July BOM

For those joining the Hop To It BOM, we are doing block # 9 this month -

chosen by Random Number Generator.
Today the EQ BOM came out - July Journey. You don't need EQ for these blocks, and they are a fast 6" block to make.

Last month my Baby GO! broke (the handle fell off). Because it was only 5 months old Accuquilt was going to replace it, I asked to pay the difference and get the larger GO!, because there are more options in dies.

It came yesterday! You can see that it is much larger than the Baby GO! (I didn't have to send the Baby back because I live in Canada).

I also ordered a few dies since I didn't have to pay any shipping and handling. Can't wait to try them out! The bottom one is a rag die - all the little clips are all done with the GO! - much easier than the regular way.





Happy Canada Day!

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!♥♥♥

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!♥