Shopping - Or Not!

Hey all!

So, did any of you score any Black Friday quilty deals???  I was going to, but, then I had second, third and fourth thoughts!

I had my shopping cart filled out, and, ready to click check out; and, then, I turned around and looked at my very ample stash.  Those overflowing bins of fabric that I have been trying to deplete for a few years - sigh.

Next, I went into the next room where my quilt closet is.  You know, that area where you hang all your finished quilt tops that are ready to be quilted??  I do all my own quilting so I have hangers and hangers of quilt tops.  I also have stacks of wide-backs and a whole roll of batting all ready for these quilts.  Some of them I have even already prepared the binding for.  Some of these quilt tops have been hanging there for years.  Double sigh!!

I came back out into my quilt studio and saw a quilt that has been on my machine quilting frame for a VERY LONG time!!!!  Triple sigh!!!

 

So, I emptied my shopping cart - delete, delete, delete.  I walked over to my machine quilting frame and got to work.

 

I worked steadily through the last few rows of my Sew Kind of Wonderful, Urban Abacus, quilt and finished the quilting last night!!!  Wahoo!!!  I quilted this quilt in two colours of Fil Tech Glide thread.  The motifs are Ribbon Twist and Pebbling.  (I NEED to lay off the Pebbling for a while now LOL!)  The quilt is squared up, the hanging sleeve is attached, and, the binding is prepared.

I have to say, even though I wanted the fabric in my shopping cart, I didn't need any of it.  All it would have done is add to something that causes me stress!  I know that not everyone is like that but I am :-(  When I get stressed - I avoid.  And avoiding stresses me out.  So, I have decided to get going on what I have :-)  And frankly, I really like what I have to do!

The only thing that I will allow myself to purchase is any thread that I need and maybe backing fabrics ;-)  Sound fair??

Next up - two charity quilts that I can load together and probably finish today with a loose, easy  all over pattern.

Wahoo for renewed determination and purpose!!

Scrappy Hourglass - Leaders and Enders

Hi all!

I hope that everyone is enjoying this amazing fall weather we have been having!  I decided to spend a little time at the cottage to take a break from my fitness classes.  I brought up a bunch of sewing and I found this Leaders and Enders project from back in 2013!!!   I had put it aside and tucked it under some scraps; but, I had a lot of it already finished.  Well, I brought it up to the cottage and layed it out on the floor.  Imagine my surprise when I realized that I had almost enough of it done for a quilt center!  I found the original post I made to get the lay-out and I sewed it together in an evening!

 

After sewing these rows together I realized that I need one more row on the top to complete the pattern; but, I am extremely happy with how it turned out :-D  I love the optical illusion created with the secondary star design.

I love the use of scraps and I love how much of the green and blue fabrics it used up.  I think that I might use one, or both, in the borders too.  I haven't decided yet.  Once the borders are on it will make a nice Queen sized quilt - perfect for the cottage! 

I have a new Leaders and Enders project in my mind now - I just have to figure out the last of the logistics ;-)

Any scrappy quilts planned in your future??

Downton Abbey Quilt

Hi all!

I completely forgot that I didn't post the finished Downton Abbey quilt!  Whoops!

Sorry for the badly lit photo but this is right after we took it off the hand quilting frame.  This is Ebony Love's pattern and I am in LOVE with how this turned out.  The directions are wonderful and it went together like a dream!  I completely die cut this whole quilt so the piecing was so fast and accurate!

I made the quilt a little bigger by adding a border.  I used the fabric that was designated for the binding for the outer border so I subbed in a black Kona solid for a first border and binding.

I knew that I just HAD to use the castle fabric for the back; but, because I made the quilt a bit bigger I didn't quite have enough so I pieced some of the left-overs into a centre panel.    Using up scraps and using the castle fabric - win, win!

I used a silk batting in the quilt so it hand quilted like an absolute dream!

A Fishy Baby Quilt

Hi all!

A while back I found out that a good friend of mine was expecting!  Once you hit a certain age the amount of baby quilts you get to make really decreases and I LOVE making baby quilts!

Well anyways, we both love green and blue and fish so when I saw the blue colourful fish flannel fabric I jumped on it!  Yep - I bought the backing before the top fabric.  A few weeks later I was in a quilt store and I found the fabrics for the top.  I went home and priced the top - just a nice simple one-patch, four-patch job.  The top was completely cut using my 4.5" strip die and the 2.5" strip die.  Easy peasy! 

The day after I finished the top we got word that my friend had her baby and she had a little boy!  Wahoo!  Better get this quilted!

I popped the quilt on the frame and used an edge to edge clamshell pattern - I thought that it would give the illusion of fish scales :-D

The quilt came off the frame and I had enough backing fabric left over for a matching pillow case either for Momma of for the baby for later!

The project is all done and ready to be popped in the mail to go to British Columbia to it's new home. Oh how I love to make baby quilts!  They are so bright and cheerful and fun!

Maybe it's time to make some more preemie quilts?

And yes the blue quilt is back on the frame and not coming off until it is finished!  

Pillow Progress

Hi all!

I am so happy to show you the amount of progress I have made on the pillow covers!  Yep!  They are all bound and the binding has been hand turned to the back.  My fingers have holes in them from doing this work but I am so happy with the smooth effect!

I did a lot of this work while we were at the cottage over Christmas.  Well, sort of LOL!

The tumbler blocks were mainly cut while I demoed the Accuquilt Go! over the years.  When you demo a lot you end up cutting a LOT of blocks that, maybe, you don't have a really clear purpose for. So - 4 years after these were cut I got the idea to make pillow covers.  What a great joy to use them!!

We also got snowed in over Christmas for a day.  Getting snowed in at a cottage (where you have extremely limited sewing supplies means that you have to improvise.

So, I dug into the little bits of fabric I had hanging around.

I happened to have a few odd scraps of a Kate Spain line and made up these two additional pillow covers.  They are just random; but, again, it sure was nice to use up these random left-overs.  Luckily I was able to get the last of a bolt end, in this line, out of the 50% off bin to use for the backings and bindings.

So, now these are in a bin of things to be taken to the cottage ready to find their new homes!

With the price of fabric climbing here in Canada I think you're going to see me doing a lot more with my stash and scraps - I mean why not?  It sure feels good to use it up and get it out of the bins!

Are you working on anything special today?

Pillow Progress

Hi all!

I made some more progress on the pillows!

After I un-racked the Tumbler pillow quilt, that I finished quilting yesterday, I had to take a deep breath in to cut it into chunks.  Let me tell you I was honestly a little nervous!  As a quilt, it all looked pretty good!  But, I didn't want a quilt - I wanted pillow covers!!  So, I forged ahead.

I cut the quilt into 17" squares - the pillows are 16" finished so I figured that would give me enough excess to play with and perhaps bind the pillows instead of just flipping them - I haven't decided yet.

I think these pillows are going to look pretty darn cool!  I LOVE it cut up!!  I purchased some shot cottons from the same line out of the 50% off bin in the summer so these will become the backings for the pillow coverings.  But look at all the left-over pieces - that I didn't like.  It seemed like quite a bit of waste to me - an you know how I hate waste like that!  These pieces were off the sides and top of the quilt and it was quite a bit of quilted fabric!

Hmmm, what to do with the waste?  I cut the side pieces into 17" chunks.  The bigger pieces were already in 17" pieces.

I decided to use the quilt as you go technique from Crazy Shortcut Quilts and sew the quilted pieces together using a white sashing!  I now have enough for two more pillow covers - woohoo!!  I actually like the look of the white, negative space, in with all of the colour.   If I had measured first I would have seen that I didn't need to put the middle part in - that will just be cut off anyways; but, hey!  Two more pillow cases will be created an a lot less waste!  

Although, It kind of looks neat as a whole - but - I don't need more table runners either - I need pillow coverings LOL!  Sometimes you just need to think outside the box :-D

Pillow Projects

Hi all!

I worked hard over the Christmas break this year.  Why?  Because we were up at the cottage and I had the time to get some things done that I have been wanting to do forever!

One of the things I have been wanting to work on are some pillow covers for the cottage.  You see, the pillows in the cottage are in great shape - but - they are all neutrals!  In other words they all beiges and browns and we want to funk the place up a bit!

One project I have been wanting to make ever since I got the book Contemporary Curved Quilts is the Crazy Eights Pillow using the Quick Curve Ruler.  I brought up the ruler and Christmas fabric and cut it out.  I just love the ruler and their method!!  If you haven't checked it out you really should!

I liked it right from the get go!!  Then again, I am a sucker for Christmas prints!!

I made two so that we could have pillow shams to top the Christmas quilts.

I made a couple of other scrap pillow covers from some bits and pieces that were left in the bin that I brought (lucky for me because we got snowed in that day and I couldn't get to the local fabric store until the next day!!).

I also finished putting together the tumbler blocks I cut out a few years ago when I was demonstrating the Accuquilt Go!  That's the thing about demonstrating - you always have lots of blocks cut out; and, they don't always have a defined purpose!  Well, I decided to put all of these together into a top and quilt it.  

I will CUT these all apart into pillow tops :-o  I figured that it was easier to quilt it all as a top rather than do each individual pillow.  I will post more on my progress later.

The quilting is finished on all of the pillow tops now!!  I just used a wide-back muslin so that I could load it onto my frame.

I love that way that everything looks quilted and I will post more as I progress with the projects.  I haven't tried cutting apart a quilt before so this should be interesting as I take that big deep breath and slice!

Wish me luck!

Small Town Quilt Shopping

Merry Christmas everyone!

I hope that you all had a great Christmas and are preparing for a wonderful New Years!

We're up at the cottage right now and we got snowed in!  We were having unseasonably nice weather until yesterday when we got a huge dump of snow!

I should have snapped a picture yesterday when the great, big cotton ball looking snow flakes were falling - it was spectacular!

What wasn't spectacular was shovelling out and being unable to leave the cottage because the roads were icy.  As we are pretty far out we are some of the last to be salted - no worries!

I managed to get everything accomplished that I wanted to - and then some.  So, if you can believe it, I ran out of projects; and, I didn't have anymore fabric to play with - gasp!!  I had to shop for more!

I knew that there was a small fabric section in the local Steadman's Department Store so we went today as we needed some groceries and other supplies.  I have purchased thread and needles there before but I haven't really taken more than a few minutes to look around as we are always driving through.

Lots of fabric variety for a really small town!!

Quilting stencils and more fabric.  Some good quilt shop quality and some lesser quality but good stuff!

This notion isle is a real life saver for the quilter at the cottage!  Let's just say I wasn't the only quilter on vacation in that isle today ;-)  It has pretty much everything you might need (and good prices too!!!.

I managed to find some fabrics (of course!); including, a perfect fish flannel fabric that I will be basing a baby quilt around.

I had a great time today chatting with some local quilters and receiving absolutely amazing and attentive service.  Sure the selection wasn't as big as a city store; but, the service was second to none and I found some fabrics to make a project today and tomorrow as well as good quality, affordable wide-backs and solids.

I love small towns :-D

What are you doing today to keep out of the weather?

On A Roll With Projects!

Hi everyone!

I hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas!  So far mine has been amazing!!  So relaxing up here at the cottage, visiting with family, and, doing some quilting!

I was inspired by my Christmas quilts to pull out this UFO Christmas quilt that had everything done on it except one thing - yep - the hand sewing!  All that had to be finished was turing the binding to the back of the quilt.  Sigh, I so often leave projects here; or, at least really want to.  I don't necessarily enjoy hand turning the binding to the back but I really enjoy the look and feel of it.

So I sat for a couple evenings slowly working on the binding.  Why slowly?  Well, I was watching movies with my family and enjoying their company; and, besides, I was in no rush!  You can see the hanging sleeve and binding all sewn into place except the last few inches of binding!!!

And, there we have it!  The finished Blazing Star quilt!!  I am very happy with it and so happy that it is finished!  Yey!!  A day late sure, but, still up for the Christmas holidays!

I used the Accuquilt Blazing Star die and the pattern that comes with the die to make this quilt.  It went together so nicely using the dies cuts!  Next time I think that I would add some green to the quilt but I do like the red and gold ;-)

Next up I will be finishing a larger bed sized quilt binding.  I might have it done tonight but I wanted to get this quilt on the wall for Boxing Day; so, I chose to put it aside and finish this one.

Stay tuned for tomorrow's project!!

Christmas at the Cottage

Merry Christmas everyone!!

I hope that you are all having an absolutely wonderful day full of love and light!

We decided to spend this Christmas at the cottage - since it is our first season with it - and - since the weather is so beautiful and green!  We have loved every minute of it here and are cherishing family but also being out in the woods and at the water.

I decided to bring up my Christmas bed quilts so that we could have them at the cottage and still enjoy them.  Plus, they make wonderful, easy, decorations.

I find that overtime I pull them out and put them on the beds that I take a little walk down memory lane and remember making these quilts and the fabrics in them.  I do a lot with scrap fabrics so when I lay these quilts out and run my hands across them I can't help but look at the individual fabrics and remember the projects they came from.  

2010 Crazy Short Cut Christmas Quilt.

2012 Christmas Quilt A Long I designed.

2005 Leaders and Enders Scrap Christmas Quilt.  I never really blogged on this quilt since I started this blog in 2006 but you can see the first mention of it in the link.

2004 Christmas Tree Skirt - pre-blog!!

These are just a few things that I decided to bring up for Christmas but I have so many others LOL!  

Do you have any favourite Christmas projects that you just love bringing out?

How to Quilt it??

Hi all!

I pulled out this Hunter's Star quilt I made a while back with the intention of quilting it.  Then I remembered why I put it away.

Oh ya!  I have no idea how I want to quilt this LOL!

I want to do an all-over for this one because there as so many seams and it is such high contrast.

But, what colour would go all-over this?  I think I will use my Loricles Egyptian Eye grooved board, or, maybe the swirls, and do an an edge to edge pattern.  But, what thread would look good from edge to edge?  The sandy gold?  The green gold?  The chartreuse?  

I'll wait until daylight and look again when it is light.

What would you do?

Quilt Repairing

Hi all!

A friend of mine asked me for my help.  She said - Katrina I have a quilt, that my Grandmother made, that is badly damaged.  I know I should throw it out (she doesn't sew) but I love it so much!  Can you take a look at it?  Of course I said yes!

Well, the quilt was old, frail, and, badly damaged.  This quilt has been well loved, and, well used!

There are several smaller holes like this one.

And one massive one!!!!  Ohhh man!

I said - my dear this is an heirloom quilt!  I shouldn't touch it!  She said - I want to use it.  I love it - I don't care what you have to do I want to use this quilt again.  Every bone in my body was screaming - no, no, no!!

She trumped me - she said - well, I guess I should just throw it out then.  At that point I said - let me see what I can do - sigh.

She said - I have extra pieces that her Grandmother didn't use in the quilt - oh this is getting better I thought!

Turns out she had extra pinwheels!  The quilter had matching stitched the hand turned pinwheels onto the quilt - joy!  I can do that!

We talked about it and she said - just put these over the holes and do the best you can - I want to use the quilt again.  She kept stressing how much she loved the quilt and wanted to use it again.  Long story short - this quilt is going to be worn out from loving it.  That's what made me take these steps to repair it as best I could.

I should have taken more photos but I appliquéd the wheels down after whip sticking the holes closed.  Not ideal; but, the quilt can be loved again!

Personally I love the scattered pinwheels and I love that they are original (albeit left-overs) to the quilt!

Before anyone jumps down my throat about working on an heirloom quilt like this; please, take a look at the damage and also note that this quilt was destined to be possibly thrown out b/c she thought that it wasn't good anymore.  This way the quilt can be loved and used - like a hug from her Grandmother :-)

Do You Label?

Hi all!

Question for you all - do you label your quilts?  

It really is a quick and easy step to do and it servers a few purposes!  You really need to answer the 5 W's on each label:  who, what, when, where, why - and possibly how.

1.  It let's future generations know who made the quilt.  Maybe the quilt was a collaborative effort?  Each person who worked on the quilt should be mentioned.  And, yes, this means the long armer as well.  It doesn't matter if you paid for the work - the long armer should be given credit.  It is often said "the quilting makes the quilt" so give credit for it ;-)  {not to get into this huge debate LOL!}

2.  It lets future generations (as well as my own forgetful self) know when the quilt was made!!!  Oh ya, you think you'll remember but I can guarantee that I won't in a few years!

3.  It's lets future generations know where the quilt was made!  'Nuff said!

4. Maybe you have a why?  Did you make the quilt for someone special?  Is it for a charity?  Did the quilt have a special inspiration?  Sometimes you don't have a why - that's all good - we quilt for no reason other than joy sometimes ;-)

5.  What is the name of the quilt?  Mine are usually simple names - The pattern of the quilt is the Take 5 pattern and I used Christmas fabrics.  Hence, Take 5 for Christmas.

6.  The how part can be less obvious.  Maybe you got the block in a draw?  Maybe it was a Tinners program?  This can be listed as well along with the names of the people who contributed.

The label I did on this quilt is the simplest of the labels that I put on my quilts.  A square of muslin folded in half and machine stitched into a corner and then hand stitched down across the angle.  It only takes a few minutes to do.  I promise.

I used a Zig pen to write the information so it can go through the wash; but, you can also use a fine tip Sharpie pen.

I also used a decorative stitch to sew down the binding instead of hand sewing.  I do this on all of my charity quilts and baby quilts.  It is stronger and faster to do.

If you would like to see my tutorial for how I sew on my labels you can find it here!

So, let me know - what is your go to binding technique?

Christmas Charity Quilt

Hi all!

Wow it's been a while!  Why you ask?  Well I have had some ups and downs with the quilting world and I frankly got out of the habit to blog.  It's part of my reasons anyways.  I will probably write more about that another day.

But, I do have something to show!  I was asked to paint a chair to be auctioned for the hospital.  I didn't get the chair done (no time and no paint!); but, I asked if I could donate a quilt instead since they are also doing a silent auction of used quilts.  The organizer quickly said yes!

I had a Christmas Take 5 quilt top already completed so I thought this would be a good one!  I used the Accuquilt Take 5 die (for the studio) and it went together so quickly - it was wonderful and it won't be the last time I use this die!!

Here is a close-up of the quilting.  I used the loricles grooved board on the back of my long arm, called Egyptian Eye, but I had it run down the length of the quilt instead of across the width.

I used 40 weight Glide thread in Sand.  I am absolutely in love with the way that this turned out and the texture and dimension it adds!  What I was trying to achieve was the effect of hanging ornaments and I think I achieved it :-)

I hope that the quilt raises a lot of money for the hospital and that someone will love it!

Are you doing any Christmas charity work?

Getting Things Done and Out!

Hi all!!

We went to the cottage again this weekend (like we probably will most weekends we can :-D ) and as it was calling for rain I took along a couple of projects!  Project #1!

It was in exactly this state - blocks all finished the quilt top just needed to be assembled :-P  It's amazing how I can leave things like this - almost ready to quilt!  I know that this would make other people insane!  Me - not so much LOL!

This is the Metro Medallion pattern by Sew Kind of Wonderful.  I love their patterns and their Quick Curve Ruler!! 

I love how their rulers allows you to achieve some great, and very intricate looking, curves!  It really is a great process!  Check them out!

Next, while watching Star Wars with the family, I FINALLY finished hand sewing the binding on this big, scrappy, bed quilt!  Remember this leaders and enders project?  While I have been working on it forever and the final stitches are in!

What gave me the incentive to finish it?  We have this queen sized bed at the cottage that was in need of a quilt!  I had this one that needed to be finished and I knew that it would look great in the big spare bedroom and with the wood and the headboard :-D  I am so excited to see projects getting off my shelves and onto wall and beds!  We've been slowly bringing more quilts up to the cottage in Barry's Bay and it is feeling more and more like ours.

As a matter of fact we decided that this scrappy Chimneys and Cornerstones quilt would look great in the master bedroom at the cottage and I couldn't help but agree (with a plaid tumbler add on of course).

I think most quilters go through this eventually - more quilts than beds!  And, more quilts than walls! I think that is one of the reasons so many of us do a lot of charity work - but wow is it nice to have bare beds and bare walls to fill up!  Plus, it gives me incentive to finish tops and pillows and wall hangings!

Lady Mary is on the Frame!

Hi all!

Here she is!  Lady Mary is on the hand quilting frame and I am so excited!

I should have snapped a shot of the backing fabric but that can come later because I don't want to crawl under the frame to take a picture!  Because I added borders to the quilt I didn't have enough of the Downton Fabric for the back so I added some piecing to the centre of the backing - it looks pretty cool!

Cottage Quilting!

Hi all!!

I have some awesome news!  After about a decade of passively searching - we have bought a cottage!  We couldn't be more thrilled and excited to embark on this journey!

It is in Barry's Bay and our cottage is on Lake Kamaniskeg which means Shimmering Waters.

The water is so nice, clear and clean, with a sandy beach (natural) and a very gradual decent to deeper water.

Our lot is fairly treed with lots of privacy.  The lake is still fairly undeveloped with lots of Crown land so it won't become overpopulated any time in the near future which really appeals to us!

So of course I brought up my sewing machine and a UFO that I needed to finish the top!  One evening after it had rained, and, the bugs were pretty bad, I pulled out my cottage quilting gear and set to work!  Look at my view from my sewing machine!

By the end of the weekend I had finished my Lady Mary Downton Abbey quilt top in a very leisurely fashion!  I am thrilled!  So of course I had to take a cottage picture with it!  This pretty lady is all ready for the hand quilting frame now!

So, get ready for more cottage quilting from me!  I have a bunch of projects planned!!

Where Have I Been??

Hey all!!

It's been a little while but I thought that I would give you a little update!  I loaded this great top - Urban Abacus - by Sew Kind of Wonderful, onto my frame yesterday and I think it's going to be there for a while while I custom quilt it!  Yey!  Time to flex my quilting muscles.  I am planning on pebbling the blue and ribbon curls in the rounds.

I am looking forward to quilting this and think that it will likely be on my frame for a while.

So why the time out between blog posts?  Well, let me tell you!  I have decided to start direct sales of the AMAZING Jamberry nail wraps!  (You can turn off now if you want LOL!)  Why?  Well, I love nail polish and Pinterest style nails but have never been able to keep it on for more than one day and as I am a fitness instructor most times even less than that.  Jamberry nail wraps are heat applied vinyl, salon quality, nail wraps that last up to two weeks on hands and 6 weeks on toes.  I've tested them and they work!

I decided, because I love, love, love the product so much, that, I would become an Independent Consultant.  I have spent the last month learning as much as I can about the workings behind the scenes and launching my business.  So far it is going extremely well and my customers have been extremely happy with their purchases.  Everyone loves pretty nails at a fraction of a salon price!

With all kinds of styles from soft and elegant, to loud, to gothic, and to flirty I just wanted to share this with my friends!  If you want my information you can check out my website or send me an e-mail - kat153@yahoo.com 

Last reason - the start up fee was small and I don't need to carry stock.  I love it!  So now you know where I have been but I will be back to my regular quilting and tutorials.