Green Tea Fusion Quilt

This is Jean’s Green Tea Fusion quilt and it was a pattern found in a 2007 issue of Fabric Trends.  She asked for light custom quilting and I knew right away I wanted to do the Curved Echo on the outer border as the quilting would be seen on it and it suits the theme of the quilt.  You can find my tutorial on how to do this design here.

Since this quilt has an Asian theme I wanted to use simple textures on the quilt as the fabrics are the star!  I was going to do a swirl on the appliqued circles but found that too dense so replaced it with this design that I call Uniaxial…(yes a geology reference, won’t bore you with the details.)  A stipple in the background of the circles, a water meander on the large blocks and wavy lines on the strip pieced blocks.   Swirls in the inner border and  l’s and e’s in the middle border. I used a shiny beige thread called Magnifico for the center and inner border of the quilt, black So Fine on the middle border so the quilting would not compete with the fabric pattern, and red So Fine in the outer border. I matched the colour of my top thread to my bobbin thread.

It was a cool morning, only 5’c.

I was out taking pictures of the moon the other night, not quite full then, and testing my new remote shutter release.  Reduces camera shake and will work great the next time the aurora is active.  I also have a new wide angle lens to test on the aurora as well,  I should get sharper images and more sky.  I fear my new obsession for camera equipment is just as bad as my fabric obsession!

Swoon

This is Jean’s Swoon quilt and she drove a few extra hours out of her way while heading to a meeting, to personally drop it off.  We had a lovely visit and was great to meet one of my out of town clients.   Jean used Moda’s Lady Slipper Lodge fabric collection which has tiny dragonflies in a few of the fabrics. I showed Jean the Dragonfly Pond pantograph and she loved it so that is what I quilted.

I used a soft yellow So Fine thread on top,  a beige Bottom Line for the backing, and Quilters Dream Blend batting.

It’s A Plus Quilt

This is Rae’s It’s A Plus quilt using Comma fabric by Zen Chic.   This is a very modern quilt so we chose Bayside for the pantograph as it provided great texture.

I used grey So Fine thread on top and grey Bottom Line on the back.  Quilters Dream Blend batting.

Strips and Ladders

This is Judy’s Strips and Ladders quilt and the pattern is by Four Paws Quilting.   She used batik and Stonehenge 2 1/2” strips and gave me a list of a few pantographs that she liked. From her list I chose Ebb and Flow and it had the right scale of design for her quilt and also has a water theme which goes well with the colours in the quilt top.

I used blue So Fine thread on top and blue Bottom Line on the back.  The batting is Quilters Dream Blend.

Back to Work

I am now back to work and spent the long weekend quilting while my husband and oldest son were off to Toronto to watch a few car races and check out a racing/mechanics school he wants to attend.  I heard the owner, who is a professional driver, took him for a few laps around the track in the pace car!     My youngest stayed home with me and starts Grade 12 tomorrow, where did the years go?  Well enough of me feeling old, time to focus on quilting!    I finished two quilts for Joanne and they are both our Highway 10 Designs Quarter Section patterns.  She was using fabrics from her stash and the first one was done in mainly yellows.  A lot of the fabrics were floral prints so I used Belladonna for the panto as it has tulips as the design.  Quilters Dream Blend batting and yellow So Fine thread on top and yellow Bottom Line on the back.

The second one was queen size and done in red and black fabrics.  I used Fascination for the pantograph design, Quilters Dream Blend and red So Fine for the top and red Bottom Line on the back.

You can see the leaves on the island in the distance are starting to turn yellow. This happens very fast here and I’m sure by my next post you’ll see a big changes in the landscape colours.

Encore Performance!

Thank you all for your comments on my last post, it is good to know you are enjoying my photos of the Northern Lights.  I really enjoy taking and sharing them with you!   We had a repeat performance of the aurora last night so I was out again in my pajamas at 1am taking pictures.   The lights were even more spectacular and and active with color and movement.  This first picture above really captures the edge of the lights against the black of the nights sky!  I thought it was a failure when I took it but once I put it on my computer and realized how clear the stars where and how sharp an edge it was.  With long exposures the sky does not usually stay so dark.

There was a dominant red edge for a lot of the time which happens when they move fast.

I have taken this type of shot before with our boat in the bottom and the reflection of the lights in the calm water.  But this time the lights are more vibrant!

The patch of clouds in the sky created a cool effect with this next image.

There were up to four different bands of light across the sky at its most active point.

Then they start to dance and go crazy!

These last few pictures are my favourite as I was able to capture a few bursts looking straight up.  I saw this happen about four time but they happen so fast it is hard to get the camera set up to capture them.

One more thing to add about this night was that while I was watching the lights I was also listening to the sound of wolves howl in the distance.  One was pretty close, just across the lake and calling to at least two to others that were answering further away.

Northern Lights September 1, 2016

It has been awhile since I have shared some Northern Lights with you and last night was a specular night for viewing them.  My oldest son woke me up at 1am to let me know they were active, he knows its okay to wake me for that!   I run out with my camera in my pajamas, it was 15’c and very windy out but no bugs so a good night to be out.  There are a few light clouds but the lights were so bright and active that didn’t matter.

They ran across the sky from east to west right over my house.  Then for about one minute they went crazy and stared to ray out from right above me and it felt like they were falling around me!  Here is a shot looking straight up!  This picture doesn’t do the moment justice and this happening right across the sky.  This convinced me I need to invest in a wide angle lens!

With it being so windy anytime I had birch trees in the shot they look blurry so I tried to avoid them, except for this picture!

I then turned the camera toward the house so I am facing west. I like this shot with the house lights on, you can see my son in the window but I knew I would get better pictures with the lights off so he did that for me.

Then they started to ray again and looks like they are falling from the sky!

I pointed my camera straight up again!  Love this shot!

I then walked to the back of the house to get a picture of the lights over my Shack and got the Big Dipper in there too!

Then back to the lake, looking east to take on final shot of the lights over the lake.

Hope you enjoyed the pictures!