Christmas Quilt Show

Sew Gal Cal is hosting the Christmas Quilt Show again this year. Just the thing to get us in the Christmas mood.

This is one of my favorite Christmas quilts - "A Little Bit More About Bears...It's Christmas!"

I made this quilt about 8 years ago when I was teaching an applique class. The class was making "A Little Bit More...About Bears" and I thought it might be a good incentive if I made another quilt along side of them. I didn't want to make the same quilt again so I made a few changes and changed it into a Christmas quilt.

If you have a Christmas quilt you'd like to show, click on the link at the top of this post. If you don't have a quilt to show, click on the link anyway, and have a browse at all the wonderful quilts. Maybe it will inspire you to make a Christmas quilt of your own!

Bye for now.

Bloggers Quilt Festival

Amy of Park City Girl blog is again hosting an on-line quilt festival. Each participant is to post a photo of one of their favorite quilts with a little story about it.

One of my favorite quilts, is this quilt called "All About Bears" and it was my first design.
At the time, my daughter had quite a collection of teddybears that were taking over her bedroom. I made a deal with her that if she put away some of more well worn teddies I would make her a quilt. At the time, I didn't realize the fun I would have with it.
Why don't you visit Amy's blog and check out all the wonderful quilts being showcased, and even write about one of your own. Just click on the Quilt Festival button on the right-hand side of my blog. Be forewarned though, it's addictive!
I hope all my fellow Canadian bloggers have a wonderful Victoria Day weekend and all my U.S. friends enjoy their Memorial Day next weekend.
Bye for now.

New Threads From Lecien!

As I was stitching away on the June "Sweet Nostalgia" block, I began to wonder what I would do as a B.O.M. when "Sweet Nostalgia" is finished. I was going to do a survey to see if stitchery, or my favorite, applique, would be preferred, but I just received a wonderful surprise in the mail, which made up my mind for me!
The wonderful Nireko of the Lecien Corp. sent me those beautiful threads to introduce their new line of variegated threads called "Seasons", which are going to be launched at Quilt Market later this month. Why don't you ask your local quilt or needlework shop to look for them at Market.

Don't they look luscious? I've got just the project in mind for them. So stay tuned.
The past few days I've been busy appliqueing the borders on my new design, "Loves Music, Loves To Dance" and hope to be able to show you a photo soon. Bye for now.

Just a quick note to show you the two quilts I recently got back from quilter extraordinaire Vikki Favreau of Subtle Creations. Vikki has been doing my long-arm quilting for a number of years and she never fails to please me! These are numbers 5 & 6 in my "A Woodland Christmas" series of designs.


Didn't she do a fantastic job? Hope you have a great weekend. Bye for now.

I'm afraid I've been very quiet these past few weeks.  I had surgery on my stitching arm on the 15th of March, and it was a little more extensive than they expected, so I had to rest it for a bit, so no stitching or computer!   I got the stitches out last week, but then had a problem with being allergic to the bandaids they had covering it!
I was able to do a little stitching this week, and have been playing around with a new applique project today.  Fortunately, I've been working a little bit ahead on "Sweet Nostalgia" so I have the block ready for this month, but I still have to prepare the pattern.  All being well, I should have it ready to post by the 15th.

Here are 2 more of the bunnies from the new ballerina bunny quilt I started designing last month.  I managed to get the quilt top assembled and was working on the borders before I had the surgery.  Hopefully, I'll be able to get it finished soon.

Bye for now.

Fall Quilt Festival

Amy of Park City Girl blog is again hosting an on-line quilt festival. Each participant is to post a photo of one of their favorite quilts with a little story about it.

One of my favorite quilts is this one I made about 5 or 6 years ago. I have always loved the look of the 1930's repro prints but I wanted to do something a little different with them. I'd never made anything with a 60 degree diamond template before so I decided to give it a try. I think it turned out pretty well. Of course I had to add some applique to the borders. lol

Why don't you visit Amy's blog and check out all the wonderful quilts being showcased, and even write about one of your own. Just click on the Quilt Festival button on the right-hand side of my blog.
I hope all my fellow Canadian bloggers have a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend, and all my U.S. friends enjoy their Columbus Day.

Bye for now.

We've been having some pretty severe weather here this past week, but fortunately the tornados that went through southern Ontario missed us.

I've been busy trying to get the files for the September block of "Sweet Nostalgia" ready to go, but not being too proficient on the computer it's been a bit frustrating. I think I've got the .pdf file ready, now I just have to figure out how to get it on or linked to my blog for you to download.

Between battles with the computer, I redid the border around the center block of my Vintage Tiles quilt. I was so anxious to get it finished, I didn't listen to the little voice inside my head that told me it was too heavy, and it nagged at me until I changed it.

It was a bit of work but I think it was worth it. What do you think? Better?

There's still a week left to enter my giveaway of those lucious Cosmo Marble Threads, so if you're interested leave a comment on the previous post.

Bye for now.

My BIL is leaving for home today, and life will start to get back to "normal" again. Whatever "normal" may be.
I'm afraid I didn't get much done while he was here, but I am making some progress on the "Sweet Nostalgia" blocks. I have finished designing all 12 of the blocks (unless I change my mind again,lol) and have embroidered 2 of them. I will be able to show you a sneak peak soon.

One thing I did accomplish was to replace the inner border on my "Roses In Dresden" quilt.
Remember, I had sent the quilt up to Vikki to be quilted a while ago, but due to some unforseen events she was delayed in quilting it, fortunately! I had never been happy with the red inner border I had used, and the more I thought about it, the more I disliked it. So, back it came, and some serious "unsewing" was done.

Here are photos of the before and after.

What do you think?

Another week has just flown by, and I've finally finished 3 of my U.F.O.'s. Finished, in that they are ready to go up to Vikki for quilting! Now I can concentrate on "Sweet Nostalgia"
I've also been working away on the September block and will be able to show you a sneak peak soon.

Here are photos of the projects I just completed.

These are the 5th and 6th of the Woodland Christmas Series. The first one is called "Reindeer Games" and the other one is titled "Have You Been Naughty Or Nice?".

I have no idea why I made the next one, except that I had the navy surround made for another project and changed my mind and had to use it up. I think it's pretty cute, though I'm not a big fan of blue.


I have company coming next week from Scotland so I might not be able to post for a while, but I'll be back as soon as I can, with a sneak peak of Sweet Nostalgia and a giveaway of some of Lecien's lucious Cosmo Marble embroidery threads. Bye for now.

I received my "Vintage Tiles - Elegance In Neutrals" quilt back from the quilter on Friday and have been trying to get a good photo to show you since then. The first shots were taken right after I unpacked the quilt and all the fold lines were showing. The second shots were taken the next day but the sun was too bright and the colours were washed out. The third set bit the dust because the sun was too bright behind the quilt and you could see my husband's and son's shadows behind the quilt! I think I've finally got it! I took the quilt outside at 6:30 a.m. this morning, when it was still a bit overcast and I think it worked. Finally!

Didn't Vikki do a fantastic job of the quilting?

I used to think there was something wrong with the cameras I was using because I could never get good photos, but I'm on my third, quite expensive camera and I'm coming to the realization that the problem isn't the camera. lol

Chat with you later.

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all my blogger friends. I'm fortunate that I still have my Mom with me. She hasn't been very well for the past few years, and had to move in with us, much to her dismay,(she has always been very independent!) but I am grateful for this special time we have with her. DD is especially close to her "Nana" and they share a fondness for their "dopey-soapys", particularly "The Young and Restless". lol

It's finally finished! Only 2 weeks behind schedule, but the Vintage Tiles quilt top is finally complete! I was hoping to get a better photo and it was quite windy, but I had to make the most of having my son and his friend being available to hold it for me.

I've already started planning my next project. I'm going to try something a bit different, for me anyway, a quilt with stitchery instead of applique. I've got the first seven blocks drawn, and have planned the layout on graph paper. I hope to have something to show you soon.

Chat with you later.

Quilt Show

I just got home from the Mississauga Quilt Guild's show and was so excited I had to show you a photo of my friend's quilt. A few years ago Maxine offered to test my "Roses In Dresden" quilt pattern, which she finished this past year as a wedding gift for her son and his wife.
She has won 2 ribbons - A President's Choice ribbon and the Canadian Quilter's Association Ribbon! Didn't she do a fantastic job! Her colors are wonderful.

I guess I'll have to get the pattern ready for publishing now. My "Roses In Dresden" quilt is still out at the quilters, but hopefully I'll have it back soon.

I have more photos from the show which I'll try to post on the weekend, after I resize them.

Chat with you later.

I've had a busy week since I last posted, though I haven't anything new to show you with the Vintage Tiles quilt.

A friend asked me a while ago if I would judge the entries to her Quilt Guilds Challenge. When I said " sure, no problem", I had no idea how difficult it would be. All the entries were wonderful, though, as in any competition, some were better than others, and someone has to win and someone has to lose. I guess what I found hard was having to critique another quilter's work, in writing! I tried to keep my comments positive and any criticism constructive so I hope I haven't offended anyone. Hopefully, I will be able to post some photos after the guild's show later this month.

Yesterday, DD took me on a shopping trip across the border. The weather was terrible, windy and pouring rain, but my sister came to spend the day with Mom so we could get away, so we did!
First stop was JoAnn's where I purchased a few needlework supplies, but I completely forgot the bobbin holder I wanted for my Frostings threads! (a senior moment, lol) Next stop was a lovely little quilt shop called Auntie's Attic in Niagara Falls, N.Y. where I purchased a few fat quarters to add to my 30s reproduction fabrics.

DD isn't very interested in quilting or needlework, (though she does love to have quilts for her bed), so we made stops at T.J. Mex and Boulevard Mall, where she found a few treasures. Then another JoAnn's where I purchased this Die-Cutter.

It was a totally impulse buy, but I thought it would be useful for cutting little embellishments out of UltraSuede for my quilts. I'll let you know how I make out with it.

Last stop was Wegmans where I topped up my supply of these! LOL
All in all, it's been a good week. Chat with you later.

It's been a good week since I last posted and I've accomplished quite a bit on my Vintage Tiles quilt. Only 2 more blocks to applique!

I had a little setback, again, when I started to assemble the quilt, but I think I can work around it by adding a border around the centre block. At least I hope I can! I don't know where my head was at when I was drafting this one out. LOL
Here's a photo of the centre block.

I think the end of March for completion might have been too optimistic, so I'm aiming for the end of April. Here's hoping I don't encounter any more obstacles. (read goofs) lol

It's a beautiful, mild sunny day today so I'm going to try and get out and work in the garden for a bit. Maybe the fresh air will clear out the cobwebs!

Bye for now. Chat with you later.

Happy Birthday Mom

Today is the first day of Spring and my Mom's 89th birthday. Happy Birthday Mom.

I've been busy working on the Vintage Tiles quilt but don't have anything new to show you.
Instead here's a photo of the quilt I made Mom for her 80th birthday. It was all done in flannels.

And look what I got!

My sister had a friend vacationing in Florida and she had her bring these back for me. These should last me at least a month. LOL

Chat with you later.

I've finally finished preparing the last block for the Vintage Tiles quilt. Yippee! This one was like pulling teeth, I just couldn't get it right. The first color I chose for the curlycues in the background just didn't work and I had to start over, but it's finally done. Now I've got to get busy with the sewing.



It's a sunny, but cold day here today. My DD has gone on a daytrip across the border with a few friends, and I'm babysitting Daisy (her Chocolate Lab). I couldn't go with them this time, but I sent her on a mission to find me some Russell Stover Caramel Easter Bunnies! The shops here used to bring the Russell Stover chocolate in for special occassions like Valentines, Easter, Halloween etc., but there haven't been any since Christmas and I'm going through withdrawal! LOL
Bye for now. Chat with you later.

February Blahs!

I'm afraid I slacked off a little bit this past week, I just wasn't in the mood. The grey, dreary days and the cold weather are getting to me. It's hard to get motivated. I really need some sunshine! Does anyone else feel like winter is just dragging on? Maybe it's because we got so much snow, so early this year.
I did manage to get two more of the Vintage Tiles blocks prepared for applique, and now have just one more to go! I won't know what to do for the borders until I get it sewn together, but it will probably involve some applique.

Frustration Is...

I was so pleased when I finished preparing the setting triangles for the centre block of my new(old) Vintage Tiles quilt. I took some photos to show you, and discovered I had the stripes going in the wrong direction on two of the triangles! I couldn't believe I'd been so stupid!! It's a good job Mom was in the next room or the air would have been blue! LOL Luckily, they were only glued and not sewn yet, but it was still really frustrating. I swear, I think I am spatially challenged! I always found geometry difficult when I was in school, and maybe that was the reason.
Here are the photos, and as you can see, the yellow rose background has the stripe going horizontally instead of vertically!

I'll have to peel the applique pieces off, and recut the background fabric. Here's hoping I have enough fabric.
I've still got a few more blocks to design for this quilt, but I would really like to finish it by the end of March. Here's hoping.
Bye for now. Chat with you later

A week has gone by since my last post, and I'm afraid I got very little quilting accomplished, so I've nothing new in the Vintage Tiles design to show you.
Instead, here's a photo of a quilt I made a few years ago. I was trying to challenge myself to use brighter colors. I think it turned out okay. I don't have any grandchildren yet, but I think this

quilt would be wonderful for a little boy. What do you think?

Chat with you later. Bye for now

Another week has gone by, and luckily, there was no more snow. More time for applique!
I thought housework could wait, but Daisy (DD's Chocolate Lab) went under the bed for something and came out resembling a sheep, so I had to give in and do some dusting and vacuuming to get rid of all those dust bunnies. As a result, these blocks are only glued.





The colors are starting to grow on me, I think I might like this design after all! I still have 4 more blocks to design, and the setting triangles, so I don't think it'll be finished anytime soon.

Last month I joined Lindi's Get It Done Challenge here: http://gidchallenge.blogspot.com/ and am hoping it will spur me on to finish a couple of projects I started before I began designing my own patterns, 10 years ago! I have 8 blocks of Brandywines' Twelve Days Of Christmas completed and am hoping I will be able to finish it this year. I'll keep you updated on my progress(I hope!)
Bye for now. Happy Stitching.