Angles and Squares

Another quilt ..... another finish!  Oh, how happy am I to finally have this quilt done.

I really do need to thank my garage girl friends again and again and again for pushing me to get my quilts done by either me or by someone else.  They are so happy to see a finished quilt and that means my list is dwindling.  Any top that a LAer can do, off they go now.  No more hoarding with wishful thinking that it can be hand quilted.  Sadly, those days are fading into the sunset and only the special ones I hold onto in the hopes that I will do them myself continue to stay on the shelf.

Now, let's look at this quilt.  I fell in love with this design when it was first on the design wall and I can't believe how well it turned out.

This quilt started with a workshop that was given by Heather Stewart.  At the end of the class, Heather asked us to do something different with the final layout.  She did give us examples to get us started.

At the time, I was in the "star" mode and that is how stars appeared on this quilt.  Still love those stars!   The quilt is straight ... it is the photo taker (me) that can't get her act together!

Quilt details:
Started:  October 18, 2012 in a workshop presented by Heather Stewart
Top finished:  January 9, 2013
Quilt finished:  April 9, 2018

Top size:  67" x 83" (before quilting and washing:  70-1/4" x 86")
Batting:  polyester

Machine quilted (using Swiralot pattern) by Tella in Scarborough, Ontario.  I did add additional machine quilting on the diagonal lines and on the vertical and horizontal rows.  Using polyester batting made those areas too puffy and I just didn't like how they looked.  So, I took the time to fix the look and I'm so glad that I did.  Also, hand quilting was added around the stars and circles.  Why not, it is my quilt.

Label and sleeve on?  Tick and tick!

DONE!

What a glorious word.

Have a great day!

Linking to:  http://estheraliu.blogspot.ca/

Another garage day!

This past Saturday, we were back in the garage sewing like crazy.  It was a beautiful sunny day.  We even walked to a nearby restaurant for lunch.  Claudia's friend, Lyn was visiting from Timmins, so we just had to have a sewing day.

It has been a while since I introduced the other ladies.  Here we have Lyn (orange sweater) and Claudia.

Lois and Darlene (owner of garage).

Lyn was showing off her finishes that she completed this winter.  Lyn and her husband spend their winters in Arizona and she wanted to show off what she did.   Anyone coming to the garage must be productive ..... that is the rule.  Even if they are just a visitor. 🐱🐱

She made a pineapple top using a printed backing for each block. 

You can see the printed block for stabilising.  Lyn did not enjoy using these.

She bought a special ruler (laying on the table) and  preferred to use that instead.  Much easier to handle.  Another pineapple top on the go.

A scrappy house quilt that she long armed herself.  Lyn got quite a lot of the binding sewn that day.

 Lots of eye candy on the design wall.

Claudia's Joseph's Coat. 

 Darlene's Hunter Star in blues.  Lovely!

I showed a quilt (that will be in the next post), and made circles.  Once my circles were done, I painstakingly removed borders on a top that never appealed to me.  More on that later.

Another Lynne (no photo) came to the garage on Saturday.  This Lynne was busy cutting up squares for QOV kits.  We all were busy, busy, busy and gabbing away like there was no tomorrow.

Yes, it was a good day!

My chore today is vacuuming window screens.  Yes, the weather is finally warming up and soon we might be able to open windows to let in fresh air.

Have a great day!

Cherry on Top

Another quilt done!  Can you see me doing the happy, happy dance?

Label and sleeve on?  Tick and tick.  Done!

Quilt details:
Pattern source:  internet free pattern (source is no longer available)
Hand pieced using EPP method (except for borders which were machine sewn)
Started:  Fall 2011
Top finished:  June 2014
Quilt finished:  April 2018
Quilt Size:  94-1/4" x 93" (size before quilting and washing:  97" x 99")
Batting used:  80/20 poly/cotton
Edge to edge pattern:  Baptist Fan
Machine Quilted by:  Tella in Scarborough, Ontario ..... thank you once again Tella for making my quilt come alive!

I don't know about you, but I'm having a great day!

Quilting in the Garage and Baby Blankets

We had a garage day this past Saturday and I was fine to go to this one.  The last one, I had stomach flu and had to cancel.

So, what did we all work on?  Lois finished her commission quilt and how lovely it turned out!

 Darlene worked on her La Passacalgia EPP project.

Lois was asking for help laying out a new project.  LOL .... we sure had her changing this and that, but she went home with a layout.  This is only one portion of the top.

I worked on sewing a sleeve onto another quilt, but forgot to take a photo.   My camera was out for taking a photo, but somehow I got distracted.   LOL .... that is not hard when there is so much inspiration going around the table in the garage.  Karin worked on blocks (oops, no photo of them either) that she was working on this past fall before she went to Florida for the winter.  It was a fun day.  Lots got done and we all went home happy. 

Baby blankets.  After getting labels sewn on and more machine quilting done to these blankets ..... they are done and handed in to the NICU at our local hospital.  Five blankets.  Not bad at all for a day of sewing (back in February).  These will give warmth and comfort to five babies and to their parents.  That makes my heart happy.

There is no batting in these blankets.  Flannel on the back and cotton on the front.

Have a great day!

More binding

It is snowing here again.  Ugh!  Will spring ever arrive?  This was taken this morning.

A couple of hours later.

Since it is snowing, might as well get more binding done.  A different quilt this time.

Sewing binding is keeping me cosy and warm.  All that is left to do is getting a sleeve on and that will be done soon.

I do need to take some quilt photos, but furniture needs to be moved around first to get a good shot.

It just feels good to get this quilt to this stage.

Doing the happy dance!

Have a great day!

Doing binding

A bout of stomach flu set me back for a few days.  Once I started feeling better, a bit of binding got worked on this quilt.  A couple of feet here and there sure makes a side get done faster than you think.

Have a great day!

Back to my happy place .... EPP!

I have been busy working on this EPP again.  There is something about it .... I just can't set it down.

This striped motif was carefully fussy cut and sewn together, but while I liked it, it was sort of mummmm ....

It looked washed out when added to the other large motifs.

So, back to more fussy cutting and this motif emerged.  Better!

Yes, it helped to ground the pieces together.  I can move forward again.

This is a before (on the left) and after.  Huge difference.

Another motif with more fussy cutting.

This is where it is at right now.  Happy, happy, happy!

Have a great day!

Spring quilts

All my quilts have been changed from winter to spring.  After all, we are in spring time.  The calendar says so by a couple of weeks.

In our foyer.

Our dining room.  I didn't realise that I had two tulip quilts until they got pulled out of storage.  Nice.

In our living room.

I like this shot.  It captures the quilt in the foyer.

Weather wise, the snow is almost gone on our hill.  We have had a few days of nice weather just above zero degrees.

There has been a slight dusting of snow.  Not bad, we can handle that.

This is what we woke up to this morning!  SNOW ..... again .... and -20C temperatures.  Yesterday, we had howling winds and white-outs.  It was a tad tricky for driving.  Guess we will be in boots again for a while and spring will be delayed in coming to our neck of the woods.

Oh well .... have a nice day!