Farmer's Wife Block 8

Now this one I liked. The paper piecing went well and I love the look of it. It's called Bouquet. Good thing that every six blocks or so, you find one that goes together without a hitch and that you really love. It gets you back on track and keeps you motivated to keep on piecing.

Farmer's Wife Block 7

This was a challenging one to paper piece. Tiny tiny pieces. It's called Birds in the Air. If I had a gun I would have shot them down. Damn block.

Farmer's Wife Block 6

This block is called Big Dipper. It should be called Big Ripper cause I had to rip it out twice(paper piecing) and ended up just piecing it normally by doing the math for the size of the block and dividing.

Farmer's Wife Block 5

Block 5 is Bat Wing...and I'm getting batty doing these and I'm only at 5 of 110 blocks...I've opted to make a queen size quilt. You'd have to be daft dedicated to make the 145 blocks needed for the king size.  Ask me in another few days and maybe I'll opt for a pillowcase.

Farmer's Wife Block 4

This block is called Basket Case Weave...basket case is what I am now as I can't stop making these little guys. They are so much fun and when I get started one, I can't wait to see what it looks like.

Farmer's Wife Block 3

This block is called Basket...DUH  I'm still really enjoying the paper piecing. I'm learning that it is better to cut the pieces bigger than what you think you'll need...usually I try to give myself about a 1/2 inch all the way around, but I'm finding it easier to give myself about an inch.

Amy's first quilt

Amy is a 9 year old girl who took the children's quilt camp class at Kindred Spirits Quilt Co. over March break and made this delightful quilt. Didn't she do a great job. Her mother Donna brought it to me to have longarmed and we quilted it with Angel Wings, which looks like butterflies. I asked Amy whether she was going to continue with her quilting and what she might make next....cute little thing...she looked at me and told me she was "hooked on beading now".

Farmer's Wife Block 2

This is block 2 of Farmer's Wife. I am trying to use the fabric I have in my stash and get it to match the block from the book as close as I can, in the hopes my finished quilt will resemble the original quilt. This block is called Autumn Tints.

Farmer's Wife...Block 1

I am so hooked....On the book, on the concept, on the blocks, on the paper piecing...I haven't been able to stop. I really like the way the blocks are coming together. I opted to paper piece the 6X6 blocks even though the templates for the patterns were included on a disk in the book. As the blocks are so small and some are so intricate, I thought paper piecing would give me a more precise block and I was right. I joined Yahoo, Farmer's Wife Group and there are PDF files that you can print off for the paper piecing. This first block is called Attic Windows.

Scrap organization

Well, I'm organized and ready to go. I've decided to start the Farmer's Wife Quilt. I bought the book at Joann's a few weeks back as their books were on sale at 40% off. I hadn't really thought much about the book. I had seen it at the store, however never had a look at it. The minute I picked it up to see what it was all about, I was hooked. I bought it on the spot and couldn't wait to get started. It's a good thing I had saved all these scraps and organized them. I'm sure I have enough to at least get me started...LOL

When life gives you lemons...make a quilt

Wow, this is a beauty. Linda made this stunning quilt and brought it to be longarmed. She bought the fabric in Florida and it just screams citrus grove. I love the lemon pattern on the fabric. The pattern is from Quiltmakers July/August 2010.and is called Pinwheel Cove.  It is another one of her massive makings measuring a generous king. Stunning

B is for Beauty/Batik/BOM

This BOM quilt is so very lovely. Rita joined the BOM group and completed the year's blocks which she set together in this gorgeous quilt. It turned out fabulous and Rita will be giving it to her niece. The batiks are wonderful together and I love her mauve sashing. She brought it to be longarmed and we put a simple edge to edge design on.

Lot's and lot's of flying geese

This is my friend Sue's quilt that I just finished longarming. Pretty eh! She made it for her daughter Jessica. I just love the colors...I helped her pick them out. She has become and awesome quilter...I can hardly keep up with her.

Fun in the garden

I took some pictures recently of some of the fun things in my garden. I love gardens that look and feel whimsical. I like garden things funky and fun. Actually the weirder the better. My husband says if I buy any more junk for the garden, he'll leave me....sure gonna miss that man.

Mauve,Taupe and Gray...Hooray

OMG I love this quilt. The colors are fabulous...gray and taupe and mauve....just stunning. Arlene brought it to be longarmed and it turned out gorgeous. It was quilted in the pattern "Happy Times" and it just popped once it was quilted.

I is for Iris

This is a shot of an Iris growing in my garden. I love the shade of the mauve. I've seen batiks that same shade. I wonder if that's where they got their inspiration from. It's sad that the Iris is so short lived in the garden as they are really quite beautiful.

Jelly Roll Beauty

Don't you just love this quilt...gorgeous. This was the quilt that came from the class, that came from the store, that came from the jelly roll that Kathie bought.  The class was offered at Kindred Spirits Quilt Co. Silly Kathie...she told me that this quilt wasn't her favorite....but I love it. Beautifully done. We quilted it in an edge to edge called Happy Times.

Wild thing...I think I love you

Isn't this panel quilt the cutest. my sister brought me down a few baby panels to longarm for her and this was the one she had chosen for her daughter. Her daughter had a preemie baby boy born named Riley and now he weighs over 10 pounds and will be able to enjoy this wonderful quilt. I love the vibrant colors and the funky animals. Too cute.

Village Green

This is Chris's finished Thimbleberries quilt called Village Green. I was a village idiot not to do this one really missed doing Thimbleberries when I saw this quilt. I think I have about 4 previous BOM Thimbleberries in my stash of UFO's. This one is really gorgeous and Chris did a beautiful job at piecing it. I am so jealous, I wish I had done this one!

Tipsy....no...Topsy

No I wasn't drinking when I created this backyard garden art piece. This is called the Topsy turvey and instructions are posted on the Internet as to how to make it. Quite simple really. Take a piece of rebar, place it upright in a large pot, fill the pot with soil. Next take clay pots and put the rebar post through the holes in the bottom of each pot, slanting them as you add, and having them rest on the rim of the pot below. Add soil and plants and enjoy. Fun to make, fun to enjoy and fun to freak out your garden visitors.

Lime and Raspberry Sherbet

This quilt just reminds me of Lime sherbet and Raspberry sherbet.....yum  Pam brought me the quilt to longarm and I feel in love with the colors. It was such as sweet pattern and we quilted it in Angel Wings which look like little butterflies. The quilting just popped and there is one little girl who will be tickled pink to get this quilt.

Mystery is History

Well, the Mystery Club for 2010-2011 season has come to an end. What a quick 8 months that was. It was wonderful to see them all take shape. This class was held at Kindred Spirits Quilt Co. and was the Border Creek Station mystery quilt called Travel by Day/Night. Here are Donna, Audrey and Arden showing off their quilts prior to adding the borders. Amazing how different each color choice looked in the quilt. A new mystery quilt class will be starting again this fall.

Mystery quilt class can be quite stressful

It can be quite stressful participating in the Mystery Club class. By the 8th month and hundreds of pieces cut and sewn and still no idea what you're making, no wonder even the most seasoned quilters lose it. This is Barb, a regular participant to Mystery Club, I think this is her 4th year. You can see her mystery quilt starting to come together on the ironing station as she quietly unravels presses her pieces. Just kidding Barb, love having you in my class.

Music to my ears

Kathie made this lovely quilt for her granddaughter.  Some of the fabric had musical instruments on it which was very appropriate as Kathie granddaughter is musically inclined and is studying music at university. The sashing fabric had gold highlights in it and with the aqua, black and gold accents it looked stunning. I just love the piano key border and how perfect to finish it off.

Bear with me

Love this bear quilt that Linda made and brought me to longarm. So cute. It was shocking pink and chocolate brown and had a wonderful co-ordinated stripe as well. She's so smart....she ran out of fabric for the backing, except for large scraps, so she pieced her backing into a huge pinwheel that matched the front.

Granddaughter's Geometric

Kathie made this geometric quilt for her granddaughter and brought it to be longarmed. It looks like a simple pattern, however the crosses were a ton of work for her. Her granddaughter picked a cozy flannel for the backing. Great job Kathie, turned out wonderful.

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!