Goodbye ....

...... Toronto (click here to see more about Toronto) and hello North Bay (click here to read about our new home).

We haven't lived in North Bay for over 30 years and it was time to make the trek back home.  Getting ready for selling our house and packing up has been very stressful but well worth the time and effort. 

A new chapter is about to start for us.

We are excited about our move and hope to get settled in soon enough.  In the meantime, my blog will be down for most of June while we unpack and paint and ..... you get the picture!

I do have hand projects to work on when a break is required.  There are these hexagons to make ....

and some more Got Dots to applique ....

and there is a secret project that cannot be revealed at this moment.

So, see you all in a wee while ....

Strippy top

Well, my strippy is a top!  Can we say happy, happy, happy?  It is currently at a LA lady and this is a first time for me.  When I saw the lovely job she did on Debra's quilt, I just had to have mine done by her as well.  If you take a peek at Debra's quilt, you will see that my (and no blog Mary) layout is different .... the same fabrics, but different.

Have a great day!

What a day!

This past Sunday was a special day spent with the gals from We 3 Quilters!  It was a sew day at my place and DH was our butler.  He got whatever food and beverages we needed ... what a guy! 

The 3 of us have been busy working on our strip quilts.  This is Mary's (in black dress) version.  You can see just a wee bit of my panels just above Mary's hand.  Debra is busy pointing out different things in the sashing.  

 

While I was busy sewing on my strips, Mary was cutting up T-shirt fabric into strips to knit with.  She bought a broom handle and had a workshop make them into knitting needles.  I can hardly wait to see what she makes with them.  Very interesting.  Debra was busy sewing down the binding on her quilt and if you want to see more of it, go here to take a peek.

Miss Ashes was busy being Miss Ashes!  She had to lay right down on top of my strips ... what a gal again!  :o)

 At the end of the day, gifts were given to Mary and Debra ....

 .... and they in turn gave me a gift.

I couldn't believe my eyes.  A coffee mug, tote bag and sticky notes with We 3 Quilters logo on them.  I'm not worthy!!!!  Thank you, my friends!!!

This was our last get-together for sewing before I move north.  On the bright side, I will be back for a month in September to babysit my grand nephews.  Oh my, we have so much to plan!!

Have a great day!

Blocks are done and shoes galore!

All my pinwheel blocks are done and ready to be sewn into rows.  Once the  borders are on, this will be a double size quilt.  I am very pleased with how they turned out and next to 9-patch blocks, pinwheel blocks are becoming my next favourite block to make. 

There is left over fabric from these blocks and I have a plan for them very soon; but I will have to wait until we are settled into our new home.  Only a bit over a week to go for the big moving day. 

Last weekend, Debra and I went to a quilt show in Port Perry, Ontario and we took the back roads to get there.  In the middle of  nowhere was this tree with all of these shoes that were nailed to the tree trunk. 

 There were shoes waaaaay up high in the branches.

Another tree just beside it has a few pairs of shoes nailed to it.  The start of another shoe tree.   Debra spotted the shoes and we had to turn around and go back to take a good look and photos had to be taken.  We would love to know the significance of the shoes and the tree.  A shoe tree .... in the middle of nowhere. Go figure!

Have a great day!

Can we say ....

... Quilt Police?  Can you see how intense Miss Ashes is in checking out my hand quilting?  I'm sure she is even counting how many stitches I'm getting per inch!  :o) 

My hexagon quilt got started without using a lap frame (free hand) and after doing about 1/4 of the quilt, I decided it was too hard and have reverted back to using a quilt frame.  It doesn't hurt to try new methods to see if they work and it is not hard to then go back to what is comfortable.  It was something that I just had to try out.

In the evenings, after a day of packing boxes, it feels so good to just sit back and relax with some hand quilting.  It is a great stress buster.

With the house in an uproar with boxes all over the place, my hand quilting corner is just the place to give comfort to Miss Ashes and Miss Hank and they don't hesitate to join me.

Only a week and a half now before our move .... we are soooo busy!

Have a great day!

Same .... but different .... a snag!

I've been trying to get another tutorial out for the quilt in the previous post ...... and have hit a snag.  After doing a bit of digging, lo and behold .... there is a pattern available for this quilt and since I don't want to infringe on copyright .... there will be no further tutorials for this quilt from me.

If you are interested, you can purchase the pattern from Marilou Designs.

Our version is slightly different, but the original cutting and sewing information is the same and this is where the copyright laws come into play.

Quite a number of you were very interested in this pattern and my tutorials and I'm sorry to disappoint you. 

Same, but different .... Part 1

In order to make this quilt from Debra's blog, we gals from We 3 Quilters cut out our strips and we exchanged them this past Sunday afternoon.  We each choose our ugliest 26 FQ's (or more if we were unable to get 9 strips per FQ) and cut out 2" strips.  We each decided to make our quilt large enough to fit a queen size bed and it will be larger than the photo of the quilt shown below. 
Since there have been a few comments about wanting to make this quilt too, I will give a wee tutorial on how to make one as I go along.  Debra got the instructions from a lady that was at quilt retreat with her and that lady is our source for making this quilt.  Debra changed the setting sashes and border from the original instructions.

This is what 234  2" strips looked like before we started dipping into them to sew.

No blog Mary couldn't stay, but Debra and I forged on and sewed for a few hours.  Debra was shy (not) but we started getting funny with our strips.  Her pile is partly on her head and the rest by her sewing machine.  My pile is at the bottom of the photo closest to the food.  My lovely DH provided us with tea and refreshments so that we could keep up the pace.  We were on a mission!  :o)

These are just some of my panels that we sewed.  We need 9 strips per panel for a total of 24 panels.  So far, I've done only 10 and Debra left off at 13.  That girl is fast at her sewing machine.  She probably will have the rest finished by today, not to mention the entire quilt.  At times, grass does not grow under her feet!

I've already started to cut my panels.  First cut is for a 14" x 14" square.

 This is the A cut for the 14" square.

 From the same panel, cut out 3  2" strips.

Here are my cut 3 strips.  The rest will be for the scrap pile or if any piece is long enough, they can be unsewed and used in the sashing and border to help mix the overall look.

Now, I take another panel, cut my 14" x 14" square and switch my ruler around to make my B cut.

Here are some of my A and B cuts together with my stack of 2" strips. 

I will not cut all my 24 panels evenly into A and B cuts.  I will need 3 panels to make C cuts (those instructions will come later).

Debra had mentioned about selecting fabrics for her blocks towards the end and how it can become more difficult to find fabrics for her panels.  So, with that thought in mind and with the last 9 blocks to make, I chose all my fabrics for those remaining blocks.  Yes, it was starting to get difficult and there was much shuffling around of fabrics so that the panels looked good.  My handy styrofoam boards came in handy to hold my fabrics ready for sewing.

This is the pile of strips left over.  We all added extras for a just-in-case time.  They may get used in the sashings and borders or they will go into my scrap bins.   

All I know is, we are having fun.  Our quilts will be the same .... but different. 

The tutorial will continue.

Have a great day!