Old MacDonald had a farm

This is a fun little mini from the book, Paper-pieced Mini Quilts by Wendy Vosters. It measures 5X7 and I used landscape fabric for the farm fields. I got a cute little John Deere Tractor button at Hobby Lobby which just makes the piece. We are offering it as a class at Kindred Spirits Quilt Co. I used a blanket stitch to make the fence between the fields.

Sunbonnet Sue March-ing right along

I'm managing to keep up with my BOM's including this little embroidery one that I started. Each month I try and get the embroidery design stitched onto the block and this month I almost didn't make it. I've got really cute yellow Sunbonnet Sue fabric to co-ordinate with these blocks and a really cute yellow 30's print for the outer border. Once all the little blocks are stitched I can put it all together for my Sunbonnet Sue calendar quilt. I've tried to stitch all the designs with some yellow thread throughout it to tie everything together. So far so good. 

It's OK to be small

I've been on this kick lately of miniatures. Started with this book and then went down hill fast. I think I did about six in a matter of days, they were addictive.  It started by wanting to showcase mini quilts in different ways for the Kindred Spirits Quilt Co. store and once I got started, I couldn't seem to stop. I thought this was a nice way to showcase a mini...on a little canvas plus stand. Once the quilt was completed, I staple gunned it to a mini canvas and bought this cute stand from Hobby Lobby. This mini is done with paper piecing techniques. There is so much interest at the store now that we are running several classes.

Air Cadets Raffle Quilt

This will be a raffle quilt for local Air Cadets to raise money for a trip they are hoping to venture on. (to Germany, I believe) Chris a customer, is donating the quilt to them to assist in raising money. She made the quilt from a local quilt store's BOM program.   It looks very nice in the blues and greens and will be wonderfully cozy as it's backed in flannel. Hopefully her generosity will result in lots of tickets being sold for this worthwhile cause.

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If you know me, you know I have a thing for pincushions. I get great joy from finding little treasures at local vintage stores then remaking them into unusual pincushions. I like to give them away as gifts to other quilters or students in my classes. This little tea light holder turned out really sweet as a pincushion and makes me want spring to be here...NOW

Leftovers Again!

I say that like it's a bad thing!...but it's not. After I made the Lil Twister quilt, there were these lovely little pieces left that were just the right size to make 4X4 squares. These were perfect to put together for a table runner. Along with the leftover squares, there was enough fabric from the inside border to make the setting triangles and enough from the outside border to give me a little border around the table runner as well. I love leftovers! Turned out sweet and the ladies in my class will get this bonus project as well!

Lil Lil Lil twister

How small can you go....pretty small it seems. We are planning a mini quilt class at Kindred Spirits Quilt Co. and I've been playing around with a few options for it. I had recently made a Lil Twister Quilt sample and tried experimenting with different sizes of templates. I ended up cutting a template 1.25 X 1.25 inches to make this little twister heart quilt. Fun to do but very time consuming and tedious with all the little pieces to cut and resew. Certainly not a beginner's class for sure. The whole thing measures 8X8 and I set it in a shadow box to display.

Just ducky

This little pincushion is just ducky and a great find a a vintage shop recently. It's actually an egg cup and when I saw it I knew it would make into a great pincushion. I used felted wool for the pincushion head and tied some matching ribbon around to complete the look. We recently had our quilt shop meeting and I brought each one of the staff a homemade pincushion. This little gem went to Michelle.



Henrietta Whiskers on Acorn Lane

Got to love the newest BOM from Bunny Hill Designs. It is too cute and so much fun to put together. I have chosen the fabric line Migration and I love the way it is coming along. Henrietta is just the sweetest squirrel and each month she goes on a new adventure. I love  the idea of the little wagon filled with acorns and on Acorn Lane no less. It's a free BOM offered by Anne Sutton at Bunny Hill Designs.

Christmas Jelly Roll

Jane is not a beginner quilter any more. Look at this wonderful jelly roll quilt she made at a recent class. I love it! Jane was in my beginner class and this is her second quilt. Wow, she's done amazing. The fabric is wonderful with the snowmen and festive Christmas ornaments....and the colors are great in combination with each other. I somehow  feel sorry for Jane though.....poor thing, just getting back from Acapulco after 6 weeks and having to wrap herself up in this little beauty to keep warm here in Canada...poor Jane...ahhhh.....

It's a jungle out there

This is the sweetest little baby quilt made by Donna. It's for a new baby that is due shortly. I love the jungle theme and the fussy cut blocks. The backing is so cute and great fun. The brown border just seems to punch it up. That new baby is gonna love this one.

Birdie Stitches BOM

Little Miss Shabby... I love you... for sharing such a cute BOM with your readers. It is way too cute. It is specifically designed for embroidery, however I'm not an embroidery expert, so I opted to applique her design instead. I hope she doesn't mind. I love the way it is turning out and I get to add my own artistry too it as well. I look forward so much to the next month, to see what gets posted and what she has created to share with everyone. 

Dresden Girl on the make

This is the making of Dresden Girl. Kindred Spirit Quilt Co. likes to have a new creation 1/4ly for the doll class they offer at the store. Each 1/4 I try and design a new doll pattern that quilters will enjoy and that in some small way has a quilting technique involved. This is the start of Dresden Girl, isn't she pretty. Her face is sculpted and colored with pencil crayons along with individual eyelashes sewn in by hand. The face then sits in a silk flower, her face as centre. She will stand on a candlestick in stead of having legs. She has a dropped waist dress and the skirt is made with the Dresden template and is gathered up around  as her skirt. Too cute, I'll keep you posted as she pulls herself together.  

Hallmark, eat your heart out

These are my latest cards that were made at the Stampin Up club class that I take once a month.  Cindy Custers is the demonstrator that teaches us all our tricks and we have so much fun at the class. You make 3 cards when you attend and you can purchase all the latest and greatest that Stampin Up has to offer. They have just come out with a whole line of sewing themed goodies, and I can't wait to order them.

The luck of the Irish

What are gorgeous quilt this is. This is my customer Connie's Double Irish Chain which she made for her son and wife to be for a wedding present. Isn't it fabulous. It has a special meaning as the family originally  immigrated from Ireland. Connie's quilts are always a beautiful work of art. Perfectly square, perfectly pieced, perfectly pressed, an absolute pleasure to quilt. We used the pantograph pattern Happy Times and she thought that was appropriate as it is to celebrate their marriage. This is in fact the largest quilt I have ever had on my machine, it measured 120X100 and will be a cherished gift for the lucky couple.

FiFi Lapin...the french Easter Bunny?

Is there such as thing as a French Easter Bunny....I believe there is....Meet FiFi Lapin. This is my newest designed doll for Kindred Spirits Quilt Co. We are just finishing up with Patches (previous post from February 16th) and since I demo the class on a sample I sew along with the class, it seemed appropriate that I make a female to accompany Patches. I had quite a laugh when my daughter saw FiFi for the first time, she asked me where she got her black eye from...did Patches give that to her?....she asked... I think she turned out cute with her little beret, and her appliqued carrots. She even has matching legwarmers.

Sport's fanatic t-shirt quilt

There is something really sentimental for sport fanatic whereby their shirts are memorabilia and are meant to be saved as legacies. My friend Mary made this t-shirt quilt for her daughter who lives in Maine. She has been asking Mary when it was going to be finished and as Mary and her hubby are heading down to see them, she asked that it be quilted before they leave. It was a bit of a challenge to quilt as it was very thick in parts, and you could feel the longarm machine dragging as the machine went over certain parts. Thicknesses resulted from the t-shirt, the interfacing, the batting, the backing and flanges that were doubled in the corners...plus it was all done in flannels. Overall I was pleased with it and it will make a wonderful legacy quilt for Mary's daughter.

Twisting the Night Away

This is the Lil Twister quilt that I made as a sample for a class at Kindred Spirits Quilt Co. It is one of my favorites and was so much fun to make. The fabric line is Martinique I love the way the red fabric pops.  I quilted it in the pantograph Dainty. It appears that it is going to be a popular class at the store as quite a few quilters have signed up already. It will be offered over three evenings and students will get a free tablerunner pattern to make from the leftovers.

Flannel Flinders

This is a customer quilt from Tania for her grand-daughter. She brought me a similar one a few months ago, however had a ton of fabric left and decided to make another one for another granddaughter, Pretty in the pastels, isn't it. We quilted it in Angel Wings and it looks lovely. There are going to be two lucky grand-daughters out there. Tania indicated that she was going to put it in the local quilt guild show in the spring. The pattern is called Flannel Flinders.

Cute as a bug!

I love making pincushions from all kinds of different 
  "finds". I scour vintage shops for just the right
   "housing" for a pincushion. Sometimes they turn out and sometimes they don't.  I love it when they do like this little treasure. A little tealight holder transformed into a "cute as a bug " pincushion....
who woulda thought.