New Year, New Computer, Big Storm

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Happy New Year, everyone!

I’m just getting used to my new iMac — what a difference from a PC! A few things remain to be done so I can use a few PC-only programs, but I’m just amazed at how user friendly the Mac is. The screen is unbelievable!!! Now to learn how to do photos — until I get that done, no photos to post!

We had a snowstorm that started at about midnight last night and went on throughout today. I think the snow is over now, but it’s bitterly cold and quite windy.

Today I got back two quilts that had been sent to the long-arm quilter for basting. One is a queen-sized whole cloth quilt, the other my Quilted Diamonds 2 quilt. Now all I need to get is some Saral paper so I can transfer my quilting designs and I’ll be doing a lot of hand quilting this year.

Merry Christmas!

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The last of the table runners are finished. I was up until close to 3:00 a.m. finishing the binding on the very last one. The labels went on this morning.

Gifts are all wrapped and delivered. The sewing area is tidied up — and I have all sorts of ideas for projects I want to start.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Blue & White Table Runner and the Cat and Canary

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This is, by far, my favourite of the table runners I’ve made so far for Christmas. The stars were made with .75″ diamonds and related bits from Inklingo collection 3. I was really surprised when I realized that there are 748 pieces in this small runner! It went together really quickly and the fabric was heaven to work with. There’s something about blue and white that is so soothing!

A friend sent us a new cat toy for the boys. It has been hysterical watching the antics of the two of them with the “Canary Toy”. First they played:
Then they played some more:

Lester seems to be taking possession of it for now and the other night was even sleeping with it under his paw!

A Previous Finish Revealed

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Last night, some Christmas gifts were opened early and now I can reveal this picture. It’s about 60″ long and contains 67 little 6-point stars made with one-inch diamonds from Inklingo Collection 1. It was fun to make those stars using ’30s prints and solids.

I have the binding half on the second-last runner to be made for Christmas and then it’s just one more to put together, quilt and bind. My favourite of those that I made this year left here yesterday and will be delivered to its recipient sometime today.

I realized last night that I will soon be finished with Christmas gifts and will then be looking for the next project to make. Hmmm — there are many that I’m thinking about and I have all sorts of little patches printed and ready to stitch but I’m just not sure which I want to work on first.

We had a number of swaps of Inklingo shapes and I think I have a rather fun idea for the 1″ squares. I’ve already made about 200 of the stars from the swaps and have been playing with different settings for some of them.

Now to brave the stores. I don’t need to buy too much, but I’d rather get the last of it finished today than brave the stores this weekend or Monday!

Pinwheel Runner and The Storm

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Another finish! This one was a challenge. I used — silly me — a black print fabric for the backing. Black fabric seems to attract cat hair much more than any other fabric colour! For that reason, I decided to put the binding on totally by machine, which I don’t like doing. However, it was better than having this on my lap while I tacked down the binding — as I very rarely am allowed to do that without a kitty helper! LOL And it’s one more finished item for Christmas. These are not my normal colours to work with and, while I know it’s perfect for the recipient, I really had to push myself to keep stitching the little pinwheels together.


We had a huge, huge snowstorm today. We even had thunder snow, which is the oddest thing. When we got up this morning it was snowing. About an hour or so later, we saw lightning and heard a couple of huge claps of thunder. Then it snowed and snowed and snowed till about 9:00 tonight. This is a view of the roof garden from our window. At one point this afternoon, I looked out and saw rather large paw prints in the snow. Wonder what could possibly be out there — a raccoon maybe? No pets are allowed on the roof garden and, for that matter, it’s closed for the winter so no one could have got out there.

We ventured out in mid-afternoon. It was truly a winter wonderland, very pretty. It was really quite astounding to see no cars anywhere and so few shoppers this close to Christmas! Very cold, though — and the wind was fierce!

Seven Sisters Almost Done

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It’s pressed and ready to baste and quilt, which will be done in the next few days. I was going to add two more blocks to it but it would have ended up way too long. So now I have two Seven Sisters blocks made and ready for something else. 🙂 I used 1.5″ diamonds and equilateral triangles for this one from Inklingo Collection 3 and it really was fast to put together. Each block took about two nights to piece, so this whole thing was only about 6 nights of hand stitching. Printing the shapes took next to no time, maybe half an hour.

One of these days, I’ve got to figure out how to master free motion quilting on my sewing machine. Doing straight lines is getting a bit … well, old!

There’s a significant storm coming tomorrow, they say, and we may get a lot of snow. Today will be the day to run around and do errands so we can stay off the roads tomorrow. In Toronto, just about any amount of snow seems to paralyze the city so a “significant” amount could be catastrophic. LOL

A Very Good Day

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Thank you to all for your good wishes. I think they all helped — a lot! The test results were fabulously positive. He has actually shown improvement since his last echo-cardiogram in April.

The prognosis we were given was very encouraging as the echo showed significant improvement in one area and mild improvement in another. This was the best Christmas gift we could have been given and we are thrilled!

Now to relax and get some binding put on!

A Nervous Day

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Nothing quilty today. We’ve just heard that Lester’s echo-cardiogram will be tomorrow. I am so apprehensive about what the results may show as far as the progression of the HCM goes, given that he has thrown a clot since being on the three meds including Plavix. I’m very grateful that our vet’s office has arrangements with a cardiologist who actually comes to their clinic. Rather than having to take Lester to the cardiologist, which is about a 90-minute drive, the trip to our vet’s clinic is only about 10 minutes. The actual test only takes about 20 minutes, so we should be home within an hour or so.

Tomorrow is Lester’s birthday too — he will be 9. I think it’s definitely going to be time for a new kitty toy when we get home from the echo.

I’m almost frozen with apprehension. Best I work this afternoon and try to not think about I this. I want a magical event to take place and his heart to be good as new, but …

Christmas Gifts

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Two friends who are dedicated machine piecers are getting a block like this plus Inklingo 2 for Christmas. I’m using the blocks I made as wrapping. 😉 I am so impressed with how easy it is to make HST, QST and flying geese using the Inklingo method that I want to share the excitement. This was another block I made totally by machine and I am pretty happy with how it turned out. I can’t believe how fast it was to put together, but I’m still uncomfortable with those bulky seam intersections in the corners. Possibly I need a better iron to really “tame” them.

One table runner leaves here today. No pictures till the recipient has received and opened it. I’m thrilled with how it turned out. One more is now quilted, just needs the binding put on. The third is ready to baste and the fourth is still being stitched!! I still need to make 13 little 6-point stars for the fourth one and then finish putting the rows together. It’s getting awfully close. I have a feeling there will be a few really late nights this week and weekend in order to get this done. There is a fifth runner I would really like to get done before Christmas as an extra gift, but time is becoming a real issue.