A bit of help ...

.... goes a long way.

This little girl was helping me by keeping the backing taut while I was taping the outer edges to the floor.  Such good help is so hard to find these days!  LOL

My quilt top has been all marked up.  I use Crayola Washable Markers (the fine tip) and they do wash out.  Sorry, this is all that you will be seeing of this top for now.  This is another secret that I've been working on.  I don't like secret quilts as nothing can be shown until the time is right.  Oh well, you will see it later this year.   The time has come to get it quilted up.  I will be doing both machine and hand quilting for this quilt.

Someone has been peeking while I've been hand quilting.  Miss Ashes, remember you have to keep this a secret!  She has a spot to snooze on top of my stash bins.  She just peeks out every now and then to see what is going on.

More wildlife has been spotted on our hill.  These two young deer were taking a snooze and spent most of the afternoon in this spot.

Well, back to more hand quilting.

Have a great day!

Pecfectly Pink Pony

This quilt was finished and gifted to my soon-to-be 4 yr. old niece.  She got it early instead of having to wait for her birthday.

This is how the hearts were quilted.

The center portion with the pony.  For the pony, I was stumped on how to quilt it.  So, this is very artsy with the circles and I love it.

Now, I wanted to show what this quilt looked like before washing.  Can you see all the meandering lines that were drawn using Crayola Washable Markers.  It looks like such a mess, doesn't it.  They all came out in the wash.

This pillowcase is perfect for her new quilt.

Quilt details:
Pattern Source:  go here for a free pattern by designer Marinda Stewart
Size:  52" x 81" (before quilting size:  54-1/2" x 82-1/2")
This quilt has a combination of hand quilting and machine quilting.  Whatever quilting I could do well by machine was done by machine and the rest was done by hand quilting.  I've done both quilting types on the same quilt before and it works for me.

So, how long did it take me?  It was started on Apr. 2, 2015 and finished on Mar. 17, 2016.  Just shy of a year.  It was on the go for 10 months (sitting mostly in a bin) and then quickly finished in 5 days and 1 hour.  The 5 days was for the quilting and sewing down the binding and the 1 hour to finish up the embroidery.  Thank you to the reader that left me an interesting comment!  Let's put the time frame into perspective, eh!  :o)

This is what we spotted in our backyard last week.  A pileated woodpecker.  It was huge and it was odd to see it jumping from rock to rock looking for seeds.  They don't walk, they jump.

 A closer look.  It's red head stood out so well against the white snow.  Beautiful.

I'm linking this post to:  http://needleandthreadnetwork.blogspot.ca/.  Go and check out what other Canadian bloggers are talking about this week.


Have a great day.

Spring Ahead

I was trying to come up with a name for this top.  Since it was completed on the day that we changed clocks, I thought why not "Spring Ahead".  Different and a little bit quirky, eh!

The tabs are all sewn on now and four circles in each corner finished the look.  I'm very happy with how this turned out.  Well .... actually, more than happy .... absolutely thrilled!

Now, what about a pattern?  That is a question that was sent to me.  All of the blocks are drawn and written up, so it wouldn't take much to do up a pattern.   Would anyone buy it, other than the one person that asked?  I guess that is something to ponder.  As they say, nothing ventured, nothing gained.  So, we'll see about this idea.

Have a great day!

A baby quilt

We just gave this quilt to our neighbours this afternoon to welcome their new baby daughter.  Everly is her name.

The husband arranged this with me a while back and he was to keep it secret until the birth of their daughter.  Isn't that sweet.  He said that the mother loved teddy bears .... so I drew a sketch and then added the balloons spelling out her name.  I warned him that they couldn't change the baby's name once I started the process.  They didn't.  Whew!  Welcome Everly to the neighbourhood!

This quilt has some hand quilting, embroidery and machine quilting as well as appliqué.

Have a great day!

Not one ...

..... but two projects got to the completed stage this week.

Today, I'll talk about this top.  Little Pony.  All that was needed was the black embroidery and it was completed.  About an hour of work was all that it took me to do.  So silly not to have done it sooner.  Oh well, I'm getting there by just plugging away at projects.

Talking of plugging away, today this top will get pin basted today in readiness for machine quilting.  I love this zig-zag backing.  So cute.

Oh, happy, happy days.  Things are getting DONE and bins are getting empty!

I'm linking this post to http://needleandthreadnetwork.blogspot.ca/ to join other bloggers from Canada.  Go and check out what is happening this week in Canada.

Have a great day!

Applique quilt

In between working on my assigned UFO (It Just Takes 2) for this month, borders are getting sewn on my guild's applique quilt.  I really need to come up with a name for this quilt.

What a difference it makes with all those tabs around the outside!  Love this design.  I'm so proud of myself for doodling and coming up with different ideas.  I just love playing the 'what if' game.

Have a great day!

Dusting off this UFO

Well ..... the last time I worked on this project was way back in 2012.  This project is on my UFO list and it will be worked on this month.

These are the only blocks that have been done.  It Just Takes 2 is the name of this pattern.  I'm not sure how many blocks will get done.  Should I do the whole pattern or just make enough blocks to make a big wall hanging and then call it quits?  We'll see.

All I can say is it is great to bring another UFO off the shelf and have another go at it.

Have a great day!

Cleaning up

Quite often, my studio is a mess.  Fabric everywhere.  I was envious of my friends and their tidy spaces.  So, it was time to tackle the mess and just get it cleaned up.

So, here goes ....

DH went out and bought me a few bins.  LOL.  A few bins.  At least this is a good start.  Now, most of my stash is in bins, but there are a few IKEA bags that hold stash that has been accumulating.

Oops, more IKEA bags.  This is the bedroom adjoining my studio.  There really is a bed under all that stuff.  There really is.  If you look closely, there is a quilt covering the mattress.  Can you spot it?

Remember me lamenting about having 40+ UFO's?  Well, here they are organized and it sure feels good to have them all sorted out and tidied up.  Before, I could hardly find anything on those shelves, it was such a mess.  This is not all of them, but a good number.  At least I have been tackling those UFO's and it is starting to show results.  I did break down and start a new project.  Oops.  I'll be showing something soon.

How can I tell my friends in Australia about winter and white-outs?  The following photos tell the story better.  These photos were taken around 3:30 p.m. yesterday afternoon.  The first photo was taken from my studio.  Look how high the snow is at my window.  We could hardly see the houses across the street.

The snow was coming down quite heavy and it was hitting our windows, thus making visibility even harder.  We have had a couple of snow storms lately and the snow banks are getting higher and higher.  That means it is starting to get dangerous when pulling out onto the street.  You can't see oncoming traffic because they are hidden until the last moment.

Yesterday, I was reading Chookyblue's blog and she mentioned that she has been bloging for 9 years now.  Guess what .... so have I.  On February 22, 2007 that is when I started to blog.  Gosh, where has the time gone?  And guess what, I still have something to write about.  :o)

Have a great day!