The Sock Dance

Well … here are the finished socks that I first wrote about in a post on May 7. They are for a wedding and the groom’s mother asked if I could knit a pair of socks. I had never knitted a pair of socks but after admiring socks in blogland, this was something that I wanted to do and I was up to the challenge. The socks needed to be bright pink, knee high and decorated really, really tacky. Personally, I think they are quite tacky, but my two nieces think they are cute! Really …. I tried to make them tacky, really, I did try!

There is a French Canadian custom to the sock dance for weddings, but it was unknown to me and my family. The groom’s family is quite familiar with it.

The custom states that when a younger sibling gets married, the older unmarried siblings must do the sock dance by themselves and they must dance in their stocking feet. Could be an interesting night!

The groom has an older sister who is going to have the honour of wearing these and doing her thing. She did request that the socks match her dress (she will be a bridesmaid) and her dress is celadon green and comes to just below the knee. So, do you think they will match? :o)

The sister took belly dancing classes and we just had to attach pieces of the belt to the socks. There are bells sewn on throughout. The sister can make her own music just by walking/dancing around.

Have a great day!

Edited: Aug.10,2009. It seems there have been a number of searches for the French Canadian Sock Dance and this post did not have the correct custom information. This post has now been corrected.

A Freeloader

Belvie at http://thisquiltersemptynest.blogspot.com/ left me a comment for my June 17 post and asked me to walk a few extra steps for her. So, Belvie, here is what was at the end of my walk …. a heron just waiting for a free handout from the people fishing on the dock.

One young lady took pity and gave the bird her catch and the heron was not shy about gobbling it up. This bird has been hanging around the dock for about three years now and it is not afraid of vehicle traffic on the dock or people.

I'm back in Toronto for a few weeks and will now be able to get caught up with my comments and visiting blogs.

Thank you so much to all who left me comments about my last few posts. I have tried to reply to your comments, but if I have missed any, it was not my intention to do so. There is always so much happening at my Mom's, that while reading your comments, I intended to reply but got interrupted and probably forgot if I did reply or not. Oops!

Have a great day!

My Secret Garden

Yes, you caught me … I staged this shot. :o) My peonies begged to be shown around the world.

I made this quilt a few years ago and it was paper pieced and hand quilted.

Have a great day!

Pattern Source: Quiltmaker's All-Time Favourites, Spring 2004

My Favourite Walk

While in North Bay, this path is my favourite walk and it extends for quite a way along the shore of Lake Nipissing. The flowers change weekly as the perennials go in and out of flower.

North Bay has two lakes on either side of the city and they are great for swimming and there are numerous public beaches. Lake Nipissing is a warmer lake as it is more shallow, whereas Trout Lake is freezing cold as it is a very deep lake.

In this photo, the people in the boats on the water are there for fishing. Pickerel are in season.

Anyway, thought I would just share with you where you might find me for an evening walk.

Have a great evening!

French manicure or jelly roll

These are all I bought at the North Bay quilt show. What is wrong with me? Surely there could have been more temptation at each vendor’s booth?

Must be all the fabric diet challenges currently out there that has linked a subliminal message to my brain and it was turned on. :o)

I had been looking at buying this Sunshine by April Cornell jelly roll for quite some time. It was there at a booth, but I actually walked away from it. It drew me back.

Soon after buying this, I met up with my sister and niece. They had just returned from having French manicures and were going to do a quick walk around the quilt show. They asked how much for the jelly roll. When I replied, $45.00 (I am not going to rant, I am not going to rant) they both went …. ugh …. and started to laugh because they admitted to each spending more than that to have their nails done and it only lasts for 3 weeks. Sheeesh!

So, a French manicure or a jelly roll. Which would you have spent your money on?

I’m traveling again tomorrow and will be away for another week, so won’t be able to do much blog visiting and leaving comments. Yikes, just when I got caught up.

So, you all have a bunch of great days!

Last photos of quilt show-machine embroidery quilts

This quilt, to me, was the Best of Show! Absolutely stunning.
A closeup of the middle section. Machine embroidered and machine quilted.
Another machine embroidered quilt but fabric has been used in the blocks with embroidery stitches holding the fabric in place.
A close-up of one of the blocks.

Well, here are the last of my photos. There are lots more, but these were the ones that stood out for me.

This is the first time that I encountered so many quilts that had machine embroidery on them. Is this the new phase of quilts to come?

I won't be popping out to buy an embroidery machine, but these quilts are to be admired for the time and workmanship involved and they are gorgeous!

Enjoy and have a great day!

More quilt show photos

Now, don't you think this quilt is maverick? If I had done it, the plain squares would have been mixed up, but this lady did it her way. Bravo!
This is the backing of a quilt (and not the one with the kimonos in my previous post). Are there others out there who also look to see what fabric is used for the backing? I find the backing could be just as interesting as the front.
Redwork teddies. There was a question on some of the blogs about quilting through the embroidery stitches or not. This quilt has all the quilting stitches around the motifs but none through the stitches.
Gosh, this quilt has such movement and the colours are gorgeous!
Toy sewing machines .... what a fantastic collection!

More Quilt Show Photos

This quilt was made in 1859. What a sweet quilt!
There were a few pieces of clothing and it wasn't hard for me to find a jacket. This is the front view.
And the back view. I have this sunset pattern and had thought about doing a jacket with it. Now that I know how it turned out, I'm not sure if that is the way to go for me.
The kimonos on the border are 3D.
This quilt is for all the primitive gals.

Still more photos to come.

Have a great day!

Guild Meeting and Goodies

Guess what I won tonight at our Guild meeting? All of this was in the basket.

I had my camera but forgot to take photos of Show and Share. Oh well …. must have been snoozing. You know the saying: You snooze, you loose!

Since the fall of 2006, our Guild has had a UFO challenge. There were four teams, and our team won the challenge. We finished 12 items! There is a prize for this! Yippee, our team will be hosted at a member’s cottage in Collingwood for a two night stay. I’ve never been to that neck of the woods, so it will be interesting. Not sure if it will be a sewing weekend or just tramping around the area. Details, dates, etc. to be determined.

Seventeen members participated in the challenge and 45 items were finished. Regardless if there was a prize or not, I feel that we were all winners as these items are done, done, done!

Have a great evening!

‘Quilts by the bay’ Quilt show in North Bay

Oh, what luck! A quilt show while I was visiting my Mom. My sister and her daughter dropped me off while on their way to getting their nails done. They wondered if I could find something to amuse myself for two hours. At a quilt show … they have got to be kidding! :o) They later joined me and it was interesting to walk around with them to see quilts through their non-quilter eyes.

There were a lot of quilts to see and admire and drool over! Quite a number of the quilts were machine quilted by one lady and what lovely work she does. Some were done using a panto, but most were custom. The hand quilting I saw was lovely and I got some nice ideas for motifs for my quilts to come.

So, here are just a few of my favourite ones for today!
Enjoy and have a great day!


Baltimore album with a closeup of the center.

The hydrangea hanging has interesting quilting in the background. I like how the quilting echos the flowers.

The jars' quilt was made by a 7yr.old boy (with help of his Mom).

I have this pattern for the calendar trees. This quilter did a beautiful job of it.

I'm back home

Whew, back home for a rest! My two weeks up north were very busy.

Between gardening at my Mom’s and my niece’s places, birthday celebrations, doctor appointments, teacher graduation ceremony and celebration luncheon, helping to prepare for a bachelor stag party, attending a quilt show and a girl’s soccer game, opening up the summer cottage, spoiling The Cat (so it would stop hissing at me), I need a vacation!

I’m always so happy to come home and be with my husband and enjoy the peace and quiet in our little home.

And waiting at home for me was my package from Australia. Julie at http://www.quiltingsewandso.blogspot.com/ sent me a magazine as a thank you for the batting samples and magazine that I sent to her. ‘Thank you, Julie’. Yippee, a new magazine to browse through again and again!

During the past two weeks, I haven’t had much time to visit blogs and leave comments. There is time now to get caught up on those this week.

For the next few posts, I will be sharing photos of the quilt show that I attended while in North Bay.

Have a nice day!

Spring Bouquet

Pink and green …. speaks softly of warm summer days! This quilt was made for another niece and it is queen sized. There is a pair of pillow shams to match, but I never did take a photo of them to keep for my records.

Machine quilted throughout using Sulky variegated thread that picks up the colours in the quilt. Had a bit of a HORROR moment with a marking pen, but got it fixed finally (sort of, unless you look really, really close). Whew!

Yes, that’s me standing beside her quilt.

Have a great day!

Pattern Source: Quilts Galore, published by Leisure Arts

Package in Mail and Snow

I have a package from Julie at http://www.quiltingsewandso.blogspot.com/. Problem is ... I'm at my Mom's in North Bay and the package is in Toronto! Darn, darn, darn. My husband has opened the package and told me there is an Australian magazine in it. Double darn!

Julie had asked me about my hand quilting and what brand of batting (wadding) that I used. Since it's not a well known brand, samples were sent to her along with a Fons and Porter magazine. Julie has graced me in return with an Australian magazine. So, I will have to wait until I return home next week to drool.

After almost a week of hot, humid weather, we had snow yesterday! My sister and I were busy bees hopping around covering all the perennials and annuals. There is a family wedding in July and the flower beds need to be at their best for that day.

On Saturday, there is going to be a quilt show here in North Bay. I'll have photos to share next week.

Until then, you have a bunch of great days!

To Wash Fabric or Not?

What about you? I have always washed my fabric (cotton, polyester) right from the time when I first started to quilt. Don’t remember the reason for it, but it was something that was always done.

Last fall, my SIL nearly died because of an allergic reaction to the chemicals in the unwashed fabric. Luckily, she arrived at the hospital before she collapsed. Her throat had closed up and she had a difficult time to breathe. Literally, she was minutes from dying!

So … something to think about when bringing fabric home!

Have a great day!