AQS in Lancaster

I went to the AQS show in Lancaster last week with my guild. We took a busload down. We left early Wednesday morning and came back late Saturday night. I had a wonderful time. The trip was well organized by 2 members of the guild and no one was ever late. The quilts at the show were incredible. It is amazing what you can do with fabric. One of the members of my guild had a quilt entered in the show. It was great to get to see it.


I decided to go there with a very specific wish list. I was able to get everything on my list, except for one particular fabric I was looking for. Since I do a lot of online shopping, I focused on things that were more challenging to ship, like batting. I cried at how cheap batting is in the States. I bought 7 yards at Joann's, and bamboo batting in twin and king size at the show. Now I have no excuse not to get my bed quilt made.

 I also got backings for some of the quilts I have been working on. I bought backing for my Jelly Roll Sampler quilt, and for my Aster Manor quilt that I am going to make using a Honeybun.

I found the Scrap-Basket Surprises book for a great price. I had to get it after seeing Darlene's fabulous quilt from it.

The big thing I noticed at the show was all the rulers. That seemed to be the popular thing was to make your own ruler to go with your patterns and then sell them. I did end up buying one that is suppose to help you accurately cut your flying geese units. I am going to use it to make my potholders. I also got a great deal on rotary cutter blades, and bought a seam ripper recommended to me by a friend.

There were definitely a few highlights of the trip. One of them was spending time with my aunt-in-law who came on the trip with me. We had a fabulous time together. She is a quilter as well but does not live near me so we don't get to spend a lot of time together. Another one was getting to meet Eleanor Burns. She was so nice and friendly, and I was able to thank her for helping me in my quilting journey.

 Julie and I

My last highlight was getting to meet and spend time with Julie. We have been corresponding for almost a year and are in the Bee Beautiful group together. I had emailed her to tell that I was going to the show and she rearranged her schedule so that we could meet.  I had a fabulous time with her and it was great to meet her dad as well. She is a wonderful person, and a wonderful quilter.


I thought I was going to be all quilted out, after the non stop quilting environment for 4 days, but on Sunday I was back at my sewing machine with renewed energy to get my projects done.

Potholder Pass 2

I think I must be a princess, or a prima donna. I got the most amazing package yesterday from Daria, my swap partner in the Potholder Pass.

The potholders are beautiful and she sent me so much other stuff too. I received 2 fat quarters, along with a pattern to make a clutch bag using 2 fat quarters and chocolate. Really, I am so completely spoiled. I am going to have to ask for a tiara when it's my birthday. Thank you Daria so much for the thought and effort you put into the swap. I am constantly amazed by the generosity and thoughtfulness of quilters.

Bee Beautiful Charity Blocks

As part of my Bee Beautiful groups we are making Maverick star blocks that will be made into a  charity quilt by Rebekah. They were a lot of fun to make. It was great not to have to be perfect and I am happy to have another block I always wanted to try crossed off my list.

Jelly Roll Sampler Quilt Along

Here are my first 2 blocks for the Jelly Roll Sampler Quilt Along.  I am using my Peace on Earth Jelly Roll. I have enjoyed making them and I find the 2 week pace something I can keep up with. I am not usually good with surprises, so it has been great to stretch myself, not knowing how the finished quilt will look like.

Friday Night Sew-In

I love the Friday Night Sew-Ins. It really helps me to focus and get things done. I was able to finally finish my Bee Beautiful Blocks for Rachel.

The strings blocks were fun to make. I hope to make one day and use up all of my scraps.

Oldest WIP

The winner of my 1 year giveaway is Nanette of Freda's Hive. Thank you for all of your well wishes and advice. As always I let you know how my journey continues to be a better machine quilter.

I have been so sick this past week and a half, and so have my children. I am so far behind in all of my quilting. We are starting to get better and hopefully I can get back to quilting. Next time, I schedule so much in I will have to remember to leave myself some sick days. Luckily for me, Julie is hosting a talk on your oldest WIP at Quilter's Daily Blog-Along. That I can handle. Ironically enough, they both reappeared in my life in the last couple of months.

This one here is the oldest. I would say it is about 10-11 years old. It was a little quilt and it is meant to be a pillow. It was iron on applique but I was not as good at stitching around the flowers, so it never got finished. My mom just found it last week in her basement.

This other one is about 9 years old. It was a course I took from a quilting store. They used Eleanor Burns' Quilt in a Day Log Cabin pattern. This was a test one for me, because I wanted to make one for my aunt. I did end up finishing the one for my aunt and it turned out beautifully. I got frustrated with this one, and gave it away to a quilting friend. She found it in her basement and returned it to me at Christmas time. I am going to finish it up. What is your oldest WIP?

I am also back in for the Friday Night Sew-In. It is fun knowing that we are all sewing together. I am going to be catching up on my quilting work.

Featured Quilt Blogger & One Year Anniversary

Hi Everyone! I am so honoured to be have been nominated to be featured as a quilt blogger on Park City Girl. I have admired Amy and her dedication as a quilter and a mom for a long time.

Tomorrow is also my 1 year anniversary as a blogger. What a year it has been! I have been in 12 swaps,  (one twice) and it was my friend Jane who helped me with my first baby steps in quilt swapping. I have completed lots of quilts, participated in quilt alongs and am now focused on my PHD. I am in a quilting bee with some of the most amazingly talented group of women I have ever met. Julie has impressed me with her neverending talent, Angela has given so much of her time to make the most exquisite charity quilts I have ever seen, and Rachel who gives so much with her tutorials, and quilt alongs while being pregnant with her 4th child. Darlene is so amazingly supportive and so incredible with embroidery, Nanette who has such a great sense for fabric and friendship, Barb who is a great quilter, and takes so much time to comment on other people's blogs and of course Amanda Jean whose tutorial I used for my Zig Zag quilt. 

I need to give a shout out too, to my Canadian gals. Myra who has helped me with my PHD and is always so generous about sharing others' work, Andrea who is a Kona Solids Queen and has just been featured in Moda Bake Shop, Lee who has been so supportive of me, and loves tulips as much as I do, Tammy who quilts my quilts and is the most talented long arm quilter I know, and Ariane, an amazing talented friend, far beyond my skills who actually lives in my town. To my supportive friend without a blog, who reads it and always reacts with amazement when I show her my work, thank you.  Lastly, of course my dh, children and parents who give me time to do something I love, sometime that is in my blood. I hope my hard work has kept them warm. I know I will not have mentioned everyone but I am so thankful for everyone who has helped me in my journey. I am know I have improved in leaps and bounds this year as a quilter, now I need to improve upon my picture taking skills! Aren't you glad I didn't win an Oscar! ;-)

Now, since it is my 1 year anniversary, I am having a giveaway. I want to know what inspires you in your craft or if you are a quilter, and machine quilt what tip can you give me to help me? I want to focus more on machine quilting this year. You need to answer one of these question to be eligible for the giveaway. It will be open until Wednesday, March 17 at 9:00 pm EST. The winner will be chosen randomly and will be annouced Thursday.

It is an 8 fq collection  of Morningstar by Linda Hogag. My picture as always, doesn't do it justice. The reds are a beautiful cherry colour.

Looking forward to Year 2,

PHD re-organization

If my least favourite acronym is QID (Quilt as Desired), then I think my favourite must be PHD (Projects Half Done). Myra has really gotten me on the PHD kick this year. I went and got a bunch of storage bins from a couple of dollar stores and spent the weekend reorganizing my PHD. I did have a system before, but I usually grouped a couple of them together in a basket. Now, they each have their own separate bin.

It is so easy now for me to see what I am working on, and I can just grab a basket, do some sewing and then put it back. The bins are big enough that I can also put my backing fabric in there if I have it. I also colour-coded it too, so that blue bins are things that have 1st priority.  

One of the good things about reorganizing is that I found a PHD that I had forgotten about. I have a co-worker who is having a baby girl in June, and now I have a baby girl's quilt that I can use for him.

It also gives me more room for this giveaway from Sarah that I won. Sorry, for the bad photo. The quilting book is great and the fabric would be amazing in my red/aqua quilt. The pink bag will come with me on my shopping trips and my daughter was so excited when I told her she could have the friendship bag. She already has her own thread catcher.

I would also like to congratulate some amazing quilters. Two of my friends have been nominated for awards in SewCalGal's Golden Quilters' Awards. Tammy has been nominated in the Best Longarm Quilter category and Julie has been nominated in the Best Designer category. They are both incrediblely talented women! I also want to mention that Andrea has been featured as a Moda Bake Shop designer, and Ariane has been a featured quilter on Amy's blog. I am so proud to know all of these women who inspire me every day!

Wishing you organization and inspiration,

Swap Talk

I am happy to report that my online swap talk with my guild went really well last night. They were only 2 people in my guild that had ever done a swap. They were amazed at all the incredible items I have received. Of course, I did not get to show them any of my work since it has all been sent away. They asked really good questions and I was able to answer them, which makes things easier. Thank you for all of your comments and suggestions. They were very helpful in organizing my talk. We did the night as a round robin with 5 tables for them to go to, so I got to do the talk 5 times. It was neat that each talk was a bit different depending on the group.

Here are the blocks I made for guild exchange :

Brights

Country

Now I need to figure out what I want to use as my background fabric for my jelly roll quilt along. Hope you are all getting time to quilt!

March Forward, Look Back

February was a good month. Not so much blogging, but lots of PHD organization. I also had two quilt finishes (my potholders and my wallhanging), as well as some blocks. Another PHD is now off of my list.



Here is my Through the Winter Glass now bound.

I also early this morning, finished my siggy blocks and mailed them. My hand got sore after a while of writing my name.

March is going to be another busy month. I am presenting at my guild meeting on Wednesday so I need to finalize the details on that. I also joined Potholder Pass Swap 2.


Here is my list:

• Make blocks for guild swap.
• Make Bee Beautiful Blocks.
• Prepare presentation for Wednesday.
• Finish binding the Garden Path Quilt (aka Strip Search)
• Complete Jelly Roll Quilt Along Blocks.
• Make potholders for Potholder Pass Swap 2.

As always, I will keep you updated on my progress.