Seeing Red, and a Little Plum Too

It's probably just the time of year, you know - with Valentine's Day in the offing. Or maybe it was because I had pulled out all of my scrap bins to cut pieces for Halo and got sidetracked with the reds. Whatever it was I decided that I needed to make some of those small red scraps into scrappy fabric.

No plan in mind, just the fun of mindless sewing and seeing the bits and pieces come together in interesting ways rather than languishing at the bottom of a bin.

About half way through I set upon an idea of what to do with it so that everything didn't get chucked right back into the scrap bins or a WIP pile, and it was FUN! I'll have an update for you next time (how's that for a teaser?)

And speaking of teasers, how about this beauty that Betty is working on? Is it not amazing??? This is just a small taste of what I expect to see next weekend when we gals get together to stitch and catch up. I'll be certain to share lots of pics....M

A Very Special Friend

There are some moments in a life that you recognize as game changers. For our family, one of those was when our friends Nancy and Vince moved their young family from Montreal to a farm on the edge of town. I can't remember the year but I believe I was only about 8 or 9. The bond that our families formed continues to this day and we are fortunate to still be able to get together and share a few laughs. We did that recently with dinner at the farm and it was a chance to get caught up on what Nancy was creating in her sewing room.

Nancy loves colour - LOTS of it - and graphic prints. She is a wonderful seamstress and that love of colour and texture translates into her quilts. This WIP that she and Betty are standing beside is a perfect homage to her sensibilities -  bright, bold and beautiful.

Very reminiscent of Freddy Moran, wouldn't you say?

I had a few more great photos but they are trapped in a cell phone that died and, sadly, lost forever. Suffice it to say that her design sense is not waning.














In her studio we found another beauty, this Log Cabin made with wonderful batiks. She shared a wonderful story of buying fabric on a trip to Bali and needing to buy eight hockey bags at an outdoor market to get it all home (she loves a bargain)! On a mission to work through her stash, she is creating gorgeous quilts as she does.

Always resourceful, she uses scrap strips to create beautiful one-of-a-kind rag rugs.

And, her creative genius has been passed down to several of her grandchildren. Love this portrait that one of them whipped up depicting Nancy smoking a joint once it was announced that cannabis would become legal in Canada. Cheeky!.....M

Cookie Anyone?

I pulled out the mixmaster last night for the first time since Christmas to bake a batch or two of cookies. The Friends of Bonnechere Parks are hosting their annual Winter Magic this weekend and are in need of a few goodies for everyone to enjoy with their hot chocolate after their fun snowshoeing or taking a horse-drawn sleigh ride. You can search for ice gems in the snow maze or build a snowman. After hot dogs, s'mores and hot chocolate by the bonfire, there's a scavenger hunt through the woods and a guided snowshoe hike along the Little Bonnechere River. Lots of fun!

I thought I was only doing a double batch of Oatmeal Raisin Chocolate Chippers but once I got into it I decided to do couple of batches of Hooty Cakes as well - oatmeal cookies with cranberries and white chocolate chips and a bit of cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger thrown in for good measure.

The Official Cookie Tester was on his game and, being the dedicated taste tester that he is, he had to come back for samples two or three times. Quality control, you know!

Not to worry, there are still lots to deliver - 16 dozen to be exact. That should help keep the munchies at bay on a winter's day....M

I'm Finished Churning

Omigosh requires lots of Churn Dash blocks - lots! Even though I have simplified the design of the block that I am using (I've removed the tiny four-patch blocks from the centre of the four outer cream blocks), it was still going to take some time to get the last of them all together. The pieces were getting lost amid the mess of my sewing table so I decided to pair everything up and just work at them until they were all together - it's easier to keep track of 4.5" quilt blocks rather than 1.5" squares.

Over several days I'd sit down and put three or four blocks together in one sitting and - wa-la - they are all finished now.

Or at least as many as I think that I need.

It's a happy little block and I love seeing them all together.

I'm going to modify my quilt design even more than just using a simplified Churn Dash block, which will require fewer blocks all round, but I'm pretty sure that I now have enough for what I need, with possibly some extras. I'll share my idea for my version of Omigosh with you one of these days; I'm quite excited about it....M