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

Storms & Fabric

A little fact about me...I am married. I live in Ottawa, Ontario and my husband lives in the Catskills in New York. Sure, long distance relations have their challenges, like super storms coming aground and you are not together. So this week, as Cyclone Sandy threatened NY, I headed South to hole up with my hubby and our "Kids" (two cats and the sweetest dog ever). We were a lot luckier than those on the coast. We did have rain and wind, but with our 12 hrs of power loss and all of our trees still standing we consider ourselves very lucky.

When the power goes out - it's card and ice cream for us (It could have melted and been wasted!)

One of the benefits of a cross-border romance is the shopping! I often order fabric from US websites and have shipped to my NY home (I sound pretty important huh? "NY home", trust me, not so much). The thing is, when I visit NY I get super surprises in the mail, because I often forget what I have ordered. So this visit was awesome, because there have been some great sales on at Pink Chalk Fabrics and the Fat Quarter Shop. Here's what I got:

Perfectly Perched – Laurie Wisburn

Kumari Garden – Tara Stone

Hope Valley – Denyse Schmidt

Le Dee Da – Erin McMorris

Bijoux & Nicey Jane – Heather Bailey

Baker Quilt Blocks – Ellen Luckett

Cameo & Midwest Modern– Amy Butler

Bella – Lotta Jansdotter

Metro Heaven & Helsinki – Patty Young

And a great pattern - cannot wait to try this one.

So, with all of this travelling, storming and shopping, there has not been much sewing this week. But things are looking up...next week is vacation for me, and I have brought my postage stamps along with me to work on.

Next week is all about sleeping in and quilting. Yay me!

Thanks for stopping by

Adrienne

Stamps: W.I.P. Wednesday

1,200. That is the number of 2" squares I placed and fused yesterday.

I am following Elizabeth Hartman's tutorial using fusible interfacing to make 100 square blocks. The technique is just awesome. I needed to start by making myself a pressing board. A quick trip to Home Depot and I had a piece of plywood. Some spare fabric, batting, a staple gun and good ole' duct tape (my Dad's fave) and I am set!

Another trip to the fabric store and I found a rocking deal on fusible interfacing. It was marked with a grid, but I found my 2 inch squares overlapped the grid, so I just made sure I started with one side of super straight blocks and then moved out from there. Elizabeth was right, you really need a "scant 2" block" for this project. Nevertheless, I am super happy with how pretty they look. Now to sew all of those suckers together!

So when I started cutting my scraps up, I thought I might have enough for two or three 100 square blocks. I had enough to make 12! So depending on layout, I could make one or two quilt tops... Any layout ideas for me?

Thanks
Adrienne

W.I.P....Thursday?

Still on the road, in the hotel, working. So that is my excuse for being a day late with this little post. And by little I mean brief. Not too much done on my postage stamp quilt except that all the "stamps" are cut!

Now I am feeling a little nervous about how I am going to handle theses 2 inch gems. Stay tuned to see if I get my nerves settled and make something gorgeous...

Thank you for stopping by
Adrienne