Salmon for Dinner?

Not yesterday…that’s for sure!  On our way to Victoria, we stopped off at Goldstream Park to see the annual Salmon run.  It was a gorgeous Fall day ~ perfect for a walk through the trails.  Also perfect for watching the Salmon spawn..

Let me give you a little quick lesson in “mating salmon”…the female moves her tail back and forth moving the gravel and silt at the bottom of the creek. When she gets her nest just right, she lays her eggs…oops I failed to mention that stud Salmon (the male) is right beside her protecting her as she does this.  So as she lays her eggs he sprays them with milt (sperm) to fertilize them.  They wave their tails to cover the eggs with the gravel and silt…then they swim off and die!  So romantic!!  (It sucks to be a Pacific Salmon as they die whereas the Atlantic Salmon get to return back to the Ocean for more fun and adventure.)  The neat part is…yes there is a neat part… salmon always return to the same river/creek where they hatched.  Incredible isn’t it! They migrate thousands of miles and then when ‘it’s their time’ they return to the same river.  Moral of the story~ there’s NO PLACE LIKE HOME! 

If you click on this picture you can see the salmon better.

So NO we didn’t have salmon for dinner!!  (I also failed to mention that the stink from the rotting salmon is not pleasant…but part of the experience! :o))

On the quilting front…I managed to squeeze in a very ‘quick’ trip to the Quilt Shop…where I found some binding fabric for my Peter/Paul quilt….

I also bought two metres of this Buggy Barn fabric…perfect Fall fabric..

 

..to go towards my Fall stash…for ‘someday’…

I still had 10 minutes to spare (hubby wasn’t back from his errands) so I hustled over to the Thrift Shop, which is right next to the Cloth Castle…!!  I managed to find two good books… ..before  I was tracked down!

So before I leave, in honour of Halloween, I’d like to share a picture of my one and ONLY Fall quilt…which I made last year….         HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

Have a spectacular spooky Sunday and Happy Quilting!~P

Amy’s Blogger’s Quilt Festival…

This is the quilt that I would like to enter in Amy’s Blogger’s Quilt Festival..it’s called Sticks and Stones by Sandy Gervais.

I love everything about this quilt…the simplicity of the pattern, the fabric…(Rouenneries by French General)…and the colours.  I made this quilt back in July of this year..hence the flowers in the background.

If you look closely you will notice that she’s not quilted…yet!!  This is the exciting part…Quilt Sue (from Quilt Times) who lives in England and I bartered services…I made Quilt Sue a Penny Rug and mailed it off with the Sticks and Stones top and the backing…and Sue is going to work her quilting magic on it…hopefully soon…(I will blog about it when I get her back!!)

In the mean time…I enjoy looking at the pictures of her hanging around the garden…

This is the penny rug that Sue got in exchange for her quilting services…. The pattern is called “Sunflowers and Chickens” by All Through the Night and I really loved making it!!  These hens are now clucking with a British accent! :o)

Isn’t it nice that through Blogging complete strangers can do something as wonderful as this?!  The amazing part is things like this happen all the time in Blogland!!  Quilters are so amazing!!

Seeing Stars…

I was definitely seeing STARS during Friday Night’s Sew In…and aren’t they pretty!!  They’re not completely together yet…but they soon will be! (I am using a lot of my Harmony by Moda fabrics…LOVE this fabric!!)

I chain pieced while I watched TV and ended up with more than 21 stars ready to be stitch together.  Sew much for my little table topper!!…correction…several table toppers!! :o)

Not only that but I have enough triangles to make at least another 21 blocks!!  I think me and my Lady GO!GO! have a cutting problem.  WE need to STOP! STOP!…sooner!!

OOOPS!!  I just got an email from Sandy….the Friday Night Sew-In is on November 19…not last night!!  I have GOT to start reading the fine print!!  But I look at it this way…LOOK at what I got done!  AND my sewing MOJO is going strong…my worry is can I keep it up until the 19?  Sure I can…Of course I CAN!!  After all Christmas is just around the corner!!

Have a super Saturday and Happy Quilting!!~P

We Are SEW IN…

…all 70 of us!!  Come and join the fun!  It’s our Friday Night Sew In…make it number 71! 

 

You’re going to be sewing anyways…What’s that you say?..You have a LIFE? 

Well..SEW do we!!  Don’t we?

“Yeah!!”…said all 70 of us!

Click on my sidebar’s Friday Night Sew-in Button to join in on the fun!  Hope you have a darn good life!!  :o)

When it rains…IT POURS!!

YIKES!!  Blogland is  buzzing…and humming… we thought October whizzed by!!  Look out November!! 

Amy’s Creativeside is sponsoring a Blogger’s Quilt Festival…and it starts TODAY!! So grab that quilt off the couch, brush off the crumbs, take a picture of it and then blog about it…then hustle over to Amy’s and enter!!  Yes, it’s that easy!

Stacy West of Buttermilk Basin has gathered 12 designers who will share 12 Holiday Projects designed exclusively for their blog hop.  They are not just any old designers either…they are some of my favourite designers…Cheri, Lynda, Lisa, Jan, Brenda, Kathy…and of course Stacy!  It’s going to be awesome!! I can’t wait to see what they share!! Not only are there going to be new projects but they are also sharing 12 ‘delightfully delicious Cookie Swap Recipes’!!  Doesn’t get any better than this…except for maybe a nibble…! Each of the 12 designers will be posting on each Tuesday & Friday starting Nov 2nd!

Sew Cal Gal is sponsoring her own Christmas Quilt Show starting Nov. 14th…sew…finish off that Christmas quilt so that you can enter the fun!!  Did I mention that there will be tons of prizes?!!

Hurry over to Darlene’s for a look see!

And then there’s the Mistletoe Make and Bake 2010 starting November 15-20 sponsored by Sherri of This and That Patterns!!

There will be a new designer project featured each day, and dozens of scrumptious cookie recipes just in time for your holiday baking and gift-giving!

Yikes…more projects…more cookies…we may NEVER get off the computer to make our own projects and do our own baking!!  Makes me tired just thinking about it!!!

SEW.. when it Rains, it POURS…and man I think we have a FLOOD on our hands!!

Have a FUN Friday and Happy Quilting!~P

If all else fails…fire up the GO!

Yesterday I got busy making a table topper to put on top of the electric Fire Place in our 5th Wheel.  The Fire Place is right by the door as you enter the  trailer. Here’s a picture…see the door on the left.

 

Now if your husband is anything like mine, he feels the need to empty his pockets the minute he enters the house…and this includes the 5th wheel!…I just know the top of the fire place is going to be the place where everything gets tossed…you know keys, coins, screws, gadgets and gizmos…whatever…So It really needs something like a table topper to protect it from the ‘elements’!

I found a cute pattern from the Fat Quarter shops FREE pattern site~ tons of nice patterns designed by top quilting designers.  (Check it out-later!) This one was designed by Marcus Brothers.  (Oooops…guess I put my ice water on top of the pattern!) But it’s a cute quilt pattern none the less…don’t you think? (If you click on the Fat Quarter Shop, you can make a copy for yourself-without the water stain!)

Anyways I found a nice Charm Pack in my stash by Blackbird Designs called Old Fashioned Charmed.  Got it cut out, sewed the half square triangles and then laid them out to see what it looked like so far....  Blah…didn’t do anything for me!!  Looked like the beginnings of a baby quilt..

…SEW…I put it away for another day…when a baby quilt is needed!!

And SEW…I started again!!

This was a JOB for…(Hero Music inserted here…) the Trusted GO! I pulled out some fabric from my stash, fired up the GO!, cranked up the music and within an hour WE had created these stacks!!  (I know…enough to make a king size quilt!!…couldn’t stop the GO!)

  Now this is more like it!!  Definitely NOT a baby’s quilt!!     So it’s all systems…GO!  (I couldn’t resist!:o)

Guess what I’ll be doing today…:o)  Ahhh, life is good! 

Have a thrilling Thursday and Happy Quilting!~P

Paul’s All Paid UP!!

Peter will not be robbed any more as Paul’s been paid!  I finished the Rob Peter to Pay Paul quilt and am going to turn it into a table cloth for the 5th wheel…it just needs the three Bees- backing, batting and binding! 

I am thrilled with this little number…I still cant believe I made a quilt with curved blocks!!  There is no way that I would have attempted this feat without the help from my Lady GO! GO!  She made it easy and fun!  YES, FUN!

Let’s zoom in for a close-up…no she’s not perfect…but for me SHE’S AS PERFECT AS SHE IS GOING TO GET!!  Besides if she was perfect I would freak if we should slop mustard or spaghetti sauce …this way a few stains will add to her charm!!

I used a whole Layer Cake of Blackbird’s Garden Party (minus a few of the light beige floral prints) and with the small scraps of leftovers I cut some scrappy narrow (1 1/2”) blocks for an additional border. 

So hopefully I will get her completely finished and back on the table in time for our trip down south.  OK…OK…maybe I will take her off the table when we eat…at least for the first year!  :o)

Have a wonderful Wednesday and Happy Quilting!~P

Heads up!!

Join US for a fun night of sewing…THIS Friday!

Be THERE…or be Square!! :o)  You know you wannnnna!

THANK YOU BLOGGERS!!

Look what I won…THANKS to YOU!!  Green Fairy Quilts was giving away a $30 gift certificate to the person who referred the most people to their giveaway.  So I wrote a blog about it…and YOU went and entered and told them that Sweet P sent you!!  You know what that means…WE WON!!  So what should WE buy??  I’m thinking a LAYER CAKE…what about you? 

Thanks Green Fairy Quilts…sew exciting!!  Now WE need to go shopping!  Decisions…decisions..?!

Some Quilting News~ Yesterday at Heritage Quilting they had stations set up.  Manning each station was an appliqué expert…lots of tips and techniques to enjoy!!  LOVED it!

At my first stop the quilter showed us how to get our fabric ready for needle turn appliqué.

She really knew her stuff!!  I could NOT see one stitch…and boy, did I look!!

She showed us how to use a plastic template or butcher paper and how to mark the turn lines by running little basting stitches instead of using a pen.

She also showed us how to make those invisible stitches when appliquéing.

I loved this little lamp/magnifying glass.  Eureka, I can see!

  She also showed us how to clip out the back so that the back print doesn’t show through…see the penguin, how it has black spots and would normally show through the white.  Not if you flip your block and cut out that part! 

This is the back cut out…Very clever!

At station #2 we received tons of tips to make appliqué a lot easier…

..Like how to use the double sided tape to hold the plastic template in place so that you could baste/mark around the stitching lines..See the purple piece of fabric…the plastic template is held in place ready for marking…quilters are SEW darn smart!

..and what kind of fusible webbing to use…Magic Fuser…or..

Steam-a-Seam2…(Magic Fuser was a little lighter than Lite Steam-A-Seam 2 but both were great in my books!)

She also showed us how to do blanket stitching by hand…

 

At station 3 we were shown how to do machine appliqué using the button stitch.

And at the final station Delores showed us how to Satin stitch appliqué.  She gave us a demo on how to go around curves and how to stitch corners correctly.

This was a runner that Delores appliquéd using the satin stitch and Sulky thread.  Delores also gave us a hand out on what kind of  threads to use ( use 100% cotton or rayon (Sulky) on your spool and always use regular thread in your bobbin) and what kind of needles (size 11 (Schmetz) (embroidery) for quilting cottons and use Metallica needle for metallic thread).

This is Delores’ favourite stabilizer…see all the holes…

…makes it easy to tear away when you are finished your appliqué…(sorry…I don’t know the name of it but it’s only $3 a metre!)

So I learned a lot!! 

Thanks so much ladies…next time I am going to take a pad a paper around so that I can write down NAMES…that way I won’t be calling you “the quilter” all the time…NOT that that is a bad thing! :o)  It is after all what we all strive to be!!  You can call me ‘the quilter’ anytime…just don’t be surprised if you get a “Who ME?”… followed with a dazed look…;o)

***Just found out the names of these wonderful quilters…Thank YOU to Joanne, Ruth, Susan and Delores!  You all did an awesome job!!

Have a terrific Tuesday and Happy Quilting!!~P

Not a Care in the World….

YIKES!!!  WHAT?  ONLY 2 MONTHS TILL CHRISTMAS???!!

To sew or not sew… that is the question?? 

Last year I made these sweet little table toppers for my girls…and although they seemed to like them…I don’t think they LOVED them.    Young girls just aren’t ‘INTO’ stuff like this…

The year before I made a stack of these…

I was just having this discussion with another quilting friend…she has decided to quilt for herself this year as her family just isn’t showing her quilts the love that they deserve.  You know…the quilts are kept in the closet and she was told not to make any more bags.  So apparently there IS such a thing as too many quilts, too many runners and table toppers, too many bags….  WHAT!!  Slap ME!!  NEVER!!

So this year I think I will sew for ME…I might even make one of those sweet little snowball toppers for ME!!  What about YOU?  What are you making for Christmas this year…and for who?  Any thoughts?

Have a merry Monday and Happy Quilting!~P