Design Wall - Super Bowl Sunday

Did you celebrate Super Bowl Sunday by sewing or by watching TV? I'm sure you can guess what I did!


I had some friends over to sew the Quiltbug Super Bowl Mystery quilt called Peekaboo.
Here are the fabrics I started with which are way, way far away from the recommended colourways. But I really wanted to use up stash fabric, and it was a challenge to get the necessary yardage.



Here are the blocks from the 4 of us who sewed the mystery. We each chose very different colours. The one closest to the recommended colourway is the floral pink, green, and yellow which is the column of blocks second from the left.
It was a great day of sewing and these are some of the possible layouts I came up with using my blocks.

layout #1

layout #2

layout #3

layout #4

layout #5

Which of these layouts would you pick to be your favourite?  To see more design wall postings, hop over to Patchwork Times.

Slow Sunday Stitching - February

Life Is Beautiful block #20

It's time once again to enjoy some Slow Sunday Stitching! I am starting off February with another finished Life is Beautiful embroidery block. I think this is my favourite block so far, but maybe I say that every time I finish one?!
This block took more than 2 months to finish and for some unknown reason the pattern had faded and was getting difficult to see. Maybe my eyes have deteriorated, but it was hard to stitch the last half of the block.



I traced over the pattern again with a red frixion marker and was able to see much easier to continue stitching. 
This particular block had a lot of lazy daisy stitches, which made up all the leaves on the two trees. 



What do you do while you are slow stitching? Do you listen to music or TV or radio? Do you like to stitch in silence, or while in conversation with loved ones? I enjoy all of the above at different times in my stitching life.
When putting in some of the stitches in this block I was "watching" Bonnie Hunter on QuiltCam, and of course while watching Downton Abbey on Sunday nights. 
But recently I discovered (reading Cheryl Arkison's blog) that there is a "Slow Stitching Movement"! Who knew?!? The website has a list of 20 podcasts to listen to. I started with Cheryl's podcast and really enjoyed it, so am now listening to Gail Pan. It is fun to be slow stitching while listening to thoughts about slow stitching! There is some annoying background music at the beginning of the podcasts, but it goes away at about the 1 minute mark so stick with it. 
I have another block ready to go into the hoop to begin stitching today.
What are you working on? Link up your blog post below and show us your hand stitching project.

Scrappy Saturday - Maverick Stars

It's brown month over at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. I needed some brown blocks for my Maverick Stars collection. 
I made a light star on a brown background, and a brown star on a light background.

And here's the whole collection so far on the design wall. It is such a fun project to work on to use up small cutoff triangles for the wonky star points.

To see more brown projects, hop over to SoScrappy.

Circa 2016

I am having such a blast with the new Temecula sewalong. It is my favourite kind of quilting project - tons of small scrappy pieces. For these little nine patch blocks, I cut 108 tiny squares from the scrap bin. 



This is how my work surface looked with all the pieces cut and ready to sew.  And today is Friday, so there will be another new block pattern posted and I'll be back to cutting and sewing more little pieces. This is my idea of fun! Click here if it's also your idea of fun!

Aurifil BOM

Aurifil is my favourite thread - I buy it in every size available and use it every day. So of course I had to check out their new BOM. The January block looked like an interesting challenge with 40 components, and I was curious about it would be constructed. 
Because I had been sewing with a lot of blue in January, I needed a break from blue, so went with red and white. I can say that it is the most difficult block I have ever sewn, although I'm still not sure why it took me hours to make!
The cutting directions are complex and I made several errors. A lot of time was spent staring at the computer screen, checking and double checking measurements and pieces. And still, a couple of times I had to add on pieces from strips that I had cut too short. 
Then my centre pinwheel block ended up the wrong size according to the directions. I had to unsew, trim each HST by 1/4" and resew the pinwheel. 

But perseverance pays off, and here is the finished block. You can see some creative versions of the block at the Flickr group here and at Pat Sloan's link up here. 

UFO of the month

I have been excavating in the deep, dark, endless UFO closet looking for a project to finish this month. Look what I found!
This is an old quilt top that I finished sewing in June 2011. It has been "in waiting" ever since. The pattern was by Sindy Rodenmayer of Fat Cat Patterns. I don't see it on her website anymore but she has some great patterns there and a free BOM for you to check out. And I did finish the bright version of the same pattern (without the sashing) in 2011 - see it here.

Brown is not one of my favourite colours, but I do really like sampler quilts, so I think I will enjoy machine quilting this project.  I'm going to try to quilt 3 of these brown blocks each week and will blog about it on Saturdays for the brown RSC. 
The first step will be the 3 B's - getting a Backing and Batting, and pin Basting.
To see more February UFO goals, hop over to One Monthly Goal link up.

Allietare Update

On my design wall today are the finished star blocks for the Allietare mystery quilt. 
And when I look at the photo on the screen, I just have to say "there is one in every crowd"!!
Oh brother :( 
Where's the seam ripper?

It sure is a big quilt and this is only half the blocks taking up my whole design wall! The other half of the blocks are also sewn and you can see them here. To work on the layout of this quilt, I'm going have to build my bigger portable design wall. I think I might take this project to work on at quilt retreat this month.
To see more versions of Allietare, Bonnie is hosting a link up over at her Quiltville blog. I am amazed at how many of the mystery quilts are already completely finished!
Happy Groundhog day!

Finished Quilt on the Design Wall!

My January UFO is finally finished on the very last day of the month! 
Here is my version of Deckade the Halls pinned to the design wall. It measures 56" x 68" which is wider than my design wall, so the edges of the quilt look a little bit wonkier than they really are.
This was a free pattern from the Fat Quarter Shop to celebrate their 10 years in business in 2013. It was such a fun quilt to piece with the Christmas themed blocks of ornaments, stockings, presents, trees, gingerbread people, mugs, stars and wreaths.

Although I am pleased with how the quilted grid design turned out, I wouldn't recommend it to a quilter who might have any perfectionistic tendencies, as it is very tricky to keep the lines at the same angle across the entire quilt. 






I am linking up my first finish of 2016 over at One Monthly Goal and Design Wall Monday.

Slow Sunday Stitching - Binding

Can you believe that January 2016 is already over?!? I really cannot believe it! We are already one month into the new year... how are you doing with your resolutions? 
I am so happy with my progress so far this year. I have already managed to (almost) finish a UFO! It was one big challenge that I have been working on either in my mind, or in my hands since November. Once I got the border problem solved, and the quilting started, it practically finished itself! Well, not really but it was quite fun and I'm so thrilled.

Stay the course!

It's time to give myself a big pat on the back. We all know that it is so much easier to start new things that are fresh and enticing, with no challenges or problems to solve. But there is such a sense of growth and satisfaction to "stay the course", to solve the problems that arise, to push yourself in new directions, and to actually accomplish a huge task.

Today I get to enjoy the wonderful task of finishing a quilt that I started in 2013. Isn't that a great striped binding fabric?  Binding a quilt is one of my favourite hand stitching activities, so I am in for a very enjoyable afternoon of slow stitching.  

What are you hand stitching today? Are you able to stay the course, meet your goals, and finish projects to completion?
Link up your blog post below and share your progress with us.

Scrappy Saturday Blues

It's the last saturday of the month and I have finished two blue scrap blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.


The first block is Mad City Mama (a pattern by Bonnie Hunter in her Leader Ender book). This is a great scrap pattern and uses 133 blue scraps and 12 yellow scraps. That's a lot of small pieces!
I'm not sure I really like how the yellow wonky corners turned out, so I'll try something different on the next one.


When that block was done, I sewed the first Westering Women block. It has a lot of unusual measurements... lots of 7/8's, but the block turned out to be the right size. I used blue scraps because they were all over the cutting table. I'm not sure if this will be a RSC project, or if I will make all the blocks in blue, or if I will start over and make a new 1st block in reproduction fabric. I have a whole month to decide before the next block is posted.
To see more RSC projects, hop over to SoScrappy.

Circa 2016

Temecula Quilts has a new project this year called Circa 2016. I have made several wonderful projects with Temecula over the years, including Hugs and Kisses, Little Letter Quilt, Summer Stars, and Countdown to Christmas.



This project has 2 attractions for me:
1) it's a scrappy project (no new fabric purchases) and 
2) the blocks will be small and finish at 2.25" and 3". 
How can I resist this little gem?!?

These are my first 4 blocks. I really like them!

I love Fridays

New blocks will be posted on Fridays.
I'm hoping over there right now.

I love Fridays!

Frixion Pens

Progress is continuing on quilting my UFO and I hope to have it finished before the end of the month. YAH!

grid machine quilting

I ditched the painters tape since I was stitching too fast and sewed the tape to the quilt a couple of times! I then decided to mark all the lines with the Frixion pens.
I received quite a few comments and emails about the concerns regarding the use of these pens. There seem to be horror stories that have become part of quilting folklore about quilts that were ruined by these pens. It's an interesting dilemma for quilters since almost every quilt store has a display of these pens by their cash registers.

What are the concerns about Frixion pens?

1) they leave a white (ghost) mark on the fabric:

No marks 

If I'm machine quilting on a line, and covering the line with thread, it doesn't matter if there is a white line under that thread. I am also hand quilting a large quilt right now and am using frixion pens to mark the quilting design. I accidentally picked up a real ink pen to mark one block. That matters because it is definitely not going to come out! I'm not worried because it's a quilt for my family's use, not a masterpiece or an heirloom quilt. 

2) marks will reappear in the cold:

hot iron to remove pen lines

It is definitely cold here in the winter, so the marks may reappear if I take the quilt to keep warm at the Santa Clause parade. I'm okay with the cold reappearance since the marks will again disappear with heat applied (either a hot iron or a tumble in the drier).

Many quilters have written reviews about Frixion pens over the years : Lee at Freshly Pieced, Lori's blog Humble Quilts posted results of her pen testing part one here and part two here, and the Connecting Threads blog has an interesting article here. 

In summary... 

Frixion pen

I've been using Frixion for a few years and haven't yet had a problem with the pens or the marks.  However, if I ever get it in my head to make an heirloom quilt that might be submitted to a fancy quilt show, I might not use the frixion pens. But for the majority of my quilts that are going to be used on beds in warm houses and washed until they fall apart, I think it'll be fine to use Frixion.

Quilt Canada 2016 is Coming!

Quilt Canada

Have you registered to attend Quilt Canada yet? It is being held June 15 -18 in Toronto, Ontario. I am so excited that it is only about an hour drive for me, so I can go to events and classes every day and sleep at home.

Adding to my excitement is that I am teaching a hand beading class! There are a ton of long arm classes and machine quilting classes on the list of classes, but only 2 hand stitching classes, which are unfortunately both scheduled for the same day. If you want to take a class from me to learn "Intuitive Hand Beading" it is scheduled for Saturday June 18th. I would love to meet you, so take the day off and come to Toronto to learn about hand work! Check out the class listing here.

One of the highlights for me will be attending a lecture by Jane Sassaman. 
It's called "Quilter's Nite Out"! Hope to see you there!

Making UFO Progress

Progress has resumed on my January UFO. I recovered from the border frustrations of last week, and gave myself lots of pats on the back for not tossing this project back into the darkness of the UFO closet. 
Then I prepared some bobbins to start the machine quilting. I must like this taupe colour of thread because I have a few spools of it. 


I decided to try quilting a straight grid for this one. I was inspired by the beautiful effect of the grid quilting that Tanya did on her Merry Little Christmas quilt.  I have done a diagonal grid on mini quilts and on a tablerunner, but haven't yet tried it out on a large quilt. 

I began by using painters tape to put down some lines to stitch beside (using the 45 degree lines on the rulers). But the tape didn't stick very well, so then I started marking some lines with a frixion pen. So far, so good!

Design Wall Monday

Progress is slow but sure with my Allietare blocks. I enjoyed an evening of sewing with some friends, and was able to make a lot of progress. Here they are on the design wall. There are only a few more blocks to finish and then I can start putting the quilt top together.








You can see in this photo that I was sewing these star blocks on Lucy - my long bed 301 Singer. She just sews like a dream with a perfect tension, and a lovely soft sound. It's such a thrill to sew on a 63 year old sewing machine that works beautifully.
To see more design wall posts, hop over to Patchwork Times.

Slow Sunday Stitching

It's time for some Slow Sunday Stitching!

Take out your hand stitching project and enjoy some relaxation. Try not to think about your "to-do" list, or ruminate about your worries. Just take a stitching break, and focus on pulling thread through fabric, one stitch at a time. Breathe deeply and enjoy yourself.

Modern Quilting by Sherri Noel

If you have an interest in hand quilting, I found a fantastic blog post for you to enjoy. Sherri gave me permission to share her tutorial with the Slow Sunday Stitchers - click here to visit. I was so inspired by the lovely photos and bright colours of her project. Sherri shows step by step how she uses perle cotton for quilting a block sampler quilt. Yum!

I have been putting some stitches into my winter hand quilting project and making some good progress. Max has been visiting and when he "helps", progress is slower.  
I went to get some tea, and when I came back, this was the scene.

"Well Grandma, I really don't know who put that toy on your quilt, but I'm keeping a close eye on the situation. And any time you feel like playing with me instead of quilting, I'll be ready!"

Today I'll be playing with Max, visiting your inspiring blog links, and enjoying some relaxing hand stitching. I love Sunday!
Link up your post below and share your hand work progress with us.

Scrappy Saturday

Blue month continues for the Rainbow Scrap Challengers. I have been sewing a few blocks using Bonnie's leader/ender technique as I have been working on other projects throughout the month. 

Here are two more double 9 patch blocks for Omigosh, and 6 more Alamo Stars. These are l-o-n-g term projects. 
I just know someone is going to ask me how many of these blocks I have now? I have 70 Omigosh blocks, and this many Alamo Stars...

How many is that?
I didn't count, but it's a lot!
I have been debating how to work on a layout for this quilt. No way am I going to lay out hundreds of 2" star blocks on a design wall to somehow organize into a coherent design! Today I am thinking it might be good to sew these blocks together into 9 patchs, so the design unit will be bigger to work with. Do you have any other ideas for me of how to create a quilt design from hundreds of small blocks?
To see more blue scrappy projects, hop over to SoScrappy.

UFO Report

Oh this UFO is kicking my butt! 
This is the third month that my Deckade the Halls quilt has been my primary focus, and the progress is so slow it is driving me crazy.
Why is this so hard?

I have put on hundreds of quilt borders over the years, and this one just wouldn't co-operate with me.
So I removed the ruffly border, re-measured the quilt top a hundred times because see that 2" piece to the right of the needle? That's how much I had to cut off the border piece! How could I have been so 'off' on that border size measurement?
Okay, so then I resewed the border. 
Now it was too small, and still didn't fit!
What the @#$%& is going on?!?
I unstitched it again, re-measured, decided it was in fact the correct size, re-pinned with triple the number of pins, and the border fit beautifully and went on with no problem.
Oh my goodness. Third time's a charm!
When I get over feeling stressed every time I look at this quilt, the next step is to re-pin baste the left side of the quilt, and finally start the quilting. 

Eye Candy

Did you participate in the Cozy Afternoon BOM last year? 

Cozy Afternoon combines two of my favourite things - scrappy piecing and hand embroidery. This is my pastel wallhanging version of Cozy Afternoon. 
Maybe you downloaded the patterns and haven't started your version yet. If you need some inspiration to get sewing your Cozy Afternoon, go check out the winners of the Cozy Afternoon contest that have been recently posted. There are so many creative and beautiful versions to enjoy!

First Start of the Year?

Oh dear.
A new project is coming on.
It's a Barbara Brackman historical project, and it's called Westering Women. 
I'm in. 
Was there ever a doubt about my ability to resist this one?!? Don't even mention that I haven't finished the Votes for Women quilt. In my own defence, I must mention that I did complete my Civil War quilt! 
I'm digging through my reproduction stash to see what colour ranges I'm missing. I have one week to sort myself out before the first block is posted.
Are you heading west with the rest of us quiltin' ladies?!?