By the light of the moon

I absolutely love “Hoot” designed by BJ Designs. I loved her pattern Morley Moose the III and Hoot is no exception either. This beautiful wall hanging is stunning done in batiks, and the owl looks almost real, the eyes are so haunting.

I’ll be teaching this as a class at Kindred Spirits Quilt Co in the fall and I am very excited as he is so darn cute and whimsical.

That’s how things fly

I’ve completed the paper pieced flying geese upward and now these are the flying geese with downward wings. That is how birds fly…wings up, then down.  No winging it here, your paper piecing needs to be exact.

Can’t wait to get these birds altogether in their flying formation in the quilt.

Flying in formation

I’ve been working on my paper pieced flying geese that will eventually transpire into a quilt that was designed by Margaret Rolfe and featured in the book called Go Wild with Quilts Again.

I originally saw this quilt hanging at a store in the states years ago. I fell in love with it immediately. Probably because I live in Niagara where Canada Geese are a daily site and sound.  The pattern wasn't available so I scoured the web and managed to get a used book on Amazon.

I’m working on the quilt for a class that will be taught gat Kindred Spirits Quilt Co. this fall .

Reichard’s in St. Jacobs

On our recent trip to St.Jacobs I stalked out  came across a wonderful quilt shop called  Reichard’s.

What a wonderful shop, well stocked, fabulous staff, tons of samples and ideas. I met Deb and Pat, store employees, who were absolutely delightful. We had a great chat about quilting, what hot, what’s not .

While I was visiting the store there was a torrential downpour for about 15 minutes…I lucked out…a quilt store is the best place to be stranded and held hostage in during a thunderstorm.

I’m hoping that Deb and Pat will be at the Checker’s Open House this month so that we can chat more.

What are the chances?

Dear Eldest Daughter has been coming up with all kinds of ideas for her upcoming wedding in May. Most recently it is that she wants a vintage brooch bouquet.

We both have started collecting rhinestone and silver vintage looking brooch pieces to make this bouquet for her wedding. There are a couple of sites on the web showing  the DIY methods, so I think I can manage to get r’ done.

When we were in St.Jacobs a few weeks ago I ventured into a store called La Crème, and to my amazement were samples of these brooch bouquets. Absolutely gorgeous. I thought, what are the chances of me walking into a store, miles away from home,  to find exactly what Dear Eldest Daughter is thinking about. Probably a million to one.

We did enjoy our day there, it’s been years since we visited. The market is always a highlight, shopping is usually productive and they have a really nice antique mall there now as well. A day well spent, plus great inspiration for this anticipated brooch bouquet.

Going in circles

Dear daughter visited Ikea recently and brought back fabric for Dear Mom to make new tablecloths. The fabric is wonderful, 100% cotton, almost like upholstery fabric, but not quite as heavy and 60 inches wide. So perfect for round table cloths. Plus dirt cheap, I think she paid $7.99 a yard. It didn’t take too long to make them, the hardest part is getting your round shape, the serging and sewing part is really a breeze. The fabric comes folded along the center with the selvages matching, just like quilting fabric. I fold the fabric in half, lengthwise. I cut a piece of ribbon 1/2 the length of the circle diameter that I want. So in my case, I want a 60 inch round table cloth, so my ribbon is cut to 30 inches.

I anchor the ribbon with a pin into the corner of the folded fabric where all the folds meet.

I keep the ribbon taut as I move it from one end of the fabric to the other, marking the fabric with a marker as I go along.

Then I cut out, along the marked edge to form my circle.

I serge the raw edge.

Turn it under with an itty bitty hem and top stitch.

All complete and ready to put on the table.

Secret Fairy Garden

I made on of these fairy gardens for myself at the beginning of the summer. When Dear daughter was over and saw it she fell in love with it. She said  “Mom, when you buy this stuff…..buy 2 sets…one for you and one for me”. It never fails, any cute thing I manage to get, she loves and wants one too.

Now these little fairy garden embellishments are really hard to find. When we were in Michigan last month, I came across a garden center and low and behold, they had a display of garden fairy merchandise. I picked up a few pieces for Dear Daughter with the intent of making her a fairy garden of her own for her birthday.

I had to keep it hid at our house until she celebrated her birthday a few days ago. Needless to say she loved it.

I told you I was making another set

I had to have a set for fall! Look how easy these are.

Sew together your WOF strips.

Lay on your 60 degree triangle ruler.

Cut.

Sew and voilà.

Easy Peasy Stripy Stripey Placemats by Sew So Easy.

What happened to summer?

What happened to June and July? I just don’t know where the time goes, how could we be into August already…just a month and a bit left of summer.

This little garden angel was a project I completed a few years back. I had it originally hanging in my sewing room and thought I should have her on display for the summer so I attached her to our front door wreath so everyone could enjoy her. Only a short time left before she’ll be put into hibernation for the winter months. Brrrrr! makes me cold just thinking about it.

Happily ever after starts here

With an outdoor BBQ engagement party of course. We just hosted Dear eldest daughter's engagement party. What fun and what a celebration. Dear Hubby put the wood together for this sign, we saw it on Pinterest of course, and I painted the lettering.

It was very hot that day, with major humidity so we needed lots of umbrellas to provide as much shade as possible.

Here are the backyard pics before the event started.  Dear fiancé Kyle strung all the lanterns and helped set up all the tables and chairs. What a trooper, bless his heart.

Who thinks of this stuff

Whoever they are, they are genius. These are the most fun and simple placemats ever. I’m totally hooked. I want to make a set for everyone…just kidding.

The secret is the innards….not a batting, not an interfacing but a fusible stiff fabric that really holds it’s shape and did I mention it's fusible. The placemats go together like a charm using a 60 degree triangle ruler.

The pattern is called Stripy Stripey Placemats by Sew So Easy and the innards are called Craft-Tex Placemats by Bosal Foam and Fiber.

It will be a class offered at indred Spirits Quilt Co. in September.

Gotta go…making another set!

A third of the way complete

Wow, that was a bit of a haul. Six blocks down and 12 more to go. I hope I keep up, cause that would be painful if I didn’t. This is Fat Cat’s free BOM called Whoo Knows. I fell in love with the pattern the minute I saw it on her blog.  I am totally in love with this quilt so far and this probably is my favourite quilt ever. She gives the pattern for turned under applique method but of course I’m lazy and raw edge was the best avenue for me.
Hoot, Hoot, Hoot Hooray!