Friday Favourites: Hang-It-All and New Boots

Our little old house does not have a front (or back) closet. Oh yeah, we don't really have an entrance either. You just walk into our living room. That means shoes and coats and all the detritus of living in a cold climate are often scattered throughout the room.

In an effort to get the front entrance a bit more organized I bought this long lusted after Eames Hang-It-All. It really is a fun piece and oh so practical. Actually, too practical. It is generally covered in coats. So much so that you can't actually see it. I can't complain though, it is getting used and that certainly helps. I did clean it up for this photo and removed 5 jackets belonging to the girls and one belonging to Hubby. And this was before the snowpants returned.

I also wanted to share my sexy new boots. Vanessa was doing a giveaway the other day and sent so many folks here (Welcome new friends!). In jest she told people to tell me I had great calves. Well thank-you Vanessa and those of you who did just that. I'm pretty happy with my calves these days.

Despite no exercise other than the walks to and from school these days (That leash in the photo doesn't get used because the dog is too old.) I've managed to get back to pre-pregnancy weight plus a little bit. Just with careful eating. That gets me halfway to my goal weight loss. So, a few weeks ago, I decided to treat myself to some new clothes and shoes. And these sexy boots came home with me. Hells yeah!

Thirty Three

You know when you move or at least do a major clean you uncover a wicked amount of crap... er, stuff? Yeah that.

Yesterday two of my local quilty friends, Andrea and Lee, came over to help me get prepped and start moving my scattered quilting stuff to my new space in the basement. It isn't quite done yet, hopefully by the end of the week. But the closets are in and were ready to be loaded. So load and fold and inventory we did.

I love my fabric, but I must finally admit that I do indeed have enough. I've really got to use more before I buy more. Or find it a new home. But I've known that for a while. What was more.shocking to me was the amount of quilt tops, WIPs, and intentional quilts that I had.

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Instead of burying it all back in bins and ignoring that I might perhaps have a problem with starting and not finishing quilts I decided to actually inventory all those piles. And because I believe in full disclosure of my faults here is a full listing of all the projects awaiting my attention. I've numbered them for full effect.

Quilt Tops - Ready for Quilting

1. Anniversary Quilt
2. Cosmos Blocks
3. Wine Gums
4. Improv Sampler
5. My version of Checkerboard from Sunday Morning Quilts
6. Slaveship Quilt Inspired by The Book of Negroes
7. Gum on Concrete, my version of Splash from Sunday Morning Quilts
8. An old Amy Butler quilt top I picked up a sample sale

Quilts - Basted and Started Quilting

9. Girlie Quilt
10. Low Volume Circles

Works in Progress

11. Mid Mod Bee - Blocks to be assembled into a top
12. Unscripted Bee - Waiting for a couple of blocks, then to be assembled
13. Hand Pieced Diamonds - always ongoing
14. More Cosmic Burst blocks - I have a whole other set of blocks for a baby quilt
15. Voiles - Still cutting and piecing every now and then
16. Name quilt for my daughter - haven't done anything since this post
17. Chandelier quilt - was so close, then discovered a big mistake and have never fixed it
18. Mountain Meadows - have made no more blocks since
19. Liberty Circles - I make a handful every now and then but I'm still not assembling the top
20. Blue and green Christmas Tree quilt - I cut the pieces last year then promptly put them away
21. The alternate pink/black/white blocks I started when working on the girlie quilt
22. Respite - a project started in a Bill Kerr design workshop
23. Pieced Stars - a BOM I started years ago when I wanted to do some precision piecing breaks when doing a lot of improv
24. Japanese Curves - Fell in love with a Japanese fabric and a curvy pattern, took a class, never finished
25. The Water Quilt
26. Maple Leaves

Class Samples (Pieces I work on while teaching, as examples)

27. A values quilt in neutrals
28. Green/Yellow/Orange Improv blocks

Intentional Quilts

29. Sympatico and Organic solid stack
30. Lucky Penny Bike Path
31. Some vintage feedsacks intended for Amanda's quilt from Fresh Fabric Treats
32. Turkey reds, blues, and whites for a striped project
33. A collection of screen printed and low-volume favourites

To cap all this off, as Andrea and Lee were leaving the mail arrived, and in it was a fat quarter collection of Architextures, my friend Carolyn's new line.

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Maple Leaves Update

So close to getting the Maple Leaves done... I really hoped that they would be done by now and I could show them off on my new design wall. Alas, Hubby's real job is the focus of his time, not the finishing details in the basement. (We're also waiting on a ceiling product that I procrastinated on ordering, so it isn't all his fault.)

As far as I'd planned I have one more leaf to make. That will make 12 in total. And a finished quilt size of 48'' by 72''. This makes it lap size and still rectangular to mimic the flag shape.

For additional colours I've added in yellow and turquoise - in homage to the Ukrainian flag, my cultural heritage. I've also played with value, making some flags in low-volume fabrics for a different look.

In case you were wondering, I am going to set this without any sashing. I'm not keen to add any additional colours and I don't want to use white and take away from the center portion of the flag. It might also be that I have a thing against sashing.

Many folks have asked for a template and pattern for these. I am definitely going to put something together, but it will be at least a month from now. I need to get the house in order and I'd like to actually finish the quilt.

Avenue Magazine (Weekend Reads)

When we're home on a Sunday morning with nowhere to go the family always has a pretty lazy routine. Hubby sleeps in (made so much easier with a quiet room in the basement). Baby Boy plays on the floor and whines every time he spies his Mama. The girls colour. I flip through magazines. We all watch Bake with Anna Olson. Then I get pressured to spend the rest of my day baking. Um... okay.

This morning brought us hot cocoa made with almond milk and scones. I use many recipes for scones, but this morning I tried my friend Julie's recipe, with a swap for whole wheat flour from our grain CSA and using grated apples and cardamom instead of the chocolate and coconut. Oh so tender...

I also flipped through the latest issue of Avenue magazine, a local lifestyle magazine.

Speaking of both Julie and Avenue, I never told you about this great article she wrote about me for the last issue. That's me, in my Baba's apron, making pyrohy. And wow, you should go and congratulate Julie. Her latest cookbook, Spilling the Beans, just won the Taste Canada Food Writing Awards for best single subject cookbook! And that is a cookbook worthy of a Sunday morning.