Weekends

Since I'm an office worker bee Monday to Friday, here is how I spend most of my weekends. I have a good routine. I ponder all the design elements and work with my customer during the week. I get the quilt all set up and on Saturday morning, I make my cup of tea, put on my comfy shoes and head downstairs to my studio. Note I didn't say I got dressed. Yup, I'm a pajama quilter.
This sweet quilt has gone back to it's owner, ready to be gifted out for a very special baby girl.

I love the final look of template work, but geez, I'm getting old.  I can only do so much and then I have to break for a bit.  I doubt I'd offer this type of quilting on a large piece, but for baby quilts, I just couldn't resist.

This is my current project.  It's for the same customer, and maybe for the same baby?  I'm not sure.

Again, with all the ruler work going around the applique I have to switch it up.  So I'm just on a break to stretch out, change my stance, move around and refresh my tea.

I just posted to say a quick hello to my readers, I have been slack in responding to your comments, sorry. I do love them and I am thrilled if you take a minute to comment.  I'll really try to be better, I'm almost finished winterizing my yard.
Hope you get to stitch something this weekend.
Sharon

$850 Later....

We drew the winning ticket for this quilt.

Kelly B was the lucky winner. He works in our warehouse and I was thrilled to have sold the winning ticket. My work has been so supportive of me throughout this whole ordeal and they continue to Fund the Fight by purchasing tickets every year.
Thank you to everyone who bought tickets or helped out. It's October, have you booked your mammogram yet? How about a self exam, those are free and that's what saved me!
Sharon

To the Wall

Remember these? 110 blocks of red and cream?

Half of them have hit the design wall. Then work got busy this week and I haven't been back to the storage room. I need to find my painters tape to mark the rows.

I always use a black and white shot to help me spread out the values. Some of these blocks are darker and this is the best way to see what needs moved. Sometimes it's as simple as rotating a block.

Hope you get to stitch this weekend.
Sharon

Friends

A few weeks ago the Cranberry Festival was celebrated in a little touristy town called Ft. Langley in BC It sits right on the Fraser River and has a lot of history to it. My girlfriends decided to spend the afternoon wandering through all the vendor booths instead of pulling weeds from their gardens. I've known the girls in the middle since grade 2 and 4. We were the Three Muskateers all throughout elementary school. As one of them says, we know too much about each other to not be friends! After 40+ years, I suspect we do know a lot about each other!

The internet has opened up a whole new world of friends. Blogging and quilting seem to go hand in hand and I feel blessed to be able to do both, even though blogging has moved lower down on my to do list this past while. I sent off a box of scraps and look what I got in return!

All kinds of German Christmas goodies. Now the Dr has recently told me "no coffee, no chocolate, limit alcohol and no red wine" I asked if I should bother getting up the next day :-) I couldn't resist these little Santa's. German chocolate is so good. Thank you Susi!
Hope you all have some surprises in your mail this month.
Sharon

Slippery Slope

I went on eBay the other day. It's all Jan's fault. Did you see this post at Be*mused? Only go there if you have self control like me  others.
I hit the slippery slope of ebay for quilts.

I've never been there before and trust me, that's a good thing!

It took a while to get out of it, but I've managed to detox.

I'm now a member of eBay Anonymous.

Look at this cute print!!

I need to take them all off the background, poly cotton isn't going to cut it.

I got out with only two purchases, whew!
Sharon

2 out of 3

Here is the latest BASICS quilt to get quilted.
Love how graphic this is.

Someone will love to snuggle under this one in the winter.

Now to send it off to my binder! Many hands make light work.
Thanks Irene, this is a great quilt. One more left to quilt, but I have customer quilts in line.
Since it's still Oct, I'm sure I'll meet my commitment of 5 quilts by Thanksgiving.
Couldn't have done it without help, thanks everyone.
Sharon

Surprise Quilt

Since moving to the US, I've come to realize how serious people take their football.  And not just any football, the college level seems to have avid fans that support the team through the good and the bad. 
I go to Monday Night Football at the local pub.  Not to watch the game, but to visit and have a few with friends, watch them all try to win the football toss and cheer when someone wins a prize.
This customer has a DH who is obviously a Bronco's fan and is he ever going to be surprised when he gets this gift.

That's Boise State Broncos.

Bronco Nation!

I think he's gonna love this!
Sharon

Cold Weather is Coming.

Can you help just one family?  Please go to Victoria's recent post and see if you can lend a hand.  I know not everyone can and I know there are so many places that need help and each of us cannot "do it all"  But collectively, bloggers can make a huge difference in one family's winter this year.

Imagine having to leave your home with your kids, your purse, and the clothes on your back.  That's what some of these people have done.  They're not all looking for a hand out, many of them just need a hand up. 
Sharon

Hallow'een

I might have posted some of these pieces last year, but it's what I've got!
This is my reversible tablerunner.  Yup, most people would have put fall on the the other side so they could continue to use it through Thanksgiving.  Or if they were really thinking, put Christmas on the back of it. That's the whole purpose of reversible, right?  Nope, not me, the other side is also hallow'een.  There is no explanation for some things that happen in life, and this is one of them!

 This runner was made with left overs from the quilt that is on my couch.

 One of my favorite pieces.  I quilted spirals in all the blocks, used flannel on the back and it's so cozy and warm for this time of year.  I love this quilt.  From the cover of AP&Q a few years ago.

 Yes, I'm still working on my Beyond the Cherry Tree blocks.  It's a slow process, but my time has been very limited for any quilting.  One stitch at a time......

One leaf at a time.........It's not been put in a box and forgotten about.

Life has been hectic, I keep saying that and just when I think things should/could slow down a bit, I've entered the vortex of multiple medical issues and appts.  Getting older isn't for sissies!

I hope all my fellow bloggers are doing well.  I've tried to comment on so many occasions and I keep getting an error message and with limited time, I just move along instead of retyping.

Sharon

Quilting Update

Here are a few pieces I've done on the Longarm lately
MB's quilt here, I've never seen this pattern before,

this was fun to quilt.  I quilted a feathered star for the tree topper, it didn't show much in the photo, but was a fun touch to this piece.

BASICS top has now been quilted.

Love all the colors in this piece.

I've farmed out the binding to one of my gal pals who wanted to help the cause.  Have you got a quilt for BASICS?  Winter is coming and this is such a great place to donate to.

Thanks to Irene, she sent me two tops. One down, one to go.  With help from bloggers and my friends, I'll get to my goal of 5 quilts for BASICS by Thanksgiving!  US thanksgiving, that is..........hehehe. 

Happy Turkey Day to all my Canadian friends!  I'm heading north for turkey on Sunday, I get the best of both celebrations, because I'll do dinner all over again in Nov!

Red and White Revisited

Life has been busy lately.  As much as I've tried to keep up reading my favorite blogs and commenting here and there, I haven't been able to keep up with my own blog, or my housework or yardwork.  But that can wait while I get in some quilting time this weekend.
I've been working on my Red and Cream Pineapple Blossom pattern as there isn't much brain power needed for these blocks. 

I've had the strips and squares pre cut so I wasn't even needing to measure anything.

And now I have 80 blocks finished and the remaining 30 have all been started.

I also got my mini Red & White finished but I didn't get it sent off to Temecula for their R & W show. Did you all see pics of it? Check it out here.

Tonight I am machine quilting for a customer, I'm excited to work on this as it's a special quilt for her DH.