card friday

wowzers

I had just rolled a quilt I was working on when I noticed that there was a fold in the batting. I put my hand between the quilt top and batting to tug the batting flat when I felt a poke. How did a pin get in there I wondered.

I pulled the quilt top back and discovered this.

The batting had folded over when being made resulting in a thick ridge of batting. And in that ridge I found this

A needle from the needle punch machine that makes the batting. It was wedged into the batting ridge. So glad I found this before I ended up quilting over it. Can't imagine what damage that would have done to my quilting machine.

 This was a sealed package of batting that I discovered the needle in. Next time I use one, I think I'll lay the batting out and make sure it's all good.

wordless wednesday

quilt monday

I love this quilt so much. Love it, love it, love it.

I blogged the start of this quilt here. I was lucky when I bought the fabric that I needed to finish off the border. I took the quilt with me; bought the fabric and went straight to work. Added the missing border to discover that I had 'just' enough fabric if I worked some of the selevage into the border. I had to do it since I didn't bring the fabric leftovers from home; I could have joined them together and made the strip fit. Oh well, no one will probably notice.

I love everything about this quilt; the colours, the quilting. 

I couldn't decide what to do in the center of the quilt so I kept it simple and did an hourglass using the block background fabrics. I love how it is simple enough that it disappears into the quilt.

I knew from when I first started cutting out this quilt that I wanted to quilt it using the Baptist Fan pattern.

And checkout the binding; a fabulous chevron print.

Here's a better pic of the binding. 

Love.

card friday

sorry the picture is blurry; trying out a new camera today and so far not impressed!

wordless wednesday

starts and starts

I really love the March block from the Fresh Mini Quilt Club. And I really love the fabric line Odds and Ends by Cosmo Cricket.

So much so that I decided to make a wall hanging from it.

I truly love this but wow, has it been frustrating! Last week I got it all cut out and discovered that I was a 4inch square of fabric short. Really?? So off to the fabric store for more. Than the quilt waited a few days(grad took over lol). I sewed the top together today to discover that I am short 6 inches of border fabric for the side borders; argh!!

So I decided to cut out my summer quilt that I planned for last summer(lol!). I cut, and cut and cut some more.

Fingers crossed I can get this finished for THIS summer.

After I make a stop at the fabric store for more border fabric that is ;)

quilt monday

Had a free hour last week at work and figured I could sneak in a quilt for myself.

Instead I finished three.

Granted they are small ones lol.

I love this willow tree so much.

This is a free pattern; you can download it here.

I ditched the borders and wasn't sure how to quilt the embroidery so I straight stitched it. And not sure yet if I love it or not.

I also quilted up my LOVE embroidery as well.

I also ditched this one and quilted the embroidery section on the angle. And this one I love!

card friday

one of my favorite clients

Contacted us back  at the end of April. Linda brings us a whack of quilts every spring to have quilted before she moves back East for the summer.

I had just under 4 weeks to get Linda's quilts done before she left; here's what we did.

This was one of my favorites.

Linda wanted the quilting kept simple so I echoed the chevrons,

Followed the diagonal lines in the green and did a ribbon through the red.

And traced the circles in the white and the dividing lines between the 'dolls'.

Linda made this beautiful Bargello quilt for her brother for his wedding.

quilted with Bountiful Feathers

The pattern is stunning on the backing.

She made these two for her grandsons.

One hockey themed,

quilted with Laurie

And the other, puppies.

quilted with Shooting Star

A fun jelly roll quilt.

quilted with Autumn Leaves

This lovely gold and black quilt.

quilted with Daisy #3

Wouldn't this quilt be striking in white and black?

quilted with Mimosa

I loooooove this next quilt. Love it, love it, love it.

I water stitched in all the background, leaving the trees to pop. The border I kept simple and piano keyed it.

This fun Asian Kimono quilt.

I did a large meander in the outer border around the butterflies. In the second border, I followed the lines in the fabric. Third border, I did a ribbon stitch,

In the quilt body, I water stitched in all the blue; including up in the kimono.

And in the black 'sleeves' and 'neck' of the kimono, I did a large wavy line on the inside edge to anchor it down.

Lastly, another Asian themed quilt.

I quilted Asian Clouds on the quilt except for the large landscaped blocks.

In those I did some echoing, meandering, waterstitching. Each block was quilted a bit different from the others.

I love how Linda did the backing for this one. She does not waste any fabric when she quilts.

Can't wait to see what Linda brings us when she comes back 'home' this fall!

wordless wednesday

quilt monday

Thank you for all the congrats on our oldests graduation. Still can hardly believe that I am the mother of a high school graduate! lol. We had a fabulous weekend; lots of visiting with family we haven't seen a long time; it was great to catch up.

I bought this charm pack of Comma on a whim. And promptly forgot about it. I was cleaning up my sewing room one day when I discovered it again and decided to do up a disappearing 9 patch; quick and fun.

I made the top and bottom borders wider to make the quilt more rectangular than square which seems to be my preferred quilt shape lately.

I'm not sold on the charcoal thread I used for quilting; I think a lighter colour would have been better. And I am debating ripping out the quilting and redoing it lol.

quilted with Figure 8

I love the fabrics and colours in this line; so much fun.

I haven't decided on the binding yet; depends if I requilt the quilt ;) I will probably bind it in black. Or orange if I feel like going a little wild.

Have a great Monday!

Tonight

This is happening. I can hardly believe that I am the mother of a high school graduate.

We have friends and family arriving in a few hours for the ceremony and party afterwards. Have a great weekend, I know we will.

wordless wednesday

crafting

I went on a girls day a few weeks ago. Every girls trip has to involve craft stores right? We made a quick stop in Michaels when I spotted a fabulous burlap wreath. So I bought all the supplies and couldn't wait to get started.

I cut what seemed like a gazillion 6inch squares. I should have taken a picture of the mess that made!

I took each square and folded it, like a paper fan, twisted it,

And shoved it into the straw wreath.

Do that a gazillion times and you get this.

Keep doing that until you run out of pin or burlap. Not that that happened here ;)

Guess I have a stop to make after work tonight.

quilt monday

Yes, another mini quilt. Three more weeks of school than hopefully I will have time to make a quilt bigger than a mini lol.

I love the colours of this so much. Not my usual colours at all but something about them just make me happy.

Again, quilting kept simple with straight lines. I did good goof with this quilt though. I sewed the rows together wrong and didn't notice until after I had trimmed the rows down. So when I sewed it together correctly, I lost some points on my geese.

Now to get the binding done and find a spot for this one.

snack saturday

Strawberry Spinach Salad

2 tablespoons sesame seeds

1 tablespoon poppy seeds

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup olive oil

1/4 cup distilled white vinegar 1/4 teaspoon paprika 1/4 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce 1 tablespoon minced onion 10 ounces fresh spinach - rinsed, dried and torn into bite-size pieces 1 quart strawberries - cleaned, hulled and sliced 1/4 cup almonds, blanched and slivered 1. In a medium bowl, whisk together the sesame seeds, poppy seeds, sugar, olive oil, vinegar, paprika, Worcestershire sauce and onion. Cover, and chill for one hour. 2. In a large bowl, combine the spinach, strawberries and almonds. Pour dressing over salad, and toss. Refrigerate 10 to 15 minutes before serving.