Big Bear Finish!

The Bear quilt is finished! 
This quilt was started in the fall of 2016 with Lorna's MOD Bear Paw Quilt Along. I thought I was going to make a little wallhanging, but this bear project took on a life of it's own and decided to become a bigger quilt. I made as many blocks as I could with the brown fabric I had purchased for the project.
Then I got the idea to add the word 'Killarney', which is the name of the provincial park in which I saw a bear that year (you can read the story here). Adding the word row meant that I ran out of the light background fabric and had to buy more to make the borders. The new background fabric turned out to be a slightly lighter colour which didn't bug me too much until I saw the finished quilt outdoors. But it's way too late to change it now, so I just have to live with it. I am tempted to tea dye the whole quilt and see if that tones down the difference between the two fabrics.


It was only fitting that I took the photos of the finished quilt while camping at the same park where I met the bear last year.
We had fun finding just the right spot to hold the quilt for photos. However it is difficult to get qualified quilt holders who understand how to hold the quilt still and parallel to the ground!

The quilt has already been used for cuddling up in around the fire, for warmth at night, and for protection from mosquitoes, black flies and bears!
Thank you to Lorna of Sew Fresh Quilts for another great quilt along and a wonderful pattern!
I'm so happy to be linking up my finish to One Monthly Goal and Let's Be Social. You can see more bear quilts at the QAL link up here.

Emerald Stars Step #1

Scrap organization is an ongoing challenge for a busy quilter! I'm always tossing pieces here and there, and trying to figure out how to store scraps so they are actually useable for future projects. What good does it do to keep scraps if they don't actually become finished quilts?!?! 

Well, Kevin the Quilter is helping us out with that challenge! He is hosting a scrappy mystery project called "Sapphire Stars" (step #1 is here). There are lots of tips already posted for scrap organization. 
For this project I am using up green scraps, so my quilt will be called Emerald Stars. The dark corners were leftover from the sashing and backing on the bear quilt, the medium squares are some of my favourite green plaids, and the lights were from the green scrap bin. It's so great to be getting these scraps into a quilt ... thanks Kevin!



The 48 blocks for step #1 were sewn on my white Singer featherweight 221K.  I thought it was the perfect machine for sewing these green blocks since under some lighting the machine appears to have a slight tinge of green. Notice that I'm using up a bobbin of light green thread to piece these blocks. 
Ready for step #2!
Linking up to Oh Scrap!

Christmas Design Wall

On the design wall today are the blocks for my "Have a Jolly Little Christmas" quilt. This is a sew along project from Sew Fresh Quilts. 
I just finished the Christmas Wreath pattern that was posted in June. It was just like constructing a jigsaw puzzle using pieces of fabric!

I've fallen quite a bit behind on this project. There have been 13 block patterns posted and I've just now finished sewing my 4th block. 

That's okay... there are still 5 months until Christmas!

Up next is the reindeer block... I'm thinking I'll make mine a Rudolph!

To see more design wall postings, hop over to Small Quilts.

Slow Sunday Stitching

Welcome to the weekly hand stitching party!
At Slow Sunday Stitching, we brag about our slowness, and take pride in the art of relaxing, breathing deeply, and not really accomplishing much. We believe in the health benefits of relaxation, and take it seriously enough to commit to the practice at least once a week. If you need a reminder of the benefits of relaxation, click here.

This week has seen me slowly stitching on a few different projects:

*here I am stitching the split hanging sleeve on the back of a miniature quilt that I am calling Bonnie's Star. I sew my hanging sleeves right into the binding along the top of the quilt. After the sleeve is hand stitched, I stitch the binding down on top of it.

*here I am stitching the label for the Bear Quilt. I have been remiss about making labels for my quilts in the past, and every time I do a quilt lecture and trunk show I feel embarrassed about that. So I am trying to improve my habits by making a label for every finished project.  
This label is a plain muslin rectangle in the centre with the quilt's information, surrounded with sausage fabric. It's an easy label to make, with the edges turned under and appliqued to the back of the quilt. Sometimes I just tuck a triangle label into the corner of the binding. I'm also stitching the binding on the bear quilt today and am so close to finishing!

*here I am appliqueing the centre of a trillium block. The pieces were tiny and I used the toothpick trick from Becky Goldsmith (video here) to turn the edge under a bit at a time. I don't enjoy applique this tiny, but for one block I can force myself to do it!

What are your hands stitching? 
We encourage you to relax and spend some time creating something with your needles today! 

Slow down, take some stitches and then link up your blog post below so we can see what you're working on.

   

    An InLinkz Link-up
   

Scrappy Saturday

A couple more blue blocks were added to the Maverick Star collection this week. This a slow growing, no pressure project... just the way I like my quilting to be! The star points are mostly corners cut off of flying geese blocks. This is a free Bonnie Hunter pattern (click here) and uses up lots of scraps. 
To see more Rainbow Scrap projects, hop over to the weekly link up here.

Finished Mini Quilt

Back in May when issue #15 of the 100 Blocks magazine came out, I was immediately smitten with Bonnie Hunter's block. In the magazine this block was called "sawtooth flutter" but I'm calling my version "Bonnie's Star". 

I sewed her block pattern using leftover triangles given to me by one of my quilt guild members (who would have otherwise thrown the pieces in the garbage). It was a fun challenge to turn the baggie of scrap triangles into this 133 piece 12" block. 
Since I already had the walking foot on my machine because I was quilting the Bear, I thought a quick little diversion with some instant gratification would be nice. And it was! I just did some stitch-in-the-ditch quilting around the block pieces and some parallel lines in the border and it's done - including a label and hanging sleeve.
A quick finish is just what I needed to maintain my motivation for my larger long term projects. 

New Mystery Quilt

I caved to the temptation to start the Meadow Mist Designs mystery quilt called Magnolia Mystery. 
Why?
Because there are only 4 fabrics required and I already have them in my stash! When I read the fabric requirements for this quilt, I could see in my mind's eye the exact fabric I could use from my stash. I have a lot of fabric leftover from my Swoon quilt and this is the perfect project to use it up.

A - yellow (3/8 yd scrappy)
B - grey (3/4 yd yardage)
C - black (5/8 yd yardage)
D - white with black designs (background 4 1/4 yd scrappy)
We won't actually start sewing until August but I have everything ready to go. Thanks to Kate for the enticement to join in the fun!