September Goal

     The pencil, the sewing machine and especially the rotary cutter have been getting a real workout at my place these days. First off I made these blocks for the Toronto Modern Quilt Guild's, quilt for Pulse.  I already worked on several heart quilts earlier in the summer but when I saw Sheila's design for the TMQG I just had to make one, or would you call this three.  When I was working on these little blocks my brain started thinking of all sorts of word quilts that I could design/make so I'll have to tuck those away in the creations file. 

     I made these sample blocks for a block lotto we will be having at the Royal City Quilt Guild.  I think our members will have a lot of fun making these great little bird blocks.  If you'd like to make some you can find the tutorial here.

    Wendy and I got together to cut 4 quilt kits for the RCQG community outreach program bringing our total to 8.

     I think this is the first year to try handing out kits for complete quilt tops. We usually hand out block kits and we are continuing to do that.

     I've also been working like a beaver on my Cloud9, Cirrus Solids block which I have completed. All I have left is to proof read my blog post and tutorial and tighten it up a bit.  Yay!

     And I've been sewing along with Yvonne of Quilting JetGirl for the Snowflake Shimmer quilt along, and falling behind on the Meadow Mystery that Cheryl of Meadowmist Designs is running.  I have yet to cut my fabric for that one...and truth be told I'm now trailing a bit with Snowflake Shimmer.  I have lots of time to catch up with both of these though, so I'm not worried.  Do you think I should throw Lorna's MOD Bear paw quilt along into the mix?

         In that vein, I have to report once again that I did not meet my August Goal which was quilting my Rainbow Rose Quilt.  I did make some progress towards the goal.  I made the quilt back and pin basted the quilt and I bought a quilting guide that will go to the left of the walking foot, just in case I need it.

     Ever the optimist I am rolling the goal into September and joining all the other folks who are linking up with Heide of Red Letter Quilts for the OMG linkup.

Lisa

The Summer of Luck

    The summer of 1967 was named the Summer of Love and I'm dubbing 2016 the Summer of Luck.  I've won 5 prizes  through link ups and give aways this summer!  Can you believe it?  I can't either, but for now I'm just basking in the luck.  Two packages have arrived so I thought I would share them with you.

     The first package to arrive at my house was this wonderful bundle of orange fat quarters that I won in a give away held by Carrie of the  Zen Quilter.  She was cleaning up the stash and found herself with an abundance of orange fat quarters.

           I've got plans to use many of these fat quarters in one or two charity quilts...I'm thinking a cross quilt with some turquoise blocks as well. Carrie thought I should keep some of this  orange goodness myself so I'm thinking I'll make a quilt for my living room.  It sure would be nice to have a quilt with some of Carrie's fabric in it. She's such a wonderful person. Here's a closeup of this lovely bundle.

     I worked for the second win.  I won this fat quarter bundle at the final link up for the Rainbow Rose quilt along held at Modern Quilters Ireland.  The wonderful LoveFabrics   donated this bundle and they mailed it all the way across the ocean to me.   How awesome is that. 

     

    The fabric is Little Bird by Camelot Design Co.   It's so pretty!  Don't you just love the little birds and mushrooms.  I'm not sure what I'll do with the little bundle.  I'm thinking it would make some nice gift type things.

     I'm linking up with the man who loves to flaunt his stuff, the wonderful Mollie Sparkles who hosts Sunday Stash.
I'll show you the rest of the loot when I get it.  

Snowflake Shimmer Progress

     This is a short little post to share my progress on the Snowflake Shimmer Quilt along.

  Slow and Steady it is.  I'm linking up with the others quilting along with Yvonne at the 3rd Snowflake Shimmer link up.  I'm looking forward to seeing everyone's progress.

Our Entry at the Quilt Show

     One of my goals for this year was to enter a quilt into a quilt show.  Well I didn't enter one on my own but the Small Modern Group of my local quilt guild (Royal City Quilters Guild) entered a group quilt into the Quilt Show for the International Plowing Match, which was held this year in Harriston Ontario.

     Last summer and fall this group made many pick up stick blocks which we used to make two donation quilts for our guilds comfort quilt program.  Cheryl took most of the blocks which she pieced and quilted.    I took the leftover blocks, added sashing and made a second quilt which you can read about here.
We entered the quilt Cheryl completed into the show. There was a category for modern quilts made by a group.

     As you can see we won a ribbon!  We came in second in our category.  How awesome is that.

    Ten of us participated in making this quilt. Here's a picture of Wendy, me and Cyndy in front of the quilt.  Our friend Carol took the photo.  She's not in the picture because she's not in the Small Modern Group.

     It was a fun show to go to with a wide variety of styles and several quilts made by youth in 4H programs.  I loved seeing those quilts.  Lorna of Sew Fresh Quilts was there selling her patterns, so we had a nice visit with her.  Man those quilts are gorgeous in real life.  They look great on her blog but even better in person.

     The more I go to quilt shows the more I feel I could enter my quilts.  It will never be my focus but I think it would be a great way to tighten up my skills.  I'm sharing this post at the 
Main Crush Monday linkup at Cooking Up Quilts.

Midsummer Catch Up

     I thought I would post a little catch up on some of the things going on around here right now.  I've been finding it difficult lately to keep up with my quilting goals and commitments but I have managed to get a couple of quilt blocks done. Here's my Stash Bee  block for August.

     This was a fun little project to make , an improv washi block.  Lee was sad to have missed out on the Rashida Coleman Washi fabric so she had us make her some.  I looks great doesn't it.

     Abigail of the wonderful blog Cut and Alter  nominated me for the One Lovely Blog Award.  I was really touched by this nomination because I  love her blog and I count Abigail among my blogging friends.  Thank you Abigail!

     Although I was nominated for this award just over a year ago I decided to accept it again because I think it is a great way to highlight some of the other blogs that I have recently discovered and love.

The Rules:

*Thank the person who nominated you, and give a link to his/her blog.

*List the rules.

*Display the image of the award on your post.

*List seven facts about yourself.

*Nominate (up to) 15 bloggers for this award, and notify them to let them know you have nominated them.

     So here are 7 facts about me.

1.  In conjunction with collecting fabric I also have collected quite a few fair trade African baskets.  Here's the latest addition to the collection.  It's quite large and I'm using it to store quilt tops waiting to be quilted.

2.  I am participating in the Cloud Nine Cirrus Solids block challenge.  You don't need the photo as I'm sure you've seen it already.

3.  I have recently taken on the job of co chairing the community outreach committee at my local guild. You can read about this program in the tab above This should keep me super busy so you may be seeing more donation quilts on the blog and less of my own projects.

4.  I'm going to Quilt Con in 2017. I'm not sure  I can really afford this but most of the money is spent already and I'm really excited to be going.

5.  Just under 5 months ago I became a grandmother to this lovely little cherub.   Dwight took this great photo of Gabriel and me the last time we visited with him and his parents.

6.  I'm not great with computers but I recently opened  an instagram account "sunlight in winter quilts"  with the help of my co worker Erin and the wonderful Helen of Midget Gems Quilts.  (thanks Helen).  If you have a chance check out her blog.  She has a wicked sense of humour.

7.  Until I started quilting I hated the colour pink...but now I quite like it.

   So now I get to nominate some other bloggers for the award.  Some of these quilters have been around for a while and some are brand spanking new.  I hope you enjoy visiting their blogs as much as I do.

Carrie of Zen Quilter

 Handwrought Quilts

Sola of Alice Samuels Quilt Co.

Vanni of My Odds and Ends

Jodie of Persimmon and Pear

Amanda of This Mom Quilts

Lena of Quilt Art by Olena Pugachova

Dave of Dave the Quilt Engineer

      There could be many more names on this list...but here's a start.  Please go and visit these bloggers and spread the love.  While you are there tell them I said hi.   Lisa

And to spread the love a little further I'm linking up with Lorna of Sew Fresh Quilts for Lets Bee Social.

Snowflake Shimmer Progress

     I feel like that kid in high school who snuck in to class a bit late and only got half their homework done.  I could say the dog ate my homework but I don't have a dog.  We are however in what I believe are called the dog days of summer.  It's been stinking hot and humid here for the past couple of weeks.  It's o.k. when I'm at work where it's air conditioned but we aren't air conditioned at home  and it's hard to get the energy up to do anything more than lie around doing sudokus and reading murder mysteries.

     For most of the summer we are o.k. without air conditioning as our house is surrounded by trees and maintains a comfortable temperature. 

     I did get a start on cutting my fabric for the Snowflake Shimmer quilt along before my energy fizzled out last night.
Here's where I'm at.

     The weather should get slightly cooler next week and then slightly cooler again the following week so I'm hoping to catch up with all my quilting goals then.  I'm joining all the other quilters at the Snowflake Shimmer link up on Yvonne's Blog, Quilting Jet Girl.  I'm thankful for link ups to help keep me on task.

The First Quilt That Came Into My Life

     Today is the one year anniversary of  Throwback Thursday, which is a link up hosted by Jenn at Quarter Inch From the Edge. As it's a special anniversary of the link up,  I thought I would share a quilt that is very special to me.  This is the first quilt that came into my life.  It was given to Dwight and me at our wedding in 1987 and it was made by his grandmother Ida Cressman.  We scanned one of our wedding photos so you can have a peak of what it looked like when it was new. The photo is of Dwight and his mother unfolding the quilt to show it to the wedding guests.

     Dwight's grandmother hand pieced all her quilts.  When Dwight was around 16 his grandmother gathered her 13 grandchildren together  along with 13 quilt tops.  Each of the kids got to choose a quilt.  She started with the girls and they chose in order from oldest to youngest and then the boys chose from oldest to youngest.  This quilt was the one that Dwight really wanted and luck would have it that when his turn came the quilt was still in the mix. The quilt was put away and when we got engaged the women of his church bordered it with red fabric and got together to hand quilt it.

     For many years the quilt was on our bed.  It welcomed our two children and several pets.   Ida used the left over scraps from sewing clothes in it's construction and many of the fabrics have deteriorated. It is very worse for wear now as it has been well used and well loved.

     Although faded, it is still really beautiful isn't it?  Just look at some of the interesting fabrics that were used, and the tiny red hand quilting stitches.

     Dwight grew up with quilts but they were new to me as no one in my family was a quilter.  Although I appreciated and loved the quilt when we received it, now that I am a quilter myself, I really appreciate the love, skill and work that went into this very special wedding gift.  I'm linking my post to the Throw Back Thursday link up at Quarter Inch From the Edge.