Scrappy Majestic Mountains

My blog has been quiet .... I've been away here and there for almost a month now.

But, behind the scenes, there has been a whirlwind of tops that have been quilted and this is one of them.

Scrappy Majestic Mountains free pattern from Bonnie Hunter.  My twist is the stars.

Oh yes, I just had to add those stars!

Many years ago, there was a fabric exchange with my friends, Debra and no-blog Mary.  We exchanged equal amounts of reds and neutrals.

This quilt sat on the shelf (for way toooo long) waiting for hand quilting.  That was never going to happen, so early this year, it finally went to a local LAer.  Thank you Ruth.

Then, at the end of July, Debra came up from Toronto and with her came these bags of quilts.  Seven quilts are in those bags.  Guess what I have been busy doing?  Binding insanity has arrived at my home!  LOL

Oh my, I have so much to talk about and show, but it can't be done in one post.  So, there will be many posts coming.

Have a great day!

Scrappy Majestic Mountains

I finally was able to get a full photo of this top:

This pattern is from Bonnie Hunter and you can find it here.  I loved making this pattern and will make another one down the road using a different layout.

The stars were an unexpected addition .... no, who is kidding here .... they are my trademark now.  This is the 6th top that has these stars in them.  I'm not finished with this star.  It will have to run its' course.

Speaking of stars .... guess what is gracing our living room window?  Yes, my star templates.  They are there to prevent birds from crashing into our window and they are working.  Yesterday, I saw a bird hovering in front of the window before flying up and away.   The black cat cut-out wasn't doing the job, so with the addition of the stars, birds now think twice before trying to fly through our window.

One green striped border is on my Granddaughter's Garden.  I think the math has been figured out for mitered corners, but we will see once another border gets attached.

 Have a great day!

A New Creation

Back in the summer of last year, We 3 Quilters decided to do another fabric exchange to make Bonnie Hunter's Scrappy Mountain Majesties pattern.   Throughout the summer and fall, the blocks were worked on here and there and eventually they were all done.  They just sat in a box until yesterday and viola ..... up on my design wall they went and talk about instant gratification!

What colours did we choose?  Reds and neutrals.  Below is the layout that I decided to go with. 

Now, I promised my friends that my version would have a twist.  So, my twist is adding my trademark stars!  Are any of you surprised?  :o)

My Promise of Spring is a top .... I just need to take a photo of it and will be doing a post sometime soon about it.

Oh, my, my ..... good progress being done here!

Have a great day!

Oh, Sweet William

Oh yes,  I have my own pattern now!  I have been drooling over the different blogs around the world that have been showing their progress as they work on their blocks and I just had to have the pattern too.   A few clicks of the button and a few weeks later, my pattern was in my hands.

You, too, can order the pattern from here and you will have it within a week or two depending on where you live.

Then, I found the perfect yellow gingham from Sew Sisters in Toronto.  I checked and they do ship out of Canada.  Here is the link for that fabric.

Sweet William is my first new project for 2014.  There will be a few more!

Then, my friend, no-blog Mary,  of We 3 Quilters sent me a gift.  Mary and I decided to exchange Xmas gifts this year.  I just love the x-stitch that she did in my hanging.  In the lower left corner, she made a zippered bag and included an ornament kit for me to work on.  Thank you, Mary.  Unfortunately, my gift to her is still in progress and it will get done and will be sent off to her before this month is over.

 

Have a great day!

We 3 Quilters' Visit, part deux

This will be my last post about the We 3 Quilters' visit to our home. I thought you might like to see the eye candy that was around our home while they were here.

On my quilt ladder:

In our dining room.  Do you see those chairs stacked on top of each other .... they are an upcoming re-upholstery project.

 On another wall in our dining room:

In our living room, my Winter wall hanging.  This quilt sure depicts what it has been like this winter way up here.

In our entrance:

In our T.V. room

 Both Debra and Mary showered me with gifts:

This T-shirt was given to me by Mary at Xmas and I can finally show it off:

My husband received this mug rug for his birthday (more about this on Debra's blog).  He doesn't want us to get dirty, so it will be hung with my other mini wall hangings in my studio.  This photo was taken on our last day at our home in Toronto (what a fantastic souvenir) and Mary had the fabric made from this company and then she made it into a mug rug.  I must say that Mary always comes up with original ideas for Debra and I.

 My two buds went home with a bag of goodies:

Inside the bag, was this magazine and quilt pattern as well as 2 kitchen hand towels and 2 dishcloths (which I forgot to take a photo of):

Please go over to Debra's blog to see her side of the story and lots more photos.

It was a great visit (although it went by way too quickly) and we had lots of laughter and fun and I think that each of us ended the visit about 3 lbs. heavier!  Oh dear!  :o)

Thank you, DH for driving back and forth to Sudbury and for putting up with us.

Have a great day!

We 3 Quilters' visit, Part 1

A week ago today, my friends,  Debra and no-blog Mary flew from Toronto for a visit.  DH and I drove to Sudbury to pick them up (about 1-1/2 hr. drive) at the airport and back home to North Bay for a 4 day visit.  Debra is on the left, that is me in the centre and Mary on the right.  Everyone was bundled up for the cold weather; but the girls bought warm temps with them for their visit, which was such a nice relief from the cold, cold weather we had been having.

Once home, a house tour had Mary twirling around in our living room singing 'The hills are alive .....'.  They loved seeing my quilts everywhere, they loved our home and they loved the snow.  They were amazed at what we had done on our home since we moved in.  Our home is a work-in-progress at the moment.

 

We all wore socks and slippers .... except Debra.  She went around our home barefoot.  She even posed for a photo outside in the snow.  Brave of her to do so!  Actually, I think she was digging for the bottles of Skinny Cow that were thrown outside into the snow bank to cool off.  :o)

Debra was given the bedroom adjacent to my studio.  She works different shifts and I knew that she would be awake at different times to the rest of us and she could applique and watch TV while we slept.

I tried to make the sitting area in my studio as comfortable as possible. 

Comfortable chairs - check
Good lighting - check
Quilt magazines - check
Quilts to snuggle into - check

Don't we all look cosy and settled in? 

I have always wanted a wall to display my mini quilts and I now have it.  There are more quilts to put up, but this is a nice display so far.

Lots of eye candy - check

Mary slept here and I think she was thrilled with her bedroom.

 

Of course, there was an extra quilt if she needed it. 

So, this is part 1 of their visit.  Come back for more.

 

Have a great day!

Silly friends

I'm currently in Toronto on a 3-week babysitting stint and recently met up with my two pals of We 3 Quilters group. 

In the afternoon of our first get-together, my grand-nephews wanted to have a play date and invited one of their school friends over (it is amazing how young'uns are so good at organizing play dates) and I was totally amazed to see them jumping for joy and talking a mile-a-minute once I agreed.  In retrospect, I had to laugh because that was going to be me and my friends once we got together for the first time since I moved away from Toronto.

Anyway, we met and had a lot of laughs and of course, they are so silly at times.  My friends do have faces, by the way.

All and I mean all of the blocks that you see above came from the drawer below.  Debra kept pulling and pulling and pulling and ..... blocks from this drawer.  She has enough blocks to make at least 3 queen size sampler quilts and perhaps more!  All I know is, my jaw dropped after she was done pulling the blocks out.  That was simply amazing to see.  Gosh, did we ever laugh!

This pile of blocks measured at least 12" high and there was more on the floor.   A lot of these blocks came from swaps.

Yipee .... Debra gifted me a UFO and a Sun Bonnet Sue block ..... I was never fond of the fan block, but am now after seeing what Tim did with his blocks.  So, I will be doing something with these blocks but will just drool over them for a bit.

Then, Mary invited Debra and I over for dinner this past Sunday.  Her DH Sam cooked us a gorgeous, yummy meal .... thank you, Sam! 

Anyway, while we were waiting for dinner Mary brought out her bin of blocks.  Mary was inspired by Debra's reveal and she wondered how many blocks she had stashed away.  Both Debra and Mary were in numerous swaps and there is quite a collection of swap blocks for both of them to work with.  So, this is Mary's bin.  That is a lot of blocks!

See, my friends do have faces!  That is Debra on the left and Mary on the right.  We had great fun going through all these blocks.  Mary figures that she has enough blocks to make at least 2 sampler quilts.

I will have a few more get-togethers with my friends before heading back home.

Have a great day!

We 3 Quilters .... the same, but different!

My string quilt is finished and is perfect for our guest bedroom.

Finished size:  89-1/4" x 90-1/2" after washing and drying.

For my binding, there is a nice touch of blue in the fabric that goes well with the blue border .

Thank you Debra for giving Mary and me the inspiration to make this quilt.  What wonderful memories we have of all of us working together and then on our own.

Thank you Dorothy M. for the lovely machine quilting you did on my quilt!

Have a great day!

I got mail

Now, I know what it feels like to receive a quilt back from a LAer!  Debra was so kind to pick up my quilt after it was machine quilted and to mail it to me. 

With so many quilt tops getting finished these days, this quilt was a perfect candidate for professional machine quilting.  Also, it was done while I was busy moving and it was a good decision to have it quilted by someone else.

This is the back just waiting to be opened up and reveal what is inside:

Remember this pattern?  I really do love this quilt and will be making another one down the road.  The next one, I would like to work with a colour co-ordinated FQ bundle to give it a whole different look.

Now, there are two quilts that need binding and labels.  The one in front has been hand quilted.    

Have a great day!

It is starting ....

... to feel like home ..... in a few places ...... but not in my studio.  It hasn't changed much since the time we moved in.

 Boxes and bins galore!

 DH has been busy getting shelving and cabinets set up so that I can start to unload boxes.

Our backyard is gorgeous.  Look at these flowers and the smell is wonderful.  Each day is a total surprise to see what new flower has bloomed.  Our backyard goes up, up, up a hill.  We do have a lovely view and I will show more of that at a later date.  We have met a few of our neighbours and they have warned us about bears, wolves and foxes.  We will have to be careful with the girls on a leash outside on the back patio.

Most of my quilts have been found and I'm starting to display them around our home.  I just love this huge basket for these quilts.  

Here is my origami (My Fantasy Garden) quilt in our living room hanging above a dresser that Debra gifted to us.  What a lovely statement this makes in our home.  Thank you so much, Debra .... we love it!

Finally, a wee hanging that Debra gave to me just before we moved.  This is my Xmas gift exchange for We 3 Quilters.  I love it!!!!  It was not the original piece that she showed me as she encountered a problem so gave this to me instead. Can you see her big stitch quilting?  Debra took a class just the day before and had it all quilted and bound and washed before giving it to me.  I think this big stitch quilting is something that I'm going to have to try for sure.   This quilt is now hanging in our upstairs landing.  Just awesome!

A member of the Near North Quilting Guild sent me a welcome email and has invited me to attend their upcoming meeting as well as a meeting for the Embroidery Guild.  What a lovely welcome .... thank you, Wendy.  I'm not able to go this time but come September, I will try the guild experience one more time.

There are boxes calling my name and I must go tackle them.

Have a great day, eh!

Strippy top

Well, my strippy is a top!  Can we say happy, happy, happy?  It is currently at a LA lady and this is a first time for me.  When I saw the lovely job she did on Debra's quilt, I just had to have mine done by her as well.  If you take a peek at Debra's quilt, you will see that my (and no blog Mary) layout is different .... the same fabrics, but different.

Have a great day!