Around The World Blog Hop

I am sure most of you have heard about the Around the World Blog Hop. It has been going on for a little while now. Bloggers everywhere are posting photos of their work and talking about their creative process.

My friend Katy who blogs over at Lethargic Lass tagged me last week so now it's my turn to share and answer the following questions.

1. What am I working on?

I always have many works in progress. I like having many projects on the go at different stages, and using different methods. That way if I feel like appliqueing, I can pick up that project and applique; if I feel like piecing, I can pick up this project and piece. This also means I end up with quite a few UFOs but I always seem to go back to the ones I really like and finish them up... eventually.

This is on my design wall at the moment.

2. How does my work differ from others of its genre?

I define myself as a traditional quilter because I love all of the traditional patterns. I don't like improv or liberated piecing. I like things to be straight and to use rulers and cutters. I love following patterns for blocks. I will sometimes change the layout or the size of the quilt in a pattern.

Although I think of myself as a traditional quilter, I do love to use the new modern fabrics in my quilts.

3. Why do I write/create what I do?

I quilt because it is my passion. I absolutely love every aspect of quilting. From picking out fabric and a pattern, to hand stitching the binding on, and every other bit in between. It calms me and lets me escape all of the hustle and bustle of our busy schedules. It is therapy when I am going through something difficult and it is also fun. I don't like going through a day without playing with fabric and thread, if only for 10 minutes.

So that's a little bit about me and my passion for quilting. I have tagged 3 on-line friends but I am not sure if they will fill the challenge as they didn't respond when I sent them an email. I will let you in on who they are though and you can go check out their blogs.

First is Kaaren who blogs over at The Painted Quilt. Kaaren is a friend of my mom's who now lives out in Eastern Canada. She does some wonderful stitching and piecing. I like seeing her photos of what she's working on, as well as the photos of her dog and cat, usually curled up by the fire.

Second is Rachel Hauser from Stitched In Color. I am currently taking an online class from Rachel and I am absolutely loving it. I love reading Rachel's blog posts about how she starts a project, where inspiration comes from. She has some great tutorials as well.

And last but not least is Diane who blogs over at Dianeloves2quilt. Diane and I seem to have a fondness for similar patterns and quilts. I love seeing what she is working on.

 

 

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Ribbons

Last week, my mom went to Quispamsis New-Brunswick to visit a quilting friend. It was also the week of the Kennebecasis Valley Quilt Show. My mom entered three quilts in the show. She got to see some great quilts and meet other quilters.

Her Coloured Wholecloth quilt won a 2nd place ribbon for non-traditional quilt. This quilt was quilted first, then coloured in with colouring pencils. Then she painted on a layer of textile medium. This is a method taught and used by Irena Bluhm.

 

I won a ribbon for best hand appliqué on our Mother Daughter Baskets. You can read more about this quilt here.

 

And my mom won People's Choice for her Roses quilt. This quilt is made up of blocks that my mom's Aunt Annette hand embroidered. My mom pieced them together and quilted it.

She had a great week.

 

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Birthday Quilts

Most of you already know I belong to an awesome quilt group. We have been together for many years and shared so much together.

Two of the members of our group celebrate their birthday on the same day in June. This year, they celebrated some special birthdays, 65 and 70. So the rest of us got together over the summer and made them each a lap quilt.

We had a great sew-in day working on the tops and lots of laughs were had too. My mom quilted the quilts and I made the labels.

The girls loved them and were very surprised when they received them at our first meeting in September.

In the crazy quilt of life, I’m so glad these ladies are in my block of friends!

 

 

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TGIFF - Three Sides to Every Story

It's been a while since I've posted a finish, and I am so excited to share this quilt with you!  I have loved every part of making this quilt!  I loved the fabric when I first saw it, I loved piecing the triangles, I love that I quilted it myself, and I love the final product!

If you've been following me for a while, you may remember when I pieced this quilt top.  It was at an in-town retreat I went to back in January 2013.  Most of the fabric is Mama Said Sew by Sweetwater for Moda.  I added the borders a little later that same year and then it just sat, waiting to be quilted.

Last spring, when my mom and I decided I would be learning to use the long arm machine this fall, I added this top to the pile of quilts I would learn on.  I was so excited!  I told my mom it was one of the first quilts I wanted to do.  She knows how much I love this quilt, so she suggested I quilt another one first so I get a feel for the machine again before tackling such a special quilt.  So this is the second quilt I quilted last week while over at my mom's.

quilting on back

I love the micro dots for that inner border and binding!

 I got the binding on in no time and last weekend, we went to the park to get some photos.  My husband got a new lens for the camera and wanted to play with it, win-win!!

I haven't decided where to put this quilt yet but it has already been used by my little one.  I know this will be a well loved quilt as it is the perfect size for snuggling under with a good cup of tea!

 I am linking up to TGIFF over at Sew Fresh Quilts, where Lorna has a cute little fox & friends quilt.
 You can click the link and go check it out.

A new adventure in quilting

I have used my mom's Gammill longarm quilting machine before and if you have been reading my blog for a while you know that it is pretty intimidating for me. So for the next little while, my mom will be mentoring and teaching me to quilt on the longarm!

Last week was the start of my new adventure. I brought an old UFO to mom's, along with a nice piece of flannel which I thought would be great for the back of the quilt. I got everything ironed and squared up and then my mom started teaching me how to load everything on the machine. In the past when I used the machine, my mom did all of the loading, threading and even the rolling for me. (Yes, I am a lucky girl!)

The scariest part is cleaning, oiling, and threading the machine. As with any sewing machine it's always tricky using different threads and playing with tension. This will definitely be a big learning curve for me. I am happy I know a little bit about these things thanks to my embroidery machine. That is definitely a plus!

I decided to start with some pantograph patterns on the first quilts I do. These are also known as "edge to edge" patterns.

While quilting the first couple of rows, I had trouble with the flow of the design. The perfectionist in me wants to make sure the lazer light follows directly on the line, so when I would go off even a little bit, I would jerk the machine so the lazer would go back to the line. It took me a while to get it in my head that it was okay to move off of the line, as long as the movement of the machine is flowing. My mom is very patient with me and an awesome teacher. She could hear the machine going fast, then slow, so she came over to see what I was doing. She gave me some pointers and tricks of things to tell myself to get the machine to flow better. "Swoopy" and "point" are now going to be a part of my vocabulary while quilting!

I had a lot of fun quilting this quilt and learning some "new to me" things about quilting. I will be putting the binding on this quilt and will then get a good photo to show you all. I am pretty proud of it, if I say so myself.

I went back to my mom's the next day and quilted another quilt. I will blog about that one next time, so stay tuned....

 

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