Sunday, September 29, 2013

I Have Been Travelling

This is a short post to let you know I am still here, but have been travelling the past 2 weeks.  I am currently at the airport leaving the United States on my way back to Canada.  I have spent the week in Utah at a quilt retreat.  

Here is a picture of me at Riley Blake Fabrics.  Do you see how fast my arm is moving filling my cart with fabric?  Notice the giant smile on my face!

 I am sewing 5 aprons up using The Quilted Fish's fabric line  'Apple of My Eye' in fabric designer Amanda Herring's studio!  Can we say dreamy?   In case you thought I was making these plain, I added jumbo ric rac on the borders=)

Once I get home and catch up on sleep I will post more.  


Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Published.... again!


I have spent the last few days in the big city!   I live in the country, and I mean pure country.  No fast food restaurants, no stop lights  (just one coming onto the island), no movie theatres and no big shopping malls.    It is always a huge treat to head into the city.  

This time was even more special because I had been invited by two guilds in the Toronto area to do a trunk show.   One guild is the largest in Ontario.   I had a terrific time at both and thoroughly enjoyed meeting fellow quilters and sharing my quilts and stories with them.

I even got to do a bit of shopping at a really big mall=)

After a whirlwind trip, I arrived home to a delightful package from the post office!  The latest edition of the 'Quilter's Connection' with my 3D flower project inside.

See the three dimensional flower on the right hand side, surrounded by ric rac and showing off a cute button in the middle?   Yeppers that is mine.   This is one of my raw edge flower techniques that I frequently use on my quilts.  It is fast, fun and can be embellished with all different kinds of yarns or ric rac.

Fall 2013 TOC


Friday, September 13, 2013

Having Fun At Quilting


Sometimes I can get a bit bogged down with deadlines and paperwork for quilting and don't actually have the time to just have fun and try new things out from my sketch pad.  
The other weekend, I just took the time to play and it was great!

Below is a piece of a table cloth with a very fun design on it, and I wanted to try a unique way to put a circle on.   I knew the piece would shift but didn't have any stabilizer, so went ahead.   The shifting didn't happen until I went to stitch the second circle that is all thread- then I got a big bubble=)

I am pretty excited about this, so have ordered some fusible interfacing and  think I will give it another try.


In October I am teaching a few workshops on my 3D flowers.  I have a few samples made, but wanted to make some really wild looking petals.   Below is what I came up with!

I think I have to make a point of setting aside time each month to just experiment and have fun.  Do you take time out to just play?




Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Pin It Blog Hop

I was super pumped when I was able to participate in the Pin It Blog Hop.
In case you didn't know I am in love with dots and circles.   Having said that, I wanted to do a whimsical little pin cushion that would make me smile when I used it.

As you can see below, there is a funny looking turtle meandering around in the grass below.   He has the sweetest little hat on made of a button, pompom and little flower.


Wait!  That is no regular turtle, that is a pin cushion for the Pin It Blog Hop=)  It took a few tries at the design, but I finally figured it out.  


Here is an aerial shot of my little polka dotted friend.

If you are wondering about his colourful legs, they are lego blocks!  He had to have fun colours for legs to match his funky shell.


The other awesome bloggers that are participating in today's portion of the Pin It Blog Hop are below.   Go and check them out, I know their pin cushions will be adorable. Make sure you leave them a comment telling them so=)






Tuesday, September 3, 2013

A Challenge Quilt


As you know, I am a member of the Canadian Quilters' Association.  They have started doing quarterly challenges for their members... with great prizes.   This last one was to create a quilt within a 48" perimeter and the theme was 'These Boots Are Made For Walking'.

I started out by using some sandy looking hand dyed fabric.   Then took some fabric dye and made it into a paint.   I painted the bottom of my son's running shoes and stamped it on the fabric.



After letting it dry, I picked out an area I thought would work and quilted it.

I decided to quilt the background with a meandering dark brown thread... to create a wind blown effect in sand.   The footprints were outlined in a navy blue thread to highlight the treads.


I call it 'Summer in the Sun'. It was nice to create something small and without a lot of planning.   I just went for it, no sketch pad, no pre-design, just created!  And loved it.