Ribbons again and quilt storage!

Yep, it happened again.  Our Quilts by the Bay-North Bay (Ontario, Canada) had another quilt show and I won three ribbons for hand quilting in the Viewer's Choice section.

First is for my bed quilt.  This quilt is fading in places and it has a patch from when our Miss Hank cat tore a piece of the fabric.  Still, she is a beauty and viewer's thought she deserved first place.  Thank you!

Second is for my Kentucky Flowerpot wall hanging in the middle.

Third is for my Xmas yo-yo tree wall hanging.

It is time now to consider doing some more hand quilting as I have run out of quilts to enter for the next show in three years.  Got to keep that craft alive and show my work again.

Nothing was entered into the Judged section of the show ..... because I was a judge!  Never in the world did I ever think that is something that would happen in my life.  It was interesting to judge, but due to my mishap at the cottage, it was very difficult and painful for me to stand and bend.  Who knows if quilt judging is something that I will ever do again?   Tick that off my bucket list, although it was never on it!  🐱🐱

Quilt storage!  This cabinet is finally finished and now it stands back in the corner, but this time we can see it better.  Brown to white truly transformed this cabinet.  During the sanding process, it was discovered that the inside was just stained.  No varnish, no protective coating for my quilts.  So glad that was caught and now my quilts are protected from any wood resin.  Two coats of paint and three coats of Varethane. 

Autumn and fall colours are in full force up here in the great white north.  Next post will show my autumn quilts that are hanging in our home.

Have a great day!

Just a hexie tote bag!

Here is my tote bag that I finally finished a few days before our quilt show.  This bag was included in our silent auction part of the show.

It would have been finished sooner, except I had a slight accident at our cottage and hurt myself and moving around and wanting to do anything was just put on the back burner.  That accident is a long story, but a paddle boat, a dock and I had a fight and I lost!  A trip to emerg. to make sure that nothing was broken but I was left badly bruised, banged up and a tad scared of what had happened.  You know the saying about older folks being wiser ..... nope, that bit escaped me at that moment in time!  LOL  It is easy to laugh about it now, but things could have been much worse.  Anyway, my body is on the mend and time and taking things easy will help to heal me.

Anyway, this hexie project travelled with me on vacation to Costa Rica where I enjoyed sipping on rum drinks by the pool while sewing those hexies.  Yes, it already has a travelling history!

A slight problem while assembling.  You can use a bag that has a twisted strap, can't you?  Drats.  That bag went flying into a corner, I was so ticked off with myself!  But finally, that strap was unripped and sewn on correctly and then it all came together finally.

This bag was donated to our quilt show's (held this past weekend) silent auction and the final bid was $65.00 Canadian.  I met the lady who bought it and thanked her for winning her bid.  She thanked me for making it and she knew when she saw my name that she had to have it.  That is a lovely compliment, indeed!

The bag was made using three challenge fabrics (donated by Northcott) and other complimentary fabrics could be used to complete our items.  Monies raised from the silent auction go to our local hospital.

Anyway, more about our quilt show will be on another post.  A few ribbons that my quilts won will be talked about too. 

Have a great day!

An old fashion garden!

That is the title of my hexie wallhanging.   I kept looking at it hanging on the wall and thought "what should it be called"?  It has the look of something old fashion from a long time ago period.  Bingo.

The sign just above the quilt was made by my niece.  I think carbon paper was used tracing the words/quilt block onto the wood and then she painted it afterwards.  I love it and how perfect to display with my quilts that were started and completed by moi!

Here are some close-ups.

Hand quilting (shown in shadow from the hall light).

Quilt details:
Leftover hexagons from another quilt.
Embroidery source:  "Beautiful Botanicals" by Deborah Kemball
The sheets that are in the book are huge and I just laid my top on top of the sheet and traced using Crayola Washable Markers.  It was easy to see through the fabric to do the tracing.  After washing, all the markings came out.
Size:  40" x 47" (before washing and drying:  40-1/2" x 48")  After washing, the wall hanging was blocked (using pins) onto a styrofoam board and left to dry.
DMC embroidery threads were used.
Started:  July 2010
Finished:  September 2019

What a treasure to finally have this UFO done!  A lot of work and a lot of hours went into the making of the quilt.

DONE.  A lovely word!

Have a great day!

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

Binding and more binding!

My hexagon wall hanging is all finished now.  Just need to cut the correct size rod and I can show you the final quilt hanging.  In the meantime, here is a sneak peek of my progress this week.

Binding got cut out and sewn onto the quilt.  Look at all that hand quilting!  Oh my!  My hands hurt like heck, but it was so worth it!  There are a few more smaller tops that will be brought out and basted for more hand quilting as I quite enjoyed the process.  I tried a massage gizmo that will be great for my hands after each session of hand quilting.  The before and after was amazing and with that gizmo, I feel confident of doing more hand quilting.

Once the binding was on, I couldn't stop myself until it was all done.  Sleeve and label went on next.

Next up in the binding cue is this Xmas quilt!  Love it!  There will be photos of three finished quilts to show you soon.

To round out my week, these items are all due for a couple coats of Varethane.  Chairs and cabinets.  The quilt rack you see will get transformed to white.  Just waiting for another nice day to spray paint.

We have had a few cool mornings and our daytime temps are in the mid-teen's.  Our gas fireplace has come on to give us a bit of heat in the morning.  Autumn is making it's presence known once again.

Have a great day!

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

A little bit of this and that!

I'm hand quilting again after quite a hiatus.  My hands and fingers can't work like they used to, so in between sessions of hand quilting, other things were happening.

My lovely hexie wall hanging is the chosen project.  With all that embroidery, there was no way this was going to be machine quilted.  It would not have done justice to all that hand work.

After an hour here and there during the week, the centre is almost done.

In between sessions, binding got sewn onto this Xmas quilt.

Seriously .... that seam had to happen right in the corner!  LOL  Oh well, it was easy to fix and continue on. 

 Viola ... the centre is completed.  Now, onto the borders! 

Also, during the week, binding, sleeve and label were completed on this quilt.  Photos will be coming as soon as the leaves on the trees on our hill change colour .... and that should be happening within the next two weeks.   Sorry, but you will just have to wait until then.  I know, I know, I shouldn't tease you all! 

So, that was my week!

Have a great day!

Linking to:

http://www.esthersquiltblog.com/

https://needleandthreadnetwork.blogspot.com/

Not done with apple cores

You know, after making three apple core quilts, I thought that was it.  I was done with making them.  I was apple cored out!  Or so I thought.

So, what happened?  Well ...... do you remember reading about my friend Karin working on apple cores in the garage?  She rescued them from a friend's garbage and was determined to do something with them.  Well, that rescue didn't last long.  She up and gifted them to me!  LOL  Then, the friend (Cathy, Cathy, Cathy) found more apple cores in her studio and sent them up to Karin and Karin dropped them off to me.  So, I now have enough apple cores to make a small wall hanging.

That is what I've been working on lately.  It was a great project for the cottage to help keep me busy while sitting on the porch.

Now, I don't like freezer paper or glue.  All the cores were done using those methods.  What I did was remove everything and washed the apple cores to get rid of the glue and the markings.  One of you ladies used a permanent marker!  Tsk, tsk, tsk.  In order to get rid of the markings, a smaller template and papers were made to fit inside the markings.  Once they are sewn in place, those markings will not be seen.

So, that is how apple cores are once again in my life!

What else am I working on?

A bit of hand quilting in the evenings on this wall hanging.

More hexies have been made for the third section on this project but I hit a bit of snag for the applique and have to do a bit of math before assembling.  For now, this project is on hold.

One more row was sewn together on this project.   There is a need for me to get these blocks into a top.   I can't believe how hard it is to capture a good photo of this project.  Everything turns out hazy/blurry.

So, now you know what is keeping me busy.

Have a great day!

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

Displaying my quilts

This cabinet finally got its' quilts for display!  I keep going into the bedroom off my studio and drool over my latest transformation.  I'm so happy with it and there is lots more space to hold many more quilts.  The top shelf holds my wall hangings that have been rolled up onto a pool noodle.  The bottom cabinet holds storage bins but will eventually hold quilts in there too.

The angel and doll were part of an exchange.  The angel is from Iceland and the doll is from Australia.

Waiting in the wings is another cabinet that has started the transformation.  In another week or so, depending on the weather, this cabinet too will display quilts.

Yep, happy summer days!

Have a great stitching day!