Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Dippet

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Another block finished from Fat Cat’s BOM called Whoo Knows. I hate to fall behind, as it is so hard to catch up.

Dippet, July’s block  is as cute as all the other months and I just love how these are turning out.  It is a lengthily BOM, I think 18 months in all. I just need to focus and get each month completed on time.

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Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Fields of Gold

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Last weekend Dear Hubby and I ventured off to St Jacobs….we haven’t been there in years. On the way, while on Highway 6 just north of Hamilton, I caught a glimpse of  something brilliant yellow out of the corner of my eye. As we drove on, the yellow grew more intense until all you could see were  fields upon fields of gold. What was it I thought.  Sunflowers everywhere. Oh Happy Day!  I’d never seen that before…just one more thing that brought a smile to my face!.

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Monday, July 29, 2013

Dresden Beauty

 I really love Marnie's Dresden Plate Quilt. It turned out amazing. Marnie took my Dresden Plate quilt class a while back, but I hadn't seen the finished product. This pattern is an original design that I created for the class called Black Magic Dresden.
It turned out just gorgeous and Liz at Kindred Spirits Quilt Co.
longarmed it for her.
Wow, you done good Marnie. Love it!
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Sunday, July 28, 2013

Tractor Love

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This is the engagement cake I made for Dear eldest daughter’s engagement party. 

Although I got off the a rough start with the cake thanks to Dear Hubby’s stundness inquisitive nature , all things turned out ok.

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I managed to get two little mini tractors for the cake top and a cute little LOVE cake topper to finish the cake off beautifully.

Saturday, July 27, 2013

Whoo Knows Grizel

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Finally caught up on my Fat Cat free BOM called Whoo Knows. This is block 5 of 18 blocks that make up a wonderful quilt designed by Fat Cat patterns. They just get sweeter every month.

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I have been using my stash to make the blocks, which is awesome, as it’ll be good to make good use of some.  Sindy Rodenmayer of Fat Cat Designs is absolutely amazing to design this pattern and share it with other quilters. 

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Friday, July 26, 2013

A little frosty in July

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Aspen Frost that is, from Moda. I picked up a few pieces today from Kindred Spirits Quilt Co. to get ready for a fabulous class I’m teaching in September. It will be a really fun class that will get students ready for the Christmas season well ahead of time. I know that when everyone sees this class, they will be making the pattern up in droves for Christmas gifts.

I’ll keep you posted with new pics of the project…..

Thursday, July 25, 2013

Nom Nom

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Chocolate chip cookie ice cream sandwiches dipped in Skor bits …..NOM NOM.

I made these for Dear eldest daughter’s engagement party for dessert.

They were the biggest hit!  It was a really hot day and these little goodies were a refreshing treat to cool off with.

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All wrapped up with striped wax paper, baking twine and cute stickers. Well worth the work.

Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Moose Tracks

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I just love these Morley Moose's done in batiks…..absolutely awesome.

We have 5 students in the class at Kindred Spirits Quilt Co. Angie and Diane have been hard at work to complete their works of art. Diane even added a cool burgundy PT cruiser on hers for her sister. Diane told us the story of her sister who lives up north in a log cabin and was continually followed home by a moose when she drove her red PT cruiser. The moose never troubled her, just ran along side the car. This quilt is for her sister. What a wonderful idea and gift.

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Lesley is putting the finishing touches on hers and is already thinking about her next quilt. Alma and Wendy are still appliqueing body parts and their pieces should be on display shortly.

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

“Hey Hun, What’s in the oven”

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Red Velvet cakes for dear eldest daughter’s engagement party….”Don’t touch the --------stove!”…….too late.  Dear hubby opens the stove to see what’s cooking as he wants to warm up his chicken wings and in one fowl swoop of the door opening, my red velvet , almost risen, perfect creation cakes fell are now 1 inch high flat chocolate pancakes!_)*_*)@_*$@+%*!_*%+!*%+*

Lord, I have to have the patience of Job…..

I had to start all over again from scratch and re create the creations. The pancake cake in the top left corner is the ( Dear Hubby,  I’ll just open the oven door to see what’s cooking cake) and the other 2 in the pans are the redo’s from this fiasco!

And people look at me strangely when I mention putting a pillow over his face at night and holding it down.

Monday, July 22, 2013

Sweet Treat Tractors

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Dear eldest daughter’s fiancĂ© (god I love that word), is a tractor lover, and part time farmer.  His obsession goes really deep. So deep in fact that their engagement pictures included them on his tractor.

He must really love our daughter as he has already let her drive it and he never lets anyone touch his tractor.

For their engagement party I made this cute chocolate treat tractors as a fun twist to his obsession. I was amazed that they actually had such things. I ordered the chocolate moulds and they were quite simple to make with melted chocolate and a little patience.

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All wrapped up and ready to go!

Sunday, July 21, 2013

Ton of Fun

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My sister in law celebrated her 60th birthday last week at a wonderful outdoor party held at my niece’s. We had a ton of fun, and that’s about what this card weighed once it was finished. The card was a great source of laughs and conversation.

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Sixty little pebble stones were glued to cardstock then the card assembled with the saying “60 rocks” inside. It took forever for the glue to dry, almost a full week.

At the party, my brother in  law says…”hey, there is only 59”….

I was tempted to go and count them all again, but I know there was 60 there. You count them, make sure!

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Saturday, July 20, 2013

Buckets of fun

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Dear eldest daughter’s engagement party is a themed red and white picnic extravaganza. Actually it’s just a backyard BBQ, but I’ll run with it. I created these cute little sand pail centerpieces for the tables. I had the little rose bouquets left over from our youngest daughter’s wedding and they came in quite useful.

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A little greenery, red cherries, a glue gun and dollar store buckets …..priceless…for everything else, there’s MasterCard.

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Friday, July 19, 2013

Jacket Junkies

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Talk about ladies on  a mission. You should have seen the ladies from my jacket class sew up their creations. There was a great deal of work in these jackets…fittings, strips, log cabins and more log cabins. I was amazed when a few of the ladies came to the last class with the jacket pretty much completed.

They look amazing….and so many choices…batiks, black and white and even Wizard of Oz.

The jackets all fit really well as the pattern has you fit a sweatshirt to your body first, then build the jacket from the sweatshirt pieces. A great technique that ensures you’ll have a jacket that is made for you.

Lot’s of work, but well worth the effort.

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Thursday, July 18, 2013

Say yes to the dress

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Dear Eldest daughter managed to get her wedding dress after just trying on half  the store stock.
The entourage of dresses included tons of strapless which dear eldest daughter was adamant that she did not want. She is very top heavy, (where she gets that is beyond me as I am the pancake brand for  Victoria Secret), and didn’t want everything pouring out.
My 87 year old mother, myself and dear eldest daughter headed off to Mississauga and Oakville for several appointments to find the perfect dress. Most of the dresses were an automatic “ ah no!”, but there were a couple that were contenders…..but still not THE dress.
At one point my mom and I thought we would die as dear eldest daughter took a strong liking to a pimped out princess glitter ball gown that I can only describe as the “hooker of a wedding gowns”.
Mom and I were keeping our mouths shut as it s eldest daughter’s choice but I couldn’t imagine  wearing sun glasses the whole time at the church and reception. I thought my mother would have a stroke when dear eldest daughter said this might be the one…. hell no…let’s keep looking.
We headed off to the second appointment, with a specific dress style in mind. While dear eldest daughter was in the fitting room trying it on, I hear her yell from the room…”Mom, I think this is the one!”
Out she comes…..she’s crying, mom and I start crying, the sales lady is crying……and she said yes to the dress.
Can’t give you a full look at it before the wedding day, but you can get a good idea. Look at dear old Grandma with dear eldest daughter, proud as punch. I’m so happy that my mom was able to come along and share in the experience.
mom and beck

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Animal Tracks

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These ladies from my Morley Moose class are  getting the basics done for appliqueing. Morley was a lot of work to get started. Tracing all those body parts onto wonder under, then deciding what fabric to go where, cutting out all the pieces and sewing strips and strips to make  the background. Whew, I tired already.  A couple of the ladies decided on the original kit for the class, but a few decided to use batiks, which I can’t wait to see completed.SAM_6921SAM_6922

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Star light, Star bright

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This is a wonderful quilt made by Lorna. I love the way the stars just pop.  She has made a beautiful job of this and I know here daughter will love it.

It was not that long ago that Lorna took my beginner class, and look what she has accomplished since then.  She has done fantastic.

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The quilt is a wonderful queen size and just looks amazing….look at the sashing, lined up perfectly. Way to go Lorna!

Monday, July 15, 2013

Embroidered Beauty

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This is my sister in law’s quilt…awesome isn’t it. Her Mother embroidered each of the blocks, then sewed them together into a queen size quilt.  My sister in law then asked me to longarm quilt it for her. It turned out beautifully, just amazing with every embroidered block, all cross stitched by hand.

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It looks amazing on the bed and look at the detail in each block. There were 30 of these gorgeous blocks in all……love it, so very unique.

Sunday, July 14, 2013

Bon Appetit

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We’re having a backyard BBQ engagement party for Dear eldest daughter that just got engaged and I’ve been working on getting things prepared for the day… in advance.

These are the little knife, fork, spoon and napkin packages for guests. We’ve chosen a red and white theme for the event and I have lucked out with finding things that will work, color wise.

I picked up these cute little bags at Michaels, downloaded the clipart , then ran them through the printer.

All worked well until one of them zigged when it should have zagged and jammed the printer.

After an hour of figuring out how to open the printer, then try and find where the crinkled  bag  was hiding, we were in business again.

They turned out cute and dear eldest daughter likes them so that’s all that matters.

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Saturday, July 13, 2013

In their new home

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Although I hated to part with them, they do look lovely in their new home. My brother and his wife moved to a new home in Grimsby and when they moved in I gave them the quilt “Stars around the garden”.  My brother is very good to me, doing all kinds of handy man things that Dear Hubby struggles with. Like putting in our dishwasher, changing our kitchen taps so they don’t leak, installing a new kitchen sink and even adding new wheels to my quilt machine. Needless to say, I owe him big-time, and what better way to pay it forward than to give them a quilt that they love.

I gave them the option of picking a quilt from my stash when they moved in and this is the one they chose. It looks amazing on their bed. The quilted Lone Star above the bed was a gift I gave them for their recent 31st wedding anniversary. 

Both look lovely and I know that they will be loved and cherished for years, which is really what quilting is all about.

Friday, July 12, 2013

Mint to be loved

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Leighla from my Beginner’s class also attended the Quilt in a Day log cabin class I taught and completed this beauty in a soft mint green and grey. The colors look amazing together with just that soft punch of apricot for the center square……gorgeous. She recently brought it to be longarmed and we quilted it in the pattern called Mandarin Lace.

It is wonderful to see a beginner fall in love with quilting and continue on the journey.  She has been quilting up a storm and I’m so proud of what she has been able to accomplish.

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