Blogroll, Life, Quilting, Uncategorized

The Pink Purple and Red Quilt

This little quilt was made for my friends 3 yr old daughter Brooklynn. I had made a quilt for her when she was born but her mom wanted to use it as a wall hanging. One night I was on the phone with Brooklynn and she told me that she can’t use her quilt because its a “Only on the wall quilt” so I asked her if she would like me to make her another one. Yes she said, and would you make it Pink, Purple and Red so mommy won’t hang it on the wall. How could I resist.

I had originally planned to add a red block but instead I settled for


After making my Madeline Schnibbles which I haven’t posted the finished picture yet, I wanted to keep making those little star blocks. I added a few more blocks to make the quilt bigger. As you might have noticed I love Carrie Nelson’s patterns “Miss Rosies Quilt Co”. In previous quilts I’ve used the technique shown in her patterns for making the flying geese blocks but they can have a tendency to come out a bit wonky. This winter a friend of mine taught me a new way to make them and they turn out perfectly each time. I’ve told a few people about the technique and promised a tutorial so I’m working on that and will hopefully post it later today.

Blogroll, Christmas, Family, Life, Quilting, Uncategorized

Gypsy Rose

I made this quilt as a Christmas gift for Megan, she is Erik’s youngest daughter. I love making quilts for the girls. It thrills me that they all love their quilts.

My goal is that each of the girls will have a queen size quilt to add to their collections. I have a couple planned for this year. I made Megans quilt using Miss Rosies Quilt co pattern Summer Wind and The Gypsy Rose collection by Joanna Figueroa. Katie really likes the pattern so I’ll make her one, I’ve already bought her fabric and hopefully I’ll get a chance to start hers soon. This next picture is of Megan with her lap quilt that I gave her 2 Christmases ago to go with her bedroom that she’d recently decorated. She is changing rooms soon and her Gypsy Rose quilt will look very at home with her new decor.

I have been quilting for Tara from almost the beginning of my machine quilting business. She has been such an encourager and has also provided me with awesome quilts to work on. This batik quilt was a joy to quilt, I used a rainbows thread that really pulled the together into the border. It was quilted with a pantograph called wildflowers.

These kitties belong to my daughter Emily, they are all living with me while Emily attends University. They couldn’t resist this box and at one point the smaller kitten had opened the lid just enough to slide into the box and keep the lid on…..never a dull moment!

Blogroll, Christmas, Life, Quilting

Its that time again

I had some time to kill today after work, while my youngest had her hair done so I did a little shopping…and what did I come across? I couldn’t believe that I’d actually forgotten all about them, I enjoyed them so much last year! Christmas really is coming!

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I’ve been really busy with customer quilts esp lately and I’m also working on some personal projects. My Gypsy Rose Summer Wind quilt is coming along, I did have to order some more fabric but so far I’m on track with my plan for this quilt. ( this picture makes me a little seasick but the colour turned out the truest in this picture compared to the others I took)

I added an extra little project last week for a co worker, she needed a baby quilt, and I am in the mood to make baby quilts

I just know I’ll be making up a few more quilts like this, what a great way to use up odds and ends and I always have tons of 4 patches from using them as leaders and enders, something I learnt years ago from Bonnie Hunter.

One last picture that my youngest took the other night…

Blogroll, Family, Life, Quilting, Uncategorized, WEather

Summer Wind and Fall

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Summer Wind (Miss Rosies Quilt Company) is among my top favorite patterns, I made it about 5 years ago using the Seaside Rose collection. When I saw Nicoles version in Wuthering Heights, I knew I needed to make it again. I’m making it using the Gypsy Rose Collection as a Christmas gift. The extra challenge I’ve given myself is that I’m using precuts to make it, so far so good.

I have several quilts in mind that I want to get working on, but with my day job and quilt jobs my time is limited so I’ll see how far I can get.

Fall is truly here, I took these pictures a couple weeks ago (our Thanksgiving weekend) when we tucked the flower beds in for the winter. (I’m hoping that the spruce boughs will discourage the cat and other critters from their activities)

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I’m including this pic just because I like it
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this is what I learnt how to drive today
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The weather has definitely shifted jackets are out and the summer fun is put away for another year.

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the garden is covered up waiting for spring, hopefully next year will give us a better growing season

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One more picture from Thanksgiving weekend, Katie sure loves to drive!
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Blogroll, Life, Quilting, Uncategorized

Procrastination

I’ve been watching for a new collection for a while now, patiently waiting for the fat quarter bundle to become available, which it did this week. Did I order it right away, no instead I just kept it in an online shopping cart. For 3 or 4 days. Today was the day I had decided on everything I was adding to the cart and then guess what? yep they sold out of it and apparently Moda is totally sold out.
I searched for awhile and luck was on my side Fabric.com had some and they still had 20 left last time I checked.
This collection is so beautiful and inspiring. I’m planning to redo my bedroom based on the colours in this collection……lesson learnt (I hope) so which collection? Rouenneries by French General

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Blogroll, Family, hiking, Life, Quilting, Summer

well it finally arrived…..

Summer that is, even though August wasn’t much better than July we were able to make the most of it anyways.
I left off with fishing…
well August did see some quilting, some piecing this is the quilt in progress for a coworkers sister. Using the Clementine collection from Moda.
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I’ve also been working on my Block of the Months from Fat Quarter Shop, I do have to get busy with August’s block though before Septembers finds it’s way here.
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I’m really loving this quilt, though I have to admit it’s awfully hard for me to work inside during the summer. My day job is at a desk and when I can I much prefer to be outside in the summer.
One night we did a little target practice..a first for me and I somehow managed to hit 2 cans at once, twice!
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One weekend we drove down to the states and finally toured The Split Rock Lighthouse, it was spectacular. This picture is taken of Lake Superior from the Lighthouse.
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"Lighthouse Keeper"
a few shots in the Lighthouse keepers house:
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Blogroll, Life, Quilting

My First Quilt

Carrie over at La Vie en Rosie and Camille at Simplify have challenged us to share our first quilts.
I still remember buying the pattern and fabric and floss for my first quilt about 24 years ago, I was expecting Sarah and I wanted to make a blanket 🙂 I didn’t realize what I was making. I was so excited, I was 23 and I was going to be a mom! I bought the supplies from Zellers (Canadian Readers might remember when they used to have a fabric department) The fabric was all poly cotton and I bought enough to make bumper pads as well.
I couldn’t figure out how to sew the corners down on the binding and I always meant to finish the binding but Sarah came along and then I thought I’d finish it but before I knew it I had all 4 girls. They all used and loved my unbound quilt.

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When I was a teenager I wanted to make “blankets” like the ones on Little House on the Prairie. When I told my mom that she replied oh you don’t want to make those they are called quilts and only poor people make quilts. But she was wrong (she’s now a quilter too by the way), I wanted to make them and eventually I found Eleanor Burns on PBS and watched her show and took notes. After watching her show the first time and taking notes I quickly went to work and my first deliberate quilt project was made.
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I was so proud of my little quilt, its hand quilted and I still love it. Money was very tight when I was a young mom and I treasured every little piece of quilt fabric I could find.
My first bigger quilt was made before I really knew what I was doing you can read it’s story
here

and my most recent quilt
this little schnibble its quilted and bound.
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and my latest top

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birthday, Blogroll, Family, flowers, Life, Quilting, Summer, WEather

June 29

The end of June has always been a favorite time for me as a child it wasn’t only my Birthday but also the end of the school year. Somehow I managed for the first 44 years of my life to have no school or work. Today I had to work but it was a lovely day anyways. I work with some great people.
All of my girls called me and my Parents had me over for a very yummy lunch and when I got home look what was waiting for me from Erik

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Sarah brought supper home for me and after dinner I indulged in a little nap.
and for a treat to myself I worked on a personal project instead of customer work
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and I did some blog surfing, one blog made me ponder my parenting a little. I have a little quilt that hangs in my upstairs hall way I made it several years ago, I removed the dad from the pattern and added my girls instead of just a boy and girl. At the time I was very content for my life to have only my girls and myself but now I’m so thankful that I have Erik in my life and his girls too.
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the weather over the weekend and the next coming days is for rain, my hair looks great but I sure am missing the sunshine. I took a few pictures out at Erik’s on the weekend, I was trying to capture the feel in the air but it didn’t really work. The gardens are coming along though.
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next sunny day there will be some serious weeding happening!
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Blueberry Bushes that we are hoping the bears will leave alone, we might need to build a fortress.
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I also finished a customer quilt this weekend, this quilt belongs to a good friend of mine and I just love it!

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Blogroll, Life, Quilting, WEather

Perfectionism

For a lot of my life I never really thought of myself as a perfectionist. I think for the most part I’m very easy going, but when it comes to my quilting I strive for perfect. When I’m quilting for customers I see any imperfection in my work, and it can make me a little crazy if you know what I mean. It can get a little stressful for me when I’ve been instructed to quilt how I think is best. For the most part I love freehand quilting and I have a lot of fun when I work on a quilt, and when I’m finished I will agonize abit about whether the piecer will love their quilt.

When I’m piecing I strive for that same perfection, though I have learnt over the years that sometimes a little fudging is called for and as long as it doesn’t affect the integrity of a quilt I’m ok with that, I won’t allow my seam allowances to be so narrow that a little fraying will cause seam to open. Nicole at Sisters Choice asked her readers about their piecing habits this week, thats what got me thinking about my feelings on the subject.

Today I pieced the first block for the designers BOM from Fatquartershop.com and 2 of my half square triangles just are not right, and there isn’t enough fabric to fix them. I used a very scant 1/4″ when I was sewing along the diagonal line so there really shouldn’t have been an issue but who knows, regardless they are a little wonky but not so wonky that in the end they won’t work. So for today anyways I’m calling my block done.

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While doing the laundry and other catch up Saturday jobs I managed to load a customer quilt that is so gorgeous. It was a local shops BOM and now that I’m seeing it on my longarm I’m wishing I had made it too. But I seem to recall that when it came out I had too many projects on the go to justify another.

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Its been a rainy Saturday, which has been ok with me. The weather forecast is calling for about 4 days in a row of rain. Thankfully my holidays aren’t for another few weeks and I’m really hoping for some great weather while I’m off my day job and I’m striving to be somewhat caught up on my quilting so that if I decide to spend some time in the studio it can be on my own projects.

Have a great weekend!
Wendy

Blogroll, Life, Quilting, Summer, WEather

I’m not complaining but..

its hot outside! I know our little heat waves are nothing compared to what people live with in the south, but our houses are built to hold in the heat and I don’t have central air. Thankfully I have a little window unit that’s busily cooling off my room while I blog. The temps have been in the 30C range with lots of humidity. Tonight I was so thankful that my studio is in the basement, since I had to quilt all night anyways.
This week I’ve quilted two customer quilts and hopefully I’ll get one more loaded and started before the weekend.
here’s a glimpse of the two that are finished

This one says Canada to me, and how fitting with Canada Day next week.
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and the pattern for this one is called Square Dance, I had so much fun quilting this one and had absolutely no tension issues, it quilted up so beautifully.

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I am so impatiently waiting to get moving on my BOM from the Fat Quarter Shop.
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This week has been especially busy, but I’m hoping to spend a little piecing time this weekend, even an hour would be good.

Last weekend we drove down to the states to pick up parcels at the border, and then we continued on to Grand Marais for a little supper at Sven and Ollies, I’ve always wanted to stop and take pictures of some of the buildings along the way, I love houses that must have some kind of a story even though I have no idea what they might be.
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I love this picture
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each day this week I’ve felt like it should be Friday, I really don’t want to wish my life away…..but I’m so ready for Friday!!