A Positive Spin

Finally, after a lost day due to a migraine, and a chopped up weekend due to adulting and gorgeous weather that I didn't want to totally miss out on, A Positive Spin is done!

Another name popped in my head when I set up this shot (yay for a timer on my phone camera, as I am behind the quilt and the camera!) 'Twisting by the Pool".

This is my August challenge quilt for  Island Batik. They supplied the fabric, Hobbs Batting supplied the batting, Aurifil the thread for the entire project, Studio 180 Designs supplied the ruler, and Schmetz Needles supplied the needle I used to piece the quilt!

This was a bit different of a challenge in that I didn't get to decide what fabric to use; I was given a 10" stack of William's Garden, yardage of a dark purple Basic, and a light purple, Bubbles, along with a Deb Tucker tool. I added in Island Batik's white solid.

Shine: Benartex Christmas in July Blog Hop & Pattern Release

Welcome to my stop on the Christmas in July blog hop with Benartex Fabrics. I had the pleasure of working with Nancy Halvorsen's newest line, Better Not Pout.

As with most of my quilts, this one has a little story to it. It is my own design, and yes, there is a pattern for it, and yes, it is available today!

I tried for a bit of a Christmas vibe against our neighbours' cedars and trumpet vine and other vines-covered fence. Christmas isn't snowy and cold in a lot of the world, right? Christmas is about gifts, and so there is a giveaway in this post...

Holiday House

This is my first project for the December challenge with Island Batik. We were to incorporate 3D elements into our project. As you know, I love depth perception, shadows and layers in quilting, so to say I was excited about this challenge is a bit of an understatement! Truth tea: I have exactly six project ideas for the challenge... Here is the first:

It's my House Block pattern (see sidebar link to it) with a 6" presents block on the side! All of the fabrics were supplied by Island Batik.  Hobbs Batting supplied the 100% wool batting (which I originally used in my suitcases quilt Oh! The Places You'll Go!) and Aurifil supplied most of the thread I used in the project. Some of the threads and the embellishments are my own.

Nancy's Quilt

This is Nancy's quilt, my first quilt customer. Nancy is yet another yoga student, former teacher, speaks French, sews, and is a newer quilter. She wanted to make a quilt for her new nephew who lives in England. She showed me the fabrics she'd collected, beautiful blues and greens, from several quilt shops. She said that was her favourite part, was gathering the fabrics! She's smitten for sure.

Bear Paw Dance Finish

I was a few days late for the finish of this quilt, as it was our Island Batik September challenge, and now it's taken a few more days to get a post together, because my daughter and darling grandson have been here visiting from Alberta. You may have seen the finish post on Instagram, where he not only was a most capable quilt holder, but also a pretty amazing quilt photographer to boot!

Here is my spin on the traditional Bear Paw block, which I've named Bear Paw Dance, because I've 'blown apart' the block and I have the paws waltzing around the centre four blocks! This is one of the quilts on my Q3FAL list which is here.

Beat the Heat! Island Batik Blog Hop - Ripples

Welcome to my stop on the Island Batik Blog Hop where we are showcasing Spring 2019 collections. I got the fantabulous Electric Desert by Jackie Kunkel collection.

Isn't it divine? For the challenge we had to create a lap size or larger quilt, using as many of the fabrics in our line as possible. I used every single one of these 31 chops! I knew I wanted a modern style of quilt, but as per usual, I waffled on what design to do: invent a fresh one (started to sketch out some basic blocks to use my AccuQuilt Go! dies), then thought I could do my own design that was recently published in an ezine, and actually started cutting the 2.5" strips for it with that fabulous die, and then, I opened a recently purchased book that I just love, and want to make every quilt in it, The Quilter's Negative Space Handbook, by Sylvia Schaefer. You know when the universe aligns and you just feel it deep in your heart, your solar plexus your mind, your third eye and you hear the choir voices soar? Yeah, that all happened....it was heat all right, of the This is the one! kind.

A quilt in a tree, Lake Erie in the background...pretty much all you need to know about me in one photo.

Night Watch

I am on a roll! Two challenge pieces done well ahead of time! This month the challenge came from Aurifil, "to use any fabric art/non-traditional quilting/sewing/thread-painting technique using three Aurifil thread weights." We were to include three photos of how weights were used. Photos is never a problem for me! 

All of the fabrics, threads, and batting were provided to me by Island Batik, Aurifil and Hobbs, respectively. Allow me to walk you through the process that ended with this not-square, not round, not oval quilt.

Pastel Froth

Well look at me: it's not the last day of the month, or the first day of a new one, and my challenge is done! It was actually done a couple days ago, but A. rain all day yesterday, and B. sore finger from hand-stitching the facing meant I took breaks. This was an interesting challenge again this year: I made myself try this Texture Magic I've had for a few years with all the fabric to make the original project, but have kept putting it off. It also made me sit down and just do it: a faced binding. Yeah, I've quilted for over 20 years but have never finished a quilt in this way.

You know the saying about the biggest or hardest part of trying something new is the first step? I know that for a fact! Yet every time I do 'just do it' whether it's going for something scary in yoga like drop backs or going off on a travel adventure, or trying something new in my quilting/sewing life, I am always the richer for it, and the rush I get from facing the fears and conquering them is wonderful. Why don't you come on in and see what I made, or if you've been watching the progress on Instagram, then see how it all turned out?

Luminous Layers

Well, I missed the deadline by hours, missed the sunshine we had this morning, but I am still very happy to have a finish to share. A deadline I did not miss is the Q2FAL, as this is one of the quilts on my list. This is the May challenge for Island Batik, who supplied all the gorgeous fabrics; 'Twilight Chic" is the line I used. This month is also focusing on Hobbs Batting, who supplied several packages of batting for us.

You may have read the finished flimsy post, which is here, but I will tell you again that this is a quilt I designed during the 30 Quilt Designs Challenge that I hosted again this year, (three years running now!). I will also tell you, though most of my readers know by now, that I love star quilts. I started to design this from the outside, working my way in towards the centre.

Black is always hard to get the light on the right angle to show the quilting, but despite the lack of sun this afternoon, and literally a half hour before severe thunderstorms hit, I managed to get a few shots that show the quilting. This one also shows the colours very well!

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!

Pasque Star Finish

You may wonder why I call this Pasque Star. I wanted a reference to the pink, and yeah, I know pasque flowers are more of a soft purple, but pasque is a reference to Pâques, which is Easter in French, I made this quilt around Easter, it's Spring, and it just reminds me of those soft, early prairie crocus, as they are also called. (photo from Canadian Wildlife Federation)

I used to grow them in my garden in Alberta. Sadly I am too far south now in Canada for them to grow here, though here we have wild violets galore and snowdrops in early spring!

Here it is on that perfect fence for hanging small quilts, in front of our barberry that's leafing out so nicely!
Note that Island Batik supplied all the fabric for this quilt, Hobbs Batting supplied the batting, and Aurifil supplied the thread. And! The quilt was made with the AccuQuilt Go! Cube 8" dies and 2.5" strip die, both supplied by AccuQuilt!

Cheerio! Finished!

A few hours past the end of March, but worth it in my humble opinion. This is the March challenge for Island Batik, who provided all the INTENSE, incredible, delicious (I want to sing loudly all of that) fabrics for this project. Aurifil provided some of the threads, some are my own purchases, and Hobbs Batting supplied the batting. We were to reimagine a vintage block or quilt in a modern way.

This is one of the projects on my Q1FAL List which you can find here. I named it "Cheerio!" because it's an English expression of greeting, and this quilt is so warm and bright, I immediately think that; in fact, I can hear it in my head, with an English accent of course! Also the block is sort of a round 'o', and makes me think of the American cereal, Cheerios! So a double entendre, which I love.

Magnificent Minis Challenge

Our first challenge for the 2019 year of the Island Batik Ambassadors is to make a mini quilt, any technique, 24" or less per side. We could use any fabrics in Box #1 except the wrapped 'surprise' fabrics. This is #8 on my Q1 FAL goals list.

I chose to work with the 5" stash builder rolls we got, ten of the beauties, four WOF (width of fabric) strips in each pack:

This was one of the two packs I received. All the fabrics were provided by Island Batik, and the batting by Hobbs Batting, the white thread for piecing by Aurifil. I used the white batik we had been given as background fabric.

I'm an Island Batik Ambassador Again!

I am thrilled to announce that I am once again an Island Batik Ambassador. Last year was an amazing year of challenges, that pushed me out of my comfort zone, and it helped me spread my wings as a pattern designer.

This first box arrived a few weeks ago, but due to the Getaway Blog Hop, we were asked to wait to share all our goodies until the hop ended. Within this post is the announcement of the winners of the giveaway I hosted on my blog for that hop, so read on! One favour I am asking of my readers who subscribe via email: can you let me know if the link that says "Continue reading..." works for you please, or if the way it comes in has changed at all? I am having some extremely annoying issues with blogger and gmail.

Oh! The Places You'll Go! Finish!

My first finish for 2019 is a wrap! This is also a goal on my Q1FAL. My list is here.

It's not the greatest of photos, but let's just say my trusty quilt-holder was a little exasperated that a quilt put us behind schedule...
This is the quilt I made as my final challenge for being a 2018 Island Batik Ambassador, a position that has really helped me grow as a designer. I am so grateful for being accepted as an ambassador, I'm honoured to have been able to showcase these rich beautiful fabrics, I'm happy to have made new friends, and excited to have been offered new opportunities. Most of all, I am still in awe of receiving such beautiful fabrics from Island Batik, gorgeous threads from Aurifil, and wonderful batting from Hobbs Batting. All shine in this quilt. I'm also super-excited to start my second year as an ambassador in February!

Love is All

This is my last post for 2018, and it is fitting that I first of all, I finished this little quilt this year, and second, that I get the post published before the end of 2018! The fabrics, batting and some of the thread were provided to me by Island Batik, Hobbs Batting and Aurifil respectively. I am just so happy to have had the opportunity to work with these fibres this past year, top quality products all. This month's challenge was to create something whimsical and/or wonky. I did a little of both with mine.

You may remember the flimsy and the story from this post.

Twinkle Sprinkles September Starstruck Challenge

Nearly two weeks late, my quilt for the Island Batik Starstruck Challenge is finally done! Island Batik provided me with these luscious fabrics, Aurifil provided the white thread, and Hobbs Batting the cotton/wool batting. I am a lucky girl indeed.

The September challenge asked us to make a quilt using stars of any kind. My favourite block! The hard part of the challenge for me was narrowing it down to which star block, and what setting, and then, of course, which fabrics to use. Oh the woes of being an Island Batik ambassador.

Isn't that monthly logo just so perfect? I could have happily made a quilt exactly like that. But no, I had bought Cindy's pattern (Stitchin' at Home) which is a wonderful stars pattern, so off I went.