a gift given

I was pleased to finish this quilt recently and give it to my mom.  It's a Kim Diehl pattern from the April 2014 Fons and Porter magazine.  I machine quilted it on my Juki machine  

 I wasn't sure how to quilt the appliqued center blocks.  In the end I learned that's it's not too difficult to free motion quilt outlining around the appliqué shapes just like I would do if I was handquilting.

 After that the borders were easy and fun.

 These pictures are all square...  I recently changed Iphones and lost a month's worth of pictures in the process.  Thankfully I had posted these pictures on Instagram so I was able to get them back from there.

 I gave it to my Mom last week when she was visiting.  I think she liked it :0)

The last 2 blocks of Hospital Sketches were quick to stitch up.  I'm a bit sad that the BOM is finished now.  It was fun to look forward to each new block release.

 I really like the triple tulip block.

 I changed around the final block a bit.  There was a picture of all 9 blocks together but I lost it too.  I will have to lay the blocks out again for a complete picture again soon.

This delightful little doll quilt arrived in the mail from Deb Anger from across Canada in the doll quilt swap I participated in.  The pieces are tiny!  I love these little trees.

 It was beautifully handquilted as well and has wonderful texture.

Happy Quilting!!

Still stitching

We are back to the fall routine around here.  There is still lots to do but a little more time to think about quilting.

I finished a little quilt for a doll quilt swap.  There were even still some flowers in my yard to photograph it with.

 I hope it reaches its destination soon.  It had a long way to travel.  I enjoyed using some stencils to mark quilting designs.  It was a fun little break from my big projects.

In August I was too busy to do much applique prep so I got 2 blocks behind in Barbara Brackman's Hospital Sketches applique BOM .

 I decided to add some extra parts to block #7  I sure enjoy playing around with the shapes.  What did stitchers in time past do without freezer paper?

From paper to fabric :0)

I started on the next block right away.  So far only one of 3 flowers appliqued.  I played around with the shapes a little again - I like to make some changes to make the project my own.

 I was invited to a birthday party for a good friend.  I wanted to make her something so I whipped up a little pouch to tuck a couple things into.  I had no time to handquilt it but the applique was done by hand.

Happy Quilting!!

Summer flies by

Summer is such a short, sweet season where I live.  Next Tuesday my kids all go back to school and it already feels like fall temperatures have arrived.  Summer is a very busy season but some sewing still happened.

 I am finally making good progress on the last applique border for my signature quilt.  Can I finish this before the end of the year?

 I finished block 6 of Barbara Brackman's Hospital Sketches. 

 Here they are all together.  I haven't had a chance to start block #7 yet and yesterday block #8 was released.  Yikes - now I'm behind!

 I wanted to join in a handquilted doll quilt swap on Instagram.  It was fun to play with my reproduction scraps.  I made 4 blocks and set them on point.

 I'm working on the handquilting part now and I'm almost finished.  A nice break from quilting my trailing vines...

We spent the last 2 weeks on vacation - driving around Washington State and the province British Columbia.  I was determined to fit one good quilt shop into the itinerary and found Two Thimbles Quilt Shop in Bellingham, WA  They had a whole room full of reproduction fabrics!  It was marvellous  :0)   

 A few pieces to remember my visit. 

 I loved the time we spent at Deception Pass State park - it was beautiful!

 We did the touristy thing in Seattle.  I found a shop window full of these old sewing machines.  I wanted to try them all out.  It makes for an interesting display but it makes me sad that they aren't getting sewn with.

 While away I found inspiration for applique/handquilting motifs in a few unlikely places.  This was a gorgeous set of doors in Port Townsend.



And this is a part on an authentic Venetian gondola on display at the Italian cultural centre in Vancouver. 
I'm hoping that more time for stitching lies ahead!
Happy Quilting!!

time flies

In a moment of weakness...  I started a new project.  On Instagram there was a new sewalong starting up using Dutch chintz fabrics.  Susie who goes by fixer_of_old_quilts on Instagram is running a sewalong patterned after antique Dutch quilts.  She was offering the pattern for templates to English paper piece the center star.  I dove right in!!

 It was an adventure to make this center star with each point pieced with a seam down the middle.  Then I had to choose a background fabric.  Kyle suggested looking at the other fabrics I planned to use and the choice of this medium blue was much easier. 

 It was another trick to get all the background pieced stitched in and have the star lay flat.  It's been a fun and challenging project so far.

 Today I added pieced corners to make this a square with the star on point.  From here on it gets rows and rows of more hst's.  I'm using some of my Dutch chintz fabrics mixed together with other fabrics from my stash.
I've also been working on my Hospital Sketches applique BOM.  The May block was a pineapple block that was a little plain.  I decided to redraw a different pineapple block from a book that I have - Red and Green Quilts from the Poos collection by Kay Triplett.

 It was fun to experiment a bit :0) 

 And I finished it in time for the release of the June block.  I'm going to make that one with no changes.

 I've also been stitching a few of my staraday stars.  My tin is almost full and I'm 1/3 of the way to finished - lol!  A long term project for sure.

I also want to include a picture of my son at his grade 9 grad.  He's off to high school next year.  He is a great student and athlete - I think he's going to love high school.  He looked so handsome all dressed up :0)

Happy Quilting!

about time for a post

Tomorrow the next block of Barbara Brackman's applique block of the month comes out.  I can't wait!  Since my last post I have completed 2 blocks.  Here is block #3 - it was a quick and easy block.

 And block #4 - a fun one with lots of berries.  I used dimes for starch prepping the berries which worked really well.

 Here are the first 4 blocks together.  They haven't been trimmed down yet so there's extra background in this picture.  With 5 more blocks to be released I want to wait a bit before deciding on what to do for borders.   

 I've made several more tree blocks.  Just 3 more to stitch and I've decided to set them with this wonderful green fabric.

 I actually ordered the green to use to set these 'star a day' stars but I think its perfect for the trees and I still have dozens more stars to make so another fabric will come along and be just right for the stars.  My star production is more like a star a week so there's lots of time...

 I received my Bird of Paradise quilt back from it's travels to Houston and Chicago.  The box and acid free tissue were just perfect for boxing up my Lily quilt which is making its way to Houston for the show this fall.  I was pretty pleased to have another quilt accepted.

 And the big news around here is that my DD#2 graduated from High school.  I am so proud of my beautiful and gracious daughter.  She plans to attend university next year here in Calgary and I'm so glad she's not moving away just yet. 

 

Happy Quilting!!

Summertime finished!

This is another big finish for me.  I've been calling this quilt Summertime because of its bright happy colors.  It's a large quilt at 92 x 106 inches so it is difficult to get a picture of the whole thing.  Here you can see a little more than half of it hanging over our deck railing.  There is just a little bit of melting snow to the right of the quilt - it feels like spring :0)

 

 I finished this quilt a couple of weeks ago and we started using it right away. It was time to change out the duvet and this quilt was ready to go.

 I dithered about what to quilt in the wide border.  I had finished the center part last summer and then got stuck.  I finally decided to go with my usual - feathers.  Feathers quilt up so quickly with free motion quilting.  It needed a few straight lines as well to fill in.

 The binding was debated a bit.  A couple of quilty friends did not think this was a good choice. The blue was hard to match and the fabrics from the top long gone from the shops.  I found this bright pretty blue and I'm very happy with it.  Not much shows when the quilt is tucked in anyway. 

 I love waking up to all this feathered texture and the bright happy colors.  Started in June of 2015 - it is good to have it finished and in use.

I finished my second block from Barbara Brackman's applique sew-a-long.  I changed it a bit from the pattern given.  The big feather was a fun challenge to stitch in 2 fabrics.  I have just started Block #3  It's exciting to see the new block appear on the Civil War Quilts blog on the last Wednesday of the month. 

 I have also got back to making a few more of these tree blocks.  I had enough but I enjoy making them so much I thought a few more couldn't hurt :0)

So there won't likely be any more big finishes for awhile but that's ok.  I like having a good variety of projects to work on. 
Happy Quilting!

The binding is finally on and my Lily Quilt is finished!  It's been a WISP (work in slow progress) from the very beginning.  I first posted about this quilt Oct 14/2009.  That's slow even for me.

 

 But today as I take a few pictures - I still love it. 

 I especially love the texture of the handquilting. 

 I struggled to choose binding for this quilt.  I wanted a softer look with a creamy beige but my quilty friends as well as the quilt kept telling me it needed blue.  I was happy to find this older blue at the LQS as most of the fabrics in this quilt I used up a long time ago. 

 It's 82 inches square. 

 I finished the hand quilting in 2018 so I think the date is close enough ;0)  This is usually all I do for a label so in years to come maybe someone will think I made it on the occasion of my 18th birthday - lol! 

Of course as soon as I finish something I have to start something new!  Barbara Brackman started a mystery applique BOM called Hospital Sketches on her blog Civil War Quilts.  I was delighted with the first block.

 Block #2 comes out next Wednesday.  I can't wait!

And, slowly I am making progress with handquilting my Trailing Vines quilt.  I am outlining all of the leaves.  There are a lot of leaves in this quilt!  I have finished the first of 13 panels and started on the second.  I will need to think of something to quilt in the narrow sashing. 

Happy Quilting!!