February & That Groundhog!

Well, it will be another 6 weeks of winter here in the northeast part of New Brunswick as well as southwestern Ontario, both the groundhogs say so. What fun it is to trust what a rodent sees on February 2nd! lol
It's a case of 'Six of one, 1/2 dozen of the other' or a glass that is 1/2 full or 1/2 empty.
It will be whatever you choose it to be, I'm doing whatever I can to get through winter in a positive way.
And what better way than with flowers that will delight your senses. These were on sale for $4 at the Canadian Tire, Christmas leftovers at a bargain!
The smell in the dining area is heaven, a walk through an inside garden until I look outside to see the snow piles!

 To view these blooming flowers is such a delight too!

 Oh yes, the snow piles of winter. This is the view in the backyard these days. Where there is no snow it is all ice! But remember the high waves of last year? The snow fences are working!

 I am so thankful to have the evergreens surround me, they give colour & texture with all the winter white that is out there right now & will be for a couple more months.

 I think Olde Tom sleeps 80% of his day, he could be a bear in hibernation. lol.

 Baxter & Bridget look for any sunshine that comes through the windows. The Boston Terrier is not made for winter weather & love to sun bathe even indoors.

 Making A T-Shirt Quilt
This is the first T-Shirt quilt I have made & it sure was a job with no pattern to follow & never doing one before. I watched YouTube as my homework study & used some of their ideas to design this one.
With a huge bag of Mitchell's T-shirt's from our racing days, the project began!

 First, you cut the sleeves off. I piled them in the colour that was cut, mostly black & white, one yellow & one grey! Sleeves with logo's on them are set aside, if needed for later...

                                   Then you cut the front from the back & make a pile of them.

 A trick that was taught through the Jordon Fabrics YouTube, was to use a 5lb weight to hold the ruler in place. This is very helpful, try it just once & I bet you too will use this method! The fabric then needs to have a knit or woven interface added to the back to stabilize the fabric. I was surprised how much was needed & was thankful that my stash had just enough to cover what was needed.
I used a 15" x 15" ruler to cut the designs from the T-shirt's.
Then the fun of placement began on the dining room floor.

 A very large area was needed for placing the racing squares.
It was a job with all these pets... Rexton was the worse, she would run then slide through the loose squares & would pull anything that went in the air! The dogs knew from my scolding that they stayed away but Rexton is stubborn & fearless. I was thankful that I'd taken photos with my phone to see the colour placement because those squares were thrown everywhere!!

 For the last two weeks the kitchen has been my work centre as my sewing room is a mess too!!
I really need to take the time to organize it better. Then a project takes hold & it is lost again.

 I was down to the wire with this project as Mitchell turns 30 years old on the 18th of February.
Knowing that & wanting the kitchen & dining room back, I worked endlessly on this project.

And the pets walking on it was also another incentive, here comes Baxter see him in the top right?

 One project & look at how I lost the kitchen! I also started to run out of racing-themed fabric & had to get creative to fill in the side border. Nicholas & I were talking about it one night & he came up with staging lights. What a great idea, I designed these two for the side borders.

 Day & night, night & day, day in & day out, the kitchen looked like this. The chair on the left held the fabric that will not be used so I made a rag box for cleaning clothes, 100% cotton washed & soft!

I used a nickel for the pattern of the pre stage & stage lights on the top & the salt shaker for the larger round lights. Grosgrain ribbon in two sizes was used for the tower.

                                                     Here is the finished quilt top.

 The staging lights were placed on the top left & the bottom right of the outer borders. I doubled the yellow fabric before cutting it into the circles but I see the grosgrain ribbon still!

 When a block looked too bare or unbalanced I added other T-shirt logo's to help fill & balance it.

 This was our racing logo, the RA was Richardson Access. Our company sponsored us through the years of racing throughout North America.

 We helped sponsor a race too with OSCA in 2006, fond memories of those racing days for all of us.
The two younger boys were always with us & the eldest son would join us when he could. It was a true family affair when we raced. Bill & I were the drivers, Mitchell & Donald pit crew, & Nicholas would video record our runs.

 I auditioned the quilt on a queen size bed & it covered nicely. I hope he enjoys this quilt through the years & cherishes the memories & friends that were made along the way.
If you go to YouTube & Google - Bill Richardson race car crashes, you will see in less than one minute how fast things can happen on a race track. That was Bill's last competitive race. The track minister recorded his run & told me he did not know why he did as he never recorded anyone else! Very strange day but had a happy outcome!

Stitching...

I'm almost done with my Sweet Susan stitching & then I can colour them!

I was so pleased with the ageing technique & the colouring pencil crayons with this block!

I found this block that I had done with linen DMC several years ago & coloured it with the pencil crayons. It reminds me of those old photos that were softly pastel in colour.

I'm thinking of making a pillow cover with the picture in the center & using this fabric choice, the colours will look nice on my bed.

Every year I try to learn something that is new to me & this year I chose kickboxing. As you can well tell, I'm not a physical person but a creative one. As I age my body & mind need to be challenged & strengthened. I do workout 2-3 times a week with the seniors' exercise class & have now added in two 1 hour sessions of kickboxing as well.
It has been a month now & I'm getting into a morning routine of attending these weekly classes. I do feel better for doing so & have committed myself to another month of kickboxing. It is something that is new to me & I'm enjoying it!
This is just one more reason why I love this community that I live in, most are physically active & very encouraging for those that try.

Thank you for stopping by for a visit. I just want to leave you with this thought, I know I've said it before but it is worth repeating.

   It's never too late to be what you might have been.
                                                     ~George Eliot~  (pen name of Mary Anne Evans 1819-1880)

Have a wonderful winter week!
Cynthia