Quilt Therapy Time Again

Our Thursday group was very interesting this week.  We had a visitor.  Pierina was in town for a funeral so she spent the day with us.  

Since her machine was in Toronto she couldn't

quilt, so she did some Swedish embroidery instead.

Maria was working on her trees.  This will be a table runner for one of  her daughters.  It is all paper pieced and taking a lot of time because she wants to make them all different.  It means sorting fabric for each one.

She has a lot of Black and White and White and Black

fabric to choose from.  She is doing a 

really nice job of them,  All her sorting and choosing

is paying off.

Joyce is using up some of her left over "Cabin by the Lake" fabric and making placemats.

Adding binding.

All the fabrics in the quilt and table runner.

I am working on a donation quilt.  I added 2 1/4 inch squares to two corners of 4 1/2 inch squares and then I am sewing them together just hap hazard to make it a scrappy looking quilt.

I may put sashing between the blocks, I haven't quite

decided yet.  I like using my scraps

to make quilts.  Everyone is different.

Peggy.

Possibilities Group

Our guild has a group call "The Possibilities".  A group of us get together once a month and talk about what we are doing in quilting and what we are working on.  It is always a learning experience for me.  This month there were 8 of us and lots of information was shared.

One of the more experienced quilters brought a flower block that she was working on.  It turns out that I have the book that she took the pattern out of.  I bought the book for $5 at the guild library sale.  It is called Fantastic Fabric Folding by Rebecca Wat.  I just had to try my hand at fabric folding.

I also made an orange one.

Isn't it cute.

There are quilts and wall hangings in the book and a lot of different flowers folded from fabric. 

Peggy.

Two More Finishes

I made a small donation quilt over Christmas.  It is called "Our Neighbourhood".  The quilt is made up of squares that look like little houses.  I found it on Moda Bake Shop.

Our Neighbourhood Charm Quilt

The second quilt I finished was "A Charlie Brown Christmas".  My daughter bought me the kit from Nancy's Notions for last Christmas and I hated to cut into it because I had to cut up the panel and make the squares 5 1/2 inches when they started out to be 5 x 7  rectangles.  I struggles on and finished it.

A Charlie Brown Christmas

It is 49 x 57

The backing for this quilt was very special.  Lynda went to Portugal last year and I wasn't able to go because of a medical problem and I couldn't get insurance so I asked her to bring me back some fabric. 

Portuguese fabric.

It was 60 inches wide so I didn't have to piece it.

Peggy

Quilt Therapy Thursday 2014

It's been quite a while since we got together for Quilt Therapy and it was good to get back together again.  We took most of the month of December off and then other things just kept creeping up on us in January so today was the day to start our weekly get-to-gethers.

Joyce has been working on her Cabin by the Lake Quilt and she made pillows and a table runner to match, so now she is ready to make placemats to go with the rest of the ensemble.

We laid out all the colours and came up with this order.

She finished one but no picture yet.

Maria is doing paper piecing and making

trees.  These will be made into a 

table runner.

I was sewing small white squares to 5 inch coloured

squares to make an 

X's and O's quilt.

I still have a lot more to do, see the stack there beside the other mess.

A great therapy day.

Peggy.

A New Baby Quilt for 2014

One of our great nieces is expecting a baby January 14 so I have been working on this quilt for her and her new little one.  They know it is a boy so that was the easy part of picking out the fabric.  I found this pattern out there somewhere on the internet but I forgot to copy the website so I can't give the designer credit.  I am really trying hard to do that when I see a pattern but sometimes I forget.  

I had to hang it on my design wall because there is far too much snow

outside to take a picture on my deck and it is

too cold to stand out there anyway.

This morning it was -35 C with a windchill of -45 C.  

I also made a bag to go with it.

I chose the dark blue for the bag

since the baby is a boy and I thought

it would co-ordinate nicely with

the quilt.

Peggy.

A Homemade Christmas

Christmas is over and the new year will be here soon.  It was a topsy-turvy Christmas this year.  There were some very sad days before Christmas, my sister-in-law passed away very suddenly in Florida where she lives and my niece in Kenora had her house burn down and her 13 year old son was flown to Winnipeg with severe burns.  When these kinds of things happen at Christmas time it is impossible to be with the people who need you most.  So I sent lots of good wishes and prayers their way.

Now that Christmas is over and things are starting to get back to normal (I said starting) I can post all the gifts I made and gave.

An Iron Caddy

Placemat with wine leaves and wine sayings.

A bag for Christine.

A table runner and placemats for both my

children.  I made 8 placemats and 2

table runners.

Mug Rugs, Oven Mitts, and a Hot Pad for 

Lynda who loves anything rooster.

A couple of Mug Rugs for 2 young

ladies who came for Christmas dinner.

I also made lots of Kleenex holders.

All in all it turned out to be a very nice Christmas.  I had 11 people for dinner and was lucky this year that I was prepared and had made 12 new placemats.

Peggy.

Baby It's Cold Outside

I had to take the words from an old song because when I woke up today it was -27 C and the windchill was -37 C and for all you Fahrenheit people that is -15 F and the windchill is -35 F.  No matter what system you use it is just plain cold.

I was able to get some of my quilted items finished for Christmas.  These are for me so I can post them now since I don't want to give away any presents that I am making.

I made 12 placemats so that I wouldn't be caught

short like I was last Christmas when there

were 12 people at our Christmas dinner

table and I only had 11 placemats.

I also made a table runner to match.  This pattern

was in the December/January 2014 

McCall's Quick Quilts.

It is still a few weeks till Christmas and I didn't want to put my best Table topper on our table to I quickly sewed binding on a piece of quilted fabric that I purchased a few years ago.  It does the job and I will put a better one on when I have cleaned the house and decorated it for Christmas.

I picked this piece of fabric up in Newfoundland

when we visited there a few years ago.

Jinny Beyer has lots of free pattern on her website and this placemat is one of them made from border fabric.  

This will be given to Meals on Wheels.  

I made 2 of them and have cut out 2 more.

If this cold weather keeps up they will be made

very soon.

Peggy.

Christmas Cheer Teddy Bears

Each year our quilt guild makes quilts for Teddy Bears and gives them to the Christmas Cheer Fund.  Many of the ladies buy the bears and make quilts and then we also receive bears from the Teddy Bear Toss when the local University Hockey Team have a fund raiser by having the fans throw bears onto the ice between periods.  

This year there were 109 bears and dolls turned in to the guild.  I was fortunate to be with the group that delivered them to the Christmas Cheer fund today.  

They were all piled onto three long tables.

Carole, me and Judy with some of the bears.

Thank you ladies for all your hard work.  I am hoping that next year we can make even more.

Peggy.

A Neat Placemat

I get a newsletter from Jinny Beyer and she always has something interesting to show and talk about.  This month she was showing how to make a placemat from border fabric.  I have some fabric that isn't border fabric but all stripes that could be used as border fabric.  When I see a new pattern sometimes I just have to try it.  So I did.

It is made with templates but I think next time

I will use freezer paper to cut the sections.

You can find the pattern HERE.

I have made a few new purses lately so I decided that I needed new matching tissue holders.

Three new Kleenex holders.

These are called Ahhtishoo!! Travel Tissue Cover.

You can find the pattern HERE

They only require 2 fabrics and no bias binding.

One fabric is longer than the other and that

makes the trimming after you

sew them together.

Peggy.

Some New Toys

On my last trip to Southern Ontario and visits to quilt shops I picked up a pattern called "Caddy Pad" it is from Sisters' Common Thread. It is an iron tote and ironing pad all in one.  It opens out into an ironing surface.  The Heat-Resistant Lining comes with the pattern.  I had a lot of fun making it and now have a neat way of carrying my iron when I go the a quilt bee or sewing meeting.

It is true quilters fabric with thread and needles on it,

and it says "A Passion for Patchwork".

I also tried my hand at making some new mug rugs.  The pattern is from the Winter Issue of Quilter's World.  They are called Cuppa Coasters.

I think they are nicer than the usual rectangular ones that are quite popular.

Peggy

Home again

I have been to Southern Ontario visiting my sisters and 2 of my grandchildren.  On the way to visit my oldest sister Carole, Lynda and I stopped at 3 quilt shops.  We went to Norwich to Seven Sisters Quilting, I bought some fabric and another bag pattern.  We  then we travelled to Kitchener to Creative Sisters Quilt Shop.

Creative Sisters Quilt Studio.

It was pouring rain so I didn't get a good photo. 

I bought another pattern and some really cute blue fabric

with alphabet letters for my baby quilt that is

kitted and will be started soon.

 We then drove to Guelph to Greenwood Quilts to a large shop where Lynda purchased fabric for me to make a Christmas gift for a friend.

Christmas is coming so I won't be able to post a lot of what I am working on now and will have to take photos and post them after Christmas.

Peggy

Some Visitors and Another New Bag

I have had a few visitors this past week.  YKW and our son have gone moose hunting (no luck yet) so I thought it was easier to bring his cats to my house instead of me travelling across town twice a day to feed them and make sure everything was okay at his house.

Buckley sitting on my sewing table.

Banshee is getting ready to sit on my knee while I sew.

She is on my knee right now and it is taking me longer

to write this than usual, with lots of correcting to do

as I go.

The Everything Goes Bag

I bought the pattern from Brenda at the London International Quilt Show

last June when I went down for my grandson's graduation.

You can see more of Brenda's pattern here.

She has a website and a blog with lots of patterns and info.

I found this pattern very labour intensive but there were a lot

of good detailed instructions.

I will only make one change and that is to put a small piece

of Velcro or a snap on the inside pocket that holds

my netbook.  I found that the pocket gaped open when my

 netbook was in the pocket.

I will add that now by hand.

Anyone that sees this bag really loves it, and so do I.

I think I will get a lot of use out of it.

Peggy.

Fabulous Saturday Workshop

I went to a fabulous workshop this past Saturday.  It was held at one of the local community centers.  We were lucky to have Dori from Sioux Lookout be our facilitator.    

This is one half of the room.

There were about 12 of us, so Dori

was able to spend a lot of time with us.

We focused on the Janome sewing machine

and I learned a lot about my

little Janome Jem.

Dori helping Betty.

Marlene sitting at the other end of the table.

My table.

Wendy with her Janome Jem and Alva working 

on their projects.

Peggy

Quilt Therapy Thursday

It has been a while since we got together for some quilt therapy.  We just picked up where we left off.  Joyce and Maria worked on finishing up some projects that were started before we stopped for the summer and I made a place mat for Meals on Wheels that I had cut out but hadn't sew together yet.

Joyce's small throw quilt that she is making for her brother.  He likes horses, in case you couldn't guess.

Maria has a very large Teddy Bear

to make a quilt for and she started

it on our retreat so she was

finishing that up.

I had used this fabric before for different placemats

last Christmas and thought I would use

the leftovers for more.

I also finished my Christmas Cactus Quilt and sewed the binding on to it yesterday.

Christmas Cactus Quilt.

I think I will keep it around for awhile until I decide who might like to have it.

Peggy.

Design Wall Monday

I started this a few days ago.  YKW was at the cabin so I had some time to myself.  I put it all up on the design wall and then started sewing the rows together.  I sewed two rows at a time and in order to keep everything straight I put a stack of squares beside a large pin and a large pin on a row and called it row number 1.  The other one was row number 2.

You can see what I mean in this picture.  

The stack on the left

has a large pin in front of it, 

and you can see the pin

in the row number I was sewing.

13 blocks across by 14 rows down.

Can you guess what this is?

See if you guessed it when I post it later when it is finished.

Peggy.

I'm Still Here

I've been under the weather and in hospital so I haven't done much sewing lately.  I am on the mend and decided to finish up the fall purse that I started over 10 days.  I purchased the fabric a long time ago and all I know is that it is a Moda Fabric.  I made this pattern up as I went along when I made the yellow purse with the sunflowers on it so I decided to give it an other try.

I laid the fabric out on my work table because I couldn't decide how to put it together.

I only had some fat quarters and some charm squares.

This is the result.

The handles are from different fabric since

I has so little to go with.

I want to put a button the pocket but

I want a funky one if I can find one.

I also added a zipper to the top.

Peggy.