Where to begin.....

Gran of Knotty Embroidery lady sent me this fantastic giveaway prize in the mail that arrived last Friday. In it, was this beautiful Sunflower fall panel( and as you all know by now, I am crazy about Sunflowers)
Gran also posted some pictures of her lovely giveaway prize on a recent blog post. You can check it out by clicking on her name. Thank you Gran for choosing me- How lucky can a lady be...

For all you fans of GoTO the squirrel, friend Rosa sent me this very funny post of another squirrel. It is very funny-- and the squirrel is amazingly adorable!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8108297.stm

My mailbox has continued to have other lovely things that included this pattern from Kellie of " Don't Look Now" is the brilliant designer of these patterns from Australia. I also received this lovely pattern from of Toni of the Red Boot Co. Isn't it a great children's quilt pattern. She also is a pattern designer from the land down under. A very big Thank You goes out to both of these talented ladies. If you click on their names you will be able to visit their wonderful blogs too.

Last weekend, my friend Lou and I got a chance to go out together. We often go east of our city but this time we decided to head west to one of our surrounding communities called Stony Plain. They have two quilt stores in their little town- I bought a few bits and pieces to add to the stash. As always, I enjoyed a pleasant afternoon with a very dear friend.

At one of the shops,though, there was a set of tables like a flea market. I came home with some great thrift finds- some beautiful floral tiles, some dishes like ones my gran had that are carnival glass, a ruler box, a set of 5 fabric sunflowers in a reproduction can, a gorgeous primitive doll in her chair an and a great green club chair...
I love floral tiles and these ones have a space so that one can hang them as a set of four on the wall.
Isn't the doll beautiful? Don't you love her hankerchief dress? I love her primitive face!

I remember having the reproduction tins in our kitchen at home - they were the blue version of this particular can which she also had, but had just sold it before I chose the sunflowers container that I wanted. The ladies' prices were very reasonable and I came home with things that brought back a flood of memories of my childhood. As for the chair, it looks great in our living room.

On the quilty front, I have a baby wrap waiting to be quilted..
I have made many many of these baby wraps - this one is for a friend of my son's who has just had a baby... Hopefully this weekend, I will get to it- When I first made this design I tied them, but now I machine quilt them and use minkee or fleece on the inside. They work great inside car seats or when babies are first playing on the floor.

Some of you were wondering about some of the patterns that I mentioned in my previous blog. Here are the two patterns that other people chose to make in this fall's class.

However here is my project: I will continue to make more flags and form half hexagons
to form the diamonds. VBS Hopefully, I will figure out how this design works.

Pat at Silver Thimble Talk is having a giveaway- go quickly and check it out..
She posed the question of "When did you begin quilting?"

I thought I had a clear answer to her question but when I thought about it, I have been quilting for a lot longer than I realized. My quilting experiences first began when I was about 18 and I met a friend whose grandmother taught her to quilt. We made "Dresden Plate" pieces with cardboard templates and used scissors to cut them out. After that, I made baby wraps, panel vests and bags with quilted fabrics. I took a few classes to learn how to seminole piece and make "Cathedral Windows" Christmas ornaments. In 1987, I made my first big quilt - a" Log Cabin Quilt in a Day"Pattern by Eleanor Burns. It took me about a year to complete- I used a double layer of polyester batting and wrestled its queen sized bulkiness in my regular domestic machine. That quilt still exists though it is quite tattered now.
I recently bought a new book " Not your grandmother's Log Cabin" by Sara Nephew and Marci Baker. It is a lovely book with lots of gorgeous stars by making a diamond log cabin block.



My current passion for quilting began in 1996 when I started to quilted regularly. I have made over 50 bed sized quilts since that time- I continue to enjoy exploring different techniques and designs. What about your quilting journey? When did you begin to quilt?

Fall has been warm here in Alberta and the leaves are starting to turn.. My little ones continue to keep me busy and life is a bit hectic these days.

Hope all is well with you and yours.

Be well,
Warmest regards,

Anna

And the work begins....

Progress- Waa Hoo! I have made some slow and steady work towards completing this quilt- On Sunday, I was able to get this Wonky Rail Ties all quilted. I am very pleased with the results- even though it is a large king sized quilt, I managed to quilt it all in one fell swoop. It is a great feeling to have it quilted and was wonderful to get in the groove and have it quilt up so quickly. Don't you love it, when you get on a real roll and everything works up perfectly. I used about 15 bobbins of thread to meander it. I hope to trim it this weekend and get some binding made up for it.

Life in September revolves around the routines of school and getting back into the rhythm of being a working person.

At school, we had our annual corn roast for our families yesterday and it was nice to meet some of the families I had not met before and get re-acquainted with others. The corn was sweet Taber corn and delicious to eat.

It was nice to meet with some quilting friends and begin our class on Monday night.
Some of the others were making two new patterns, "Endless Stars" and a scrap quilt that can be found in the recent "Fast Quilts" magazine.
However, I have decided to work on a quilt called "The Hollow Cubes". This quilt will keep me busy for many months. I started this quilt about 5 years ago. I have many many triangles cut, and the quilt resembles a large group of flags- they now need to get joined together to form half hexagons. It is a Challenging pattern and I have had a great deal of difficulty getting my head around the design. It is the primary reason that it has remained a UFO.
In general, I have few projects that remain UFO's. Over a year, I may have as many as half a dozen quilts on the go, but I like to finish all of them up before beginning more projects. I have been stymied by this pattern so far.. Hope springs eternal so maybe this time I will finally figure it out. The fabrics are beautiful batiks - I would really like to see it completed.

My mailbox continues to have some pleasant surprises for me. I received a wonderful package from Heather Mulder Peterson It is a 4 Moda Charm Packs and a whole series of patterns of Heather's designs that use charm packs. They are scrumptious looking and it will be hard to choose which of Heather's designs to make first.

Thank you so much Heather for the wonderful gift- it is a real treasure trove that I will enjoy exploring and creating with your lovely materials.

My friend Rosa send me gifties from her surprise giveaway. She sent me some lovely " I SPY" squares and a coffee card from a Canadian company called Tim Horton's. Tim's is famous across Canada. Rosa you are a real gem- Thanks so much for your lovely thoughtful gestures.

The gumtree designers are a fantastic group of Australian women who are having some giveaways. Do check them out - They are all wonderfully creative and do such beautiful work...

Caroline of the Contented Quilter is having two giveaways. I hope that you will use the link and check out her lovely blog.

Gypsy Lulu is a new blog to me but she also is having a nice giveaway for you to check out -- especially if you love jewellery(which I do) I love baubles of all descriptions and probably would make a good magpie bird(though I am not mean like they can be, to other animals.)

And if you are interested in making something with Jellyrolls,well, you may want to check out Sarah at the Missouri table blog who is having a jelly roll giveaway this week- I have never used a jelly roll but I am sure one can make something beautiful with them.

Many of you enjoyed the antics of "GOTO" the Squirrel. He continues to entertain one and all at the observatory on the weekends. Our weather has been unseasonably warm so he is going to have more time to collect those nuts to "squirrel away" his bare necessities for winter. LOL

Time to cut out paper doll shapes for a school project for my students where they show me "How many people live in their house".. My students and I are getting to know one another by singing and dancing and reading our favorite stories. Each day is full of interesting things - I love looking at the world through my kindergarten children's eyes-hopeful, honest and often humorous... Today one of them was looking for a shortcut across our room- not sure he found one, but he went looking anyway..There is always something to make us laugh...

Happy fall to one and all...

Regards,

Anna

Life is sometimes a bit squirrelly..

I thought I would introduce you to a furry friend of my husband's. He is a squirrel named GoTo and acts like the landlord of the local observatory where my husband Bruce works. Fortunately his rent is peanuts and he welcomes all visitors. GoTo has a lovely tent and a picnic table with a telescope.
He often likes to show off his prowess with the telescope- I wonder if he likes to see the craters on the moon- perhaps GoTo thinks it is one large peanut that is just out of his grasp??

Life has indeed been hectic - it is the same each fall when I return to the classroom- I have not had much opportunity to post this past week. I continue to have some problems with my own lap top but managed to take some new photos to show you of the slasher quilt. You can see that I have added some additional borders to it and I am much happier with it, than the original version before I had added all the leaf fabrics to it.
I have ordered some die- cut leaves from Keepsake Quilting to scatter across the quilt randomly. I had some silk ones to try out the idea and I think it will be like leaves blowing across it. I am not sure when I will get a chance to get back to finishing it up.

I did get two of my quilts spray basted last week before I returned to work.Unfortunately I had miscalculated the backing for the third so I will try and spray baste it soon. Bruce took photos of that process of preparing the quilt for quilting. Perhaps, it will be part of an upcoming post. In the meant time, the trip around the world and the Wonky tiles are both waiting for me to quilt them. Recently, it was just too hot to sit under the quilts and quilt up in the eaves of our house last weekend.

It has been unseasonably hot here the past week- about 30 degrees Celsius. Our classroom is sweltering with 26 little four and five years present. They are entertaining group as always- At one point, one little one came up to me and said " My dad rode a cow" so I asked:"then what happened ?" She answered " He got buck -ded off". She said it so straight faced, it was hard not to burst out laughing...
I can see we need to learn the difference between cows and bulls :0) but she obviously had been to the rodeo over the summer. There is always some story to make me giggle each day.. We are beginning to learn the routines like how we walk down the hall and where to find the bathroom...I sometimes forget how much my students have learned over the school year until September comes and we begin again...and how tired I am by the end of the day -Bedtime is early these days..

Yesterday, we went to honor a younger woman's life,Vanessa, who lost her battle with breast cancer in June. People came to reminisce, comfort, laugh and cry together. She was 40 years old and well loved by all who knew her- we grieve for the loss of her presence and zest for life. One of the powerful lessons that came from the evening was the importance of living in the present. While she could not change the fact she had cancer,Vanessa never let cancer define who she was or how she lived her life. Today is where one should live - not the yesterday we can't change or the tomorrow that has yet not come.. Vanessa's legacy left me contemplating the importance of living with presence in the present...

My mailbox has been blessed with some lovely things that I won from other quilter's giveaways.
Julie of "Me and my Possibilities blog sent me these wonderful patterns when she gave away 45 patterns from her giveaway. I love Pieces of the Heart patterns and the hat one looks very fun. Thank you so much Julie, all the patterns are wonderful and I hope that I will get a chance to create some more lovely quilts with your patterns.
Natima from Not Just Nat sent me a fantastic handmade journal- It has sunflower binding and is beautifully hand quilted. I love the log cabin pattern and it is some very pretty pink fabrics in it. Look at the pretty button and the beautiful crazy quilting needlework that Natima did on it. I shall treasure it always Natima- She also included a wonderful magazine for making bags- there are some wonderful designs in the magazine- my list is going ever so long :0) Thank you so very much Nat..
And lastly some special things from my blog friend Rosa sent me a fabric postcard (I had not received a fabric postcard before), some maple leaf candies and some fat quarters. Rosa knew how much I loved floral fabrics and I was so pleased to see florals with black backgrounds. She is one thoughtful lady- sending me happy positive thoughts regularly. You are so kind Rosa - Thank you for your kindness and special treats.
This weekend I received word from Kellie that
I won a pattern from her beautiful blog "Don't Look Now". My fellow blogger, Thimbleanna won Kellie's beautiful quilt. Kellie is a wonderful designer who has some beautiful patterns on her blog for sale. Do go and visit her very pretty blog.

I have truly been spoiled by other bloggers this summer- I am thinking how I will return others generosity --- we shall see....

In the meantime, I am getting into the swing of school and fall activities. I am determined to make some inroads on a quilt that I began about 5 years ago. It is called " Hollow Cubes" and it has been hanging around long enough. One needs to strive for balance and I am notoriously bad at it. Perhaps this fall is a new beginning...

Until next time, be well..Happy Quilting
Warmest regards,
Anna

Progress ....

Kaleidoscope completed in the late spring of 2009. I am a big fan of Ricky Timms and this Kaleidoscope was made using his technique. It was fun to make- not as complicated as it looks and you get the most fantastic designs with it. I would love to make another one but other patterns beckon too..

I have been trying to post for the last few days but my computer woes continue on my own computer and the photos that I took to update my August progress disappeared. So now I have retaken the photos (I damaged the large photo chip as well:O( Finally, I can show you some pictures of the borders on the quilts.

Over the summer I hoped to get a star quilt made,and a star wallhanging finished.(You can see the completed quilts in a recent post)

When August came, I decided to get in on Kim's challenge. I finished the star pieces and then planned to get three other larger quilt tops to the(flimsie stage)completed.


Winding Ways with the 3 added borders.

. The trip around the world couch quilt- It is the second version of this quilt and is a completed flimsie.
Here is the 99 blocked king sized wonky tiles with its framed blue border...

I have met these goals and still have a few days to spare... Wahooo!!
The only problem now is, that I made new goals and have added to the list.VBG Now I want to quilt these three quilts and get some baby quilts made too...

Oh and there is also the slasher quilt to consider... and how many days are left until I am back teaching...... Five .... my list may need some modification as I have other things that are planned as well to do before I go back to my classroom on Monday... Too many plans and not enough time HMMMMMMM

Thanks to all of you who responded to the slasher question- I received lots of interesting ideas and suggestions as to how I might change my quilt. Many of you thought I could applique something on the background while others encouraged me to try out slashing. Here is what I have done so far.
In the end, I wasn't brave enough to be a true slasher though I did cut across the middle block. I chose to stay with the straight lines. My next step will be to add another small green stop border and then will frame it with the framed black leaf fabric. I am taking it one step at a time and seeing how I like the additions- I did contemplate adding a piece of black leaves going either vertical and diagonal across the horizontal added leaves. When I tried laying it in those directions it didn't seem to add anything to the quilt.
I may still applique some floating leaves across the green and red pieces. It is an ever changing project and I am not finished yet- I guess it is my WIP...

Now my other news this week- I have been a very fortunate lady this summer and been declared the winner in some giveaways.
Last week I received a pattern from Toni called Woodstock. She is from Australia and makes very fun patterns. It is a lovely flowered pattern and she has another very cute pattern giveaway with Bears. It is a wonderful children's pattern- if you love bears you are going to want to enter to win this pattern.

Natima chose my name and I was the fortunate winner of a handmade journal and magazine from Australia. I love handmade things that others have made- it is a special thing to do for someone else.

Rosa, a fellow Canadian from the east coast chose my name in her surprise giveaway. She has sent me questions about my likes/dislikes and has put my name up in lights. I have never had my name up in lights on a sunflower billboard- I am honored to win her giveaway. Rosa has a very fun blog and is a keen quilter. Do check it out..

Then if this was not overwhelming enough, I was given some patterns from Julie who gave away 45 patterns to a number of quilters. It was a sweet thing to do Julie. I know that all the quilters are going to enjoy using your patterns.

By now I am totally gobsmacked by these gifts and my blog friend Gran emails me and tells me that I won her giveaway- fair and square. It is some wonderful 30's fabrics and fall fabrics.Gran is a beautiful embroiderer and has recently started her own website.

A very big Thank you to all of you for your generosity and kindness. I am more than a little embarassed by all these wins- Perhaps I should go out and buy a lottery ticket...

Now I want to let you know about some great giveaways happening in blogland- There are a large number of them just now... You just never know what might happen- you could win some very cool things and meet some wonderful new blog friends.

Kellie has made a beautiful tree quilt. She is a pattern designer and has created a quilt that she is giving away The tree quilt is exquisite and beautifully quilted. Do check it out!!!

sweet treats Is a blog that Rosa introduced on her blog- The sweets and treats are so yummy looking....

Elaine is having a civil war fabric giveaway. Do you like civil war fabrics? She has a really great blog too.

Lurline has some gorgeous Regency fabrics that are reproductions from the mid 1800's> The fabrics are such interesting colors- not your typical ones from that time period.

Khris is a doll maker and she is having a giveaway of an Annie doll. One of the things she has asked the people entering her giveaway is to send postcards from where they live.

Sheree is having a big giveaway of lots of interesting fabric and quilter's tools. It is really lovely prize for someone.

Heather is a wonderful pattern designer who is giving away a quilt. It is truly stunning to look at. Do go and check out her beautiful giveaway.

Kim continues to clean out her sewing area and has been parting with some fabrics,patterns and books. Kim has encouraged others to take part in her challenge. She has finished some lovely pieces and celebrates the accomplishments of others. I know you will find her blog an entertaining read.

Thank you to one and all for your generosity- it is a testament to the kindness and thoughtfulness of the quilters out in blogland.

I had a wonderful visit from my aunt Jan on Tuesday. She brought me a wonderful vase with sweetpeas in it, that had belonged to my grandmother. She also gave me a large photo of my great grandparents on their wedding day. We shared a day of laughter and memories of things gone by. She and my mother are great collectors of family photos and stories and are the genealogy afficiandos.

Genealogy is like a big jigsaw puzzle- the more things you find out - the more questions you start to ask- Do you have other hobbies that you enjoy exploring besides quilting?

Today I am off to lunch with a dear friend. I will go and do some work at school in the morning - the last days of summer vacation promise to be full. Thursday I will go and spray baste my quilts together so that I can begin quilting them. I also hope to get some baby wraps cut out so that I can get them quilted. I may have to make a quilt time schedule so I can continue to be productive in the quilting department. Some quilters set aside an hour a day to quilt- perhaps that will be my fall goal. A girl needs to play as well as work - balance between the two is a neverending challenge. How do you find enough time to quilt?

Wishing you good health and good times as the seasons change.
Happy quilting,
Warmest regards,
Anna

Would you slash it... or can this quilt be saved??

I have been playing with a few ideas as to how to improve this red and green quilt-
Some ways that have come to mind are to take it apart in places and add some leaf fabric in the main body( sorry, I have no new photos to add today) or just add the leaf outside border and then applique some leaves across the body of the quilt.( I did look at Christmas fabric for it but I only have one alternative that I didn't like as well as the leaf fabric.)

Then a blog friend Robyn from Daisy Quilt suggested another alternative- I could slash it..(Click on Robyn's name and you will find out more about slashing quilts)

Now I am not sure I have it in me to slash one of my quilts, but I am considering it... It is certainly out of my comfort zone but not an impossible alternative... Hmmmmmmm

My wonky tiles quilt has grown into its king sized form- it has gone from 48 to 99 blocks and now has the borders on it( I may add one more two inch border yet) and then the top will be finished.

I went and got backing for the "Wonky Tiles" other day- You need a lot of fabric for the back (about 9 meters). I don't usually buy 9 meters of fabric and our local Fabricland(sort of like Joanne's)had a 50% off sale so I found what I was looking for backing. I will be spray basting it one day later this week once I get the borders on a couple of other quilts so that I can do it all at once.

And now for some blogs who are hosting Giveaways:

Vicki at Feline and Fibre Art is having a 100 giveaway post. She has posed some interesting questions to think about - One of the things I love about Vicki's blog is her cats - She has an orange cat just like we do. What is it about Cats and quilts? They sure do love them!!!

Rosa is a new blogger to me but she is having an interesting giveaway too... I will be visiting her blog again.

Julie is celebrating her 500th post and giving away some patterns. Go and check them out. I have been reading her blog for quite a long time and enjoy her quotes and posts. I hope she will write many more blog posts.

gran is a wonderful needlewoman who enjoys cooking and embroider. Gran has a terrific giveaway and has only recently started her website. She will draw a name in the middle of the week so you need to go there quickly. She is one talented lady...

I am sure that there are other giveaways out there - there seems to be a great number of them going on just now. Some people are clearing their collections of patterns and fabric or offering up some special things that have collected for a giveaway. Many are celebrating blogspot milestones. They are all a talented group of quilters who are sharing their love of quilting with others. Thank you for your generosity and passion ladies- it inspires us all.

The August challenge goes on- I have the borders chosen for the Winding Ways quilt and will look for ones for the The trip around the World and then there is the Slasher Quilt LOL.. Maybe I could turn it into a Halloween Quilt LOL

Hope you all are making progress on your August finishes..

Our mail brings some interesting things these days. I received a lovely package from my blog friend Michelle who had hosted a giveaway. It is a wonderful wallhanging kit that has some applique in it. I will try and make it up to show you all. Do go and visit her blog- She is lovely lady who is expecting a baby soon. She lives in my neighboring province- home of the Cyprus Hills.

Speaking of Cyprus Hills, my spouse returns this evening and the time is rushing towards fall- soon I will switch from quilting to teaching my little children. My kindergarteners will be excited and full of wonderful ideas and they will change the rhythm of my life from quiet to hectic and busy but we will have lots of fun together singing and learning new things ... Such is the ebb and flow of life as a primary teacher...

Until next time- Happy Quilting,

Warmest Regards,
Anna

Seeing Stars...A Couple of August Finishes

Starlight Star bright, first star I see tonight, I wish I may, I wish I might. have the wish I wish tonight.
Last night Bruce and I went to see if we could see the Perseid Meteor Shower-unfortunately we were pretty well clouded out - we did see a couple of bright ones but mostly all we viewed was a moon that kept being wrapped in fluffy clouds and a llama who watched us from a nearby fenced in area. The night was warm and the skies not very cooperative but the conversation and time together made it a worth while adventure-

Bruce's Starlight Starbright quilt was made using a pattern called "Autumn Evening" from a book called Creative Scraps- Quilting with Bits and Pieces. The wonky stars set on point seem to float across the night sky- at least that was my intent. It was fun to collect star fabrics though..

Starlight, Starbright is a queen sized quilt that has 32 liberated stars that are set on point. I made this quilt for my husband, Bruce who is a man of the stars- his passion is astronomy and this year is the "International Year of Astronomy". He is headed today to Cyprus Hills,Saskatchewan with a friend to attend the Astronomical Society's Annual general meeting and star party.
Cyprus Hills is a really interesting part of the prairies. In my home province, Alberta, we have an area called Drumheller. It is the land of the Hoo Doos- You drive along and suddenly you will find yourself overlooking a crest of these strange grooved formations. They look like tall chef's hats with strata. The interesting topography is a tourist draw but I read recently where they are beginning to barricade a few parts and limit traffic because of damage and erosion created by the large number of visitors. Cyprus Hills is farther east and south in Saskatchewan but it reminds me of Drumheller. Drumheller was the land of the dinosaurs and there were many great finds of dinosaur bones there. There is a world renowned dinosaur museum there called "The Tyrell Museum".
The second piece
is a small piece for me- about 30 inches square or so. It is a wallhanging made from some leftover blocks of a star quilt that I made for a friend of Bruce's. I love how the center red blocks form a new star. The quilts are both labelled and will be shown as part of a display at the meeting and star party.

So I have two finishes for August so far. On my sewing table, I have completed another 40 some blocks to add to the Wonky tiles quilt. I need to turn it into a king sized quilt for its intended owners.

Do you know how big a king sized quilt actually measures???? My blog friend Pam's reply was BIG and she sure has got that right- ( Do check out her blog she is in the midst of some major renovations that are making her house gorgeous)

When I posed the king sized bed measurement question I received a number of different suggestions for the actual measurement- the largest size is 130 x 130 inches or 120 X ???. I am told it depends on the width of the mattress and how much length you want and whether you want a pillow tuck... There seems to be a number of different variables to consider..
However this girl is determined that it shall be finished so quilt on I must LOL..

This week I received a lovely package from Ryan. I wish you could smell the wonderful fragrance that comes from the sunflower candle- it is a beautiful scent. He enclosed some terrific 30's fat quarters that I am collecting to make a 30's quilt. I still haven't decided on a pattern but the collection is growing.VBS
Thank you Ryan for your generosity- your pretty package with fat quarters, pink buttons, thread and sunflower candle are very much appreciated.

A lovely lady named Toni from the land down under wrote me to say that I won a pattern from a giveaway on her blog. Thank you Toni - perhaps I should buy a lottery ticket :O) I have been very fortunate to win some very nice giveaways. Thank you


Here is what I fondly refer to as the garish quilt- I may have found a solution by using a leaf fabric - I am still debating whether to cut the quilt a part to add sections of the leaf fabric and incorporate it into the body of it. For sure I am going to use the leaf print on the outside of the quilt. Currently, I find the center too strong for most of the fabrics that I auditioned. I have no idea what I thought I was doing when I put these colors together. If the leaves don't work then perhaps I will have to think of it as my fugly quilt -

Everyone needs one of those don't they?

Originally, I had planned to make the optical illusion quilt using red and black. I started by cutting the red fabric only to find that I did not have quite enough of it. I was a little nonplussed because I don't usually run out of a specific fabric. I was not too hopeful of finding it as it is an older fabric but when my friend L. and I went out for a quilt store day, I was successful. So I can now finish another Illusion Quilt and perhaps it will work out...

After I finish the wonky tiles quilt the next projects on my list will be to add the borders of the Winding Ways Quilt and to the mate of the Trip around the world quilt.
Kim has posted some of the other people's projects and giveaways on her blog for the August Challenge. You can find Kim here. Finishing projects is indeed very satisfying...

How are your projects coming along?

Thank you for all your comments about last week's post. It is always nice to hear from other bloggers and to look at new and old blogs. I have tried to comment back on most of your blogs. I do hope that you will come and visit again.

The summer vacation is disappearing and so am I for now..

Happy quilting,

Warmest Regards,
Anna

August is Quilting Time and an Invitation.....

I have been busy quilting this past week- I looked at the calendar and realized half my summer has passed and while I have enjoyed resting, relaxing and puttering along in July the time is ticking and I want to finish up some projects. I have been trying to get my quilting Mojo going by cleaning up the sewing room, fondling the stash fabric and arranging the projects that I have partially finished. Along the way I keep getting distracted by the blogs and whatever else that caught my interest.

However this week my blog friend, Kim has issued an August invitation to do a few things- The first thing that Kim encouraged others to do is to finish up some unfinished projects commonly known as UFO's. A second part is to get rid of some patterns or fabric that you are no longer using or see yourself using (KIm is hosting a giveaway of some patterns that she, herself is giving away to others- she has four combinations that you may choose from for a draw and the third is to work from your stash. You can sign up to join Kim's August invitation and she will add your name to her list on her side bar.

Well I didn't have to think very long before I decided that Kim had an inspired idea. Personally I am going to focus on using fabric from my stash and finish up as many as half a dozen projects that I have on the go right now. I have not yet decided about a giveaway. Right now I am focusing on completing my 6 projects using my stash. This is a pattern from Mary who has a set of instructions on her blog to make this Wonky RWB(she made her's red/white/blue)rails. I intend to enlarge the quilt in the photograph and make it into a kingsize quilt. I already have a large number of blocks made- it is a gift for some good friends so I best get moving on it.
Mary has a really lovely blog and a number of nice patterns that have excellent instructions - Do check out her blog.
Finally,here is a picture of the batik "Winding ways" or sometimes it is called "The Wheel of Mystery". I used the Marti Michell pattern for the design. I have the borders to put on it. I even have them chosen- sometimes just getting started is the hardest part once you get stalled out. These two projects were started last fall and I want them off my plate before school starts.

However, the very first project I must finish is the star quilt- I have it ready to quilt so that will be completed this week. There is also have a small star wall hanging that I want to complete for Bruce to take for a display in Cyprus Hills when he goes in the middle of August. So here is the base group of my August UFO's that I plan to complete - I have a couple of other quilts that I would like to finish too so at present there is my list of six projects.
Think I can do it? I hope so....

I have been reading lots of blogs from my blog list - The posts reflect the breadth of emotions of life. Some people have experienced the joy of a new home and new family members; while others struggle with grief and sorrow at the loss of dear friends and loved ones. Still others are dealing with complicated health issues- One hopes for those of you going through these challenges and sadness that life will bring some brightness to comfort and help you through those difficult times.

The weather continues to raise havoc in different parts of the country- On the weekend we had a terrible storm in a town about 50 miles from here called Camrose. There was a large Country Music Festival and the wind blew so hard that it caused the stage to collapse. One woman lost her life and many more were injured- such a terrible tragedy for everyone involved.

On the weekend I attended a quilt retreat. We made this pattern - it is an optical illusion quilt

illusion quilt

I really liked how my friend's quilts came out - the jury is out on mine - I haven't yet decided whether I was color blind when I chose the colors or that I just don't have a good feel for two color quilts. I haven't photographed it yet- scared what might happen to the camera LOL I have auditioned a few fabrics for the borders but the challenge is to find the balance between the strong center colors and the border...It may just end up being the ugliest quilt I have ever made...

What do you do when you are not sure whether the quilt works ?
Do you try to selvage it or give it up as a bad idea?
Decisions, decisions...


While my quilt remains a design question there is a giveaway at Marie Madeleine's studio for an absolutely scrumptious looking quilt do check it out.
You can find it here:

Grab Our Button!



And Elaine is having a stimulus giveaway- do go and check out her blog- you'll be glad you did!

Have a great week and Happy quilting-

Regards,
Anna