Strips on Stripes 2011.....an unexpected surprise.

There are so many beautiful quilts entered in this fall's Blogger's Quilt Festival over at Amy's Creative Side. This is a wonderful opportunity for all of us, to share our work and celebrate each others creativity. Take the opportunity to enjoy....you won't be disappointed.

Thank you Amy, for all the work you do, to make this happen.

The quilt I would like to share with you has been.... a bit of an unexpected surprise for me. It started with a few fat quarters and me wanting to make a sample, for joining blocks, in a QAYG tutorial........I got a little carried away.

Also, there were quite a few Ticker Tape quilts, in the blog world, last January and I was trying to come up, with some way of avoiding, all those little pieces and all the stitching around each side. My first idea was strips...rather than little pieces. I then realized I preferred a cleaner finish....so I appliqued the strips to accomplish that.

I was rather surprised, by the lovely texture, in the finished quilt.

Quilt Back

I wanted to join the quilted blocks, in a more random manner, to avoid the look of the typical QAYG grid.

Also, right around this time Chawne knit a blanket that blew my socks off......I know, I was still dreaming about this blanket, as I made this quilt.

What did I learn throughout this process.....keep experimenting with new ideas and realize inspiration comes, in many different forms.

The quilt now resides, in Montreal, with my twenty-eight year old daughter.....she was visiting, took one look... and you know the rest of the story....

Leaving the Scraps Behind

October has been a scrappy month, in my studio. Both of the projects I've been working on, started with me digging in my scrap bins. 

I'm ready to leave it all behind...... for some time on the West Coast.

Waiting for me is my new studio, with a little temporary corner set up......what shall I do with it??   Maybe I'll paint, since the room is still almost empty. Let's see how motivated I am.

Still Playing in the Scrap Yard

This was supposed to me a mindless project, set aside, for my BLOCKHEAD Thursdays , but  here I am.....still  playing in the scrap yard. I'm thinking, I would like to emphasize the use of negative space.....but who knows, I'm still just playing around.

Playing in the Scrap Yard......with my friends

Thursday is my official quilting day....friends and family know the GONE QUILTING with FRIENDS sign is on my door...in other words don't bug me.  We unofficially and affectionately call ourselves BLOCKHEADS. We meet at my house, when I'm here, in town.  We talk, share ideas, eat, drink multiple cups of tea, laugh til we cry and sometimes we actually quilt. Everyone brings there own bag lunch and often, at the end of the day, we head out for dinner and/or a little fabric shopping. We were friends, long before we started quilting and amazingly enough, we are now all quilters.

I'm not all that creative, when we are all gabbing and laughing, as we try to quilt. I need to be alone, when I do anything, of any artistic merit. I've decided to have some relatively mindless projects on hand for Thursdays. Today I decided to play, in the scrap yard.

Some QAYG strips...fits the bill.

I love my Thursdays......with my fellow BLOCKHEADS.

Embracing the Autumn of My Life

Sometimes it's hard to believe, I'm no longer in the summer of my life.....the days, or should I say, years, have slipped by so quickly. 


I want to embrace and savor the spectacular days of Autumn, rather than wasting energy, regretting the passing of summer......... and dreading the coming of winter.


 As in nature, perhaps this is most glorious season of my life.... hopefully I'm wise enough to hold it dear.

Embracing Autumn in all it's glory, with two of my favourite people.

I can never drink in, enough colour!!!

Am I A Colour Junkie In Real Life, As Well????

The answer is ABSOLUTELY!!!!! 
My husband came home on Friday, bearing more gifts .....no, not another BAGUETTE, not after the last fiasco.  He bought me the latest iPhone.....you have to understand, I have only ever had one cell phone, so it was time.  Would you look at the cover I bought for it...does that look like a quilter's phone???? It even matches my red purse....I'm so lame. Now that I found the perfect cover, I can relax and figure out how to use the thing.....darn technology.

How to Keep Your Husband Out of Your Sewing Space

I finally did it.......My husband might never step foot in the studio again. If you are one of my children stop reading now!!!


Yesterday fellow BLOCKHEAD (Evonne's quilts) and I were in deep quilting concentration, when my husband came home, from work, bearing gifts......did I mention our family is in the bakery business. Unbeknownst to us, he had slipped downstairs and was standing, in the doorway, right close, to where fellow BLOCKHEAD  was sitting. We heard the words "Which one would you girls like?"  We looked up, at the same time, only to see two very long baguette's staring us in the face. He had one in each hand...... I'm sorry to say in a very questionable position..... inadvertently, of course.

One of  The alleged Baguettes (fellow BLOCKHEAD took the other one home)

The Culprit standing in the Doorway.


I didn't have my camera........ I improvised (note, I can't draw worth beans, but you get the picture)

After falling off our sewing chairs, howling hysterically, fellow BLOCKHEAD and I are now in recovery.  Shortly after, we could barely eat our dinner without repeatedly bursting into laughter again....it's hard to eat that way, not to mention the strange looks we were getting, at the restaurant. 


Soon, we should be able to resume most of our normal activities without bursting into hysterical laughter........such as eating baguettes, of course (what else could I possibly mean). Our only regret, the other  BLOCKHEADS were absent that day.


In case you're wondering......my husband told us to get our minds out of the gutter and skulked away......possibly to never darken the doors of the studio again. 


Note....permission from the culprit was granted to repeat this story.

It All Came Out In The Wash

I'm so glad I took the time to wash this sample, before proceeding any further, with the project. I'm not usually that farsighted, but since I was using denim I wasn't to sure how things would wash up. I'm happy to say it all came out in the wash......all my conclusions anyway.

Just look at the difference between  using a zig zag stitch on the edge or not.

I'm preferring the zig zagged edge.

I'm not particularly fond of the zig zag on the back.

Sample back

Sample of sewing the fabric down, with a zig zag stitch, then cutting away the fabric using regular quilting cotton.

Similar technique  using denim.

My conclusions are:

• Give my denim fabric another wash to soften it up before using.
• Stitch the fabric down with the zig zag stitch before cutting away.....this will actually save me some time (did I mention I have a bit of a lazy bone).
• Leave the back fabric off until all the zig zag stitching is done.

QAYG Reverse Applique

I spent the afternoon playing around with a little QAYG Reverse Applique. I'm quilting and appliqueing in one step. 

I'm not sure how I want to treat the edges. I plan to do one of the following:

• Leave the edges raw
• Zig Zag with contrasting thread
• Zig Zag with navy thread

I've done a bit of each on this sample block. My plan is to wash the block and see which finish I prefer.

I like cutting 20 inch wide strips of batting......all ready for any QAYG projects I might have on the go.

Thankfully Out of Control or Where Are My Friends When I Need Them

It's Thanksgiving Weekend here in Canada and I'm so thankful for the following:

• Jessica and Jeff are in from Montreal for the weekend
• A sweet little 18 month old, with big blue eyes, is having a sleepover with us tonight....and did I mention she has dimples and wears pigtails!!!
• My mom, all my kids and my two adorable granddaughters will be having turkey dinner with us on Sunday
• My husband, Jessica and Jeff will be doing all the cooking
• Soooo very thankful that my husband doesn't read my blog

• Last but not least....thankfully I'm still out of control in the fabric world. That would be why I'm thankful that my husband doesn't read my blog.

About this last "little" acquisition I was with a friend........I asked fellow BLOCKHEAD "Why aren't you stopping me???" She just replied "When did that ever help?" Then she just wandered off and left me to me to my own devices.....what kind of friend would do that???

Lynne over at Lily's Quilts likes to carry around her new fabrics around for a day or two (we understand) but I'm afraid I'd keel over if I tried carrying this bunch around.



All You fellow Canadians...Happy Thanksgiving.

Fresh Sewing Day..........Single Minded Scrap Play

Believe it or not it's Fresh Sewing Day again at Lily's Quilts.  Where did the month of September go??? If you have minute you might want to check out what every one's been up to.

I've been pretty single minded this month.  Although, I'll admit, I'm starting to develop a wandering eye....but I'll probably resist, until this one is finished....pretty virtuous of me don't you think??? 

I find the design decisions become more difficult, as the piece grows, because each piece you add is larger and has so much more impact, than the smaller pieces, at the beginning of the process.

I'm not exactly sure where this piece will fit yet.

It's still a bit of a mystery, how this one will turn out.