Rainy Day - time to sew

Well everyone is away racing - it is about to rain outside, so I have some time to sew.

I need to get the borders in my twister quilt. My long armer Shelley is expecting it this week or there is no way it will be ready in time for the Quilt Store Open House.

I am hoping it is as easy and fast as the centre was to do.

The colours are amazing. They are turquoise, blues and greens. They match the comforters we have in Florida in the girls rooms.

We are saying good by to one of our quilting sisters Kathy Dunnigan this week. She is moving back to the states with her family. It will be really sad to see her go. Shelley is having a dinner on Thursday for her. I will head over after meet the creature night at school.

Started to rain - time to sew.

Getting started again

I'm BACK...........not only from Florida - but hopefully to blogging and quilting.

The house move and three trips was a little too much to find the time to back to quilting. But, a week alone in Florida with Miss Baillie ( dog) gave me the opportunity to get back into it. Came back rejuvenated and eager to continue.

I made a couple more Jelly Roll quilts; A pink and green chain link looking quilt is soft and will make a nice gift. And a red and white quilt with Canadian fabric will make a nice gift for one of my daughters sailing friends.

Then to try something new I made a twister quilt. What a fun quilt to make, saw it in the Cotton Patch in Florida. Just a patch work quilt but the ruler makes it into interlocking pinwheels. So much fun to do - easy and it looks GREAT when it is done.

I also put a couple of children's quilts together for some of the new babies at work.

Still a few more but a small dent to this increasing amount of pregnant teachers.

I need to get back to work and work on our new house. I have to finish painting the outside garage door - windows and doors, I will then start on the hall way and bedrooms. In between I am hoping to get some more quilts together so Janet can offer a couple more classes at the store.

applique time

Finally .............. I have gotten to my lily pads. I have been working at doing 5 a day. First step gluing down the edges of my lily pad edges. Second Step applique. Lots of fun, but not a lot of time.

A GREAT idea ......only a bit to late.
I wish my husband had shared his brilliant idea earlier. He suggested I make little patches, sew them together and then make my lily pads with these - the quilt would end up very abstract but interesting. I think it would have looked amazing.

But - no time.......... not for this quilt any way. Another idea for the idea book.
My quilt has to be at the long armer this week - or it will not be done in time for the quilt show. Between work, marks due , report comments, looking for a house, I am just a little busy. Hoping that I can still head south for the MARCH BREAK.

Happy Quilting
Leslie

Long weekend - Family Day

Well it is hard to believe - but I have been so busy that I have not been stitchin at all since my last post.
My goal for the family weekend is lily pads. Lots and lots of Lily pads. Without them getting done this weekend - I will have no chance to finish them off for the quilt show. thank goodness my daughter is home this weekend, I always appreciate the added support and perspective.
Off to the long armer - Monday night.
If I write it down - it may be so...............hoping to head to guild tonight. I am sorry to say I have not been all year. Something always seems to come up. I have my fingers crossed as I really miss the ladies and learning something new and creative. It inspires me every time I go - to put something new together.
Happy Quilting to all that read this ( actually that is just you Jo- love mom)

Snow Day

WOW - A Snow day.
Always something to look forward to it when I was little. Usually it meant hot chocolate, tobogganing and being with friends. As a working mom it meant a day off, and time with the family. As a mom with older children it meant sewing - hot tea a good book and a nap.
Here at school though it means duty. Not that it is hard. It actually is a lot of fun with the girls in boarding getting a "special day".
We get to order in lunch and dinner, toboggan, we open the facilities ( pool, arena, gym, theatre to watch a movie and weight room) and the kids have some extra study time. A little TV as well if they want it.
My husband purchased 15 toboggan mats so the girls could go down the hill on campus. He loves doing this and they love getting to do this. For some of my long distance boarders, this is the first time they have ever really seen snow.
For me though - it means - no time to quilt. When you are on, you are on. Walking the house - tidying - supervising - getting the food organized etc.
Oh to be a kid and have a Snow Day......again.

Apron time

I have continued on a tangent - I am making aprons now.
Since the doggy towels didn't work, ( for the moment) I have elected to make aprons for the girls and myself. I am using up my Moda fabric with scissors on it, all in brown and creams. I have a little red and brown polka dot that I am using for the binding and pockets. They are quite cute, and I am really pleased with the way they look and hand.
I am using a pattern with long ties that allow you to cross in the back and tie in the front. Of course I like the look of a hand stitched binding verses machine - so they are taking a little longer than usual. Bringing two of them to stitch and chat tonight to see if I can get them done.
It will be nice to sew a little at lunch - without having threads all over me, before I head back to work. I have been trying to etch out an hour a day of sewing. 30 minutes at lunch and 30 minutes after dinner. These little aprons are not for cooking but for sewing.

After this project though - I need to get back to my Quilt Show Quilt. the lily pads are awaiting creation and I can only pre-plan so long until I take pen to paper to start to make my applique pieces.

Doggy Blankets a Challenge

Well off the the fabric store we went. Yes - WE.....my husband was with me.
We did a couple of errants and I popped into the local Fabricland. How disappointing. It was terribly expensive $22.50 / metre and terrible quality. The colour selection was OK. I was thinking for the doggy quilts it needed to be dark, so not to show the dirt.

We were off to Stoney Creek - so we stopped at Len's Mills in Hamilton. The price was $6.49 / metre and the quality was GREAT. A good thing you would think - but the colour selection would have been a challenged. So I thought - new doggy fabric to go with towelling as the price was right. Well that was a miss. Nothing. My husband was even in the store trying to help me. Couldn't believe it. so we walked out empty handed.

Trying to think of a Plan "B" - or more shopping.

Jan - Doggy Towell's

Tangent -
My sister brought over a doggy towel to show me today. It was given to her as a Christmas gift to wipe her dogs Daisy and Zorro down when they come in from the snow.
The towel is very practical and really cute. It has towelling on one side and doggy fabric with hand holders on the other. I love it, and more importantly so do her dogs. It is like a massage machine.
I decided to make one for our Baillie. Baillie is our Golden Doodle who is 5 years old. She is a rescue dog one of my daughters friends heard about - she begged us to adopt. We had lost our "Lucy" - wheaten Terrier, a few months before and we weren't really ready to have a new dog as part of our family. But once we met Baillie, we were in love all over again.
Last year the girls and I donated a "doggy" quilt to the Charlie Foundation. It helped to raise funds for the local Humane Society. We decided that instead of a quilt this year - these quilted towel might be the way to go. We are planning to each make a few to help the cause.
Off to get the towelling fabric tomorrow - Hurray - shopping and an excuse to go to the quilt shop.

Jan - time to quilt

Well I finally have gotten some time to sit in front of my machine.
Over the Christmas break our daughter helped to finish off 3 quilts for the store. They are two fold. One for classes but the other for family and friends.
The first is for my don - a "teacher" quilt with fabrics from the new Moda line.
The second for our nephew - for his high school graduation. It is black and white with patches of red. A little variation to make it bigger as we wanted to make sure it was large enough to cover him to watch TV under.
The final quilt was for one of our daughters house mate. She is graduating this year from university and wanted to make one for each of her friends. this is the first of a few. We will have to get going on these soon or they might be late.

This is a quilt show year for the Halton Quilters Guild. I decided to challenge myself. A chance to try something new. I just started with my idea on the weekend. A bargello of greens and blues. All in batiks. I got all of the fabrics this year at the Houston Quilt Festival. It looks really neat with all of the colours blending into one another. The first thing I thought of was "Monet's Water Lilies". I decided that I was going to continue down this path. So instead of finishing as I originally intended. I am adding a few new levels. I am now planning to add lilies and lily pads. Time to applique and even beading. This quilt really is out of my comfort zone. Lots of new things to try and no real plan in place to follow. I am working it out as I go. The nice thing is that my family is all quite talented. My daughters both quilt and have a great eye for colour, and my husband has a great eye for colour and balance. I totally intend to nab their input and share their expertise. Will keep you posted.