I finished this a bit ago...

  Quilt stats

Name:  I Spy Another One

Design:  224-4" squares with 4" border

Size:  62" by 70"

Fabric: I Spy Scraps and stash fabrics

Quilted: by me with Aurifil 50 wt in white

I made another I Spy quilt over the Christmas holidays but I haven't shared a picture yet.  This is the third I Spy quilt that I have made in this style.  And this one is a donation quilt for my school's fun fair later this spring.  I hope they will raise a whole bunch of money with it!

I am getting smarter with each I Spy quilt I have made.  This time I cut a lot of fabric so I have a big supply of 4" squares of I Spy prints all ready to go for the next occasion.

I used a classic black and white stripe binding because I just love the look.  Doesn't it look like a whole pile of fun all rolled up like that?

This is quilted in a grid 1/4" from each seam line in Aurifil 50 wt in white.  The backing is a combination of 2 novelty prints from my stash.

Linking up with Amanda Jean for Finish it Up Friday!

Work in Progress...

Continuing in the manner that I do things... this is what I am working on right now.  I tend to finish one quilt before I start another. This is Geometric Slide from the wonderful book by Katie, Lee and Faith, Vintage Quilt Revival. I really love this book.  And I really love this quilt.  It goes together pretty quickly.  I only have 2 more blocks to make and then I can start adding in the solid white.  Of course I had to make a whole lot of these half square triangles first...

And then there was a whole pile of this...  I am not a fan of the trimming but I do really admire the results!

So fun!  What are you working on?  Linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced for Work in Progress Wednesday and the Needle and Thread Network.

More quilt mail... and I learned something today

Well... maybe I learned more than one thing.  Like don't hit publish your blog post until you actually write something.  Hmmm.

So... I ordered a few things from Mad About Patchwork the other day and surprise, surprise, two fat quarters fell into my shopping cart along with the Konas I had selected.  These are prints from Lizzy House and her catnap line.  Love the mice!

And the Konas are from the far left... Putty, Berry, Cerise, Mulberry and Pomegranate.  So pretty!

For those Canadians out there, Mad About Patchwork has really reasonable shipping.  Just saying.

The other thing I learned today is that there really are two ways to wind thread on a spool or cone.  Alex Veronelli, Product Manager of Aurifil, actually commented on my post from the other day and then we emailed back and forth a bit.  Now that is customer service!  Seriously fabulous.  Alex explained that industrial machines prefer thread wound counter clockwise and domestic machines, such as mine,  prefer the other.  Who knew?  The cone I recently got is therefore intended for industrial sewing machines but will work quite happily for me upside down!

This is what came in the mail on Friday

How fun is it to get a box of fat quarter bundles delivered right to the door?  There are 23 bundles of goodness for the Fraser Valley Modern Quilt Guild's next Warp and Weft challenge.  I wonder what I will make with these!?  My guild buddies will have to take my word for it... this is a bunch of fabric eye candy!

From the top... 
Dots Blue Moon from Up, Up and Away by Skinny LaMinx for Cloud 9 Fabrics
Pennants waving ivory from Koi by Rashida Hale-Coleman for Cloud 9 Fabrics
Swallow Study in Lavender from Bungalow by Joel Dewberry for Westminster/Free Spirit Fabrics
Specimen Struck from Field Study by Anna Maria Horner for Westminster/Free Spirit Fabrics
King's Road  from Carnaby Street by Pat Bravo for Art Gallery Fabrics
Ladylike from Carnaby Street by Pat Bravo  for Art Gallery Fabrics

Random Thursday...it's been a while

Here is the funny thing.  I cracked open this lovely large cone of Aurifil 50 wt in grey the other day.  ANd for some reason, the thread seems to have been wound in the wrong direction.  You can see how the thread on the right is hanging, and how I had to put the grey cone upside down to have the thread pulling in the correct direction.  How strange is that?

My husband found this wee critter in the back flower bed the other day when he was raking leaves and cleaning the perennial beds.  This is what he said about her in an email..."I found Alice under some leaves. She was walking around in circles and looking for her glasses, which she had dropped. We visited for a bit and then I left her to her task. Busy, busy, busy."  We think she is a rough sided newt.  WIth her tail unfurled, she was about 8" long.  After her photo op, she was returned to the garden to continue her search for her glasses.  Good thing Husband kept his gloves on because apparently newts can exude toxins.  How very clever of them!

Webster loves his toys.  He particularly enjoys a certain "toothbrush" that is no longer sold but we happened to have found some on ebay.  This is what a blissful doggy looks like as he begins to brush his teeth.  Happiness is a new doggy toothbrush!

Our guild works together with Warp and Weft, a really lovely Canadian online fabric shop owned by Esmari.  This is the bundle that I put together with Esmari's help.  Isn't it lovely?  All the bundles are on their way as we speak.  So exciting!

And I am linking up with Cindy for Random Thursday.  Let's review... thread, newts, dog tooth brushes and fabric.  So random.

What did I do this week?

I signed up again for Elizabeth Dackson's Lucky Stars Block of the Month again this year.  This is January's.  Oh my goodness.  What a lot of pieces!  And the bonus block is just below.  I made that one at the sew in on Saturday with my guild buddies.  It took me all day because there was a whole lot of talking going on and subsequently, a whole lot of stitch ripping.  Erg.

And together they look like this... Interestingly, the January block is a bit smaller than the bonus block and I think that I am going to make it work because I just don't fancy making another one.  I think that could have been another template printing issue.  But the funny thing is that I printed the templates at home at the same time.  I am just going to make it work.

And this is what it all looks like together on the design wall so far.  Placement is completely random at this point.  But it is starting to look pretty nice!

And I have started another quilt.  Yep.  So far it is just cut up fabric.  This is going to be Geometric Slide from the fabulous new quilting book Vintage Quilt Revival by Katie Blakesley, Lee Heinrich and Faith Jones!  Such an awesome book!

And that is what I am working on this week.  Linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced for Work In Progress Wednesday .

Sunday Stash and the story of a yucky ironing board

My Mum sent me a package of fabric the day.  She has taken advantage of a sale at her local quilt shop.  Thanks Mum!!!!!  I think she did really well.  Mum included a little note to say that I had to look carefully through the fabric and I was to think of money in a birthday cake.  This is what I found.  My Great Grandmother's pocket watch.  Isn't it so lovely?????  I am thrilled and it just needs a chain.

Yesterday I spent the day with a bunch of my guild members at an all day sew in.  We have so much fun.  There was a lot of laughing and a whole lot of fabric talk.  I did not get a ton of sewing done but I did manage to put together one of my Lucky Stars blocks.  Seriously!  It had a ton of pieces and I used my stitch ripper a lot.  Just saying.  Today I made another one and I got grossed out by my ironing board cover.

I went to the great wall of fabric and found this print.  It looked like ironing board fabric to me so I flipped over the ironing board and traced the board onto the fabric.  I then cut out the ironing board shape plus about 3" and attached some purchased bias tape, threaded some narrow elastic through the bias casing and...

this...  blech!

now looks like this...  Much better!