Sew Sisters Giveaway

In advance of their biggest sale of the year, which is happening on one day only, September 17th, I have been asked by Carol, of Sew Sisters Quilt Shop, to host a giveaway.

This gorgeous set of fat quarters is what Sew Sisters will be giving to one lucky commenter. It's the Fusions Collections from Robert Kaufman.

Sew Sisters Quilt Shop is a Canadian quilt store that celebrates all things quilting. They have a large selection of fabric, notions, books, patterns and kits. Whether you’re shopping online at sew-sisters.com, or in the store in Toronto, you will receive the best in products and service. At Sew Sisters they believe you should Buy Fabric, Not Postage! and so they have the most reasonable rates on shipping in Canada. Visit their website to find out more!

This giveaway is open from now until midnight Friday, September 13th EST (Eastern Standard Time.) I will draw a name on Saturday and this giveaway is open to everyone. They will ship internationally. Please just one comment per person and let me know what your plans would be for the fabric if you were to win OR just tell me what you are working on at the moment.

NOTE: if you are on Wordpress or Google + or Typepad, you may come up as a 'no reply' commenter so PLEASE leave your email with your comment. If in doubt, please leave your email address. I would hate to have to pick another winner if the first one is a 'no reply' and I have no means of contacting you.
Good luck to you all.

A winner has been chosen. Comments are now closed.

Progress

There have been a few turns taken on quilt frame.

I think I may fill the whole star with straight lines. I'll see how it looks like once I get a few more lines done.

I am debating on whether or not to add another quilting line inside the beige squares that have the single star.

This is as far as I have it at the moment. I'll be taking a couple more turns very soon.

Slow going but it will get done.

I'm linking up with The Needle and Thread Network. Go on over to see what else is happening this week.

My 'tools of the trade'

Well, maybe not quite 'trade', but these are the things I use when hand quilting.

 The main thing that I need is a really good pair of glasses. I debated on getting a new pair because my older ones were okay, BUT it was getting harder to see cross stitch and quilting lines with my other pair. Now, I'm fine.

The other things in this photo are the brown pencil crayon that I use to draw around different shapes to quilt (the stars in the beige area.) Also, there is a clear 6" ruler that I use not for measuring but I use the edge as a guide to draw a straight line for quilting. I use the width too.

My homemade, handmade quilt templates using cereal boxes or whatever cardboard I have around.

Another ruler. I do use masking tape for straight line quilting but at the moment neither my husband nor I know where they are hiding. You can also see the yellow pencil crayon that I use to mark on the red or brown. The three spools are all various brands of quilting thread. My favourite is Coats and Clark because of the stiffness it has. The beige one that I am using a lot of on this quilt is by Mettler and feels more like regular sewing thread. No stiffness but I guess it's a tad heavier than regular weight. I'm sure the only reason I have it is that I needed that particular colour. The brown is by Talon. Don't know where I picked it up but I have had it for a long time. It's stiff like the Coats and not bad to work with at all.

More quilting threads, my thimble and the eraser - just in case I goof up in the marking. I won't be using the yellow or the off white in this quilt but when I started, I just grabbed what I thought I might use.

Here they all are, on top of the quilt. This photo was taken first thing this morning. As you can see, there have been a couple of turns taken on the quilt - two from each end. So, I could work on the two borders that are left or start to work on the centre part. It usually depends on which chair my kitty is sleeping on but at the moment, she is upstairs on one of the beds so I have my pick of sides.

Just to show you what I used the ruler for and the star quilt template.

While working on the border I looked over and then decided to take a photo. It's not a quilt until it's quilted and I just love the way the sewing of the three layers brings out the quilting.

See you later, I'm off to get more done on this.

Christmas quilt and gifts

On the frame.

No turns made yet but the quilt is being worked on.

 

I received a gift.

This is the bag. Inside was ...

this gorgeous piece of fabric.

The name is blueberry land.

My eldest son and his wife just happened to be in Helsinki a couple of weeks ago and picked this up for me. It's so pretty and about 60" wide. I have no idea what I'm going to make with it but it has to be something special.

Thank you Mark and Kate.

I have been remiss. A couple of months ago I won a giveaway over at Mixed Media Artist.

It was this cute book. I'm hoping my daughter will come over when she has time so we can make some of these guys.

Thank you Cyndi.

One off the frame and one on

Remember this little snippet I showed a couple of posts back?

Well, as you can see, it's on the frame here. Any guesses as to what it is? Red, white and blue?

Ah, the Union Jack. Here it is, all finished with the piecing. At this stage, I really, really wanted to keep it. I loved all the dark blues, the various whites and the RICH REDS. I'm not a red person but this combination packed a wallop (in other words, it was intense.)

Here it is, on the frame. It didn't take long to quilt. The centre cross is stitched in the ditch and the four corners are quilted following the diagonal lines. Since the edges get stretched and pinned onto the frame, I decided to put the binding on before quilting it. So clever. It's just single fold binding and it is cut on the straight of the grain. This is just a wall hanging and will not get any wear.

Just a pic of the backing. A little 'tongue in cheek.' You can see the direction that I quilted it.

Totally finished...

and given to the recipient, David, the birthday boy.

And since I have so many quilts that need to be finished or worked on, I just felt like quilting something. I do have some small quilts and kits that I will be sewing too (maybe for Christmas gifts.)

This one has been hanging around all finished but I didn't like all that emptiness in the middle. I couldn't come up with anything nice to put in it (I was thinking of applique) so it will be quilted with straight lines and stars. Lots and lots of stars. It was one of the Mystery Mailouts featured by The Quilt Patch in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. They had a Christmas or winter mystery that was only mailed out to whoever signed up. It would begin in October and every ten days, for six installments, you got another step. I did it for a number of years and it took me a while to realize that they are not my colours. The quilts all seemed to be in the same colour palette and it just wasn't me. I have other mystery quilts waiting to be put together and they will be completed one day. 

I may just add the binding on this one too before it gets put on the frame - or maybe not.

I'm linking up with The Needle and Thread Network and Esther's blog.

I'm heading over to see what's new in Canada and in the rest of the world. Care to join me?