Ozark Cobblestone quilt

I've been meaning to show this quilt but the timing for photo taking wasn't good.  We had snow and then a thaw, then rain and it would have meant this quilt would be dragging in the dirt.  So, indoors it had to be.

A close-up of the border (an altered version found in EQ7 called Combed Swag Border).

A close-up of some of my fabrics.  The block was found in Blockbase and it is called Ozard Cobblestone or Y007, but I changed the name to Ozark Cobblestone as it sounded better.  Tehe.

All these pieces were hand pieced using EPP (English paper piecing) method.  This was a labour of love and I so enjoyed the hours put into this quilt.

Quilt Details:

Started:  October 2010 (top finished March 2021)

Finished:  October 2022

Quilt Size:  100" x 100-3/4" (top size before quilting, washing and drying:  101-1/2" x 101-1/2")

There wasn't much shrinkage as this quilt was dried (folded in half) on a clothes rack.

Batting:  Hobbs poly

Machine quilted by:  Kathy Wareham using "Augusta" design by My Creative Stitches

There we go ..... another quilt finished and being used.  I'm so glad that the plunge was taken to have my quilts machine quilted by another person.  To me, at my age, it is so worth it.

Cherish your day, cherish your life!

Circle End

Odd title, isn't that?  Anyway, my circles are now a top!  It is a small lap:  44" x 62"

I'm thrilled with it and it used up a lot of charm squares from my stash.  Win-win!

I had to pull the plug on comments being left on my blog.  Huge quantities of spam from the same person being left on different posts on the same day.  That means they have to be deleted from my email plus being marked as spam on my blog.  A lot of work and it has been happening a tad too often lately.  So, the plug has been pulled.  I'm sorry to those of you who wanted to leave a genuine comment for one of my posts, but know that it is appreciated anyway. 

Cherish your day, cherish your life!

Circle Borders

A few more rows have been done on my circle top.  The bottom section is done, but not sewn together yet.  There may be some moving around after all the circles are sewn.   Also, a few more pieces were added to the borders.  This project will see me to the end of cottage season.

I seem to be on a piano key border kick lately.  This is such a good way to use up my stash!

Cherish your day, cherish your life!

Xmas in May!

Well, we had snow yesterday and it was still on the ground this morning!  

I finished my Xmas quilt this week and finally was able to go outside to take a photo.  Perfect timing.  A Xmas quilt and snow!  How perfect is that!

The ground was wet, so my quilt could not be unfolded and draped onto the ground for photos.  So, a swing will just have to do for now.  Snow had to be brushed off the swing so that my quilt did not get wet.  Snow in May!  We've seen snow in June ..... so stay tuned!   LOL

So, inside photos will have to do.  Here is it all unfolded.  I love it!  Come December, how lovely it will look hanging in our foyer.

A close-up of the quilting.

Quilt Details:

Pattern:  "Pressed Flowers" by The Rabbit Factory.  In case anyone asks me, when I'm done with a pattern, it gets passed to a friend as is the case with this pattern.

Started:  July 2009

Top finished:  Feb. 2019

Quilt finished:  April 2021 .... just shy of 12 years!  I'm killing myself laughing!

Quilt size:  103-1/2" x 104-3/4" (before quilting and washing:  104-3/4" x 105").  There was not much shrinkage because this quilt was dried (folded in half) on a clothes rack.  I find that when I use polyester as batting, my quilts look better when they are dried on a rack.

Hand Quilting:  I did stitch-in-the-ditch around all the applique.  Yes, I know it is extra work, but I'm so much happier with the look.

Machine Quilted by:  Kathy Wareham of Kat's Quilts.  It was quilted using "Stars at the Gate" design by Christy Dillon of My Creative Stitches.

Another UFO is done, done, done!  I'm so doing the happy dance!

I did have another April finish, but it was for the Humble Quilts Doll Quilt Swap 2021.  Photos will have to wait until the person receives it.  So, later on that!

Behind the scenes, batting pieces are getting sewn together for another quilt.  This will be #3 from my bins of batting scraps.  In a few weeks time, a friend and I are getting ready to take a drive (we wear masks in the car) to see our LAer.  I'm hoping to take at least two tops with me so I had best get busy, busy, busy making more batting and backing!

Tomorrow, we are doing a drive-by birthday party for a 9 yr. old niece.  This will be her second drive-by birthday.  Last year, we all thought that was a one and only occasion but how wrong we were.  A bunch of us have had at least one vaccine shot, but we are all taking things carefully and listening to the experts.  Our area currently has 16 active cases of covid-19 for a total of 351 cases since the start of the outbreak.  That is low compared to other areas, but still too high.

Wear a mask, wash your hands, keep your distance!

Cherish your day, cherish your life!

Two quilts

I've been going through busy times of late and I don't seem to have much to talk about in the way of quilting.

Today, I do have something to say.

First off, I'm working on finishing two quilts.

This one is my "Antique Sampler" by Susan Daley.  This photo was taken in my friend's garage.  We met for a few hours last week and this is what was brought over to work on.   Binding is on, but it is not finished yet.  

Why not, you wonder?  Well ..... since I'm so fussy about my quilts, extra steps are taken to finish it off to my satisfaction.  Anything that is appliqued on my quilts (that are machine quilted) I like to add hand quilting to help anchor the applique.  So, I've been hand quilting around each circle and stitch-in-the-ditch around the motif inside the circle.  Yes, yes, yes, I'm crazy and obsessive.  That is me and they are my quilts, so I will do whatever I want to make me happy.

So, why didn't I just hand quilt the whole quilt?  Well, this top has been sitting on a shelf for years waiting for me to hand quilt it.  The way I look at it, my LAer does half the work for me and I do the other half and those tops are finally getting finished.  If I wasn't so obsessive, then she would do all the quilting and be done with it.

Next, binding is being hand sewn down on my quarter log cabin quilt.  No applique on this quilt, so it will be finished soon.   Photos of both finished quilts will be coming your way in the next wee while.  

Next .... yesterday, I presented a trunk show to a small number of ladies.  I wore my mask and some of the ladies wore theirs also.  It was odd to do a trunk show like this, but it was good to feel normal again .... except normal won't be for a while.  Our area has had only 40 cases of Covid-19 and only 1 death.  All the cases have been resolved.  The health experts have done a marvellous job of contact tracing and insisting on isolation for those who have been exposed.  We all have to be smart about this deadly virus and wear our masks and wash our hands and keep our distance.  Be smart about it!

Yesterday, I wore my patch autumn jacket to do the trunk show.  On my way there, I stopped off at a local coffee shop and the man serving me my coffee remarked on how much he liked my jacket.  Well, that was my chuckle for the day because I nearly didn't wear that jacket because it has been around for 12 years now and it is starting to get old.   So, guess what I'll be wearing today when I take my sister out for groceries?  Yep.

Well, time to get another suitcase opened up and pull out those quilts and refold them and put them away in the quilt storage cabinets. 

I wonder when another trunk show will be done?

Cherish your day, cherish your life!

Bumper Crop

Leaves are turning colours in our neck of the woods here in Northern Ontario, Canada.  Temperatures are starting to dip and there is a nip in the air in the mornings.  Time to start pulling out warmer clothes.

So glad that this wall hanging is done and done in time for fall (even though fall is officially not here yet)!

I love fall quilts and pumpkin quilts and can add another one to the mix.

Here is a bit of eye candy!  Enjoy!

We have been getting frost advisories lately and we have been covering up some of the plants that are still blooming.  Soon, the garden will go to sleep until spring.

Back of the quilt.  There wasn't enough of the pumpkin fabric, so I made do with what was on hand with additions.  Use it all up!

Quilt Details:

Pattern Source:  "Bumper Crop" by The Quilt Patch pattern company

Started:  October 2010 (what 10 yrs. ago already????)

Top finished:  November 2014

Quilt finished:  September 2020

Size:  56-3/4" x 64-1/4"

Batting:  80/20 Hobbs polyester/cotton

Machine quilted by:  Kathy of Kat's Quilts

This weekend I will be pulling out my autumn quilts and hangings.  I do admit to having a lovely selection to chose from to display.   All my pumpkins can be brought out of storage too!   Can you tell that I'm a happy camper?  LOL

Cherish your day, cherish your life!

My Corona Flowers

 Finally, "My Corona Flowers" is done but Covid-19 is not done with us yet.

Quilt Details:

Pattern Source:  an original designed by Rose Marie Castonguay (me!) and those who may ask, there is no written pattern at this time to purchase.

Started:  April 6, 2020

Top Finished:  July 16, 2020

Quilt Finished:  August 31, 2020

Size:  71-3/4" x 92" (top size before quilting, washing and drying:  73-1/4" x 94")

Hexagon size:  1-1/8" on one edge

Number of hexagons:  792

Number of half hexagons:  90

Number of side half diamonds:  48

Number of corners:  12

Number of hexie flowers:  24

Normally, I don't count the number of pieces when doing EPP, but this time, I kept track.

Batting:  Hobbs 80/20 polyster/cotton

Machine quilted by:  Kathy at Kat's Quilts

E2E quilt design:  Joyful (with Pearls) by Christy Dillon from My Creative Stitches.  I would have this one again on another quilt. 

It was pure joy to work on this quilt during troubling times.  Now, if only I can get rid of those extra pounds that were put on during the same time ....

A lot of tiny scraps were used during the making of this quilt.  

My arms ached a number of nights working on basting those hexagons and sewing them all together.  Why?   Because I was so obsessed in getting this quilt done.  Worth it?  Oh yes.

Now that this quilt is done, I can focus on ufo's ..... again!  LOL

Cherish your day, cherish your life!

Seeing the light!

"My Corona Flowers" is getting closer and closer to finishing .... just the top floral section to finish appliqueing and the outer borders to be decided.  The bottom three sections have already been sewn together.

Oh decisions, decisions about borders!  I'll try some blue fabrics next.

I would like to have this top ready for sending out to the LAer next week.  Guess what I'll be working on today?  LOL

Cherish your day, cherish your life!

First finish of the year!

Finally, I have a finish.

This is a quilt that I designed called "Spring Ahead".  This quilt was designed to teach applique to guild ladies.  Each month, we worked through the different blocks using a different method of applique.  What is good for me may not be good for another person.  They were taught that you could use different methods on the same project.  They were also taught to change the pattern if they were not happy with it.  Heck, I do that all the time!  At the end of the guild year, they were asked what was their favourite method.  Needle turn applique.  I'm just so happy that the ladies learned how to tackle applique and not to be afraid of it.

Now, let's look at the blocks.

Here is one corner.  They could do this border or they could just have straight strips of borders.  A few actually did this border.  Bravo to them!

I loved designing this block.  Simple, but effective.  Circles were interesting to teach.

This was fun to design also with a bit of embroidery.  Heck, all the blocks were fun to design.

Stars were interesting.  They were shown how to round out the inward points to make it easier to applique.

The circle with the loops .... they could embroider the loops instead of appliqueing bias strips.  This one was a bit tricky for newbies.  For the star, they could make just a regular star or be adventurous and follow my design.  A few did.

Just something a bit different for this flower.

More fun blocks!

Now, call me quirky but I do a bit of machine quilting after I get my quilt back from the LAer.  The main blocks have been stitched in the ditch around the perimeter of the background blocks.    Also, all my applique pieces have been hand quilted around the outside of each piece.  I do like my applique to look grounded.  See next photo.

  

Can you see what I mean in this photo?  So, a tad quirky, am I!  LOL

What in the world in that string doing hanging from the end?  My quilt was doing the wave at the bottom and by stringing a piece of knitting yarn through the binding, it helped to straighten out the wave and it is now nice and even.  That bit of black was just snipped carefully away and viola, no more wave!

Some outdoor photos.

So, now my quilt is finally done and now I can enjoy it even more.

Quilt details:

Top designed and made by:  Rose Marie Castonguay (me!)

Machine quilted by:  Kathy at Kat's Quilts using Gothic Vine quilting design

Quilt started:  September 2016

Quilt finished:  June 2020

Quilt size:  56-1/2" x 71-1/4" (size before quilting, washing and drying:  58-1/2" x 74")

Batting:  Hobbs 80/20 cotton/poly

With all the doom and gloom news about Covid-19, I thought you would enjoy a bit of eye candy.

Cherish your day, cherish your life!

New month

January went by in a blur.  Heck, November, December and January did too.  Travelling back and forth to visit with my sick aunt occupied most of my time.

Sadly, my aunt passed away a week ago.  She got her wish to be moved to a hospice and that is where she ended her life.  She was the last member on my Mom's side and a generation has now ended.  Rest in peace, Aunt Bette, rest in peace.

Due to my staying on for a few extra days to sort and pack up her belongings, I did bring some handwork with me to work on.

A new project got started ...... this one I couldn't resist.  Cassandra's Circle from Civil War Quilts.  It is a free BOM project.  Some of the leaves for the borders were cut out and prepped for sewing.  Many more are needed, but this is a good start.

Then, some more work got done on my EPP project.  A lot of basting on these tiny diamonds took up most of my time and a few diamonds got sewn onto a section of my project.

  

I was so glad  to have this work with me.  The only thing is my stuff smells of cigarette smoke.  My cousin is a smoker and although he smoked by the stove with the exhaust fan working, the smoke smell still got into my bags and my fabric.  My projects are now being aired to rid them of the smell. 

Oh well .....

Once I got home, this project on my design wall kept calling to me.  The right side border is now sewn together.  The left side border is slowing being worked on.  I will plug away on this project until it is done. 

Cherish your day!

Snowballs

No, we are not in winter here .... not yet.  But, snowballs?  That is the name of my latest quilt finish!  It was made during a quilt-along by Temecula Company and I absolutely loved making this quilt.  The border design is my own and I would do it again in a flash!

After the binding got finished, it was late at night and I just had to snap this photo taken in the lamp light at the cottage.

Here is the other side of the bridge on our cottage road.

The bridge is a one vehicle lane only and has great appeal for taking quilt photos.  The flies are still bad.

Then back at home, this is on our hill looking down.

Over a swing on our patio.

Yep, love this one too!

Quilt details:
Block size:  4" finished
Started:  December 2017
Top finished:  August 2018
Quilt finished:  July 2019
Quilt size:  67-1/2" x 83" (before quilting, washing and drying:  69-1/2" x 85")
Batting:  Hobbs polyester
Machine quilted by:  Kat's Quilts

For the quilt-along we needed to make 16 blocks each week.  Eight dark blocks and eight light blocks.  Each Wednesday, we were reminded about our blocks.  I actually kept with the program and then got ahead of the process and finished the blocks before the end of their quilt-along.  The border kept me busy for a while but it was so worth the wait.

Have a great stitching day!

Linking to:
http://www.esthersquiltblog.com/
https://needleandthreadnetwork.blogspot.com/

Busy, busy, busy

Not much quilting has been going on.  Summer weather has finally arrived up here. 

A bit of progress has been made on this project.  My sister is excited to finally ..... soon .... to have this quilt done up for her.   Right now, she has a store bought bedspread and she doesn't like it and is looking forward to this quilt. 

I'm having a hard time trying to capture a good photo of this quilt.  They all turn out like this.  Could it be this block with the embroidery?  I use my ipad for photos and maybe it is getting old and not taking good photos anymore.  Anyone else have the same issue?

What about all the stuff that you see in front of my design wall?  Things are happening here.

All of that stuff was in this cabinet that we bought back in April of this year.

That cabinet is in the process of being transformed.  Getting a coat of white paint.  The cabinet top and base are back to back (that is why it looks odd sitting like that).  My husband made a spray tent for me on our back patio and it is working a charm.  There are still door fronts to be sanded and painted and that will happen over the next few days.

Once this cabinet is done, two coats of Varethane will be applied on the inside.  Got to protect my quilts from any wood resin that may seep through the paint.  I will show an 'after' soon.  Oh, you should see me doing the happy dance!  LOL 

The cottage is calling to me and my quilting and sewing will slow down a lot and so will my blogging.

Have a great day!
Linking to:
http://www.esthersquiltblog.com/
https://needleandthreadnetwork.blogspot.com/