Friday mail!

Yay!  I broke down and bought some quilting books:

quilting books

I don’t have any complete references for either applique or machine quilting  and I really want to complete my projects that I have underway.  I get set to work on my projects but then I always second guess myself , hence the books.  The applique has so many good tutorials with excellent pictures BUT I am quite taken with the machine quilting book! It is thorough.  I have quilt tops that need quilting but I don’t necessarily want to get the professional machine quilter to do it; I want to do it myself, the way I want, with smaller stippling than the woman who does it.  I am half-way through reading it and almost up to the way the woman explains quilting a full quilt.  And she has loads of tips….looks like I will be busy! .

The material that the books are sitting on is some fabric I got yesterday.  It is real cheap so I bought 2 more yards of each (I already have some in my stash) because I really think that it is interesting fabric to do embroidery on.  In fact I think that I posted my fabric postcards awhile back…projects, projects, projects. The flowered material is from the thrift shop, a few metres of  at least 10 inches wide.

Well, the week-end is here and with my husband around, I don’t know if I will get a lot done in the sewing room, and plus it is supposed to be sunny on Saturday so it will probably be a day of biking….although, Sunday is supposed to rain ….I can’t believe that I am hoping for rain…sh…I

I really have to orgazize my sidebars and put my new exchanges etc up-to-date.  Soon, soon, soon.  Here is a Christmas block exchange that I am doing:

Scrappy Christmas Block Swap

It is a Christmas Block swap and it is held by Beth at ModernJax.  I have to make six scrappy blocks, following a pattern by Oh Fransson.  It should be fun.  I may be able to finally make my Christmas tree skirt with these blocks!

Well, off for some more reading of the above books!

Fat quarter Shop gift certificate giveaway…

…no not by me but by Rachel at P.S. I Quilt.

Rachel's giveaway

Now what would I do with a $50 certificate?  I would definitely but a fat quarter bundle….in Christmas colours!  What would you do? Oh to dream!

I have been busy, sewing secrets and reading.  I just finished “The Romantic” by Barbara Gowdy.  It was a good read but the narrator, a girl, kept bugging me….I had to get angry at her a few times.  She couldn’t see the “forest for the trees.”

My next reading pick is another cloak and dagger: Jonathan Kellerman’s “Survival of the Fittest.”  Hopefully it will be a fast read, since it is not literature in any sense of the world.  Nice summertime reading.

Off to start the book.

Thrift cuttings…

Thanks for the kind comments about my cat Jolie-Coeur.  He is missed today.  I have found myself opening the closet doors a few times.  Pye, my other cat seems to be bothered about the absence of his companion.

I’m busy as ever.  To take my mind off my cat I went to the 2nd hand store and found these shirts:

Plaid shirts

I want to have a “stash” of the shirts so that I can make scrappy quilts and add them to scrappy projects.  I really like the red one!  I started the cutting and cut some 2 inch strips, some 3, 4, 5, 6 & 8 inch blocks:

Piles of blocks

Each shirt makes a lot of blocks.  I started cutting the red one and realized that it would go nice in some Christmas projects and I’ve made sure that I have gotten 100% quality shirts.  Does anyone know if there is a specific way to cut up shirts to use in projects?

This is the quilt that I want to use these plaid blocks in:

snowman quilt

You can see the plaid squares in the snowman quilt in the foreground….very scrappy looking.  I gotta look for a yellow shirt.

On another note, there is a new Canadian Quilt magazine coming out in September!  Now, we don’t have quilting magazines…the only one I know of is “The Canadian Quilter” put out by the Canadian Quilter’s Association, of which I am a member.  The new one is called “Quilter’s Connection” and I am definitely signing up to try it out!  They also have a blog which gives ideas for quilting that will co-incide with the issues.  Yay for Canadian Quilting…I can’t wait for the first issue.

Well, off for a walk with the dog…it is nice and sunny, for once.

R.I.P….Jolie-Coeur

I had to put my cat down this evening.  He had either hepatitus or cancer and he had gone from 18lbs to 8lbs….:(

Jolie-Coeur (July 2009)

Here is Jolie-Coeur about a year & half ago:

Pye & Jolie-Coeur

Pye is my younger cat, who I adopted when my dad died.  He is 6 years old and pretty spry! I still have one to hug.

Have camera…will do tutorial…

I wanted to try a yo yo technique; a hexagon.  I have a small tin of 3 sisters moda fabric squares (5 x 5).  So I puttered around doing a practice set.

This is the backside of the yo-yo:

1 - Hexagon yo-yo

The first step is to copy the hexagon shape onto the fabric (pick the size you want…mine is for a 5 x 5 inch block)

2 - Template

Now fold a point over to the middle…it kind of looks like an envelope.

3 - Fold 1

Then, fold a second point over to the middle.

4 - Fold 2

Now, fold the last point over to the middle.

5 - Fold 3

Fold each point to the centre.

6 - Fold 3 triangles to centre

And voila, you have the yo-yo!  Tack the points together.

7 - 3 points meet

Add a button and you have the front of the yo-yo.

8 - Add a button

Handsew them by rows and add the rows together (I haven’t decided how I want to place my colours yet)

What is nice about this yo-yo technique is that you don’t need a backing.  I’m going to check out other options instead of a button for the middle.  I find that the buttons would be too hard.  Any ideas?  I’m thinking something with embroidery.

9 - Sew together in rows

This is the kit I have.  I love the colours but I’m not too fond about that button idea.  I’m still not sure if I will continue and do the yo-yos or simpley sew the squares together because that would make an awesome quilt too!

Faded memories kit

I hope that you enjoyed my first ever tutorial.  There are similar ones out there so, no, I didn’t invent the wheel .

Pay It Forward!

Quite a few bloggers are participating in  the “Pay It Forward”  circle and I’ve decided to join in.  I answered Robin from My Quilted Nest call for participants.  So, here is the deal:  the first three people who comment on this post will receive something handmade from me….within’ the next 365 days.  In turn, you promise to pay it forward and make something for three people who comment on your blog.  So comment! I would love to make you something!

FOUND objects in sewing room!

I was looking for an applique project to bring to my 2nd day at the quilt exhibition and I found a pile of WIPs….time to get at them!

I’ve decided not bring any of these but a “secret” one that I have started…of course, many moons ago!

I’m off!

Quilt Guild Exhibition…July 2009

I spent the day at our Quilt Guild’s Exhibition:

Quilt Guild stand

We only had a small space and so much to cram into it.  We want to have some exposure and we are also raffling off the quilt in the back ground.

Here is a close up of our quilt logo:

Logo

I’m hoping that we can get pins made with our logo on it.  The lettering has stitching all around it.  So nice.

I am volunteering tomorrow too, but this time 4 – 10.  Just being around the quilts inspires me to come home and finish a project or two .

Well, I’m off.  Morning comes early!

Old WIP…kind of…

Back in 1996/1997 it took over  a year to complete, I made this afghan for my niece, my god-daughter.  It was done in cross stitch:

Claudia'a blanket

I use 18 count Afghan Cloth and verrrry tiny stitches, over the one square. (farther back in my blog, you will see another of these afghans but one stitch equalled 4 squares).  I have taken this out because I gave it to the recipient but as my niece grew she had her milestones and I have to stitch the dates.  I also want to finish it by using my quilting skills because right now it is simply backed with material…I’d like to do a border or something.

Here are some pictures of each of the individual blocks…click on them to see how small the stitches are….:

Birthdate block

1st Outing

My first words

Standing up

Sleep through the night

Roll over

First haircut

First tooth

Crawling

And there are more blocks.  I really enjoyed doing this.  When I do these huge projects, the recipient is always on my mind…..and for most of this one, she wasn’t even born….I kept thinking of what kind of little girl was coming into the world.

The sun was setting with a rainbow

The view from my front porch this evening.