Tuesday, September 27, 2016

Quilting Blues

My niece is getting married!  Of course , time for a quilt!!
But she loves blue.  

I realize that I don't have any blue in my stash!  Really, almost nothing!  And when I look at all my quilts, there is very little blue, almost none, in any of them.  A real eye opener!

So off to a friendly quilt store..Prairie Chicks...and stock up :)  They had a great FQ bundle of blues with a little beige/tan mixed in...perfect!   "Grand Traverse Bay" by Minick & Simpson 
Grand Traverse Bay by Minick & Simpson - 13 Fat 1/4s
But why stop there....so I had to buy a bit extra as well!

I needed something quick and easy, as I had to get this off to her soon...so just a simple block.  But it turned out lovely, I think.

The backing was quick and easy as well, This fabric added some interest without having to piece anything.

I quilted it quickly as well, with an all over teardrop...my go-to quick and easy pattern...
So it is finished and off to Ontario for the wedding.

And as it turns out, I did get a bit carried away buying fabric, and had enough to make a second quilt!  Bonus!!  So I tried out my first "Plus Quilt"  Such fun! Pictures of that one another day!

Not sure what I will do with the second one, when it is finished, but my grandson might need one :)




Saturday, September 24, 2016

Bee update

I have been keeping up with my bee blocks.  Quite fun!
Last month the call was for anything about birds.  So I tried a bird LOL

I have not done much paper piecing, and still find it very challenging.  Everything is backwards and upside down!  Oh, well, it turned out pretty cute.



I also used a few scraps to make this one...

Every bird needs a home, right??

Thursday, September 15, 2016

decision time....playing with HST's

Ok, time to vote here!  

I have been playing with the layout of these HST's and have narrowed it down to 4 options:

I know there is a mistake in the bottom left one...I had trouble with that one, and would need to work at it more carefully.

What is your vote?

Wednesday, September 14, 2016

catching up .....again

I have had trouble maintaining any kind of routine, and as a result, have neglected my blog yet again.  When I thought about the reasons I wanted to continue, it is mainly for myself...(as I may not actually have any followers anymore anyway LOL)  I started this blog partly to give back to a community that helped me develop into the quilter that I am today.  I learned so much from all of you!!  But I also started this to document my progress, my successes, and even my failures as well as having a record of the quilts that I have made.   And that number is now over 60!  So , although it is sporadic, I plan to continue !

It has been a very busy summer in our house.  We had a wedding!


My stepson got married in July, and lots of my husbands family came over from Scotland for the wedding....and stayed for some playtime at the lake :)  For a few days there were 11 people living in our home!! YIKES! But all went well, and everyone had a great time.  The wedding was beautiful, the bride was beautiful, and the weather was great for pretty much the whole time.

And of course, I made a quilt for their wedding !!


This was actually started a couple of years ago, as a block of the month from Periwinkle Quilting, called "Black, White and Bright"
The backing was a really fun flannel I found in Arizona..it is a crossword puzzle...and so cozy too.


It is quite large, about 100" x 90"!  So was a challenge to quilt on my home machine.  Also because it was black and white I couldn't use one colour of thread throughout, so had to quilt the white with white thread, and the black with black!  It was a challenge, but fun to do as well, and really stretched my FMQ skills.



I think they loved it!

And of course I also have been keeping busy with my little grandson !!

 What a sweet little guy! I have been able to babysit him quite a bit, and am not sure how I am going to leave him and go to Arizona this year :(