Granddaughter Quilt 'Shining Star'

The gifting of the quilt I made for one of my 5 granddaughters is done. I can now show you her quilt.

Nevaeh is my youngest son's oldest daughter and is 13, she has been through two major surgeries in her life already. The first when she was only a month old and the second when she was six. She is doing fine and hopefully will stay that way. When I asked what colour to make her quilt, all I was told was black. I just couldn't make a completely black quilt and was totally lost as to how to proceed.

Northcott Kensington Park border print and Northcott Shimmer 

When I saw this border print from Northcott I fell in love with it and my hope was that Nevaeh would too.  It was now Nov 9th, approximately 6 weeks until Christmas, and no plan in sight. Time to open EQ8 and start designing. 

I also used Kona black. The centre block is 24'' by 24''. 

More playing with inset seams

As if I didn't get enough inset seams making the block for the Virtual Cookie Exchange project you can read more about that here, I made four of the above blocks, what was I thinking?

Dec 4th and a long way to go

Piecing this top was a priority, I wonder if the Elves feel like this at this time of year?

Dec 5th a completely pieced top, excuse the poor lighting 

A sense of relief, with a finished top, now on to the quilting and 20 days till Christmas, with no idea how I wanted to quilt it. I started by stitching in the ditch, and then I let the quilt start talking to me. 

I kept the centre fairly simple. I outlined the bird and added some gentle curves. Straight lines radiating out from the centre and more curves.

I wanted the stars to pop so I echoed each star and in the background, I quilted small loop de loops and stars.

The black side borders I quilted feathers and the border print got straight lines spaced at an inch and a half.

the quilt required two holder uppers and of course, the wind was blowing

Binding and quilting were finished on Dec 21st, after more than 45 hours of quilting all on my domestic machine. I was one happy grandma!!

the back shows the quilting. My daughter helped hold it up

The quilt finished at 100 inches long by 90 inches wide. I think she was happy with her quilt.

Virtual Cookie Exchange 2021

 Welcome to the Virtual Cookie Exchange and blog hop hosted by Carol at Just Let Me Quilt. This is my favorite blog hop of the year, who doesn't like to see new ideas and swap recipes for Christmas yummies and projects. 

The recipe I am sharing this year is for a Gingerbread Mug Cake. I like gingerbread but with only me to eat it, my waistline would not appreciate it. I have been trying different recipes and tweaking them to my liking. Serves one, just my size.

getting ready to make my mug cake, an essential item is a microwave-safe mug

Gingerbread Mug Cake

4 tablespoons All-Purpose Flour

1/4 teaspoon Baking Powder

1 tablespoon Dark Brown Sugar

3 tablespoons Milk

1/2 tablespoon Canola Oil, or other neutral oil

1/2 tablespoon Dark Molasses

1/8 teaspoon Ground Cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon Ground Ginger

Pinch of salt

Combine all ingredients in a microwave-safe mug. Use a fork or small whisk to mix until smooth. 

Microwave for 45 seconds to 1 minute until just set.

Cool and Enjoy. Allow to cool slightly, top with whipped cream if desired!

ready to enjoy, I was out of whipped cream but it was still good

This year's Christmas project didn't go as planned. I picked out fabrics and designed a block.

turquoise fabric pull 

 I made one block of what was to be 20 and had second , okay lots of thoughts one being was I completely crazy. The block has more inset seams than I care to even think about.

inset seams

and just look at all those inset seams

 The quilt would look stunning in my humble opinion.

EQ mockup I do love the secondary pattern the blocks form

And here is where reality came in, this was going to be a lot of work and oh yeah require an awful lot of patience to make 19 more blocks.

I think one of these blocks is plenty

I am rethinking how to use the one block I did make and incorporate it into a new quilt idea. As a result, I do not have a finished project. Yes I could have made it into a pillow, but I'm not sure I really want to do that.

Take a little time to visit the other blogs and pick up some more recipes for some sweet treats and Christmas projects.

December 6

Creatin' in the Sticks

Inflorescence

Quilt Schmilt

Sew Many Yarns

Pumpkin Patch Patterns & Quilting

Just Because Quilts

Treasured Nest

Cathie's Craftworks

Scrapdash

December 7

MooseStashQuilting

Songbird Designs

Beaquilter

Selina Quilts

Life in the Scrapatch

Pieceful Thoughts of My Quilting Life 

Homespun Hannah's Blog

Cynthia's Creating Ark

Samelia's Mum

December 8

For The Love Of Geese

Days Filled With Joy

Food for Thought

Karrin’s Crazy World

Becky’s Adventures in Quilting and Travel

Stitchin At Home

Words & Stitches 

Colletta's Kitchen Sink

December 9

Just Let Me Quilt

Home Sewn By Us

Just Sew Quilter

Ms P Designs USA

Quiltscapes

Texas Quilt Gal

Creative Latitude

That Fabric Feeling

Twisted Path is in Make Modern

 Wow, I didn't realize it was so long since my last post. I've been doing this that and nothing at all. I did do some secret sewing and today I get to show you one of those secret sewing quilts.

I am pleased to introduce you to Twisted Path, which is in the current issue #43 of Make Modern Magazine.

 

The inspiration behind this design was Covid and how our lives have twisted together at times and apart at others. My hope is that we can get Covid under control and return to the times of togetherness. I FMQed some feathers and swirls in the negative space. Some vines and leaves in the tans and browns The quilting was all done on my domestic machine.

A closer shot of the quilting

 Here is a summary of what is available in Issue 43 which begins with the Editor telling an age-old tale of coffee, blue jeans, and too many WIPs - the overwhelm of which is paralyzing her desire to quilt. Jane shares a recent epiphany that has resulted in her tackling some of her oldest unfinished projects, and she shares tips to help us whip our own WIP list into shape ready for the new year.

 Issue 43 is a fabulous collection of modern quilt patterns and projects to fill your creative cup – we MAKE quick quilts and cushions which would make great gifts, a modern applique quilt, a postage stamp quilt, and something a little trickier for those of us who like a challenge. There’s also a handy project travel bag to hold your quilt blocks flat and notions to quilt on the go. We MEET makers Troy Murrah who makes quilts from wood, Sharon Burgess from Lilabelle Lane, and Annie Hudnut. Our regular columnists discuss making plans, fabric substrates, HSTs, and we chat with Jess Zeigler of The Longarm League. We focus on Sewing Room Ergonomics and how you can make quilting less of a pain in the neck! And we MOTIVATE you to try fussy cutting with tips from Ange Wilson and a whole gallery of fussy cut inspiration.

 If you would like to read more subscribe to  Make Modern.

Orange you Glad Blog Hop

 Hosted by Carla from Creatin' in the Sticks. This blog hop challenge was to "Create something inspired by the color orange''. 

I am proud to be a Canadian, however, we have a nasty history with indigenous peoples. If you would like to read more about the 'Truth and Reconciliation Report of Canada go to Sandra of mmmQuilts blog as she has been explaining the report. The project she has been making inspired me for my blog hop project. Sandra has been making flying geese and some hearts.

fabric pull the oranges are 6 inch strips

 I liked what she was doing and I knew what I wanted to make. My heart goes out to the indigenous people and what they have been through, so I knew hearts were going to be in my design. The flying geese in red I was using as a symbol of Canada.

hearts and geese

I paper pieced the hearts using 6 different oranges.

'A New Direction' hanging out in the garden

Some simple crosshatch quilting, I did a one-inch grid. In the orange border some swirls.

orange in the backing

The backing is a piece leftover from my Garden of Scrap quilt, it is from Connecting threads. I had picked up a few different backings when they were on sale.

If you would like to make your own table runner, the pattern is on sale in my Etsy shop till the end of the month. 

The rest of the participants on this the last day of the hop are:

Thursday, August 19th

Creatin' in the Sticks

VroomansQuilts

Selina Quilts

Becky’s adventures in quilting and travel 

Quilt Schmilt

DOMESTIC FELICITY

Stitchin At Home

Linking up to:

My Quilt Infatuation

Confessions of a Fabric Addic

July + Garden of Scraps

 July seems to have flown by, maybe because I was a little busier than normal. I had a dreami moment that took up a whole bunch of time, plus vacationed at my son's place.

This is a photo-heavy post.

I have been trying to use up some of my scraps, a little bit of truth tea here. I don't think I'll ever use them up. They multiply like crazy! I'm still working on the 2'' squares. If you want to read about my plus quilt using the 2'' squares go here.

scrappy 4 patch 

more scrappy 4 patches

I tried to control the scrappiness of the 4 patches, keeping the colours close yet not identical. 

a little bit of Canadian pride included.

Now to put those 4 patch units into a top.

there were a number of layout possibilites

layout option #2

option #3

I wanted to add a border or two. This is where I flew by the seat of my pants as I had no concrete idea of what I wanted just a few thoughts whirling around in my mind. That can be dangerous, to say the least.   

auditioning border ideas

I went up north to visit my son and his family. The peace and quiet of the lake while I kayaked daily, helps calm and settle one's mind. This has been a trying year at best. 

I love this photo of the sun reflected on Tyson lake

My oldest grandson(13) and my youngest granddaughter(4). we normally catch and release unless the fish is injured too much. I did catch the first and biggest bass

After a hard morning of fishing, a nap was required. I made this quilt for my grandson when he was two, it has been well-loved and travels with him

    After getting back from up north, I had a week to finish the top and get the quilt all done that included free motion quilting on my domestic machine. This quilt is 80'' x 71'' a little bigger to quilt on my machine. I used my favourite thread Aurifil in the following colours #2123 a light yellow for the quilting the 4 patches and strips, it blended in well. I also used #2024 in the white border and #1148 for the turquoise borders.

feathers and straight lines in the borders. Ribbon candy in the turquoise border.

the best overall photo I could get 

I will be linking this dreami up at Sandra at mmmquilts.

Also linking to:

My Quilt Infatuation

Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Fairy Tale Blog Hop

Joan of MooseStash Quilting was in charge of this hop. The theme of this hop is fairy tales. My Fairy Tale started out innocently enough.

You all know the tale of 3 pigs, a big bad wolf, and the three houses, brick, wood, and straw. I made the brick house first as it was the strongest.

strong brick house with the little pig looking out the window for the big bad wolf

I was going to make book pages with the houses, pigs, and wolf. I printed out a part of the tale on an EQ printable sheet, cut it apart, and added part to the first page I made.

open book page

This is where my tale took a turn, I wasn't getting the fairy tale feel. So let's start again. 

As all good fairy tales begin: Once upon a time there were some scraps looking on sadly as they were not being used. While the creator of the pig tale was trying to come up with an idea that worked better. As she was looking at us, she suddenly had a gleam in her eye, and not skipping a stitch she brought us out to play. We squealed with delight as we joined the three little pigs, in a quilt sure to be loved by a child. 

I keep small HSTs made from cutoff triangles in a container, they made quick work in making some 4 1/2'' churn dash blocks.

auditioning spacer strips

In order for my pieced border of churn dash blocks to fit. I first needed to add spacer strips to do this I measured the centre, top to bottom of the piece. Time for some simple math. In my case the piece was 16 1/4'' long, add a seam allowance of 1/2''. So, I cut my pieces 1 3/4'' by 16 1/4''. Do the same to determine the strips that go on the top and bottom in my case 15 1/2'' x 2 1/4''. Sew the left and right spacer strips and then the top and bottom. Now I was ready to add my borders, which fit perfectly. 

the borders looked wavy, I just tossed and snapped the photo, this caused the quilt to look wavy

my new quilter holder upper is my grandson, he can be quite the character. As you can see the borders are not wavy.

I quilted straight lines in the green borders, in the print border I quilted pig and wolf outlines with loops. 

And that my gentle readers is the story of how the three little pigs and the scraps lived happily ever after together. 

The END!

For more Fairy Tales be sure to check out the rest of today's bloggers:

Tuesday, June 22

Quilted Delights

Stitchin at Home you are here

Karrins Crazy World

 Quilting & Learning - What a Combo!

Sewing Up My Fabric

Selina Quilts

Scrap Pluses H2H

 For my second H2H quilt I used 2'' squares, I had an overabundance of them. Even after making the quilt I still have lots left.

sorting out the 2'' squares, these were not the only ones I had

The pluses for the top used 648 squares, 24 across and 27 down.

auditioning borders

For the red and black border, I used 2'' squares. I used up different values of black from my black scraps, the red squares were cut from a 1/2 yard piece that I've had for a while. I think it was a Jinny Beyer piece.

I see some pluses should have been moved around for better colour placement

I bound the quilt with the same red I used in the border. For the quilting in the body of the quilt, I did loops and hearts. In the border, I did some straightish lines, and in black squares, between the red, I did elongated figure 8's.

border quilting

This quilt will also be going to Ronald MacDonald House in London, Ontario.  It finishes at 43'' x 47''. I used Hobbs 80/20 batting, my favourite batting, and Superior So Fine #50 403 Putty for the body of the quilt and 411 Black in the borders. 

I will be linking up to Confessions of a Fabric Addict.

Sailing Along H2H Quilt

 While sorting fabric in my quest to use up more of my stash I came across a bag of scraps that someone had given me. I think they have been percolating for at least 5 years or more. 

these were the scraps and as you can see they were not all straight cuts

The challenge was on! Could I make a quilt top using just these scraps?

16 1/2'' x 16 1/2'' centre 

Time to start adding borders.

three borders added

After adding three borders it was getting there, but I still wanted it bigger. It was only 33'' x 33'' and I was running out of scraps, but that didn't stop me.  I added a couple more to each end bringing the size up to a 33'' x 42'', a small baby quilt. Perfect for Ronald MacDonald House, my charity of choice.

Some simple curls and swirls for the quilting to keep the quilt soft

One less bag of scraps, and the real plus they are going to a worthy cause.

Born to be Wild Almost

 Thanks to Carol of Just Let Me Quilt for organizing another wonderful hop. When I first saw the theme for the 'Born to be Wild' blog hop all that kept going through my mind is the song 'Wild Thing you Make my Heart Sing' sung by 'The Troggs' in 1966.  We were to sew something that's jungle-related. Like jungle animals, wild colors or designs, or jungle fabrics. In my defense for going roque, flowers and butterflies are in the jungle. RIGHT? Ahh all is good then, on to my project. Hopefully, Carol forgives me for doing my own thing.

The things that make the heart sing are the things that give you joy and happiness. I love flowers of any type, colour or shape. While my heart was singing I drew.

drawing out a plan

I drew out a design on a piece of freezer paper, it was convenient and big enough to do all on one piece of paper. After that, it was a simple matter to cut out what shapes I wanted to use for the 'Crafted Applique Method' my favourite method by far.

a few fauna and a wild butterfly, yup that fits the guidelines

For the quilting I did some 'Wild FMQ' from Christina Cameli's books. I stitched in the ditch around my applique pieces.

Okay are you ready, I did actually use an animal print for my project. It just happens to be on the back. It required a little bit of piecing to make it the right size. 

What makes your heart sing?

    The other bloggers for today are:

Ms P Designs USA
Patchouli Moon Studio
Beaquilter
Hill Valley Quilter
Quilted Delights
Stitchin At Home
Sew Many Yarns