MY FIRST QUILT SHOW!

Yesterday I went to my very first quilt show! That in itself is a surprise to me, but the fact that I was invited by my blogging buddy Peggi that only lives blocks from me is the biggest of the surprises.


Imagine that! Here we have been following each other's blogs and only a couple of weeks ago realized we were really in close proximity to each other....


I loved this teapot quilt which reminded me of Roz who
has been doing some pots also.




This next photo is shown for the quilting that was done. The quilt was quite large and hanging in a small space so the onlygood shot I had was picking one appliqued block. This was a queen size quilt I think and it had various shades of blues making it a very effective and simple quilt. I loved this one so much.



There were other colours to compliment the retro look of this quilt. Very effective.






Now I know that some shows don't have too many what I would call modern quilts, but this one did. The show wasn't large but the guild in Etobicoke which put the display on had lots and lots of different quilters showing their creative sides.

This simple black and white quilt with little bits of colours popping up all over it was fabulous.




The quilt had lots of various fabrics in it and many looked like men's shirtings. The beiges were so subtle that at first it just looked black and white....really a great quilt.






Now what would a quilt show be without ORANGE! Yes of course I found this one. Peggi saw it first and as the joke goes....she said ooooh
Orange Nanci! Yes, this was spectacular! There was a woman next to
us who said she was a yellow freak and lots of laughs were exchanged
over quilters obsessing about their favourite colours.





I liked the quilt, but the blue that was on the border just didn't do it for me. I don't know what colour I would have put with this quilt, but it would not have been this pattern. I thought it needed a more modern fabric. The fish on the side were super, but it was the fabric.


Oh, yes me the expert.....don't I say?






Now this quilt which is also a lot of black and whites, was really super and the border colours just made this quilt sing. The little pieces of sashings were fabulous accents to the whole process.



I don't know why the camera cut off some of the photos, but you get the idea. My first quilt show was fun. The guild had gloves given out so that if you wanted to touch the quilts...use the gloves...neat idea I thought.

There were of course vendors but I thought that $5.00 for a fat quarter was quite a lot. Me, being the 50% off sale queen sure didn't see any bargains.

The entry fee included a free fat quarter from one of the shops, which was pretty good, but not their "select" fat quarters, but I got one for the red hat society and will make something out of it for my friend who has survived breast cancer and heart surgery too. I love it. I may have to ask Peggi for hers too as she picked the same fat quarter.


Our driver, known as Peggi's dear heart also got a free fat quarter which Peggi picked out. And of course here is how my luck is....I bought Peggi's ticket, hand her the booklet.....and she won a door prize...but being kind she gave it to me. It's a lovely little sail boat with a quited sail perfect for the cottage.

I do have a few more photos of the show which will come another day. Just a note that Peggi picked up her Gwen Marsten quilting book of Liberated quilts and what fabulous photos in there. She didn't give the patterns but techniques for inspiring yourself to be creative....I can do that!

We also stopped in at a little quilt shop which I can't remember the name of right now, which had great bargains on bamboo batting, but you know me....a jelly roll 30% off but when I added it up, it still came to $50.00 Canadian....way too much money even if it was Oh Cherry Oh! Tempting I tell you.

USING UP STASH...NO ORANGE...HARDLY.

I really have made a dint in the stash! On the weekend I made this top. Now I'm waiting for the sale on Thursday at Fabricland, 40 % off for members on everything, so I need spray basting badly and will see if I can find something in new fabrics too.


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Yes, I'm going to buy some fabric. It will be in neutral shades as I have ordered from Green Fairy Quilts a bunch of different items she had on the site. It's so much cheaper than Moda, yet I bought all Moda fabrics. How does she do that?

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I'm very excited about it all and if the fabrics come before Thursday, well wahoo, I will be able to match up some of the colours.

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The spring weather we've been experiencing has gone elsewhere to make other folks happy I am sure. Although all the spring break people that have returned from warm weather are experiencing rain, sleet and basically sucky weather.

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OMG. I just realized that the photo is on it's side...I don't know how that happened, but the quilt is square, I took the photo upright and when it downloaded...opps on the side and I have no idea how that happened.

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I have still some 4" squares that are cut, I can make nine patch for a project of kids blankets I suppose or even more lap quilts. I like those anyway.

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http://greenfairyquilts.blogspot.com/ is also having a giveaway this week. I am never lucky at these things and have noted it many times. As I said, she does have great prices so check her out. You know me, price is everything...good luck too if you enter....no, bad luck as I want to win the jelly roll that she is giving away.

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THE LAST ORANGE QUILT, I MEAN IT!

I am so sick of using up my stash! I just don't think I can go on with this commitment! Honestly, it's really hard to do week after week.

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I've made a dint in it, I used up all the red squares that I had, well only 4 others left, but I threw them in the garbage bag...I'm done with them!


On the other hand, I still have so much orange left over,
and I don't think I have enough time left in years to use
it all. Really! It seems that I must like the brightness
of what it is, but using it all the time is just making me
stressed out!


On Saturday, I started using the little orange and white triangle squares, and used up some of the same size in just squares, I had to add white because I had to finish using up the stuff!

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It's probably a crib size and actuallly looks ok, but let me tell you I am having withdrawal jitters as I just am sick and tired of looking at orange!

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Needless to say, I didn't have a hard time finding something to put on the back...yep, lots of prints in these colours also.




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I s'till have scraps of orange left over, I still have some of the dots in orange and white left over, but to tell you the truth, I'm putting it all in a ziploc bag and putting it away at the bottom of my stash.

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I'm going to spend money and buy fabric and if I look at orange again....shoot me, I mean it...do it...

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The top quilt is for my sister in law's birthday. She doesn't read my blog so I know that she won't see this, and as she is tall, this quilt will be well used. The back is beige and it is a simple quilt.

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We are having glorious weather, I mean glorious. Yesterday, I did my hand work outside and actually had to come in as it was so warm in the back yard. Wahoo for all of us who know that spring is so close. Crispy also warned me that she may be sending us a snow storm from the Dakotas, so I'm not going to get the shorts and sandals out today. Some green though as I shall look wierd at bridge without it...

SATURDAY DILEMMAS...

I have lots of orange...I don't know why, but I do...like the song says. I made this block on the right one day while trying to figure how to use up dots that were left over. But as usual, the cuttings took on a life of their own and I ended up with this one. I like the block, can't remember how I got it, but it's just too orange.

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When I first started quilting, I made the quilt on the right

(with a 9 X 12 cutting board) and I still have so many of

the little orange squares left over, so I thought

that today I would use them up. I have lots of squares

left so I put together some of the fabrics I thought I would use up and see if I could do something.

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Actually, it proved harder than I thought and I had to consult the mathematician in the family to figure out the green squared triangles that I thought I wanted to use.

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Since I had orange blocks, I also had orange flowered print that I've had for ages, and thought I would put the orange from my first quilt in the centre, use up the green fabric.

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Well as you can see the creative juices weren't in sinc with the practical uses of fabric.

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The orange in the centre is awful in real life. So I called the person in this family who really can see colour as it is and asked....Nope, it doesn't go he said.

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So then I laid it out this way and he was happy with it and also putting the white triangles to the centre block was more to his liking.

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So, no orange stash used up. I'm not doing what I set out to do, which was to copy my grandmother's block that I restored last year remember?

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I have no idea what the one my

grandmother made is called. But the idea was to make a quilt similar.

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The orange stash will be used somewhere else. I just don't know if I like this enough to make a quilt out of it.

You know, the colours are nice, but it doesn't "sing" .

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It's a crappy day anyway, so I may go back and create something else to bore you with.

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Something good did happen today though, one of the blogs I follow turns out to be practically a neighbour, about 5 minutes from me...Quilting in Cyberspace...now isn't that something?

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How many of us ever meet? It all started when she mentioned a favorite area restaurant and I thought "what the h?" So I emailed and we now know where we live....and we will meet soon to have coffee. How good is that? Other than Helen my cottage buddy, I don't know anyone from around here that quilts.

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The Para Olympics are on and we are watching. Amazing what these athletes do! Truly inspiring.

FRIDAY FLUFF AND STUFF!

It's almost cottage time. Yes, that time of year is dawning and I have started thinking of what I shall do this coming season at the lake.

I think the mild weather we've been having has made me jump the gun a bit though because when we did go a bit north this past week there was still snow on the ground in a lot of areas.

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When I took this photo last year I had no idea that it would turn out so well and that when I look at it, it makes me yearn for the peaceful life there.

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So, I've opened the first binn to start packing up "stuff", napkins, placemats, new sheets, pillowcases to start.

I always take quilts back and forth and this year will not be an exception. I need my quilts close to me.

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Yesterday while doing not much I went to a site that my friend Helen recommended. It's called Pink Paper Peppermints and has great crafting ideas. The blog is very cute in design too.

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Then I dropped in to Sew Many Ways which is always always fun to see what Karen comes up with for her Tool Time Tuesday ideas. Never has she failed to make me wonder where she gets these ideas and sometimes I even laugh outloud as she can be so funny.

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I don't know why but I seem to find Australian blogs when surfing around. What's with that? They are a small country, similar to Canada in population, but I find them more than Canadian blogs...Stitcherydo is one that is quite fun.

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I think that it is hard to have so many followers and have a blog that takes on a life of its own. Crazy Mom quilts comes to mind as one that did and then she just couldn't keep up the pace that maybe we put on her. I do miss her blog sometimes.

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All the blogs on my blogroll I visit regularly which inspires me so often, even those that hand quilt...gee they make it look so easy too! So to all of you and all the others that I don't know, thanks...it's always nice to have coffee with you before I start my day.

BACK IN THE GROOVE AGAIN!

I found these red squares left over from a project
of about 2 years ago. I actually used them in two
quilts but still had some left over.


Since I'm using up stash, I put them together to make a simple quilt for a gift.


Making quilts is so gratifying for me as I get lost in my thoughts, go with the flow, and start to put colours together to create a one of a kind quilt.


All quilts are one of a kind because each person puts their own touches to the project. It's what makes quilting so unique.



Trying to decide on pin wheels or just the simple points of the reds which was what worked best for this lap quilt.



I did use some new fabric though, darn, it's the stripes that just worked with these colours.



Of course you can see that it went together quite quickly. In a day as a matter of fact and without too much mess in the sewing room so it wasn't hard to leave it and come back another day to finish.






Life took over for a couple of days as Ikea called and we went shopping for a new side table for Mary's bed (neighbour) ended up buy a lovely tv stand which will serve perfectly, and of course some of their napkins for the cottage season coming up.


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With the weather being almost 60 degrees, actually in the back yard it was 70 because of the south facing patio, we were able to have coffee out there yesterday at 9 am. Now how good is that for March?

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We did drive north to cottage country to view new lakes, and road access cottages for sale in a few areas.


Eventually we will move to one domain. We know that as we get older that the island cottage just will be too difficult for both of us to manage. It's a dilemna that faces us all, that getting older thing and stairs of course being always in the forfront. Not yet though, but we are thinking ahead.

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There will definitely be a room for me to quilt in with a bright window area as I love the sun shining in. When I think of how so many of us do our quilts and or crafts, we are often assigned to the dingiest places. I'm not complaining as I could be in the guest room which is never used, and I did choose the basement area because it's large. I just know that so many of us use as little space as possible so as not to disrupt the rest of the family.


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We are still doing very very well in our endeavours to loose some weight. Low carbing is so much easier to cook, goodness my time in the kitchen is so much less and I have found some yummy recipes too. So we are both down sizes in clothes which now fit so much better. We cut out bread as the biggest sinner in our diet and of course pasta. I'm feeling much more energized because of this I'm sure.


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Today is bridge day, lunch with the girls!

ANTIQUE LOG CABIN QUILT...

This little quilt is very very old. It is hand pieced, but
it's not quilted. The person who made it put a plain
flannel backing and that was it.



My friend Helen has this in her collection of old quilts that she found that needed homes. It's not that large, just enough to cover a single bed nicely.


Helen found this in a second hand shop, and just had to give it a home.


I'm not sewing! I'm thinking about making something, but don't know what...

Does this ever happen to you? It's not that I'm in a funk, I just don't know what to do. I keep thinking the "maybe tomorrow" thing, but it hasn't come yet.

I haven't even been posting! Now that's new for me as I usually have so much to say of so little.

Today was a glorious day! We hit 50 degrees here and I was out for a bit and there are people in shorts and tees out and about! Just a tad early. Now if I was in North Dakota....this would definitely be a sandals day...
but, I'm in Ontario and am a wuss.

LITTLE GIFTS OF APPRECIATION

The Olympics are always a lot about marketing. Here in Canada, everyone that carried the Olympic torch was met with these mitts. They cost $10.00 Canadian and they are available everywhere. Oprah loves them and gave them out to her audience .

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This morning this little item was given to Jimmy Fallen on one of our morning shows. They are just a huge hit

as they are readily available and very affordable.

We aren't usually so flashy, but these mitts...even this

little chick loves them!

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When we were visiting my friend Helen and talking

about gifts that many athletes receive when visiting

countries, she showed me these two absolutely fabulous little eggs that her sweetie received when a Canadian hockey team visited Russia and he was part of the team support.

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Then, since he was going back again, he contacted the woman who makes these, asking her if she needed some

little thing from Canada. So my friend Helen who knits, put together wool, paints, threads, and some clothes

for this woman, who lives very very simply.

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Another egg was given. The eggs are solid wood, hand

painted and probably weigh about 5-6 oz, are actually the size of a goose egg I think.

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The workmanship is amazing don't you think? I just can't imagine sitting and doing such detail as this.

It was very hard to photograph due to the size of the art work, but I hope you can click and enjoy.

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Thank you Helen for sharing this wonderful little gem!

THE LITTLE BLUE QUILT FINISHED

This little quilt is so cute! I am not much of a blue person so when I put this together, I was using up stash.


But now that it's finished with a soft red binding, it really makes me think differently of blue!


I did post the second photo of what an indea in my head without practicing does. Originally I was going to do free motion on it. Then, I had the corner lined up and I thought, oh do something different!


So as you can see from the corner, it wasn't exactly
produced such as one would see on that blog
365 days of free motion quilting....not by a long
shot.

But you know what? By the time I had moved down about 10", I was on a roll. I just wanted to show what happens when I'm thinking!


We actually watched the hockey game last night even though we aren't fans of the game. It's not like you see on telvision....Canada is not obsessed with hockey, just hockey at the Olympics.


It's because, if I remember correctly, we've been beaten by so many teams so many times. It's a point of pride.

Happy Birthday to granddaughters Nicole and Tory who were born two years apart and one day difference.
Nicole is 20 and Tory is 18, life is just beginning to be stressful I think.

WONDERFUL WEDNESDAY

The Olympics! It just doesn't get any better entertainment!

See you tomorrow!

A DAY'S WORK, DONE!

I said I was using up stash. Well yesterday, I started with this 36 X 24 pieced blocks that one desperate day at the cottage when I didn't have much fabric, I put this together with one of my granddaughters.


The plain blue is from my grandmother's stash, circa 1965, can you believe?


Then I opened the 3" binn and took a look. I had enough to
put a small lap quilt together from that binn. I'm happy
that I had cut out all these strips when I was purging
my stash, such as it is.










Then, I just put some of the strips on the blocks and lined up a few to see how it all would look.






About 5 minutes later, (I did say I was on a roll didn't I)
I had the pattern put together and away I went, sewing, pressing, sewing and pressing.






About an hour later, the quilt now measered 42 X 58 and I was satisfied. I used a sheet with a small print for the backing, layered it on the table and spray basted the quilt.



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Now I tell you, making strips and little blocks has been so smart of me since I'm using up. I can put projects together like this in a day.


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I didn't start on the quilting as the Olympics called me away. I love the spectacle! Curling has now become our favourite sport and I am sure that we will continue to watch it after this week has ended.

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Last night, for the first time in history of the Olympics, North America received a gold and a silver in Ice Dancing. Canada the gold and the Americans the silver. Both teams skated so extremely well and since both teams actually train together you can imagine how hard they were to judge. It could have gone either way. Dance has always been a Russian domination...not this time or ever again if judging from our skaters... We stayed up till midnight to watch it all. Wonderful, wonderful night.

PURPLE AND PINK "FLAGS"

Last summer at the cottage, I saw this pattern in an old quilting magazine. I loved it enough to gather what I had left at the cottage to make a quilt.


You know I loved dots, but I think my love of them is waining.. I mean, I have so many quilts that have dot in them and I'm trying to use up stash but how much can one use these dots?


These squares are 16" so the quilt is 48" squared up.
I usually border my quilts as I like that look, but this one didn't require it for the effect of the quilt.


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I'm not that fond of it but now that the photo was taken
it actually looks better in the morning light. I used some of the remaining purple to make the back.


When I was a kid purple and pink were my favorite colours for happiness. I remembered this as I was putting it together. Funny what happens when quilting and the mind wanders.

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Anyway, there were 10 blocks and I didn't want to
waste any of them so I put one one the back. Now,
there are quilts that my sweetie thinks are weird!

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Remember the experiment in the summer? "Did you
screw up?" ...I wasn't too happy about that and then
of course, there's the bar code one just posted, so I was thinking he wasn't going to be given a chance to comment when I presented it as I was doing the hand sewing during the curling.

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Yep, he loved it and wondered only why didn't I put the pink and black "flag" in the middle of the quilt back? These blocks look like flags? He's been watching to much Olympics with the people waving all their flags I think!

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Other than batting and a bit of fabric since January, I'm sticking to my belated resolution to use up all those scraps that I've had put into bins "for future use". I don't know how people keep track of all their fabrics, because I just have a few dozen on the shelf, and still have 3 boxes of scraps and strips that need to be used. What, besides looking at fabrics do they do with it all?


What were the plans when fabric was purchased I wonder. Me? I've looked at fabric that's mostly on sale just to have it thinking, oh yeah thinking that I know what I could do with this.

So this morning, I'm off again to use up those pieces that are in bins.

IT LOOKS LIKE BAR CODES

Monday was Family Day in Ontario. The goverment put this into effect 3 years ago because there isn't a break from Christmas till Easter. Hence , Family Day.


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So on Monday we had a big Pizza lunch at our house with grand kids in attendance for Nana's homemade Pizza. Salads, fruits and home made cookies for dessert.


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I made this quilt last spring and since I'm feeling spring in the air as opposed to autumn for the Aussies, I thought I'd set a bright table.



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Remember when I tidied up my sewing room in January and cut all kinds of 2 1/2" and 3" strips? Well, my neighbour Mary's daughter had a birthday and I said I'd make her a quilt...

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I had all these strips already cut out, so the top went together in an afternoon almost. Very simple, but I just made the strippie a bit different.

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My sweetie looked at it and said "it looks like bar codes!" Now why oh why did I ask him what he thought? I should have known better but silly me I had to ask.


Then, of course, it's what I had to call it as the name stuck in my head.
The back is all in white. Plain and very effective I think.

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It measures 43" X 65" which is perfect for a lap quilt. The beauty of these is that the back may be made with 45" yardage although I used a single percale sheet.

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I have also sent off today my nine patch to Australia for Illene's quilt. I don't know when it will get there as I was talking to my friend Helen who mailed a quilt to the Irish Flood relief and she has been tracking it for about 6 weeks and it's still not arrived in Ireland! I think my little envelope will get to Aussie land before her's gets to Ireland.

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Olympics are taking over my life! So exciting to watch all of it and cheering on the participants. Did I ever tell you of my mogul experience? No? Okay, I'll give you the short version!

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It was, maybe my third time up a chair lift skiing with the kids, who are all teen age dare devils at the time and were so happy that I was skiing! Specific instructions were given, "go left when you get off the chair" but the groves that I got in were to the right.

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As I started down the hill, I noticed all these bumps....I thought "what the H....! and then I hit a couple of bumps, I started to speed up as I tried to avoid first this bump only to hit the other beside it. I can hear my kids who are going up the chair cheering me on and let me tell you, my knees weren't together and neither were arms!

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I finally fell, thinking that a ski pole had entered my chest, I lay there in absolute agony! My oldest son comes up to me finally, and I tell him that I think the pole went into my chest....."No, mom, it's your cigarette package", but he commented that people on the lift were shouting to each other saying " Look at that crazy woman doing moguls....which one?...the one in the bright lime green ski suit!"

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I asked my son who the hell would put bumps like that on a ski hill.....yep they're called moguls. I never turned right again on that hill. I also gave up cigarettes.

A MENNONITE QUILT!

This lovely Mennonite quilt was bought by my friend Helen. Her husband spotted the quilt in a little shop outside of London Ontario.


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Helen said her husband had to convince her to buy it! Imagine that!

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It's hand appliqued, and of course all the hand quilting has different patterns around the appliques.

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If you click on the photo the hand quilting and applique is fabulous!

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I have done a bit of sewing but the Olympics which we get all day long are just rivoting and yesterday for the opening day of Curling, you would have thought it was the gold medal round as Canada beat Norway 5-4. The Norweigans have clown pants...honestly we were joking about the elephants must be just outside the arena!


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Today is bridge day, so not much sewing is happening . I am so feeling that we are approaching spring! I don't know why that is, maybe it's all the vitamin d I've been taking. I feel energized.

HOW DO YOU DO IT?

See the photo there, well it's on my sidebar also. We have been asked to

make a nine patch block to help Illene and her daughter who are going through some extreme hardships...

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Click on the icon on the sidebar and see if you are interested in making a small donation to the cause.

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Now, I have said in a previous post that my journey into the stitch in the ditch has not been quite successful. I have a Janome 6600 which states just put the attachment on, and away I go!

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Well, it's not working for me. Yesterday after having a great lunch at Helen's ....Julia Child's French Onion Soup etc....so yummy by the way, that Helen who has an embroidery Janome says that she uses an attachment specifically for in the ditch and finds it better than the Janome instructions.

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I think that she has the right idea! As I looked at my machine this morning however, I wonder if I can get the darn thing on as I have this "tongue" that is sticking out the back of the machine. I may give it a shot on my old machine...darn, I do love sewing at a sewing table as it's the right height.

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I don't want to complicate matters, but what exactly are those tongues (for lack of a better word) for?

I may take a photo and post it just to get the right instructions.

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Today is The Great American Race, Daytona 500, so I won't be sewing but will be glued to the tv to watch the race. My sweetie is already watching the pre pre race line up and the news of the day..

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I noted while visiting Bejeweled Barb this morning that they've had a small hurricane go through Samoa. Her photos were really good! I was sure, except for a couple of freeky earthquakes that she was living on a paradise Island! Still is a lot better than the cold of Canada , but check her out today!

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Happy Valentines to all of you loving bloggers.

My sweetie gave me my roses, but best of all a card that says it all about love...