Category Archives: Quilting

Hubble

Quilt Show 2015 – I saw this Schnibbles pattern from Miss Rosie’s Quilt Co. and immediately added it to my “Want to Do” list. I picked 30’s reproduction fabrics from Kimberly’s Garden Collection. This quilt brings back wonderful memories of a quilting week with my sisters. It is machine quilted on my home machine.

HubbleI saw this pattern online and immediately bookmarked it as a future project. When I showed it to Deloise she said she had the pattern and would lend it to me. I got the pattern from her when I attended her guild’s quilt show in Saskatoon; while I was there I fell in love with the 1930’s reproduction fabrics. Stacia and Deloise both decided to make the quilt and we planned it for our next quilting session together. In the Spring of 2014 we met in Calgary and drove to Panorama for a week of sewing. We all made different fabric choices, and all of the tops were beautiful but very different.

Once the top was finished, it sat for a year waiting to be quilted. It took almost four hours on my hands and knees getting the quilt pinned.

Hubble4Hubble3I did straight line quilting around the star and the center and planned for something fancier in the white spaces. Since I had difficulty manipulating the quilt just for the straight lines, I was reluctant to do any free-motion. It was Stacia’s idea to extend the lines of the star. I set the lines 3” apart but after they were finished I thought it needed a little denser quilting so I added lines in between (lines are 1.5” apart). I used a straight line around the inner border and around the coloured border.

The outer border, as cut, was going to need some stitching but neither Pat nor I could come up with an idea that didn’t involve free-motion, and that would keep the soft-line look of the quilt. We decided to cut the outer border to match the inner white border; it didn’t require any more quilting once the binding the added.

Hubble Final

Christmas Express

Pattern by Tivoli Quilt Creations

This project was two years in the making. I found the pattern by a Victoria, BC designer on-line. On a trip to Victoria I was able to pick up the pattern from one of the quilt shops.

The train cars were filled with chocolate coins when I gave it to Taylor and Dylan in December 2013.

UPDATE: October 2017

The pockets were really too small to hold much so I’ve made a set of cross stitch ornaments that will fit inside the pockets. On any particular day the kids can pull an ornament from one of the train cars and attach it by the buttons.

 

Give and Take

Quilt Show 2015 – Daphne Greig from Victoria taught the Give and Take appliqué technique for the Guild. Her zero-waste method of fusible appliqué creates a unique positive/negative design. The piece is machine quilted on my home machine.

This Give and Take appliqué class was taught by Daphne Greig from Victoria. I’m not much into abstracts or free-form creativity, but I was pleasantly surprised; not only did I enjoy the technique, but I found it simple enough that I was able to keep up with the class. Daphne also set me straight on the settings I needed on my machine for a good zig-zag stitch; Pearl will be my go-to machine for this from now on.

Give & Take 1Give & Take 2

We started with two sheets of blank construction paper; with the darker piece folded we drew and cut out a few patterns before we decided on the one we wanted to keep.

Give and Take 3Next the images were traced onto Steam-a-Seam and appliquéd to two different fabrics. The two pieces produced mirror images of one another.

I chose to create two additional images to complete the piece. Pat suggested the two-coloured border to carry on the mirrored look.

Give and Take 5Give and Take 4The finished piece (21″ x 21″) will be either a wall hanging or table topper.

Christmas Recap

Friday, January 2, 2015

Although I didn’t make a lot of different things as gifts this year, I made a lot of the specific patterns I chose.

Taylor's Bag
Taylor’s Bag
Dylan's Bag
Dylan’s Bag
Alex & Will
Alex & Will
Gavin (left), Emma (centre), and Madison (right)
Gavin (left), Emma (centre), and Madison (right)

I started these bags in July and I can’t imagine having waited any longer. They were labour intensive (but not difficult) and I’m sure the Guild ladies didn’t think they’d ever be finished. There were times I doubted it myself. It was so worth the effort though when I saw the kids get off the plane carrying their bags.

Clockwise Taylor, Will, Dylan, Alex
Clockwise Taylor, Will, Dylan, Alex

I made socks for the grandkids that were here for Christmas. Everyone was able to get their socks on, but it was a struggle in every case. The size I made for Will and Dylan were a perfect fit for Alex and Taylor. I’ll have to go back to the drawing board and make a larger size for the older boys. Getting the right size for Elizabeth’s kids will be a challenge too, but I’ll go bigger rather than smaller.

photo-4I made about a dozen fabric baskets this year as gifts. I thought they would use up some scrap fabric and they did, but not nearly enough. I neglected to take a photo of the group before I sent them out, but Diane was good enough to send me a photo of her basket. Didn’t she put it to good use?

DylanMany of my evenings were spent crocheting this afghan for Dylan. It is a Jacob’s Ladder stitch and worked very nicely.