Creative time

 Hi!

This year, my health took a priority.  
My weight has been steadily climbing since we got married in 1994.
Despite many attempts, nothing really worked.
So after a summer of a new fat flushing medication, calorie control and exercise, I enrolled in a program with the Bariatric clinic of Sudbury.  
3 months of only Optifast shakes 4 times a day.
My poor man!  Grumpy is not the only word, but the only one I can use here!
Since February 2021 I have lost 75 pounds. and I hope to keep it off.

The point of this is I spent a LOT of time in my craft room, distracting myself.
So for the next bit I'll show you what I've made...

First up is this cute mermaid wall hanging.

I got the pattern from a sew along I joined. 
It is called Ocean Child by Laura Strickland.

I have been swapping 2.5" strips with the ladies of my guild for the last two years and decided I need to start using some of them.
The background is some of the blue ones I received.

Have a great and safe New Year's Eve!

Hugs!
Cindy

It's Christmas time!

 Hello!

I love Christmas. 
So nice to hear from family and friends, lots of good cheer and secret making, but also SOOO chaotic!
In the past few years though it's been hard to get into the jolly time of year.
So if you too are having a hard time, hang in there!  
There will be a better day!
That's all we can do.  Just keep trying.

I made my mom's Christmas cards in time for her October birthday again this year.  
She like cutesy and Suzy's Zoo by Susy Spafford. 
So I took some wrapping paper I bought last year and fashioned some cards for her and my seester!  (that's not a typo, just the way we call each other)

Then a friend asked me for some cards for her business, so I made her some fun ones.

And finally I finished mine in early December. 
I used the same background paper on all of them and the same greeting inside, but used up all the stray embellishments I had collected over the years.

We sent them out a little later that I prefer, but there you go. 

Just aim for done and not perfection! 
I learned that this year! 
How about you?  What did you learn this year?

Happy Christmas everyone and keep safe!

Hugs!
Cindy

Fabric postcards

Hi!

 I participated in a fabric postcard swap this year.
It took me a while to find the Pellon Peltex 9292F Stabilizer, but once I got into the groove, it was fun!

My first ones are quite plain, but I got to play with the font feature on my sewing machine and spent a happy afternoon playing and adding decorative stitches with gold thread.

That's a paper pieced ornament next to it.  I sent it to my swap partner too.

The second one gets given to someone special.

Next year I understand we may do it again, so I'm gathering ideas to make more elaborate ones!

Hugs!

Cindy

Puppy Time!

 Hello!

This time I have a good excuse... 24/7 puppy watch while he is awake to make sure he doesn't pee or poop on our floors! His name is Shadow and he is now 10 weeks old.

I swear males take longer than females to learn this!  My American Eskimo, Pirta and my other Sheltie, Kara were trained within 2 weeks!

I tried to get other things done when he naps, but I find myself napping as well to catch up on my rest!  I did manage to make a new flag for our front door though before we got him.  

I made it double sided with a dog on both sides of a piece of Batik.  I also made one as a gift to our breeder in Timmins, Ontario. Rivermyst Shelties is where I got this adorable guy from.  Rosie is an amazing, caring breeder!

Here's to hoping I'll get more quilting time in the near future!

Hugs!
Cindy

Just keep going

 Hello!

I've done some changes again as I could see some of the gadgets I had placed on this blog... Hope it all looks good to you now!

I've recently become the Northern Ontario Representative for the Canadian Quilters Association.  I had a great visit with the last one, Lauren MacDonald this week and I'm trying to get myself organized in case someone wants me to come talk to them about this group!  

I've also tried to do small projects to keep myself creative.  Here's a banner I completed the day before Canada Day!  Cutting it close to the wire.... Now I'm contemplating what to make to replace it later this month.  Ideas?

Oh yes!  I also repainted a Barn Block that my friend gave me earlier this spring.  As I love doing hand English Paper Piecing, I made it a Hexi block!

Just keep going and be creative!

Hugs!

Cindy

Revelations...

 Hey!

So many revelations have been confirmed in the past few weeks. I have to say it has affected me deeply.  If you know me, you know I really hate being lied to.  I tell the truth and I expect those around me to do the same.  To find out that the church has lied to me in not disclosing their involvement with the residential schools atrocities has shaken me to the core.  I was raised to treat  all around me to be equal, and expected all others to do the same... Naïve, I know now...  I have been educating myself on the facts of the past and have tried in my own way to show that I stand with ALL Canadians, regardless of their perceived worth as decided by others.  I craft.  This is how I get through feelings, and even this has caused me to pause.  How to help without offending?  

I recently found a group of ladies up here in Northern Ontario who wish to try to show our support.  Vanessa Grenier started a Facebook group called Quilts For Survivors.  She is collecting 16 1/2" blocks to make quilts for survivors of the Residential school system.  She cannot take names, nor can she guarantee that all survivors will receive one.  Sadly there are too many for that.... But she will try to make sure someone from each province and territory receives one.  She mentioned that she wanted cards to go with, so I created a card with a poem Dianna Klatt wrote for this occasion. 

I also created this block and will try to make more today.

Check this out if you wish and help if you can!

Hugs!
Cindy

Alice!

 Hello!

I recently participated in a journal page swap.  Ladies all over the world were swapping pages through  Jennibellie's Journal Workshops (ning.com) This particular swap was Alice in Wonderland themed. I LOVE Alice!!!!

So here is my page

The main fellow is a stamp by La La Land Crafts.  He's called Luka (Mad Hatter Luka)
Also used stamps of mushrooms and leaves by Dylusions
The tiny head of the Cheshire cat  is a stamp I did not identify the maker with... sorry!

I look forward to seeing other's interpretations!
Cindy

Happy Birthday!

 Hi!

My hubby's birthday was at the beginning of the month.
I wanted to make a wall quilt that celebrated him. 

So while I was working on another project in secret.
We are both photographers and his favourite colour is blue.

So I gathered my fabrics and made this!

This cute pattern is by Sassafras Lane Design: Mini Focus Freeway.
It's an applique pattern.
Done in a day!

Hugs!
Cindy

May the 4th be with you!

 Hi!

My girlfriend asked me to make a couple of these cards for friends of hers.  

I liked it enough to make an extra on for my mom... also a Star Wars fan.

Shrinky Dinks are still useful!  Printed out and coloured some logos I found online, hole punched them then shrunk them!  Tie them to a card I stamped and then tried to make look like space....

Hugs!

Cindy

Home Sweet Home

Hello! 

Another project closer to making our home even more comfy!

Last Spring I started a King + sized quilt for our bedroom. Gudrun Erla created a pattern called Hope and used all proceeds of the pattern to give to her local charities helping those who were struggling without work due to Covid.  I gladfully paid for the pattern and started a LOOONG project during her quilt-a-long.  Here's her version of it.... (a smaller more doable size)

This was a quilt along where she posted videos on how to do each step, and also gave us some wonderful tips to make the sewing easier. That day I completed 20ish blocks... I needed 120.

Fast forward to January 2021, when I finally fished attaching all said blocks.

Handed it off to my girlfriend at Aba Daba Quilts to long arm the quilting. And today finally finished sewing the binding on it.

It is 93"x 110" with 120 finished 9" blocks set in an offset barn raising pattern.  It's Done!!!!

Hugs everyone!

Happy Easter!

 HI!

I have a renewed energy today!  

Spring, warmer weather, healthier eating and of course God has saved us all!

I made this banner for my mom and sister a few weeks ago and they immediately put it up on their door... guess they liked it!

The first week of February I followed along an online quilting summit with Rebecca Page.  She had many instructors and free videos to learn new techniques.

This was a one day project with Janel Metsker and her pattern is called Bunny and Blooms.  I altered it a bit, as the original was meant to be more horizontal, and I knew I wanted it for the the door.

I just used scraps that I had and a fat quarter for the backing.  

Busy, busy, gotta stay busy!

 Hello!

It's been a while since I bought myself new stamps, as I am phasing out of that to do more Quilting.  But I very happily offered to help a friend out with providing some cards for her business.  She sells Epicure.  I have NO food stamps except chocolate.  So I went to another friend, Wanda, that sells Stampin' Up!  and placed an order for these yummy stamps that I will use for quite a while.  

Though I am phasing out stamping, I have too many supplies to not keep making cards when asked, and for our own purposes.  And I still enjoy it!  

So here is my latest batch of playing with colour and style, just for you Trixi! 

Hugs!
Cindy

Happy Valentines Day!

 Hi!

It is so hard to keep happy these days....
Cold, locked in, worry, you name it!

But it's Valentines Day...

So Friday I went out and dropped off a little care packages to some girlfriends I've been missing.  Just a couple cookies and a card.  Sent one to my mom and sister too.

I've been hording these chalk sprays for a while too.  So, primed them up with water and went outside for a few minutes to do some graffiti on the snow....

Try to keep doing things!

Hugs!

Cindy

Foxy Fun

 Hello!

Keeping busy?  I'm trying to....

I took out a kit I bought last year at Joanne's, before the the border locked down and I could go shopping in the US.  I had a coupon, Quiltologie had a few cute designs and this Fox Frolic came home with me!  This fox kit spoke to me and it's been waiting patiently for me to assemble since then.

The fabrics are fun, and the instructions were pretty straight forward.  I assembled the top in a couple hours.  The next day I quilted it.  And the next night I attached the binding while watching tv.  

A nice new, bright artwork for gloomy winter days...

The final size is 17x19"

Keep safe and happy!

Cindy

Happy Creative New Year!

 Hello!

A little late, but happy New Year!  I hope 2021 is more creative and fulfilling for you!
I plan it to be for me!

To start off, I'll share some more cards I just created.  It's winter and snowing outside, so of course I'm making water and fish cards!!!  I miss swimming and being in the water, so I guess this is where my thoughts are.

I keep all sorts of things to make into cards, including empty tissue boxes.  I had saved a few that were water themed and today we made them into 12 cards!

So start with some cards using as much of the box to show off the patterns....

Then use a hexi punch to use as much of the leftovers as possible....

The Hexi punch and greeting are from Stampin' Up!

All adding a stamped image that I coloured in.  The Koi is from the US company About Art Accents and the Octopus is unknown, I got him in an image swap.  Both ate coloured with Smooch paints that are in little nail polish type bottles with a built in brush.  I love the shimmery effect of these paints.

So now I've got 12 more cards to sell or use for notes to friends.  Because we NEED to keep in touch!

Hugs All!

Cindy