Periwinkle Quilting and Beyond

An Work in Progress, and a new Project

2012-02-09T17:04:00.000-08:00

This is the log cabin that I was working on some weeks ago.

I have now got it quilted! It was sort of fun to do. I did rows of feathers that run diagonally in the "furrows" -- I think this setting is called "Straight furrows".

Not sure if the quilting shows up in this photo or not. I used ivory thread on the light parts, and a variegated brown thread on the dark parts.
This is the back of the quilt:

I pieced the backing because I had enough leftovers, and also an orphan block. It is somewhat appropriate for Valentine's Day!!

I saw this design in a Japanese quilt magazine a few years ago and had to try to make one. So I did, but then I didn't find a use for it until now. I hope to get the binding on soon.....
I think I mentioned that I was planning to sew some dresden plate blocks out of my Pam Kitty Morning scraps--

When I was chain sewing the ends of the spokes, the pieces started to curve into this beautiful fan shape!

Then I got distracted from this project. I wrote up a new setting for 12 inch sampler blocks, and lo and behold, if it didn't prompt me to get out the rest of the blocks I had made out of the Art to Heart fabrics last year. I started to play with them on my "design wall" and have now decided that I need to do some machine applique to combine with them! I'll keep you posted on that!

In the Minneapolis Airport,

2012-02-08T07:34:00.000-08:00

When I travel via Minneapolis, I like to stop in at a place called Surdyks, on Concourse A.

It's a French-style bistro with baking, sandwiches, cocktails, wines and special coffees,

I love brioches, and they have them plain, with cheese, with chocolate, or with almonds,

this time when i was there, it was about 9 a.m., so it was cappucino and an almond brioche!

Some of the Current Shop Samples

2012-02-07T08:21:00.000-08:00

Nancy and Miriam arranged the Saturday Surprise blocks on the wall in such a nice way! It is interesting to see how they are starting to look all together. I predict that there are going to be some really nice quilts in the future! If you are doing them, have you started thinking of how you're going to put them together?? Me neither.
But! I am embarking on a big project. I am re-doing all the setting patterns that we have available. (These are the 20 settings ideas patterns that we have available as one page for $1, or in the booklet for $19.00). I would have done this sooner, but the computer where all the files were had a sad demise. I hope to figure out a few new patterns as well. So, this is a pretty big project for me, since it entails a lot of typing, and playing around on my EQ6 program, and math (which I do enjoy).

The quilts below are some of our current kits at the store!

Tic-tacs, the small blocks, sewn by Patti-- it uses the" Restoration" fabrics

Children's quilt using the new panel by American Jane, sewn by Wendy

Hopscotch, using the Pam Kitty Morning fabrics, this is just a top at the moment, (I sewed it this weekend), but Patti is going to quilt it and then we will have it at the store). For the kit version we will leave out the dark green, since it seems to pop out quite a bit.

I really love the border fabric!

I also finished the binding on the child-size Yellow brick road using the Funky Monkey brushed cottons, and it is at the store. You are welcome to go cuddle this quilt. It is seriously soft.

We also got in a lot more of the 5" flannel squares that nancy made into that amazing quilt, because that is another soft, wonderful thing. Sorry I forgot to take a photo!
There are other projects in the "kit" pipe-line, which is so exciting.
Also, I had some nice scraps left over from the pam kitty fabrics, which I am hoping to sew into a dresden plate quilt!
Sew many quilts! Sew much fun! (as Annette would say! :)

works in progress... Saturday?

2012-02-04T13:47:00.000-08:00

I often participate in the work in progress link-up on Wednesdays, but the last couple of weeks have been a bit out of the routine for me. However, I have been working on a couple of things!
Both of these projects are shop samples, so you will be able to visit them there when they are finished.
First, this is a baby-size "Yellow Brick Road":

It uses flannel with sock monkey designs on it. (For those who want to buy yardage of the border fabric, do not fear, we should be receiving more, and in other colors as well,-- only 11 out of the 17 bolts we had ordered have arrived so far). It has bananas and knit looking fabrics as well.

This is the first time I've personally used minkee as the backing, and it was so much easier than I had worried about! I thought that it would get pleats all over because it's stretchy, but that didn't happen at all! I will definitely do another minkee backing, and it's 60 inches wide, so I didn't have to piece it either.
I still need to stitch the binding to the back, but I already love how soft and cuddly it is. I don't think that I'll have any trouble finding a recipient for this one! Maybe for this guy....

Isn't he adorable???? his name is Christchian and he will be 6 months old soon, (Yes, he is my daughter's little boy)

Just today I also started a quilt using the Pam Kitty Morning fabrics by Lakehouse. They are so cheery!

Also, I've been dyeing more wool...

The pinks and oranges are already cut in swatches. I thought I'd do some pastels because of Easter coming up soon!

I hope you are having a great weekend! the weather is fabulous today, as seems to be usual this year... the little bit of snow that was on my roof seems to have melted off now!

A Coupon for the Store

2012-02-03T10:23:00.000-08:00

Ever since I discovered the printer-friendly feature, I have wanted to try to use it for customers who come to the shop who also visit this blog or the web-site. I thought that it would be fun to offer these lovely people a coupon that you can print out yourself, so this is my first try!!!

Print out this coupon and take it to the shop to get your savings! Click on the green printer friendly button at the bottom of the post to get a simpler format.

Let's say....

Special Offer: with this coupon, you will get 25% off any Kona cottons that you purchase, can be pre-cuts or off the bolt!!!!

This coupon is valid from Saturday, Feb 4 through Saturday, Feb 18th, 2012 only.

Limit one per customer.

Periwinkle Quilting and Beyond 933-3072
#105-2105 8th St E Saskatoon, Sask, (in Grosvenor Park Mall )

(to access the coupon on the website, go to the "Savings" section)

Startling Discovery

2012-02-03T10:07:00.000-08:00

I was assembling an order for books and notions, and tried to order a book we have had in stock before. I wanted to get more copies of "Quilts from The Selvage Edge" by Karen Griska

I couldn't seem to find it, yet I knew I had ordered it from that supplier not long ago. I went to a book selling site to check that I had the name and author correct, and was startled to find that new copies of the book are now selling for $194.00 to $300.00 each, and used at about $95.00.
Well.
I was stunned.
I'm glad that I got my personal copy when I did. and for those of you who I persuaded to get the book, you can thank me now. (or sell it on ebay and make some $$)
I had wanted the book because I have been working on a selvage quilt from Karen's blog, from the instructions she has, here
It is a nice project, I made mine with 12 blocks,

everything is sewn on to a base fabric: red for the blocks and muslin for the borders,

I have yet to quilt it, but I don't think I'll do anything too elaborate on it,

Maybe the book will be re-issued! In the mean time, Karen still has lots of information and inspiration on her blog, (the link to it is on the side-bar)

Morning Commute

2012-02-02T15:47:00.000-08:00

It is about a 20 minute drive from where I live to get into Saskatoon, but sometimes it is really pretty landscape. This morning just before nine, the sky was all pastels,

taken through my truck window at 105 km/hr

here, I had pulled over for a moment, so it's a bit more clear...

there was just a touch of frost in the branches and on the grass

doesn't it look like a sunset?

it has been called big sky country,

The days might be getting longer, because the next ones were taken last Wednesday at abbout 8:45 a.m,, and it was a lot darker that morning,

Saturday Playtime with Yarn

2012-01-28T13:32:00.000-08:00

This morning I "should" have been doing some store related tasks-- compiling T4 slips, entering all the mountain of bills and invoices and other mail into the ledger book, even starting the quilt sample for the shop that I want to get done while I'm here in Saskatoon for a couple of weeks. However, I got sidetracked the last couple of days into a crochet project. ... which turned into a "use up ugly yarn" project,... which turned into a "dye the ugly yarn a new color" project.

A couple of months ago I was experimenting with using multiple strands of wool to crochet with. I was using all shrinkable wool, because I planned to felt the projects. The white/grey thing, above, is one of my first attempts at crocheting a circular flat thing. It turned out okay, although a bit lopsided where I started the new rounds. But it is pleasingly squishy and fuzzy.
(Around now you might be wondering "Why? Why is she doing this, with all the other fabulous things that a person could knit or crochet,...." Well. You might remember that last summer I took on the task of dispersing the yarn from a retired weaver. I did manage to get a great deal of the yarn out to new homes. However, much of what was leftover from assorted sales was a bunch of odds and ends that includes older yarns that are quite rough feeling for many knitting or crochet projects,-- understandable since it was intended for woven rugs, i think,-- and also a lot of the "less desirable" colors, like weird pinkish browns, and lots of orange. They also run the whole range of weights from lace-weight to quite a bit heavier. I had to think of something to use all these yarns for so that they are useful, and don't spend the next twenty years just sitting on some shelf.

So, I started to compile them into heavier yarns.
It can be really pretty to combine colors and it is a hobby in itself to make new combinations!

These are temporary balls that are only 2 or three fine-weights wound together.

For the crochet projects here, I am using about 6 to 8 strands held together, and using a 15mm crochet hook, I think. It is pretty big, but a light plastic.
After the test piece above, I thought it would be fun to do some hexagons, and sew them together like you would in quilting,
I made several hexagons in various colors and whip stitched them together. ( I did take photos, but unfortunately my camera has been hauled around a lot the past few days and somewhere I slid the focus from automatic to manual without really noticing, and so the photos came out all blurry). :(
Then I crocheted a few rows around the whole thing.
Then I felted it in the washing machine.

Not all of the combinations felted to the same size, as you can see. The purple seemed to shrink most, and the bright blue stayed a bit bigger,

This shows the rough proportion of shrinkage. It is interesting that the color also changed a bit in the felting process, since the un-felted yellow hexagon shown here is exactly the same yarn combination as the felted one in the center of the mat.

I really like the way the colors mesh on the green edging:

I think that a crocheted base like this might also be a very interesting surface to embroider onto.
I decided to wind balls of the yarns, since most of it is on cones or in skeins, and pack it up and mail it to Savannah where I can play more with this process.
However, some of the colors are really blah.... I used up most of the pretty colors already. I don't want a bunch of ugly pinkish-brown, orange and black floor mats, No. So I decided to over-dye some of it. So I did.
I came up with some nice purples, (also some bright reds, although they are sort of on the rust side, and some that are sort of navy)

But for now, after all these explorations, I am definitely ready to do some "work"!

Pickup Block #11, And the 6th Applique block

2012-01-28T08:27:00.000-08:00

Block 11, Blue Mountain Star

Applique Block 6,Vase of Flowers

The Lighting Store

2012-01-23T06:58:00.000-08:00

For some reason, there is no light fixture in our dining room, and it gets a bit dark in there. So we went to a very nice lighting store the other day to find one.

It was a very interesting place.

I was amazed at the beautiful fixtures that are available. It was almost like going to a museum, or an art gallery. They are really adornments for your home, like jewellery is an adornment for your body.

And while the one we chose was a lot more modest in size and style than the ones I've pictured here, I enjoyed looking at these modern sculptural ones quite a lot.

It will take a couple of weeks for ours to arrive, but hopefully it will soon be installed and we can enjoy a little more decoration in our house!

Some Knitting...

2012-01-22T08:30:00.000-08:00

Well, as you know, I love to knit. This week I went to a couple of places where I knit with some other knitters. I was surprised to find out that many other knitters get bored with easy knitting projects! They like to do really complicated things! Not me. I like to do easy things. I also like to do small projects so that they don't take too long.

These are my two most recent knits. They are cushions. I wanted to use these really lovely soft yarns and try out some textured patterns. The pink one is on big needles, maybe 6.5 mm, and the blue-green one is on size 5mm, I think.

I think I love them. But not as much as I love my pink camellia.

A Finished Quilt!

2012-01-21T09:47:00.000-08:00

Happily, my Japanese x and pluses quilt is now finished!

Richard very helpfully held it up for me outside for this photo. I like the way the grey and taupe colors are echoed in the background with the spanish moss and the painted deck.

As I might have mentioned, I tried to be a bit more ambitious than usual when I machine quilted this one. I had thought that the wide white space would be a nice place to try some quilting that would show up well. So I bought a variegated gray 12 wt thread. I have mixed feelings about the thread. On the one hand, it is quite visible, but on the other hand, it created more lint than usual, although I could have remedied that with a larger needle--but I didn't have one on hand, and I was determined to do it right then!

So I did the leafy vine thing in the white spaces, the "oak leaves" in the "ribbon" and the "loop-de-loop" in the beige border with the thick thread. Then I switched to a lighter weight plain gray rayon for the rest of the quilting.

Ta da!

This morning I was outside pruning a lot of trees, and I took some More photos of the beautiful light pink camellia.... I love this tree.

Another technical breakthrough

2012-01-21T07:43:00.001-08:00

Although this might seem minor to some, I am quite happy to discover that blogger has an application to use on a mobile device so that one can make posts. Hence this is my test to see if it will work. There is still the problem that most of my photos are on my laptop, but on the other hand there are some things that are only here on my iPad such as some hipstamatic photos and some screen captures.
The questions I have are,
1. why don't the photos appear within the body of the post,
2. How much memory do the photos take?
3. Will the screen captures be blurry?

Pretty quilt

2012-01-18T10:05:00.000-08:00

I just came upon this quilt on another blog, isn't it pretty?

it is from the superscrappy blog, here
the setting sort of reminds me of the "Town Square" pattern, but a little more complicated.

and here is another one, from here

This one too!
I came back to Saskatoon and am so glad to be home
Today I am meeting with my rep from trendtex to order more fabric for through the spring and summer which probably includes Christmas
Have a great day
M

Finishing an Old Project

2012-01-18T09:25:00.000-08:00

That's the big picture of a wall-hanging that I "finished" this week.. Actually, I sewed 99% of it a few years ago. I had sewed some beads on to it and had run out of them, and although I looked for more, it was only recently that I found some that matched enough to use. So, this week I finished outlining some of the arcs with the beads, and the wall hanging is technically done... that means I don't intend to do any more to it.
I sewed the project about 5 years ago from using a book called "Strips and Curves", by Louisa L Smith:

It was so much fun!
First you sew a lot of strips together in gradations of color, and then cut out various sizes of arcs, like drunkard's path blocks, and superimpose other arcs or circles on the blocks. You can have so much fun in playing with the juxtapositions of colors and patterns. It is hard to know when to stop. In fact, I might just need to go make another one right now!

Seriously, it wasn't as "hard" as the finished project would have you think. I had already sewn my blocks together when I decided to add a few more arcs, and so I just used fusible web and machine appliqued some extra pieces right on top:

You are probably wondering what the shiny fabrics are-- the green one is a gorgeous shot silk that I had stumbled upon in a clearance bin someplace, and the patterned ones are "batik lame" (lam-ay) I loved those fabrics. We had them in the shop some years ago, and they were great to work with, and you could iron them without shrinkage, but I was never able to find anywhere to obtain them again. Sad.

When I was adding the last beads, I was quite surprised by how much thought i had put into the quilting back then! (pat on the back). I think that I've gotten a bit lazy these past few years. However, I will try to remedy that! I have a quilt in progress right now (the Japanese x and pluses one) that I will try to do something more ambitious than meandering on.

But a wall-hanging is really a place where you can do something special isn't it-- the smaller size means that you can twist and turn it more easily, and you can quilt it quite densely without worrying that you are making it too "stiff".
I like to do echo quilting, where you just do rows side by side around the edge of a seam... It's like mowing a lawn, around and around...

I think I had also just sewn a new york beauty, and so on this arc I made these "rays" like you would draw on a sun.

I sewed the beads on with an invisible thread, which was a bit finicky. and I see that I also couched on a line of navy thread as a little frame.

Now I must go see what all the others in the Work in Progress Wednesday have been doing!
Thanks for visiting!
and Molly, I was wondering where you have been.
@Joyce, thanks,

Printer Friendly!

2012-01-17T08:00:00.000-08:00

This is what I think is great news!
There is a new "widget" that will turn the web-page into a PDF that is suitable for printing. I have installed it here on the blog, and also on some pages of the Periwinkle web-site, such as the classes page, (here) and the Saturday Surprise Sampler information page ,(here).
So this means that you can press on the bright green button that says Print Friendly, and it will convert the page to a document that will print without all the colored background and the headers!!
How handy is that?!!

Monday Musings (long!)

2012-01-16T12:38:00.000-08:00

Monday today. I guess we all figured that out by now.
I'm about to have my afternoon cup of coffee, while I muse about my weekend.

First of all, I wonder about technology, and how a person has to develop new neural pathways in order to keep track of one's "devices". (You might want to skip this next part if you are easily bored.)

mouth-watering!

Each of the "devices" are able to do so many things, but then you have to remember what you have done where. For example. I have taken photos using my camera, my ipod touch, and on occasion, Richard's iphone. I'm pretty good at remembering to transfer the photos from my camera to my computer, where I can edit them and then upload them onto my blog. However, I sometimes go to upload a photo, but I can't find it in my pictures files. Then I remember that I took the photo with my ipod, so I have to go find it and connect it and transfer those photos too. Sounds easy, doesn't it? but in reality it all takes a bit of time.
oh yes, and now that I have an ipad, it has it's own stack of pictures. Oh, and I've also recently started to use Pinterest, which has it's boards full of photos as well! So really, there are pictures all over the place! And I haven't even tried using Flickr or any of those other photo stream places. One has to develop some sort of strategy to deal with all the different methods of storage and retrieval. It is very different than how we used to have only a stack, or album, of real developed photos and an envelope of negatives. Oh, and maybe a scrapbook or cuttings file where we put pages cut out of magazines.
And photos/pictures are only one facet of using an electronic device. My poor brain has to remember a lot of new information. It is a wondrous thing to have such a capable arsenal of equipment at one's disposal.

Okay. that's out of the way now.
The photos that I inserted above were taken at a nice bakery/coffee spot called "Back in the Day Bakery", on Bull street, near Victory Drive.
It is a nice place to have a break, and on Friday afternoon we stopped in there on our way home. I had been thinking about coconut cream pie for some days, and so when I saw that piece on the shelf...!!!
It was amazing. Very much worth the calories.

They have a nice 1950's retro decor going on in there, plus a few pastel colored doily garlands!

Now on to quilting:
I was able to complete the quilt I showed you last week that I had pieced in November.

It has no name. but since I am back to taking photos of quilts lying on the ground, they again have that tapered appearance. Trust me when i tell you that it is really square.
The dark fabrics were mostly some oriental style prints. I started by piecing a large number of half square triangle units that were light and dark, and then playing with the placement as you would use light and dark log cabin blocks. I decided on this arrangement because I liked the prominent square design being emphasized. That meant that it was sewn into diagonal rows. However, I first had to make a lot of dark/dark units and then I sewed the units into some larger chunks before sewing the whole top together.

For the backing, I used a nice pop of turquoise to add some surprise! I had purchased it for another quilt, but ended up not using it. I really like the pattern on it. I quilted the quilt with a few straight lines, and tried to venture past my usual meandering filler pattern in the darker areas. I tried some leafy parts, and some flowers. While it may not be that great, I am pleased that I tried to nudge myself out of my comfort zone.

Last night I basted this one: the x and pluses quilt.
I had worked away at sewing the little plus signs last week, until finally I had enough to go around the whole thing.

I sort of liked the little stacks of plus signs:

It made me wonder whether a block made from them might be nice....

So I drew it out with my EQ6 program,, and then wondered about alternate colorings..

this makes a sort of woven effect. You could get another new block by simplifying the piecing of it.
But, back to my real quilt!
I finished the top off with a final little strip of white and grey, and then got it basted last night.
This morning I began to quilt it, with my usual ritual of some in the ditch quilting at strategic intervals so that I can remove the pins. This also gives me some time to think more about how to do the more overall quilting. I also stitch around the edge,

so that I can remove the extra batting and backing fabric. ( I do this so that it can't accidentally fold under where I can quilt over it, having to un-pick it later.)

Now, I will need to think a bit about what to do next.
I hope you are having a good start to the week!

Pickup Block 10, Kansas Troubles

2012-01-14T08:20:00.000-08:00

Block 10, Kansas Troubles:
I've always liked this block, and you can switch around the units to get different looks:

good Morning,

2012-01-13T08:58:00.000-08:00

This is just a quick post before we drive up to Hardeeville to meet my Brother in law for a BBQ lunch!
Projects are progressing here, I even have a finished project! It is sort of appropriate to post this on a friday, as I saw on another blog the acronym TGIFF, or "Thank God it's Finished Friday"

This is the linen table runner I was working on earlier this week. I found a nice easy crocheted edging to add, and I was quite happy with the results. It just needs a longer, or shorter table to go on.

I washed it in the washing machine, and laid it out flat to dry. The edging is a linen yarn, so I was quite sure it wouldn't shrink. I might try another one of these.
I was also inspired to do a bit of actual machine quilting as well, so I hauled out this top that I had pieced in November.....

progress indeed....
who knows, maybe if I get the binding on quickly I'll have two TGIFFs!

Have you noticed....

2012-01-10T19:55:00.000-08:00

Have you noticed that often the colors of the fabrics or fibres that you make things with are reflected in your surroundings?
I noticed this some time back, but was reminded of it again today,
Case in point:

I went to Tybee yesterday to knit and look at the water, and was struck by the fact that the colors are reflected in the quilt that I'm currently working on. Even the colors int the feathers of this gull are there,

The red scarf that I had taken to work on was a bright spot amongst the sand.

But then, later, I came back to this tree that I had seen a few days ago!

I almost completed the scarf this evening, but ran out of yarn. I will need to go back to buy a sixth! ball to finish the last 6 leaves on the edging. It has 27 in all along the curved edge of the shawl/scarf. (It is a pattern by "Never Not Knitting", and I think that mine might be turning out bigger that the one in the pattern.)

Incidentally, while at the beach, it was low tide. there were some really defined patterns in the sand formed from when the water had retreated.

It amazes me to see the variety of patterns, all made in one area with the same materials- water, sand and the pull of gravity.

I'll post this tonight, even though I did a post earlier this morning, so that I can link it to the Work In Progress thing. I have figured out how to add the button to the sidebar!! small steps.

"The Book", and Bonaventure

2012-01-10T08:53:00.000-08:00

It is nice to hear from so many people at home in comments, hello back to you all!
@Joyce, I'm glad that the shop was busy!
re "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil". I saw the movie of this many years ago, and later read the book, I think they were both really good. Here, it is referred to as "the book". It really stimulated a lot of tourism to Savannah, and you can go on tours, and visit the house, and there are a lot of book-related souvenirs to be had. I think that the book had an intriguing story-line, but more than that, it had some really good descriptions of the place, and some historical trivia.

One of the places that is featured is the Bonaventure Cemetery, where we just happened to visit late in December, while Leif was visiting. It is really a beautiful place. It is located East of the downtown, overlooking a marsh area, so there is water on one side, and a slope down to it. It is very peaceful and sprawls out over several acres, and under countless live oak trees.

Although others tend to read inscriptions, I tend to look upward in cemeteries, to the statuary.

There are a lot of little walled edgings. These ones remind me of rooks in a chess game:

And there is a lighter side to be found as well,

It's a nice place to visit.

Break from the quilt-- new tablerunner!

2012-01-09T09:08:00.000-08:00

The weather yesterday was gorgeous. I did some tree pruning in the yard and planted some violas in the planters, but still didn't want to come indoors. So I did a bit of hand-work on the deck. When I was doing the little flower blocks the other day, I had some petals left over. (I had just attached fusible rectangles onto several fabrics and cut out a number of petals freehand)

So I laid out all the leftover ones into a larger flower onto the corner of the piece of cream linen, which was about 18" x 56". Nice size for a table runner! I love table runners. well, I love making them, but I do like to use them too, although I tend to forget what I have and use the same ones over and over.

After I hemmed the edges by machine, I wanted to add a crocheted edging.

First I used the large tapestry needle to do a blanket stitch all around the perimeter. This took quite a long time! certainly longer than I had anticipated. Probably nearly 3 hours to do that.

Then I used a size 2.75mm crochet hook to do a single crochet into each space. this went a bit faster.

Now, I think I need to do some browsing to find a nice crocheted edging that isn't too difficult. I've seen some on pillowcases, and places like that. I don't have a whole lot of the linen here either, and I'm not too sure whether I have more of this color at home in Saskatoon. I might have to set it aside for a while. Or, maybe think about doing some stitching right onto the linen part-- right now it just has that one flower on it. Monday again, hope you get to do lots of stitching this week!

Saturday's assorted thoughts

2012-01-07T17:39:00.000-08:00

Well I continue the voyage that this quilt is now taking me on. I forged ahead with the sashing with a different idea of how to get the quilt to have a more light overall feel

That is, to sew a sea of white all around it!
However, because it looked sort of stark right next to the pieced center, I first added an inner border of my new favorite beige linen. Yes,

However, in all that, it was a bit tricky to figure out how many units to make for the outside pieced border. So, it doesn't quite march around the corners as elegantly as one might hope. But that's okay with me. I plan to add yet another border, of little echoing plus signs that finish at 3 inches. I keep imagining what it will be like to use the quilt on the sofa or something, and the edge of the quilt is often the part that I see most, so I want something in a smaller scale there. (I'm not sure if that makes sense to you)
Of course this border also needs to be surrounded by white.....

I think that if i stop there, it will be about 60" by 70".

So this afternoon, we went out just for the sake of being out and about.
I picked up 4 or 5 books at a bookshop, so I have lots of great reading in the week(s) ahead. Over Christmas I read a book by Pat Conroy called his "My Reading Life", which is a series of chapters about people and books who have influenced him throughout his life. At one point he mentions that he has, since he was a freshman in high school, tried to read at least two hundred pages every day. I think this is amazing, and feel like quite a slug in comparison. It makes one think.
We also wandered around downtown Savannah for a while. (this makes me so happy and I frequently feel quite surprised and privileged to live (part-time) in this amazingly beautiful place.
At some point the sky was quite dramatic, and this is a shot taken with my ipod of the cloud behind a church spire. Very Dramatic.

This is a column by a door entrance. Nearly every building holds some ornamental architectural detail.

And this last shot just happened to also be on my i-pod when I uploaded the photos to my computer. It is a tray of goodies in a junk shop some place. I liked the presentation,

I hope that you are enjoying your weekend too! It's only half over at this point, but I have many pages to read tonight before I rest my head...

progress on x and plus quilt

2012-01-06T11:08:00.000-08:00

I had a pretty productive sewing time yesterday! I worked on the x and plus blocks that I'd started the other day with the pale turquoise and taupe and grey fabrics. Most of them are from "Hometown", by Sweetwater, for moda.
The block uses these shapes that have connector corners that flip back. Usually I trim away the extra fabric behind the top triangle, but because these are white, I left them there so that the seam wouldn't shadow through to be visible. It doesn't add too much bulk in the seams, and I'm pretty sure I won't be handquilting through the layers!

When I set the blocks side by side to see how they would look together, they seemed sort of darkish. I wanted to get more of the light fabric into the design, so I thought about adding some sashing between the blocks. I decided to piece the sashing with more of the dark fabric to amplify the pattern. I think I like it, although it is a little different from what I had expected when I first started sewing the blocks. However, I have to remind myself to be open to what happens, even if I have to see it as a different kind of quilt.

I wasn't expecting it to be as dark as it's turning out to be. the + designs are very dominant. It reminds me of the snowball-ninepatch combination,

like this one by Bonnie Hunter, found here

I really like those quilts, and have made one before, but I like this effect too.
Still thinking about getting an overall lighter effect, I placed some of my leftover (partway through, I changed my mind from making 30 blocks to 20 blocks) sections together to see what they'd be like as a border.

I'll have to think a bit more about that, and welcome any input you might have...

On another note, this is what I came home with the other day after shopping!

Some Alexander Henry fabrics, and some others, including more of the beige linen! yay, they had more. Also I went to the yarn store, called "Wild Fibre" to get a bit more of the red that I need for the scarf I have in progress, and some beautiful shell pink that I'm thinking of using for a cushion cover,
Isn't it strange how even when you are shopping for various projects, the elements often seem to go together really nicely?

New Stuff at the store.

2012-01-05T08:30:00.000-08:00

Pretty fabrics??? I think so! they are from a Lakehouse grouping called Pam Kitty Morning from LakeHouse Dry goods that we just unpacked at the shop.
Well, I say we, but really it was Patti and Jen.
---Because it was year-end, inventory had to be taken, and so we let a lot of deliveries just pile up in the back under tables until everything was counted. It seems that there were 7 large boxes of fabrics, and several more of notions! So now, there are Lots! of new fabrics. I talked to Nancy today and she gave me a little run-down.
I like these ones, although they have a sort of odd name, "Pam Kitty Morning"-- they remind me of Cath Kidston stuff. Nancy told me that we got in 18 bolts, so there is a really nice selection.

Also, a lot of Children's flannel came in, some "funky monkey" stuff, and a dozen from Blue Hill fabrics with bunnies on it, and zebras? and other stuff too.

I copied these from the fabric companies web-sites, because I am not there in person to take photos! this is wrenching for me! I love unpacking new fabrics.

Oh, and Molly, just to tempt you furthur!! the rest of that Catkins line came in from In the beginning fabrics-- just had to let you know! what you do with that information is out of my hands. (hee hee)
Seriously, I wish I was there to get my hands on this fabric. I went shopping a bit today, but it just isn't the same! I'll be home near the end of January, and then we will see what will happen. I think there was a big Westminster order too,......
Well, I better go do my "Notions" order-- that's easy to do online!

By the way! I hope that you all have a great year of sewing ahead! Happy stitching.

WIP wednesday

2012-01-04T08:28:00.001-08:00

I have quite a small stash of fabrics here. that is, aside from a tall pile of 1930's fabrics. I was quite enthusiastic about them this autumn, and might have done a few too many things with them, because now I seem to want to do some sewing with quite different styles of fabrics.
I noticed this block above, on a flickr thread of photos, here, it was from a quilter called Setsuko Inagawa. I think they are calling it "Japanese X and plus". I had just done it from memory, and going back to the photos now, i see that I simplified it a bit in the shadings. I am liking how they are turning out, however, and hopefully I'll sew some more of them today. They are going to finish at 7-1/2" square.

Another thing that I started based on a photo I saw, was this set of little raw edge applique flowers. I have actually sewn a pieced border strip around them, but have stopped working on them because I don't know what to do with them next. I have thought of several possibilities, but none really make me feel excited. I think I need to get a bit more of the beige colored linen, since I have no more of it. It might be nice to use larger pieces of it in the setting of the blocks. (I know, I just want to go shopping!)

@Bernie, Hi there, it's nice you want to try some applique, and I hope you enjoy it, this here, is a post where I mention how I do applique, but others might have some other tips or techniques that they like to use, hope you get lots of time to sew this year!

Block 9, Glacier Bay, and fifth Applique block

2011-12-30T16:53:00.000-08:00

Saturday is not only New Year's Eve, but our 9th block pick-up!
It is called Glacier Bay, and it is one we've done in past years, but it continues to be pretty!

It's also time for another applique block. This one is called Rose Wreath

I like this applique pattern quite a bit. I think it will be nice to quilt around. Sometimes I think it would be nice to hand-quilt an applique quilt, but am a bit afraid to tackle such a time consuming project.
The past couple of days, I finished off a couple of things, like a neck cowl that I knitted before christmas, and also tried my hand at cutting out a paper silhouette:

can you tell what it is? I got it from another blog, by Elsa Mora, here. You have to look through her blog to see all the free paper silhouette patterns she's shared.
This is of Alice in wonderland, playing croquet with the stork and the hedgehog ball.

Another project i started before Christmas was to play around with some self-hardening clay. I'd thought that we would be short on Christmas ornaments to put on the tree, and decided to make some. However, it seems that I was worried about nothing, because it is Very Easy! to get lots of Christmas ornaments in no time flat. So then it didn't seem very pressing to finish these ones off.

The self-hardening clay is sort of odd stuff. It seems to be a sort of paper product. There are no ingredients listed on the package. It also smells a bit funny. I have since filed off the rough edges, and now intend to put a little wash of color on them.

I hope you have been having a wonderful last few days of 2011!!!

Madonna and Child on Christmas Eve

2011-12-24T17:32:00.000-08:00

Last year, I went around our house and captured some of the icons we have of the virgin and child, here
This year, I thought it would be nice to visit some of the amazing art housed in the National Gallery in Washington, D.C., which I visited earlier this year.
These art works were painted by amazing artists like Fra Angelico, Benvenuto de Giovanni, Fra Filipo Lippi, Domenico Veneziano, and D'Arezzo between the years 1270 up through the 1500's, I think.

Out and About in Savannah

2011-12-24T08:06:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was spent at a leisurely pace, as we all went for lunch and browsing around the downtown. we have 2 out of the 4 kids here.

I'm always on the look-out for m's

lavish lunch spot

i like views that are framed by alcoves, or windows or door-frames..

love the symmetry

I love this shot of the floor of the coffee-shop. I wonder who took it when I left my camera unattended....

back alley

Book Sale on now

2011-12-20T09:25:00.000-08:00

If you are in the Saskatoon area, you might be interested to know that we have a book sale on at Periwinkle until the end of the year. It is buy one book and get a second one of equal or lesser value at half-price.

because who doesn't love books?!!!
as you can see, from my little shelf here, you can never have too many books.
also, because we seem to have a LOT of books in stock at the shop, and it would be nice to have fewer to count for year-end inventory.

I am happy to have finished the crocheted mesh/woven blanket, it turned out well, I think. it is pretty thick for an afghan, but that is nice in its way. I ended up washing it in cold water, on delicate cycle, and it didn't shrink or felt at all. it also didn't get that halo of little fuzzy fibers that I was hoping for.

This is a little flower that just started blooming on a bush outside. I don't know what it is.
I've been doing more knitting than sewing! I guess I'm just thinking about what I want to sew next. It seems hard lately to just jump into new projects, or to "play". Lately I've been thinking about that whole concept. Why is it harder to sit down and work on something without having a particular end object as a goal?

Anyway, this lacy rectangle you see here is going to be sewn up at the ends to make a tube. It is a sort of neck cowl to wear like a scarf. It is wide enough to pull up over your head like a hat. The yarn is half silk and half mohair, i think, so it is pretty supple. Also it seemed to stretch quite a bit when I washed it and laid it out to dry, so it will be interesting to see how it works,,,, the holes got quite a bit bigger in the lace pattern.

Now I am currently knitting a pair of slippers, since my feet get a bit chilly. I am using the felted slipper pattern that I've used so many times before! the instructions are here

Hope that you keep toasty warm today!

More Tybee,

2011-12-18T20:54:00.000-08:00

I was looking back over the photos I took of Tybee a few days ago, and wanted to share a few more of them, (laurel, you will like to visit here when you come!)

It really is a big beach to be so empty,

the waves come rolling in, making a bit of foam. I like to see the colors that the water makes in the sand.

This is a Semipalmated Plover, who is mch the same size as a sandpiper, but is present year round.
The wet sand is like a mirror,

He is very!! fast.

This shows the dunes at the edge of the beach

Spaced along the shore there are several of these swings to sit in and contemplate the view,

the sea oats,

and of course, finishing up at the Gallery Espresso for a cappucino...

Christmas decorations are all over the place now, this was the house by where I parked the car the other day when I was out shopping,

I'll take my camera with me next time too, and try to take some photos of some big houses in the historic districe.

And lastly, this is the gate at the Wormsloe plantation on Skidaway Island, with a big live oak. Hopefully we will go visit there later this week.
Have a good new week!!

Block 8, Peppermint

2011-12-17T06:30:00.000-08:00

Today's block is so pretty! It's called Peppermint:

A Christmas Banner

2011-12-15T07:00:00.000-08:00

(Yes, I am back on my laptop! Hooray!)

We will be spending Christmas in Savannah, and of course all the Christmas decorations are in Asquith. So i decided to make some festive looking holiday decorations.
One of the projects is this banner/garland.
I've made a couple of garlands before, like the ones I have hanging up at the shop. Because a few people have asked about whether there is a pattern, I decided to take photos and make a little tutorial here!

1. Pick out some nice fabrics... I decided on 3 patterned ones with a Christmassy look. plus white.
Cut them into strips, I think mine are 8 inches wide.

1. Make a cutting template.
I cut a couple of rectangles, 6" x 8 ". Fold the rectangle in half and cut the diagonal triangles off the edge.

this is what it looks like opened up:

3. Use the triangular pieces as cutting guides for the rest of the triangles you want to cut

I cut a stack of colored triangles, and white ones to use as the backs of the flags. (You can have the flags be colored fabric on both front and back, especially if you hang the garland in a way or place that both sides are showing. I decided to use white on the backs because I didn't have enough of the Christmas fabric to do both sides)

4. if you want to put words or anything else on the front of the flags, do it now.
I wanted the garland to spell out Merry Christmas, so I decided to make red letters and attach them with fusible web.
To make the pattern for the letters, I just made some 2 inch lines on freezer paper and sketched out the letters. (on the dull, papery side!)

I ironed fusible web onto the back of two rectangles of red fabric:

then cut the letters apart, and placed them on the right side of the red fabrics, ironing them down so they would stick long enough to cut them out. (freezer paper is like that!)

5. Lay out the flags in some sort of plan. I alternated the colors, and then planned where the letters would go. I decided to make 3 sections of words rather than one really long garland. I put the letters on the flags and then ironed/fused them down to make a permanent hold to the fabric.
I did a trial one where I stitched around the outline of the letter, but it was time consuming, and I decided that I really don't think it's needed on a seasonal garland. But, it could be decorative on some projects!
Or, you could just embroider letters!

Also at this time, I sort of figured out how much fabric I'd need to use for the length of the top string. If you need to join strips together, it's nice to use a diagonal join to reduce bulk.

6. Layer each of the triangles with a backing fabric, and stitch around the lower 2 sides,

clip the fabric at the bottom point so that it won't get too bumpy when you turn the flags right side out.
I used the blunt end of a paintbrush to help push out the sharp points at the ends of the triangles:

Iron the triangle "flags" so that they are nice and crisp! If you want, you can embellish them more....

6. To make the string that connects the flags, I make it using 2-1/2" strips of fabric. Iron them in half lengthwise, like you are making a binding, (In other projects I've used the leftovers of binding strips that I just joined end to end.

then, iron the raw edges to the inside crease, like in the photo above.

7 Lay out the flags beside the string, and space them out where you want to sew them on.

For this project, I put them pretty close together, about 1-1/2 inches apart. At other times I've put them farther apart.
Then sew the "string" closed along the double fold edge, slipping the triangles inside the string as you go to hold them in place.
I sewed on little bells to the ends as well, to make it more festive!

I hope you give this project a try!!
(they are fun to make)

What I'm working on today

2011-12-14T08:24:00.001-08:00

These are a couple of things I'm working on this week. I have high hopes that the crocheted mesh with weaving might be nearing completion! My original plan was to semi-felt it, but I'm having some second thoughts about that because I sort of like how it's looking now. I would definitely do another project with technique, although the weaving part has taken a lot longer than I thought it would.I've also been doing some random cross stitch. The linen isn't really made for this, so it's a bit primitive in the spacing. I have an idea of using the flower vase motif in a collage.
NB. I just got my laptop up and running, so I have a garland tutorial for tomorrow!!

Tybee island

2011-12-13T15:00:00.001-08:00

This afternoon we went to tybee island for a little while. It was pretty windy, but almost deserted. I think the beach is about 3 miles long. There are dunes, sea oats, little sandpipers, and some nice swings to sit in.

So far.....

2011-12-13T09:53:00.000-08:00

Thank you for bearing with me while I try to figure out all the tiny details of how to blog using an iPad. It is quite a lot different from using a computer. One thing that happens is that on the occasion when I am able to upload a photo, it appears on my screen as a string of text instead of the visual image. This could be a bit tricky to coordinate with text. Another detail is that I haven't figured ou how to display the URL of images on the web. On a regular computer you just right click and copy image location. This is also the problem when it comes to adding links.

This are camellias by the entryI just copied and pasted that from a different location!

Test

2011-12-13T09:31:00.000-08:00

Hello

2011-12-13T06:58:00.001-08:00

Hello! Thanks monika for the better link, and Annette thank you saying hello, and also for going to the shop, verna, I'm glad you made it to the sale, I would love to have gone too. Here, I continue to use the iPad, since the power cord for the laptop is still missing in action. Would have just bought another one, but the last time I. Did that it was almost a hundred dollars, and I'm not too sure how much longer this laptop will be in use. However, I have been reading more of the user manual for the iPad, and have a couple of ideas about how to use it for photos. Apparently there is a little gizmo that I could get that plugs in and also has a place for the cameras SD card, to transfer the photos to the iPad. The camera on the iPad itself is mostly intended for FaceTime applications and is supposedly quite low resolution, however, for what I'm using it forI don't think that they need to be that high quality. More pressing is to figure out. How to get them from the album to the blog. Maybe that will be my project for today! I'm quite happy to report that. I finally got the licence plate for the car! It took about three days, and fourteen stops.

Winter wonders handmade market!

2011-12-07T17:46:00.001-08:00

A few minutes ago I came upon the blog called flock and gather by Carole Epp in Saskatoon. It has info on a craft sale to be held this weekend at st Joseph's parish hall on 8 th st in Saskatoon. There are short descriptions of many craftspeople who will be selling there. It looks like a really nice assortment of things! I'm still finding it a challenge to post on the iPad, and am unable to create the link to the blog, but you can google it to get more info.

Where did my photos go?

2011-12-06T17:31:00.001-08:00

At the moment, I'm back in Savannah. I'm trying to use my iPad to blog, because I left my power cable in Saskatoon. Jackie sent it on Saturday but it will still be a few days until it arrives, so I'm trying to only use my laptop if really necessary. I like the iPad a lot, but I don't think wrIting on it is what it's really intended for. However, it's getting a bit easier. The first couple of days that I was here last week were just devoted to sleep. It had been quite busy the lasst few weeks and I tried to get a lot done, so I was tired out! Then I sewed dor a couple of days, and then yesterday and today were quite taken up with red tape of trying to get my car liscenced here, since my sask plates are only good for 3 months. I have been to a Lot of different offices!!! And it's not done yet, I need to go back to 3 more places.Earlier, I tried to upload some photos to show you what I've been working on, but I don't know where they have gone. :(Well, they included some selvedge edge strips, and some 1930 reproduction fabric blocks. However, I've used a lot of white in quilts lately and am getting a bit tired of that.It is a bit tricky having most of my stuff where I am not. I tried to think ahead and bring some things to work on, but of course that was woefully insufficient. also, the lack of a proper shelf to put my stuff is getting a bit disheartening as well, since a lot of it seems to be in tipsy piles. Or misplaced. I need to get things organized!,but all I want to do is a bit of stitching. The problem is that I don't know what to work on. I 've been playing too much Freecell solitaire! but i' m getting pretty good at it!

The lost photos

2011-12-06T15:01:00.001-08:00

These are the photos I tried to upload the other day

Block 7, and another Applique block

2011-12-03T06:00:00.000-08:00

Today's block is called Card Trick. I've always loved this pattern! It is one of the first blocks I ever sewed.

The applique block is called Rose of Sharon, as are many other designs

The leaves are made from 2 fabrics-- you sew 2 strips together and then cut the leaves from the 2-tone strip so that it's already stitched down the center!

A New Fun Technique

2011-11-23T09:00:00.001-08:00

One of the things that I did at the retreat was to play with a pack of 5-inch charm squares that I've been wanting to do something with. I'd also had an idea about how to do a sew/cut/sew project.
So, the idea was to make this block using a quick-sew technique:

I made this little top starting by sewing them together into one big grid of squares!


1. sew 5-inch squares all together-- I started with 48 squares. I sewed them into a 6 x 8 grid. It is important to use and even number of rows and columns!

2. cut a strip from the left side of the grid

3. move it to the right side of the grid, and sew it on

4. do the same for the top and bottom of the piece, so that you have a unit like in the photo- squares in the center surrounded by a 1/2 width border

5. then cut through the center of every other square!

If you just want a pile of the main blocks to sew into a quilt, just cut the strips crosswise at this point as well and in this example I would end up with 12 blocks! Starting with the 5-inch squares, the resulting blocks now measure 9 inches with the seam allowance-- they'll finish at 8-12".

However, I decided to put in a small sashing.

6. So if you want a sashing, delay cutting the strips into individual blocks. Just sew the sashing strips in between the columns.

7. Then, cut the unit cross-wise and sew in the sashing strips going the other direction. you can move the strips around so that there is a bit of variation in the color distribution of the blocks.


8. Now the unit is all sewn together again.

I like this technique a lot! I think I need to figure out a larger project using this technique. I think that the sashing in this example would have been better using a plain white so that the blocks stand out more. Live and learn!

2011-11-23T08:47:00.001-08:00

These are some photos from the past weekend at the Shekinah retreat!
There was some wonderful show and tell on Saturday evening. Sorry about the dark photos,

Shan's quilt that was amazing!

Sandy's sampler using a triple bar sashing

She had made two! of these little child quilts, with different colors of sashing

Jackie used the same pattern, (Town Square by Mountain Peak Creations) to make a larger size


Nancy used another Mountainpeek pattern and some wonderful Westminster fabrics to make this one!

There were a lot of other great projects!

post retreat

2011-11-21T15:30:00.001-08:00

We had the retreat at Shekinah this weekend and it was wonderful! Very relaxing and sociable and relaxing! I came home and went to bed at 7:30 and slept until eight this morning. Then I went to the shop and spent until 2:30 p.m. With a fabric rep ordering the bulk of our fabric orders from now through may! I hope to update the blog tomorrow with lots of photos from the retreat, I was pleased to finish couple of projects including a baby quilt! I hope you had a good weekend too!

Block 6, Cut Glass Dish

2011-11-19T06:00:00.000-08:00

Only a pieced block today...