Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas! I want to wish you and yours all the very best this holiday season! 

Just in case I don't get a chance to post in the next week, I want to wish you a Happy New Year too!

Happy stitching
corina

Will it be Done In TIme?

I'm busy sewing like a crazy person. Will it be done in time?

I'm linking up to the WIP WEDNESDAY at the Needle and Thread Network. My fellow Canadian bloggers have been busy!

I'm also linking up to the  WIP WEDNESDAY at Freshly Pieced. Lots of inspiration!

Happy Holidays!
corina

SECRET SANTA LOVE

Do you ever have one of those mornings where nothing goes right? You stub your toe getting out of bed. As your limping in pain saying "fudge" several times, you step on a sharp chewed up nylon bone lovingly left in the middle of the room by your  "favorite" dog. Nothing that a nice freshly brewed cup of coffee won't fix, right? Except that you spill it on the way to your lips, burn your fingers, and it dribbles down your shirt. As you are on your hands and knees wiping up the coffee, you figure your morning is pretty much ruined. Until................................

YOUR SECRET SANTA GIFT ARRIVES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So many pretty presents!

Handmade gift card holder with a TIMMY's CARD!

The magazine I wanted!!!!

5 Fat quarters in my fave colors!!!

The perfect quilter's ornament!

 Thank you so very much Secret Santa!!! I love all my gifts. I must have been such a good girl this year (Santa obviously wasn't checking his/her list twice!). I can't believe the perfect colors of the fat quarters. Secret Santa really "got" me. You wouldn't believe how hard it is to find those grayed out shades of fabric. Thanks again Secret Santa. Thank you too, Suzanne (Coloradolady) for organizing this exchange!

Happy Stitching
corina

SKYLINE QUILT

A few more windows, some FMQ and a few touches of sheer fabric and my Winnipeg Skyline quilt will be done! (I'll take a few better pictures outdoors when I'm done. Right now it is -24C and I don't want to go out!!) This quilt started as another charm square challenge from my guild. I added a 1 inch strip of black fabric to each charm square, then cut the square in half to make two rectangles. A little arranging on the design wall (actually a lot of arranging and rearranging) and the sky was done. At first I was going to do a famous skyline like New York City's, then I thought - what about my own hometown!!? The trees were a lot of fun to do. Originally I wanted to piece a bunch of 2 1/2" green squares together, then cut out tree shapes. That wasn't working. The squares were competing with the lines of the buildings and sky. So I did this to all the squares:

slice 'n dice (watch those fingers!!)

Arrange in color piles

 I sprinkled my confetti fabrics over an ugly green fabric, covered the colorful mess with a layer of green netting and did some crazy free motion quilting over it. Then I cut out shapes and attached them to the quilt by FMQ sguiggles over the raw edge. The most fun I've ever had doing trees!

I'm linking up to the WIP WEDNESDAY at the Needle and Thread Network. Check out what my fellow Canadian bloggers are working on this week.

Speaking of fellow Canadian bloggers, Lee over at Lala's Lovelies is hosting a WINTER WHITE FRIENDSHIP BLOCK EXCHANGE! Hurry over and sign up while there is still room!

I'm also linking up to the  WIP WEDNESDAY at Freshly Pieced. Lots of great projects in progress in blogland!

Happy Stitching
corina

Circles, Circles, Circles

The top for my guild's  Floral Frenzy Charm Challenge is done! I was getting a tad dizzy sewing in circles for days! I'm quite pleased with the outcome. Now I need to decide on how to quilt it.

I've been working on my Winnipeg Skyline quilt. A few more windows to do and then I will post a picture. If you have a moment, check out all the works in progress over at Freshly Pieced!

Happy Stitching
corina

Fabrics & Classes & Finishes, OH MY!

If you are visiting from Sew Sisters Blogathon Canada, I want to

welcome you to Winnipeg, Manitoba!

Things are looking up here in the ol' sewing room! I finished 2 quilts, took a hand applique class with award winning quilter Karen K Buckley and finally started sorting my charm squares for the Floral Frenzy Challenge at my guild.

It never ceases to amaze me how a mismatched stack of fabrics, some half square triangles and a simple 4 patch.................................................................

 Can turn into this........................................................

This quilt is a charity donation. I love how it turned out.

My second finish is this Jelly Roll 1600, which goes to Victoria's Quilts. A warm flannel backed quilt for someone who is going through cancer treatment.

As some of you already know from kindly visiting my blog, I like muddy colors. Some may say they are dull colors, but I love 'em! This is the muddy palette for my floral applique block. I looked a little out of place beside the eager students holding their fuschia, periwinkle blue and emerald green fabrics Ha Ha. Notice in the bottom right corner I threw in my version of an "accent" color!

Here are my results, but before you look at the picture, please, please keep in mind it was HAND applique. (I learned a great deal from a terrific teacher, I'm just not very fast)

Hang on. Here is a much better photo of the results:

Pretty productive, wasn't I!!!

I've started sorting the charm squares for the guilds Floral Frenzy challenge. The top is due December 2nd. We've had a few months to get it done. I'm still deciding on what to do with the darn squares. I think I can safely say that there will be a couple of late nights before the due date!!!

 I almost forgot to show you the back of the Jelly Roll 1600 quilt. Sue, a fellow guild member, kindly quilted it for me. This is the first quilt I've made that I didn't quilt myself. It felt strange to have someone else do it, but until the shoulder gets better I had no choice. The quilting is so lovely. I will have to try a free motion design like that in the future.

Thank-you Sue. It's perfect!

Make sure to stop by all the other Manitoba blogs today through the links at Blogathon Canada. The blogathon has been on all week, with new stops every day. Tomorrow is the Yukon Territories and the final stop is Ontario on Saturday.

Happy Stitching
corina

 I'm joining in the Secret Santa Soiree hosted by Suzanne at Coloradolady. I really enjoyed taking part last year and received a fantastic collection of gifts from my Secret Santa (you can see them here). I've got a few ideas on what I might make or buy this time, but have to wait until I found out who my swap partner is. There will be some snooping on his/her blog to gather intel on likes and dislikes! If you hurry on over to Coloradolady you can join in the fun too! Who knows, maybe I'll be your Secret Santa!

Happy Stitching
corina

FNSI Results

I love the Carpenter's Star pattern. Last year I made one for my Secret Santa partner. This one is for me. I was so happy to get it done that I forgot to layer it with the backing and batting before trimming my edges. Oh well, it still will work but would have been easier the other way. It felt good to get some sewing in. My shoulder still annoys me but I have decided not to listen to it (unless it really starts yelling at me!). There are many projects to finish and I can't wait to get going on them.

There is going to be a Canadian Blogathon happening in November. The badge is on my sidebar so you might want to check out the link and join in on the fun.

Happy Stitching
corina

Yayyy! I finally sewed something!!!

I've been going crazy without my sewing time. Determined to take part in the FNSI, I ignored the shoulder issues and sewed a little something for Halloween.

I still need to add a couple of buttons in the center of the stars, a couple of emerald beads for the cat's eyes and a binding. I'm itching to finish it, but the pins and needles have returned in the arm so I better leave it for another day. Now I'm off to see what everyone else has done!

Happy Stitching
corina

ps Thanks Heidi for changing up the rules a bit for the FNSI. It's great having the whole weekend to post!

MY FNSI PRIZE

I won the FNSI draw in June and my winnings arrived on Friday! I cannot wait to make the owl pincushions!!!! Fellow blogger Sandra (Suddenly Sandra) makes these really cute owls shown here. I've hinted left, right and center to make one as a giveaway so I could win it, but alas, she hasn't taken the hints. Well Sandra, it turns out I'll be able to make my own adorable owls now - so there! LOL! You should check out her blog, she makes some wonderful little zippered bags in different shapes and sizes (and a really cute penguin that I've got my eye on!).

 In case some of you don't know what the FNSI stands for, it is the Friday Night Sew In. A virtual sewing get together, hosted by two cousins, Bobbi (Crafty Vegas Mom)  and Heidi (Handmade by Heidi). A hundred or so quilters link up with the goal to get some sewing done on the designated Friday. The next day we post our results, big or small. It's wonderful to see all the projects everyone was working on. There is a prize draw too! Even though I can sew any day, I actually plan my sewing for that evening (or try to). I look forward to it every month. A big thank you to Bobbi and Heidi for hosting the event (and for my lovely prize)!

My blog hasn't shown much sewing lately and still might be a little while before it does. It turns out I have a pinched nerve in my shoulder which has seriously curtailed important activities - such as sewing and computer time. While it gets worked on, I've been enjoying the outdoors, sipping on iced coffee and reading. An alarming dust bunny problem is developing but OH WELL - must listen to the physiotherapist and take it easy!

Happy Stitching
corina

ps - Thank you all for your comments these past few weeks. Typing really aggravates my shoulder so will respond when I'm back to normal. Just wanted to let you know that I do appreciate them and haven't been ignoring you!

No FNSI Results

I'm a tad under the weather this weekend, so no sewing for me :(  Hope everyone else had a great time at the FNSI. I'll be popping by to see what everyone accomplished!

Happy Stitching
corina

FNSI Results?

 Well I confess I have no sewing to show you. I received 2 quilting books in the mail in the afternoon and all plans of quilting disappeared. One of the books is an oldie but goodie by Harriet Hargrave  called Heirloom Machine Quilting. The second is a new release and although it says it's for longarm quilting, a lot of the information pertains to sewing on domestic machines. There are some fabulous designs in the book. 

Harriet Hargrave is coming to teach a machine quilting class next week! When I first found this out  way back in April, I was hesitant to sign up because it was around the time I had to go on a sudden week long "vacation"  to the hospital. I was quite upset to have to say no to such a fabulous opportunity and the class filled up lickety split. Luck was on my side though! My friend suggested I give the store holding the classes a call just a few days ago. It turns out there had just been a cancellation and a spot opened up. Of course I jumped at the chance!!  I've heard she is a phenomenal teacher, and what better way to learn the ins and outs of machine quilting than from a pro!

Happy Stitching

corina

WIP Wednesday

I like the design showing up on the back

 Still more quilting on my gumdrops quilt. I love doing the small stippling, not loving doing the continuous curves. You'd think it would be easy to make gentle curves following the squares, and it's not bad going one way, but I suck at doing it from left to right or vice versa. By the time the quilt is done I hope to have it down pat. If not, the next time I'm marking the curves! I think I'm spending more time on quilting this quilt than I did on piecing it! It's been a lot of fun though.

I will be posting Part 2 of Sewing Room Organization on the weekend. The drawers are almost finished. I've used 25 of the Oil of Olay display boxes so far. I'm glad I took half a cart full!Thanks for all the positive comments on my fat quarter storage/hoarding problem. I guess I'm not alone!

 I am linking up for WIP Wednesday at the Needle and Thread Network and also at Freshly Pieced. If you have a moment, drop by and see some of the beautiful works in progress in blogland!

Happy Stitching
corina

Organizing Part 1 - Fat Quarter Storage

 I have a confession to make. I recently went crazy at a fabric sale.There was a very special deal on fat quarters. The average price for good quality Moda/designer fat quarters here is $4.00, give or take a quarter. They rarely go on sale, and if they do it is half price at the very most. However, at this unheard of sale, if you bought over 101 you paid only $1.17 each! So...........what's a girl to do...............insert sheepish grin....insert flush of embarrassment.............I bought.300. Not all at once though. The first time I went I exhibited self control and picked out a bunch for my friend and lots for myself. Second time I went, I bought for specific projects, and told the owner that my twin sister told me about the sale. Third time I went, it was just because I HAVE A SICKNESS CALLED UFQHD (uncontrollable fat quarter hoarding disorder).I told the owner that my 2 sisters had come to the sale and they thought it would be a good idea to come and get some for myself, and that by the way, we were triplets. He just laughed and now thinks I'm nuts! In my fabric hoarding defence, I rationalized that I am committed to make several charity quilts, 2 larger birthday quilts and thought it would be great to give fat quarter bundles as gifts too! Anywhoooo, that's what I'm telling myself :) Problem is, where do I store all these beauties? Say hello to cd storage cabinet from Canadian Tire:

mine are darker

It's 44" tall, 17"wide and the shelves are only 5 1/2" deep. Perfect for fat quarters. Originally I had all my bundles of joy in shallow fabric boxes, stacked one on top the other. When I needed to pull a few for a new quilt I had to drag out all these boxes, then restack and put them back into the bookshelf. Things will be so much easier now. To hold my now overflowing stash of fat quarters I needed 3 of these babies.  Here's what they look like now:

I so love seeing them on display. I do get the occasional guilty/ill flutter of YIKES when I think of how many I have, but that will lessen with each quilt I make!. There will be lots of rearranging the colors over time. Right now some are grouped by color, others by project.

Next time I will post about organizing my sewing drawers using parts of an Oil of Olay display from the grocery store!

Happy Stitching
corina

How Do I Love Thee

I'm working on my gumdrops quilt. It has never been a particular favorite top of mine, so I figured it would be perfect to practice quilting on. So far I've quilted 24 motifs. I'm not sure what I will be doing in the blocks with the circles yet.

designs marked with blue washout pen

quilted with pale yellow thread

I used a light grey contrasting thread for the back. Normally I pick thread to blend in with the back so mistakes won't show, but seeing as this is my test quilt with my Juki I wanted everything (good or bad) to be visible. I'm quite pleased so far. Still find it a bit challenging to follow lines, but it's getting better. I force myself to stop at points to readjust my hands. It seems I was only remembering to change hand position in the middle of a flowing curve, which doesn't help. Lots of good practice space on this quilt. I'm thinking of trying out different small scale fills in the areas around the motifs.

How do I love thee Juki after only 5 days? Let me count the ways......you are a dream for piecing, free motion quilting is tension headache free and you don't even show the hint of a quiver in the stitching going over bulky seams when doing stitch in the ditch. There will be more praises sung of this machine in the future.


I am linking up for WIP Wednesday at the Needle and Thread Network and also at Freshly Pieced. If you have a moment, drop by and see some of the beautiful works in progress in blogland!

Happy Stitching
corina

It's a Boy, No a Girl, No it's a JUKI

My husband was trying to remember what he had wanted to do this afternoon. I gave the usual suggestions to help jog his memory, Canadian Tire, Princess Auto, Home Depot. Then it hit me. I knew what he wanted to do, test drive a JUKI!!!(or should I say watch his wife test drive one!). Unbelievably he said YES and lo and behold, a couple of hours later my baby came home!!!

I'm blown away by this machine. I've thrown every troublesome thread I could at it, mono filament, 28wt, metallic and it doesn't skip a beat. No tension issues when FMQ'ing. Piecing is unbelievable. No creeping of the top square. I am so in love :).

I may disappear for a bit. You understand, don't you?

Happy Stitching
corina

A FEW CURVES for FNSI

I took a class taught by Marj Moore a couple of weeks ago. Our guild is very fortunate to have her as a member. Click on her name to see some of her phenomenal quilts. The class was on the pattern from the book "It's in the Bag" by Hopscotch . For the FNSI I finished adding some of the curves.

 I won't be making it into a bag. It will be yet another wall quilt. I'm thinking of adding a couple of sections onto it to make it more substantial. The ideas need to percolate in my head just a little longer.

Thank you Heidi and Bobbi for hosting the FNSI. I look forward to it every month as I'm sure everyone else does :)

If you have a moment, take a look at all the quilts for Dad entered at the Quilting Gallery contest. I've entered my quilt "It's a Guy Thing". Vote for your favorite (perhaps mine?). Voting ends Sunday night (or Monday morning depending on your time zone).


Happy Stitching
corina

Father's Day Quilt

The Quilting Gallery is having a Quilts for Dad contest and I have entered my jelly roll 1600 quilt "It's A Guy Thing". I figured it was a perfect fit for the theme. There are so many beautiful quilts entered in the contest. Vote for your favorite (perhaps mine?). Voting is open until Monday morning!

 Now it's time to get ready for the FNSI tonight. I have so many UFO's I don't know where to start! If you haven't linked up yet head on over to Handmade by Heidi's blog and sign up!

Happy Stitching
corina

I Couldn't Get It Done

 I've linked up with the Needle and Thread Network for WIP Wednesday!

 I didn't make the deadline for the charm square challenge :(  Thank goodness the  guild decided not to kick me out Ha Ha! I sewed and sewed and sewed, had multiple fights with my fusible web and finally had to admit deadline defeat. The background for my Winnipeg Skyline quilt is ready though as you can see from the above photo. The next step is to add my buildings. Here are the building fabrics being auditioned on the background before I had it sewn together.

They are further along than the picture shows, just forgot to take the photo. I actually have applied the fusible and cut out the shapes. Once they are fused on I need to add details such as windows. The final step will be to add trees in front of the buildings. I'm going to cut all my green charm squares into 2 1/2" squares, then sew them on point into 1 big piece of fabric. I'll be cutting individual trees from that fabric.

Hopefully once everything goes together it will match what I had envisioned. Right now I think it's a bit "iffy". Time will tell! If you have time, check out my fellow Canadian Bloggers who have linked up with the Needle and Thread Network for WIP Wednesday!

Happy Stitching,
corina

A Little Win

I belong to a 300+ member guild called Manitoba Prairie Quilters. We had a UFO challenge that started in December. You took a picture of your UFO, finished it by the June meeting and were then entered to win a gift bag. I submitted 10 UFO pictures (I'm always optimistic) and finished 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 ..........1! At least I finished something!?! Approximately 30 of the 70 UFO's entered for the challenge were completed. I didn't win the gift bag draw, but my little quilt tied for Viewer's Choice which was a nice surprise (the 4 fat quarters and $25 prize were an added bonus!). The pattern for the quilt is in the book Quilted Symphony by Gloria Loughman. I changed it up a little by doing the beaded curved edge. I'm not a big paper piecer either, so I just free sewed the last section.

I'm in nickel square challenge at another guild I belong to. I'm making a quilt depicting Winnipeg's skyline at sunset. So far I have attached a 1" black strip to each of the 144 nickel squares, then cut them in half. You can see I have a long way to go but I do have until Monday night. That gives me PLENTY of time Ha ha!

Happy Stitching
corina

My WIP

 Last year I took a class with Vicki Pignatelli. She was an amazing teacher. The class was really enjoyable and I was all gung-ho to finish my abstract project!

 Fast forward several months and I had still done nothing! This morning I finally sewed my curved pieces onto the foundation fabric, decided I don't like wonky edges and am now working on cutting the block into a circle shape.

 I need those nice clean edges! Eventually my circles will be joined together, but not sure how. Am toying with the idea of beading to join them, but that may be a bit too ambitious!

Check out all the other Canadian Blogs for W.I.P Wednesday at the Needle and Thread Network!

Happy Stitching
corina

Charm Top is done

My scrappy charm square quilt is done, well before the September deadline. I think that it's the first time I've finished something ahead of schedule (you know I'm a last minute kinda girl!). The deadline for the completed quilt is December, so lots of time to quilt and bind it. Oops. Looks like I was a tad off balance when I took the picture.

  I dragged out my Gloria Loughman UFO. I really find it hard to work on older projects. The enthusiasm is no longer there. But..I'm determined to get it off my list. I need one paper pieced section, then I can start sewing all the sections together.

Hopefully I can get it done by Wednesday morning. Our power is being turned off that day. Our neighbour is getting a huge tree that is close to the power lines cut down. Would be the perfect time to sew the binding on.

Happy Stitching
corina

I Love Scrappy!

Just a quick little post on a charm square exchange quilt for charity because I'm in the middle of sewing heaven and I want to get right back to it! Usually I plan and fuss, and plan and fuss til my brain explodes. This quilt I decided to throw caution to the wind and just grab a light and a dark and go for it.

I love the scrappiness!

Gotta Go!
corina