Living With Purpose: March 2014

Monday, March 31, 2014

TUSAL ~ March 30

A day late, but here are my ORTs since last posting. Most of my threads this month are grey. Foundation paper piecing threads were my greatest contributor this month, But down in the bottom are the red threads from my small stitchery of the month.

Linking up to Daffy Cat for

http://itsdaffycat.blogspot.ca/2014/03/another-totally-useless-post.html

And a gratuitous video. Love listening to these birds, though I usually get out earlier before commuter traffic starts so I can listen to them sing longer. You also get to see how much snow we still have, but it is melting slowly. The first small tree is my cherry tree. The metal can is my ash can for the ashes from my wood stove. I will eventually spread these over the grass. The small green building is my crafting studio. Soon we will be warm enough that I will work in there rather than at the dining room table. The big maple tree to the right of my studio is one of the main areas where the tractor blows our driveway snow all winter...hard to believe the base of that tree will eventually be ringed with flowers.

Happy stitching, see you on April 29 for the next TUSAL report!

Thursday, March 27, 2014

Smalls SAL - March 26

Missed this yesterday with all the excitement of it being my day to wave my flag. Paper piecing has become such a pleasure that I just want to do more! But that is for another day.

Here is the small I completed that was originally to be done for February, but circumstances as they were...it did not get completed then. So better late than never...

I am making this into a pillow for my son's bed. Black Kona cotton with red ruffle, or bias binding, or flange...not sure yet, but the fabric is in my stash!

Thanks for stopping by...oh and if you like, you can comment on the previous post for a chance to win a Rocky & Bullwinkle fat quarter.

See you next month!

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Flags on a Stick ~ Day 2

Thank you Mdm. Samm and Thearica for your inspiration and cheerleading know how! And a big thank you to our hop sponsors...Flags on a Stick and Flag Outlet.

March 26th

Living with Purpose (you are here)

Life In The Scrapatch

Devoted Quilter

Made By Me In Red

Quilting Quietly

I'm really excited to be waving my flag today with the above creative ladies. So here goes...

I don't have any garden flag stands, and with 3 feet of snow still on the ground they would look a little silly anyway. When I first signed up for this hop, I immediately went to the Flags on a Stick website to make up my wish list. Such courteous and immediate service when I discovered I was having difficulty setting it up. Gotta love live chat!

It was hard to decide what I wanted, they have such awesome products. Who knew you could have such pretty welcome mats (among other things). I know I want one of those. Again, weather not permitting, I chose instead to purchase two window flag hangers. Love them!

I had such fun with this pattern from Quiet Play. Guess you may have noticed by my new header that I've gone squirrely. I've stopped chasing them from my ~~bird~~ squirrel feeders, and have been blessed with such entertainment. The other day I had about 10 of them at one time. What a sight!

So here is squirrely...

As you can see through the photo, the backing and binding are the same (self bound).

These flag holders are really great and inexpensive. I'm sure you noticed that my "tabs" are just pinned on in these pictures...I really just wanted to take photos before the sun set...they are all sewn on now!

I'm loving foundation paper piecing since the hugs and kisses hop!

Looking for a way to get an outdoor shot, I discovered that I could use these hangers in the car as well. The suction cups are moveable. Great idea for those with young children or grandchildren in the back seat...good size to block the sun and something fun to look at.

Sew loving my squirrels!

Oh, and if you have made it this far I'm giving away a cute Rocky & Bullwinkle fat quarter in keeping with my love of squirrels...Ha ha...I remember watching this as a kid...go Dudley Do Right!

Easy peasy lemon squeezy rules: Giveaway now closed, thank you to all who commented!

1. Leave a comment with a valid email (if in doubt, type it out)
2. Will mail internationally
3. Entries accepted until 11 pm. ~~Monday~~ Thursday, April 3, 2014; later entries will not be counted.
4. The winner will be contacted by email on ~~Tuesday~~ Friday, April 4, so please make sure I can contact you!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Monday, March 24, 2014

Kona Club March 2014

It's here, it's here! My Kona Club fat quarters for March have arrived, and they are bee-you-tea-full!

These colour choices I am told were inspired by a beautiful tulip flower garden. I will not show you where my tulips are at the moment. The fact that they are still under 3 feet of snow is quite disheartening, BUT...the sun is shining and the snow is melting slowly. Warm days and cold nights means an awesome harvest of maple syrup, and so I can wait patiently for my pretty tulips still sleeping under ground.

In the meantime I will oogle and caress my newly arrived fabric devising how many different ways I can use this. Pretty, pretty, pretty. Thank you Sew Sisters for another great addition to my stash! See you next month!

http://store.sew-sisters.com/stores_app/Browse_dept_items.asp?Store_id=807&Page_id=17&categ_id=4&parent_ids=0

Monthly clubs also available:

~Kona Club 1/2 yards
~Bargain Lover
~Batik Lover

Sunday, March 23, 2014

Flags on a Stick - Hop Schedule

Hosted by

blogging at Pigtales and Quilts and owner of Crazy Quilting Supplies.

Our Sponsors

Flags On A Stick is getting together with Sew We Quilt to offer all those who are entering the blog hop an exclusive chance to Win Your Wish List!

What do I have to do? Simply create an account at Flags On A Stick (https://www.flagsonastick.com/login.php?action=create_account). As you browse around the store, select the “Add To Wishlist” option on the product page to start compiling your selections and name your wish list "Flag Hop".

What do I win? The winner will get to choose their favorite flags from their wish list

(a value up to $50). that is 4-5 flags depending on your choices!

Who will be picked as the winner? Whoever wins the Flag On A Stick blog hop as picked by Sew We Quilt will be the winner. Please note that in order to win you must have an account and wish list created at flagsonastick.com. The prize cannot be transferred or received as a cash reward.

And finally...the list of participants...

March 25th

Pig Tales and Quilts

Fishkopp

Marjorie's Busy Corner

Jane's Quilting

Seams To Be Sew

March 26th

Living with Purpose (you are here)

Life In The Scrapatch

Devoted Quilter

Made By Me In Red

Quilting Quietly

March 27th

Bumbleberry Stitches

Quilted Delights

Red Quilts

On the Banks of Frog Creek

Words & Stitches

K and S Sweets and Stitching

March 28th

How arT you?

Just Let Me Quilt

Robin's Fabric Nest

Patchouli Moon Studio

CeLynn's Sunflower Patch

Ravelly1

In Stitches and Seams

March 31st

Grandmama's Stories

More Stars in Comanche

MooseStashQuilting

Pampered Pettit

ShirleyC

Farm Gate Creations

April 1st

Sew Incredibly Crazy

Quilt Doodle Designs

Buzzing and Bumbling

Why Knot Kwilt?

Creatin' in the Sticks

Meadowbrook

April 2nd

Thimblemouse & Spouse

Stitchin' By The Lake

Just One More Stitch

The Quilting Queen Online

Selina quilts

Whims And Fancies

April 3rd

DachsiesWithMoxie

Just Keep Swimming

The House on the Side of the Hill

Texas Quilting Gal

Madame Samm

Can't wait to see you there!

Friday, March 21, 2014

A Sew Sisters Giveaway

Wish I could say Sew Sisters was having a giveaway on my blog, but even better than that is getting to meet another Canadian quilter who is having a Sew Sisters giveaway...

Please visit Lynn F from Southern Ontario blogging at Buttons Quilts.

"They are offering a bundle of 8 fat quarters of Dori by Mitzi Powers for Bernatex. Entries begin today and close Sunday evening at 9:00p.m. at which point Sew Sisters will send you your winnings! The winner will be selected using a random number generator."

Please visit Lynn and follow her instructions on how to enter the giveaway. This giveaway is also open internationally.

I can say, I love buying from

I learned of this fabulous Canadian resource back last November through their Canadian Blogathon and have since joined their Kona Fat Quarter club. A great deal! I also loved their Fat Quarter Frenzy sale back in February. What a fabulous way to increase my stash! Their customer service is one of the best I have ever experienced...they are a joy to do business with. You can also find them on Twitter and Facebook too. If I lived in the area, I would attend their classes as well. But, I'm just grateful for their online store.

Now go sign up here for the giveaway...

Wednesday, March 19, 2014

New to me

Canadian quilting magazine...

Available in digital and print, one or two-year subscriptions, published four times per year.

The Spring 2014 issue includes an article by Montreal, Canadian quilter and co-founder and current president of the Montreal Modern Quilt Guild, Cinzia Allocca. She also blogs at deux petites souris. I'm hoping to get a chance to meet her and possibly other Quebec bloggers at the CQQ Salon 2014 in May (see left sidebar for link).

Linking to Let's Bee Social...

http://sewfreshquilts.blogspot.ca/2014/03/lets-bee-social-12.html

Thursday, March 13, 2014

Quiet Book Sew-Along

with Sherri at Thread Riding Hood. We are well into week 2 and here is my first post. We will only be binding in October, so I figure even I am pretty safe to get fully caught up by then. lol

Go here if you would like to follow along or just see what's what. Sherri has all the links conveniently in one place. Sew very organized!

Okay... I was originally going to make this quiet book/busy book for my mom who suffered from both Alzheimer's and dementia. Circumstances having changed I have decided to go ahead and make this book anyway with the same clientele in mind and donate it to the residence where I work. I've no doubt someone will make good use of it.

Sherri asked us if we wanted to go with a scrappy look, that is, with different fabric for the cover and for the pages, or if we wanted a more cohesive look, with same cover and pages, or different cover fabric but same page fabric. I've decided to go with cohesive cover and pages.

Here are my fabric and bias tape.

And here are most of the fabrics I have chosen for the first page, all except for the cloud fabric. For the cloud I would prefer to use a piece of the fake fur I have outside in my craft shed, but I am going to wait for my ds to shovel the path to the door. If I cannot find it (it has been around a l-o-n-g time, at least 16 years), then I will use the white flannel I have on hand instead).

This is the ribbon. I think I have enough for all the page tabs. Then yellow for the sun, and blue for the sky. The blue is square scraps that I will have to sew to size.

The sunflower fabric is for the house, the homespun for the door, and the green for the grass.

My snaps are also somewhere outside, I'll have to look for them on the weekend or go buy some more.

Well, that is my progress for today. Thanks for stopping by!

Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Let's Bee Social #11

Well, I think this may be either the 2nd or 3rd time I am linking up to the Let's Bee Social linky party. So much for new year's ideas eh?

Been busy this week...worked the weekend which allowed me to work on my Plain Talk Sock pattern...

got to the point of starting the heel and learned that I had dropped a stitch somewhere about 4 inches (of my needed 7") down...altogether now "rip-it, rip-it". Love both the pattern and the yarn and I'll be starting it up again very soon. Working Thursday night so for sure I will have some time there to begin anew.

Working on my 12" mini quilt for Easter swap with Gone Stitchin' so I'm very sorry, but I have no sneaky peaky pictures to show yet.

Going through my stash to get at least 100 (no duplicates) 2" squares in preparation for the upcoming sign-ups for the PSQ swap with The Curious Quilter (see sidebar for link). Last October I was a "newbie" and boy did I get swamped with love and squares. Looking forward to paying it forward here!

I'm also working on my projects for the upcoming hops: Flags on a Stick, and Superpower, oh and I even have an awesome idea for picnics (even though signups have not yet begun).

I've also been waiting for signups for my Craft it Forward. I have 4 spaces left...go to this post to learn more and to signup. (Thank you Jodi of Mountain Gurl Quilts for having answered my original call!)

Well, that is it for today's chatter...off to Bee Social now...

Sunday, March 9, 2014

FNWF - Feb 7

Note: If you are interested in Crafting It Forward with me, visit this post and follow the directions there...thank you! I still have 4 spots open.

Cheryll over at Gone Stitchin' hosted FNWF again this past Friday. Please check out the sign-ups post to see what everyone else got up to and here to see what Cheryll was busy with.

I worked this weekend, but took the time to cut out my 5" fabric squares to make some bunny treat bags for the Sewing Bee with SGOT (Sewing Gifts on Time yahoo group). Washed my 10 fat quarters and dried them with the iron (also busy cutting 2" squares for the upcoming PSQ swap).

Then I washed my fat quarters purchased during the Sew Sisters fat quarter frenzy in February - Riley Blake "Priscilla" fabrics to use in the Sew Kitschy BOM over at Quiet Play.

Phew, I can tell you that just simply that took up pretty much all of the free time I had on Friday. My arm was tuckered out from all that ironing.

I hand washed all my fat quarters in Euculan (love the lavendar smell), which does not require rinsing. Wrung them out gently, then ironed them dry. That should take care of most shrinkage. According to Curious Quilter's guidelines, it is preferable to wash our fabrics prior to cutting for PSQ...so...that's what I did LOL.

I also started the sock KAL from another yahoo group Holiday Mystery Gifts. By this morning on my break I reached about 6" from cast on edge. I'm totally loving both this yarn (Knitpicks...something or other, yarn from my stash with no ball band) and this pattern "Plain Talk Socks" from sailingknitter on Ravelry.

And that about does it for me this FNWF. Looking forward to next month! Thanks Cheryll!

Oh, and one gratuitous nature photo: presenting Squirrel...

Call me crazy, but I started feeding them this winter. Well, it seems I always feed them since they enjoy my bird feeders, but this year I stopped chasing them away. I have 3 or 4 black squirrels and 3 or 4 grey squirrels that come twice daily guaranteed. They love the sunflower seeds in my feeders, as well as the peanuts I throw out onto the snow for them. They don't like to get too close to each other so I scatter the peanuts along the top of the snow in two directions so everyone can eat at the same time. Periodically, blue jays join them by swooping down from a nearby tree and grabbing a peanut, then flying away to another tree to eat it. It is lots of fun watching them! My husband laughs and says they have all become as big as cats since I started feeding them this fall. LOL

Hope everyone had a lovely weekend. With sun like this, the snow bothers me less. Beautiful weekend for skiing if you are a skier!

Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Ruffles Blog Hop is off

to a fantastic beginning!

With Amy of Sew Incredibly Crazy and Mdm. Samm of Sew We Quilt, people everywhere are ready to ruffle! Can you hear them? Every day we're ruff-uh-lin! Well at least until March 14th LOL

March 5^th

On the Banks of Frog Creek

Sparrow In Flight

March 6^th

Lily Patch Quilts

Hill Valley Quilter

Missy's Homemaking Adventure