My Week in Review . . .

Joan has finished her Garden Charm Table Runner and I think it looks great!  Head over and have a visit with her and she’ll explain the tartan plaid binding that she used – wonderful stuff!

Plus her heart buttons are adorable . . . do you know how many different styles of buttons are out there?  Take a Google moment and have a look – you’ll be amazed.

Carol also made one using the Bar Harbor charms and used embroidery instead of the flowers and buttons – you need to have a look at this one too – very patriotic.

This is the table runner that I’ve been working on since my last sewing day with the Undercover Stripper group.  I have all the pieces paper-pieced and it’s all ready to sew together but I thought I’d wait until our next sewing day together to finish it off.  It’s turning out pretty good so far and I’m really loving the colors – pattern by Judy Niemeyer called Seasonal Table Runners.

  Spent all day Friday sewing the borders on this quilt . . . I’m waiting for the backing fabric to show up and then I think I’m going to send this one out to Estevan for some magic quilting to be done on it.  This quilt is turning into another one of my very favorites and I’d hate to wreck it with my quilting inadequacies.

Finally finished all the quilting on this biggie and I’m in the midst of hand stitching the binding down . . . re-runs on TV are not conducive to sewing on binding . . .  

I even found some time to sit and doodle for an hour or two . . . always love doing that.

Tomorrow is back to the old office and working for a living . . . you can only play for so long right?  Another four weeks and I’ve booked off for another week . . . can’t wait!

OMG! It’s On The Cover!

 

26 Petals in My Canadian Garden

This is one of those projects that has taken me away from all my PhD’s (in the right hand column) and has kept me very busy with all the goings on to get this quilt, on time, to all the places it’s needed to be.  Now just like an awards ceremony (because I really do feel like I received a cover award) I need to acknowledge all the people that helped me out with this one:

Thank you to my wonderful, talented, very amicable machine quilter over in Estevan, Saskatchewan . . . Terry Whitman at The Meandering Star dropped everything and took this albatross of a quilt under her wing and created absolute magic all over it. 

Thank you also to Shirley over at Shirley’s Sewing in Moosomin, Saskatchewan for shipping all the samples of Canadian Cottage by Robyn Pandolph over to me here in Manitoba.  I believe the fabric had hardly come in the quilt shop door when it was already being sent out to me in little packages so that I could get my color palette nailed down for this design.  Of course there were many shipments after that initial one for more yardage of this or that before it was finally complete.   Shirley – you can now erase my VISA card number from your memory – I won’t be doing this again for a while!

I also have to thank my proofreader extraordinaire . . . Sheila – thank you for being so thorough and checking and double checking every little cut and word that I put in those directions.

And last but not least, thank you to Heather (at Quilter’s Connection)  for putting up with me wanting to use a Walmart smiley face for a photo – she would just not listen when I told her that photos of me ALWAYS are weird!  Heather you were great to work with and thank you so much for the cover.

  If you don’t subscribe to the magazine, be sure to check in early June at your nearest quilt shop, or Chapters/Indigo store.   The magazine is also carried in some independent newsstands across the country!

Can’t wait to get my copy . . . there’s a new feature called “Find A Teacher” and we’re always looking for new and wonderful ideas to learn in the two groups that I belong to.  I wonder if there are any teachers close to where we live?

I’m on holidays this week and just loving it!  I better get back to my HST and flying geese though or they’ll never get done . . .

Loonie Blooms Update

I just had an email from Gerda out in Edmonton, Alberta and she let me know that she was having problems downloading the pattern for Loonie Blooms – the file was huge and it took forever.

So I went back to the drawing board and have this pattern resaved in a file that should only take a couple of minutes (versus 10 minutes) to download.

If you click on the “FREE Patterns” up by my blog header you will find the link to this pattern – in both formats – fast and slow.  Don’t think you’ll be looking at the slow one but have left it there just in case there is a link I forgot to change somewhere.

Please let me know if you are having trouble with any of the links and I will do my best to get them fixed – even if I need to call my computer techie guys.

Happy Quilting!

Happy, happy day!

Pinch me now . . .

Today is the day that my Garden Charm Runner recipe is posted up on the  Moda Bake Shop.  If you haven’t already been over there to have a peek please head on over.

If you’ve come from the Bake Shop to my blog – WELCOME!

Thank you to everyone for stopping by . . . I’ m so pleased to meet you.

Prairie Pine Burrs

  

Amy’s Creative Side is once more hosting the Blogger’s Quilt Festival and this is my entry – Prairie Pine Burrs. 

This is one of my newest patterns but has actually been a work in progress for almost two years. 

While I was working on the appliquéd one I was also making this one (in the three smaller photos) for a girl that was working for me at the time – the blocks are all paper pieced and seemed to take quite some time to get all the blocks for both quilts done.  A jelly roll and yardage for the star burst, the background and borders was all that was needed to make this quilt and was so much fun to use all the different prints in the roll.

The appliquéd quilt took some extra time of course but is so worth it in the end.

The embroidery took a lot more time to do (especially for me!), but when I see it now, I’m so happy that I took the time to do it.

The flower center yo-yo’s were the crowning glory and the final touch for this quilt and this has turned into one of my favorite quilts – so far!

Thanks Amy for hosting this Festival again . . . I love looking at all of the great quilts that are posted and seeing what everyone has been up to.

Fabric, Sewing and Sun Tanning

Rural Jardin has finally arrived in my sewing room . . . it seems like it’s been such a long wait.

 

The project I had planned for this line has long since been started with something else and now I’m at a loss . . . what will I make with these lovely reds, creams and blues?  Once again Moda keeps bringing on these beautiful collections and keeps us quilters pondering and imagining all kinds of creative projects.  What are you using Rural Jardin for?  I’d love to see your ideas!

The Undercover Strippers met last week and this is the project I’m working on . . . I’m so excited and pleased with the colors that I’ve chosen and I’ve been pottering away every morning before work and doing a little bit of sewing here and there – and there’s still lots to do on this one as well as all of those PhD’s sitting over there in the right hand column.

My books arrived this week . . . they are gorgeous!  I’ve had these pre-ordered since February or March and they are all I hoped for and a little more.  Although when the book says that the quilts are from 5” and 10” squares it really means A LOT of 5” or 10” squares – you need at least two charm packs or two layer cakes and I usually only buy one of anything – guess I need to go shopping again!  Although these beautiful quilts can also be made with stash fabrics and would be just as lovely I’m sure.  Great techniques and lots of inspiration between these covers.

   

I picked up another book last weekend at a Flea Market which I believe was printed in 1996 or thereabouts – beautiful photography and a few nice quilts and layouts to inspire something new . . . also some recipes to consider (if I ever make my way to the kitchen!)  - $4.50 on this piece of inspiration.

Now for everyone who made it this far through the post just waiting to see a picture of me sun tanning – gottcha!

This is my little bug friend that I found AFTER the picture was taken . . . I didn’t see him up there until I started going through my photos – I like this one and I’m thinking I’ll get it printed and framed for my “green bathtub” bathroom wall.  It’s always nice to have photos with something just a little different – that element of surprise is kinda neat.

Oh and make sure and pop by tomorrow – I’ve got the neatest thing to show you!

Nesting, Rainbows and Loopty Loops

I’ve been gone for so long that everyone must think that I’ve been away nesting or something.

     

But really I’ve only been discovering little nests laying about in my garden.  I wish I could say that my garden is now in tip-top shape and there isn’t a single weed out there, but that would be a humungous lie . . . there has been no time!  I’m missing out and falling way behind on my blog reading and I’m way behind on all of my quilting projects – AGAIN!

Some of us are keeping up on our zzzzzzzzzzzzzz’s but others are falling way behind . . . hard to get a good day’s work in when those sleeping hours are so short.  Need to get a few good nights in and get back on track around here.

I’ve also been trying to chase some rainbows and these ones were  almost close enough to catch . . . if you look closely to the upper right in the photo you can see part of the second rainbow that was forming (or the reflection of the first?).  I love having my camera handy for moments like these!

I’m not sure the last time I’ve seen a rainbow where you could look through it like this . . . the ones I usually see have the pot of gold behind tree lines – not in front.  Still didn’t see the pot of gold though.

The rest of my missing-in-action time has been spent doodlin’ around on this quilt trying to get it done for the PhD deadline that is looming.

I’m hoping that’s the end of June and not the beginning or I may be in deep trouble!      

SNOW Sunday

May 2, 2010

More snow has decided to fall upon us – sure hope it’s short lived and the shovels can stay put away.

 

So while it’s snowing outside I have found something other than gardening to keep me occupied . . .

I’m having so much fun playing with my buttons again today . . .

. . . all the little ones are fitting so neatly into all the big stars . . .

. . . some better than others.

Just like everything in this world, some things just aren’t made to fit together - close is still good enough for me though.

It’s Been Soooooooooo Long!

Convention month is not a pleasant experience to live through – it disrupts my normal life.  All this travelling around, eating weird food, meeting and visiting so many different people and sleeping in strange beds . . . is more than I can absorb quickly and then move on.  It takes a few days to unwind and get back into my routine and to get back to remembering where I’d left off on all of my partially started/completed projects here at home.

Now if this had of been a quilting convention then at least it would have been inspiring, creative and motivating . . . but alas it was a municipal government convention wherein we talk about waste reduction, accounting principles, different personality types and how to deal with difficult people, privacy acts, land surveys and just about anything else you might NOT want to know about!  Where and when was that retirement planned for me?  I’ll have to keep dreamin’ and dreamin’ and dreamin’.

BUT, I am now home and making friends once again with my beautiful Pfaff and continuing with my preparations on whipping up a cute little project that will be revealed on May 24th I believe – I’ll keep you posted on that one.

   

I had the cutest little mail parcel show up a day or so before I left for convention and I can’t wait to show you what I came up with to use some of it!

 

Burgundy Buttons had a sale a while back that I just could NOT pass by – I’m still pinching myself to be sure that this pricing was for real.  Gotta be in the right place at the right time!!!

Hope to show some quilting progress in the next day or so . . . sure feels good to be back.  Have a great weekend.