A Golden Celebration.....

I just checked the date of my last post.. Wowser it has been awhile - much longer than I intended.... Life just has been on warp speed I guess.. Since I last wrote I finished this quilt for my aunt and uncle's 50th wedding anniversary. Their two daughters and families hosted an afternoon party for them in the community hall in their farming community yesterday. Bruce and I spent a very nice Father's Day celebrating this special occasion.

I wasn't sure if I was going to get the quilt finished as their anniversary was in the middle of my report card writing season. However with three days to go I put my pedal to the metal..On Thursday I spray basted the queen sized quilt after I finished the final read of the report cards. On Friday night I made the binding and on Saturday I free motion quilted it and bound it. I finished the last stitching of the label as we drove towards their farm on Sunday around lunch time.... Nothing like pushing it to the last minute...VBG
I think that they will enjoy it and I was very happy to give it to two special people in my life..

I auditioned a few border fabrics before I found one that worked for me. The winning border choice was strong enough to hold it without being too floral or busy... I named the quilt "Golden Ways". The pattern is from Bonnie K. Hunter's quiltville website and she calls it "Twisted Strips." The scrap quilt has lots of different memory fabrics in it- some that come from the beginning of my quilting journey.


Now I must apologize to two lovely ladies who sent me two wonderful prizes just before the mail strike happened here in Canada.(There is some talk of the post office being legislated back to work this week)
I want to give a big thank you to Kelly from Bluebird Sews blog. She sent me these very fun Red and black fabrics. I love them and am sure that I will find a project to use these terrific paisley and print fabrics. She also included a nifty pin cushion and little pouch that she made. Thank you so much Kelly.. Do go and visit her blog- I know that you will enjoy reading her posts.

Nina Lise is a lovely Norwegian lady who sent me a wonderful handmade wallhanging along with some beautiful blue fabrics. I love the little panel that she also included. Nina Lise is a quilt pattern designer too and does some very interesting art quilt pieces. Do check out her link.
My mother is of Swedish descent but she has connections to some lovely Norwegian ladies so I know my mom is going to love seeing the special things that Nina Lise sent in her parcel. Thank you so very much.


Summer solstice is tomorrow and school will finish next week for summer break. It will be nice to slow down a little and get a few things done around our home. The summer will bring change as our son and his girlfriend are moving to Charlottetown PEI which is on the eastern coast of Canada in early August. There will be much to do before then including some new quilt projects to complete.

Last weekend a quilting friend Carolyn
ventured out to a the local guild quilt show. It was a wonderful show with a very nice sized market mall. We found a few treasures to bring home to add to the stash. I look forward to more adventures with Carolyn.
With summer here another dear friend ,Lou will come back from her home in Calgary to a lake house close by. I am sure that we will also have some fun quilting adventures too. Time with some good friends is a special part of my summer vacation.
I will leave you with two photos of two important men in my life. I was very happy to have the opportunity to spend time with my dad yesterday. Here is the sight I came upon as we arrived at my parent's home after the party.

When I think of my father, the images in my mind usually include ones of him with my mom or with his dog,Tammy(or both). My dad loves to garden.. It was nice to spend time with him on Father's Day.

This is the other man in my life- my spouse, Bruce of 30 years. Here he is with his great niece Anni.
I hope that both men know how much I love them and treasure the gifts they bring to my life. Belated Happy Father's Day!
Next time - perhaps I will have a new quilt on the go or other quilty things to share.
Warmest regards,
Anna

Spring has sprung - the dandelions doth rise...

Our grass is growing and so are the dandelions right now- they are a bloody nuisance that I will be very happy to be rid of... Dandelions do have a pretty yellow flower - not as gorgeous as these yellow sunflowers that are currently residing on my table. My school children often like to bring in bundles of them from the school field. Perhaps I should bring them to my house as field trip and we can pick my backyard clean..

June is just around the corner and I am trying to keep up with things at home and school.. At present I feel just a little overwhelmed by it all..Good thing that I have some nice sunflowers to admire- they do make me smile...


Recently, I made a list of school things to do and then started to feel my blood pressure grow- I stopped to take a deep breath.... Does that ever happen to you- everything is happening at once and your not sure where to begin or what is the most important thing to get done first...
However, this weekend I tackled two kinds of reports that needed to be completed so that feels like progress...

This lovely collection of things come from a blogging friend's giveaway that I won last month. Terry of Aviya Glass sent me this gorgeous handmade pendant along with this collection of beading pieces ( two black hearts, a double glass heart pendant and some more toggles to bead with)It was a treasure trove of lovely things. Thank you ever so much Terry- you do beautiful work!


A couple of weekends ago I went to a quilt retreat and started working on this quilt. It is now a queen sized body (121 blocks worth) and I have the borders fabrics chosen. Ideally I would like to get it spray basted and quilted in the next couple of weeks but I am not too hopeful. I wish that I had magical powers to do it all, but right now the report cards have to come before my quilts.. The pattern of this quilt" Twisted Strips" is from Bonnie Hunter's website. She has a number of free patterns on her site. As well, she has published three books. Do check out quiltville if you are not familiar with her website- She has a great blog- hers was one of the first blogs I ever read. She spends a lot of her time these days traveling the United States, to share her talents and love of quilting with others.

You may remember me talking about making some baby wraps. Here are two that I have completed. The one above was given to one of my colleagues at work who had a beautiful little boy in late February. We had the baby shower last Thursday.

These two beauties are our niece Beth and her daughter Anni. They were here visiting a couple of weeks ago and I was able to see Anni all wrapped up in it.

There is lots going on in blogland these days -Quilters do have big hearts and are busy trying to help all those who find themselves affected by the natural disaster in Joplin.
Judy Laquidara of Patchwork times is raffling a quilt for donations to the Red Cross for the Joplin Tornado victims. Mary is also having her own raffle quilt to raise money for Joplin folk. Do check out these ladies sites and help out if you can.
In my home province of Alberta, there were some terrible wild fires at Slave Lake which decimated the area. Over 400 people lost their homes. The Red Cross is accepting donations to help these families. One of our local quilt stores Sew Divine accepted quilts as well, but I do not know if they are still accepting them or not.

Summer is coming and there will be time for other things. In the meantime, I best get back to the reports and the dandelions- not sure which are causing me the most stress right now.....
Warmest regards,
Anna

Amy's Blogger Festival May 2011

Bargello is one of my favorite techniques. This quilt is called the Long and Winding Road and the pattern was in a magazine called "The Quilter" around 2003. I love how the design moves across the face of the quilt. This quilt is a queen sized quilt that is machine pieced and machine quilted. I usually meander quilt my quilts and these bargello quilts are no exception. I have a very nice Babylock quilting machine that is one size bigger than the standard domestic sewing machine. The bigger aperture and extended table gives enough space to quilt even a large quilt.

Often when I am choosing the fabrics for a quilt I have a difficult time limiting my choice to one color variation. I liked this design so much that I made two versions- The pink version is owned by my sister in law and the blue was used to help in a fund raiser for my son's Boy Scouts group. So which do you like the better - pink or blue? I still can't decide- Pink???
Blue?????


Recently my husband Bruce, was writing an article for an astronomical journal- He used this Long and Winding road quilt to illustrate the slight variations of an Eclipse Saros cycle. The length of the 18 year cycle is slightly variable,stretching in some places and compressing in others.

There are so many beautiful bargello designs- Some designers you might want to check out include Chris Timmins of Australia who has some marvelous Twisted Bargello patterns and Derek Lockwood of the USA. Derek's patterns are gorgeous too- I have not made any of his yet but, I do own a couple of his wonderful creations.
Another designer is Heidi K. Farmer, who designed an absolutely stunning Bargello heart pattern that I made as a wedding gift for a dear friend a few years ago.

Amy of Amy's Creative side is hosting her Spring Blogger's Festival. There are many stunning quilts to view and interesting quilt stories to read.
I hope you enjoyed reading about bargello quilts and will return again.
Enjoy the Festival
Regards,
Anna

Happy Mother's Day - Life is busy these day.....

Happy Mother's Day to all who are the caregivers in a family- some of you might be both mother and father, others might be grandmothers or aunties, that provide hearth and home to your loved ones. Whatever name you go by, I honor and celebrate the things that you do for the children around the world to provide them safe loving homes.

Here is a picture of my mother and me taken last fall. For those of you who read my blog regularly, you will know that my life has been rich with the love of some very special women. I do not know if I can describe my mother in words. She is the most kind and thoughtful person I know - generous with her time, and giving to all that come within her sphere. One could not wish for a better role model or a more loving Mom.
I'm sorry I have been away so long from my blog- I don't know where April went- well I do sort of (quilting, working visiting friends,catching up on some reading and family), April just seemed to have melted away like the snow on my front lawn. I am happy to say that the spring flowers are beginning to bloom and the snow has finally disappeared. Bruce brought home these beautiful little tea roses(I think that is what they are called). In the background, you can see my father's quilt- I have made more progress on it.
I laid the quilt on our bed to check and make sure that it will fit my folks bed- Wahoo its a fit(even Dusty the dog approves). Now to get the quilt pressed and spray basted so that I can quilt it!

Here is a close up of the borders that I added- I did not have enough of the original green so I added a different green and brown border to the outside but I am quite happy with the way it looks. One of my blog commenters, Needlewings suggested that I quilt some trees in the border. This fabric would be a good background for such a quilting design. I hope to finish it for Father's Day, but we shall see- I have a few projects going on right now- One thing is for sure is that before summer's end, I plan to have it completed.
In this photo you can see a better view of the additional borders- the light brown one has bears all over it, so it is very fun, and works so nicely with the central motif. I am not sure how I am going to bind it, as I do not have any of the green left- but I do have more brown bears or I may make a combined binding of the different fabrics in the quilt. I try to have the binding made ahead a time.

I have been busy quilting this past month and I did get 6 baby wraps made(5 of the 6 are actually quilted too) One of our nieces had a baby a couple of weeks ago, and so did a friend at work - Now they need to be bound. I want to get them off to the babies before the babies are too large and the blanket no longer useful.

These bindings are all bias bindings because of the curves on the baby wraps-It sometimes is a bit tricky to get enough binding out of the meter of fabric that matches the fabric in the quilt. I have made lots of these baby wraps over the past 25 years. When I first made them, I tied them and they had lace or eyelet around the outside. Now I use minkee on the inside of the quilt, so it is hard to quilt without puckers if you envelop sew them together(you sew them with the right sides together and then pull them through the space left before you quilt). I think they stay better by being meander quilted together. I like how soft they feel with the minkee. The shape works great in a baby's car seat.

Above you see a collection of 2.5 inch strips. I am taking a workshop next weekend and the quilt requires 2.5 inch strips.(84 DARK AND 84 LIGHT for a queen size quilt) I made all these strips just out of the scrap box- no new yardage. It feels like a found quilt when you do that.
I may cut one large piece of yardage of lights because I always have more color in my collection than I have neutrals.
Today I need to get some of these strips put together into the strip unit. I am not able to go to the workshop on Friday as some former staff members and I, are off to help a colleague celebrate her retirement.
For the last few weeks, I have had a few social things going on- A colleague had a Pampered Chef party (fancy cooking tools). It was fun- the food was delicious and there were lots of interesting tools for making cooking easier- a pineapple corer, apple wedger, a mango peeler, shredders, cutters etc. My sister in law gave us some Pampered chef stoneware pieces a few years ago now. They are quite lovely to use though I find them heavy now. I am not really into cooking but I can see how having the right tools makes it easier- just like quilting. Do you have a favorite quilting tool?
I have been reading other blogs and commenting this month- I won a very nice giveaway from Terry of Aviya Glass. She is a beautiful bead maker and I got to choose which piece I might want. Making such a decision was not easy I can tell you. When it arrives I will post a photo.
A picture of Mom and me taken recently(not long after I had a haircut_ LOL)

Happy Mother's Day Mom- I love you!

This spring has been a busy one- hopefully I will return next weekend after the workshop to show you how I progressed with the strips. We are off to the art gallery this afternoon and then I plan to quilt. Plans sometimes get changed though. I hope that you get a chance to spend some time with loved ones. Happy Mother's Day one and all!
Warmest regards,
Anna

It's still not finished...the Journey Continues...

When I posted last I was still struggling with how to put together the body of animal panel quilt for my father's 80th Birthday.. Well its not finished and dad's birthday came and went last week ( more about that shortly) but here we are having a look at the quilt in its current state...( The miniature Collie is my parent's pride and joy- her name is Tammy and she is a lovely dog.)I could have chosen different animal panels for my dad- horses and dogs would have been equally appropriate as the ones that I chose.

My dad is a real outdoors man. He has been a hunter and fisherman all of his life. I can remember him teaching me about the names of some of the birds like pheasants, and ptarmigan. I did not find either of those birds in panels, but there are some beautiful eagles on it. Each fall he and some friends would go hunting for wild game and we ate deer, elk and moose in the winter time that they brought home to fill the freezer. Summer time was spent camping in the west country in tents. The Alberta Rockies are absolutely stunning. The vistas glorious and the lakes a gorgeous green. I was pleased to find that mountain background for his quilt.
When I think of camping in the mountains, I think of clear cold water, the occasional surprise snow storm and my dad bringing home some trout to cook.
There is nothing better than fresh brook trout cooked in butter in a cast iron frying pan over a fire.. Yummy it makes my mouth water just thinking about it...



My father was quite pleased with the quilt even without the quilting. After some discussion it was decided that my parents would like it for a bed quilt rather than a couch throw or something to hang on their wall. I now need to add some more borders for it to fit their queen sized bed. Its current size is about 75 inches X 72 inches so its a bit tricky. I think that I will add some more of the rusty brown next followed by a larger border of the brown bears. The first three borders are about 7 inches in total so I don't want to overwhelm the quilt with a really wide border of bears. I am sure that there is a rule of proportion but I am guessing that the second bear border should not be wider than 5 inches. I don't have anymore of the olive greenish fabric but it would be possible to order a little more from Connecting Threads.LOL I do have enough of the bear fabric that I could bind it with it.

Here I thought that the top was complete- oh well its lots closer than the last posted photo- Do you remember that I was not sure how to put it together last time?- well instead of cutting the background into strips, I machine appliqued the panels onto the background. The panels were all different sizes and I couldn't figure out a simpler way to insert the panels. I think this way worked best- no Y seams and perfect measurements to try and get it inset where I wanted it.

Last Saturday we had a large coffee party in a hall to recognize my parent's birthdays( my mothers' birthday is next Monday). It was a lovely afternoon with food, friends and family.. Over 100 people stopped by to share in the celebration. We were all pretty tired in the end but it was well worth the effort. I saw some family friends from long ago - people that were part of my childhood and well into my teenage years. It was a little like time traveling back to another time and place. It was very nice to see so many family friends and relatives. My parents said it was a great day which was what my siblings and I had hoped.

And on other fronts- I finally got the Winter village taken down and some Spring decorations put up. It made things feel more spring like inside the house and the outside is beginning to be more spring like too.

At school my kids are enjoying the warmer weather but, oh it is so hard to resist those puddles.

Here are the current flowers that grace our spring table. Bruce brought home some beautiful asteromeria that have opened up beautifully.

In recent years, My friends have often brought me things that related to quilting. They bring me things or comment about how seeing something in their travels makes them think of me and my passion for quilting.

A work friend was recently in New York City and saw a card for the wonderful red and white show that was held at the end of March. She knew I would have loved to see the show and she was right. I remember reading about this unique show on some of the blog posts. What was striking were the photos, for they showed the original way that they hung those gorgeous red and white quilts. All of the 650 quilts in the show were from a private collector named Joanna S. Rose. What a marvelous sight it must have been and how inspiring it would have been to stand under and look up at the various quilts. It was such a nice thing for my work friend to do- to bring me a memento of the show and to think of me in her travels.


Life is a bit full these days- I am trying to get some baby wraps made for some babies that are coming soon or have just arrived. I am also trying to keep on top of the work - before we know it, it will be time to start preparing for year end. I also have some other people who I would like to make quilts for - this year has a number of special occasions for family members- special anniversaries and birthdays. These special days are markers of life- ways that we celebrate and honor the gifts of our loved ones. It is sometimes a challenge to balance the time in all the areas of one's life.

I know there are some giveaways happening but I haven't had much time to blog/ read blogs these days. I hope to get around to visit some blogs soon.
Thanks for stopping by - I always appreciate your comments.
Until next time,
Be well and Happy quilting,
Warmest regards,
Anna

A Seed of an Idea.....

Is it possible spring is coming... The sunshine broke through late this afternoon- Bruce and I noticed some blue sky while we were having an early dinner. You cannot imagine how nice it was, to see some blue sky after weeks of gray. Could it possibly mean that Springtime is beginning... oh please we do so hope so.. In the meantime, here are some lovely tulips that are gracing my table just now...We will be delighted when our own daffodils and tulips poke their heads up through the ground outside.
Perhaps you remember Bruce and I going to a small quilt show in Wetaskwin last summer. One of the quilt kits there was a panel quilt that caught my eye. I looked at the price and decided that I wouldn't buy the kit. Over the summer and into the fall, I kept remembering the panel quilt and sometimes regretted not buying it.

You see my father is having a birthday- a special birthday as he is turning 80 years old in April. He has always been a man of the outdoors- a hunter and a fisherman and I thought he would enjoy being wrapped up with nature on a cool day.

I started to collect panels from various places. I collected ideas from quilt magazines and catalogues for possible lay out designs. And I collected fabrics. Then I got stuck...
Until I saw this pattern kit in a catalogue a couple of weeks ago which gave me an idea for a possible layout of the panels. After some reflection, I decided against making a pieced border. I cut out some of the panels into squares after I pressed them all. What do you think that I would do next- leave them for a couple of weeks to age (of course- don't you know that all fabric has an aging time LOL)

This is where I am now- I have a great piece of background fabric of mountains that I want to lay the blocks on- I am not quite sure which way to cut it. I have pinned the blocks onto the whole fabric and can't decide whether to cut it across horizontally or should I cut it vertically ....

I have not designed my own quilt before - at least not with out having a central design. Do I make a map and measure each block?? I am not sure that is going to work because some of the panels are not straight and that is especially true of the central bear panel.


Mars, the cat came out to help me a little while ago- she stirred up the blocks with her paws and checked out whether the carpet could help her sharpen her claws. She wandered away when she knew she had my attention. I am not sure what it is about quilts and cats but Mars certainly comes to make her presence known when I am making a quilt...

Dusty the dog figured she could help me out too... LOL...
I am not sure about the tan/ blue piece of batik- I still have more of the background picture that I can cut into parts to fill in the spaces where the carpet is currently showing through..

At present I think, I will border it with a smaller strip of the brown (it has imprints of bears on it) and then frame it with the green to make is look like a forest. There is a large piece of green so I am going to use it on the back of the quilt. I expect it will end up about a twin sized throw quilt but we shall see...
There has been some interest in blogland to show one's process- here is my convoluted journey...If anyone has any suggestions about which way to cut it or do I just cut strips - I do know I want to have some parts of the background where the panel squares are currently pinned. Any suggestions would be gratefully appreciated..

This week is spring break so I am on vacation. I am on a bit of time crunch with this quilt so I would like to get the quilt done in the next two weeks but we shall see... First I need to get it into a top - the quilting will not be elaborate- probably free motion with some outlining around some of the animals.

Hope that all is well with you and yours. Happy creating...
Warmest regards,
Anna

Some quilting influences., inspiration ... and Life...

Its the middle of March and today is Pi day- so I thought you might want to enjoy a yummy piece of pie while you stopped by to visit. Mathematical equations and patterns are a particular interest of my husband's- So here is to a little PI today!

The middle of March always makes me stop and remember some loved ones who have passed from this life. Today would have been my grandfather's 101 birthday(it is also our nephew's birthday). My grandfather was born to Swedish immigrants in 1910. He saw many changes over his lifetime. I miss my grandfather's dry sense of humor, his deep voice that I am reminded of when I hear the character,Eeyore speak in the stories of Winnie the Pooh, and his love of farm, music and family. Most of all, I miss his stories..


Tomorrow is the Ides of March and a day of remembrance for my husband and his siblings. Their beloved brother David was taken from them in 1975 in a car accident. He was just 22 years old. I made this photo quilt for my in laws around 2003 to celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary and wanted to include David as part of the photo grouping. He is in the middle at the top of the wall hanging. I know that my in- laws loved that quilt and were glad that all their children were in it, including David. ( Mars the cat is sitting on our pictures).

I know that it has been awhile since I posted - Life at home has been busy. Our son, Kevin, his girlfriend Rose and their cats have been getting set up in our basement. They have made some wonderful changes to the space and everyone is getting used to our new arrangement. The main floor of the house still needs some work to find spaces for some things and the tossing of other things. I was remarking to a friend that my life has been full of de-junking spaces both at home and at school( last year with our school renovation). This is not without stress for me, as,I am by nature, a collector of things. However,one lesson that I have learned is to stop and think before I add more stuff to my spaces( except for fabric and childrens' books LOL) Now if I could only be more organized- I am working on it but it does not come naturally..

March is also the time of year when I complete the second term report cards and updating of my at risk kids programming. So now you know why I have disappeared from my blog writing for a short time...

I don't have much new quilty to show you. I did give away the other BQ quilt to a special lady - she has had some health issues and I wanted her to have a quilt to wrap herself in -just like a warm hug on the days she was feeling under the weather.

I also made some cafe type curtains for the basement windows. I have one more of them to make to complete the ones for the downstair's space, but I may make one for the laundry area and my husband's little office area too.

Did I tell you that we went to the art gallery to the opening of the Emily Carr and Haida show? The opening was so packed (there must have been over 1000 people)that we did not try to get into her exhibit but we are going back this week to hear a lecture about Haida art. We will go and look at her exhibit then as well. My dear friend Val and I went to see Carr's work in Calgary a few Christmases ago. It was fantastic and I am thrilled to get an opportunity to see some her works again.

A friend from work brought me a gift from a quilt store she had been in Jasper. It was a lovely bag with one of Ricky Tims Rhapsody quilts on it. I am a big fan of his work and did a week course one summer a few years ago that used his designs.
I have really enjoyed exploring his Convergence patterns and have made a number of them as throw quilts. The beginning convergence quilt I made was just a small wall hanging and I wondered why I couldn't turn it into a throw size quilt. As you can see from the photos below, that is exactly what I did.
I do like the way the colors meshed in this convergence- the owner is a big fan of green and purple and the fabrics are all batiks....


This " Kool Kaleidoscope pattern is now a book by Ricky. It is fairly large wall hanging or table topper and easier than some other Kaleidoscope designs. His book is well done and has some good visuals should you want to make one of your own Kaleidoscope quilts.

This Chantelle flower is a free form flower that was easy to do. We played with the borders to make it asymmetrical. I am not an art quilter - that is, I like making functional pieces for using in day to day life. Sometimes its fun just to play with the fabric- perhaps one day I will do something with some of the crazy quilting strips I have created. Or another snippet? or another Kaleidoscope?

Two other convergences for you - one that is red and white and black all over..

This one is more subtle- I don't think that the photo does this quilt justice- I loved the soothing color combination - Did you know that red can be soothing???

So who are your influences- do you like particular designers ? Kaffe Fassett? Valori Wells? Ricky Tims? Freddy Moran and Gwen Marston? The women of Gee Bend? These are a few of mine.. I am inspired by their use of color and lines...What inspires you???

And now for some blogging friends who are having giveaways:

Sherri of'A quilting Life" has a great book called Art Quilt Collection by Linda Seward. It is a very nice book and great to look at for inspiration..
the material girls are giving away some great fabric- go quickly they will draw on the 16th.
Liz of Quilterie is giving away a Kaffe Fassett book called Quilt Romance- Its a very nice book indeed.

Carolyn of Veggie Hunter- she's a local quilter that I am looking forward to meeting sometime soon) has a few more giveaways for you to check out as well as one of her own.

Susan
in Texas is having a wonderful fabric giveaway for her 3rd blog anniversary. She has a very nice blog that I am going to add to my blog list. So many blogs not enough time...

Thanks for staying with me ... I hope you will go and check out Tanya of Taniwa blog. She is a terrific lady(a fantastic quilter too) who lives in Nikko Japan. Her story is reflective and she shares what it is like living in Japan just now.. My heart goes out to all those areas who are struggling with the after effects of floods and earthquakes.

We have had a couple of beautiful days here in Alberta- Do I dare say that maybe we might have spring....

Thanks for stopping by- I promise to come back sooner. I hope you will too.
Regards,
Anna