Works In Progress

That's right, it's Wednesday! Time to talk works in progress. Last week there was no sewing. That's right I said no sewing. We all have those weeks, and last one was mine. But by the weekend I was feeling a little motivated. Guiltily I closed the closet on my Postage Stamp top which is crying to be basted and quilted, and opted to start something new. The idea of breaking out some new fabric and the rotary cutter was very appealing.

Doesn't my rotary cutter et al look cute in this

basket made of magazines from 10,000 Villages?

So I started my Foreign Currency quilt. The is a pattern from Cherry House Quilts, and one I have had in my pile of "want to make" for quite some time. This is also my very first all-solid project. I am pretty stoked! When the rotary cutter hit those Kona Solids I was having some fun!

I have even saved the trimming for a future stringy something ;)

The pattern came together fairly easily, and today I can show the top all ready to come together. Please disregard my hastily thrown together design wall.

My next work in progress needs to be a design wall! I have very little space, so need to do something portable. But there was no choice with this quilt as I needed to play with color and volume, so I ended up thumb tacking a batt to the wall (thank goodness for my forgiving roommate!). Either way, I hope to get this top stitched together this coming weekend.

The other little thing I did this week was pull my fabric for the Sugar Block Club which starts in January. I am looking forward to starting the monthly blocks and enjoying the recipes that go with them!

I chose the Metro Heaven & Helsinki fabrics that I recently bought. Can't wait to cut into them.

That's it for tonight. Need to sweep up some thread and get the sewing room ready for the days ahead. Thanks for stopping by!

Adrienne 

I'm linking up today at Freshly Pieced



Catskill Musings

No more serious sewing to report since my last update. I had a couple more days in The Catskills with my hubby and then I caught a plane for a second week of vacation in Nova Scotia. It is great to be in the Maritimes with my family, even if it means being away from the fabric stash (oh how I miss you!).

my mom and nephew

My last day in New York State was a beautiful one, and I felt the need to get out of the house. So I took the opportunity to check out a local quilt shop that I had been meaning to drop into for some time. The Patchwork Co. is nestled in the quaint village of Windham.

At the base of a ski hill, the shop is charming and a joy to visit. The owner said that this was her retirement gig. Would I love to work with fabric all day? Heck Yeah!

Besides the pleasant creaking of the wide hardwood floors and the bright white shelves simply loaded with fabric - guess what I found? Flea Market Fancy! I have never seen the whole collection in person - it was so great! Of course I bought a little to satisfy the fabric craving...

For sure my outing was a successful one. Fabric, sunny skies and the Catskill mountains all around. I have been coming to Roxbury for five years now, it is a gorgeous place. Filled with mountains, trees, old farmhouses, converted barns, waterfalls and great people. Yet another thing in my life that I am grateful to my husband for.

I guess I did fib a little. Since my last post I did make some Stash Bee Blocks. I forgot how simple and awesome the hour glass block is. I think I need to make more of these.

That's it! A couple more days and I have to get back to Ottawa and the real world. But on the positive side, it also means I will be back to my sewing room. Talk soon!
Adrienne

WIP Wednesday

Reporting in from the Catskills today. It is a grey day, and I am missing the sunshine. But on the quilting front I finished my Postage Stamp top today! Yahoo!

I'll tell you what, the hardest part of this design is the time it took to lay out the 100 squares in each block. Not hard work, but time consuming. Once that was done it went together fairly quickly. I was going to do a 3x3 layout so that the finished square echoed the stamp block, but once I got going I went 3x4 and now it is  a nice size lap quilt. Now I will just have to decide how to quilt it. I am open to suggestions :)

My helper for this project was Penny, our tabby. I have to put a picture in here since she helps at every step of the process.

Well, I will have to wait until I get back to my batting stash in Ottawa to quilt this baby, but no worries, I have more fabric with me so I can start something new! Oh and I have bee blocks to catch up on. Guess WIP Wednesday continues!

What are you working on this week?
Adrienne

Chezzetcook What?

I have been thinking about this for awhile..the name and look of my Blog. I have been blogging for less than a year, and when I started I really struggled with what to call the darned thing. Seems simple doesn't it, and likely I have over thought it. But over the last few months I realized that the title "Shot Cotton" did not speak to me.

So here I am with a new name and a bit of a simpler look. Chezzetcook is the name of a small community on the eastern shore of Nova Scotia. This is where I grew up. As I get further away from the ocean and my home province, I realise how important it is to me.

Chezzetcook Inlet from the air

So, this blog is my little tribute to that small place that had such a big impact on my life. And now, any quilt labelled "Chezzetcook" will carry a little piece of that influence wherever it goes. 

Now, let's get away from the serious stuff. It is one-day post Halloween, so here are some old school pics of me and my sister back in our house in Chezzetcook getting ready to go Trick or Treating

My sister Christina.

Why did a blacked out tooth seem so important to every costume?

That's me - note blacked out tooth again!

Thanks for dropping by.
Adrienne

P.S. wondering how to pronounce Chezzetcook? If you are a local, forget the "t" and say chezzencook! Say it fast and it will come out fine.

Sugar Block Club

Quick post today to share an exciting block club I joined today - the 2013 Sugar Block Club

if you are interested hop on over to Amy's Blog Stitchery Dickory Dock  to sign up!
Talk to you soon
Adrienne