Happy Halloween/Blogger's Quilt Festival

The quilt I have chosen for the Blogger's Quilt Festival is my Halloween quilt which I just finished today. It is special to me for many reasons.  I made it with many other women all over the world in a Halloween Block Swap hosted by Jane's Fabrics. It is also the first swap quilt I have finished. I spent last summer making spider webs, and I got all of these incredible blocks back for my efforts.  To me, it shows the power of blogging, and the amount of sharing and friendship that quilters give to one another. As Halloween is not my favourite holiday, this is something I would have never done on my own. I love all of the different material and techniques used to create the blocks. My very talented friend Tammy did the quilting and I love the spider webs that she quilted into each of the 9 patches. This quilt is one that I will always treasure and I thank every one who shared their talents with me.

Fabric Frolic

If it was affordable, I would buy one piece of fabric at a time, so I would have fabric arriving more often. However, I am happy to have a nice big juicy package waiting for me when I get home.All of the fabric came from Hawthorne Threads.

I had previously bought the blue Castle Peeps fq bundle but they were out of the out colours at the time. Now, I have them and I can't wait to make something with them. I have a few ideas. I definitely want something simple and big that will show off the amazing fabric.

I had started working on my cameo quilt, but stopped because I was a bit unhappy with the fabric choices I had. I wanted to spice it up a bit and they had an Eden fq set which will nicely fit in with the other colours. Now I can start to work on it again.

I got this for my nephew's quilt. With the extra fabric left from my sister's quilt I cut up 5 inch squares. I have a pattern in mind.

Finally, I bought a Fresh Scrap pack. These pieces are so huge, somehow I can't seem to think of them as scraps. I am thrilled with all of them, and the green is going to go wonderfully with my cameo quilt.

Finally!

 If a picture could say a thousand words!

This photo says a lot to me. It tells me that I finally have started on the quilt for my sister. The fabric that has been in my blog header for so long has now been cut up. To get to this point has taken a  long time. I originally started collecting fabrics over a year ago. I was inspired by a quilt pattern by  Heather Mulder Peterson  for the colours. After a while, I had all the fabric but realized I did not want to use that pattern anymore. I asked my sister if she preferred squares, rectangles, or circles and she told me squares, which narrowed my search somewhat. Then a few weeks ago, I was getting quite desperate because I wanted to make her the quilt for Christmas. I looked through my "book stash" and there staring at me was the quilt pattern ironically also by Heather Mulder Peterson.

Projects made in blocks are good for me, because with the limited time I have I can make one at a time, and see progress. It probably takes me longer to do the quilt that way, but it helps me keep everything organized. It also gives me a chance to hopefully start and make my brother's quilt before Christmas. That one was easier to choose the fabric for as it is a 2 colour quilt and I am happy with the pattern.

Log Cabin Love Part II

Here is my finished Log Cabin quilt top. I am so in love with it. I don't want to give it away. I find it interesting how colours capture us. Last year I was so in to turquoise and this year I am in love with purple. This quilt is such a great combination of the two. It is off to Tammy to be quilted.

I had such a hard time deciding what quilts I wanted to be quilted by Christmas. I went back and forth for weeks trying myself crazy. I really need to start doing more machine quilting but after all the time I put into making the quilt, I always want perfection and my machine quilting would not cut it. I finally decided that my sister's, and brother's quilt were the most important as well as my Sheri Berry Christmas Star Sampler quilt along I did during the summer. It is great to have it decided and now I am merrily quilting along.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to all of my Canadian friends! I am thankful for family, friends and all of my quilting friends who support me and encourage me.

The B Side

Well, it has been a while since I have been sick for such a long period of time. You forget how draining it can be. I have been sick for a couple of weeks but am starting to feel better today. It came at an inopportune time, not that there is ever a good time but October is my month for my Bee Beautiful group. I was so upset about being behind that I felt like giving up my month. I got my packages in the mail today, and I am so happy. Here is what my incredible group of women are going to be making for me:

I chose the Dresden Plate block for my members to make.The Dresden Plate is one of the first blocks that I sewed and quilted as a wall hanging many, many years ago. It was how I came up with my name for my blog. I have never actually made a Dresden Plate quilt though, so I am so thrilled to be having one!