Blogger Festival May 2012

In the beginning, I had an idea that I would like to use two sets of layer cakes to create a quilt for a very special young lady fondly known as E. She is my god daughter and was celebrating a significant birthday. Unfortunately the quilt took a little longer than I planned, so for the day of her birthday she received only the top completed. The pattern is a ten minute block by Suzanne McNeill. The blocks do go together quite quickly. If you google the ten minute block, you will find an excellent set of instructions on You tube by the designer.

Mars the cat often likes to check out my quilts and this quilt was no different. She fits so cosily in one part of the circle shaped sections. The pattern looks more complex than it was to make. It is a very neat technique.

Here we are ( E and I) wrapped up in her completed quilt a few months later. I was very happy with the border fabric that I found in my stash. The border fabric was also part of the center of each of the blocks and was also a batik fabric. One of the biggest challenges was quilting it. Each block is around 20 inches in measurement so that meant there was large areas to be quilted. I have done a fair amount of free motion quilting but I had not done designs that were specific in shape.

The quilt measures about a large double sized quilt. Here it is laying on a queen sized bed so you can see it covers the top but does not have much drop around the ends of the bed. There is another quilt under E.'s quilt.

This close up shows the detailed flowers that I created in each of the quarter blocks. My original idea was to use a variegated thread but I had significant trouble with thread breakage. I tried different needles and adjusting my tension but I could not find a way to create the free motion flowers so I went back to using invisible thread. The machine and I then started to get along. I am quite pleased with my first attempt at a stylized free motion design. I did not stencil the design in- I just drew it with the machine needle and thread so the individual flowers are not exactly the same..

Link to blog festival I have enjoyed participating in Amy's Blogging Festival in the past. If you click on the gadget on the right hand top of the page it will link you with the rest of the festival. I hope that you will get a chance to visit the many quilts in this virtual show. There are always spectacular quilts to be seen and enjoyed. I know that I come away feeling inspired by the many talented quilters from around the globe. Thanks for dropping by.. Warmest regards from Western Canada, Anna

Reflections about Mothers...

Spring has brought spring flowers and more...Tomorrow is Mother's Day. Bruce brought home these beautiful pink tulips earlier this week. We have enjoyed the two shades of pink flowers. The petals are dropping off the tulips, but now there are other fresh flowers gracing our table. They arrived this morning from our son and his girl. Mother's Day is special to me for it was on a Mother's Day weekend twenty five years ago that I knew for sure, I was going to have a child. It remained our secret for some weeks more, but I remember that first feeling of wonder at the prospect of becoming a mother.

This is my first big quilt- I completed this log cabin quilt( pattern sunshine and shadow layout of Eleanor Burns quilt in a day log cabin) when I was pregnant with Kevin. Ubnfortunately, the quilt is in sorry condition now- the victim of former pets and family wear. Here Kevin and our dog Tigger were together, when they were both bright and new.. He is about two months old in this photo- don't you love his running shoe booties??? Even then, he had lots of dark hair.. The first quilt I gave away was this black, red and white Double Irish chain quilt(made around 2000). It belongs to my parents and graces the bed in one of the guest bedrooms of their home. My mother called it my art nouveau quilt because of its vivid colors. It has a rich floral border.

My mother is a woman of great kindness- She is the most thoughtful person I know -always doing something for others. Like her mother, she can be counted on to help others, to listen and to support those in need. To her, it is not the big things in life that matter most- it is all those caring touches that she can do to make others feel important and loved. She has been a wonderful role model in my life. This picture of us together hangs over my desk at school- it always makes me smile. Sometimes, all I have to do is look at that photo to feel her love and her strength from afar. I know how fortunate I am to still have her in my life.I love you Mom- Happy Mother's Day!

Over the years, many of my quilts have had mates- this second double Irish chain quilt belonged to my mother in law- It has beautiful birds in the border fabric- My inlaws were great lovers of the natural world and often enjoyed watching the birds that are part of our local habitat. My mother in law enjoyed creating things- We have two of her paintings. She also enjoyed working with fabric and made quilts for her older grand children. She was a gifted lady who I feel fortunate to be able to have had as a treasured friend as well as my mother in law. To me she remains Mum...

Fast forward 25 years later - This photo was taken when Kevin and Roseanne visited in March. How did that beautiful little boy grow up into this handsome young man? We had such fun when they visited . We so miss his laughter and enthusiasm about life though we feel fortunate to talk to him on Skype frequently. Kevin has just completed his first year at technical college. Bruce and I are proud of him and love him very much. I knew that I always wanted to have children but he has brought more to our lives than I ever thought possible- mostly joy- sometimes aggravation(LOL) but never a dull moment. Each and every day, I recognize that I was given a great gift on the day that he was born.

Kevin and his fiancee Rose have recently bought a house. I am sure that they are going to be very happy in their new home. Kevin has always been fascinated with building and working with his hands. Rose loves to design interiors so their home will be lovely with many special touches.

Speaking of special touches - these beautiful flowers came today- They have many of my very favorite flowers- lilies, roses, carnations,and hyacinths. They came with a loving note from them both and are brightening our dining room table. Anyone want a cup of tea? They had sent the teapot to me earlier in the month- they know how much I love a cup of tea- especially Chai tea! Thank you dear children for your loving gift - it is as treasured as is your love and thoughtfulness...

women in art

I hope this link will work- a while back someone sent it to me - it is a wonderful slide show of women in art- 500 years of women's portraits shown to a beautiful piece of classical music- The link will also show you all the portraits and the artists who created them... And just a small new project to share... This photo is a little project that I completed this evening- it is a bit late- I should have completed it last week, as it was a birthday gift for a blogging friend. It is a signature block- we hope that Ms. D. will enjoy all the blocks that she received and be able to wrap herself in a beautiful quilt hug..

We had a Mother's Day Tea at school on Friday for all of our Mothers, grandmothers, aunties... It was a lovely afternoon where my students shared some songs, dances and a snack with the special women in their lives. My kids made paper flowers and drew pictures about their moms. We also did a drawing of Mom for a card. When I was helping at bus time, I saw some older students with vases, covered with tissue paper squares. Kevin made me one of those vases when he was in kindergarten. I still have it - It, too, is a treasured gift.. Wishing one and all a special Mother's Day.. May it be a day that you are reminded of the gifts of Motherhood. Long ago a dear aunt said to me" when you have a child it is like throwing a rock in the lake-- the ripples go on forever".. I think that is so true.. May you also know that your love continues to expand like the ripples in the lake.. With warmest regards, Anna

The Colors of Spring...

Don't you love color? I recently received this box of yarn that I had ordered from Herrschenner's in the post. I loved looking at all the beautiful color combinations.I plan to knit them all into scarves to give away as gifts. They are fun and quick to knit. It is astonishing to me that the lacy ribbon yarn turns into this twisted frilly looking scarves. I wonder how someone could figure out something so clever!

I have finally got the blocks of the two lattice quilts together. The one shown here has 12 blocks in it. The second one is larger and both of them will be gifts for someone special. The second one has 20 blocks and both need stop borders and larger borders.

Here are a couple of border possibilities. I like the lattice look of the plainer brown but can't decide if it is too flat looking. I am leaning to use the red as a stop border but I do have other choices: like this gold that is sparkly, or a bright yellow, or deep green. It is sometimes hard to balance the central body of the quilt with the borders. I want the borders to hold the body of the quilt without overpowering it. I am still pondering...

Last weekend I finished up these baby wraps. The top photo shows what it looks like when the clover leaf wrap is opened flat. The wrap works great in car seats and strollers.

I love the fun fabrics you can find these days to use to make baby things. The inside of the wraps is minkee, terry or stretch velour. Minkee is my first choice but I only buy it when its on sale as it costs about 25 dollars a meter.

Here is my current scarf- I am not sure that I am going to give this one away. I love the purple and blue combination of yarns- If you could create a yarn what colors would you like to put together- I find these ones so soothing....

From the vaults: To Celebrate Mothers It soon will be Mother's Day. My mother and father have a few of my quilts but I wanted to share a quilt that I made for my Mother in Law Betty. Betty (aka as Mum) has been part of my life since 1979, when my husband and I began our life together. She was always warm and loving, and a woman of many talents. She enjoyed baking bread and doing crossword puzzles. She could play a great game of scrabble. I remember one winter that she took an English class at university, because is was something that she always wanted to do, and achieved the highest mark possible. She built a loving home for her 5 children and was welcoming to all who passed through their door. We spent many happy weekends sharing meals, watching shows on television, going to the occasional movie and concert, and listening to classical music. After my father in law had a stroke, it was harder for him to get around and they retired to the West Coast. We missed their presence in our lives, as their new home was 1000 miles away from where we live. As she got older, Betty found it more difficult to remember things. As time passed, it became apparent that she was experiencing serious memory loss. It was later determined that she had developed Alzheimer's, and could no longer manage independently. I wanted to make her a quilt that would brighten her room and so I created this medallion quilt. My husband took it to her in the fall of 2007.She loved soft colors, and I thought that she would enjoy this butter yellow colored medallion quilt with the matching border.

This is a doll sized version made to match her quilt. Don't you love the prairie points on it? I know that the babies look sweet all wrapped up in the coverlet.

Spring has indeed arrived here in Alberta. Things are beginning to green up and my forget me nots are blooming. I will soon have daffodils and tulips showing their beautiful faces in the front flower beds. Until next time,be well. Warmest regards, Anna

Spring adventures....

These are not really spring time flowers but are something different for our table. This was an orchid stem that has not thrived in our home. We weren't sure why but perhaps because it was too drafty or the stem got too much water. It was a pretty thing but did not have much fragrance. I am looking forward to having daffodils and tulips blooming in the flower beds before too long. They are among my favorite flowers of all. There is something about spring flowers after the drab of winter. We have had a couple of snowstorms earlier this month, but the snow has all melted away, and it is beginning to green up outside. This past weekend was beautiful and warm. It was a pleasant weekend- I went off with my dear friend Lou to visit some local quilt shops. We had a lovely time together and added a few more pieces to the stash. It is hard for me to resist batiks, and one of the shops had just added a number of them to their clearance area.

I have not done much beading lately but I was given a little project for some students at school. For the past 10 years our school has held an Aboriginal History Quiz. The Quiz is for our division II students(grades 3-6).The quiz is played in a Jeopardy game format, where the student has a buzzer to hit. The first student to answer the question correctly, gets the points. These beads were donated as a prize. I was able to create a number of bracelets with them, for prizes. The beads are paper beads that have been shellacked to prevent damage,should they get wet. The children came be fitted for their individual wrists,after they were awarded them. It was fun to work with some different kinds of beads besides glass or wood.

The knitting continues - the scarves knit up quickly and I have just one more to finish before I run out of this ribbon yarn. I have had difficulty finding the yarn locally but was able to find some on line for a much better price. I am trying to get some made up for Christmas gifts. I am not sure which one I like the best!

Recently I have received some wonderful gifts in the mail. I participated in a spring blog hop and won two sets of fat quarters and this beautiful handmade pincushion from Wanda of Needlewings blog. She made some cathedral window pincushions - Isn't it pretty! Kris of Lavendar Quilts sent me these fabulous autumn fat quarters, I think that would make a wonderful fall table runner, don't you? Kelli of Seriously.. I think it needs stitches and the fat quarter shop gave some very fun kid's fat quarters - it would make a great baby quilt or wrap..Some days I do wonder, how I got so lucky! All three of these ladies have very nice blogs- do go visit them by clicking on their names. They are doing some terrific things on their blogs... Thank you so much ladies for hosting some fabulous giveaways and sharing your talents. Blogland is a richer for the sharing of your talents...

I have not done much quilting lately ( first I was sick with a head cold, then I was busy knitting and beading LOL) I have got the four baby wraps quilted and their bindings completed. Now I just need to get them bound and they will be ready for the next new babies..

Speaking of babies- this orange baby ( well really Mars is a senior cat) went for a little adventure last week. She decided that she might like to check out the outside world( she is an indoor cat) one evening last week, when my husband went outside to check the night sky. When we could not find her the next morning and the following day, we were terrified at what might have happened to her. We searched all her favorite hiding spots and she still could not be found. We created posters and visited the local Humane Society to see if she had been turned in. The next evening came and still no sign of her. By then, we were beginning to lose hope of finding her safe. However, this story does have a happy ending- Our son suggested that we put her food out on the back deck and Bruce noticed that some of her Whiskas was gone. We called and no response. Just before I left for work the second morning, Mars appeared with her tail in the air at the back door. To say we were overjoyed and relieved is an understatement. It has been almost a week since her return and she seems her normal self. We found her asleep on these raggedy Ann and Andy dolls a couple of times. This evening we are watching the Alberta Provincial Election. There is the expectation of change this election something that has not happened in 40 + years. Hockey and politics have filled the TV screen the past couple of weeks. Until next time, be well dear friends, Warmest regards, Anna

Spring brings some new projects..

On this Easter afternoon, the sun is shining outside, and these purple carnations brighten our table. I have been busy with some projects this weekend- making my rotary cutter work extra hard, or at least hard enough, that it will soon be time to replace the blade in it. My new square(16.5 X 16.5 inches) was perfect for squaring my blocks for the lattice quilt. I was lucky enough to find the ruler on sale half price this weekend at Fabricland. The square was perfect,and made the trimming quite easy. The blocks are ready to be joined together into a top. I still have to find the right fabrics for the borders but I have a few choices now.

This pile of fabric and batting will soon be 4 more baby wraps. Mars, our cat, loves to shred the batting if she can, so I have to make sure that it is well hidden from her, or I have chunks torn out of the batting. This time it was more challenging to make the baby wraps as I had to piece some of the batting and the minkee and minkee like material, in order to make the wraps. I used pieces of leftover batting from larger quilts for inside the baby wraps.

I have a couple of colleagues and friends that are expecting babies soon. It is easier to just cut a bunch of the baby wraps out all at once. I will spray baste them and then quilt them on my smaller Elna's Quilter's Dream machine.

I have cut the matching binding as well, so that I have everything all ready to go- I will sew the bindings together and press them, so that I will be able to apply them, when they are quilted . I am a little concerned that there will not be enough strips of the truck binding to bind it - I only bought a yard of it, and the top of the wrap takes almost the whole yard. Sometimes when I order fabrics from the States, I only order a yard, forgetting that it is slightly less than a meter(39 inches). That three inches of fabric can really make a difference sometimes!

I have returned to another past time recently- knitting. I love these new frilly scarves and found out how to make them. Its all in the yarn. This is the second one that I have made in the last couple of weeks. I am not sure how well I like the turquoise/blue one. It is very flouncy- Like fabrics, there are a number of different kinds of yarn but lots of the brands are not easy to find locally. You can find some of these yarns on Mary Maxim or Herrschener's needlework websites. I did find some variety at a local yarn shop called River City Yarns. There were many different kinds of beautiful yarns, there to touch and see. If you need a place to be inspired by color and texture, go and visit a yarn, fabric or bead shop. You are sure to leave such places inspired!

In some ways this newest return to knitting is my mother's fault. She had given a beautiful orangy red one scarf for Christmas. I knew that my mom wanted to have a black and white one, so I went in search of the black and white color combination.There is a sparkly thread that runs through this black and white yarn. The yarn has a stiffness about it that makes it hang nicely. I love the black/white one on my mom. My mom will soon celebrate her birthday so this was an early birthday present for her. I hope that you have a terrific birthday Mom!

Don't you think that this yarn is kind of strange looking stuff? It is like a lacy ribbon that you knit into the top holey areas. I didn't have too much trouble knitting with it, once I figured out where I was supposed to knit. There are some excellent you tube sites if you want to make one yourself. Google frill seekers or sashay yarn. You can knit or crochet with it. You only need one 1 or 2 balls to make a scarf. Here is the next one that I am going to knit. I love the color purple, so I had to make at least one purple scarf. I am going to make it while Bruce and I watch our favorite TV shows. We have been watching The Good Wife for a while now as well as Game of Thrones and Mad Men. Sunday night is TV night in our house!

We were at my folks not long ago and I snapped this photo of my parents with their beloved dog Tammy. Like all dogs, she is a big fan of my father. He has a great way with animals- I have never met a dog who was not crazy about him. It is my father's birthday today. My sister will be having them for family dinner- Life has been quite hectic around here this past few weeks, so we decided not to go south this weekend. Happy Birthday Dad ! I hope you have had a fabulous day.

This is one that I gave to my dad a few years ago now. It is a quilt made with a template but quite an easy quilt to put together. The fabrics are all batiks and I love the way the flowers look like they are spinning. I am not sure what is the name of the pattern. My parents have a number of my quilts now - each one made with love.

For his last birthday, I made my dad this nature scene quilt.It is a quilt that I designed by looking at other quilt patterns that used panels in them. I found a great background fabric that helped to join the animal panels together. I know that it is a well loved quilt in my parent's home!

For the first time in many years, we did not have many Easter treats floating around the house. We hope that you and yours have spent an enjoyable day doing the things that celebrate the arrival of spring. Last week's spring Alberta snow storm has been melting away quickly. Soon I will can look forward to seeing the daffodils and tulips show their faces. Spring flowers are among my favorites, as they signal the rebirth of life.

Wishing you and yours a wonderful Spring Season, Warmest regards, Anna

Some Spring Surprises....

Pink Carnations are such happy flowers and they are the current arrangement on our dining room table. These ones are such a rich pink color.
 One of the things that I love about carnations is that they will stay fresh for a couple of weeks before they need to be changed.

 Recently I managed to get rid of all the vestiges of winter in our house. I took out the bunnies and the other Easter things. I found this lovely antique bowl- not sure where I got it from but I thought it would look lovely with the Easter eggs in it.  Did you notice the black one with the hand painting on it. It is a Ukrainian Easter Egg. We live in the North Central part of Alberta. There were many Ukrainian immigrants that came to this area at the turn of the 20th century. There is a very large land mark Easter Egg in Vegreville. It is quite the landmark - Google it if you are curious to see what it looks like!

My sewing room is looking messy and somewhat forlorn these days. School kept me busy for most of the month of March. I have finished up all the reports and met with my families last week. Hopefully this week, as I am on spring break from school, I will get a chance to get back sewing and working on some quilts.
This machine is my quilting machine. It is a baby lock quilting machine which is quite similar to a Juki. It goes very fast (1100 stitches per minute) and is really easy to quilt on.
I don't piece on it - just machine quilt. My sewing room is in the gables of the house.

As well as having a busy time at school, we had a wonderful surprise visit from our son, Kevin and his girl, Roseanne. He is going to school in Charlottetown PEI . They moved to Prince Edward Island at the beginning of August. PEI is about 4000 miles from us. Kevin was on mid term break so they thought they would surprise us. We were gob smacked when our front door opened and we heard Kevin's voice and footsteps at midnight. They were here for nine days and it was a blur of activities and times out together. He also took a. side trip to visit my parents in Red Deer, who were thrilled to see them both too. We enjoyed having them here and look forward to the next time they can return. 

One of the things that we did while they were here visiting, was go out for a very nice brunch with my sister in law, her husband , their two daughters and their spouses,and the lovely baby, Annabelle, who will soon turn one
. I took this lovely candid of the two of them, in the restaurant. While they were here visiting, they announced their engagement.

What a lovely ring he chose to express his love for her. I love this photograph of their hands together. His large hands remind me of all the men from my mother's family- We hope that they will be very happy together for many years to come. The wedding date is yet to be determined.

 

A photo of the four of us together. I am the shortest one and I am not that short,( 5'5') but compared to the rest I am a little low to the ground. LOL

One of the things that Kevin brought in his suitcase was this new cat house/tree. He designed and built it and then took it apart and put it back together when he got here.  Mars heartily approves of her new perch. My husband has since, bought her a basket for the top, that she can often be found sleeping in, during the day. The morning sun streams in the window and she can observe the birds and squirrels from the large living room window. You can see that she has a food bowl inside the enclosure. She can climb inside to  get to, but our dog, Dusty, can not.
Mars can not jump as well as she used to, so this is a great arrangement for her. Now if she could just convince Bruce that she does not want any other kind of food but regular Whiskas- everything would be perfect in her eyes. They are having Whiskas wars- so far, my money is on Mars. She managed to leave the designer cat food in the bowl and eat all the Whiskas food  bits without even leaving drool on the designer cat food. She definitely has her own preferences!

 I have finally decided to make one larger one of the lattice quilts and one throw size quilt. I have enough fabric to make 9 more blocks and that will be enough to make one 4X5 and the other 3X4. I am still hunting for the perfect border but I am sure I will find something that will work. I know that it looks black in the photograph but it really is a deep chocolate brown. I have been trying to get started on it this week, while I am on break, but so far I keep getting distracted by other things. I have managed to do some cleaning and get rid of old papers and clutter in one room. I still would like to tackle my clothes closet but we shall see. One of the joys/ challenges of living in a small old war time house is that the closet and storage space is really limited. I drool when I see those houses with walk in storage- I don't even have a broom or linen closet!

 As there is not much quilty content in this post,  I thought I would pull a quilt from the vaults. I made this quilt about 5 years ago. This quilt belongs to Gary who loves the sea. If you look closely at the prints you will see that all the fabrics are nautical in theme. It is a variation of yellow brick road with an asymmetrical mariner's compass on it. He recently celebrated a birthday so I thought it might be a nice one to share. I designed the layout and the compass block is paper pieced from a Carol Doak pattern.

I am still trying to figure out how this new layout and posting works with Google Chrome. I have moved the pictures around as  I type and am not sure where they are going to end up.

 Last weekend I went out to find a few things for school and I found this Starbuck's cup for Bruce. It was in a second hand shop and was the perfect sized cup for him. Now if it only came with a lid. Drinks and computers can be a bit of a hazard ....

It is very late here so I will say good night. I hope that life is treating everyone well and that spring has sprung in your neck of the woods ( if you live in the Northern Hemisphere) .We have had a couple of spring snow storms but the snow is starting to melt off again and it won't be long before there are lots of mud puddles for the little ones to play in - I can only hope that the school fields are dry, before we return to school next week.
Warmest regards,
Anna