I'm Back!!!

 Breaks over and I’m back. It turns out I did not delete my unposted cards, they just slipped into the quilt folder! So, I will be posting cards again.

Much to my dismay we went from having spring flowers at the front of our house to having those flowers covered in snow. Poor tulips. Here are the two photos I took just 24 hours apart. It is unheard of to have snow this late in April but apparently Mother Nature didn’t get the memo.

 

     I am back posting but I will be posting other creations as well, like quilts. This is a quilt I just finished for my hubby. I bought two of these steam train panels and made a quilt for him and one for our train loving grandson as well.  

                              

That’s all for a cold and snowy Wednesday, April 21, 2021.

Cheers

Violet

PS: To save a card to your Pinterest account, simply hover over the image until the ‘Pin It” symbol appears and then click…it sometimes take a few seconds. This will take you to your own Pinterest account to save the card.

 

A John Deere Tractor quilt

        We are so grateful that a bit of rain fell this afternoon ….and there could be more coming. I hope there’s more coming as the bit we got is what my father would have called “enough to settle the dust” but when we haven’t had rain in weeks, we are grateful for any at all. Hopefully this will reduce this terrible heat that we’ve been having as well. One of the highways about 45 minutes from us actually buckled from the heat and had to be closed. Canadian highways can withstand the bitter cold but they are not used to weeks of temperatures around 100F.

        I’m shaking things up today and posting a quilt instead of a card. I’ve been busy quilting and making scrub hats and masks and not card making. This is a quilt I made for my youngest grandson who decided at age 6 that he was going to be a farmer with all John Deere tractors. To our best knowledge he’s never been on a farm and we have no idea how he knows one tractor from another but apparently he does.

                           

     The pattern actually came from a quilting magazine that used Christmas fabrics but I decided it would make a nice tractor quilt. This was the only John Deere tractor fabric I could find so I had to cut all those 6 ½” squares and then piece the rest of it. Lots of little pieces on this quilt but it went together quicker than I thought it would.  He loved it so that’s the main thing.

        That’s all for a still hot and humid and now maybe a thunderstorm Friday on July, 10, 2020. Have a wonderful weekend everyone. Stay safe, be creative and be kind, always.

Cheers

Violet

PS: To save a card to your Pinterest account, simply hover over the image until the ‘Pin It” symbol appears and then click…it sometimes take a few seconds. This will take you to your own Pinterest account to save the card.

 

Covered Bridges and Barn Quilts

My body hates me! That’s the conclusion I’ve come to. In spite of not drinking, smoking or taking drugs; being a vegetarian; not eating junk food and getting lots of exercise, my body rebels. I had an abscessed tooth just before Easter that, once cleared up, had a root canal done on it. It will not heal properly. I still cannot chomp down on anything firm. The dentist saw me again today and if it’s not better in two weeks, I need to have the root canal re-done. Everything looks good on the x-ray so he cannot understand why it is not healing – it’s because my body hates me, that’s why! At least it’s not throbbing anymore.

Today I’m posting my latest quilt. I usually forget to post them on the blog. Double click on the picture to enlarge it.

Hubby found this panel of covered bridges that all had barn quilts on them at a small quilt shop in Dresden, ON where we went to get the fabric for a charity quilt I was making. He knows I love the covered bridges and that our quilt guild just finished about 20 barn quilts that are mounted on several barns, church yards and businesses in Chatham-Kent, so he insisted we need a quilt from it. Once I got it home I realized that the covered bridges were for each season with three for each one so they had to go three across and four down. I decided to use the Attic Window quilt block design for this. The rest of the quilt I just made up as I went after getting some tips and ideas from friends. The other material came from two other quilt shops plus some from my stash. I really liked how it turned out….but hubby has claimed it as his own! Finders rights I guess!

        That’s all for another cold Wednesday, April 11, 2018. We actually had more snow pellets come down this morning but luckily it didn’t last long. According to the weather network we are in for about 4 or 5 days of heavy rain and some areas will be getting freezing rain. I saw a funny meme on Facebook that said Mother Nature wants it to be spring but Father Time is driving and refuses to stop for directions!

Cheers

Violet

Don’t forget you are more than welcome to save any cards or other items I post to your Pinterest account for future reference. Simply place the curser over the picture until the Pinterest save sign shows up in the top left corner and enter. This will take you to your Pinterest account. If it doesn’t work, please leave a comment and let me know so I fix it. Thanks.

The Hockey Quilt

A surprise Thursday posting. I thought I’d sneak in a posting of a quilt I made for my grandson. This was his Christmas present but I forgot to post it. He is 12 and loves all sports, especially hockey, and especially the Toronto Maple Leafs. They just bought him a queen size bed so this quilt fits his bed – and I seldom do queen size quilts…..but I will for grandchildren!

 

I did have a pattern for this and actually followed it! I pretty much had to seeing how complicated it was. It is made up of about 120 6 ½” squares…plus the hockey player that is constructed with small pieces of fabric and then fused appliquéd on top….he was not fun to make. I told Joe that I was beginning to be an expert on ‘unsewing’ on this quilt – aka ripping out errors! The back of the quilt is white with blue maple leafs in various sizes….my sister found it at Fabricland while I was getting the rest of the blue fabric and it was perfect for the backing. I’m bringing her next time I need someone to scout out fabric. Anyway, Jack absolutely loves his quilt so it was worth it to make it for him. My friend recently bought a long arm quilting machine and she let me quilt it on it……my first time using a long arm and she was quite impressed with the results….I was relieved it was done!

That’s all for a mild Thursday 2017-03-16. The bitter cold weather left us for today but tomorrow it will be a bit colder with mixed precipitation – snow; freezing rain; rain. I’ll be so happy to have spring arrive and stay!

Cheers

Violet

Don’t forget you are more than welcome to save any cards or other items I post to your Pinterest account for future reference. Simply place the curser over the picture until the Pinterest save sign shows up in the top left corner and enter. This will take you to your Pinterest account. If it doesn’t work, please leave a comment and let me know so I fix it. Thanks.

A Blue and Yellow Quilt

Another beautiful fall day here in Ontario with temperatures around the mid 60F mark. This is not normal November temperatures but we welcome them to stay all winter! More raking and taking leaves to the city’s compost pile today….no leaves in the garbage for us…and for a lot of people as it was so busy today we had to wait in line to get to the leaf pile!

I’m working on a very complicated quilt pattern that is driving me crazy! Not only that but I forgot to get one blue fabric laundered and it left a stain on my ironing board so I knew it would leak through and contaminate the rest of the quilt. I tried washing the fabric that was not stable but in doing so the blocks went askew. Grrrrr. So I had to remake all the blocks that had that fabric in it – after I made another trip to the fabric store to buy more blue fabric of course…..yes, it was washed even though it was different fabric. I take no chances!

Speaking of quilts, that is what I’m posting today. A blue and yellow quilt I made for my youngest daughter.

 

This was a block-of-the-month quilt pattern that was hosted by our guild. We made one block a month not knowing what the finished quilt would look like. I love the border and I hope I can make one for another quilt. I’m not sure if the bottom left corner was suppose to go down or meet up with the other one but I didn’t notice it until it was quilted so it is what it is. Barbi loved it so that’s all that counts.

That’s all for a sunny November day, 2016-11-07

Cheers

Violet

Quilted Accessories

Another packing marathon coming up this afternoon so I thought I better get something posted this morning. Yesterday was so busy I didn’t even think about posting anything.

My sister is moving and she likes bright, colourful accessories so I decided to make her a new kitchen set as a house warming gift. A friend of mine quit sewing and gave me a box of material and this fabric was part of that lot. Bette saw the fabric at the time and loved it so I kept that in mind and, luckily, remembered I had it in the stash. Here’s what she’s getting.

I made four round quilted placemats, four quilted mug rugs, two quilted pot holders and that extra fabric which is on the back of each article, is going to drape over her small chest freezer to make it look more like furniture and to keep it from being scratched if something sits on it. She loved the set and I was happy to make them for her. Here's a close-up of some of them.

 

 

 

That’s all for a cool Friday, March-11-16. Have a great and creative weekend everyone.

Cheers

Violet

 

Soaring Eagles

Today’s weather forecast – ‘WE HAVE NO IDEA’ – I think it was different weather every few miles apart today. We had rain, rain and more rain here but some areas nearby got snow and some got freezing rain…..so I’m counting ourselves lucky…..we don’t have to shovel rain. However, tomorrow may be shovelling day as they are expecting snow over night. Enough already! By the way, this weather is coming to Canada from Texas…..and so many people think all the weather is USA comes from Canada – nope, we share bad weather!

Earlier in the week I happened to check out my garden and I have snowdrops blooming! The crocus are close to blooming too and the daffodils and tulips are up a couple of inches. So nice to see. Here’s a photo of the snowdrops.

There are other clumps of snowdrops as well but they are not in full bloom like this one. Maybe all the fall debris helped it along.

Today I’m posting a photo of the last quilt (wall-hanging actually) that I finished – Soaring Eagles! This was made and donated to the Friends of Rondeau for their 2016 raffle….2^nd prize. The first prize is a pair of new bicycles – which I would love to win! This wall-hanging is 43” x 43”.

 

Fused appliqué and machine quilted.

Hopefully it will generate a few ticket sales!

That’s all for a very wet Wednesday,

Cheers

Violet

 

 

 

The Bad Decision Quilt

Once again the weather cannot decide if it’s a) summer (yesterday was very hot and humid and we almost put the A/C on or b) fall (very cold wind today). Spring does not seem to be an option this year. However, we braved the cold wind and Joe cut the grass while I cleaned up the garden – lots of grass growing in it for some odd reason – and weeds because of the man behind us and the people beside us who do not pull their weeds! Grrrrrr! I also got a couple more cards made this morning so overall a pretty productive day – and it’s not over yet!

As I was trying to decide what card to post today I came across the photo of the quilt I made for my middle daughter and realized I hadn’t posted it yet. So here’s Janette’s quilt.

This quilt is HUGE! Joe is not tall enough to hold it up (he’s just under 6’) even with his arms up in the air and it’s still dragging on the floor. So what you see on the floor is also on top. It wasn’t meant to be that way so here’s the story behind it. I made this quilt top (the giant star and first dark plum border) probably 6 or 7 years ago...maybe longer. I know I hadn’t been quilting long and had not pieced many quilts at that point…mostly crazy quilts. It really was too difficult for a beginner but I didn’t know that. (Bad decision #1) In fact, I don’t think we knew exactly what we were making so it was likely a mystery quilt class. (Bad decision #2 – turns out I hate mystery quilt classes) We were told how much of each fabric to bring and to make sure it was bright and had great contrast – and one of the suggestions was if we choose a dark purple, go with a light green with a pink middle. I decided to follow the suggestions – bad decision #3! I hated the green when it was done…..and it turned out to be a square quilt which I also dislike. So the top got folded up and put away for several months or more.

Then I dug it out and took it back to the quilt store and asked for help in making it not square and bought the co-ordinating fabric. Folded it up and put it way again. Bad decision #4. Months later I got it out and sort of forgot what Rick (owner of quilt shop) told me what to do and it turned out larger but still almost square – about 2” difference. Back in the box it went.

Somewhere along the way I had taken a photo of it and I happened to show a picture of it to my daughter and she liked it (go figure) but then again, purple has been her favourite colour since she was a baby. So I pulled it out again but upon closer inspection I noticed a lot of the seams were not sewn properly and I had to “unsew” (rip out) about a third of the seams and re-sew them. I can’t believe how bad my sewing was back then but when I think back we were told to hurry with our sewing or we would never get the quilt done in one lesson. (Bad decision # 5 – don’t rush when quilting). I was looking for something else and lo and behold I found a large strip of the dark plum fabric in the stash. Once I added a strip to the top and bottom it was no longer square –very, very large, but not square.

Then I realized that the backing I had for it was sized for the first square size (did not buy extra fabric - bad decision #6) so I had to find more purple fabric in the stash and piece the backing. Once the backing was done I needed to quilt it. I just own a domestic sewing machine but I couldn’t afford to send it out to be quilted. People, this was bad decision #7 and it was the worst. I believe the quilt ended up being about 72”x 90”! Trying to scrunch a large quilt into the bed of a domestic sewing machine is not for the faint of heart…but I did it!

Okay I bet you think that’s the end of the story. Oh no, bad decision #8 is a repeat of bad decision #6 – I didn’t have enough binding now – I was 30” short. I didn’t think there would be a chance in you-know-where that the quilt shop would have any of the same fabric left but in the corner of the wine coloured fabric section I found a bolt with about 2 yards left! Woohoo! I felt so lucky I stopped at the next store and bought a lottery ticket. ….bad decision #9 – waste of $2.00 as I didn’t win a thing.

So by the time the quilt was finished, winter was pretty much over so she hasn’t actually got it yet but we will be going down for a visit soon and take to her. Confession – this was her Christmas gift. Bad Mother!

Sorry for the long post but it was a story that just had to be told.

Cheers

Violet

Kittens Galore

Not much to report. Saturday was a nice sunny day and yet I was hit with another round of painful spasms from the brain disorders and weird speech. However, I convinced Joe I was fine to go for a walk (and he could do the speaking to people) so we headed out to Point Pelee and walked all afternoon. Unfortunately there were no birds to photograph. It’s about two weeks before the migratory birds show up. Sunday was cool and wet so I guess that’s why the brain disorders hit on Saturday. Oh well, there are lots of people worse off than I am so I don’t worry about it. It’s been since 1999 so we are used to living with it.

Our local chapter of the OSPCA (animal shelter) is having a fund raiser in the hopes of having a new building built….which it needs desperately. They are having a supper and silent auction this Saturday and I made a quilt for them to auction off. My friend, Phene, made one as well and I dropped them both off at the shelter today. Another quilter made one too but she will be delivering hers herself. Here is mine:

I named it Kittens Galore. 

It didn’t photograph very well so I took another one outside today but it is not much better and does not do the quilt justice. The ladies at the shelter really liked it so I hope it brings in a good bid.

It is raining with the chance of a thunderstorm today and again tomorrow. No quilting for me today but I’m heading down to do some more scrapbooking.

That’s all for a wet Monday,

Cheers

Violet

Scrappy Quilts

Another day of snow flurries – not as much as yesterday but still, snow is snow and we’ve had more than enough of it. There was a dusting of snow, or as one of my quilting friend calls it – about 4 snowflakes deep – this morning but it quickly melted even though we had, and are still seeing, snowflakes fluttering down all day. Unfortunately this change in atmospheric pressure set off the brain disorders in the middle of the night so today was a non-quilting day. I didn’t think I could take the noise of the sewing machine today so it was a quiet morning……..I read for awhile and then we watched American Idol – we pretty much tape everything to avoid having to watch commercials…bad I know – and this afternoon I did our Income Taxes…..which was nice to get them done and over with.  I buy the Quick Tax program so I don’t have to do any math or calculations – I just have to type in the figures where they belong and it does the rest……so much quicker and much more accurate. Hopefully tomorrow I’ll get back to quilting…..I have my good sewing machine down in the lower studio where I usually craft because there was no room to manoeuvre the large quilt in the small upper studio and I have a small sewing machine (I won this one and I take it the church when we meet to make quilts for kids with cancer) in the upper studio and I’ve been working on a small quilt I’m donating to our local SPCA there. Not sure what I’ll do tonight….maybe just a nice hot shower and read.

I just realized I did not post a picture of the last two quilts I made – for two of my sons-in-law. All of the girls and their hubbies like scrappy quilts so that’s what I made them. Here are they are.

 

 Joey’s quilt is very wild and scrappy. I think it’s a bit too much for me but he loves it.
 

Austin’s quilt is not as scrappy as some as I kept it all in brown tones. I hope I made this one big enough for him...he's about 6'3" or more and looks like a giant viking - but has the heart of gold.

 

That’s all for a cold, snow flurry Thursday

 Cheers

Violet

Rondeau Park Raffle Quilt

I thought for sure the weather had turned the corner and spring-like temperatures would be the norm every day…..bad surprise this morning……Mother Nature played a cruel joke and reversed the corner!! It was about 2C (34F) but a very strong cold wind from the north made it a very cold day! We were both feeling better today and really wanted to get a walk in but it was way too cold, especially for me, so we headed down to the local arena and walked around there instead. There is an arena walking club but you don’t have join, sign in or pay. The arena is open for anyone who wants to walk. It’s boring but exercise is necessary so we did 16 laps which is the equivalent of 2 miles. We normally do more than that but we haven’t walked for a couple of weeks so we took it easy.

After the walk we stopped for breakfast at The Shepherds Way Inn and then Joe decided we should go for a drive to Rondeau Park to get our seasonal pass. On the way there I spotted a sign that said Paper Angel Studio – a scrapbooking store in Blenheim and mentioned it to Joe. I had never heard of it before but we haven’t been to Rondeau since last fall and we do not normally take the road we were on today. As we got into Blenheim Joe slowed down to look for the store but we couldn’t find it. I told him not to bother turning around as it wasn’t as if I needed anything and besides, I said, that could be an old sign and the store could be closed. I had just mentioned it to him because I didn’t know Blenheim had a scrapbooking store.

Well, we continued on to Rondeau and picked up our pass and coming back he turns down Talbot street again looking for the store. Couldn’t find it, he turns around and goes back again…..still didn’t see it….he turns around and this time I think I see it….he stops and I get out – nope, it’s a variety store that sells some crafting items but the fellow tells me the store I’m looking for is down the street opposite Shoppers Drug Mart…..so off we go and yup, drove by it three times and missed it. He pulls in and parks and says, “I’ll wait here while you check it out”. 

Now you gotta love a guy whose wife has more crafting supplies than some stores and he goes out of his way to find another store she can go into. He’s a keeper for sure! Well, it is a very small store, which is why we missed it, but packed full of lots of goodies and yes, some stuck to me as I walked past so I had to buy them bring them home with me!.... That’s my storey and I’m sticking to it! …..There was a friend I hadn’t seen in over a year there too working on a scrapbook layout so we had a catch-up chat as well. Nice store and a very friendly and helpful owner so if you are in Blenheim, make sure you stop in.

Speaking of Rondeau Park, I made another quilt for them to sell raffle tickets on again this year. Here it is:

 It's about 45" by 65" .

 Here are the close up photos of the various fish. Every fish was assembled from various bits of fabric, fused together, then fused to the block and then quilted.

Here are some of the other blocks. All done the same way as the fish.

If you want to win this quilt you will have to go to Rondeau and buy a ticket! They are usually just $2.00 each or 3 for $5.00 so I assume that’s what they are again this year. They sold out of tickets last year so hopefully they ordered more this year.

That’s all for a cold, windy Tuesday,

Cheers

Violet

A Scrappy Quilt

Sick! The dreaded cold has invaded my body and I’m feeling quite ….well, sick! I actually laid down and had over an hour’s nap this afternoon and that is not something I normally do but I couldn’t keep my eyes open. It didn’t help much…..I didn’t wake up refreshed at all. So after supper I took a nice hot shower….that didn’t help for long either..….I’m still tired. The grocery store had 16 boxes of Kleenex on sale last time we got groceries and I bought it….and hubby laughed ….he’s not laughing now!

Man, my nose is running like a faucet left open….I know, too much information….but misery loves company!

Anyway, not motivated to share much today but here is a quilt I recently completed for my youngest daughter.

 

 I think the pattern is called “Cross Roads” and it uses a lot of scraps. Once I had it completed I decided it was too small so I added the blue border and then the scrappy piano key border with a solid blue cornerstone. The binding all around the edge is the same blue fabric. She loved it. It looks complicated but is actually a very easy quilt to make.

That’s all from a sick blogger on a Tuesday,  

 

Cheers

Violet

 

A Community Quilt??

It was snowing when we got up this morning and didn’t quit until almost 5:00 tonight. However, the temperature was at a balmy -6C so we went for a walk – still cold with the cold wet snow hitting our faces but it did feel good to get out and get some fresh air. Joe had to shovel the driveway twice today but the snow has stopped so that’s over with.

I thought I’d post a rare Saturday posting this week. Here is a quilt I made for my one and only granddaughter, Kadri.

 

I bought a drawer unit from a quilt shop that was closing and inside was some bits of fabric. The owner’s daughter (owner died unfortunately) told me to just take it all. Well, the fabric turned out to be the start of a quilt. There was no pattern with it and not pieces enough to finish a quilt but it was my friends at the quilt guild to the rescue. One of the ladies saw my request for any matching fabric and called to say she had bought some odds and ends at the same sale and she was pretty sure she had some of that quilt – turned out she had almost one whole row of the same quilt. A couple of other friends gave me some matching fabric and I finally had enough to make a small centre of the quilt. Then I just added a couple of plain borders; raided by own stash to make the piano border and then finally the last brown border which I made wider at the top and bottom so the quilt would not be square.

 

Kadri loved it and here she is with boyfriend studying it when I gave it to her.

That’s all for a snowy Saturday,

 Cheers

Violet

 

 

From Stripes to Squares

Yay, its Friday. Oh wait, I’m retired so do I really care? No, not really. As the saying goes, once you are retired it’s like having 6 Saturdays and then a Sunday. Very, very cold today and even colder tomorrow so not sure I’ll do much outdoors except try to get a walk in if I can.

I thought I’d end the week with another quilt. I made this one for my grandson, Joven.

Believe it or not, the fabric in this quilt started out as stripes! Yes, stripes. I bought about 3 metres of it on sale thinking I would use it for the back of a quilt. Then I looked at it one day and wondered what would happen if I cut four identical 6 ½” squares and sewed them into one large square. Sure enough, it formed wonderful square patterns. It was a wee bit time consuming making sure that I cut four exact 6 1/2" squares and I wanted a wide variety so I just kept moving the ruler from one spot to another. It turned out better than I though actually and he loved it. Here he is with the quilt showing it to his father and one of him hugging his grandma!

 

 

He's a great kid!

 

Have a wonderful weekend everyone.

 Cheers

Violet

 

A Rant and a Quilt

I spent almost 3 hours on the phone this afternoon (for the second time this week) with a manufacturer about my printer. I won’t mention the name of it but this printer is a lemon! Two tech support people have, at the end of the telephone saga, have both said, “We need to replace the printer. You will be transferred to the Case Worker”. Both times the case worker has decided not to replace the printer but to try other methods. I’m a very patient person but they are wearing the patience level to a thin line. Apparently I can expect one more phone call saga from a “superior tech support person” because what my printer is doing is so odd they don’t know how to fix it and it is the case worker’s opinion that replacing the printer will not fix the problem. AAAAGGGGGHHHH why can’t I just buy one thing and have it work without problems????? Okay, rant is over, back to the blog.

I thought I’d end the week with another quilt. This one was made for one of my sons-in-law and the pattern (yes I used a pattern) is called Crossed Canoes.

When my friend and I were heading up the Block of the Month committee for the quilt guild, this was the featured block one month. I made a few samples but never finished enough to make a quilt. Last year, and continuing this year, is “finish the UFO’s (UnFinished Objects) and WIP’s (Works in Progress) so I completed enough of the blocks to make a quilt. This used up a lot of scraps. He loved it and I knew he would because he loves crazy quilts and other scrappy quilts. Can you pick out the block?

That’s all for a Friday. Have a great weekend everyone.

Cheers

Violet

Brown Scrappy Quilt

We just had a mild but wet and dreary weekend – and it continues. The temperature is just around the freezing mark but we went for a walk this afternoon and the cold dampness just seemed to go right through us. It was so dreary Saturday and Sunday we didn’t leave the house – and my brain disorders do not like it when the barometer dips down so far so it is better to stay indoors.

I wasn’t sure if I wanted to post a card or a quilt today but the quilt won out. This is a quilt I made for my oldest daughter. I saw a quilt similar to this but in different colours on Pinterest and I really liked it and figured out how to do it. The quality of the photo is not great and it is much nicer in person – richer colours. Double click to enlarge any photo.

Maryanne liked it and it even had Barbi’s dog’s approval.That's Griffin poking his head out to inspect the quilt.

That’s it for a Monday. I’ll post a card tomorrow.

Cheers

Violet

Shark Attack!

Well we had a couple of days of warmer temperatures where it got up just above the freezing mark but it was short lived….back down to -14C this morning (about 6F)…..and we got a little more snow last night so Joe was had to shovel the driveway once again. Very little snow fell but if he doesn’t keep it cleared off or it develops ruts very quickly. I opened the door long enough to bring in the newspaper and that was enough for me!

I really wanted to get down to the “lower studio” today to work on some cards and mixed media creations but the basement is just a bit cold so I spent the day in the “upper studio” quilting. Glad I have more than one hobby.

Not much to report seeing as I don’t leave the house so I’ll get right to the quilt I’m posting today. (Spellchecker wanted to change “I’m” to “I is”…and it would read “I is posting”....I think spellchecker needs a grammar checker?)

This quilt is the one I made for my grandson Jack who wants to be a marine biologist so he can save the sharks. This is the same boy that wanted me to make him a great white shark costume for Halloween a couple years ago. In case you missed it, here it is the costume I created.

 This is the quilt I made him.

As usual, I started out with a sort-of plan in my head and no real pattern. That plan did not work out. I cut out squares of the shark fabric trying to get different sharks in each square but there was not a lot of sharks and the pattern repeated itself more than I realized but I finally got enough cut out. Then I sewed off-white strips along each side of each shark and the plan was to then sew a sparkling blue strip next to the off-white but once I laid it out on top of the blue, Joe and I both went – blah! It just didn’t work so I had to reverse sew the strips (formerly called ripping out stitches). I flipped through some of my quilting magazines trying to get some inspiration and I think it was the last magazine on the shelf where I spotted a quilt that I liked. It was actually a Christmas quilt but I took the centre section pattern and adapted it the shark squares and voilà, I had a new pattern in mind! Luckily I had a lot of the new fabric I wanted to use in the stash but I did have to go to the fabric store to get some of the grey. I love how it turned out and Jack absolutely loved it.

That’s all for a cold Tuesday,

Cheers

Violet

Quilts were a hit!

Well we sure had a great time on Saturday. It was our Christmas get-together at one of my daughter’s houses – a little late and no Christmas tree up but that didn’t matter at all. We just all had a fun day together. It’s nice that all the sisters and their husbands all get along with each other and with us! Family is so important.

The quilts were a big hit. I posted Finn’s quilt last week but here he looking at his when his mom held it up.

 And of course, Finn just had to try it out right away. 

The funny thing is that he also liked the rainbow on the back so he had to lay down with the rainbow up as well. Four year olds are so funny. It was a very quick lay down!

Last year I made a Don’t Bug Me quilt for the Friends of Rondeau (our local provincial park) to raffle off as a fund raiser and the kids and even the parents that saw it went wild over it so I decided to make one similar to that for Seth. It was a big hit too.

Here’s his quilt that Grampa is holding up and then him looking at it at the get-together.

I have more quilts to post but I’ll be sharing some cards as well so stay tuned everyone.

Every Christmas I try to get a real nice shot of all five of my grandchildren but they think it’s funny not to co-operate and think of something to make me laugh and not what you call a professional looking portrait. This is what they did this year. Just as I was getting ready to take the photo Kadri bends down and Seth climbs on her shoulders - she's stronger than she looks - and Joven grabs Finn and pulls hime up - bare belly and all. Little devils.

That’s all for a snowy Monday – yes, more shovelling this morning! It can end anytime now!

Cheers

Violet