Time off

Just leaving a quick note to say that I have been sick (no not covid), these past few days and so I am going to continue to try and get better.  I will touch base again after Christmas.

Wishing everyone a save and joyous holiday!

Busy last couple of days (mostly none quilting related)

Starting with Saturday, which started at a rude 6:00 am, when my body decided we had a lot to do, so it's time to get up.....I hate when that happens, but fighting it gets me nowhere.  Up I get.  Take a shower, get something to eat and chat with my daughter, who as it happens was experiencing the same thing this Saturday morning.

This is the last weekend before Christmas to start my Christmas shopping, as I would never go on the 23rd/24th weekend.  First I have a dentist appointment at 9:30 am, and pick up my mom to head to Costco. I was lucky and found a few gift there, but primarily I went to get all the hors d' oeuvres for New Years Eve.  We were very lucky as it was not overly busy, so we were in and out, sort of speak.  

On to the mall to do some real Christmas shopping with a long list to get for.  I had my son, daughter, her boyfriend, and six young nieces and nephews, plus my daughter's friend to get for.  Things were moving along great!  I don't remember having it so easy.  By 7:00 pm I am arriving home, grab a bit to eat and start tackling the wrapping business.  That though, took me a while.  Now this is what the Christmas tree looks like all decorated and presents under the tree.

Note how the dog decided to get into the picture. Possibly hoping to get a treat....lol.  I do love those sacks that I got for my son and daughter, to contain all the gifts together.  They like them too.  They just settle down with their sacks and we all enjoy taking turns opening gifts.  Anyways, it wasn't until just past midnight when I was finally able to get to bed, after cleaning up all the wrapping paper mess.

The next day, today/Sunday, started off lovely with my husband serving me tea in bed.  Always love that!   While having my tea, I am planning my day.  Trying to figure out all that has to be done and wondering what else I can fit in.

I decided to load a quilt on the longarm first thing, as I had a customer pick up scheduled for 11:00 am.  It took me a while, but I got that quilt quilted by 3:00 pm, with only a quick lunch break, and on to the second one.  This second one is a gift to my brother.  All the while, I am standing there taking care of the quilts quilting, I am thinking of rearranging some things in my space.  Pictures will follow, once the gift has been given. 

Once all of that was done, I moved furniture.....lol.  Nothing like the presence.  My large armoire got moved to the other room to store all my samples, the puzzle table had to be relocated for the armoire to take it's place, the treadle moved over to another room, where I will have better access to it, to learn how to sew on it.  The usual that happens when moving furniture....all putting stuff back in there places, washing things up and vacuuming.

Very productive two days.  I am feeling really good with everything that got done, especially the Christmas gifts!  I can say I am DONE!  Now I can take it easy this week and anticipate Christmas Eve, when we do the first round of opening up the gifts, with just our immediate family.

Hope everyone had a great weekend.  Take care and especially at this time of year, don't forget to take some time for yourself, to rest and recharge.

Sue's African fabric quilt

Today I am sharing a quilt made by Sue.  This was designed to use up her African fabric.  The quilt is a bit larger than lap size.  All the fabrics are of African women, pottery and scenes.  It turned out really nice with the accent colours to highlight the blocks.  The layout incorporates three different size blocks with different sashing colours and sizes, all set on point.

The border is a line up of African women in there attire and carrying stuff on their heads.  Quite a nice affect for the border.  If you enlarge the picture a bit, you can see up close the different fabrics used in the blocks and the marching women.

The quilting pattern used on this quilt was African Samba from Urban Elementz.  It adds a lovely texture to the quilt and mimics some of the symbols in the pottery.

Deb sharing one of her quilts

Believe it or not, though this picture comes to you from Oct/2021, when our family joined the whole Jenkins clan for a Thanksgiving weekend at the cottage, for a family reunion, the maker and owner of the cottage, my sister-in-law Deb, made this quilt many years before.  This was the time/era of floral fabrics that were used to do a shaded effect when making whatever design you chose for your quilt.

The picture does not do the quilt justice.  The merging of the fabric shades and colours up close is so much better.  This was her foray into quilt making.  She made another quilt in this technique, in the form of a heart, if I understand correctly, that went to her daughter.  Everything got set aside as life continued onward.  She did a fabulous job of this quilt and mastering the technique.

Now on to today.....  I did get a little bit of time to do some of my own quilty stuff.  Not much, but enough to get my fix......lol.  I started on the next word for my Heartfelt BOM quilt....YOU.  I got the Y started, there were some distractions, conversations with my daughter and husband.  My husband brought home a complimentary bottle of red wine from an acquaintance, as a holiday gift.  On to dinner and a sampling of the wine.

By the time I came back down to get these pictures, I thought, yuck!  I don't mind doing paper piece blocks, but they look like a mess when you are making them.  Everything all over the place......

But......once you trim them.....oh, what a difference!  So pretty.  Like I said earlier, I didn't get much time to sew until the interruptions happened, but I am not complaining.  The interruptions are all part of life.  I enjoy them and work around them.  Who knows what life will bring in the future....so you have to embrace them for what they are now.

Don't they look so much better once they are trimmed.  When you compare the before and after, the Y looks like I did a new block, but I didn't.

Tomorrow, I am at my mom's place for dinner, Saturday I HAVE to get out and do some Christmas shopping!!  I do not want to leave it to the last weekend before Christmas, because that will be just crazy!   This year due to my daughter and her boyfriend having arrangements with family on his side, we are doing Christmas on Christmas Eve.....  Not a problem really, but I am having to change my ways....lol.  I am usually found on Christmas Eve watching the original version of the Scrooge doing all my Christmas gift wrapping....nothing like leaving to the last minute......lol.  I am getting to bed in the wee hours of the morning, just a few hours before the kids get up with excitement of Santa and all the gifts under the tree.....  I know, I do it to myself....again....not complaining, just stating how it is....

Take care everyone and don't forget to take some time for yourself.  You're worth it!! 

Sandi's turquoise star quilt

Still no sewing today, so I went digging deep into my photos to get this one.  This one is coming to you from Jan 28/2023.  Just shy of a year.....lol.  

This quilt was made by Sandi and was going to be a gift to her niece.  Pretty colours in a bluey almost heading toward a greenish turquoise.  I like the simplicity of this quilt.  It would be easy enough to make as a charity quilt, with only 9 blocks to make.  Here she made star blocks, but you could easily change it to any of your favourite blocks.  The rest of the quilt is made with 2 1/2" strips.  You could use a jelly roll to make it even faster, or start slicing some of your own fabrics to start using up your stash.

The quilting on this one is called Ebb and Flow from Urban Elementz.  It's a nice one to go with the watery colourway and it catches pretty much all the seams along the way.  Here is a close up.  If you enlarge the picture, you should be able to make out the quilting pattern.  Subtle and effective.

Take care everyone.  Have a great evening.

My mini log cabin blocks quilt

Just back from my walk with our dog/Maddie.  It's a brisk one out there tonight.  This evening was for running around getting things done.  I finished the Christmas decorating and putting up the tree.  We only have the decorating of the tree to do and for that I wanted to wait until my daughter got back, so some time this week we will tackle that.  

Am I the only one that feels the need to do spring cleaning while I decorate?  I washed windows, walls, floors, furniture and all.  That is why I didn't get any quilty stuff done, aside from Sunday when I quilted a quilt for a customer.  Tomorrow I have to see about trimming the quilt and maybe getting a picture or two.

In the meantime, let me take you back to Sept 12/2023:  That was when I finished my mini log cabin quilt.  I call it my mini log cabin quilt, not because it is small, but because the blocks are small.  The blocks finish at 3 1/2" square.  I set 4 blocks by 4 blocks to make a larger block of 14" square.  Easier to manage and put the quilt together.  This picture was taken in my back yard, a couple of days before I entered it into the Acton Fall Fair.  I won first prize in it's category.

I started making this quilt, as I wanted to use up my smallest of small pieces.  The smallest piece, is the red 1" square in the center.  Sewn in a block it finishes at 1/2" and all the rest of the "logs" go up in increments of 1/2" with each log only 1/2" thick.  You can use up a lot of scraps with pieces this small, but funny thing is, you can be sewing and sewing and never seem to be reducing your scraps.....lol.

Above is a picture of the bottom left hand corner to get a better view of the border.  I did a traditional log cabin layout.  Different than my usual layout of straight farrow, but just as pretty.  

Below is a close up of the blocks prior to quilting.  Can you see that I used any and every scrap colour I picked out of my scrap bin.  Up close, you may thing, what a hodge podge of fabrics.....all together though and they make a gorgeous quilt.  The more variety the better.  

I have every colour in the rainbow and every style/genre of fabrics in here.  You name it and it is likely represented in here.  I love it that way.  The trick to making a really scrappy quilt is not to look at the individual fabrics going together.  So long as the same fabric is not up next to the same fabric all is good.  I also made sure that within each block there are no repeat fabrics.  Another trick to making a scrap quilt work is to add in different saturation of colours.  I have some dark darks, medium darks and some light darks that sometime appear to be just a bit on the too light side.  I did the same for the lights.  So long as there is contrast between the lights and darks next to each other, it will all work out.

I hope you like this quilt.  Just a word of warning.  This is not for the faint at heart.......lol.  It took me quite a long time to do this quilt (years).  The reason being, is that each block has very small pieces and many of them.  You can do a few in a sitting, until you have to put it aside.  I started this as a block-a-day.  But, as always happens, life in general gives you distractions.....lol.  So long as you don't make a deadline, it will be ok.  

I laughingly call this quilt my insanity quilt....lol.  I am glad I persevered and made this.  This is one that I am keeping for myself.  Every time I look at it, I go down memory lane. 

Winter and maple syrup

I've been working overtime all week and haven't been able to do any sewing or much of anything really.  Tomorrow I am planning on setting up the house for Christmas, but still hoping to have a bit of time to do something in my sewing room.

In the meantime, I thought I would share a couple of unrelated to quilting thoughts.  The first one is from a week and a half ago, when we had the snowfall followed by some rain.  As the temperatures were still below freezing the snow basically turned to ice.  It was quite treacherous to drive or walk in.  I had to wear slip on cleats over my boots to walk the dog.......lol

I have to say though, that it was a beautiful scenic walk.  It is so pretty when the tree branches are shimmering with the icicles.  The picture does not capture the whole mystical scene that I experienced during my evening walk.

The second thing, is in the picture below.  I was completely shocked when I saw it in with the Christmas decorations.  Now, it may not be an unusual thing to see cans of Pure Maple Syrup, as we do live in Canada, however this is not what you may think it is......  Did you know that you can get maple syrup scented candles!  Candles!!  Only in Canada.....  Like many others, I may love the smell of warmed up maple syrup pour over a stack of pancakes of waffles, with a bit of butter, but candles?  I don't know......I think someone has gone a bit overboard......I mean, really?    To each his/her own I guess.

I saw these candles while I was out getting nylons for a wedding I went to.  While I was there, I also picked up advent calendars for my mom and my children.  I can't believe a week has already past in December.  Time is just flying by.

Tomorrow I plan on putting up the Christmas decorations.  What do you plan for the weekend?  Have you finished your Christmas shopping?

The starting of a Sea Swept quilt

I have committed to making a Sea Swept quilt pattern for my sister-in-law Deb.  It is a pattern that was on my bucket list for a long time, but I couldn't justify starting it while I had so much already on my list to do.  Well, I didn't need much encouragement......lol.  As soon as I found out Deb liked the quilt pattern......well, that was all I needed to add it to my list.  

I've been collecting the fabric here and there since Oct/2022, though not seriously.  But during July/Aug/2023 through the quilt shop hop, I stepped it up and started looking for variety.  I was wanting some medium dark blues, medium blues, teals, aqua blue, and sea foam heading toward greenish.  Variety is going to be key in this quilt.  I also got the light blue background fabric that I need to make sure there is enough contrast with the rest of the colours I chose.

I am doing this quilt as paper piece and I've already rough cut all the pieces I need to make this quilt.  I did one block of all three different blocks required to make the quilt.  I like to do this, as this is when you confirm if there is enough contrast between all the parts.

This is a picture of the cornerstone block.  As I was afraid I was going to run out of the background fabric, I decided to use a slightly darker square for the consistent centre piece.  The centre piece and the outer triangles were going to be in the same colour, but as you can see in the picture below, there is not quite enough contrast to see the light versus dark thing going on.  

So for my second version, I left the centre piece the same, but switched to the lighter blue background fabric for the outer sections.  I was lucky enough to get my hands on some more, so I will not run out.  This second block looks so much better.  When you put it up against the sashing pieces, you will further see the contrast, which is important in this pattern.

Have a great day everyone and take care.

Quilts for Survivors shipped

From the generosity of many quilters  I have been quilting numerous quilts for Quilts for Survivors.  Here are another two quilts that were quilted and shipped back in Jan/2023.  The first one is using a panel that was designed to honour the lost children and keep them in our thoughts.

This next quilt was also a donated top, to Quilts for Survivors and was also shipped in Jan/2023.

I pieced together to backing for this one with fabric I had on hand.  In the bottom corner you can see the label that goes on each quilt when it is shipped.

I continue to quilt quilts for Quilts for Survivors, as a way to show my support.  If you have any left over blocks that you don't know what to do with or a UFO that you are thinking of abandoning, maybe you could donate it to Quilts for Survivors.  I know that Vanesa is always taking in donations, and many hands help her to assemble or quilt, or whatever is required to get these to the people who need a bit of comfort.

Take care everyone.

A little more progress on the words

The wedding I went to yesturday, for my niece and her long time friend, now husband was really nice.  They had a lovely ceremony and the reception was great.  Good food and lots of dancing.  They, as in the bride and groom, plus the bride's father/my brother, and the groom's mother, also put on three small dancing skits.  It was a unique spin on the father/daughter dance and the groom/mother dance.  It was cute and entertaining.  I wish them all the happiness and love for their future together.

Today, I slept in some.  When I got up, I was motivated to do stuff around the house, for the house.  I ended up plastering the walls going down the stairs, the wall in the hallway at the bottom of the stairs and the ceiling in the dinning room area.  I finally got around to putting away all the stuff we used for jarring up the marinara sauce and vacuumed throughout.

In between all this, I had lunch, a tea break and dinner.  By that time, it was getting late so, I put everything else on hold, to do some quilting.  I decided to continue with the letters of the Heartfelt quilt.  What a fitting word for the beginning topic of my post.  LOVE!  Now I have the words, I LOVE.  Many more to go, but this is good.  

As I was busy today, doing some productive renos and household cleaning, during my tea break I decided to reward myself with this.....

A puzzle.  A Christmas themed puzzle!  It usually happens around this time of year where we get the itch to set up a puzzle, that any of us and all of us usually work on together.  There is just something relaxing about sitting around the table doing a puzzle.  I got the perimeter completed and some of the pieces sorted.  It was hard to walk away once my break was over.....lol.....you know that, "Oh, just one more piece".......which turns into many, before you realize how long you've been sitting there....lol.

Take care everyone and don't forget to take some time for yourself.

A couple more Quilts for Survivor quilts shipped

Friday!!  Yeah!  I am so glad it is Friday.  Not sure exactly why, but it felt like such a long week.  No time in my quilting room makes me cranky and I haven't been in my sewing room all week.   I did get a bit of hand sewing done in the morning before work, while having my tea.  I finished another hexagon diamond today and started the last of four more left to be done.  Picture is what it is, as it was an overcast morning with a bit of snow falling.   

Four more to go!!  Whoo hoo!  I can't believe how close I am to finishing this quilt.  Four more diamonds to go, four more florets to go and only two thirds of the bottom outer border left to go.  Yes, still many hours of handwork, but really, this is nothing compared to where I started.

I know this alone may be boring to some, so I pulled out a couple of pictures of quilts I quilted for Quilts for Survivors from Jan 28/2023:

This first one is simple squares, however their brightness and being set on a diagonal makes them look good!  The fabrics are all batiks.  This was a donated top that I quilted and shipped out to a survivor.

There was this one.  Also a donation.  Not sure if you recall, but on November 21st, I posted about a similar quilt, all done in green with the pinwheels.  This is the one I spoke of, in that post, that is all in blue.  Even though it is all in blue, the multi tones of blues really add texture and makes it look like a quilt of many colours.  Simple yet effective.  Both quilts measure approx. 48" x 60".

I am off to a wedding tomorrow, so that will likely run late into the night.  So, there won't be a post tomorrow.  I am hoping to get to some customer quilts on Sunday and maybe have some time to play in my fabric a bit after that.  Will post what I was up to later.

Take care everyone, and don't forget to take some time for yourself.

A paper piece heart block

Since the weekend, I've not had much time to work on the Heartfelt BOM blocks.  I really only need one more monkey wrench block to finish all of my December's blocks, so I am not doing too bad.  

When we were swapping either fabric or block ideas, one of the patterns that was shared was this heart paper piece block (those little tabs at the top will not be there once they are sewn into the quilt).  This is one of the blocks I plan on substituting.  The white fabric, is a swap from another one of the ladies in our little group.  We are all going to have a bit of each person in our quilts.  So cute!

I plan to make four of these hearts.  Three to place together, all in a row.  Maybe two reds and a pink, and another one to be on it's own, elsewhere in the quilt.

I am also experimenting with this next block.  Not sure if it will make the cut, but I will wait to have them all together to decide.  This block will be done four times, but with different red fabrics.  They will be placed together, but rotated, so that the dark pink is all in the centre of the final larger block.  The darker pink would in the end make a larger pinwheel with blades.  Hard to explain, so you may just have to wait and see what I mean on this one.

I also took a picture of my design wall and how it looks now.  It is amazing how quick it is filling in.  Do you see the new blocks I made?  The variable stars are done. The nine-patch blocks are done.  I already had the road block blocks done, that form the X and O.  I also now have the  monkey wrench blocks in the top right hand corner, plus the large and small paper piece heart blocks.

I think I said this already, but I'll say it again.  As I have finished the December's blocks already, I am planning to work on the words that are going around the perimeter of the quilt.  That should take me a good amount of time to do and with all the Christmas stuff to fit in, I think that will be enough.

Take care everyone!

Football quilt

Today I thought I would share with all of you an interesting quilt.  Now, I know that football season has just ended, but this quilt is for a football fan and can be enjoyed year round.  The piecing on this must have been fussy, but it is so precise.  All the lace for the football is very intricate piecing...wow!

The fabric for the sashing and borders are made with the Dallas Cowboys logo fabric, with their signature navy blue star.  The alternating background for the footballs themselves are solid navy blue for one and another navy blue with many small white stars.  Not seen here was the cute star backing.  This young man is going to be pleasantly surprised when he receives this quilt.

 

Here is a close up of the footballs and all the different fabrics.  For the quilting, we did Becker's Shooting Stars pantograph from  Urban Elementz,  It also had stars, obviously given the name of the pattern, but what was interesting is while I was quilting it, I noticed that the stars had the same echo that the Dallas Cowboys star has.  It was the perfect pattern.

Don't you think it is cute?  I do.

Take care everyone.  Keep warn and safe in this snow.

My substitute block

I am just getting back from our guild meeting.  It was a pleasant evening with a different activity than our usual.  This meeting was all about our Outreach.  The Outreach coordinator made up a bunch of kits for the evening.  We all broke out into groups of about five people and divided up the tasks.  Each group was responsible for making one quilt top.  We had five groups, plus me, who after making sure everyone was settled, sat down and sewed a smaller quilt top together.  I brought it home to finish adding the borders.

On Sunday, still on a high from having a sewing day with the ladies from our small group of Heartfelt BMO, I spent much of the day sewing some more.  I have decided to substitute some of the blocks in my quilt, with things that I prefer, can relate to, favorite blocks.........just to make it my own.

This is one of my favorite, long time traditional block.  Welcome to monkey wrench block #1:

Here we have monkey wrench block #2:

I was on a roll, so kept going.  Made two more monkey wrench blocks and put them all together.  It may be hard to tell in the picture, but the red points, in each block, are all different, and the side pieces are as well.  I kept the centre squares consistent and alternated the background for two blocks on each corner.  I did this so that when they meet in the centre, they created a nice colour combo.

In my quilt top, I plan to replace a few blocks here and there.  I'll show you a couple of other options I have been working on in the next post.  The blocks are really coming along.  I have one more smaller monkey wrench block to make, in order to have all of my December's blocks done.  As I am a bit early on them, I think I will work on my letters that make up the borders.

Take care everyone.  Stay warm and safe.

Heartfelt BOM sewing day

Today was so nice.  We ended up with four of us sewing away on our blocks.  Everyone sharing what they've done, what they plan to do and getting ideas along the way.  I couldn't have spent a nicer day.  With all the sharing and activities,  I didn't get much sewing done.....lol.....but I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

I just now looked at the time and realized, I may not make posting for today, as it is less than half hour before midnight.  After everyone left I stayed to do some more sewing.  

I had great plans of finishing my seven variable stars and maybe some letters and taking pictures of everyone's progress today......well........I got one picture of one person's blocks.....but it was constant go and I was completely distracted all day.

Aren't the blocks above so pretty?  One of the things we did when we got together, was share something with each person.  For the person above, I shared an orange and background floral to make her four tulip block.  Those three at the bottom left corner is what she had so far.  She shared with me two different patterns for paper piece blocks, which I will show in another post.

Another person shared with me this 6 1/2" crazy piece heart block.  I made this just now.  This is great!  It and the other two patterns will add something different to my quilt.  It's really going to be great!

One of the ladies was making nine-patch blocks, so I was itching to do some too, and I did!  I did get two variable stars done as well.  Do you see all the new blocks on the design wall?  It's starting to fill in.

I am going to leave it at that today, as I want to get this posted before midnight.  Only 6 minutes left and I still have to proof read.  lol......sorry, but more to come tomorrow.

Take care everyone.

Sue's roses

One more sleep until our little group  gets together for a sewing day.....I am so excited!!  I hope I don't forget to get some pictures together so that I can post about it.  I plan to catch up on the variable star blocks and maybe work on my border blocks.  I am not sure exactly where abouts the others are with all of their blocks, but I know that many of their blocks are done.  Maybe they intend to work on their December's blocks..... Either way it will be fun to kibitz and have fun while we sew all day.

I pulled this picture out of my files from Feb 19/2023:  This is Sue's roses quilt.   Such a pretty colour combination.  The focal fabric is completely roses with a blue sky background.  It's a very big quilt, as this is a king size bed. 

Here is a close up of the blocks and the fabrics.  The quilting pattern used for this quilt is called Pergola from Urban Elementz.  It has leaves and swirling tendrils.  The pattern is very feminine and matches the quilt very well.  

Have a great evening everyone.  Take care and don't forget to take some time for yourself.

Sandi's quilt

It is now after 8:00pm and I still have to eat dinner.  Long day at work and training in new things, really taxes my brain....lol.  Looking forward to relaxation tonight, until I have to take the dog out for  a walk.

Today, I thought I would take you back again to Dec/2022, with this quilt made by a customer, for her niece.  The block almost looks like interwoven pieces.  I like her use of multiple light background fabrics.  It adds a bit more interest.

Sandi wanted the spunky Apricot's Daisy pattern for the quilting, as she thought it would be something her niece would like.  It turn out good and adds another layer to the background, where you see the quilting the most.  The coloured fabrics are nice and bright, but not in your face kind of bright.  From my recollection, I feel the picture does not do the quilt justice.  I think the colours stand out a bit more in person.

Have a great night everyone, I am off to go eat, and put my feet up.  I'm getting excited.....as we used to say to the kids, only two more sleeps......lol......until I get to sew all day with our little group of ladies doing the Heartfelt quilt.

Take care!

Tumbling triangles

This tumbling triangles quilt is baby size.  It fits a crib very well and can be cuddled and dragged around by a younger child.  I love all the colours of the rainbow in this quilt and the way they move across the quilt on a diagonal.  The quilting pattern was chosen to give it movement.  My customer has made this quilt to donate to Project Linus.

Update on the progress of my Heartfelt quilt.........drumroll, please........lol.........I made the letter "I" ........lol......ok, not much, but it is a little bit more than I had before.....

This weekend, I have the ladies from our small group coming here, to my place, for a sewing day.  That's when I plan on getting my variable stars done and maybe more letters for the borders.  I know it is unrealistic for me to think I am going to get much done this week, as I am working overtime most of it and Friday at my mom's place.  So, I will have to content myself with a big, fun sewing day on Saturday with the ladies of our group.

The letter I, is 1 of 24 letters I have to make and when they are all done, they will spell, I LOVE YOU (left side going upward), TO THE MOON (across the top), AND BACK   (right side going down).  All the letters are going to be red with a dark pink and the background cutoffs from trimming the blocks for the background.  The letters pattern come from Sugaridoo and they are paper piece in a casual format.  I thought they were cute, when she first came out with them, that I bought the letters and numbers for "someday".  Someday has arrived!

Take care everyone, have a great night!

Quilt for Survivors and inspiration pattern called The Penny Quilt (QW)

Yesturday was busy for me at work and home, so no quilting going on and this week looks like overtime at work Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.......I will try to get some time in.....

In the meantime, let me take you back again to Dec/2022: 

This is a quilt I quilted for Quilts for Survivors,  It's a pretty quilt and easy enough to make.  I like those pinwheels.  The block is essentially a rail fence block, with putting a triangle on the edge of the first and last strip, prior to assembling the block, snowball style.  This makes a great stash buster quilt.  I've quilted now a  blue one and this green one.  Both look great!

Also last year November, I purchased this pattern, called The Penny Quilt.  I am taking it out now, as I really want to find some time to make this quilt.  The reason I want to really do it now, is I realized that this would look great in Christmas fabrics.  I have a bunch of Christmas fabrics and scraps that would work very well here. I can't wait to dig in!

The pattern comes in three sizes and uses up a lot of variety in fabrics.  Fat quarter friendly too!

Just in case anyone is curious, the (QW) in the title of this post, stands for Quilt Want-to-be (Wannabe)......lol.  A term I use for quilts I would like to make.  I add it to the title, because once it is posted, at any time, I can do a quilt search with (QW) and all of the quilts I may want to do will come up.  Much easier to find things.

A little funny bit of info.....  If any of you have teen aged kids, you may be able to relate.  They get to an age that they are trying to be "mature" and try to act emotionless.......like no expressions on their faces......minimal words, that sort of thing.....Thank goodness that period is in the past.  All through this time period I, would go out of my way to be silly, just so I could see a crack of a smile, or the eye roll, anything to get an expression.....I still do it, but now I do it to uphold my kids opinion of me, that I am going crazy.......lol.   Anyways, way back when, I had a jar called Quilt Want-to-be.  I thought nothing of it, it was just a silly game I played to motivate me when I didn't know what to do.  Well one day, my son walks into my sewing space and his eyes catch a glimpse of the jar.  He looked at me with the "What" expression, you know the one that is a cross between asking the question or thinking I've lost it.  To his expression, I said......you know like the cool kid wannabe, that is the jar of quilt wannabes......to which he couldn't contain himself and outright laughed out loud.......it was priceless!

Have a great day everyone.....even with this rain.  It's the middle of the day and I have to have the lights on.....yuke!  But.....we do need the rain.  All the new bushes and trees I planted need to get a good soak before winter comes around.

A quilt for Quilts for Survivors

Today was a busy day of this and that, so I decided to pull out a picture from Feb 19/2023 for something other than my Heartfelt BOM, though if you read to the end, there will be a picture showing some progress.  

This quilt is a pattern called Grandstand from A Bright Corner.  I used this pattern as I thought it would be great for using up some chunks of scraps......it did, which was great!

These were all in fall colours from gold, orange, beiges, leaves and horses.  The horses are not fall, but the fabric was in the right colourway and I need to use it up.  This quilt is going to Quilts for Survivors.

Today I took the morning to work on my Heartfelt quilt.  I quilt around 1:30pm when I realized I hadn't had lunch yet.  I made my self something I didn't have in a long, long time.  I made myself a chicken salad sandwich on toasted sour dough bread from the leftovers of a roast chicken.  I thoroughly enjoyed it with cheddar cheese on it.  I had just enough time to eat it and clean up, when my mom called.

My mom called for me to take her to Home Depot for some wood, for a cupboard she is making.  While I was there, I picked up some wood myself and a countertop that I needed for the peninsula that divides my sewing space from the longarm space.  When I got home, I thought why not......so I took the time to move all the furniture and rearranged the cupboards to install the new countertop and the backboard that connects all the units together.  I was surprised how fast and easy it was, with a second set of hands from my husband.

After all of the above and clean up, it was almost eight in the evening.  I had to call it quits for the day.  With all of the activities going on, I only got the one picture.  This picture is of some more background getting done.  I am now almost done the background of the quilt, with the exception of the extension of eleven more rows I plan to add to the bottom, so that it can go on a bed.

I do know that it is not a very good picture.  Even with the spot light, it does not show up too well.  I am going to have to work on the lighting....hopefully soon, but likely much later than I wish....

Take care everyone.  Hope you all had a great weekend!

Oh! almost forgot......I did go to the Creekbank Sewing Centre yesturday and it was a nice place to visit, but I forget to take pictures.  I do plan on going back, so when I do, I will try again to get some pictures.

Donna's reversable star quilt

Taking you back to Dec/2022:

As I was writing my last post, I realized that I had another example of a quilt with intertwining squares.  This one has a different centre.  This customer made this quilt, I believe, for her niece.  She made it a double sided quilt.  While loading the quilt on the longarm, I had to centre both the top star and the bottom star.  A bit tricky.

I've seen these patterns done in many different colours and they all look great.  The graphics of the design draws your attention.  This next picture is the back side of the quilt that I had to centre.

As for progress on my Heartfelt BOM quilt.....well, I am working on the background squares.  All the squares are white background with red or pink designs (mostly red). I have a whole stack of small leftovers, from fat quarters, from making my Canada's 150th birthday quilt in red and white.  What you see in the picture below are three separate pieces.  The middle section is waiting for the blocks inside the heart in order to assemble it completely, but one of those blocks is not expected to be made until March or April.

I like the subtleness of the pink perimeter blocks, though the lighting makes them a bit lighter than they appear on person.  I really have to look into getting better lighting down here in the basement.  Pot lights just don't do it. Even with the additional spot light that I pulled out, to see if it would be better.  I know they are not pretty, but florescent lights tend to distribute the light much better.

I'm posting this post earlier today, as I don't know where I will be at this evening. Yesturday was just too late when I got home from my mom's place to post.  We are already watching Christmas movies....lol.  Today, shortly, my mom and I are heading to a quit store about an hour from here called Creekbank Sewing Centre in Conn, ON.  They have a new location at 031385 Grey Rd 14, Conn, ON L0G 1N0.  If I remember to take pictures, I'll post about it tomorrow.  

Take care everyone and have a great day!

Reusing/repurposing men's shirts

In the office today, I was talking to a friend/coworker about quilting.  She dabbles in all sorts of crafts and she has made a quilt or two.  She knows I am a quilter, so we often talk about what I am up to, or about techniques, etc.  I showed her the quilt I am making using men's shirts, from the men in my extended family.

She recently lost her father. and our conversation brought to mind, that it was suggested, that she make something with her father's shirts.  I explained that the quilt I am making is quite intense.  Instead, I told her that I had a customer who recently made a quilt using her father's shirts.  The quilt is both gorgeous and with larger blocks would make it more reasonable to make.

So I pulled this picture out of my files from Oct 16/2023, to show her/my friend, what the quilt looked like.  It is very striking with the different blues and the darker colours set against the lighter background, though any colour combination would do.

This quilt is 74" x 74", which makes the individual blocks finish at 9.25" square.  Very good use of larger pieces of fabric.  In this case several pieces from the back panel of a man's shirt.  I know there are a few different layouts for the centre part of the quilt and you can play around with it if you wish, but I do like this one just the way it is.  Great job Mary.  I know your brother is going to love this quilt!!

In quilting progress, on my Heartfelt BOM quilt......today, I started cutting all my red on white fabrics to make the squares for the background.  I had a total of thirty-five different fabrics.  I cut out 2 strips from each fat quarter.  I will have more than I need and variety to select from.  

As there wasn't much time tonight, I only got the strips cut.  Next will be to cut these into squares.  I am really looking forward to seeing how the background is going to look, especially with the new pink I decided on for the perimeter of the heart.

Take care everyone and don't forget to take some time for yourself.