Trying to Do Some Decorative Stitches

I have been trying and trying to finish the decorative stitches on my Christmas Crazy Shortcut Quilt for the past couple of days and I am soooo frustrated!!!  I think that my machine really doesn't like the thread that I am using.  I am trying to use the Aurifil Aurilux Polyester thread in 36wt in the top and bobin.  I know that many, many people like this thread for machine quilting but I just don't like it for decorative stitching - I haven't tried it for machine quilting so I can't say anything about that.  The thread just flies off the spool and comes out in globs on the fabric.  You can actually see it unwinding (or unraveling) itself as well as it travels through the machine - so that after a few inches of sewing you can see that it is shredding at the needle :'(  Let me tell you I have tried almost everything I can!!

• I've tried a 90 metallic needle and a 100 topstitch and embroidery needles and I am still getting the thread shredding
• I've tried Sewer's Aid Lubricant
• I've re threaded my machine more times that I can count
• I've had the thread lying down on the horizonal spool pin and standing up on the vertical spool pin.  And, I've tried it on a cone holder off the machine.
• I've put a net on the thread and also tried a "Wonder Guard"
• I've decreased top tension and even tried increasing it
• I've tried a different spool of the thread

This thread just doesn't like me.  It's shredding and pinging off the spool.  Right now I have the thread on the horizontal spool pin with a wonder guard on it and a 100 topstitch needle with decreased tension and I am sewing very slowly.

This is a 36 block quilt and I only have 2 blocks left to do the decorative stitching on so I am going to slog through and finish these up using the thread that I have.  Sometimes a thread just doesn't like your sewing machine but will be fine in someone else's.  And sometimes a certain die-lot can be faulty.  Sometimes you just buy a lemon LOL.  I don't know what it is but I do know that I won't be using this thread for decorative stitches again LOL.

Has anyone used this thread before that could give me some words of advise?  I would certainly appreciate it ~ even if it's just to make me feel better!

Happy Stitching all!

Baltimore Bunnies QUilt on the Frame

Recently the quilt bee that I belong to, The Silver Thimbles, put a new quilt on the frame to be hand quilted in our group.  This is a pattern set called "Baltimore Bunnies" by Bunny Hill Designs.  Isn't it pretty??  The two side boarders are already quilted so you can't see those - as they are rolled up on the rollers; but, the inside of the quilt is all there.  I love the twist to the traditional Baltimore quilt by adding the bunnies.  They make a nice change.



I got a new camera card and card reader yesterday so I was able to actually take and upload pictures again!!  I bought that same card reader - since I was happy with it before I blew it out.  They wouldn't replace it for me since I didn't keep the receipt (I think anyways) but I am keeping the box and receipt from this one I can tell you that!  I find receipts from things that I have purchased years ago - but I somehow always manage to throw out the ones that I need at a latter date :-(

Another Go Giveaway!!!

Wow!  I thought that I would let you all know that Sweet P Quilting and Creations is giving away a GO! Cutter as well!!!  If you want one of these as badly as I do then you should Go Go Go to her site to check it out!!

I spent the day today cutting out a couple of quilts.  My rotary cutter is starting to feel old fashioned now LOL.  I cut out a nine-patch quilt from a free pattern on the Timeless Treasures web-site called the Desert Nine-Patch.  I love the way that this quilt is quilted.   I'm not sure if you can see the quilting in this picture but I think that you can on the web-site.  I'm going a bit browner with my colours.   Then I cut out another 4-patch 1-patch baby quilt for a friend that had twins - a boy and a girl.  So I am making her two baby quilts.

I'll try to upload a picture of the fabrics I'm using but I somehow destroyed my camera card readers yesterday!  They both did the same thing (got all hot and smelly) so we think that it's the camera card not the readers - although the readers do appear to be dead as well . . .sigh . . I have no luck with card readers :-(

Accuquilt GO Cutter

Have you all seen this cutter? This is the Accuquilt Go Cutter and it is so cute! Anyone have it? It looks absolutely amazing to me and I have been really considering getting one ~ I'm not a huge fan of the cutting stage of quilting (especially applique) and I think this might just be an answer to my prayers!

Canton Village Quilt Works is giving away a GO cutter with multiple ways to win ~ so I thought that I would share it here with you all as well! The only thing I can think of that would be better than owning one of these is to get one for free!

We just got back from two weeks vacation in British Columbia and I put my SD card into the card reader but put the cord into the wrong port! I fried my new card reader I think :-( But I didn't fry the card which is great! i was going to post a bunch of pictures from things that I have been working on but that might have to wait for another day LOL! I do promise to be a better blogger ~ I do have finished projects I just haven't been blogging :-/

On the Frame!

Woohoo!
My quilt is finally on the frame and progressing :-D After taking it off my own hand-quilting frame I felt such a sense of relief - and now that it is on my regular bee's frame, being quilted, I feel so happy! This quilt was pieced so many years ago, and, I loved piecing it, so, it needs to be finished - badly. My quilting bee - the Silver Thimbles, were gracious enough to agree to finish hand-quilting it when my time came to put a quilt on the frame. Looking at it now I love this quilt again. It has transformed itself from a source of stress to a great joy again and that makes me very happy. I hope that we all enjoy quilting it together ;)

I'm (Locally) Famous!

Only in a small town, or community, could my quilts make the cover of both of our local newspapers! The EMC is our local area-wide newspaper and the Chronicle is our town's newspaper. That's me on the right ;) I couldn't believe it when my quilts made the cover of *both* of the newspapers!! Although I am not in the left picture that's my flying geese quilt. I just had to laugh when I saw the papers this weekend. Our guild's show was a success and I now have the feeling that the photographers liked my quilts :-D It was two different photographers as well - so I must say that's quite validating ;)

BTW I've finally realized why I haven't been blogging as much as I was. I changed over from a PC to a MAC a couple of years ago. I absolutely *love* my Mac and wouldn't change it for anything. But, the PC had card slots o take different types of memory cards from cameras etc. and the MAC doesn't. So, I had to get an external card reader - I got one that hangs off the back of the machine. I hated it from day one since it didn't stay in the machine; but, rather, it would become disconnected half way through an import and it took so long to import photos. So, blogging became a real pain. I recently got a new card-reader that plugs in via a cord and it doesn't become disconnected if you breath on it! So - blogging is fun again! Amazing how something so little can change everything for you huh?

Rug Update and New Christmas Crazy Quilt!

Hi all! I thought that I would post an update on the spring welcome rug I am doing! I only have a small piece of the sky left to do and the boarder. I thought that a nice bright blue boarder would anchor the rug around the edge. I'll have to see if I can find a nice bright blue to whip the edges with as well. I think that I might rip out the bottom right rays of the sun though ~ or rather add to it and make the bottom right rays a bit longer to balance the sun more. It's not horrible bit I'm not quite happy with it. I always think that if you're not happy with it while you're working on it you won't be happy with it later! The one good thing about rug hooking though is that you can go back and fix it at pretty much any point ;) That's very comforting.
I'm teaching Crazy Short-Cut Quilts again and decided to get to work on the Christmas Crazy Quilt that I had cut out quite a while ago. I did a fairly simple pattern, with large pieces, to show-case the fabrics a bit more. And, since this will be a 30 block quilt, there will be a bit less decorative stitching later so a bit less work in the stitching! I know it seems odd to be working on a Christmas Quilt in the spring but I did start this in the winter :-D I'd love to have another couple bed sized Christmas quilts around. I just love the way that they look on the beds for the Christmas season. I think I'll use a gold rayon thread for the decorative stitching - or I may try a polyester to see if I get a bit less thread breakage than with the rayon.

What do you think? If you have any comments or questions please feel free to leave them here and let me know what you think!

Two Students' Crazy Short-Cut QUilts!

First I apologize for the horrible quality of these photos!! My camera was dieing while I was trying to take these so I did the best that I could!

I thought that I would share a couple photos of two of the people's quilts who took my Crazy Short Cut Quilts class at Sew Inspired. I think that they turned out just wonderfully so I had to share!
This is Sandy's CSCQ that she made using Kaffe Fassett fabrics on the front and back. She did the 30 block quilt or bed sized for her daughter. She used mostly satin stitches so the stitching really really shows up and is absolutely spectacular! It was a real show-stopper quilt that got a lot of attention at the quilt show. And deservedly I think! The rich colours just draw you in.

Her lucky daughter!



This is Nicole's CSCQ! She made it from her stash and it turned out wonderfully! It has a really Christmasy feel to my eye ~ then again I just love Christmas quilts so much so I probably see them everywhere LOL! Can you believe by the second class in the series Nicole had two sets of blocks done!? What a hard-worker! Nicole also used mostly satin stitches and the look is truly spectacular. These two quilts really make me re-think my love of the lighter antique stitches on my machine hmmm. The lighter stitches are definately faster but the heavier stitches really have a more dramatic effect to them. It's a compromise I suppose!

Quilt Show Pictures!

I know that these pictures have been posted before but I thought that I would show them again hanging in the show. Unfortunately my camera batteries died after only a couple minutes.
Note to self ~ pack extra batteries!

This is the Eureka Quilt I did a couple years ago.










Whole-cloth Welsh Beauty.
This is a pre-printed panel from Benartex.
This quilt is entirely hand quilted and took me over 4 years to complete! The number of hours I put into this quilt is staggering o even contemplate! LOL!

A couple of my sweat-shirt jackets on display.

This is the crazy patch jacket.

And the whole cloth oriental jacket.

I didn't want to put in too many jackets :-D







My flying geese quilt. Made using the Eleanor Burns flying geese ruler and a whole bunch of left-over fabrics. I way over-bought this line of fabric and then wanted to use a lot of it up. By this point I had used country tones a lot and wanted to move on to something brighter. but, I felt like I had to use what I had before I could move on. Ever feel like that? It can certainly bog you down.





1930's Reproduction Fabric Dreden Plate Quilt. Hand appliqued and pieced in my regular bee. This quilt makes me smile every time I look at those fabrics.

Progress on the Welcome Rug

I thought that I would show you my progress on my little Welcome Rug. So far - so good I think. I did the lettering first to make sure that it was fairly even before the other hooking distorted it a bit.

I dyed the blue for the background the other night using a Cushings dye and I like the effect of having to slightly different tones for the higgly-piggly, or C's and S's, that I am hooking for the sky. I loved that effect for my Halloween Rug so I thought that duplicating it for the sky would be nice.

You can see the "bead-stitch," or as GRS calls it "alternating loop stitch," around the inner boarder of the rug. I love those two colours together so I decided to do a couple of the leaves in that amazing chartreuse green. I'm not sure what I will do for the final boarder ~ maybe a darker blue. We'll see!

Last Rug

I just wanted to quickly share this amazing link to a great rug! The site is called Mom's Rug and it is a site dedicated to a woman's last rug that she will probably make. It shows a hooked rug by Adeanya Hunt that is 10 x 11 feet and depicts Audubon birds and wild plants and it is absolutely spectacular! She started it in 1969 and finished it in 2006. Since she is now in her 80's she thinks that this will be her last rug. It really is something to check out ~ the site is very nicely done and the rug is a real hierloom that will be treasured for generations to come.

Getting Rid of the Hand Quilting Frame & Commision Baby Quilt

Well I have a bit of a confession to make. Ever since I really took up rug hooking I haven't been hand quilting on my frame at all! I mean not at all. It's horrible - I haven't sat down to quilt on this frame for well over 2 years and I have been feeling really bad about it for a long time now. My quilt frame has become a storage area that looks like a junk pile and is a constant source of nagging anxiety. You can see the frame in the same position in January of 2006!!!

So! I came to a decision. In my regular, weekly, quilting bee I am up next to put a quilt on the frame. I've been getting so nervous and anxious because I don't have a quilt top ready to put on the frame. Today I took this quilt off my hand quilting frame, so that I could bring it to my group to be hand quilted, and, we took down this frame. Yes, we actually took the whole frame down. I cleared out the stuff and freed up the space in my quilting studio. I actually freed up 4 feet by 10 feet of space that was doing nothing but collecting junk for a couple years. I feel really good about my decision. I've actually removed two sources of undue anxiety from my quilting life by allowing the quilt to be done by my group instead of expecting myself to do it. I'm not sure what I want to do with the quilt frame yet though. I may keep it - who knows maybe I'll start hand-quilting at home again. Or, maybe I'll get sell it or give it away. I can always get a quilting frame top to my rug hooking frame if I decide to start hand quilting again.

It was a hard decision to make - to realize that I might never sit down at that frame again - but that the quilt was still there calling to me LOL! I feel much better though. Now to rearrange a few things and make some use of that space! I feel the need for some storage units :D

This was a baby quilt I made for a lady's new grand-daughter. It is a commission piece that she picked the pattern (yes the 4-patch, 1-patch) and the fabric for and I did the work! I'm really happy with how it turned out and I just love the colours. Even though I am not usually a pink person - I do love the softness of this quilt. The back is a beautiful soft pink flannel that a little baby will love to cuddle up in.

I love making baby quilts :)

Twin Baby Quilts and a New Rug hooking Project

I'm starting a new rug hooking project Woohoo!! A friend of mine designed this and let me trace this out onto burlap so that I could hook this. I thought that it would look amazing on the bench right inside the door to my sewing room. The outer boarder is the largest that it can be so I'll have to see if this rug gets a boarder at all after I hook the center LOL! I think some nice bright colours for the tulips and a mottled blue for the sky would look cheerful and welcoming. If I can do a little boarder I might try the bead-stitch using two colours to give it a bit of pizazz. I finished drawing this last night ~ I only had the straight lines of the boarder to do but that is the least fun part of drawing a pattern I find so I think that's why I put it off.

I found this little video on Gene Shepherd's blog and thought that I would share it with you. It is Gayle Burton talking about Rug Hooking on her local news channel. Her work is amazing and the video is definitely worth a watch! She has a beautiful series of stair-kicks that I just love ;)

I've also finished two more baby quilts for twin boys! I just love the light blue and brown colour combination that is popular now. Brown is such a soothing colour ~ but I know that some people find it too drab for baby quilts. I am sure that the parents will like these ones though ;) And, yes I know, I know, I did the 4-patch 1-patch baby quilt again ~ but I just love that pattern! I am even now in the process of making another one of these quilts, as a commission, so you'll be seeing at least one more in this pattern. I may have to find another favorite baby quilt pattern soon. This one is out of my favorite baby quilt book by Ursula Reikes Quilts for Baby: Easy as ABC. It is a great book that I highly recommend as it is full of simple, usable and beautiful patterns.

Do any of you have a baby quilt pattern book that you just love that you might recommend to me?

Asian Beauty ~ Crazy Shortcut Quilt

Hi all!
I spent a chunk of Saturday in my LQS doing a few demos for my Crazy Shortcut Quilt class, which is coming up tomorrow, and, I was so inspired by the method that I went home and dug out a fat quarter bundle of Asian fabrics I had purchased a few years ago and I cut them up to make this quilt! The blocks were completely pieced by the end of the evening and the backing pieces were cut that evening as well. The green, large-scale, print was cut from left-overs from a whole-cloth sweatshirt jacket and so I put that and the gold print on the back. It's great to use up some of my stash and some left-overs and achieve such great results! I have to say that I am so pleased with the way this quilt turned out! The large pieces really show-case the Asian prints and the gold rayon thread makes the quilt so rich ~ which I love!

If you're interested in the class we are running a second class at Sew Inspired in Arnprior and there will be another session in the spring at The Quilting Quarters in Almonte. I am so excited to be teaching this method since it really is a stress-free way to quilt and this method of quilt-as-you-go gives a smooth finish with no hand sewing!!

A Couple Special Baby Quilts

Over the Holidays we found out that one of our close friends' children was diagnosed with leukemia at under 2 years of age. I contacted a friend of mine who works for Victoria's Quilts Canada and our local group had this wonderful baby quilt ready to go so she gave it to me to send. The elephant quilting in the feature squares is absolutely adorable :D I made both of our friends' children soft flannel pillowcases so that I could send something quickly to them to give hem some comfort. It is absolutely amazing how the top pillowcase matches the quilt so beautifully! The reds and blues are an amazing match and none of us could believe it! This quilt and the pillowcases have been sent off to hopefully bring some love and comfort to the children and to the family. Victoria's Quilts is an amazing organization and I thank them from the bottom of my heart for this wonderful quilt!

I was also able to make another special baby quilt for friends who adopted a little boy from Russia just recently. I really wanted this quilt to tell a bit of a story ~ to reflect his journey to his new family. I found the map fabric and thought that it would work well. In the bottom right corner (above the log cabins) you can see a rail fence block that is actually the Russian Flag. I then made flying geese flying away from the Russian Flag and towards the maple leaf block to show his journey. The log cabin blocks have a red center to symbolize fire in the hearth or love in the home. Then in the corners I twisted the log cabins to show that they are a non-traditional family but that the love is still at the heart of the home. A couple more maple leaves in the corners balanced the quilt. I quilted the quilt in a large meander with airplanes to show how he crossed the map. On the back of the quilt is an amazing flannel fabric with maple leaves on it from Northcott fabrics called Winter Sports to celebrate Canada hosting the Olympic Games. There are also little Inukshuks on one of the red and blue fabrics that I just love ~ from the same fabric line. I love how this quilt turned out and I loved putting so much thought and meaning into the layout and block choice. The whole family seemed to really like the quilt and appreciate all of the meaning.

Crazy Short-Cut Quilt!

Hi all!

Here is my Victorian-styled Crazy Short-Cut Quilt! I used a Robyn Pandolph fat-quarter pack from several years ago that was given to me and I didn't know what to do with! It seemed to suit the crazy quilt method so when I wanted to try it out I used it for this quilt - and - am I ever happy with the results! This is a truly amazing quilt-as-you-go method that has *no* handwork and *no* bulky seams! I love it! It also uses your decorative stitches to do the quilting so even those people who are not comfortable with their free-motion quilting skills will be able to achieve spectacular results with their deorative stitches :D

I am excited to be teaching this quilt in the New Year at Sew Inspired in Arnprior On Jan. 23, Feb 13, and March 6, and, The Quilting Quarters in Almonte on May 22, 29 and June 12. I am thrilled to be able to show this method to others since I really think that this is the best quilt-as-you-go method that I've ever seen! If you're interested in the classes please give the shop a call ;)

Halloween Stair Riser/Kick is Finished!

I finished my first Halloween Stair Kick a few days after Halloween - but - at least it will be ready for next Halloween. I figure if I do one of these a year, or two, then before I know it I will have about 6 to go up the stairs before the turn in my stair case. I whipped the edge of this with a variegated wool yarn and I love the way that it gives some action to the edge. Kind of like an alien tractor beam beaming the little guy back up to the ship LOL!

Next I am going to start on some Christmas ones I think. These are really nice little projects at just 5" x 25" and work up fast and easily! I was thinking maybe some holly leaves, or Christmas ornaments, or a row of lights, a candy cane etc. All nice simple ideas that would translate well into this size. I think for the stair risers the KISS principle should be in full force! The simpler the better for sure.

As for some everyday risers I was either thinking birds or fish. I am really leaning towards fish to be honest. I love fish!! And you could do something really neat where the bottom riser is the ocean floor and have it slowly work up with common plants in the sides etc. And feature a different type of fish in each one. Then at the very top I could do some birds flying around on top of the water. My husband is a bird-watcher and I love fish so this might be a nice little concession for him :D

Any thoughts?

Christmas Panel for an Auction

Sometimes I get asked for donations to various auctions or draws for churches or charities etc. I always like to have a few panels like this one or place-mat panels around so that I can whip up a really quick donation; so, I don't have to say no and I also don't have to spend hours and hours of time to make something!! I usually pick up the Christmas panels, like this one, after Christmas so that the cost is lower thus making the donation rather painless time-wise and money-wise LOL! I figure that it works out for everyone :)

I did the inside out, "pillow-case," method here so I didn't have to put on a binding. For a seasonal panel like this one, or for place-mats, I just don't see the need to spend a million hours on the binding. And, when the panel has a nice edge on it, like this one, the binding just doesn't seem necessary!!

Tomorrow will be a busy day!! I am teaching two season of machine quilted feathers at The Quilting Quarters in Almonte; 1-3 pm and 4-7 pm. It should be lots of fun!! I do love quilting feathers and I strive to help other people enjoy it as well!

New Rug Started!

Well after I finally finished my Halloween rug I thought that I should get going and start another one. Inspiration can strike in the oddest places I must say! I bought some Yoplait yogurt tubes for my kids and they had these ones with aliens on on them. I looked at the alien on one of them and thought that it would make an excellent Halloween stair riser rug! I would like to hook a set of stair risers for everyday; but, also a smaller set (for my first six or so stairs that come before the turn in my stair case) of Halloween stair risers and also Christmas stair risers. So I drew a 5" x 25" rectangle on some old dot-matrix printer paper and filled it with a drawing of the alien from the tube. Then I transferred it to burlap and started to hook it last night. I'm using the same green that I used on my halloween rug. So far so good! There is another type of alien on the other tubes but he's much less likely to be a child in a Halloween costume, unlike this one, so, I'm not going to hook that one.

It truly is amazing where we can find hooking, or applique, patterns if we keep our eyes open and look for them :D

I Finally Finished my Haunted House Rug!!

Yeehaw I finally finished my Shelly Atkinson Haunted House rug and I did it before Halloween :D I have finished everything on this rug completely, including; the edge whipping, the binding tape on the back and a label and hanging sleeve! I didn't want to post the finished rug until I really was finished as an incentive to really getting it all done.

I just love this design and the wools that I used; so, I can honestly say that I have enjoyed the process, that started in June, and, I love the finished product!

I just need to get some jewelry wire to do the bottom cat's whiskers. I tried hooking them and stitching them afterward and I didn't like the effect so I think maybe jewelry wire will work. What do you all think?

I don't know if you have seen this video on Youtube for Herringbone Whipped Edge but the binding looks so nice like this! I just wish that she was explaining it a bit in a voice-over. I would like to know if the slight gaps between the strands are intentional or not????

A Weekend of Hooking

Wow what a lot of hooking I did this weekend!! We had a great time this weekend hooking away and meeting new people/potential hookers ;) Fiberfest was great and well attended - it was such a nice weekend so I think that people are trying to take advantage of the great fall weather we've been having to do things outside.

I got a lot of hooking done on my Haunted House rug between the 5 Minute Hooking Challenge and Fiberfest since my last picture on the rug! I bought two shades of red wool to do the far right house that I love! I'm fairly pleased with how it is turning out but I think that I might rip out the unfinished ghost and use more of the blue/white wool on him as I think that he is too white, and, will stand out too much, but, it is hard to say right now. I like the other ghost, on the left, better than this one so far. What do you all think?

I am tired but happy after a whole weekend of talking and hooking :D Maybe I'll do some more hooking again tomorrow LOL!

Rug Hooking Demo at Fiberfest this Weekend

Wow am I ever tired tonight! Today was Fiberfest in Almonte and 3 fellow hookers and myself sat and hooked and talked about hooking and talked and talked and hooked some more!!! Whew! It was absolutely beautiful outside today so not as many people went through as last year but we had a great time and met lots of interested potential hookers and lots of hookers and quilters :D

Most of the rugs in the display are my friend Bev's - she's been hooking for many years so she has a lot of wonderful rugs which made making a display very easy this year! Unfortunately we really needed the display to be easy to make this year since we could only set up this morning (instead of yesterday) so we had a lot less time to get everything ready and looking great! Fortunately many of Bev's rugs are larger and took up more space LOL! What will we do next year now that we have displayed so many of hers??? LOL!

Fiberfest runs tomorrow as well so I'll be hooking again on my Haunted House rug. I am getting a lot of work done and am very happy with the way that it is turning out so far. I bought some wool to whip the edges today that I think will really look amazing on the edges. I'll take a picture and show my progress tomorrow.

Haunted House Rug Progress

Hooking for 5 minutes a day is really paying off!! I've finished the whole bottom of the rug - except for the cat whiskers because I haven't decided what I want to do with them yet. And I need to under-score the wheels somehow but I haven't decided on that either yet LOL.

I'm really happy with the higgledy piggldy hooking in the grass to make it look unkempt. And I am absolutely still in love with that green!!

I started on the upper part of the rug now with the door but that's about all I've done on the top LOL! Now to get started on the houses! I think I have some wools I am happy with so we'll see how it goes!

Rug Hooking Display

I put a small rug hooking display at our local library on Monday to advertise our little hook-in that we are attempting to get going. Our Group meets in the Arnprior, ON public library the first Wednesday of the month between 6:30 pm and 9:00 pm. Our first meeting is on Wednesday.

While I was setting up quite a few people stopped to comment on how nice they thought that it looked. It seemed like a good place to put up a display since we meet there and it was free! LOL! The only requirement is that you have books in the display (it is a library lol) and that it stays for two weeks. Sorry for the glare on the photo it was the best I could do with the door right behind my back and the sun coming through.

It was the perfect timing for me since we have the Fiberfest display and demos on September 12th and 13th so I'll need my stool back again. I was working on the stool at Fiberfest last year so it will be good to show the finished stool. It should be fun to do it again this year. You can see the display from last year here. It was lots of fun and I hope that I will be able to have a bigger display and "hook" even more people!! ;)

10 Minute Hooking Challenge

Hi all!
I have decided to participate int eh 10 minute Hooking Challenge over at Red Jack Rugs! It is a great challenge where we "Work on your rug at least 10-minutes a day, six days out of the week, except holidays, for at least six months." I think this will be a great thing to really keep me hooking! I mean who can sit down for only 10 minutes LOL??? I've been making such great progress on my rug by sitting down every evening so I figured that this will just keep me going even more. Sometimes we only have 10 minutes and by challenging ourselves to stick to 10 minutes a day you give yourself permission to prioritize your art - even if it's just for those few minutes a day. I had great success doing my UFO's in quilting a couple of years back by making the time to finish them so I am really hoping that this challenge will have the same effect on me - making the time by allowing myself to prioritize rug hooking a bit.

The other thing that has worked wonders for me is to leave myself a bit more set up in rug hooking. I've arranged my chair and wool basket with my frame and a little side table so that I can actually sit down and hook for those small pockets of time. When I did this for myself in quilting I was amazed at how much more I was able to accomplish!!! It's the set-up and take-down that drains the time away. I'd rather spend that time quilting or hooking!!!

Rug Progress and Clothespin Bags

Here's a picture of the two clothespin bags that I made in the last week :D They are from the Darlene Zimmerman pattern Wash Day Clothespin Bag. her patterns are wonderful and very vintage in feel. I can't seem to get enough of the 1930's reproduction prints lately so this really fit what I felt like making! I made the red and green one first then found that great print at my LQS with "Earth" and "Go Green" etc printed on it and thought that it would make a great background for a clothespin bag! I put a bit of ribbon on the waste band to make it a bit funkier. I love it!

I think that I might make a few of these for Christmas presents for some friends and family. They are sooo cute and the pattern is really nicely written! I must say they look wonderful hanging on the line :D

Here is the progress on the Haunted House rug that I've been working on. I am so happy with the progress that I have been able to make the past couple of weeks! I have been hooking for about an hour most nights, while watching movies, and I have been amazed at what i have been able to accomplish.

The path and road look like they are almost the colour of the burlap but they are actually and off-white wool that I onion skin dyed.

I think that I might hook a bit of a dark purple line on the bottom of the car wheels to give some more contrast between the wheels and the road. I'll probably use the same sort of technique that I used on the drivers face and hook with a really really thin piece of wool. So far I am very pleased though!

I'm trying to formulate in my head a plan for some stair risers to go up our staircase. I have so many different ideas for what I would like to do but they all seem to clash in my head. I need to come up with a unified theme in my head like these ones here. I don't want to do a farm theme but you get the idea. I am torn between realistic (probably backyard birds since my husband is a birder) or geometric (like circles again) or funky (like these ones here). I just can't decide!! We live in a 100 year old house so traditional might be more appropriate but I would take them with me if we move that's for sure!!! LOL. Decisions decisions :D

Progress on the Haunted House Rug!

Since we haven't been having a nice and/or hot summer I've actually got quite a bit of hooking done! I ordered more of that amazing green wool from Wanda Kerr of WandaWorks. I will now have enough to finish the grass *whew!*

I also hooked the care and driver (minus the wheels!). The smile and eyes are actually really really thinly cut black wool that I cut by hand and hooked! I think that must be about a #1 cut b/c it was the thickness of embroidery floss LOL. It was a new thing and a bit of a challenge but I like the effect.

The gate is a #4 cut and the rest of it is a #6 cut. I really like working in a #6 cut so far. Not too big and not to small :)

Now to get the wheels done!!

Have you all seen this video that Deanne Fitzpatrick "Teaching Grandma to Hook" put up on YouTube? It's a spoof video about teaching someone to hook. It is tooo funny!!!

Scrappy Table Topper from Left-Overs

Hey all!

I haven't been quilting too much lately with the kids home from school now but I did manage to recently finish this little table topper. The center block is a left-over from when I did Block of the Month at our local guild. The surrounding fabrics are all Kansas Troubles fabrics that I had in my stash and wanted to use up. Some are left-over from a table runner I made as a gift, some from the BOM and some are from a small wall hanging I made for my LQS years ago. I'm not really a Kansas Troubles type of girl anymore so I wanted to use them up in something. I just started with the center block and kept on going with boarders until I ended with a boarder of 2" squares. It fits perfectly on my round kitchen table so that makes me really happy :D

It is machine quilted in feathers waving out from the center of the quilt. I love to quilt like that and find it to be fast and nice looking.

Now to get going on my red and white quilt! The reds are washed and dried I just need to start on the embroideries for the block centers! I am going to use the same embroideries that I used for the redwork fabric postcard swap in the block centers and then piece around them. I'll show more as I progress on it :D

Vampire Baby Quilt

Hi all! I finished another baby quilt lol. It seems that's about all that I do sometimes. Don't get me wrong I'm not complaining, I love making baby quilts, but, I need to start quilting something else again lol!

This baby quilt is for a friend that really likes Vampires a lot!! I ordered the vampire fabric online, via eBay, and, the rest of the fabrics are out of my stash. Vampire fabric that is child-like is actually pretty hard to find. Most of them were pretty vicious looking and that's not what I wanted for a baby quilt :) My husband suggested the attic windows setting to make great use of the bats at twilight fabric. I think that he made a great suggestion b/c it really looks like you are looking out of a window at twilight! I used the setting from the "More Quilts for Baby" book but I actually did a traditional attic windows block instead of the easy attic windows using a half-square triangle. I didn't have a lot of the great web fabric and the y-seam allowed me to actually use less fabric than the half-square triangles. Sometimes the harder route is the best route :)

I hope that they like the quilt!

Rugs found in a Quebec Cottage

Hi all!
We were at a cottage in the Eastern Townships in Quebec this weekend and I found these great rugs in the house!

This is a little display of 6 little rugs that were hanging in the kitchen. I am not sure how old they are or who hooked them even. They were purchased in the area many many years ago. The brownish stains on the rugs are from hanging in the kitchen for a lot of years! I was not exactly sure how to clean them so I decided to leave them hanging where they were in their original places :) They are hooked in the Cheticamp style.

This is a little chair pad - again from the same area. It is made of wool yarn and also panty-hose with the edge just turned under. There were a lot of pieces coming loose so I did a little repair work on it to make it a bit more sound. Hopefully it will last a bit longer now :)

The rug is also fairly sun faded. You can just see a piece of the sky colour hanging out (this was before I fixed it). Again after a lot of years it needs a cleaning but I was not really sure how to do it lol!


This is the back of the chair-pad. I thought that I would post it so that you could get a better idea of the original colours of the rug. The blue was panty-hose material and it really faded!

New Rug!

I started a new rug the other day after I got back from the OHCG Annual. I was so inspired by the lovely wool that I got from Wanda Kerr of Wanda Works that I had to start it. Isn't that green yummy!! This is the "Haunted House" pattern by Shelley Atkinson. The pattern on burlap is from Rittermere-Hurst-Field. I just love the picture of it so I knew that I just had to do this rug. The blue in the top corner is for the ghosts - so far anyways lol. We'll see when things start to come together a bit more. I had to order more of the green from Wanda because I really didn't buy enough lol. Of course! It's easy enough to do especially since I am so new to hooking myself. I think that I may use the green of the grass for the stars as well to put some of it into the sky since it is such a dominant colour.
What do you think?

Great Yardsale Finds!

Hi all!
I had a great time at the yard sales yesterday and found a couple wonderful things for rug hooking!
First I found a great old red-handled primitive hook for $0.25!! I've never seen one with a red handle before so I was pretty excited by it lol. The woman was puzzled as to why I didn't want to also buy the newer latch-hooking hooks as well and I tried to explain that I don't latch hook I rug hook but she was confused :) I think that she must have been selling a few items for someone else b/c she had no idea what this was at all. I'm acquiring quite the collection of hooks now and loving it! When my hand starts to get a bit tired from hooking I love that I have enough hooks now to switch to a different hook. Much like switching to a different sized needle when you are hand appliqueing it elevates some hand strain.

I also got this wonderful stool for $5 yesterday! Isn't it great??!! Someone had already removed all the old upholstery fabric - so that messy job is done. I think that I will get some new foam for it though. It really is screaming out for me to hook something for it - like my last hooked stool. This stool just isn't telling me what to hook on it yet though. Any ideas? The rounded section is quite large and could definately accomidate some type of a picture or geometric. I think that I will hook the top and back in one section and the two sides in individual sections. The top rounded part is where you get to put your feet :)

It's wonderful to breath new life into items like these isn't it :)

Yet Another Baby Quilt!

Ta da!
Another baby quilt lol!
This quilt will be going to France to cuddle the yet unborn baby girl of a friend of mine there. I hope that they will like it :) I put a soft cuddly flannel on the back (my favorite) and a little orange flap into the binding for an extra bit of bling! I had all of these fabric in my stash if you can believe it :) Sometimes there is nothing better than pulling an entire quilt from your stash lol. The 4-patches were actually, if the truth be told, left-overs from other quilts; but, since I have been using the same back-ground fabric for all of my baby quilts lately they all match perfectly and they look intentional :) Gotta love that! Every time I make this pattern I have left over 4-patches so I figured that if I did them all out of the same fabric then eventually i'd have enough left-over for a quilt or two lol!

I finally Finished my Rug Hooked Stool!!

I finally finished it!!!!! It has been just a bit over a year since I purchased the stool but I have finally finished it :) The original stool had great bones but the upholstery fabric left a lot to be desired lol. You can see the original stool here.

I drew inspiration from Kim Nixon's amazing stools. you can see her work on her site Under the Rug. It is well worth a visit.

The wool is all left over strips from other projects or some strips that I bought at the hooking guild sale that were left-overs from other people's projects. The black background is a jacket that I picked up second-hand :) Gotta love 100% wool garments that people get rid of ;)

I used the Gene Shepherd technique from The Rug Hookers Bible to do the circles and I am absolutely amazed at how round they end up :) you can see the start of the circle hooking here.

We finished the bottom with felt, to cover the raw edges, and I bought some fancy finishing nails that match the color of the metal of the legs. My oldest son helped me hammer in some of the nails :)

I showed the stool at the yearly hook-in at the Olde Forge Rug Hooking Guild on Saturday and it was very well received :) It made me really happy to see how much people liked my little stool. one woman asked if anyone was goign to be allowed to put their feet up on it. to whih I replied that I think we all had our feet up on it or sat on it the night before LOL

I hope that you like my new stool :) I have a few ideas for a new stool rolling around in my head. Now to find another stool to recover ;)

A Baby Quilt and Some Bags

Hi all!

I finished the baby quilt from the panel that I showed you a couple of posts ago and I have to say that I am really happy with it!  I have to say that I am not usually a panel fan at all but this one just struck me as really cute!  I used rick-rack as a flap in the binding just to give it an extra bit of cuteness.  Unfortunately you can hardly see it in this picture but it's there believe me lol.  I really hope that my friend likes it :)  I backed it in a wonderful, soft, green flannel with stars and swirls on it.  Has anyone else noticed that the flannel that is available now is so much better than what was out say 8 or 9 years ago??  It was so hard to find really nice flannel back then!  Flannelette yes but thick flannel with the bright colours that you just want to hug!!??  No way!  That type of flannel was next to impossible to find.  The colours that you can get now and the thickness of the flannel is just sooooo much better now :)  And it is sooo nice on the back of baby quilts!!
These are some bags that I've been having fun with :)  The bags on the right and left are a slightly modified version of the pattern in the magazine "Bags, Pillows and Pincushions" that I made for a friends two little daughters :)  She did us an amazing favour in a school project so I wanted to send a couple of thank you gifts over to her girls :)  I think that they will enjoy these little bags.  I am going to make her a baby quilt as well (since she is expecting) but this is what i have finished for right now.  The bottom bag is a pattern from their site All People Quilt.  there are lots of great free patterns there if you just register for them :)  You should check it out!