Old MacDonald had a farm

This is a fun little mini from the book, Paper-pieced Mini Quilts by Wendy Vosters. It measures 5X7 and I used landscape fabric for the farm fields. I got a cute little John Deere Tractor button at Hobby Lobby which just makes the piece. We are offering it as a class at Kindred Spirits Quilt Co. I used a blanket stitch to make the fence between the fields.

Sunbonnet Sue March-ing right along

I'm managing to keep up with my BOM's including this little embroidery one that I started. Each month I try and get the embroidery design stitched onto the block and this month I almost didn't make it. I've got really cute yellow Sunbonnet Sue fabric to co-ordinate with these blocks and a really cute yellow 30's print for the outer border. Once all the little blocks are stitched I can put it all together for my Sunbonnet Sue calendar quilt. I've tried to stitch all the designs with some yellow thread throughout it to tie everything together. So far so good. 

It's OK to be small

I've been on this kick lately of miniatures. Started with this book and then went down hill fast. I think I did about six in a matter of days, they were addictive.  It started by wanting to showcase mini quilts in different ways for the Kindred Spirits Quilt Co. store and once I got started, I couldn't seem to stop. I thought this was a nice way to showcase a mini...on a little canvas plus stand. Once the quilt was completed, I staple gunned it to a mini canvas and bought this cute stand from Hobby Lobby. This mini is done with paper piecing techniques. There is so much interest at the store now that we are running several classes.

Air Cadets Raffle Quilt

This will be a raffle quilt for local Air Cadets to raise money for a trip they are hoping to venture on. (to Germany, I believe) Chris a customer, is donating the quilt to them to assist in raising money. She made the quilt from a local quilt store's BOM program.   It looks very nice in the blues and greens and will be wonderfully cozy as it's backed in flannel. Hopefully her generosity will result in lots of tickets being sold for this worthwhile cause.

Home Tweet Home

If you know me, you know I have a thing for pincushions. I get great joy from finding little treasures at local vintage stores then remaking them into unusual pincushions. I like to give them away as gifts to other quilters or students in my classes. This little tea light holder turned out really sweet as a pincushion and makes me want spring to be here...NOW

Leftovers Again!

I say that like it's a bad thing!...but it's not. After I made the Lil Twister quilt, there were these lovely little pieces left that were just the right size to make 4X4 squares. These were perfect to put together for a table runner. Along with the leftover squares, there was enough fabric from the inside border to make the setting triangles and enough from the outside border to give me a little border around the table runner as well. I love leftovers! Turned out sweet and the ladies in my class will get this bonus project as well!

Lil Lil Lil twister

How small can you go....pretty small it seems. We are planning a mini quilt class at Kindred Spirits Quilt Co. and I've been playing around with a few options for it. I had recently made a Lil Twister Quilt sample and tried experimenting with different sizes of templates. I ended up cutting a template 1.25 X 1.25 inches to make this little twister heart quilt. Fun to do but very time consuming and tedious with all the little pieces to cut and resew. Certainly not a beginner's class for sure. The whole thing measures 8X8 and I set it in a shadow box to display.

Just ducky

This little pincushion is just ducky and a great find a a vintage shop recently. It's actually an egg cup and when I saw it I knew it would make into a great pincushion. I used felted wool for the pincushion head and tied some matching ribbon around to complete the look. We recently had our quilt shop meeting and I brought each one of the staff a homemade pincushion. This little gem went to Michelle.



Henrietta Whiskers on Acorn Lane

Got to love the newest BOM from Bunny Hill Designs. It is too cute and so much fun to put together. I have chosen the fabric line Migration and I love the way it is coming along. Henrietta is just the sweetest squirrel and each month she goes on a new adventure. I love  the idea of the little wagon filled with acorns and on Acorn Lane no less. It's a free BOM offered by Anne Sutton at Bunny Hill Designs.

Christmas Jelly Roll

Jane is not a beginner quilter any more. Look at this wonderful jelly roll quilt she made at a recent class. I love it! Jane was in my beginner class and this is her second quilt. Wow, she's done amazing. The fabric is wonderful with the snowmen and festive Christmas ornaments....and the colors are great in combination with each other. I somehow  feel sorry for Jane though.....poor thing, just getting back from Acapulco after 6 weeks and having to wrap herself up in this little beauty to keep warm here in Canada...poor Jane...ahhhh.....

It's a jungle out there

This is the sweetest little baby quilt made by Donna. It's for a new baby that is due shortly. I love the jungle theme and the fussy cut blocks. The backing is so cute and great fun. The brown border just seems to punch it up. That new baby is gonna love this one.

Birdie Stitches BOM

Little Miss Shabby... I love you... for sharing such a cute BOM with your readers. It is way too cute. It is specifically designed for embroidery, however I'm not an embroidery expert, so I opted to applique her design instead. I hope she doesn't mind. I love the way it is turning out and I get to add my own artistry too it as well. I look forward so much to the next month, to see what gets posted and what she has created to share with everyone. 

Dresden Girl on the make

This is the making of Dresden Girl. Kindred Spirit Quilt Co. likes to have a new creation 1/4ly for the doll class they offer at the store. Each 1/4 I try and design a new doll pattern that quilters will enjoy and that in some small way has a quilting technique involved. This is the start of Dresden Girl, isn't she pretty. Her face is sculpted and colored with pencil crayons along with individual eyelashes sewn in by hand. The face then sits in a silk flower, her face as centre. She will stand on a candlestick in stead of having legs. She has a dropped waist dress and the skirt is made with the Dresden template and is gathered up around  as her skirt. Too cute, I'll keep you posted as she pulls herself together.  

Hallmark, eat your heart out

These are my latest cards that were made at the Stampin Up club class that I take once a month.  Cindy Custers is the demonstrator that teaches us all our tricks and we have so much fun at the class. You make 3 cards when you attend and you can purchase all the latest and greatest that Stampin Up has to offer. They have just come out with a whole line of sewing themed goodies, and I can't wait to order them.

The luck of the Irish

What are gorgeous quilt this is. This is my customer Connie's Double Irish Chain which she made for her son and wife to be for a wedding present. Isn't it fabulous. It has a special meaning as the family originally  immigrated from Ireland. Connie's quilts are always a beautiful work of art. Perfectly square, perfectly pieced, perfectly pressed, an absolute pleasure to quilt. We used the pantograph pattern Happy Times and she thought that was appropriate as it is to celebrate their marriage. This is in fact the largest quilt I have ever had on my machine, it measured 120X100 and will be a cherished gift for the lucky couple.

FiFi Lapin...the french Easter Bunny?

Is there such as thing as a French Easter Bunny....I believe there is....Meet FiFi Lapin. This is my newest designed doll for Kindred Spirits Quilt Co. We are just finishing up with Patches (previous post from February 16th) and since I demo the class on a sample I sew along with the class, it seemed appropriate that I make a female to accompany Patches. I had quite a laugh when my daughter saw FiFi for the first time, she asked me where she got her black eye from...did Patches give that to her?....she asked... I think she turned out cute with her little beret, and her appliqued carrots. She even has matching legwarmers.

Sport's fanatic t-shirt quilt

There is something really sentimental for sport fanatic whereby their shirts are memorabilia and are meant to be saved as legacies. My friend Mary made this t-shirt quilt for her daughter who lives in Maine. She has been asking Mary when it was going to be finished and as Mary and her hubby are heading down to see them, she asked that it be quilted before they leave. It was a bit of a challenge to quilt as it was very thick in parts, and you could feel the longarm machine dragging as the machine went over certain parts. Thicknesses resulted from the t-shirt, the interfacing, the batting, the backing and flanges that were doubled in the corners...plus it was all done in flannels. Overall I was pleased with it and it will make a wonderful legacy quilt for Mary's daughter.

Twisting the Night Away

This is the Lil Twister quilt that I made as a sample for a class at Kindred Spirits Quilt Co. It is one of my favorites and was so much fun to make. The fabric line is Martinique I love the way the red fabric pops.  I quilted it in the pantograph Dainty. It appears that it is going to be a popular class at the store as quite a few quilters have signed up already. It will be offered over three evenings and students will get a free tablerunner pattern to make from the leftovers.

Flannel Flinders

This is a customer quilt from Tania for her grand-daughter. She brought me a similar one a few months ago, however had a ton of fabric left and decided to make another one for another granddaughter, Pretty in the pastels, isn't it. We quilted it in Angel Wings and it looks lovely. There are going to be two lucky grand-daughters out there. Tania indicated that she was going to put it in the local quilt guild show in the spring. The pattern is called Flannel Flinders.

Cute as a bug!

I love making pincushions from all kinds of different 
  "finds". I scour vintage shops for just the right
   "housing" for a pincushion. Sometimes they turn out and sometimes they don't.  I love it when they do like this little treasure. A little tealight holder transformed into a "cute as a bug " pincushion....
who woulda thought.

Mystery definition...Anything artfully made difficult

How true is that for these ladies. They all belong to Mystery Quilt Club at Kindred Spirits Quilt Co.  and their quilting is made more difficult due to the mystery pattern. Each month they get a certain number of clues to put together new pieces of their quilts, never knowing until the very end what the quilts will look like. We have so much fun in the group and they are a great bunch of ladies. Shown here are Arden, Kathleen, Donna, Barb and Rene. We are getting to the end, when everything comes together and I know their quilts will look amazing.  The pattern is by Border Creek Station and is called Travel by Night or Travel by Day depending what color choice you picked.

Let's twist again...

This is the start of a "Lil Twister" quilt that I'm making as a sample for a class at  Kindred Spirits Quilt Co.  I have loved this idea since I first saw the ruler on other blogs. There are 2 sizes of rulers, one you use with layer cakes and one you use with charm packs. It's quite simple once you get your base laid out and sewn. You lay out your layer cake pieces in a  a combination that is pleasing to the eye and sew them together in rows. You sew a border around and are ready to twist. Use your Lil twister ruler and with the ruler markings, you recut the quilt you have made and resew the squares again. (second photo) As you rotate and sew the new cut pieces, it makes this fabulous pinwheel type block. Once you've finished sewing,  add another border around and your quilt is finished. It looks like you've spent hours cutting and sewing and cutting and sewing. I love it...sew much fun!

It makes an entrance

We are really fortunate to live in a home that is open concept, allowing nice wall spaces to display my quilts. This was one of the first quilts I made. It was from a quilting magazine and is about 40X40 and is the perfect size to hang above our front door entrace. It's a sampler quilt and I love all the little blocks and pieces. The colors are country and it just seems to make a statement. It was one of the fist quilts I quilted on my longarm when I first got it so it holds a special place in my heart.

Stitchin in the Kitchen

This is one of my favorite quilts. It hangs in my kitchen on a wonderfully large wall that seemed to be built just to display something like this. I made this years ago from a pattern in a quilt magazine. I wish I had taken more time back then to label or keep track of my quilts as now I can't recall which book or what the pattern name was. I loved the angels on it when I first saw the pattern and knew I had to make it. It was custom quilted by Jane of Jane's in Stitches. That was before she inspired me to get my own longarm machine. Still one of my favorites, even though I notice it has some fabric that has faded from the sun. A quilt is to be enjoyed and we have enjoyed this one.

Florida bound

This pretty little table runner is bound for Florida. Isn't it sweet. Linda one of my customers asked for it to be quilted for her. Her aunt lives in Florida and they were going down to visit and she wanted to take it with her as a gift. That was before Christmas, and while I had hoped I would get time to complete it for her before the new year, sadly I did not. You know...best laid plans.  It did get completed in the New Year and Linda was going to send it by mail to her. Isn't it lovely...sometimes the simplest patterns seem to make up the most beautiful. I'm sure her aunt will be very pleased and surprised to receive such a lovely table runner in the mail.

An apple a day keeps the doctor away!

This has to be my favorite pincushion yet. I bought this lovely little votive candle holder at a local vintage shop and knew that it would turn into something special. And I was right. I used a little piece of felted wool, little leaves cut from felt and a real stem from a pear to create this one of a kind pincushion. The little fairy is so sweet with her apple basket. This is a keeper, not sure I can give this one away.

Longarm Quilters do cook!

We recently had a pot luck get together for Kindred Spirits Quilt Co. What fun, and it was hosted at Gloria's home in Niagara on the Lake. The ladies from the quilt store got together, brought a fabulous variety of goodies to sample and we had some good laughs. We were able to get a little business completed for the store as well. Michelle likes to get us together 4 times a year or so to co-ordinate with the 1/4ly newsletter that goes out.
 This is Jane, the resident longarm quilter who is living proof that longarm quilters do in fact, cook. She brought a delicious lasagna.
 Here are the staff of Kindred Spirits Quilt Co. from left to right....Nancy, Marg, Jane. Gloria, (our fearless leader) Michelle, and Amy.  Liz did come, but had to leave as she was feeling a little under the weather. Marg, this was such a great idea and everyone had a ton of fun.

Snowbound ...snow much fun

Well it's finally finished, quilted and bound and I love it. This is Snowbound from Bunny Hill Designs. Last year she offered this as a free BOM on her blog and I am so glad that I did it. It is wonderful. It's quilted in the Snazzy Snowflake pantograph and it looks really sweet. All that's left to do is add the little buttons and trims and I can hang it. Thank you Bunny Hill for your fabulous creative ideas that you are so sweet to share with fellow quilters.

Westie's roasting by an open fire

This is my Westie named Jock. He is such great company while I quilt. My longarm machine lives in our family room which can get a bit chilly at times in the winter. I will turn on the gas fire place to take the chill off while I quilt and Jock will come and sit a spell with me. He loves when the fireplace is on. He sits right up against it and just gets right toasty, just relaxing as I quilt. Good company on a chilly afternoon.

Monkeying around

Nadine wasn't monkeying around when she made this quilt...isn't it cute. I love the complimentary colors of pink and lime green, goes so well together. The little monkeys in the print are so sweet. I love the pattern that she picked, it's quite simple but it just works. You must be really happy with it Nadine.

Sock it to me

Aren't these adorable.....if you're a quilter, you've got to have a pair of these! These are my quilting socks. I wear them whenever I quilt.  Not true...cause that would be everyday and then they would be pretty smelly I would think. When I saw these I couldn't resist . It's always fun to have neat things to wear that relate to quilting.  I wish there were more articles out there for quilters, things seem to be hit or miss and usually you have to pick them up at one of the larger quilting shows.