must be the Fairy Dust...

I stopped in at my local quilt store the other day to pick up a couple of small items...(really !!) ...and wouldn't you know it, Michelle was moving some bolts of fabric to the half price wall!  Well who can resist a bargain like that!!

There was the sweetest Fairy fabric!!

and bigger panels, which are about 24x 40 inches.

I am not sure what came over me!!?? I bought it all!!   Must have been Fairy Dust influencing my judgement!! Well really , I only have 2 panels and the last of the yardage.... only about 1 yard of each was left...oh,  ... and a couple of coordinating fat quarters.

I have no idea what I will do with this, or when!! But the Fairy's got me! : )

happy mothers day

I hope everyone had a happy mothers day. ....maybe even just took a few moments for yourself to relax and enjoy!
It is sunny and bright here, but still very cool. The tulips are in bud, but not blooming. The trees have not yet come out into bud!!! Hope they make it into leaf before the snow is back HaHa!!

I finished the blocks for the Canadian Quilt of Valour. If you missed the description it is at Cara Quilts.
They are not perfect (sorry Cara !!) but the half square triangles were not as bad as I thought. Thank you to everyone who offered me those helpful tips!!  And a special thank you to Cara for taking on this project!

I have to admit that several pieces have been unsewed and resewed more than once. : )  Thank goodness for a good stitch ripper.

This is a "clover". I actually read about it from somebody's blog, sorry whoever you are, I don't remember where it was. It was quite awhile ago,but I was having issues with my old one so went out and bought this. It is very good, and when you need one as often as I do, I pays to have a good one!!

p.s. Someone asked about this pictures of the place-mats, but did not leave an address for me to respond. Yes there was a pattern, if you want more details, please send your email address.

quilt kit

I dont usually buy pre packaged quilt kits. I think half the fun is agonizing over which of all those beautiful bolts of fabric you are going to use!!  Not to mention doing the math to figure out how much you need! (OK, I confess, I just buy extra, cuz I really suck at doing the math !!)

But as I was snooping around the other day in the quilt store, I saw this little package..

and loved the mix of colors.  I also had to see what the "magic" is in the pattern HaHa!

It is called a magic 4-patch---and it says it uses a "magical technique".   Sounds like fun! 

this is crazy?

I never used to save the scraps when I was sewing clothing, because, really there wasn't enough for anything useful, so never thought about saving them when I started quilting.....until I started reading these blogs !!!
Now I have all these little bits of leftovers, that someday I will play with and make something wonderful...right???

Well I was at my local quilt store the other day, and saw what was left of the fabric I used for the "Kiss the Frog" quilt. I loved this fabric, and actually had quite a bit of the Jelly roll left over, but not enough to make another quilt top. So.....I bought some more of the same stuff!

 I am giving the "Kiss the Frog" quilt away as a wedding gift, so I felt justified , because I really loved the colors!! They didnt have any of the darker grey left, except one fat quarter, but I bought that too!

I know this is crazy, isn't it? When will it stop? I will need to buy more to match the leftovers of the leftovers .HaHa!!

Canadian Quilt of Valour

I have to admit...I have never made half square triangles! I am not really good at matching up points, but thought that this was a worthy cause to give it a try.
Cara at Cara Quilts has very generously offered to make Canadian Quilts of Valour. This is the pattern that she has planned to make:

She is asking for donations of blocks and she will put them together.  The pattern for the blocks is here.

So I have a couple of FQ...and will attempt those tricky triangles!!

Stay tuned.... bad language is probably in the near future!  : )

quilting Kiss the Frog

It is time to start quilting the "Kiss the Frog" quilt. I really love the colors on this quilt!

So the question I faced was how to quilt it......again that moment of fear that I might ruin the top that I love so much.  I thought that maybe straight line quilting would look better??

This may sound backwards....but I have never tried straight line quilting, just my beginner efforts at free motion! So I went to my local quilt shop..Periwinkle ...and had a browse around (snooping at the quilting) of some of the display quilts.  Of course...I didn't walk out empty handed, but more on that another day : )

What I did find, though, is that I  liked the softer look of the free motion quilting better that straight line stitching. I know there is no "right" answer, and it is mostly personal preference, but that was my preference. So looking at they pattern in the darker grey fabric I used for the sashing and border I saw loopy swirl designs.....

So I tried to echo that in my quilting pattern. I used the same pattern on the last quilt - the Jelly Roll quilt- and really liked how it turned out, so have started to work. I had originally planned to try to centre the loops over each block.....but that only lasted about one block! So then I just wandered around!!

It is actually going faster this time, guess I am getting a bit more confident.
Just a few tips for anybody else who is just starting FMQ........

• fill up several bobbin with thread before you start.
• I DID NOT drop my feed dogs! I have read about this and tried it, and it works! Set the stitch length to zero, and sew. 
• set the speed on the machine to half speed ( if you can). I have gradually increased the speed as I have gotten more comfortable, but you don't have to go fast.
• Gloves are a MUST!! I didn't like using gloves when I first started, but now think that they are essential and make it SOOOOOO much easier. I have tried several kinds ( although never tried actual quilting gloves LOL), and my favorite are the non-sterile surgical gloves. They come in a box, are cheap, and I can still feel the fabric under my fingertips.
• Stop and check the back now and again as you go. I did have to adjust my upper tension a bit higher, but just keep an eye on how it is looking.
• I use pins to baste, and thought that they would get in the way, but I find that I am stopping so frequently to readjust the position of the quilt and my hands, that it really isn't a problem just to take them out as you get close to them.
• Have fun! I am actually loving doing the FMQ part!

didn't know that I didn't know!

There is an interesting phenomenon going on in blogland apparently!  People venting and getting things off their chest. Check out all the comments over at Rachel's blog Stitched in Color, and then at Krista's blog Poppyprint.

I actually felt a bit intimidated by all this. I guess I didn't realize how much I didn't know till I read it. I freely admit that I am a beginner quilter and a newbie in blogland.

• I dont know who the newest fabric designer are, or what the newest fabric line is. I buy what I think looks pretty.
• I dont care if what I sew is "dumbed down" ...I kind of like it that way!
• I dont know if I am a "modern" quilter or not....dont think I am a traditional quilter...but also dont really care. (see first point)
• I dont know how to make hexagons, or even half square triangles to be honest.
• I usually dont enter give aways if they require that I become a follower...I follow people because I am inspired and learn from their blog.  I am honored and flattered that anybody follows mine!! Is it a competition to see who has the most followers?
• I didn't even know what a Single Girl quilt was (I had to google it) or if I liked it or not.
• I really dont like  Sherbet Pips ! (there I said that out loud)