbert and I - for once!!! - didn't have any errands to do today and we decided to just stay home and work (AKA play, for me). Gilbert quilted a quilt and I played in my Sewing Studio.

*VBG*

It took me almost all morning to sew and cut up those half square triangles and FINALLY add them to the log cabin blocks!

What a difference a Border Makes....
Twenty Four little Inches...

LOL

Seriously, to view a good rendition of that song,
click here...




Then, I added a 3/4 inch beige strip, to them.



Close-up of the beige strip.

Then, I found a piece of civil war strippy kinda fabric and managed to sew another border, with this.

And, I've decided to add a "staggered" blocks around it.

But I'm thinking that I might need another beige strip to divide the dark strips from the staggered blocks.

Suggestions, anyone?

Rosa

Wooly Flowers in my Baskets!!!

Hi There!

Finally finished my table topper!

Can't remember if I mentioned it but I decided to add some felted wool for the flowers, the vine and the leaves. It makes you want to continually touch them! LOL

Just need to find the proper back and ask Gilbert and Bertha to work their magic...



Then, because I had a lot of itsy, bitsy pieces of this and that and because I saw this design in my head, I decided to make a lap quilt.

The center hole-in-the-barn-door block measures 2 inches, finished!!!

Cute, eh?



And then, I log cabined around this 2 inch block!



Look underneath the log cabin.... See the tiny blocks?!?!?

Because I had a lot of teeny, tiny triangles, I decided to make some 1-1/2 inch half square triangles. These will finish to 1 inch square!

And that's pretty much what I'm working on, these days.... teeny, tiny triangles. I only need to make (approx.) 132 of these!

LOL

And, guess what?!?!?

Gilbert finished quilting the T-Shirt Quilt!!!!

I need to finish the binding on the batik quilt - on my agenda this evening - and tomorrow evening, I plan on starting the binding on this cute quilt!

Hope you all have a Super Saturday and Sunday!!!!

Rosa

T-shirts and Baskets....

Hi There!

I've FINALLY got this T-Shirt quilt top finished, late this afternoon!

And this afternoon, we went out and bought some special batting for this gorgeous quilt, and Gilbert hopes to start the actual "quilting", with his Longarm Partner, Bertha.

This is the "top" end of the quilt.



And here's the bottom part.

I purposely built up and surrounded the blocks with the same marbelized purples in hopes that the blocks would appear to be "floating" on a sea of purple.

The person that will be receiving this quilt loves purple, as do I!

*VBG*

And since my part of the job on the t-shirt quilt is finished, for now.... I let loose and pulled out these basket blocks.

No, I didn't get too far but at least its a beginning.

Today was hotter than yesterday! We went out for a few quick errands this afternoon and everyone would say, "It's a nice day out there, today." And I'd reply with a "Yes, but it's a bit too nice for me... if you know what I mean."

And we would both nod and chuckle.

Rosa

One Last Time...

Hi There!

Weather's a fickle thing...

In my little spot on this planet, its apparently difficult to predict, even!

Approximately 3 weeks ago, we FINALLY got some (nice) summer weather!

Approximately 2 weeks ago and up until the day before yesterday - Friday, it had turned into our typical (coldish) fall weather.

Yesterday?

Well, HELLO Indian Summer!!!

Temps rose to about 23 Celsius (75 Fahrenheit) and today, they're predicting 25 Celsius (79 Fahrenheit)!!!!



We decided not to take a chance and enjoy what will probably be our last barbecue for the season.

Yes, I know some people barbecue all winter long and, obviously, bring the food in the house to eat, but Gilbert doesn't care to do that.

Wishing my fellow Canucks a
Happy Thanksgiving weekend!!!!

Rosa

Tzat You Mah?!?

Hi There!

Today, after work,
I had a planned "Me" day!

I went up town and
went to visit my favorite store,
"Sudsmuffin"!!!

As I was getting low on my chocolate sugar bath scrub, I picked up another jar. This time, I chose "Satsuma". It smells like orange tangerines!!!

Mr. Sudsmuffin - the store owner and soap cook - told me that Satsuma means Japanese oranges.

I can believe that!
*g*

Well, after visiting with my friend at Sudsmuffin, I went to "Urban Deli".

While waiting for my cousin Gisele to meet up with me, I asked both my waiters if they wanted to smell my jar. They had heard of ... or walked by "Sudsmuffin" and had no idea what was sold in this store.

They were both astonished at the intoxicating and almost edible odor of my jar! I spent a good 5 minutes extolling the virtues and soapy wares of Sudsmuffin! I mean, when I'm passionate about something and truly believe in it - WATCH OUT!

I've had people tell me that I could easily sell snow to Eskimos!

LOL

After supper, Gisele and I met up with my Aunt - Gisele's Mom - at "InPrint" - a bookstore on King Street - where my blogging friend, Riel Nason, was having a book reading and signing.
(more about that in another blog)

While waiting for the book reading to start, I pulled out my jar and had my Aunt smell it. My Aunt has problems with "scents" - I had forgotten about that minor detail.

Anyhow, she LOVED the scent and had no real problems with it!

Imagine that, eh?


(All you need is approx. 1 tablespoon of body scrub and your favorite scrubby to get a great, foamy lather that miraculously rinses off CLEAN, quickly and leaves your skin SMOOTH and not yicky and scratchy!)

So, of COURSE I had the people sitting nearby smell my jar! Everyone that I spoke to about Sudsmuffin had either heard about them or walked in front of their store and never bothered to step inside and question WHAT they actually sell!

Moral of my blog?

If you walk in front of a store EVERY SINGLE DAY, on your way to work and you have NO IDEA what they do.... TAKE 5 minutes, step inside and say,

"HI! What do you guys sell? I'm curious."

Chances are , they would be more than pleased to show you what they sell or do!

*********************

Well, after the book reading, we went to our cars and it was rainy and wet and cold and blustery... a completely yucky evening!

I came home and took a shower to warm up with
my Satsuma body scrub!

Intoxicating and relaxing - all in one jar!

Rosa
(No affiliation with this company other than they're my friends)

And YES, they ship internationally, too!

Flowers in My Baskets!

Hi There!

A while back, I had asked Santa for
"Anka's Treasures", by Heather Mulder Peterson.

I just LOVE this book!!!

I've completed THREE (3) different quilts from this book and Gilbert's almost finished cutting up the logs in a Log Cabin quilt, for a FIFTH (5th) one.

And let me introduce the FOURTH (4th) one!

It's a cute basket table topper!

And apart from the appliqués,
it's easy smeasy to do!



This morning, I finally finished hand appliqueing the flower petals - 16 in total!!!

I've selected pre-washed felted wool - I just LOVE working with wool, for appliqués! Plus, it gives you a 3 dimensional look and feel to your work!

If you haven't tried felted wool yet, I suggest you give it a try!

In fact, I've so convinced with the look and feel of felted wool, that I've been considering designing a mini block and selling the kit on Etsy.

What d'ya think? Is Etsy the best way to go?

All suggestions are welcome!

Rosa

Staggered Block Tutorial and Other Stuff...

Hi There!

I'm probably the last one in the quilting world that didn't know about this sewing technique but I thought I'd share, just in case you didn't know how to do this easy, smeasy border.

Here's the measurements that I did, but I'm sure you could do them whichever way you wanted.

I cut my purple strips at 2-1/2" and the pink/yellow fabric strip at 1-1/2".

Sew them together, as in the picture below.

Once sewn, cut mini strips at 1-1/2" wide.
(see picture below)



Flip them end to end and sew them together.

Continue piecing these cuties together, making sure - obviously -that no pink/yellows get sewn together.



Eventually, your sewn strips get longer and longer.

Measure the length or width of your quilt to ensure that your strip is long enough and not too long.

I made the top and bottom of the T-Shirt quilt, so far.

Tomorrow, I'll work on the sides of this quilt.

Okay, enough with the tutorial.

If you're a newbie with these blocks,
I'm positive you understood. *grin*

Today, Gilbert and I went to our local CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corp.) station. This year, CBC is celebrating their 75th anniversary and today, they had an Open House from 11 a.m. till 3h00 p.m.

Gilbert wanted to see how their cameras worked and how the programs were uploaded to the TV, etc, etc.

Anyhow, they had a spinning wheel and Gilbert and I each spun their wheel and we BOTH won a (quality made) T-Shirt!!!

(Can you say "spun" in that context?!??)

Cool, eh?

On a final note... remember my HP TouchPad?

HP was getting rid of them last month. You could select the 16 GB for $99.00 (regular 399.00, I believe) and the 32 GB for $149.00 (regular $499 or $599 - can't remember)

Anyhow, I decided to go with the 32 GB. Gilbert said for 50 bucks more, I might as well, eh?

And sometimes it's best to "Go Big or Stay at Home", eh?
(Isn't that a Poker expression?!?? LOL)

Well, about 2 weeks ago, Gilbert shows me this flyer. I nearly fell to the floor!!!

It's a company where you can rent out furniture and after a bit, if you want, you can buy your item outright, for a pretty penny.

Check out the HP TouchPad 16 GB - you can rent it out with these people.

And this "special" came out perhaps 2 weeks AFTER the big HP TouchPad dump!!!

Their everyday LOW price is $1,424.99,
for the 16 GB !!!!!

*shakes her head*

This is just baaaaaad.

Last topic of the day.

"Ophelia", our latest storm, is brushing past us, with lots of rain this weekend.

It's now 5h50 p.m. and I plan on taking it easy....
we were out on the roads all day today.

Tomorrow, I will be sewing up a "storm"!
Pardon the pun!!! LOL

Watch for another blog, Sunday evening!

Hope you're all having a
Wonderful Weekend!!!

Rosa

Love Comes in Many Different Shapes...

Hi There!

You're probably wondering what I've been up to and why I've been so quiet.

Well, as my Blog title reads, I'm here to prove to you that love surely DOES come in many different shapes!

Last month, I was lucky enough to be able to order an HP TouchPad for $149 dollars. HP is getting rid of these tablets and instead of $599, they were on sale for peanuts!

Last week, I received my Touch!



That same evening, I HAD to run out and accessorize my new Touch!

I picked up what the friendly young geek tech at Staples called a "Fleatherette" case.

It protects my Touch...



But you can open it up, like a book and, stand it up on a table, as well.



And, it's got these neat squarish and soft bubbles....

You can rest the edge of the Touch amongst the bubbles and play with your Touch that way, as well!

Yes, it resembles the iPad, but was much, MUCH cheaper!!!

OH!!! And I've signed up with Kindle and have read TWO books, so far!

Can't remember the last time that I went to bed and read!

Have I been sewing much? Well, certainly not as much as pre-HP TouchPad, but I've been relaxing and enjoying myself. How's that for an answer?!??

LOL

And then, since I may take my Touch with me, I needed this cool little black bag with LOADS of pockets and a shoulder strap... for only 14 bucks!!!

I know it's silly but gosh DARN I feel so important with these nifty accessories!!!

Besides, the friendly young geek at Staples TOLD me it was a great buy!

LOL

As for my 2nd "love", my friend Barb Honey brought in her quilt for Gilbert and Bertha to work their magic.

OH MY GOD, but it's gorgeous!!!!

She gave me permission to blog about it, even!

When I asked her if she designed this quilt.... she simply replied with a "ROFL"...

Here's what she wrote:

"This was a homework assignment from the second year of the scrappy club I joined in Kelowna, B.C. We were given a type of Log Cabin setting and told to make a quilt. Mine was the courthouse steps setting. I just kept adding blocks as I went - no plan! The checkerboard border is from one of Bonnie Hunter's quilt in her book."

As spectacular as it looks on my blog, it looks a 100 times better in person!

I LOVE scrappy quilts!!!!

Hope you all have a Wonderful Wednesday!!!

Rosa

Fours Cats, One Quilt and Some Teddy Bears

Hi There!

As I've mentioned before, we now have 2 cats and a couple strays, that we feed.

Callie and Minou, the 2 calicoes in the bottom of this picture are ours.

The beigeish/whitish cat eating is "Frankie"... or "Frankie Blue Eyes".

He (or she?) looks like a Burmese or Himalayan cat.

And he or she has been spayed or neutered, as per one of our backyard neighbours. She told me that the previous owners just moved and left him/her behind.

How cruel!!!

She told me that the cat in the top right hand corner was the same thing. Cat was spayed or neutered... owners picked up and left without their cat!

*long sigh*

Unfortunately, this one doesn't play nicely with Minou or Callie, but Frankie's truly a wonderful and cuddly cat.

Frankie's been invited in our home, several times, with no problems... other than he/she has to be reminded that cats don't jump up on our kitchen table or kitchen counters. But, in all honesty, he or she is getting MUCH better at minding their P's and Q's...

*grin*

Soooo, Friday after work, I decided to give them a rare treat.

A can of "wet" food, mixed in with their "dry" food.

I'm always astonished at how there is a hierarchy or pecking order, with these cats!

The white and gray one is patiently sitting back and with his/her turn, at the dish.



Thursday, Gilbert finished quilting my Baby Lasagna Quilt and Friday evening, I finished the binding on this quilt.

This one is for sale - $75.00.

Please contact me if you'd like to purchase it.

It measures 35" X 43"



And here's a picture of the back...



And a close up of the quilting.

Pattern is called "Teddy Bears".

Saturday morning, since Gilbert is doing a suspended ceiling in our bedroom, I decided to hang my Teddy Bear collection, on our clothes line.

After that, we headed out to one of our local quilt shows and errands.

Will post pictures of the quilt show this evening.

Hope you all have a Super Sunday!

Rosa

A Little Molehill of "Things".

Hi There!

Well, I've only got a few hours left till I'm officially finished my Vacation.

I had a TON of things planned during my 2 weeks off and only did a little molehill of "things"....

But the little "things" that got done - I sure had fun doing them, though!

Take for example, today.

I had planned to finish this quilt top.

I had to do 3 loads of laundry, first.

Then, Gilbert tells me that our iron stopped heating.

He took it apart, to announce that the thermal fuse was burnt.

Off to Zellers to pick up another iron!

Well, we HAD to get groceries and since we were already out, why not pick them up, as well.

Soooooo, I only started working on the T-Shirt Quilt around 3 p.m....

Managed to sew 3 rows together!



Hope you manage to get a molehill of "things" done, this week!

*grin*

Rosa

More on the T-Shirt Quilt...

Hi There!

My oldest son, Adam, called me on his cell phone this afternoon, all excited! He had found an old sewing machine and had talked the guy down to $15.00 - does he take after me or what?!?!?

(read PREVIOUS blog)

LOL

Well, with Adam dropping off the machine and us rushing out the door for our business meeting... I really didn't get a chance to look at her, very much.

Gilbert said she locks up in her case, for portability, and after fiddling around with it, for a few minutes, he managed to "lock" it up. Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of her BEFORE she got locked up solid and hopefully I will be able to look at her closer, tomorrow.



But OH MY GOSH, is she EVER heavy!!!

And her foot pedal is missing and she's lost a bit of gold and gleam, over the years.

:-(

As for the T-Shirt Quilt.... I know it seems as if I'm not movin' ahead on this one, but I AM!!! Trust me.... I AM!

See bottom right hand corner block?

It's an appliqué that I made, from an icon on the internet.

I drew it by hand....
all by me-self, even!

*VBG*



Well, that's about it, for today.

One last day of vacation and GOD KNOWS when I will get some more time off....

Hope you're all having a SUPER SATURDAY!!!

Rosa

T-Shirt Progress (cont'd)

Hi There!

This past week, I received a free wooly package, from "British Wool"!

All's I had to do was sign up - it was FREE!

How cool was that, eh?!??!



I received 2 braids of wool....
so soft!!!

Along with a lot of neat information about sheep and all, they included a plastified sheet with instructions on how to "felt" your wool.

I've never done this before.... should be a fun project!

The only thing missing was "time"... I turned that sheet around and around and around and they didn't tell me where I would find the extra "time" to play with this!

LOL

This afternoon, I decided to pick up where I had left off, with the "Tee-Shirt" quilt.

I've got ALL the blocks sew together into strips 'cept for the last one. There's a block missing. I plan on doing something special with this block.

I'll let you all see it, once it's done.
*grin*

Tomorrow's another day.

Still 2 more days of
V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N...

Rosa

Bertha's Room Got Another Face Lift!

Hi There!

Gilbert decided that our cutting board needed a face lift.

He removed our old Necchi sewing machine and added some wooden legs.

He says you can now put a total of 10 plastic totes filled with my fabric stash, underneath it now. NOTE: He will be painting the wooden legs white, to match the rest of the room.

He's almost finished painting those 3 quilt blocks, underneath his home made ironing board.

A close up of the blocks.

And yet another close up.

He informed me that they weren't completely finished. He still has some black lines to add and then a coat of varnish, to protect the paint.

I'm not sure if I posted pictures of our new "door". He picked it up at a 2nd place, called "Restore".... profits go to Habitat for Humanity.

And, this door only cost $2.50 !

Mind you, Gilbert did a few touch ups and painted it white.... and he had to buy the "hardware" - you know... the pins and sliding thingies at the top and bottom of the door, for $25.00 (approx.)

Not bad, eh?



Today, we also removed a few quilts in the Longarm Room and replaced them with other ones.

To the left, is last year's Halloween panel.

To the right, is the lastest baby quilt that I finished.

And here's a picture of my Christmas Leftover Lasagna Quilt.

Oh... I managed to finish a pillow case dress, last this afternoon.



It's got horseys all over it.

Still on vacation and still maintaining my "Vacation Journal".

Have a great weekend!

Rosa