she can quilt

Ta ta February - the sunshine is returning

2012-03-02T07:12:00.000-07:00

It seems I did a lot of sewing in February, for such a short and dark month. Oh and I did cheat in that mosaic, the Blue Quilt, the very last one, was made a couple of years ago, but since I showed it off last post I thought I would just sneak it in. Most of these projects are for swaps, bees and presents.

I am linking my monthly progress with Lynne from Lily's Quilts Fresh Sewing Day. If you hop over there you can see what many other lovely bloggers have been up to in February.

Here are some handy tote bags. Sarah from Fairyface Designs is running a wonderful series of beginning sewing tutorials and my tote bag tutorial went up yesterday, click here if you want to check it out. I used French seams for strength and nicer looks in the unlined version of the bag, so if you have not used them or need a refresher you might find it helpful.

And my Leap Day Superior Threads give away is still open until the end of Saturday night. Click here to enter.

As I have been writing these monthly posts this winter I have been complaining about the darkness. I am excited to note that sunrise today will be at 7:18 a.m. and sunset will be at 6:15 p.m.. On January 2 this year it was 8:50 a.m. and 4:26 p.m.. So the sunshine in my day has increased from 7 hours 35 minutes to 10 hours 56 minutes.

That is an improvement of 3.5 hours of sunlight between January and now, which, for me, makes March a very welcome month - even if it seems to be bringing snow and winter temperatures with it.

I hope you have a lovely Friday.

Best,

Leanne

Leap Day Superior Threads Giveaway

2012-02-29T06:13:00.002-07:00

A couple of weeks ago my friend Elizabeth from Occasional Piece - Quilt! asked me if I would join in the giveaway that she and Cindy from Live a Colourful Life had arranged with the folks at Superior Threads to give away some of their thread. Well, I use Superior Threads' King Tut thread a fair bit, and I love it, so I jumped aboard. In fact, that Blue Quilt up there was quilted with King Tut thread which had been recommended to me by my local quilt shop.

Tonight I thought I would see how much King Tut thread I had in my thread drawer. Well, there is no shortage at my house, as you can see, and I have no hesitation in recommending it. I set all my spools down on my new little quilt - atmosphere. - as it too was quilted with King Tut thread.

I also have to say I was thinking about Bob, the Superior Thread trainer, whose videos I watched ages ago, so I went and watched a bunch of them again. I highly recommend watching these videos, if you are at all curious about thread - just click here for the link. One thing I learned tonight is that Superior Threads recommends titanium coated Topstitch Needles for all your quilting steps, and the 90/14 size for King Tut.

The Blue Quilt was the second quilt I made ever. It is made of HSTs in a pattern I first saw done by Katie at Sew Katie Did here. My desire to make value quilts like hers with HSTs was a lot of the initial push to start me quilting. I have since learned that this pattern is called a depression block.

In this photo you can see that I quilted the outside edges of the large squares in straight lines from one edge of the quilt to the other. For the smaller squares, I quilted the square but did not pass over the larger square HSTs. However, to avoid turning the quilt to outline those squares, I passed the quilt from edge to edge and just sewed one side of the inner square per pass. A lot of starting and stopping but to great effect.

Here is a close up of the lines. This quilt has been used and washed several times since I made it in the spring of 2010. The thread looks great. I especially like those nice detailed corners where all the lines intersect.

So 12 bloggers are participating in Leap Day Superior Threads Giveaway today and I am one of them. I don't actually have the thread in my hands yet, it is in the mail, but there are 3 spools of thread - including King Tut or Masterpiece or both - on the way for me to give to you.

All you have to do is leave a comment on this post - let me know your favourite colour of thread for quilting and if you have a tip on using or choosing thread please share that too. I will draw a winner of the three spools of thread on Sunday morning (March 4) so you need to comment before then. Please make sure that you have an email attached to your profile or leave it in your comment as I will redraw if I cannot contact the winner.

One more picture of the Blue Quilt, it is still one of my very favourites. This pattern has such a three dimensional effect.

Oh, and you can enter to win more thread from each of these other bloggers by visting their lovely blogs today, February 29, Leap Day (just click the link to get there):

Elizabeth from Occasional Piece - Quilts!
Cindy from Live a Colorful Life
Lee from Freshly Pieced

Sherri from A Quilting Life
Thelma from Cupcakes 'n' Daisies
Jeni from In Color Order
Amy from During Quiet Time
Carla from Lollyquiltz
Jennifer from That Girl, That Quilt
Corey from Little Miss Shabby
Terri from Sew Fantastic

Good luck on the giveaways!

Best,

Leanne

atmosphere.

2012-02-26T23:38:00.000-07:00

atmosphere. Here it is, finished. I realized it was not finished until it was washed.

This little quilt is 13.5" x 16" and is made from various cotton bits and Kona white.

You can see how the washing added character, lines and bumps and misalignments. Sort of like the atmosphere, beautiful, mostly empty but not perfect.

Here it is before I washed it. I was just not loving that flatness.

And although I love this picture of the flatness, it was just not right. I debated a long time, almost a week, because I knew once I washed it I would never see this flatness again.

You can see the difference now. It went in the washer and the dryer, somewhat beat up, like the real atmosphere.

It is hard to quilt the elements, I am going to have to try again soon.

This quilt was inspired by Svetlana from s.o.t.a.k. handmade's wonderful little quilt - click here to go and check it out now, I will wait. I was also inspired by Svetlana's inspiration - Yoshiko Jinzenji and her book Quilting Line and Color.

I have more little quilts on a charcoal background planned, but it was nice to use white as well. I think I have more of these to make too.

I have linked this post up to Megan at Canoe Ridge Creations' {Sew} Modern Monday. There are wonderful projects there, I hope you go and have a look.

I am going to link this to Heather and Megan at Fabric Tuesday as well, it looks like there are several lovely projects there already.

Best,

Leanne

Zippered Pouch - Ta Da! and FAL update

2012-02-23T23:50:00.000-07:00

I have finished the zippered pouch for my secret partner for the Mouthy Stitches swap. It is about 7.75" square and the front is made from assorted Kona solids and black Quilter's Linen - which is a screen printed 100% cotton Robert Kaufman fabric made to resemble linen.

The Tippecanoe paper pieced panel is a pattern from Quilter's Cache here which I reduced to 20% its size.

The zipper went in nicely although I did have to fuss with the side seams and unpick them a couple of times. Since this is for my great secret partner, I did not mind. I installed the little tabs at the ends of the zipper, as many people in the swap were doing that. Usually when I make a zipper bag I don't bother with the tabs.

Here is the back. I decided to feature a small piece of fabric I had purchased a year ago in a pile of charm squares. It is lovely and reminds me of sewing threads or embroidery. Do let me know if you recognize it as I have no idea what it is.

I included an outside pocket which I lined and topped with a bit of Denyse Schmidt Hope Valley in orange. I am going to sew in a little snap to keep that pocket closed when something is in it.

The lining is an Echino print from the 2011 spring line. It is an 80% cotton, 20% linen blend and light weight. I might add a label and zipper tab. Then all I have to do is pull the requisite scraps and send this off.

And since this is the mid point of Rhonda from Quilter in the Gap's Finish-a-Long, I am also showing off my two FAL finishes so far.

The Kaleidoscope Quilt, which is going to be on its way to my nephew in a day or two, is all done. The Ta Da post is here if you want to read more.

And I am using this lovely quilt on my bed now, it was my first FAL finish. You can read about it in this post.

I have a few other projects to do for the FAL and I might even have time to get them done by the end of March. Wish me luck.

I am linking this post of finishes to Thank Goodness it's Finally Friday, which Rhonda at Quilter in the Gap is hosting this week.. I hope you have time to check out the other finishes linked there.

I am so glad that it will be Friday soon, I am looking forward to a relaxing weekend.

Best,

Leanne

It's all in progress

2012-02-20T13:59:00.001-07:00

This picture gives you a bit of scale for the paper pieced Tippecanoe blocks I made for the front inset on the zipper pouch I am making for the Mouthy Stitches swap. The pattern is from Quilter's Cache here and I reduced it to 20%.

Here is where I am at so far. I have ripped a lot of things off of that little paper pieced middle and finally have settled on black quilter's linen (which is a screen printed cotton that looks a bit like linen). I am not at all sure my partner will like black so I may be back to the drawing board this week. But nothing else I had on had worked - instead of showcasing the tiny piecing, it just washed it out.

Cross your fingers for me that my partner likes it.

These are some close up shots of the quilting on the sewing machine cover I am making for my partner in the Love of Solids Swap. Those are greenish-olive blocks on Kona Espresso and it is really hard to get the colours correct. The thread is a variegated lime green.

These aqua bits are also hard to photograph. I used a variegated blue thread for this part.

More green bits. I love this tiny bit of stitching.

And some more aqua bits. Despite how much I love the piecing, I truly do love the quilting part of quilting, I need to do it more often.

And then I heavily quilted the brown part in a variegated brown thread. This picture has the best colours so far, but still they are not completely right. Next I have to measure about 10 times and then cut, fold and stitch it. I am going to box the corners, line it, and have a nice cover with very few seams.

This is a prototype I made. I am now worried about having enough ease so the cover can go on and of the machine. If there is enough, I am going to stitch the edges like this prototype to give the cover a nice definition.

In other news, my youngest, who broke his upper arm last week, is healing and learning how hard it is to get about each day with only one arm. I hope this experience will develop a life long bit of empathy in him for those less able than him, as he will fully recover. In the meantime, we are all a bit tired out by the frustration and pain and lack of sleep - you know that no one understands you when you are 14 - but we are getting through it.

There are more things in the works in my sewing room which I will tell you about next time but now I want to get back to sewing while the opportunity is here. Today is Family Day and a day off in Alberta.

Tuesday: Edited to add: I am going to link this to Heather and Megan at Fabric Tuesday, it looks like there are several lovely projects there already.

And since this post is all about progress, I am linking it today (Wednesday) to WIP Wednesday with Lee at Freshly Pieced. Also, with the Needle and Thread Network. I hope to find some time to browse through all the excellent projects this weekend.

Best,

Leanne

Another lovely feature!

2012-02-15T08:34:00.000-07:00

This is the mini quilt I made for my secret partner For The Love of Solids [a modern swap], Round 1. Thank you to Megan and Heather who are featuring it on Quilt Story today - they called it awesome, I am so flattered.

My week has been a bit shattered by my youngest breaking his upper arm snowboarding (foiled by an edge while doing some wonderful trick or other - he is an excellent boarder). He is going to be fine and surgery was happily avoided at the last minute but mothering through these incidents is stressful and exhausting. Things will be back to normal soon.
Best,
Leanne

Ta Da! Kaleidoscope

2012-02-11T11:42:00.001-07:00

Finally I have a chance to show off Kaleidoscope (that is what I named the kaleidoscope quilt, not that original I know). I am sending it to my nephew next week for his birthday and just because I like him - he is away from home at University and I thought it might be nice to have a cuddly blanket for late night studying.

Thank you everyone for taking the time to share your ideas and thoughts on the best binding and quilting for this quilt (you can read my request for help here).

In the end I chose the grey for the binding. I pinned on each of the three binding choices, and I looked at them for a while. I carefully thought about each commenter's ideas and logic (both here and on flickr). I decided against either aqua or chartreuse because the binding in those colours allowed the matching colour to dominate the quilt and less circles would form as you looked at it.

I did not add any additional quilting. These pictures are all after washing, the quilt behaves nicely with just the outlining of the points and not the squares. It is very soft too.

Here is the back. These are two prints by Tina Givens from her line called Pernilla's Journey. You will see that I forgot to flip the elephants in that top square like I flipped the waterlily print, oh well.

One last view, I love to look long enough to see the small and then larger and larger circles that form in spite of the fact that every piece is cut straight. This quilt is 60" x 72" and made of various cotton prints that I had bits and pieces of in my cupboard - I think it even qualifies as scrappy.

I started this quilt about a year ago (edited to add, it was actually the beginning of June, so not a full year), as part of Elizabeth from Don't Call Me Betsy's Kaleidoscope QAL. The QAL was very fun and many beautiful quilts can be viewed on flickr here.

Unfortunately, I did not finish with my group. So, this is now my second finish for Rhonda at Quilter in the Gap's Finish-a-long.

I went to exercise yesterday and am planning to go tomorrow - I have to be serious about it now, I am going to be walking about London for just over a week this spring, and I need to get in shape (and lose a million pounds too, but it all sounds so negative when you think of it that way). My exercise buddy will be pleased, I hope.

I hope you enjoy your day, it is bright and sunny here and I plan to do a little sewing among the errands.

I have linked this finish up to Megan at Canoe Ridge Creations' {Sew} Modern Monday. There are wonderful projects there, I hope you go and have a look.

Best,

Leanne

What is progressing? It's Wednesday

2012-02-08T09:56:00.002-07:00

My progress in this last week has been in bees and swaps. That red wonky star is my prototype block for my month as queen bee in the Twelve Month Bee - wonky stars and ROYGBIV quilts make me happy. Each person got one colour of fabrics with the charcoal, and they can make me stars of any size from 16" square downwards. I can't wait to see what they come up with.

This group of stunning blocks are the blocks from two rounds of the 4 x 5 Modern Quilt Bee. The current round has just gotten underway, so in a couple of months I will have some more to add. Clearly bees can lead to wonderful results.

I finally settled on a palette and group of fabrics for the Love of Solids [a modern swap] Round 2. I am going to make a sewing machine cover, with closed sides even. Wish me luck, I will be making it up as I go but I think it will be fun. I am going to stop by my LQS for some really thin batting, as I want to quilt it but I don't want it to become too bulky at the seams. I might have to come up with a trick or two for those seams.

It seems I cannot resist showing off Shine again, which I finished on Sunday. This is for my partner in the Fab Little Quilt Swap.

And I could not resist joining in for DQS12. There are many new players this time and it should be interesting. So another mosaic was in order, they take me a while because there are just so many beautiful quilts to look at from the online quilting community.

Oh, and yesterday I was in a slump at work and needed cheering. It seems that I used to have lot of airline points - not so much anymore, now I've got a ticket, and I have this ticket too (which I had bought earlier - just in case). I am so excited to be planning a week in London this spring to be a total tourist and meet some of my favourite quilting friends. Next is to find a hotel (recommendations?) and make some plans.

There is a lot more I am working on: my Mouthy Stitches pouch, cutting fabrics for Sarah at Narcoleptic in the Cupboard's Stained QAL, and some finishes for Rhonda at Quilter in the Gap's Finish-A-Long. And there is another inspiration or two to deal with. I am sure there is more but it is time to get back to the work that pays for all those tickets and fabric too.

I am linking to Lee at Freshly Pieced and with my Canadian friends at The Needle and Thread Network. If you have time, go and check out the wonderful work there.

Best,

Leanne

PS, I hear the F.U.N.C. might be in exotic Morocco - I wonder if the rumor is true?

Shine

2012-02-05T11:46:00.002-07:00

This is Shine. It is a mini quilt which is about 15.5" square. It is made of assorted yellow, orange and red cottons with a Kona Charcoal background, binding and back. By the way, this picture is the best depiction of the actual charcoal colour.

Most of the quilting is done with darker grey thread by machine. There is a bit of red thread which circles the inner red pieced centre.

The center was made from 49 pieced squares finishing at 1/2" squares. I cut the pieced squares into a 3.5" circle and appliqued it into the paper pieced ring so the centre finishes at about 3" in diameter.

For the paper pieced ring of pointy points, I used the paper pieced template from a pattern called Bubble Gum Burst by Barbara Barber from a book I have called The Expert's Guide to Foundation Piecing.

Once the inner part was flattened (which proved to be a challenge, check out my progress post here) I cut the background in one continuous piece and cut out the inner circle. The inner ring was pieced into the background as one continuous piece.

The quilting was fun. I tried a few different quilting ideas for the centre, but in the end, decided to circle the centre piece twice and leave the patchwork to stand alone.

It took me longer than I expected to decide on the name. My inspiration for this little quilt was not connected to a word like Shattered was. This one came from a desire to evoke energy with the points.

See, here it is in the sun. I hope I have captured a small bit of that in the quilt.

This quilt is for my partner in the Fab Little Quilt Swap.

It seems I might be working in a bit of a series now - who knew.

Monday: I'm adding a link to Megan at Canoe Ridge Creations' {Sew} Modern Monday. You might want to head over to see the other wonderful finishes.

Tuesday: I am adding a link to Heather and Megan over at Quilt Story for Fabric Tuesday. There are lovely projects on the go there too. (And I promise to write something new for tomorrow, honest.)

Best,

Leanne

Shattered - again - it gets around.

2012-02-04T07:05:00.000-07:00

Thank you to Megan and the rest of the crew over at Generation Q Magazine for featuring Shattered as the Quilt of the Week in their Saturday Special feature. She said the nicest things about this little quilt, it is so cool that other people like this one as much as I do.

I'm hoping to take some photos later today while the sun is up so I can show you the finished Kaleidoscope quilt, stay tuned.

Best,

Leanne

January, the long dark month is done

2012-02-01T08:22:00.000-07:00

If one has past lives, in my last one I was a bear. I bulk up in the fall and want to sleep all through January - which works very well if you are a bear, but not so much for a human.

This January, I had some encouragement to stay awake after dark, and it is dark here by 4:30pm - ish, so a lot of the day is lost if you go to sleep once the sun is down.

First, Rhonda at Quilter in the Gap's Finish-a-long has been spurring me to finish last years favourite projects. I have finished the quilt for my bed, I am making great progress on the Mystery QAL quilt and I have another finish to show off later this week.

Next, the Tangerine Tango Challenge and inspiration led to Shattered. And then there are quilting bees and swaps which have all been keeping me busy. Finally, I have been finishing some knitting off.

As we move into February, there will be more sunlight, which is good as there is lots more quilting planned for me. And it is time for some exercise too, my exercise buddy is soon going to disown me.

Please have a look at everyone's January projects over at Lily's Quilts where Lynne is hosting Fresh Sewing Day.

Featured - how cool is that!

2012-01-30T06:58:00.000-07:00

Today, two of my quilts are featured on the internet - I am both thrilled and a little overwhelmed. The ROYGBIV Log Cabin Quilt is featured at Quilt Story.

And Shattered is being featured at Modern Day Quilts.

Pretty cool! Thanks to Heather and Megan at Quilt Story, and to Heather at Modern Day Quilts - they made my day, twice!

Best,

Leanne

Creating

2012-01-29T20:58:00.000-07:00

This is my latest creation, so far. It is made from an assortment of yellow, orange and red cotton prints and Kona Charcoal.

I started by making some pointy points. I had been making paper pieced points, and was not done with them yet. I am in the the Fab Little Quilt Swap and I am hopeful that my secret partner will like this.

I made the pointy points into a circle. I used the paper pieced template for this circle of points from a pattern called Bubble Gum Burst by Barbara Barber from a book I have called The Expert's Guide to Foundation Piecing.

Then my friend Linda from Linda Rotz Miller Quilts and Quilt Tops mentioned that she wondered what would go in the centre of such pointy points. Well, that got me thinking that I should put something pretty interesting in the centre.

My secret partner likes tiny patchwork and you will recall my Modern Christmas Tree Ornaments - tiny patchwork is my friend. So I cut up 49 one inch squares, each one from a different fabric.

I sewed them together, they finish at 1/2" so this little piece is about 3.5"square. Then I cut them in a circle.

Oh, in the interests of being real, I have to mention that the first time I cut the circle too small. Yup, I hauled out all 49 fabrics again (only a few came from my scrap box), cut another set of 1" squares and did it again.

I had thought I would just inset that circle with my sewing machine, no problem. Ha, that was not to be - I was brought back to the real world pretty quickly on that.

So this is my very first ever hand appliqued piece. I used the tiniest stitches I could manage.

Although it fit nicely, it puffed up like a fried egg. Or worse, a flower. I was going for edgy, artsy, modern and cool. Not cute.

See, fried egg. Not edgy, artsy or modern. Not cool.

But remember, it was paper pieced. I had left the paper in place so that all those bias seams would not stretch while I sewed in the middle. When you take the paper off, there is just the tiniest bit of ease as the seams relax.

The pointy points have 40 seams. Just enough ease to flatten it out, with just the steam from my iron (I am not a starcher, I don't even have any).

So here it is again, so far. It will be set into a square of the same Kona Charcoal and then I will quilt it, likely in grey like my Shattered quilt. I expect this mini quilt to finish somewhere near to a 15" square. I am having so much fun, inspiration has struck again.

I will update you soon.

PS. I am linking this to Fabric Tuesday over at Quilt Story, where you will find many other lovely projects too.

Best,

Leanne

Wednesday - definitely some progress.

2012-01-24T23:49:00.000-07:00

My progress on the Mystery QAL is slow but steady. You can see those jaggy strips have been added to that large orange star at the top.

Also, are the blocks laid out as I think they will be pieced in the final quilt. That friendship star up at the top left is at the outside of the borders, which are not yet done. And there are braided strips to go between the stars at the bottom of the picture and some background rectangles.

So, later on in this evening I made the first braid. They are fun to make (the braid tutorial is here) and the effect is pretty slick for a really easy process. That is, if you cut it correctly.

Well, I know the rule, measure twice, cut once, but I was tired and thought I had it right. So I cut the left side first and there was nothing to do then but cut the right. I am going to use this off kilter braid anyway because I like its asymmetry and it will remind me to slow down and think a bit more as I go.

And so there is just one more braid to do and then the I can piece the stars and finish the border to complete this quilt top. If all goes well this one will be ready for quilting soon.

This is the pincushion I made for my secret partner for the Bee a {Modern} Swapper group. This month we are swapping pincushions. I decided it was time to try a cathedral window out and a pincushion was a great opportunity as it is just one block. I used this tutorial from My GoGo Life, which is excellent.

This lovely block is called Quatrefoil from the Modern Blocks book. It was the January block for Alisha in my Modern Blocks Bee. This block has grown on me, I think that a whole quilt of them is going to be wonderful.

And I promised to show off more knitting. This little shawl is called Little Arrowhead Shawl which is a pattern by Pam Allen. The yarn is Noro Silk Garden Lite.

This picture shows both the lace and the true colours. This is a small scarf size piece to wear around your neck more than your shoulders, and I wore it all day today.

This one is a pattern called Travelling Woman by Liz Abinante. I love this pattern and have made a few of these, which again are quite small and fit nicely around your neck or over your head if it starts snowing. Again the yarn is Noro Silk Garden Lite, which is one of my favourites because it comes in so many stunning colours.

Once I started quilting, my knitting output decreased, but I often carry a project in my purse to work on when waiting somewhere or stopping for a coffee with a friend. I had a few of these shawls in a pile to have ends mended in and to be washed and blocked. Rhonda, at Quilter in the Gap, recently mentioned that she had a 15 minute drawer and I gave her a hard time for not finishing all those little bits off. Well, that made me think that I best deal with my own pile of almost finished knitting. I will show you some more of the knitting finishes next week.

I am linking to Lee at Freshly Pieced for WIP Wednesday and with the Canadians at the Needle and Thread Network. As always, I hope you will go and have a look at the wonderful work you will find linked at both of these.

Best,

Leanne

Inspiration

2012-01-22T12:49:00.000-07:00

Shattered - a wall quilt.

I was thinking about making a mini-quilt for the Tangerine Tango Challenge. And I had been paper piecing jaggy strips for the Mystery QAL. Then I got an email from Hadley, Flying Blind on a Rocket Cycle, who said "...ask me again for ideas when I am not shattered!"

Well, then the Rolling Stones were playing in my head - playing Shattered. Loudly. And I knew what to do.

I downloaded the song (Shattered) from i-tunes because it is nicer to hear it in stereo - you can get preview it on itunes or listen to it here in a live version by the Rolling Stones on youtube. I grew up with this music, but I guess not all of you will have this song in your bones. And I understand feeling "shattered", as Hadley meant it, but it is not something most Canadians say.

This quilt is 13.5" by 14.5". It is made from tangerine and other orange cottons on a Kona Charcoal background. The quilting is machine stitched with a darker grey thread using a walking foot but I did not mark the quilt before stitching. I let the shattered inspiration carry me along. The binding and back are also Kona Charcoal.

The email came Thursday and I started it that night. Finished hand stitching the binding this morning. Inspiration, when it hits, is a powerful thing.

Edited to add:

A big thank you to Jodi at Pleasant Home for featuring my blog today for her Needle Little Inspiration feature (I honestly did not know this in advance of this post.) She has written the nicest feature about me.

And, I am linking this up with Sew {Modern} Monday over at Canoe Ridge Creations, and with Fabric Tuesday at Quilt Story, where there are always other wonderful projects to see.

Best,

Leanne

Wednesday's progress and a concern

2012-01-18T07:32:00.000-07:00

I was paper piecing last weekend. I so love the dramatic results of paper piecing but it is a slow and patient process for me, with the seam ripper close at hand. The green strip is the new one, the pink one was done earlier. Wouldn't a quilt with large pointy triangles arranged like this look great - I might have to figure out how to make it.

Or maybe arranged like this? Maybe a mini quilt? These bits are part of the Mystery QAL quilt, which I am working on finishing.

This is the Summer's Blush pattern by Bloom top so far. I am trying to decide if I want borders or not. I am thinking about using a heavier decor weight or linen for the back and using this as a beach/picnic blanket. And I am going to need another name for this quilt, it is just not blushy.

These blocks are for the Aqua and Orange Bee. I had such a nice time making them and just love the colour combination.

I am making progress on other projects and hope to be able to show off another finish this weekend.

My concern is with SOPA and PIPA, two pieces of proposed American legislation. My kids spent a few nights passionately explaining to me how this legislation would break the internet as we know it and, in my opinion, they are right. I knew that without the kids, but what was so interesting was that they knew about it, were able to debate it rigorously and felt so strongly about it.

Go to Wikipedia here to read more, today English Wikipedia is dark. Or go here to see what Flickr has to say. Or google it. The whole internet world will be affected, not just people in the United States, and so hopefully we all will take notice and act.

I am linking to Lee at Freshly Pieced for WIP Wednesday and the Needle and Thread Network, please go and visit all the wonderful bloggers and their work posted there.

Best,

Leanne

A quilt for my bed - Ta Da!

2012-01-16T09:43:00.000-07:00

It's all done - quilted, bound, washed and tested out. This quilt is king size and, after washing, is 93" x 94".

The fabrics are called Poppy and Lantern Bloom by Laura Gunn, together with Essex 100% linen. I put a really soft high thread count king size sheet on the back, in the same not quite white colour of the linen.

This quilt was a long time in the making. The first bit of the fabrics were part of one of my first on-line fabric purchases, almost two years ago and then I kept buying a few more until I had enough. Then I searched for a pattern that would show off the large scale prints. The pattern I picked is called the Wedding Quilt by the Purl Bee and I adjusted the block size to make the quilt king size. I pieced the top in June, encouraged to get the quilt for me to the top of the list by the Naked Bed Challenge.

I quilted it in organic straight lines with a walking foot and used a slightly variegated hand dyed ivory/golden 50 weight thread from Valdani Inc. I did not want it so heavily quilted that it would lose its softness and drape. The linen is a little heavier and stiffer than cotton. Quilting this on my Horizon was not dreadful, and I would do another king size quilt again. This size is likely my limit for quilting on a regular sewing machine.

The binding is one of the aqua prints. It is hand stitched on the back. That took a fairly long time to do, but was a nice relaxed ending.

Here is a detail of the binding and you can see the print that is the binding just to the left of the red poppies in the photo. I wanted this quilt to be large enough to actually cover both of us in this big bed and so there is a bit of overhang on all edges and it reaches over the pillows.

Here is the best hanging up picture that I managed. My helpers stood on chairs and stairs and we set up lights to make the dark hallway bright enough. It is really hard to hold a quilt this big and you can see this photo cuts off the top and the edges a bit.

I am posting this to Sew {Modern} Monday and will add it to Fabric Tuesday tomorrow. It is also my first finish in the Finish-a-long over at Quilter in the Gap, which is working for me so far!

Enjoy your week, we finally have snow and -26C temperatures. Winter has arrived.

Best,

Leanne

Farewell F.U.N.C.!

2012-01-14T10:26:00.000-07:00

The F.U.N.C. was hanging out with the pretty wall quilts, when a family trip to the biggest mall in North America was suggested. Well of course we brought him along, no sophisticated world traveller would miss the Mall.

You can read about the F.U.N.C. over at Quilter in the Gap here.

He really wanted to ride the slides at the waterpark. There are huge waves periodically too and jumping about in them looked fun. But, alas, he did not bring along his bathing suit.

We considered the spinning boats in the big lake while waiting for people who were tied up in the fancy tea store. But he did not bring his life jacket either. And we got dizzy just watching, so it was all for the best.

Skating was considered, but he thought the better of it. Oops.

Now the F.U.N.C. has ridden out of Dodge, so to speak, on an airmail voyage to somewhere else. Where will he end up - only time will tell. Hopefully, we will hear from him soon. He might not be pretty, but he had some fun. Too bad we had no snow to show him this year, which is very unusual. Maybe he will come back this way next winter, to the wild west on the Canadian prairies.

Best,

Leanne

The internet ate my homework...

2012-01-12T08:39:00.000-07:00

I have been making mosaics. You see, I signed up for a few swaps. And secret partners need inspiration and that means making mosaics. The one above is for the Love of Solids {a Modern Swap} round 2.

This mosaic is for a new swap called the Fab Little Quilt Swap. I find making mosaics difficult and time consuming (not the technical part, the selecting items part) and I feel like I am conveying a different style with each one. I really do like most everything.

Those pincushions are for another new group, Bee, a {modern} Swapper. I love pincushions and I have made and given away a lot over the last year. One day I will round up some pictures to share but they are not handy this morning. I spent all my free time in the last few evenings making mosaics.

And this mosaic is for another new swap, Mouthy Stitches. This group is run by my UK friends and there is no way I could not join, given the name.

[And Hadley, (Flying Blind on a Rocket Cycle), really, how can you so adamantly hate brown? I cannot resist showing this off, my solids quilt from last summer - it is primarily brown. Oh and there is a bit of gold there too.

Oh and I joined a rainbow layer cake swap too. Seems that I have a case of January startitis. It is so bad that I set up a Google calendar just for quilting deadlines! Luckily most of them fall on the same few days, which means they are easy to remember but I will certainly be scrambling near to those dates.

Worse, remember I am still going for broke on the Finish-A-Long and I am looking forward to Sarah, from Narcoleptic in the Cupboard's Stained QAL which starts soon (beautiful button is over on my sidebar). And there are a few Bees that I forgot to mention.

So, little quilting has happened, I had no progress for Work in Progress Wednesday and I am still thinking about all the great suggestions and help you gave me for the kaleidoscope binding and quilting. Thank you and there will be more on that when I have time to quilt again. The internet ate my homework.

Best,

Leanne

A little help please.

2012-01-09T07:27:00.003-07:00

Rhonda from Quilter in the Gap's Finish-A-Long is working! I have sandwiched and quilted, or mostly quilted, my kaleidoscope quilt. But I can't decide on two things. First, the binding. I have enough of three fabrics which match perfectly - which one should I use? I have taken pictures from three different angles.

My other question is the quilting. You can see I used light grey threat to quilt straight lines parallel to the seams running along the pointy bits on either side of the seams. That leaves the square in the middle of the aqua and chartreuse stars without quilting. The spacing between quilting is fine for my batting, it can go to 8" between quilting and I want this to be a soft and puffy quilt.

Should I leave it as is, add another line parallel to the ones I have quilted on both sides of the seams, say a 1/2" further over, or quilt around the squares?

I have trouble auditioning binding as there is so little that actually shows on the quilt. This last picture is my attempt at a view more like binding.

Here is the top before quilting, I did not have time to set up lighting to photograph the quilted top last night.

In other FAL news, I have about 35" left to hand stitch on the bed quilt, but I could not keep my eyes open last night to finish. I will be able to show it off very soon.

Have a great Monday and thank you for your thoughts!

Best,

Leanne

Stars

2012-01-07T22:52:00.001-07:00

These are all 6 of my Stargazing blocks for my hive in the 4 x 5 Modern Quilt Bee. This block is called Stargazing from the Modern Blocks book (page 178) and was designed by Angela Pinagel from Cut to Pieces. I just love making these stars, each one is my new favourite, until I make another.

I have to show you each of the ones I did not show you in my last post because I think this block is just so cute! This one is for Debbie from A Quilter's Table. Debbie asked for grey, white and orange.

This one is for Nichole, from Eleven Quilts, who asked for grey with bits of red and black highlights on an off-white background.

And this one is for Tiffany from This Crafty Fox, who asked for aqua, orange, and grey on a medium or dark grey background.

I have news. First, if you have not yet been to Fairy Face Designs where Sarah is featuring {Sew} Getting Started Beginner Sewing Tutorials every Thursday, you should check it out. The opening give away is open until Monday January 9. Sarah is running a great series of tutorials from a group of very talented people that will allow beginners, and the rest of us too, to master a number of skills. I get to do the tutorial for a tote bag which is scheduled for March 1, 2012 and I am very excited that I get to be part of this feature with so many talented women.

And, like me, you may have been enjoying the 100 Days of Modern Quilting feature at the Modern Quilt Guild blog. To my great surprise and pleasure, my video tutorial on how to sew drunkard's path curves is featured on today's post: 100 Days - Week of Shapes - Tutorial Roundup.

I hope you are enjoying your weekend. I hope to have some time to do more sewing tomorrow.

Best,

Leanne

Wednesday is for progress.

2012-01-04T09:41:00.002-07:00

I've been making this wonderful star blocks for the 4 x 5 Modern Quilt Bee. This block is called Stargazing from the Modern Blocks book (page 178) and was designed by Angela Pingel from Cut to Pieces. This one was the test block in my colours. These blocks are really fun to make!

This one is for Annabella, from Life's Rich Pattern. She asked for mulberry, orange and ash. Well, I checked out mulberry and I hope that various purples will do.

And this one is for Wendy. She asked for black, white and red, which to me is a grown-up sophisticated combination. I am hoping that the little elephant can sneak in anyway.

I have three more blocks to make and send them off before the January 15 deadline. By the way, sign ups are open in this bee for the next quarter, just saying.

I am sewing the binding on the king size quilt for my bed, and all its details are set out for Rhonda at Quilter in the Gap's Finish-A-Long in my blog post here - where you can also read about a bunch of my other long overdue work in progress. There is still time to join in the FAL fun for this quarter and I hope you will.

I have two sides of the binding done, two to go. You can see the quilting a bit in this "artsy" shot, it is straight lines following the seams vertically. I decided that since the white on the front is Essex Linen, that the softness from less dense quilting was a good mix.

And for those of you who knit (or would like to) I am going to start showing off some knitting here. I finished these fingerless gloves over the holidays.

The yarn is Noro Silk Garden Lite and it is a dream to knit with. Noro is a colour wizard from Japan and his yarns are one of my favourites because they entertain you with their not-quite-regular colour changes and interesting fibre mixes as you go. The pattern is my own. It is not that cold here yet, which is very unseasonal and these are perfect for driving and running about. I can still use my iphone while wearing them, which is so much nicer than my mittens.

I am linking to Lee at Freshly Pieced for WIP Wednesday and to my Canadian friends at the Needle and Thread Network. I hope you will go and check out the other projects at both, they are always wonderful. I have to get back to work so will be doing my reading tonight.

Best,

Leanne

Finish-A-Long - what a great idea!

2012-01-01T10:31:00.000-07:00

This is my Kaleidoscope top that I made as part of Elizabeth, from Don't Call Me Betsy's Kaleidoscope QAL. I have the back also ready to go. I need to sandwich it, quilt it and bind it.

These beautiful blocks are from the Mystery QAL by Sheila from the Bluepatch Quilter. I need to finish another strip of those pointy points and a couple of strips of braids, then decide about the borders, sandwich, quilt and bind it.

This is the main part of the top of the Kiss in Time quilt that I was working on last spring.

This bit is part of the borders, those 3/4" squares were a lot of work. I need to finish the borders, piece the top, sandwich, quilt and bind it.

These are four LynneBobSquarePants blocks, designed by Lynne at Lily's Quilts. I have the fabric to make enough blocks for a lap quilt. I need to get moving on those as the blocks look so good together.

This is my top from the Across the Sea QAL run by Sarah from Fairy Face Designs and Jennifer from Ellison Lane Quilts. I have the back ready, I just need to sandwich, quilt and bind it.

And this is probably my favourite, it is going to be a quilt for my king size bed. I made the top for the Naked Bed Challenge and it sat since last June. This pattern is called Wedding Quilt from the Purl Bee. When Rhonda at Quilter in the Gap announced her idea for a Finish-A-Long, I ordered a soft king size bed sheet for the back.

Now, I have trouble with rules, and so in the enthusiasm for the FAL, and in the spirit of making the last day of the year memorable, yesterday I spent a long time ironing the top and backing sheet (I washed the sheet first). Then I sandwiched the quilt. I am not sure if that is cheating, starting the finishing a day early - let's see how much trouble I am in.

This is such a nice picture don't you think, my DH gave me these wonderful fancy lights with cute umbrellas for Christmas to make it possible to take better photos in my very dark living room and generally in our very dark winter.

I also have to admit to spending a few hours quilting this quilt last night - we are not New Year's Eve partiers here. So now it needs to have the binding done - yes, I quilted the whole thing last night and was in bed just after midnight (a bit compulsive maybe?). Photos coming later. I am hand stitching that binding all around the king size quilt, so it will take a while.

As you might have noticed by now, I am actually making list of unfinished projects - actual UFOs - something I have resisted doing since I started this blog. I am only doing it for the FAL, not to create pressure or expectations. I do hope to finish all of these soon, I love each project and have a plan for each. But, don't be surprised if many new starts happen as I go.

Rhonda's FAL will be great fun, I hope you will join in too. You don't have to make a long list like I did, and one project is enough to join in, by the way.

It looks like it will be a quiet day here, my kids stayed up all night and at least one of them has just crawled into bed. Maybe there will be time for more quilting. I hope you enjoy New Year's Day too!

Best,

Leanne

Glancing back, 2011 was a very good year.

2011-12-31T00:15:00.000-07:00

These are the quilts I finished in 2011. For me, this is a lot of quilts. I started quilting in March of 2010 and I started blogging in March of 2011, so some of you would have seen most of these quilts on this blog already. I want to thank all of you who visit my blog and flickr pages, providing encouragement and support - it is so fun and inspiring to be part of the quilting internet community.

Here are many of the other things I made in 2011. I have not included Quilting Bee Blocks in this group.

This group is mini quilts and swap quilts I made, as well as the mug rug I sent off. I see that I put the fabric basket I sent with the scrap swap in the group above, it seems that mosaic making is not my strong suit.

And the best are last, these are the things that my internet friends have sent to me over this year. Swap items, pay it forward gifts, bee blocks, and the wonderful pillow I won. Although things seem to take a long time to get to my house, I sure have received some wonderful pieces from wonderful quilters.

I hope that you have had a creative and fun 2011. I am looking forward to 2012 where we can all continue our quilting journey. All the best to you and yours for the new year!

p.s. I have linked up to Lynne's Fresh Sewing Day. I hope you visit there and check out everyone's projects.

Best,

Leanne

Winter break

2011-12-29T17:35:00.001-07:00

In between the several days of Christmas guests, I managed to sew a few blocks. These HSTs are made by sewing a big double X across two pieces of a layer cake turned right sides together and then cutting a + and then cutting an X. I will photograph it for you next time I make some more units. You get 8 HST units out of that process. Then I trimmed them to size - they are 4" squares.

Here are the 9 blocks I have finished so far. The pattern is called Summer's Blush by Roslyn at Bloom. I am using a Reunion layer cake (by Sweetwater). As I have said, this version is not very blushy but these colours bring out the bold geometric design. I am keen to get to the sashing, which makes the light grey corners into nine patches.

This is one of my favourite Christmas photos, I think. Making the cranberry jelly - the colours always just capture the holiday for me.

And an update for Rhonda at Quilter in the Gap, you can see the FUNC. He is hanging out with the pretty wall quilts in my sewing room. I will try to take him out to see the sights this weekend, as he is off on the road again on Tuesday for sure. These pretty quilts were made for me, the one on the right (the churn dashes - this is the back, I turn it over from time to time) is from Karen who blogs at KarensCosmos for DQS 11 and the one on the left is from Shevvy who blogs at Shevvy, quilting in London for my pay it forward gift.

I hope you all have been enjoying the holidays, with family, friends and community. I have had the best time - the guests were wonderful, the gifts just right, the food yummy, and now I am enjoying the quiet lazy days at the very end of this year.

Best,

Leanne

Greetings on the Winter Solstice.

2011-12-21T23:18:00.000-07:00

I made another 241 Tote (pattern by Anna Graham at Noodlehead here), this one is a Christmas present. It seems that I have succumbed to the urge to make handmade gifts.

The fabrics are Echo by Lotta Jansdotter. I decided to make this bag at the last minute, and in 2.5 hours it was ready to go - this is an easy pattern with a great result and I recommend it. I am not planning any other handmade gifts, unless another last minute urge strikes.

This is the Modern Christmas Table Runner that I received from my secret partner, Vicky, who blogs at Patchwork Palace. It is perfect! It has trees and stars, just what I was hoping for. And she picked fabrics that work perfectly with my cherry coloured table.

It fits exactly right and will be on my table for the holidays. This room has a lot of ambiance - well it is fairly dark all the time - these pictures were taken just after lunch.

Here you can see the quilting details, which are lovely. Thank you Vicky, I am thrilled with this runner!

And look at the cute little owl she also sent me. He is already on my Christmas tree. This owl is made from the most beautiful feeling felt. I had never experienced felt like this so I have already ordered some for me from Vicky's source - Laura at Lupin Handmade and Laura's lovely blog is Bugs and Fishes.

Tomorrow I am hoping to finish working at noon and then start some holidays. Oh, and I have to tell you that the F.U.N.C. has arrived at my house, all the way from Judith in Ireland. I am going to take him out to show him the sights and I think he will have to spend Christmas at my house before I send him on his next journey. I'll see if I can get some pictures before he heads off next week.

And, today is the winter solstice, the darkest day of the year, but that also means that starting tomorrow the days get longer again, which makes it one of my favourite days of the year.

All the best to you and yours for this holiday season! I hope that you savour the moments, have plenty of laughs, and relax too.

Best,

Leanne

Christmas Stars Quilt - Done in time for the holidays!

2011-12-18T20:17:00.000-07:00

My Christmas Stars Quilt is all finished, washed and dried! I started this quilt a long time ago, by Christmas last year I had finished the wonky stars and basted it. Then it went on the pile.

It was always my plan to give hand quilting a try with this quilt, and that is why it stayed on the pile - I did not really know how to hand quilt. Then when Rhonda, from Quilter in the Gap, and Rachel, from Contented, made the Duo QAL with its focus on the quilting, both free motion and hand quilting, I knew it was time to take it off the pile. So as to play along nicely with the QAL, first I made the ROYGBIV Log Cabin Quilt, but then they let me sneak in this one for the hand quilting.

The finished quilt is about 48" x 60" and is made out of Kate Spain's 12 Days of Christmas fabrics with Kona White. The binding is a light pink flannel with red dots and the back is flannel too.

I used perle cotton and hand stitched around each of the 20 stars. I learned that the stitches are going to be organic, adding texture and colour, not fine needlework. I do love how the hand stitches look, but my very sore fingers are not really fond of this hand stitching - they would rather knit, or do cross stitch, petit point, or embroidery, anything but this.

So, after I outlined the 20 stars, using 4 different colours, I took the quilt to my machine and added big asterisk - * - stars in the resulting empty squares and smaller asterisk stars in the middle of the wonky stars so that there was enough quilting to keep the quilt together. The amount of quilting is still fairly light and the finished quilt is soft and snuggly.

We actually had a little sun this afternoon and so this is a shot before I bound it and washed it. I applied the binding by machine, following the careful coaching that Marianne (The Quilting Edge) provided. Although I clearly need a lot of practice, she is right - it is so much easier and far faster to do the binding by machine.

And this loveliness is from Sarah, Narcoleptic in the Cupboard. Several weeks ago she mentioned that she was happy to give this wonderful fabric away. Well I put my hand up immediately. She sent it to me along with the lovely fabric box and matching perle cotton.

I have decided this little box is perfect for keeping my scissors, seam ripper and other tools that I need handy tidy on my sewing table. They fall off a lot less now.

We did decorate our Christmas tree yesterday but I am still challenged to get a nice overall photo. Here is a little peek instead.

I hope you are enjoying the last week of holiday fun and excitement. I finally made a shopping list and spent a wonderful couple of hours at the bookstore with my kids last night. Despite all the fuss, I love this time of year, with bright lights and shiny ornaments - a time for sharing and for family, friends, and community.

I've added a link to Fabric Tuesday at Quilt Story and the Needle and Thread Network. There are lovely projects there if you have a minute or to to be inspired.

Best,

Leanne

The winners are....

2011-12-16T19:14:00.001-07:00

The Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day (for a week) is over. Thank you for the opportunity to participate in such a huge giveaway event!

Of the 420 entries for the 241 Tote (made with Anna Graham's lovely pattern), Debra has won!

For those of you who did not win, I recommend this pattern. It is easy to follow, and the tote is a fairly quick project.

And of the 763 entries for the Echo fat quarter bundle, by Lotta Jansdotter, (read about her here at Windham Fabrics) Rachael has won!

Congratulations to you both!

I also am a winner, because I now have a great number of book and movie recommendations for relaxing by the fire over the holidays and baking ideas for this weekend and next week in preparation for the holidays. I have tried to respond to each comment, but there were so many that I was not able to get to all of you.

Thank you to everyone for taking the time to share their ideas and recommendations with me as you visited all the giveaways.

And welcome to all the new followers - although following my blog did not give people an extra entry in the contests, I am happy to see that some of my visitors thought they should follow along for the future.

Now that all that excitement is over, I hope to get back to sewing and baking this weekend. Oh, and time to get some shopping done too. Enjoy the weekend!

Best,

Leanne

Would you like a 241 Tote? Giveaway Day begins.

2011-12-12T06:30:00.001-07:00

Welcome to Sew Mama Sew's Giveaway Day. I am giving away this 241 Tote, which I made from the pattern by Anna Graham at Noodlehead. It is made from Amy Butler fabrics that were in my stash.

The inside features a large pocket and a snap closure. I had a lot of fun making this tote and I recommend the pattern.

My name is Leanne and welcome to my blog. I hope you might take a minute to look around at the quilting projects that I share here. You do not need to follow this blog to enter the contest, but if you like what you see, I would love you to follow along.

It could be hanging on your door handle. If you would like to enter to win this tote you need to leave me a comment on this post. Only one comment per person, please (I will remove extra ones). I plan to relax a lot over the holidays, so please recommend a book or a movie to enjoy while sitting by the fire.

I will draw a random winner after 6 pm on Friday December 16, 2011. If you have not attached an email to your profile, please leave it in the comment. If there is no way to contact you, I will draw again immediately. I am happy to ship anywhere in the world from my home in Canada.

Edited to add: Already I have a bunch of "no-reply" comments. Please add your email to your comment if you are not certain your email address is attached to your profile. If I cannot reach you and you are the winner, I will draw again.

I am also giving away some fabric - Echo by Lotta Jansdotter, so if you have not entered that contest, please click here to do that now. And click the button to go back to Sew Mama Sew so you can enter the rest of the give aways.

Thank you everyone, this giveaway is now closed. The winner is Debra!

Enjoy the contest hopping!

Best,

Leanne

Would you like some Echo? Giveaway Day begins.

2011-12-11T16:40:00.001-07:00

That is a picture of Lotta Jansdotter and her fabric line, Echo which I copied from the Windham Fabrics webpage. You can read about her here at Windham Fabrics.

My name is Leanne and welcome to my fabric giveaway for the Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day. I hope you will take a minute to look around my blog, where I chronicle my quilting and sewing adventures. You do not need to be a follower to enter this giveaway but if you like what you see, I hope you will join in and follow along.

This giveaway is for a fat quarter bundle of all 16 of the fabrics in the Echo line by Lotta Jansdotter. The image above is from the Fabricworm website - where I purchased the bundle. (The bundle is still in transit, I will edit this with a picture of it here when it arrives.)

If you would like to enter to win this fabric bundle, you need to leave me a comment on this post. Only one comment per person, please (I will remove extra ones). Let me know your favourite holiday treats - cookies, cakes, squares, or whatever. I will be baking this week and would love some new ideas.

I will draw a random winner after 6 pm on Friday December 16, 2011. If you have not attached an email to your profile, please leave it in the comment. If there is no way to contact you, I will draw again immediately. I am happy to ship anywhere in the world from my home in Canada.

Edited to add: Already I have a bunch of "no-reply" comments. Please add your email to your comment if you are not certain your email address is attached to your profile. If I cannot reach you and you are the winner, I will draw again.

I am also giving away a 241 Tote, so if you have not entered that contest, please click here to do that now. And click the button to go back to Sew Mama Sew so you can enter the rest of the give aways.

Thank you everyone, this giveaway is now closed. The winner is Rachael!

Enjoy the contest hopping!

Best,

Leanne

Swaps are fun!

2011-12-11T06:41:00.001-07:00

This wonderful mug rug was made for me by Dawn, who is guiltquilter on Flickr, for the Christmas Scrappy Mug Rug Swap. There is no way a mug will ever get near it - it is going on the wall in a place of honour.

And for the photography types, that picture made it to Explore on Flickr.

Look at those embroidered reindeer, even Rudolf with a red beaded nose - they are beyond cute.

The trees are decorated too, with carefully placed beads.

And here is the whole package, Dawn really spoiled me - she was a great partner to draw.

This is the close up of a corner of the mug rug I sent Dawn. This swap was not secret, instead we were assigned partners. As a result, the pictures we posted as we went were only sneak peaks.

This is another sneak peak. You can see the fmq star I made. I think you might see those stars again on another project soon.

And here is the entire mug rug. I paper pieced the tree using this a free pattern from Forest Quilting. I thank Karen from Laughter in Quilts for the inspiration. She used the tree in her wonderful table runner (do click that link and take a look, it is wonderful) for the Modern Christmas Table Runner Swap and pointed out the source of this lovely pattern.

When I made this mug rug, my plan was to just make the tree. But as I looked at it, I realized that it was unlikely anyone would put a mug on it. So I added the 1" patchwork squares which make a big enough surface for my large size mugs. This fabric is 12 Days of Christmas by Kate Spain and was the left over scraps from the Wonky Christmas Stars Quilt I started last year.

By the way, this photograph also made it to Flickr's Explore - pretty cool.

I am working on the hand quilting on the Wonky Stars Christmas Quilt and will soon show it off, but hand quilting is slow and my fingers hurt.

Come back tomorrow, as I will have a couple of give aways for the Sew Mama Sew give away week.

Best,

Leanne

Sewing curves is not hard - Seriously

2011-12-07T18:58:00.001-07:00

I came home from work today and opened my Google Reader to see that a friend was having trouble sewing Drunkard's Path Curves. So I was compelled to make a real video and post it on Youtube. I enlisted my youngest son to be cameraperson and also technical advisor.

This video was made in one take (since all he did was pause the video game he was playing) - there was no time to practice, set up, rehearse, or write a script. The video is 1:18 minutes. It shows you exactly what I do in exactly the time it takes. The only editing was to add the title screen at the front via iMovie and then we uploaded it to Youtube.

Here is the unit from the video, after I pressed it. I did not invent this approach but maybe it will help you to see that I can do it, and I am not a quilting superstar or pro or anything but a still relatively new quilter.

Here are the tricks to sewing Drunkard's path curves:

1. Remember that the two fabrics need to meet only at the point of the needle.

2. In the video, I mention that I am lining the pieces with my 1/4" foot because I have one that I use for piecing. But you don't need a 1/4" foot, just line the pieces with the spot on your usual piecing foot where you usually line up the fabric to piece with a 1/4" seam. The point is to have the pieces lined up at the 1/4" mark as they go under the foot. Then they will be at that spot when they get to the needle because the foot will hold them in place as the feed dogs move the fabric forward.

3. Don't pull hard on either of the fabric pieces, they will stretch if you do because you have cut curves which are therefore cut on the bias of the fabric.

4. Keep the top piece up while you are sewing, like in the video.

5. Sew relatively slowly, but it is not a slow process.

6. When you iron the unit, press the wrong side first and press the seam allowance from the L shape side to the curve shape side (toward the the orange side on this one) gently, then turn and press the front toward the curve shape (orange part).

That's it.

Here is one of the blocks I have been working on again so you can see the curves, all nicely pressed. No curve was pinned and not one was ripped out. I did trim the quarter circle units down to size for this butterfly block. This block was inspired by Megan at Canoe Ridge Creations tutorial which is here.

You too can sew curves easily, without pins or special stuff. Seriously. You can.

Let me know how you do.

Best,

Leanne
ps. I will edit this post as people point out things that are not covered or that don't make sense.

Wednesday's progress - new projects, old projects.

2011-12-07T08:29:00.001-07:00

This is my first attempt at hand quilting. After doing the first two stars on Sunday night, I asked my internet friends, via Flickr, for encouragement. And encouragement came - loads of it, so I carried on. Now I have 5 stars outlined, this is four of them. I am learning to embrace the large and uneven stitches as ~~folksy~~ organic (I am editing this and am going with Marg's expertise on this - see her comment) and adding texture and colour. Fine needlework, this is not, I need a lot of practice.

Here is the entire Christmas Wonky Star quilt. I made this top last year about this time, sandwiched it and put it away. I hope to get it finished in time for some holiday TV and movie watching. So, it is an old project, but feels new again.

You might remember the blocks I did for the 5 x 4 Bee this fall. Well, I am not done with the funky butterfly version of the drunkards path block. My blocks were inspired by Megan, at Canoe Ridge Creations' tutorial.

I think I will make 12 or 16 blocks and then sash them with larger white strips so the butterflies float. This fabric is Terrain by Kate Spain. This photograph does not do the colours justice. I promise to take the next project photograph in the daylight, but it is dark here a lot of the time now.

And these are just for fun. I purchased a pattern called Summer's Blush from Bloom (you should click through to see her version, the name is perfect for her fabrics) because I loved the bold geometric block. The sashing will add another light square so that there will be a nine patch at each corner. The fabric I am using is a layercake of Reunion by Sweetwater that just appeared at my LQS a month ago (the fabric is not out yet).

So there is a story to these blocks. First, they are a joy to put together, almost no tricky seams and the pattern is easy to follow.

But, I prewash every fabric I can and so I threw the layercake in the washer and dryer. Well, it shrunk, as all fabric does. After the wash the pieces were 9.25" x 9.5" instead of 10" x 10". This pattern cleverly uses the 10" x 10" layercake very effectively so I did not have big enough layercake fabric pieces anymore. I have adapted the size of each pattern piece, so my blocks are not quite the same as the pattern, but they are still good, I think.

I still have to decide if I am sewing anything for people for Christmas and if so, get moving on that. Also, it is time to start knitting some hats to give away.

And I am happy to report that the ROYGBIV quilt has reached Claire and she was immediately all wrapped up in it - clearly a success!

Lee at Freshly Pieced has taken a well earned break from WIP Wednesday for the month, so no link there but I am linking to my Canadian friends. I hope you have time to give them a visit, they are a talented group.

Best,

Leanne

Ta Da! The ROYGBIV Log Cabin quilt is all done!

2011-12-04T18:25:00.001-07:00

The ROYGBIV Log Cabin quilt for Claire is all done. It is washed, dried and had a short visit outside.

By the time I got out, it was late afternoon. The light was already turning a bit purple. But even still, the colours are more true in the outside pictures.

Here is the back, I am so pleased with how square this giant log cabin managed to end up.

Here it is on my king size bed. The quilt has finished at about 70" x 90" - designed to fit a twin bed with lots to spare on the sides.

The back makes a nice alternative front.

This picture of the back is actually before it was washed.

Here is some detail of the quilting on the front before I washed the finished quilt. All the fabrics on this one were pre-washed in warm water and dried in a regular warm dryer.

A closer shot of the quilting before I washed the quilt.

This is a close up of the quilting after the quilt was washed and dried, again in warm water and in a regular warm dryer. You can see how the washing shrinks the batting and thread a bit, pulling the stitches in just a bit. The entire quilt lost about 3" - 4" in both directions after it was washed.

Another close up shot of the quilt after it was washed. You can see how it has become more bumpy and soft. The drape of this quilt really softened up after the wash too. It is very snuggly now.

Tomorrow or the next day, I am packing it up and sending it to Claire's dad. It is for her, for Christmas. I hope she likes it - I sure do, and it was just a joy to make.

This quilt was made from a pile of fabrics that Claire chose and then I just cut strips off of most everything bright and colourful that I had. Most of the fabrics are cotton but there are also some flannels, some linen blends, some decor weight. They all play nicely together. The blocks feature red centres (or pink flannel cats) - the red centres in traditional log cabin blocks symbolize the warm hearth of the home.

I am fairly sure there are more ROYGBIV quilts in my future. I highly recommend them, they just make you smile all the time.

As I made this quilt, Rhonda from Quilter in the Gap and Rachel from Contented set up the Duo QAL (see my sidebar for the button) and this quilt became my contribution to the QAL, - where I enjoyed loads of help with free motion quilting and lots of friendship too.

I have linked this post to Fabric Tuesday at Quilt Story, I hope you will go and visit the lovely projects linked up.

Best,

Leanne

Thank you for being a friend!

2011-12-01T23:45:00.001-07:00

Here is my November mosaic. Mostly I have been making the ROYGBIV quilt, which should be finished this weekend. Although there are not a large number of projects, it has been a fun sewing month, all the rainbow colour has been great fun. I am linking this to Lynne, at Lily's Quilts' Fresh Sewing Day. I encourage you to have a look at all the other posts linked there - they are always full of beautiful and inspiring projects.

In other news, this is post 100 for this blog. When I started this blog last March, I did not expect that I would like blogging as much as I do. I thank everyone who reads my blog and especially those of you who take the time to leave me comments. I have truly enjoyed the connection with the on line quilting community and hope that the next 100 posts will be just as fun.

To celebrate this blogging milestone, I decided to do something different. Instead of giving away something to my loyal readers, I made a donation to Doctors Without Borders - a group that provides assistance all over the world, all of the time. Thank you all for inspiring me and being my internet friends.

Not to worry, however, I am planning to participate in the Sew Mama Sew give away day on December 12 - so there will be an opportunity to win something here too very soon. I just have to decide what to give away - I think I am leaning toward making something but if things get busy, it will be some fabric instead. Here is the button for the rules, maybe you will have a give away too.

Thanks again for the support and friendship.

Best,

Leanne

Finally, I was quilting instead of piecing!

2011-11-27T22:19:00.001-07:00

I spent the day quilting the ROYGBIV quilt with an all over stipple. It was so nice to be quilting again.

Before I started quilting, I moved my sewing machine over in front of my desk and I pulled my little rolling desk (both are from IKEA) over beside my machine. This is the first time I tried this set up and it worked wonderfully.

You can see my quilting gloves in this picture too. I have only every bought the one pair and they are worth their weight in gold. There is no way I could quilt without them, the quilt is just too heavy and slippery to keep a grip without the gloves.

Here is the quilt all set up on the large table. Having the table next to the wall meant that the quilt did not fall over the back and create a heavy drag. What a difference, it was far easier than the last time I quilted. I quilted this quilt in quadrants, from bottom to middle, then I turned it, and did the next quarter, etc. This quilt used 9 bobbins, it is big.

And I finished the quilting in one day. And it was not the only thing I did all day either - but the quilting went smoothly, I even stopped to clean my machine about 3/4 of the way through.

I had planned to make a striped binding but I decided this quilt had enough riots of colour so I made the binding out of a bunch of Katie Jump Rope small red flowers instead. Tomorrow I can trim the quilt, sew the binding on the front, and start hand sewing the binding to the back. I am hoping to be done by next weekend.

And in case you are tired of that quilt, here is the block I finished for Mary from Fairly Merry for the Aqua and Orange Bee. This wonkyish string block is really big - 18.5" x 14.5" unfinished. We sewed the strings onto a stabilizer that is left in place so the block keeps it shape nicely. I think that Mary's quilt is going to be quite stunning, she has people making mostly brown, mostly orange and mostly aqua blocks like this.

I expect that I will link this to my favourite Work in Progress links on Wednesday as I doubt there will be much more progress around here before then - it's another busy work week. I can't wait for the holidays to have some time off!

Edited on Wednesday: Here are the links, there will be lovely progress there to see, I hope you go and look.

Best,

Leanne

Does anyone but me pin baste anymore?

2011-11-26T13:29:00.001-07:00

I was basting the ROYGBIV quilt this morning and the back looked so interesting upside down. So I decided to take a bunch of pictures and make a pin basting tutorial. Lately I have heard people get puckers in their quilt backs when quilting and that does not happen to me. Also, it seems that more people are spraying glue at their quilts, which I don't do. So I thought maybe I would share my low tech, chemical free method.

First I move aside the furniture and tape the back to the floor with painter's tape. The taping process takes a few minutes as the aim is to get the back tight without stretching or misaligning it. You need to adjust the tape a bit to get rid of the puckers, all the way around.

By the way, doesn't the back of the giant log cabin look interesting all nicely taped out.

Then I carefully place the batting, so as not to disturb the back. I try to lay it straight on one edge and then place it over the entire back.

This photo is an attempt to show you the smoothing process. Once I have the batting laid out, I sit or kneel in the middle of the quilt toward one end. I carefully smooth the batting onto the back with my hands, moving from the centre to the edges. This process needs to be done carefully so you don't pull the backing away from the tape. Also don't stretch the batting, just smooth it so it sticks to the back. You do get rolls like the one in the picture as you go. I move my body carefully down the quilt and keep smoothing from the centre to each edge.

When the batting is all smoothed, you can see the seams on the back. This back was a great one to use as an example because it has so many seams to see. On this back, once I had smoothed the batting I also trimmed the batting to be the same size as the back rather than leaving the batting bigger than the back. I wanted to try to keep the top straight on the back so I needed to be able to see the back's edges.

Then carefully place the top onto the batting. I started in the top right corner and worked to keep it straight along the top and the edges. It is important to do this gently so as not to mess up the batting.

Then I smooth the top in place, just like the batting. I sit or kneel on the top, and gently smooth from the centre to the edges. Again being careful to not distort the top or the batting. All this smoothing causes the batting to adhere to both the back and the top so that when I am quilting, there is far less likelihood of any puckers.

Here are all three layers, ready for pins. It is far easier to baste when the back is about 3" - 5" larger than the top. I have that amount at the bottom of this quilt sandwich but you can see there was only an inch to spare on either side (you know, I forgot to measure twice, that skimpy back was not on purpose). I don't recommend a back with this little to spare, it is a bit tricky to keep everything that straight.

Then I get my bowl of pins and pin the layers. Again, I sit or kneel on the quilt and pin from centre to the edges. I pin all I can reach and carefully move my body so I don't disturb the layers.

Pins make the quilt sandwich heavy and that extra weight makes the quilting harder, so I do not use more than necessary. I place them about a hand width (4" - 5") apart and stagger each row. I use quilters safety pins, they have a curve bent in them to make it easier to pin from the top of the layers.

And here it is all pinned. After this, carefully remove the tape from the back and the floor, fold or roll the sandwich and head off to quilt it. Oh, and I also put the furniture back.

This process took me 1.25 hours, including the time to take the photos - it is not that long. I do recommend getting up part way through the pinning and having a good stretch once or twice.

I have to admit that I really like this quiet, chemical free, process of readying my quilt for the quilting. I hope to spend the evening quilting this one, and likely tomorrow too. I have watched Rhonda's, from Quilter in the Gap, videos from the Duo QAL for all her pointers and the plan is for an all over stipple on this quilt, so I am ready to go.

I hope you are enjoying the weekend.

Best,

Leanne

A little more progress - it's Wednesday again!

2011-11-23T06:51:00.001-07:00

My largest work in progress is Claire's ROYGBIV quilt. Here is the back, at this point it measured about 63" x 86". Last night I added some white borders to bring it to 74" x 94", just larger than the top by a couple of inches on all sides. Tonight, if things go well, I will sandwich it with the top and start quilting.

I am so pleased with this huge log cabin back, but I have to say it is a slow and careful process to make it without ripples. This is going to be truly a reversible quilt.

Claire asked for stipple quilting and I am looking forward to sitting at my machine free motion quilting. It seems I have been piecing a lot lately, not quilting.

I could not resist laying out these are the blocks I have received so far (two are the ones I made) from my bee mates in the Aqua and Orange Bee. There are more to come, and I am in no hurry for them - working on this quilt is my after Christmas project.

Here is another layout idea. I did not specify any size or pattern, just asked for improv in one colour for each block and sent a bunch of strips of solids. I did suggest regular edges to aid in piecing and I have some extra fabric to fill in any gaps. This is my first time receiving blocks in a bee, I have to say it is just so much fun to suddenly have all these little parcels arriving at once.

I have to show you this little embroidery that was tucked in with the blocks from Katherine who blogs at Honeyhill Designs. It is so cute, the needle is actually silver thread and sparkles!

All the embroidery I see lately is encouraging me to pull out all my needlework supplies, which have been tucked away for many years. My grandmother patiently taught me to embroider when I was 5 and 6 years old, I still remember vividly her careful explanations for each new stitch. Maybe another thing to bring out to play with over the holidays.

This weekend I am planning to get back to the Christmas star quilt I sandwiched just after the holidays last year. I want to make my first attempt at hand quilting on it and I hope if I start it in the next week that it could be done in time for cuddling over the holidays this year. I'll report back on that soon.

I am linking to my usual WIP links, please click the buttons and visit the projects linked up, they are always so inspiring.

Best,

Leanne

Today I made Tree Ornaments and a Tutorial too.

2011-11-19T16:47:00.001-07:00

For the Modern Christmas Table Runner Swap, we are encouraged to also send a handmade holiday ornament. I was stumped. I looked at a lot of flickr and pinterest ideas, many of which are stunning. I wanted an ornament that was modern, yet also had traditional patchwork, and that would easily fit in a shipping envelop. I love trees, and after looking at many variations on the tree ornament, I came up with this.

My stylized triangle tree is modern and has clean, simple lines. And it is traditional, composed of nice tiny 1/2" finished patchwork squares. There are many versions of this idea on the internet; this is just my take.

And it is far easier to make these trees than you might think, even though a tree ornament that is 3.5" high uses 28, 1" squares. This is a perfect project for tiny scraps. Let me know what you think of my tutorial and if you have any questions I would be happy to help. If you make some of these ornaments, I would love it if you would let me know.

1 - Cut a number of 1" strips from your scraps to make the squares. Each larger (3.5" tree) uses 28 squares.

2 - Cut your 1" strips into 1" squares.

3 - Lay out your 1" squares. For a 3.5" tree, you start with a row of 7 squares, then 6 squares, 5, squares, 4 squares, 3 squares, 2 squares and 1 square. To change this pattern to make larger or smaller trees, just add or subtract rows.

4 - Sew the squares together. I start by chain piecing pairs, being careful to always start from the same end and do as many pairs as each row will allow.

5 - Chain piecing the pairs using a 1/4" seam. These are only 1" squares so they will be 1/2" squares once finished. Piecing small bits is not hard if you sew slowly.

6 - Once you have pieced all the pairs in order, cut them apart in reverse order and put them back in their places. I am careful to take my time to keep them in the order I started with.

Then sew the pairs to the other pairs and to the left over end pieces, again in order, until you have finished sewing each row.

7 - Press each row. I pressed the seams in one direction for one row and the opposite for the row above it to distribute the bulk. Lay out the rows again.

8 - Place the 7 piece row and the 6 piece row together, right sides facing. Eyeball the fit so that the 6 piece row is centred over the 7 piece row with an even amount showing on each end.

9 - Here is a close up of the overlap. Sew the rows together with 1/4" seam. I did not bother to pin but again moved slowly with the machine while sewing.

10 - This is how the rows look once sewn together. The blocks should be staggered like a brick wall.

11 - Position the next row in the same manner, placing it mid way between the ends of the row before and then sew into position.

12 - Here are all the rows sewn together. At this point it is important to give it a good press. I pressed all the seams toward the top of the tree. Be careful with the steam, as the alignment of the rows can easily stretch, but once you have it nicely pressed, a good shot of steam is helpful so all those seams lay flat.

13 - Lay the pressed pieced squares on a scrap of batting and roughly cut around the edge of the batting.

14 - Lay the pieced squares and batting on top of your back fabric. Make sure the back fabric is facing away so the wrong sides are facing each other.

15 - Trim the back fabric and pin the unit together. Three pins are enough for this size tree, be careful that the points are not too close to the edges.

16 - Line up your ruler from the mid point of the top square to the bottom corner of the bottom row outside square. I just eyeballed these positions.

17 - Cut off the edge. If you pins are sticking too far out you will need to adjust them first.

18 - Line up your ruler with the tree top point (at the bottom of this picture) and the outside edge of the other side of the bottom row. Cut off the excess.

19 - Measure 1/2" from the seam on the bottom row, using the bottom row seam as your guide. Cut off the extra from the tree bottom.

20 - Sew around the edge of the triangle, using a 1/4" seam. I just used my 1/4" foot but a walking foot would also work, maybe even better. I back stitched at the beginning and end of the sewing. If you wanted, you could add more quilting to the tree.

21 - After sewing the triangle the seams are probably no longer clean due to sewing the layers and all the little seams. I then measured 1/8" from each line of stitching by lining my ruler with the line of stitching. Then I trimmed off the outside bit.

22 - Here are three trees, before adding the hanging strings. The larger ones are about 3.5" from point to base and use 28 squares. The smaller one is about 2" high. (I don't think I did a final trim on that little one, might go back and do that now). You can make these trees any size, just add or subtract rows. Another way to alter the size is to use larger squares to start with.

23 - To add a piece of shiny yarn or string as a hanger, just poke your needle between the stitches at the point of the tree and pull through. I knotted the ends.

Here are the three I made this morning hanging from my sewing machine's thread thingy (I bet it has a name) this morning. It took me about 2 hours to cut the squares, make these three and take all the pictures as I went.

I like the mix of clean modern lines and traditional patchwork. It would be easy to make other shapes too. I am thinking of circles to represent glass ornaments and squares to represent presents, for example.

By the way, for those of you who love fabric, these fabrics were from left over bits of a charm pack and some fat quarters of Kate Spain's Twelve Days of Christmas fabrics.

p.s. I have linked this to the Pink Chalk Studio, Handmade with Love Tutorial Contest. There are a lot of wonderful tutorials there, have a look.

Best,

Leanne

Sneak Peaks

2011-11-18T08:18:00.001-07:00

I am in the Scrappy Mug Rug Swap for the first time. This round we are making holiday or winter mug rugs for a known partner, so we are only able to show sneak peaks. (By the way, my partner, Guiltyquilter is awesome, so I am working hard.) I am not so good at sneak peaks, I couldn't really figure out how to do that as I went. Anyway, this project filled the last two evenings and now I am done.

I really love the result but I am still new enough to swaps to be nervous that my partner won't like it. On this one, however, I figure that since it is a mug rug, it will be hard to go too wrong, at least I hope not. I have to figure out what else to include in my package and send it off tomorrow.

Here is my second photo in my view from my window series. The sun was still rising as I took this at 8:00 a.m. today. We had no snow at all last Friday, you can see the accumulation in a week. It is starting to look like Christmas! I am off to buy new winter boots this weekend, fix my favourite mittens, wash hats and gloves for everyone, etc., as it looks like the colder weather is here to stay.

Enjoy your Friday!

Best,

Leanne

Making a quilt back as winter begins

2011-11-13T11:13:00.001-07:00

This is the back for my ROYGBIV quilt so far. It is one huge log cabin. There are some challenges when making a log cabin block this large out of mostly 2.5" strips. Careful pressing and trimming of each log is necessary or it quickly develops a small ripple that grows quickly to a large and unmanageable ripple. I know this because this is really the second try at this back.

It is currently about 58" squarish and I am using up all the extra strips I cut up for the blocks for the front. When I get back from a work trip I can start with the "B" (blue).

I am finding quilt backs an interesting challenge, as once the quilt front is done I want to be quilting it, not making a back. I think I am going to try starting the back when I start the front next time and see how that goes.

This was the view from my family room yesterday morning. Finally our first snow, which is a record here, the previous latest for first snow was November 6. Although I live downtown, the house next door has this tiny forest, which brings many interesting birds to watch all year round. I am going to try to so the view from my window photos that I have seen other bloggers doing every so often - that way I can remember the changes. Especially since I think that they are developing that beautiful lot into 8 homes, hopefully some of the trees survive.

Enjoy your Sunday, I am back home late Tuesday night.

Best,

Leanne

11 - 11 - 11

2011-11-11T16:18:00.001-07:00

Photo by EmmaLouiseG on flickr

Let's not forget.

Best,

Leanne

ROYGBIV for Claire - making progress

2011-11-07T23:26:00.000-07:00

The quilt top is done on the quilt I am making for my friend Claire. It is a ROYGBIV log cabinish quilt. Many of the centres are from the beautiful red batik that Claire picked out. I understand that on traditional log cabin quilts red centres symbolize the warm hearth in the home.

It is hard to photograph this quilt top since it is 70" x 90" - each block with its white frame is an 18" square. Worse for the photographs is that it is very dark and late. However, it is very dark now at by 6:00 p.m. so late really does not matter.

I have been having a lot of fun with all this colour. And with making big blocks. Since I did not want to make each coloured block the same size, I framed each with white and then trimmed the white borders until each block was an 18" square. The blocks were easy to join together at that point.

Now you have seen a picture from each of the four sides. It is all pressed and waiting for its back, which I hope to make more progress on tomorrow night. If it is working out as I hope (I already ripped it apart once on Saturday) I will be able to share the back later this week.

The plan is to then quilt it with an all over stipple - I am going to use Rhonda, at the Quilter in the Gap's tips and tricks in the Duo Quiltalong for machine quilting as it has been a while since I last stippled a quilt this big. Then I am thinking of a striped binding similar in style to the one Debbie at A Quilter's Table used on her wonderful Swoon quilt.

I am going to link this my favourite link-ups as they are open, Fabric Tuesday in the morning, the other two WIP links on Wednesday. Please go ahead, click the buttons below, and check out the wonderful work that gets posted at each of these, I will be doing that too.

Best,

Leanne

On the sewing table this weekend...

2011-11-05T08:13:00.000-06:00

This weekend I am working on this quilt for my teenage friend Claire. The blocks are between 12" and 15" squares/rectangles and I need a few more. Working on these blocks has been my evening sewing this last week.

I will sash them all with white to make them all a size a bit bigger than the biggest block ends up being and then join them. I now have a great idea for the back - I dreamed it last night. Working with all this colour is so fun.

This is a jaggy strip for the Mystery Quilt QAL. There are 48 pointy bits, which is 48 times of placing, sewing, flipping, trimming, going to the iron, pressing and starting over. But they are amazing to see once done. Good thing too, as I have another to make, I think in blue.

I actually made this Peaky Star last weekend but I have not given it much of a showing here. It is the last star for the Mystery Quilt QAL and is so cute. I am sort of excited to get the parts of the quilt I put off done as the last instructions are up - so a finish is near. I am already hoping that Sheila will do another Mystery QAL at the same leisurely pace, to start maybe just after the holidays. Do you think I can convince her?

My Modern Christmas Tablerunner Swap table runner is all done and washed. I washed it in the washing machine and threw it in the dryer, both on medium heat. Now my partner can spill gravy with abandon and not worry that it will run or fall apart when she throws it in the wash.

Here is a close up of what has emerged as the internet's most favourite block.

And the artsy shot. I took these at my office yesterday, by the time I get home it is too dark for decent pictures. I really love this runner, I may have to make one for me!

I am off to exercise the morning so I can report in with my internet exercise buddy before I get a lecture. Then I hope for a day of sewing and tidying up my new sewing space. More on that later.

Enjoy your weekend, we get an extra hour tonight.

Best,

Leanne

October - good bye and thank you!

2011-11-01T19:52:00.001-06:00

These are the things I made in October. Well I see that I have left out one project but close enough. It has been colourful and fun, blocks for bees and the Mystery QAL, projects for the Scrappy Swap and the Modern Christmas Tablerunner Swap and for my special swap with Agnieszka.

And here are all the amazing quilty things that I received in October - amazing Pay it Forward quilt, 4 x 5 bee blocks, an amazing painting and card from Agnieszka, loads of loot from the scrappy swap, DQS 11 quilts (3 in all - quilt, bonus quilt and angel quilt - I was the luckiest in the end even if I was last), and a For the Love of Solids quilt.

I have blogged about each of these projects made and received over this last month - should you want to read more just scroll back to the earlier pages. And, I have a lot of fun quilting planned for November, so stay tuned.

I am linking to Fresh Sewing Day over at Lily's Quilts - if you head over there you can catch up with everyone's October roundups.

Best,

Leanne

Thank you Shevvy! You sent an amazing Pay it Forward present for me.

2011-10-30T18:57:00.000-06:00

It's the most wonderful wall quilt, sent to me all the way from London, England by Shevvy, from Shevvy, quilting in London. Last spring I signed up for Shevvy's Pay it Forward project, in addition to Judith's. On Friday afternoon this marvel arrived! It was the perfect day for an unexpected present too, it had been a long and tiring week.

This little quilt is a 15.5" square, the quilting is 1/4" apart. Each bit of piecing and quilting is perfect, I am just blown away. It is especially special because I love circles.

Thank you Shevvy! You made my day and my week. I am still trying to decide the perfect place to hang it but it will be somewhere where I see it every day.

It's time for me to start thinking about my Pay it Forward gifts. I have been spending a lot of time this weekend looking at the quilts at the Bloggers Quilt Festival, and I am sure you have been too, there are so many beautiful quilts posted there.

Best,

Leanne

No Primary Colours, the Quilt - Bloggers Quilt Festival

2011-10-28T17:15:00.001-06:00

This is my fourth quilt I think and I made it in the fall of 2010, before I started blogging. I refer to it as my No Primary Colours Quilt. I used the Strips and Bricks pattern by Malka Dubrawsky but picked my own colours. I quilted it a lot like Rita at Red Pepper Quilts quilted her version, although I spaced my lines in random ways to keep from getting bored.

I have to tell you that this colour scheme, reminiscent of the 1970's avocado green and harvest gold appliances, was not where I thought I would go with this quilt. But as I pulled fabrics and bought some more, the green, orange, brown and grey theme emerged.

When I was done, I realized that it had no primary colours, at least none that stood out as primaries - the yellows read as either orange or green. It is a calming colour scheme and every time I see this quilt I feel good.

When I started quilting in March 2010, I was most inspired by the quilts that had modern motifs and a lot of negative space. I designed this back with a few of the left over pieces and it is one of the few things I have yet made with this focus. I love it as much as the front and it reminds me that I want to do more work of this nature.

The quilt is about 62" by 75" and it currently lives on top of the duvet on my bed. It is one of my favourites and dragging it out today to photograph means that it is now freshly washed too.

Here is an older photo, taken at dawn last winter. You can see the quilting nicely here and how, after washing, a lot of texture is added by dense but somewhat irregular straight line quilting.

I am sharing this quilt as part of Amy's Blogger's Quilt Festival. Thank you Amy for all the work you do to host the festival. I hope everyone will go and view all the quilts, they are wonderful.

Best,

Leanne

The days fly by - but here is some WIP

2011-10-26T08:30:00.002-06:00

I love quilting action shots! I have been quilting my table runner for the Modern Christmas Table Runner Swap.

I have a small nagging feeling this is not very modern but I am hoping that since I used modern fabrics (after all surely Grunge is modern, right?) it will squeek by.

These log cabins are a new project - a quilt for a friend who is about 14. She asked for squares and white sashing and gave me a rainbow of fabrics she liked and I have been adding bits of everything I have to make it scrappy. I will need about 35 of these to make a quilt, although I may make the blocks in varying sizes which will mean I need more than that. I am trying to decide whether I should try to stick to monochrome blocks or just move to warm and cool ones with multiple colours in those ranges.

And look at this beauty! You know how you feel when you get close to a rock star or a famous person - well this is just like that. It is from Carol who blogs at Mamacjt. She is one of my quilting heros and she sent me this Angel Quilt for being so patient in DQS11. It is not big, 12" x 10" (smaller than a ceramic tile in my kitchen) and it is perfect!

Those swap mamas in DQS sure take good care of the bebes, and besides this quilt from Carol, my mama, Kim (she is quiltinkimmie on flickr) was especially good to me. I am hoping to join in next time too.

I am linking to my usual WIP groups. I hope you have time to visit some of the projects there, they are always wonderful. I am hoping to visit them all but I expect it will take me to the end of the weekend to do that, but it is so worth it.

Best,

Leanne

A special swap.

2011-10-22T12:58:00.000-06:00

I got this wonderful original painting from Agnieszka, from a quilt, maybe, my friend who lives in Poland. I met her during my first QAL and she was one of my first blog followers. Her quilting is wonderful and her painting is superb. Her flickr pictures are here, sometimes she posts a new painting, many of which include a mouse family and many quilts.

She even personalized the back for me.

I had seen her poppy pictures which she manages to paint to look translucent, like they are in real life. She liked my coasters and the colours I was playing with to make them, so I proposed a swap.

She also made me this beautiful card. I feel very much like I got the better end of this swap by far - but since she feels that she did, I think we are even.

This is the set of coasters I sent to her, which arrived yesterday. I was so nervous, she was sending me a painting after all, so I made enough for two sets so I could send her the best four.

These are the four I kept for me. Now we have sister sets, on almost the opposite sides of the globe - when it is time for me to go to bed at night, it is time for her to leave for work.

I hope you enjoy the weekend, it is a sunny fall day here.

Best,

Leanne

I've been making stars.

2011-10-21T06:38:00.000-06:00

I started with these two. The measurements of each these unfinished blocks is 3.5".

Then I made more. They are for the Modern Christmas Tablerunner Swap 2011. You might want to pop over there, there is a lot of lovely work happening.

I put the little stars in bigger stars. The big and little stars are called the Ohio Star and I just adapted the tutorial that Sheila had given us for the Mystery QAL.

These Ohio Stars are made with Quarter Square Triangles - QSTs. I guess you could use triangle templates but I like to avoid sewing on a bias triangle cut when I can.

I learned some quilter's math. If you want your final QST unit to finish at a particular size then you need to start the QSTs with squares that are 1.25" larger or better yet, use squares 1.5" larger so that they can be trimmed down.

So I added 1.5" to the finished measurement of the final QST unit, in this case 3", and started with 4.5" squares of fabric. The QST unit is the part of the nine patch in the star above with the two green points and one background, one lighter colour triangle. When the QST unit was done, I trimmed it down to 3.5".

By the way, I added a link to the source of this quilter's math on my page where I keep tutorial and other links here.

You could easily make these stars any size, as the final set up is just a nine patch with four QST units, one centre and four background units. My final big stars finish at 9" (are 9.5" unfinished in the pictures).

I am enchanted with these stars, making the QST units a tiny bit large and trimming leads to very nice points without paper piecing and with little ripping.

I think I will set them in a row, add a skinny border and binding. My secret partner does not want a wide table runner so there is little room for anything more than these.

It is hard to think of Christmas before Halloween but the beauty and math of this simple but wonderful star has helped.

Best,

Leanne

Swaps arrive on the same day - I am so lucky!

2011-10-14T21:00:00.002-06:00

Look at the beautiful Doll Quilt Swap 11 quilt I received last night from Karen (on flickr she is karensc0sm0s)! She named it Sweet Dreams which is perfect. This quilt is so sweet and pretty.

You can see the tiny piecing and the beautiful hand quilting! These colours remind me of the ocean and of the ocean glass I find on the beach - which is just what I need here at home with winter coming on!

This is the back - a wonderful set of nested churn dash blocks! Those of you who have been hanging around here know how much I love churn dashes! On this one the back is as wonderful as the front, I plan to flip it on my wall every couple of weeks.

Here is the entire package from Karen, fabrics, a needle book, tape measure, fabric wrap, and do you see what is peeking out of the bottom?

Yes, a bonus quilt from Karen! She had made this quilt for a solids challenge! I have loved this quilt for a long while, I have favourited it and put it in flickr galleries. I am so thrilled to have it here in person. I think this one will get hung at my office to enjoy while I work.

And here is my second package received last night! This is a wonderfully modern table runner and some cute goodies from Safeih (on flickr she is {Safeih}) for the Love of Solids [a modern swap].

Again, my favourite churn dashes! This table runner is perfectly pieced and looks so amazing. Look at those secondary patterns the white background produces, and the pink with the aquas is so fresh! The binding is perfect as well.

And the back - well I love it too! Just the right amount of colour, perfect pattern - just like a piece of modern art!

So after a long wait, I now have beautiful quilts and I am no longer just a wanna be swapper, I am a swap vetran! Thank you Karen and Safeih! These are perfect for me, you both nailed it!

Best,

Leanne

Ordinary Old Blocks.

2011-10-13T09:03:00.001-06:00

These are 4 Disappearing Nine Patch blocks I made for Judith and Susan's Bee Blessed Project. The fabrics are all part of the line called Theory by Khristian A. Howell. I am not sure that I would group the prints like this for a whole quilt but Judith and Susan will mix these in with other blocks to make their quilts.

However, I wanted to share this because I have been sort of unexcited by disappearing nine patches until I saw this. The ones I have seen do not use a solid and I guess I often feel they are very busy. But look at these - with a solid you can play with a three dimensional effect with the boxes and you get those fun pinwheels as secondary designs. I am going to have to play more with this block in the future.

These little (6.5" unfinished) framed four patches are for Karen at Listen to the Birds Sing's Kind Stitches Group. They use bits of Tula Pink's Prince Charming fabrics. I am enchanted with the simplicity of these blocks.

I am off to the post office today to ship these to Ireland for these two groups. Helping out these initiatives is giving me not only the opportunity to help out those in need, but also it is giving me a chance to play with beautiful bits of fabrics and try blocks I would likely not have bothered with. Great fun and well worth the time.

Enjoy your day!

Best,

Leanne

Some cuteness to start the week.

2011-10-10T22:35:00.001-06:00

This little fabric basket was made using the well known tutorial by Ayumi at Pink Penguin. I have wanted to try it for a very long time.

The basket is smaller than it looks in photos. The spool of thread is 2"; the scrappy squares finish at 1.5". It is just so cute!

I made this basket for my secret partner is the Scrappy Swap 2011. In the swap you give away about a fat quarter's worth of scraps and a small scrappy item. It is perfect to hold the scraps I am sending, see how they fit. I hope my partner will like it.

I am finally getting a chance to catch up on the Mystery Quilt Along. This is a Mariner's Compass, finished as a square instead of the usual circle. I really love the drama of this block and these Amy Butler fabrics are great to play with.

I have more to do before I am totally caught up to the QAL, so more on it later but I could not resist showing off this block today.

I have added a link to Fabric Tuesday, go have a look at the lovely projects there.

It was Thanksgiving long weekend in Canada. The pumpkin pies and turkey dinner we made turned out wonderfully and were enjoyed with family and friends. Now we are enjoying the cooler sunny fall days - my favourite season. I hope you have a good week.

Best,

Leanne

WIP Wednesday - still making blocks!

2011-10-05T11:56:00.000-06:00

For October in the Aqua and Orange Bee, I get to be Queen Bee, a first for me! It was really hard to figure out what I wanted the members of the bee to make for me. I wanted it to be interesting and fun for them and I really want to make a quilt that I love, just for me.

Finally, I decided to send everyone solids and to ask them to make improv blocks, any size they like, any way they like, just one orange and one aqua. I found every scrap of solids in my stash that fell within my very broad definition of those colours and put together packages for everyone which I shipped yesterday. Cutting, packaging, addressing, filling out customs forms, etc. takes much longer than I had realized.

These blocks were great fun to make and they were fast, I did not plan much and I just put the fabrics together as I went and cut them, moved them and played until I had something I liked. I hope that my bee mates have fun and I can hardly wait to get the quilt back. If you want some improv inspiration, go have a look at my inspiration gallery by following this link - it is full of excellent work.

Despite my good intentions, the rest of my time last weekend and this week has been on catching up on bee blocks I owe. This one is for Alix in the Twelve Month Quilting Bee, who sent us Central Park by Kate Spain and asked for square in square blocks.

This centre print is amazing, the whole line of fabric is beautiful.

This mosaic block (based on the pattern by Elizabeth Hartman at Oh, Fransson!) is for Cassey in the Aqua and Orange Bee. I ran out of the white part - these blocks take a lot of the framing fabric. I think this one used about 95" of it for a 12.5"square. Seriously.

Last night I cut some Kona white, which I think matches, and made her another block as there were loads of prints left from her package. Also, since I was about to send her fabrics to make two blocks, I just felt it was wrong not to send another to her.

The mosaic blocks are really dramatic and lovely. Having made these and some in the past in my other bee, I have to say that I really do not not like making them much. A good choice for a bee, to spread the work around because a quilt of these will be wonderful.

I am so behind on everything else on my WIP list that I am not talking about it. It is a long weekend for Thanksgiving coming up in Canada and maybe I can sew a bit between fall yard clean up, cooking apple pies and turkey, and visiting.

I almost forgot, the 4 x 5 Modern Quilt Bee is open for the next round of sign ups. This is a lot of fun, you make 5 blocks for your group (and one for you) and get 5 back. You sign up for whatever rounds work for your schedule and eventually you have enough blocks for a whole quilt. The group is talented and there is still room, so if you are interested, hurry over before it's too late.

I am linking to Lee at Freshly Pieced and to The Needle and Thread Network. Click the buttons to go to see the excellent work always posted there.

Best,

Leanne

September, a fond farewell.

2011-10-01T08:42:00.000-06:00

It's Fresh Sewing Day again at Lily's Quilts. It seems that I have made a lot more than I realized this month - loads of blocks, and two quilt tops, and coasters. I have found this September so busy at home and at work that I am really happy to have had time to get any sewing done at all.

I have more blocks to make this weekend - I am finishing my September bee blocks, and I am making prototype blocks for my month as queen bee in the Aqua and Orange Bee. I have some blocks to make for Karen's Kind Stitches project and I have to finish off some more coasters for a talented friend in a private swap. Then I have a massive trip to the post office to mail all that and the 5 x 4 blocks off, I think I counted 19 or 20 packages!

I also joined more swaps, seems I am having fun with them (and one day soon I know that packages will come to me from the swaps I have been doing over the summer, cross your fingers, ok?)

The Modern Christmas Tablerunner Swap 2011 will mean that I finally will have a Christmas Tablerunner, and should put me in a holiday mood. The Scrappy Swap should be fun too, I send a fat quarter's amount of scraps and a small item of pincushion size, and no extras, and I get back the same - interesting scraps of things I might not have chosen.

I am planning to spend some time this weekend looking at everyone else's September recap, I hope you will also go over to look at the Fresh Sewing day posts, there is a talented group there.

Best,

Leanne

For Wednesday - I have some progress to share.

2011-09-27T21:15:00.001-06:00

Here are all 6 of the blocks I made for my hive in the 5 x 4 Modern Bee. Each person picks colours and then you make 6 of whatever block you like in each person's colours. This block is an adaptation of Megan from Canoe Ridge Creations' tutorial which is here.

This one is for Megan, who asked for purple, orange and grey. I am becoming very partial to dark grey backgrounds. The purple and orange look very sharp on the grey.

I am totally enchanted with these butterflies. This next one is for Elizabeth who asked for blue, grey and lagoon/peacock on a white background. The lagoon/peacock wing is a bit more peacocky in real life.

These are 12" blocks. I am imagining them much larger and meeting corner to corner in a quilt. This next one is the one I showed you before. It is for Christina who asked for kelly green, navy/dark blue and yellow on a white background.

Here is Erin's block. She asked for blue, green and grey on white. But not lime green, which is what I have the most of by far.

Seems I need to show you each one, thank you for your patience. It was really challenging to pick the fabrics for each person. Now, I have a lot of fabric, but I worry that I have not picked the right shade or that the recipient will be annoyed that there are bits of other colours in there too.

This next one is for Kathleen who asked for blue and orange on white. As a member of the Aqua and Orange Bee, I am partial to these colours.

Finally the one for me. I picked blue and grey on white. I am happy with any shade of blue, here I tried to avoid too much aqua as the other blocks seemed to have a lot.

Today I came home to find a package with the Freebird for Moda fabrics that I won in Judith at Rags to Bags's give away. She sent this from Ireland on September 10 and today, September 27, it is in my hands here in Canada. That's only 17 days to go 3900 miles, 6720 kilometres. There are 7 times zones between my house and hers, so when it is morning here, it is late afternoon there. (By the way, I sent Judith a package on September 13 and she got it on September 21 - even faster service from here to there). I only wish my swap packages could travel as fast as these fabrics did.

Thanks Judith for the give away and these lovely fabrics. Judith was supported by River Fabrics in her give away so thanks to Janette at River Fabrics too! Now I get to figure out what to make out of them.

I am going to link this to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced in the morning. All kinds of wonderful projects are linked there, I hope you will go and take a look.

I am also linking to a new Canadian WIP group called The Needle and Thread Network, where everyone is welcome but shy Canadians are especially encouraged.

I am off at 4 a.m. on an airplane, enjoy the rest of your week.

Best,

Leanne

Quilting along, and making bee blocks.

2011-09-25T23:10:00.000-06:00

I have finished the quilt top for the Across the Sea QAL. The QAL quilt has 20 blocks and then a lovely border. I decided to add 10 blocks for a total of 30 blocks and skip the border. I think that the Kona Charcoal without a border with these very bright prints looks very modern and fresh.

Here it is on my floor. It was very hard to photograph this one today, the colour is truer in the shady part. I am going to try to get it sandwiched soon and start quilting it.

This block is for the 4 x 5 Modern Bee (people on flickr have already seen it but I did not get a chance to share it here yet). I have to make 6 blocks, one for each of my 5 bee mates and one for me, using everyone's colours and my own fabrics. I have been thinking of circles a lot lately and then when I saw Megan from Canoe Ridge Creations' tutorial, I decided to use and adapt it to make this block. I don't have a go cutter so I used Eliza's Backporch templates and then trimmed and sashed the block to get it all to work.

Here is a work in progress shot. This wall quilt hangs right beside my sewing machine. You can see that it is turning into a design wall quilt. The three additional blocks still need sashing, and there are some bits from my colour palette hanging there too. I have two more blocks to make for this bee.

I was wondering, maybe I should do a video about how to sew these curves without pins or pain, maybe next weekend. Also, this block and the butterfly/flower is reminding me of the CBC logo. The CBC is Canada's national television/radio broadcasting corporation and we all grew up watching the CBC TV logo. The logo morphed into other variations on quarter circles so almost anything using pieced quarter circles reminds me of it too.

It has been busy at my work, and I am out of town a lot this coming week, so I am not sure there will be much more here till the weekend.

Enjoy your week.

Best,

Leanne

Learning about colour

2011-09-17T12:53:00.002-06:00

I have been playing with my palette - I tend to think of this palette as "grown up" or "sophisticated". I first built this palette for my Love of Solids [a modern swap] items. It was inspired by my partner Natalie at Threaded Mess's photos (she has her package now so I can say) and by my beach. Since the swap is over, I have joined Lynne from Lily's Quilts in her Dead Simple QAL because I want to play with this palette more.

I cut up a bunch of 1.5" squares. Many people are using software and colour swatches, which is very techy and cool but I am having more fun doing this hands on.

I wish I knew if there was a right way to get the randomized pixel-like, sun shattered look. My approach is to make sure I include at least one or more of the "colours" - blue, aqua or gold. Then I just pull out other squares in the "neutral" shades, and put them down on the table, quickly arranging as I go and trying to use mostly different shades. I give myself about 10 seconds to change anything that bugs me. Then I sew.

I sew quickly because I am more of a controlling, logic type of person than a creative, artsy person and I fear that with any time at all I will start arranging these into some kind of discernable pattern - my math brain really wants to do that.

Here are a couple completed coasters I made last week. These have already been given away.

Here are the 8 I sent my partner in the swap. Each has a different colour layout, and I find I like every single one. I am coming to the conclusion that my few "rules" seems to lead to a result that pleases me all the time. It is also interesting to notice how even slight differences in the light actually change the colours, although they continue to work well together.

This is three of the small 16 patch units sewn together. Next, I am going to try to lay out this many squares before I sew them together. I want to see whether the grouping I end up with it is still reasonably random and if I like it.

I have lots to learn about colour and this palette is so much fun to play with. I have some pillows and placemats and coasters and at least one wall quilt (click here to see the mini quilt I made for the swap) to make for me from it, I think. And I have some coasters to make for a friend in a private swap. I am still not sure I want a whole large quilt, but who knows.

I hope you are enjoying the weekend, I am hoping to do little but sew.

ps. I have linked this post up to {Sew} Modern Monday. I hope you have a chance to visit the wonderful projects over there.

One more link, to the Needle and Thread Network.

Best,

Leanne

Wednesday - WIP is happening again!

2011-09-14T08:35:00.000-06:00

Last night I joined the blocks for my Kaleidoscope Quilt. I missed all the QAL deadlines, but I am very happy with this quilt so far. The excellent QAL instructions from Elizabeth at Don't Call Me Betsy are here and the flickr group, where many many excellent variations on this classic pattern can be seen, is here.

Here is a closer view. I have to say, 12" blocks are so fast compared to the tiny mini quilt blocks I have been playing with lately. I am hoping to sandwich and quilt this one soon, maybe this weekend.

This is Scooty Patootie! The paper pieced pattern is by Kirie at Shape Moth and, although it is complex, the pattern was excellent. This is a block I made for Katherine in my Aqua & Orange Bee.

Here is the other block I made her. Katherine asked for a vespa, circles and the letter "K". The fabrics she sent demanded to be made into cute patchwork so this is what I came up with. She sent us the vespa fabric - it is pretty cute itself.

I am waiting for some more background fabric to finish my Across the Sea QAL quilt as I have decided to make it 10 blocks bigger. I am playing with my palette for the Dead Simple QAL, and I am trying to organize myself so that I can get back into my other projects - including the Farmer's Wife and the Mystery Quilt. And easing into fall - back to school and work routines around my house, which is not that easy it seems.

I am linking to Lee at Freshly Pieced for WIP Wednesday. As usual, there is excellent progress to view there, I hope you take a look.

Best,

Leanne

Blocks, and more blocks

2011-09-11T10:30:00.001-06:00

I love wonky stars! I was reading Liberated Quiltmaking II, by Gwen Marston this summer, and I have wanted to make more of these ever since.

These four are going off to Ireland tomorrow for Judith and Sarah's Bee Blessed. I love the idea of making a small contribution to some tiny humans so far across the world. These blue ones use some of the leftover scraps from my Kaleidoscope quilt (which I hope to get back to very soon).

This is Double Star, which is block 9 from the We can do it! Skill Builder Sampler QAL. In these colours is seems very intense.

This one is called Breaking Out, which is Block 8. This pattern has a lot of potential. I am pleased to be learning to make flying geese which remain triangles and actually fit together. Like most things, I have improved with practice.

This is a Virginia Star, which is block 7. I really love this traditional star and could not resist the fussy cutting and reversing the usual colour arrangement - such a simple star can look very dramatic.

And, after stalling out on Sarah and Jennifer's Across the Sea QAL, I was inspired by Fiona at Poppy Makes. She was using a dark grey/black background with bright prints and her blocks are wonderful. So I pulled out my Kona Charcoal and am having a lot of fun now catching up to the QAL.

This block finishes with the same shape of colour and neutrals as the Modern Cross Log Cabin Block but is far quicker. I love that you can make the same thing different ways! Here is the Modern Log Cabin Block, using the same fabrics as one of the Greek Cross blocks, for comparison:

In other news, I have been very lucky lately. I don't enter all the contests on blogs, I try to leave prizes that are not really "me" for others. Still, I have won three times in the last while - which for me is amazingly lucky.

I won a wonderful Rowan Magazine from Alison at Little Island Quilting. Many of you may not know that knitting is my very first fibre art love, one day I will start showing off a bit here. I have some new yarn and am inspired by the lovely things in this book, which has already crossed the globe and arrived here.

I won a wonderful package of Momo Freebird fabrics from Judith at Rags to Bags who was introducing River Fabrics, a UK online shop. I am excited to see them in person and I am not sure yet what they will become.

And I won a bundle of Christmas fabrics - Reindeer Games - from Erin at Bittle Bear. I met Erin in my quilting bees and she had some give aways to kick off her blog and new quilting business. I was hoping to make some kind of holiday quilty thing this year and these will arrive just at the right moment for that.

Thank you again to all of you for the generous and lovely give aways!

It is September 11, a day forever imprinted in my memory. It is important to remember the evils of humans, but we do that, in part, to be reminded that we can make a positive difference for the future. I am focusing as much as I can on that last bit.

Best,

Leanne

Honey, I'm home!

2011-09-05T20:07:00.000-06:00

These are the coasters that I finished this afternoon for the small item for my secret partner in the For the Love of Solids [a modern swap]. I decided to quilt each one differently, so they are siblings, not octuplets.

You saw the 1.5" squares I had cut up a couple of weeks ago. I just picked 16 squares for each coaster, played with them until I liked the layout and sewed them together, making a couple coasters at a time. They are backed with the same linen from the wall quilt and have a layer of batting in them.

I have also been, again, enticed by Lynne at Lily's Quilts. She has the best quilt alongs and there is always something fun happening where ever she is. So when she announced the Dead Simple QAL, which is to focus on colour palette, not on fancy piecing, I asked her if I could join with my large palette from FTLOS, since I am so not done with this one yet. She said sure I could.

So, in case you love it as I do, here is the colour palette again. I am not sure that I will make a whole full size quilt, but I sure could use some coasters and placemats and pillow covers and maybe a wall quilt for me made with this palette. Surely at least one of those will fit into the general theme of this QAL, although I wonder if I will be convinced that at least a lap quilt is in order.

I am sure that I will get some good advice, inspiration and encouragement from the QAL, maybe you should join in the fun too?

I am safely home, having driven almost 1000 kms in two days. I took two ferry boats. I drove through two huge mountain ranges - which are as beautiful as any in the world. I drove on roads with signs that said "High Mountain Road". I went from sea level to 4010 feet about 4 hours and then back down again. And I followed two major rivers as I wound my way through the mountain passes, just me and my dog, heading home after a long summer's break. And I saw at least 10 million evergreen trees (pine, spruce, fir). These trees just break your heart, they are so amazing, there are so many, and they are just pumping out oxygen all day long.

I live on the prairie, where we have huge skys and we can look out and see the curve of the earth, things are so flat. So, I love the sky, day or night. Driving through the mountains is one of my favourite things to do, the sheer power and size of the earth, and of nature, and the vastness of the Canadian wilderness, is always a great to see and it is so different from my home.

I just wish I did not have to drive to see it, two full days behind the wheel is one too many for me, but a good sleep and an afternoon making coasters has solved all that.

Tomorrow I have to go back to work, I hope you enjoyed Labour Day.

Best,

Leanne

August wrap up, and beach inspiration before returning to the City

2011-09-02T14:38:00.000-06:00

It is time for my Fresh Sewing Day August wrap up post. I have been mostly on vacation at my cottage this month and it has been great. However, not really that much sewing has happened, I focused on my two swap quilts and some blocks. I did spend some time at the beach and a lot of time making jam from my crazy bumper plum crop and generally gardening and lazing about.

I am linking to Fresh Sewing Day at Lily's Quilts, head on over there to enjoy everyone's August wrap up.

My Love of Solids [a modern swap] wall quilt was inspired, in part, by the beach (the wall quilt is the first one in the mosaic above). I promised to share my beach inspiration mosaic, with photos taken from the beach down the road from my cottage.

As hard as it is to leave, tomorrow my dog and I start the two day, 900 kilometre, car journey from this island in the Salish Sea (Pacific Ocean) back to my home on the prairies in Alberta. My kids and husband have gone ahead, the youngest has had a week of school already. It is Labour Day in Canada on Monday so I have a holiday Monday to unpack and maybe sew a little before I go back to work.

Enjoy your weekend!

Best,

Leanne

Solids Wall Quilt - Ta Da!

2011-08-31T20:36:00.005-06:00

I have finished the wall quilt I am making for my secret partner in the Love of Solids [a modern swap]. It is 29.75" x 21.25". The fabric is an assortment of Kona solids, some are the organic solids, some are the regular. There are two different Essex linen or linen/cottons as well.

This quilt had several inspirations. I hope you might be reminded of the beach - logs, water, shells, sand, plant life, and also the movement at the beach. I am working on my beach inspiration photo mosaic and will post that for you tomorrow. There are other inspirations that I will share once the secret swap is over. This spiral pattern was made using the Parfait Cafe tutorial here.

The pixelated squares, or sun-shattered views, or whatever you might see, are made of squares that finish at 1". The boards on the deck are 5"wide to give you a bit of scale.

I quilted it heavily. It has not been washed, and still you get a lot of quilty puffing. You might have a glimpse of sunbaked, ocean tossed distressed wood, sand, shells, and water.

Here is the back, which is a piece of Essex Linen or maybe their linen/cotton blend, I cannot remember. I used thread from 3 different spools of hand-dyed thread from Valdani Inc. - backyard honeycomb, subtle elegance and silver foam. This thread is a dream to work with and is made from a beautiful highly mercerized long staple cotton.

The quilting is by machine, echoing the patterns, somewhat randomly and not perfectly, much like the distressing nature causes.

The binding was interesting. I wanted the front to finish without any edges but I wanted the quilting to show on the back. I considered this tutorial by Lisa Call, combined with this tutorial by Kerry at Verykerryberry, to come up with this. The part you see on the back is about 3/4". If anyone wants a tutorial for what I did exactly, let me know. It hangs nicely with pins, I have to add some kind of hanger to the back, in case my partner is partial to using a dowel or a wire for hanging.

I just love it - it is going to be very hard to send it away, but I have plans for another one or maybe several more, similar but different, for me. Thanks to my friend Marianne at The Quilting Edge, for encouraging me on this project, I think I have managed to really stretch and I am very happy with where it has taken me.

Soon I am heading back to the City, fall is in the air, time to get back.

I am adding a link to {Sew} Modern Monday at Canoe Ridge Creations as, finally, I have a modern finish to show off. There are lovely projects linked there, I hope you have time to visit them.

Best,

Leanne

Still playing with solids

2011-08-25T20:39:00.000-06:00

I am this far with my piece for the Love of Solids [a modern swap]. (For those of you who are new to this project, here is the tutorial link by the Parfait Cafe for the swirls.) I have been having a lot of fun but also this piece has been a challenge. I spent that last day deciding proportions.

It was longer at the top and bottom, and when I hung it up I knew it was not right. When I stopped thinking about it and just let my subconscious feel it, it was too long. I just knew that.

Sheesh, it's a long time since math class, but there I was dusting off my geometry and considering the golden ratio. (A helpful calculator is here.) Not that I have achieved that ratio exactly, but now it is closer for the proportions that seemed off. And now it feels right.

The cool thing is that first I just pinned it where it "felt" right. Before I got out the math. Well that is almost exactly where it ended up. Seems good to listen to yourself as you work.

Now I am going to figure out the quilting, as I said earlier, I want to "distress" it, like sunbaked wood.

Enjoy your evening, it is beautiful here.

Best,

Leanne

Yikes, it's Wednesday again, any WIP here?

2011-08-24T13:03:00.002-06:00

No, I did not make this whole quilt top this week!

This is a photo mosaic made of the one block I did manage. I think I may have to make the quilt, it is pretty nice. Although I think I will make the stars in a bunch of different bright colours.

Here is the one block I did finish. It is a modified Tippecanoe.

I made Tippecanoes for the Mystery QAL (Click here for my blocks). I asked Sheila, mystery mastermind, for ideas of how to avoid the blobs of seams at the points should I want to make a bunch of blocks and join them together. The very next day, she sent me this design with a handy paper pieced pattern attached.

I think I need a whole quilt, I am trying to decide on the block size before I make too many more, this is a 6" block and that is a lot of blocks for a whole quilt. I make make it larger, say 10".

I made this yesterday, it is the next piece, I think, in my wall quilt or maybe table topper for the Love of Solids [a modern swap]. It took me longer than I expected to put these together in a manner that I liked.

I know I showed you this picture already but I could not resist doing it again. [Here is the link to the tutorial by the Parfait Cafe again, you can read more about this piece in my previous blog post too.] I am going to combine it with the linear piece and maybe add something more to finish off. Then I am going to quilt it heavily, I are going for a sunbaked looked, the quilting will "distress" it a bit I am hoping.

In terms of other progress, I am still on island time, enjoying the days and moving slowly. And I am almost finished making plum jam, soon onto blackberry.

I am linking to WIP Wednesday, I missed last week. The best progress is always posted there, go and have a look.

Best,

Leanne

Playing with solids

2011-08-22T17:41:00.001-06:00

This is going to be a piece, I think, of a wall quilt for my partner in the Love of Solids [a modern swap]. I have wanted to make this swirly hexagon block since I saw it done by The Parfait Cafe (go here, her quilt is wonderful). She also provided a handy tutorial to make the block here, which I used.

So my idea for the finished item was different to start, but a creative friend challenged me to make sure I added a part of me to the whole project. So I am doing that and I am far more excited and also nervous about it. I hope my partner will like it in the end, there is a fair bit more to go, this part is only 6.5" wide by 22" long so far.

These are the start of my smaller project for the same swap. I have some quilting ideas to try out on them. I am having fun with this grown up palette which feels very modern in a totally retro way to me.

Tonight I hope to try another interesting block that another friend just whipped up for me. Internet friends are the best!

Best,

Leanne

The Mystery Unfolds

2011-08-21T09:18:00.000-06:00

This block is called Tippecanoe. Sheila, the mastermind behind the Mystery Quilt QAL, explained that this block was one of the blocks that were designed as a tribute to William Henry Harrison (1773-1841), who was the ninth President of the United States.

This is a close up of another, I think they are wonderful. They are paper pieced but so much easier paper piecing than some of my other recent attempts so I only made a few silly mistakes. Like cutting off the fabric I had just sewn on. Sigh.

Here are the 7 tippecanoe blocks I made over the last two days, attached to the first block of the QAL. These are hard to sew on because there is a big blob of seams at the pointy ends. Although I was imagining a quilt of just tippecanoe blocks sewn together, I think it would be tiresome to try to join them.

Here are my Mystery QAL blocks all together, sun dappled on the deck. I still have some left over homework from the last lesson, but I think they look nice so far.

Today is a day for being outside in the garden, it is beautiful already. And I am almost done with the plum jam (56 jars so far), and just in time as the blackberries are ripening!

Best,

Leanne

Playing with fabric, and the winner is...

2011-08-18T14:41:00.001-06:00

I am thinking and designing.

Playing and testing.

With this group of solids, for the Love of Solids [a modern swap]. So you might notice that these are not my usual brighter than bright colours or the sweet Amy Butler pastels from my Mystery QAL blocks. Yet another palette to work with. This one is perfect for use at my cottage which has a garden and sunbleached land as well as beaches and an ocean. I am not exactly sure what it will turn into yet, but I am having fun figuring that out.

More importantly, the winner of my give away to celebrate reaching and exceeding 100 followers and 5 months of blogging is Melissa!

Melissa blogs at A Child of the Wild Blue Yonder, she posts the most amazing blocks on flickr under the name Mama Missa, she is the organizer of the Aqua and Orange Bee that I am in and she is a member of my other online sewing bee, the Twelve Month Quilting Bee. And I would never have met her but for the internet. I can't wait to see what she makes with that fabric!

Also, her win has restored my faith in random number generators. She was the last entry, which I have been in other contests and I always assumed that meant I had no chance. Look:

I want to thank everyone who reads my blog for the support, encouragement, and inspiration that you have provided me. I am so pleased by how the internet quilting community has helped me to enjoy my quilting journey. So, again, thank you for being a friend!

I hope to get some actual progress to show you soon, but the garden, the fruit, the beach all are taking more than their share of my time it seems. I have finished making about 48 jars of the plum jam, hopefully there are not that many more to make.

Best,

Leanne

DQS11 in the mail and I am extending the give away until Wednesday night.

2011-08-16T17:16:00.002-06:00

Well, there it is, my finished mini-quilt for the DQS11 Swap. It is about 16.5" x 13.5" (I, of course, forgot to take a final measurement.) The prints are cotton and the background is linen (might be 50/50 cotton linen but I am thinking it is just linen). The background scorches with a hot iron, in seconds, without warning. I put a big tag on the front to warn my partner and also sent a tester bit of fabric.

I decided in the end that white binding was best. I did actually sew on one of the prints that I had in the running but it just did not give the right look.

The back is a Kaffee Fassett print. You can see the label (edited for now). I was having nightmares about the label, but hopefully this one will do. My partner can just take if off if she prefers.

The quilt is being a barn quilt here. The old barn holds only firewood but I love its run down falling apartness. Maybe I should make it a barn quilt of its own.

The quilt is in the mail, off to my partner. I hope that she likes it as much as I do. I learned a lot about mini-quilts making this and it reflects a learning process, not perfection. I will show you the extras I sent once the quilt has arrived at its new home.

I have decided it was unfair to have a give away to celebrate exceeding 100 followers that opened on Friday and ended on Monday in the summer. Hopefully many of you get away on summer weekends and enjoy some time with family, or outdoors. I have extended entries until Wednesday night. I will draw Thursday morning, so if you have not yet entered, please click here and do so.

Enjoy your day.

Best,

Leanne

Mostly about the Farmer's Wife.

2011-08-14T12:53:00.000-06:00

I cut up the 5" squares to put in the zippered bag I made for my give away to celebrate reaching and exceeding 100 followers. If you have not yet entered, please do so by going here. I will be drawing tomorrow night.

I have been working on the Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt. This block is Rainbow Flowers, #73. A lovely 1/4 log cabin block. I pieced it as a log cabin block, not as illustrated in the book.

This is Autumn Tints, #2. I was not really considering autumn when I picked the colours.

This is Squash Blossom, #86 (which I posted earlier). It is less striking turned on pointe, I think, but still a great block.

Here is Windmill, #108. I love the simplicity of this block.

These are my 18 blocks so far. I am still loving making these small blocks, each one teaches me something, not always what I expect to learn.

You may want to visit the Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt QAL to check everyone's progress. I am off to do some gardening and then back to plum jam making. I hope you enjoy your Sunday!

Best,

Leanne

Thank you for being a friend.

2011-08-12T16:33:00.002-06:00

I had some small bits left over from making my DQS11 mini quilt so I made this zippered bag. The sort-of-wonky nine patches have tiny 1/2" squares. It is has a bright lining. It could be yours.

To celebrate reaching and exceeding 100 followers of this blog, I am giving away a couple of things. First, a fat quarter pack of some of my favourite fabrics, Shades of Grey designed by Daisy Janie. It is organic fabric and it is wonderful to work with. I used it in the Big Little George wall quilt I made this spring.

Pink Chalk Fabrics have agreed to help me to avoid a huge shipping delay (from them in the USA to me in Canada to you wherever that may be) for this bundle I have purchased, and instead they will ship it directly to the winner.

I am also sending you the zippered bag. And I am going to cut up some some charm squares cut from my bright fabric stack to put inside. You have seen these fabrics in all my projects in the last two months, the modern crosses quilt, the farmer's wife blocks, the We can do it! Skill Builder Sampler blocks, my doll quilt swap quilt and this zippered bag. These bright colours are a treat to work with, maybe they will inspire you too. And they look great with the Shades of Grey!

To win, just leave me a comment, no hoops or obligations, although if you are not a follower I would love it if you became one. In your comment, let me know what you are quilting right now, what you excited about quilting next and/or what you had fun quilting over the last year. I will make the draw on Monday night and post the winner on Tuesday, August 16, 2011. (Please make sure I can reach you, if you are a no-reply blogger then put your email in the comment.)

This celebration is to thank you for being a friend. I really do appreciate the support, guidance and friendship the followers of my blog give to me. You inspire me and make me laugh. And I am still surprised to have over 100 followers!

By the way, today is also a blog-versary of sorts, this blog started on March 12, 2011, 5 months ago today.

Best,

Leanne

ps, I am still making plum jam, I have made 5 batches so far, more tonight. Too bad it is so hard to ship or I could give some of it away too.

Lazy days of summer - WIP Wednesday

2011-08-10T14:17:00.001-06:00

This block is called Arizona. It is the last of the hst blocks in the We can do it! Skill Builder Sampler QAL hosted by Leila at Sewn.

I am now caught up to the group. Next up are three weeks of flying geese skill building blocks. I really like flying geese but have virtually no skills making them so this should help.

This is Squash Blossom, Block #86 from the Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt. The flickr group for the FWQAL is here.

Isn't that a lovely little block! Don't look too closely, it is far from perfect even though it is paper pieced. But it took about 5 hours to make! That is far more than it should have taken. I made every single paper piecing mistake you can articulate, over and over again. And then again for good measure.

I love the results of paper piecing, I love the "magic" of it, and it is kind of fun sometimes. But it is the least intuitive thing I have done in a long time. My brain just will not accept any part of it as logical or reasonable so I need to practice and practice.

I will get another FW block done soon and then post the updated group of my blocks. I am slowly catching up with other projects, but for now, this is my progress. That and making plum jam, and making more jam and handing out plums to everyone who will take them. Soon there will be blackberries, and jelly... Oh, and I have almost figured out how to celebrate 100 and more followers, stay tuned for more on that, probably on Friday.

I am linking to WIP Wednesday hosted by Lee at Freshly Pieced. I hope you will visit all the projects, I try to view everything as it is all so inspiring, although I have to admit to not finishing all of them last week, it is hard to keep up in the summer.

Best,

Leanne

Sunday night.

2011-08-07T22:15:00.000-06:00

This weekend I made a couple more of the We can do it! Skill Builder Sampler QAL Blocks.

These are pinwheels. I always find pinwheels harder than I expect. There are a lot of seams meeting in the middle and it is easy to get things out of line (like the green pinwheel). But pinwheels always make me smile.

This block is four bow ties blocks put together. I am pretty confident of my skills with this one. I love the octagon in the middle. I have one block to go and I will be caught up to the QAL. The upcoming skills are far less familiar to me and I am looking forward to Leila's excellent instruction.

But much of my weekend was spent being a plum farmer. I have two different kinds of plums ripening now. These small ones are pretty bland eating when fresh so I thought I would try some jam.

It looks nice. This is part of the batch, 8 cups of plums make 7.5 cups of jam. I had to process it twice , and be rescued by my friend, the jam-making angel, but it worked in the end. I added cinnamon, cardamon, fresh ginger and vanilla, after consulting the family cooking expert about how to jazz it up. Turns out, it tastes like apple pie.

This is a small corner of the tree. I think I have about 40 batches of jam to go unless maybe the neighbours love these plums fresh more than we do. I am going to try a bunch of different spice combinations, but the next batch is going to be just plums to see how that tastes.

This tree is full of excellent eating peach-plums. We are all stuffed, the neighbours are stuffed and some are in the fridge, with a lot more on the tree still. We put up danger tape and put garden furniture under the tree to keep away the deer. As I said, plum farmer.

So on Friday I mentioned that this blog was at 99 followers and a whole bunch more people joined in. Thank you for the support. I am hoping to put together a prize for you to celebrate in the next day or two. I had thought it would take a bit longer to hit the 100 mark and that I had more time to decide what to do.

Best,

Leanne

decisions, decisions

2011-08-05T15:20:00.000-06:00

Last night I suddenly realized how to quilt the doll quilt that I am making for DQS11. It is interesting to me that this quilting, which emphasizes the Irish Chain diagonals, makes it so much harder to "see" the nine patches which were so obvious before.

I have been trying to make this a close to scale mini bed quilt, and I was having a lot of trouble imagining a quilting approach that would seem realistic and proportionate in size to what might be done on a full size quilt. I think this works nicely.

I am still trying to decide on the binding, and everyone gave me lots of ideas last week. I'll keep you posted.

By the way, I see there are 99 followers of this blog, which is very flattering and fun. I am trying to decide what I might give away to celebrate when the number reaches 100. Any ideas of what you might like?

Enjoy your Friday, it is a beautiful day here.

Best,

Leanne

Wednesday - I'm on island time.

2011-08-03T13:41:00.001-06:00

Here are my Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt blocks so far. I have 14 done. A bit behind, this week should be 18, but now that I am back to sewing, I should be able to catch up soon.

This one is Snowball, #81. I love the simplicity of the snowball block, one day it alone will make a wonderful quilt.

This one is Whirlpool, #102. I used water colours to add to the effect.

I am also catching up on the Mystery Quilt QAL. This block is called Clay's Choice.

I am sure you recognize Friendship Stars. I so love the friendship star block, I am going to start a quilt of these soon.

Here are my Mystery Quilt blocks so far. I am not yet finished the most recent instructions, so even with this progress I am still behind.

These are my blocks for Alix for my Twelve Month Quilting Bee. These blocks are called garden fence and a tutorial is here at Hyacinth Quilts.

I have many other projects to get to work on, but living on an island for the month means that I am working on being more laid back (clearly something I need more practice at). I will update you as I go, but I am not stressing about it today.

I am linking up to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced. Please go and see what everyone is up to, I am looking forward to catching up with all the wonderful work that is always there.

Best,

Leanne

July was fun!

2011-08-01T14:01:00.000-06:00

I enjoy going to read what everyone has been up to each month at Fresh Sewing Day at Lily's Quilts. Lynne has started making a mosaic of her accomplishments, and so I am following her lead with this mosaic. Follow the button to see everyone's work this month.

It was busy in July, with sewing, work and family time. I have made a lot of progress on the DQS11 mini quilt and now I am trying to make decisions about the binding and quilting. I finished my modern crosses quilt, which I named Rainbow Warmth. It is already in Cheryl's hands for the Quilts Recover Project. I made the blocks on my Kaleidoscope quilt, did a couple of Farmer's Wife blocks, made my first house blocks for one of my quilting bees and finished one of the Mystery Quilt blocks. Then we headed off to Hawaii for a week in the sun and the water.

I have a lot of quilting to do in August, and I have another month of mostly vacation at my cottage in the Salish Sea on the west coast of Canada to do it in.

I hope everyone is enjoying the summer and is out in the sun as much as possible!

Best,

Leanne

I'm sewing again!

2011-07-30T14:30:00.002-06:00

I'm back from Hawaii and sewing again. I have finished the top on the DQS11 miniquilt. It's blue-green-purpleness reminds me of the ocean. It has 32 nine patch blocks and 31 white blocks, for a total of 63 blocks. I think that those proportions are about right, many of my full size quilts have about 63 blocks.

You can see the size better sitting on my regular size Irish Chain quilt. The size right now is about 13.5" x 16 " with the larger borders. I think I will cut the borders down so they finish at 3/4" which is half the size of the blocks which finish at 1.5" squares. The little squares in the nine patches are all 1/2" squares. Some are a bit wonky, I decided to leave them that way, for charm and because there is no way I can do it any better with regular piecing.

This photo was taken this morning. That is the piece I excised last night when I noticed I had burned it with my iron.

I just ripped it out of its spot and reinserted a fresh one. You can see from this photo that I was doing that well after dark. It was far easier than I expected to do this. As the recommendation is to use a much smaller stitch length with a mini quilt, the less seam ripping the better, and all I had to do was rip out the square and a few stitches on all sides of it to insert the replacement square. I hope you have trouble locating where it was done in the first picture.

Here are my binding options, opinions are welcome. The one on the bottom left is far more lime green that this picture suggests. All are K. Fassett, the prints were used in the top and the solids are shot cottons.

Last week we were in Hawaii, on the Big Island. Here is one of the beach pictures. This water was like going into a nice refreshing and warm tub. So most of the time we were in it.

There were turtles.

And beautiful fish.

More fish. I will figure out their names and show you some more later. My son took these while snorkeling with our waterproof point and shoot camera.

Here is my good bye Hawaii shot, taken at the airport last Sunday night before we boarded our plane, flew all night, stopped in two airports, then took two ferry boats, and arrived safely at my cottage on a small island in the Salish Sea (now you would recognize it as the Pacific Ocean). Jet lag, unpacking, laundry, settling in, etc. have taken most of my week but now I am sewing again.

I hope your summer is going well.

Best,

Leanne

At the beach!

2011-07-24T13:04:00.000-06:00

The big island, Hawaii. We have taken surprising few pictures of the beaches, too busy in the water I guess.

I'll be back to sewing and blogging soon.

Best,

Leanne

Ta Da! Rainbow Warmth - Modern Crosses Completed

2011-07-18T11:46:00.001-06:00

I have named the Modern Crosses quilt Rainbow Warmth. The pattern is from Modern Log Cabin Quilting by Susan Beal.

I am pretty happy with how this one looks, all quilted, bound, washed and dried. It is made of white Kona cotton and a pile of bright fabrics from Kaffe Fassett, Anna Maria Horner, Amy Butler, and several others. I have added to this pile of brights and am using it for many different projects now.

For the back, I went into my fabric shelf and found these. I did not want a riot of colour like the front so I found just enough of these two, and I put one of the extra blocks on the back too.

Here is a close up of it folded on my chair. After washing you can see that the quilting shows off the smaller log cabin units of each larger block nicely and also emphasizes the crosses. Given that I was following the seam lines, it did not take long to quilt this twin size quit. I did not measure its final dimensions before I sent it but it is about 65" x 90" give or take a little.

Here it is, folded and ready to go. This one is now on its way to the Quilts Recover Project initiated by Cheryl at Naptime Quilter. However, I think I may start making more blocks, so I have a similar quilt for me too.

I am linking to {Sew} Modern Monday, you should head over to see the lovely things linked there too.

I have made it to the beach, I won't be blogging much this week. I will try to post you a picture or two later.

Best,

Leanne

Wednesday - playing with blocks.

2011-07-13T07:06:00.000-06:00

I finally had time to get my You Can Do It! Skill Builder Sampler started. Leila at Sewn has written such helpful instructions, aimed not just at block construction but at truly building overall quilting skills. And when she made a Churn Dash, I just had to catch up.

Here is the log cabin, these are blocks that finish at 12". I love log cabins! By the way, my Modern Crosses Quilt came out of the dryer last night. I will get some pictures today and do a Ta Da! post tomorrow.

This is the last of the three skill builder blocks - a value 9 patch. This one gave me an idea for my doll quilt swap.

I am trying to figure out what to make for my secret partner for DQS11. This is a test piece, maybe I will do an Irish Chain doll quilt. I am thinking that maybe it could be much scrappier. That is a penny there, the nine patches are 1.5" squares and the squares in each nine patch are 1/2" squares. More practice is needed but I continue to be charmed by the tiny blocks. This is the new DQS11 button, it will take you to the rest of the fun.

I am linking to WIP Wednesday, the projects there are wonderful and I do try to visit as many as I can each week, and you should too!

Best,

Leanne

The internet provides advice and inspiration!

2011-07-10T22:36:00.000-06:00

I have pieced all 30 blocks for the Kaleidoscope Quilt, so I am up to date in the Kaleidoscope QAL being led by Elizabeth from Don't Call Me Betsy. I asked readers on this blog and also at the QAL flickr group to help me decide between two layouts. This layout, which was #1, was preferred about 2:1 so I went with it. The internet quilting community is the best! Just ask a question and people take time out of their busy lives to provide you with helpful and thoughtful advice.

In other news, I was selected in the lottery to get into Doll Quilt 11! I am so excited to get to play along in this swap. I make a small quilt, between 9" and 18" on each side for my secret partner. The quilt is not to be an art quilt, but rather a miniature of a quilt one might put on a bed.

So in an effort to assist my unknown partner, I made a mosaic full of ideas that I like from other quilters on flickr. It sure is hard to put everything I like in only one mosaic, and since it has such nice things I thought I would share it here too:

The picture on flickr has a comment about why I included everything as well as a link to each of these photos in larger format on the maker's pages (click the picture to go there). The goal of the mosaic is to give one's partner some direction as opposed to saying "I like everything." The truth is, although I guess I don't really like everything, I like quite a lot of different things and would be happy with most anything someone made especially for me.

I have been researching my partner and her likes and dislikes and I hope to start developing some ideas for her quilt soon. Other people are already sewing, it looks like it will be a fun experience.

Making the mosaic was so inspiring. I sure will be glad to be finished my work in the next day or two and off on vacation where, after the first week off on a special trip, there will be loads of time to relax, go to the beach, and sew.

Best,

Leanne

Farmer's Wife Update and some House Blocks

2011-07-07T21:40:00.000-06:00

This is Night & Day, Block # 59 from the Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt. I decided it was time to do some of the paper pieced blocks (Some people are using the templates but I am opting for paper piecing practice.) I am still pretty new to paper piecing and am still just floored by the wonderful pointy points you get after all that confusing activity with paper and bits of fabric and such.

This is Waste Not, #97. Look at those points!

Here are my 12 blocks together. I think eventually I will redo the two blocks without any white, I am sold on the crisp contrast between the very colourful and bright fabrics and the Kona white. The variations on these blocks over on the flickr QAL page is amazing, you may want to go and look.

I have to show off my Twelve Month Quilting Bee blocks too. I have never tried to make a house before, although I love many different house quilt variations.

Julie sent us a bunch of colourful strips and the cutest faces. I had fun making siding and framing the window and door.

This is the first one I did, I was going for a two story house with a fancy doorway. These houses were a fun challenge, and now these blocks are in the mail.

Best,

Leanne

Busy, busy - but it is soon time to go to the beach!

2011-07-06T07:52:00.001-06:00

I love quilting action shots! I have been quilting the Modern Crosses Quilt. I sewed straight lines through the centre of the crosses both vertically and horizontally. It framed the four log cabin blocks that make up each cross and also put a cross through the cross. I am pretty happy with it.

For the binding, I cut a 2.5"strip off of many of the prints and made a scrappy binding.

Here it is on my chair this morning, waiting for me to start hand sewing the binding. I am sending this quilt to Cheryl's Quilts Recover Project. I need to get it off to her before I leave on vacation so there has been some urgency in getting this done. It is such a fun quilt, I am going to start another to keep for me.

I also did the next Mystery QAL block. It is about 21" square!

Here are these star blocks all together. I am loving the pastel Amy Butler fabrics, which continue to surprise me given that everything else I am working on seems to involve very bright colours.

I am behind on one bee block, the postal strike made the fabric late, so tonight I hope to be sewing up the houses I have been drawing tonight. Here are my Aqua and Orange Bee blocks for Kristen.

I am still playing with tiny quilts, there should be more progress on that front soon. I will have some more Farmer's Wife blocks later this week. I am going to finally decide on the Kaleidoscope layout and I still hope to get the Skill Builder Blocks done. And I am off to the store for the background for the Zig and Zag quilt to take with me on vacation.

But I wish the internet would stop with the new QALs in the summer. There are a lot of wonderful ones just starting, I think I may have to bookmark them to do in the fall as a straggler. I do want to spend some time on the beach.

It looks like another nice day, the birds are singing their morning songs as I write. I am linking to WIP Wednesday, you should go over and check out the wonderful work that everyone links over there.

Best,

Leanne

One quilt top done, and indecision as another begins.

2011-07-03T23:37:00.000-06:00

I have finished the Modern Crosses Quilt top! It has 59 crosses - each is made of 4 log cabin blocks, so a total of 236 log cabin blocks - which makes it a twin size quilt. This pattern is from Modern Log Cabin Quilting by Susan Beal. I love the way she turned a group of 4 log cabin blocks into a cross.

I used a nice big pile of different bold and brightly coloured fabrics which seem to play well together because of the crazy brightness and all that white. I am using the same pile for the Farmer's Wife QAL, it is great fun to work with all this colour.

In the close up you can see how the juxtaposition of the 4 log cabins works and creates a sort of swirl of the fabric colours. Linda, an internet friend, pointed out that for my next version of this quilt, I could save time, trimming and pressing if I used 1/2 log cabins (the coloured side) and then just sashed the remainder once the cross was formed. I am already planning another one of these quilts, so I am going to use this idea for sure.

Here is it pin basted in my living room. I have to push all the furniture to the walls and take care not to jab the hardwood, but it works.

Look at how lovely it looks all pressed and pinned. Now I am going start the quilting. I am planning straight lines through the centre of the crosses, on either side of the seam that runs both vertically and horizontally through the cross. I am thinking one or two lines on each side of the seams in each direction for each cross, assuming I do not run out of steam.

Here is another project, the start of the Kaleidoscope QAL. I am sewing the small triangles onto the large triangles of the aqua and chartreuse pieces, and that will get me caught up to the QAL. However I cannot decide on a layout.

Layout #1 has one colour for each of the "stars". This brings out the circle that the background makes for the stars.

Layout #2 seems to be more like what most people are doing, although most are also using a solid and I am, instead, using a third grouping of grey-black prints. This layout de-emphasizes the stars and emphasizes the larger circles around the 8 piece "fans".

Kaleidoscope quilts are so interesting - different uses of colour can make the overall look of the design appear so different.

I welcome any advice on the layout. I have also asked the QAL group on flickr for their thoughts. This quilt will end up being about 60 x 72 inches with 30 of the 8 piece fan blocks in total.

I will show you some other QAL and Quilting Bee progress later this week, I have some more nice blocks to share.

Best,

Leanne

The Farmer's Wife QAL - June Wrap Up for Fresh Sewing Day

2011-07-01T12:47:00.000-06:00

This is Flock, #34 of the Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt. I am going to give you a June wrap up of my progress on the Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt for Lily's Quilts Farmer's Wife Edition of Fresh Sewing Day.

Another favourite of mine is #72 Railroad. This QAL has basically a one year life - 2 blocks a week and 111 blocks in total.

This is probably my favourite of all so far, Churn Dash #20. It is a Shoo-fly block variation and I am sort of taken with the simply beauty of the shoo-fly.

Homeward Bound, #48. Cannot say or write that without the Simon and Garfunkel song immediately playing in my head. I think a group of these, especially if you played with the colours, would look fantastic. I may need to give that a try.

Enough of my favourites, here are all 10 of my blocks so far:

Many people have posted beautiful blocks on flickr, I encourage you to go and take a look. Some are doing far more than 2 a week but there is no pressure to go quickly. It is friendly and laid back QAL, exactly what I need.

I have mentioned before, so as not to end up feeling bad if I lose interest or momentum, my plan is that I will make whatever blocks I have done next June into a quilt and be done with it. (Problem is, now there is another book, so I have a feeling I will be working on those blocks when the book comes out too. Good thing they are fun.)

I have been doing some other fun things this month, you can browse back in my blog if you like, but I am going to focus my June wrap up on the Farmer's Wife this time. Here is the link to Lily's Quilts Farmer's Wife Edition of Sew Fresh Day, it is well worth visiting the folks linked up there.

It is Canada Day today! My country is 144 years old. We have a day off and fireworks later tonight, pretty much everywhere in Canada, from sea to sea to sea.

Best,

Leanne