Winter is Not Over! - Part 1

Jeez …. Spring has been here for a while now; but we’ve been having temperatures just below freezing lately and there have been some snow flurries reported in areas in Southern Ontario. So, on that note …. here is my ‘Winters of My Life’.

Done is a wonderful word. I would have thought that doing both machine quilting and hand quilting that this quilt would have been finished sooner …. but life got in the way.

This quilt was started back in November 2007 when Tonya offered an on-line class. I had wanted to do a word quilt and this class just fit the bill for me. The whole quilt was done free-form (with a few exceptions in the hand-quilting of trees and straight lines). The Baptist fan was a blast to do (something else that I have wanted to try). Just sitting down with a marker pen and drawing random arcs was very easy to do and stress-free as compared to working with a stencil.

Winter – I bought a packet of snowflake buttons at Wal-Mart and they have been used throughout this quilt

Igloo – Well, I do live in Canada, eh! As youngsters, we tried building igloos; but never could get the top part to stay in place. Do you like my inukshuk pin?












Icicles – Our house did not have insulation in the attic, so we grew marvelous icicles each winter.


















Blizzard – Oh, how do I love a blizzard ….. let me count the ways. Even today, I just love to hear the wind howling and watch the snow coming down. Mind you, indoors is a great way to experience this event. I used to love walking in a blizzard ….. everything was so quiet between the gusts of wind and there were never many people out and about except for my sister and her friend and I.



See next post for continuation ….

Winter is Not Over! - Part 2

-45F - That was the coldest day of my life.
Snow Angels – What is winter without snow angels?
Blue Spruce – They are my favourite winter trees.


Home – Or as my niece calls it ‘icicle house’. We prefer our house temperature around 70F and whenever she visits, she is always freezing. Good thing there are a bunch of quilts just waiting to be used.

























Jack Frost – Growing up in our little house, the windows used to frost up terribly during the cold winter months. My Mom would always say that ‘Jack Frost’ visited during the night. With the heat from the sun, the frost would always melt away during the day.

Brr – Well, that says it all!



See next post for continuation ….

Winter is not over!

Snowmen – What is winter without them? They are so happy, they are levitating. Do you like the quilt on the little guy? The quilting lines are Northern Lights. Only once have I ever seen them and they were just jaw dropping to witness.

Icicles – Yep, I love icicles. There are tiny crystals sewn at the bottom of some of them to represent melting. They always fascinated me and if there was more than one drop at a time from one icicle, that was awesome.








The lake scene – Reminds me of our cottage and the landscape in winter.

Squeaky Snow - Oh …. the sound snow makes when you walk on it once the temperature drops well below freezing.

Snowflakes – When I see these snowflakes, they remind me of ice skaters doing their spin. I did have beads on the centre of a few; but took them off and replaced with the snowflake buttons.

Thank you, Tonya for issuing a challenge to join your class.

Have a great day!

A Bag will Travel

Now that Judith has received her tote bag that I made for her, it’s time to show it to you. This bag is very similar to the one that was sent to Peg; but it is slightly different. This is the last of the orphan block that started these tote bags.

Judith and I were doing a personal swap and this was my gift to her. She is going on vacation soon for 3 weeks and this bag arrived in time for her to put it to good use.

Have a great day!

Pattern Source: Paper pieced trees from EQ5 software program.

Meet the Gang

We have additions to the family for nearly 2 weeks now. Yep, we have cats in the house! We inherited them from my nephew. His BIL is very allergic to cats; thus the need to find a new home for them. What fun we are having with them! :o)

Meet Ashes. She is a ragamuffin and is adorable. Her domain is my sewing room and all I need to do is get within a foot of her and she starts to purr. Yesterday, I was trying to pin the stems for my Four Seasons Spring quilt and she was ready and willing to assist me; but it was more like ‘get in her way’ attitude. So, whoever receives this mini, if the stems are a bit crooked, blame Ashes

Meet Hank. SHE is a female and why her name is Hank, we don’t know. We are her 3rd. set of humans to have her. Hank started life in Scotland and has made her way to us here in Canada. Hank is my bed-making assistant and very, very friendly.

So, with these two beauties around, there is not much quilting going on lately (I did get my Winter quilt finished and will show that to you next week). We are spending time getting acquainted with each other and having fun in the process.

During the past few years when I’ve been browsing through all the quilt blogs, I would chuckle at all the photos of cats helping out. Now it is your turn to chuckle with mine.

Have a great day!

Exchange for Spring

I'm a bit tardy in getting the Four Seasons Spring Swap quilt on the go. By now, this quilt would have been finished and sent off; but lately I’ve not been in the mood to do much quilting.

We’re finally getting warmer weather and buds are starting to form on the trees. Soon, soon it will be time to think about getting pot plants and tending my perennial garden.

Gotta go …… this mini has to be finished this week! :o)

Have a great day!

Pieced or appliqué?

In my last post, Teresa had a question about the block: Was it pieced or all appliqué?

The little squares are hand pieced and the oval piece is appliquéd on last.

More charm packs have been ordered and these blocks are on hold until my parcel arrives sometime this week. I’ve so enjoyed working on these blocks and am glad that this quilt is being stretched into a bed size instead of a wall hanging.

You can be sure there will be more to show on this project sometime down the road. Mind you, I really should be working on my WIP’s ……. oh well. :o)

Have a great day!