Quilts and Wild Thang

Well I have recieved complaints from a few people that I haven't been writing enough. I just haven't had anything to say. Well this is the quilt that I basted and am currently machine quilting. Since this is one of my favorite Scrappy Quilts i figured that i would show it here. Once it is finished quilting i will probably show it again. The fabric from this quilt is scraps left over from hundreds of fat Quarters . Scrappy is the way to go for me. When i take a picture of the log cabin i did it is with the same fabrics the colours look so different. I will put it up. Maybe tomorrow.

Well this was a project of insanity. There is hundreds of half square triangles. My husband thought that i was losing it. 2 inch half square triangles. He doesnt' really appreciate the cursing and the work that went into matching all those points. It isn't perfect but what is really? Heres a close up look at those darn 2 inch half squares. Previously to this i was a not one to pin . It made other quilters shudder when i told them that i usually wing it and not pin. I actually took the time for this one. hense the cursing. I was stabbed by pins . Poked and stabbed. My hands looked like there was crazed sugar testing being done on my hands.

Any way today i went on a field trip to a nearby town of Beaujejour. ( i probably spelt that wrong) for a quilt show. It was great the ladies there put on a really nice show. There was Challenge quilts, they were using Blues as the challenge fabric.

There was a number of absolutely gorgeous quilts. Doll quilts, miniature, wall quilts , bed quilts , and tree skirts. The bottom two quilts are made by Melissa M. They are her original works and I love the red and yellow one . Its called WILD THANG. In this piece she has couched yellow yarn in the vertical red strips and it just adds a zing. P.S. I have her permission to post a picture of her quilt. I had on of just the yellow but it was blurry so you get to see 2 of her works.

I had gone there not expecting to know any one and low and behold I ran into Ursula of Gimli fame. She was there with her daughter. While I visited a bit and went around the hall and church twice , she went off to go see another show in East St. Paul. I plan on going tomorrow.
thats it for now but i will add a new posting later tonight. Ciao

Flooding 2007

Spring time here on the praries mean well snow rain high temps and low temps. Last week we had wonder +9 degree weather everything soggy and it rained melting the snow even faster.

This past couple of days well Somebody opened the floodgates south of winnipeg and now we are flooded again. There is only one direct road from Selkirk to East Selkirk and now its flooded. And then it froze right back up flooded.

This is the road I would normally take to go to the grocery store. as you can tell I am having a bit of a problem with that.

The ice pack has buckled and broken for at least 4 miles and its all jammed up. Since that happened the tempertures have fallen freezing the slush around all those big chunks of ice and its not moving. With the road closed it is a 15 k trip around going south through lockport or north to the big bridge. From the big bridge it is all ice chunks all the way into Selkirk. Wednesday night my cousins Omma was evacuated from her condo because the bottom of her building filled up with river water. They built a dike system to protect these apartment from this happening they built them upt to the hieght of the 1997 flood thus ensuring that the flooding couldn't happen again...RRRRRRIIIIIIIIIGGGGGHHHHT.

The municipality also built the dikes up around the Selkirk Park and The Marine Museum. Now to me the Marine museum is special the boats that are housed there more than a few of my uncles and great uncles worked these boats when Selkirk was the home of Selkirk Fisheries. Long time ago I used to wait at the docks with my mother and grandparents and watch the boats come in waiting to see my uncle Snake Island Slim , its a bit of a colourful name but he is a bit of a characture and it suites him. I digress back to the museum.

There is a lighthouse there that my grampa ran for the government after he came back from WWII. This was on Black Bear Island. Their home was on a nearby island called Matheson Island ( Previously called Snake Island I don't know why they changed the name)

Any way this is the lighthouse that was my grampas and inside there is carved into the wood the names of my Uncle and my mom. I actually had my Wedding photos taken in front of the lighthouse and on the Kenora. Just keeping family history alive folks. Actually I will probably do some fundraising to help them out If anything is selvagable. It takes a lot of work and $ to keep this Museum open. I don't even think they recovered financially from the Flooding that happened in 1997

Any way I will put up a few more pics and then I am planning to work on something quilty. Maybe one of the swaps that I am now saying what am I doing signing up for this many in a 2 month period. 3.5 inch 9 patches. 10 per set. or may be the strip swap with 10 per set, or the row robin, or the monthly block swap, the row robin, or maybe work on the big orange egg or coneflower wall hangings. Or I could .......

Blanket stitch Applique classes

This was a lonestar top that I had done for a raffle a few years ago I just found the disk that the picture was on. I did it for Lil ' Peguis Ceremony Grounds. Not the best of pictures I had to take the picture with it laying on the floor and me standing way back to get most of it in. Not my favorite just because I had paperpieced a round to get smaller diamonds in one row. But I was happy with the end result.










Well these two masterpieces are from my classes I took on the 31, and 1st. The one that looks like a big orange egg is actually the body of a fat cat. Unfortunately this was as far as I got before having to leave for the day . The class was done by Inez D. You Manitoba gals should know who that is. The class was Machine Blanketstitch Applique. Since I am a piecer this is all new to me. So like before I am moving out of my comfort zone to learn a new skill. Inez's work is fantastic. And she made it look so easy. cutting templates of freezer paper and ironing around the 1/4 seam , measuring and tacking in place. My only complaint was i didn't have enough time to do more . Meaning I have another WIP.
But before I could do any sewing I had to phone my husband to do me a small favor . Seems in the excitement of leaving for class I forgot a few things. My foot pedal and my power cord. Seems pretty important things to forget. And of course since I didn't know what pattern I was going to use I brought the patterns and fabric for 3 projects, in a small suite case. I had to bother people for pencils for marking the freezer paper. I brought my travel iron nice and hot but forgot my pad to iron on.
Todays class went a little smoother but someone ordered snow and it was a greasy slippery ride into the Peg to get to class. This one was fusible applique and thread painting. Its going to be coneflowers. So far I have attached the stems and leaves and starting the button hole applique stitch on the stems. Yes another WIP.
WIPS actively on the go 6, attentions span for myself to complete said WIPs 0. Plus I have 3 BOM that started in January , haven't touched them yet. . ... I need a sewing room to spread my projects out in. My DH is feeling a little crowded out by my quilting fabric and all the tubs and totes and my machines. Oh well maybe I won the 649 and I can have a magestic sewing palace of my dreams. Better go and check my numbers.

Time out

Well after my last fiasco with the buckeyes I took a well deserved rest from the beauties. I know what your thinking and no it will not become a UFO. It will be the only quilt that I have made that will fit my bed and I am looking forward to having it on my bed. I have been pondering what type of border I will use on the quilt. I just don't know anyone with suggestions send me a post.
I actually spent the last few days outside in this beautiful weather we are having. The sunshine is melting the snow very quickly so my only concern is I hope my septic field doesnt flood. the basement in which we normally have trouble is nice and dry. The highway people were out flushing the culverts so the water will flow . but the melt water well it started creeping into my yard again. If I had a newer house that had the ground built up this wouldn't be a problem. but in comparison to the house 2 doors down me and my neighbor gets his water runoff. I can't wait until this weekend . I signed up for 2 classes one Saturday and one sunday. I think I will have to get a materials list since I I haven't gotten one yet. One my todo list today is one swap block and putting together my blocks for a row robing so i can send it off . I will see how much i will manage since well its beautiful outside again today. But since the lighting is so great I might get some sewing done . I promised myself that I will do at least 15 minutes and I want to set up my embroidary machine to do a few tea towels for gifts. Have a great day folks......

buckeyes and bastings

Well last night I went to a satelite group of Manitoba Prairie Quilters. Its at Little Brittian Church. Well I was inspired yesterday to actually begin the finish of a quilt. I had pieced the flannel backing to an adequate size and hauled everything with me to the hall. I had previously used basting spray but for the life of me could not find it, but the pins, they were there waiting to make my fingertips raw. Someone had already had the tables set up for basting so I just had to wait my turn. That was my evening bent over tables pinning my quilt. It took me an hour and a half but hey its done and now I can machine quilt it. This will be another full day exercise in rolling and tucking and shifting under my machine to get it to do what I want with it. The only question that I have is what color thread do I use. this is an extremely scrappy quilt. I do not want it to be biege. but what if any varigated color would I use. The back is easy it is beige. and I have enough thread for that.
Today I continued to make buckeye beauty blocks. I had them all set out on top of my bed in order to sew and make a pleasing arrangement of colours. I had finished the blocks Yippee.
That was short lived as something evil possessed the blocks and they either grew to larger than 12.5 inches or shrunk to 11.5 inches. The first row was very easily put together no headaches matching seams. Then it all changed. first two blocks easy , next block shrunk . It was a very pretty block. but I cannot make it grow. I switched the blocks around and carried on with making the rows. Row three made me mad no matter how many times I frogged the block aftersewing it, It would sit still until it got under the needle and my seam allowance would be a millimeter to half an inch . AAAAAAAA. Tossing those 2 blocks aside I went and rearranged the blocks another time. Next Row the third block was to big. Now I know I could have cut it down but it would have made the squares, rectangles and squares and I couldn't do it. As this pattern of sewing and swearing continued I ended up with blocks that will be very nice throw pillows or a table runner something else anyway and I now have to make another 7 blocks.
Maybe tomorrow I think I am done sewing for today.

How did this all start

Dancing sounds innocent enough. My mother decided that we needed to find out about our native heritage. Dancing was the first step in my journey into my heritage. When I was sixteen my mom said Lynn there is a Powwow in Sandy Bay on Saturday lets go. okay I foolishly said. Next thing I know my mom drops yards of fabric beside me on the couch. you and your sisters need dance outfits then and We have to make them before Friday night. ( We ,meaning me) This began a longstanding tradition of being Voluntold to do some sewing for my mom. It also became the start of my STASH. My grandmothers were great enough to keep me out of trouble by showing my how to sew, now it was time to do something with it. Quilting just kind of evolved from doing dance regalia. My youngest sister Leanne was just a preschooler and years of dance outfits required. My mother stuck her in every kind of dance class, Clogging, square dancing, tap and jazz. and of course Powwow. Every time my mother came home with something for me to sew. Crinolines. I hated doing crinolines. Full skirts to swirl, sequins to add to a tap skirt, and then came the Shawls. Ladies Fancy Dance was the style of dance we all learned. The ladies wore shawls.

No this isn't one of my sisters Its just an example of the style of dance regalia that I have sewn. Then my mother asked for lone star shawl for my sister. I didn't know making lone stars was supposed to be hard I just did it. I of course went okay just buy me a rotary cutter and a mat. Buy this time I was collecting Quilters Newsletter and Quiltmaker and the rotary cutter was changing the way we pieced quilts. No more stupid little templates. We went out picked up the biggest mat I could find and a rotary cutter and all the fabric. . That was it. one lonestar shawl 10 hours of sewing and cutting and one shawl. After I woke up I went and purchased a good iron. Next thing I know I am hip deep in making lone star blankets for my family and others for native ceremonies.

Buy this time my baby sister was 16 and I have been sewing her regalia for years. Every year it seemed like my mother collected kids (she was a foster mom for 27 kids) and got them into dancing powwow, and I had sewn for everyone of them. I even spent a few years teaching mothers how to make their children's regalia for a dance troupe. Even I couldn't sew for 20 or so kids. My house was full of color and ribbons of every color yarn and shiny sparkly material. My mother feeding my fabric addiction because she always had things for me to sew and she made me crazy with what she wanted me to sew. I am the one that in a sewing emergancy ,could whip up what you needed last minute. Years of my mother going "We need 5 dance outfits by 11:00 tomorrow morning and I said you would do it", made me crazy, but fast, and really good at improvising.

I had bags of shiny colourful material scraps from all those dance outfits, these all went into crazy quilts . I was determined to embroider. My mother did it wonderful work. She didn't sew but she could embroider. My pitiful attempts .... French not.

My mother passed away from Breast Cancer on Sept 13, 2006. Part of this story is in remembrance of her and how she made me crazy and how all this started.

Lost in the big city

Well today I went for a ride to winnipeg. As most cities goes it isn't so big. Not completely horrible to drive in except when I am driving. Off I go to meet Linda at Fabricland inthe southend of the city after spending 15 -20 minutes getting directions to find it off I go with the hopes of a fun afternoon. I am cruising down pembina and what theres Futureshop damn i missed the parking lot for Fabricland. So I parked in the next buildings lot behind the fabricland . I spend the next hour or so fondling fabrics and looking for green fabrics .( Previous comments on greens earlier) Well there were a few greens there Linda was finding them for me. Thankyou by the way, but they were setting off my yuck detectors. I stated I am not a biege person. I also am not a green person. and the fabrics were all so so so .... anyway I didn't buy any green but I did leave with a couple of florals to practice thread painting. So now we are going to go have coffee or tea at tims. I have a memory problem... She said Dakota after ST Marys. I remembered St. Marys. next thing i know i have totally missed the turn onto Bishop Grandin and am still heading towards the university. U turn at the next place I can to get back heading in the correct direction. Meanwhile I lost Linda she was in the correct lane and I assumed she took the right turn off. . Anyway I pull up to St marys I turn and now I am going into St Vital Mall Parking lot. I don't go there don't like shopping there don't like parking there and I see no Tims. I figure well I will just go inside and phone Linda and get her to come save me. as I am cutting through the lot I hear honking. Its Linda I am saved. I see her laughing at me and she motions for me to follow her which I think I should have done in the first place. What saved me is that you can see me coming and going ...I have a bright Yellow and I mean SUNSHINE YELLOW Focus. I think she ended up following me to save me from myself
I finally made it to Tims. had a fun conversation. I think we made the man next to us nervous he left kinda quickly. I had fun . I missed my husbands lunch break but oh well. Sh*t happens.
I have to leave my house more often .

Well these are a few of the buckeye beauties that I had recieved from a swap. The colour scheme was autumn with biege TOT. I signed up for 3 sets of 4. So I only purchased the TOT biege. I didn't own beige. the rest of the autumn colors I got from my stash. I also fiqured out that I am sadly lacking in blues and greens. Its funny how you gravitate towards certain colours. I have a number of wines burgandys and reds, a fair bit of oranges and more than my share of purples. I have complained before that I am not a biege person. I go into a LQS and I will inevitably pick up a few reds and oranges.

It a compulsion I am an obsessive compulsive fabric purchaser. What if that fabric isn't there when I figure out how to use it? how much should I buy. With this swap with some of my favorite colours I added to my fabric palette in block formation. Patterns that I haven't seen before. Only one fabric piece in a block was the same that I have in my stash. I even used it my blocks for the exchange maybe they are having the same thoughts as me... scary

Actually I figured out that I have to make 18 more blocks (four down) to make a coverlet for my king size bed that I bought by mistake. How can you buy a king sizebed by mistake you ask? Let me tell you its actually pretty easy if you have my brain. all the right circumstances have to be perfect the stars have to be aligned just right. and you have to have a memory like a colonder.

We have/had a queen in the bedroom makes it real cozy . now I haven't had much of a brain since my mothers passing so little thing go unnoticed by me on a regular basis add a lot of confusion since we were moving furniture out of my mothers house and her friends apartment (who I bought the bed from) One demanding sister and confusion with movers 3 times. Its real easy for your mind to wander off farther than you think. Now I had only seen the bed in passing once. it was beautiful was all that I could remember. and I agreed to buy it I thought it was Queen sized which I knew fit in my bedroom. I got to mothers friends apartment realized I already paid for it and it was KING sized. Well I went home and started to move stuff around. it was gonna be real tight. I had to confess. Dearest Darling Husband Can you take the closet out of the room because the bed that is coming tomorrow won't fit otherwise.

Ladies and gents what do you think Freud would say about my bed?

And oh yeah size does matter.

depression sucks

Somedays it is hard to get out of bed. specially if i get up and I am faced with mounds upon mounds of unsorted fabric. Its all washed but its not folded or ironed or placed in color order. My husband was in a snit about all my fabric .... I told him "I NEED A SEWING ROOM NOW"
We have c0me to an agreement .... we spend one weekend on a room start to finish new lighting insulation drywall new window , closet space voila. A room to place my bins, in the closet of course with the exception of the stuff I am working on. Unfortunately I usually have at least 4 or 5 things going on so I don't get bored or frustrated. Today I spent the day working on blocks for a Buckeyed beauty quilt and cutting 2.5 inch strips from stash. I have enough for a lap quilt but I figure I can attack my stash and make it even bigger. 12 of the blocks I got in a swap that was fun. I realized that my stash has changed I had been purchasing brights and colorful materials as opposed to the relaxed autumn colors. I think the next thing I will cut out will be brights so I can make a black and bright quilt, but i have to finish another log cabin first. No pictures this time .... I am embarassed of the stash sty that I have made...I am going back to bed.

Gimli Friday night and Saturday

Friday nights class started a little late due to a kitchen mishap. It was Alien Landscape class by Heather Lair.

This was definitely outside the box for me. Most people see my scrappy pieced quilts so taking an artsy fartsy class was a big learning experience. In my class was Linda M and Ursula, Helen (I used to work with her) and her daughter in law Brandy ( I think its Brandy) and a couple other ladies whose names I forgot . Sorry Serious Colander Brain. OMG (the lady that will now be known as Brandy) her piece was gorgeous when she finished it. It looked like a countryside with rolling hills. See for yourselves.

Helen & Brandy Brandy's Landscape

Linda 's Landscape was vibrant and bold. As you can tell she looks happy about it.

My landscape is at this moment a lot of fabric that is dangerously filled with pins. I will post a pic when I get it done.

Saturday we did a class done by Heather Lair again and the quilt was based on her Klimt series. We all started at 9:30 in the morning. Learned a little , talked a lot good times had. One thing I learned, I don't like working with Organza. The feel of it gives me the heeby jeebies. Well this is me very tired but extremely happy at 1:30 am Sunday morning. It was finished as far as I was concerned at that time. The gradient side pieces are from a piece of fabric I painted at a class a couple of years ago works well with it doesn't it. Since I have had it home I decided it needs a little extra something. Stay tuned for additions that I make. From Friday until Sunday morning I met old friends new Friends.

I made the deli owner across the street my new best friend , he had the best coffee. Java JAVA JAVA. I think next year I will bring a coffee maker with me so I can have a cup whenever I want. I was having serious caffeine withdrawals. I didn't work on projects that I already had started but you know that's okay . I got invited to a quilting group for Tuesday right close to my home . Maybe I will work on some of that there, or maybe not.

Gimli Retreat 2007 the beginning.

OMG I had the most wonderful weekend. I was at my first quilting retreat ever. It was a first for a few things. I left home by myself with no husband , no kids, no mom. I for the past 42 years never went away by myself for something that I wanted to do and I didn't have to worry about someone elses packing, entertainment for the kids or husband or listen to what I should be doing. IT FELT GOOD!!!

Well to say I had know idea what I should bring. I brought a couple of projects to work on (did not look at them once) besides the material for class. Since I didn't know what I would end up doing or not doing, my bag for fabric stash and tools ended up in my big suitcase. I brought a variety of stash. You would think i would pack the obvious like thread in the colorway I was bringing for my classes. NOT. Beige I brought beige. I am not a beige person I love bright colors and sparklies. I did remember to bring my rotary cutters and rulers and mats oh and my foot pedal for the machine, pretty important thing a foot pedal is. One lady there mentioned someone forgot theirs. I was very happy it wasn't me.

I felt so much like the new kid in school. Slightly panicky and excited. It was like the first day of school and you don't know anyone. and then wait for it, a face you recognise. Yippee I have a friend here. My friend Linda M arrived with her friend Ursalla and I felt so much better. It didn't take long for us to figure out where our classes that we signed up were and we grabbed our seats and started to set up. We were lucky both of our classes were in the same room so we didn't have to pack up and move at the end of class we just were able to set up shop for the weekend.

Since class wasn't scheduled to start until 7:30( 8:30 because of a kitchen mishap) I started poking around in the other class rooms to see if I recognised anyone and nosy around other peoples projects. I am soooo glad I did, it took about 15 minutes for me to realize I had a bad case of stash envy. Fabric and colours in every ones stash looked so much better than mine, and I brought a good bunch of stash, a large suitcase full. Some ladies brought tubs of fabric. I was in fabric heaven.... I had finally found people that were just like me... Fabric People...I was not alone, I wasn't the only one.

I am tired now so I think I will retreat to my bedroom to sleep. I will talk more about this tomorrow

VALENTINES

Valentines is a day filled with love . not just romantic love but love of family , friends, and friends you haven't even met yet. I recieved a special Valentine from kwaanishiinh (a dragonfly) a very beautiful dragonfly. On her wings she carried a valentine from my mother. Little things that ment something to my mom.

My mom passed away from breast cancer in Sept 06. I still hope that I will wake up and it have been just a nightmare. But that is not to be. Instead she had this kwaanishiinh (dragonfly) send me gifts. worry dolls , worry stone, sparkly shoe and a pink ribbon.

My mother travelled alot in the past few years and she brought home a variety of things. worry dolls from South America, She picked up rocks from all over she has a few baskets of them. some are so smooth that its relaxings just to rub them. My mother also had a shoe fetish . if it sparkled she would buy them. her shoes had beads sequins stone and fancy sewing. She had a LOT of shoes.

When she recovered from her first bought with breast cancer she became an advocate for native women with breast cancer, and became involved with the National board. One night a year ago we spent an evening sewing together pink ribbons with a feather on them to sell to raise money for Breast Cancer.

My valentine carried gifts of my mother on her wings. Happy Valentines Day

Ladies night out.

Well here are some of the lovely ladies that I spent my Saturday night with. We had a lot of laughs lots of goodies to eat and of course we worked on our projects that we all hope never become UFOs. This was my first ever ladies night out quilting style and I had a blast. Now I am really looking forward to my weekend retreat coming up next weekend.

I wasn't half as wierd or wired on caffiene as I could have been. The picture below is one where we decided to take pictures of each other, on her blog I slightly resemble a cyclops. ( camera positioned on my forehead) I can only say that I hope that my next weekend will be filled with as many beautiful people as last night was, filled with laugher and giggles and helping each other out setting up order of blocks to be sewn together.

Swaps

Well I did it . I joined a swap. I joined a round robin and now in a row robin. You know I have always felt inadequate when it comes to showing my work. I am not saying that I don't sew well . More like I hope I sew good enough for everyone else. Ladies you know I am not the only one out there that feels that way. Always felt that my stiches might end up a little off kilter. Not good enough for a swap I might not hit that perfect scant 1/4 inch seam. Well I am now proud to say I am good enough. I am good enough to share with others. I am good enough for my self and I am good enough to challenge myself with a new style. Today my goal is to cut up 3 sets of four buckeye beauty pieces for a swap that I joined . The feeling is kinda like you know the water is going to be cold but you stick your toes in anyway. Well I didn't stick my toes in i jumped in with out checking the water. These ladies in one of my groups seem friendly enough. Nobody has sent out snotagrams to others. These ladies always seem to find the time to answer questions that newbies have. Suggest other ways of doing things one of them might work for you.

I worried about my one little block going to strangers in the round robin , what are they doing to it. Are they going to put colors I absolutely detest on it . What if the block was so weird they couldn't do anything with it. As I got the other peoples rounds I looked at it and asked myself what would do this justice . What would help make this RR sing . for every bit I had sewn on anothers work. I went with what was in my heart and that I fiqure is what its about. sharing pieces of yourself with others as you send your blocks around the group.

I got my round robin back yesterday. Its beautiful ladies . Thank you.

Stash family History

This lovely little pile of 50 odd fat quarters are all that remain of my ironing. I have prewashed everything. Just to Let everyone know I am a Fabriholic and in need of some serious intervention. In the weeks since Christmas I have purchased (laugh at me and my fat quarters) 109 fat quarters but I just have these left to iron. in six weeks thats like 27 yards. That doesn't include the flannel I purchased for quilt backings ( 6 different ones) plus a little bit for play and raggedy quilts for my nieces. In my defence I must state that I come from a long line of stashers and packrats.

Some people have traditions handed down through the family , things that others take great pride in. My families traditions is hoarding things like stash and doilies. Through out my life stash was there. When I was little I used to go to my great grannies little home. It had 3 rooms and a porch/mudroom with out door facilities. I loved going there when I was small granny always had something new in her basket for sewing. Her home was filled with quilts she made and hand made rugs. the prairie point rug was my favorite. It was made up with so many colours. and for a little kid you could stick your finger into the praire points. Sometimes she would get me to fold the squares into the triangles and then sew them into a rug. Other times she would get me to roll up the strings of fabric so she could have a ball of fabric to crochet into a rug.These bits of fabric were in and around her Chair in the living room. or under her treadle machine. My quess these bits of worn clothing that she she cut up was her stash. The tradition continues to her daughter My granny , I loved her so much , but she was a confirmed pack rat. She never through any thing out because you never knew when you might need it. When I moved into her home in the early nineties It was my job to go through everything, 265 doilies I counted two UFOs and stash. After my grandmother retired she worked in a second shop. there she would spend 6 days a week in a month and sort the donations . Some things were to worn to go out into the store and well you know it it ended up in my grannies closet to make its way to a quilt or even a rug or two. all those worn flannels and polyester double knits (yuck) were her stash. As for the doilies some were so fine I know these ones where great grannies. The bigger ones made with a heavier cotton were my grannies. You can never know when you need a doily. Moving down the line is my mother. She passed away in Sept of 06. I miss her so much. She grew up on an island on Lake Manitoba so she collected floats from fishing nets. I have absolutely no idea why she collected them they are just there. There are boxes of them in the garage. I have absolutely no idea what we are going to do with those.

All in all every one has a quirk or two. Mine is to have hundreds upon hundreds of fat quarters . Good thing I love scrappy quilts.

Farts and Fabriholic

Fabric aquisition road trips. .... I have had one or two to many. Ever since I pick up my beautiful little yellow car I have been travelling to all the near by quilt stores in Winnipeg. I have picked up something at every one of them. The other day as i was in a QS i thought hey I am going on a retreat in two weeks. I need 1 fabric many different shades. I did it. bought 12 fat quarters . I brought them into the house in my tote so dahling husband didn't see that I brought new fabric into the house. In numerous totes I have brought in yards and yards of fabric. guilt is the reasoning that I snuck the fabric into the house. Like an alcoholic I have stash hidden around the house. I even have two of the big tough tote bins at my mothers house with fabric in it. I need help. Evey time i go to a quilting class which I joined to use up my stash (like that is happening) I pick up something . My body quivers in anticipation when I hear my fav QS has new fabric. They have the Chocolate line . I love chocolate. Just the name inspires me to pull out my credit card. Fabric calls to me it unfurls from the bolt and waves at me as I walk in the door of the shop. Sale bolts jump up and down 50% off us come here take a look take me home you need me. STOP I say I shouldn't buy you and then the Fat quarters start up. We don't cost as much as a full metre or yard come and take a look at us . We are blue violet reds oranges. buttery creams and there is some chocolates sitting demurely on the shelf. Its at this point I should run. Sigh I never do. Now my stash is languishing in bins and tubs and totes through out the house and now they are screaming at me . You haven't touched us. The guilt level reaches a new level I join stashbusters . They will help me. I aspire to be as good as those ladies that are signed up for NO BUY. Brave these ladies are. In two weeks I go on a retreat ...there is a quilt store in the same building. That will be a true test of my willpower . Will my nerve and intentions stand firm, or will i give in to my compulsions. only time will tell.

Batteries

I went to a shower a few years ago and played some games. Everyone knows what the purse game is? Well here is how it goes the host makes up a list of items and and when she calls them out and you have them in your purse you stay in the game. I carry everything in a massive tote. A screwdriver was one of the last items , me and the other woman had them in our purses. Me a regular sized Phillips and the other lady a tiny wee one for glasses, we both stayed for the next round. They called batteries next. I had a sandwiche baggy with eight batteries in it. Yeah I won. Batteries hit my purse one year that darling step daughter recieved her digital camera. They came in handy as her camera ate the batteries so quickly. I still have batteries in my purse because of my camera. Mostly because I forget to take them out, but the event of a discman stoping, a remote control quitting and the worst thing, childrens toys running out of juice when the toy is the one thing that is keeping the darlings from driving me and their mother insane, I am prepared.

Postcards

As I journey into finding joy in my life I decided that even little quilts would use up stash. Maybe not enough for my husband to notice but I would indeed be back doing something that I loved. Sewing , creating , and fondling fabrics. I was recently invited to join a small group by a lovely lady whos link to her blog spot is somewhere on my spot. Linda M by the way . I have seen some of the lovely work that has been done WOW. not white on white but WOW! Some of these postcards are just incredible pieces of art. Saying that I am probably going to submit whoever reads this to my beginners attempts. To my non quilting friends and family if you read this your probably thinking white on white? Come over have some coffee or tea and I will gladly pull out fabric for you to look at. Trish if you read this your quilt may be 4 x 6 inches. lol

Family and hobbies

This poor man is my husband Greg. he has on his lap Wicket my cat and beside him is J.J. his dog. As you can see in the corner of this picture he is like most males of the species and has a remote fixation. He recently purchased an Ozzy remote as he calls it. Instead of 4 or 5 remotes on the table there is only one big touchpad remote for all the toys. he is waiting for one that can program me to remember to do house work. Electrician by day his hobby is collecting woodworking tools kinda like me and sewing machines and doing woodworking thingies in his shop. The other day he purchased a large shop dust filtration system. Its supposed to collect all the wood dust from his workshop. Currently it is set up in my living room in front of the wood stove. I haven't said a thing about this massive item in my living room. He actually made note that I haven't said a thing about getting it out of the living room. I figure it will be moved when he is ready to use it. He also mentioned that I couldn't and shouldn't dare say anything about 1 tool (Big One) in the living room since at this current time I have 5 tubs of fabric and 3 sewing machines in the room and a couple of projects on the kitchen table . My stuff is all in view since it is an open room concept. I have been on a kick of organizing my fabric. It may not look like it at the moment to the non sewers eye however in my defense i am a fabri holic and I am sorting my stash.
When he was working on his apprenticeship he had to go to The Pas for 5 months. We were working on renovating the living room and kitchen area. I lived with his saw in the kitchen the entire time he was gone. It was this big heavy thing that I could not move so there it stayed until he came home and finished working with it. 10 months in total. Aniversaries have come and gone and I still don't have kitchen cupboards. Mmmm , he can live with my stash.

Its not what you think

Sex Farts and UFO's don't mean what you think , I am not out of my mind. (sort of). Its a lovely bunch of words that describe my life as a sometimes quilter , an all the time piecer, a stashaholic and my desire to enhance said stash with new stash.
Stash multiplies sometimes apparently on its own. I look at a piece of fabric that I pulled out of a bag and say I don't know when I got this , I don't remember buying it.

quick lesson #1

UFOs are UnFinished Objects. I Don't know any quilter that doesn't have at least one.

SEX is Stash Enhancing eXpedition

FART-- Fabric Acquistion Road Trip ( most trips to the city end up as one since my local fabric store closed and wally world opened)

I gave my darling husband a quick lesson on different parts of a stash. Crumbs are the iddy biddy pieces that a sane person would throw out. I only keep them if they are over 1 1/2 inches. ha.

strings are the long strips that I cut off fat quarters and yardage to square up an edge, sometimes i messed up a cut and have to start over again. Both of these items I have been hoarding in bags , totes and bins mixed together all willy nilly. I came up with the idea to separate the multitude of crumbs and strings into there own bins thus allowing myself the opportunity to see what I have and use the new scrapsaver ruler that I just purchased from my Fav QS.

The first time my husband saw my stash in all its glory he jokingly said I had enough fabric to make a house cozy. ... and he married me anyways.