Things were going along"swimmingly" on Monday night until I flipped over Diane's table runner and realized that when I machine stitched (1/4 inch) on the binding I "short-changed" the table runner side and as a result I could see the batting.....frustrating! I tried making another seam at a little less then 1/2 inch but realized it would be difficult to flip it back and hand sew to the back. I soon realized that I was going to have to "un-sew" the entire approximately 150 inches of stitching plus the 20 inches of the newer seam I tried. To make it even more difficult black thread on black material is very difficult to see with these 60+ eyes. So there you have it, I had my work cut out for me. After a couple of hours Monday night, a couple of hours Tuesday morning and another hour or so late yesterday afternoon....the binding was free.

Initially I thought I would recut new binding at 2 1/2"s rather than the 2 1/4"s the pattern called for and then just take a bigger seam, however after some thought I decided to square up the runner a second time and take off about a quarter inch on each side. I used the same binding after re-ironing it and refolding it again....phew! Finally I was ready to machine stitch it back onto the runner, taking special care that I was catching both sides of the runner. Success!

Last night I started to hand stitch the binding on while catching up on some stuff on my PVR. I watched the Biggest Loser finale.....gosh this year's contestants did an awesome job and really transformed themselves. I was so happy for Dani...she was my favourite this year. Bravo started to air "Homeland" on Wednesday nights from the beginning so I watched the first 2 episodes last night and I must say that it is a very good show and can't wait for tonight's episode.

I managed to get about 3/4s of the binding hand stitched it last night and got the rest of it done today including the label. Yeah! I met my deadline so I can give it to Diane tonight at our get-together.....I hope she likes it.

Ta-Da........



I played bridge again yesterday afternoon with Deanna and we came in second in group A and first in the B and C group. Hurray, after weeks of coming in near last place.

Anyways, gotta run and get ready to go over to Diane's. Tootles......

When I previewed this post the picture is the little shamrock plant I posted the other day even though I attached the table runner??? I'll have a look once I save and publish this.

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Location:Un-sewing ggrrrrrrrrr......

Bridge, table runners and other stuff

I missed posting yesterday as I was trying to catch up on laundry and I also took Jessica out to get her weekly groceries.

A few weeks ago I purchased some lovely pork chops at Costco and I wanted to try them with sauerkraut .....I googled it and found a recipe and made it last night for dinner but I wasn't too impressed....oh well, ya win some and you lose some.



My friend Deanna and I played bridge on Saturday night and out of 10 teams we came in second and just a smidgen out of first. We won the above cute little shamrock plant for our efforts. I suggested that Deanna take it home with her but she insisted that I keep it....it's very sweet and I have a cute little black ceramic pot that I got from my friend Janice a couple of years ago that is just the perfect size.



I finished hand stitching the binding on the disappearing nine-patch table runner. I am donating it to the the Leukaemia fundraiser this weekend. I just need to label it now.

I started to quilt Diane's table runner yesterday and then finished it off this morning and got the binding sewn on. I'm going to start hand stitching it tonight....I need to have it completed by Wednesday night.

I volunteer with the Special Olympics as a bowling coach every Monday afternoon so that's what I did this afternoon. I love it.....not that I know very much about bowling but I'm a great cheerleader and I love all the "kids"....

Okay, I'm off to do some hand stitching while I watch Dancing with the Stars. Tootles.....


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White Pizza - Greek Style

Yesterday I finished quilting my sister's table runner and got the binding on...all that's left to do is hand sew the binding to the back and put a label on it.

I also got Diane's table runner appliquéd, pieced and sandwiched with the backing. Hopefully tomorrow I can get it quilted and get the binding sewn on.

Here is a picture of it in its current state:



I took up playing bridge a year ago November. I really like it but there is a lot to know and remember. I play with my friend Deanna at the Niagara on the Lake club on Tuesday afternoons. The other day she called and asked if I wanted to play at the St. Catharines Bridge Club, where I belong, tonight. They are doing a dinner to but she didn't want to do that so I invited here for a simple dinner before we go.
I decided to do white pizza and a greek salad. I haven't made this pizza in quite a few years. When the kids were home I used to make it quite a bit.

This is how you do it:

I just purchase a ready made pizza crust. This time I purchased whole wheat....gotta try and stay healthy. I brushed it with a little olive oil an spread minced garlic on top. I like garlic so I used about 4 cloves.



I then spread some grated mozzarella on top...



Top with whatever veggies you like. I used sliced Roma tomatoes, sliced mushrooms, diced red pepper, sliced red onion and sliced black olives because I wanted it to be a Greek pizza to go with the salad.



Top with more mozzarella, crumbled feta and a sprinkle of oregano. If you want a non-Greek pizza I use grated Parmesan cheese on top as well as in the bottom layer of cheese.....mmm mmm good! Now it's ready to pop in the oven for about 10 - 12 mins at 375 degrees.



I made a nice Greek salad to go with our pizza and that my friend is dinner. Tootles....



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Garlicky Tortellini Soup

I finally got around to making a big pot of tortellini soup today. I picked up the ingredients on Monday and figured I better get it done while the spinach was still nice and fresh. Here's a picture:



It's really yummy and the recipe is from "The Rest of the Best" Best of Bridge series. I always double the recipe (so I can freeze some) and add cooked cubed chicken. I took a container over to Jessica.....hopes she likes it.

While I was sitting having my morning coffee I was eyeing my sister's table runner that I sandwiched yesterday and the backing looked a little cock-eyed. I knew it would bug me if I didn't straighten it out so I took the backing off and realigned it...it looks pretty good now and is ready for quilting.

I got all the strips sewn together for Diane's table runner and cut out all the appliqué half-circles and ironed them to the right blocks....I then realized I didn't have the right colour thread to appliqué the half-circles so I made a quick shopping trip to get some more thread. Here's a picture of 6 of the 10 blocks. Hopefully I can finish it tomorrow so I can get it sandwiched for quilting. Tootles......








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Busy day today.....I meet with my former co-workers for their coffee break each week which is usually on Wednesday mornings. There are usually 5 of us but today there was just Brenda and myself..which was nice to have some one-on-one time. Josie is down in Florida with her family for March break, Elaine was working from home today and Janice had a meeting. Hopefully we will all be there next week.

When I got home I sandwiched my sister's table runner....I pieced the back last night. I did't have enough of one of the fabrics I used in the blocks so that is why I decided to piece it....that was the first time I have ever done that so I think it looks pretty cool.

I want to make another table runner for my friend Diane as she is having the girls over for one of our "Good Idea" get-togethers next Wednesday night. The pattern I am following is from Quilters World, April 2012 called Urban Rainbow. I purchased some black and white fabric from a Quilt Store that was going out of business a couple of years ago so I'm using that for the block strips. The pattern used lime green for the appliqué but I using rose colours for Diane....hope she likes it. I cut out all the strips and will start sewing it tomorrow.

My BFF is in Florida right now with her hubby....we have been friends almost 50 years.....yikes! She has a daughter who is a slow learner but lives on her own with her boyfriend Shawn.....anyways, while Marilyn is gone I look out for them, take them for groceries, keep their bank cards and extra spending money, drive them here and there or whatever needs to be done. Shawn is in a hockey tournament this weekend with Special Olympics and I had been holding onto his spending money for this trip until today. He is being picked up early tomorrow morning at one of the other players and is spending the night over there so I picked him up with all his hockey gear and drove him over to his friends. I told him to put his money in a safe place because I don't want him to lose it....he can sometimes be a bit careless.

After I dropped Shawn off I drove to my local quilt shop and purchased some rose coloured fabric for Diane's table runner and I also picked up some coordinating fabrics to go with the fabric my youngest daughter brought me back from Indonesia last summer. I am planning to make her a table runner and take it out to her in BC when I visit in May. On my way home I stopped at another friend's house to pick up their income tax....I always buy the computer tax program so I do a few returns for friends and family.

Finally got home around 3:30 so I traced the circle shapes onto the wonder under and then pressed them onto the back of the rose fabrics.....plan to work on that table runner tomorrow so hopefully I will be able to post a picture or two.

I'm off to make myself a Greek salad for dinner. I'm going over to my friend Mary's to play euchre tonight for 7......I really don't like to go out at night but I like to play cards and see my friends so it's off I go........toodles....

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Here is Sandee's table runner with the first border on....




Here it is with both borders on....love the striped fabric.....





Now it just needs to be sandwiched, quilted, bound and labeled. But that will be another day. Tootles.....

Table runners

Here I am second day on my blog. I spent this morning checking out a few more of the Blog Hop.....boy there are some great blogs out there. I sure hope I can figure this blogging out. One of the things I know for sure.....I'm stubborn so I won't give up.

I'm working on a couple of table runners right now....one that I am donating to a fund raiser for leukaemia research in memory of a good friend's son who passed away in the fall. I did disappearing nine patch blocks.....it is quilted and the binding has been sewn on but I still need to hand stitch the binding and label it. The event is the 23rd so I still have time. I will try and figure out how to post a picture when I have it completed. I love the colours.....turquoise and brown. I purchased most of the fabric at Hobby Lobby a few weeks ago and then added a few more from my stash.

I loved these colours so much I decided to try this block I.found on Pinterest....I'll add the link later when I figure out how. Basically what I did was sew 4 strips together and then cut them into blocks. I started out with 42 strips and I then cut them in half and threw them into a large gift bag. I sat at my machine and pulled out 2 strips and sewed them together.....I continued chain piecing the sets of 2 strips until they were all done. I then separated the chains and threw them all back into the gift bag. I would then pull out 2 sets and sew them together to make a 4 piece set. I only had to throw a set back once or twice when I ended up with duplicate fabric. Once I had them all chain pieced I separated the chains and pressed the seams in one direction. I then cut the strip sets into blocks and threw them back into the gift bag and gave them a good shake. I then pulled out 2 blocks at a time and laid 1 block vertically right side up and then placed the second block, horizontally right side down on top. I did this with all of the blocks and then took them to the machine and sewed each set of blocks all around the outside edges a scant 1/4 inch. Once they were all sewn, I took them to my cutting board and cut them diagonally into 4 pieces. The blocks turned out really cute. I also squared them up so they were each 5 inch squares....some needed a bit more trimming then others. Anyways I put 40 blocks together and I am making a table runner for my sister Sandee which I plan to give to her when she comes at Easter.

I am just finishing this one up today. I have sewn on the 2 borders today and I took a couple of pictures with my ipad this afternoon which I will try and figure out how to post. Until then, take care.  Toodles......

My first blog post

This is my very first blog post.  I have been thinking about doing this for some time and I am not quite sure what I am doing but I am going to give it a good try.  The purpose of my blog is personal really.  My dad has kept a journal for many years and I have always wanted to do that but just never got into the habit.  I do spend a fair bit of time on the computer (ipad mostly) and reading other blogs they do seem to be a journal of sorts.  When I see what others are accomplishing with their quilting, it motivates me as well.  I too have many UFO's and I hope that by making a commitment to blog about what I am doing it will inspire me to "get er dun"!

I guess I will need to learn how to post pictures so I can document my quilting. Take care and until next time......toodles!