embroidery - done!

A few weeks ago we went for our annual camping trip to Shunda lake.  The tree stump from my header picture was still there - my favorite place to stitch by the lake.  Again this year I was working on my Susan McCord vine quilt. It's been a few years in the making - 3 more panels to go - will I yet be working on it next spring?  

 I'm still working on panel #10.  It's been going slow...

 

When I get panel 10 finished I will take a break from vines  and work on - Yahoo!!  The borders for my Bird of Paradise quilt. 

 I finally finished the embroidery!  I am so pleased.  My friend encouraged me through it.  In the end the faces were easy and stitched in one evening. I kept them simple and happy.

Now I can trim the blocks and start on the borders.  I think they will be fun to work on. 

And yes, there are more 6 inch blocks  :0)

Happy Quilting!!

another circle in a square



I  found some time to stitch on my Circle Game quilt with my friend.  I managed to get one more circle inside a square.

 Now both of these blocks need center circles...  I like that I can get a better idea of how the blocks will look together now.  All of those set in seams make for slow going.  Good thing there's no rush!

 Naturally I made some more 6 inch squares :0)  There is no end in sight for this project.

 A few nights ago my 6 year old daughter decided she wanted to learn to hand piece.  I was working on my Quilt patis stars which is more like EPP than handpiecing.  So, for her I grabbed some 2 1/2 inch squares from my scrap bag, drew a 1/4 inch seam line for her and off she started. 

I snapped this picture while sitting beside her and 2 other family members on the couch.  It's not a great picture but I think it captures her concentration and I didn't want to spoil the moment :0)  She has 4 squares sewn together now.  I'm not sure how big this will get/what she's going to make etc... but her enthusiasm is adorable!!

Happy Quilting!!

vintage quilts from the May show

I've been wanting to show these pictures of the vintage and antique quilts from the quilt show back in May but life has been pretty hectic!  So, here they are now.  I hope you enjoy them  :0)

 

This one was my favorite and I am so unimpressed with the one blurry picture I took of it.  I think the Tree of Life looks really interesting set this way.  The handquilting on this quilt was lovely as well.  A perfect quilt to display at Christmas!



 

 I admired the buttonhole stitch and the pretty red print in this one.

 I loved the soft pretty colors and the blocks of this sampler quilt.

 This T quilt was much faded - I'd sure like to see what it looked like when it was new! 

 I love this combination of stripes and polka dots.

 I liked the black added to the blocks in this quilt.

 I thought this was such a pretty hexagon flower quilt.

 On a personal note, my DD#1 had her Grade 9 farewell last night.  I thought she looked so beautiful all dressed up!

 I can't believe she'll be in High School next year!! 

Hopefully I have some sewing of my own to post soon. 
Happy Quilting!!

a new (ufo) project

These blocks have been bugging me for awhile.  I often thought of them languishing away in the ufo pile.  I hadn't worked on them since 2010.  I still really like these blocks and I want to finish this quilt.  I'm thinking about it for my next handquilting project.  That should give me a few months to make a pieced border for it. The sashing went together quickly and I have much of the next border cut and ready to sew.    I'm glad it's out of the bin and in the current pile again.

 It should be no surprise that more of these 6 inch blocks have appeared.  They are still so fun to choose block patterns and scraps for. 

 I spent a bit of time working on this one over the weekend.  The cutting instructions in the book were wrong and so I wasn't feeling too confident that it would turn out.  I did have fun sewing it but I would not make a whole quilt with blocks like this!

 I was also excited to win a giveaway on Anne's blog.

Finding this package in the mail made my day.  There are a couple projects in the book that are tempting me. The pattern was an extra surprise - I love the combination of pieced triangles with the applique.
I hope you find some time to do some stitching this week :0)
Happy Quilting!

a beautiful day for a quilt show

It was such a beautiful day on Saturday when the outdoor quilt show was held at Heritage Park - a large historic village.  There were something like 750 quilts in the show!  Here follows some of my favorites.  

This one was near the entrance.  So pretty and pink in the morning sunshine :0)

 I loved the quilting on this hexagon quilt. 

 This pineapple quilt was lovely.  When I got close I was surprised to see that most of the fabrics were not to my taste yet I think this quilt is wonderful.

 I always love a quilt with lots of flying geese.

 This is the finished zoo quilt that my guild made together.  It was sold at the show and the money raised will help purchase batting and backing for future charity quilt projects.  You might remember I contributed the panda bear :0)

 There were a number of very nice alphabet quilts in the show.  I thought this one was very cool.

 This one was smaller - I like it too.

 I liked the color combination in this one.

 And what great blocks!  The sunflowers are just coming up in my garden outside.

 I just love star quilts with a little bit of applique :0)

 More flying geese.

 This one is very striking - the flowers just glow on the dark background.

There was also an exhibit of antique and vintage quilts.  I'll save that for another post.
I'm making great progress on my ufo project.  I almost have the blocks together and I'll post my progress soon.
Happy Quilting!!

An annual May finish

It seems every year - the day before I have to take it - I finish a quilt for the outdoor quilt show at Heritage Park.  I think having this annual deadline must be good for me :0)  This year's finish is a single bed size quilt for my DD#1.

The pattern is  Rosy Posies from the May/June 2011 Quiltmaker magazine.  I added an extra row of flowers to make it longer -  it is 66"x 100" in size.

 I kinda got talked into using a solid for the sashing/borders.  It works I think - but I still think prints are more interesting :0)

I'm so very pleased with how the quilted feathers turned out.  I usually do the boringest machine quilting so this much feathering surprises me.  They are far from perfect but at least I tried and practice makes perfect (or something like that)

 I even think the back looks interesting.  You can spy a label in the upper right corner.  I almost never label any of my quilts but DD#1 insisted on it.  (I'm usually too excited about starting the next project I guess)

Speaking of next projects...  I have a ufo all picked out and I'm excited to get working on it! 

I'll be sure to take pictures at the quilt show this weekend to share.
Happy Quilting!!

more 6 inch blocks

I am still having fun playing in my scraps.  Six more blocks have been added to the pile.

 Most of the recent blocks come from this Once More around the Block book.  I have about 10 more block patterns all picked out.  I can't stop now!

 I wasn't planning on making a big quilt of 6 inch blocks but - maybe... 

This weekend I noticed that 2 of the blocks are the exact same pattern. One is scrappier than the other - can you spot it?  :0)

 I decided to try free motion quilting in the petals.  I settled on feathers -the only shape I can free motion quilt with any confidence. 

Now I have to stay focused - I'm giving myself one week to finish all the petals.  2 weeks from today the quilt needs to be bound and delivered to the show venue.  Will I make it??

Happy Quilting!