Two quilts

I've been going through busy times of late and I don't seem to have much to talk about in the way of quilting.

Today, I do have something to say.

First off, I'm working on finishing two quilts.

This one is my "Antique Sampler" by Susan Daley.  This photo was taken in my friend's garage.  We met for a few hours last week and this is what was brought over to work on.   Binding is on, but it is not finished yet.  

Why not, you wonder?  Well ..... since I'm so fussy about my quilts, extra steps are taken to finish it off to my satisfaction.  Anything that is appliqued on my quilts (that are machine quilted) I like to add hand quilting to help anchor the applique.  So, I've been hand quilting around each circle and stitch-in-the-ditch around the motif inside the circle.  Yes, yes, yes, I'm crazy and obsessive.  That is me and they are my quilts, so I will do whatever I want to make me happy.

So, why didn't I just hand quilt the whole quilt?  Well, this top has been sitting on a shelf for years waiting for me to hand quilt it.  The way I look at it, my LAer does half the work for me and I do the other half and those tops are finally getting finished.  If I wasn't so obsessive, then she would do all the quilting and be done with it.

Next, binding is being hand sewn down on my quarter log cabin quilt.  No applique on this quilt, so it will be finished soon.   Photos of both finished quilts will be coming your way in the next wee while.  

Next .... yesterday, I presented a trunk show to a small number of ladies.  I wore my mask and some of the ladies wore theirs also.  It was odd to do a trunk show like this, but it was good to feel normal again .... except normal won't be for a while.  Our area has had only 40 cases of Covid-19 and only 1 death.  All the cases have been resolved.  The health experts have done a marvellous job of contact tracing and insisting on isolation for those who have been exposed.  We all have to be smart about this deadly virus and wear our masks and wash our hands and keep our distance.  Be smart about it!

Yesterday, I wore my patch autumn jacket to do the trunk show.  On my way there, I stopped off at a local coffee shop and the man serving me my coffee remarked on how much he liked my jacket.  Well, that was my chuckle for the day because I nearly didn't wear that jacket because it has been around for 12 years now and it is starting to get old.   So, guess what I'll be wearing today when I take my sister out for groceries?  Yep.

Well, time to get another suitcase opened up and pull out those quilts and refold them and put them away in the quilt storage cabinets. 

I wonder when another trunk show will be done?

Cherish your day, cherish your life!

Autumn Jacket

I'm participating once again in Amy's Blogger's Creative Festival and my entry is my flannel jacket in autumn colours. I just love wearing this jacket .... so nice and cozy warm and bright! Bright ... oh yes ....

I went through my jacket sewing patterns and picked one that was simple and just started cutting out my flannels and making some 4-patch blocks. The pattern was enlarged slightly (about 1" overall) because once it was machine quilted there would be a decrease in the finished size. One thing that is missing is pockets. That is something that will be added as I really do miss putting my hands in my pockets to keep them warm when out for walks. Now what kind of pockets that will not interfere with the overall look of the jacket? Will have to think about that. DH and I were out for a walk and he commented that I blend in well with all the swirling leaves that are on the ground.

So, go and take many peeks at Amy's post and enjoy all the other quilts that are being shown. So, so, so many gorgeous quilts!

Have a great day!

Done Jacket

Well ….. with about 6 weeks to New Year’s Eve and Finn’s challenge will end on that day, I am slowly working on my UFO’s.

See here …… my flannel jacket is done, done, done! This jacket was started in 2003 .... oh well ....... I've done machine quilting using a walking foot for the curves. It was a bit tricky, but love the effect.

That is me modeling my jacket in our backyard. I blend in very well with the foliage ... We still have some leaves on our trees, but not for long.

So, only 3 left to go!!!!

Have a great day!

Siggies and quilt shows

I have started on the adventure of collecting siggies. My first block arrived last week from The Netherlands and my first block in return is being mailed today. As well, I am making an extra block and will be doing something with them a long way down the road from now.

It is ironic, but when I first saw the siggies going around, I had decided there was no interest there for me …. and here I am today participating in these exchanges. I find my tastes changing all the time and that pleases me.

Now, for photos of 3 quilt shows (Barrie, Scarborough and Ingersoll), please stop by Debra’s blog to see photos. I made it to 2 of the shows and the quilts were wonderful. Debra is so organized with her photos and there are a lot of them.

While at the quilt show in Barrie, we ran across this couple. It was their jackets that caught our attention and when we commented about the jackets, the gentleman heard us and he opened his jacket and said that the lining was by Jenny Beyer. Now, how about that ….. he is definitely into his wife’s quilting. They were so kind to pose for us. It turns out that the lady is from my hometown of North Bay and she won an award in Houston for her husband’s jacket. It is made out of recycled ties and she used leather in the yolks, cuffs collar and hem. Her jacket is an African theme with applique pieces on top of the background diamonds/triangles. Talk about walking art .... both jackets are wonderful!

Have a great day!

Autumn Jacket

I’ve been working lately on finishing my flannel jacket. I just love the colours and fabric in this jacket. The flannel is so luxurious and soft.

During this process, I have ventured into making curves with my walking foot. Very brave of me! :o)

I’m out of town right now and will finish this when I am back again in Toronto in about 3 weeks time. My DH will still post for me but not as often.

Have a great day!

Autumn leaf jacket & Time Out

This is going to be a jacket made out of flannel. You just knew there was another jacket lurking around somewhere, didn’t you? Aren’t the colours gorgeous?

Now that I have the body pieces put together, I will do machine quilting on it and then sew the seams together and then finish the jacket.

There will be more to come on this one.

So, this is the last of the three UFO’s that I’m currently working on. I like the idea of three as it gives me a chance to work on any one of them when I get bored. That is better than starting another new project. :o)

A while back I was asked about my jacket patterns …. well, I would love to give pattern numbers, but I think they have been discontinued. My patterns are way too old to even try finding. I hang onto my old patterns as they work for me and they are easy to adjust to suit current styles.

I will be away for a couple of weeks and there will be no posts until I return. :o(

So, until then, you have a bunch of great days!

Fabric Binge

Well, what a day my SIL and I had at the Creative Sewing Festival! If I was on the fabric diet challenge that is currently going around, there would have been major guilt chewing away at me today.

At my Guild meeting on Wednesday night, I snapped up this book “True Style” for quilted jackets for 25 cents. Yes, 25 cents (that would be 25 pennies)! What a bargain! This is leading to something.

Now, at the Festival, we sat in on a demo showing quilted jackets. Oh my, oh my, what a treat we had! Sandra Thomas (lives in Guelph, Ontario, Canada) is the lady that made these jackets and what a talented lady she is. Sorry, but no photos were allowed to be taken of these garments. We started talking to her before the demo started and she lived in my home town back when and went to the French school there which is just a hop, skip and a jump from our old home. So, talk about an omen here. I got the book, drooled over these jackets and it was in the cards that I just had to buy material to make one of them. As I was getting my fabric cut I mentioned to the booth owner that I had just seen a demo for jackets and Sandra just happened to walk into the booth. Omen!

So, on the left is the material for “the jacket” shown below the book. It is definitely on my list TO DO! By now a number of you have come to the conclusion that I love jackets. In case any of you have counted, I mentioned the word “jacket” eight times in this post. :o)

The other material on the right is for other projects and for backing. Now that I’ve pawed the fabric enough already, the time has come to start washing the fabric before working with it.

Have a great day!

Denim Jacket

Here is another jacket which I love to wear. It’s plenty warm for spring and fall and I can easily wear it when the temperature drops to 0C with just a light sweater underneath. Recent purchase is the shawl and my purse that I got for Christmas.

The denim material was from my stash as well as the lining. Both had been hanging around forever and I finally decided to do something with them. Am glad that I did! :o) This jacket was machine quilted … nothing fancy but it works well with this material.



Why is it that I wear this colour in my clothing but it is out of my comfort zone for quilts? Why do I even buy it? This colour makes its way into my scrappy quilts but they are never the main colour. Perhaps I should make this a challenge to use most of these fabrics (it's a small basket, not a tote) for another jacket and thus help to reduce my stash. Any scraps will be tossed into my bins for scrappy quilts. Ummmm … yes, that will be a good idea!

Perhaps, also, this will be an opportunity for me to do a bit more fancy machine quilting. A few weeks back, I purchased a foot to do free form quilting. This will be a good time to try something different. Yes, that will be my challenge. It’s time to step out-of-the-box.

Have a nice day!

Northwoods Jacket

Jacket front.

Jacket back.

Now that the nice weather is here, it’s time to get out my cottage jacket. This jacket has received a lot of compliments from strangers. :o)

The appliqué pieces are fused (with buttonhole stitches around the edges) onto a sweat fleece material and lined with cotton. It’s not warm enough to wear when the temperature really dips, but is perfect for temperatures above 10C.

Have a nice day!