Roll Roll Cotton Boll--just about done!

The binding is on.  I just have to do the hand stitching now. This will be my weekend project.

Finally, some sewing time!

I have been doing lots and lots of yard work and gardening recently so my sewing machine and quilting projects have been ignored and gathering dust. Sunday night, I finally sat down at the machine and made some pillowcases which will be gifts for some upcoming birthdays and other occasions. 

I am hoping the people who will be receiving these pillowcases do not read my blog!

Christine and I got together tonight and trimmed a couple of quilts. She put the binding on hers and I prepped the binding for mine. I picked up my Roll Roll Cotton Boll from the quilter's last week and will do the final reveal once I have the binding on. In the meantime, here is a sneak peak:

It is quilted with antique red thread!

I also finished up the last few blocks for the last border on my Stars for My Friends mystery quilt...I can hardly wait to show you this quilt!  I have to wait until after our guild meeting in September when everyone will reveal their projects. I have seen a few of these quilts in progress and I am amazed at how different they all look, depending on the fabric choices.

In the meantime, it has finally rained here a few times after a long dry spell so there is lots of growing action in the gardens. My vegetable garden is looking good!  I did not even have anything planted at this time last year!  That's my shadow at the entrance to the garden. The fence keeps the rabbits out!

I have several types of clematis in bloom and here is one of my favourites...

This flower is called Scabiosa or Pincushion flower--appropriate for the garden of a quilter...

My tomato plants are growing like crazy!  I grow them in pots on the patio because there is a black walnut tree near my vegetable garden. Black walnut roots emit some chemical which kills tomato plants.

We planted a new tree in our yard this year to replace a tulip tree that died. This is a dogwood tree and it has 12 flowers this year.

That's all the news from here for now.

Happy sewing!

Sherbert Chemo Quilt

Heather and I got together tonight to put our sherbert and white quilt top together. We used some orange cornerstones and green sashing.  It is done just in time for our Elgin Piecemakers' meeting on Thursday night where we will show it off!

I had a call from the long arm quilter who has been working on my Roll Roll Cotton Boll quilt--it is done and I will be picking it up on Thursday! 

Pictures to follow...

I have a Quilting Bee in my yard!

I bought myself a new hosta plant today for a garden in the corner of our yard that we are converting from a "sunny" garden to a "shade" garden. My neighbour has a very large collection of hostas and every year, she splits many of them and sells them at her yard sale. 

This one is called "Quilting Bee"...I just had to buy it!

It has been planted and watered and seems quite happy in its new location near my gazebo.

We spent the whole day outside today--it was a beautiful, sunny day! 

I have two evenings of sewing planned for this coming week so there should be some quilting posts soon.

A Gift

My friend, Christine, celebrated her birthday earlier this week. Tonight, we got together for our usual sewing night together. I gave her some wool pieces for an upcoming applique project as well as this pincushion which I finished tonight.

I got the pattern from the Moda Bake shop.  I think I would like to make a few more of these!

It makes me smile when people like the gifts that I make for them...

On Mother's Day, my husband and I spent the day with our parents. We went on the annual London Free Press "Shunpiker Tour"--a car rally featuring stops at local attractions, some well known, and others more obscure. We took my Dad to see Fanshawe Pioneer Village before meeting my husband's parents for lunch and some more of the tour in the afternoon. This picture was taken at the pioneer village...

This lady was demonstrating how she makes braided rugs...

We stopped to see a new barn quilt in Delaware on our way home. Several new barn quilts have been put up in our area in the last few months.

I see another barn quilt road trip in our near future...

Parcel in the Mail from England!

When we got home from our weekend away, the first thing I noticed was a parcel in the mailbox...It was my charm pack and goodies from Jane in England. I had won a give-away on her blog which celebrated the Queen's Diamond Jubilee.

The parcel contained the promised red, blue and neutral charm pack along with a box of tea, a bar of Belgian chocolate (long gone now!) and a crocheted flower pin. I am sitting at my kitchen table admiring the charm pack and thinking of ideas...  Thanks, Jane, for the wonderful parcel!

As you can see below, our weekend vacation included a little sewing in the car. Christine and I each did the hand sewing on a quilt--both were recent finishes by Christine.

I worked on her 30's Spin quilt .

Christine worked on a tumbler quilt.  She now has two quilts for show and tell at the London Friendship Quilters' Guild meeting later this week!

We visited three quilt stores on the weekend.  Of course, I did a little stash enhancement...

A Quilty Weekend Away

My husband and I spent the last 4 days in the Traverse City, Michigan area with my friend, Christine and her husband. We stayed at a bed and breakfast (The Country Hermitage) where we indulged in wonderful homemade breakfasts, fed the fish in the pond and relaxed at the end of each day's adventures.

 Of course, the trip included a few quilt stores where we enhanced our stashes!  This store was in Davidson, MI.

Nice to have designated quilter parking!

We went on a Barn Quilt tour on the Old Mission Penninsula and managed to find all of the quilt blocks.

I had to get my telephoto lens out for most of the pictures since most were quite a ways back from the road.

Part way through our tour, we found Felipe's Chicken Ranch where he decorated with chickens rather than quilts!

Funny thing, the hen house was home to some ducks!

More Barn Quilts...



Some of the blocks were designed by a family member with symbols representing important aspects of their family history/life.

It was hard to get a good shot of this one:

This one was my favourite--I like the way the block depicts the fields on the farm.

We ended our day with a drive along the Eastern shore of the penninsula to watch the Supermoon rising over Grand Traverse Bay.