My cutting table on wheels

I know that many people have all sorts of different cutting table setups.  I have a few myself.  I also know that people like seeing how others have their setups to get ideas and options.  So, I thought I would share with you my cutting table on wheels.  This table doubles as a stand up sewing table as well, and I use that when I need to do an emergency, add on to the backing, when the quilt is still loaded on the longarm.

As you can see, I was trimming some half square triangles (HST).  This is the top surface.  The cutting table is about 1/2 the size of the large cutting mat.  It's big enough to hold my Janome 6500 professional with the extended table.  For reference, those HSTs are 4 1/2".  It is a good size for trimming work.  When cutting and trimming, I prefer to do it standing.

This is what I have my table on.  You can find this rolling tray at IKEA.  I used to use it beside my sewing chair to hold all sorts of stuff, but I got something else for that.  Now I use it for this.  The wood that makes up the table is longer than the rolling tray, to fit everything.  So I use the right hand side to do my work and hold the sewing machine.  The reason the table is not centred is because the sewing machine is very heavy whereas the extended table has almost no weight at all.  This way the table is much more stable.  I centre the machine over the tray section.  My sewing machine cords and accessories are in the tiers below the table.

To secure the wood to the rolling tray I am using L brackets that I flattened a bit to extend past the rounded lip of the tray.  I have two on each long side and one on each short side.  No holes in the rolling tray, so if I decide to change my setup, I can easily remove the wood and not have damaged the rolling tray. 

This works well for me.  I know that many people are investing a lot of money into stand up tables to do more standing up instead of always sitting, so this could be an option if that is what you are looking for.  It is less expenses, so you can try it out for a while to see if you like it, before investing a lot of money on the tables on the market at the moment.

You could even use something like this for an ironing board.  Keep an open mind and come up with other uses for it, or other variations of this that would work better for you.  Take the seed and let it grow.

Have a great night!!  Take care and don't forget to take some time for you!

My design wall this month (November/2022)

What a productive weekend.  I have been cleaning up a bunch of things quilting related.  Getting customer quilts done, with a Christmas deadline, cleaning up my sewing area and generally finishing up a lot of bits and pieces here at the house as well.  It is amazing how much can be done when you minimize all the distractions.  But really...what is life without the distractions....lol.

I took a few days off of writing post, but I have been catching up on pictures of things I've done that I couldn't post, as I didn't have pictures.  Well now I have them, so there are pending posts, ready for me to share, when I can.

There were so many that I got organized with, that I didn't know where to start.  So I am going to start with right now, right here, today with something I haven't done in a while.  I'll start off with my design wall this month.

What does my design wall look like today....well it doesn't look much different than it looked like last month or the month before....  I've been busy with all sorts of stuff, like customer quilts, renos, shop hopping with my mom, a quilting retreat, and some well needed down time with my family.  My own sewing took a back seat for a bit.

For the first time ever, I finally finished the hanging sleave for my November's wall hanging that goes in my sewing room (that is on the left hand side of the picture, just above my cutting table).  On my sewing table I have my panel for the quilted floor pillow I am making (more details about that one in a future post).

On my design wall, I have bits and pieces of inspiration all over, and I have five quilts in progress.  First, in the center is the 2021 Bonnie Hunter winter mystery quilt, at the bottom, underneath everything else.  Secondly, I have the Christmas fabric quilt using a disappearing nine-patch pattern on top of the Bonnie Hunter winter mystery quilt.  To the left on the design wall is the wool wall hanging I am working on borders for (this is hand appliqué).  On the right hand side, at the top, I have a scrappy square in a square quilt started, using my scrapes, and at the bottom of that is the Bonnie Hunter Bit Coin quilt, using my 1 1/2" scrap strips.

There are a few other bits and pieces on there, but I am hoping they go unnoticed...lol.  Face it, I have a lot of stuff on the go. I am trying to reduce the list, but no sooner do I finish one, I add two...lol.  I can't seem to stop myself.  I just want to try it all......

I am sure I am not the only one that does this, so don't judge me to harshly.  It is just how I roll.

Anyways, have a great night everyone!  Take care and don't forget to take some time for you. 

A brief break

I am going to be taking a brief break from posting this week.  I have a long list of things to do, with no time left to gather pictures for posts.  With Christmas coming, all of a sudden there are rush quilts to be done and other non quilty related things to do.  I figure I will take the week off.

Take care everyone. Don't forget to schedule some time for yourself.  Your going to need it to make it over the hustle and bustle of the holidays!

Joy's Germany fabric quilt (QW)

I am back from an enjoyable time away with friends at a private quilting retreat.  I feel so relaxed and energized.  I got the centre of a top done. Just need borders on that one and I also got 20 blocks of another quilt done for another quilt I am making.  Very much enjoyed the company, beautiful serene scenery, and food that we all chipped in to make.

Last Wednesday I had a day off from my full time job and worked on my son's bedroom.  I managed to finish sanding the fine coat of plaster, priming two coats, a trip to Home Depot for the paint he chose for his room, filled the nail holes, painting two coats of the main colour and one coat of the accent wall colour.  After that was done, I showered and headed to pickup my mom for a movie night out with my sister in Milton.  That was quite nice.  When I got home at around 9:30 pm, I figured I had just enough time to finish the second coat of the accent wall before walking the dog and finally heading to bed.  That felt great!!  I really feel good when I have such a productive day!

So today, when I got home from the retreat, at just after 2:00 pm, I took advantage of the remaining afternoon to try and finish my son's room.  I sanded all the wood filler, sweep up and started painting all the baseboards, casings and his wall cubby hole.  I am writing this post while I am waiting for my timer to go off telling me it is ready for the second coat of paint on the baseboards and trims, before I walk the dog and head to bed.  I am trying my best to get everything around here done, but realistically his room will likely be the last thing I do, until winter is over and we are able to open the windows and let some fresh air in, as the next thing I need to do, needs ventilation. 

So, until I can get some current pictures taken, I'll take you back in time to July 4/2020:

This is Joy's quilt.  This would be a great option for those large scale prints, so that you can show a good portion of it in larger blocks.  I am saving this quilt idea for a quilt I want to make, so you will see a tape measure in some of the pictures for my own reference, for when I am ready to make one.

Joy did a lovely job of piecing this quilt.  It's a lap size, but can be converted to any size by either adding or subtracting blocks.  I like the subtle colourway she chose for this quilt.

I took measurements of the block to replicate this quilt.  Other information you may need to know if you are looking to make one as well, is that the border surrounding the block, the background fabric, is 1" finished, and the second border surrounding that is also 1" finished.  This one would be an accent fabric, one that would highlight the colours in the block.  What I mentioned in this paragraph is the instructions for the block.  You would make as many blocks as you need and sash them in the same background fabric (in this case she used cream).

Just another picture showing a different angle.

I'd love to see your quilt if you intend to make one.  I think this one would be great in any colourway.

Interesting facts:  At this same time back in July/2020, in renos, we are clearing out the crawlspace at the old house.  Gutting out the bathroom on the office level and still bringing packed boxes to my mom's. 

Enjoy your evening everyone!  Got to go....my alarm just went off, telling me I need to do that last coat of paint.  Take care, and take some time for you!

Great-grandmother square

So, I decided to make one more post before I go away and schedule it for the morning that I leave.  I promise this one will be shorter...lol.

Back in time to May 18/2020:

This is of a small great-grandmother block quilt.  I had many 1 1/2" squares or strips of fabrics that were older, but not as old as the 30s-40s fabric.  I believe these fabrics date back to the '80s.  They were so pretty and deserved to be in a quilt together.  I guess depending on your definition, this could be classified as a mini quilt.

This was hanging on my wall in my longarm room.  I enjoyed it while I had it.  I made this quilt as a NICU quilt and it was always intended to go to Project Linus.  I just waited a few months to give it to them.

Prior to finishing it in May/2020, I started it in April/2020.  Here is a picture of the top finished, prior to being quilted.

This is a closer view to see the different fabrics used.  I really like the white background that helps display the fabrics and let them shine.

Here is a sample of a single block.  As you can see the pieces are on point and the white is trimmed to make the block square, before you sew it into rows.

Again, have yourself a great weekend!

Traditional 3-way BOM

Warning, this may be a long post, as I haven't posted in a few days...

Have I ever been busy these last few days...  I did some renos, some quilting for customers and for charities.  Overall I have been productive trying to get things done, so that I can have a guilt free weekend away.  I think I deserve it.

I'm looking forward to some time away with friends to decompress and have some fun.

Since this weather has turned all of a sudden, I haven't been able to get any pictures taken, so that will have to wait.  In the picture department, I have a lot of catching up to do.

In the meantime, let me take you back to May 16 & 26th/2020:

This quilt is one of three quilts that I did as a block of the month (BOM).  The person doing this BOM had you making a quilt that you would later quilt on your longarm.  In this case it wasn't the making of the block that was the BOM, but instead the quilting of it.

Tracey from Whirls and Swirls decided that she would teach three styles of quilting.  All would be freehand.  First would be modern, second would be traditional and the third was free motion/flow (somewhere in between).

I being an over achiever, at the time, decided I wanted to do all three...lol. Well that backfired on me...lol.

If you go back through my posts, you will see that I was able to keep up with making the three quilts all together, but when it came time to do the quilting....life just got crazy.  I did the first one fine and learned a lot.  Later I stalled out.  By the time I got to this date, in May, I convinced myself that a completed quilt was better than a long list of stuff to do.  I was also trying to get stuff done rather than packing it.

This quilt was supposed to be the traditional quilting style.  It was to have feathers galore and I wasn't feeling it.  I didn't free that my skill level was good enough for my sometime perfectionist ways, so I went ahead and quilted it with an overall feather design.

Above and below are closeups of a couple of block.  I ended up having just enough of that background fabric.  That was the inspiration for pulling the other fabrics.  The blue one may be a little off, but the challenge to myself was, if I was to make these three quilts, they all had to come out of my stash.  I was not allowed to purchase any fabric for them.  I succeeded, for all three!!  Yeay!!

I wanted to throw this last picture in here for my own enjoyment.  This was of a corner of my garden, at my home in Etobicoke.  I just loved the backyard neighbour's lilac bush that would dangle over the fence to my side.  It somehow made my garden look so much bigger.  The fence is almost obscured by the bushes I had growing in front of it.  You really have to look to even see the bird feeder in the picture.  The eyonomous bush was planted by the previous owner and has filled in nicely.  The metal fence in front of it is to protect my garden from my dog, that would just trample all over it.  It also gave the bunnies a safe place to run, so my dog wouldn't get them.

If you've come this far, kudos to you.  You are almost to the end.  Just one more thing...

Interesting facts:  Back at this same time in May/2020, now with the weather turning nice, it is time to get out in the gardens and get them ready for selling the house.  I know it is early, but if we are looking to sell in the beginning of the year 2021, the weather will not allow for any garden clean up.  So, we start thinning out the plants, rearranging to make it look easier to upkeep, remove the doggie proofing fences, take up the patio stones to reshape it smaller a bit, also remove the temporary patio up by the Japanese maple, as it was never a good spot for it, and add in new grass where needed.  This has to be done now, as the plan is in June, I start fixing up my daughter's room and I'm working on making samples for quilting patterns. 

I am wishing everyone a long weekend, as I will be away and not posting.  Take some time for you, have fun and keep safe.

Joyce's 2nd Oriental inspired fabric quilt (QW)

As the theme for the last couple of posts has been Joyce, I thought I would continue for this post as well.  Back in time to May/2020, just after I got my longarm working again, this was the the next quilt I quilted.

I really like this quilt and the colour combination.  Joyce used a few oriental inspired focal fabrics and pulled in some coordinating accent colours.  I like how she was able to throw in the blue that spices up the whole thing.  I like this quilt pattern so much, I got the pattern to make it later.

I added this next picture so that you can see the colours a bit better.  The quilt lays on my longarm polls waiting to be quilted.  This also helps loosen up any wrinkles from being in a bag for a bit.

This was one of the focal fabrics that inspired the pinks and reds in the quilt, and likely the green.  There is another block (no closeup), where she would have pulled the blue colour.  It's in the picture above, on the right hand side, the block is similar to the one below, from where she would have pulled the blue.  I am loving these large scale floral fabrics.

There was this third focal fabric.  From this fabric I am guessing she pulled the black and the yellowish cream colour.  I like how she incorporated four different floral focal fabrics that all have the same theme going on, but are still different.  She used a few coordinating fabrics and the rest were blenders.  As a whole this quilt is beautiful.  I hope I can get the same overall affect in the one I plan on making.

Today I am off to an engagement party for one of my nieces, so not likely to get any sewing done, but I will be dreaming of the quilt that I started yesturday, after I finished quilting a customer quilt.  I started a quilt that was inspired by the quilt in yesterday's post....

Enjoy your day today!!

Joyce's Oriental fabric quilt (QW)

Good morning!  Today is going to be another busy day of catching up on things around here at home.  First on the list is finishing the fine touches of plaster on my son's room and priming all the patches.  I have a customer quilt to do and if time allows one more quilt for Quilts for Survivors.  Added point from yesturday's post, part of my "you wish" list, is to also have one coat of paint on the walls, both the main colour and the accent wall....lol.  We'll see....

Not only do I have to get caught up, but I also need to try and get a little ahead of the game, as next weekend I won't be here to get anything done.  I am heading out of town with friends.

For pictures today, let me take you back in time to Apr 19/2020:

Here is another quilt made by Joyce.  This one was made using yardage of an oriental fabric with white cranes and pink/rose Peony flowers.  Here is a sampling of the focal fabric.

I put a measuring tape on this next block, as I wanted to get the scale.  I thought this would be good pattern for using up large print fabrics.  All you need are two accent fabrics to match your fabric of choice.  This would be an easy enough quilt to use the strip piecing method to make the blocks. 

The strip set for this 10" block would be 2 1/2" light strip (by width of fabric), sewn to a 4" dark strip (by width of fabric), sewn to a 5" light strip (by width of fabric) sewn side by side.  Once the strip set is sewn, you would sub cut it into one 2 1/2" and one 5" piece, per block.  You would also cut a 4" focal fabric to place in between to make up the full block.  Placement for the first row, first block is with the focal fabric vertical on the left side, and second block rotating the block a 1/4 turn to the right.  For the second row, for the first block the focal fabric is horizontal on the bottom of the block and a 1/4 turn to the right for the next one.  Easy peasy...lol.  Hope you got all that.

This next one is a close up of one block.  It almost looks like it was fussy cut to get both cranes in the size of the block (sorry for the picture being sideways, only notice now while writing this post).

This is the closest thing I have to the whole quilt.  I forgot to get the final picture.  This one I made sure to add in the post, as I wanted to note the borders.  The three border fabrics were done as one border the length of the quilt sides, and for the last two borders (top and bottom), there was a block sewn to each end of the border.  This gives the illusion that the border is a bit fancier. 

Interesting facts:  April 20th/2020, just after these photos were taken, my long arm broke down and was not working.  It took me about a week and a half, back and forth with the company trying to figure out what the problem was, so this started to stress me out, as I had a backlog of quilts.  Lucky for me the company support is great!!  Fast forward to today, I can say that this one time was the only time since I've owned my longarm that I had a breakdown....knock on wood.

Enjoy your day everyone!  Make the most of it and don't forget to take some time for you!!

Joyce's tumbler quilt

Today I had a day off from my full time job, so I made big plans and mad a big long list of stuff I wanted to try and get done....lol.  It was big!  Did I realistically think I was going to get it all done in the one day....no, but I was going to try my darndest to do all that I could.  I do it often, I am a list person after all.  I make lists to keep me on track and so that I don't forget what to focus on.  On paper I have the whole list (I call it the "you wish" list...lol, said with sarcasm) and in my head I have the realistic list....even if I get one extra thing done from the realistic list, I am supper happy.

I got the plastering of my son's room done.  I just have a fine coat left to do, but waiting for it to dry.  I quilted a quilt for Quilts for Survivors, one of my mom's NICU quilts and her snowman panel quilt.  Pictures will follow once the binding is done.  So I am supper happy, as the snowman panel was not on my realistic list.  I will work on the rest of the stuff on the wish list throughout the weekend.

I quit for today.  I ordered pizza for dinner and plan to do some personal sewing and maybe a movie later this evening. 

Pulled a picture from the archives and taking you back in time to April/2020:

This is Joyce's tumbler quilt.  They're larger tumblers made using beautify warm thimbleberry type fabrics.  They are so warm and rich.  I love it!  Makes me want to just snuggle up underneath it by the fire with a glass of wine. 

Both the quilt pattern and the fabrics reminded me of a traditional quilt, so I quilted it with a traditional Baptist fan quilt pattern.  Nothing says traditional more than the Baptist fans.   I love the simple texture.  I used military gold thread on this one and wow!  It blends very nicely through all the different fabric colours.

Hoping everyone had a great day!! Enjoy the evening and take some time for you!

Plus sign quilt

Today I thought I would share with you this quilt that I started to make in Apr/2020.  This is my plus sign quilt.  At the time there was a large wave going through the internet with what seemed like everyone making plus quilts...lol.  Many different designs and patterns.  It was actually nice seeing them all, in all the different variations.  Some were connected plus signs with no background fabric, some were connected side by side, and others were in columns with sashings.

This is my version.  I wanted the plus signs to be close but not touching.  I wanted it to look like you have to stop and think about where the rows start and stop and I wanted it to look a bit random.  I definitely wanted mine to be scrappy and mostly light to medium coloured fabrics, with just the odd darker one here and there.  The background on this is completely scrappy too.

I finished this quilt in mid May/2020.  That is fast for me!  I love how it turned out.  This is one of the few quilts that I've made that does not have a border.  It makes it look a bit more modern.  My daughter really love this one too!!  I'm going to have to keep an eye on it, or it just may walk away on me.....lol.

I quilted the quilt with an edge to edge pantograph called Filigree by Urban Elementz.  For the backing, below, I pieced a vertical row using some strips of fabric that I had left over from another quilt I made. This picture is of the backing hanging from my longarm poles, just before I loaded it to quilt.

Here is a close up of the quilt while I was making it.  Here you get to see how the top was assembled.  There are no sashings between the rows horizontally and as I wanted to alternate the plus signs, I added a sashing between the plus signs vertically.  When I look at this picture, I can see the rows going up on a diagonal.  I can't say that I noticed that before.  The layout stops the plus signs from looking like they are all lined up.  

I really enjoyed making this quilt.  The trickiest part of it was figuring out how many plus signs I needed for the size of quilt I wanted.  Even though the blocks are essentially square, the measurements are different for the height and width of the rows, because the height of the rows is the height of the blocks and the width of the rows you have to add the sashing measurement.  But other than that, it was very easy to construct.  I made many of these as leader/enders, between other things.

Enjoy your night and take some time for you!!

Karen's colour wash quilt (QW)

The Go buses went on strike today, so after work I had to drive 25 mins to Guelph to pick up my daughter from university.  Once I got home and had dinner, I headed down to my sewing room.  I've been cleaning things in the sewing room today, trying to sort and organize.  I got the next quilt for Quilts for Survivors loaded on the longarm ready to go when I have some time.  My shipment of threads finally came in and so I put those away as well.  I just love coloured threads.  I also set up my wool wall hanging borders with the flowers and leaves to stitch down by hand.

No pictures of what I have been working on today, so I will take you back to Mar 14/2020:

I had a new customer call me looking to get a quilt quilted.  From what I understood, this was her first quilt.  Karen saw a picture in a quilting magazine (seen below) and just had to make it.  So over time, she collected different colours of fabric to make this quilt, as close to the original as possible.  

I kept a picture of the magazine quilt as I may want to make a scrappy version of this quilt.  It looks simple enough to make and would be versatile to convert the size as well. 

I think she did a great job and really, you wouldn't know that this is her first quilt. She did a great job of piecing it too.

I quilted this quilt with a pantograph pattern called Whisper from Urban Elementz.  It turned out beautiful.

Interesting facts: At this time back in March/2020, covid-19 is getting ready to take the world by storm.  No matter who you are, everyone in some way has been affected by this and life as we knew it is not likely to return.  As people are currently saying, this is our new normal.

Mom's rug hooking frame

Yesturday I got a couple of quilts for Quilts for Survivors quilted, I will try and trim them today and add the binding by machine for my mom to stitch down by hand.  Pictures to follow.  I did this, after I plastered the walls in my son's room.  I'm still doing some minor renos, but my son's room needed some repair.  When the baseboards were taken out to install the hardwood floors, some of the paint peeled off the walls in chunks, so I had to chip away at the remaining loose stuff and start re-plastering.

Today is going to see another coat of plaster in my son's room, and I am going to see if I can get another couple of quilts quilted for Quilts for Survivors.

In the meantime, let me take you back to Mar 7/2020:

My mom has been talking for a while about starting another rug hooking mat.  My mom hadn't done a rug hooking since she was living back home.....which is probably over sixty years ago....  She kept putting it off with excuses of moving away from home for work, getting married and starting a family, raising a family, back to work, and so forth and so forth....  Every time she thought of it, she would think of maybe setting up a frame of some sort to help.  She went so far as to making a small frame at the last house that I helped her hang from the ceiling.  One that you can pull up when not using and drop down to use.  

But that is where it sat.  When we moved mom from Toronto to Acton, we dismantled the hanging frame and never did reinstall it here at her current home.  At this time (back in Jan/2020), my mom was showing interest again in trying to set up a frame to finally start that rug hooking.  So, I took notes of what she thought she needed to make it work and came up with a frame for her rug hooking.

This one is on a stand, and this picture, is in the largest set up depth wise.  There are holes in the wood on either end that she can roll up the burlap as she goes to keep the working sections close at hand.  We placed it in the large area in her hallway at the top of the stairs, just outside the kitchen.  But when we had our first family gathering, she collapsed it to put it away, as it takes up a lot of room.

I made the frame back in Feb/2020, and by Mar/2020, my mom had a design she wanted to do for the mat.  So, I took the design to Staples and enlarged it, to the size she wanted, and proceeded to get the light out and trace the pattern to the burlap, light box style.

This design means a lot to my mom, as this was her upbringing.  Her father was a fisherman and every summer they would move stuff to the island while he fished, cooked and canned seafood.  I really like the design too.  I used black marker to trace the design to the burlap.  Note, if you plan to do it this way, make sure you have a few markers, as the burlap just soaks it up!!  

 As of today, the rug hooking frame has been moved downstairs to a large area in the rec room/living room down there and she has started the first row that lines up the burlap weave to keep things straight.  For the last year and a half, mom has been busy helping me renovate, move and later renovate the new place, which left her with little time.  Maybe this winter, she will decide to finally sit down and work on her vision in her head for this pattern....

Hope everyone enjoys this pretty Sunday morning.  Here we had the time change, where we put the clocks back an hour....I didn't get my extra hour of sleep.....instead I stayed up late watching a couple of movies....lol.  After watching two, I actually lost more than the one hour....lol.  But, I enjoyed it!!!

Inspiration for a panel with borders (QW)

I thought this was cute.  It is an option for borders to go with a panel.  It's very nice and I wanted to keep this image for future inspiration.  Panels are always good for a quick finish, maybe a last minute baby show.  Picture is from Pinterest and there is no source. 

Green strings bar quilt

Today I had the day off from my full time job and got some time to catch up a bit, with quilty things around here.  I finished quilting a quilt for Project Linus and trimmed it.  Now it is just waiting for the binding, which I already have cut and ready to attach.  One more to cross off my list....yeah!!!  Pictures to follow once the binding is on.

Today I finally had time to sit at my computer and write out that pattern that I was working on for Quilts for Survivors.  I posted about it in an earlier post.

Since there are no new pictures of what I did today, I'll take you back to March 1/2020:

This is my scrappy string quilt.  My drawer of strings was overflowing with green strings, so I had to come up with something to make with them.  When I came across this pattern in a book, I knew exactly what to do with all those strings.  The book is called New Cuts for New Quilts: More Ways to Stack the Deck by Karla Alexander, and the quilt is on the cover page.  I altered it slightly, with no pieced sashings and random string sizes, instead of starting out with blocks that you slice up and sew back together..

I've heard people say that not all greens go together.....well....I think I've just proven them wrong.  I have every shadow of green in here.  It was an everything except the kitchen sink sort of thing.

The above picture is closer to the true colours of the quilt.  The one below is off due to the lighting, but I added it so that you could see the quilting better.

This next picture is a close up to show you the funky border that became my inspiration for the quilting pattern.  Love those dotted swirls. Plus to show you the variety of greens from blue green to yellow green and many shades in between.

Hope everyone had a chance to get outside today for a rare beautiful warm for the season, November day!  Along my walk with the dog, I smelled a couple of people having one last fire.  I'm kind of hoping we have the same weather tomorrow, cause I am thinking I want one too...lol. The sight and smell of a camp fire is so soothing.

Take care everyone.

Rag rug and a QOV (QW)

Back in time to Feb 23/2020:

I had decided to finish making my rag rug.  I can't recall what the pattern is called at the moment, but this is what was really starting to go around at that time.  The pattern calls for cotton strips and strip batting.  I took the opportunity to use up some ugly scraps.  The old fabrics that were given to me because they were so outdated, they didn't go with anything and the motifs were not desirable.  So I cut them up into strips and used them in this project.  I thing it turned out good for those hard to use fabrics.

Here is another quilt I quilted for Quilts of Valour.  This quilt was made with a vertical zig zag pattern.  I did a simple Jessica's swirl pattern on it.

FYI  I am still having troubles with my computer and I'm almost ready to trash it, and get another one, but not another one like this.  The day after the warranty ends, it starts to go on me.....not very nice.  These companies seem to control all this stuff because this is the second computer I had that did the same thing.  The last one was just a week after the warranty ran out.....

I bought a computer so I wouldn't have to use the tablet mode, but with a touch screen it is considered part tablet and I can't disable it.  Not on this model, and this screen keypad is the pits.

Sorry to be complaining here, but this is the reason I may not be writing post for a bit.

Pretty batiks

I am having trouble with my computer keyboard going into table mode again, can't type like this.  Will just leave you with a few pictures. Two are batik inspiration and one of my four legged baby. I hope this gets fixed soon and I wish the computer company would stop dictating how I am to use my computer!!!

A few days later to today Nov 5th and I have decided to go back to this post and edit it.  I was so frustrated the other day when, again my computer was acting up, but now I will take the time to give a blurb about the pictures.  This first one is the bundle of batiks that I won at the Acton Fall Fair.  I am planning on making a meditation/floor pillow with it.

This picture is of my four legged baby, Maddie.  She thinks she is royalty and sits there, just inside the house, surveying her kingdom, known as our back yard

This next bundle of batiks is what I purchased to make a quilt.  The picture does not do it justice, but they are pretty and bright summer colours.  I call these colours yummy, as they remind me of food.  Melon, grapes, lemons, limes, salmon, just to name a few....lol.  Can you tell I love my food...lol.

Both of the patterns I want to make are coming from Suzy Quilts.  I can't wait to get started.  I think one of them will be coming with me to a friend's private quilting retreat.  Can't waiting for that either.

Take care everyone and have a great day!