Sandi's Amongst the stars quilt

Last weekend one of my customers came to pick up this lovely quilt.  This quilt pattern is called Oh, my stars. It was a class offered through The Hobby Horse quilt shop in Georgetown.  Sandi made this for her daughter, who requested an all grey/black quilt.  I think she did a great job.  I believe that the black border was part of her own design.  I think it sets it off nicely and turned out great.  This is essentially a grey quilt with just a touch of smoky blue to give it a bit of interest and stop it form looking flat.  Like I said, it's lovely.

Here is a close up of a corner showing a few stars and some of the border.  There is a fair amount of negative space as well, where the quilting shows up nicely.  Sandi chose to have this quilt quilted with Whisper, a pretty pattern from Urban Elementz.  

Back in time to Oct 23/2019:  

I was practicing my free motion quilting on this small NICU quilt.  The centre of the quilt was a printed fabric that had all these stripes. No piecing required.  In the dark navy blue stripe there, it has small flowers in red and yellow and it measured only about 1/2", so I just quilted a line on each side to anchor it down.  On the other rows, I practiced doing some ribbon candy quilting.  It is a simple design, but cute.  For the navy border I did a swirl marching around the edges.  If you enlarge the picture you can see the details a bit better.  

Interesting facts:  Also happening at this time back in Oct 23/2019 - This was about the time that we decided we were going to move closer to my mom's place here in Acton and wow, what a ride it has been from this date until now!!

Today, we are going to the 109th Acton Fall Fair.  We're going to check out what is happening.  The fair started yesterday and runs until Sunday.  They are having all sorts of events throughout the weekend.  There is something for everyone.  My daughter and her boyfriend, with some friends, are going for the rides, or should I say her boyfriend is....lol.  She will likely keep her feet firmly planted on the ground.  My husband is just going to see what there is there, and my mother and I are going inside to check out all the quilts, crafts and baked goods.  

If you are looking for something to do this weekend, come check it out.  It looks like it is going to be a great day out there, weather wise.  Enjoy it while you can!

Mom's string lattice quilt & a sample of the HHQG BOM row quilt.

About a month ago, my mom was giving this quilt to Quilt of Valour (QOV).  She made it a little while ago, but folded it up and forgot about it.  I think she had to clean up for company and had to put it away.  When I told her I was going to meet up with the person from QOV, she remembered this quilt that she wasn't intending to keep.  So I when to her house to take this picture and pick it up.  The lighting wasn't the best, but you can still see it well enough.

This is a string quilt.  My mom made string blocks about 8" x 9", and cut them into sections 3 1/2" x 8 1/2" to make the grid sections.  She used a light blue for the cornerstones, a light peach for the background and set is on a diagonal.  It turn out nice.  This is one good way of using up your strings.  You can make this type of quilt in any colourway.  You can do it completely scrappy strings like this one, or choose a singular colour in all different shades of the colour.  Every component that you do will change the look of the overall quilt.  There truly would not be any one alike.  I am thinking of making one myself soon, to try and tame the strings that seem to be multiplying overnight....lol.

 

Back in time to Mar 7/2019:

This sample is what the Halton Hills Quilters Guild (HHQG) did for their Block of the Month (BOM) for the guild year of Sept/2018-June/2019.  This was run by Mary and Marion, as they were in charge of the BOM at that time.  There were quite a few that made this quilt.  It was nice and a step away from the usual singular blocks.  

This one had piecing, appliqué (you pick your own technique), and I think paper piece too.  When it was time for the reveal and the women brought there tops or finished quilts in, it was amazing to see all the variations.  You were encouraged to make this your own quilt by using the monthly pattern and putting your own twist on it.  The layout was given, but again you were encouraged to change it to suit yourself.

This top was brought to the workshop that I co-ran back in May/2019 with Vivian, our Outreach coordinator at the time.  This workshop was the spiderweb quilt that I spoke of in an earlier post.  Just search the word spiderweb and it will come up, if you want to hear about it.

Interesting facts: In renos - Today is Friday and my goal after work, is to put the final coat of paint on the main bathroom including the baseboards and trims, and wash down the tiles to get ready to caulk the tub.  Other happenings - Today is the start of the 109th Acton Fall Fair.  I entered 8 quilts.  We are going to go to the fair likely tomorrow if weather is good.

Entering quilts into the 109th Acton Fall Fair and a QOV quilt

Today my mom called me during lunch time, to ask me to go with her, after work, to enter her quilts into the 109th Acton Fall Fair.  My mom has lived here in Acton for 6yrs now, and this was her first time entering anything into the fair.  Registration opened at 7pm and there was a line up just after they opened. I was surprised.  

She entered a quilt and a wall hanging into the show.  We were having a nice chat with the lady that was in charge of taking in the quilts.  Due to covid they didn't have a show last year.  This year there are not too many entries so far.  I told her maybe next year.  I didn't have much time this year to see about entering.  When she found out I had quilts, she really encouraged me to bring them.  She said that you have tomorrow too to bring them in.  She sounded desperate for quilts.

So on my way home, I thought about it...didn't take me long...I decided to go for it.  I looked over the fair book, and filled out the entry form.  I took stock of what I had and what categories I could enter.  From large quilts to small ones, and wall hangings.  All tole, I entered eight.  How crazy is that!  We went back to my mom's place and we gathered up two more of hers to entre.

The lady taking in the quilts was happy to see us again.  She had a big smile on her face.  She asked me if I quilted my own quilts (a requirement for the show) and I replied yes, as I have a longarm.  She said she was looking for someone to quilt one of her quilts, so I gave her my card and told her she could check out the quilt that I just entered for my workmanship. She laughed and said she has already been admiring them....lol.  My quilts turned out to be my calling card or advertisement.  That's cool.

Since I don't have anything I've been working on today, I will leave you with this Quilt of Valour (QOV) that I quilted.  Back to time to Oct 1st/2019:

A red and white log cabin quilt.  These blocks have become a standard block for QOV, though they accept any design of quilt.  Someone made the blocks, someone else assembled the top, and I quilted it with maple leaves.  Pretty quilt.

Have a great night everyone and wish me luck at the fair!!

First meeting of the year for Erin Village Quilters group yesterday and my house/village quilt

As it was the first meeting of the year for Erin Village Quilters group yesterday, I didn't get a chance to do much outside of working.  I had to account for 30 minutes of commute to get there, as I didn't know for sure where it was.  This is the second year I have been a member, but due to covid, last year it was on zoom.  

It was nice to meet the members there.  I already knew a hand full of the ladies, as they also belong to the Halton Hills Quilter's Guild.  This meeting was hosted by Kay Hannah.  It was a meeting to bring back the completed kits, that the ladies would have received from Kay Hannah during games or through purchase at the June meeting, also hosted by her, that was held at her home the year before.  There were a lot of finished items and many flimsies too.  Very inspiring!!

As for me, on Saturday between taking in quilts and quilt pick ups, I was sewing some on my houses.  I made all the trees, some more houses and got to get a few complete rows done too.  It felt good to work on some of my own stuff.  Take a look below.  Do you see the fussy cut animals....lol.  Can you tell I had fun cutting these out...lol.

I even have a circus fabric that I was able to cut out a clown...lol!!  Love that one!

This is one of the ten quilts I am trying to get done before I start on any new quilts.  Well...I did well on my goal.  I wanted to not start any quilts in August, until I had more quilts done.  I only started the one, and that was for a special situation, so I gave myself some slack on that one.  For September, so far, I have only started one, and this one too is for a special situation.  Both I will share with you at another time, as the reveal has not taken place yet.

So far I have six of the ten done, so that is something....hurray!!!  I am still insistent that I want to finish the ten before I start any new quilts.  I have borders to put on three of the quilts, and this one to piece, before I can quilt them all and call them done.  Not bad.  Just need to find the time to do it.

Have a great evening everyone.

Another Christmas disappearing nine patch block quilt & cute bird blocks

Tomorrow I am heading out with my Sister and Mom to do some antiquing at Aberfoyle.  This is a very large outdoor antique place that I usually enjoy going to.  So I am posting my tomorrow's post today. 

Today, I had customers coming and going with quilts throughout the day. So I decided to take a break from quilting and do some sewing of my own instead.  I started off cleaning up all the piles of messes left all over the place over the past week and a half.  Sometimes when I get creative, it gets a bit messy.  I wanted to enjoy my sewing with less clutter everywhere, so I took about half an hour to put everything away and vacuuming the floors. 

I was able to cut binding and put it on a quilt that I designed and made for Quilts for Survivors (picture and pattern will follow once I have them all together).  I cut up some light squares for my Christmas quilt, finished a house for the house quilt and various other small things to get the place in order.  What I really wanted to do was sew this square. 

I am making a Christmas quilt for the Halton Hills Quilter's Guild (HHQG).  There is a possibility that we may have some sort of raffle, but not sure just yet. If not, it can be given to someone as part of our Outreach program.  For this quilt I am using 4 Christmas charm packs and some of my light fabrics that I cut earlier in the day.  These will make a total of 49 blocks, for a 52" square lap quilt. Above is the finished block.

To get the finished block shown above, I start by making a large four patch block (shown below).  From all the charm packs, I selected two of the same prints for the darks and coordinated them with two matching light fabrics.  After the block is sewn, as seen below, I will cut a strip measuring from the center out at 1 1/4" and do the same for the remaining three sides, and start swapping the pieces to get a block that looks like the finished block above.

By the end of the day, I now have one finished block and 48 four patch blocks complete.  Not bad for a full day of interruptions (in a good way).  This quilt is going to look cute with the smaller pieces.

Back in time to Sept 3/2019 (roughly this same time, 3 yrs ago):

This was when the president of the HHQG was retiring from being president.  As a retiring gift, we (as guild members), got together to make a bunch of bird blocks.  The pattern was given to everyone and people were asked to make them with whatever colour combinations you wanted.  There was a lot of variety when they all came in.  They were gorgeous!

The block above was the one made by my mom.  Hers looks like a Cardinal.  The two below, were made by me.  The first one a Blue Bird and the second one made to resemble a Robin.  I thought the second one was so cute!!

Hope you enjoyed this beautiful Saturday with all the sun.  Have a great day tomorrow.  Enjoy your day.  Take some time for you!

Progress on my handwork Hexagon quilt Sept 1-3/2019 Appliqué block

My computer issues seem to be fixed for the past week or so.  I've just found it hard to find the time to write up any posts.  In this past week and a half, on top of working my full time job, I've finished doing the tiling for the main bathroom, just have the caulking to do.  I've installed the subfloor to the stair landing and tiled that too.  Sent my son off to his 2nd year of university and held the first HHQG executive meeting of this calendar year.  Between all of that, I still quilted for customers and arranged for drop offs or pickups.  So, to say the least, it has been kind of crazy around here.  Thank goodness I had some help from my family, when they could.

Today is going to be another busy one, but I am taking a few minutes to write up this post, while having my tea.  I'm hoping things will start settling down around here, so that I can get back into writing posts more regularly.  If it continues at this crazy speed, I may only get the weekends to post.....we'll see.

In all this craziness, the one thing that I have not given up, is my handwork time with my morning tea, just before I have to start work.  That half hour or so is about the only thing that helps me find my center and keep going.  I call it my little bit of sanity time...lol.  This left hand side section below, that gets attached to the bottom border, is where I am at as of Aug 16th.  Slow but steady.  I have additional bits and pieces made up since, but I will wait until I have a complete diagonal row to attach before pulling this out again.  I really am still enjoying these little bits of fabrics and making these hexagons.

Back in time to Sept 3/2019 (3yrs ago):

At around this time in 2019, I finished up one of my appliqué blocks, which is part of my version of the Baltimore Album quilt.  This is one of 20 blocks that I am making for this quilt.  This handwork is on hold at the moment.  Though I know it, but didn't want to admit it, I can only do one handwork at a time, beings that I only have two hands.....lol.  I currently have 4 handwork projects going at the moment and I am only coming to realize now that I can only do one at a time...go figure...lol.  I just want to do it all.

You may not be able to see it in the picture below, so I will point out that the buds in the block are pleated fabric for a 3D bud.  The entire bud is probable about 1 1/2" in size.

I sometimes feel like taking this one out again to work on, but shortly after I reason with myself that I already have handwork that I am doing, so I put those thoughts away for a bit longer.  Soon....

Now I need to go get my day started.  Sending out wishes to everyone that they have a great weekend and soak up what may be the last of the summer sun.  Enjoy!!

Computer issues

 Be back when it gets fixed