2 FOR 1 quilting day!

Odette returned on Monday to work on Lolah... she was very ambitious bringing 2 quilts!!

Her first one is called a lasagna quilt. Have you heard of this? I hadn't and neither had Holly. 

BTW: Say hello to Holly, a new part-time employee who started on Monday. She too, is anxious to try out Lolah so this was a great learning experience for her watching and counseling Odette on quilting designs. Holly is an expert piecer as well as a dedicated and experienced hand quilter.

Odette chose Chinese Lanterns as a pantograph to quilt in the wide borders and chose to freehand the center panel.

Did I mention that Odette is an artist also? This came in very handy and in no time, she was using only one hand to guide Lolah. 

This is a camp quilt for her husband. I love the look of this quilt and I'm sure her husband will be quite pleased to wrap himself up in it after a good day's hunt!

 Gorgeous!

Details of the deer and the hunting lodge on the back... didn't I say she's an artist?

With an hour or so left before she had to leave to attend a meeting, we loaded her Winnie the Pooh baby quilt top. The red snappers really make this job easy and quick! 

Here she decided to quilt the center panel on Lolah and finish the borders at home. In no time she had this one quilted. 

I love her artistic flare in this quilt!

 Isn't this darling? I can't wait to see it bound and ready for gifting!

It is so sweet! Bravo Odette! 

 Please make sure you bring these in so we can see them complete with binding!

Toodles!

Lorette

Dorothy's back!

Lolah had company last week... this purple beauty was loaded and Dorothy had fun free-motion quilting it. This is Dorothy's second time on Lolah... she did really well working her magic in 3 1/2 hrs!

Some ladies dropped by to shop and admired her work...

Excellent job Dorothy! What a gorgeous quilt!

Power was supplied to the construction site on a beautiful sunny day!

These pole riders were admiring the view...

One of two deer spotted munching away near the barn site...

Up next is Florence's quilt... a printed quilt she purchased years ago with intention to hand quilt it but didn't get around to it. 

As you can see, I basted this one from top to bottom... it will be all ruler work!

In the meantime, Spruce It Up Quilt shop has received 125 more bolts of fabric not including several beautiful flat fold bundles, some panels and much, much, more. DH had to make new shelves; this time they're on wheels! Not all bolts fit of course... there are some that don't reside on shelves still!

You'll have to come check these out... isn't it time to start your working on that Christmas list?

I leave you with a little reminder: Lolah will be unavailable from October 6th-21st.

Toodles,

Lorette

Bad weather = more quilting!

It's not a wonder that people in this area are productive quilters!! What else would you be doing??

The weather made headlines this week and it's still creating havoc. As I write this, our trees (and everything else exposed to the elements) are coated with a thick layer of ice. Soon this freezing rain will lead to rain which really can't come soon enough since I'm worried we'll lose power. Wednesday's blizzard was phenomenal!! It started abruptly and never let up until bedtime Thursday! The winds were the worst I've ever experienced. We were without phone or internet for 21 hours. So far, the phone is the only service suffering but I fear that may change as the bad weather continues. Our daughter who was visiting from Toronto until Monday morning decided to leave this morning preempting the canceled flights sure to happen.

However, with power, I was able to keep on sewing! Several projects were finished this week.

My daughter's Cargo Duffel, a pattern developed by Noodlehead for Robert Kaufman is finished and she loves it. She filled it with all her belongings and put it in her suitcase to bring home. It will get a lot of use of that I'm sure. 

I made a few changes, some by choice! I added an interior pocket similar to the Travel Duffel, made the pockets differently, added the straps that support the bottom of the bag, made it taller by adding the blue strips on the side and lowering the purple gusset. It has Soft and Stable from ByAnnies.com in the body of the bag which is what helps it keep its shape. Soft and Stable is machine washable and can be ironed on a medium setting. I LOVE this product! Just make sure your sewing machine has an even feed and can sew through thick layers! 

This is what happened to mine while I was sewing this bag! I have no idea how to fix it nor do I know where that little piece belongs but shortly after I finished the first duffel bag, my machine started making a strange noise. You should always listen to your machine... I did listen and looked for a cause but none was apparent! Then at the end of a seam, I noticed the even feed was no longer working as it should; consequently, the top layer was longer than the bottom layer. As I elevated the foot to remove the fabric, this little piece fell out.

We live about 50 min from the nearest sewing center that carries Husqvarna parts and luckily, they had a replacement, pricey but a necessity! Luckily too was the fact we needed to pick up our daughter at the airport close by the sewing center so we left earlier to pick up this new even feed foot. The new one works like a charm, has interchangeable feet and a few guide bars for when you want to sew parallel straight lines. This alone was a bonus as I previously drew the lines.

Next came my sister's Samsung tablet cover; this is the same sister for whom I made the little camera bag. I had leftover fabric and decided to treat her to a matching cover.

She wanted room to carry the charging cable and the stylus; the quilted pad you see inside will protect the screen from scratches. I used S&S (Soft & Stable) in this one as well. I think she'll like this. This is such a fun and relatively fast sewing project. 

I will leave you with photos of our Friday visitors... 

There were 4 of them; big daddy was in the alders beyond the spruce trees. Sorry about the bottom photo... I had to take this one through the kitchen window so you see reflected light. The deer were eating at the apple trees in front of the house after I took these. Remarkable animals! We'll have to think hard about protecting our garden if we ever get a chance at a decent spring and summer.

At the moment I would take this pile over the ice we're getting!

Toodles!

Lorette

Outside my window!

We've had some activity in the woods... Our newest neighbor, woodlot owner decided to cut logs off his land but in order to do this, he needed access to the lot. Our land borders his and the road is on our property. Permission was granted for him to have access last year but since that winter was milder with an earlier spring thaw, not all the logs were cut. They returned this winter to finish the job. 

In dry summer, it would be advisable to travel this road on a tractor... even then it could be tricky since the land is so boggy. We've done it a few times by tractor and wagon without problem but if the summer is rainy, one would not want to get stuck in the mud. In winter, with the ground frozen, there's little chance of that so it's much safer. Having seen the men go in and out in their trucks we decided to trek out there in our SUV to see the excitement in the woods.

This monster machine picks up the cut and stripped logs and brings them close to the house.
 before they get loaded on a logging truck.

It also clears snow in the yard before the neighbor can come clear the driveway. Clearly, the day after the blizzard, it was making a path for the worker bees!! His own car was by the roadside and the lot owner was waiting to drive up as well. We don't mind them fussing about a clear path! :)

We also ventured down our new driveway... this road is south of the main route and leads to the water and to the location of our future cottage. We built the road several years ago so that it would be well "seasoned" before we build. We also transplanted over 300 spruce trees we'd tagged from our own wood lot. This was done with a shovel and a lot of hard work digging up each sapling from the back hill and transplanting in a newly dug hole.

Deer tracks are everywhere... we did spot the mother and her fawn later that afternoon.

 It amazes me that this logging truck can come and go in and out of the yard but our moving truck couldn't navigate the curve into the driveway!!! Our contractor did mention that the day before the movers arrived, this logging truck actually ditched the back end of his trailer. He figured he'd be stuck here for quite awhile (it was quitting time!) but the driver of the logging truck used his claw (sorry... I don't know what else to call it!) to pick himself out of the ditch and put the back end back on the road. How clever!!

We've witnessed quite a few of these loads leave the yard and today it's been quite busy! And the last of the monster machines has left the lot. All that remains is for the logging trucks to return to pick up the last logs. We hear rumors that the owner of the lot next door will develop a blueberry field. Wild blueberries are big business in these parts. There's also an apple orchard with many varieties of apples on that lot. We have our own apples that need special attention. Maybe with the chainsaw!!!

Toodles,

Lorette