Tea & Scones Table-Topper

This was made from a pattern called Sweet Sixteen. Maybe this winter has been too long... as it came together the vision of tea & scones on summer day, came to mind. Either way, I loved the summer fabrics, so soft, light & airy, I could feel the colour & had to smile because I know I'll see this day of summer,  sipping tea & scones. The pinwheels remind me of my childhood, holding the pinwheel running to make it whirl in...yes summer breezes! Today not being a runner or jogger for that matter, I may just put that pinwheel in a planter outside to watch & reminisce of days gone by. Funny how such a simple act of a pinwheel spinning could bring such joy to oneself! 

Dreaming of Spring

With spring around the corner, I've been dreaming of spring. To me it is not spring until you see your first robin red breast & I've been busy making mine till the robins arrive to announce that spring has sprung. Having fun cutting up an old sweater jacket that was washed, rather than taken to the dry cleaners. This sweater shrunk so much it would fit a small child...creating the term felted wool & the back was just 16'' enough for the circle. It was the beautiful blue back ground colour needed to make the Round Robin pattern by Bridget Lilja for The Quilt Show. I added wings to mine, very fun project in wool & machine stitched in the buttonhole stitch.

Snowmen Table-topper

This cute little table topper is from Fons & Porter 2004, yes it did take a few years to complete it! I made 2 at Christmas, one for my quilting buddy Paulette & one for me. My mother-in-law Eva, loved mine so much, I gave it to her. With wee bits of the snowflake fabric I put this together for myself...I wonder how long I can hold on to this one!

Garden Party Quilt Top

The Garden Party quilt top is now complete, it will be off to the long arm quilter for quilting, then the chocolate brown binding to co-ordinate with the corner stones. I'm fond of this quilt so it's going out east for the cottage guest-room. With the left over petals & buds, I plan to make a table topper version soon...So much fabric - so little time!

Memories for Mitch's Birthday

While organizing my sewing shelves I found a project that I did 9 yrs ago. Back then was our racing glory days. My husband & myself  were race car drivers for NMRA through the USA circuit doing the  1/4 mile drag-racing & our boys were pit crew & video recorder. Our sponsor Weldon, for our water pumps, took our son Mitch on tour with him through the USA.
Getting Mitch ready he wanted all his khaki pants cut off into a carpi length, very popular back then for the boys & I made him PJ's in the printed fabric as he would be living in motels from show to show.

Not being a quilter back then but  frugal, I could not throw out the cut off fabric & found the 100% cotton fabric quite expensive...so with the scraps I made him a memory quilt. Looking at it now I chuckled at the seams, they were pressed open as a seamstress would! not a quilter.
So finding this find , I had an idea...I asked my girlfriend Liz to quilt it up with the Richardson/Buchanan plaid, she did a lovely job & I finished it off with binding in the 1967 Centennial Maple Leaf plaid, cut on the bias. The finishing touch would be the logo badges I had from my racing days & I zig-zag them to the edges.
Mitch liked his new blanket of racing memories from the early 2000's, something from nothing. One of my favourite children books...Something from Nothing
My husband teases me with the comment...she still has everything she's ever owed!

But I know that's only partially true! Happy Birthday Mitchell XO

la petite fleur

I saw this wee pattern in The Better Homes & Gardens Special Interest Publications, Quilting Magazine, it was done all by hand & in wool, one of my favourite sewing techniques  & a change from the machine piecing of the Garden Party Quilt. It feels like spring working with flowers rather than snowmen...must stay focused on the embroidery project A to Zzzz too!

It is quite small but effective, measures 8 1/2'', each circle is just under 3''.

Pretty in pink & blue, the centers are French knots

I purchased a quilting book this weekend  from The Great Canadian Superstore, it was from France, called Quiltmania The Quilt magazine it has some different ideas...must stay focused on tasks at hand!

The Garden Party Quilt

The Garden Party Quilt is one I'm doing to stay in touch with fellow quilter's out on the east coast. I read the pattern over several times to try to understand it. The techniques were unfamiliar to me... a Revlon nail file, Mylar plastic triangles. I started & it's been a fun project & is finally making sense. This quilt assembly is a  timely one too. Each flower takes 3 hours to make...there are 5 colours! I'm working on the green tomorrow & sashing this week. The goal is to have it finished by next weekend. This has been a new experience for me, I like tradition quilts & this pattern reminded me of a Dresden Plate pattern. That's one of my UFO's...this year,  it too will be completed, I do get side tracked so easily!

Blue flowers are put on...

The red flowers are added...

Yellow flowers are added...

Brown flowers are added...just the green flowers needed, then the sashing to bring it all together!

Binding complete on Cottage Quilt

I've finished putting the binding on the cottage quilt, it's made from 2 patterned blocks & some improvising from the Jim & Jan Shore Quilt Book. Tim at The Marsh Store in Coldstream did a great job on the longarm, quilting together this queen-size quilt. As I was sewing the binding on, I noticed how nice it looked in Nick's place & the colours were just yummy in a chocolate brown & mint green. So the quilt never made it to the cottage in Baie-Sainte-Anne, it's new debut is on Nick's bed.

The N- Snowman Quilt Block is now done!

I was embroidering in airports & free time on this last Florida trip & now have over half of the alphabet done, it was a good feeling doing the mittens on M...the official 1/2 way mark!!

Florida was a simulating trip to the new Dali Museum, Salvador Dali was a genius & an artist way before his time. If you ever have the chance to take a toured viewing of this gallery, it's well worth the time & money, a memory for a life time! The history of the new museum is stunning too. If any of the glass triangles should shatter upon a hurricane, steel doors come down creating a concrete vault for all the artwork within... WOW, the photo shows the staircase, done to accent his fascination of the DNA strand.

This trip was full of history, we also visited Henry Flagler's summer mansion in Palm Beach, it was beautiful. The ground work was stunning. Bill & I are at the roots of this kapok tree, it has to be hundreds of years old. I have many photos of this living history of Florida.