Sunday, February 28, 2010

Pinwheel Block #2

I finished sewing Block #2 of the Pinwheel Sampler Quilt Along.

Rachel did a great job, there is a wonderful tip on reducing the bulk in the middle. My fabric is a layer cake called Alliance by Moda, and the background is by Buggy Barn. It is reproduction fabric and I love the colours!

Watched Canada win gold in the men's hockey this afternoon. Off to watch the Olympic closing ceremony now. Canada won more gold medals than any other county ever in a Winter Olympic Games. Fantastic!!

Have a great day!!

Saturday, February 27, 2010

Party Update, Part 2

Help yourself to some chocolate! The party is going well!


Machine quilting is coming along. I got lots done during the Spring Sewing Party.



Thanks to Kelly and Joan for hosting it!!

Off to sew the new Pinwheel Sampler Quilt Along blocks.

Have a great day and thanks for dropping in to the party!! ♥

Party Update, Part 1

The Spring Sewing Party is going well. I am working on the "Spanish Steps" quilt. I finally figured out the quilting pattern. I have been machine quilting for about 4 years, when I bought this free motion foot for my sewing machine.

Today I realized that I should use the yellow lines as a guide for machine quilting!! Always something new to learn!!

Just had time for a snack break and to check up on other party goers! Lots of great work being done out there!! Back to sewing and "watching" the Olympics!

Enjoy! See you later! ♥

Friday, February 26, 2010

Friday Show and Tell

This week's show and tell is the first quilt I made. A Trip Around the World quilt.

It sure has seen better days!! It is currently being used to darken my oldest child's room - reason for the sun damage.
My sister and I each made a quilt in this pattern. We saw the idea in a magazine and decided to try it. I graphed out a pattern, we bought the supplies - rotary cutter, ruler, mat, fabric etc, she brought her machine over and we spent a great week-end sewing. Our first adventure in quilting!


Her quilt is still in wonderful shape, in her spare bedroom!
We made them in September 1990. They are hand tied - no hand or machine quilting for us then!
I thought I would also show her latest quilt. She just finished it in November.

It is a pattern from the spring/summer 2009 issue of Quilt Sampler magazine - Bountiful Batiks. It is her third large quilt and the first one she machine quilted. She did a great job!

Just so you don't think it is just my mother and sister who are the talented ones in the family, I thought I would show you a cross stitch picture that my sister has.

My father made this. He does such amazing cross stitch, something he took up when he retired! This one is called "Home of a Quilter" by Told in a Garden.

Usually I am out all day on Friday, but not today! Have some time to sew on my "Spanish Steps" quilt. Tomorrow is the Spring Sewing Party, I am hoping to get lots of quilting done!

Have a great day!!♥

Spring Sewing Party


I joined the Spring Sewing Party, it is on Saturday, Feb 27th. Hosted by Kelly and Joan.
I will be working on machine quilting my "SS" quilt, and maybe the next installment of the Pinwheel Sampler Quilt Along!

Come and join us!!

Update Sewing Party Part 1.

Update Sewing Party, Part 2.

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Machine Quilting

Started quilting the "Spanish Steps" quilt. I think it is going to take me a while. Hopefully it will turn out alright!

Don't look too closely, still trying to figure out the pattern! I was doing it as I was "watching" the women's hockey at the Olympics. Canada won GOLD!!! Yeah!!!

Have a great day!! ♥

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Pinning the Quilt

Today I cleared out my dining room and pinned the "Spanish Steps" quilt together. It barely fit in! I used my favorite wool batting.

I moved my dining room table into the kitchen. I use the old island counter top from my kitchen to machine quilt large quilts on. My husband cut out the end the same as my Plexiglas sewing table. There are little legs underneath. It works fantastically!!

Don't adjust your set, that is a pink counter top. When we moved in a couple of years ago there were pink counter tops, pink wall-to-wall carpets, pink and white linoleum!! Also the walls were painted a yellowish-brown colour that should only be seen in a new born baby's diaper!

I will start quilting tomorrow. I think I have figured out the quilt pattern.


The rabbits have been enjoying the frozen pumpkins.

Have a great day and thanks for dropping by!! ♥

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Amazon Order

I always love getting my Amazon order.

The Judy Martin Log Cabin book came highly recommended. I am not disappointed! She is still my favorite quilt designer/author. Her books are well explained and very detailed. The first quilt book I bought is Judy Martin's "Scrap Quilts" and it is still one of my favorites.


The other book - Fat Quarter Quilting -is for my venture into small quilts. On Amazon.ca all the quilts in the book are shown. I have a "few" fat quarters (surprising I know!), and I have spotted a couple little quilts I want to try.

Not much time for sewing today (volunteering and dentist appointments for the family), but I did have time to knit (waiting at the dentist!). My socks are coming along, just a couple more inches to go.


Have a great day! ♥

Monday, February 22, 2010

Machine Quilting Today

I spent today machine quilting this lap quilt that my Mother made.


It is a pattern from this book.



She bought a beautiful new Bernina QE last year, but didn't feel comfortable quilting such a large quilt just yet. She did love piecing it thought.

Have a great day!! ♥

Sunday, February 21, 2010

A Few Finishes!

The first one isn't really a finish, but I completed the first two blocks of the Pinwheel Sampler Quilt Along, from p.s. I quilt. We will be doing 16 blocks altogether over the next 8 weeks!

They went together really well. Lots of people have been posting their pictures over at Flickr.

I also finished my Camp Sloanie Winter Olympics UFO Challenge piece. My table runner is signed and dated! Second February OPAM finish too!

It is actually a runner for my dining room buffet,


and a match to this table runner I made two years ago.

I love this pattern and have made a few variations of it. Very simple, four 7" blocks and about one yard of main fabric.

There are quite a few contests going on out in blog-land.


Amber is having a give away, a set of her great new patterns. Enter before Tuesday Feb 23rd.
Jandi is having a give away to celebrate her move to blogger. She is giving away some beautiful fabric.
Audrey is having a give away of a jelly roll and a charm pack. It is the wonderful "Plume" fabric by Moda.
Lila Tueller is having a give away of an amazing new quilt she made from her newest line of fabric "Eden" and some patterns.

How exciting! Good luck!

Have a great day!! ♥

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Friday Night Sew-In Results

I sure enjoyed the Friday Night Sew-In! Thanks Heidi!!


I machine quilted my Olympic Challenge table runner. All I have left to finish it is to hand stitch the binding on the back. I usually don't sew on Friday night, so this was a nice change.

I will finish it tonight when I watch the Olympics. Go Canada!

I hope you have time to do something you love! ♥

Friday, February 19, 2010

Friday Show and Tell

Today's post will just be quick, as I have to get working on my Friday Night Sew-In!!


This is a quilt that took me a few years to piece. It is about 90"x90" and made up of all kinds of blocks I wanted to try. It is the second large quilt I made and the first one that I hand quilted. I finished it 5 years ago. It has been a great reference for some more recent quilts that I have made (the bear's paw that I am working on being one). This style of quilt is still one of my favorites.

The two appliqued hand prints are tracings from my two children. I usually have some reference to them in all my work. They are my greatest creations and the ones that I am the most proud of!!

Off to my machine to sew!

Have a great day!! ♥

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Hand Quilting

Today I have been hand quilting as I watch the Olympics.

This is the Bear's paw quilt I have been working on.



On my challenge table runner, one of the new techniques I tried was the wavy blocks (there are 2 sewn together in the table runner).
I originally tried this technique out with books covers (and tape), to make a sign at a library that I volunteer at. This is made up of many "blocks" that I wavy cut and put back together. It was a lot of fun, so I tried it with fabric.


Today I also got together my fabric for the Postage Stamp Quilt Along that starts next week.

Apparently this fabric will end up looking something like this quilt from the LL Bean catalogue.

Can't wait!!

Tomorrow is the Friday Night Sew-In. Both of these events are hosted by Heidi over at Handmade by Heidi. Thanks Heidi!!

Check out the fantastic fabric give away over at 44th Street Fabric. Good luck!

Have a great day!!

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Something New!!

I finally tried out the machine applique technique from Kim Diehl's book.

It is wonderful to learn something new!! I have tried out many different techniques, but apart from hand applique (which takes a long time) I was never pleased with any of them. Kim Diehl's technique is fabulous. Easy to learn, with excellent results. Even my first sample piece looked good! It involves freezer paper and a small zig-zag with mono filament. I see many more applique projects in my future!



Over at Bountiful Heirlooms there are some wonderful tips for machine applique with this technique. The rest of her blog is pretty wonderful too! Thanks for sharing Nancy. ♥

I finished piecing my Camp Sloanie Olympic Challenge piece today. It is all ready to be machine quilted on Friday night at the Friday Night Sew In! The binding is also all ready to go if I get really ambitious!

Have a great day and thanks for dropping by! ♥

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

A Couple More Wonky Stars

I am still working on my Olympic Challenge (challenge being the key word!). I did a couple more wonky stars today. I did enjoy making them this time.


I am still trying to work out how the whole thing will go together.

I am going to put an applique in the bottom left corner. Trying hard to finish it this week!!
The Pinwheel Sampler Quilt Along is supposed to be starting this week and the Postage Stamp Quilt Along starts at the beginning of next week. Lots of new and exciting projects to get going on, so I need tho get this challenge out of the way.

I chopped the frozen pumpkins up yesterday, and the rabbits have been enjoying them. They had been chewing on the outsides, but really like the seeds inside.

Have a great day! ♥

Monday, February 15, 2010

Finished Sewing on the Borders

I finally finished last weeks focus (sewing the borders on the "Spanish Steps" quilt) today. Technically it is a holiday today (Louis Riel Day in Manitoba), and so it is still the week-end for me, which is when I like to have the weeks focus finished. So, for me, I finished it on time!

I will put it away for this week. I have to piece together some leftover fabrics that I will use for the backing. Next week I hope to start machine quilting it. Still have to decide what I am going to do. Waiting for inspiration!!

This week I am going to focus on finishing my Olympic Challenge project, so that I can have it ready to machine quilt for the Friday Night Sew In on the 19th.

Today was a beautiful day, and so we played outside for a while in the bright sunshine.

The view from our backyard.

Have a great day! ♥

Sunday, February 14, 2010

♥Happy Valentines Day♥

Anniversary Flowers



Crazy Quilt Bag


The draw date for my first give away has finally arrived.


There were 26 entries. Thanks to everyone who entered, and all the words of love.


My husband picked and the winner is Dianne!! I hope you enjoy the bag!
Dianne is actually a friend and I am so thrilled she won. Although I know I would have been thrilled with whoever won! Thanks again to every one who participated! ♥
Having a give away has been a lot of fun. I will definitely do it again!

Have a loving day!!♥

Saturday, February 13, 2010

My First Wonky Star

I have seen wonky stars around the web and thought it might be nice to try one for my liberated table runner.

I don't think it is as wonky as some of the ones I have seen. I just don't seem to be too liberated!
The center of my table runner will be 15"x41", surrounded by a 3" border. I think I have finally figured out how I want it to be. I am going to try some applique that is described in this book-

I am really glad I joined the Camp Sloanie Winter Olympic Challenge. I don't think I would have ever tried finishing the table runner otherwise .
I have also been working on the Bear's Paw quilt. I am already quilting the second block for this week.

Over at Alderwood Quilts, Sue is having a great give away of some fabric and a terrific mouse pad. The draw date is March 1st.

Have a great day! ♥

Friday, February 12, 2010

Show and Tell Friday

This weeks quilt was made by Grandmother and my Aunt (my mother's mother and sister).


It was made before 1950, in Quebec.

It is made from scraps, and hand quilted. It is in great shape and one of my favorites.

Don't forget to enter my give away before the 14th of February. Good Luck!

Have a great day! ♥
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