Picnic Anyone?

   Name: Picnic Anyone?

Design: St. Louis 16 Patch (tutorial at Sew with Sass)

Size: 56" by 68"

Pieced by my buddies at That Stash Bee

Quilted: by me with Aurifil 50 wt in white on either side of each square

Binding and Backing:  Blue and white stripe from the stash and backed with Ikea Britten Numbers

I asked my bee mates in That Stash Bee to make St. Louis 16 Patch blocks in happy colours for my month this past May.  And they delivered!  I put this together last week and quilted it the other day.  I love the transformation that happens when a quilt goes from flimsy to quilted.  All of a sudden it becomes something different.  A quilt with substance and texture rather than just cloth put together.  It turned out exactly the way I hoped and I will be donating this to a fundraiser for at risk youth.  I think it is a perfect picnic quilt but it would be equally happy on a bed or to snuggle under while watching movies.  I think it would make awesome blanket forts.  Just saying.

This is a fantastic block when you need a quilt in a hurry.  Check out the tutorial and keep it on your must make list.  These blocks come together quickly and before you know it, you have a quilt.  I have thought about making the strips smaller too for a fast baby quilt.

I quilted on either side of the squares in Aurifil 50 wt in white.  The simple patchwork asked for simple quilting.  The quilting shows up really nicely on the giant number print from Ikea that I plopped on the back.  I have been collecting stripes to have on hand for binding and used a royal blue on white stripe for this one.  I like it!

Linking up on Friday with Amanda Jean for Finish it Friday.

A little bit of this and a little bit of that...

Yesterday I quilted this St. Louis 16 Patch That Stash Bee quilt.  It will be donated to an at risk youth fundraiser when all done.  And it felt good to be at the sewing machine.  I have been busy with all sorts of things that aren't sewing.  Like crazy raspberries this year.  Oh my goodness.  The size of thumbs and endless quantities.

We have also been picking blueberries.  Typical July.  So many blueberries that husband says that is all he sees when he closes his eyes.  We were at the veggie store yesterday picking up some pickling cucumbers and we like to check the price of the little baskets of berries.  We looked at each other and declared, "We are RICH!"  In berries, at least!

And I spent several days last week with daughter and her special someone near Jasper, Alberta.  We did a lot of hiking.  The weather was not great but we had lots of fun.  I followed them up and down hills all over the place.  Puffing and trying to catch my breath.  I was even relatively brave at the top of the tram at the top of a mountain overlooking Jasper.  Relatively brave.

Winner Winner!

And the winner of this bundle of fat quarters from Sew Sisters is...

Number 60...  Sheila!  I will send Sheila and email and remember that Sew Sisters has free shipping in Canada  until the 31 of July!


SheilaJuly 25, 2014 at 4:04 PM

I love anything Bunnyhill so would love to win those adorable fabrics , thanks for the chance .

Sew Sisters: The Christmas Room is open and let's have a giveaway!

 Please welcome my new sponsor, Sew Sisters Quilt Shop!  As of July 25, 2014, the Sew Sisters Christmas Room is open.  To celebrate, Sew Sisters is offering free shipping within Canada on all orders from July 25, 2014 to July 31, 2014.

And Sew Sisters also is offering a giveaway right here to celebrate.  Have a look!  Five fat quarters of Winter Wonderland from Bunnyhill Designs for Moda.  It looks fabulous. Love the wee snowmen print on white.  So cute!

So leave a comment on this post.  Pretty simple!  The giveaway is open to international quilty people too and will be open until Monday July 28, 2014 at 8 am PST.  Good luck everyone, and remember that Sew Sisters has free shipping within Canada until July 31, 2014.  I might just stock up on a few things.  They carry Aurifil thread too! Just saying.  Good luck, everyone!

edited to say:  CONTEST CLOSED!  THANKS EVERYONE!!!

Warp and Weft Sewing Society: Running with Squares

 When Esmari from Warp and Weft sent me fabric, she included a roll of 10"squares.  Since I was in table runner mode and really having fun with matchstick quilting, I took several of the squares and cut them into 3" squares and just had some fun sewing them altogether.  Then I randomly separated the patchwork with strips of linen and put the whole shebang together.

The back came together happily with a funky fat quarter, some more linen, some scraps from a pillow project and some lovely chambray shirting.  And that is the loft ladder in the barn just so you know.

 This runner measures 13.5" by 44" so it would work on a long table just fine.  Sometimes runners seem a bit undersized for long tables.  This one is not!

The quilting is dense, straight lines, matchstick style in Aurifil 50 wt in #2326  Sand.  It is a lovely colour.  Just enough of a contrast with the linen but not too much.

Pouch Swap... with the Victoria Modern Quilt Guild

The Fraser Valley Modern Quilt Guild swapped zippy pouches with the Victoria Modern Quilt Guild.  It was a heck of a lot of fun and we plan to make it an annual event.  Kari spoiled me rotten with this lovely Noodlehead wide open pouch.  The quilting rocks.  Just saying!  And then to top it all off, Kari crammed the pouch full of treats!  Fat quarters, charms, stitch ripper, pins, thread and their guild pin.  I also really like the sleeps with quilts button!  So much fun!

I am going to use this pouch tomorrow and stuff it with hand stitching that I can do when I visit our daughter over the next few days.  Thanks, Kari!

Ps.  I will still be posting even though I am off visiting!

A Finish for Friday...

   Name: Running Neutrals

Design: Bento box blocks in neutrals

Size: 14" by  38"

Fabric: scraps, linen, and Kona Parchment

Quilted: by me with Aurifil 50 wt in  off white, Matchstick quilting

I was commissioned to make a table runner for a friend to give as a gift to her sister.  The cruncher for me was that the sister is a big fan of neutrals and does not do colour in a big way at all.  What a puzzler!  Well, not really because I just grabbed my scrap box with all sorts of neutral scraps and got busy.  I used a fair amount of linen and added in a bit... just a bit of the fabric with a bit of colour for interest.  The blocks are bento box blocks and then I framed the whole thing with more linen.  The runner is not bound traditionally as I did not want the binding to be a feature, so I made a facing binding in Kona Parchment.  The runner is still reversible but the binding is on the back.  I think it looks super elegant.  I did matchstick quilting in Aurifil 50 wt in a lovely cream that just blends perfectly with the linen and neutral scraps.  Matchstick quilting adds an incredible texture and stiffness that works so well for something like a table runner.  It lies flat and has such substance.

And Sue was super happy with it but I would not let her have it when I saw her the other day.  She had to wait until my guild show and tell was over.  Now she can have it.

Linking up with Amanda Jean for Finish it up Friday!

The back... see the facing?

Sisters Part 3: Did I mention the fabric?

Well... I did have the foresight to take an extra bag in the bottom of the fairly small suitcase I took for the fabric purchases.  I just had this feeling that I might need it.  The first fabric stop was at Portland's Fabric Depot. This is a HUGE warehouse type store that lives in what was most likely a former grocery store.  Did I mention it was huge?  Really big.  And then they had an outdoor clearance area.  I went there first.

I was pretty focused in my shopping there.  I had a list.  I wanted a few Kona solids... parchment and stone.  Little bit boring but they play well with linen, low volume fabrics and some Anna Maria Horner... cone flowers.  Not bad.  Only a few other things found their way into the buggy.  I found the pink stripes, and the seriously awesome airmail fabric and the Dear Stella white and black zig zag print in the clearance area.  Nice!

The next day we hit the Stitchin' Post in Sisters.  This store is beautiful.  Really, really lovely.  It is owned by Jean Wells...

And they had some Cotton and Steel.  Eep!  I bought some.  Oh yes I did!  Not all of what they had is on the shelf because some of my quilting peeps were carting around the bolts in their arms. 

But I also added a few more low volume options and some Echino glasses.  Cotton and Steel has great selvages, just saying.

We also hit B.J.'s quilt shop in Bend which was right across the street from a Jo-Ann's.  Yep.  B.J.'s has a cooler of iced bottled water at their front door.  So appreciated that but the store itself was super crowded with another bus group.  It was a bit frenetic.  I did however, find the chicken wire low volume fabric there and bought the rest of a bolt of Children at Play paper airplane fabric for baby quilt backs etc. And in case I ever need to make a paper hat or paper airplane, I can refer to the fabric.  You never know!

Then I ventured across the street to Jo-Ann's.  They had an awesome selection of DS Quilts by Denyse Schmidt and it was all on sale.  Oh happy day!  Darlene and I were in Denyse heaven.  Lot's of half yards except for the orange check because I took the rest of the bolt for a super good deal.  Happy day!

Our last fabric stop was at Bayside Quilting in Olympia.  By this time, I think I was shopped out.  Can that really happen?  Anyway, I found some quilting news text fabric and some nurse text fabric.  They asked to come home with me and I could not say no!

Look at all the low volume stuff playing together.  Love it!!!

The adventure continued: Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show Part 2

Did I mention all the quilts?  Oh my goodness... 1401 of them apparently.  It is hard to pick which ones to show but here is another sampling...  The trees above were in the teacher's tent but the name of the quilter escapes me.  It is stunning!

This glorious Kaffe Fassett quilt was part of the Dreaming in Colour Cover to Cover exhibit.  A group of quilters take a book and celebrate the book from Cover to Cover in quilts.  Pretty awesome.

This is another Elizabeth Hartman quilt...  Patchwork City... it is on the cover of her newest book.  Totally awesome!

 Oh my goodness even the little funny diner had quilts on it!

Darlene on the right and good old me, being silly at a diner. Thanks Barb, for taking this picture of us taking pictures.