Sunday Summary - Oh wait it's Monday - Jan 13, 2014

Back to normal after the holidays. And yes, I know, it's Monday. Kinda missed my deadline there.
The weather went from frigid to dripping. What a switch!

I got busy with Etsy orders. One for 5 coordinating cat quilts. They're done and ready to ship. And another for a charm quilt with a black cat silhouette which I haven't finished yet.

Five Cozy Cat Quilts!

For Brownie, Bob, Lucas, Mouse and Spartacus!

I also continued working on string quilt squares. I've completed sixty-five 6 inch squares, My scrap boxes were overflowing and it was time to put them to work. Not sure what Ill do with that one. Im sure something will come up!

I got lovely reviews and comments from one of my best customers on my Etsy store. If you've ordered from me I'd love to get your feedback too.

One of my fabric orders arrived today. That's always a treat. Love getting packages in the mail. This is what I received from Fabric.com. Looks like I'm branching out into dog quilts or football lover quilts. We'll see that next week maybe.

And this guy (the one without the collar) has been hanging around since Christmas. It was so cold we let him in for awhile. Now he comes and goes. He seems to like the food and the company. Oh, and the beds!

Well I'm off to make biscuits to go with split pea soup for supper.

Have a great week!

Sunday Summary - The Big Reveal!

So you probably noticed that although I mentioned I was making 3 quilts for Christmas orders I only showed you the two cute baby quilts. They were ordered for Christmas gifts and from what I'm hearing will be loved and cherished by two little ones, Emma and Daniyal.

Couldn't show the other one because it was commissioned by my daughter-in-law for her mother's 65th birthday on December 31st and i didn't want to ruin the surprise.

Now that the big day has passed I can share some photos. This quilt was easy to make using a pattern called Spring Bouquet from the book Quick Method Quilts Galore. The pattern was easy to follow even though I didn't have the special tool called the Companion Angle. The tropical colours chosen by my client were fun to play with especially in December.

Leaf Quilting on the borders and flowers in the blocks

Adding the binding

Stella's quality control session

Ready to pack up.

The unveiling

And the happy recipient! Happy Birthday Nicole! 

                  Bonne fete Nicole!

This week's project? FIVE, count em, FIVE cat quilts! Orders from my etsy clients www.etsy.com/shop/pieceandtranquilty

Sunday Summary - Happy New Year!

Christmas week is always a whirlwind! This year it was almost an ice storm too! We were luckier than many families in Ontario, southeastern Quebec and the Maritimes who experienced a Christmas without power. Some are still waiting for repairs to bring light and heat back to their homes. Having "survived" the great Quebec ice storm of 1998 I sympathize with their plight. Although the storm in 98 was a terrible experience it at least had the decency to arrive after the holidays. I sincerely hope that the affected this holiday season were able to find warmth and food with family, friends, neighbours, or at shelters.

I remember another ice storm in that happened in the 60's. I was a kid and it was great fun! Cousins, Aunts, Uncles, grandparents and friends congregated at our house because we had the good fortune to have a fireplace. We, meaning the adults, cooked tons of food that would have otherwise spoilt directly on the fire and then we enjoyed our feast in front of the fire and camped out on the living room floor. School was cancelled for more than a week!

This year our family Christmas was a wonderful, crowded, three days of continuous eating, drinking, laughter and merriment. Parents, grandparents, great grandparent, children, grandchildren, friends and cats and dogs! One big fantastical zoo! I think the dishwasher is almost worn out and the fridge is still bursting with leftovers.

We may not be wealthy but we are fortunate. We have the love and warmth of family and friends! I feel blessed to have time to pursue my love of quilting and one quilt at a time, I am achieving my goal of making everyone cosy! The day our the power goes out everyone I know will have a cosy quilt to keep them warm!

Power or not, friends and families celebrating together is always special!

Happy New Year to all my quilty and non-quilty friends.

Sunday Summary - Merry Christmas - Dec 22 2013

Two more days to finish the quilts I was commissioned to make. The monkey quilt and girlie baby quilts are finished and ready to go. I hate to part with them, they're so cute!




The queen size quilt is almost done. It's the first queen size quilt I've quilted on my new Babylock Jane. It was a pleasure, not a struggle due to the 9 inch throat on the machine, Just the binding and label left. So it should be finished tomorrow.

I will upload a photo next week after the birthday girl has received her gift!

At this very moment we are watching Christmas Vacation for the millionth time! Well, I exaggerate at little!

We're having a gang for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and Im looking forward to celebrating. This is my first Christmas since retirement. No more getting home at 4PM and shifting into high gear immediately. I can ease into the excitement gradually. Yeah, right!  LOL

My wish for everyone is a peaceful, safe and healthy holiday season.

Sunday Summary - Dec 15 - Christmas Deadlines

It's been a whirlwind week! How about you? Getting ready for Christmas is so much fun. 

Even Maybel got in on the at  doing quilt inspections!

This is Emma's quilt. It's ready for Christmas giving. 

And this on is for a client to give to his nephew. With his name on one side and monkeys in the other. Just have the binding left to do. 

And I m working on a queen size quilt for someone's Mom who has a birthday coming up. It's a secret so I can't share until the end of the month. Have a great pre-Christmas week. See you next Sunday for the final countdown.

Sunday Summary - Christmas Prep

Tree's up! Albeit a little one. We spent this morning at a kids Christmas party with our Grandson. He didn't like the noise of the music and loud speakers but sure like his gift from Santa. A garbage truck. What else would a three year old boy want from Santa? Then we all came back home to decorate the house, eat, drink and be merry.

As far as my week went it was a productive one. Two baby quilt tops done for custom orders and I started cutting strips for the queen size one. These are all due for Christmas so I've got my work cut out for me!

 DaniyalEmma

Finally the orders poured in from my Etsy store www.etsy.com/shop/pieceandtranquilty , 4 cat quilts sold and orders for 8 custom ones! Goodness! Fortunately, the custom ones will wait until after the holidays. No way I could get them done for Christmas unless I give up sleeping!

And right now? Just me and hubby watching Home Alone.

How was your week? I'd love to hear about it. Decorating done? Shopping? Gift wrapping? I haven't done that yet, yikes!

Sunday Summary - Black Friday Edition

Black Friday! Wow! Hubby and I crossed the border into the US and braved the crowds for the post Thanksgiving tradition called Black Friday. I have to say that upstate New Yorkers and  Vermonters are a great bunch. To be fair, we avoided most of the really crowded places but we did go into Best Buy and stand in line for a deal on TV. Nice folks all standing patiently in line waiting their turn. I even met a bathroom cleaning attendant in The Christmas Tree store that was smiling happily. Speaking of The Christmas Tree store there's a great Chicago style hot dog vendor outside. We ate delicious hotdogs outside in the sun. They were great!

Joann's Fabric was open at 6 AM and all the quilters and crafters were there. I'd been wanting an Accuquilt Go for quite awhile. It was 40% off, so, you know! why not.

Visited a quilt store too. Yankee Pride in Essex, VT. Nice store. I needed fabric for a couple of baby quilts and a queen size too. Here's a little teaser:

Earlier in the week I continued quilting Nancy's quilt this week. I'm making progress, slowly! I've used 700 yards of thread so far!

Oh and I won a giveaway! I'm so excited. Two yards of fabric from The Fabric Worm. I got this email from Deby at So Sew Easy:

"Yay – you are a winner!

 

You won the Fabric Worm Giveaway

 

http://so-sew-easy.com/holiday-mug-rug/

 

If you would please confirm full name and postal address, I will ask Fabric Worm to contact you about picking your fabric choices.

 

Congratulations and thank you for entering"

Well, that was my week. 

 

2 yards of fabric from ...