Questions and Answers

First...to answer some questions from yesterday's comments about the Ladies of the Evening class:
1) yes, we do take home the tools/rulers and the price is very reasonable or I wouldn't be able to go.
2) the ruler is a little tricky to catch on to, but it's so clever and the instructions that come with the ruler are great. I especially liked the pictures that showed each step of the process for both left handed and right handed quilters.
3) the quilts were all the same, but we picked our own colour from the choices of blue, green or red. Here are 2 of my friends with their blue versions...notice how they placed their blocks in the opposite directions?
If you live close enough to take a class with Deb at Reichard's I just got an email saying that she was going to offer this project as a class on June 21st or 25th although it's not listed on the website...just give her a call to sign up.
That was the question part of this post...now on to the answers. Can you give me some suggestions for how to stop procrastinating the IOP?? I am scared of tackling those curved seams again. I haven't touched it since the class and struggled with the first block for most of that afternoon and still didn't get it right. The teacher said the first block would make you cry, and then each one would get easier until you wonder why it used to seem so hard! Answers anyone?!?! Last year I bribed myself to finish a project and it worked - click here to read about it.  How do you force yourself to work on a project you really want to finish but are reluctant to work on?

Design Wall Monday #15

On Friday night I attended the "Ladies of the Evening" class at Reichard's. I just love this class...you enjoy a potluck supper and conversation with other quilters, and then our teacher Deb Beirnes gives you a wonderful project to sew. She does all the work - she picks the project and the fabrics, she does all the math and gets any tools you need, AND she cuts and organizes all your pieces!
Here is my package of goodies waiting for me!
What more could a quilter ask for at the end of a long week...all you have to do is sit down and sew and enjoy yourself!

So this is on my design wall today. Just have to add the borders, then quilt and bind. It is a tabletopper size and the blocks are 6" finished.
Deb taught us a new method to make the Hunter Star blocks using the Rapid Fire Hunter's Star ruler by Deb Tucker...it was a quick and fun method.
To see other design walls click here to hop over to Judy's blog.

Rainbow Scrap Challenge - Purple

OH my goodness...where did the week go?!

It's Saturday already, and time for a Rainbow Scrap Challenge posting.  Each month I have been piecing together small scraps in the colour of the month...this month is purple (click here to see my green blocks from last month).
I am using a technique that might be called "liberated quiltmaking", or "crumb piecing", or "Gee's Bend style", or "crazy patchwork".
Whatever you want to call it, it is F U N and at the end of the year, these 6" blocks are going to become a very colourful rainbow quilt!
Click here to see what other quilters are sewing for their rainbow scrap challenge.

Moody Quilter

Are you a moody quilter??
I find that I have to be in a certain frame of mind to be able to tackle some quilty tasks, such as anything requiring math, attaching borders, making design or layout decisions, or learning new skills. This week I have not been able to do any of these things. Work has taxed my brain and I needed something really easy to sew.
So I got out my mini storm at sea project (Flynn laser cut kit) that I had put away in March (click here to read about that). This week I finished all the 1" (finished) square in a square blocks and can now move on to the rectangles and the larger 2" (finished) blocks.
That was just what the DR. ordered... some relaxing, easy, meditative sewing.
Ahhhh, I feel better already!

You can't do everything...

One of my Mom's favorite sayings:  You can "do it all", just not all at the same time!
I want to do it all in quiltland.
Almost everything I see is inspiring and wonderful, and I want to start everything. But I am trying to be more sensible about the projects I start these days because all my storage space is full of UFO's. I either need to buy a new house and sign up for the "Hoarders" show, or make some changes LOL!
This is the list of recent projects that I just couldn't do, even though in most cases I have a fabric plan all dreamed up...
Amy's Raven Stars quilt along
Thelma's Eventide quilt along
Lori's Midnight Stars Doll quilt along
Tea's Quiltmaker's 100 blocks sew along
Judy's National Quilt Day project
Lee's Supernova quilt along

One of my projects, the  Layer Cake Quilt Along is coming to an end.
I have recently made 2 more blocks. On the right is block #10 ("Fresh Flower") which ended up to be a strange /scrappy version of the posted pattern.
On the left is block #11 ("E-ccentric") which brings in more orange, which I think my project needs. I had to piece together some scraps to get the necessary pieces for this block too, but I think it is quite cool.
The last block pattern is now posted and the layout will be posted on Thursday, so you know what that means...this quilt will soon be finished (and by "finished", I mean a quilt top) and I can start a new project!

Design Wall Monday #14

Do people give you bags full of either cut off corners, or sewn HST's that look something like this? Someone (Marjorie fessed up!) gave me this bag at retreat and I have had such fun playing with these as a leader/ender project.
First I pressed them all and squared them up to 2" HST's. Then I started sewing them into pinwheel blocks (on the right), but made a couple of blocks incorrectly including some that ended up to be "broken dishes" and one other unusual variation (bottom of the right hand column).
Then I saw Julie's gorgeous project - click here, and decided that "broken dishes" was the way to go. The blocks in the right hand column will now be ripped apart and resewn.
Here is a photo of my design wall today playing with some possible layouts.
What do you think? Any suggestions?
Check out other design walls shown on Judy's blog - click here.

Rainbow Scrap Challenge - Purple

Purple is one of my favorite colours and is the colour of the month for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.
I am going to treat myself to sewing up some of these purple scraps today.
And I have 3 other ongoing projects in the back of my mind to work on with purple fabrics this month...woohoo!
The first one up is my quilt-as-you-go with a scrappy purple backing seen in the photo on the right. To see the front of the quilt click here.
The UFO project of the month is #4, so I am going to switch up my UFO Wish List and make this Quilt-as-you-go #4 to kill 2 birds with 1 stone (very weird saying, isn't it?!? but you know what I mean!)

UFO Confessional - March

It's been a long week and I have to admit that I was not able to finish my March UFO. I am disappointed about not meeting my "UFO wish list goal"... but it was not for lack of effort! You can click here to see the other UFO's that did get finished for Judy's UFO challenge...some great quilts finished this month.
The machine quilting was a typical "nightmare" scenario... not the right needle/thread brand in the colour I wanted to use to make it work. Here is a shot of the back of one of the blocks...OMG! I kept fiddling with it, changing needle types, tension settings, and threads in colours I was less and less happy with until I finally gave in and made a trip to the store to buy more Mettler thread. I know what combination works and I wish I would stop buying thread that looks pretty and use what I know I have good luck with! Lesson learned?!?!?  Let's hope so!
Came home with necessary supplies (Mettler thread and Topstitch #100 needle) and quickly finished quilting the rest of the blocks with no problem.  It was like walking all day in stiletto shoes that are one size too small, and then slipping your feet into your favorite snuggly slippers...you just relax and enjoy!
Now I just have to pick out the problem quilting and replace it. The binding is ready and waiting...

In an interesting life paradox, I attended quilt judging school today and that was very interesting. I took along my nightmare quilt as an example of BAD quilting, but was too embarrassed to show it!

UFO Progress

I have one more day to meet my goal for my March UFO finish...nothing like cutting it close!!
I finished the Kaleidoscope quilt top last summer and I'm 99% sure that it will be finished before April 1st!
At the beginning of the month, I had fun doodling some possible continuous quilting designs and decided to try this one. It is really fun to sew, and I am tickled that each block turns out a little differently since I am not marking lines or following a traced pattern. I pretend that I am stitching garland on a Christmas tree within each wedge, and when the 8 wedges are quilted, the quilting design for the block looks like a flower.
I finished quilting the 9 inside yellow/green blocks with Mettler "silk finish" thread and LOVED it.
I  chose Sulky Blendable thread to quilt the outside 12 blue/green blocks because the colour is perfect, but am having breakage issues again. I know I have whined about this thread before (to read a previous whine click here) but I think I've learned my lesson this time!
We'll see how long my patience lasts! I might have to run out to the store and buy a blue Mettler or Aurifil thread.

2 colour quilts

There is a wonderful display of 651 Red and White quilts in New York City this week . I am seeing photos of these quilts appear on quilting blogs I read. The first one was on Pat Sloan's blog on Sunday, then I saw Sophie's report here, and Victoria's gorgeous photos here, and then a post on Thelma's blog here.  Then I got 2 emails from quilt friends about this show (thanks to Judy and Nancy).  It looks like an amazing and unique quilt show. 
You can see tons of links about this show on Pat's new Red and White blog - click here.
I love 2 colour quilts and in February I worked on 2 red and white projects projects (to see them click here and here).  But truthfully,  I just don't have what it takes to make a large 2 colour (or 2 fabric...gasp!) quilt.

I wish I did.

I am really struggling with my current 2 colour project - civil war quilt blocks, which I am sewing in blue and cream. I only have to sew one block each week, but I can hardly stand it!

These are the last 3 blocks I made...

#9 Birds in the Air on the right, #8 Cotton Boll on the left, and #11 Louisiana below.

I just am so bored with using only 2 colours, even though I have lots of variety in my fabrics.

It's boring.

Boring. Boring.

*Snore*
So, after waffling about it for a month, I finally decided to finish the blocks I have already sewn into a tabletopper and call it a day! That will free up some time to start 2 other colourful block sampler projects that I have been dreaming of, which will make my sewing time happier :)

As I often say to other people, quilting is our hobby and we should enjoy every minute of it as much as we can. So if I'm not loving what I'm doing, I should take my own advice and move on... n'est pas?!?
Here are my 9 blocks that I will sew together someday... but not today.
I have to get going on my UFO for Judy's UFO challenge that has to be finished by the end of March.
Yikes...I have 2 days left to get 'er done!
I will have fun with that because I have a quilting design idea that I think will be interesting to sew :)

Design Wall Monday #13

What's on your design wall this morning? You can see a list of other quilters' design walls over on Judy's blog - click here.

This is what is on my design wall today. The winter just seems to be dragging on, and I felt like working with some cozy flannel over the last week. The centre blocks were a garbage rescue (you can read more about it on this post).
The striped/ticking fabric and the pieced borders strips were leftover from a quilt I made for one of the kids' teachers 11 years ago!
I have the snowball blocks sewn together and the first border attached.
Next step is to add more borders to make the quilt bigger... when the flannel is gone, the quilt is "big enough"!

Rainbow Scrap Challenge - Green

For my rainbow scrap challenge I have been hand piecing little scraps of very old green fabric using the apple core shape. I am enjoying remembering where these bits came from...the one on the top right was from a pillow I made for my sister 16 years ago, etc.
I cut my template (you see it at the bottom of the photo) out of a cracker box and am tracing the template shape onto the back of scraps using a marking pencil.
I have been inspired by reading Cathi's blog called Quilt Obsession where she does all the quilting steps by hand. Her hand piecing is amazing - you can check out her projects here.  She makes it seem very enjoyable and easy, but I'm telling you that I am not enjoying these curves seams very much! They are fiddley and difficult, and too small for my first hand piecing project in a while.  Maybe I'll make a mug mat or two?!?
To check out the other rainbow scrap postings - click here.
These are the fabrics I'm sending to the blog visitors who correctly guessed my favorite block in the comments from this post - a little taste of spring green!

Donation Quilt Finished!

My sewing time for the past two days was all hand work to finish up our group donation quilt (to read more about the quilt - click here).
We picked up the quilt from Country Lane Fabrics (no website) which is a country Mennonite store that did the hand quilting for us. They generously donated their quilting services for our project knowing that we made this quilt for the Relief Sale.


Here are some close up shots of the wonderful quilting...the double 4 patch blocks were quilted with 4 X's, and the squares with white sashing blocks were quilted with diamond shapes.

Don't you just love that they used a dark purple thread which showcases their wonderful hand quilting stitches?!?!

Here is another photo showing the border quilting and the corner design. It's just so pretty!


So, my first job was the binding.
I had the binding already prepared like I always do. I prepare the strips and roll them on a paper towel tube to store until the quilt is ready for the binding. That way I always have the matching binding fabric and haven't used it up in another project!

I like to stitch it on to the right side of the quilt by machine and then hand stitch it to the back. I know there are many quick ways to bind quilts all by machine, but I love hand stitching a binding (one of my favorite parts of the quilting process) so that's what I do!
I even painted my fingernails to match the border and binding fabric to make it a little more fun (it doesn't take much to thrill me!)

The next step was the hanging sleeve, and that is just plain boring. It's the same stitch as I use on the binding, but it sure feels different to sew it...weird, I know!


The last step was attaching the label. Isn't this a great label that group member Pat found for us?!? There are 4 of us in our little quilting group and only 3 quilters on the label, but that's because I'm always taking the group photos, and am rarely in one!








SO here is the finished quilt, which we are calling "Chicklets"! It is not a good photo and the colours are off, but it's a finished quilt and handed in before the deadline!!

Snowy Spring Day

It was a very snowy "spring" day here today.  Schools were open, but buses were cancelled. No...my son didn't ride his bike today! He got his bike tuned up once the snow melted last week, but didn't put it back in the shed, so now it's frozen to the ground and he had to walk to school.

My spirea bushes might not make it this year ...the weight of the snow has bent the branches right down to the ground!

It was so cold and snowy,  I got out some flannel scraps to play with.

At quilt retreat my friend Marjorie had thrown these blocks in the garbage. Some of them were already sewn together, but she was at the point of having made so many quilts from a bunch of fabric that she was sick of looking at, and just couldn't face it anymore. Somehow those blocks came home with me...they were so thankful to be rescued from the trash!
Today I had some fun working on a setting for the blocks and digging in my stash for some flannel scraps for borders.
Yes...I am avoiding the Indian Orange Peel curved seams! LOL Something tells me that you'll be seeing a lot of new projects on my blog in the next little while until I can face the peels again!

Cheer up!

This is a post of the things that have cheered me up recently...

1) The robins must have checked their calendars and noticed that spring is supposed to be here...they are out in full force today. This photo shows how everything looks here when the snow melts...grey and brown and dull. We need the birds to cheer us up, so don't tell them that we're getting 10-15 cm of snow overnight!

2) These are the wonderful gifts from my "secret sister" which appeared at my sewing table over the course of quilt retreat! I have had a lot of fun using those fancy tweezers to remove the paper from behind the indian orange peel arcs. I also received a book called Crazy About Quilting which is the next book on my list for bedtime reading.
Thanks to my "not-a-secret-anymore sister" Nancy!

3) Something else that really cheered me up this week was that my 16 year old son was walking home from a friend's house and went out of his way to walk over to Tim Horton's and bring me a coffee made just the way I like it! I was really tickled that he remembered how I like my coffee, and thought to get one for me. And he didn't even want to borrow the car!!!
It's the little things that count when you're raising teenagers!

4) My husband ordered a quilt ladder for me for Christmas and it has finally arrived! He ordered from Robinson's Woodcrafts and this quilt rack is just beautiful...very solid, with a lovely finish. It had to be assembled, but it was easy and quick (according to DH) and looks great. I have been moving it around trying to decide where to display my quilts. Here is is standing behind my sewing machine area. It isn't staying there because the slanted ceilings don't support the rack evenly enough, but it was a great place to take a photo.

What's cheering you up today?!?

Design Wall Monday #12

A couple of weeks ago I posted the beginning of this quilt, which was inspired by a bag of donated scraps. The pattern is called "Hip Baby" and my version is a little brighter than the pattern...seems I can't help myself! LOL

It has been a great "mindless" project to work in between piecing arcs over the last couple of weeks. The blocks are 6 1/2" and use up mostly 1 1/2" squares and strips.
To see other quilter's design walls, hop over to Judy's blog.

Indian Orange Peel Class

Today was the second/final class for the Indian Orange Peel quilt. I sewed my little fingers to the bone this week and was able to finish all the homework just in time. This is what 120 finished arcs looks like!


Here they are in their 2 groups - warm colour teeth on cool backgrounds on the left and cool colour teeth on warm backgrounds on the right.

These are the centre 4 patch blocks that I sewed...we need 25 for the layout, and I sewed 34 because I wasn't sure of my colours.




Here is the teacher Heather Stewart helping me with laying out the blocks. Laying out a quilt is a funny thing...some people love it and savour it and take a long time, and other people want someone else to do it, and they want it done fast so they can get it sewn together.
There were so many thing to think about with laying out this quilt, that it really helped to have several people assisting with the initial efforts.
Here is my layout at the moment...

Looking at it on the computer screen I can see things that I need to change right away! I will hang it up on my design wall at home and work on it for a while and see how it percolates. During the class we sewed one block and it was very challenging. I didn't take a photo because it was very... how shall I say... "bowl like"!!
I'll try again another day when I am feeling more patient, and hope that my second block lays a little flatter!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Spring is definitely here, even though the calendar says we still have a few more days of winter. When I walked the dog I could hear the birds singing and I saw my first robin today...we actually survived another Great Canadian winter! The robin flew away before his photo op, but I did manage to snap this shot of a woodpecker in our front tree. 


Today I had to do two things that I hate to do.
1) Throw out my Valentine roses, which were completely dried out but still looked so pretty to me. But the kids were making fun of my enjoyment of the dead roses, so I had to give in to the peer pressure and put them on the snowy compost pile.
2) I had to fix the buttons on my spring coat. I will hand embroider or hand quilt for hours on end, but I hate to mend or sew on buttons...isn't that bizarre?!? 
Thank you to everyone who left me a comment yesterday guessing my favorite block. I'll be sending out fat quarters to the first few who guessed that my favorite was block #11...so many tiny pieces and perfectly made...I loved it! (If you left a comment but your blogger account is set to "no reply", I won't be able to email you to send you a little fabric treat if you guessed #11!)


How did you celebrate St. Patrick's Day?!? Traditionally I cook green food for supper, usually green pasta, and green cake for dessert. If you didn't know about Pat Sloan's blog hop, you still have time to visit the participating blogs and enter the draw to win one of her Irish quilt books - click here.


I celebrated St. Patrick's Day by doing a little bit of machine quilting on my green and blue UFO.  I'll write more about this project next week when I can devote more time to this quilt, but I am hopeful that I will be able to finish it before the end of the month!
Most of my sewing time this week is devoted to making arcs for the Indian Orange Peel class on Saturday, and fussing around about warm/cool colours according to the colour wheel. I'll be so happy to go back to making colour choices that I like instead of according to colour theory :) But I'm doing this one by the book and following the teacher's instructions as best I can, in the hope that this quilt will turn out to be as spectacular as it is in my mind! LOL Check back tomorrow for the "arc photo shoot"!

St. Jacobs Quilt Challenge Blocks

I made the trip over to St. Jacobs to see the challenge blocks. They are hanging in a different building this year (The Mill)  but they were easy to find.

I always like to take my time voting for my favorite... drives my husband crazy! I have to look at each one and think about it. I loved the block on the top row second from the right, but they added black and you were supposed to use just the colours on your paint chip, so I couldn't vote for it. The piecing was amazing on that block! I always worry about how they will be able to put the quilt together, especially with so many different colours this year, but they always do an amazing job. Can you guess which block I voted for?!?

I'll send a Fat Quarter to the first three commenters who correctly guess my favorite block!

Design Wall Monday #11

In every spare minute over the past week I have been sewing indian orange peel arcs for my class this coming weekend and will update with photos later in the week when I am closer (hopefully!) to meeting my goal.
Between the arcs (just for fun) I have been sewing friendship stars for the border around my guild mystery quilt. This is a pattern called Chocolate Stars from Fat Cat Patterns, although I don't see it on the website anymore. Sindy Rodenmayer is the pattern designer and gave us permission to use this pattern as a project for our quilt guild.

I put the blocks up on my design wall to get a sense of the colours I still need to cut out....I think I have enough blue stars!! These are 22 of the 40 blocks needed for the outside border. Can you believe my bad piecing luck is continuing?!? Seriously, who could screw up a friendship star?!?!
Hop over to Judy's blog to see what other quilters have on their design walls today - click here.

Scrappy Saturday - Green

It's Scrappy Saturday and the colour of the month is green. I dug out some of my green scraps to piece a couple more blocks for my scrappy quilt. I just love piecing blocks like this, especially after the pathetic episode with my challenge block attempts ...I was ready for playing in the scrap bin!

These blocks are squared up to 6 1/2" so you can see that I used up a lot of little bits. 
To see the other green projects being worked on by the Scrappy Saturday quilters - click here.