Years End 2013 & Mystery Quilt is Revealed!

Christmas Day was a quiet one...just the way Nicholas likes it! lol

Our parcel arrived from Calgary...Mitch used drawings from the elevators for his gift wrap. Very personal to Mitch & he was recycling too!

But wait there's names on the parcels...were's mom?

 Wait a minute...

 There's a wee white shopping bag... ;-)

 Yes!! MOM! Thank you Mitchell. XO

 Boris got a turkey leg chewy bone from Santa.

 Is it good Boris?

 Great! Yummy too!

Let's have a look...

He was such a good boy this year.

And spent the day gnawing away on his Christmas treat.

 Bill prepared our Christmas feast...

 And looked very handsome in the Christmas apron.

 Cousin Ann joined us for the Christmas Day feast, all decked out in her Christmas vest. If you come to our house you know to wear layered clothing as the furnace is set at 64 F. But the cooking really warms things up & the parlour & lounge fireplaces keep those rooms warm, while you visit.

 In the parlour Ann, Nick, & I work on a wintery puzzle.

 The water & lighthouses make me think of the cottage...five months away in the New Year.

We worked on the puzzle the next day & finished it...only two pieces missing. ;-)

 Cousin Ann brought Boris Loree a treat. Look at how decedent these dog treats are!

And how thoughtful, the cats got a treat too!
It was a great Christmas day!

The day after Boxing Day, Bill & I went to Woodstock to the One Of A Kind Antique Mall on Wilson Street. It is three full floors of booths in a old warehouse, vintage & antique finds were in abundance!
Stay focused, we were there to find Singer 1881 bobbins for my new sewing machine.
Scarey how you just knew or had the vintage stuff ...at sometime or another in your growing up.

 This wee vintage box of A.A. Milne caught my eye, it's from 1968 reprint & is the 1st Edition Box set from that vintage time.

 Under glass I saw this folded measuring stick & purchased it for my vintage vignette of sewing supplies.

See how small this 4 boxed book set is - 4 1/4", how precious is that!

I also spied these shutters for the cottage, I think they'll fit the laundry room window! And at $6 a pair, how could I resist!
All in all, Bill & I had such fun wandering from floor to floor, viewing so much stuff!  Then it was lunch time, our favourite eat out is the A&W, so he treated me to our lunch & then we were headed down the 401 highway, for home again.


Renovations....

The second storey of this circa 1916 house aka Homestead, is still under going reno's. Nick & Bill have lifted out the old original  floor & Bill's has mudded & painted the room.
 In 1949, when the house was raised from a bungalow to a second story triplex, this was one of the two bedrooms in the upstairs front apartment. Many tenants have come & gone from there...dogs that had been locked in the room & wet on the floor too! The floors on the 2nd story are all going to be slowly replaced.
This bedroom has also housed several of our kids & international students, over the past 25 some odd years & now is getting the attention it deserves before the new wood floor is installed next weekend. Photos to follow. :-) My guys are so handsome & handy. lol


It's Planet Patchwork - Merry Mayhem Mystery 2014... Quilt time!

It's called ' An Oldie but Goodie'. Case #136
20 light fat 1/4's & 20 dark fat 1/4's are needed for this 48" x 60" old-fashioned scrappy quilt.
So I thought I would give it a modern twist with my colour choice (or lack there of ) as the whole thing will be black & white!

So much homework to get ready for January 1st at 9am! for the 2nd with 5 more installments!
Every hour you open up the next installment, till your finished & the mystery is revealed.

Here's my colour choice, black is my dark & white is my light. I've never done a black & white quilt before.

I've a wonderful stash of fat 1/4's of black & white.

Over the years I'd receive gifts of fat 1/4's from family & friends. What fun to pull them all out & get creative, some were right delightful, like these fashionable ladies in hats!

Well the homework was a real chore to get the 240 - 2 1/2" HST pressed & squared up!

Trying to make every stack of 6 different from the last.

These are the fat 1/4's I used.

I used the large cookie sheets to hold all 240 HST, in piles of six.

Odd with the lack of colour...

But interesting with the variables of many designs.

These are the completed 40 -  6 1/2" blocks for the quilt. How are the 2 1/2" blocks going to work with these?

Wow, three blocks sewn together from the sets. Two HST with a solid. I was puzzled as I was expecting a star to emerge from the design.

Then it was three blocks again sewn in this order... What is this going to be. It truly was a mystery quilt at this point for me!

It just didn't make sense, so I'd reread the instructions...yes I can follow orders, but what design is this?

Then those blocks sets came together...an ANVIL block, wow who would have thought! Certainly not me! lol wow 40 of those were made to go with the 40 HST blocks.
The blocks alternate one another to make the quilt!
I've seen enough of black & white today. Tomorrow will be another day & I'll audition the blocks in the daylight.
Bill was sick & stayed in his apartment for New Years Eve/day. :-(
But that gave me plenty of sewing time of my own. Timing is everything & this worked out for the both of us.
He helped me last year doing the mystery quilt by printing out the hourly installments, so he knew I was busy with this huge job of making a quilt top in a day. Eleanor Burns would be proud!