Summer in the Park…well sort of!

If you follow me on Instagram you have seen all my snow pictures from the last 48 hours.  This are not pictures I took last month but from yesterday and this morning!  While many of you are enjoying your gardens, we are still ‘enjoying’ our spring snowfalls. 

This is Rae’s Summer in the Park quilt and you can find the MSQC YouTube video on how to make it here.  I thought I would be taking pictures of it by the sparkling lake but I actually love how it looks in the snow!  Rae used all batik fabrics for this quilt and I picked Wave on Wave for the pantograph. I used Quilters Dream Blend batting and a light blue So Fine thread.

  I made this when I got home yesterday after a 8 hour drive to take my son to a 10 minute orthodontist appointment!  The joys of living up north!  When life gives you snow you make a snowman!

I had my son hold the quilt before he left for school, poor snowman is already falling over!  Melt snow MELT!!

Urban Birthday Quilt

This is Yvonne’s Urban Birthday quilt and the pattern is by Sew Kind of Wonderful.   I really enjoy quilting these quilts as they is always room to play with quilting designs!  I SID around the pod shapes and then did a 3/4” echo around that and filled in with pebbles.   I did a simple flowing feather in the print fabrics and then a feather motif in the center of the backgrounds.    Batting is Quilters Dream Blend and thread is So Fine off white in the background and bright yellow on the print fabrics.


As you can see it is very smokey here today.   I thought it might be high altitude smoke from the Fort McMurray area fires but I have since heard that it is from fires in Cumberland House,SK.   If you have not heard about the huge Fort Mac fire, the city of Fort McMurray Alberta has been evacuated ( over 90,000 people) and many homes and businesses have been lost to the fire.  It is not surprising that the quilting community in Canada has already create a network of places to drop off quilts that will be given the family affected by this disaster.  Here are a few links to these groups.   Quilts for Fort McMurray and Erie Quilt Art.  I have three quilts I am sending their way and know our local guild and quilters will be donated as well.  

Wonky Stars Quilt

This is Adell’s Wonky Stars quilt and there is a tutorial by Missiour Quilt Company on how to make it which you can find here.  Adell made hers 100”x106” which is larger than the tutorial size.  I chose Bora Bora for the pantograph to give the allusion of a windy night sky.  I used a variageated Lava thread ( dark to light blue) and Adell brought Warm and Natural batting. 

Atomic Tulip Quilt

This is Yvonne’s Atomic Tulip quilt and it is a pattern from Fons and Porter Quilty magazine from Jan/Feb 2014.  To keep with the modern feel of this quilt I just did straight line quilting across the whole top.  I used Quilters Dream Blend batting and medium grey So Fine thread.


Notice anything different about the scenery?  The ice was all gone Tuesday monrning and today we are going to reach 28’c.   As nice as that is, when I see on the news that the city of Fort McMurray in Alberta is burning from a forest fire I worry that this will be a bad summer for fires across western Canada.

Fly Away Home Quilt

This is Heather’s Fly Away Home quilt and it is a pattern designed by the owner of Tiger Lily Quilts in Wolseley, SK.  The pattern is originally a 40” x 45” size but they changed it to 84” x92”.  I love the teal and browns as those are my favorite ‘beachy’ colours.   Heather picked a few pantographs that she liked and I chose Plush from her list.  Batting is Quilters Dream Blend and the thread is a medium teal So Fine.

As you can see most of our snow is gone and in the last two days the ice has been disappearing fast off the lake.  This morning I was playing with the ice that has ‘candled” which means it is very brittle and ready to move.

I was having fun scooping up the ice and playing with the thin pieces the size of pencils.  

If feels like we have gone from winter to summer overnight as we are now getting 20’c temperatures and the ice is disappearing fast.  I took this first pictures this morning…

…and this picture tonight. The main lake is now open water and the ice in our bay is moving out to the open lake very quickly.  I don’t expect to see any ice when I wake up tomorrow.

Quarter Sections #7

This is Donna’s Quarter Sections quilt that she made in childrens fabrics, so cute!  Love the orange, blue and greens with the animal prints.  We chose Popcorn for the pantograph and Dream Blend for the batting. I used yellow So Fine on the top and yellow Bottom Line on the back.

The backing is hand dyed by Leslie from Keystone Quilts in Winnipeg.  It is soft flannel in shades of yellow to bright orange.

I also quilted a small baby Quarter Sections quilt for Donna as she is waiting on a new grandbaby to arrive!   The panto is Chantily Lace, batting Dream Blend and the backing a beautiful pink Fireside.   Pink So Fine thread on top and pink Bottom Line for the back.

Kaleidoscope Kite

This is Iris’s Kaleidoscope Kite quilt and it is a free pattern on Fresh Lemons website here.  The backing is a bright green Minkie so I thought Dream Puff batting would be a good match for this quilt to make it fluffy and light!    I also find when I use Puff batting the Minkie does not beard up to the top of the quilt.  I chose a light density panto called Fascination and white So Fine thread.

Quarter Sections #6

This is Lynn’s Quarter Sections quilt made using our Highway 10 Designs pattern.  I love the combination of blue, yellow and grey Lynn used in her fabric choices.

Lynn asked for Bayside for the panto and used Quilters Dream Blend batting.  Thread is a light grey So Fine with a medium grey Bottom Line for the back.

The lake ice is about 12” to 18” thick now so I’m not venturing too far.