FRIDAY CATCHUP

Hello my lovelies. I’m sure most of you think I’ve disappeared off the edge of the earth. Well I assure you that haven’t; I have been enjoying the last little bit of summer in private.

While the kids were going back to school this past week I have been getting myself ready for some new learning of my own. I decided that I needed to learn a few new skills. So I’ll be hitting the back-to-school supplies section of a different kind pretty soon in readiness for my learning sessions. I’ll tell you more about it when the new learning starts.

I spent most of the summer working on UFOs …..

I also spent some time contemplating what was important in my life. It seems top of the list is minimising the drama. I’m learning to take each day as it comes while getting rid of all the toxic stuff that piled up over the years. I suppose this could be considered my “What I did this Summer” report. It’s been a summer like no other I can remember in all of my 57 years on earth. This is going to sound really goofy but I spent the summer trying to find myself. Over the years I have been a daughter, a sister, a friend, a wife, a mother and now I have suddenly turned into a single parent! It’s not something I ever contemplated until earlier this year. Both Sarah and I are building new traditions and finding our way to a new life all the while making some fantastic new memories. Our friends and family have been and will be with us every step of the way no matter what life throws at us. If I haven’t thanked all those who have shown support along the way for your kind words, thoughts, actions and gifts I do it now. Thank you x

I have been Lucie the Happy Quilter for many years. I am just simply a happy person who tries to make the best of any and all situations. This time next year I will still be Lucie the Happy Quilter only new and hopefully improved with a lot less baggage. I will still be the creative soul that I have always been but hopefully brimming with even more inspiration to share with you. I’m so looking forward to Christmas and the turn of the year.

I’ll be back next week with my Autumn Giveaway news. So don’t forget to pop in again soon.

So for this evening, this very happy and super ambitious quilt maker will be working on Sarah’s UFO hexagons. I hope you have a super cosy evening doing something you truly enjoy. And remember don’t ever let anyone suck the joy out of your life. Until you read me again,

Happy stitching

Read Full Post »

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

FOUR SEASON BUTTON CLUB WHIMSY – AUTUMN BLOCK

Read Full Post »

SUPER PROGRESS ON THE FIRST DAY OF MONTH

Hello my lovelies. I hope you’ve all had a great day. My day has whizzed by like a whirlwind. I seemed to jump from one job to the next without drawing breath. I did so many household chores that I managed to tick off most of my To-Do List. I won’t bore you with that long list except to mention that I spent an hour in the garden and the weather was so nice that I really didn’t want to go back inside!

I didn’t get much sewing done today but I did do a wee bit over the weekend. So let’s start by showing you the current UFO I’m working on. This is the autumn block of the Four Season Button club Whimsy …..

And these are the beautiful buttons I will add once the hand quilting is done …..

Here is a photo showing the hand quilting progress so far …..

I have really enjoyed this simple circular quilting. Years ago I decided that less is more. This simple quilting may be less but I happen to think that this circular stitching is stunning. And I can already see that I will be using this circle design over and over because it so easy to mark and stitch. Would you consider doing some circular hand quilting???

It’s been a really great day in my little world. I got a lot more accomplished today than I thought I would and it’s only the first day of the new month. I feel I deserve a lovely quiet evening working on something I really enjoy working on. The sunshine spurred me on to get loads done and a good thing too as the rest of my week is filled with plenty of outings that will hopefully turn into adventures.

So for this evening, this very happy and ambitious quilt maker will be doing some more hand quilting. I hope you all have a super cosy evening doing something you truly love. Until you read me again,

Happy stitching ♥ ♥

Read Full Post »

UFO NEWS

Hello my lovelies. I hope you’ve all had a super day. My day has been spent mooching around in my sewing room. My goal was to tidy up but I got distracted every time I looked in a basket or bag. I found things that I had forgotten I had and UFO projects which I started and set aside for whatever reason. So in my quest to finish a few small UFOs here’s a little progress report.

A few days ago I dragged out one of my Four Season Button Club Whimsy blocks. This is the summer block …..

My original plan of action was to machine quilt it but I changed my mind and switched to hand quilting. So I have finished the hand quilting and machined the binding on. So I need to hand finish the binding on the back and secure these lovely buttons in place …..

And then I will use it as a door banner on living room door. I am planning on working on the Autumn block next. It’s layered up and ready to add the quilt markings. I’m really enjoying hand quilting.

So now you know what I have been working on. What have you been working on? Has your UFO pile decreased lately? Mine has. And I’m looking forward to getting it down to nothing. However, I’m not sure whether that will ever happen but it’s nice to pretend that it will.

So for this evening, this very happy and ambitious quilt maker will be hand finishing some binding and securing beautiful buttons in place. I hope you have a super cosy evening doing something you truly enjoy. Until you read me again,

Happy stitching ♥ ♥

Read Full Post »

NEXT STAGE OF SWEETHEARTS DOZEN

Hello my lovelies. I hope you’ve all had a fab day. I spent quite a lot of time in my sewing room playing with a few appointments squeezed in.

At the end of the day and before it was time to disappear into the kitchen to whip up a healthy skinny evening meal, I turned my attentions to making some quilting templates for the next part of my Sweethearts Dozen quilt. I have chosen a double heart shape. I hope to combine the double heart with a diagonal crosshatch. I cut my templates from cereal box cardboard. What would we do without cereal boxes????? It was quite an easy task, I simply got my plastic heart templates out and decided on a size. I traced the larger heart, worked out where to place the smaller heart and that was it. I made a second template just in case I need it. Now all I need to do it trace the double hearts in the six inch blocks around the centre block. I look forward to starting the second stage. The small 1” blue border around the centre block will be left empty of stitching. However, I plan on quilting in the ditch on both edges of said 1” border to add strength and texture. You may have noticed that I have so far chosen very simple quilting. The reason for that is that I would like to show off the appliqué rather than fancy quilting. Regardless of the quilting, I think I will love this quilt when it’s finished.

It’s been an interesting day in my little world. I met with some interesting people today. And life is looking a little rosier now. I have good company and reasonable health, what more can one very happy longarm quilter possibly want.

So for this evening, this very happy and super ambitious longarm quilter will be marking the next stage of my Sweethearts Dozen quilt and possibly start the hand quilting. I hope you have a super cosy evening doing something you truly enjoy. Until you read me again,

Happy stitching ♥ ♥

Read Full Post »

HAND QUILTING SWEETHEARTS DOZEN ON CANADA DAY

Hello my lovelies. I hope you all had a fabulous day. Not only is it the end of the workweek but it’s also the first day of a new month. Today is Canada Day which is a holiday I always celebrate but only because it’s also my birthday. I’ve had a fab day so far. I’ve done a few simple chores but mostly I’ve done exactly what I wanted to do. It’s a rare occasion when I get to do exactly and only what I want to do.

My To-Do List was pretty light for today but one of the tasks on the list was to start hand quilting my Sweethearts Dozen Quilt so I laid it out on the table in order to mark it …..

And a little while later this is what it looked like. I’m going to keep the quilting simple because I want the appliqué designs to stand out. So I started with traditional crosshatching in the centre block. I will also stitch around the patches to make them pop.

You will notice that hand quilting does not take oodles of tools. At the moment I am using a white pvc quilting hoop, thimble, thread conditioner which does the same job as wax, hand quilting thread and a fresh needle. I’ve spent approximately one hour quilting so far and I can already see the quilt coming to life. I’m going to enjoy my newest armchair project this summer. I do love the tranquillity of hand quilting. I’m so pleased with how my Sweethearts Dozen quilt is shaping up.

I mentioned yesterday that I had received two bouquets of flowers. Well here they are. And they’re both beautiful. Thank you ladies for the lovely flowers.

I have really been spoiled with flowers over the last couple of months. I seem to have had fresh flowers in the house every week since the beginning of March. Things sure have changed in happy longarm quilter land of late.

So it’s been an interesting week in my little world. I feel quite happy with my progress and my achievements. I’m looking forward to posting about my secret project sometime over the summer. There are some interesting things coming my way.

So for this evening, this very happy and ambitious longarm quilter will carry on doing some hand quilting on my Sweethearts Dozen quilt. I hope you have a super cosy evening doing something you truly love doing. Until you read me again,

Happy stitching ♥ ♥

Read Full Post »

KICKING OFF SUMMER ADVENTURES

Hello my lovelies. I hope you’ve all had a super fine day. I’ve had a good productive morning …..

As you can see my Sweethearts Dozen has been sandwiched in readiness for hand quilting next week. That’s all the sewing news I have for today. I had a girly afternoon out with my Sarah. Our summer adventure started today. I hope to bring you some interesting sewing news tomorrow.

So for this evening, this very happy and super ambitious longarm quilter will be doing some fine hand appliqué work on some Quilts on the Grow blocks. I hope you have a super cosy evening doing something summery. Until you read me again,

Happy stitching ♥ ♥

Read Full Post »

MONDAY PROGRESS

Hello my lovelies. I hope you’ve all had a good productive day. It’s been a pretty good day in happy longarm quilter land. Sarah and I stepped out first thing this morning to run a couple of important errands. Believe it or not we got caught in the rain three times. The sun decided to shine brightly this afternoon spurring me on to add the inner and outer borders to my Sweethearts Dozen. The next step is to sandwich the three layers in readiness for hand quilting. I’m going to load all the layers in my longarm system and pin baste them together. Then I’m going to give myself a little time to work out how to quilt it. I have added start quilting the Sweethearts Dozen quilt to my To-Do List on July 1. It’s going to be a real treat for me to hand quilt this lovely quilt over the summer. It’s such a long time since I hand quilted a largish quilt.

Well we seem to have made it thru the first workday of the week with flying colours. Operation Taking Flight year two is already in the works. Sarah is already preparing for the next year of university by signing contracts and preparing various other paperwork that needs to be posted off. She has already started considering the research she has been given as summer homework. And although I am not in university I am preparing myself to learn a few new techniques once school starts again. I have signed up for a beginners drawing class. I’m hoping to take a class in basic photography as well if I can find one locally. Before we can move forward, we need to get thru the summer. Sarah and I have made a short list of the places we want to visit that we never got to over the years since we moved to the area. We’re going to have an adventure every week. I’m hoping to make wonderful memories and find loads of inspiration along the way.

Today I’m going to leave you with another thought provoking quote which caught my eye while I was surfing Pinterest a few days ago. Do you what have to do until you can do what you want to do ~ Oprah Winfrey. I would think quite a lot of us are living according to this quote.

So for this evening, this very happy and super ambitious longarm quilter will be doing some fine hand appliqué work on some Quilts on the Grow blocks. I hope you have a super cosy evening doing all kinds of wonderful things. Until you read me again,

Happy stitching ♥ ♥

Read Full Post »

SWEET BAKER’S DOZEN

Hello my lovelies. I hope you’ve all had a fabulous day. I spent all morning waiting for an engineer who was supposed to arrive anytime between 07:53 to 10:53. I was advised of this three-hour window by email yesterday. Well needless to say that he didn’t show up. He didn’t text, email or phone to say he was running late. This really bothers me. How rude!

While I was waiting for my man to arrive I decided to busy myself in the sewing room. I played with my Sweethearts Dozen blocks. I added borders to frame up all the blocks and then started to join everything. My next step before I can attach the top and bottom rows of Sweetheart blocks is to piece four corner blocks. And you will note that my dozen is a baker’s dozen, lucky number 13. I’m looking forward to sandwiching this quilt and getting on with the hand quilting. It’s going to be my summer project. You will have to forgive the quality of my photo today. The weather is dark and dreary which doesn’t make for good photos.

I’m looking forward to next week. It’s going to be a busy one. I have loads of outings scheduled. Monday is the first day of summer and I’m hoping the weather picks up a bit so we can enjoy stepping out. Either way I’m going to have a good summer. I’m going to make sure of that.

It’s been a really good productive day in my little world. I’m so pleased with my Sweethearts progress. My Sweethearts is a little out of my comfort zone …. I don’t usually do sweet but this one has been most enjoyable. I plan on doing more sweet things.

So for this evening, this very happy and ambitious longarm quilter will possibly be catching up on my Quilts on the Grow hexagon project. I hope you have a super cosy evening doing something you truly enjoy. Until you read me again,

Happy stitching ♥ ♥ 

Read Full Post »

ANOTHER WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

SWEETHEARTS DOZEN PROGRESS 15/06/2016

Read Full Post »