Let’s Play Tourist…

Yesterday I spent a wonderful day with my middle daughter, Maggie!  We had arranged to meet in front of the Empress Hotel at 10am…so of course I was early.  It was a great chance to take a few pictures while I waited… so I thought I’d share some of those photos of Victoria and the Inner Harbour!!  It is such a beautiful city!

 

Victoria is well known for it’s flowers……and even though it’s Fall, Victoria didn’t disappoint!!   GORGEOUS!!

Maggie’s BF is in Victoria for a Conference so they got to stay in the Empress for the weekend and play tourist! 

Not too shabby!

Across the street and to the left are the Parliament Buildings…

  And directly across is the Inner Harbour…

Spectacular!  

This is the Empress from across the street…

And there is Maggie waiting for me…to begin our day of FUN!

And FUN we had!!  Hope you had a FUN Saturday too! 

Maybe I will get some quilting done today??  Fingers crossed!

Have a Sunny Sunday and Happy Quilting!!

Adorable…

A few weeks back, Crazy Old Ladies Quilts was having a BIG Birthday Bash…complete with Give Away and as part of their celebration, they were giving away tons of neat stuff!!  You guessed it…I won!!  Yippee!!!…Thank you, Crazy Old Ladies Quilts for the Patterns for boys’ clothing…Cute, hey!  

The only thing is…I have no boys to make these adorable outfits for…so I am gifting the patterns to my friend who has wee grandsons coming out of her ears!  (I’m sure her daughters beg to differ…:o}…)These adorable pants and shirts will keep Grandma Delores busy and happy and they will definitely make her the ‘favourite’ Grandma!!    Yeah Grandma Delores!

This morning I am off to Victoria to spend the day with my middle daughter!!  I don’t really care what we do…just hanging is good with me!  BUT I have a feeling that it will include shopping and eating…lunch at Murchies and lots of talking!  Sounds wonderful to me!  What about you?…Have you got some wonderful plans for your Saturday?  Enjoy!

Have a super Saturday and Happy Quilting!~P

FMQ Resources…

If you are looking for Free Motion Quilting ideas then have I got a book for you!! Just feast your eyes on this baby~

It’s called “501 Quilting Motifs~Designs for Hand or Machine Quilting” but…

…it SHOULD be called “A MILLION Ideas On What To Do With 501 Quilting Motifs” !

Just look inside…see, there is the motif…and then tons of ideas on what you can do with that motif!

    

There are even simple motifs like this loop-de-loop…and then they take that simple loop-de-loop and create something that would look spectacular on any quilt!

 

I’m LOVIN’ this book!  It’s a must have for sure!  And look at how flat the book lays with the coil binding!!  Very well thought out!   This was a book in Hazel’s library and it’s one that I will definitely be on the look out for! 

Also…look at what else Hazel has…Pantographs!!  She is going be quilting these ballet slippers onto her next quilt!  CUTE!

When she bought her machine and frame, the quilter generously threw in all of her pantographs!  Lucky Hazel!

Three tubs worth!!  SCORE for Hazel!

I thought using a lazor light and pantograph would be easy but that’s not so!!  It is difficult…similar to driving a remote control car through a tiny maze.  YIKES!  CRASH!  Like FMQ it will take practice.. LOTS and LOTS of practice!

Well that’s it for another week…gosh, they really are flying by!  And what’s with September?  It’s almost GONE too!!  I thought once you retired life would slow down…but it seems to have sped up!  Got to make hay while you still can!  That’s my motto and I’m sticking with it! 

Have a FUN Friday and Happy Quilting…and don’t forget to make hay!~P

Hazel’s Hidden Hideaway!

Last Monday at Heritage Quilting there were quite a few quilters away at my table, which meant I got to sit with someone ‘new’…I met and talked to Hazel, a fairly new member at Heritage!  Turns out that we have a lot in common…besides being quilters of course!  We are practically neighbours, she use to be a teacher (…although she changed careers for something more exciting…yup MORE exciting than teaching…who knew?!…and with way better pay too…!) AND she got her ‘new’ mid-arm about six months ago!  WELL… when I heard this I began pumping her for info…so much so, that she invited me over to her house for a look at her set up!  EUREKA!

Yesterday was the day!  We both live in the same area… surrounded by farmland, vineyards and forests about a 10 minute drive away from each other.    Who knew that her street was even there…let alone her beautiful, humongous house!

Here is her studio!  Yes, STUDIO!!  It’s upstairs in her home and is MASSIVE!  One wall is all window letting in all that natural light!

And here is her new addition!!  Hazel also got a great deal for her baby…a deal she just couldn’t refuse! 

She has THREE long work tables…

Look at the rack mounted to the wall to store her projects…no UFO bins for her!

And a view to blow your mind!  Keep in mind that my camera is a point and shoot cheapie…the view was breathtaking…better than my camera could pick up!

Her cutting table…

Here is Hazel posing with a quilt that is hot off her new quilting frame…gorgeous isn’t it?!

And here is her STORAGE area…yowzers I could REALLY use this!!  (I think we ALL could!!) 

Since getting her mid-arm Hazel has been banging off quilts left, right and centre!  She has SIX grown children and they are ALL getting quilts for Christmas!

Let me give you a little sampling…

Hazel called this the Winter Quilt for her skier…

…and her quilting…nice…very nice!

For her gardening daughter…  

For her daughter who loves all things purple…

 

Hazel said that her quilting is improving with each quilt…I guess the secret is to just JUMP IN…and DO it!

This is for her bachelor boy…her first quilt.  She said she learned the most doing this one!

Loved the Paddington bear quilt…she hasn’t finished quilting this one yet.  This is for her two year old grandson who LOVES Paddington Bear.  Love the stars and the inner bias stripe border!

Since getting her new Mid-Arm, Hazel has amassed quite a stack of quilts! I predict that there will be some very happy ‘kids’ in Hazel’s family on Christmas Morning!

Hazel even loaded a quilt top, batting and backing to show me how she does it…This was SEW helpful!         So THANK YOU, Hazel!!  I enjoyed EVERY moment and learned a ton!  But let me tell you, it is not going to be easy to go back to my tiny sewing room and my spare bedroom/quilting room!!  WE really shouldn’t SEE or even know that STUDIOS like this exist!!   Don’t get me wrong…I love my wee, small sewing room…but well…ummmm…that STUDIO sure was spectacular! :o}

Have a thrilling Thursday and Happy Quilting!~P

Staying Focused…staying focused…staying….Hey, did you see this new pattern?!…

Yesterday I went to the closet to get out another UFO…yes sir, a nice ‘fresh UFO’!  Hey…isn’t that an oxymoron? 

I have a million of them…UFOs that is! 

I spotted this bin at the bottom of the pile!  Ahhhh yes, I forgot about THIS one…the Merry Go Round quilt turned Whirly Jigs quilt…

BUT before I could get to the Whirly Jig quilt there was ANOTHER UFO on top…see the recycled lettuce container?…yup we have another UFO quilt top here!!  I tell you, they are breeding and multiplying in that closet!! 

Looky what’s inside this little bin…tumblers…lots of tumbler blocks!

More tumblers for the Tumbler Quilt!  Ahhh yes, I wanted to make it bigger…so it SAT!    I think this one has been sitting for at least two years…waiting…I seem to remember a Scrappy Magazine with this one on the cover… I wonder why I didn’t finish it?  Something new and better must have swayed my attention! 

Ahh, here’s the one I was looking for…the Whirly Jig quilt…ready to be sewn into blocks.  Yikes..I think I’ll work on the Scrappy Tumbler instead…this one is too wrinkled and looks like WORK!

I really do have to stay focused and FINISH projects before starting something new!!   Geeze Louise…we had names for kids in school who couldn’t stay focused…Nahhhhh.. it surely doesn’t apply to Moi?  Do you think??

Have a wondering Wednesday and Happy Quilting!~P

UFO Busting…Number TWO!

YAHOO!!  Another UFO bites the dust!  That’s Number Two for September! 

(Sheesh…Am I ONLY finishing UFO Number TWO?  Feels like I have been Busting UFOs FOREVER!!)

This picture was taken back at the beginning of September… the Wee House Quilt was auditioning the old frame that I found at a GS while in Palm Springs last winter…Remember, we thought it looked kind of blah…

So I painted her up and here she is FINISHED!

OK…OK…I confess…as soon as I finished taking these photos, I popped the quilt out again as the frame is a tad bit tacky…and needs another day to dry!  So technically it’s not finished… but it will be by dinner time today! :o)

I spray painted the frame with this paint…the ONLY spray paint that I could find in this colour…and then when the frame was dry (well..sort of dry) using a foam block sander, gave it a quick once over to rough it up a bit!

 

This quilt finished out at 16” X 18”…not quite square, as this was the size of the frame. 

 

You can see that she is slightly off kilter.  When I put this wee quilt back into the frame tonight, I will make sure that she is nice and straight…ruler out and measure!…But for this morning…well…you get the idea!  All in all…I think she looks great! And besides SHE’S DONE! 

Another one bites the dust!  Oh yeah…another one bites the dust…Uhhh hah!  ( I miss my little musical note inserts! :o(  Where did that button go?!)

So back into the closet I go…looking for UFO Number THREE! 

Have a terrific Tuesday and Happy Quilting!~P

Rescuing an Old Loved Quilt…

Club House Quilter, Kim, has had a very busy summer!  She got roped into finishing off a quilt top that her friend’s grandma had made back in the 1960s.  Kim took one look at Grandma’s quilt top and there was no turning back!

Kim got busy and added batting and a backing, then quilted this double size quilt before finishing it off with brown binding…DONE after spending over 50 YEARS as a UFO!!.    

Now Kim’s friend has a lovely quilt made by grandma that will be treasured for many, many years to come!  Way to go, Kim!! Nice job!

Recently I was left wondering when does one draw the line and say it’s time to put an old beloved quilt ‘down’? 

A neighbour heard that I was a quilter who loved old quilts. (YIKES!!  I’m like the Cat Woman of the neighbourhood!!)  Anyway…she had her husband drop off a bag.  Inside was a quilt and a  note saying she hoped I could do something with this old quilt made by her maternal grandmother…If not, then do away with her!!  (Oh sure make ME the heavy!!) 

(excuse the streak of light hitting the quilt)

Well the quilt was stunning…

BUT it was faded, worn and tattered and had definitely seen better days.

  At first I thought maybe I could salvage a small corner and turn it into a keepsake pillow for my neighbour… but there just wasn’t a big enough square without a hole or a frayed section!  I think it was time to put grandma’s quilt ‘down’!

I figured the quilt was made between 1930-40s and at one time it was magnificent…heck if you could look beyond the holes she was still magnificent!

I love the soft colours in this quilt…these are the exact same fabrics that they are trying to reproduce now a days…and I have to toss it out!!  Put her down…pull the plug…send her off to Quilt Heaven!!

NOOOOoooooooo!  I can’t do it! 

It was hand pieced and hand quilted with little itty bitty stitches and was obviously well loved at one time!   I’ll be darned, I just couldn’t put her down!!  There was NO WAY!

So the solution to my problem hangs in the balance…sort of…if you get my gist…

So I hung her up on the ladder…beside my other oldie (but goodie)…and I’ll be darned if she doesn’t make me happy!

I LOVE looking at this quilt!  I have folded her in such a way that only a few fray marks are showing…and she looks content up there hanging with the others!  Heck when the sun hits her, she looks darn right HAPPY!

Just look at those fabrics…and those well earned wrinkles!  I should look that good at her age!

Yes, she will soldier on…

 

Yup, grandma’s quilt has found a home!  I like her…I like her a lot!  She’s staying!  Keep those cotton pickin’ hands off Grandma’s quilt!

What about YOU?  What would YOU have done with Grandma’s Quilt?  Have you ever been faced with the dilemma of putting a quilt ‘down’ …or did you rescuing it? 

Have a magnificent  Monday and Happy Quilting!~P