Cassiopeia

I wanted to make a summery version of our City Slicker pattern and chose the Gemstones Cassiopia from Cantik Batiks.  I also added a light batik from my stash for the background.   I wanted to custom quilt this one and come up with some new designs.  I decided on a leafy feather with a diamond lattice in the prints.  I also stitched in the ditch around all the background edges but not between the seams in the prints, I didn’t want to break up the diamond pattern.

One thing I did differently than I normally do is used all white So Fine thread.  I usually will switch to a dark neutral thread for the prints but I wanted to see how it would look.  I love the results and that saved a lot of time not having to change threads each row.

I love the texture the feathers created in the background!

Ice Dyeing

Now that I have time to play I really wanted to get back into dyeing fabric as I haven’t done that much this past year.  I was inspired to try this folding method from some pictures Terry shared on the APQS forum and she was kind enough to share the folding method she used with me.  I have done a lot of snow dyeing and some ice dyeing and the results are always a surprise!  For my first experiment I used Cerulean Blue and Raspberry on one piece and Cerulean Blue, Dark Green and Yellow on the second.  I was dyeing 100% cotton fabric in 16” x 58” size pieces.

For the second attempted I used four different blue shades on one and Red, Orange and Yellow on the second. This created more of a single tone piece and I was hoping for more variation in the shades. I’m still very pleased with the results but noticed I had more white areas this time and I know I twisted the pieces tighter so that is why. I need to loosen my twist to create less of a resist.

And since it is so hard for me to cut these pieces up my plan was to make infinity scarves, Terry mentioned when she taught this as a class most of her students were going to make scarves!  Great idea!

Happy Canada Day

Happy Canada Day!   I was able to finish my Homecoming wall hanging by Shania Sunga Designs  just in time for the holiday!  This is part of the Cantik Canada Mystery quilt and though I wasn’t interested in doing the mystery quilt I really loved this piece.

 Most Canadian quilt shops carry this Mystery Quilt and I actually won mine from Fabriculous Quilt Shop.  Speaking of Fabriculous my Manitoba readers will be happy to hear that Wendy is now opening her new Gimli location and the Grand Opening is today! So if your in the area make sure to pop in and see her new shop!

Last night our town had our Canada Day fireworks and so I took my camera and enjoyed the 20 minute show.  This is the first time trying to photograph fireworks and I think I did okay. I haven’t edited or enhanced any of the colours, this is just what I saw!    I was using a 4 second exposure and that seems to work well until the finale.  Had to drop it down to 1.5 seconds or it was a big bright ball of light!

This were shot over Ross Lake and they even had a few fireworks bounce off the water and then explode, that was very cool!

City Slicker #5

This is Lynn’s City Slicker quilt which is one of our Highway 10 Designs patterns.  She used the Key Lime Bali Pop and a light green batik background.  Lynn requested her favorite pantograph, Bayside and Quilters Dream Blend batting.  I also used a light green So Fine thread.

This is my last quilt for June and I’m looking forward to my two month summer break. I have already been playing with some fabric dyeing and have a few personal projects that I’ll be sharing over the summer. 

Belle Wave #2

This is Terry’s Belle Wave quilt and you can find the free downloadable pattern from Art Gallery Fabrics here.    I really like the dark charcoal background Terry used as it allows the fabrics to really shine!  She asked for a swirly panto so I chose Plush.  I used a dark grey So Fine thread and Quilters Dream Blend batting.

Only one more quilt to go and I’m on my summer break!

Urban Pods Quilt

This is Laura’s Urban Pods quilt and it is a pattern by Sew Kind of Wonderful.  I have made a lot of these quilt but not Urban Pods yet so it was fun to quilt!

Laura is the co-owner of a quilt shop in Boise, Idaho called The Quilt Crossing and this will likely be a sample in their shop.

I have the SKW Curvit Longarm Ruler that is the same curve as the Quick Curve Ruler, which the pattern is made with, so I used it to stitch in the ditch all the curves.  That really allowed the pod shapes to pop.  I did U-Turns in the light grey curves and feather motifs in the pods. I didn’t want to quilt the pods too heavy as I liked how they popped up from the light curves.

I used three different So Fine thread colours.  Light grey on the curves,  a forest green in the pieced pods and a darker green in the solid pods.  Batting is Quilters Dream Blend.

Unwind

This is Phyl’s Unwind quilt and the pattern is by Jaybird Designs.   She used a Brown Sugar Bali Pop for the strips and a cream batik with light green dots for the background.

The pantograph is called Always Ivy,  the batting is Dream Puff and the thread is a light green So Fine.  I just love how the quilting shows up on the Stonehenge backing!

I bought a new cabinet to display some of my quilts as I was tired of hiding them in the closet or a tote bins.  I am really happy with how it looks and how many quilts it holds!

Beginner Quilting Class

The last two Saturdays I have been teaching a beginner quilting class at our local guild.   We advertise this class at our Quilt Show to entice new members to join and see if they would enjoy quilting.  I love helping new quilters fall in love with quilting and hearing them take about the next quilt they want to make even though they haven’t finished the first one!   Those ones have definitely caught the  quilting bug!   I asked the ladies to bring their quilt tops outside for a group picture before we started basting and quilting and it turned out great! It was a bit windy but you know me and how much I love to take outdoor pictures.  I was just so pleased they agreed to do this.  I had 15 students in the class and I taught our Highway 10 Designs pattern Quarter Sections which worked out great.  Most made the baby size but a few wanted to make the lap size.

Its fun to see the variety of fabrics they chose as they all turned out so different.

By the time the class was over most had the center quilted and were decided on how to quilt their borders.    They got a lesson on binding and I hope to see them completed and at our guilds Show and Tell in the future. 

Great job ladies!