Wednesday, August 31, 2022

Two Tuesday Tips

I am popping in to give you a quilting tip and a piecing tip on this warm sunny Tuesday afternoon. I said I'd tell you how I quilted the pantograph design I'd seen a year or two ago on Instagram. There was no indication of what it was called, but Nancy of Grace and Peace Quilting had commented that it is 'Swells'. My Avanté is quite able to do pantographs; I'm just lazy to do the setting up and the figuring that goes with it to balance them so I just have never done one in all the years (since 2013) I've had my longarm. This design caught my eye for the wonderful all-over texture, so I used it on Drift.
Great texture, n'est-ce pas?

Saturday, August 27, 2022

DrEAMi! #65

Welcome to the dog (or dare I say squirrel?) days of summer Drop Everything And Make it party, where we celebrate those squirrels that chase us, or that we chase! I love this adorable albino squirrel named Yarrow who lives at WILD North, @wildnorthab  an animal rehab centre in Edmonton, Alberta.


They've been socializing her, and she met several kids at the Wildlife Festival in Edmonton last weekend. I've had a virtual festival of squirrels in my sewing room over July and August, and I'm looking forward to seeing the herds -correction- a scurry of squirrels aka a dray of squirrels, in your sewing rooms as well! Who knew a group of squirrels was a scurry or a dray, ha!

Friday, August 26, 2022

Grapefruit Pizzazz

I have a quilt finish, and it was totally unplanned, but it grabbed me and would. not. let. go. This kind of quilt happening is a DrEAMi. Drop Everything And Make it. And this one is a true DrEAMi, because that is exactly what I did, despite having a few other projects I should have been doing.

What a pleasant surprise to see how well it goes with the impatiens and greenery!

Thursday, August 25, 2022

Gratitude #66

Ah summer, my favourite season of the year. I am grateful to live in a place in Canada where we do get four distinct seasons, and for that reason, I've come to love three of the four. I tolerate winter better now we live in southwestern Ontario, though I'd still prefer to be away and in warmer climes for the two months it's most unpleasant: January and February. But enough about those two months! Welcome to another post about gratitude! Here is my current view as I type this post, on Thursday morning.
Morning coffee in a favourite mug bought in Monaco, mug cosy removed for the photo; smoothie in my also favourite Angela Walters 'Quilting is my Therapy' cup

Pretty idyllic, I'd say. It's going to be another hot and humid day. I don't mind a bit. This morning, like most others, it's already 24C at 9 am, and the humidity is such that the air feels soft. Crickets and katydids are singing, and soon the cicadas will join in the chorus. I love the symphony they create.

Friday, August 19, 2022

Alpaca Wool Pressing Mat

When Gail of QuiltingGail emailed me to ask if I would be interested in testing and reviewing a Canadian-made wool pressing mat, my hand flew up so fast I smacked myself in the jaw. I'd been hearing about wool mats for well over a year, and the hype intrigued me: did they really 'up' the pressing game? Well, if you follow me on Instagram @mmmquilts (one of these days I'll figure out how to get the Insta logo back on my sidebar), then you know I am very much in love with my Prairie Spirit Alpacas mat and use it every time I'm pressing, whether it's pressing fabric prior to cutting, setting seams, or pressing binding. It's a dynamite mat.
One of the first things that impressed me besides the fact that these mats are 100% Canadian, was that this was how it arrived when I took it out of the envelope. No wasteful plastic wrap, just this pretty reusable ribbon and a small paper card. Plastic-free products are totally do-able!

Friday, August 12, 2022

Drift

Well here I am with my first quilt finish since ... egad June 16?! I've made several makeup bags another placemat (purple) and pj shorts, but no quilts. This flimsy has actually been finished since July 13! Ah well, Brady here for three glorious weeks, coupled with lots more glorious weeks of pristine summer weather has meant I haven't had the urge to quilt it. Oh how I love this quilt!


It's got Sandra written all over it: my colours, and an ocean theme.

Monday, August 8, 2022

The Light Within Pattern Release

It gives me great pleasure to release another pattern, one that was published in Make Modern issue #42. (affiliate link) Like my first publication in MM, this one uses just one block. Rotating it and colouring a few of the blocks slightly differently results in the illusion of four on-point blocks and a centre glowing star, which led to the quilt's name, The Light Within.
Taken by the Windsor/Detroit waterfront, Ambassador Bridge in the background

This is a beginner pattern, consisting of squares, rectangles and HSTs. I love the diagonal movement across the quilt, and how the stars kind of twinkle in and out as you realize there are nine of them!

Saturday, August 6, 2022

I'm Back...

albeit with a little reluctance. I'm my own boss, so why don't I take the rest of the summer off blogging and (mostly off) Instagram? Answer: the longer I do, the harder it is to get back into the habit. And habit it is. So what have I been up to over the month of July and first week of August? Here's a summary with more details inside.

First and foremost were three glorious weeks with Brady here.

Here he's cutting out a pair of sleep shorts. While he was here, not a lot of sewing got done but a lot of getting out and about did. I read 6.5 books, which I'll mention later, as there have been several excellent ones. I've sewed a bit over the month, not all quilts. I've lazed around in the pool, and done a bit of gardening. I've got one pattern ready to release and another nearly there with a third at the 'ready to figure out yardage and start typing' stage.