One Monthly Goal for September - Completed!

 There's just time for a quick post today as I have to get back to work on a custom quilt on the longarm. I only have about two hours work left to go on it, I think.

Here is a picture of when the quilting first started...

....I love when I get the opportunity to sew that motif!

And I love when a quilt calls for a bit of curved cross-hatching...

I've actually just popped in to say that I have completed my One Monthly Goal for September, which was to finish the top of my Farm Girl Vintage quilt.

It was started quite a while back, and I'm so glad to have it finished. I still love the look of the quilt. I'll enjoy quilting it, but that will have to wait until January.

A special shout-out goes to my friend, Karen Z, for designing the Canadian flag block to replace the American flag that was part of the original pattern.

Last year for Christmas I received the pattern book for Farm Girl Vintage 2....now I can look forward to starting that one! I think I'll make a goal of two blocks per month. I seem to do well with an agenda of some sort.

I was excited to learn last month that I won the prize for One Monthly Goal over at Elm Street Quilts blog. She hosts the OMG every month. If someone posts their goal at the beginning of the month, and then posts that they did indeed complete that goal, the person has a chance to win a gift certificate to Fat Quarter Shop.

Last month, that person was me! I ended up choosing a fat quarter bundle to use in an upcoming Snowflake quilt. You'll read more about that in an upcoming post!

Here is the fabric I chose, Polar Magic by Lemonni...

That's it for now....back to work for me!

I am linking up with Elm Street Quilts for One Monthly Goal Finishes - September. 

Happy New Year 2020

A whole new year, a whole new decade!

I'm sure you are the same as me, in that you think ahead to which quilts you'd like to complete, continue, or, dare I say, begin.

I have an actual finish this past week...my Temperature Quilt for 2019.

Well...the top is finished. I hope to have it quilted up very soon, though. We have visitors next week from Alberta, so quilting will have to be put hold for a bit.

I learned that I need to make sure there is a bit more contrast in my colours for a Temperature Quilt...way too many similar reds, I think. On the other hand, you can't really plan ahead too much, as the temperatures dictate how the quilt will play out, right?

I hope you will consider a Temperature Quilt....I thoroughly enjoyed doing mine. I had thought to put off doing another one until 2021, but didn't I come across a beautiful bundle of fabric, on sale, that would be perfect for a Temperature Quilt....and I came across a pattern that called out to me.

Here is my layout for 2020...

It's not a very big quilt and it done with English Paper Piecing. Each star represents one week of the year. I will only be using the high forecast for each day, but there is an option using highs and lows. If you google Fiona Sandwich I'm sure you can find the pattern if you want to play along.

Here are January 1 and 2...with my thimble so you can see the scale of the blocks...

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This year I am motivated to get back into participating in the One Monthly Challenge hosted by Patty at Elm Street Quilts.

For January I'd really like to have to blocks completed for my Farm Girl Vintage quilt. This has been a UFO for much too long now and I still love it, so would like to see it graduate into becoming an actual quilt!

Here are the blocks I have done so far...

I have to give a shout-out to Karen Z for designing the Canada flag block to use instead of the American flag....awesome!

They aren't in their proper layout yet. I think I have 8 more to go, so it's definitely an achievable goal. There are a couple of blocks that I was going to replace...

....they are the ones with the red "cheerio's" in the background fabric. I thought it would be nice to introduce a second background (maybe 2 years ago, lol) and it wasn't until I put them with the others that I noticed that it isn't a white fabric like the original background fabric. They look dirty to me. Actually, today they don't look as bad as I'd thought....but I think I still have to replace them :(

I did manage to do a block on Tuesday morning...to get the ball rolling. Well, I'll have to call this my "humility" block, if you get my meaning...

I do like it though...it uses a few of the new fat quarters I've picked up lately. 

One of the "pushes" to get this one done is that Santa brought me a new book for Christmas, Farm Girl Vintage 2...

....and I really shouldn't start this one until the original Farm Girl is done!!!

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Now I'll confess to the new quilt that I will start this year. It's a Jen Kingwell pattern called Halo. I've had the pattern now for a couple of years and I think I've put it off as it's a bit intimidating to me.

I don't have a picture to share yet as I've just started a bit of cutting and don't have any blocks done yet.

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Another finish this week is my first pair of knitted socks in a very long time....

I am very happy with how they turned out and happy to get back to knitting, especially socks. I learned three techniques on this pair, one of them being knitting them from the toe up, which I really liked.

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I usually have a two-week break from longarming at the end of each year, but I'm extending it a bit this year as we have house guests arriving next week for 5 days. 

I'm taking advantage of this time off to get one of my own quilts quilted, my Queen's Garden quilt.

As always, I started with doing the Stitch in the Ditch work...especially so since I wasn't sure what I'd do in the borders. All I knew is that it would be some sort of feathering, reason being...I just really feel like doing some feathers, lol.

I looked back at notes from some longarm classes I've taken in the past years. I did a bit of doodling the other day to try to get some creative juices going. 

I'm always so nervous to get started, but then I start and it becomes lots of fun.

I'm liking the first bit of stitching...

I only did a bit more before the lighting started to make it difficult to go on. For this picture, I actually shut the light off hoping to see the effect of the quilting a bit better...

I like it, and it's turned out to be a lot of fun to execute. I will try to fill the space more as I progress. It would really "pop" with some pebbling in the negative space, but this quilt will not be so heavily quilted.

I wish I had time to do more today, but I'll be going out soon to a friend's house to do a bit of "wet felting"...we'll be making cat caves! 

Today I am linking up with Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Can I Get a Whoop Whoop?, Elm Street Quilts for One Monthly Goal, and with Alycia Quilts for Finished or Not Fridays.

A little bit of applique and a little bit of handquilting....

I truly didn't think it would be such a long gap between this post and my last one.....the days slip by so quickly sometimes!

Today marks the 7th anniversary of Slow Sunday Stitching hosted by Kathy at Kathy's Quilts. Every week she invites us to share the projects that we are stitching away at. 

Lately I came across the new quilt published by Kim McLean, called Animal Album. I had no interest in starting a new applique project, but I just love Kim's designs and I finally caved in....thinking I'd get the pattern and it would be a new start for 2020.

I've completed two of Kim's patterns and loved both of them. I told myself it's ok to just work on one block...just one! 

Kim McLean's are "a little bit much", as I overheard a woman say once when she was viewing my Stars and Sprigs at the Fair a few years ago...and as I began this block I've realised, once again, that I really do like quilts that are "a little bit much"!

The blocks are 18" and there are still a lot more pieces to go on block #1.

This week I also started hand-quilting a quilt that was part of an online sewalong that just wrapped up, called Shimmer...

I love that I can baste quilts on the longarm. Back in the day I would pin quilts to the wall-to-wall carpeting that I used to have in the living room and spend a few hours crawling around the floor basting them. This is so much quicker and easier, and a service I love to provide for my hand-quilters.

Then I just had to sit down and put those first lovely stitches into the quilt. I wondered which feeling is better....those first few stitches quilted on a quilt....or the last few? I don't think I know the answer, both are pretty good!

My favourite thread and needles....and my new thimble, ready for action...

....and who'd a thunk it....I can't use my beautiful new thimble to quilt with .... it will have to be only used for applique :(

I wrote about my new silver thimble in my last post, which you can find here. 

I bought it at the quilt show hosted by the Genesee Valley Quilt Club in Rochester, NY. I do have a few more pictures to share with you from this wonderful show.

I always love house quilts. This one was beautiful and you can see in the close-up one of the "pictures" that were quilted into the background...

I like when we can see different quilters' interpretations of the same quilt. Especially nice when the quilt is from one of my favourite designers, like this one designed by Sue Garman...

This one is my favourite...

The following quilt was their raffle quilt...I haven't heard from them so I guess I didn't win. It's probably the most beautiful raffle quilt that I've ever seen at a quilt show. I also love the extra effort they put into the beautiful feature around the edge of the quilt...

I always love a good scrappy quilt. This one really caught my eye, I think the blocks are 3 or 4"....

I'm thinking it would make a good "leaders and enders" block. I made one up to try it out. I cut a 3.5" square, sliced it in half and and inserted a strip...

I seem to remember someone once being hesitant about attempting a scrappy quilt, worrying about how everything would go together. But I also remember hearing how each of the fabrics are usually in your stash because you liked them at some point, so they should be wonderful together in a scrap quilt!

Today I am linking up with Kathy for Slow Sunday Stitching. I hope you have a moment to visit with her to wish her a happy anniversary and maybe visit with other slow-stitchers.

Have a lovely Summer's day!

Jolly Snowmen!

I started my day putting a few stitches in this block for my Happy Days quilt.....

This is a difficult block for me, but I'm pretty happy with it. The bird's eye is not actually done yet, I think I will embroider her eye instead as I don't think I could do a good job appliquing such a small circle!

It just needs a few leaves and a musical note (which also looks difficult!). At the rate I'm going, I may have this quilt completed in the next month!


This week I had a fun quilt on the longarm. A group in the Haldimand guild had an exchange this past year. The ladies chose their own theme and made a row for their quilt....then they exchanged quilts through the year 'til they finally got it all back to sew together into a quilt top.

Here is this one....a snowman-themed quilt.....

I couldn't get the bottom row to fit into the picture, sorry.

As soon as I showed my three-year granddaughter the pictures, she said, "Olaf!!!"....

....and, yes, Olaf is in the quilt....

Here are other highlights of this so-cute quilt....

I just did a nice windy-looking freehand design which enhanced the quilt, but also allowed me to watch out for the embellishments....which would have been difficult if I had quilted using a pantograph.

I will deliver this quilt today. The piecer is a relatively new quilter, and I think she is going to absolutely love her quilt!

I am linking up with Lorna for Let's Bee Social, and with Silly Mama Quilts for WIP-Works in Progress.