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.

 

Batik Flip Flops!!!

Here is what Lori made me for my birthday....Batik Flip Flops....aren't they COOL!!!  I got BFF's from my BFF!  ( I couldn't resist that one).   She also made me a wrap skirt to go with the flip flops.  These will be perfect for my cruise this fall.    I'm going on my first cruise with my BFF's from High School to celebrate all of us turning 40, I am so excited about this trip.  We are meeting in Vancouver, hopping on the Golden Princess and taking a 3 day cruise to LA.  Then we are spending a few days in LA then driving to Vegas for a few days!   I have never been to Vegas so I'm really looking forward to just hanging out with my friends and seeing a few shows.

And the Winner is....

..Phyl Broughton.  Congratulations Phyl!!  The blue totebag now has your name on it!  I had my son make the draw.
Time to go enjoy my new "BBQ" ( my Batik Beach Quilt...too funny Kay) and go for a swim.  I had a nice Birthday lunch with Lori today and she made me a fanastic gift...I'll take pictures of it for my next post.  It is super cool!  Thanks Lori.

Batik Beach Quilt DONE!

Finally finished my beach quilt and I just love it!!! I used my dark blue hand dyed fabric that I originally planned to use for the backing for the binding and it looks fantastic. I learnt that hand stitching my dyed binding fabric onto a quilt with my dyed fabric on the back is very hard to do.  Took three days to stitch and I had to use a thimble which I never use for binding.  But it was all worth it in the end.  I used my Dragonfly Pond Pantograph with a light beige thread.   This is the first time I have used my new Quilter's Dream Deluxe cotton batting, it is wonderful to quilt with and has a great loft to it.

I loved this quilt so much I even painted my toes to match!!! ( And I rarely paint my toes!)

 Only two more days until I make the draw for the Totebag Giveaway

Hug Me Quilt

 Our guild makes "Hug Me" quilts that are specifically made for our members who are dealing with medical issues and up here that usually involves going to a larger city for treatment for a few months.  We like to give them a quilt to take so they know we are thinking of them while they are away from home.
This is the first of two I volunteered to quilt this summer and I wanted the quilting design to be cheery.  My Daisies Galore panto seemed to suit the floral fabric and I also used a light varigated Rainbow thread.  I took these pictures in the morning sun so the quilting really stands out but under indoor lighting it is less intense looking!
Don't forget to enter my Totebag Giveaway.  I'm making the draw on Friday.

Tote Bag Giveaway!

Next week is my 40th Birthday so I thought this would be the perfect time to have a Giveaway for my readers.  Now this isn't like most giveaways....you don't have to worry about having to become a follower to my blog, or have to blog about it on your blog.   All you have to do is leave a comment with your name and let me know which color of tote bag you would like to win, Blue or Yellow.  Easy.  If you want to add how you found my blog that would be fun for me to read too.

These totebags are 16" square and made with batik fabrics...my favorite! 

I'll make the draw on July 30th (my birthday) at noon (central time).  Good luck!

Home Again...with Fabric

We are now back from our two week stay in Winnipeg and during that time I discovered a quilt shop that I will definately be visiting again.  In Morden, Manitoba there is a shop called The Quilter's Jewel and it is a real jewel.  The layout and fabrics were beautiful and the staff so friendly.  Here I found my fabric for my guilds next Mystery Quilt project, the batiks pictured above.  That is a batik black, not a Kona black.  I wanted the fabric to be the same so I splurged.   I had no idea what color palette to use for this quilt so I was open to anything and since I rarely work with black this will be working out of my comfort zone which is a good thing.

I also had a few things I wanted to pick up for the guild for some projects we are working on.  I missed our guild meeting this month because of this trip and the only orders I left to my VP was to not touch the Ice Cream Cone blocks....I was on a mission to find fabric to go with those blocks.

This is what I found and there is enough for 4 quilts plus backing...yes I found a great sale!  :)

I also picked up this cute collections for another guild project and it will be for making baby quilts using the Disappearing Nine Patch pattern.  Yes, another great sale!

Hope the guild members like the fabrics I found!  If not I'll have no problem keeping it :)

Success at Last!

WooHoo!!!   Today was a good dyeing day and I ended up with an even better color than I first dyed.  I couldn't believe all the colors that now show up and the only thing I did different was add more non-iodized

salt to the dye mix.  It really seems to separate the colors in the dye beautifully.  Now I just have to figure out how to quilt this one.   I see an edge to edge design...how do you think I should quilt this one? It maybe awhile before I get to it as the kids are now out of school, we have a family wedding on the weekend, and my husbands parents are celebrating their 50th Wedding Anniversary the week after.   So I'll be focus on family events the next couple of weeks.