This quilt needs a name!

I'm ready to begin my new quilt but I still need a name for it.

I was inspired by a quilt I saw recently at a quilt show. It's a version of Courthouse Steps so I believe we are dealing with a pattern that falls in the public domain area.

I shared my first block in a recent post....

I'm not terribly happy with this block, but it taught me that I'll have to think about the fabrics a bit more....so not a total waste of time!

I think the first row around the centre piece doesn't have enough contrast, so I've tried a second block. This one I figured I should concentrate on light and dark values so I could "see" it better...

Better, but still not just right. Now I think the best thing to do is to alternate the rows with warm and cool colours...

I like this one! All three will be included in the quilt. They will play together quite nicely...

I'm hoping some of you may choose to do this quilt, as well. It would make a great "leaders and enders" project. 

Below are my instructions if you do decide to sew along with me. I am by no means owning these instructions....like I said, they would be public domain. 

Start with a 2" square for your centre and sew on the first round...

....then the second round...

....and the third...

Here is what you need for each block...

Centre  -  2"square
1st Round - (2) 1"x 2" and (2) 1"x 3"
2nd Round - (2) 1"x 3" and (2) 1"x 4"
3rd Round - (2) 1"x 4" and (2) 1"x 5"

A friend gave me a tip recently for doing blocks like this. It was to cut pieces you need and put them neatly stacked in a container/basket/box ready for times when you can sew for a bit. I like that idea and it's what I plan to do.

Here's my start, lol.....

Not very elegant looking, but enough to give you an idea! I think I may have to stop somewhere and get a pretty basket for this project.

We went to Twisted Lemon on Wednesday for a celebratory lunch (I will wait 'til next time to tell you what was celebrated!). As always the food was awesome. The server asked if I had saved room for dessert....I answered, "no, but I'll have some anyway"!

Their creme brulée is to die for!

                                   

I will be attending Quilt Canada on Friday. I wish it was today as I don't think I can work....I seem to have contract Tennis Elbow and it's so tender and painful. Maybe I'll get a quilt on the machine and give it a try.

I didn't feel much like breakfast today so I just had a bit of toast and peanut butter. I always say the 3 "p's" are a dog's favourite....peanut butter, pizza and popcorn. Here are my little beggars...

....and, yes, they did get a morsel.

Have a great day!

Anyone going to Quilt Canada?

There's a feeling of excitement in the local quilting community. 
                                   
Quilt Canada takes place in Toronto starting this evening and it will be interesting to see how it is all under one roof. I've only attended one Quilt Canada and that was at Brock University in 2014. I remember being overwhelmed with sensory overload and being exhausted when I got home!

I'm now regretting not planning to attend for a few classes and events, but maybe next year since I believe it will in be Toronto again in 2017.

I am going on Friday....so I'll try to be a good blogger and take lots of pictures! I read Kathy's blogpost this morning over at Kathy's Quilts and she talks about how to be prepared for going to this massive event...you can read her post here.

On the home front, the garden is starting to show some colour, although we could use some rain. I think I'd like to expand next year by planting some suitable perennials for cut flowers as I'm loving the lupines and peonies that I've brought in this week....

I can't get over the aroma of the peonies when they are brought in the house!

We were also in the Fonthill lately and stopped in at the VanVliet Greenhouses, who specialty is Gerber daisies. The gerbers are such a reasonable price and last for a good two weeks...

Over the years we would occasionally get a bird's nest on the lamp at the front door. We solved that by turning the lamp in the Spring to discourage the birds since it would be quite a mess. It's hard to believe how quickly a nest appears, though....

This one is a nest of a barn swallow....new to me! I'm sure there must be some eggs laid already so we'll let the nest be and wait for the little peeps!

Along with getting back to my FlowerGarden applique, I've been keeping at my daily hearts. I really like this one...

I also like the fact that I've kept this up for over six months now! Maybe I'll do the whole year afterall!

 Puppy update

Not too much to report, just a few more eyes starting to open. They have grown so much since they were born.  I now wish we had thought to weigh them now and again.

Have a great day!

Sunday Stitching

Summer weekends....just love them! ( I know it's still Spring, but we're getting close!)

My weekend started out Saturday with the big reveal of the mystery quilt I've part of at Quilt Junction. I had a marathon sew-day on Friday trying to get caught up before the reveal....you can read about it here.

My sew-day didn't go exactly as planned. I decided to try the method shown for HST's.  Here is a picture of what I was supposed to do...

....and this is what I did....can you see the problem??....

I was not supposed to sew on either side of the horizontal and vertical lines! I didn't realise it 'til I cut them apart and saw this...

Seams on two sides!...that's not gonna work!!!

Oh well, it's like they always say, it doesn't pay to do things in a hurry!

The "reveal" was fun.....nice quilt and nice people taking part.

Then home to lunch made for me by my husband....yum....

I know...sausage and cheese wrapped in puff pastry not such a healthy lunch, but oh, so good!

We also decided to take a nice drive down to our favourite winery, Kacaba, for a food and wine pairing. It's the first time we've done such a thing and it was a beautiful day for it!

On the way back we stopped at quilt shop in the Beamsville area that I hadn't heard of before attending the Dunnville quilt show two weeks ago, The Quilted Cardinal. A nice, bright shop with lovely fabrics (of course!).

The great thing about visiting a quilt shop is that even when you don't "need" anything, it's nice to add to the neutral stash!

As we were going out the door on Saturday I noticed some twigs on the porch, so I looked up and saw this nest....

I've never seen anything like it so I googled it and it seems to be the nest of some kind of swallow. I'll ask my bird expert on Monday when I see him!

So that brings me to my nice, peaceful applique time this morning. Love it! I've taken up my FlowerGarden quilt again in hopes for it to be completed by the end of September.

Just need to complete the left and right border and it's a real quilt!

These borders look pretty tame compared to the top and bottom borders. If I could handle those then these will be a breeze, right?

 It will be amazing to finally see this quilt come together!

Puppy update

Today the pups are 11 days old. I expected their eyes to start opening by now, but soon I'm sure. They have, though, attempted to get up on their legs and take steps. Their legs just aren't quite strong enough.

Here's Batman (who happens to be a female)...

I also added to my daily hearts this morning with some scraps from a friend to commemorate the pups...

I am linking up with Kathy's Quilts to see what others are working on today!

Have a wonderful day!

It's a Sew Day!

Since last Fall I've been involved in the latest mystery quilt put out by the people at Border Creek Station called Quilter's Legacy hosted in my area by Quilt Junction in Waterford.

Needless to say, once again I've fallen behind! 

Tomorrow is the final "clue" and we'll see the reveal. I've decided to take as much time as I can to try to catch up before then.

Things were going along fine 'til I realised that I hadn't completed a clue from months ago....128 HST's! 

I know I should have done this step with my Easy Angle Ruler, since it would mean no squaring up...

....but I decided to follow the pattern's method this time, which is this way...drawing lines on these 7" squares and sewing on either side of the lines, then cutting on the lines...

Since I don't think that this method is my forté, I have a feeling that a lot of squaring-up will be in my near future :(

On the bright side it will give me an opportunity to use my new BlocLoc ruler. I got it not too long ago, it was pricey, so maybe I should give it a try! I'll be sure to give a review!

I would encourage anyone who likes doing mystery quilts to try the ones put out annually by Border Creek. They are very well written and so organised! 

All along the way we complete the clues and put them in numbered baggies to keep organised...

Tomorrow, hopefully, I'll be ready to empty all the baggies and assemble a king-size quilt with all the components!

Puppy Update

The pups are nine days old now. There are only a few changes to report so far. The three white ones...Buddy, Ana and Olaf are developing some barely-there cream markings. They have all grown quite alot in a week. I expect their eyes to start opening on the weekend.

Minnie takes longer breaks from them now. If they are all huddled in a pile napping she will come out of the box into the real world....sometimes to just take a nap herself in a sunbeam...

She is eating ALOT! I looked it up and read that her appetite could increase 25% per pup.....and I would say that is accurate!

Hopefully in the next couple of weeks I can provide some actual action shots!!!

Have a great day!

Quilt Show Season, Part 2

This weekend was the quilt show for the Hamilton Quilters' Guild held at the Ancaster Fairgrounds. What a very good job they did of hosting a beautiful quilt show! 

One always hopes to come away with just a glimmer of inspiration. Well, this show certainly provided that for me!

A while back I stalled on my Gypsy Wife quilt, designed by Jen Kingwell...

There were two Gypsy Wife quilts hanging at the show....

...stunning!....and now I want to get back at mine. I know why I stopped, there was part of it that intimidated me but I need to get over it!

There were many beautiful quilts...and I found myself drawn to the more modern looking ones...

  

We had fun cruising the vendors. Caught up with Lana from Quilt Junction...

Then I saw it...."the" quilt!....actually there were two of "the" quilt, hanging side by side....

This one is called "Moonlight at the Oasis" by Jen Kingwell ( I do like the Aussie designers! ). No surprise either, one of my friends loved it, too....we do seem to like a lot of the same quilts. 

Something of interest was a booth devoted to Featherweights. They were so pretty! 

I've always wanted to do a Spiderweb quilt and there was a beauty at the show...

I actually have some yardage of bubble gum pink fabric that I've put aside for over 10 years (15?) for my Spiderweb quilt! 

One day....one day there will be time to do all the quilts I dream of....won't there??? lol

This quilt show reinforced something I've realised lately. It's been a long time since I've made a quilt using something other than a scrappy look. These truly are my favourites!  Even though some of my quilts use similar fabrics, such as my Happy Days Sarah Fielke BOM where I'm using mostly TulaPink fabrics, they still have that scrappy quality about them. 

Talking about Happy Days....this is the block I am working on today for some slow stitching...

This block has given me trouble. Well, not so much the block as my fabric choices! I've changed this up a couple of times and I'm still not sure but it's not being changed up again. Just a few more leaves and it will be complete. 

I've really been side-tracked by a few wonderful projects and they have taken the focus off my two main applique projects. So, after this block is done I will return to my FlowerGarden. It's sooo close...maybe two months of morning applique and it will be done!

Puppy update

Here the pups are this morning at four days old.

My grandchildren came for their first peek at the pups on Saturday. I let them name the pups. They are Olaf, Buddy, Batman, Ana and Marshall!

Minnie was a proud Mama and let the kids hold a pup for a few minutes. 

It's an overcast day here today, maybe a perfect day to make a new tote bag to take to Quilt Canada in a couple of weeks! I am going to use the pattern that is in the current Canadian Quilter magazine designed by Laura Coia. 

I am linking up with Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching and with Quilting is More Fun than Housework for Oh,Scrap!

Have a great day! 

Puppy Love!

First I have an update on my Quilty365/Year in My Life quilt.

Here is how it looks today...

I started this project on November 12, 2015. This shows what I've sewn together up to May 10th. 

I have more blocks completed up to May 21st...I hope to spend a half hour today prepping the rest of the blocks up to today.

Here is a heart featuring a TulaPink fabric. I just had to include it since it reminds me of the actress who plays Claire in the Outlander series!

I've put out a message to a friend to see if I can steal a bit of "dog" fabric. I'd like to use it for yesterday's heart and I don't think I have a single piece of fabric featuring dogs!

I have followed a few bloggers that are also working on the Quilty365. One of them is Cynthia over at Quilting is More Fun Than Housework. If you can, check out her Quilty365....she does a circle each day then joins them with an HST to represent one week. It sounds like she has had enough of this project now, but she is going to have a beautiful quilt from what she has done!

I am linking up with Audrey over at Quilty Folk so we can see all the Quilty365 projects that are being shown this month.

So, now an update on puppies...

We started the day with poor, little Minnie trembling all over. I cuddled with her and soothed her and wrapped her in her blankie. That seemed to help...

At 9:30 she gave birth to pup #1, a girl. The next followed at 10:00...a boy. I thought that might be it. Minnie is a small dog, so I was figuring on two or three pups.

She settled with the two...then around 10:45 another started being born, but only the head emerged and stayed like that for a while. I was getting a little worried and thought of calling the vet...but then out popped #3, a girl, with a rush........followed within minutes by #4, another boy!!!

That brought us to 11:30. Minnie did a great job cleaning them up and stimulating them. At noon I took her outside for a pee break and she had a bit of water. I took that opportunity to clean out the whelping box and line it with a nice fresh towel. Such a sweet little family!

I rested a bit (it was a very emotional morning!), then at 1:10 I figured I'd head up and do a bit of sewing. I took a quick peek at Minnie and the pups. Awww, she was lying their feeding them and looked quite at ease. It took me a minute to notice, though, that there was a fifth puppy halfway out into the world!!!

#5 had me worried a bit. I wasn't sure he'd survive. He wasn't moving much and seemed to gag once in a while. I stroked him a bit and Minnie did her thing for about 10 minutes which did the trick, thankfully. 

So we have five puppies, Momma and Papa are doing fine! Actually, poor Cooper has looked quite baffled since it all happened! He was pacing the floor all during the births!

Here you are...your first peek...

Nature is truly amazing!!!

Have a wonderful day!