Go Big or Go Home

     It's time to list the 4th Quarter Finish Along Goals and even though I only got 2 finishes done last quarter I am continuing with my usual list of too many things.  I like keeping my options open.  So the projects I'm dragging along from last quarter are:

1.  Charlotte's quilt

 2.  My Washi Tunic made of Knits.  All I have to do on this is hem it .

3. The disappearing Nine Patch

4. The Clamshell.

    New projects I'm adding to the list are:

5.  Broken Frames.

 6.  Snowflake Shimmer

    

      My friend Helen who blogs at Midget Gem Quilts is also hoping to finish her Snowflake Shimmer Quilt and she has challenged me to get mine done in December.  We'll be quilting along together so that should be fun.  Go Helen!

I'm joining the link up on Leanne's blog She Can Quilt.

What's on your list?

October Goal

     For my OMG for October I'm planning to quilt this quilt.

     If it looks familiar it's because it's been on the list before.  It's a comfort quilt for my guild and it's been waiting for me to quilt it for so long that I'm starting to sag under the weight of obligation.  So having successfully quilted the Rainbow Rose with an all over triangle design  I'm game to try this one with an all over boxy square design.  I'm linking up to the OMG link up with Heidi at Red Letter Quilts.

October is for Catching Up!

     We'll September whizzed by really quickly.  I was away from home on three of the four weekends.  I also joined a gym and have started going to Aquafit again.  The pace in the classes is pretty rigorous and I'm finding myself tired as I adjust to the new level of activity. Cyndy and Wendy have told me that's normal at the beginning.  I certainly hope so.

     What all this means of course is that I have fallen behind on my quilting and blogging goals, but it's a new month and October promises to be a little less busy.  I've been using these first early days of October to catch up.

     On Wednesday Wendy and I will be delivering this group of  colourful quilts to the sexual assault unit.  You can read a bit more about this program in the tab comfort quilts at the top of the post.

     I took advantage of the clear skies to take photos of each individual quilt for our records, and I will be ironing labels on to each quilt later today.  These quilts were made by members of The Royal City Quilters Guild.  I did not make any of these quilts but will have two quilts in the next batch, including my Rainbow Rose quilt.

     On Saturday Wendy, Cyndy and I got together for a day of sewing and I worked on some blocks for a group quilt for the small modern group. Yesterday I spent some time playing catch up on the Meadow Mystery by cutting the fabric.  The Meadow Mystery is a Quilt Along run by Cheryl of Meadow Mist Designs.  She is a wonderful pattern designer and if you would like to have a chance to win two of her newest patterns you can go here.

     I felt so happy as I cut this fabric which I suppose is because I love the fabric so much, but it could also be because I made it to Ken's meditation group in the morning where the focus was on being observant of the simple good things that we experience in our lives. 

     My goals for this week are to catch up with the Meadow Mystery and to figure out 8 at a time 1/2 square triangles so I can make some progress on the Mod Bear Paw that Lorna of Sew Fresh Quilts is holding.  I'm linking this post to Main Crush Monday hosted by Beth of Cooking Up Quilts.

Late to the Party Again.

    Hello Friends.  I have a confession to make.  I've been really busy lately and also kind of tired so I haven't been on the internet lately.  Today I was doing some catch up blog reading and I realized that I was included on the blog hop for the Meadow Mist Designs Vintage Star Pattern Release.  Silly me I thought you had to make the quilt to be part of the blog hop so I'm a bit late to the party.      

     When Cheryl  put out the call for pattern readers this summer I offered to help her out.   Cheryl offers support to so many quilters and she writes wonderful patterns. She has been particularly generous to me and It was a pleasure to offer support to her in this way.

     I own several of Cheryl's patterns and I can say with certainty that her instructions are always very clear and the resulting quilts are beautiful.  The pattern for Vintage Star is also well written and you can see from the cover that the quilt is very beautiful.

     Cheryl Released this pattern on Tuesday and it will be on sale for $7.50 until October 4th.  You can find the details on Cheryl's blog MeadowMist Designs.

     You can win a copy of this pattern and the pattern Check Plus  by leaving me a comment here.  Just tell me if you have made a pattern by Cheryl before and which one it was.  I'll be holding the draw on Canadian Thanksgiving which is Monday October 10th.  I'll be linking up to Let's Bee Social to give more people opportunities to win.

The Rainbow Rose Is Finished.

     

     Well it's Friday and I've got a finish!  Here's my Rainbow Rose.  The photo below isn't the most inspiring photo but it's raining out so I took the photo on the back porch.  We only got slightly wet.

      If you followed the Rainbow Rose Quilt along  with Modern Quilters Ireland you will know that the instructions were for a square quilt with the Rose in the Centre.  I chose to float the Rose in some negative space.  The quilt finishes at 48" by 60" I'm donating it to my guilds comfort quilt program.  

     I had a lot of fun quilting this quilt.  When I first started quilting my own quilts I never thought I would say this.  At the beginning I found quilting to be such a chore, but the quilting sages are right...It does get easier the more you do it.  It also helps to give up on perfectionism and trust that each time you quilt a quilt it will get better.  Is this what folks mean when they say they took the process pledge?

     I used the quilt to practise both quilting with a walking foot in the star itself and free motion quilting.  I did an all over wonky triangle motif in the negative space which mirrored the triangles in my background fabric.  Here's a closeup on the back of the quilt.

     It's the first time I've done an all over design on a quilt.  Here's a closeup of the walking foot and dot to dot motifs.

     I purchased the fabric on the back years ago thinking I would use it to make a top.  It seems that many of my quilt backings were bought as potential clothing options which just goes to show that I quilt more than I make garments.

     I have to fly out the door soon as we are going to visit my sister this weekend but I'm linking up to TGIFF which is held this week at Crazy Dutch Bird Quilts.  Hi Iris!  This is my second finish for quarter three of the Finish Along and it's my One Monthly Goal for September.

More Projects on the plate

       Sometimes I feel like I need another life.  Not that there is anything wrong with the current life but it would be nice to have an additional one to fit in all the things I want to do and need to do.  I'm now sharing the community outreach chair at my local guild with Cheryl and that's added a bit to the load...extra meetings and reports and some tasks, and I'm planning on joining the gym that my friends Cindy and Wendy go to.  I'm hoping that the time that takes will add to my energy level so there will be a net gain.  We'll see. 

     It probably doesn't help that I keep adding things to my quilting plate either.  I may be crazy but I've decided to join Lorna in the Modern Bear Paw Quilt Along.  I really love the bear in Lorna's quilt and seeing that I live in the land of bears (not really they are quite a bit to the north )I thought I should pay them homage.  To be honest I'm pretty scared of bears, but not the quilt....although  I'm sure I'll be trailing along behind the others in this quilt along.

      I don't normally choose brown as a colour in my quilts but I just have to make this bear in brown.  I've got all solids and to spread out my fabric love they are all from different companies. Having just finished the Blog Hop with the lovely Cirrus Solids, I went with a medium brown from the collection.  The dark brown is a Free Spirit fabric and the background is Kona Ivory.  Being me, I had to pop some colour in there for the sashing, so I went with this soft green I had in my stash.  It's the only green I had enough of.

     I'm planning to open up the quilt a bit, giving it more negative space and less bear paws.  I'm going to be winging it  figuring it out as I go along so we'll see how it turns out.  This quilt may go to someone in my sisters family, they are the northern camping types, or I may just keep it for my living room.  The colours would be perfect there.

     Speaking of my living room I'll also be making Lorna's Cat Treat Quilt.  She's coming to  lead a workshop at my local guild on October 29th. The Cat  Treat Quilt was the choice I made to work on.  I'll be picking up a green for the background fabric and I'm sure I have some white in the stash for the fish bones.  Here are my fabrics for the cats.

     They are all Kafe Facet prints.   I'm mostly going to go with darker cats but I have to have one light cat using the fabric at the front for Benni.

     And speaking of Benni, he's currently wearing the cone of shame.  He got into a scrap with a neighbouring cat and has a gouge in his beautiful face.  He was on antibiotics but he kept pawing at his wound so it's been taking a long time to  heal.

     He's looking miserable because we are making him stay inside while he heals...poor cat.  Anyhow I'm going to join the two linky parties that Lorna is holding this week, The Mod Bear Paw linkup and Lets Bee Social, although I'm not starting work on either of these two quilts until I get caught up with the Meadow Mystery. 

      Seeing as I'm just getting started on Lorna's quilt along, you can too, maybe make a pillow or a placemat or something more ambitious like a whole quilt.  The more the merrier, I say.

The Rainbow Rose Moves Along

     September has arrived with it's normal busyness and I've been feeling a bit stretched.  It's been hard to find enough time for quilting and blogging but I did manage to carve out some time on the weekend to work on the quilting for my Rainbow Rose.     Here's a teaser photo.

     I always put off quilting quilts because I'm still fairly new to the actual quilting part of making quilts and I get cold feet.  I have to credit Lena of Quilt Art for giving me the push I needed to get going.  She made a comment in a previous post that very nicely encouraged me to get on with it.

     I've been using the quilt to practise both walking foot quilting and free motion.  I expect to have a finish by Friday and I'm pretty exited about that.  I'm linking up with Beth at Main Crush Monday because in terms of quilts this has really been my Main Crush this week.