Antique Circles

That is what I'm calling my quilt that I made for Grace for the Humble 2025 Doll Quilt Swap.  

It started with pieces of scraps and charms from my stash.  Only Civil War Reproduction fabrics could be used as well as using a traditional block pattern.  I decided to do the Chinese Coin look but with a twist by adding circles instead of plain fabric between the rows of strips.  You know, it just had to be different because that is me!

Once the strips and circle blocks were made, it was time to decide on border fabric.  I've had this poison green in my stash for a few years now and wish I had bought more of it.  It is just gorgeous.

Border strips cut and auditioned.  Yes, they will work just fine!

Hand quilting got started in fits and stops with the help of Ridley.  I used a blue variegated blue crochet cotton and it worked in nicely.

Finally, it is done and has been received by Grace.  Here is the story behind my getting Grace's name .... she made me a mini quilt in another swap many years ago and I wanted to send her one of my quilts.  I've been following Grace from way back when and when she posted that she had joined Lori from Humble Quilts for this year's swap, I contacted Lori and asked if Grace's name could be given to me and why.  Lori said "so sweet" and yes I could have Grace's name to send a quilt to.  Grace is also one of the ladies that I zoom with through Chookyblue and it is so nice to talk to her from time to time if we happen to join in at the same time.  

 

This is the quilt that I received from Nann for the Humble Quilts Doll Swap.  Nann and Grace are friends and I did mention to Nann my little secret.

So, there you have it, it is a small world and there are no borders (Canada and U.S.A.) when it comes to friendship!

Cherish your day, cherish your life and cherish your country and my country will always be CANADA!  Elbows up, Canada!

A Gift!

What a lovely surprise that came in the mail yesterday!  This is my quilt from Humble Quilts doll swap quilt that I joined in this year.  My quilt came from Nann at With Strings Attached and I LOVE it!  I've been reading Nann's blog for many years and I'm delighted that my quilt came from her.

Look how well my quilt matches my outfit!  LOL   Guess she knew I'm a blue person.

Nann included way, way too many goodies for me to enjoy!

I'm still working on the quilt that is going to ..... and hope to have it finished soon.  I need to look for some goodies to include in the parcel.

Cherish your day, cherish your life and cherish your country and mine will always be CANADA!

Humble Quilts 2021 Doll Quilts Exchange

It has been quite a number of years since I last participated in an exchange of quilts.  This year, Lori from Humble Quilts was having another of her exchanges and the decision was made to join.  Over the past few years, Lori posts all the quilts in the exchange and I have always admired each and every one of the quilts.  So, yes, it was time for me to jump right in.

Let's start first with the quilt that I received from Carolyn H. from Red Boiling Springs, TN (near Nashville, Tennessee).  Oh so lovely!  I looked at each piece of fabric and none are in my stash.  Interesting (or sad) that we all know our fabric, eh!  Carolyn was a tad nervous about making a quilt for me.  Not to fear, Carolyn, your work is perfect!  Wish I could machine quilt as well as she!  

She included this pin cushion and some Whoopie Pies (all gone now, yumm!)  Thank you, Carolyn, I'm thrilled with my quilt and pin cushion!

Now, let's look at the quilt that I made and sent to Robin B. in Spokane, Washington.

A bit of hand piecing (using EPP method) and machine piecing made up this quilt.  Then it was hand quilted, which I enjoyed quite a lot and am thinking of doing more again on small items!  An assortment of maple sugar items and maple syrup were included in the parcel.  It is that time of year up here and the items were made from a producer just north of me in Quebec.

This exchange was much fun and I can see myself participating again. 

To see what other quilts were made this year, visit this link:  https://humblequilts.blogspot.com/2021/05/2021-quilt-swap-linky-party.html

Today, we have a mixture of rain/snow.  It has been cool for the last few weeks and many mornings have seen frost on the roof tops.  Two of my recently purchased annual plants perished and they were covered or placed in a shed for protection.  Darn.

Still, life is good.

Cherish your day, cherish your life!

November OPAM and a prezzie

My November OPAM (One Project A Month) has resulted in 8 adult bibs for a local nursing home, 3 dish cloths and 4 kitchen hand towels.

The prezzie came from Australia.  My name was drawn as one of the winners of either July/August OPAM.  Kris sent the following to me:

 A piece of fabric, embroidery floss and the pattern is her own design:

Thank you, Kris, for drawing my name and I do love all the goodies that you sent to me!

Her little stitchery (way on the bottom) is hanging in place of honour on my international wall of treasures.  I do think those two little hangings need to be moved as they sort of get lost there on the bottom of the wall.

Oh, in case some of you are wondering about your treasures that you have sent to me, they are on display in other areas of my studio:

 The angel on the shelf and the doll beside the quilt:

There are more; but they have been tucked away in my seasonal bins and are displayed during those seasons.

Last month at my day guild, I did a trunk show about all the international exchanges that I participated in and all of your quilts/items were brought in and talked about.  A lot of ears around the world must have been buzzing that day.

Have a great day!

SSCS from and to ...

Once again, we all have to thank Miss Chookyblue for doing another fabulous job in organizing this swap and once again, I have received another wonderful gift ...... from Ilene in Australia. What can I say, except .... I love my tree hanging! I will have to try and figure out how she did this. There is a lot of fabric folding going on here and it is intriguing to me. I will enjoy my calendar this coming year. Thank you, Ilene for my treasures!

At last, I can reveal my gifts that were sent to Tracy. This moose plaster ornament was hand painted by me. I have been doing these for years and still have a nice stash waiting to be painted.

This is the wall hanging that she received.

Below photo shows some hand quilting being done ......

Tracey, you were so lucky that my package got sent off in a timely manner. Miss Ashes did her best to impede my hand quilting work by constantly putting her back paw on my hand.

A close-up shot of the hand quilting with all the markings washed out (Crayola Washable markers).

Those buttons really added to the final look.

I do like how the embroidery turned out.

Where did the ideas come from? Well, for a start, the scrolled pink border came from this pattern ....

.... in this magazine.

The embroidery pattern .....

..... came from this magazine.

This will be my last post for this year. I do want to wish you and your family all the best in 2012.

Have a great day, eh!

Xmas ornament

My Chookyblue's Secret Santa is being really secretive this time. I have no idea who sent this lovely ornament to me from Australia .... but I will find out eventually. For now, it is hanging from my caribou ornament on the fireplace mantle. The main gift in the package is just itching to be opened. I even tried to peek inside ... but she double wrapped my gift. Double darn. I don't think it will last until Christmas Day. :o) In fact, I know it won't stay unopened. My fingers are getting itchy..... very itchy.... Right now, I don't have too much that can be shown .... that will change come this Thursday when Debra and Mary meet up at my place for our weekly sewing evening. What fun we do have and we actually can get some stuff accomplished. There are a few more Xmas decorations to get up before they come over, so you all know what I will be busy doing. :o)

Have a great day!

SSCS 2011

This will be my fourth year that I've joined Chookyblue in her annual Secret Santa Christmas Swap. This is just a wee peek of what I've made for my swap partner and this is all that you will see until after Christmas! :o)Hmmmm .... I wonder what I'm getting this year? Dear Santa, I've been good this year!

Have a great day!

SSCS gifts all around

First off, I have to thank Chookyblue for hosting another fantastic Secret Santa Christmas exchange. Please visit her blog to see what has been sent around the world. She has posted photos of ornaments that we all received and opened when we got our gifts.

Now that Xmas is over, it is time to reveal what I received from Nicole. Isn't my doll adorable? Her name is Matilda. The last doll I received for Xmas (around age 5), she had beautiful long hair. I mention had because the next day her hair got cut off as I was really curious to see what her hair would look like short. As you can imagine, that was the last doll that was given to me. Nicole, I promise that I won't touch a single strand of Matilda's hair. :o)Matilda is a Christmas doll (her dress has snowflakes) and I wanted to display her properly. Before Xmas, DH and I were browsing at a thrift store and this huge sleigh caught my eye. Would this fit Matilda?

Yes .... perfect! Matilda is holding the ornament that Nicole made for me. Thank you, Nicole for my gifts!!

It is my turn to reveal what was sent to my exchange partner, Peg.
This wall hanging ...

... and this ornament.

There you have it, another year of world gifts.

Have a great day!

SSCS gift exchange

Now that Christmas is over, the time has come to reveal what I made for my partner, Liz, from down under.

I really enjoyed working on this tote bag and have plans to make one for me. That is just what I need …. ANOTHER bag to add to my collection! :o)

Now, I do have a confession to make. The floral fabric on the sides of the bag are from a sheet (a wedding gift that is over 31 yrs. old) that was worn down in the center. The outer sides were fine and the pattern is one that I just love. There was no way the leftovers were going in the garbage. So, they got recycled into this bag. I had a Loulee moment and quite enjoyed the outcome. :o)

Have a great day!

Couldn’t wait and can you see me now?

Well …. I am a bit tardy in showing a photo of my SSCS gifts that came from Robyn last week. I’ve been wearing my scarf and it is tucked into my coat so I have forgotten to take a photo and post about it. You know what they say about ‘out of sight, out of mind’.

When my parcel arrived, my DH and I were just getting ready to head out for a Dr.’s appt. and it was one of those moments and the fact that my gift came from Australia …. WELL …. there was just no way that parcel was going to just sit there. My gorgeous, warm scarf went with me to the doctors and when we came home, I was able to sit down with a nice hot cup of coffee and had a wonderful time browsing through the magazines. Yep, three for three (scarf, good news at the doctors and magazines). A person could not ask for more!

Nope, I couldn’t wait and I am glad that I opened my gift. My scarf is keeping me snug and warm. Don’t you just love the pattern! :o) How in the world did Robyn know that the colours are perfect to go along with my new coat?

Robyn is now sourcing out more of that yarn for me (so far, she has 1-1/2 balls of yarn). My plan is to make a hat and possibly some mitts. In exchange, Robyn will be getting a wall hanging from me. So, thank you Robyn for my lovely gifts and Donna for once again organizing this swap!! :o)

Lately, my fabric buying has been a bunch of backing fabrics coming into my studio. After being washed and dried, they are sitting in a pile just waiting to be put away or in the case of Ashes, the perfect hideyhole. Can you see me now??

Have a great day!

Blocks done

Well …… I’m really pleased with the way these blocks turned out. Now, I just have to add some borders and decide how to hand quilt it.

This is the back of my Spring Fling Round Robin that has just been finished and is on its’ way to someone! Visit SSFRR to see the completed quilts that are going around right now. There will be more to see in the next few weeks.

Quilter’s Blog
This is a new site to check out. This site shows the quilting blogs that have recent posts each day and you can click onto ‘read more’ to read the rest of the post and see what else that blogger has to say.

To my American friends and neighbours .... Happy Thanksgiving!

Have a great day!

Warm Company

Ashes and I have been busy working on something new. :o)

This piece is for a swap and this is all that you will see for now.

Have a great day!

Bags Down Under

Here is my bag that Lynda sent to me. I was at lunch when my DH called me on my cell to tell me that a parcel from Australia had arrived. As I was lunching with others, I couldn’t just gulp down my food, say my goodbye’s and run home to open my parcel. Darn, darn, darn.

Anyway, the wait was well deserved. Lynda made me the perfect bag and will be used for keeping my hand piecing projects in. I love it ….. there are pockets galore with this bag …. perfect for storing all kinds of stuff in.Lynda, your embroidery is superb and I love the design you did on the front pocket.
And inside, there are still more pockets and some FQ’s that Lynda included in my parcel. I’ve been trying to figure out how she made this bag. Very different , very intriguing is all that I can say. Thank you, Lynda for my bag!

Now, on another note, the bag I made has found its’ home with Vickie. Scroll down to my Sept. 11 post to see how I have displayed her bag and then hop on over to Humpty Doo, Australia to see how Vickie displayed her bag. Great minds think alike!

Finally, a big ‘Thank you’ to lovely Linda, for hosting this bag/bucket swap. It was fun and we all have great bags/buckets to show off.

Have a great day!

A Little Bit of This and That

…… is the name of my Booty quilt that was sent to Bernadette.

For those 3” squares, I did paper piecing. Did you know that the name of that block goes by these names: This and That, Economy Patch, Thrift Block , Hour Glass? That is what my EQ6 program has listed for that block.

There is both machine and hand quilting in that piece. Lately, I find myself doing both methods on my quilts and I absolutely love the effect.

Have a great day!

A close-up look

Here is a close-up shot of Amy's echo machine quilting. The photo in my last post could not pick up the quilting ..... so this is a better view.

Like I said ..... Amy does wicked machine quilting!

Have a great day!

My treasure has arrived

Amy made this adorable hanging and it is the perfect companion for a quilt that has yet to be finished and which you all have not seen a peek of. She was my secret partner for the Miniature Booty Swap II. Goodness, but Amy does wicked machine quilting. I don’t know if you are able to see it or not but there are tons of echo quilting in the navy blue area. I love how she sets the appliqué off within a sassy block.

 

Along with my quilt, Amy sent a packet of batik charm squares. She knows how much I love to appliqué and these will be a delight to work with. Thank you, Amy, I love my treasures!

Have a great day!