Take-along

A couple of evenings and my split apple cores have grown.  They are so simple to do.  The basting is easy and great for TV watching.  Instead of eating, my fingers are busy with papers, fabric, pins, needle and thread.  For now, I have decided that this is my take-along project.  It is easy to work on and works up very quickly.  These apple cores are close to twice the size than my other top that I worked on here.

A good way to use up scraps.  Gotta love that!  Just looking at these split apple cores puts a smile on my face.  Aren't they gorgeous?

So, I will just plug away at this project and get it done.  I'm on a mission, you know.  Get those UFO's or PIG's dug out and worked on.  No point in putting them off any longer.

Have a great day!

A trip to the cottage

How did our family spend Boxing Day?  Not at the mall or in any store.  We took a drive to the cottage.  Yes, a drive to the cottage.  This is so unusual for us up here in the Great White North.  Normally, we have snow on the ground.  Lots of snow and driving to the cottage is unheard of at this time of year.  Not this year.  We had a green Christmas and a wind storm roared through our area on Christmas Eve leaving folks in rural areas around the city without power.  So, we decided to take a drive to the cottage and check to see if there were any trees blown down and the roofs still on the cottages.

Were there trees down across the road?  On the road from the highway to our cottage road, we counted seven.  Someone was in before us and cleared all those trees from the main road.  Thank you, kind stranger.  We continued on and when we reached our road, we saw my sister and her husband getting out of their parked car at the top of our road.  That was not a good sign.  Usually we can drive right down to our cottage.  Were there trees down on our road to the cottage.  Yes, about four.

Reinforcements (other family members) arrived to help us.  A chain saw made quick work cutting the trees into chunks that we all could lift and move out of the way.  Many hands made light work and before we knew it, one tree after another was cleaned up.

Even little hands made a difference.

A ride in the wheelbarrow is such fun!  A real treat after all that hard work!

A walk around our end of the lake revealed that all the cottages were intact.  The only damage was to trees blown down onto the roads/driveways.

We all could see that the lake looked different.  What happened to the shimmer of light on the waves.  No waves.  No sound of the waves hitting the shore.  The lake was very quiet and still.  Was it frozen over?  Yes, with about 1/4" inch of ice.  It was not safe to walk on, but so beautiful to look at.

 Mother Nature and Jack Frost did their creative spells and left us gazing at beauty.

We're expecting some flurries this evening and the snow should stay on the ground as the temperature is starting to fall bringing us back to the normal.

That is how we spent Boxing Day.  Sure was different this year!

Have a great day!

Another top

This one is for my nephew.  He will get it for his birthday next year.  Just glad that it is done and ready for quilting.

I'm on a mission to get tops done.  At last count, there are close to 45 projects in different stages of completion.  That is way too many and I must buckle down and concentrate on getting those projects to completed tops.  I MUST ..... really, I must!

Have a great day!

Apples topped up

Well .... my apple core is now a top and I couldn't be happier!

The stripe fabric is divine and adds a zing to this quilt.  This is the first time that I put the stripe vertical and I will have to remember to do this more often.

Now, I'm on the lookout for apple fabric for the backing.  The thing is, I was looking at apple fabric in a store in North Cobalt (a 2 hr. drive north of where I live) a couple of weeks ago.  I was looking at it as a One Block Wonder quilt because that is the workshop that I recently attended.  Sadly, it did not register with my mind and this quilt until now.  Oh darn.  Well, there will have to be another road trip to go and buy that fabric.  :o)

Have a great day!

A Scrappy Garden

Well, I hung in there and sewed that last row together and then tackled the borders.

A Scrappy Garden is finally a top!!!  Since the centre is SO busy, the borders had to be plain to give the eye a place to rest.  Yes, this works very well.  This is another big top.  The height is 94-1/2" and the width is 102".  After it is quilted, an overall loss of 4" will occur and then this will be the perfect size for my bed.

A close-up of the border.  That multi coloured stripe tied in all the colours.

 

In case any of you are counting, this is top #26 waiting to be quilted.  OMG!  Can you guess what my goal is for next year?

In case any of you were wondering what else that triangle can be used for, here are a few more ideas:

Rows of these pieces sewn together.  Just trim the sides and what an effect that would be.

My Aussie friend, Jennifer, brought this pattern for me using that same template.

Normally, after doing a big hand piecing project, I'm more than ready to toss those paper pieces into the recycle bin or give them away to another person who wants to attempt this pattern.  This time, I think I will hang onto my drawer of these templates and let a few ideas stew for a while.  :o)

Have a great day!

Oh Darn

Just when I thought that borders were ready to be sewn onto my triangle quilt, I realized that it was not the right size on the length.  Oh darn .....

So, on that note, more triangles are being cut out for one more row.  Some striped fabric was auditioned for the border, but I'm not sold on it yet.

Now, I have been asked about my triangle pattern.  Where can you get one?  My pattern came from my EQ7 program under One Patch.  It is really a hexagon that has been sectioned off.  I simply turned my hexagons into triangles for ease of sewing.  

 

 If you can't get a hexagon big enough, below is another way that you can make the templates.

Once my paper template is ready and cut out, a plastic template will be made that has a good 3/8" seam allowance.  I allow extra fabric at the seams which is trimmed later.

My plastic template is used for drawing the design onto a piece of fabric.

The design is drawn and will be cut out with scissors.  A good project for catching up on TV programs.

 Here are my fabric pieces ready for the paper templates.

Paper template pinned in place.  See the seams at the top two sides?  Just make sure they measure 1/4".

The two short edges are folded over and basted in place.  This is what it looks like from the front.

This is the back.

Take your ruler and line up 1/4" on one long side.  Trim.

Then do the other side.

Sides are trimmed and ready for sewing.

Place the templates in this order.  You need a dark, medium and light to make a triangle.  You have to be aware of placing each piece so that you don't have a light against a light, etc.  At the sides (see the two arrows), you will need to open up some of the shorter seams that were basted (and this is why it was important to allow the 1/4" seam allowance)

Once you are happy with your placement, it is time to start hand sewing triangles together.  This is what the front looks like.

This is what the back looks light.  If you follow the directions for making your own triangle template, your side should measure 6".  The smaller arrows show the seams sewn together.  At this point, all the basting and paper templates are removed.

You will need some half triangles to finish the sides as shown below.

 Just take your paper templates and cut in half.

 You will need to reverse half of your side templates to get an even edge.

 Once your triangles are hand sewn together, then it is time to start sewing those triangles together.

 This is my system of marking my triangles for sewing so that none of the triangles get messed up.  Trust me, it really is easy to twist those triangles around, even when you mark them.

This is what one row looks like all sewn together.  Happy days!

So, back to cutting and basting to get that last row done.

Have a great day!

One Block Wonder

Last weekend, I took a workshop to make a One Block Wonder or OBW.  My hubby knows all about OBW.  He gets grilled on quilting terminology!  LOL

Anyway, after two days, I did have something to show for it and am liking my blocks a lot.

This is my fabric and I took this photo to show where my first cut of repeats was done.  Only 1 set of repeats were cut because I couldn't decide how big my quilt should be.  If I do decide to make it bigger, then I will know not to cut at the exact same repeat spot.

At the workshop, this was my layout.  I liked it, but not sure if this will be the final layout.

Back at home, this is the layout I decided upon.  The blocks will get moved around a bit more before sewing them together.  In the end, a wall hanging will be the final size.

Have a great day!

Canadian BOM Mystery quilt

Did you know that on July 1, 2017, Canada will be celebrating its' 150th birthday?  We are a young country, but packed full of history.

To help celebrate this grand occasion, there is a Canadian BOM Mystery quilt that I have signed up for.

Here are the first two blocks.  I'm looking forward to receiving the other packages and I can only guess what each province and territory will be.

When Canada celebrated its' 125th birthday, there was a Canadian quilt pattern in a magazine which I kept it, but never made the quilt.  This is something that I should do and have a quilt to remember these grand celebrations.

This is the pattern by Vicki Lynn Bardon of Suttles and Seawinds that appeared in Canadian Living magazine, January 1992 edition.

Oh dear, another one to add to my list.

Have a great day!

I heart stripes

When I go fabric shopping, stripes are always on my mind.  A lot of my quilts and tops have stripes on the borders.

But what about using stripes for the centre?

I first started playing with this stripe fabric.  An even print stripe.

Just by turning the blocks, I get a rail fence effect but without all the sewing and cutting.  Easy peasy.  Have you ever lost a project?  Well, I can't find this one to continue working on it.  LOL  Guess it is time to do a clean-up in my studio!

This is the latest stripe fabric that I recently bought.  It is an uneven print, but it still works for my project.

 Here it is in early stages.  Love it!

 A bit of letter prepping got under way for applique.

 This is what this top looks like at this point.  In the yellow corner stones, there will be more stars.

Must focus and get this finished and quilted.

So, the next time you see stripe fabric, think outside the box and envision a different quilt.

Have a great day!