Long Time No Talk To

What have I been up to for the last month?

Well, I had a birthday - I turned fifty mumble.  My lovely daughter, who has been experimenting with cake decorating, made me a quilty birthday cake.

Those are pretty accurate sawtooth stars for a non-quilter!

November and December are always really stressful times at work.  I work in the family law area, and, unfortunately, many separated families are not able to work things out well around the holiday season.  Makes me come home and give Mr. CQT an extra squeeze.  I'm so thankful for our happy, peaceful family!

To add to the stress, we've been doing some renovations.  First, Mr. CQT cut a bunch of holes in the ceiling and walls.

The middle picture is in my sewing room.   Boo hoo!  We had some plumbing and electrical work done.  Then, we called in the drywallers.

For an entire week, the whole house was plastic covered, while they fixed the holes, scraped off the popcorn stipple from the ceiling and replaced it with gorgeous "knockdown" stipple.  (I was going to take a picture of the new ceiling, but it turned out that was a really boring photo!  It's much more exciting in real life.  Well, to us it is.)

The plastic is gone, so it's sort of back to normal.  But, right after New Years, we are having the fireplace replaced and the master bathroom re-done.  Then, the carpets will be replaced throughout the house.  So, it will be February before we're really back to normal - new normal!  We've been in this house 22 years, and this is the first work we've done other than painting, so it needed it!

I have managed to get a small bit of sewing done, even in the mess.  I joined up with Sandy at Quilting for the Rest of Us to do the Scrapitude Mystery Quilt.  My scrap bin is overflowing, and we did an exchange of 2.5 inch squares at the Guild last fall, so I really needed a great scrap project.  Amazingly enough, after I cut all the pieces, my scrap bin didn't seem to have gone down all that much!

I'm doing it completely scrappy.  I figured that was best for a Mystery Quilt - that way, I don't have to think at all about where the various pieces might end up.

First, a bunch of 4 patches - coloured and white:

Then 4 patches, dark and medium prints:

Those mediums are not as light as some of them look in the photo.

Now, a half - quarter square triangles, white and coloured:

Now, I have to sew a larger coloured half square triangle to the ones above, and I'm all caught up!

I'm linking to the last Scrapitude progress report linkup.

We had a very nice Christmas - it's much quieter after your children move out, that's for sure.  But they both came over and we opened gifts, then had Christmas Dinner with some friends.

Today, I'm doing a little sewing for the Boxing Day Sew In.

If you're on Twitter, use #BDSI to join in!

We Have a Winner (Two of Them Actually)

Holy schmolly, that was a lot of comments!  Thank you to everyone who visited during the Quilters Gallery Blog Hop -- and thanks to all of the other bloggers who participated with giveaways.  I loved visiting all of their blogs and entering for their prizes.

Now... drum roll please!

The winner of the first set of fat quarters is:

The 13th entry was Mary, who said:

Mary wins the 5 black and white fat quarters.

The winner of the second set of fat quarters is:

Number 160 was Kathy, who said:

Kathy wins the five colourful fat quarters.

I loved reading your comments.  Many are working on Christmas gifts, of course.  Some are just starting to plan a project - others listed 5 or 6 projects!  A couple told me there were so many projects in the works that they couldn't name just one!

I hope all of the winners on the blog hop enjoy their prizes.  And thanks so much to the Quilting Gallery for organizing this blog hop once again!

It's Blog Hop Party Time!

I just love the Quilting Gallery's Blog Hop Party - I always find such great blogs, and love the chances for a giveaway!

If you are visiting my blog for the first time, a bit about me.  I've been quilting for... oh about 14 years now.  That seems like a long time, especially when you look at my output.  However, I have decided that even though I am usually competitive in everything I do, I will not be competitive with my quilting.  I'm a slow quilter, and I like it that way.  I'm not a designer or in any way a professional - this is simply my fun hobby!

I have a wonderful husband and two grown children, but this blog is not about them.  I work in the legal field, but the blog is not about that either - it's about quilting!

So far, my quilts have been pretty traditional, but I am drawn to modern quilting.  In fact, I joined the Calgary Modern Quilt Guild last spring.  So, you may see more of a modern twist in the future.

But enough about me -- you came for the prize, I know!  I have two sets of fat quarters to give away to two lucky readers.

Five colourful fat quarters:

Or five black and white fat quarters:

To enter, leave me a comment telling me what project you are working on right now, or, if you're not working on one, what you're planning on working on.  If you have a preference for one of the sets of fat quarters, say so.  Make sure your name links to a profile with your e mail address, or include your e mail address in your comment, so I can contact you if you win.

I'll use the random number generator to pick my two winners. If they both want the same set, then the first one that I draw will have their choice.  I will ship internationally.

The giveaway closes midnight MST November 26th.

Thanks for visiting!!

Lest We Forget

It is Remembrance Day here in Canada - not a statutory holiday, but a holiday for government workers (of which I am one).  I won't be going to any of the ceremonies, but I will have my own moment of silence at 11:00, thinking about all the mothers who sent their boys to their death for our freedom.

I haven't been getting a lot of any quilting done lately.  We have decided to do some major renovations to our house, and that is taking up all our time.  So, I will share a table runner that I made several years ago.

This was a kit from Sugar Pine Quilt Company in Canmore.  (If you ever visit Banff, you have to take a side trip here - it is only a half hour away, and is a fabulous shop!)  I liked how the swirly background suggested the leaves blowing in the wind, and copied that in my quilting.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Glitters123.com | Thanksgiving | Forward this Picture

Happy Thanksgiving to all my Canadian quilty friends!

We had our big turkey dinner on Saturday. It was also my daughter's birthday (she was born on Thanksgiving).  So, instead of pumpkin pie, we had birthday cake.  Today, Mr CGT and I will eat leftovers, and I'm making pumpkin pie (what can I say - it's my favourite kind of pie!)

As The Sun Slowly Sinks in the West

I frantically worked to finish and photograph this quilt:

Yes, this is my one and only finish for this quarter's Finish-A-Long.  And, it's finished just under the wire!  Good thing I live in the same time zone as Leanne.  I rushed home from work tonight, to finish sewing on the binding before the sun set.

So, this is a baby quilt for Jack, my nephew's son.  He was born last November, so I'm a tad late.  But, I'm sure he won't mind.  It's an I spy quilt, made with charm squares I collected in a swap several years ago. One of them is a saw and hammer - his daddy is a carpenter.  The sashing is actually a sage green - the colour didn't come out all that well, probably because it was twilight!

I'm linking up with the 2013 Finish-A-Long and A Stitch in Time Linky Party.

Shopping!

You'll remember that High River, Alberta, was the town that was almost completely submerged in the flood last June.  Townspeople were not allowed back into their homes for a couple weeks, and came back to find severe damage.

Mr. CQT and I were happy to hear that the town was holding its annual Car Show last weekend, and made a trip down to see them. While we were wandering around, I looked for Chinook Fabrics, and found it in a tiny temporary location in an office building.

Well, I did a little shopping, and the clerk invited me to enter a contest.  I'm always happy to do that, and got a phone call this week to tell me that I had won!

So, it was back to High River today, to pick up my winnings - this fun apron!

It's made out of denim, and is embroidered with "River City Classics Car Club  High River, AB" and a picture of -- what else -- a classic car.  As soon as I got home, Mr. CQT claimed it for his "bacon apron".  I guess we both won with that prize!

I did a little more shopping.  I needed backing for my Maple Sugar quilt, and the wonderful ladies at Chinook Fabrics helped me find the perfect fabric.

The colours match the top perfectly - and it was even 25% off!

On the way home, I stopped in to buy this "goddess gift".

Several of us at work turned 50 in the same year - a few years ago.  We decided to celebrate together, and called ourselves goddesses.   We all wore tiaras and went out to dinner after work one night.  We had a fabulous time finding out how much we had in common.  We've since introduced others to our goddess club, as they reach that magic age.  I just found out that we are gaining a new member, as of this weekend, so went tiara shopping for her!

PS - my kids give me that "Mom's gone nuts" look when they hear about us going to dinner in tiaras.  But, when you're a goddess, you have to put up with a little ridicule from the younger generation!