Linking back to Wordless Wednesday at BlogPaws
WIP Wednesday and FAL Finish #3
I’ve had a fairy productive week. I had to take my Asian Peacock wall hanging off of the frame so that I could finish the last charity quilt for Little Warriors. It was a cute jungle themed quilt so I used an edge-to-edge paw pattern on it. I think it would be great for a boy or a girl.
Once I finished this charity quilt I had to decide whether to put the wall hanging back on or to jump ahead and load my one block wonder. The OBW won so I’ve been working on that for a few days. Since the pattern is so busy I opted for an all over chrysanthemum design with some custom work around the appliquéd geishas. It should be finished in the next day or so and then it goes into the big pile waiting for the binding to be completed.
Linking up to:
Linky Tuesday @FreeMotion by the River
WIP Wednesday @The Needle & Thread Network
We Did It Wednesday @Sew Much Ado
WOW Us Wednesday @Savy Southern Style
Whimsy Wednesday @The NY Melrose Family
WOW Me Wednesday @Polkadots on Parade
| 2014 WIP | Size | Current status |
| Pink & blue batik | King | binding |
| Jana’s Wedding | Queen | piecing |
| Asian Shadow Box | King | binding |
| Waterlily | Wall hanging | quilt top |
| One block wonder | Queen | FMQ |
| Peacock | Lap | FMQ |
| Blue Hydrangea | King | FMQ |
| Dragonflies | Wall hanging | Binding |
| Charm Square Crib 2 | Baby | binding |
| Charm Square Crib 3 | Baby | binding |
| 2014 Completions | Size | |
| Kimono | Wall hanging | Hung |
| Little Warriors Charity (x6) | Twin | Donated |
| Charm Square Crib 1 | Baby | Donated |
Filed under Charity Quilt, FAL, Finish-A-Long, Work-in-progress
Wordless Wednesday – Rawhide cigar anyone?
Linking up to Wordless Wednesday at Blogpaws
Filed under Wally, Wordless Wednesday
WIP and FAL finish #2
I’ve finally finished my Kimono wall hanging which gives me FAL #2 for this quarter. I used two layers of polyester batting behind the Kimono in addition to the stiff fusible batting that I used all over. It is now on the wall in our guest bathroom. The colours and style really suit the fixtures and the aesthetic. I found this Asian inspired bamboo quilt hanger that just added the final touch.
I used a very tight flower design all over the cream background to compress it and combined that with stitch in the ditch on the kimono and that really accentuated the trapunto and gave it real dimension.
I just did a little outline quilting in the border to keep it simple.
My Asian blue peacock wall hanging is still on my frame waiting for me to finish the ditch work before I tackle the FMQ. I got side tracked and started a brand new quilt. Here I was two quilt tops away from having no WIP left and I blew it by starting another project. In my defence, our niece is getting married in May and the quilt is for her.
I’ve finished my one-block-wonder quilt top that I started way back in 2010. I’m just adding the appliquéd Geishas in the solid blue part with a little trapunto work and then it is the next in line for the longarm. I added one more blue border on each side after I took this picture. I thought it would help to accentuate the print that I added to the side borders (it is from the fabric I used to make the OBW). I like the way the ombre purple borders change from light to dark.
Linking up to:
Linky Tuesday @FreeMotion by the River
WIP Wednesday @The Needle & Thread Network
Whimsy Wednesday @The NY Melrose Family
WOW Us Wednesday @Savvy Southern Style
We Did It Wednesday @Sew Much Ado
WOW Me Wednesday @Polkadots on Parade
Needle and Thread Thursday @My Quilt Infatuation
Really Random Thursday @Live a Colorful Life
| 2014 WIP | Size | Current status |
| Pink & blue batik | King | binding |
| Jana’s Wedding | Queen | piecing |
| Asian Shadow Box | King | binding |
| Waterlily | Wall hanging | quilt top |
| One block wonder | Queen | FMQ |
| Peacock | Lap | FMQ |
| Blue Hydrangea | King | FMQ |
| Dragonflies | Wall hanging | Binding |
| Charm Square Crib 2 | Baby | binding |
| Charm Square Crib 3 | Baby | binding |
| 2014 Completions | Size | |
| Kimono | Wall hanging | Hung |
| Charm Square Crib 1 | Baby | Donated |
Filed under FAL, Finish-A-Long, WIP, Work-in-progress
-30 degrees….Am I crazy?
For the past two days I have run at record low temperatures. Prior to this, the coldest I had ever gone for a run was -23. Yesterday I ran to the gym and it was -26 degrees Celsius with the wind chill putting it in the low minus 30’s. This morning I ran to the pool for my aqua aerobics class and it was -30 degrees without the windchill….I don’t know how cold it was with the wind chill factored in. It has been so cold all week that I haven’t been able to take the dogs with me and Wally is very unhappy at being left at home. When I put on my workout clothes he paces at the front door in anticipation of our adventure to come. I feel so guilty when he looks at me with those big, sad, brown eyes when realizes that he isn’t going with me.
I had on 3 layers of pants, on my upper body I had on 5 layers if you count my bathing suit, two layers of mitts and I had a head band, balaclava and hood to keep my face/head warm. The only parts exposed were my eyes and the bridge of my nose. Don met me at the pool with a x-large hot Timmies to warm me up. He took this picture of me all covered in frost. Even my gloves had a layer of frost on them.
The good news is that it’s only 9am and I’ve had two workouts, watched a beautiful sunrise and I have the whole day ahead of me.
Wordless Wednesday – my handsome boy
Just love the heart shaped white spot on his chest
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Filed under Wally, Wordless Wednesday
Riley Blake Challenge
Last year Riley Blake Designs got together with the Modern Quilt Guild and challenged members to take a bundle of 6 fat eighths and make something out of them. Your project had to be completed by Feb 17th to qualify. You could use anywhere from 1 to all 6 of the fabrics and combine them with any other Riley Blake print or a solid fabric from your stash. I put my name into the challenge and my fabrics arrived in late September. When I opened the package I was hoping that I would immediately be inspired. Unfortunately that didn’t happen. I had no idea what I would do with the fabrics.
I put my package aside and completely forgot about it. Fast forward to Valentines day and I saw the package sitting on my cutting table. Now what??? 3 days to design, cut, piece, quilt and bind my project. Yikes! I decided that I was going to make a pillow in the style of a quilt, using batting to give the pillow top dimension when it was quilted and having binding on the edges. I laid the fabrics out and just started cutting odd shapes and sewing them back together.
It took a couple of hours but I had the pillow top completed and ready for quilting. I decided to use a stiff, iron on batting to give the pillow some shape and structure. Since I was going to do mostly straight line quilting I decided to just use my domestic machine rather than my longarm. Dumb decision. By the time I was finished my shoulders were killing me and I had a mountain of threads to pull through to the back and tie off. It didn’t help that Tilly insisted on helping me quilt by standing on top of the fabric as I was trying to move it.
It took me a couple of hours to clean up the pillow top and then a few more hours to sew on the binding and then hand sew it onto the back of the pillow. All things considered I am pretty happy with the final project. Is it a modern quilting masterpiece? Nah….but for my first attempt at just winging not only the piecing but the quilting……I’m content with the final outcome.
Filed under Quilting
WIP
I ‘ve finished the quilting on my Kimono wall hanging so I just need to put on the binding and I will have FAL finish #2. I’ve got my Shoji Screen wall hanging on the frame now. Lots of ditch work to do before I can start having some free motion fun. Still not sure how I am going to quilt this one….I would like to enhance the large peacock print and maybe something unique in each of the different coloured blocks.
I have officially gone from being a quilt top maker to a real quilt maker thanks to my longarm. Last October I had a huge pile of tops that had been hanging around for a few years. After my Shoji quilt I only have two more WIP left. A one block wonder that needs to have some borders added and an appliqué sewn on and a waterlily art quilt that is ready to be quilted. Once they are done, I am officially up-to-date and have no WIP left (except for tons of binding to hand sew). Wow…..I can’t believe it.
Linking up to:
Linky Tuesday @FreeMotion by the River
WIP Wednesday @The Needle & Thread Network
Whimsy Wednesday @The NY Melrose Family
WOW Us Wednesday @Savvy Southern Style
We did it! Wednesday @Sew much ado
| 2014 WIP | Size | Current status |
| Pink & blue batik | King | binding |
| Asian Shadow Box | King | binding |
| Kimono | Wall hanging | binding |
| Waterlily | Wall hanging | quilt top |
| One block wonder | Queen | piecing |
| Peacock | Lap | FMQ |
| Blue Hydrangea | King | FMQ |
| Dragonflies | Wall hanging | Binding |
| Charm Square Crib 2 | Baby | binding |
| Charm Square Crib 3 | Baby | binding |
| 2014 Completions | Size | |
| Charm Square Crib 1 | Baby | Donated |
Filed under FAL, Finish-A-Long, Uncategorized, WIP, Work-in-progress
WIP and First FAL for 2014
I’ve finished quilting 1 of the 6 charity quilts for the Little Warrior’s Be Brave Ranch. I did an edge to edge design called Baptist Swirl.
I’ve finished quilting my Asian shadowbox quilt and I’m half way through hand sewing on the binding. I will do a ta-da post with pictures when it is completed.
I am thrilled to finally have my Kimono quilt on the frame. It was on last years’s FAL list twice and never got touched. I’ve just got a little bit of the border left to do and then it is binding time.
Linking up to:
Linky Tuesday @FreeMotion by the River
WIP Wednesday @The Needle & Thread Network
Whimsy Wednesday @The NY Melrose Family
WOW Us Wednesday @Savvy Southern Style
Wow Me Wednesday @Polkadots on Parade
We did it Wednesday @Sew Much Ado
Needle and Thread Thursday @My Quilt Infatuation
Really Random Thursday @Live a Colorful Life
| 2014 WIP | Size | Current status |
| Pink & blue batik | King | binding |
| Asian Shadow Box | King | binding |
| Kimono | Wall hanging | binding |
| Waterlily | Wall hanging | quilt top |
| One block wonder | Queen | piecing |
| Peacock | Lap | quilt top |
| Blue Hydrangea | King | FMQ |
| Dragonflies | Wall hanging | Binding |
| Charm Square Crib 2 | Baby | binding |
| Charm Square Crib 3 | Baby | binding |
| 2014 Completions | Size | |
| Charm Square Crib 1 | Baby | Donated |
Filed under Charity Quilt, FAL, Finish-A-Long, WIP, Work-in-progress
First WIP post for 2014
It is already the 3rd week in January and this is my first WIP post. That either means that I haven’t done any work or I’ve been to0 busy working to take the time to post. Unfortunately I haven’t been doing much quilt work. Life has gotten in the way of the things I want to do. Oh well it can only get better from here.
I have made some progress on my Asian Shadow Box quilt. I finished the borders and it has been on the longarm for the last couple of weeks. I made my own pantograph for this quilt. I had some 11×17 graph paper that I used to create my design and then I just made a bunch of copies and taped them together.
Linking up to
Linky Tuesday @FreeMotion by the River
WIP Wednesday @The Needle & Thread Network
WOW me Wednesday @Polkadots on Parade
Whimsy Wednesday @The NY Melrose Family
WOW Us Wednesday @Savvy Southern Style
We Did it! Wednesday @Sew much ado
Needle & Thread Thursday @My Quilt Infatuation
Really Random Thursday @Live a Colorful Life
Filed under Quilting, Uncategorized, WIP, Work-in-progress
More FAL additions
I’ve got 5 more quilts to add to my Q1 list for the 2014 finish-a-long bringing my total to 11 items (this is my first post for Q1). I’ve got 5 twin sized quilt tops that need to be quilted. They are going to be donated to Little Warriors Be Brave Ranch that is scheduled to open in June. The plan is to give each child a quilt that they not only use while they are at the Ranch but they get to take it home with them when they leave.
Filed under Charity Quilt, FAL, Finish-A-Long
2014 FAL Quarter 1
I had so much success with the finish-a-long in 2013 that I am going to do it again this year. It is being hosted by Katy at the Littlest Thistle.
I am going to try and complete 6 WIPs in the first quarter.
First, I have a baby quilt that I made last fall to take to a FMQ class. I completed 95% of the quilting in the class so I have to just finish the last little bit and then sew on the binding.
Second, is another baby quilt that is waiting for the binding.
My third WIP is one block wonder that I started in 2010. The top is almost finished. It need to add a raw edge appliqué to it and some borders and then quilt it.
This one was on last year’s FAL list twice….I’m hoping that the third time is the charm. It is a completed wall hanging that needs to be quilted and bound.
My fifth project is a huge 104″ x 116 inch top that is waiting for me to complete the mitred corners on the border. It has sat for 2 years while I procrastinated because I have never done mitred corners before and I just didn’t want to try it and get frustrated or screw up.
My final project is another baby quilt that is a finished top waiting for quilting and binding.
Filed under FAL, Finish-A-Long
FAL wrap up and FAL #12
Back in October I compiled my list of projects that I planned to finish in the final quarter of Leanne’s finish-a-long (read my post here). I am thrilled to say that I actually finished 12 of 13 projects that I listed. Yeah me!!!
This is my last finish of the quarter. It is called Leftovers II and was the second quilt that I made from leftover fabric from my Blue Odyssey quilt. To see more pictures and read about the making of this quilt please click here.
Filed under FAL, Finish-A-Long
FAL Finish #11
This is Leftovers I, a quilt I made from tiny rectangles leftover from making my Blue Odyssey quilt. It was also the first quilt I ever quilted on a longarm. Follow the link to see more pictures and read about the making of Leftovers I
Filed under FAL, Finish-A-Long
2012 BOM Blues – FAL finish #9
Once again in 2012 I participated in QuiltEssential Co’s block of the month program. We pieced a block every month and then you have all of 2013 to assemble the blocks into a finished quilt using a design they suggest or come up with something on your own. The January 2014 quilt show will feature all the BOM quilts from 2012.
This colour way was called blues. To read about the making of this quilt and to see more pictures, please click here.
Filed under Block of the Month, QAL, Quilt-A-Long
Opera – FAL finish #10
This is the second BOM quilt that I worked on in 2012 (this is the other one called Blues). Although the 12 block designs are the same in both quilts, the overall finished quilts are so very different. Follow the link to see more pictures and to read about the making of Opera.
Filed under Block of the Month, FAL, Finish-A-Long
FAL Finish #8 Pink and Blue Batik
I can’t believe that this quilt is finally finished. If it wasn’t for the FAL, I’m sure it would still be in my closet. This was the first quilt that I ever made and it has sat for years waiting for the final borders to be sewn on so that it could be quilted. I just did a free hand swirl design in the body and some custom quilting in the set in triangles and border.
Filed under FAL, Finish-A-Long
2013 in review
Well 2013 is almost over. For the most part it was a good year. The last few months have been a little hectic with the rapid decline in Don’s Mom’s health and Tango’s diagnosis of degenerative myelopathy. I only managed to do one half marathon and few shorter races this year but I guess that is better than sitting on my fanny and doing nothing.
The highlight for me was getting my longarm machine. It has been my creative escape when life gets the best of me. Here is a mosaic of my quilt finishes in 2013:
Filed under Quilting, Races, Two legged family
Darwin – FAL finish #7
I actually finished this quilt in early December but I wasn’t able to post any pictures of it because it was a present for our son and daughter-in-law who subscribes to my blog. To read more about it and see more pictures please follow this link DARWIN.
Filed under FAL, Finish-A-Long, Quilting
Tropical Punch FAL finish #6
I can’t believe that I have managed to finish so many of my 4th quarter FAL projects. I finished this one at the end of November but I’ve held off with my ‘ta-da’ post because I didn’t want the recipient to see the quilt before she opened the present Christmas morning. To see more pictures and read about the making of this quilt click here.
Filed under FAL, Finish-A-Long, Quilting
Chewed Slipper’s Surprise
We found this DVD in our mailbox this week. It was a surprise from Lorena and Amanda, the co-owners of Chewed Slippers Dog Photography. This summer we did a photo shoot with them. Wally is almost 13 and I wanted to capture some special pictures with him. They allowed 2 dogs in the sitting so we brought Tango along so that Don could get some pix of him and her together in the Canadian Search Dog uniform. I wish we had known how special the pictures were going to be because we would have paid extra to add Tilly to the session (sorry Tilly….next time we will include you). We didn’t know at the time, but a few weeks after the shoot we found out that Tango has Degenerative Myelopathy and the future prognosis for her is not very bright. It just makes the pictures of her even more special. They took well over 100 pictures. When we went in for our viewing, we were overwhelmed. Several of the pictures brought tears to my eyes. I am so glad we did the session. If you are looking to capture some memories of your family (two and four legged) I highly recommend Chewed Slippers.
Filed under Uncategorized
Merry Christmas
From the Dog House to your house……we wish you a very Merry Christmas. We hope you are surrounded by family, warmth and joy.
Four Sisters and WIP
My friend Susan has 4 beautiful grand-daughters and she is the most amazing Nana. The girls love to spend time with her and the two oldest like to help her sew and quilt. She let the girls go through her stash and pick the fabrics they liked best. They cut them into small strips and then they sat on Nana’s lap as she sewed them together to make a string that was as long as they were tall. When they were finished that had four very colourful strips. As a Christmas surprise, Susan incorporated the strips into a quilt design. She was running out of time to complete her gift so I volunteered to quilt it for her. I made a few suggestions to personalize the quilt by having Susan write their names on each strip and then I quilted over her markings so that it was her handwriting. She gave me the freedom to FMQ it as I saw fit.
We used a polyester backing with lots of loft that allowed me to quilt designs into the background. Susan has a dog and a cat that the girls just adore so I thought I should add their foot prints.
The two 2012 block of the month quilts might just be done in time for the annual quilt show in January. “Opera” has been quilted and I am hand sewing the binding. “Blues” is on the frame now. It took me almost 2 full days to do all the ditch work to stabilize the quilt before I start quilting the background. Still don’t have a complete plan in my head yet but I am getting there.
Linking up to
Linky Tuesday @FreeMotion by the River
WIP Wednesday @The Needle & Thread Network
WOW me Wednesday @Polkadots on Parade
Whimsy Wednesday @The NY Melrose Family
WOW Us Wednesday @Savvy Southern Style
We Did it! Wednesday @Sew much ado
| 2013 WIP | Size | Current status |
| Pink & blue batik | King | binding |
| Asian Shadow Box | King | waiting for borders |
| 2012 BOM ‘Blues’ | King | FMQ |
| 2012 BOM ‘Opera | King | binding |
| Kimono | Wall hanging | quilt top |
| Waterlily | Wall hanging | quilt top |
| One block wonder | Queen | piecing |
| Peacock | Lap | quilt top |
| Leftovers I | Lap | Binding |
| Leftovers II | Lap | quilt top |
| Blue Hydrangea | King | FMQ |
| Dragonflies | Wall hanging | Binding |
| Charm Square Crib | Baby (x3) | quilt top(1), binding(2) |
| 2013 Completions | Size | |
| Tropical Punch | Lap | |
| Little Warriors | Twin (x2) | |
| Xmas Surprise | Lap | |
| 2011 BOM ‘Spring | King | |
| Blue Odyssey | King | |
| High River Quilts | Lap (x5) | |
| Kassidy’s flannel | Baby | |
| Sue’s Summer Breeze | Queen/King | |
| Star Surround QAL | Lap/Twin |
Filed under Block of the Month, WIP, Work-in-progress
Work in Progress Wednesday
I have been so busy lately (trying to get my Christmas quilts finished and battling a nasty cold for 3 weeks) I have not had time to blog. I am thrilled to say that both Xmas quilts have been completed and shipped off which gives me FAL finishes number 6 and 7. So I don’t spoil the surprise, I will have to hold off on the full ‘ta-da’ posts until after the boxes are opened Christmas morning. Here are a few closeups of the FMQ. I used wool batting on Tropical Punch to give it a beautiful loft. I only quilted the orange/yellow centres and just did some stitch in the ditch around the blue/green fabrics.
For the second quilt I did some trapunto work to make the main feature of the quilt stand out and then just did some dense freehand quilting in the background to make it pop even more.
I finally got my 2012 block-of-the-month ‘Opera’ on the frame. I needs to be done by the end of the year so that it qualifies for the January quilt show.
Linking up to
Linky Tuesday @FreeMotion by the River
WOW me Wednesday @Polkadots on Parade
Whimsy Wednesday @The NY Melrose Family
WOW Us Wednesday @Savvy Southern Style
We Did it! Wednesday @Sew much ado
Needle and Thread Thursday @My Quilt Infatuation
Really Random Thursday @Live a Colorful life
Thank Goodness It’s Finished Friday @Quilt Matters
| 2013 WIP | Size | Current status |
| Pink & blue batik | King | binding |
| Asian Shadow Box | King | waiting for borders |
| 2012 BOM ‘Blues’ | King | quilt top |
| 2012 BOM ‘Opera | King | FMQ |
| Kimono | Wall hanging | quilt top |
| Waterlily | Wall hanging | quilt top |
| One block wonder | Queen | piecing |
| Peacock | Lap | quilt top |
| Leftovers I | Lap | Binding |
| Leftovers II | Lap | quilt top |
| Blue Hydrangea | King | FMQ |
| Dragonflies | Wall hanging | Binding |
| Charm Square Crib | Baby (x3) | quilt top(1), binding(2) |
| 2013 Completions | Size | |
| Tropical Punch | Lap | |
| Darwin | Lap | |
| 2011 BOM ‘Spring | King | |
| Blue Odyssey | King | |
| High River Quilts | Lap (x5) | |
| Kassidy’s flannel | Baby | |
| Sue’s Summer Breeze | Queen/King | |
| Star Surround QAL | Lap/Twin |
Filed under FAL, Finish-A-Long, WIP, Work-in-progress
WIP
I’ve got lots of works in progress this week. This is the first quilt I ever pieced. I took a 6 week intro to quilting class and while I was learning stuff each week in class, at night I made two king size quilts on my own. The teacher thought I was ‘woman obsessed’ and she was right. This poor baby has sat all alone in my closet waiting for the last two borders to be sewn on and then quilted. Now that I have my longarm I decided it was definitely time to tackle this 110″x110″ monster. It is on my 4th quarter FAL list so now that it is finally quilted … hopefully I will get it bound by the end of the year.
This is another FAL quilt. The FMQ work is done and I am working on hand sewing the binding on (my least favourite task). It is a Christmas present so I don’t want to show the whole thing and spoil the surprise.
On Friday I took a 3 hour class at my longarm dealer. It was just a freehand basics course that they offer to new longarm owners or people who want to rent their equipment. I tried a freehand edge to edge design. I’m managed to keep the design relatively the same size throughout the quilt but if I were to do it again I would probably make it 50% larger so that you could see more of the loft in the quilt. Every quilt has been a wonderful learning experience to help me move successfully from my FMQ on my domestic machine to the longarm.
Linking up to
Linky Tuesday @FreeMotion by the River
Wow me Wednesday @Polkadots on Parade
| 2013 WIP | Size | Current status |
| Pink & blue batik | King | binding |
| Asian Shadow Box | King | waiting for borders |
| 2012 BOM ‘Blues’ | King | quilt top |
| 2012 BOM ‘Opera | King | quilt top |
| Kimono | Wall hanging | quilt top |
| Waterlily | Wall hanging | quilt top |
| One block wonder | Queen | piecing |
| Peacock | Lap | quilt top |
| Leftovers I | Lap | Binding |
| Leftovers II | Lap | quilt top |
| Tropical Punch | Lap | quilt top |
| Blue Hydrangea | King | FMQ |
| Dragonflies | Wall hanging | Binding |
| Xmas Surprise | Lap | Binding |
| Charm Square Crib | Baby (x3) | quilt top(1), binding(2) |
| 2013 Completions | Size | |
| 2011 BOM ‘Spring | King | |
| Blue Odyssey | King | |
| High River Quilts | Lap (x5) | |
| Kassidy’s flannel | Baby | |
| Sue’s Summer Breeze | Queen/King | |
| Star Surround QAL | Lap/Twin |
Filed under FAL, Finish-A-Long, Quilting, WIP, Work-in-progress
Jamie Wallen heaven
Yesterday I was lucky enough to take 2 classes with this amazing quilter. He was very personable and happy to share his gift. He is in town for 4 days but I could not swing all the time off work. I went home inspired and just itching to spend some quality time on my long arm. Working for a living sucks when all you really want to do is be creative and “play”. Look at some of his amazing work:
Filed under Quilting
Winter Surprise
It had to happen some time. We had our first snowfall last night. We woke up to a beautiful winter wonderland. I don’t like the cold but I have to admit it is pretty. The bad news is that I have to drive to the opposite end of the city for a longarm class this morning……yikes the roads are going to be scary!!!
Filed under Garden
Life In The Dog House 
