Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Something new for the New Year

I thought that since I had so much fabric in my stash, I should use it up. During this year, I came across the quilting book club (which no longer does anything) and they started a quilt along using a couple of books. These were mainly geared to beginners but anyone could participate. The first book they used this one.

I purchased the book because I wanted to see what all was in it. There are 13 different quilts and all of them are in different sizes. Some have a multi-size materials list in case you want to make a baby quilt size or a lap quilt instead of a bigger, single bed size. I decided that I would work through the book using only the fabrics in my stash. Hopefully I can get most of them done without having to purchase anything - including the backings, but that remains to be seen.

 This is the first pattern in the book. Easy peasy and basically a lap size.
 Since I needed a diversion from what I was doing, I went ahead and pulled some fabrics from my stash.

These are the fabrics I chose (light, medium and dark) - mainly because I had enough to make a lap size quilt out of them. We'll see how far I get. This will be an ongoing project for next year. I really don't think that I will be hand quilting these. Two of the patterns are done in solids and those ones I really like. I know all of the quilts can be done in solids but I did want to use up the printed fabrics that I have accumulated over the years and this seemed like a neat idea to do just that.

I hope you are all keeping well and not stressing over the holidays. You can only do what you can do and believe it or not, you really have no influence over how quickly or slowly the mail is being delivered if you have sent something and it has not yet arrived or you ordered something that has not yet come.
Relax. It will all turn out OK in the end.

Monday, December 12, 2011

Every Inchie Monday #50

Blue: the pure color of a clear sky; one of the primary colours.

 Simple and subtle Blue acrylic paint with a blue gel pen.


 Strange how the background took on a blue hue. It's actually a pure white envelope. I was playing with a stamp pad and it gave me this great textured background for the inchie. Too bad that the glue smudged.

Monday, December 5, 2011

Every Inchie Monday #49

Red: any of various colors resembling the color of blood; one of the primary colours.

 Red acrylic painted inchie with red glitter, red beads and sequins and a red button. All decked out for the holiday season.

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

W.I.P.Wednesday

Once again I am taking part in the works in progress Wednesday at Needle and Thread Network. Click on the link and visit the other needleworkers who are taking part.

 This is now off the frame and I have to get the binding done - along with the label and a hanging sleeve.

My eldest daughter Laila put it together and started quilting the tree in gold thread (sorry for the poor quality photo.) The gold thread is not an easy thing to quilt with because it keeps shredding. She gave up the quilting because she didn't really have the time to devote to it and handed it to me to finish. I put it on the frame either at the end of October or beginning of November. 

The pattern is from The Quilt Patch in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. It was one of their Mystery Mailouts several years ago. I took this photo to show the quilting of the empty spaces - I put holly leaves in there. Quilts on the frame aren't usually basted first but since this was Laila's quilt, she started quilting it in a hoop. I suppose she has seen me make enough quilts to remember what to do. I think she did a wonderful job with both the piecing and the embroidery. She even changed the border - adding a black with metallic instead of the original which was to be a red and off-white plaid. I have the exact same quilt but it is still in pieces. This one has given me the desire to finish mine.

Thursday, November 24, 2011

Quilter's dilemma...

running out of fabric. Does anyone know of a source for some of the hockey fabric shown in the this photo?

I was contacted by a fellow quilter who sadly ran out of this same fabric. The store where she purchase the fabric sadly no longer exists. If there is someone who knows of a source for this fabric please leave a comment or email me.

Thanking you in advance for any assistance you can give.
The fabric has been found! Thanks to everyone who left a comment and suggestions. Thank you too, to those who read this post.

On a second note: does anyone have instructions on how to change the blogger settings so that the photo will enlarge when clicked on instead of going into the display mode that was forced upon us? I read it on a blog that I follow but have been unable to find it again.
Thanks to Michelle of    http://brainangles.blogspot.com/   my photo dilemma has been fixed.

I tell you, bloggers are the best. Thank you!!!

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

W.I.P. Wednesday and a special day

Here's my Work In Progress for the Needle and Thread Network. Click on the link and visit the other needleworkers who are taking part. It's always nice to see what others are working on.

It's knitting once again for little Luc. His mom chose the yarn - she didn't like the baby colours they had in the recommended yarns. This one makes its own stripes and as you can see from what's on the needle, the two sleeves that I am knitting at the same time will be different. I figured it would be easy to distinguish what is the front and what is the back of the sweater this way. All you have to remember is what sleeve gets the dark stripe at the cuff and which one is the light one. I am hoping to finish it soon since I have other knitting that I started and should finish up. This one apparently is an easy sweater and I wanted to try out the pattern. Hopefully, next week I will have some quilting to show.

Today I am looking after Arja, a Shih-poo who belongs to my youngest son and his girlfriend. Arja is a bundle of high energy and loves old Baxter and the kitties. They, of course, want nothing to do with her. So, I guess we will be taking lots of walks today.


And 31 years ago today I gave birth to my third child, a little girl we named Maili.

I don't know how many years apart these were taken and the top one is several years old now but I thought it was nice to see.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAILI!!!!

Monday, November 21, 2011

Every Inchie Monday #47

Pretend: to appear falsely, as to deceive; feign: to make believe.

Children and the world of make believe. Pretending to be a cowboy. I grew up watching westerns and even had a Dale Evans outfit.

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Just a little sewing

Since the little guy goes through a lot of bibs and they are constantly in the wash, I decided to use some of my stash to make him a bib just to see how it would work out. I had never put velcro on a bib before - they were always made with ties.

As you can see, I didn't even iron the fabric. I was just intent on getting it done before he woke up. I used the Friday/Vendredi bib as a pattern and put some flannel in between to soak up any liquid that might find it's way past his little chin.

Monday, November 14, 2011

Every Inchie Monday #46

Daring: adventurous courage; to have the boldness to try; venture; hazard.

 I think you have to be pretty daring to try surfing. 
I'm going to be daring here and post another photo.

Since I do not gamble, I think that taking a chance on a couple of dice is daring.


I'd also like to add another one to a previous post for Book inchie.

I came across this and liked it better for the theme on Book.

Saturday, November 12, 2011

Little visitor

I will be busy for the next little while because of this little guy.

Woops, sorry, wrong photo.

I meant this little guy, Luc, who arrived last night, safe and sound.

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

For me

When I was at the Rouge Valley quilt show, the only thing I purchased was a small quilt kit. It was sold by Picton Fabric World, a quilt store in Picton, Ontario. It is the same vendor I had purchased the Hallowe'en mini quilt kit at an earlier quilt show.

  Isn't it cute? I couldn't decide on whether I wanted this one or one that had Santa and a snowman but this one can be hung on the wall longer since it is winter-themed not just Christmas.

Here's one done up. I asked if I could take a photo so that I could figure out which fabrics go where. The vendor also told me that in the kit is extra fabric to make binding since the instructions call for a pillow case finishing and she thought binding was nicer. I agree.

These are books I ordered for myself as a birthday gift - the knitting books are courtesy of my daughter. Thank you. I had borrowed them from the library and they were so good that I decided I would like my own copies for my own library. The quilt book is 'just because.'

Have a great, creative week. I will be busy getting ready for a very special little guest and his mom who are coming for a visit.

Monday, November 7, 2011

Every Inchie Monday #45

Life: the sum of the distinguishing phenomena of organisms, especially metabolism, growth, reproduction, and adaptation to environment.

 "Along with RNA and proteins, DNA is one of the three major macromolecules that are essential for all known forms of life.
Note: the quote above is taken from here.

Friday, November 4, 2011

Another quilt show Part 2

I am hoping to get the rest of the photos in this blog post. I hope you like the show. I did.

There is just something special about applique quilts.

Here's the blurb for it.

Applique and piecing. Something a little different.

This is another pattern by Country Creations. Apparently it is "not a difficult quilt [to make] but very time consuming."

The blurb.

A batik diamond quilt. Simple in design but very effective.

I do like southwest themed quilts.

 More batiks but with applique this time.

A fun, bright crazy quilt.

 Something a little different using just a few colours.

Bargello done with just squares.

Fowl anyone?

A lot of love went into this.

Look at all those triangles.

I almost missed this one because it was so high up. I'm not very tall so it's hard to take shots that are above my head.

Positive/negative in scraps.

Framed maple leaves. An appropriate fall quilt.

Another quilt with a limited colour palette but quite effective.

Tree of life and if I'm not mistaken, it is hand quilted. Nicely done in the border.

Ah yes, this one. The maker made it for her mother.

And here's the last quilt. Another quilt pattern by Harebrained Happenings.

The blurb - and look, it's hand quilted. It's such a popular pattern that it was also made as a second prize in the raffle.

I do hope you all enjoyed the quilt show. I only bought one small kit and I'll show it to you later.

Thursday, November 3, 2011

One more quilt show

This time around it was the Rouge Valley Quilt Show.

 This quilt caught my eye.

Here's the info on the quilt. 

 This is just such a happy, bright quilt. The pattern is by Harebrained Happenings.

The maker of this quilt liked the angel fabric and wanted it to be a feature in the quilt design.

Same design but in blues.

A wonderful quilt design in blue. Anyone know the pattern name?
 A log cabin with a difference.

Double nine patch. Great, colourful quilt.

Trip around the world variation.

What a great layout.

One way to use up your stash - cut it into strips and start sewing.

Baby Wave. The maker said that it was an easy quilt to put together.

A four patch that was made to show off the hockey fabric.

Another Harebrained Happenings pattern. I just had to take a photo of it. Look at the hubcaps. There is a Doggy Daycare pattern too.

I do like silhouette patterns. It's a Country Creations pattern.

Some of the quilts were hung so high up that it was hard to view them.

What a simple but effective pattern.

 An eye spy quilt.

I've always been interested in fashion and this quilt just had to be photographed.
Note: Allie informed me that the pattern is in this book.

A really great way to lay out a sampler.

Wonderful movement in this.

I do like plaid quilt patterns.

 Kaffe Fassett fabrics.

A Bear's Paw pattern done quite differently.

For those of you who are making the Over the Hill pattern, here's one in brown.

The blurb for it.

A square in a square pattern. I really like the background fabric and the fact that the blocks have the same fabric in them.

 Another simple but effective pattern.

And the final one for today. A panel nicely framed.