Corn...No Beans!

This is a quilt that I started in December 1997! I finished the piecing in December of 1998...wow...this has been a UFO for a long time. 20 Years!  I think this is my oldest UFO.  It is a combo of two quilt blocks...54/40 or Fight and Corn and Beans.   The pattern came from American Patchwork and Quilting Magazine August 1997 - called "Scrap Showcase".   I call it  "Corn...No Beans" because I changed the corn and beans block by eliminating a few pieces to make less piecing. A few friends and I worked on this quilt top together and we swapped scraps of fabric.  Our challenge was to have no two fabrics alike.    My quilt has approx 780 different pieces of fabric and measures 68" x 68"!  

I quilted wavy lines in free motion from side to side and some from top to bottom.  I wasn't about to spend too much time doing anything intricate as I knew it would be hard to appreciate a lot of work on this busy quilt. 

Took me just a few hours to finish up this project.  Why, oh why, did I wait 20 years to finish it.    It will have a new home at my mother's house.  

Hope you have time soon to finish up an older project.  It's a great feeling!  😄

A Closer Look

The other day, I quickly posted about a quilt that Karen and I made. PS..Karen, we need a name for our quilt!

51" x 56"

and thought you might like to see some close up shots of Karen's applique work and my free motion quilting.  Karen hand appliqued the leaf shapes into a sweet design and then added the solid off- white fabric to each side of her strip of loveliness.

All that negative space made me giddy...seriously...I just knew it would be a fun challenge for me to fill all that space.   The only thing that I knew I wanted to stitch before I started, was that I wanted to repeat the line shape of  Karen's strip of leaves.  I stitched it out in a dark teal Aurifil colour #4093 40wt. for the outer part and a lighter teal Aurifil colour #5006 50wt for the inside lines. 

And the rest just happened!  

 

On the left hand side of the strip of lovleyness, I quilted in my favourite fashion.  I call it "This Way and That Way" FMQ. I call it that because when people ask me how I do it I just tell them I go this way and that way.  And oh yes, there is also body movement to help with the verbal description!

And on the back, I used a wide back by Carrie Bloomston and finished off with a teal binding to match the inner sashing.  

All in all, a super fun project and one that I will treasure forever.  Good friends + Good Quilts =  Happy 

Have a quilty day! 😄

Three Finishes for Me!

Three more projects crossed off my list.  WooHoo! 

Firstly, A very special quilt.  Special because it is a friend quilt.  A quilt made by two friends. Very good friends.  Karen @KaHolly and Me.  Karen pieced and hand appliqued the top and I basted it together and free motion quilted it.   Not sure yet what will happen with this quilt, but for now it lives with me! 

Second... "Niagra Falls 2018"  This quilt was gifted just recently.  I made it for my nephew, who lives in Toronto, and while visiting him this past July, he took me for a little daytrip to Niagra Falls.  The water was just this colour that day.  This is from the pattern "Icy Waters" by Amy Garro.  

    and the back. 

Finish #3........a quick and easy lap quilt made from a layer cake,"Metro by Amy Ellis"  and some charm squares of Kona white.    Here's the tutorial I used 

Hope you had time to finish something up today.  It feels so good.  😊

Catching up!

No more apologizing for not posting as frequently as I should.  This is my new normal and it is better to accept it instead of letting it make me guilty. ! I just hope my lovely followers don't mind hearing from me once in a while instead of all the time.  So let's catch up.

First up..."From Halifax to Edmonton"  a small quilt I made from Kaffe Fassett scraps I received from my friend, Ioleen, in Edmonton. I gifted her this quilt when she visited our lovely little guild, MMQG recently,  arriving with gifts from her as well.  You just can't take the NS out of the girl!   Plus I also tested my new block pattern to see if I liked it.  Yes, I do!  









































Secondly..."Quilting is for the Birds"  I tested this pattern for sweet talented Nova Scotia designer John of Art East Quilting Co.  A very easy pattern with great instruction. https://www.etsy.com/ca/shop/ArtEastQuiltingCo  Check out John's puffin. His new nautical quilt is amazing and should be available soon.

Thirdly...not quilted...just about to baste together for quilting.  This quilt top is my rendition of Emily Dennis' Metallic Ombre quilt along  http://www.quiltylove.com/category/quilt-alongs/  If you look at the original quilt you can see that I left out some of the blocks in order to have more negative space and also a way to keep out some of the colours that I did not prefer to be in my quilt.  
Fabric is Metallic Ombre by VandCo  http://www.vanessachristenson.com/

No. Four...."Icy Waters" by Amy Garro  Paperpieced and fun to make.  The colours I used are those of the Maritime Modern Quilt Guild...All Kona...White, Aqua, Breakers, Oasis, Regatta, Pacific, Prussian.  This top is destined to become a gift for a special someone and it is a reminder of the beautiful day we had at Niagra Falls this past summer.  These colours matched the water colours that day.  

Number 5 - Still a flimsy.  I was lucky to win the pink and navy blocks at my guild's Block Lotto and so of course I had to sew them up into something special.  I love how the Nummers fabric takes it to a new level.  At least for me it does.

#6 -  Not a quilt.  I like to make small projects in between the larger ones. Made this Mini Prima Diva Wallet for my daughter.  It fits perfectly in the apron she has to wear at work and then she has no need to drag a purse to work and then find a safe place to store it while she works.  She is a Cotton and Steel nut so next up for her is a wallhanging for her bedroom from C+S prints.

Hope you get to do something quilty today. 😊

What's Happening

 I want to share with you my latest finish.  This is my creation as part of my lovely little guild's Executive Challenge for this year.  The challenge was to take a traditional block pattern and put a modern spin on it.  I chose ShooFly and here is my modern take.  I made 3, 6 and 9 inch shoofly blocks in an array of solid colours, bordered them to bring them up to 10 1/2 inches unfinished and then sliced them through the middle horizontally and then mixed up the tops and bottoms and sewed them back together. The solid fabrics in the blocks and the two inner borders and sashing are all Kona Solids and the prints in the blocks are "Modern Marks" by Christa Quilts.  And for the last border...my fave...Nummers.   I free motion quilted back and forth, this way and that way.  What fun!  And finished up with pieced binding.  

"3, 6, 9 - It's Shoo-Fly Time"

For thread...I used  Aurifil #50wt  colour 2975 a deep gold in the blocks.   This colour was amazing!  I will definitely be using it in future projects.   In the dark grey border I used Aurifil #50wt colour 5004 and Aurifil white #50wt in the white borders and in the bobbin.  

Hope you get time to create something today! 😊

A few finishes for ME

I have a few finishes to share with you.  I have been sewing a lot this past month and I am happy with how things are turning out. 

First, my "Sewing Machine Quilt"
pattern by Cheryl Arkison

Measures - 50" x 70"  

35 x 10 1/2" unfinished blocks (some blocks are to the pattern and some are improv pieced)
Fabric - Sewing Machines Blueberry Park by Karen Lewis
Background - various low volume fabrics
Backing - Crosshatch by Carolyn Friedlander in Caramel 

Binding - Manatee by Free Spirit (with bits of Blueberry Park)

Free motion quilted by ME on my Pfaff  PowerQuilter16 "Petunia"
55,743 stitches
Thread - Aurifil 50wt #2024 

My second finish is "Banner Year" 
designed by Andrea Tsang Jackson, 3rd Story Workshop

Measures 69" x 88"
Fabric - Banners are made from some Alison Glass, Libs Elliott
Background Fabrics are Kona solids from white to dark grey
Backing - 100% cotton sheet with Canadian city names
Binding - Manatee by Free Spirit

Quilted in free motion by ME on my Pfaff PowerQuilter 16.0 for a total of 237,817 stitches!
using Aurifil 50# thread
 in colour numbers 2024, 2600, 2606, and 5004

and lastly, A Jelly Roll Rug.  A fun project! I made this from 
a Bali Pop that was probably 10 years old.  

That's it for now.  I am now working on my creation for my guild Executive Challenge.  I chose Shoo Fly and the challenge is to take a traditional block pattern and update it.  More on this soon.

Hope you had time to create something today.  😊

What's Happening!!

April is here...no snow on the ground...still cool and I am getting ready for a much-needed getaway...Maritime Modern Quilt Guild's 3rd Annual Quilting Retreat at beautiful White Point Beach Resort by the ocean near Liverpool, Nova Scotia., April 12 to 15.  Here is the link to a live webcam of the view we will have. 

 I have spent time precutting a few projects that I will be working on over the retreat weekend.

First up, "Banner Year" designed by Andrea Tsang Jackson of 3rd Story Workshop. A Canadian designer! My fave!

 "Banner Year" made by Adrienne Klenck of Seam Work. (with permission) It is so lovely in person. (and so is Adrienne!😊)

 Andrea is my friend and guildmate and she will be attending retreat so she will be nearby if I have any questions or problems.  Check out her website to learn about her amazing quilting journey.  
I will be doing something different for the background using Kona solids and for the banners I am using Alison Glass and Libs Elliott fabrics.  If you follow me on Instagram I will probably be posting progress pics from retreat.  

My second project that I will be sewing up at retreat is "The Sewing Machine Quilt" by Cheryl Arkison, another awesome  Canadian designer. 

I bought this pattern in Calgary when I visited last year.  Cheryl will be spending time with my lovely little guild, MMQG, in the fall with a class and a trunk show.  Can't wait!

I have 35 x 10 1/2" blocks made using my collection of Blueberry Park fabrics by Karen Lewis to make the sewing machines and assorted low volumes for the backgrounds.  It was super fun to make.   I love improv piecing so I was in my glory making this one.  
Just need to sew the rows together and get it basted and quilted.  This one is for me!

I will also be taking a few small items to sew and of course there will be some guild projects to work on so I think my weekend will be full. 

Less than a week to wait for total quilty immersion! 

What about you?  Do you retreat?  

My Giveaway Winner and 2 finishes

Congratulations to Jennifer @Little Black Cat Quilting! She is the winner of my 10th Anniversary giveaway.  I have contacted her and her prize of a jelly roll of batiks is on its way in the next few days.

I have been sewing a lot the past week or so.   A while back I had sewn a bunch of selvedges onto leftover batting strips.  I finally decided to do something with those strips.  I sewed them into columns with a narrow strip between each and added borders.  I free motion quilted using Aurifil 50# thread in white.  I quilted right through all the selvedges and tried to mimic the dots on the selvedges in the quilting at the bottom. I thought it would be hard to quilt through especially since the selvedge strips were sewn onto batting and then I used batting again to sandwich the whole thing, but no, it didn't make a difference at all. 
 I used my favourite grey solid, Free Spirit Manatee for the binding.

What! No Blue?   40" x 46"

a Moda print on the back.  

a close-up

Another finish.  I made this to show my guildmates what you can make with a 10 degree wedge ruler.  I am not mathematically inclined so I won't attempt to explain angles etc.  I will tell you that I had no idea how my little quilt would end up when I started to cut out wedges.  I knew I wanted a circle and I knew it would take 36 wedges to make that circle.  I had two WOF 5" strips of fabric and just laid the ruler on where it pleased me and cut away!  I am totally happy with the result.    

"Ombre Feathers"  26" x 26"

The circle fabric is Ombre Metallic Confetti by V and Co.  Soooo pretty! I raw edge appliqued the wedges onto the background fabric, which is Doiland Gloss in Silver from Katarina Roccella's "Indelible" line by Art Gallery.  I stippled the background using Aurifil white.   I quilted the feathers using Aurifil 40# in colour 4093 using a 90/14 Superior topstitch needle.  I topstitched the binding, Kona Glacier, on with a specialty stitch on my Pfaff QE 4.0. 

 Have you seen the awesome quilts that Christina Cameli makes with the 10 degree ruler? 

Here's the backing fabric I used.  I purchased this while visiting Quincy's Quilting in Leduc, Alberta last September. 

 

That's it for now.  I hope you get a chance to finish up a project today.  It sure feels good! 😊