Friday, May 27, 2011

I can't believe how much time has passed since I last posted but I have been a busy quilter.  I'll be here tomorrow to post pictures of what's been happening.  I hope you'll come back to join in.

Monday, May 16, 2011

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.

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Want a chance to win a facelift to your blog, well go here to enter.  There are also tips and you can just hire her to help you with your designs.

Monday, May 9, 2011

Hi everyone, hope you all had a wonderful Mother's Day.  I certainly did and was gifted so generously by my family.  Look here, even a card from my granddog, Hudson!  He came for a visit and is soo adorable, even if he is a big boy golden retriever.  He gives us so much love, just like pets are suppose to right!

And lookee what I won!  I am so excited and now I will have a legitimate excuse to go to Saskatoon.  Monika from My Sweet Prairie here celebrated her birthday in great style last week and had a number of giveaways.  Stop by and see her wonderful fiber art.  She does the most amazing fabric pictures from photos of the Prairies.  I know you will not be disappointed.

Another project that is finished and in the mail are the cushions I made for my cousin.  I love the hexagons and I am going to make one for myself now.  Easy fun stuff!

 I have had this community cold and flu for a week now.  Went to the doctor and got meds on Friday so I am feeling pretty good today.  Last night I just ran out of energy so I played around with these blocks that I had put together some time ago.  I had a substantial amount of green scraps so got the idea that I could piece them and make them into nine patch blocks.  Well, I did but they don't look that great so I added a white sashing to 2 sides and charcoal polkadots to 2 sides.  I just randomly laid them out on the floor.  This will be a quilt for the Cancer Society when finished.  I think it needs a bit of a border to tie it all together.  My thought was to make a quilt that could be given to a man.  I really struggle with designing masculine quilts.


I do have one other project that I am finishing up and I will show you when it is done.  I will pop  back later this week with another posting.  Until then have a fabulous week.

Monday, May 2, 2011

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.

Thursday, April 21, 2011

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

I have completed my quilt and I am very pleased with out it turned out.  The quilting design was from a tutorial that you can see herehttp://www.filminthefridge.com/.  I love how the center is a diamond pattern.  Hope you enjoy what I have done.


The backing for the quilt is a microfiber throw I purchased and it is so cuddly and soft.