Carolina Christmas--Step 2

If you have been reading my blog for a while, you know that Christine and I decided to make Bonnie Hunters Carolina Christmas mystery quilt together. We got together 2 times back in April to work on the first step. We have both been rather busy for the last few weeks so there was no time to get together to sew. Tonight, the stars aligned and we finally had time to get together to sew again. Both of us worked on Step 2--some cutting and some sewing. Neither one of us completed this step but we have given ourselves a bit of homework to do before we get together to sew again next week. Here is some of my chain piecing for Step 2. My quilt is blue, brown and orange with a neutral background. Christine's chain piecing is shown above. Her quilt is green, red, gold with a neutral background. Somehow, she arrived here tonight without her sewing machine so I pulled out my Mom's old machine and she used it. The yellow paper marked the 1/4 inch line for her seams. There is no quarter inch foot on this machine. Christine also cut out her green HST's tonight. I still have to cut out my blue HST's (my homework for next week...).
Here are some of my 1/2 finished step two units...Stay tuned for more progress next week.

LFQG Banquet

In June every year, the London Friendship Quilters' Guild holds their annual banquet before the summer break. Thursday night, we gathered at a local golf club for a delicious meal followed by a truck show and entertainment.
At each place setting, there was a little gift from the guild--a fat quarter, a spool holder made by one member's father and a spool of thread. The spool holder was made from a tree branch that came down in a storm and includes a magnet (the dark circle) to hold the needle after you have finished sewing (or while you get up to answer the doorbell or the phone). A small post keeps the spool of thread from rolling away. What a great gift!

The blue yoyo was made by a member of the executive. This year, for the first time, we had a choice of two entrees for our main course--salmon or chicken. I had the salmon and it was wonderful! The servers were told ahead of time that the people who ordered salmon would have a blue yoyo and the people who ordered chicken would have a gold yoyo.
After supper, we were treated to a trunk show and quilting songs by Cathy Miller, aka "The Singing Quilter", and her husband, John Bunge. All of the songs were written by Cathy and John sang "backup" or played along on his harmonica while Cathy sang and played her guitar. She sang about stashes and shop hops and quilting acronyms and had all of us "in stitches". John even had a solo--"The Quilter's Husband's Lament" which was hilarious! Cathy's quilts were beautiful--she is an artist with her music and her quilting! You can see pictures of the quilts at the London Friendship Quilters' Guild blog.


Cathy has 4 CD's and at the end of the evening, I purchased all 4. The first thing I did when I got home was to play John's song for my husband. Somehow, he could really relate to the sentiments in the song...

If your guild is looking for an interesting and entertaining speaker for one of your meetings, I highly recommend that you contact "The Singing Quilter".

I met a Scottish Quilter!

On my recent trip to Scotland, I met a fellow quilter in Kemnay, a small town near Aberdeen. "D" is a neighbour of my cousin and her spouse. When they found out I was an avid quilter, they checked to see if "D" was home. I was warmly welcomed into her home to talk to her and see her quilts, her sewing room and her stash! "D" buys fabric at a little quilt store in Old Meldrum and my cousin and her spouse even took me took me there. I bought a few fat quarters at the shop. It was much smaller than the quilt stores in Canada but had as much fabric as some of the stores here!

This quilt was a birthday gift from a friend who lives in Canada and includes pictures of "D" and the things and people she loves. It hangs on the wall of her dining room. That is a bead fringe at the bottom. The label was lovely as well and had the following poem on it:

Through these Cathedral Windowsare some scenes that will unfold.A life so full of flowers
from a garden edged with gold.This fabric holds a tapestryof memories old and new
and though there are so many more,
I've opened up a few.

What a beautiful gift! "D" has been to Canada to visit her friend and they have even been to Peducah! I am so jealous!


This castle wall hanging had 3D dragons in the corners and lots of shiny gold stitching.



"D" does beautiful applique! She is currently working on this flower quilt top. Most of the quilts that "D" makes are gifts for her family and friends. She is also working on a quilt for her grandson who is a sports fan.


This is "D's" Underground Railroad Quilt which is on her bed. I have a friend who has made two of these, one full size and one miniature!

It was interesting and inspiring to meet "D" and see her quilts. I am in the midst of making her a fabric postcard and will be mailing it soon.

I am still not doing much sewing. The mulch "mountain" in our driveway is slowly getting smaller. My husband mulches the gardens while I move plants, weed, and thin out the perennials. Soon, we will be done. I will try to get my vegie garden planted this weekend and THEN I will have some time for sewing...

QNIC with Jacqui

Jacqui at Treadle Quilts and I are partners this time around at the Elgin Piecemakers Guild to make a comfort quilt for a cancer patient at our local hospital. We decided to use a jelly roll that I had in my stash and divided it into two colour families. We decided to make two quilts instead of just one. I have wanted to learn how to make a friendship braid quilt since I saw Jacqui's at a quilt show a couple of years ago. Jacqui purchased a green fabric and a burgandy fabric to go with the colour families. Tonight, we got together and cut out the pieces for the braids and started sewing. I am working on the green quilt and Jacqui is working on the burgandy quilt. There will be sashing and a border as well but we will wait to listen to the quilt "speak to us" about what type of fabric we should use for these! Here is a picture of the beginnings of my first two braids:

We will work on our braids again at our next QNIC. The quilts are to be done by our September meeting. For pictures of Jacqui's braids, go to her blog. I am looking forward to our next QNIC!

Quilt Show

Yesterday, I spent the day in Shedden at the International Plowing Match Quilt Show. The quilts were judged on Wednesday and the show was hung on Thursday. Friday and Saturday, they were open for people to come and see the quilts. I volunteered as a "white glover" on Saturday. There were about 80 quilts in the show and around 700 people came to see the quilts.
I enjoyed the day, walking around looking at the quilts and talking to people I saw at the show. I took pictures of several quilts including mine, shown above. I really liked working on this quilt and loved how it turned out.

Here are some of my favourite quilts at the show:This quilt won a prize in the applique category. It was heavily quilted as was the pink and white one beside it, also a prize winner.
Here is a close up of another of the prize winning applique quilts. You can see the entire quilt as well as some other pictures from the show over at Nancy's blog.


I would love to make a house quilt someday!

The leaf shape was quilted into the black parts of the quilt.

A quilter from the Elgin Piecemakers Guild made this one.

This postage stamp quilt was made using a cross stitch pattern--one 1" square of fabric per cross stitch on the pattern--thousands of 1" squares... The quilt to the left was also a prize winner--an applique piece depicting the Canadian Parliament Building in Ottawa.

The organizing committee had a block competition and then put the submitted blocks together to make 4 quilts which are being raffled off. I took pictures of 3 out of the 4 quilts. (The 4th was not in a good place to be photographed.)




















Here is the block that I made. We had to use at least 4 of the 5 fabrics provided. There was a great variety in the blocks submitted--No two the same.
Of course, the mascot of the Plowing Match was there...
I haven't been doing any sewing lately. We are working on our garden these days: moving plants, weeding, purchasing new plants and planting them, thinning out some of the perennials, etc. There is a large pile of mulch in my driveway at the moment, waiting to be put onto all of the gardens. This job will take several evenings to do but should result in less weeding--always a good thing! Tomorrow night is MNIC at my house--"Mulching Night in Canada"--if anyone cares to join us, bring your own shovel and wheelbarrow--Did I mention we have 6 cubic yards of mulch to spread around???

While my husband and I were eating supper outside on Friday, we saw a red bird in the tree behind our house. I ran inside for my camera and my telephoto lens to get a picture to see if we could identify the bird. If you know what kind of bird this is, let me know. I have not seen one like this before. I hope he comes back to visit again!

Fly Away Home has flown the coop!

"Fly Away Home" is done. I finished the hanging sleeve when I got home from my vacation and I delivered it to one of the co-chairs of the International Plowing Match Quilt Show today. The quilt competition and show are this weekend--Friday and Saturday in Shedden, Ontario at the Keystone Complex at the Fairgrounds. If you are in this area, you might want to stop in and take a look at the quilts. There will also be vendors and a refreshment area. I will be there most of the day on Saturday. The judging will take place on Wednesday and the show will be set up on Thursday, and then open to the public on Friday and Saturday. The quilts will be displayed again at the International Plowing Match at the St. Thomas airport in September.

I just signed up for Amy's Online Quilt Show. I hope all of you enjoy my sampler quilt. Click on "Grateful Heart Sampler" in the list in the sidebar if you want to see close-ups of each block as I was working on them. I spent a few months piecing the blocks for this quilt and then had it machine quilted by a local longarm quilter. The original pattern came from a magazine.

I will do another vacation blog shortly.

Back in Canada!

I was on vacation for the last two weeks in England and Scotland with my father, my husband and my daughter. The Icelandic volcano ash cloud just about kept us from getting home, but our plane few around the danger zone and got us home safe and sound. Tired too, I might add. My body is still on UK time but I am adjusting!
I have lots to share so check back over the next week or two for more details about our trip. The table runners/toppers I made 3 weeks ago were gifts for family members that we saw when we were away--my aunt, my step grandmother, my cousins and my mother's cousin. Everyone liked their quilty gifts and I was happy about that!While in Glasgow, Scotland this past Saturday for a shopping trip, we came across a clothing store on Buchanan Street that looked like it used to be a garment manufacturer. The entire store was lined with old sewing machines and all of the fixtures were made from old machines used in old factories. I went in the store but could not take any pictures from inside. Here are a few pictures I took from outside:
I like this picture of my family's reflection in the window of the store.There were quite a few buskers of various types on this street which was busy with shoppers of all ages.

The man on the steps in the brown jacket was singing opera to a very appreciative audience!
This man was a human statue--he stood so still, I would not be surprised if one of the downtown pigeons used him as a perch!
There were several bagpipers, some in kilts and some not...Also, drummers, Native American musicians, and jugglers. We even did some shopping!