Another One-Flower Wednesday

Posted on August 18, 2010 by Quiltobsession

The missing container of hexagons was finally found. The photo only shows about half the hexagons that are actually contained in there, all .50″ hexagons. So after what seems like weeks, I was able to make one little flower to add to my garden for One Flower Wednesday.

The back:

This time I tried a different stitching sequence than my normal and found that it’s much faster. Linda Franz posted this video on stitching hexagons on her blog last week and after watching it, I figured I’d try that stitching sequence. It definitely makes a difference.

The pieced blocks for the baby quilt are finished. As soon as I finish some work today, I’m going to lay them all out with the sashing elements and get started putting the top together. It’s pretty clear now I won’t finish it by the end of August, but I’m still going to try for by the middle of September.

Was something going on with Blogger blogs on Tuesday? I was able to leave comments on a few blogs early in the day but then had difficulties later in the day leaving comments.

The following two photos are of Queen’s Park — a park near our provincial legislature which is also called Queen’s Park. It’s a beautiful park with lots and lots of lovely trees and just a short walk from here.

A view north towards Queen’s Park, the legislature building, from University Avenue:

Another view, as one goes further north on University Avenue:

I noticed that some of the leaves on the trees on the roof garden are turning yellow and falling already. It’s still quite warm, but the light is definitely changing.

Smudge is getting into cooler weather mode, I think, wanting lots of lap time.

A rather soft focus shot of Lester:

Blues on Monday

Posted on August 17, 2010 by Quiltobsession

I exchange fabric gifts with a friend whose husband makes regular trips to Toronto on business. This time when we went to his hotel to drop off the bag to be taken back home to my friend, this is the bag the concierge gave me. With the pink bow, we had to take the picture of the bag with the tiny white bear who also has a pink/red bow!

Look at these gorgeous blue fabrics that were in that bag!! Something tells me there’s another blue and white or blue and cream quilt in my future — and not too far off! I have a lot of ideas that are swirling around in my mind already!

The red and white, blue and white, green and white, pink and white, yellow and white, purple and white blocks for the baby quilt are done and there are only a few of the peach and white blocks left. I didn’t get as much stitching done Monday night as I had anticipated, but will definitely finish them off tonight. Then the fun will begin — laying them out and figuring out which colours/fabrics of the other element surrounds each block. That’s the part of making this baby quilt that I’m most looking forward to. Once I get the placement all figured out, then it will be lots and lots of lovely continuous stitching that should go quite quickly.

On the way to the hotel Monday afternoon, more photos were taken. We travelled down University Avenue, a wide street in the downtown core that has beautiful tress and flowers in the boulevard separating the northbound and southbound lanes.

Back at home later Monday, Smudge was busy with the Cappy toy again.

While Lester was on the windowsill.

Shopping on Friday

Posted on August 16, 2010 by Quiltobsession

On Friday we went to Staples, one of our favourite stores it seems, and then to the pet store. While Mr. Q.O. drove, I was taking pictures. The above one is of the streets we travel along to get to Staples, just after we turned on to it. It’s pretty even in the dead of winter because of the tree limbs.

A little further along the street. This is one of my favourite streets in the downtown area. The houses are all rather fascinatingly quirky. It must be rather wonderful to live there with nothing but trees to see out one’s front windows.

We’re almost there now.

Even the parking lot at Staples is surrounded by trees.

Then we were off to the pet store. On the way, we went along the street on which the emergency vet clinic is found. More trees and planters out in front of buildings.

And for those buildings where there’s no room to put out a planter? They find room somewhere on the building.

On Sunday we had thunderstorms and rain. This was taken from our living room window as the rain was absolutely pelting down.

My plans for the weekend as far as quilt-related things went pretty well. I didn’t quite finish piecing the blocks for the baby quilt, but only have 9 or 10 left to go. If there’s a good baseball or soccer game on tonight, I’ll likely be able to finish those up then. But the big accomplishment for me was that I did manage to sit down and start learning EQ. I m so impressed with the capabilities — and that’s after barely scratching the surface. Once I started working my way through the lessons in the manual, I was pleasantly surprised to realize it is much more intuitive than I initially thought.

I have a Mac and really dislike having to put PC-related software on it. However, at Christmas, Mr. Q.O. found a great used PC laptop so on Saturday morning I loaded EQ on it and started. About four hours later and I was already feeling like I could manage to design a quilt. I’m not finished working my way through the lessons but will spend a little time each day this week on it so that I don’t lose what I’ve learned so far.

I have EQ6 and, as I hadn’t used it, I didn’t take advantage of the pre-release upgrade price for EQ7. So for those of you out there who do have EQ7, I’d be very interested in hearing what you think are the benefits of EQ7 over EQ6. Are there more blocks in the block library, more capabilities? What struck you first when you started using it as being a great-to-have feature?

Smudge was quite alert on Saturday evening as he lounged about on the couch.

While Lester was catching up on some sleep.

Foliage and Flowers

Posted on August 12, 2010 by Quiltobsession

We had to run a few errands on Wednesday and, as Mr. Q.O. drove, I was taking pictures of the various trees and planters along Bay Street, one of the main streets in downtown Toronto. This top one is in front of a hotel quite near us.

This is one of my least favourite parts of the city, but Mr. Q.O. really likes this photo so …

Toronto is a very green city, with lots of trees and planters out on the street, as can be seen in these.

The new grocery store was opened on Wednesday — and wow, what an improvement!! The old store was desperately in need of renovation and new management and that’s what has happened. The choices we now have are fabulous, the store seems much more spacious even though it’s in the same space and it is so modernized that it will be a real treat to shop there. I used to think going downstairs to the grocery store was a bore. While I’m sure the novelty of the new store will wear off, going downstairs to shop is going to be much more enjoyable! We are quite spoiled in that we have the grocery store, a drugstore, electronics store, florists, post office outlet, couple of restaurants, 4 or 5 different coffee places, huge bookstore, shoe store, couple of hair salons, card/stationery store, jewellery store, luggage and leather goods stores, clothing stores, a branch of one of the major banks, a couple of opticians, a chocolate shop, a specialty cheese shop, a furniture store, a linens and towels shop, a multi-screen theatre, dry cleaners, shoe repair and probably something else I’ve completely forgotten about in the retail mall. During the cold winter months, it is the perfect place to live!

Lester was quite interested in something he saw out on the roof garden on Wednesday afternoon.