Mystery Bus Tour

On Friday I was on a Mystery Bus Tour, Sara had invited & treated me to this fun day. The day was to start at 8am getting on the mystery tour bus & ending at 5pm, so Sara was at my front door at 6:15am & we were on our way to Elmira. The weather was on everyone's mind as the news let us know that snowmacgeddon was coming through our area, schools were closing but Sara had a big truck & we were fearless & determined to get to the bus. Early morning was just wet & blowing as we did our morning commute to our destination.
The Quilter's Nine Patch was our boarding destination & about 30 of us quilter's were greeted with freshly made donuts & fruit juice as we waited for everyone to arrive. Then it was onto the bus for our first stop...

First stop was  Shelburne to Cobwebs & Caviar, a place neither Sara nor I had been to before but the finds we found! a wolf panel with coordinating fur like fabric, pale blue cobblestone fabric that was on sale! a bracelet in Mustang colours that I will wear at the race track this summer, when I race my supercharged, convertible Mustang GT. And a new find, Aunt Philly's Toothbrush Rugs, this is the year of rugs for me, it is different to the hooked rugs & different than the thick crotchet ones I've done. It's a great way to reuse old clothes or fabric that your no longer in love with, very neat technique. Sara found her favourite, anything John Deer! she had a few more meters for her stash, she sure knows her fabrics in this collection. Then onto the bus...

  The weather continued to snow & blow with near whiteout conditions as we persevered to shop number two, which was in Cookstown at The Country Concessions, again new to Sara & I but the finds...
All Christmas was on sale 60% off & I was lucky to get the HO Ho Ho Screen book by Art To Heart & the fabric kit! then on the second floor with the goodies to eat was a Turning Twenty Stained Glass kit in Orient fabric 75" x 92" that I purchased for my husband Bill, for his new office that he will be moving into this summer. Sara has a love for the John Deer fabric & found again some for her stash. Upstairs had demo's going on & the food was there, it was there I had a nice surprise in the eats & treats with delicious chocolate brownies that were gluten/lactose free. Cynthia the owner has these dietary needs & caters to those that also need gluten/lactose free food. The Country Concessions
had made brown paper lunches for all of us, yum! We were all on the bus eating our lunch to the third stop...

Third stop was in Guelph in a century old house to the Greenwood Quiltery, all three floors had something going on for us, the basement had demonstrations on gizmos, main-floor fabric & pattern, the upstairs was the nibble eats & a sale gallery of different artisans wall quilts. Sara was so excited that it was on the tour as this is her favourite shop. Here is where she learned to quilt & caught the quilting bug & would escape to when she was attending Guelph University & exams got to be too much. I found pinwheel fabric, polka dots, measuring tape fabric & wee pieces to use in small projects. Sara found a flannel kit & pattern for a Christmas Dr. Suess,& a Innocence quilt pattern, so much fun! on to the last....

The fourth was our starting point, The Quilter's Nine Patch & with the time before boarding I found so much I loved, primitive kits, beautiful embroidery threads, space fabric,civil was charms, & a pattern to use up some more fabric from my  Thimbleberry  stash. Sara found great bright fabric to go with the Innocence pattern she picked up at the last shop. We were both happy with our finds & the day was so much fun. But wait there was more...

We all received a goody bag from Nine Patch, mine had many patterns, fabric pieces, candy & chocolate bars that Bill & I ate on the way home!

Thank you Sara for treating me to such a fun memorable fun day! 

 Sew much to do--so little time : ) We now have our projects to do, what a fun day it was!!

A Tisket, A Tasket - 12 Months of Baskets--Done! : )

A Tisket, A Tasket , 12 months of Baskets was a 2009 Bunny Hill Design & my favourite--the download was free!

Block One-January

Block Two-February

Block Three-March

Block Four-April

Block Five-May

Block Six-June

Block Seven-July

Block Eight-August

Block Nine-September

Block Ten-October

Block Eleven-November

Block Twelve-December

There they are, finished size of 8", overall finished quilt size 40" x 49". 

There was also a Redwork that could be done & I did that one in 2010, with a big mistake---like using the permanent Sharpie red to outline my embroidery, it runs! The 1st six blocks had the red pigma, the last six block the red Sharpie. I washed the wee quilt three times to release the red dye, a learning curve for me & hindsight for you!

This quilt is Ann Sutton's, of Bunny Hill Design.  I still have sashing, cornerstones, border, binding, & establishments of ribbon, buttons etc, to add after completion of the above. For such a wee quilt it was a lot of work but will be so sweet when finished. I have so many UFO's but to have this one done feels like an accomplishment...a year's worth. LOL

Happy Valentine's Day

This little wee Valentine's Day quilt was a gift to Sara, Mitch's girlfriend. She had Bill & I over for a lovely lunch on Sunday. She's a quilter  : ) & a great cook too!

I made this little one for myself to hang in the parlour, it replaces the Christmas one. These patterns are from the book 'Count On It', all monthly wee calendar quilts. (On  sale with 40% off all books till Feb 20th at the Connecting Threads website)

Cat In The Bay Window

Today was picture perfect with Tommy the cat, in the bay window taking in the morning sun.

How purrrfect is he!

Stitching Winter Memories

Stitching Winter Memories by Acorn Quilt & Gift Company is finally complete! What a job this 26" x 27" piece was, I really have to lose the mentality that small is fast & easy. The star blocks finish at 2", 16 embroidered blocks not including the photo borders & the border was changed out as the original was a 5 1/2 border, no sashing, & no cornerstones. I wanted this wee piece done by Valentine's Day, to add a little red in the lounge & it fit just right in place of the winter Snowmen quilt that was made a few years ago. 

This winter has been so warm & unusual, today's temp is 7C. Wow it is a winter memory of winter this season---this too will be a memory with the 2012 winter at the end of this year, it may return with more snow than normal, like last year with record breaking snowfalls. I'm enjoying this warmer weather though & walking is easy without the ice underneath the feet. Maybe next large snowfall, I'll go outside & make a snowman, it's like the last call of winter as Wiarton Willie proclaimed it to be an early spring.