My Second Presidents Quilt

This is a very special quilt to me as the blocks were made by my friends at the North Star Quilt Guild and gifted to me for my short term at President of the guild as I moved before finishing my term was done.   They asked what block I would like and I said Sister Choice and then I surprised them by saying "no batiks'!  My first Presidents quilt was all batiks so thought it should be different. This quilt will soon be on the bed in my guest room/office so I can see it every day. 

I did light custom quilting and used Quilters Dream Blend batting.  I did molar feathers in the outer border, a curl in the blue sashing and CC and feather motif in the blocks.  I used an ecru So Fine thread for most of the top and just changed to a fuchsia So Fine for in the outer border.  

So I have a bit of a story to share with this quilt.   In the 10 years I have been longarming I have never injured myself...until this quilt!  I was using a ruler to do the SID and all of a sudden ...BANG....my ruler goes flying and my thumb is in terrible pain!  I had no idea what I did a that moment but was expecting to see a needle through my finger when I looked down...hummm no needle in my finger but my nail was cracked in two direction and bleeding. Don't worried, I didn't get any blood on the quilt!  So after putting ice on my thumb for a while I finally figured out what I did.  My thumb was resting on the edge of my ruler ( see photo below) and just slide a bit into the top of the hopping foot, not enough to have the needle hit it but enough for the screw that holds the needle to come down and pinch my thumb between the top of the foot and the screw!  The screw head was what broke my nail so mystery solved. So know I had to get back to the machine and finish this quilt so I made sure to keep my thumb far back on the ruler to not to repeat my mistake. I have a lot more respect for my machine again and hope sharing this experience might prevent another longarmer from repeating my mistake!

Now here is one more photo of my quilt, I figured out how to hang it on my railing with just two clamps, no helpers! :)

Summer Storms and Sunny Days!

With our summers so short that also means we only get a few month of thunderstorms and I love a good thunderstorm!  Now that I have this amazing west view off my front deck I have the perfect viewing platform to take photos of the approaching storms.  We had a fantastic storm roll through last evening, about 7pm so not too dark. Lots of lightening, heavy rain but thankfully no hail or tornado even though I kept getting tornado warnings alerts on my cell phone for our area! Power was out for a few hours so that always adds to the excitement.

Here are a few of the lightening bolt photos I was able to capture on my phone!

Love this next shot as it was of the ominous storm front approaching!  I used my DSLR camera for this one with my wide angle lens.

Now it hasn't all be storms here, we have had a bit of a heat wave for the last couple of weeks along with sunny skies.  Last Saturday Tim and I loaded up the kayaks and headed to Caliper Lake, just 40 minutes north of our place.  The lake was like glass when we arrived and it was already 30'c when we hit the water at 10am.

This is my happy place, on the water with a paddle in hand. 

City Slicker in Zuma

Here is my first finish of the summer and it has a very summery feel!   I pieced this City Slicker quilt top back in February at a local quilt retreat and the fabric is Tula Pink's Zuma collection.  I used a jelly roll and a white on white print background that looks like tiny shells to go with the Zuma's ocean theme.

I used the Ripples Pantograph for the quilting design to keep with the aquatic theme.

I used white So Fine thread and Quilters Dream Blend batting.

My new flower garden around our deck is slowly starting to show its colours.  Its been an experiment with this being the first year of planting.  There are a few annuals I won't plant again and some shrubs that will need to be moved to a shadier location.  I have been enjoying watching the humming birds at our feeder, had three visit at one time!

Garden of Stitches

Here it is, my last quilt for June before I take my summer break and it's a beauty!  This is Stacy's Garden of Stitches quilt and the pattern is by Primitive Gatherings.  It was block of the month project from Crazy Ladies quilt shop which was a local quilt shop that closed quite a few years ago.   So needless to say she has been working on this project for awhile so I know she will be very happy to have it all done!

The flower blocks are wool applique and she stitched them all by hand.

I SID the piano key outer border, did feather curls in the middle border and curls in the navy inner border.  I SID around the flowers and triangles in the sashing, and then added the pebbling to make the flowers pop!  Once I had all that done I went back to fill in the background with flowing feathers. I have to be honest, the sashing background had me stumped for a bit. I knew I wanted flowing feathers but wasn't sure how to approach it. I kept thinking they should start from the center and work up and down but after chatting with Lori she said the feathers would look good starting from the bottom and travel straight up!  Yes, she was right and that was all I need to help get me back on track! Its great to have a quilting friend that helps you get over that 'sit and stare' syndrome!

I used a gold So Fine thread and Quilters Dream Blend batting.

I have lots of photos so share as there is so much to see in this quilt!

Well now for the next two months I will be working on my own project! *Happy Dance*  I have a stack of quilt tops to be quilted so I'll be sharing those over the summer.

Sand and Sea Quilt

This is Barb's Sand and Sea quilt, pattern is by Scott Flanagan and can be found on the Quiltmaker site here.  Barb used a lovely blend of teal and brown batiks to make this quilt which is a graduation gift for her grandson.

We chose Bayside for the pantograph design and used beige So Fine threat with Quilters Dream Blend batting.

Buffalo Plaid Moose

Janice made this great Buffalo Plaid Moose quilt, a pattern by Sew Fresh Quilts.  She purchased the fabric and pattern from Up North Quilt Shop and used green fabric to make the plaid instead of the tradition red.

I used Bora Bora for the quilting design and green So Fine thread.  The batting is Quilters Dream black poly as that pairs well with the backing which was a black Minkie.

Janice also brought a sweet baby quilt made from Nine Patches and over sized strips that are interwoven.   I used Flirtation for the quilting design, white So Fine thread and Quilters Dream Blend batting.