Review of February Focus and Goals

Saturday I spent the day at a friend's sewing half square triangles together into blocks and then into pairs.  At home I sat down and ironed the pairs to prep the 26 star centres and corner blocks and went OPPS!  I had forgotten I made the half square triangles oversized so I could trim them down.  By the time I realized this error I realized I needed daylight to trim them and put them away for the evening.

 I did get them all trimmed and paired up to be resewed on Monday.

 Yesterday I got the information for the next month of sewing for March.  We will add flower circles with centres for the 26 stems and add a bias edge to the circle.

 I got my first cotton and wool pieces down for my House Party Revival window 1 I'm about halfway down window two.  My plan is to do all the wool and cotton applique and then have fun with the embellishing stitches.

 Yesterday we had an unexpected snowfall.  This was my place about ten o'clock.

 It did come down heavier for awhile before stopping.

 And by one o'clock it was all gone.  Farther east they got quite a lot.  My cousin is in Palm Desert and says the desert is greener than she has ever seen it before.  She also mentioned that Chicago has set a record for snow free days this winter!  We have an aunt who lives there.

 Other February unexpected goals were designing and finishing my challenge quilt in four days.  No prizes but I was told it was Lorna's husband's favourite.  Prize enough for me.  There was a tie for second and third prize and my friend Mary was one of the tied people.

 Got the borders on my Valentine's quilt.

 Friday I went for a walk and found these crocuses and snowdrops outside the condo door.

 Witch hazel is in full display but the yellow one has almost none on display.

 This Hellebore reminded me of a dogwood bloom.

 And a pink version.

 Love the dark contrast on this yellow crocus.

 These were more of a daffodil yellow.

 The early rhododendron is out in bloom already.

 One of the crows needed a closer read of the information signs along the boardwalk.

 Love these purple crocuses that look so delicate.

 This year is Canada's 150th anniversary of Confederation on July 1st and all National Parks are free for entry.  I decided to get one of the passes.

 Time to write down my finishes and maybe get a couple of February goals that I missed started on.  I didn't get my Mika or Sunflower Gathering backgrounds stitched so maybe that will be my final February Focus goals for today.  Then to list the March ones.

Focusing in February.

My Focus shifted a bit this month as part one of a three month kit arrived from The Stitchin' Post in Sisters, Oregon.  I've long admired Tonye B. Phillips work and have always wanted to do one of her patterns.

 Unfortunately she only has done House Party as a class project and not released this pattern.  I borrowed the image from her website.

 She is doing House Party Revival at the store starting this weekend and I found out that I could order the kit.  Tonye sent me pictures of the house and the details of the window so I can do it from afar.  So far I've traced the four window items onto freezer paper and cut out the fabrics.  I do the starch way of applique and just need to prep them and I'm ready to start stitching.

 I finally got all my templates for my Down the Rabbit Hole last Thursday despite giving the wrong suite number on the invoice.  Luckily I checked and saw them sitting on the floor of our mail area along with another package that I miss-addressed.

 Here is my centre Dresden Plate along with the stems for the flowers will will do next month.  I had thought of doing it in browns to represent the Rabbit Hole and dirt but as it is the centre of the quilt I chose to use yellows instead.

 I'm trying only to use my stash for this project but wanted a third yellow so I invested in a Moda Grunge Yellow to go with my Earth Series by Dianne Leone for Northcott Silk that has been ageing nicely and Rainforest Honeycomb by Alexander Glass.

I've also finished my Hawaiian Applique for Happy Days, the last of the applique blocks for this quilt. On Saturday my friend Tricia is hosting a group in her amenities room and my plan is to work on some of the many pieced blocks I've avoided since November!

 The second recovered package was my King Tut Threads for my 2016 Row by Row projects.

 I also got some 30" zippers from Sew Much Nicer for these projects.

 During our snowy period I worked on a multicoloured shawl that is now finished.  The colours are brighter than the photo.

Feeling good about my adjusted focus in February, and still have time to piece those other Mika and Sunflower Gathering blocks.

February Staying Focused!

I forgot to share the the finished stitching on my English Paper Pieced Applique block for my Happy Days quilt but got it done well before the halfway point of the month.  I did get one more prepped to sew this month a rather detailed Hawaiian Applique block that I forgot to take a picture of but will share that soon.

 Earlier in January I got these fun zippers from A Threaded Needle to make up a planned project.  As a bonus I was gifted the two pieces of ribbon.

 I also ordered some variegated Sashiko and solid colour threads.  They came in the sweet raindrop and ice cream bag.

 But these Handbag zipper from Fabric Depot was my favourite zipper purchase for a new Bionic Mother Lode Bag.  The pattern is still being finalized but I'm slowly gathering the tools for making it.

 I added another BOM to do with my friend Rita.  This is All Around the Town by Susan Garman who recently passed away.

 I've prepped the templates for two blocks and they will be worked on this month.

 This one will be for March.

 I have one short term project that I started last nice with these challenge fabrics.  I got the bones done and hope to get some quilting started before adding another layer.  I forgot they changed the deadline and thought I had missed it and now want to submit it.  More later once I have it finished.

I've got my Mika, Sunflower Gathering blocks to start working on when I get back home today.  Off to have my eyes checked and then to the Dentist.  Hope you manage to Stay Focused in February.

Prepping and Staying Focused.

I've not touched my Sarah Fiekle Happy Days Quilt for some time and signed up for her new Down The Rabbit Hole on which starts at the end of this month.  So I prepped some of the pieces for one of the last applique blocks to take to my sit and stitch with friends today.  The flower petals are English Paper Pieced Hexagons with a curved outer petal.  The leaves are a half hexagon piece.

 I also neglected my 366 Circle project in July and have decided to work backwards from December and prepped some snowflake, star and Christmas themed circles that I used on my Santa and Tree project.

 I also prepped a couple from the Row by Row home fabric and a couple of October Halloween, autumn themed ones to also applique.

 I prepped the flowers and leaves for my next Mika block which is 16" square.

 Here are some of the fabrics for the background cut so I can start at the beginning of February.

 Last Friday I went for a walk to see the ice in the Fraser River.  We were expecting rain to arrive on the weekend.  One of the pieces got caught up on a dead head in the river.  When the tide is in you don't see the roots and it will float off.

 We've two Witch Hazel trees one orange and on yellow.  The yellow is about to burst forth with it's spidery leaves.  I saw someone on Instagram share a photo of one on the North Shore already out.  It's been cold along the river and ours are late.  The yellow variety is always later than the orange one.

 Another view of the ice on the tree root and more ice across the river.

 A look towards the mountains, it was very damp and chilly along the river.

 The last remnants of the snow are now long gone as we've had about three or four days of rain.  Some major flooded intersections and large puddles. Today is sunny right now so time to go and get ready to stitch.

Hope your weather is pleasant where your are, I know a lot of snow and ice along with big melts are happening all over.  We are back above our typical temperatures and yesterday only had a one degree Celsius fluctuation in our day.

Catching up on Happy Days

From a pile of appliqued orange peels.

 And some checker board squares

 Orange peels and checker board, finally a pieced block from my BOM by Sarah Fielke done!

 Some appliqued hexagon and pentagons.

 Meet Chloe a French rabbit in the garden.

 A closer look at this little beauty.

 And her French friend Edith, a singing sparrow.

 Here they are grouped together.

Still have a lot more pieced blocks to do but getting caught up slowly there is a paper pieced block to balance Edith I have yet to make for month 7.