TEENY TINY SUMMER STUDIO! ...

This is the summer studio.  How tiny is that?  See the green antique suitcase?  Well it holds the threads, needles, extra notions that just works fine for me.

The two bins hold fabrics and batting.  On the wall are hung the rulers, scizzors and you can't see it but the extension cord for the iron.

The black quilt I finished this week
from the Wallmart jelly from the
winter.  I have the larger one to finish yet.  I can't find the batting which I packed, I thought.  So I must buy batting unless it surfaces.

I decided to do a yellow backing and give the back a bit of a boost also, which makes the whole thing very
cool for a kid I think.

When I was quilting, I thought I'd try the elusive walking foot which made me happy that it works fine.

It certainly looks better in real time, but don't they all?


The room has another large piece
of furniture which stores every-
thing from soup to nuts as storage is at a premium here at the cottage.  I have no idea where to put my finished quilts!  There isn't room in the cupboard which has about a dozen cans of spray glue.  I forgot that I had so many and a friend gave me two which she thought she owed me....I will need to store these come winter as I don't think they freeze well.



Then, I thought, why not do the Helen
trick and put the quilts on the line.

The one little problem was that there wasn't a wind.  Typical of my thinking.  In any event, here is the last nine patch that I think I will ever make.  I just decided this, as I have been making one each summer.

The back of it is white.  No point in boring you with the details of white
background.

This little quilt is for my friend who belongs to the red hat society.  Actually more pink than red, but I thought the lake layout was pretty.


Typical of me again, I'vedownloaded the great room and quilts all mixed up, but since the photo op took about a half hour to download, here is the other
side of the room.


It's a sunny afternoon so I should be outside.  I'm going there now.

I even bathed the dog today as we are going home Friday for our wedding of the summer. 

The brave little guy is back to being stupid as Westies can be.  Actually, not stupid but very stubborn, not too much different from this owner's point of view.

Have a great weekend.

Helen's Quilts for Newfoundland

I just want to post this photo of Helen's artistic
thinkin for the photos of her quilts she and Andrea
were taking to Newfoundland.

She has been busy making these for god children who live there.  I think the fact that she and her daughter do this together is bliss for Helen.

I am quilting a nine patch that I did last summer.  Why I chose such a "girly" quilt I don't know.  Anyway it's almost finished and it does look better quilted than not.

Do you find that too?  I think I like the finished product much more than the original top.  I have also finished one of the black colourful quilt tops from the winter.  I have two to go to get quilted but honestly, I like to spray baste so must await a calm day at the lake.

We have had humid humid weather.  I know it even reached Arkansas this humidity, but we can't complain really as winter will make us moan of the snow!
  Last night without winds, storms or change in the lake pattern, the humidity lifted to the point where I put a sweater on.  My sweetie is loving this morning.

Yesterday was my daughter's 50th.  I can't believe this!  I'm not that old!  She had a wonderful dinner with friends who have known her all those years. 

WEEK END PROJECT AT THE COTTAGE

 Last week I did ask for a few hints regarding the recovering of sofa cushions.  Well, my friend Helen gave me the best lesson in making square corners.

These two sofas were an impulse buy about 10 years ago.  I hated the backs as they were so bulky and out they went.  I have had different pillows over the years to put along the back and people makethemselves very comfy smooshing pillows behind themselves.

I also have made different seat covers over the years.

Well this spring, I really noticed the wear and tear of people and of course the dogs....so, this is what I did.

I bought a solid piece of foam for the seats.  Then, my sweet cut the former seats down to seventeen inches for these to become the back.

We used a table saw, which unfortunately had to be cleaned afterwards as the glue from the batting and the foam really made a mess.  I didn't have an electric knife here as I know this is really a good way to cut foam.

Saturday, I only managed to do the seats, but Sunday, I was a whirling girl....I actually measured, cut and was able to sew the five backs. 

Not only that, but looking through a magazine, I noticed this fabric is also part of the Lazy Boy collection for their reclyners.  How good is that?

Her is Brooke Shields, sitting on the same fabric.

The total cost for the project was about $240.00.  I bought the fabric on sale, once at 30% and then 50% when I decided to do it right.  The foam was the most expensive. 

So, now that this is done, I'm going to try and get some quilting done. 

SUNNY SUNDAY SENTIMENTS!

I always just love to post one of my dear friend Helen's quilts.  This is for a young guy in Newfoundland where Helen and family are going to visit.  A lucky little fellow with his name labeled on the back.

Helen loves little fiddly works; so she copied a label to paper then copied that by fine pen onto cloth.
I couldn't post the photo, but needless
to say it's perfect.

It;s  a sign, strawberry season is almost over here in Ontario.  OMG...we are half way into July already.  Where does time go?

This year we didn't have much rain so the berries weren't very big, however these babies came from a Menonite farm that sells produce from other local farms.  No pesticides here as all their produce is done organically.  We noted that they do buy from wholesalers at times and the woman at the counter said that yes they did, but, when their products are available they use local farmers.

My little brave puppy is doing well.  His eye is black but there doesn't appear to be any discomfort anymore.  He still bumps into everything being a conehead till next Saturday, but he's doing well.

I'm making slip covers for the great room.  I will post the event when done as I worked for about two hours on the first cover yesterday trying to figure out how to make a square corner.  The first was easy, it was the second one that was a dewsy.  Helen arrived in the afternoon to guide me through my problem....Oh now I know how to do it!  Honestly, I do have to be shown visually so many things.

Cottage weather is fabulous, although we could use some rain I think as everything around us is quite dry.  Yesterday, the traffic on the lake was like Grand Central Station!  The first two weeks of July, and the first two of August are the busiest on the lake.  After those two weekends, people from far away, close their cottages and put the boats away.  A shame as many cottages are only used for a couple of weeks.

Our (formerly new) neighbours are enjoying the season immensely, and one knows that there are young children around, when around 9 am the boat starts up and off they go tubbing  which brings peels of cheers.

I'm off to sew..wish me luck.
ps. does anyone use google reader, and if so let me know about it.  I need to send instructions to a friend.
thanks in advnce.