Happy Canada Day, eh!

On July 1, Canada will have another year of celebration ..... 149 years young.  My goal for the next year is to get these three tops quilted.  By me or a LAer.  Why?  Next year will mark 150 years of our country and I want to celebrate by having these three tops as quilts.  What a lovely goal that will be.

What else have I been up to?  For the last two months, my Split Apple Core has been feverishly worked on.  My studio was a total mess with scrap bins pulled out and scraps everywhere.  Now that the basting, etc.. has been almost done, the scraps have been put back in their bins and the studio is once again neat and tidy.

This is what the cores looked like at the beginning of June:

 Mid-June, the cores are at this stage:

You know, working on my cores, is like working on a jigsaw puzzle .... you just want to add one more piece ....

The empty spots are starting to fill in.  There was a definite need to stand back and move pieces around so that an even scrappy look was achieved.

Hours were spent working and working on this project until there were only a dozen more pieces to go.  Oh my, the urge to do another core and then another and pin them all in place was taking over my life.  Mind you, between my colds and my sore back, this has been a most welcome project to work on.

A few off cuts occurred.  Oops!  Darn, hate it when that happens.   These two will need to be redone. 

Don't my split apple cores look so lovely?

Now, the sewing together begins!!!!  The top right section is all sewn together.

This is the section I'm working on now.  This project is my summer take-along to the cottage and visiting.

I'm linking up to http://needleandthreadnetwork.blogspot.ca/ to join other Canadian quilters this week.

 Happy summer days!

Decorating with Quilts

It has been a while since I last did any post about my quilts and how I use them for decorating.

We finished our family t.v. room this spring and I finally got around to taking some photos of how I use my quilts to help decorate this room.

A basket with quilts ... have I ever mentioned how much I love baskets?  It is hard for me to pass up big ones.  There are so many uses for them.  The bigger the better, I say!

 Oh, another big basket and some crock pots with quilts, of course!  :o)

So, that is the family room.




Have a great day, eh!

It's a top

Since I will be out-of-town for day guild meeting next week, I will show my Pizza Box challenge top.

Here is a before photo of when I was working on the blocks.  Three more blocks were made to bring the total to 12 blocks and then the appliqued leaves came out to play.  Gosh, when I look at this photo, it sure is fuzzy.  I took it with my ipad and I'm not sure about the quality.  

Ah, this photo is so much better!  Well, here it is .... this autumn top is done!  The quilting design has already been figured out and it will get quilted and ready for showing at the next day guild meeting in September.  I'm very happy with my blocks that were made by others.  When I asked that they use autumn colours, this is what I had in mind for the final look.  The leaves brought everything together. Yep, very happy indeed!

This is the fabric that I provided and was to be used in each block.  This fabric has been in my stash for years and was the inspiration for the layout of the blocks and the applique.  Perfect, I would say!  :o)

What else have I been up to?  A call from the LAer had me rushing over to pick up this quilt that she just completed.  Problem though ... I threw out my back and will have to wait a while before I can struggle with this quilt and the binding on my sewing machine.  It is a huge quilt (100" square) and the weight right now will be just too much to handle.

After picking up this quilt, DH and I stopped in to visit my brother and SIL.  We met their Aussie visitors that stayed with them for a week.  They are from Newcastle and  Lake Macquarie, NSW, Australia.  What a pleasure it was to meet them and have a wee chat.

I will again be linking up with http://needleandthreadnetwork.blogspot.ca/  and join in with other Canadian quilters to show we have done this week.

Have a great day!

Pizza Box Challenge

Last September, my day guild had a challenge using pizza boxes.  It started off with me putting in one 12-1/2" unfinished block and a half metre of fabric (to be used in each block) into a pizza box and bringing it to the next meeting.  Handed in my box and got to pick another box.  Make a block and hand that box in at the next meeting and get a different box.  Repeat for the next 8 months.  I did request that anyone picking my box to use autumn fabrics.

Last month, everyone that participated in the challenge got to take their own box home.  The challenge is over.  This is what my blocks look like.  What a thrill it was to look at each block.  We all took turns admiring each box.  Mine are perfect!  They say Autumn.  I have plans, but those will be kept under wraps for now as everyone is to bring in a completed pizza box top to the June meeting and I know that a few guild members read my blog and I want to keep this a secret until then.  So, this is what I've been busy working on.

Just in case you are wondering if my Kentucky Stars has been abandoned .... nope.   Only 3 more star flowers to appliqué and some outline embroidery and this top is done.

I'm linking today's post to http://needleandthreadnetwork.blogspot.ca/.  Take a leap and hop on over to see what other Canadians are working on this week.

Have a great day!