Two Quilts for Two Friends.

I have been working on a scrap quilt for a few years, I had started it then put it away and then pulled it out again. This time I was determined to finish it. The pattern had two sizes 48 blocks or 96 blocks. I would usually do 96 blocks but because I had already pulled it out a few times I decided to do 48 blocks. Here is it and it fits on my basement floor within the restraint of that pole in the middle of the floor.

When I started to sew the squares together, the back of the quilt top ended up having this cool pattern develop, so before I sandwiched it and it was lost forever here is the forever hidden pattern.

It looks cool with strips of colour along the seams, standing out against the white.

This quilt is for a friend of mine that I run with so I added a running shoe material as the borders.

I always add my own written labels to the back of my quilts with a quote and my name.
I used a flannel that I picked up in Beaver Bay when I was passing through the States, it has snowmen on it and it is so soft and warm, feels like good flannel not cheap flannel.

I get my husband to stand on a step ladder so I can take a picture, that is his job in the quilt making process.

When I tell him to smile for the camera, he is really smiling back there.

I took a quilt class through the Thunder Bay Quilt Guild called Oklahoma Backroads,

the class was geared towards a scrap quilt and so I was interested right away.

Of coarse I chose to do the largest option,

He is smiling back there.

I added running shoe material to the border of this one also as I run with her too. I put a flannel on the back of the quilt with lady bugs and it is also very soft. The label is my usual with a quote and my name.

I have not mentioned who their names are, as they have yet to receive the quilts, I don't think they check out my blog, so I'm safe, and if they do, Surprise.

That is one part about blogging that is new and I have to get used to is not revealing a gift to someone on my blog before a person receives it.

I guess it's good in a way, makes me have to finish things in order to post a blog!

Scrub Tops, So Easy

If you have read one of my previous blogs showing the material I had picked along my travels to Winnipeg you may remember these two,

These are some fabrics I picked up to make scrub tops for myself for work. It is so nice to have been on holidays, I have given my sewing machine a run for it's money, it will be glad to see me go back to work.

If you are sick of wearing scrubs that look like everyone elses, try out a pattern and the choices of fabric are endless. 

Here are the two tops that I made from this material.



It is as simple as sewing the front piece to the back piece.

I will be adding more posts of the quilts I have done since being on

holidays.....Stay Tuned.

On My Travels

I just came back from a trip to Winnipeg, I drove there with my sister in law Sherri and along the way we stopped at 2 quilt stores.

When I go to a quilt store out of town, if nothing else I buy a fat quarter. I like to make scrap quilts out of the all the fat quarters I have collected.
First we stopped a a quilt store in Kenora where I pisked up this Fat Quarter,

We then drove on and stopped at a shop in Keewatin, here I found this great pattern, I love to do scrap quilt so I thought this pattern would be perfect for a new project.

Of coarse I picked up a Fat Quarter and here it is,



In Winnipeg we went to this huge Fabric Warehouse ( I'll have to get back to you with the name of the place ).

I picked up this really cute print with animals on it,

I got 1 metre of it, so I will cut a Fat Quarter out of it and the use the rest for some project down the line.

I picked up these 2 fabrics because I sew my own scrub tops for work, it is so much cheaper, once you find the perfect pattern it only takes an hour or so to make a top.

I had a great trip, next time I'm there, we plan to make a trip to Morden and put a dent in their fabric shops.



Entry to Minnesota Quilt Show, Duluth

A friend of mine had mentioned to me that there was a Quilt Show in Duluth that I just had to go to. I checked out the website and got inspired to try and enter one of my quilts into the show.  There was a complete process that included sending some pictures of my quilt.  The committee then chooses what quilts they want in the show.
I sent my pictures and filled out all the proper paperwork and then I waited for my reply.
The quilt I had decided to make was one I had made by first planning it out on grid paper.

I chose my favorite colours and combined 3 types of blocks and just repeated one of them over and over.

My sister-in-law and I headed to Duluth for the quilt show. We found my quilt listed in the Quilt Show Guide, but I had to see it to believe it, I was nervous, what if they forgot to hang it.  I had to send the quilt in the mail prior to the show so you never know what it looked like when it arrived.

 I had received an Entrant ribbon that I was suppose to wear while at the show, I pinned the ribbon to my shirt and off we were to search for my quilt.

And we found it, I was so relieved that they remembered to hang it, we took so many picture of my quilt hanging, it was weird seeing my quilt hanging in a quilt show that had so many other quilts in it.

What a thrill, it was interesting just to stand back and listen to people comment on the quilt, not knowing that I was the one who made it.
We took in the rest of the show, it was great.
Perhaps I will get a chance to have another one of my quilts in the Minnesota Quilt Show when it comes back to Duluth in 2013.
Don't be afraid of entering quilt shows if you are new, you will be so proud of yourself when you see your quilt hanging in the show.

My sister-in-law bought me this wind chime because it reminded her of the colours of my quilt that I had in the show.

I Love Log Cabins

I used to live in a basement apartment and I would use the wall of the living room as my design board. I had decided to make a log cabin quilt using all colours with a scrap quilt feel to it.
It started small like most of my quilts do but they never seem to end unless I run out of room. As I made the squares I would pin them to the wall so that no one colour would end up next to the same colour.

Then it began to grow.....

This is my favorite quilt I have made so far, it is just so much to look at.

The Quilters Stash Quilt Shop and I had raffled it off to raise money for the Food Bank in Thunder Bay.

The winner of this quilt was Brendan Kennedy, what a lucky guy. I'd have to say that I was sad to see it go, I look at the pictures from time to time and think that I will make a new one like this again.