Hello Sunshine! (Part 1)

Ready to see a super cute quilt... and its not even finished!  This is Phyl’s Hello Sunshine quilt and it is a machine embroidery pattern by Kimberbell.   Phyl purchased the embroidery pattern from Road17N in Winkler, MB.  I saw their shop sample of this quilt at the MPQ’s Quilt Show in April so used that for inspiration for this quilt ( thanks Shari!). I dug into my repertoire of folksy quilting designs I had a blast quilting this summery quilt.  You might still be able to find the embroidery CD pattern at Road17N on their website here or just contact the shop.

Now I said that it wasn’t finished as Phyl still has some 3D-embroidered embellishments to add.  In the photo below you can see the mason jars (made out of clear vinyl)  with what looks like straws in them…they are not straws but sticks that hold pinwheels!   Also some more flowers will be added as well as balloons coming from the bicycle blocks and tails for the kites.

Here is the whole quilt.  I cross hatched in the outer border and did tiny loops in the inner border.  Stitched in the ditch around all the embroidery and used fills like stippling, swirls and loops in the background.

I used MicroQuilter 100wt white thread on top and white Bottom Line on the back. Quilters Dream Blend batting.

Had to get a picture of it with my new cruising bike! :)

Love how the pineapple blocks are made and the bicycle block is my favorite.

When Phyl finishes the rest of the embellishments she will send me photos that I will share on the blog!

Now usually at the end of June I announce I’m take July and August off. Since I am still re-establishing my longarm business after the move I decided to take a few quilts in July and just take August off this year.  But since I am done my June quilts I am going to have fun and work on a few of my own projects for the next 5 day!

Pumpkinville Quilt

This is Rae’s ‘Pumpkinville’ quilt and it is a pattern by Bunny Hill Designs. She purchased it as a BOM project through the Fat Quarter Shop in 2012.   Rae’s original plan was to needle turn all the applique pieces so she bought matching silk thread to do the job.  Well she realized this might take a few years to complete so she changed her mind. She decided to fuse the pieces and then applique by machine using the blanket stitch.   Rae was very happy she changed her mind as she started this project in November 2017 and it is now almost done!

A lovely folksy quilt like this needs a lot of fun background fills like swirls, curls, stipple, loops and flat meandering.  I stitched in the ditch around all the applique piecing and added a few details to some of the pumpkins and roofs.

I quilted bead-board in the outer border, loops in the inner border and l’s and e’s in the random sashing strips throughout the quilt.

Rae also added some hand embroidery embellishments and will add more now that the quilting is done.

I used MicroQuilter 100wt thread in an off white on the whole quilt top and a off white Bottom Line in the bobbin.  Quilters Dream Blend batting.

Heart Quilt

This is Monica’s Heart Quilt and she made it with 9” HST blocks. The fabrics are super sweet with tiny bunnies, hearts and flowers.  Here is a close up. I don’t know the fabric collection so if you know it could you please add that in the comments, thanks! 

Monica asked for the Moderish for the panto and I used a light beige thread with Quilters Dream Blend batting.

It was really windy when I took these pictures so only got a few!

Now I have to share my latest discovery here…fireflies!  I remember watching then as a kid at my parents cottage but we didn’t have any up north.  The fields all around our place have been full of then the last couple of nights which I have been told is quite early.  And of coarse I had to try to get a picture which doesn’t do the experience justice.  I used my 40mm lens, a 15 second exposure, f/2.8 and ISO 200.  And yes I was even able to catch a few!

Then this morning I check our trail camera as we have been capturing a lot of deer and the last time I checked the camera I was getting tiny ears at the bottom of the pictures! So we moved the camera lower on the tree and I was so thrilled to find with the following images!

And there is the best picture of mama from a few hours earlier.

Now if I could only catch them, when they are passing by, using my DSLR camera!

Wildlife Panels and Photos

Cindy found these really stunning wildlife panels and created a wonderful quilt with a 16 block layout.  The panels are by Robert Kaufman and called North American Wildlife.  I searched online and the only information could find was they would be available in September 2018 in Canada. So they must have had an earlier release date in the States and that is probably where she purchased them. She wasn’t sure of the shop she got them at and the ones I frequent across the border did not have them.

I love the sashing fabric and black borders as they really allow the panels to be the focus.  I quilted it with the Flirtatious and used Monopoly thread so to not distract from the panel designs.  The batting is Quilters Dream Blend.

I thought this would be a good post to share some of the local wildlife pictures I have been taking recently.  I missed a few great opportunities and ended up with shots of animal running away from me!  I need to get a bit faster on getting set up so not to miss the shot I want!

Here is a porcupine running away, I wasn’t going to chase it!

Here is a fox running away with a bird in its mouth. Picture taken from my deck.

A deer by our house just before it ran away!  I’m getting better as he is kinda facing me!

We started exploring our area and took the kayaks to Hope Lake which is about a 30 minute drive from our house.  It was so nice to be back on the lake and my hope on Hope Lake was to see some turtles,  I wasn’t disappointed!  We didn’t have turtles up north but when I was a kid loved catching turtles at my parents cottage.

We ended up seeing a few painted turtles and 4 huge snapping turtles!  There were two on a beaver hut and I was able to get a shot of one of them before it ran into the water. Another one caught me by surprise as it ran down the outcrop into the lake.

Now this last one was mostly buried in the mud and we thought it might be dead so Tim tapped it with his paddle and his head poked up!  Can you see him in this next picture?

There he is!   When we paddled back that way a few minutes later, creek was blocked by a beaver dam, and he was gone.

There were wild irises in bloom in this creek that were beautiful.