Monday, September 30, 2019

Bear Paw Dance

The flimsy is done, and I'm in love! This is an original design, and I cannot tell you how much of a rush it is to have a drawn or digital design of mine come to life in fabric.

This is the Child's Play September challenge given to us Island Batik ambassadors.

Saturday, September 28, 2019

DrEAMi! #32

Welcome to the September edition of DrEAMi! for those of us squirrel chasers who sometimes (or often) have to just Drop Everything (we are supposed to be making or doing) And Make it! (Apologies for the delay this morning; I am having issues with inlinkz constantly freezing my laptop. Tried a different browser and I think we are good now.)
Love for what? Squirrels of course!!

The bags had it for last month!

Friday, September 27, 2019

More Placemats!

I have a finish for Friday, but it's not the Bear Paw quilt, though it should be a finished flimsy today. When I was procrastinating starting the Bear Paw quilt, I made several other items, two of which are the two placemats I 'owed' Dayna. These are on my Q3FAL List which is here.

Dayna requested a set of four the same as Brianne's for her outside table and four more for her inside one, in slightly different colours. Brady has also commissioned a placemat, similar to those I made for his mother, but with red substituted for one of the greys. So you'll be seeing placemats for a bit yet! Here are the other two I made for Dayna.

Thursday, September 26, 2019

I Like/Love #32

Just this week I said to a friend that gratitude has been the saving grace for the past couple years of loss and pain. I said that when I'm upset or sad, I actually feel my nervous system switch gears, so to speak, when I consciously make the effort to notice something beautiful or think of something for which I am grateful. I enjoy collecting these likes all month long.

1. I like Jackson Park in Windsor. It has changed a bit since we lived here in the 80s. The rose garden is no more, and that saddens me as it was glorious. However, the garden that replaced it is pretty beautiful.

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Bear Paw Progress

With seven days left in the month, I thought I should give you an update on my Island Batik challenge quilt for September. We are to create a juvenile-inspired quilt, minimum 45X60" using the die we were sent in Box #2. I got the Bear Paw die, which, you may recall from my box opening video, was the very first quilt block I ever made, and which is responsible for the utter obsession with all things quilts!

So why have I been stalling on this month's project? Two reasons: one is that I couldn't come up with a design that grabbed me, and two is that I was nervous about the die. I know! I've used the AccuQuilt dies several times, and they are slick, but this one made me 'concerned' because I knew I wanted to do multi-coloured bear paw blocks and the die is such that you cut one block at a pass...or two... or three! Took me a bit but a little reading of instructions (I'm good at that, always have been) and then thinking about said instructions, and then putting them into practice, with my own spin on things, and we are off!
Parts cut for four blocks

Thursday, September 19, 2019

Perpetually Playing in Purple

I know! I have a thing for alliteration, and, although it may come as a shocker, I have a thing for squirrels. So although I should be either quilting Brady's quilt, or working on my September Island Batik challenge, I chased that scrappy squirrel. I mean scrappy in both the fabric and the feisty sense, because he is hard to resist!
I showed you the start of this box in my previous post. Well, it kept enticing me, and so I caved. I had the sides done in no time, and then gave in to temptation. Before I get into the box, I want to give a reminder to everyone (including myself!! I've been rather offline of late) to check out Benita Skinner's Creative Space for the
which is on until the end of the month. Terrific tantalizing prizes are up for grabs! There is an entry at each blog post, so the more bloggers you visit, the more entries you will get. My own post is here.

Saturday, September 14, 2019

Purple is Percolating

Purple is the RSC colour for September, one we all knew was coming. What two colours make purple? Why, red and blue of course. So the first project in my purple post is is mainly red and blue. I finished the flimsy for Brady's football quilt!


You may have seen it on Instagram last week. You know that feeling when you find the perfect quilt pattern for someone, and you gather some potential fabrics? It's a rush.

And then it sits for some time, because of other life and/or quilt requirements. And then! When you do pull it out and get it to the flimsy stage, and know that the finish is imminent? An even bigger rush. Yeah, it's a great feeling and I have it. However, I do not have enough of the backing I'd bought (a football Minky) so I will have to pop in to my favourite LQS in Leamington, which is the town just down the road from me. Haven't been in a while, so it's time. They have a terrific room, yes a small but entire room, of Minky.

Friday, September 6, 2019

Pattern Release

...or is it 'Pattern Releases' because there's more than one...

or 'Patterns Release' because I'm releasing two, and 'release' is just one event...

I'm feeling rather Lorelei here.  Do you recall that episode of 'Gilmore Girls'? It's in Season 4, the season of which I am in the second half at the moment.

Any-who.

I have been busy doing a bunch of not-sewing, but quilt-related stuff: that of pattern-writing. The first one that was released this week, on Tuesday, to be exact, is 'Oh, the Places You'll Go!' a quilt I designed for the January Island Batik blog hop.
There are two styles of suitcase blocks in the pattern, and each 'pocket' on the suitcase is a different 6" block.

Thursday, September 5, 2019

TBT #21 Raffi's Quilt

Welcome to Throwback Thursday! On the first Thursday of each month either I or Andrée of Quilting & Learning - What a Combo! host this. It's for the quilts you made before you started blogging. Write up a post telling about them and link it up here. It's rather amazing the stories that these quilts have to tell.

Mine definitely has a story.
This is a quilt I made as a memento of my darling cat, Raffi, who lived to be 18 years and 2 months old. She was the most amazing cat.

Tuesday, September 3, 2019

Quilters' Meet & Greet

Greetings! I was asked (again this year, oops) to be a part of this hop, and this time I said yes! Last year I was, I dunno, busy? an idiot? but I didn't sign up... Anyhow, I am in this year and I am very pleased to welcome everyone, including any newcomers to my blog.

I hope you'll stay, poke around a bit using the tabs up top, or visit some of the links in my sidebar which will take you to to the magazines in which my designs have featured, or my pattern shop on Etsy. Some of the links in the sidebar can help you investigate some of the linky parties I host here both annually and monthly.

I also hope once you are done here, you'll click the graphic above which will take you to the main page for this hop where you will find the list and links to all the other quilt bloggers in the hop. And, yes! There are some absolutely amazing prizes. Read on through to find out how to enter! The hop runs through the month of September, so you have lots of time to visit and enter from each blog.