Goodbye to St John's

I had to return to my favourite little quilt shop, Piece Makers, to take a picture of this

casserole cover.

Joanne and I bought kits to make one and I needed

a picture.

Heading home tonight.  It has been a great trip and visit with my SIL.  So many friendly people in this city.  I will be glad to say goodbye to the fog and cool weather though.  Not too sure I am looking forward to the hot weather in Ontario.

Peggy

The Botanical Gardens in St John's and Downtown

Joanne wanted us to be sure to see the Botanical Gardens and it was a beautiful day so it was a good day to walk through gardens and trails.  The flowers were truly beautiful and worth the visit.  There is a small tea room on site so we also had lunch there.

Dogwood

We took another walk downtown and went into a shop called "Nonia" where everything is handmade by the people of Newfoundland and Labrador.  The shop is mostly knitted items; sweaters, mitts, hats etc but I spotted this quilt. 

It was hand pieced and hand quilted.

I couldn't resist taking a picture of it.

 Joanne took us out to dinner to St. Phillips which is "in the cove" (Portugal Cove).  The name of the restaurant is By the Beach pronounced By da Beach.  This is the place to eat fish and chips.  The line up is out the door at any time of the evening and definitely worth the wait. 

By The Beach

The view was also spectacular.

Peggy

Day 5 in St John's Newfoundland

It was a beautiful sunny day here yesterday so we started out early and walked along Duckworth Street to do a bit of shopping and browsing.  We ended up at Velma's on Water Street for lunch.  It is a local, very popular restaurant.  We had pea soup that was so thick a spoon would stand up in it.  Extremely delicious.


From there we went to the Newman Wine Vaults which told the story of bring port wines to Newfoundland from Spain.

Inside the Newman Wine Vault

YKW had called the Senior Centre back home on Sunday and had set up an appointment to contact them via the Amateur Radio Station VO1AA on Signal Hill at 3:30 pm, so from here we set off for Signal Hill.  It was a clear day and we saw whales again on the surface of the ocean.  

Radio conditions weren't the greatest but they did make contact with the station back home so there were 2 happy Ham Radio Operators.

With the President of the RAC

Peggy

Day 4 in St John's

We have been very busy these last few days.  YKW was at his meeting while I was out visiting quilting stores.  There are at least 3 nice ones here in St John's and I made sure that I helped the economy here.  One shop had so many kits that it was hard to decide what to buy, but it didn't take me long.  One really nice purchase was some fabric of Newfoundland.

Puffins, blueberries, rocks, sea gulls, and moose.

So now I have to decide what I am going to make from these lovely fat quarters.

It has been very cold and raining here since we arrived.  The temperature hasn't gone above 12C.  We took a walk downtown and one of the very prominent things about St John's is the houses.  There are a lot of them side-by-each and all painted different colours.

We did get to Cape Spear which is the furthest point East in North America and saw the whales in the ocean.  It was very foggy but we did get to see them and I got a picture.

You can just barely see them

Cape Spear, Newfoundland

Peggy

Day One in St John's

We arrived late on Wednesday to thick fog here in St. John's.  We knew it was raining but when the captain said: "We will attempt to land." I wasn't sure I heard right.  Apparently a lot of planes did not land that night.


Thursday we went the Geo Centre which is what they describe as "Earth's Geological Showcase"  We spent about 3 hours here just exploring and taking guided tours.  There is an exhibit on the Planets, Oil & Gas formation, the Titanic, and The Great Rock Wall.

The Great Rock Wall

You enter the building at ground level but

the exhibits are underground right beside

the excavated

Great Rock Wall.

After we left here we drove up the hill past the Information Centre for Signal Hill where a Military Tattoo was performing.

Military Tattoo

From here we continued on up to Signal Hill, where Marconi had received the first wireless Trans Atlantic Radio transmission.

Signal Hill

 From here you can see all of St. John's

St. John's NL from Signal Hill

YKW listening to what

Marconi heard.

More exploring ahead for today.

Peggy

Vacation Time

We are going to St John's Newfoundland tomorrow and when I was trying to decide what to take I couldn't decide what bag to carry on the plane so I made a new one.

I acquired this fabric for free. 

 It was an end of upholstery fabric

that was being thrown out. 

The other side is the same.

I put pockets in it so it is just

right for travel.

I hope to do some blogging while we are away and will post some pictures of that beautiful province.

Peggy

New York City Book Cover

I made 2 cushion from the New York City fabric, one for my daughter and one for my sister and still had fabric left over.  I like a book cover when I read a pocket book on the airplane so now I have a nice souvenir also of our visit to New York City last March.

With my book inside

The outside of the cover

The inside of the book cover.

I sewed the scraps together

and then put batting

in between the inside fabric

and then quilted it.

After it was quilted I measured the book

and decided how big I wanted

it to be.

I think it will fit most sizes of books.

The one that is in it now

is a thick book so I thought

it was a good size to use.

Peggy.

Not much quilting done lately

Not much quilting done this past week.  Too busy with my son and granddaughter.

Peggy.

The borders are on the Twister

I was able to put the borders on the twister quilt today.  It has been very hot here around 33C with a Humidex in the 40's so I have been spending time in the basement in the air conditioning and doing lots of quilting.

Now I have to find some backing

and then it can go to the

long arm quilter.

It is 69 x 83

Peggy

My Second New York City Cushion Cover

I finished the second cushion cover of the New York City fabric.  It is a little different than the first one.  Colleen purchased white subway fabric so we put that in on the front.  The back is made envelope style so that it can be taken off the cushion if necessary.

I also finished the luggage tags that I started a few weeks ago for my grandchildren.  They don't travel a lot but I thought it would be nice to have something personal when they do.

Cats for the girls and bears for the boys.

Peggy



Twister Quilt

I couldn't wait to get going and finish this twister quilt.  So today I sewed the borders on so that I could start cutting it out.

I chose a multi coloured gold border.

I used the 8" twister ruler, a lead pencil,

and a Fons and Porter Ceramic pencil

to make the markings.

You can see the markings on the squares

The next steps are very crucial for it to work out correctly.

1.  The whole quilt has to be marked before you start to cut.

2.  You cut out one row at a time and sew it together.

3.  Then you sew each row together when they are finished.  Otherwise it will be almost impossible to put it together.

I have 4 rows completed.

Isn't this amazing. 

This is what it looked like before I cut it apart.

I will add more borders when it is finished. 

Peggy



Home from the Quilt Retreat

I arrived home yesterday from a wonderful 3 days of quilting with 3 wonderful friends.  We took time out to eat and have afternoon tea and we even enjoyed the hot tub.

My vehicle was so loaded down.

It didn't take us long to get the machines

set up and get to work

on our projects.

Joyce was making a Bed Scarf and

she had a nice screen room to

do use for cutting.

Still cutting.

Ready to be sewn together - 96 inches.

Maria is making a cushion cover

for her nephew who is

a fireman.

All finished.

Maria working on her mystery quilt.

  

Pierina is working on a table topper

that had large sunflowers on it

and around the border.

I finished sewing together these 10 inch

squares that will be made into

a twin sized twister quilt.

I still have to add a border before

I make the twisters.

I also completed my Christmas Wreath

in the twister pattern.

I think I have gone twister crazy.

All together

We did take time out for tea in the sun.

The back of the cabin (resort).

So peaceful.

Peggy.