Snowstorm Sewing!

The weather outside is frightful, so it's definitely a stay at home and sew kinda day. All 50 blocks for Allietare are finished. Just need to do the setting triangles and then I can start putting it together. I think that will be a job for after Christmas.

I'm all caught up on my blocks for the 101 Canadian Women quilt. The next 3 blocks will be released tomorrow afternoon.

All the blocks so far

There was also time today to get the tree decorated.

Now, if I could just get motivated to finish my baking. Who am I kidding, other than a few meat pies I haven't even started baking yet!

Slow Progress

My quilting progress is slow, slow, slow. Pain in my shoulder and neck means I can only sew for very short periods at a time. I am making progress, though. I now have 22 star blocks finished (out of 30) and 5 of the alternate blocks (out of 20). It will get done eventually!

Allietare Progress

I know I said I wouldn't start anything new......but......there is a new quilt-along just started, called 150 Canadian Women. It is only 3 small 6 inch blocks each week, in celebration of Canada's 150th birthday in 2017. It is available by signing up for the e- newsletter at Next Step Quilt Designs. Here are my first 3 blocks:

 And on the knitting front, the only thing I can show is this Sock Monkey Sleep Sack, made for my new granddaughter Chloe. Can't wait to see a picture of her snuggled into it!

Allietare Progress

I am slowly progressing on my Allietare blocks. The pattern is downloaded on my tablet, so I didn't bother to print it out, and I paid the price. There I was, happily sewing away, not bothering to check the pattern, when I realized my 7 blocks were wrong! My pieces were mostly all sewn together last winter, and I had all the matching sets of 4 together like they were supposed to be. For some crazy reason, I thought they should be separated, and spent one whole afternoon separating all my matching sets and making sure every piece was different for each block. After finishing 7 blocks, I decided to check the pattern, and guess what? Each block is supposed to have a matching set! So...I spent the next day taking apart those 7 blocks and finding all my matching sets again!

All Pieced WRONG!!!!

Now I can finally say I am back on track, and have finished 13 blocks the right way!

I wish I had a bigger design wall. Mine is just the back of a plastic tablecloth, and it works great, but it is small and in an area that is hard to get at, not ideal, but the only option in my small sewing room. My goal is to try and get at least 4 blocks pieced every day.

On the home front, we have just been blessed with our 10th grandchild. Her name is Chloe Ann.

I'm Back !!!!!

I can't believe it's been over a year since I updated my blog. I really don't have any excuses, other than work kinda gets in my way during the summer. That doesn't explain why I never blogged at all last winter, though. This winter I will do better.

I have been suffering with a painful shoulder for the last month or so, so I haven't done a lot of knitting, I'm waiting to hear the results of my x-ray, but in the meantime the pain does seem to be easing off a bit. I am working on a couple of Christmas gifts and a baby blanket, but can't show any pictures of those quite yet. I have also dug out my long term winter project, my sock yarn blanket. I try to do at least 10 squares a month.

I have also started spending a bit of time in the sewing room. I am going to try really hard to finish up several projects, and NOT start anything new. Today I put together the first four blocks of my Allietare mystery quilt. Here are my goals for this winter:

1. Piece together and quilt last year's mystery quilt, Allietare

2. Quilt my Easy Street flimsy

3. Finish piecing my Sister's Choice. I think I need about a dozen more blocks. I need to replenish my supply of neutrals and browns (star tips)

4. If I finish the first 3 goals, I have a Thimbleberries kit, "3's Company" that I'd love to work on. It is from 2009 (gasp!), and I only have the first 3 months done.

 and......I am also hoping to join the Stash Bee. It is only a commitment of one block a month, so that shouldn't be a problem. I won't find out until next month if there is a spot for me...keeping my fingers crossed...it looks like a lot of fun!