Busy Time in Quilting Nest

It's been awhile but I got a lot done. This quilt banner was the first thing I finished.

It's my winter banner for my kitchen. The above photo was taken on my design wall before I hung it up. This past winter wasn't really winter blessings. It was the winter that wouldn't stop giving,(much as I prayed that it would stop). It's now down and our spring banner is hanging up. So ready for spring!

The next quilt I finished was one that I've been working on and collecting fabric for the last two years. I'm so happy its finished and hanging in my quilting nest. This one is a pattern by Kim Diehl (Bittersweet Briar). Also this week, The Quilt Show on the internet with Ricky Tims and Alex Anderson have their latest show with guest Kim Diehl. Great show. Keep up the great work Alex and Ricky. You can find their site at http://www.thequiltshow.com/  The price for a year of wonderful talent is well worth it. They are always teaching me new things.

My current project is a summer banner for our kitchen. I noticed on the cover of  the spring 2014 issue of Quilts and More, that there was a sweet door decoration of a watering can and flowers. Right away I thought of using this idea for my next banner. I'm still playing with it, but this is it so far.

That's it for now. I' m hoping soon it will be time for hubby and I to move the chairs back outside and enjoy the backyard and watch our spring flowers start to bloom. I can't wait!
Thanks for visiting and have a great day.

A Snowman For Our Kitchen

I have all the Christmas decorations put away, but I just noticed this on the wall in my kitchen.



















Well that won't do! So I had a look in my quilt kits basket and found this one.

There is a blizzard here today and all the roads coming into our town are closed, so I got started right away. Can't wait to finish this one. So perfect.

Till next time. Thanks for visiting.

Finishing Topper From Last Year

In November of last year, I started a small topper to mix in with my Christmas decorations. Well I didn't get it finished in time so I'm trying to get it done for next year. I used two charm packs of Midwinter Reds by Minick and Simpson. Just a few more to go and I can start piecing it together.

I think I will just go with the red and white charm squares. There are a few tan fabrics in the bundle, but I think I just want to finish this one. The churn dash blocks are 31/2 inches, and the seams in the blocks are pressed open. I got the pattern from http://www.cupcakesndaisies.com/search/label/Lil%20Churn%20Dash%20blocks Thank you so much Thelma. I love them and they were so easy with your tutorial.

Thats it for today. I start back at work today after some time off at Christmas.

Have a great day and thanks for visiting.

Happy New Year 2014

Well it sure has been awhile. I thought I might try to post more on my blog this year. It's a great way for me to remember what happened during the year, my memory is not what it used to be. I also would LOVE to quit smoking, if I can live with myself. Just going to take one hour at a time and see how it goes. There is always the patch to help get me over the bumps in the road. I have a wonderful husband, children and grandchildren that I want to enjoy for a long time. I will post the day I begin.

This year we have had a lot of work done around the house.  Believe me, it was time.

New windows.

Kitchen counter before

Kitchen counter after

New roof (you will just have to take my word for that. No way I'm climbing up there for a photo.

Hopefully it will be a year filled with quilting, relaxing and smokefree. Okay just trying to think positive.

Have a great day and thanks for visiting.

Jo Morton Reel Deal Finished And Loving It

Yes it is true. I have finished my Reel Deal quilt and really enjoyed it. I used the back basting method for the applique and it was so relaxing. In the spring of last year I basted all the blocks and spent the summer doing the applique on my front deck. So enjoyable.

 I spent a lot of time this winter thinking about how to machine quilt. I finally decided on doing echo quilting around the applique blocks and this made them really pop. I wanted to do so sort of feather wreath in the alternating blocks but I just couldn't make them look right. So I did a meandering instead. I then quilted in the outer borders just following the stripes in the fabric. Then I found this talented quilter who showed how she quilts feather wreaths on her long arm. Sadly I don't have a long arm but figured I could do this on my Janome Horizon. It isn't perfect, but I like it. More practice and it will get better. The link to this video is here http://jennysdoodlingneedle.blogspot.ca/2013/01/video-tutorial-for-motif-and-feather.html . She is so nice to put this video out there. It finally clicked for me. Thanks Jenny.

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Happy New Year!

We had such a nice Christmas with our family. It was so amazing to see how the grandchildren are all growing up so fast. Our daughter Maria and her boyfriend, Damian gave us a new cookbook called the Looneyspoons  Collection.

 

 Fabulous book. So I decided to try one of the recipes for Christmas morning. Erik eggstrata. It was so easy and delicious. The only problem was that it was so filling, we didn't have room for supper. Also we snacked all afternoon, so I'm sure that had something to do with it. Thanks Maria and Damian.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today, we have a turkey in the oven, its snowing outside, hubby is watching westerns on tv, I'm in my sewing nest and tonight we will be watching Arbitrage with Richard Gere and Susan Sarandon. Perfect day before going back to work tomorrow.

 

Thanks for stopping by.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

St Marys Quilt Show Continued

Some ladies shopping. Love the quilt behind them.

 

 

That would be myself shopping. Lots of fabric that I can’t find in my area.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The one below is on my bucket list. The pattern is Hunter’s Star and since we have a sweet grandson named Hunter, it fits.

 

 

 

Just how big can my bucket list be? So many beautiful quilts.

 

 

 

Thanks to my sweet husband for taking all these photos. I was having too much fun just walking around and enjoying all the hard work that went into these quilts. Next up. Goderich Quilt Show. We may be a small town, but we do put on a great show.

 

Thanks for visiting.

Quilt Show in St. Marys

 

Back in April of this year, my husband and I attended a quilt show in St. Marys, Ontario. While I oohed and awed over the quilts, my sweetie took photos of all the quilts. (That’s one of the reasons I love him). So here we go ladies.

This quilt below was my favorite. I usually don’t go for blue quilts, but I can’t stop thinking about this one. If anyone knows the name of the pattern, I would love to hear from you.

I will be back with more photos. Thanks for visiting.

A PILLOW FOR MY GRANDAUGHTER

My grandaughter, Samantha wanted to change her bedroom over to black and white. For Christmas we gave her a black furry mat for the side of her bed and a black table lamp. For her birthday we gave her a black and white bed set. I was finding it difficult to find black and white fabric to make a quilt for her bed, so I made a pillow from her bed from a Don't Look Now pattern called Pretty 'n Pink.  This was so much fun. I didn't get a picture of the back, but I added two appliques just to dress up the back. And yes Samantha, Nanny still owes you a quilt.
Thanks for stopping by.



Real Deal Quilt Coming Along

 

I’m on holidays, so I have had some time to work on my Real Deal Quilt. The center is sewn together, now I need to make 184 flying geese blocks to surround this quilt. This will be my first attempt trying me new wing clipper ruler by Deb Tucker. I know the frame around the picture looks a little strange, but I’m also trying to learn Photoshop Elements 10 while I’m off work. I might have to take a year off work to learn this program, but maybe playing with it a little each day, I’ll figure it out.

Thanks for stopping by

Reel Deal

A couple of months ago I purchased my favorite quilting magazine. It was the April 2012 issue. Inside, (hold my breath), it was my favorite Jo Morton. The pattern was Reel Deal and I fell in love with it. So, straight to my Jo morton stash, order a bit of fabric on line and began. This is what I have so far, up on my design wall. Of course I will be rearranging the applique blocks after I'm finished with them, until I see what I like.

This applique is different for me since it is what they call back basting. The thing that I love about this method is that it ends up in the perfect position. I just noticed from the photo that the setting squares are directional, so I will have remember to adjust them when I begin piecing. That's why taking photo's of your quilts will show you more than what your eyes are seeing.

This is a photo of the completed quilt. That's a lot of flying geese,but I know it will be fun with my wing clipper ruler by Deb Tucker. I'm also using light tracer 2 lightbox, that my sweet husband gave to me for my birthday. I have it sitting at my applique station all the time, but I've been thinking maybe making a cover for it like I did with my sewing machine. Don't want it to get dusty.lol. 

Back to more applique. Have a great day and thanks for stopping by.

I just finished this little wall quilt for my sewing room. I had a small quilt of a Christmas stocking and thought it was time for that to come down, and a new one to go up. I really like how it turned out. It was my first time using up some of my scraps, and I think I may do this more often.

Have a great day,

Karen

A Blogger Tutorial

I thought my hubby would like to start a blog, since he used to faithfully keep a journal. Once I showed him how, he took to it like a duck takes to water. The link to his site is http://oldtoycollection.blogspot.com/ . He is doing a terrific job, has learned alot more about uploading and downloading, taking photos and he is the fastest typer with one finger that I have ever seen.lol
 After 144 posts since he started last year, he noticed that I am not  updating MY blog so much. So I'm going to try to better about this. I did want to share something I recently learned about blogger. I like to click on pictures in other blogs, so that when they enlarge I can see details that I otherwise wouldn't see. Details like color of thread, machine quilting pattern and especially when reading a blog tutorial. Sometimes I am looking at photos showing the steps involved and I can't otherwise see what the writer is talking about, until I click on the picture to enlarge and then I get it. Lately blogger had changed this so when I click on a picture I get basicly the same size picture surronded by black. They call this Lightbox. Now they have a way to disable this feature if you want to go back to the way we used to enlarge pictures. First you go to Settings then click Post and Comments. Where you see "Showcase images with Lightbox" check no and save settings. Easy.
Enjoy Your Day
Karen

The Day That Changed Our Town

It was Sunday, August 21, 2011 4:00 PM. We live in a small town of 8500. Our downtown is unique in that it is in the shape of a circle with side streets running off of the main circle. In the center of the circle is our courthouse, with beautiful trees and a gazebo surrounding it.



My honey and I moved here 5 years ago, and we LOVE this town. But on August 21, an F3 tornado came through and did so much damage, I think it will be some time before everyone gets over the shock. The following picture is what our downtown looks like now.

One man at our salt mine lost his life, and many others were injured. So many businesses damaged and questions as to will they be able to restore them. I worry because they were so old, but that is what gave our downtown so much character.

 We were so lucky, just a lot of raking and a damaged window well cover. But many homes were badly damaged. Tarps on lots of roofs, homes demolished and waiting to be rebuilt, lives turned upside down, and many folks still without income from the buisinesses that were damaged.

But I'm sure in time,  we will be different looking town, but still have the great town we have grown to love.

This Christmas it would be wonderful if you could include our town in your prayers. We will need strength to get through this.

I have included this video of our town before and after this tragedy.

Karen

Another Miniture Quilt Done

I finished another mini quilt. These are so fun because they are quick.



I'm still hand quilting the table topper from the Fons and Porter magazine, that I mentioned a few posts ago. But it has been so hot lately, I'm not getting much done. Today, they say the humidex will be 32. I'm going to be happy going to work this afternoon (air conditioning). Take care today as we could have some thunderstorms throughout Ontario this afternoon. Oh my. I'm sounding like a weathergirl.lol

New Computer and Some Quilting

Yes. That's right, I got a new computer. My first laptop. Where do I keep it, you ask? Why in my quilting room, of course. I've always wanted one because they are so portable. I would love to sit outside on the deck, and read all the blogs I follow, but the sun and the temps haven't been cooperating. But towards the end of the week, the sun is expected to shine, and with a four day weekend, you know where I'll be. I'm so glad my hubby let me pick out which ever one I wanted. I Love him. Now he has his computer for blogging and I have mine. Thank you Baby, big time.

And here she is



Pretty.

On the quilting front, I did go to the quilt show I mention in my last post. There wasn't much there for me, so my honey drove me to one of my favorite quilt shops. They have quite a selection of reproduction fabric that I love, so I managed to pick up a few kits. I wanted to make some small quilts to hang on my quilt room walls.I 've already completed one small quillt.

I really enjoyed making this one. Hand sewing all the wool circles on was so relaxing. It is the first time I combined wool and cotton, and I really like the effect.

The one I'm working on now is another small one I purchased at the same quilt store. The picture belows shows the center just about completed. Just sewing the final strip on. Even though there are a lot of little squares (1inch finished), this quilt was sew easy. The pattern asked to sew 10 assorted strips together. Next you sew the first and last sides together to form a tube. After this you cut your tube into 11/2 inch rings. The last step is to open each ring's seam at a differnet seam so you have the above effect. Cool.

So now I'm off to finish it, then go to work, then come home to enjoy a four day weekend. Happy Canada Day to all my Canadian friends and family, and to all my other friends, enjoy your weekend.

Thanks for looking in.

New Pen For Marking Quilts

One of the things I love about quilters is that they love to share new ideas with other quilters. As I was checking other quilting blogs yesterday, I came across Gail's blog http://quilt-knit-run-sew.blogspot.com/ . In her blog she mentioned about these inexpensive pens that you can mark fabric, then remove it with an iron. Really? I couldn't wait to go to our local office supply store and sure enough they had them. The pen is made by Pilot and is called Frixion Gel Pens and has an eraser on the end.

So I marked a piece of fabric.

And after lightly touching the fabric with an iron, its gone. Years ago I used to work in a bank, and many times I came home with ink on my blouses. How, I don't know, but I used hairspray to remove it. If I had this pen back then, I think of all the hairspray I would have saved. Thanks Gail.

I will end today with a block of the month I just finished. Its a pattern from Bunny Hill called Autumn House. It was my first real experience with so much applique. I love it now that it is finished, but it was a real learning curve. I love Bunny Hill patterns.

Quilt show tomorrow, so I need to wrap this up and get some sleep. There might be major shopping tomorrow