Geraniums

I'm getting a head start on Christmas by working on this wool table mat. 

Terracotta pots will soon be filled with red geranium blooms. It will be gifted to my mum who has a particular fondness for these flowers.

Today I am linking up with Slow Sunday Stitching.

Slow Sunday Stitching

I've been taking some courses at college, so last week my eyes were looking at books and not fabric. By Friday night, the paper had been written and the midterm taken so I rewarded myself with a little sewing! In fact it has turned into a bit of a buffet! The first thing I did was finish off this feather pillow. The bright colours give me a lift, reminding me that summer is just around the corner!

I made a bit of progress on  the woolen flower basket table mat. It is a bit of a task stitching around the flowers - they are quite small. 

Then I decided to try something new. I had in my stash a panel of  12 woodland animals. They have been there for several years waiting to be put into a quilt. Finally, inspired by a pattern I saw on Pinterest, I adapted the size to fit my animal blocks. Again, my math skills were put to use! Once pieced the new block turned out to be 24.5 inches. Multiplied by 12 plus sashing, this quilt was going to be BIG! So I decided that I will make TWO lap-sized quilts instead or maybe a baby play mat and a wall-hanging. I will see where this leads me. I am trying to use just stash, so they will all  have a scrappy happy feel!

Lastly, I'm including a quilt that I made last fall for a new family member, Baby Natalia. The pattern was featured in Fons and Porter's Love of Quilting magazine last summer. I changed up the colour scheme and added one Kaffe Fassett print in the star and for the binding. I machine quilted it using organic straight line quilting. Cozy flannel is on the back.

I'm linking up today with Kathy's Slow Stitching Sunday.

Woolen Baskets .... and some pillows!

Gail came over this morning to stitch for a couple of hours. We decided to do some handwork so I pulled out this little project started last fall. It is a woolen table mat with a light background and appliqued flower baskets - perfect for this spring weather we seem to be experiencing - knock on wood!

I'm making my way around the leaves and flowers.

Stems and more leaves will be added in due course.

I think this will look nice on the Easter table!

I've made a few pillows lately. This first one began with a scrap of polar bear fabric. Strips were added from my stash to create a fun winter pillow. It now lives with my daughter at her apartment.

I made the Union Jack pillow in celebration of my younger daughter's class trip to England. She landed this morning in London. I'm so excited for her! I used my math skills to figure out the piecing. Who said we'd never use math again???

The last one was made for my friend's January birthday. I selected a number of bright scraps from my stash, many from the Bonnie & Camille collection. I made it using a quilt-as-you-go method. I'm quite pleased with the result...and so is she!

Road to Friendships

In October, the London Friendship Quilters Guild held their biannual quilt show "Road to Friendships".

Our new venue had a lot more space to display our members' beautiful quilts.

Jacqui brought her collection of antique sewing machines and demonstrated how they work.

It was a real treat that was enjoyed by the many visitors to the show.

This is "Road to Kansas with Friends". My mum is posing in front! I made this quilt as part of a Round Robin with three friends. We each ended up with a quilt contributing our talents to the others quilts. I started with the four "Road to Kansas" blocks in the middle, and then passed it on with a bundle of strings/ scraps and red solid fabric for my friends to play with.  Gail, Cathy, and Jacqui  played very nicely with my scraps - I am so pleased!

My son is standing in front of "Scrappy Halloween Trips". I had a nice collection of Halloween prints that I had been amassing over the years. Bonnie Hunter's pattern was a great way to use them! 

  On the left is "Apple Crisp" by me and Edith's fabulous selvage quilt is on the right.

Finally, DH is here with my 9 Patch Mystery quilt that was a part of a guild activity.

Each month for 8 months we had to bring in 20 nine patch blocks in a certain colour. They were handed in and then swapped with other members' blocks and returned. We then had a great scrappy assortment of blocks for our quilts.

It was an excellent show - the guild's Quilt Show Committee are to be commended.

What I've been up to ......

I've been away for awhile...and this is why. In August I decided to go back to school to update my clinical skills. Crazy, right? As if life werent crazy enough! It went well, and I've signed up for a second semester so on we go!

I got in a little bit of sewing and  will update you over a few posts.

Back in September we had a new addition to our family. A little niece named Harper. I made this birdie quilt for her. The pattern came from Quilters Newsletter "Best Quilts for Kids 2011".

The fabric all came from stash. Harper's mom grew up in the country and has a fondness for John Deer - so the green, yellow, and brown were a hit!

This close-up below shows the birds and the quilting.

My friend Gail at The Cozy Quilter lent me her Accuquilt die to make the birds and branches. They were appliqued by machine on to the quilt top.

I did organic style quilting with green thread. I like how the quilting gives texture to the brown tree trunks.

I 

Here is a close up of the flannel backing. I used left over blocks and birds and inserted them as a strip between two pieces of flannel.

This is Harper enjoying her quilt. It was a pleasure making a quilt for this little darling!

Summer

We had a nice visit to our cottage last month. The weather was cooler and wetter than normal but we still managed to have fun! As always!

The garden was in bloom.

Caitie and Matt came up too!

We tried something totally out of our box  - and went ATV riding! We had a blast!

Don't we look like Power Rangers in our gear?

Cousin Paul came to visit all the way from Saskatchewan!

We visited Algonquin Park and saw some moose!

A female eating maple leaves.

Here she is with her twin babies!

Lake of Two Rivers

We found a tree-hugger along the way :)

Later on we saw the bull moose.

Tea and a book on the dock

How lucky we are!

No time for sewing at the cottage, although I did bring my machine and some projects along.

I have been working on a few projects since I got home but you'll have to wait til next time to see what they are!

Round Robin

This spring, Three friends and I embarked on a "Round Robin" adventure!  This week, we all got together to reveal the results!

We all supplied a centre block which was then passed around to the other three to be added on. My block, actually four "Road to Kansas" block, was inspired by an antique string quilt I saw in Gwen Marston"s book, "Liberated String Quilts" It was quite large, approximately 28" square.

There's Piper - she likes to help me when I sew!

Jacqui did the first round.She made string snowballs. Aren't they cool?!

Next up, Gail used her "Hex-and-More" ruler to make these neat string triangles. They remind me of little mountains!

 The quilt got its perfect finishing touch from Cathy.  She made diagonal string squares set in a zig zag formation.

I am so pleased with my finished quilt! I couldn't be happier!

It was quite a challenge working on this project, one which I enjoyed and hope to do again.

Here we all are, happy quilters, with our finished quilt tops.

Visit Jacqui, Gail, and Cathy's blogs to learn more about our adventure!

Threads of Memory, some finishes, and a Stash Report

This year I decided to participate in Barbara Brackman's Civil War Block of the Month "Threads of Memory " . In addition to making the blocks, I am especially enjoying the stories behind the blocks. Barbara posts a new block on the last Saturday of each month. So far, I have completed three, all made out of stash! The first block is called the "Portsmouth Star" It is representative of George Washington's ladies maid Ona Judge who successfully gained freedom and the many people who helped her on her way.

February's block is the "Mercer County Star" for  Quaker Susan Lowe Wattles who, along with her husband, Augustus, opposed slavery and assisted them in achieving education and land ownership.

The third block is the "New Garden Star" for Catherine White Coffin who established the New Garden Meeting House where she, her family, and friends offered help to fugitive slaves.

April's block is in progress.

If you are interested in learing more about "Threads of Memory" here is the link. http://civilwarquilts.blogspot.ca/2013/11/2014-civil-war-block-of-month-threads.html

I have finished some quilts lately.

I took these pictures of one of our rare warm days this spring out on our newly fixed clothesline.

First off is "Scrappy Halloween Trips". I began this one at Beaver Island Quilt Retreat.. I had a nice collection of fun Halloween prints and this was the perfect way to use them.

"Lazy Sunday", started last spring is now complete! I like the bright cheery fabrics in this quilt.

Despite some shopping (I am making a quilt for my nephew and his new wife) I am still in the black for 2014!

Since my last Stash Report:

Total in : 21.5 yards

Total out:: 14 yards

Net fabric out of my stash: 14 yards!

Well hello! It's been awhile....

I've been a busy girl since I last posted. Last month, my daughter and I went to Toronto to check out this guy's stash..

Oops! Not that kind of stash! This kind of  'stache!

This is Irish singer-songwriter, Foy Vance. 

We went to hear him sing in concert. Some of his songs have been featured on the Grey's Anatomy soundtrack. This is "Guiding Light".

 Foy was actually the opening act for another musician, Brett Dennen from California.

Here is Brett singing his upbeat tune "When We Were Young".

We had a really fun time - still humming and smiling after a great night of song.

My next post will follow shortly with my quilting activities and Stash Report - there has been a lot of action on that front!

Quilt til You Wilt

Last Saturday, our guild hosted our semi-annual Quilt til You Wilt day. About 20 members gathered for a day of sewing and friendship. The day, however, did not start out as planned! I had great intentions to head over at 8am but those plans went out the window because of these two!

I let them outside and soon after I began to prepare their breakfast I noticed a smell emanating from what I thought was the sink. Then I thought, this is smells odd, like skunk! So I walked over to the the window and there they were! Two little white doggies with yellow heads!  So instead of sewtime, it was bathtime!

Here is Daisy waiting for hers!

I eventually made it to the church later that morning. I spent most of the day making two backings, one for a wall-hanging and the other for the Lazy Sunday quilt.

One more border will be added to Lazy Sunday. The strips are ready to go!

 It will be a biggie- 82" x 102" -a generous double, almost queen. I added leftover blocks as well as a label to the turquoise flannel backing. I am quite pleased with it. Here it is folded up.

I've also been working on a quilt for my sister. I am making a disappearing 4 patch using Amy Butler's "Soul Blossoms" fabric line. Here are a few made up.

 And a few more to go. 

All in all QTYW was a successful day. I accomplished a fair bit and felt pampered . We were treated to morning and afternoon refreshments and a wonderful lasagna and salad dinner. Thank you Lorna and Debbie for all your hard work!

And now for the Stash Report:

Total fabric purchased: 13.5 yards

Total fabric used: 32 yards ( donation to rummage sale, pillowcases, two backings, binding, borders)

Total fabric out of my stash this year: 28 yards