A Great Visit and a Reno Update

My good friend Kathy came to Dauphin from Flin Flon for a visit this week. She had teased me on her blog that she had a cool birthday present for me, and she was right.   A few weeks ago Kathy had asked me to send her a picture of the front of my house and not to ask why.  This of course had me curious.  She wouldn't give me any hints, and I wasn't able to guess, but I was very excited to open my present and find this metal compass "barn" quilt.

The metal block and other designs can be found at the Classic Metal Company. I need to find the perfect spot to hang it outside, and I will post a picture when I do.  

Whenever Kathy comes to visit we like to take a trip to a favorite quilt store - Kickass Country Store that is.  It is located in the tiny town of Plumas, Manitoba (population 250) and it is totally worth the trip!  Wayne and Carol always take great care of us.  I was too busy shopping to take many pictures  but you can get the idea - it is crammed full of quilty goodness!

Many of the members of my local quilt guild follow Kathy's blog, and have heard me talk about her at meetings, so I thought it would be fun to have a little get together for everyone to have a chance to meet. Ten ladies were able to make it out that evening, and it was a lot of fun, so we might just have to do it again the next time she comes to visit.  Everyone took a turn playing on the Innova, and we spent some time snacking and visiting.

Kathy had to head back to Flin Flon this morning, and we decided not to go camping but to tackle the flooring in the basement instead.  I am totally exhausted now, but very happy with the progress Nolan and I made today.

 Clearing out the studio to get ready.

The long run in the hallway. This was definitely the most challenging part - 4 doorways and the most annoying telepost to deal with.

This is what it looked like when we stopped for supper.  The girls made supper for us on their own, and it was a real treat!

We got back at it and decided that this was a good place to stop for the day.  Working around the longarm has turned out to be a non-issue.  I hope I can move in the morning, because crawling around on the concrete is more tiring than I was expecting!  I'm not sure how many boxes of flooring we went through today, but I counted and there are still 27 in the pile, so I know the work is far from over.....

Quilt Ladder

I hope all the moms reading this had a very relaxing day yesterday.  I had a nice easy day after a busy week that included helping with costumes at five shows of "Grease" at my daughter's high school, and visits from my Mother-in-law and my Mom and Dad to see the show as well as my birthday in the midst of it all.  I did get one special present from my hubby that I wanted to share.  He made me a quilt ladder!

  He designed it to fit beside the fireplace in our living room.  The hearth extends on one side only, so the ladder was the perfect thing to fill the space.  He made it out of Purpleheart as I have always found it very intriguing when wandering around Windsor Plywood.   Purpleheart is really interesting as it is just kind of a greyish brown color when you first cut and sand it, but after it is exposed to UV light is turns a gorgeous purple color.

I feel very spoiled.  I just need to finish something else so I don't have to have a Christmas quilt on the top rung.  Good thing my Mother's Day present was "guilt free shopping" at the fabric store later this week!

Spicy Spiral Table Runner

 

This is actually my own finished project for a change!  I made this table runner for my local guild challenge.  Every year we are given three fat quarters and asked to make a small project with them.  The rules are very flexible.  There are no limits as to how many additional fabrics you can add, or the finished size.  These were the fabrics.

I used the Spicy Spiral table runner pattern and a 10 Degree Wedge tool.  After I got my head around the instructions, it went together really fast.  I decided to try some feathers for the quilting, and a few swirls to fill in the center.

The pattern does not call for traditional binding, but I knew I would prefer it that way.  The biggest problem was deciding what color binding to use.  I didn't like the look of the binding blending on one side and contrasting on the other, so I decided to use two colors.  It was a little finicky to get the seam to line up exactly where I wanted it, but I am very happy with the result.

Woodland Butterfly

This is Bev's Woodland Butterfly that she made for her granddaughter.  The pattern uses a 10 degree wedge tool and can be found in the book "Quilts Without Corners", by Phillips Fiber Art.  Bev did an amazing job piecing the 50" circle into the backing fabric. (I'm glad she did that part instead of me!)

The brown background fabric got and allover windy meander with some flowers added to larger corner areas for a little interest.

I stitched in the ditch in all the butterfly seams and added a few wiggly lines and some chevrons to add simple details in the larger pieces.  The green background got the 3's and E's treatment.

And a little swirl in the outer border.

I was able to get good pictures of the quilting on this quilt thanks in large part to my wonderful husband. Nolan has a hard time getting rid of things that could be used "for something."   This tendency worked to my advantage this time as he was able to rig up a hanging bar and clips for me in front of the fireplace in our living room all from found objects.

 There are four windows that give me great side light, and I am able to hang the quilts without any help.  Thanks Honey, you're the best!

A Springy Quilt for the Winter Weather

This is my house today.  On the weekend it was Spring!  There was no snow left anywhere in the yard, and I was wearing sandals.  Today is the second day of no school buses running.  It is very different than our usual snow storms.  It is only about -6C, so the snow is heavy and wet instead of dry and fluffy like we are used to.  But enough about that, this cheery spring colored Crazy Patch quilt belongs to Sharon.  We decided on the "Come Dance with Me" panto, and a wheat colored Omni thread.

One of the most wonderful parts of this job is watching a quilt transform while it is on the machine.  Sometimes I just find myself staring at it with a smile on my face.  I took some before, during and after photos while working on this quilt and thought I'd share them so you could see what I get to experience on a daily basis.

I had a great time working on your quilt Sharon!

Quilt Makeover and Some Fun

I was invited to a baby shower this past weekend and didn't have time to start a new project so I thought I would dig up something from the past.  I found this snow dyed mandala baby quilt that I made before I had my longarm. It is cotton on the front and fleece on the back.

I think when I put this together I felt it was kind of gender neutral, which was good as I have been invited to showers where you don't yet know if it's a boy or a girl.  This time the baby boy was here and I felt the quilt just had too much pink.  I decided to give over-dyeing a try.  After a  brief phone consultation with my dyeing partner Kathy, we decided that a brown overdye might be a safe bet.  We decided on a deep brown from our last round of joint experiments that was made up of orange and navy dyes.  The results were not what I expected...GREY?? But it wasn't pink or purple so I could live with it.

I was headed in the right direction, but decided that my simple outline quilting was no longer enough, so onto the longarm it went.

I just started doodling and this is what happened.

A little personalization for a finishing touch.

Now for some fun.  Quiltmaker Magazine is once again hosting their "100 Blocks Blog Tour" this week.  I have always enjoyed seeing the blocks, and visiting all the blogs.  I have also been lucky enough to win copies of the magazine, fabric bundles and a mug.  Maybe you could be lucky too!  Click the button to check it out.

Floral Hopscotch

This lovely lap quilt belongs to Cheri.  She has made for her sister, using the Hopscotch pattern. This is a really great one for fat quarters.  Cheri's fabric had a lot of dainty floral fabrics so the Flying Paisley panto was just the right scale.  I used So Fine thread and Quilter's Dream Blend batting.