Placemats

At our guild a few years ago, we had a request from a member to make up placemats for Meals on Wheels. This is an organization that delivers meals to seniors or house bound folks. All the donated placemats were delivered along with Xmas dinner to clients that year.

These are my five that were made for her. The placemats were made envelope style ….. there are no bindings on them. They went together very quickly and all were machine quilted. I hope they brightened someone’s day! :o)

And, you have a great day, too!

Mini Yo-Yo

Digging into my archives, here is a little mini that was donated to my guild for a silent auction at their last quilt show.

It was very easy to do and finished up so quickly.

Sorry for the fuzzy photo, but this was taken in the days before my digital camera.

Have a great day!

Starting to Decorate

OK ….. I’m in the Xmas mood early this year! Must be the snow storm we recently had and the Winter quilt that I’ve been working on that has given me the urge to decorate early.

This quilt was finished in April of this year. Since then, I have been itching to hang it up. The time has finally come. :o) The tree blocks were won at a guild meeting a couple of years ago and they were part of a UFO challenge that I participated in at my guild. I just added sashings and borders and quilted it.

Together with the wooden pieces that were painted this autumn and my Jim Shore carvings and a new table tree …. and my angel from Guðrún, this corner of our home is now ready for the festive season.

Have a great day!

Winter is Here!

No, seriously …. WINTER has finally arrived here in Toronto. Driving yesterday was a nightmare and so glad that we didn’t have to go anywhere.

Things are coming together quite well for this quilt. Another week or so and it should be pretty close to assembling. The letters are slowing me down, but once you get the hang of it, then they become easier to make.

My sketched design keeps changing. I keep jotting down ideas, cross some old ones off and then think about how a block can be made up.

A couple of my trees looks like they are doing the hula dance ….. it’s so cold and windy here, the trees are dancing to keep warm!

Indeed, it is challenging, but …… what fun to see something in my head come together in fabric.

Did you folks south of the border have a great Thanksgiving yesterday? So, who is going out shopping on Black Friday for bargains?

This week, I finished up my SSCS gift and it's now drying and waiting for a label and then it can be sent to ....... Nope, you will have to wait until after Xmas to see who got what!

Have a great day!

Just nine patches

Well, this photo shows just the background blocks. Have you guessed that there will be appliqué on this piece? More to come ……

The green in the blocks ….. there really are two different dye lots. Same fabric, but slightly different at the same time. I thought it would add a bit of ‘is it my eyes, or am I seeing things’ trick. :o)

Have a great day!

SSCS Present

Hello, my secret partner ...... I enjoy being surprised ..... so no reveals until Xmas Day!

Winter Time

I mean the quilt …. not the weather …. mind you there are a few flurries floating around this morning.

I have been taking the free tutorial classes with Tonya and this is what has been accomplished so far. This has been fun in the making and hopefully it will be done before the end of November. Looking through my stash, there was a lot of blue fabrics with snowflakes on them, so that determined the colours for this quilt. This is sure different from my usual quilts, eh.

Tricks of fabric. In my previous post, there were a number of comments about the use of gray fabric in my Trip Around The World quilt.

Actually, there was no gray used, but it sure has that effect with the one fabric that looks kind of blurry. In this close-up, you can see that the fabric (left of the moss green block) is moss green with yellow, blue and cream against a black background. The pattern is quite busy giving the illusion of a different colour from a distance.

After we shot the photo of the quilt, my husband noticed the effect and he wondered if others would too. You folks are quite observant!
Have a great day!

A Trip Around the World

How many of you have done a Trip Around the World quilt? So far, I have done three and another that is a variation of the design.

What is it about this design that appeals to us all?

For this quilt, there is machine quilting in the ditch and the border is hand quilted. In some of my quilts I do both machine and hand quilting. It really depends on my mood and what I feel like quilting at the time. This quilt is queen size and it is currently gracing our bed.

Have a great day!

Just winging along

Well, I just have to say that this process is sure different than what I am used to and very rewarding at the same time. No templates …. OMG! Just free form cutting and sewing and those letters are harder than I thought. My first attempt at making the W ended in the garbage (but after parts of it was used for the R). The I has a snowflake button to complete the letter.

For the snow people, felt is being used with stuffing behind them and secured with buttonhole stitching. The little one looks cold, so it is going to get a mini quilt to wrap up in.

The icicles are just strips of fabric sewn on in an random order; but at the same time keeping in mind gravity and points to hang sort of straight down. I am using printer paper as a stabilizer for sewing the strips onto as there are a lot of bias edges with these icicles.

Anyway, it is a lot of fun working on this hanging and it is coming along quicker than first thought.

Thanks, Tonya, for tempting me to join in. :o) I have wanted to do something with letters for a long time now and this is a great opportunity for me to just ‘try’ it.

Have a great day!

What's up Buddy?

I wonder what they were thinking! Good thing the window screen was in place, otherwise the squirrel would have gotten in.







The Cat … she’s just a scaredy cat, but oh how the chipmunks and squirrels just love to tease her. :o) They’ll get up on the window sills and chirp at her or they are at the side door dancing away on the platform while The Cat is inside looking at them.

So, are these two saying ‘goodbye’ for the winter and ‘see you’ next spring?

Next post, there will be something new to show you and it is connected to Tonya’s http://lazygalquilting.blogspot.com/ new class that she has going right now. If you dare to be challenged, join in! I'm stepping right out of my comfort zone, but am willing to give it a try.

Have a great day!

Leaves Request

How did I do these leaves, you ask?

The fabric came from Fabricland (this is a Canadian chain store and they have their own fabric) and the leaves were fussy cut out leaving a seam allowance all around. The leaves were appliquéd onto the quilt (using needle turn method) after it was quilted; then buttonhole stitching (very close stitches) were applied by hand. In a few of the leaves, I changed the thread colour as I went around the leaf.

Just regular sewing thread and a very thin sewing needle was used (tried embroidery thread and was not happy with the look).

For the leaves on the tree branch, they were applied without being appliquéd on. The edges were trimmed down right to the leaf edge and just stitched in place with very close buttonhole stitching. I did not use any fusing on the back of the leaves and I really wasn’t too happy with the whole look of them so decided to change my method for the ones sent to Iceland.

Same leaves, two different versions for swap quilts.

There have been a number of suggestions to make the top quilt for my husband and that is exactly what I will be doing. It will be a twin to the one in Iceland.

Have a great day!

Fall Exchange, part deux!

Please skip over to Guðrún’s blog www.atsugan.blogspot.com and take a peek at her quilt that I recently mailed to her.

There was a bit of struggle getting this quilt out the door. My hubby didn’t want this one to go and asked if I could make something else for Guðrún. Jeepers!

Have a great day!

Making it Mine

The pattern is from Simple Traditions by Kim Diehl. This lady has fast become my favourite designer. I am not one to buy many books, but her designs have sure grabbed hold of me.

As you can see, I have done a few changes in the design to make it my own.

It is not very often that I copy a pattern exactly as the designer made it.

This little top is now ready for sandwiching and hand quilting and it will be quick and easy to finish, but I will put it aside for now as I need to continue working on my SSCS quilt.

Have a great day!

Pattern close-up

I had a request to show a close-up of the pattern that Guðrún, at www.atsugan.blogspot.com sent to me.

It is an advent calendar and so different with the elves peeking out from behind the tree.

This pattern looks quite easy to make up and I already have a stash of little bells hiding away in one of my bins and white felt; plus everything else needed to make it.

Once my SSCS gift is out of the way, I think this pattern is next on my list to make.

Have a great day!

Fall exchange

I have been dancing on tippy toes, anxiously waiting a package to arrive from Iceland and today was the day! :o)

Guðrún, at www.atsugan.blogspot.com sent me these gorgeous items. First off there is a doll with a wee mini quilt, an Icelandic cookbook and pattern and tissue packages. On the quilt, is a twinned flag featuring Iceland and Canada. I need to find out how she got this pin.

I have glanced through the cookbook and most ingredients are known to me here in Canada. Mind you, what does Iceland moss taste like?

Guðrún missed out on the sign-up for the Four Season Quilt Swap and wished that we were partners again for this swap if she had signed up. Why not swap between us, we decided.

My package to Guðrún was mailed this past Wednesday, so it will be a while yet before it reaches her.

Company is arriving this afternoon and I will soon be able to share with them my little treasures! :o) :o)

So, Guðrún, you have made my day and my cleaning is going a lot smoother.

Have a great weekend!

Loss of Quilt Size

Have you ever been curious, like me, and measured your quilt at the top stage and then measured it again once the top has been quilted and binding applied?

Well, I did and was totally amazed at the difference of measurements.

Take 'My Crazy Quilt' (from previous post) for instance. The top measured 58” x 66-1/2” and once all quilted up the measurements now are 56” x 64”. And that is just a lap size quilt. For some of my queen size quilts, there have been a 3" loss on all sides!

My fabrics are prewashed and I use mostly polyester batting (prefer it for hand quilting). Washing is done in the machine and line dried. There is a possiblility of more loss if the quilt was dried in the dryer.

Now, I wonder which type of quilting (hand or machine) produces the most size loss?

For our bed, I now know that my top has to measure 97” wide to fit nicely at the sides after being quilted without any bed ruffle.

Just thought you might like to know.

Have a great day!