Do you wonder where August has gone?

Medicine Lake,Alberta

I know its been awhile- Perhaps you were beginning to think that I was giving up blogging? or that I was lost somewhere and couldn't find my way home?LOL Went on a long journey? Well it is true that my husband Bruce and I went away on a short little trip. We visited the mountains around Jasper Alberta in the heart of the Canadian Rockies. It is very beautiful there don't you think?

Summer vacation is soon over for me-classes begin again next week. Perhaps a sign of the seasons changing, is the changing weather- this morning it was quite cool and I put on a pair of slacks and shirt rather than my usual summer sun dress. I have even been thinking about putting on my slippers....

My aunt ( my mother`s sister) came to visit me today- we had a lovely time together- looking at some genealogy books, talking about our projects and having some lunch that I prepared for us to share together ( turkey spread, buns, tomato bean salad, greek salad, salsa and fresh fruit). While she was here, she showed how to do a bow knit knitting stitch so that I could make a baby blanket or scarf( that is a whole other post). My aunt asked to look at some of summer projects.

Here is a little tour of some of the projects that I have been working on these days..

This convergence quilt is done -Waa hooo..... I must have been more wonky than usual whenI was cutting this quilt because I had lots of difficulty getting this quilt straight- I am pleased with it now - we seem to have recouped it from its original bad haircut!

You may remember me making the large wonky tiles quilt last summer for our dear friends to celebrate their 20th wedding anniversary. I thought maybe they would enjoy having matching pillowcases so with a couple of spare blocks( I have another 100 to turn into another quilt or two VBG) I had some scraps from the borders of their quilt and used them to make two pillowcases for them. Happy anniversary dear friends!
I do love Convergence designs and here is a second one. This one still needs to be quilted and bound(I even have the binding made- Now if I could just get it spray basted so that I could quilt it) It is fun to see how the design converge - I really loved how the red stop border sets this quilt off..
Perhaps you remember when I was trying to decide whether I wanted to use this fabric for a border for this quilt? I really like how it sets off the blocks- Sometimes I find it helpful to see a few quilts that have been made using a particular pattern. This is a BQ pattern from Maple Island quilt patterns- I have now bound this quilt- It is waiting for its label and then I can give it to some special people in my life.. Fabric variations really do change how patterns look. This is the same pattern as the previous quilt, but with a little more variety in the big blocks. I am sure it would look different again with all scrappy fabrics. Mars the cat, came to be our assistant when we were setting out the quilts to be photographed. I am very pleased to have 3 quilts finished except for labels. I have some more blocks to join of the tessellation quilt. As well, I have more wonky rail tie blocks that need to be sewn together LOL. I hope to get some of these blocks together so that I have two more quilts made into quilt tops.

August is soon over but it is nice to have finished some projects this summer. The sands of time stop for no one...I wonder if I can put my pedal to the medal so that I can go a little faster?

These past few weeks I have visited some friends and family as well as enjoyed a few books. I recently finished reading " The Forgotten Garden" by Kate Morton ( good story) as well as some more of Joanne Fluke's Hannah Swenson cooking mysteries.

Last week I attended a workshop to help me improve my teaching of reading. I will go and spend some time in my classroom this week. I want to get a few things set up before class begins next week. Our school was renovated this past year and they are working fast and furious for us to be ready for school opening. There are lists to be made and some materials prepared and new lessons to develop _ I can feel the pace of life starting to rev up.

My friend Lou and I went on another local shop hop. Bruce and I stopped in some quilt stores on the way to Jasper. More about that next time...

Some Thank you's

I want to acknowledge two very fine ladies who sent me giveaway gifts in the mail..
Nancy from Blogging near Philadelphia sent me a lovely cupcake pincushion pattern with some sweet buttons.Thanks so much for your thoughtful and generous gift Nancy. Do visit her blog - I enjoy reading her postings - I am sure you will too!

Elizabeth sent me the coolest Abby pincushion and thread bag. If you go to her August 23 posting you will see one that is the same pattern that she made for me. I will try and take a photo of it to show you her brilliant work. Thanks so much ladies- I am such a fortunate person..

There are some wonderful giveaways going on around blogland.

If you are wishing for the Accuquilt Go you can enter to win one here: Paulette has a great tutorial going on for the the GO or here: Jackie has some lovely quilts on her blog. You might enjoy visiting her shop too..some really yummy fabrics including Kaffe Fassett.
( Kaffe is coming here to Edmonton to speak- I must go and get my ticket soon.. Waa hooo)

Aunt Spicy's friend Erica has a very cute pair of earrings that she is giving away. I remember having some of those carved earrings some years ago. I love the updated look of those earrings.

Pat is celebrating a writing opportunity by having a giveaway. I enjoy reading her quilting and stories - She has such a great sense of fun...

Enjoy your last days of summer if you live in the Northern Hemisphere (I am sure my friends in the southern hemisphere are looking forward to warmer days and the flowers of spring just as we are looking forward to all the colors of autumn. Such an interesting concept to be thinking about fall and spring at the same time!

Warmest regards,
Anna

Travels with Anna....

Lilies from my father's garden..
I am not sure where the summer has gone ... Well that is not quite true.. my days have been full enough with some quilting time, family time, a little cleaning and a bit of local travelling... Since I last posted, I have been away visiting my parents and getting a bit of quilting done.Over the summer, I have read a few novels that included some by Jennifer Wiener, Earlene Fowler( State Fair) and a book called the Knitting Club by Ann Hood. There is a stack sitting on my night table that include "Three Cups of Tea", The Forgotten Garden and Leaving Gee Bend..)

I finally got caught up on my blog reading until my laptop died. I am currently using my husband's machine as we contemplate our next step- the warranty on my computer has just recently run out:(

We travelled the backroads to my parents who live 100 miles south in a city called Red Deer. The city is now about 90 thousand people ,but when I grew up there, it was only around 25 thousand. We have travelled the main highway many times over the past 35 years and it does get a little boring. The traffic is a lot heavier as it is the main corridor between the two largest cities of the province (Edmonton to Calgary)This photo is not too far east from my folks- if you look close you can see the rocky formations of the river bank.
Along the road you often will find what we fondly call Nid Nods. They are oil pumps and they are a common enough site on the drive.
Alberta countryside is sometimes referred to as knob and kettle land. Some parts of the prairies are quite flat but the prairies where I was raised is quite hilly. I loved the fields of canola(rapeseed) when they are yellow and ripe. My grandparents were farmers in the Alberta foothills and their farm was much like this land.

You can see my hand in the mirror taking the photo- It is sort of Escher like (some of Escher's brilliant work happens to be showing at Alberta Gallery of Art along with Looney Tunes) This picture was a fluke but sure was interesting...

When Summer comes, it usually means that I have the opportunity to have a longer visit with my parents. I spent four days with my mom and dad. During the visit we went shopping, visited Tim Horton's for coffee and checked out the local quilt stores. The quilt store trip did not produce any great finds - perhaps just as well, with the cost of a new computer on the horizon.. We visited a family friend, Sherry, who has an old homestead house that she and her husband are renovating. She is a fabulous artist and her home is filled with her beautiful paintings and lots of antiques. The quilt on their bed is one that I made a number of years ago, called Chimneys and Cornerstones.
Her husband Brian is a fabulous woodworker. Don't you love his beautiful sleigh coffee table?

On their property is a Pretty cool antique thrashing machine..

My parents celebrated their 55th wedding anniversary while I was home. To mark the occasion, we took a few pictures of our family. I particularly liked this one of my folks.

This family photo was taken after a celebration dinner that we had to mark the occasion. Unfortunately my husband and son (as well as one niece and her husband) were not able to be there, because they were working. Pictured here are my two brothers, my sister and their partners, along with myself and my parents.

Earlier in the day, I suggested to my folks that we should go and take a photograph of them outside the church where they had been married. We arrived at 2:25 in the afternoon at the approximate time when they would have been leaving the church. They obligingly stood outside the church where they exchanged their vows 55 years earlier.


For those of you who may be wondering if I have been having any quilting adventures... Before I went to my folks, I did get three quilts spray basted so that they are now ready to quilt. My teaching partner and I went to school and used the tables there to lay them out for spraying. Next goal is to find some quilting time... I made a new couch sized convergence quilt that I am very pleased with the results. Some of my summer projects are finally coming together but I have not taken updated photos.
Over the weekend, I took a tessellation quilt workshop- I have some blocks made. We had a bit of excitement during the Friday nite session as the power went out. Quilting by candlelight was somewhat limiting so we headed home about 40 minutes early. Perhaps I should learn how to use my grandmother's treadle machine...LOL

On Saturday, we learned how to make a disappearing 4 patch pattern block. Disappearing 4 patch looks more complicated than it is and is made with charm squares. Hopefully I will get some quilting done by the end of the week and have some new photos to show you.

Next week we are off to the mountains for a few days. We are going to Jasper which is a beautiful spot. My husband is hoping for clear skies so that he can see lots of meteors during the Perseids meteor showers.. The summer is moving along too fast-
I officially return to the classroom on August 30 and there will be school things to do before that time. The time does pass all too quickly..

Happy travels and safe journeys,
Anna

A North Central Alberta Fabric Journey...

Summertime and the living is easy .....This is one of my favorite summer songs from " Porgy and Bess"...

On Thursday, a dear friend Lou and I went off fabric shopping in the Edmonton vicinity...
Our first stop was a lovely little shop in a town called Mundare. Mundare is about an hour's drive north-east of Edmonton and the home of some great Ukrainian sausage. The shop's name is "The Chicken Coop". Here you can see the shop from the street. Come on in and meet the owner.

The owner, Val, has some lovely home decor pieces, decorative ware and fabulous fabrics and patterns. She is as friendly and welcoming as her smile.
Don't you love the beautiful wall hangings that you can see on the wall behind her!

I loved her wonderful selection of batik fabrics- the colors were rich and sumptuous-(some of them are seen in the bottom row) we wanted to buy them all.. There were some great chicken designs and fun applique patterns that had been made into samples.

And how about that cute baby quilt with the animals on the wall... It would look great wrapped around a sweet little one..

Here are our two piles of treasures that we found in the shop stacked in front of Val. My choices to add to my stash are the pile on the left, and ,the lovely lady with Val. is my dear friend Lou. She found some real beauties too. I love the gorgeous sunflower batik fabric she chose that is on the top.


Here you can see the Mundare grain elevator. These elevators used to be common sites around the province of Alberta. However they are quickly disappearing. My mother bought me a quilted wall hanging of a grain elevator a number of years ago. It hangs in my sewing room and reminds me of my prairie girl roots.
We stopped in a little place in Lamont and I found " The Hungry Caterpillar panel and fabrics. They had almost all of the fabrics but I am still looking for the fabric that has all the fruit and food on it. If I don't find it locally, I will check on line for it.
I love Eric Carle's books and would like to make the quilt for my kindergarten. He also did the illustrations for " Brown Bear, Brown Bear" and I have fabrics to make that quilt too. Looks like my project list is growing still...


I thought you might find some countryside interesting.Here in Western Canada, we are known for our prairie sky - you can see for miles on a clear day.

After we left Lamont, we stopped to get some lunch from Tim Hortons, a sandwich and donut place that is famous across Canada. We have Starbucks and Second Cup but when someone says they are going to Tims, it usually means coffee where you can get a double double... ( I think that means two cream and two sugar in a large coffee-) I am a tea drinker- Tim's is famous for having a contest called Roll up the Rim to win... By the way. Tim was a hockey player for the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 60's.


We are back driving again and we passed many beautiful fields. This canola field is ripe- it has quite a powerful smell and is a gorgeous yellow. We left the country highway to join up with a ringroad called the Anthony Henday. It is a ring road around the city and so we drove from the North to the South and headed West to another community called Stony Plain. The metropolitan area of Edmonton and surrounding communities is about a million people. It is quite the contrast of city and countryside.

After about an hour, we arrive in Stony Plain, where there are two quilt stores there - one is called Sawdust and Tangled Threads which has lots of country and civil war type fabrics. The shop is in an big rambling house which seems fitting for the fabrics they have for sale. I have bought the Buggy Barn patterns in their shop. On this day, I bought a wildlife panel of bears which I am thinking of using for a quilt for my father.
The other shop is called Sewing with Class and, while we did not buy any fabric there this time, we admired the gorgeous samples on the wall. They had some quilts made in patterns we already owned, but have not yet found the time to make.

I seem to have more than a few of those sorts of patterns in my collection. Some even have the fabric to go with the patterns. So many ideas running around in my head - I sometimes feel like the hamster running around on one of those wheels. You know that hamsters can go very fast in the wheel but they don't seem to get very far... LOL

This past week I have been pretty low key. I had not been feeling well so I needed to do those things one does when one doesn't feel well. You have to go get checked out. Everything came out fine and I am feeling better.

In between doctor and dental checkups, I have still been putt-ing along cleaning out spaces that don't get cleaned out often during the school year. The house is beginning to look better, the sewing room tidier, and, perhaps I might still get to my current quilt projects. VBG
I have finally chosen a border for one of my quilt projects- I auditioned more than a few pieces, for this particular couch quilt. I will show you a photo when I post next time.

Today's mail brought a lovely giveaway package containing some handmade pocket mirrors made by Ebony love Thanks so much for the lovely mirrors - they are too cute and perfect for a purse. Do stop over to her blog and check out her lovely things.

Lastly, don't forget to stop at my post yesterday and check out those wonderful giveaways going on in blog land. The blog posts are interesting and the bloggers are all wonderful writers sharing their life and their loves. The giveaways are really a bonus. I continue to meet so many wonderful people through my blogging experience.
Thanks for taking the time to stop by for a visit. I am always glad to hear from you.
Your comments are very much appreciated. Until next time, be well.
Warmest regards,
Anna

Some giveaways:

Just a quick post with some giveaways going on in blogland. There are so many interesting blogs to read these days. Hope you might find some new blogs to enjoy.

kelly of once in a blue moon has the cutest blue bear that she is giving away - if you love teddies do go and check it out..

Fat quarters anyone- you may want to visit this blog.. Terri of Sew fantastic has some lovely fat quarters that are going to go to some lucky winner...

I love heart quilts and Lee has created a beautiful blue rag heart couch quilt. Wow what a lucky person who wins Lee's quilt.

Mystery prize for someone - It will be a wonderful handmade gift for the winner. GO quickly Lisa will draw soon..

Micki now lives in Ireland with Joe and their beautiful dogs. I have visited Micki for a long time and love reading about her varied interests and life in Ireland. Go quick as this one ends July 16 and announce the winner on July 17.

Spun Sugar
is sponsoring a Go cutter giveaway- They sure are popular out here in blogland and I see lots of people creating some terrific quilts with these cutters.

Cherri House has written a book called City quilts that is having a blog tour. Each of the different interviewers is giving away a copy of her book along with Robert Kaufman bundles of fat quarter solids.
Jodi of Pleasant home has a new giveaway going on- welcome her to blogland and check out her web site.
Deb at Thread gatherer's blog is celebrating her 100th post, over 300 followers and nearly two years blogging. Those are lots of things to celebrate...
Ryan is going to be having a giveaway- Check out his blog for all his exciting news.

Sharon has just opened her on line fabric, pattern and notion store. She has a wonderful personal blog called red geranium cottage Sharon really enjoys fabric and is one dynamic lady. Go check out her website - you will love her stories and her fabrics..

Today my friend Lou and I went on our own fabric shop hop- I have some photos to down load and I promise to post about our adventure soon. In the mean time go check out some of these great blogs.

Like Arnold says

"I'll be back."...
Regards,
Anna

How about a cup of tea ?

Summer holidays have arrived and I have spent the last couple of days hanging out at home- doing things like watching some movies, reading Mark Lipinski's magazine " Quilter's Home" and picking up here and there. My very good friend Val and I had lunch today and began to catch up with one another after the busy school year. We visited the bead section of Michael's and I bought a new Dr.Suess welcome sign for my classroom door. Even though school is just over, it seems like I am still planning ahead a little bit for September.
The last days of school were busy with tidying up, emptying some boxes from our earlier move and attending some social events at night. During that week I had 5 days where I was out to dinner with friends- both old friends and new as well as attending a nice barbecue with my husband.
My friend Lou and I went out to our favorite local quilt stores and stopped for an enjoyable lunch. Life was particularly full that last week of school so I was certainly ready to stop when we left school at 4:30 on Wednesday afternoon.

The beginning of summer is always a time to catch my breath. Do you have a time where you pause to reflect on life and just enjoy the that particular day? I found this tea set while out shopping last weekend. Most days Bruce and I have tea when I come home from school. I love pottery and this one just called my name. This sign "You Sew Girl" from Connecting Threads made me laugh when I saw it " It is beckoning me to get started quilting... I have been thinking about what projects that I might like to complete this summer. ( a couple of convergences? two BQ quilts? my cube quilt? get my wheel of mystery quilt quilted? two optical illusion quilt tops to finish piecing? this is the start of the list ?)
Naomi of Bee she bags blog sent me these lovely thimbles a couple of weeks ago. Aren't they pretty - I especially like the rose colored one in the middle of the plate. By the way, I made that pottery plate a few years ago when I was playing with clay. Over the years, I have experimented with clay, knit, crocheted, made candles, done embroidery and sewn clothing. Some hobbies have stayed for a good length of time and others it became clear that they were not for me. Quilting is the one that has endured since 1996.
Susanof blackberry creek chose my name when she was giving away this gorgeous tapestry hanging by Susan Winget. I am still deciding where I am going to hang it Susan but it sure is a beauty. Thank you so much for choosing my name. Do stop and visit these two ladies blogs- They are lovely people who enjoy sharing their lives and love of quilting.

You may remember that I was busily working on this Life is a trip quilt. Here was the reason: My friend Clementine was retiring. She seems very happy with her quilt, doesn't she? She is a dear friend who is retiring after 32 years of teaching and moving back home to the province of Manitoba. I will miss her zest and enthusiasm for life. Her laugh is as beautiful as the smile on her face. Safe journeys dear friend!
Clementine's photo was taken in my renovated classroom- You can see we are still in the process of sorting. They are continuing to renovate over the summer- It is like moving into a new school- Everything is fresh and clean...

The rest of the weekend I plan to finish making my quilting list, do some seasonal changes of our decor and take a look at some of the books I have taken out from our local library. I have begun to catch up to some of my friends both in my regular life as well as in blogland.
Perhaps you have some great summer plans or maybe they are like mine- you are stopping to smell the roses too... trying some new recipes and enjoying living a little simpler pace...

Here are a few giveaways for you to check out too.
If you have time, go and visit these lovely ladies-

Lori from Bee in my bonnet who is having a fun pincushion giveaway. The garden chairs are so very cute...She even shows you how to make one of your own..
Khris has a fun turnover giveaway going on her blog - She will draw on the 8th of July ( Aussie time)
Michelle is sharing her love of white and bunnies- I have followed her blog for a long time and always enjoy reading what is happening at raspberry rabbits.

On Thursday we celebrated Canada Day with Red Maple Leaves flying. Hope my American friends enjoy a very Happy Fourth of July.
And now I am off to add to my quilting plan list....and start my summer reading.

What book is on your night table just now ?

Regards,
Anna

Some pictures of a lovely local quilt show....

Summertime is coming and I thought it was time for a new look LOL !

June continues to be a busy time for me but a week from today my school kids will begin summer holidays and the following day, so will I. Two weeks ago we moved back to our individual classrooms after a two month hiatus in the gym while they completely renovated our classrooms. Since our return, we have continued to move things around the classroom, emptied boxes and tried to keep the students engaged in some learning activities.
After hours, I have written reports, filled out forms and sorted things. On occasion, I have worked on my quilting project and made a few bead bracelets. We have visited a conservatory for plants called Muttart's that are located in four glass pyramids.

As you can see in this picture, I have quilted my life is a trip quilt. I need to get it bound and a label placed on it this upcoming weekend. This past weekend we went on a short journey as all my school paperwork was completed. There was a quilt show in a small town called Wetaskwin, about an hour's drive from home. The show called "Quilting by the Lake" was held in a lovely building that overlooked a ravine and water. The 20 women group showed some beautiful quilts. They had a lovely wall hanging of their guild members to identify all the talented quilters.
Here you can see some of the beautiful view from the balcony ( which had some lovely curved spaces in its design too. I love quilts that have circles and use batiks, so this quilt was my favorite in the show. The person used some gorgeous batik fabrics. This quilt was hung in a corner spot that was a sea of color - Since I am a huge fan of color I really enjoyed this particular area of the show.

There is some cool variations of Bento box patterns and the one on the right was a design like that. I wish our camera could really capture the rich colors of some of these quilts. They were so pretty and the colors quite vibrant.
Caryl Bryer Fallert has created some amazing designs and this wallhanging is one of her patterns. If you look at the folds you can see one side is a bright color and the other side black. The quilter did a fabulous job on their interpretation of the pattern.

Some of the ladies in the group decided to have a 9 patch exchange and then created a challenge with it. There were some really interesting ways they used the blocks that they had traded with each other. The photo shows a design variation that was really appealing to me, because of the color gradations and the on point arrangement. It made me want to get out my scrap box and start quilting.
Here is a view from another direction on the balcony. One of my favorite kinds of patterns are quilts that use star fabrics and star blocks. Isn't the funky star quilt fun? I think the star fabrics in some of these quilts are glorious. The quilts on the balcony had been shown in some previous shows and remain stunning. They have the show every two years and I certainly will look forward to seeing their show again. Thank you ladies for a grand afternoon of beautiful quilts that were inspiring to me. We had such a nice time looking at the quilts. There were also some interesting bags, tablerunners and clothing. There was over 100 pieces to view and to touch, if you wore the white gloves:D One person had created a laptop bag and another had made a table runner with cording shaped in a spiral design to add texture to it.

There were a few vendors that had some patterns and fabric for sale. I did a buy one piece of fabric with blue poinsettias on it. It was a great price and how can one resist a piece of fabric with poinsettias!!

When we left the show we journeyed on to my parents in Red Deer where we stayed over night. It was lovely to have dinner with them and then spend some time catching up with one another. I was particularly glad to spend time with my dad to celebrate Father's Day. We went out to breakfast and had some more family time before heading home in the early evening.
My mother and sister found this wonderful quilted heart picture that they gifted to me.
It says:Mothers are like quilts, lives pieced together, stitched with smiles and tears, bound with love and memories that last throughout the years. They thought that I would love it and they were right- I especially like the hand painted matting that was made just for me. A friend of the family's is a marvelous painter and she added the very pretty floral border on it. I still haven't decided where I am going to hang it, but probably it will go up in my sewing area.

I received some very pretty thimbles in the mail this past week from Australia.
Naomi sent me a set of wonderful decorative thimbles (7) that had belonged to her mother. They are all so pretty and I think every quilter's area should have some quilting decorations in them. I plan to display them in my quilt room too. Thank you so much for your generous gift Naomi.

Hope you enjoyed the little quilt tour-

Some areas south of me are struggling with flooding just now. We will hope that the sun comes out soon.

Happy summer to all my northern counterparts. I hope that winter's arrival in the south is not too chilly.

Warmest regards,
Anna

Life is a trip .....

This trip around the world pattern is from Bonnie K Hunter. Bonnie is a wonderful quilter who has a number of free patterns on her website. She also has written two books and is currently working on another one. Do check out her website.. My version of her trip around the world is at the top of the list to be quilted. I hope to get it quilted this weekend. Pedal to the metal...

June is a month that flies by when you are a teacher- at least here in Western Canada. This is the last month of school for my kindergarten students. To say that this particular year end is full, is an understatement. My teaching partner and I had been teaching in the gym for the past eight weeks while they gave our classrooms a face lift ( perhaps it should have been me that they gave one too as well LOL) Together we had 48 students in the gym. It was a busy happening place every day. On Monday we moved back to our own classrooms. We are now busy trying to sort our way through the sea of boxes and unpacking the materials into new cupboards and a new floor space. One thing that you learn is how much stuff you collect over the years- some of it good and other items that is a multiple that you will never ever use up!!! In between the sorting, we are still trying to teach our students- School finishes on June 29.. This past weekend I finished writing report cards( still need to edit) and got started on some other paperwork.... You got to love June :)

The last couple of weeks since I posted have been filled with some social things too. My son's girlfriend Rose, had a birthday so we went out to dinner to celebrate..
We also took a trip to the Art Gallery to have a last look at La Petite Danser. It was a terrific exhibition and we are looking forward to seeing the new one that is coming in the summer that has Looney Tunes cartoons as well as MC Escher. My husband is a big fan of Escher - His perspective drawings are fascinating - pictures that use tessellations or optical illusions that have no beginning and no end.

I have often thought about making a tessellation quilt- Jinny Beyer has a wonderful book about them that I have borrowed a number of times from our local public library. Do you have a list of quilts that you think about making? One of the things I find about the blogs, is that there are so many wonderful quilters making amazing quilts out there. My list keeps growing with new techniques and patterns- now if I could just put that inspiration into creating some new quilts! Summer time is coming very soon...

Thanks to all of you who visited during the Virtual Blogging festival. I received so many lovely comments on my bargello quilt- It really is a fun technique and there are some stunning bargello designs out there. I have only worked my way through about half of the quilts but I know that Amy leaves the link open so you can still visit the quilt show long after the posting of new quilts stops. Just click on the button on the top right hand side of my blog.
Amy is giving away one of those Go cutters with three die cutters - They look pretty amazing and a few of my blogging friends have been blogging about them. Go and visit Amy's blog - you might just win the cutter..

Now I will finish with a few other giveaways that are out there just now:
Michele is a new quilt blog to me and it is always fun to discover a new blog.
Melinda has the most beautiful hand made necklace she is giving away- As well she is has some other lovely things that she is parting with..I really enjoy seeing all her use of vintage items combined with some new things. Go quickly she soon will draw her name..
Jane is having a week long giveaway with new items every day- There are some lovely fabrics to admire and perhaps win- Take a chance and stop by..
Christine of Once upon a quilt is giving away a quilt top she bought off Ebay.. She is celebrating 200 followers what a nice accomplishment Christine- She has a lovely blog and etsy shop..
Riel is a fellow Canadian with a fun and fancy giveaway

and last but not least my friend Rosa is giving away some Chunkettes.. Rosa makes me laugh- she has the greatest sayings.. She and husband Gilbert have just bought a longarm quilting machine- She is from Eastern Canada- from the province in New Brunswick
Go and Check out the Chunkettes...

Until next time, happy creating..
Regards,
Anna