Irish Chain

This Irish Chain quilt belongs to the guild and will be raffled at the Christmas Craft Show in November.  I love quilting Irish Chain quilts as they look great with a mix of stencil work and free hand.  I used a stencil for the feathered wreath and the just free hand quilted the continuous curves in the dark chain fabrics.  I did the feather feather swirl design in the light inner border and then did what I call a free hand 'rosebud' design in the outer border. I think it will look beautiful at the craft sale as it has a christmas feel with the green and red print fabric but it isn't christmas fabrics.   The sun wasn't cooperating today so it was tricky getting a good shot of the quilting.

Me Scrappy?

I never thought I could handle making a scrappy quilt as I am so fussy about matching my fabrics.  I mean REALLY fussy.  But I have been looking for a scrappy pattern for awhile to start using up my batik scraps.  So when I saw this quilt on Quilters Going Banana's blog I just fell in love with it and had to make it.  Katherine posted a great tutorial on Stash Manicure so that got me modivated to start working on it right away.  This is 100% made from my scraps and there is something so satisfying from making a quilt with what you have!  I mean it's almost like a free quilt....right!  I even have a home for it as I redecorated my sons room this summer and they desperately need new quilts.  I'll have to get busy making a second one because you know how I like things to match!

 I also made these this week for my girlfriends so they can look cool on our cruise too!

Shopping

It's August so that means Back to School shopping and Back to Work/Quilting shopping for me.  This weekend we drove 4 hours to the nearest mall for the Back to School stuff  which was quite a painful process for my boy who hate shopping.  We made it a weekend trip and the highlight for me was the going to the sporting goods store to decide which kayaks to buy.   Tim thought it would be nice to get two and make it more of an activity for us and not just me and I'm all for that.   We made our decesion and are waiting on the stores fall sale to place our order.   My friend 'S' has lent me her kayak for a few weeks this summer and I have been enjoying it immensely so a BIG THANKS to 'S' for sharing your toys. I am so glad you were able to go for a paddle on our lake this summer too.

Now to my quilt shopping.  As you can see I found an inner border and batik backing for my quilt.  I was hoping to have this one quilted this summer but the three week shipping wait on the backing kind of changed those plans. Shopping for fabric online can be well tricky at best but I am very happy with the backing I received.  You never know how accurate the colors are in the pictures on some website but I am happy to report that Hancock's of Paducah are very accurate so two thumbs up to them.

I also placed a new pantograph order at Willow Leaf Studio and have 10 new pantos coming this week.  I also received this first one as a gift from Lori , I let her quilt a lap quilt on my Millie this summer.   I can hardly wait to get these in the mail and try some new designs.

Lizards

I have a confession...I had a UFO but now it is finished.  I made this Wheel of Mystery kit at a guild retreat a year ago and I wasn't happy with it so I just tucked it away with my fabric. ( I don't like the red fabric in it).  I found it last month when my sister B was visiting and I asked her if she wanted it...she said YES!  So I added the borders using my reject dyed backing fabric from my beach quilt and it worked really well.
B said it didn't matter how I quilted it so being the 'little sister' i quilted lizards on it!!  Yes I said lizards! See, lizards!

This is a really cute panto I have had for a year and I really wanted to quilt it.  I am glad I tried it and maybe it will remind B of her years living in Bermuda!!  Right B.

I bought his panto at Urban Elementz and it is called Lounge Lizards.

Thread Storage

A common post in the longarm quilting forums is on 'how do you store your threads'.  So I thought I would share some pictures of my thread storage system.  These are IKEA cabinets called ALEX and they work wonderful for threads and pantographs.  They are on casters and can fit right under my machine. Tim made the plywood dividers with the notches for each cone so the thread would not roll around the drawers.  Very smart!

I just bought my second one this summer so plan a large thread order soon to fill it up.

I don't like leaving my threads on shelves or in the open as the dust collects on the spools very quickly in my shack.  I even have an air cleaner in there to collect the batting dust in the air but the dust bunnies still multiply!

Life in a Northern Town

     I haven't been quilting this week so I thought I would share some pictures of our summer adventures since we live in such a beautiful area of Canada.   You know I love to take pictures and this week has been full of adventures.  First my hubby surprises me with a 'Surprise 40th Birthday Party' the day after my birthday and I was surprised.  Usually I have an idea something is going one but this time not a clue.   Thanks to everyone that came and to Tim for organizing that special day. 

    Then my sister-in-law and her boyfriend came for a week visit and we had a fantastic time.  We spent most of the week swimming, boating, fishing, geocaching or exploring trails on their quads. So I thought I would share a few pictures from our week.  These pictures were taken on our quadding adventure to Kisseynew Lake and we had stopped to find a few geocaches along the way.

I hope you are all enjoying your summer and are having some great outdoor adventures of your own.