Decorating with quilts

Since I'm still unsettled with regards to not having my studio back in place, why not do a post about decorating with quilts.  This time, I'll show my bedroom.

My niece made a comment that since my bed frame and night tables are now grey, my quilts seem to suit the new colour.  Oh thank you, niece and spray paint!

The cream bedspread was purchased at Walmart.  I wanted a whole cloth quilt and even though I have a kit to hand quilt a whole cloth quilt, this was instant gratification and I'm thrilled with the look for now.  My Secret Garden at the foot of the bed finishes the look.

See my drapes!  I scored a great deal at Fabricland here in North Bay.  Those drapes were $2.00/metre and after buying 6 metres and sewing them up, viola!

These are the quilts on my quilt rack these days.  There is room for one more and once a few more quilts get finished, there will be a struggle to find places to store my quilts.  Yep, I'm running out of room in this huge house to store my quilts.  I may have to get hubby to make me another rack.

Down in my studio, the insulation is done and drywall and then bead board has been added to the walls.  Today, my job will be to do some caulking in preparation for painting tomorrow.  Oh, hallelujah!

I'm linking to Needle and Thread Network.

Have a great day!

Where did my studio go?

I'll get to my post title in a moment, but first, the glorious days of autumn are gone for this year.

A bit of snow came and went.

Miss Ashes the Cat has found a nice warm spot in front of the fireplace.

I finally got borders sewn onto my barn top and some hand quilting has been started.

I say 'some' because Miss Ashes the Cat has decided

that my quilting hoop is the perfect spot for a snooze.

So 'where did my studio go?'.  Well, it is here in the dining room ....

and in the living room .....

and underneath the stairs .....

and in the downstairs bathroom .....

and in the garage ......

and a mess all over the place in my studio.

Why, oh why, oh why?

My studio is getting insulation.  It has always been cold down there, but after pulling off the drywall, there wasn't much insulation and gaps were blowing in cold air.  No wonder I have always been cold.  Now, what you see is just the first round of insulation.  There will be an additional 5-1/2" to come.  The crew that is doing the work told me that I could join them and sew while they work.  LOL  Ummm .... I don't think so.  Another week and I should be able to start painting.  Oh joy!  It truly is amazing, but just this bit of insulation is keeping me warmer than before even with the heat on.  Right now, all I have is a small portable heater and I'm warm.  I can hardly wait for the rest to be installed.

So, for now, everything has been covered in preparation for the nasty work this coming week.

I will leave you with eye candy from the last quilting day in the garage.

Have a great day!

Quilting in the Garage, Part 2

Now that you have met my friends, the Garage Girls, it is time to continue with my story.

Back in September 2014, Karin brought, to a garage day, some antique quilts to show us that were gifted to her by a friend as a thank you for repairing a quilt that is special to her.  We ooohed and ahhhed over each treasure.  Then Karin showed us the one quilt that needed repairing.  Oh yes, there was a lot of work involved to repair that quilt.  If I remember correctly, Karin repaired about 25 blocks.

This is the quilt:

 A close up of one block:

Well, we all looked at each other and said "why not we each make a version of this quilt for the quilt show?".  We have two years to accomplish this.  So, we made a pact and we all started working on our own version and would bring in our projects to show each other at garage days.  We also had to keep this project under wraps and not show or tell anyone (except the LAer's) about our quilts.

Jeanne was doing her tulips on her machine at home, but she tempted us with the fabrics that she was using.

Karin loves lime green and none of us were surprised to see that colour in her blocks.

Claudia (on the right) was the first one to finish her quilt  and get it back from the LAer, who happens to be her friend Lynn from Timmins (this was taken November, 2015)!  Claudia is such a go-getter.  Well, seeing her quilt spurned the rest of us to get cracking and get our tops and quilts done.  Time was ticking away to the quilt show in September 2016 (only 10 months left).

Finally, I got my top done in February 2016.  It took a bit of time to get everything marked up for hand quilting.  Now Miss Ashes, this is no time for laying down on the job.   We need to get to work to get this top sandwiched!  The quilt was finally sandwiched in March 2016 (with/without the help of Miss Ashes).

 The hand quilting got started.

I'm seeing progress.  A goal was set each day to try to get at least one block done and bit of the sashing.  Once my daily goal was met, I would then decide to do a bit more hand quilting just in case I had some down days and then my goal would slide.  Some days more was done and other days, nope, my hands were tired and I just had to be happy with what got done.  For the border, a goal was decided upon and that helped to get all those little tulips and lines done in a timely manner.

Finally, three months later in May 2016, my quilt is done!  Three months ahead of schedule for the quilt show!  You have no idea how happy I was to have achieved this.  Mind you, I procrastinated on getting the sleeve attached and that saw me making a mad dash to get it done a week before the quilt show.  Oh well ....  This is the first time that I actually tracked the time it took to get a quilt hand quilted.  Surprisingly, it didn't take as long as I thought it would.  Still, what a sigh of relief to get this quilt finished.  Every Garage Girl was counting on each other to get their quilt done to be hung together at the quilt show.  Nothing like peer pressure to get'er done.

 Jeanne got her quilt back in June 2016 from the LAer:

 The LAer did a wonderful job:

 Karin got her quilt back from the LAer in July 2016:

In August 2016, Karin invited us all to her home for tea and for a surprise visitor and we were to bring our tulip quilts with us.  What was Karin up to?   The owner of the antique quilt was in town for a visit and she got to see our quilts.  She was so pleased to see them and that we all made a different version of her quilt and that we simply stuck to our pact and made a quilt.  Simply put, she was gob smacked.

Finally, the quilt show arrived in September 2016 and all our quilts were hung together at the show.  Well, we were quite proud to see them all up showing off all the hard work we did.

The first one is Darlene's.  I never did get a close-up of the LAer quilting.  It is simply breathtaking.

 Karin's:

 Jeanne's:

 Claudia's:

 and mine:

Shhhh .... don't tell the other ladies, but my quilt won a Viewer's Choice ribbon for hand quilting .... shhhhh .....

Thank you Mallory Slingerland for allowing me to use your quilt show photos!

It was hard to keep these quilts a secret and it was hard for me not to show any photos of my quilt on my blog for the last 2 years.  Now you know why.

Speaking of hand quilting, my class at last month's day guild has happened and there were about 15 ladies willing to try their hand at hand quilting.  So, we will see if they have patience to continue.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they do.  I just love to pass on my knowledge and secrets to others.

I'm so very fortunate to have been asked to join the Garage Girls.  We have so much fun.  A lot of laughter can be heard coming from the garage when we meet.  It is November and with the colder months ahead, we will be meeting often to have a day of sewing in the garage.  Sigh, I can hardly wait for the next day.  Friendship is very special.

I'm linking to Needle and Thread Network along with other Canadian bloggers this week.

Have a great day!

Quilting in the Garage, Part 1

Yes, in a garage.  We really do quilt in a garage, even during our very cold winter months.  When did this quilting in the garage all start?  It was about 3 years ago when 5 ladies decided to get together in a garage and quilt.

Let me introduce you to the Garage Girls (we haven't come up with a better name and thus the name has stuck).

Meet Darlene (on the left) who is the owner of the garage.  She needed a bigger place to quilt and to hold family gatherings.  So, she built a garage, but not for vehicles, for quilting.  This garage is the perfect place to gather.  It is heated and well insulated.  Even though it is a garage, we still have our standards and dine in style!  LOL  Of the whole group, Darlene is the youngest and is still working.  The rest of us are retired and enjoying our leisure days.  Now Darlene is a go-getter.  She starts and finishes her quilts.  No grass growing under her feet.

Hello Karin.  Karin is like me.  She starts many projects and works away at them as she pleases.  Then she will go on a spurt and finish a few quilts at a time.

Claudia.  I have to laugh because Claudia always brings about 5 projects to work on during a garage day.  She will work on each project for about an hour and then pack that project up and then bring out the next one and so on.  The thing is, she gets a lot of quilts done and is constantly showing us her lovely quilts.

Jeanne.  She does the most amazing machine applique I have ever seen, but also does hand work as well.  Jeanne also has finished quite a number of quilts since I have known her.  Yep, no grass growing under her feet either.

Me with the garage dog, Coach.  If you have been reading my blog over the years, you will know that I have many tops and UFO's and grass does grow under my feet.  Oh well, I love what I do.  Mind you, these gals push me to finish my projects and I have produced a number of finished tops over the past few years.  They are also pushing me to get my tops quilted, either by myself or by a LAer.

From time-to-time, we have guests from out-of-town visit and if possible, we have a garage day.  The one stipulation is that if they want to sew in the garage, guests must bring a show and tell.

Meet Lynn (from Timmins on the right):

My friend, no blog Mary (standing on the right, from Toronto):

 Trudy (from North Bay):

When we gather, the drooling starts as each lady brings something different each time.  We each inspire each other to finish our projects and not leave them in a bin.  Therefore, we see progress from the start of a project to completion.  We are simply good for each other and egg everyone on to finish.
Projects in different stages of completion:

 

 

 

Then, the finished quilts.  These are by Darlene:

Claudia's:

 Jeanne's:

 Karin's:

Since I took all these photos, there are no quilts of mine shown here.  Oh well, they are on my blog and if you are a regular reader, then you know what I've done.

So, this is Part 1 of quilting in the garage.  The story continues on my next post.

I'm linking to Needle and Thread Network.

Have a great day!