Tiny Town Residents

This is Marnie and Elaine from the Tiny Town BOM class held at Kindred Spirits Quilt Co. They are faithful residents the 3rd Saturday of every month and come prepared to construct their little Tiny Town villages. They are both characters and there is tons of laughs and a great deal of fun on those Saturdays. You can see the work in progress on the table and they both mean business when it comes to getting their Tiny Towns complete each month.

One Lucky Little Girl

My friend and customer Debbie made this quilt and isn't it adorable. I almost didn't want to give it back after I quilted it. It is so sweet. It's all done in flannels and has the sweetest flower appliqued in the corner. Debbie asked me to embroider "Avery"'s name on the quilt as well. Avery is one lucky little girl and Debbie you did a fabulous job on this quilt. It is sooooo very sweet!

Liz is a whiz

At quilting that is....Liz was in my last beginner class and proved her hidden talents in quilting. Her quilt looks amazing even though she really wasn't fond of a couple of her fabric choices. I tried to tell her that it looks amazing for a first quilt, but then after it gets quilted it looks phenominal...and it does! The lonarm quilting just seems to bring a quilt alive. I quilted it in the pattern Happy Times and it suits it perfectly. I think she did a wonderful job and I hope she continues to enjoy this wonderful new distraction called quilting.

Tiny Town Tips and Tricks #1

Isn't it great when quilters share their secrets....I love it. Mary Ann who is the Tiny Town BOM club at Kindred Spirits Quilt Co. Store shared her secret to keeping each block nice and neat. Rather than fold them or stuff them into a container, she rolls the block around a mailing tube and then fastens it around with Velcro tabs. How smart is that. This way, if you just get the applique pieces attached with wonder under, but not sewn, you won't get pieces coming off because of wear and tear in your container or bag. You also won't have to press each section again and again as it is always rolled neatly around the tube, until you are ready to sew all the blocks together.

Sweet Baby Jane

This is my beginner student Jane's quilt. Didn't she do a phenomenal job for a first quilt. Jane was one of four lovely ladies in my last beginner class and for beginners they all did amazing. Jane is obviously hooked on quilting now and has even finished a second quilt as well. She signed up for a jelly roll class and finished it in Christmas fabric. I know this as she just dropped it off to be quilted by me and it looks lovely as well. I'll post pictures once it's completed.  It's so exciting when your beginners go on to quilt more, it makes it so rewarding to have taught them their first steps and stitches.

I better "hop" to it

"Patches" the Wrabbit is well on his way to making his debut at Kindred Spirits Quilt Co. store. He just needs to pull himself together, get dressed and hop over to the store for the spring doll class. I have been designing dolls for the doll class at the store each quarter for the last year and this is "Patches" the design for the spring class. I thought it would be fun to have an Easter type bunny with the season fast approaching. He's made out of brushed cotton and dressed in wonderful flannels. Well, don't want to give away too much before he is totally finished. I'll share the little guy with you shortly once  I  he gets his ____ together.

Bernadette's Beginner Beauty

I'm always amazed at the remarkable job new beginner quilters do on their first projects. Bernadette's work is no exception and I love her fabric and color choice. It is so fresh looking and will be a lovely addition to any table come spring. I commend Bernadette for her attention to precision, she spent many an evening class carefully picking out what she considered to be less than perfection. When others may have given up, she persevered and even with a horrendous winter cold at one point. It looks lovely and I know that she will enjoy her efforts for years to come. I hope she continues with her new found quilting niche.

My Favorite Son in Law's Quilt

This is my favorite son in law's quilt that I made him for Christmas......well he's my only son in law so far so that would make him my favorite. He had been asking for a quilt for some time ( hard to believe that a man would take an interest in quilting, however he did). He did have stipulations though, one being that it had to be a hunting quilt and it had to have the "Browning" hunting logo on it. At first I thought, OMG, why would you want to ruin a perfectly good quilt, but then I tried to think how I could incorporate it to make him happy. I'm pleased with what I came up with. I used a couple of charm packs that I had stashed away, found some co-ordinating stash for the setting triangles and borders and I was well on my way. I embroidered a deer in the centre block to try and tie everything together. I appliqued the logo on two on the blocks in co-ordinating fabric. As a joke I embroidered on the back " if it flies it dies, if it's brown it's down " along with a wild turkey. He just loved it and that made it so worth while!

Beginner Beauty

This is Kathie's quilt, a beginner in my "beginner's" class at Kindred Spirits Quilt Co. Hard to believe that she is a beginner. She had sewing knowledge and was a very attentive student and she did amazing, don't you think. The students were just to make a table topper, however Kathie had seen my larger sample, had extra fabric and went for it. I met her husband at the store after it was quilted and he said he was quite proud of her...I guess!  It looked lovely quilted in the pattern Happy Times and Kathie was a joy to teach. I hope I see her at more of my classes.

So Tweet BOM

I love this new BOM from Little Miss Shabby. Thank you so much for sharing your creativity with us. I'm hopeless at hand embroidery so I'm going to attempt to applique the blocks and use minimal embroidery. My fabric choice is Gypsy Rose from Fig Tree and I think the first block turned out OK. It should be really sweet when it's all completed. I've done a little embroidery for the details in the background and the bird tail and legs and that was even too much for me. Can't wait to see February's design!

Makes me think of Spring

This quilt makes me think of spring and how I wish we were closer to it than the end of January. I hate the snow and cold and wish the warm temperatures and weather were here. It's not as bad as in Yellowknife, where this quilt originated. Margaret periodically sends me her quilts to long arm from Yellowknife in the mail and this one arrived in the fall. It's so pretty and I love the browns and yellows together. It was quilted with Wandering Daisies and looked beautiful finished.  Hope you're snuggled up under it Margaret, I heard the temperature was  -25 C. brrrrrrrrrrrrrr

A little Birdie told me

I'm so excited to start this new BOM from Little Miss Shabby. It is an embroidery BOM, and since I'm not that great at hand embroidery, I thought I might be able to cheat and applique instead. I'm going to try and see how it turns out. I've been rummaging through my stash instead of buying new fabric.....(I really need to de-stash)...so I came across a jelly roll from Fig Tree called Gypsy Rose and I think it will be perfect. The little birdie is so tweet! Can't wait to see the whole flock finished.

Something Bunny going on

I've been designing doll patterns for Kindred Spirits Quilt Co. over the last year to teach at their quarterly doll class. First there was Garden Annie, then Stitch the Witch and lastly Holly the Quilter's Angel.
Well, we are into a new quarter and guess what...I need to come up with a doll for the spring class.
I thought with spring and Easter coming quickly, a bunny might be a nice option. These are the fabrics I've chosen.  Michelle has wonderful flannels in the store so what would be nicer than a flannel bunny......He's still a surprise and I'm still finishing off the details and the pattern. As soon as he's complete, he'll hop onto the blog for you to see. 

Cutie Quilter Doll

I designed a doll for Kindred Spirits Quilt Co. before Christmas called Holly the Christmas Angel. Instead of making the same doll again when I taught the class I thought it might be nice to change her up a bit. I had this cute sewing themed fabric that I got during the summer and thought it would look sweet on her. There are 3 inch quilt blocks around the base of her skirt, 1 inch squared patchwork wings and I added an embroidery hoop with "I love Quilting". Her face is sculpted and painted with permanent marker. She has notions added to her hair and I think she turned out nicely. She stands on a wine bottle so that was a unique twist to a doll pattern.

You can never have too many cards

These are the cards I made at my January card class. They are simple but effective and with four kids the stash comes in handy. There is always one of them asking for a card for a friend, or a thank you, or a birthday and I like that they ask and that they are going to good use. These cards are made with Stampin Up materials and tools and our demonstrator Cindy is great. I love going to the class, getting creative and being able to socialize with the other ladies. It's a fun night out.

New subdivison under construction

My new subdivision is under construction and I'm really happy with how it's coming along. It's a BOM called House Hunting and I chose to do it in primary colors in juvenile prints. I'm thinking that it will look adorable on a granddaughter's bed(once I get one) ((granddaughter that is)). Each month you make a house block and 2 log cabin blocks, add in some trees and sashing and in a year it's complete. I hope mine turns out as nice as my friend Annabelle who inspired me to make one of my own.

I've gone a little squirel-ly

I've gone a little squirrel-ly with all the BOM's I've taken on this year. I hope I can keep up. There are two from last year that I'm still working on...Tiny Town and Snowbound, then this year I've started on Henrietta Whiskers, Birdie Stitches, Sunbonnet Sue embroidery, and House Hunting. OMG what am I thinking!
I love how Henrietta turned out in the Migration fabric and can't wait to see what she's up to next month.

Be still my hearts!

Easy Peasy delicious

You need 1 tube puff pastry, granulated white sugar, cinnamon,parchment paper

Thaw your puff pastry in the fridge then roll out one sheet on parchment paper to measure about 10X12 inches. Sprinkle granulated sugar and cinnamon mixture all over one sheet of parchment paper, then transfer the rolled puff pastry onto it and press the bottom of the puff pastry so that the sugar sticks. Coat the top layer in sugar cinnamon mixture as well and press firmly. Make sure the longer length of the puff pastry is facing you. Gently with a knife, score a line down the centre of the pastry, being careful not to cut right through. Begin to shape the pastry, by rolling each side tightly into the center. Place the parchment and roll onto a cookie sheet and place in the refrigerator for 30 minutes Preheat the oven to 450F. Take the roll out of the fridge and begin to cut approximately ¼ inch slices all the way down the roll. You will need to squeeze the bottom so that it looks like a little heart shape. Place each heart on a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Bake them in the oven for about 10 minutes flipping them over at the 5 minute mark until they are golden brown and caramelized. The Palmiers can be eaten fresh out of the oven or when they have cooled down. They can be stored for a few days in an air tight container (that never happens). These would be great wrapped up for Valentine's Day for someone special. Good luck trying to resist!

Chinese Coins

Linda did it again with this lovely "Chinese Coin" quilt. She made another fabulous quilt. I think she said that she ordered it as a kit from one of the quilt magazines. It turned out lovely and I lave the colors of brown and aqua, they go so well together. She put a really sweet brown with tiny blue dots on the back and we quilted it in the panto "Wandering Daisies".

Sunbonnet Sue

This is block one of a BOM quilt I have decided to do this year. I've had the embroidery design pack for Sunbonnet Sue for a while and I think she is so sweet. I had previously purchased "30's Reproduction Fabric" for the sashing and borders and I'm trying to do the quilt in yellows. Each embroidery design depicts Susie doing something themed to that particular month. I have a good friend and sister named Sue so maybe that is why I was drawn to this. They will probably both get a kick out of it.

Thank you Anne Sutton for Henrietta Whiskers

Thank you Bunny Hill Designs for this wonderful new BOM. I very much enjoyed Tisket Tasket Baskets (finished) and Snowbound (still working on). Henrietta is lovely and I am so excited to start. Anne, this is so generous of you to share your creativity with us, thank you!  I am desperately trying to utilize what fabric I have in my stash since I have no money no retired, and I had originally slated this fabric to make a quilt for my brother in law Spike. When I started to did around in my stash cupboard I realized that "Migration" would be perfect for Henrietta and was a good match as the line is based on nature. I'm so excited, I just need to keep up each month ( that's my new year's resolution).   

I'm having trouble getting into winter mode

I'm really having trouble getting back into this winter mode. Two weeks in Cayman will do that to you. No this is not a portrait of me on the beach in Cayman....I wish!  It is an oil painting that my 85 year old mom did though. Isn't it amazing, and so is my mom. She does beautiful work and this is one of my favorite. While we were in Grand Cayman, my uncle who lives there and whom we were visiting, had a showing of his batiks. He is also an amazing artist. My mom, his sister, showed some of her work at the same art show and this was one of hers. It's titled " Just Veggin".  Makes me wish I was back lazing on the beach.  I need to get a grip, and get back in the groove with the snow and sub zero temps, if I'm ever gonna make it til spring.    

How do you spell relax....C-A-Y-M-A-N

Ok, I'm back..... relaxed, rejuvenated, refreshed , readjusted and ready to go.
Believe it or not this is the picture I took from my lounge chair while laying on my back trying to get some well needed R&R. Cayman was amazing, the weather beautiful, the beaches gorgeous and the time there needed. I went for two weeks and spent some time with my mom, sister, brother and daughter. My uncle lives there, has a place right on the beach and welcomes the company. Dear hubby stayed home and held the fort. We have 2 boys still at home and while they are "good" boys, one is still a teenager and they have been known to party. Dear hubby was just making sure that there were no open beer bottles other than his own. It is good to be back, and I'm looking forward to a new year of creating, quilting, crafting and just having 365 days of wonderful! 

I'm over it...

It's my own fault, I did it to myself...yep...I over-ed it.
I overate, overdressed, overwrapped, overdrank, overbaked, overcooked, overbooked, overbought, overdecorated, overornamented (don't laugh, it's a word). I know, I agree, I went overboard and now I'm overtired, overwhelmed, overweight, overworked, overbilled, overcome, overdosed and just plain pooped.
I'm going to take a bit of a break from blogging for a few weeks and I hope you will understand as I try and recoop, regroup, readjust, recharge, recover and just plain relax.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

This is the perfect card, don't you think for quilters and sewers? My niece Jennifer made it and sent it to me for Christmas. I think she knew how much I would appreciate the sewing theme.

More snow...bound buddies on the way

Here are the latest Snowbound snowbuddies from Bunny Hill Designs, that I managed to get finished. How does she think this stuff up?...she must lay awake at night creating. They are adorable and I need just a free afternoon to finish the last 5 of them. I've chosen white with red and white with blue polka dots for the corresponding blocks that are set around these little guys. It should look wonderful when it all gets completed. Thank you Bunny Hill Designs for sharing such a beautiful project with all of us.

Best Christmas Exchange Ever

I'd say I got the best Christmas exchange ever when I received this beauty. Lori a quilter that brings me her quilts to long arm, brought me this quilt top and another with a unusual request. She asked if I would quilt her one quilt top for free in exchange for this wreath quilt top. I had never been asked a request like that before but the quilt top was beautiful and I agreed. I think I made a great trade. I quilted and finished it sometime back and it is one of my favorites. It hangs folded on my banister year round. Thank you Lori for my special trade.

What do you get the quilter who has everything for Christmas?

What about a tape measure warmer? I found these little woollen IPod socks and again my imagination went wild. What could these little lovelies hold?...Why not tape measures? I told my girlfriend Sue about them and what my plans were for them. She went right out and got some

too. She did them up for a local bazaar she had a table at and they sold like hotcakes. I added a little quilter charm to each one and gave them as gifts to my Mystery Class ladies. These are definitely for the quilter who has everything!

Snowbound Snowbuddies

I want to thank Bunnyhill Designs for her generosity in providing these lovely BOM's for everyone to share and enjoy. I've had so much fun doing them and can't wait to get them all finished. I'm a little behind as usual and I still have 4 more to finish. You know how you just need one afternoon to yourself....I just don't seem to get that and that's why I'm so far behind. I can't wait to get the last few done, it quilted and then all the lovely embellishments added. It's going to be so cute. Hope I get it finished before spring arrives and melts all the snow.

More than these marshmallows are melting!

Frosty doesn't hold a candle to this guy! (no pun intended) I had so much fun making a pin cushion out of this tea light holder. It's amazing what you can come up with when you let your imagination run wild. I really should put a leash on it and get a life like my friend Sue says. I guess I have just too much time on my hands since I retired. He is really adorable and just in time for the winter season.

How sweet it is

I love themed Christmas trees.....can you tell? This one is really sweet, literally. It's my cupcake tree and it proudly sits in my kitchen of course. I made the little Dresden plate tree skirt out of matching pink and red fabric and one of the fabrics has little cupcakes on it. It looks really sweet at night when the red lights glow and the little red tinsel tree shimmers all over. Almost good enough to eat. Yum!

His belly, it shook like a bowl full of jelly

It just wouldn't be Christmas without a Santa pincushion, would it? I love this little guy, looks like he slipped on the ice and snow. I almost felt funny sticking pins into his belly, sort of made me feel like he was a Voodoo doll.....OMG... I hope I haven't ruined Christmas!

Should I sleep on it or eat on it?

You think your hubby doesn't notice things right?....not....It's amazing what they do notice when you don't want them to. I had wanted to do something a little different over Christmas in my kitchen. I wanted to brighten up the table and add some pizazz to the room, however could not find just what I was looking for, so kind of let the idea go. Later I was rummaging around in the linen closet and came across an unopened duvet cover in red and white that I had bought years ago for about $10.00 from Ikea. It was suppose to be for one of our girl's bedroom but never made it onto the bed. As I looked at the package, I thought that it would make a really cute table cloth for the kitchen table. It was 100% cotton, there was lots of fabric cause it was a duvet so there was a top and bottom and it had been a king size cover. I loaded it on the longarm, thought why not and quilted it in a YLI variegate of red, pale yellow and pink that I had never tried before and a new pantograph called Holly Berries that had just arrived...It quilted like a dream and I love it. While I was quilting my hubby lets me know that it's time to pick up our youngest son. I tell him that I have just a half row to finish on this tablecloth and he turns to me and says "Tablecloth? looks like an old bedspread." I thought I was going to kill myself laughing with this one. He never notices anything. I could come home and change the cut and color of my hair and he wouldn't notice or say a thing....but he can suddenly tell the difference between a bed cover and a tablecloth....LOL... love it anyway, didn't cost me anything, brightens up the room for Christmas and I love my trifle dish filled up with matching ornaments!

"Santa, I've been a good Westie"

I was out shopping recently and came across this glass Christmas ornament that looked like my dog "Jock". I couldn't resist. The resemblance is remarkable don't you think. I don't think Jock was impressed, but this new little Westie will look lovely hanging around during the Christmas holidays.

Warm hands, warm hearts

I made this sometime back, but it's still one of my favorites. I especially like the fabric in the blue/green mittens because it looks like needlepoint and is so pretty. Each of the cuffs is done in chenille fabric so it feels fuzzy and looks like wool. The little heart appliques are a perfect touch.

We wish you a funky Christmas

Don't you just love this funky Christmas quilt...
how cute is this. It's hard to believe that this was the first quilt of a 13 year old teenager named Erica....wow...look at the flying geese!...her first quilt. She's a natural. Isn't it a great quilt for a teenage girl....just perfect. Erica did an amazing job on this quilt with a little help from Pam, her quilting mentor. She should continue with her quilting talent, and I have a feeling that in the future we might be hearing alot more about a girl named Erica when it comes to designing.

The perfect man

You can almost smell the sugar and spice, can't you. The perfect man of course would be the gingerbread man! This lovely little mini wall hanging was designed by Nancy Nigh. How sweet and super simple to make, just like gingerbread cookies. I love the matching gingerbread man hanger that goes with it. It's so much fun to get the season's special things out to display.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Isn't this a beautiful quilt. I had the pleasure of longarming this for Linda. She is an amazing quilter, pretty well self taught which is amazing. Her quilts are precise and an absolute joy to quilt. This is lovely with each wreath a different fabric and all the fabric had a beautiful hint of gold in it. I think this is a Thimbleberries pattern from one of the older books that they published, however still perfect for the season.

In the meadow we can build a snowman...

I think this is my favorite tree ever! It's my snowman tree complete with snowman tree skirt. Every ornament on the tree is a snowman or snow themed ornament collected over the years. The whole tree is done in various shades of blue, white, and silver. It looks phenomenal when the lights are turned on. Can't believe that Christmas is almost here. It's such a short time to enjoy all the wonderful Christmas things we do... make....and bake.

Let it Snow....now

Ok, now that we have arrived in Punta Cana for a week's relaxing vacation, it can snow all it wants at home. When we left it was freezing and all I could think of was miles of beach, unlimited pina coladas and not having to cook. Now that we are here, all I can think of is the kids, the grandbaby, the dog, my mother, did the kids eat, did they feed the dog, did they lock the door, did they turn off the stove, hope they didn't overload the washer, did they pick up the mail, did they set the alarm for school, did they have breakfast, did they take a lunch, are they sticking to curfew(yeah right), did Nick get to hockey ok, did they have the proper supper I had set aside, OMG....I need another drink "Camarero por favor, puedo tener otra piña colada ".
This little number was a mini wall hanging designed by Nancy Nigh. Isn't he sweet. I love the little hanger complete with it's own snowflake.

I believe in Angels

Here are my angels.....Sharon, Fran, Charlene and Nancy. These ladies took my recent "Holly the Christmas Angel" class offered at Kindred Spirits Quilt Co. It was a sculpted doll with quilting and patchwork featured clothes and wings. They worked very hard at getting her pretty little "angelic" face just perfect. (you should have heard some of the comments....the pearly gates would have closed up permanently with Charlene's alone..LOL). They all looked so individually beautiful and will be a wonderful addition to their homes over the holidays. The doll was anchored on a 1.5 litre bottle of wine which was to accompany them to class empty. I think that the ladies would have preferred to finish the bottle off during the face sculpting class instead. Way to go ladies, and thank you for making it such fun for me!

Baby it's cold outside

I received this quilt from a Elizabeth in Yellowknife, NT to long arm quilt. What a beauty! It's all flannel and the backing was this gorgeous leaf patterned flannel that looked like it was crewel work. Amazing detail on fabric. Needless to say Elizabeth is gonna need this flannel quilt cause the temperature in Yellowknife is a balmy -18 C....yep you read it correct...that's a minus 18.

Sew Christmas Tree, Sew Christmas Tree

Well I finally figured out what to do with the button ornaments I ordered from Ebay. I've created a sewing themed Christmas tree for my sewing room. It was loads of fun to make. I even managed to get the cutest thimble pot to put the tree in from Joann's. Ive appliqued a few embroidered patches as ornaments and spray painted and covered wooden spools to hang as well. I used tape measures as garland. The best though is the great button balls I ordered, I just love them and I know they're going to be one of my favorite things through the

years.

Fear Factor....Minky Fabric

I just dreaded this call...I have a quilt that I need long armed, and it's minky fabric......()*#!)(&$&%_*!_My worst nightmare, my biggest fear....the dreaded Minky.
Don't know why I fear it so much, maybe because it has a tendency to stretch a great deal, maybe because I've just not challenged myself to put one on my machine.....So I stretched myself and agreed to quilt this baby quilt for my customer...it wasn't all minky, the white is minky and the green was flannel. The challenge was not so much the minky fabric but the flannel and minky together where points did not meet perfectly and there were quite large lumps to try and quilt over. It is complete, customer pleased and one little bundle of joy will be warm and cozy wrapped in it.

A tiny cup of Earl Grey

I had quite a few of these lovely little china teacups leftover from my daughter's wedding. Her theme was " Love is Brewing" and these were the favors for the lady guests. They've turned out to be a ton of fun for me and make the most perfect mini pincushions for friends or giveaways for the quilting classes I teach. This one turned out sweet with it's little grey felted ball and the delicate beading added to the top.