Quilt show and another small finish

This weekend there's a quilt show just north of Toronto in Newmarket.

Region of York Quilters Guild presents
Celebration of Colour Quilt Show
April 1 from 10 - 5:00 
April 2 from 10 - 4:00,  2017
Newmarket Community Centre
200 Doug Duncan Drive
Newmarket, Ontario

I am planning on going and being there as soon as they open. Hopefully, I'll have some photos to show.

I did manage a small finish today.

It's just the top but it seemed to take forever. We had a bit of snow fall this afternoon and it changed to wet snow. I thought I'd take a photo on the deck.  Tomorrow it's supposed to rain.

I always seem to debate the fabrics I want to use. This time I was hoping for a stormy feel to go with the lightning streak. Gray skies, wind and stormy seas. This is the March mini quilt.

Just a bit more free fabric. One of our guild members passed away a couple of years ago and there was a lot of fabric being given away to whoever showed up tonight at the guild meeting (stormy wet snow fell almost the whole evening.) Another member and myself were in charge of the coffee and tea tonight. Luckily, I got a lift home.

Fabric

Once again, I tried hard not to buy any more fabric but I caved.

I bought this to use as binding on ...

this quilt that has been sitting ready for a while now. I was going to go with brown but it was hard to match the right shade of brown (I came close.) My husband is the one who chose the turquoise when I asked which one I should get to finish off the edge of the quilt.

I got this fabric to make something for my little grandson Luc but neither my daughter nor I could come up with anything until...

I figured I could pair it up with another fabric like this turquoise tone on tone and make two pillow cases. One can stay here and the other one can be used at Luc's house. I might even trim one in red.

Last week at our guild meeting, fat quarters were going for one dollar each and batiks were two dollars. I didn't need any but it was just such a bargain. I really like the purple batik with the little turquoise birds. There's a theme here it seems. Turquoise, my absolutely favourite colour.

I have to get back and finish sewing that binding on now. I've got about one quarter done.

Irish gifts

Just because.

My littlest one is living in Ireland at the moment. Both she and her boyfriend are missing Canada and family. Apparently, she lives around the corner from a quilt store - but one where you have to notify the owner you would like to visit. I had asked for fat quarters - I always ask for fat quarters whenever my little ones (they are all over 30) go travelling. Sometimes they listen and sometimes they don't. A lot of times there aren't any fat quarters to be found. This time, however, there were.

Fat quarters and coasters. Love those fabrics and they will show up in a quilt for either Luc or Patric.

And there was not one but two of the colour catchers. I still have some left from when she sent them to me from Britain but these are always very handy. We here in Canada for some reason cannot get them. I have no idea why.

I'm off to finish something. Once it's done, I'll show you.

More fabric and the first dress

I don't need anymore fabric but...

I could not pass up the low volume fat quarter (I think it's just gorgeous,) and the other two, the Canadian hockey player and the the fun doggy heads will be going into an eye spy quilt for one of those little boys in BC. I saw this 'disappearing ink' marker and figured I would try it out - just because. I will see how well or how poorly it works. I'm not a fan of chemicals on my fabric. One never knows what will happen to the marks down the road, in twenty, thirty or fifty years.

Some flannel - for a rag quilt and for other projects.

And, from somewhere in Oslo, here's Maili modelling the first dress I made for her. 

This one has a belt. Here's a close-up of the fabric.

Now, I've got to get back to doing something - there are so many things started...

Oh yes, I almost forgot. There was no supermoon viewing for us because there was a bit of cloud cover. My husband noticed that there were no stars to be seen either. I wanted to see if the moon was out there at all and so we took a small drive (we live among buildings and trees) and lo and behold, the moon did peek out but it was really fuzzy. Cloud cover hid it.

New stuff

I have started a new project. It's just a small one and once it's finished and delivered, I shall post a picture of the final piece. But for now, here's how far I have done. This is a lot of fun.

It looks kind of funny but it really will be cute once it's all done.

I also went out and took a look at what Fabricland had. They had a 50% off sale all this month and I was looking for some flannel.

It's a nice light blue. I didn't care what the designs were nor did I much care about the colour. I will be cutting it up to 24" X 24" squares and finishing the edges. There is a charity that I found and that's the size they have requested. They also need 36" X 36" square blankets, hats and socks for infants. These become a kit for new mothers in third world countries. The flannel is a fairly good quality and was only $2.44 metre. It was the last of the bolt and there was a bit more than 3 metres. I also picked up some white cotton for quilting but that would be boring to take a photo of and show you. I didn't need the quilting cotton but at 50% off, I thought it was a good deal - just over 5 metres.

I'm off to put labels on some of the things that I have been busy with and then I'll be getting back to putting together a quilt. Once it's a flimsie, I'll post a photo.

New things

First off, I have to show you what I found in my backyard last week.

Right in the middle of this photo is a little red dot. You can click on the photo to make it bigger.

Or you can click on this photo. It's a cardinal. I wasn't fast enough to get a photo of the Mrs. but she would not have shown up too well anyway.

This is the beginning of a challenge issued by one of the guilds I belong to. The challenge is called making a silk purse out of a sow's ear. Those who wished to play along were given a little bag with about eight or so of the ugliest charm squares. We were to make something out of them whereby the perimeter was to be no larger than 80 inches and we could add some of our own fabrics. Part of each of the ugly fabrics had to show up on the front of the quilt. I'll show the finished quilt once the voting has finished, which will be in a couple of weeks.

Isn't this cute? Fabricland had a wonderful sale (40% off) and I went over and picked up some flannel to be used as quilt backing.

I couldn't pass this flannel piece up either - again for the back of a baby quilt.

I tried hard not to purchase any fabric and use what I have but the flannel in my stash just wasn't cute enough - or big enough.

I'm still knitting and Patric's little sweater is slowly getting finished. The back and sleeves are done so there's just the front to complete. Then, of course, it has to be sewn up. I'm going to try hard to stick with that part of the finishing.

What are you up to this week?

New stuff

The Creative Festival was on this weekend and my quilting buddy Judy and I went to see what was new. We hadn't attended for a couple of years and with the little discount from the Needle Pulling Thread magazine, on purchasing online tickets, and the lift from my husband to and from the venue, we were able to do the whole convention centre without getting too tired. Judy lives an hour and a half away so we were back in plenty of time for her to drive in daylight.
Just in case anyone out there wants to know what's new, there was nothing really, especially if you've been quilting as long as we have. Judy noticed that the folded star is back. Been there, done that, won't do it again. Years ago, when the festival first started, cross stitch was all the rage. There was always fabric and quilting but there was also a time when there were many stalls featuring scrapbooking. This year it was yarn and beads. There were still many quilting-type vendors; fabric, patterns, gadgets, notions, and machines - both sewing and quilting. It was nice to see many young 'newbies' with their books, rulers and cutting mats. Neither Judy nor I understood the selling and purchasing of those smaller-than-charm squares - those 2.5 inch squares. Roughly $5.00 each per package. If they were cut with a machine that pinks the edges, the size starts from the tip of the little pinked edge to the other tip. Same goes for all pre-cuts. Not something Judy nor I would ever consider buying. We were, however, looking for layer cakes. Not many were available and once we noticed the price, we altered our plans. You see, every once in a while Judy and I make a quilt whereby we challenge each other (we both made a quilt using black and white charm squares) but this time we were both going to make the same thing.

 I borrowed this book from the library just to see what was in it. See the words "Fresh Quilts from Classic Blocks." Well, like I said, nothing is new in the quilt world. Pick an old pattern, bump up the size, use a lot of white and bright, bold prints, cut the quilt size to a lap quilt and voila, a modern quilt is born. Just how many lap quilts can one use?

Well, apparently, one more anyway. I liked this quilt and thought it would be nice to bring Judy into the world of modern quilts. She thinks it's unfinished because it has no border. It's an easy pattern and so we were on the look-out for layer cakes. Since we couldn't find anything suitable, Judy happened to mention that she has a suitcase full of batiks. She put them in there so that they were out of the way and would stay clean. She hadn't come up with a plan to use them but when I mentioned that I had a stash of batiks too, we had hit upon a solution to our dilemma. I suggested that the batiks should be bright - with white (as opposed to off-white or gray.) Judy doesn't work with white and so she will have to purchase some. I have some that would work for this project.

To enhance our stash, we each purchased 3 fat quarters of bright batiks. I cut them in half once we got back to my place and now we have something to start with. For the rest of the 19 squares (the quilt calls for 25 squares), we will use our own batiks.

The pencils in the photo are chalk pencils (one white and one gray) that I bought to use for marking my quilting lines. I am always on the lookout for new pencils - I don't want chemicals on my quilts and I don't wash them until they get dirty. I'm really not a fan of the crinkled 'used' look of a new quilt washed and dried.

My other fabric purchase was black with white fat quarters. They will be used in a future project for a big bed quilt for one of my grandsons. I couldn't pass them up because they were just $2.00 each.

I couldn't pass these up either. I haven't bought quilt stencils in ages so when I noticed another lady looking through the small pile, I did too. Once I was done, another quilter came up and was excited to see the stencils too. I guess they are harder to come by these days since not many people hand quilt. These are so versatile because you can use just part of the design and the blue stencils are a heavier weight than the clear ones I saw at a different stall.

Well, that's about it for now. I have 17 completed little socks with two more on needles. I did buy some yarn (no, I didn't need it but it was a good price) and I will be making a cowl or two for gifts. Once they are done and gifted, I will show you.

Something new

I have been knitting. I am on a mission.

.

This is the first sock. Totally doable by me since it is knitted flat and then sewn up. I have an idea but I will let you in on it later. Here's the pattern. It's from Red Heart yarns. I am knitting more of them. The needles are new and are only 10 inches long. Since I knew I was going to make these, I splurged and bought new 5mm needles. My other, regular 5mm needles are currently being used on a new project.

I went to the Halton Hills Quilters' Guild quilt show on Saturday. It was at a great location. Beautiful grounds and lovely fall colours on the way. Anyway, I was totally surprised because you see, this fat quarter of batik was tucked in my program. It wasn't a door prize (that would have been a dot inside the program.) I think a lot, if not all, of the programs had one one of these. Or, maybe only the first 20 (I fit into this category), 50 or 100 visitors got one each day, I just don't know. I never thought to ask. 

This usually(if anything), is what you get once you pay your admission. It's sometimes called quilter's  candy - a 6 inch square. They were all in a basket and you could choose the colour you wanted. I didn't want a floral and this was neutral. Want to see what I bought?

There were a lot of vendors and two of them were selling fat quarters for $2.00.

Buy 3 and get one free? Not bad, so these 4 were only $6.00. Do you see a theme here? Turquoise maybe? I do have a lot of turquoise fabrics but since I was hoping for variety, and my project will be for a single bed, I need lots.

And now, more new stuff. I was so lucky to win some fat quarters on Amy's blog.

The UPS guy just dropped this box off and when I opened it, this is what I found. I was expecting an envelope with a few fat quarters BUT...

I won the whole collection of Mix It Up Neutrals and Mix It Up Brights.

Pop on over to Connecting Threads here to view the new line-up of fabrics. They really have great service and wonderful fabrics at affordable prices. I have ordered from them in the past so that's how I know. Thank you to both Amy and Connecting Threads. My stash now has an infusion of new fabrics to play with.

So, that's what is new around here. I will be back shortly to show you the quilts at the show.

This week

Well, it's Wednesday once again and time to link up to the Needle and Thread Network and also to Esther's blog. Go see what other creative people are up to this week.

What am I up to? Well, several things.

I am slowly continuing on with my green quilt, Garden Path.

I've chosen a few more fabrics to finish off the last row for my 16-patch quilt. The colours are not good in this photo but when I went with better lighting, the red wasn't true. In this photo the red is true but the light blue is actually a green and on the left is a green, not the beige that I can see.

And this is what's on the frame. I haven't started quilting it yet and it won't be totally revealed until it's finished. Not to fear, it's not that big and I am stocked up with books on tape so I'm all set.

What are you up to this week?

 

On a personal family note, my eldest son Mark and his wife Kate are in Europe doing a tour of Scandinavia. They have decided to visit Amsterdam (Netherlands,) Tallinn (Estonia,) Helsinki (Finland,) Stockholm (Sweden) and then to Copenhagen (Denmark) where Mark is presenting a poster at a conference. They were nice enough to take the time to visit with my long-time pen pal in Helsinki and I am very happy.

 

My middle daughter Maili and her boyfriend Casey are on their way to Seattle from Portland and then on to the outskirts of Vancouver to take part in the Fat Dog run.

 http://www.mountainmadness.ca/fatdog.php

It's apparently very scenic but I do hope they don't run into any cougars or bears. Maili and her friend are doing the 50 mile run while Casey is doing the 70 mile. Good luck to them. After the run they will be heading north to visit little Luc and his brother Patric - oh yes, mom Laila and papa Gilles too.

Tuesday Treat

I broke down.

I bought some fabric. I wasn't going to but I did. These were all on sale and all have been assigned a project. When I'm finished sewing with them, I'll show you what I made. They have all been washed - except for the second one from the left. I'm still debating if I should wash it or not.

New

I was lucky enough to win a giveaway on Maggie's blog.

Isn't it stunning?

 

Hand beaded by Maggie herself.

 

Returning home, I also found another package from my good friend V. at The "Bearister" Bookcase.

 

Fabric. Yeah!!

 

And here's what I just finished.

 

No, no, not the whole thing - I just added one block to this. It was quick. Just cut two 5 inch squares of one colour and sub-cut into 2.5 inch squares. Then cut two more 5 inch squares in a lighter or darker colour and sub-cut those into 2.5 inch squares. Sew them together alternating light and dark. Voila, you have an 8.5 inch 16-patch block. This will be for a single bed so I still have lots of blocks to cut and sew. It's a slow process.

 I have other things that I am working on but since I can't show them yet, this addition to my 16-patch will have to do.

 

 

Marimekko

A couple of weeks ago my daughter and I, along with two of her friends, went to the Textile Museum of Canada to see the Marimekko exhibit.

Just a little introduction for those of you who are not familiar with the Finnish textile company.

 

There was a lot to see.

 

Huge pieces of fabric.

 

Bright, vibrant colours, graphic.

 

Historic pieces.

 

This one was a reproduction.

 

Patterns and fabric samples.

 

 

Someone had a wonderful collection of garments (most of them were the same size.)

 

More garment patterns and a doll pattern.

 

Graphic floor cushions.

 

My daughter and her friends really liked the simplistic coat dresses. A 60s, Twiggy style for those of you who remember.

 

Lots of colour.

 

Lots of pattern.

 

 

Not all were simplistic. Some fabrics were quite busy with design.

 

At the end of the exhibit...

 

 

there was a great display...

 

of small...

 

samples of...

 

bright...

 

beautiful fabrics.

 

 

 

I have my own piece of Marimekko fabric.

 

This is a long strip (it's folded on my lovseat) that was given to me by my blogging friend, Ulla.

I will be using it in a special quilt that will hang in my home.

 

 

 

Just a little off topic: My family knows I always have questions and some of them are strange or 'off the wall.' Here's my question for today: it's about the Pope.

All the cardinals who could potentially have become Pope come in all different sizes. Tall, short, skinny and rotund. So, how many papal outfits do they have waiting for just the right person? The white garments that Pope Francis wore when he first appeared on the balcony looked like it fit like a glove - tailored just for him.