I Couldn’t Resist!!!

Isn’t this just the cutest BOM?  So simple, but so cozy and primitive . . . I really couldn’t resist!

I signed up for the program back in September, but I know of some gals who are still wanting to sign up - I believe it started in May or June of 2013, so it may be getting a little difficult to find.  I am getting this through Mama Bear’s Quilt Shop from Ashern, Manitoba.  I don’t think that Pauline has a website yet, but she can be contacted at 204-768-2120 to see if she still has this available.  Your local quilt shops may also be offering this BOM – it’s well worth searching out :0)).

The Primitive Gathering shop can be found here if you want to find more BOMs and primitive-type kits and patterns.

Oh, BTW, I also own yardage of quite a few of these blues and creams/tans – I just couldn’t resist them either.  Here is a link to the PDF for the Snowman Gatherings fabric from Primitive Gatherings by MODA.

I think this is the perfect January quilt to be working on . . . I’m still trying to get warm!!!

As The Crow Flies Teaching Gig - April 2013

A little background information is in order here . . .

In 2010 my good friend Sheila and I were visiting and sadly lamenting the lack of workshops to attend in our area.  There were some classes being taught by local quilt groups, but there was no large scale organization for bringing outside teachers in to teach to large groups of people.  We figured that if this was bothering us than likely there were others in the quilting community that felt the same way.

So, the question was:  “why doesn’t someone coordinate this and bring in teachers for workshops?”  The light bulb went on for Sheila and I – WE COULD DO IT!!  As The Crow Flies Quilting Workshops was launched.  There are now the four of us doing the planning and executing of the various facets needed to sponsor these workshops – Sheila, Val, Sheryl and myself – it has become too much for just two people!!  Quilters have come from Ontario, Alberta, Saskatchewan, north of Winnipeg, Winnipeg, and I’ve lost track of how many other communities in Manitoba.

So in 2010 we brought in the Quilt Patch girls from Moose Jaw, SK for a trunk show and workshop;

June 2011 we brought in Joan Statz from Alberta;

October 2011 we sponsored “The Crows Have Flipped Mystery” workshop,

as well as hosting and teaching a “Beginner’s Workshop”;

  2012 we put on “Quilter’s Camp”

as well as  “Santa’s Workshop”

in 2013 we hosted the “Down on the Farm” workshop which was our first 2-day event with a total of over 90 people registered!!!  I will have a separate post on this workshop very soon.

Which brings me to our teaching gig . . .

In 2012, we  received an invitation for Sipiweske Quilt Designs and “As the Crow Flies Quilting Workshops” to submit teaching proposals to be reviewed by the Manitoba Prairie Quilters 30th anniversary committee.

To celebrate this milestone the group was hosting a quilt education conference – Friday, April 5 – Sunday, April 7, 2013. They booked five classrooms at the Canadian Mennonite University (North Campus) in Winnipeg and were looking to fill those classrooms with a variety of quilt instructors and lots of quilters wanting to learn new techniques.

Two proposals were submitted by Sheila and myself and then we sat back to await the outcome.  Both proposals were accepted and the  planning began . . . we are usually the ones that book the venue, provide the lunch and deal with all the emails with registrants, teach/facilitate the projects, etc., so this was a nice to change to ONLY be responsible for the actual instruction part.

 

We chose the Loonie Blooms pattern (see sidebar) as an Intro. to Appliqué project.

And then we chose the “twofer” pattern to introduce quick piecing as well as how to use 12 fat quarters to make two awesome quick projects (see side bar).

We had the best students and they produced some gorgeous projects!

Most students were able to get their blocks for the All Cooped Up quilt completed that day which is always a bonus.

It’s always interesting to see the different looks you get by using different fabrics.

 

My apologies for the long post, but I have been long overdue in blogging about As The Crow Flies and this wonderful teaching opportunity that we had.  Every second year the Manitoba Prairie Quilters host a quilt show and the opposite year they will be hosting workshops.  In 2014 the quilt show is scheduled for March 28 – 30, 2014 in Winnipeg.

I’m sure there will be a van load going for a road trip in March!!!  Hopefully the weather is a touch warmer than it is right now . . . feels like –45C  with the wind chill – brrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

Stay warm wherever you are.

Welcome 2014!!!

I love the start of a New Year . . . everything is fresh, new and unknown.  The calendar is fresh, clean and unmarked and there is so much to look forward to.  I have a good feeling about 2014!!

But . . . before I can totally embrace 2014, I need to finalize my recording of some of the highlights of 2013 that I have not had the chance to put up on my blog.  Some are quilting related, but others are more “life” related.  2013 had some highs and lows but I believe they all had their purpose and that is what 2014 will be built on.

So if you can bare with me for a few incidental posts about 2013 – I really hope that 2014 will shape up to be quite exciting and busy on the quilting home front.  Plans are being made and pieces are slowly being put into place for a couple of projects, so unless life gets in the way, which it quite often does, there will be some blogging going on in 2014.  That is my plan – and I hope to be able to see it through!!

Happy New Year to all my quilting friends out there, and my best wishes for all of your expectations, dreams and goals to come true in 2014!

A Little Sex Change and a Winner

Oops!!! . . . .

Turns out that this little sweetie is actually a little girl – the breeder had a few issues with sexing the four little monkeys from this litter and I got a call last Sunday.

I had originally wanted a little girl but was persuaded by various people, including the breeder, that I might have better acceptance from Whiskey with her bonding with a little boy versus the little girl.  Turns out that all four in the litter are little girls, so there really isn’t an option right now for a boy anyway . . . it would be quite a bit longer wait for sure.  Plus this is Whiskey’s mom’s last litter as she is retiring and I wanted a half brother sister for Whiskey.  Now I will just keep my fingers and toes crossed that Whiskey is young enough (under 2) to accept and bond with this  little baby.  I guess by mid-December I will know the answer for sure!

Goes to prove  that you just can’t make too many plans and always be ready to make a change part way through your initial decisions!

Now onto the winner of the . . .

from my post on September 23rd.

There were not a lot of entries, but the entries that I did receive were really excited about the classes that were offered by the Daily Craft TV and rightly so . . . I can’t wait to the get the portrait of Whiskey done and try my hand at the new little “currently unnamed” monkey – suggestions are most welcome!

So “Nuper” is the winner and I will be contacting her very soon.  Thanks to everyone who stopped by and had a look at my blog as well as popping over and checking out the Daily Craft TV site.  It’s always so much fun to stretch our horizons and try new things and there are certainly lots of new techniques and ideas out there to try.  Have fun exploring!!!

Moda Bakeshop - Down on the Farm

Good Thursday morning everyone!!!

I'm so excited to have another recipe for the Bakeshop and I just have to say that it was amazing fun to work with the beautiful reds, creams and tans from the Midwinter Reds collection.

I think that one of the first blocks I ever made was a log cabin, so this project was certainly a "remember when" type of quilt.  The paper piecing is something that I have been doing on and off for quite a number of years and some of these same shapes can be found in a couple of my older patterns that will soon be almost ten years old.

This is one of the featured quilts that we will be using for a workshop that is coming up at the end of October.  There are close to 90 Canadian gals coming to join us in putting together a few versions of this design.  We will be doing miniatures framed in barn board, an appliquéd version and quite a few breakout sessions to teach beginners the log cabin block; a paper piecing session and also an applique session.  It's going to be a very fun and busy two days, but so worth it when we get to see what everyone comes up with at the end of each day.

I hope that you enjoy the "bakeshop" version of Down on the Farm and I would love to hear from you if you get a chance to make this project.

Happy Quilting!!

 

A Review, A Giveaway and An Introduction . . .

Let’s start with the review first . . .

 

I was recently contacted by

 

Daily Craft TV

 

to see if I would be interested in doing a review of one of the online classes.  My schedule right now is humungously busy but once I saw the offerings that they have on their list of quilting classes I just had say “YES”.

The class that caught my eye was this one -

 

 

and the introduction was this:  “Starting with a photo as a template, “paint” a portrait of your pet in fabric with this easier-then-it-looks technique. Jodie steps you through tracing shapes from the photo onto fusible web to fusing them and then finishing the edges to make a unique fabric image of your pet that will surprise you in how realistic it is.”

 

 

 

Anyone who has visited my blog in the past year or so will have met my lovely little Whiskey and seen some of her gorgeous markings.

 

 

So I knew that I certainly had a subject that would be perfect for this particular project and decided to jump in with both feet.

 

After watching the very informative and detailed video, and being amazed at how the two instructors put together a simple black and white kittie block and then a tad more difficult dog block, I thought that I was ready to give this a try.

 

 

With lots of photos to choose from, I narrowed the selection down to two photos and printed them out.  Then I proceeded to use my trusty “sharpie” and outline some of the more distinct areas on the photo.  It started looking like a paint-by-number picture after a while . . . certainly brought back some childhood memories!!!

 

   

 

On Sunday I spent an hour or so finding the perfect fabrics and tracing out a few of the major features for my little Whiskey.  I still have a long way to go and it will be a work-in-progress for a while no doubt, but I think it is safe to say that the similarity is apparent.  There are still some more details to trace out and place, but I think the real highlight will be when I can do some thread-painting and really get in there to make some of the more intricate details.  I also want to find another fabric for her little gold eyes . . . the fabric I used is too orange – so back to the drawing board for that feature.  But that is half the fun, finding the perfect fabrics!!

 

Now for the giveaway . . . Daily Craft TV is offering up a FREE online class for one lucky person who leaves me a comment.  Just visit the Daily Craft TV site and let me know which class you think you would be most interested in.  Are you most interested in Knitting, Scrapbooking, Quilting, Crocheting, Sewing or Papercrafts?  You don’t need to be specific – just let me know what appeals most to you.  I’ll be choosing a name from all of the comments on October 4th – so that gives you lots of time to look around the site and get back to me.  Have fun!!

 

Oh . . . now I have a little introduction to make :0))

 

 

This little gaffer is Whiskey’s baby brother . . . he just turned three weeks old on Friday (born August 30th).  He won’t be coming to live with us until the first week in December, so I’ll have to live with photos until I can get my hands on him to squeeze him.  I’m thinking that his name will be “Wiser”, but we will be calling him “Bud” for short . . . of course this is subject to change, but that’s what we’re talking so far.  Isn’t he a cutie!!!?!?!?

 

Oh! (again) – be sure and stop by for a visit around the 26th (this Thursday), as I will have another news flash for all of you.  I told you I’ve been busy, right???

Baby Birds and Giddy Chicks?

A few weeks ago I was doing a bit of weeding in the front flower bed and just happened to pull back a branch and see these sweet little faces staring back at me . . . and I mean staring.  Wow those eight little beady eyes were pretty intense!

They have now flown on to bigger and better things and I have saved the little nest in a bag to use for our next workshop that we have planned for October 26th and 27th in Brandon.  The plans are coming together and we’re gearing up for a busy September and October of more planning and getting all our projects done.  Busy, busy!!!

I’ve also been working on a new pattern and I’m thrilled with the silliness and fun of this project.

It’s off at the quilter’s house right now, but I hope to have it up on my blog and circulated to my wholesalers by the end of September.

Nothing wrong with being a Giddy Chick . . . life’s too short to be serious all the time!

There is also another pattern release for the end of September, so keep your eyes pealed for “something in red”.

Enjoy this harvest weather . . . it will change soon enough!

National Book Lover’s Day

I was thrilled to receive an email the other day from the great gals over at Moda wondering if I would like to participate in the National Book Lover’s day.

Of course I said YES!!!

Click on the icon above to view all the other participants!

or HERE.

Absolutely!!  I love sharing my story about how I became hooked on quilting and the two books that most influenced my progression to where I am today.

Here are the two books that I always keep close at hand and I’m really surprised that I have never misplaced them over the years . . . and we’re talking a few years here!

 

Flashback, if you will, to 1979 . . . I’d just graduated, just moved into my own house and had my first job . . . something intrigued me about quilts and quilting.  My artistic side appreciated the designs and my creative side itched to give this “thing” a try. 

I also loved books and this led me to order this particular book - “Let’s make a patchwork Quilt” by Jessie MacDonald and Marian Shafer/Doubleday Books/Copyright 1980. 

I even have the bagful of blocks that I made using the directions in this book . . . they have followed to three different house now and every so often they get dragged out to get the dust blown off.  Talk about a walk-down-memory-lane!  Look at those colors and the fabrics . . . mostly poly-cottons purchased at the local B.A. Robinson Store – sometimes, if you were lucky, you could grab a bag of remnants that somehow managed to get shipped in.  What a far cry from today’s method of finding fabrics!!!

I remember pouring over every page and had grand plans to make each and every block that was in that book.  It started with the beginner blocks which introduced piecing (pre-rotary cutter type!) and then moved into an intro to applique – I love my Sunbonnet Sue . . . she’s from the early 80’s!!!

Then the instructions moved into more advanced piecing and doing curved piecing.  I think I managed most of the piecing ones, but by the time I was ready to move on to curved piecing I had discovered Eleanor Burns on satellite and my quilting endeavors moved in a totally different direction from there.

I even went so far as giving hand quilting a try . . . gotta love those even stitches . . .

But . . . this is my favorite book and has been for years and years and years.

“101 Patchwork Patterns” by Ruby McKim - originally published in 1931  and then this Dover edition which was published in 1962.

I’ve been puzzled, intrigued and inspired by many of the blocks in this book.  The descriptions as to suggestions for making a quilt from each of the blocks in the book makes for a good read, plus all the other tidbit stories that are included – I LOVE THIS BOOK!

It’s my go-to-book for research and ideas of what blocks may work with other blocks; it’s my . . .

. . . keeper of  little drawings from a bygone era . . .

 

. . . as well as little sketches from who knows when and why-for any way . . .  

Yup, I’m a book lover  . . .