Search This Blog

Saturday, December 01, 2012

Final Finish


I finished the last grandchild quilt yesterday morning.  Now I can leave for Australia on Wednesday with a clear conscience.

Thursday, November 29, 2012

Another Finish


I finished sewing the binding down on this one yesterday.  Now I have one twin quilt to finish before I leave for Australia next week.  I have one side almost done so I'm hopeful...

Saturday, November 24, 2012

Twin Quilts



These are the quilts I have made for my twin grandsons.  The middle blocks are the same but the sashing and borders are different.  The bottom one is not quilted yet but hopefully I'll get it done before I leave for Australia. I have 10 days but tomorrow I'm having a family get together so probably  won't get much quilting done.  Can I do it???  I hope so.

Monday, November 19, 2012


I have this one all assembled and the backing is ready.  The back is a black and white paisley design but I had to piece in a row made of the leftovers from the front because it wasn't quite wide enough.  Now it gets into the lineup waiting its turn on the quilting machine.

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Half Way There


I now have half the blocks put together and the rest are cut out. This one goes together very quickly because the blocks are so big.  Now I need to find another big piece of backing fabric.

Wednesday, November 07, 2012

The Next One


Free's quilt needs the binding sewn down. Sky's quilt needs border fabric. Summer's quilt needs backing fabric. My Kaffee Fassett needs a wool batt.  So it seems appropriate to start a new one. I'm sure you quilters out there understand.
These blocks are big, finishing at about 21 inches square. The darker ones are bordered with white which doesn't show up well in the photo but looks good in real life.
I need to cut fabric for six more blocks so I can mix them up a bit  more.  I think this may be a nice one.

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Ready to Quilt


I have this one  all pieced together and I put it on my queen sized bed to see if it would be big enough. It's 76x62 and just fits the top of my bed so I'm sure that's big enough for a twin bed.
Now to find some backing and get it quilted.

Sunday, October 28, 2012

The Challenge


I have finished the blocks and sewn them into strips. I only have the four vertical seams left to sew. Matching those orange strips is quite a chore for someone as precisionally challenged as I am. There has been quite a lot of force fitting going on.  I am relying on the old quilting adage: It will quilt out.
It is supposed to finish at about 60x72. I may put a border around it to make it a bit bigger but if not, I'll bind it with the orange fabric.

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Getting There


I have to make three more blocks and then I can start to sew them all together. I'll probably spend a bit of time arranging the blocks but I know that's  a slippery slope. Once you start it's hard to quit.

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

More Progress





I have added some more blocks and started sewing some of them together. My design wall is full and unless I sew them there is a danger of them all falling down. Not a good thing. The top left three are sewn together and you can see how it will look when all the orange strips are matched. (Or as closely matched as I can get them.)

On a different note, I have started a blog about the hikes I have been doing with friends and family. There is a link on my side bar. It's called Take a Hike. I hope you check it out and that you enjoy it even half as much as I enjoy doing them.

Thursday, October 18, 2012

Progress


I have started adding the alternate blocks that are solid in the middle. I have  5 made and need ten more. They go really fast so I should be done piecing the units and be ready to sew the blocks together soon.  Before that though, I'll probably spend some hours (or days) arranging and re-arranging, trying to get a random look. Random is harder than you would imagine.

Friday, October 12, 2012

More Blocks


I made some more blocks with different purples. The question is , should I mix the purples in each block or have three different purple squares with all four sides the same...I'll make some more before I decide.  The middle one is sewn together so it may stay that way. The seams are on the diagonal so ripping it apart would probably stretch it all out of shape.

A New Start


I have started piecing a new quilt. Once again, this is a pattern from a magazine.  I am making a larger quilt for each of my nine grandchildren so I am using patterns. I haven't done that in awhile.
This pattern is quite complicated but fun to do.The orange will stay throughout the blocks but the dark purple will change to other dark colors.

Tuesday, October 02, 2012

More Fabric?


I  have the second twin quilt pieced but I don't seem to have a good border fabric. I have a piece of dark green but there is not enough of it for a wide border. It seems I will have to go fabric shopping.
Again.  Sigh.

Saturday, September 29, 2012

The Next One


This is the second quilt using the same inner blocks but with different outer pieces and different sashing.
I haven't been in the studio much lately because the gorgeous autumn colours have been luring me outdoors.  Winter will soon be here and then, hopefully, the quilting will kick back in.

Monday, September 17, 2012

Rae Trail Hike


On Sunday I went for a hike with friends on the Rae Trail which is north of Holland, Manitoba and a couple of hours drive from my home.


It was supposed to be a 15 km (9.5 miles) so we packed a lunch which we devoured an hour and a half into the hike. What tastes better than food eaten outside!


The leaves are in full autumn colour right now.


From here we could see the Assiniboine River below us in the distance.


Some of the beautiful red foliage is Poison Ivy.


Taking a rest at about the 9th  mile. The trail was not well marked and there were lots of  ATV trails that confused us so we ended up walking in circles a bit.We did know that if we kept walking more or less east we'd end up at the highway and the car.  We eventually did but a mile south of where the car was parked.

It's very sandy country.  This was a long slide that we could have gone down but that would have meant climbing back up. Maybe if we had found it earlier in the day...
We ended up walking for about 18 km (11 miles) and enjoying every minute of it.  I do think a GPS might have been a good idea though.

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Bordered


I put a dark brown border on this one and now it's finally ready to quilt as soon as I get some backing fabric.

Tuesday, September 04, 2012

Pieced


It's pieced together but needs a wide border to make it big enough. The red is actually more of a rust colour. I'm happy with this one. Now to use the other half of the blocks to make a similar one but first I have to buy some fabric to use where I have the green on this one.

Monday, September 03, 2012

Sky and Free


I am making two similar quilt for Sky and Free (twins like similar but not identical it seems).  I made doubles of each block but the sashing and borders will be different. I'm thinking this one may get a wide border to make it a bit larger but haven't gotten the fabric for that yet. There is not enough of the green and I got it at Faye's Henhouse in Mayville which is quite a hike from here. I'll make a decision once I have all the blocks together.

Sunday, September 02, 2012

Sacha's Quilt


Here is Sacha's quilt all finished and on her bed.  Her walls are more gray than it seems in the photo and the quilt looks perfect in the room.

Sunday, August 12, 2012

Ariana's Quilt Part 2


The quilt is all pieced and is about 71 x 99 with the 10 inch white border. Now I have to find some backing and quilt it.

Friday, August 10, 2012

Ariana's Quilt


I only need to make four more blocks for this one. It will have two inch white sashing and possibly a narrow piano key border with wider white borders on each side of it. I have not arranged these at all yet so there's still lots of fun left on this one.

Friday, August 03, 2012

A Big One

I ma quilting a large quilt right now. It is on sideways so this view is the length. It's going to take a bit of time to finish this one.

Thursday, August 02, 2012

Sacha's Quilt


This one is all assembled and ready to quilt as soon as I find some backing. That might mean a trip to the quilt store. Oh dear.

Monday, July 30, 2012

Granddaughters


Here I am with four of my five granddaughters. How lucky am I!!

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Sacha's Quilt

 

Sacha and I have been working on this quilt for her bed. It is about 53x75 but we are thinking we'll add another row to the side and bottom to make it large enough  for a double bed. That means we'll have to invest in a few more purple fabrics. Sigh.

Saturday, July 21, 2012

Cooling neckerchiefs


I have been making these cooling scarves lately.  The little bio gel beads grow to the size of marbles when soaked for a few hours. I then insert them into the neckerchief which you can wrap around your neck to keep cool. I tried the wrist bands this morning.  We'll see who they fit.



I may have enough blocks pieced together for this quilt. I'm not sure about  the final arrangement. I could have the light borders in the middle and dark toward the edges or vice versa. Right now it is totally random except that I tried to have light against dark and no matching middle touching. It will probably be about a double bed size, although I have lots of fabric left so you never know.






Saturday, July 07, 2012

Progress


The photo is kind  of dark but you get the idea. I'll post a better one when I can take a picture in daylight.

Thursday, July 05, 2012


This morning I pulled out my Kaffe Fasset fabrics and started playing around with them. I only have three of them but there are a lot of possibilities with just the three. I may look for a few more to add variety. I decided that large pieces would showcase the beautiful big designs.

Tuesday, July 03, 2012


My friend, Harold, thought I should make a piece that says "Take this job and shove it, I quilt", from the song.  I thought it sounded too negative but my son, Sandy thought "You can't fire me, I quit" was better. Then Lori said it would sound better without the You.  I agreed. Three less letters and no Y! My friend, Jenn gave me the border fabric some time ago and it is just perfect for these words.  How can  you go wrong with friends like that!

Monday, July 02, 2012

Life!


These two pieces are on my design wall waiting to be quilted. I thought the one on the left lacked contrast so I made the brighter one on the right.  The orange and blue have enough contrast to dazzle the eyes when seen in a good light.
I had a wonderful Canada Day attending our traditional family gathering that has been going on for well over 50 years. Did you know that it never rains on July 1 around here? The party is always outside and has never yet been cancelled because of rain.

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

This and That


These two wall hangings are both sold but I thought a picture on the wall would give an idea of the size.  I may have to make another one for myself.


I finally got this one quilted and luckily didn't have to turn it on the frame. The binding is leftovers from many quilts so it is as colorful as the rest of the quilt. Now to get at hand sewing the binding down. That's going to take me awhile.

Sunday, June 24, 2012

Second Perfect

I am half done quilting this one. The next decision will  be what colour the binding should be. Most commenters on Facebook like blue the best, although red has been suggested so I might audition that if I have the right shade in my stash.

Saturday, June 23, 2012

Perfect x 2






I liked the first piece  so well that I thought I'd make a second one. I had no more of the fabric with the dancing girls so I chose a different group of colours altogether.  I am putting an orange binding on the first one.  I will make the border a bit bigger on the second one and probably put a narrow blue border between the yellow background and the outer border.

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Perfect


I started this one today.  Right now I am  wondering if it should say "You are perfect just as you are".
Then the problem becomes how  to balance out the lines.  Should just go after perfect or on the last line. Or should there be just two rows of words, making the whole thing longer and narrower?  I'll play around with it a bit tomorrow and see what looks good.
This one was quite easy since there are so many a's and e's, which are exactly the same and quite easy to do. There are also several o's and u's also easy. The only difficult letters are the y's.  No M,N or W makes piecing easier.

Friday, June 15, 2012

Birthday Treats


This is my birthday treat to myself. My friend, Tanis, and I made a bit of a road trip to Kickass Country Store  in Plumas, MB. They have fantastic fabrics there and it took a real act of will to come home with only this much. The bright red/purple/gray one in the top row is Kaffe Fasset and the far left top one is backing for my big scrap quilt. Hopefully, I bought enough this time.

Thursday, June 14, 2012

Calm


All pinned and ready to quilt. This one I'll do on my regular machine because it's quite small and I want to go around the letters.  I won't be very calm by the time I've done that...

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Calm


I started these words yesterday. I have some fabric with sunflowers on it that might do for the border. One thing I have discovered in making all these letters is that e and a are identical, as are n and u, and m and w. It goes a lot faster if I make all 6 es and as at once. And the same for all the other duplicate letters.

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

As Ye Sew


This is how I spent my morning.  When I start a traditional quilt I just have to take some time off to do letters or something pattern-free. I will probably insert a narrow border between the green and the spool fabric.  I also want to include an actual seam ripper, either horizontally below "shall" or vertically at the end of "sew".


My next one is going to say "Keep calm and make stuff". I'm not sure which combination of fabrics I'll use. I love both of them.  Maybe I'll end up making two of them.