Day Two and Three

We were up bright and early on Friday and decided to drive to Peggy's Cove.  Since my name is Peggy it is a place that I always wanted to visit.  It didn't disappoint.  The drive is a beautiful drive down a secondary highway so there was lots of beautiful scenery.  

The Lighthouse at Peggy's Cove

The wind is very strong here but we did manage to walk around on the rocks and right up to the lighthouse.

We thought this was a great plaque, so I took a picture.  It is attached to the lighthouse.

Lynda asked about getting our picture with the lighthouse and when he found out we were from Ontario, he took our picture for free and gave us each one.

He was really quite funny and we thought it was just a pitch line but we did get the postcard for free.

We left Peggy's Cove and drove to Mahone Bay.  We stopped by the side of the road and took a picture of the three churches lined up on Main Street.

Three different faiths side by side.

Of course I was looking for quilt shops and we found 2 of them.  The first one was called Suttles and Seawinds.  The second floor was all fabric, the first floor was clothing that was for the most part designed by the owner.

This room was filled with quilts that were all hand quilted by local people and were for sale.

We journeyed on to the next shop.

This shop only sold quilts and no fabric.  When the owner found out that we wanted to buy fabric she told us to stop on our way to Digby at Avonport Discount Fabrics.  We found out the address and made it a priority for Saturday.

We left Mahone Bay and drove on to Lunenburg, home of the Bluenose Schooner.  

The Bluenose

We ate lunch at The Fish Shack and had wonderful fish and chips that would melt in your mouth.  After lunch we walked along the shore

Colourful shops and restaurants looking out over the bay.

Now it was time to head back to Halifax and we decided to stop at the Citadel on our way back to the hotel.  We were late because everything closed at 5 pm so we walked around the grounds and took a few pictures.

Halifax Clock Tower.

DAY THREE SATURDAY

Saturday morning we checked out of the hotel and are now on our way to Digby.  Just outside of Wolfville we found Avondale and the Quilt shop.  It was a very large building with lots of name brand fabric.  There was a lot of fabric on sale and none of the regular priced fabric was over $13.  Of course I had to shop.  I purchased some Nova Scotia fabric, which is what I am really interested in getting while I am in the area. 

After leaving the quilt shop we went to Grand Pre to a UNESCO site; the area where the Acadians were deported from.  There was a small museum and a memorial of the church that was there many years ago.  

The grounds were very large with beautiful floral beds and walkways.

We drove from here down to Evangeline Beach because we could see that the tide was out.  It was a steep climb down steps and over large boulders but we made it to the ocean floor.

I'm walking on the ocean floor, something else I really wanted to do.

After a short drive we arrived at Wolfville and had lunch at Paddy's Irish Pub.

It was a long drive along the shore to Digby.  We arrived around 4 pm and checked in the Digby Pines Resort.  

The Digby Pines Resort

After settling in we took the hotel shuttle down town to see what we could find for dinner and the check out the town.

We had a nice walk along the harbour and saw the fishing boats.  

I had lobster for dinner and Lynda had scallops and clams.

The Tidal Clock

This clock is in town and two sides shows the time of day and the other two sides show the tidal times.  What a great thing to have especially for visitors to the area.

Tomorrow we are driving to Yarmouth.

Peggy

We Have Arrived in Halifax

After overnighting  Toronto we have arrived in Halifax Nova Scotia.  We rented a car and started on our way.  With the help of the GPS we found our hotel our room wasn't ready so we decided to seek out a liquor or beer store and promptly got lost.  After asking for directions we found one.  By the time we got back the hotel our room was ready.  We unpacked and then decided to go downtown Halifax. 

We drove down to the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21.  Pier 21 was the place where all immigrants landed on Canadian Soil.

Some of my best friends came from Italy in 1950 and entered at this port.  A few years ago they put their names and their parents names up on the wall. 

There are hundreds of plaques on the walls

Suitcases hanging on a wall all decorated by students who were asked if you had to pack a suitcase to leave your home and go to a new country what would you pack.

Family Heritage wall

If you look closely you can see Lynda and I.

After we posted our picture it became large on the screen.

Tomorrow we will go back downtown Halifax to the Citadel and other tourist

attractions.

Peggy

Getting Ready For A Trip

Lynda and I are getting ready to go on another trip so that usually means more sewing or bag making.  I am the quilter-sewer but Lynda does a lot of visiting quilt shops in her area to check out fabric or patterns that she might be interested in having.  She found a pattern for a wallet that she thought she might like to have and also use it as a cross body purse.  She leaves fabric with me and lets me chose when making something for her.

The Necessary Clutch Wallet

This is from Emmaline Bags

I fussy cut the flap to showcase the two roosters and then just used the same fabric for the rest of the outside pieces.

 

The Inside

There is room for 16 credit cards as well as a zipper compartment for coins.  I put a security flap over the one open space because the wallet opens up very wide.  That would be a great place for a cell phone but you would have to make sure that it didn't fall out when the wallet opened.  Dollar bills go in behind the credit card slots.

I also made myself a new bag to carry my non essentials when on this trip.  We only put things that are not valuable in these bags so that if it is lost or there is any theft it is not a great loss.  So we would carry our umbrella, Kleenex, sunglasses, scarf, and maybe an extra pair of socks.  In the fall I would also put a pair of gloves in there.

The Tahoe Bag

I remade this bag and made it longer than what the pattern calls for because when I travel I take my cane with me.  My cane comes apart into two pieces and it will fit in the pocket inside the bag.

I also put a gusset in this bag which the pattern did not include.  It makes the zipper very neat and also lets the bag open wider.  I bought this fabric at the Creativ Festival in April.

I made the same bag for Lynda but made it the size that the pattern calls for.  It was posted a few day ago.

Keep your eyes on the blog for posts about our trip to Nova Scotia and PEI next week.

Peggy

Two Small Quilts

Every year our guild makes small quilts for Teddy Bears for Christmas Cheer Fund.  These are really neat to make because they are small and don't take a lot of time to make.  I like to piece so I often make a small quilt with a lot of piecing involved.

Little Boy's Toys

I found this on Lyn Brown's Blog.  Notice that one of the boats is

facing the wrong way.  So cute.

If you check out her blog she a lot of small quilts for dolls that are free.

Baby Buckaroos

I bought an ebook on line from Martingale Publishing and this little quilt was in it.

I bought this fabric a few years ago when I visited my brother in

Tallahassee and didn't realize that it was tailor made for this quilt.  I made some magic 9 patch blocks in red this time.

I had made this quilt before but used blue 9 patches.

I think I like the red better because it sets the fussy cut squares off.

I actually sold this quilt yesterday.

I think it was the first one I have sold since I started quilting 10 years ago.

A friend called and asked if I had a quilt for a boy for her to take to a baby shower this weekend.

Peggy

New Quilt Patterns

I try not to make the same quilt twice because I like to try new patterns and blocks.  

Double Pinwheel Quilt

This block starts off with a lot of half square triangles and I was wondering where the double pinwheel was.  It wasn't until after I put the blocks together that you can see the double pinwheel.

The green pinwheel in part of the block and the red one is made

when the blocks are sewn together.

You can find this block at www.pleasant-home.com

Sweet and Sassy Baby Quilt

This quilt is made with half square triangles.  I just used scraps and a background fabric.

The first border has a gold thread through it and so does the outer blue border.

I found this pattern at www.cluckclucksew.com

Jacob's Ladder

This is a quilt that I always wanted to make and I found a pattern to make it scrappy.  I didn't use as many scraps as the pattern called for, instead I put extra white squares for some of the scrappy ones.

Her website is 3and3quarters.net.  There are lots of new blocks and videos on this site.

Peggy

Home After A Fantastic Long Weekend

It all started last Thursday when I flew to London Ontario.  Lynda picked me up and we headed for the mall to do some shopping.  I had some success; I bought myself a new spring/fall jacket.  On Friday we were up early to drive to Toronto to the Creativ Festival.

Since 1988, Creativ Festival is Canada’s largest diy consumer show dedicated to the creative arts of sewing, knitting, beading, spinning, weaving, felting, quilting, crocheting, stitching, scrap booking, crafting and other fibre, textile, needle and paper arts.

This Festival takes place twice a year in April and October.  It is something that I have wanted to go to for a long time and this was the year I decided to make it happen.  It didn't disappoint.

There were several sewing machine companies there.

Janome, BabyLock, Pfaff, and Bernina to name a few.

There were numerous quilt shoppes in attendance as well as notion companies and knitting shoppes.

Lots of beads and jewelry available also.

My loot.

22 yards of fabric and 28 fat quarters.  There was so much different fabric there that I couldn't turn it down.  I also picked up a pattern.

We spent the night in Toronto before driving back to Lynda's place.  On the way home to stopped to visit with one of Lynda's friends in Orangeville and also stopped at 2 quilt shops.  I don't think I need to buy any more fabric for a long time.  This will keep me busy for a while.

 Saturday night I took my 17 year old grand-daughter out for dinner.  It was nice to visit with her and spend some time with her.

On Sunday we drove back to Toronto to attend a Blue Jay's baseball game.  We had wonderful tickets on the first base line in row 18.  It has been years since I attended a professional baseball game and we had a great time.  We paid a lot for our tickets but I may not get back to another game so I blew the bank roll.

We asked the staff to take our picture.  They are very obliging.

Josh Donaldson Day.

A sell out crowd.

Up to bat.

Osuna pitching in the last inning.  

Blue Jays won 6-3.

It was a good game to go to, especially since they won.

I left for home on Monday evening and walked in the door at 1:30 am.  My plane was late from Toronto and when I got home I was too tired to do anything so I just went to bed.

Peggy

Catching Up

I have been sewing quite a bit lately but haven't been blogging.  I need to find the time to sit down and do it, but things just get in the way.  Since I retired about 10 years ago I am busier then ever and sometimes wonder when I would have found time to go to work.

I have seen something along this line used by other quilters when I have been to quilt bees or retreats and decided that it was time that I made one for myself.  It will keep a few things handy for me and keep other notions in another caddy that can also be close at hand.  I went to Paris, France a few years ago and found this in my stash to remind me of that wonderful time.

Flashing Lights Baby Quilt

I found this quilt on McCall's Quilting but I used polka dots instead of a black background.  I just couldn't put black on a baby quilt.

My Preserves

One of the gals at a quilt group that I attend made a quilt like this and I knew then what I was going to do with my fabric of fruits and vegetables.  I had been collecting them for a while a few years ago just because I liked them.  I could never decide what to do with this fabric.

I even added chocolate chips.  Everyone needs a little chocolate.

The pattern that I followed was a Bug Jar Pattern because I liked the size of the jars.  I had initially made it as a donation quilt but I liked it so much that I am keeping it.  I have enough fabric leftover that I could probably make another one.

Roly-Nesters

I have made a lot of these small pouches.  They are great to keep sunglasses in or other small things in your purse or bag.

  

My sister Lynda came for Easter and she always wants me to make her some things.  She wanted a quilted bowl holder for her microwave and she also lost her little wallet that I had made her before.  

I made the bag from some of the fabric that she had in my stash.  The bowl pattern is from Patchwork Posse.  She has a lot of great patterns.

The bag pattern is called The Tahoe Bag.  I bought the pattern in 2011 the year that my youngest sister got married in Lake Tahoe.

Ring Around the Roses

I got a new Quilting Book for my birthday called "Make It Mini" and this little gem was one of the patterns.  Sometimes I don't take my regular purse but put my things in one of my tote bags and my phone gets lost so this little case will come in handy.

Mystery Quilted Bag

This was a mystery quilt that the guild had in 2008.  I had made one before but my large bags are wearing out so I went through my stash and found this lovely fabric to make another one.  This bag measures 20 inches by 25 inches.  These bags are so handy for carrying supplies or quilts in.

You can see that there is still some snow on the back deck.

Peggy

Iron Caddy Workshop

Yesterday I had the privilege of facilitating a workshop with 5 of the gals from our guild.  We used a local high school and the best part of the room we use is that it is set up as a Home Economics classroom.  That is probably an old term that not too many people use today.  They always come up with some new fangled word to use.  All along the wall are electrical receptors so you are not cramped together.

Everyone had there own spot to quilt in and spread themselves out down the perimeter of the room.

We set the middle of the room up with 4 tables so that we could all work together and help each other out.  The biggest thing about this pattern is the marking of the sewing lines so that the caddy folds up correctly.

Some beautiful caddys were made.

Cathy's

Kathy's

Carol's

Linda's

Susan's

Everyone got their's finished except for a few buttons.

As it often happens, you finish a project and then decide that you don't

like the buttons that you have chosen.

I'm sure new buttons will be purchased in a few days.

Peggy

Row by Row Quilt

I finally finished my Row by Row Quilt.  A little late but there was a lot of work with all the appliqué.  I had some help putting it in order and I really like the way it turned out.

I don't know why I made 6 rows but because I did, it made it very long but it also fits nicely on the wall in my hallway.

My sister Lynda had a lot of fun finding these rows for me.

The top on is from The Cloth Shop Granville Island, Vancouver, B. C.

The second one is from Circle of Friends Quilt Shop in Thunder Bay, Ontario

Number 3 is from Quilt Essentials in St. Jacob's Ontario

Row 4 is from Cherished Pieces in Tillsonburg, Ontario.

Row 5 is from Joyce's Sewing Shop in London, Ontario.

Row 6 is from Heart 'N Home Creations in New Hamburg, Ontario.

The rain falls on the sleeping giant in Lake Superior, the boats on the lake with the loons swimming in the lake.  The fish are under the water and the chairs are for someone to sit and enjoy the view.

I have more patterns and I think I may make another one that is just piecing.  I loved doing the appliqué and used a lot of different stitches to complete the top.

Peggy