Wednesday, May 29, 2019

TGIFF! and My Mother's Lilacs

Welcome to my blog and my turn to host TGIFF! If you would like to be a host it is easy-peasy: you can sign up here! If you're new to my blog, I hope you'll poke around a bit, maybe even investigate my current ongoing QAL, Beothuk Star.
For those of you who read this post and it wasn't then the TGIFF post, don't be confused. My originally planned finish did not quite get finished due to a bunch of real life happenings, but this post was only published hours before, so with the approval of the monthly manager, Anja of Anja Quilts, I am using this post to host. Did you follow all that?!😜 With any luck I'll link up the originally planned one with my own linky party!

My finish was actually a finish back in February, but I couldn't tell anyone...

However, I can now, so it is finally time to show you my latest publication in all her glory and intricate detail. There will be lots of pictures, but then you know me, that's how I usually roll! And, in keeping with how I roll, there's a pretty amazing story to go with the making of this quilt.


I named this quilt 'My Mother's Lilacs', as it is a tribute to my mother in design and in fabric. I designed it back in September 2018 when we Island Batik ambassadors got a call for submissions for the May/June issue of McCall's Quilting with the theme of mothers in mind. I submitted it. And.

It didn't get accepted. I was disappointed as I thought it a perfect tribute: block, fabric and issue, being one year to the very month since my mum had died. A year later I still can't say that without tearing up, can barely write it. Just doesn't seem real. I think being so far away exacerbates that 'can't be real; she's still there, in her house' feeling.

But then! Round about the beginning of December I got an email out of the blue saying they'd like to use my quilt for the July/August issue and could I get it made by mid-February? Yikes! .......  Yup!

Tuesday, May 28, 2019

30 Quilt Designs Challenge Winners

The 30 Quilt Designs Challenge 2019 has ended. It began on March 15 and ran for 70 days, ending on May 25. There were just nine of us this year, about half the number from last year. This was due to the platform switching to a private FaceBook group, as well as to lots of last year's participants being just too darn busy, both in real life and in their quilting life!

My wonderful main sponsor who came to me out of the blue, and who I now consider a friend (I've said it before but it's amazing how many people I have met through my blog), is Brenda, of Quilt Designs in the Yard.

You must check out her site here. She does amazing work. Think Barn Quilts, but scaled down so you can have them in your yard, maybe on a shed, to dress it up, in a spot in the garden maybe where things don't grow so well, or maybe at your front door!

Luminous Layers Flimsy

This month has been just nuts. Real life drama and happenings, quilty drama (see end of post!) and happenings... Amidst it all, I have managed to get the flimsy finished for the May challenge for Island Batik, where we were to 'Make it Modern'.
This month's challenge is sponsored by Hobbs Batting, and I will most happily be using their black batting to quilt this! Once again, I cannot say enough about the quality of Island Batik fabrics, who provided these beauties. This quilt goes from huge, 16" star points down to 1" so there was a fair amount of handling.

And pretty much zero fraying.


Saturday, May 25, 2019

DrEAMi! #28

Yikes! I nearly forgot about this month's Drop Everything And Make it! party aka DrEAMi! It seems too early for this to be the last Saturday in May, but here we are.
I get the best squirrel photos, articles, memes, and this one is right up there with the best of the best, from Tish at The Madd Quilter:

Oh Billy, one day within the next year I hope, I may cross another item off my bucket list and go see you play in NYC. Hope I haven't given you the ear worm I've now got!

I myself have been chasing a few squirrels this month, two of three I've caught, the third needs this month's patterns printing out and I need a black cartridge and keep forgetting the few times one of us is out, to pick one up.

Friday, May 24, 2019

Good Vibes Only H2H Quilt Finish

My third quilt commitment is fulfilled for H2H 2019, and I have also fulfilled another of my Q2FAL goals. My list is here.
This lap quilt is destined for a boy, and is made using Allison Harris's 'Positive' pattern she recently released. She blogs and sells her patterns at Cluck Cluck Sew. I own a few of her patterns, as well as her book, Growing Up Modern, one of the first modern quilt books I bought. This is, again, another quilt with a clever block construction. I named my quilt 'Good Vibes Only' and I filled it with positive words and thoughts of healing as I made it.

Wednesday, May 22, 2019

Beothuk Star QAL: Second Set of Blocks and a Flimsy

It never gets old seeing a quilt I designed on paper and/or in EQ come to life in fabric. And then... when others make my designs in their own fabrics, and with their own spin on the design, I get even more excited than Rufus with his big yellow ball.

I hope the first eight blocks went together like a breeze; a reward is needed after all those HSTs... (ha! I'm a poet and I didn't even know it!) This week we are making the second set of eight and then sewing them together, adding the border and we will have our flimsy!

Tuesday, May 21, 2019

The Marauder's Map OMG

I am happy to report that just past the mid-way mark of the month I had one of my two OMGs finished. This is a cushion, or as Dayna calls it, a pillow cover. It was supposed to be a Christmas present, but it got pushed out of the way, forgotten, remembered, no time, forgotten...and now DONE!

I picked up this fabric at JoAnn's to make Dayna a pillow cover at the same time as I picked up the Slytherin fabric for Brady's and Game of Thrones fabric for Brianne's. I got theirs done in record time since I was flying out there in a couple of days for Christmas. I meant to do Dayna's, but the suitcase quilt, and a Mexico trip got in the way... And then I forgot about it because I'd put the fabric in a cupboard, then remembered, then forgot...sigh. When I was packing up my sewing stuff for the renovations, I found it, and was stabbed with guilt, so I kept it out, and made it my OMG.

Monday, May 20, 2019

Sweet Star Progress

Fabric, as we know, is darn expensive. Here in Canada we are hoping that the prices come down now that we have entered into the TPP agreement (Trans-Pacific Partnership), so hopefully we can get shipments directly to us from Japan, for example, as opposed to having those containers go to the US and from there we import it. This hikes our prices up because we pay duty twice, the duty that the US is charged, and then the duty that Canada charges for an import from the US. A quilt shop owner explained it to me, so correct me if she was wrong. Bottom line: fabric is expensive, so any time I can avoid wasting it, I'm a happy girl. Here is my progress for the Sweet Star block for Jessica Dayon's QAL.

Sunday, May 19, 2019

Being Bad

Well, I'm good, in that I am up to speed with the Sweet Star QAL, and I made this week's Tiny Tuesday block as well as one green one from March. I worked some more on my third H2H quilt, but didn't get the flimsy finished yet, so I'm bad there. I'm also bad because although I have nailed down my design (eeek--it's a star quilt) for this month's Island Batik challenge, coloured it in with the Twilight Chic fabric in EQ8, and got approval from my quilt-loving daughter, Dayna, I haven't cut into said fabric yet. But it's been ironed and will be cut into as soon asap. And!!!! I have a super-exciting announcement within this post! First here is the Sweet Star QAL Week 2 blocks, another set of four:
 I am still loving this fat quarter bundle of Blueberry Park fabrics. I have used every one but one, so now will mix up the first 8 combinations. I will have a post this week about how I'm making these blocks, using less fabric and sewing less seams.


Wednesday, May 15, 2019

Beothuk Star QAL: First Set of Blocks

So! Are you still with me? Have you cussed me out a little (or a lot) over the past two weeks? Making those HSTs was maybe not so thrilling. However, now we have that out of the way, we are on with the blocks! This week we will make eight, but I have a feeling some of you will not be able to stop with eight...
It's also a good week to host another linky party with a giveaway!

Monday, May 13, 2019

Autumn Winds Winner and H2H Update

First of all in case you haven't checked the Autumn Winds post where the widget has the winners displayed, I am happy to announce that Susan S. won the bundle of eight fat quarters of Thankful by Amanda Murphy, and Dawn K. won a copy of my pattern, Blue Skies and Sunny Days, which is still on sale for half price, at $4.50CA, and I'll leave it there for a couple more days. Here it is again, in Thankful and in the original two colourways.


Thanks to those who did purchase a copy; each sale pays for one month of linky parties, no lie! Both sizes are included within the pattern. The Autumn Winds one is the bigger one. Speaking of the purchasing patterns department, there may be some notifications of a couple I've bought this past week, so feel free to leave now if you don't want any temptation because I'm about to throw a couple more squirrels your way!

Saturday, May 11, 2019

RSC Update

Here is my progress on my main project for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge hosted by Angela at soscrappy. I have made my orange blocks for this month. I also have the red ones made now too since I didn't get started on time due to just not sitting down and putting this block, from a McCalls Quick Quilts issue, into EQ so I could plan the rainbow accordingly. (Sidetone: YA-freaking-HOO! I finally figured out how to downsize the Header photo. You click 'shrink to fit' before you upload a photo, as once you upload it that option disappears!)

I am making two of the blocks in each colour of the month. Since they are 12" finished, it is taking up a fair amount of my white and off-white scraps, a good thing, though not so much of my coloured ones. However, good news, ha, I seem to have now garnered four RSC projects for 2019.

Friday, May 10, 2019

Big Fat and Teeny Tiny Squirrels

I've had both plus-sized and petite-sized squirrels in my life this past week. It was not planned, no. What were the plans? To get started on my May challenge for Island Batik, which is Make it Modern with Hobbs Batting. I have my fabrics chosen, the batting as well. Not totally sure on my design, which will be another from the 30 Quilt Designs Challenge that is still going on, and yeah, you can still join! Drop me an email or PM on IG. We are a lovely little group, and we have decided two things: 1. that we are going to extend the deadline to May 25, so back to the two years previously where it was 30 quilt designs within 70 days, and 2. that we will keep our group going, as it's been generating some good discussions and designs. 😊

So I've been DrEAMi-ing big time most of this week, dropping the regularly scheduled programming (don't tell IB) in favour of some squirrels that have got me running after them. Can a DrEAMi last more than one sitting? You betcha. Does it have to end in a finished product? Well eventually, and the quintessential DrEAMi usually does not let you go until you've made it in its entirety, quilt top or the best: a quilt (or painting as my friend Helen of Word Weaver Art did) finish! However, if you've done like I did, and thrown caution, well, that and your supposed-to-be-working-on project to the winds in favour of just having to make this...


then it's a DrEAMi!

Wednesday, May 8, 2019

Autumn Winds & Giveaway

I am so pleased to be a part of the "Autumn in the Air" blog hop with Benartex! You can see lots more Autumn inspiration all week long at their blog Sew in Love With Fabric. Giveaways each day!
Even though autumn is the second furthest thing from my mind right now, winter being the furthest, I do so love the colours of the Fall season, so when I was asked if I would like to be a part of this hop, despite the real life goings-on right now (animals, renovations, summer planning, to name a few) I jumped at the chance. Besides, just say two words: "'free' fabric", okay yes, but I actually meant "Amanda Murphy", and you've got my full attention and adoration! This is her new line for Contempo, by Benartex, named 'Thankful'. It is wonderful, fresh modern colours for Fall. And yes, there is a giveaway of some of it! Be sure to hop over to the Benartex blog to read an interview with Amanda about this line!

Tuesday, May 7, 2019

OMG for May

Popping in with a much shorter post than I usually write due to spending my blog writing time getting my blog hop post all ready to go for tomorrow, Wednesday May 8. Hope you will visit it; there's a giveaway!

I really want to get in on OMG this month as I've missed a couple. These two goals are not on my Q2FAL list either, so it is important to put them in the public eye, and make me more accountable, ha! The main goal is to get the pattern for this quilt, Oh! The Places You'll Go! published!

I owe a copy to Rose of something rosemade, and it's embarrassing how close the pattern is to being done, and how long it's been since I promised her a copy as part of her win, oh... was it back in January? Egad.

Thursday, May 2, 2019

TBT #17 9-Inch Block Exchange Quilt

Welcome to another edition of TBT! Hope you'll pull up a chair, sip on a coffee, tea or wine, and read about this 21-year-old quilt I made with friends. Maybe it will spark thoughts of a quilt you made back in the days before blogging. I hope you'll write up the story of your quilt and link it up below.

This quilt has no name! I didn't used to name my quilts, didn't get that part of the process back then, and this one goes a ways back, but oh, how I love it. Blue and burgundy is a favourite colour combination of mine even though it may be rather dated!
I actually darted out yesterday to take these shots while it was still drizzling (we're growing flippers here, but better than growing snowshoes), but then it stopped after the first photo, which wasn't this one btw. No, I saved taking the shot above for last, so that I could have big fat drops of rain drip onto my head while I positioned the quilt artfully over the bench, avoiding the black walnut shell pile from a squirrel.

Wednesday, May 1, 2019

Beothuk Star Quilt Along - Construction of HSTs and HST Tips

For ease of construction, we are going to make all the HSTs in this step, no complete blocks. In two weeks we will assemble the blocks. I hope you feel free to move around the colours if you're using the kits I curated. There is no need to follow my placement!

I've tried to keep this as clear as possible with four versions going on! Each step is one heading; you simply need to find your 'version' beneath as to what to do. Email me if there are any questions. I found an error in last week's cutting. In Version 2 Fat Quarter Bundle only, I had you cut 16 turquoise squares @ 4" and you only need 12. I have fixed it now. My apologies, but this is good news if you want more turquoise in your quilt, as you will have four extra 4" squares that can be trimmed to 3 1/2" for the cornerstones.