May and June Finishes

As part of the Charming Girls Quilt Club we have to list our finishes. Here are my May and June finishes -

2 applique pillows

Drunkard's Path buffet runner

free motion quilting sampler

Apple Core lap quilt

Tumbler mug rug

Applique table topper

Hand quilted Bear Paw quilt

I know these next ones don't count as finishes, but in May and June I also made these blocks of the month -

Granny's Hankie, Hop to It, EQ BOM, and Henrietta Whiskers

and I free motion quilted these two quilts for other people -

my Mom's quilt

Quilts of Valour quilt

It has been a wonderful couple of months. June has been so hectic and has just flown by! Summer vacation started this afternoon and it should be a couple more fun months!! Yeah!!!

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!♥

Done, Done, Done!!

I finished off my last PhD Challenge with a day to spare! This is probably one of my quilts that I am most thrilled to have finished.

This Bear Paw quilt is 87" square. I used Warm and Natural batting for it and it is all hand quilted. I bought (on sale) 5 meters each of the two fabrics for the top and binding, and I had a little left over.
I started it in January 2007 when we lived in Alberta and my husband had moved back to Manitoba (I stayed behind so the boys could finish the school year) and I felt I needed something to occupy my time.
It is hand quilted because at the time I wasn't doing much machine quilting. It is my fourth large quilt that I have hand quilted (although I did start and finish another hand quilted quilt in 2007 and it has been on my bed ever since), but this one is my last! Machine quilting seems to offer more possibilities for me than hand quilting.
I don't want to think about how many hours of quilting it took - at times it seemed to go on for ever.

The back of the quilt,

and the border - I used a stencil. This took so long to quilt and you can't even see it from the front.

I quilted bears around the edge, and I chose circles to quilt all over it because I thought they contrasted well with all the points.

The instructions for the Bear Paw blocks and the bear design are all from this wonderful Eleanor Burns book.

Thanks Myra for hosting the PhD Challenge - I know I would never have finished this quilt without some incentive.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!♥

Finished Hand Quilting

I finally finished hand quilting the Bear Paw Quilt!!!!


I spent yesterday at a mini retreat with Myra and Corina (among others), and even though we did lots of chatting, I managed to do a lot of quilting. What a great way to spend the day! Now I just have to finish the binding - should manage to get it all done before the end of the PhD Challenge on Thursday.

I tried quilt pounce for the borders of the BP quilt and it worked really well, much quicker than marking all the individual lines of the stencil, and the design did not wear off as easily as plain chalk. Joan recommended it to me. The one I tried was an "iron out" one, and I found it helped to spray it with a bit of water before ironing, otherwise it took so long to iron out.

Next are a few pictures of the flowers in my garden -

The last two flowers (peony and iris) are perennials that were here when we moved in 4 years ago and this is the first year that they have bloomed - lovely to finally see what colours they are.

We have also been bike riding again - summer time is the best!

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!♥

Under Pressure!

I have been hand quilting like a woman possessed this week, neglecting all my chores!

I am still quilting the never ending Bear Paw Quilt.

This is the back. Three of the borders are now finished!

I just have one more corner to quilt and four of the edge triangles. I am quilting bears in them.

I have until Thursday to finish this up - that is the end of Myra's PhD Challenge. This quilt has been on the go for over four years now and it will be a relief to have it finished. Thanks Myra for the challenge - I work well under pressure!

A goldfinch at the bird bath.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!♥

Left Over Blocks

This weekend I realized that apart from BOM's and the tumblers that I am using as "leaders and enders" (plus that never ending hand quilting!), I wasn't working on a particular project.

When I was sorting through my stash to decide on what to work on next, I found these 8 leftover Alabama Variation blocks from the Thread Head Quilt Along.

I pieced another block to add to them -

Then made an applique to add to the center. I designed a brown bird because of all the robin babies that are around the yard. I used the freezer paper method for this applique.

It is 27" square table topper or wall hanging. I used wool batting and Aurifil thread top and bottom, except for the applique where I used Invisafil thread on top.

I quilted lines with the walking foot through the black squares. I free motion quilted feathers around the bird and

feathered wreaths in all the squares.

I am pleased that I finally used the leftover blocks and now I can start on a new project.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!♥

Friday Night Sew-In Results

Last night at the Friday Night Sew In I worked on a tumbler mug rug.

I had pieced it from leftover 3" tumbler blocks I cut with the GO! cutter.

Once it was layered with foil batting and backing fabric, I drew out the veins of the feather in chalk (not my usual choice of marking but I just needed a rough guide).

Using Aurifil thread top and bottom I started by free motion quilting the channel veins first, and then filling in the feathers.

This is the back.

The design was inspired by this Karen McTavish book.

I did the binding last night too. The mug rug is 9"x13". It will be a door prize for a quilt show I am participating in next month.

Thanks Bobbi and Heidi for hosting another fun evening.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!♥

Granny's Hankie BOM

I finished the June Granny's Hankie BOM -


I originally had blue flowers in the corners -

but I thought they would be too dark. My youngest picked out the red and I think it looks much better.

All the blocks so far, along with the border fabrics (it is all much brighter in real life). I didn't really think the yellow border fabric would work at first, but now I think is will be fine. 3 more blocks for this BOM.

The Friday Night Sew In is tonight! Sign up with Bobbi (Crafty Vegas Mom). I plan on doing some free motion quilting.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!♥

More BOM's

I finished up the "Hop to It" BOM -

It is a 12" block. I am pleased with how it turned out and I think this will be a fun BOM. If you have the "Hop to It" book sitting around you should consider joining in, BOM's are a great way to get quilts made.

I am also working on this month's Granny's Hankie BOM (a 17" block). These blocks are so easy - Bali fabric is much easier to machine applique with freezer paper than regular fabric, and the pieces are big.


The hawthorn tree is blooming - such pretty pink flowers.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!♥

This and That

I started machine appliqueing this month's "Hop to It" block -

I am using fabric from my stash for this BOM.

It should end up looking similar! No where near as nice!!

I also pieced some leftover tumblers to make a mug rug. I just have to quilt it. They are 3" tumblers cut with the Baby GO!

My youngest finished this wood piece at school yesterday (it is about 20" tall). He was very pleased and would now like a scroll saw.

Mary (Needled Mom) has received her sur"prize" for winning the Thread Head Quilt Along Challenge so I can let you know what she won - an assortment of my favorite quilting items. The Fat-Quarter Quilting is my favorite quilting book and I think I could make every single quilt in it - if you click on the photo of the book from the link you will be able to view all the quilts in the book, they are all 16"x20". The Apple Cores (enough for a table topper) are cut using my favorite GO! cutter and die, using my favorite reproduction fabric (plus a fat quarter for the bias binding). Along with some of my other favorites - Aurifil thread, Mirotex needles and an Ultra Fine Sharpie marker.

They all arrived quite quickly considering Canada Post is on strike. I had taken the parcel (a large envelope really) to a courier company at first because I was worried about the effects of the strike, and I was quoted $116 to ship it! I had to get him to repeat that because I thought I had misheard! It ending up costing me $22 and arrived in 3 business days - much better!

Did you know that if you hold the "control" (Ctrl) button while you click a link on a blog it will open up a new window. Wendy (Inky Threads) told me this recently and it has been very useful - thanks Wendy!

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!♥