Jack and Jill went up the hill

This was a cute little panel with add ons' brought to me to have long armed by Arlene. I love the vintage theme and I also have the same fabric line in my stash...alas, mine in still not completed. This will make a lovely baby quilt. We picked a simple edge to edge as the panel was quite busy and we didn't want to take away from it.

Strawberries in season

I have such fun making pincushions and I have such fun giving them away as well. This little strawberry pattern has been featured on a number of quilting blogs as well as Martha Stewart Crafts. I finally got around to making it. I did learn a cool trick for stuffing it... our local pet store carries ground walnut shells for birds(kind of like kitty litter for winged things), and it makes wonderful stuffing for pincushions as well as keeping your pins sharp. This little gem was a giveaway at my mystery class and Donna won it.

I never took Linda as a stripper

Linda did a wonderful job of this batik strip quilt for her daughter. It is quite effective and was quilted in a edge to edge called Flowing Feathers. Linda is famous for her gigantic quilts and this one did not disappoint either as it was a nice king size as well.

Chirp, Tweet...how Sweet-they're done

I finally finished May and June's BOM from Little Miss Shabby called Birdie Stitches. It is supposed to be dome all in embroidery, but I'm not a big embroidery person, so I opted to applique them instead. Each month gets a little more challenging as some of the designs are hard to interpret to an applique version. So far so good, and I'm so glad I'm caught up....Chirp, Chirp

Going Squirrel-ly

I was so far behind I was first............I am finally up to date with Henrietta Whiskers, the free BOM from Bunny Hill designs. It's hard when you have two to do instead of one. The only benefit is that you only have to pull out all the crap fabric once rather than twice. This little BOM quilt will be so cute when it's finished. Probably just in time for fall if I'm counting correctly.

The Beginner Group passed with flying colors

Well I'm sorry to see them finish, they were a great group of ladies that took my beginner class at Kindred Spirits Quilt Co. They are dubbed the Hardy Tardy Girls...well all except Anne. (They know why) There is Shelly, Anne and Linda and their quilts turned out stupendous! 

They have passed with flying colors and are no longer classified as beginners. Thanks for all the fun ladies.

I'm Churning out Dashes

It seems that I never have the time to make anything for my self. I'm finally working on something for me and I've been completing the churndash blocks from the kit I purchased called Vintage Homestead. I love the fabric and can't wait to get it all completed. I have a quilt hung in the kitchen which I really like, but I thik that it's time to change it up and this new quilt will be perfect for the spot.

I love what you've done with the place

I still playing catch up this month. I don't know what happened to me. (*)!&$_&!_^_!$(_$ Well I do know, but that's beside the point. I had to build two houses this month to catch up. These are the newest blocks from the BOM I'm doing called House Hunting. It is originally done in country colors, but I opted for juvenile primary colors and thought it would make a fun grand kid's quilt. The way my daughter's popping them out, I better get sewing these up quick! LOL

The months are flying by

The months are flying by and as usual I falling behind. It's June and I had to play catch up with my Sun Bonnet Sue Calendar Girls. These take almost an hour each to do on the embroidery machine, so you really want to make sure that you are staying on track. It was a bugger  delight this month to have to do two instead of one. All my little ladies are done in pale yellow as my sashing and borders will be in yellow as well. ....Half way there

Strawberry....mmm....so yummy

This little hanging is so sweet. I just love that I was able to get the little strawberry hanger as well. I am no good at hand embroidery so I machine embroidered the little sayings onto it. Chocolate dipped, shortcake, jam and mimilkshake.  Strawberries are out in full force right now....my favorite...yummy

Mystery Solved

It is absolutely fabulous to have this mystery solved. It has been a long 8 months. This is the mystery quilt that I taught this year at Kindred Spirits Quilt Co. It's Border Creek Station's Travel By Day/Night. I did the night version, and while the project suggested flannels, I opted for fabric in the Christmas line at the store as I wanted a Christmas Quilt for our bed. I love the quilt, much piecing, tiny squares to cut and sew, however turned out quite nice. The only thing I would have done differently would be to make one of my darks a little lighter so that you could see the centre stars better. ...;Now I just have to wait for Christmas.

I'm seeing Stars

I had a great day quilting on Saturday. I haven't had the chance to do much quilting for me, what with teaching classes, doing samples, watching my grandson and longarm quilting for customers. Don't get me wrong, I'm whining I'm not complaining, but it was kind of nice to have a whole day to do what I wanted for a change. I've had this kit quilt for a while now and finally started putting it together. I had all the pieces cut a couple of months back, but that was a far as I got. Quite a bit of the pattern is made up of these star blocks. They turned out quite nice and I'm happy with them. The kit and pattern is called The Vintage Homestead.

Doe, a deer, a female deer

We live in a fairly built up area of St.Catharines. We do happen to have a field behind us that the builder hasn't developed yet, which is kind of nice, makes you feel like you sort of live in the country. It really felt like it Saturday, as right on the other side of our backyard fence was a deer. It was kind of comical, as there was a bird that kept flying around and sitting on her head when she stood still. It's not the greatest picture, but you can see the bird sitting on her head if you look closely. She obviously made her way up from the valley which is over a few streets. I was worried that she might get hit by a car as she tried to go back across the road to the valley as they drive like idiots it's a fairly busy highway. The day before there was another doe in the field and she had her little fawn with her. I wonder what the attraction is to the field, to see two back to back over the weekend.

Not Accustomed to Custom

 I finally stretched myself and custom quilted Tiny Town. I typically only do edge to edge quilting, however I knew that this needed special attention. I spent 15 hours quilting it in total. I can tell you that it really took me out of my comfort zone to complete it. I think I did pretty good on my stitch in 

the ditch and I'm pretty pleased with my feather border. I used a lot of the patterns and designs  I learned at a class I took with Jane Sandercock ( Jane's in Stitches). Overall a good first attempt, but I'm still happier with edge to edge.

I love a Good Shop Hop

Here's the gang from Kindred Spirits Quilt Co. during the recent shop hop in Niagara. Michelle, Marg and Liz. The shop hop included Kindred, Quilting Bee in Fonhill and Patchwork Porch in Niagara Falls. It's always so much fun and I usually go with my good friend Sue. The giveaway at Kindred was lovely. You received the fabric and pattern to complete one of the little corners of Nancy Nigh's designed pattern called Words to Live By. A lovely little quilt with wonderful embroidery in the mini blocks and along the borders. It will be offered as a BOM so that customers can complete the whole quilt if they like.

Mini Me

These are the products from the recent Miniature Class I taught at Kindred Spirits Quilt Co. They are a paper pieced project and while it takes a bit of mind telepathy  and hand co-ordination to get the pieces going onto the paper correctly, I think the group did pretty good. Jack, Connie, Madeline and Yvonne are showing their finished hangings and it's amazing how different they all look. We meet again this month to try another technique.

This is the dog who failed Puppy School

This is the only time this guy does as he's told...when there are treats involved. This is Jock our ten year old Westie and he did actually fail puppy training school. Actually, the trainer asked us not to come back, we decided there were too many dogs in the class. Ten years later, he is a pretty good dog, good company and a very loyal companion. My daughter was at a recent craft fair and bought these specialty dog treats for him. Can you imagine...they looked so good I was tempted to try them myself. Of course Jock loved them too and patiently waited until I told him he was good to go!

Quilt Show Favorites

These were a few of my favorite things from the Niagara Heritage Quilt Guild Show held a few weeks back at Niagara College. The first is the beautiful quilt called Prairie Bound. I love that quilt and I'm going to attempt to make it soon.
The second was the amazing quilting that Carol Cunningham did on the star block quilt. I love it, I wish I could do that. I love the braid border on the sampler quilt...I'll have to try that. Lastly is this gorgeous, paper pieced blue and yellow beauty called Freedom 55. Don't think I'd try one, but do love the look.

What's Black and White and Red all over?

Not a newspaper silly!....Linda's phenomenal quilt. Isn't it gorgeous. I love it, as I do all her quilts. She averages about one every two weeks I'd say...that's 108 quilts a year by my math. They are all fabulous. I don't know how she finds the time as she is still working. Keep em coming Linda, they're amazing.

Garden Makeover

I can't believe how much difference a little elbow grease and hard work can make. We redid the majority of our gardens this spring. I have no idea now, what would have ever possessed me to put in some of the plants I had originally. Before is an UG!, now I'm actually happy with them. We redid this by taking out these awful prickly wine colored bushes and adding in spirea, grasses and a few filler plants. We removed all the mulch and added new topsoil. We redid all the slate border and added some larger stones for visual effects.

Niagara's Best in Show

It was wonderful attending the Niagara Heritage Quilt Guild Show a few weeks back held at Niagara College. There were some wonderful quilts on display. I love the feedsack one...it has little pieces appliqued to it ...so cute. My sister would love the barn quilt as she lives on a farm up near Tweed. I'm partial to chickens ..so it was one of my favourite. Have a look at the floral applique quilt....OMG can you imagine the work!

Niagara's Got Talent

I was truly inspired a few weekends ago when I attended the Niagara Heritage Quilt Guild Show at Niagara College. We really have some talented quilters in this area. It made me want to rush right home and start quilting. I love the way these quilts are set.  The pumpkin quilt would be so much fun during the Halloween season.

Niagara Talent Show

  A few weekends ago I attended the Niagara Heritage Quilt Guild Show at Niagara College. There were some beautiful quilts on display, and such talented quilters here in Niagara. These were a few of my favorites. I have always loved the spool quilt and have good intentions to make one for myself .Oh...I need to find some time!

Pretty in Pink

Another lovely "Little Twister" quilt by one of the students in my class. Jane opted for a small version of the class project, using the small "Lil Twister" tool. She was making this for her friend's daughter's baby girl. It turned out so cute in the pink and brown. Jane did a lovely job of it We did have a few laughs as it was suppose to be a baby quilt( and it is), however when she completed the quilt without the borders it was so small that Jane laughed and said it would be appropriate for the little girl's doll. We added a few borders and now it is just the perfect size for this little girl's "blankie". Even more of a coincidence...when I called Jane to tell her it was finished being longarmed...she said she had just gotten off the phone and the baby had just been born that day...perfect timing!

Surprise, Surprise

 I was completely shocked when I attended the local Quilt Show ( Niagara Heritage Quilt Guild) a few weekends ago. I was surprised to find that customers of mine had entered their quilts into the show and low and behold there was my name on the entries as well for quilting! I just never expected that some of my work would ever be displayed. They all looked really great. Some of them were done a while back and I had forgotten. It was like seeing an old friend again when I came upon them as we had spent quite a bit of time together as they got quilted on the machine.   

Summer's almost over?

Just kidding.....I'm just in a hurry for September to come as this is the new BOM that will be starting a Kindred Spirits Quilt Co. This is the sample partly finished on the design wall at the shop. It's gorgeous, so rich in color and the design is so fabulous. I love all the little pumpkins, crows and birdhouses. It's Bunny Hill's Autumn House. I can't wait to have it all finished ,quilted and at the store so students are smitten and sign up.   

Before and After Garden

 Ta Da!

This was the garden from hell before, and this is the garden now...We've lived here about seven years and when we first moved in I planted stuff, then planted some more, and planted some more until the whole garden was just a mismatch of stuff all over the place. I really didn't know where to begin, but knew I had to make headway somewhere. Dear hubby and I cleared all the old mulch out, dug up the majority of the plants, put all new top soil in, replanted the plants in some resemblance of order, added new rock and re did the border stones. It was a ton of work, back breaking to be exact, but we're really pleased with the look.  

W is for Wisteria

I love this time of year. We have this fabulous Wisteria vine that covers the overhangs of our side garden. The fragrance that it gives off is phenomenal. The blossoms are a beautiful violet color and they just hang in bunches. Alas, it lasts for such a short time. It took forever for the plant to establish itself and to actually flower. It wasn't till I read an article that suggested you needed to prune it back so that it would bloom did we actually have any. I only wish it lasted all summer.

Dresden Girls

These are the Dresden Girls....dolls and class participants...There's Barb, Andrea, Gladys and Barb with their completed sweethearts. See the eyelashes all sewn by hand. So sweet and we had so much fun during class. I was astonished to learn that Barb was a glue gun "virgin"...oh the things you learn at class.