Going Places

My Fast Forward quilt by Jaybird Quilts is all finished. I used a roll of 2 /12 strips by Riley Blake called On The Go. I decided to name the quilt Going Places, because children always seem to be so active. It is hard for me to keep up with all their activities at times but it is fun to go places with them. I had a lot of fun making this pattern and I really enjoyed using some other than white for the background. This quilt will be going to a friend who has become a grandmother for the first time. Children's quilts are always my favourite to make.

Linking to Finish it Up Friday, TGIFF and Can I Get A Whoop, Whoop!

Ready for Spring! - Star Garden

Yes, we still have snow on the ground, but I am ready for Spring, even though I am still making snowballs.  This quilt is for a friend who recently became a grandmother for the second time with her first granddaughter. My friend has the biggest green thumb I know. The plants and flowers she grows are amazing! It is definitely a talent I wish I had. This was so fun and fast to make, the pattern is Moda Love. I love tried something different as a background colour. That's the great thing about quilting. You can always keep it fresh! I had a hard time deciding what to name it and ended up deciding to call it Star Garden.

Linking to TGIFF, and Can I Get A Whoop, Whoop.

Rainbow Bright!

I have needed some brightness to my days as lately there has been a lot of gray so I am very happy to have finished this quilt. I thought that it might go to someone else, but my daughter claimed it as hers. She was not around when I finished it, so I got to take it for a test run before giving it to her. I am glad that it is staying in the family. I have a lot of quilts right now that need to have binding on them and then they are finished. Hopefully this is the start of a great deal of progress. My friend gave me a beautiful gift yesterday and it has inspired me to make a quilt. She is always an inspiration to me!

Linking up to Finish it up Friday, TGIFF and Can I Get a Whoop, Whoop!

The Little Quilt that Could

I have been in a slump for the past two months. I got quite sick in March for a few weeks and then my daughter was sick. Lots of things were going on, and quilting fell to the wayside. I also read quite a bit about the "dumbing down of quilting" and it made me question my own quilting and quilting ability. Barb's words about it put me back on the right track and I must thank her for that.

This quilt also helped me pick up speed. In actuality it was my son. I finished this quilt and gave it to my new nephew on Easter. My son was so excited about giving the quilt to him. I explained to him that we would have to give the quilt to his parents ; a baby would not be able to hold a quilt. We gave it to my sister-in-law ; she looked at it and then put it away. My son was still insistent, so he sat in a chair, holding his cousin and I put the quilt over the two of them. It was such a beautiful and pure moment and reminded me why I make quilts and to take pride in what I do. I named the quilt Going Places which is the same name as the vehicle fabric.

I also finished the quilt for my husband's cousin's daughter. This one I called Roses are red, Violets are blue. The back is roses fabric. It is definitely time for a new camera. This also got dropped off at Easter time but my husband's cousin was not there. Hopefully, he will like it.

Thanks to my son and the little quilt that could I am ready to get back into quilting.

Building Blocks

 

Here is my completed quilt top for my nephew. I had a lot of fun playing with my stash and coming up with different colour combinations. I just need to have it quilted and bound and it should be ready for Easter when i will get to see him. It was made using this pattern from Moda Bakeshop.

Design Wall Monday

Well, I finally got the news on the weekend that I have a new nephew. I have a couple of quilts started for girls, but none for boys so I went through my stash.  My brother-in-law is a firefighter and I found this fabric that I have had for quite some time.

I have enough for the backing and a small border. Then I went on Moda Bakeshop to see if I could find a fast pattern. Which I did. Then I went back to my stash and pulled out a collection of fat quarters I won last year. I also put in some orange. I really like orange. Mixed and matched my colours and this is what I have so far.

     
I am looking forward to seeing it all together. Check out what others have done for Design Wall Monday.

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.

Silver and Gold

One of my favourite songs:

Make new friends, but keep the old.
One is silver, and the other gold.


Well, I have some new friends (aka projects) and some golden friends.


These 2 projects are the other quilts for my friend with 3 daughters.

This is a kit  that I have had for a few years now. When I got it, I knew it came with pink instead of red but I never could seem the right person to make it for.  Earlier this year I had decided to just use the fabric for something else. I am so happy now that I have found the perfect girl for this quilt.



I had a hard time deciding for my friend's oldest daughter. I started off with a pink and yellow scheme, and I first thought about doing another log cabin but decided there was too many other quilts I wanted to try. I then thought about the pineapple block. I liked the idea of using the 1 1/2 inch strips in a completely different way. Then I remembered the Cameos quilt pattern I have which is based on the pineapple block. I dug into my stash and found an Eden charm pack. I decided to use them for the centres and my colour scheme; pink, yellow, purple and green. I tried a block last week and I really love it. It does not require any special rulers, but I had bought the pineapple ruler a few years ago and had not used it yet. It works well with the pattern, and it is nice to know I am also use my "ruler stash".

Now to my golden friends. Darlene is one of the most amazing quilters I know. She sent me this scissor fob and I love it so much. I love too knowing the fact that I will have her with me in my sewing room.

I have another golden friend. She is amazing at everything and so supportive of all my quilting. She also has  ESP because somehow she knew I had broken my favourite pin dish a few weeks ago. She came back from a trip to Switzerland with this for me:

My daughter did try to tell me that it was really meant as a bathtub and proceeded to wash her rocks in it. Luckily I was able to rescue it when she was not looking. Wishing you all silver and gold!

Log Cabin Love

I have decided to make quilts for my friend's 3 daughters. I love children's quilts the best and it has been so much fun figuring out what patterns I am going to use.  One of them I decided on was a Log Cabin. I have had a baby log cabin pattern for a long time and I have always wanted to make it. I made a Log Cabin years ago but because the strips were bigger I had less layouts to choose from. This log cabin uses 1 1/2 inch strips so I am excited about all the possibilities.

I got a great package in the mail yesterday.  I had entered a giveaway on RennaLily's blog and won a set of Barb Sackel fat quarters.

I also won this cute cross-stitch pattern in August from Andrea. My daughter has claimed it as something I need to make for her.

I am off to enjoy the last long weekend before school starts here with hopefully some quilting mixed in. Have a great weekend!

Blogger's Quilt Festival

Here is my quilt for the Blogger's Quilt Festival hosted by Amy. It is the latest quilt that I have finished. Tammy did the quilting for me.I have named it Red, White and Blue. It was made for some family friends who have a baby boy. The wife is American and the husband is Canadian. I liked the idea of combining the colours of the 2 countries into one quilt.

The quilt is special because it is one of the first quilts I started after I started my blog in March. Originally it was going to be a rail fence quilt, but then I found Amanda Jean's zigzag tutorial and decided to do that instead. Since then, I have used my fellow quilting bloggers for much inspiration. I have met many friends from all different countries and have been in awe of what people create. I have participated in 7 swaps, and am now working on my 8th swap. Many of my quilts have been altered or changed completely from all of the inspiration you have provided me. It was also one of the first quilts where I used most of the fabric from my stash. This quilt is a reminder of all the friendship, support and help I have been given.

Thank you all!

Quilting : the next generation

Both of my children are interested in quilting. My daughter has her own scrap collection. I never thought I would hate scraps but they end up all over her room and all over the house. I would swear they grow. She has definite opinions about what she would like to sew her quilts. Usually it ends up in a straight line. My son has decided that he would like a Halloween quilt. He picked out a Halloween panel and some Halloween fabric. I think we will do some 9 patches around the panel and then add a few borders.

I also have my nephew and niece interested in quilting. My nephew and I looked on Ebay for fabric for him. He wants a red and orange quilt. My niece is interested in having me make her a quilt. I bought her this kit a couple of years ago.


This is the backing I picked for it.



I was a bit worried about it, but I felt that she could handle the black and bold colours. Well, this year she picked out some clothes for herself that was black with bright colours. I am planning on starting the quilt for her next year for her new home.

You zig, I zag

let's zigzag together!





The zigzag quilt top is now done. Thank you for all of your encouraging words. I was able to fix the block very easily. I am joining the Old Red Barn Quilt Along zigzag quilt along hosted by Amy of Park City Girl. I am going to use my Fresh charm packs from Deb Strain.



Now, I need some help with something else. I am thinking about starting to do some hand quilting. I did some many many years ago and would like to start again. I was wondering if any of you could recommend any books, or videos that would help me? I am going on a vacation in a while, which means no sewing machine. I am worried about detoxing, and thought it would be great to do some hand quilting.


P.S. Simply This That and Other is having a wonderful giveaway to celebrate her new Moda Bakeshop Tutorial.

My first quilt

Camille and Carrie are having a parade of quilts where people show their first quilt and the latest they have finished as well as talk about something they have learned along the way. You need to let them know that you are going to be doing this and they will post a list of links on Monday.





Here is my first quilt on my own but technically, my second. My first was a fall wall hanging taken as a class, but all of the work including cutting and fabric selection had already been done. This picture was taken many years after it was completed when it was being brought back to me for repairs on the binding. I made it 9 years ago for my nephew. It still is one of my favourite quilts. I picked out the pattern and the fabric. I knew what I wanted it to look like and the women at the quilt store helped me with colour. It was an odd size in that it was just a few inches wider than the width of fabric. It was suppose to have another border added on to it but since I had no idea at the time about piecing backs, I left the last border off. It was quilted using stitch in the ditch with invisible thread. Now my nephew would like a red and orange quilt.






Here is the latest quilt that I have worked on. How times have changed. Because of my attempt at saving time, I ended up recreating this pattern on my own. There were suppose to be 5 strips in a block and I now have 4 strips. All of the corner, and side setting triangles were calculated by myself (thank goodness for tutorials on the Internet) and I added the border to make it bigger. I had it machine quilted by Tammy, because I have learned that 1) I don't have time for everything 2) I am not very good at it yet and therefore don't like doing it 3) I hate basting. I have also learned that I still love a lot of colour but I don't like the scrappy quilts where you are suppose to use only a few fat quarters and then have to arrange them so none of the same touch each other. It takes me along time to arrange them to get them that way. That is one of the reasons I love jelly rolls. 4o different fabrics, a bit of background fabric and you have a great quilt.

April Showers Finished

Here is a finished quilt for my daughter. I caIled it April Showers. I finished it two weeks ago, for the first finish of my Spring to Finish 2. She picked out the fabric and pattern (5 and dime by All Washed Up). I had something on hold for me at a LQS in November. She and I were out doing something other errands and I decided to go to the store because I would only be in and out. Well, she changed my plans. She found this fat quarter kit and decided we just had to buy it. Of course I did. Then at Christmas time I got a gift certificate for another quilt store. Well, we went there together, and found the pattern which we liked better. We also chose the cupcake fabric because there were some fabrics I did not like in the kit and bought the backing there as well which I just love. I like the movement from babies to children in terms of quilting. It is neat to learn more about children so that their quilts become more personalized. Tammy did a fabulous job on the quilting.

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to my wonderful nephew! He turns 8 today. He is one of the few people who can make me laugh on a regular basis. We have lots of fun together. He lives a few hours away so I don't get to see him as much as I wish I could. I made my 1st every baby quilt for him. As you can see it follows in my rainbow theme. It is still the favourite quilt I have ever made. I think it is about time I made him a new one.

Where is my quilt?

Last night, when I was lying down with my children to put them to bed, I had brought up my lap quilt to put over us. No, my son said I don't want the quilt on me. Fine, I say then there is more for your sister and me. His sister was quite happy with that. Then he says to me, mommy there is still a rectangle of the quilt on me. Okay, more effort to get it off of him. Well, the next thing he says is where is my kitty cat quilt? He must have known today was April Fool's Day. His kitty cat quilt is once that I started working on late last year and then put aside because I had others that had to be finished for Christmas. I have half the squares done. It is a mystery quilt pattern I found online. The mystery was already done, so I took a peek at the result. It was done in blues and yellows and it reminded me of this fat quarter collection of blues, greens and browns that I had of cats. I decided to make it for him as an older boy quilt and because he loves our cats so much. Looks like I have a new priority!

Inspiration

I am so excited! I have friends who just had a baby boy and I was going to be making a quilt for them. I have to say I am grateful to people who choose to find out what they are going to have, even if I did not. It makes it so much easier to plan a quilt. I was going to make a rail fence quilt similar to this one that I had previously made for a friend's grandson, quilted by Tammy.


I had cut out the strips but something just did not feel right. I had thought about making a row quilt but then today I saw AmandaJean's posting about the zigzag quilt. I had my aha moment. My strips are 2 1/2 inches so it will be a bit smaller but I had bought a really cute Paddington Bear Border so I will still use it to make it a bit bigger. Thank you to all of the bloggers who provide me with inspiration.

Rainbow Quilt Part 2

Here is a quilt I made a few years ago for one of my nephew's. It is the yellow brick road pattern by Terry Atkinson. It was quilted by my friend Marilyn. My favourite fabric is the green. It is a bunch of colourful frogs jumping around. Since I started quilting making baby and children's quilts I am so use to the brights. It has taken me a while to get use to more muted colours.

Rainbow Quilt

This is a Rainbow Quilt I made for my son last summer for his birthday. It is from one of M'liss Rae Hawley's booksI call it the Reading Rainbow Jungle Quilt. It is hard to see in this picture, but the border has animals reading and the bus has Library written on the side. Mr. G. helped me decide the colours for the quilt. The inner border is one of my most favourite fabrics. It was hard to cut, but I am very happy that it cut to be used in my son's quilt. I had Tammy quilt if for me. I find that having someone quilt for me helps me to complete the quilts. I have a few works in progress, but not too many. Mr. G had a wonderful idea for the label of his quilt. He wanted me to use the name tag that had hung over his hook at school last year. I scanned it into the computer and now all I have to do is print it out on the fabric paper. I love when my children get involved with the quilting!