It’s a BOD not a BOM. :-)

A BOD?? A block of the day, but don’t panic you only have to cut a square a day, not piece a block. :-)

I heard about ‘Calendar Quilts’ a few years ago & immediately had a picture in my mind of what they would look like. I went surfing & found they were nothing like I pictured so I started one in my style. Well like a lot of things in my life, it all petered out after a few months. The following year I picked up where I left off & again failed. Not surprising as the I was then thrown into the worst 18 months of my life, where everything ground to a halt. Now things have been on an even keel for most of this year I feel I’m back in control & next year I’m going to make my calendar quilt. :-)

So enough of the waffling here’s the idea. Every single day of the year you need to cut a 2 1/2" square of fabric to represent your day. It pays to have a good stash of novelty/conversation prints to use, you also need to have a diary to document what each block represents. This means you might just write a comment each day then sit down once a week & cut 7 squares for the previous 7 days. I wouldn’t recommend leaving it longer than 7 days because it all starts to feel a bit too hard to catch up. At the end of each month you can join up your month of squares & embroider the name of the month across the top or bottom.

It’s a good idea to draw up each month on interfacing then you can pin each day in place.

This is a fun way to document a year of your life & the diary means that future generations can ‘read’ your quilt & know what Mum/Grandma was doing.

Here’s a pic of a blocks I started in years past. I will change a few things on the next one, I won’t use white for the spare squares I think it looks too bland.

If you’d like to make a Calendar Quilt too perhaps we could set up a support group & post some pics as we finish each month. Oh & don’t think your life has to full of excitement to make one of these. The simplest thing might be the thing that stands out in your day, like a beautiful blue sky or a pretty butterfly you see in your garden. It does make you sit & think about your day whereas often days slide by without much thought. I know that’s been true for me.

Yule Decorating

Well it’s that time of year again when you drag out 30 years worth of decs & decide which ones for this year. I used to put everything out, it look like Xmas had thrown up in the loungeroom then someone asked me what colours I was using for Xmas. Light bulb moment, you can colour theme. Since then we’ve had blue & silver, purple & silver, silver & gold, red & white, aqua & white, & this year it’s aqua & white with a touch of red.

I even splashed out on a new tree this year. I’ve been moaning for years I want a new one but dh kept saying we only just bought one. I finally stopped to think about that & realised we bought the old one in a sale at GB’s in 1989!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I actually started decorating nearly 2 weeks ago only to find we needed lights with white cords to match the tree. Finally found some that didn’t cost an arm & a leg & the decorating continued. In the mean time I’ve been making some Xmas gifts that I can’t show here yet or the recipients might see them. :-)

  

I saw something similar to this in a Myer display & thought it looked pretty spiffy. Committed it to memory & sent dh down to the garage the next day to find one of our many vine wreaths & search for some silver spray paint. It’s hanging over the centre of the dining table.

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I’ll use the 2 tier cake stand as a table centrepiece on Xmas Day & Boxing Day. For now it looks pretty on the traymobile.

My Xmas snowball quilt made of swap blocks from my dearest quilting friends in the US & Oz. I wanted to hang it this year & being a fairly lazy person I wanted to avoid having to sew a hanging sleeve on the back so I came up with this idea.

We bought a length of 2 x 1 & dh painted it the same blue as the walls. He then screwed a row of pegs to it & attached it to the wall. ‘Voila’ a quilt hanger to suit all size quilts & wallhangings. I’m really pleased with it. :-)))))

Our Lemax village. Each year we try to add something new, this year it’s a cute little glasshouse I couldn’t resist.

This tree is decorated with gorgeous handmade decorations I’ve received in decoration swaps over the years.

RIP Tabitha (Twitchit) 1992 - 2009

Dear old Tabitha passed away yesterday. She was born in my bedroom Easter 1992, so she was with us for over 17 1/2 years. She was a very intelligent cat with a sweet personality. Always ready for a pat & a cuddle, she purred non-stop.

She is the last of our dynasty of cats. We owned her mum Sooty, her brother Tom Kitten, her sister Miss Moppet & her niece & nephew Basil & Sybil.

A home without a cat is a strange place.

Here are a few pics.

Just pressing a pile of fq’s.

Chilling out on a hot day, the air-con is above her.

Tabitha could always be relied on to help with quilt basting.

Sprung!!! Sleep testing my redwork.

Just checking the points on my Dear Jane block, not her most flattering angle. :-)

OK a bit hard to work this one out. That is Tabitha's face peeking out, she was on my lap when Sybil decided it was her turn. Tabitha wouldn’t give up her spot so Sybil sat on her!!!! Lucky Sybil was a tiny cat.

Simon’s Quilt

I’m trying to catch up on quite a few posts. I’d planned to catch up a few weeks ago only to find the card reader had died. So better late than never. :-)

Here’s a quilt I made for my eldest son Simon. Simon has lived in Ottawa for nearly 2 years now. Dh & youngest ds Rowan flew over to visit in June so I was able to have it hand delivered.

The Hawaiian shirts are hand pieced, the thongs (maybe flip flops to you) I blanket stitched on by machine & the quilt is hand quilted. It’s 40” square. Simon tends to dress mostly in black but he does have a weakness for Hawaiian shirts. Two pairs of thongs are made with Canadian fabrics sent to me by kind quilters.

I’d seen Hawaiian shirt quilts & thong quilts, I simply combined the two.

Catching up on Birthday Swaps

 

A 12” block using 30’s prints with ‘that’ green was the brief for Lin’s block.

A 12” block with batik’s & blacks for Jodi.

Another 12” block this time a 9 patch using repo’s & muslin for BJ.

& one I posted earlier to Eula, black & white with a touch of yellow.