The Joy of Summer

Summer has come to the Alberta prairies and I am on a hiatus from school. Somehow I thought I would get back to blogging sooner but I have been doing other things- some quilty and some not. One of the first things I did was get some plants for our front deck to add some color out there. Isn't this purple container a beauty of color? I did put some flowers together in the barrels at the bottom of the front steps, but this one I bought, just because I loved the rich colors. Purple and Pink are my favorite colors so this one just spoke to me.

In the spring time Craftsy offered this box of fat quarters at a great price so I decided to buy them. They are all Free Spirit fabrics- designers like Riley Blake and Amy Butler are in the box. It is such a pretty rainbow of fabrics and more modern than I would normally choose. Sometimes a girl has to check out some other lines, and these fat quarters will make a fun wedding quilt for someone. I have some great fat quarter patterns to try out someday. The list of someday quilts continues to grow.

A friend of ours had made this lovely traditional Dresden Plate quilt. She had wanted to finish it and needed a bit of help with the binding so I gave her a hand with it. Binding is one of those jobs that is so much easier with the proper tools. Our friend had it quilted by a local long arm studio and was really happy with the completed project. I believe that the quilt was started by her mother.

In my previous post I shared this four square batik quilt with you. Here is the completed quilt being given to its new owner. My friend, Ms. G, was quite surprised with it. I am very happy with the quilt pattern and would make it again. It was a tutorial from the Missouri Star Quilt Company and is called The Half Square triangle quilt using the four Seasons block. I had not used their technique of making half square triangles and it was an easy technique to use.  A friend showed me another technique using a tube and and a strip ruler that is another way to make half square triangles.

A while back I participated in a giveaway contest hosted by The Fat Quarter Shop in Texas, when they were at Quilt market. I was very excited when my phrase was chosen and this beautiful package of Kate Spain fat quarters arrived in the mail. The Fat Quarter Shop does have a lovely on line shop and are very generous to quilters. If you are looking for an on line shop to try, they certainly are a shop to consider. They have lovely fabrics and fair prices. Their products always come beautifully wrapped and you get excellent service from them. Postage costs to Canada are getting more pricey, so I have not bought from them as often, but I do love their shop. They have an excellent blog called the Jolly Jabber.

Athena -also known as Atari or Kitten, the Tonkinese cat ( she is a cross of a Burmese and Siamese cat) has taken over in the roll of quilt kitty at our house. She has quite a different disposition than Mars cat, but loves to leave her mark( lots of white fur) on my current quilt projects. She is quite partial to this wedding signature quilt that is now together as a flimsy. I will spray baste it later this week and will get it quilted before too long. I have added borders to it since this photo was taken.

Our good friends V. and A celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary this past week and I decided to make them some pillow cases to match their quilt. I dug around in my stash looking for fabrics that had come from their quilt but, unfortunately, I did not have any larger pieces to use, even for the two inch piping. I was surprised how quickly that the pillow cases went together. I used another tutorial from the Missouri Star quilt Co. - Jenny Doan gives good instructions . I have since made more pillowcases for my parents ,who celebrated their 59th wedding anniversary today. There is a  Dusty dog under this pile of pillow cases- if you look closely you can see her head and red collar on the left side.

My second major summer project is to get Kevin and Roseanne's wedding quilt put together. These fossil ferns are some of the fabrics that I am using in their quilt. This is a collection of the whole line of fossil fern fabrics. I got a kit from Craftsy called Under the Stars Quilt Kit by Nancy Smith. I have over 80 blocks made, but the quilt is a king sized quilt so I need almost that many again _ I think... I have loved this fabric line forever and it is really a lovely line to use. It handles beautifully.

In the image below you can see how the block is going to go together- I think it will be a pretty quilt when I get finished.
 The summer is flying by- I have been reading some great books - "I am Malala" and"The Pearl who broke its shell" are among my favorites. I have been out with friends for lunch and taken care of some general health/ dental things. I still want to clear out some things in the house. It won't be too long before the summer is gone.
I did get a chance to visit my folks early in the summer, as a beloved cousin passed away. While the reason I went to visit was a sad occasion, I did get the opportunity to see extended family. Part of that trip included some time spent traveling with my mother's brother and sister. It was nice to have that time to reconnect with my uncles and aunts.
 I recognize since I have gone to google +,that is difficult to leave a response or comment on the blog. I find that frustrating because one of the things that I loved about blogging was making connections with other bloggers. I don't know if anyone has any suggestions about this, but I would love to hear them. I do miss hearing from my other quilting friends on the blog. A few blogging friends have emailed me comments and I appreciate them taking that extra effort to leave comments.
 I hope you all are enjoying your summertime and get some time to spend doing the things that you love to do. Until next time,
 Be well,
Warmest regards, Anna

The Busyness of May and a question about wedding signature quilts..

I keep thinking that I will get myself back on track and writing more consistently but for one reason or another this poor blog gets the short shift or the long delay.. The last few weeks have been full and it is bound to get busier before the end of the school term. Let's start with some flowers to brighten your day. These roses are still hanging in- they were a glorious red - almost magenta and have lasted a long time. Outside the tulips along the south side of our house are blooming and the grass has begun to green up.

This morning I spent some time outside cleaning out the flower barrels and raking up some of the debris, sticks and such so that the grass can be mowed. One of the bonuses of cleaning up the debris, was finding a bracelet that I had made long ago and thought was long gone. I lost it in January and looked all over the place for it ,before giving it up for lost. Imagine my surprise when I found it this morning, while I was raking up. The backyard has some dandelions blooming that will need to be tended to- we do get rabbits in our neighbourhood, so I am reluctant to treat them with anything but the mower.

Recently I picked up this new book by Jennifer Chiaverini from our local library. I am hoping to get it read before it is due, because it is sure to need to returned at the 3 week deadline. Has anyone read this one? Do you like it as well as her other books? I have enjoyed reading her other books and have read all the Elm Creek stories.

 Last weekend was Mother's Day throughout North America. The chocolates were part of my Mother's Day gift, along with this stunning stone bracelet from my beloved. I am a girl who loves rocks/stones and I had wished that I could afford to buy it, after I saw it in a local rock shop. What a lovely surprise when Bruce handed it to me on Mother's Day.
 The stones are a gorgeous red/purple/pink color and it is lovely to wear. I am one lucky lady.

In February, I attended a long service awards evening that recognized school board staff. I was given a catalogue of items to choose from - my choice was this clock with a globe that spins at the top of it. My clock arrived this week. I love how it looks with the constellation and earth globes.
A quilting friend sent me this fun photo of a super quilter. I definitely need to be one of those this summer, as I have a number of quilts to get made. I have been trying to get on track with some of the projects but am a little short on energy... This little old lady makes me smile!

One of my summer projects is a wedding signature quilt. Has any of you readers made one? Got any advice about fabric choices? fabric pens? all advice greatly appreciated. I think I may have found a pattern(but I am still open to ideas) I am also looking to find a light colored fabric. Do I use white? other colors? I know that I need to back it with freezer paper so that it makes it easier to write on- I am only going to prepare the blocks rather than putting the whole quilt together before the wedding.

Recently I finished quilting these baby wraps- they just need some binding. I have been trying to get them completed so that I can concentrate on other projects. The binding is sewn together but not pressed.

I bought myself a new 6 and a half inch ruler not long ago- I thought I had at least one of them, with all my pile of rulers- but I could not find it (Does that ever happen to you? LOL) Now I have no more excuses to get these blocks squared so they can be pieced together. It will be a lovely little quilt once I get the tedious but necessary cutting completed. I recently was reading the blogs in blogland during a blog hop and won a very lovely prize from Sharon of Vrooman's quilts. It is a stunning wall hanging that she made a few years ago with beautiful cross stitched swans. Thank you so much Sharon- I will treasure it always..
 Do check out her beautiful blog- she has lots of great ideas that she shares with her readers.  http://vroomansquilts.blogspot.ca/search?updated-max=2013-05-12T21:25:00-07:00&max-results=4
This weekend is an extra long weekend - It is Victoria Day here in Canada. It has been a full weekend already- Our god daughter graduated from high school on Thursday. We attended the opening of Body World's at the Telus World of Science. We also had dinner out with dear friends last evening and I went to a wedding ceremony for a friend's daughter this afternoon. I hope to drop in on a friend tomorrow and then go off to see my family.. Sometimes it is hard to fit in quilting time... Life is indeed full - Until next time be well..
I would love to hear any ideas that you might have about making wedding signature quilts.  All suggestions gratefully appreciated..
Warmest regards,
Anna