Quilting and other Things

I've been working All things Christmas and the blocks are now complete as well the embroidery.  There are buttons, ribbons and beads to add once the top is quilted.   I can now piece the top together and start working on the borders.  The second border has some more appliqué in it. I also have finally made a decision about the background for Love Entwined.  It will be a light green.  The compass is now stitched to a square and I'm ready to start making tiny circles to go around it,  I've found my circle template and the size of the finished circle .  also found my sandpaper board so I have some to gripe the fabric as I trace the fabric.  Part 3 was released this week and I'm still puttering on part 1.  Now that the background is decided I can get things prepared and it should move along. I've spent the last two evenings tracing onto steam a seam, the rest of the pieces for Bringing Home the Tree, this years $10 quilt. ...

They forecast-ed rain for yesterday afternoon so after going to the farmer's market for my Saturday Peameal Bacon Bun followed by picking up Corn-on-the-cob, peaches, cherries, mushrooms, tomatoes, cucumbers and bing cherries, I came down and played with some quilts. Had a wonderful time but some of this weekends work may evolve into What Was I Thinking. First up was to get a compass prepared for hand-stitching for Love Entwined .  Part 1 and 2 of this BOM are published.  I'm part way through Part 1 and need to decide what background to use.  I turned under the edges of the compass and its centre and laid them out on 4 different colours -- black, white, pale green and pale pink.  Black White Pale Green Pale Pink I don't have enough of any of them for the background requirements but I liked these ideas. Need to decide soon so I can complete step one which involves many very tiny circles on a ring that surrounds the compass.  This is de...

From Alliston, we headed over to East Gwillumbury and Sharon Temple . I loved the setting.  It was hard to focus on the quilts sometimes.  I kept wanting to move them out of the way.  Lots of lovely quilts though and I enjoyed the show. Some more fun quilts. The ballarina quilt was made for the lady's grand-daughter who is only two. Grandma is hopeful that the quilt will inspire some dreams. I've seen one other version of the Hart's Content quilt and it was just as fun. The buildings all have fabric specific to what the shop sells. Really fun to examine. Cecile Lavas - Alanna's Quilt Cecile Lavas - Alanna's Quilt Detail Amy Hart - Hart's Content - My Kinda Place I like this take on a one block wonder. The design was a necessity brought on by lack of fabric but what a wonderful solution to the problem. Helen Badgerow - Peacock Beauties Helen Badgerow - Peacock Beauties Detail 1 Helen Badgerow - Peacock Beauties Detail 2 ...

On our day out last month Karen and I met at a car pool lot and then headed up to the first show in Alliston.  We hadn't really planned on this show because I'd forgotten about it then assumed it was to far away.  A quick check on google maps said it wasn't as far as I thought.  One of the first quilts we saw was a Rosewood Quilt.  I have one of these from the $10 quilt classes out at Hobby Horse.  Mine is waiting to be quilted.  This was done at another quilt shop. Cathy Conrad-Doll My Rosewood Quilt  Next were a few fun quilts.  Ditzy Chicks and Funky Cats.  I like the attitude in the chicks and the mice and cheese hiding in the twisted tails of the cats. Arlene Gibson - The Ditsy Chicks Senora Baldry - Funky Cats Senora Baldry Funky Cats Detail They had a wonderful collection of One Block Wonder quilts.  I bought some fabric and a book last year to make a One Block Wonder but still haven't begun.  I love to...

At the beginning of June, Karen and I went to two quilt shows one Saturday.  The second was held in the Sharon Temple in Sharon Ontario near Newmarket.  The temple and out buildings are a National Historic Site and one of those hidden treasures that are close to home that we often don't see.  I loved seeing the quilts that were on display but I need to make another trip back to see the temple without the quilts.  The stairway up to the loft really caught my attention.  The temple was built in 1832 and used by the Children of Peace (broke away from the Quakers).  Interestingly it was not used every Sunday.  The times it was used were in conjunction with fund raising to support their work with the poor. The website is  http://www.sharontemple.ca/ Also on the site are some other buildings including the home of the Architect, a study and a cook house.  The Architects home was open for a visit and had some quilts on beds that belong...

I finally finished Welcome to my Home April 16.  Nothing like a deadline to encourage me.  I had committed to entering it into the Mississauga Quilt show on April 18th so needed it done. This started out as Welcome to my Cabin by Possibilities during the 2005 $10 quilt class at Hobby Horse.  For a $10 class, you get an assignment each month.  If you bring the completed assignment to the next class, you continue without paying any more for the class.  If you don't do the assignment you need to pay the class fee again.  I was also taking a class at Quilt University at the same time and got sidetracked make machine embellishments.  So instead of a cabin, made a representation of my house and used the embellishments for the trees and snow/ice on the house.  Evenutally the big pine trees and leaves were replaced by much smaller leaves and tulips using instructions from the previous years Seasons patterns by Pinetree Lodge.  The creek, bear, m...

Judy Laquidara at Patchworktimes has a project for 2013 that is GETTING IT DONE .  Each month you list 3 or 4 things you want to accomplish for the month that are quilt related.  It isn't necessarily to finish the quilt but could be to move the project along.  Of my January Goals 1. The challenge quilt didn't progress. I've been stumped for an idea of what to make although I think I finally have an executable idea as of the 31st. NOthing like waiting til the last minute. 2. Prepare the 5 blocks from the Christmas A-Z quilt that I have traced so that I have a pocket project. These did get prepared and 4 of the blocks were had the applique finished by the end of the month. The 5th block had the letter and half the bow completed by the end of the month. 3. Finish Cabin in the Woods. Its not finished but I did finally figure out the cirtters and get them appliqued onto the quilt. Its unusual to see an eagle here so I used a hawk instead and replace the canoe...