Handstitched class

Tomorrow I will be starting the embroidery on the second border of this baby.

I am so looking forward to this! This is what I will be working on for most of the next week or two. I will post progress as I go. Have a good week!

 

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Color My World Challenge and some appliqué

Yesterday I finished the top for my Color My World Challenge Quilt.

I had so much fun making the blocks last year and then putting the top together this week!

Now I need to find the perfect backing.  My mom will be doing some custom quilting on it in the early spring.  It will be the perfect lap quilt... my little girls just love it!  They have even given their opinions on the binding!

I also want to share with you the center for my medallion quilt.  This is from the Handstitched class I am taking from Rachel at Stitched in Color.  I am loving this so far!  I have 3 borders to add before next week's class.

And finally, here is the first block from the BOM I am doing with my quilt group.

I did the appliqué today.  As it was -40 degrees Celsius outside with the windchill... I thought it wise to stay inside and do some quilting!

Hope you are warm in your little corner in the world!

Linking up to WIP Wednesday at TN&TN

Block of the month

My quilt group now consists of 8 lovely ladies. Every year we try to do something interesting as a group. We are not all obligated to participate but most of us usually do. This year, 7 of us are doing a Block of the Month. We are doing 6 appliqué blocks and 6 pieced blocks. Some of us are going to make the quilt bigger by making more blocks and others are going to add a "connecter block" to tie it all together. I have decided to wait and see, but will probably just add sashing and borders and make a lap quilt.

At our retreat last weekend, we started one of our blocks. My mom picked this block out. It is a pattern by Pat Sloan. Unfortunately, I did not get a picture of Mom or Sherrill's blocks but here are everyone else's. you will notice they are at different stages, we do have all month before we move on to the next block!

My block, ironed on but not stitched yet

Pat's block.

 

Rita's block. She got hers done last weekend.

 

Dale's block. She is making a Christmas quilt.

Cheryl's fabrics. She did get it all ironed down last weekend.

We had a lot of fun picking fabrics and planning this block of the month. I look forward to working on it every month and sharing our progress with all of you too!

 

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I love me a good retreat!

So I spent the last 3 days (well 2 1/2 really) at my mom's for a wonderful quilting retreat with 7 other amazing ladies and here is a little sneak peek at some of the things we made. (I apologize for any blurry or crappy photos. I took them with my iPad and I'm still getting used to it.)

I started and finished the above quilt top. I need to find the perfect border, backing and binding. I used the Hexnmore ruler to cut out these triangles.

Dale finished this amazing quilt top. It is her own design.

Among other things, Pat worked on the circles for these Dresden plates.

Rita finished the top of this table runner, it is ready to be quilted.

Betty worked on these beautiful blocks. They are from a pattern called Sonya's Windows.

We also had a placemat exchange. We were suppose to meet for a pot luck at the beginning of December but it was cancelled due to bad weather. That is when we were suppose to exchange our placemats, so it was an added bonus to our weekend!

I got these beautiful Christmas placemats that Pat made.

Here is a picture of the placemats I made using my embroidery machine to do the appliqué on the cupcakes!

 

Sherrill was the lucky one who got to take these guys home.

We worked on other things too but I am saving those for another post. I had a great weekend! I wish everyone was as lucky as I am and got to spend entire weekends sewing, quilting, eating, drinking, and chatting with such a great group of ladies!

 

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Charity

I have been itching to get to my studio and start working on some new projects. I wanted to get a couple of quilts cut out before my retreat this coming weekend, and I have to start getting my fabric together for my Handstitched class which starts next week. Unfortunately I have been down for 6 days now with the flu. I would say it was a really bad chest cold but the fever the first 2 days makes me think it is a bout of the flu.

So I have been trying really hard to rest and not do too much so as to minimize coughing fits and fatigue.

Luckily I had some charity quilts to bind.

Every year in January my mom and I work on some cuddle quilts for the North York General Hospital. You can read more about these quilts here.

Hopefully, today or tomorrow I will be able to venture up to my studio and start embroidering some labels for these guys and maybe I can start cutting some triangles too!

 

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Happy New Year!

Here is my mini for January:

You will notice, it is the same pattern I used here for my daughter's teacher.  It is from the book Count On It by Art to Heart.

I also wanted to share with you some quilty stuff my parents gave me for my birthday.

Can't wait to make this quilt using that little ruler!!

And an awesome bag for my Go! Baby and accessories!  I will finally be able to bring it with me to retreats.  

I know a lot of bloggers do a mosaic or a recap of their makings for the previous year.  I am the kind of person that doesn't like to look back, I think the past is history and should stay in the past.  I like to live in the moment and look forward to what the future holds.  I did however add a page to my blog of all my finished projects from 2012.  You will find a tab for it at the top of my blog, under the header.  Although I don't like to think of the past, I think this page is like a little quilt diary of what I accomplished last year.

As for 2013, well, I don't like to make too many resolutions or set goals for a whole year either... like I said, I very much like to live in the moment.  I have however decided this year that my quilting will all be fun and not because I feel I have to make or finish something.  So if I don't touch my UFOs, so be it... they aren't going anywhere and will be there when I decide to get back to them.  

Yesterday I registered for Rachel at Stitched in Color's Handstitched class.  I am really looking forward to this class.  I think I need to work on some of my skills and I really want to do some hand quilting.  This is a 9 week class so I know I will have quite a bit of hand work to show in the next few months.

I am also going to an in-town retreat with my quilt group in a week and a half.  I have a few projects lined up already.  One is a UFO that needs borders, one is a brand new project I want to make with triangles.  I also would like to work on my garbage quilt again.  I started it last year at our in-town retreat and it is a fun project to work on with a group of friends.  And I mustn't forget my Color My World Challenge blocks, I want to piece the top of this quilt so it will be ready to quilt a.s.a.p.

So my year is off to a great start, with lots of quilting to be done!  Looking forward to sharing with all of you!