I am having a few problems writing posts lately but I can post a picture so they are coming first.  How was your weekend?  Ours was splendid, couldn't get any better with family, pets, sunshine and food!  I made this little baby quilt from 2 charm pacs of California Girl, oh how I love that fabric and I could make another of this pattern, just so much fun with a modern flair.  I used the 3" twister ruler.  I FMQ using a free style pattern on my trusty antique machine. Hope you enjoy seeing this finished.

I have been away far too long, sorry!  To start things off,  I have my Lorex quilt together and basted so it is now ready for quilting.  I love how it turned out.  It is a good size too, 70x86".  I have my quilt design picked out  an up/down lines and shapes for bark.  I can hardly wait to get started.  Here's a picture of where I am at.

I have my March doll quilt to finish up and get in the mail.  It is something new and I love working on it.  I have such an interesting partner, Fay Baldwin who lives in the US and I have the nicest friend and neighbor, Fay Baldwin.  How cool is that....to have 2 great friends with the same name!

We have had a week of incredible weather +19C....woo hoo! Spring is here!  I was out walking every day making myself somewhat stiff and I could have a morning coffee on the south side of my house in the sunshine.  You have to go through long winters like we have to appreciate sunshine but don't forget the sunscreen.  Well that is all I have for today so enjoy spring and sunshine wherever your live.

I had to take a month off on the Doll Quilt Swap that I love so much, just too much going on.  Here is the quilt I made for my partner in September.  I have never done a log cabin quilt, I know it on the beginner list, so I thought I would give it a try.  I still have trouble keeping my blocks square so I don't know if I am ready for a bigger size.

This is a short post as I am off to the doctors.  Chat with you later.

It has been a  bit since I have been online.  While getting right into my gymn workouts, I pulled something in my hamstring and have been suffering with nerve pain.  It is really hard to sit or sleep but I am hoping it will go away soon. 

Hey, all you wonderful Canadian shoppers!  I want to tell you about a new Online Shop I came across recently right here.  It is so great to see more Canadian Online Shops and I needed a bit a fabric that Jennifer had so I placed an order and received it in 5 days.  She also just had a fantastic giveaway, but I didn't win, but that's okay because I just love visiting her blog and shop.  I hope you will stop buy and do some shopping, you will be so happy with her fabric and service.

I have been doing the Doll Quilt Swap over at the Quilting Board for a few months now.  It is just so much fun and the creative ideas post as so fabulous.  Here are my August and September quilts I received.

They are both sooo cute.  I plan to display these in my boring sewing room, as my daughter tells me.

I did another thing I shouldn't have this month.  I bought a Singer model 404 with attachments, manual, automatic buttonholer, automatic zigzagger and in a nice little cabinet for $35.00.  I haven't taken any pictures yet.  Got the little machine shinned up and she runs like a dream.  I am still working on the cabinet and now it's ready for the Danish Oil finish.  I have another purchase from this spring I haven't shown  and it weighs close to 40 lbs, solid cast iron, a japan clone called "Fabric".  I plan to put this one in the cabinet just because it is too heavy to lift up and down off the table.  The new 404 is about 18lbs so it will become a portable.  I will get some pictures done this weekend.

I need to get off my sore butt!  I see that Dragonfly has joined as a follower, thanks!  I love to see new people and some comments.  

This has been quite an eventful week with the Blogger crash.  Seems things are being restored but I thought I would just wait until things were working better.

It was a wonderful weekend here and I spent most of Saturday repotting my tomatoes and bedding plants into larger containers so they will hold out another week or so.  It was quite warm, windy but I loved every momment.

A month or so ago, I was chatting with a couple of my quilting ladies that live in a senior complex.  I told them I had a quilt I made over a year ago that was still waiting to be quilted.  I keep putting it off because once I start on it I want to finish it.  They offered to come and help me, so nice of them.  I got a better idea!  Would you be able to get permission to set up a frame in your complex and I would bring my stands, boards and the quilt and you ladies could quilt it and I will give you the quilt to do as you wish.  They were so excited and had approval in no time flat.  We set a day and armed with the equipment and my husband, off we went.  We were met by several residents so interested in how we were going to set this all up.  Many were there offering help with whatever we needed.  It wasn't long and the quilt was on and ready to stitch.  Really, there are only 2 ladies there that are able to do any amount of quilting and, in fact, did most of in 10 days would you believe.  I took it back home and finished it off with the binding.  Here is a pictures of their lovely work that they are selling tickets on. The proceeds will be donated to a worthy cause.

I really like this quilt and I am so happy I decided to donate it to this group.  It has been a real social event there.  It was reported there was lots of coffee, cookies and many stopped by to check on the progress.  It brought back many memmories of quilting bees and good conversations.  I certainly would consider doing this again if they are interested. 

One night I came across some drapery samples I had gathered.  Christina from "A Few Scraps" was encouraging us to try reverse quilting using a piece of preprinted fabric.  My samples were too nice to hide so I did some practicing on thread shading.  Once  I had done enough, I thought I would finish it off into a generous tote. 

This pretty well sums up my quilting projects this week.  Check back often as I will have a surprise coming before the end of the month. 

Enjoy our first summer holiday weekend, happy gardening, happy quilting.

Hi everyone, hope you had a wonderful Easter weekend and now it is May woohoo!  Today I made a special trip to Canadian Tire to pick up 6 geranium plants on sale $1.49 reg. $2.99 and a few other annuals.  DH set up my little greenhouse outside so it needs something to nurture and everything is in such a hurry to grow.  The roses wintered very well and the leaves are budding out.

I am happy to report my quilt for Japan is in Calgary.  I managed to sneak a couple items with the quilt.  I sewed a second flower center to conceal a Loonie, Toonie and my city pin.

Another finished project for me are the cushions I made for my cousin.  I love her dearly and she is more of a sister and friend.  Her and I have antique furnishings and I am throwing in some modern fabrics and designs to brighten up my living room.  She said she was game for something new and bright so here is what she is getting!

Here is the first with appliqued hexagons and bubble quilting.  The bubble quilting took 5 hours but I love the results. I outline stitched around the hexagons in lime green.

If she doesn't like the hexagons, she can flip it over to this

Here is the second cushion that I did some embroidery on the top depicting a spring songbird on a cherry blossom branch.

I spent many hours this past week getting a virus out of my computer, thus no posting, didn't want to infect anyone else.  My system is clean thanks to the talents of member of the Computer Help on GardenWeb Forum and Lanzdown, a site that coaches you through disinfecting you computer.  They were all so great and I can hardly believe I did this by myself.  During this stressful time I puttered around and found a pattern to a boxed zipper pouch.  This is my trial and error version.  I see by my pictures that it is really important to get those ends to match. Oh well, they will be useful to put my scissors and thimble in when I go quilting.  I think they are very cute.  I make even give a tutorial a go, so check back.

I am going to be off next week doing a bit of gardening, but keep quilting and stop by, leave a comment, I would love to hear from you.

I am so sorry I have been missing for so long.  Between awful weather, creating my quilt for Japan, new cushions for my cousin, income taxes, there just wasn't anything very exciting to write about.  Now I do have some pictures and new things to tell you about.

I see some new followers and thank you for picking my blog.  I also want to thank those that have left comments, it is pretty exciting when you first start blogging to get those comments as you all know.  I hope I can offer some interesting projects and reading.

I recently won a magazine, Quilting Art from a draw at http://mysweetprairie.blogspot.com/.  Monika does beautiful fiber art postcards from photos she takes of the prairies.  I love her work and she puts her whole self into each project.  Stop buy and take a look, you will be impressed.

I am  making a couple cushion covers for my cousin.  I planned to have these at her home by Easter but, of course, that didn't happen.  I can't show you a picture of them until she gets them.

I hope everyone has a great Easter holiday and I will check in with you later next week.

QUILTS for JAPAN

Sorry I had to delete the first posting as the link wasn't working correctly.  So once again, I hope you are considering joining the many quilters all over the world donating quilts to those suffering from the devastating diaster in Japan.

Canadians, there is a group in Calgary collecting quilts to be sent to Japan.  This is much easier for us than shipping directly to Japan or some other country collecting quilts.  The link she sent me is not working correctly so if you would like more information please email her:  bev.rogan@gmail.com.  Just about any quilt is excepted and they would like quilts not larger than approx. 50"x75" because of shipping costs.

No new pictures today or any one item completely finished.  Today has been focused on finding a Canadian source for Quilts for Japan.

Hop on over to That Girl...That Quilt and check out the cute tutorial she has for a neat lunch bag.  There are also some very nice pics of weekend projects.

Last night I started a new spring project (I know I should not do this) because we are right back into winter with 7" snow, icy roads, just blah, blah and this project is at the quilting stage and really cheering me up.  Check back tomorrow, pictures I promise.

Hope you are having a wonderful week.