A Labour of Love…

So the story goes…

When Elizabeth was about two years old…she would sit and play with these Sunbonnet Sue blocks that her mama was stitching.  During WWII, all the ladies would gather…they would bring their babies and their stitching and lament about the war.  Her mother always told her that she helped to make this quilt…(AND you wonder where Elizabeth got her passion for quilting?!)

Now in the ‘original’ quilt, Elizabeth’s mother used polyester for the alternating blocks!!  Yikes…Elizabeth’s precious quilt started to fall a part!  So she very carefully took it a part and reconstructed the whole quilt using cotton reproduction fabric.  She then had Jane quilt it with a gently flower and leaf stitching…simply PERFECT!

Such a wonderful keepsake quilt!

A whole lot of memories and love wrapped up in this quilt…ready to pass down to the next generation (of quilters!!)

Now isn’t this WHY we quilt?

And here is Elizabeth sharing her story of her Sunbonnet Sue quilt with the rest of the Heritage Guild members!

You done good, Elizabeth!!  Mama would be SEW proud!

Yup, this is why we quilt!

Have a terrific Tuesday and thanks for stopping by!~P

Thoughts on FMQ…

Yesterday I wanted to quilt two small quilt tops that have been laying around the sewing room…

The first one up was this small table topper!

I have the perfect spot for this quilt …I want to hang it on a ‘new’ quilt hanger and it will be draped so I wasn’t too, too worried about the quilting…I decided on an all over smaller meander…something that I haven’t done yet on the mid-arm. 

I decided to quilt both quilts the same way…they are both busy designs and an all over meander wouldn’t take away from the quilt….plus with all those intersecting points I thought it was best to try and avoid bumping over these…SEW a plan was hatched!! 

And like all good PLANS this one went array…I thought I would bang this puppy off in no time…or sew I thought!  Nope…I had ‘issues’!  UGH!  I thought I was finished having ‘issues’…I thought my mid-arm FINALLY liked me…really LIKED me!! 

I did everything that the machine liked…I really DO treat her like a QUEEN!  I dusted her, oiled her, put in a new needle, new thread…slacked the quilt as much as I could but being so small I couldn’t get it as loose as ‘she’ likes…(I think this may have been the problem…I couldn’t get it loose enough…?)

Anyways it was a fight…fraying thread (SoFine) to the point of breaking thread and then towards the end the underbelly threads tension was being ‘compromised’…I tried to sweet talk her out of her mood but she was having none of it!

So I got her done and FAST…and got the heck out of there!

The meandering is far from perfect…and can you see the tension…but hey…she’s done and washed (my friend Kim says if you wash the quilt after quilting anything looks ‘good’ ;)  She is SEW right…I love the wrinkles and crinkles…

…just don’t look at the back!!

Think I’ll be hand quilting this one…

Oh well…it’s all good…right?

Have a marvellous Monday…enjoy the magic of the season!  Put on some Christmas music…everything seems better with some FaLaLaing in the background …and besides, it helps to drown out the cuss words…!)!~P

Felting at It’s Finest!

My friend Claire came up island for a quick visit on Saturday!  Our last hurrah before I leave…So while she was here we popped over to the Craft Fair in Shawnigan Lake…and both of us got excited over THIS booth!! 

This is Doreen from “Heartfelt Designs”!  (sorry, this is not a great picture…she is hiding behind her ornament tree and there is a wall of mirror behind her!)

Doreen is a wool felter extraordinaire!  Have a look at her mats…

Her felted ornaments…

Sweet tea cosies…

And loved this very elegant round rose mat…

All of these items have been created with wool roving…the coloured wool roving has been needled into the background wool.

Are these not darling…

SEW this is what came home with me…this lovely wool felted runner!

I love the way the wool is needle felted first and then Doreen has gone over it with her sewing machine!  Very pretty!  Claire bought one very similar, only hers has a sweet little bird sitting on the holly branch!!  It was adorable (no pic…sorry)!

Our runners were only $28!!  A bargain if you ask me!

This is the one that I bought last year…as you can see, it was a lot bigger and it also cost a bit more….

I told Doreen that I would be writing about her felted items on my blog…You know me, I like to share a deal when I see one…SEW if you are interested in her felted items then you can contact her at~

doreencars@gmail.com or phone her at 1-250-642-4021.  I’m sure Doreen can whip you up one or two or several!!  Like everything, they are much nicer in real life!!

Thanks for stopping by…I hope you enjoyed the show!!~P