Rebecca's Own Design

While I'm quilting someone's quilt, I usually have a chance
to analyze how it was constructed.

Not this one!

I just couldn't figure it out!  I loved the fabrics,
and the way the squares showed up, and I expected it to
have perfect squares and half-square triangles, but this one
really stumped me with it's different angles!




Well, no wonder, Rebecca just designed this as she went along!  I'm amazed at how some people can just start cutting up fabric and putting it back together, without a pattern!  I certainly do not have that gift or the confidence! 

Maybe it is something I should do some day,
just to stretch my boundaries abit, face the challenge
and see what happens. 

Good job, Rebecca!

Lisa Michelle Design

I met a new member of our quilt guild last week, and it turns out she is a neighbour to me and a fellow blogger!

What a small world!  I have added her blog to my list of favorites, be sure to check her out. 

She is a very talented young mother of 3 children.  I love the little quilts she makes, the modern fabrics she uses, her unique designs, and the way she is a participant in different quilt swaps over the internet! 

Lisa is part of the new generation of quilters!

Glad to know you!

2 Quilts for Bernice

Bernice is one of my "regulars".  She sent these down to me back in October and I finally got to them. 

She likes light quilting and prefers poly batting, although the butterfly one has Hobbs 80/20 in it, as I ran out of the other stuff!

I don't know what the first quilt is called, actually, it is the second time she made that pattern, and I didn't want to do the same thing as I did before.  Because the fabrics had an "organic" feel, and all "leafy" themed I just went with a real simple leaf vine thread path.  It seemed to "evolve" the further along I got, I started out doing it one way, and then altered it slightly as I got further down the quilt.  Does anyone else find that happens to them, or is it just me?

The butterfly quilt was fun to do as well, I took my favorite butterfly design and marked it on each block, then wove the thread path through each design with loops in between.  Of course, my blog entry would not be complete if I didn't say how much I loved the fabric colours!

Bailey Quilt

I don't think I've every blogged about my Bailey Quilt. Bailey is my 14-year-old Border Collie who has been a part of our family since she was 6 weeks old. I'd always wanted to make a quilt of her.

I June of 2008, I participated in a Quilting Workshop featuring Ruth McDowell's quilting methods. I used a favorite photo of Bailey, and punched it up with some colourful fabrics. I finally finished the quilt last September, in time for our local quilt show.

In all, I'm quite happy with the way it turned out, and the colours I used, but now I can see where I should've spent abit more time blending in the seam lines. I would love to explore this technique more! It is so unique to each individual. You make your own pattern! How cool is that!

New photo slideshow

Hi there!

I don't know if you've noticed, but I've cleaned a couple of things off my blog, and put a new slideshow on the right-hand column. I finally got all my customer quilts for 2009 together, so you will be able to see them there. Remember, if you click on the mini slideshow, it will take you to my Picasa Web album, where you can view all my albums.

I also have another new album, called Gloria's Quilts. I needed a spot where I could keep the quilts that I pieced and quilted. Some of them are already on a webpage that is at least 10 years old now, the link can be found under "my profile". I am still missing many of them, but it is just another work in progress.

Well, today I finally loaded my first customer quilt of 2010. Man, I should never take any time off! I almost forgot how to do it! Something was just not working right. Of course! How silly!

I figured if I had a quilt on the frame, I could tackle it bit by bit.

I am also in the midst of planning a beginner applique class. We are making a tablerunner, and I'm demonstrating a few different ways of going about the applique process. Then, when the girls take on a "real" applique project, they can decide how they want to go about it. Here's what I've got so far.

Healing Heroes

Our guild has been working on donating some quilts to the project called "Quilts for Healing Heroes".

They are for our Canadian service-persons who have been injured and are in recovery. This organization is alittle different as they do not want anything political or patriotic symbolized in the quilts, just a nice quilt for either a woman or man.

Here are a few photos of some of our guild members who have participated so far (Roberta, Ina, Suzie, Caroline & Dawn), plus a photo of the one I contributed. It's the blue/green split 9-patch.

I am sure they are bound to bring alittle joy and healing into their lives.

Fairies

Fairies are a popular theme these days. Lovette made this wonderful quilt for her grand-daughter. The fabrics are gorgeous, especially the green border fabric, it has an iridescence to it that I just love. Sorry, I'm not up on my manufacturers but this one is worth a search! And although you may not be able to see the colours of the King Tut thread used, it was a perfect match!

Brenda's Quilt

Here is a quilt Brenda made for her son for Christmas. I especially love the way those diagonal lines showed up in the quilt. A great border idea!

Brenda told me to "just meander" it, it was close to Christmas and she didn't want it to take too much time. At first, I thought I would do alittle something more, but when I saw that the backing was a camouflage print, meander was the right choice!

Bento blocks

Colleen made this awesome quilt for her nephew. It had a wonderful assortment of black & whites. I quilted it in circles to "round out" the squareness. What a lucky guy!

Gift of Love

This is a quilt commissioned by Sandi. ( I'm not sure if I said that right).

Sandi's daughter is expecting a baby, and she had several friends and relatives make up a block to put into a special quilt, being a Gift of Love for the new child. A similar quilt was made for Sandi's first daughter, which she has cherished over the years, and so the desire for the tradition to continue, was born.

Each block was so different! The imaginations of all the participants was amazing! There were all levels of skill portrayed, and it didn't really matter, what mattered is that everyone did their best to show their love.

It was so special to be a part of this family's joy in celebrating their first grandchild.

I kept the quilting simple and basic, as the blocks were busy enough and were the main focus.

Happy New Year!

Well, I don't know about you, but the New Year is always a new beginning for me. My old rut is gone and now is the chance for me to start afresh. Like, getting back to walking (almost) every day, losing a few pounds, spending more quality time with my husband, getting to those unfinished and new quilting projects. It is an exciting time of year! Until, of course, I get bogged down with all these things I am trying to fit into my life, then it might be same old, same old. Oh well, for now I am very excited!

I dragged out some UFO's out of my drawers, some are over 10 years old! I really want to make an effort to finishing them. This week, I've been tackling a quilt destined for a niece who graduated last year. I will post photos once I'm done, but that might not be for awhile, as I have to get back to my customer quilts this week, as well. No more holidays for me!

Time to catch up on posting some quilts. Christmas is over and it should be safe to post some photos.

Here is a quilt Sharon made, for herself, I think. I absolutely love the colour scheme. Purple is one of my favorite colours! I used variegated threads on the front as well as on the back which was a fairly solid colour, so they would look pretty. I like the way I did the border, the swirls made a row of hearts.