This is June isn't it?

June is for weddings and this quilt was made for our niece Nicole and her husband last year. This quilt was the first quilt I posted when I began blogging last fall. The quilt pattern is from a book called " Strip Easy" by Christiane Meunier. The pattern is called "One World Over". I tried very hard to get the spiral to work out in the middle, but my colors were not exactly right. It is a queen sized quilt and I chose fabrics that were jungle like as Nicole really liked those fabrics.

On Saturday evening, Bruce and I were invited to a barbecue. The food was delicious and the company very pleasant, but, man was it chilly!! Everyone had a jacket and some people had brought gloves. It snowed down south of us and in the mountain areas.. Did I say that this was June?
We keep hopeing that spring/summer will arrive here in Alberta but so far Mother Nature has been playing some cool tricks on us.

I have spent the day working on report cards- I have another week before they are due and I am about half done. It takes me awhile to organize the assessments and write individual comments.

This second quilt belongs to my niece Sarah and her husband. It was a wedding gift that I made for them, when they were married in 2005. It is a variation of a spiderweb quilt. It is interesting to see the difference that it makes when you use the same background versus making it scrappy. I will show another spider web next time, that is a scrappy variation.


On a sad note, our friends lost their beautiful daughter Vanessa,to breast cancer. She was loved dearly by all who knew her, and our hearts go out to our friends at this difficult time.

This week our son,K took a friend to British Columbia on a road trip. I am sure that they are having a grand time. It is his first long driving trip ( 12 hours driving one way). We are learning to adjust to having an adult son - we will still be happy when he returns safe and sound on Tuesday.

Dusty, the dog, got herself groomed this week. She has gone from mottley, to sleek and soft. Dusty will be gorgeous until she finds something to roll in wants to stick her beak into something she wants to have for a snack. Pets do keep life interesting don't they?

I got a chance yesterday to go off with my friend Lou. We went and explored some of our favorite quilt shops and bought a bit of fabric. I was looking for a quilt backing for the Trip around the world quilt. The best part always is that I got to enjoy some time with my dear friend.
Besides fabric, I picked up the newest Quilt Sampler magazine.
Do you have a favorite magazine or source for quilt patterns What about a favorite website? favorite quilt pattern book?

I was noticing on Connecting Threads website some of their new books that are on sale are actually some older books that are classics. If you are looking for books- I have found Connecting Threads to be a good source.

Now I need to go visit another dear friend- my pillow. June always brings interesting busy days..

Be well,
Regards,
Anna

Starry Starry Night

Its a starry night outside; a crisp and cool evening that is part of autumn in Alberta. I finally managed to download some of the photos of the last wedding quilt that I made this summer for friends of my husband. Like Bruce, they are amateur astronomers who enjoy the beauty and wonders of the celestial universe. This quilt is a coin quilt that has 50 different star fabrics in it. It is a simple design as I wanted to showcase the beautiful fabrics- it worked pretty well don't you think? I had been collecting star fabrics for awhile but,I also was the benefactor of some generous friends, who shared some other star fabrics with me so that there could be lots of variety in the strips. The strips are separated by rows of bars that have a faint star boxy braid down them. I chose to make it faint so it did not distract from the bands of stars. It is a large couch quilt meant for the happy couple to wrap around themselves and enjoy the night sky. The back fabric of the quilt looks like a big star field that you would see in a telescope or binoculars.

Like most of my other quilts, it has a handwritten label on it.It has the names of the recipients as well as the reason it was given to them. I usually name my quilts- this one I called STARRY STARRY NIGHT because of all the star fabrics, and because I love Vincent Van Gogh. It seemed to be the perfect name for a quilt given to a couple of starry eyed lovers.

Do you put labels on your quilts? The only ones of mine that don't have labels are the ones that I keep for our house- someday I will put labels on them too. The labels are handwritten that identify me as the maker and include the year that I made the quilt. I also have a journal of photographs that record my quilting journey but I am falling far behind in recording the information about the more recent quilts.

I am now beginning to look at other star patterns - perhaps I will make a new star quilt. There are so many star patterns to choose from that it will be hard to pick only one. I have made two lonestar quilts to share but that is for another post...

I hope that you are enjoying a starry night with loved ones.
Happy quilting,
Anna

I am overwhelmed!!!

Thanks so much for all your kind words and the warm welcome to Blogland. I hope that you will continue to want to stop by for a visit. I will post when I can... Life as a teacher is a steady stream of upcoming events and I have learned after 30 years to plan ahead- at least some of the time. VBG

Making a quilt is sometimes like that( needing it for a specific purpose) and other times the quilt just gets to evolve on its own time. The last few years, I have been busy making quilts for people that are important to us. I think that quilts are gifts given from your creative soul, and I remember struggling to part with the first ones that I gave away. I often would worry about whether it was something that the person would enjoy and find pleasure from, when they were wrapped up in the quilt. I wondered whether they would like the colors and pattern, and if it would suit their decor. Now,after parting with many quilts, I am learning to let it go and give them without some of that angst. Once they are given they no longer belong to me. I have made them with love and found pleasure in the creative process (at least most of the time). Has anyone else struggled with this dilemma?

Today's quilt was my second wedding quilt of the summer. It is owned by another lovely niece and her new husband who loved the color blue. As someone who loves color I did not want to just use blue (even though there are many beautiful shades of blue). When we gave it to them I hoped they would love it even though it was colorful and fortunately they did (see there still is abit of angst in giving). The pattern is a pattern called "Paperweight" by Aardvark Patterns, Kansas. It is similar to a spiderweb pattern.(I need to give credit to the creator of the pattern- I hope this is the right way.)

I have just begun two quilts - this September is indeed a time of new beginnings. For the first time in a long time, I am making quilts that I want to make just because- Right now they have no particular destination yet. One is a Winding Ways Quilt that is made from batiks. I hope it will be a beauty, as I so love batiks. The other one is the Wonky Tiles pattern from Mary - scraps from a stash blogspot. Right now they are just a pile of cut up pieces and some blocks. I have been collecting fabric for quite awhile, and like many other quilters, am amassing quite a stash. Both of the fall quilts are made from the stash- Maybe I could become a stashbuster! Nah I love collecting fabric too much..LOL

Soon I hope to add a list of blogs that I have enjoyed reading and figure out how to leave a link to other blogs in my post.
Until next time,
Regards from Western Canada,
Anna