Sweet Dreams Last Night!

After many months of sitting at my quilt frame, my quilt is finished and on my bed! 

I am in love with it as I am with all quilts that I quilt by hand.

 I finished the 'big stitching' on Friday morning and by yesterday morning the binding was on! Here is just a small look at the back of it.

I thought I would show the size of needle I use for big stitching.

The big one is a 'big stitch' needle and the small one is my regular quilting needle. I think the quilting needle is a size 10 because it was a bit easier to thread but I do use both size 10 and 11 for regular hand quilting. Now the hard part will be trying to get used to a small needle and a small stitch again.

So I am back to more time in front of my sewing machine. I think it may have missed me a bit!

Happy Stitching!



It's been a while....

Hand quilting a quilt takes a while so I haven't been doing too much else. I am enjoying it and my progress is slow but coming along. My quilt frame sits right in front of our front porch door that soon we will want to open (if the weather actually get warmer!) so I have spent most of my free time quilting. I am on the very outside edges now so it's going well!

I did take some time out recently for a small project and some handwork as well. I made 12 each of the large and small zippered bags from 30's fabrics. It is a fun, fast and easy pattern and a nice break from the hand quilting.

Here they are in sets of two waiting to get sent out. I'll be putting them in the mail today.

I took a day last weekend and went to our local quilting retreat. I have had this quilt on the go for a couple of years now but I haven't worked on it for the last 9 months...time to get working on it again!

I wasn't sure how the handwork would go at the retreat but it went really well. In fact so well that each retreat I'll try to go for a day and just work on this quilt until it is done! 

I got 5 blocks put together this time.

Soon I will have to decide what fabric to use for the diamonds and triangles between the blocks. I know it's still a long way off, but I can't wait to get this one on my bed!

Happy Stitching!

Triangle Exchange

I finally have started the tree of life quilt using the friendship triangle exchange triangles! Here is one block done. Twelve to go! I always try to make one complete block before starting...just to make sure.

After this was done I got started making the trunk sections.

Just one thing about this method of making 1/2 square triangles...it is not my favourite way to make them. (It is a good way for an exchange with friends though) They are ok but they are all not exact. Just small variations in cutting and sewing makes them all slightly different sizes. It is still easy to make them all fit together but I prefer sewing together slightly larger triangles, pressing the seam open and trimming to size. Then they are exact.

And I finally got the socks off my knitting needles. They fit wonderfully and the wool is so soft.

The pattern is from the book Sock Innovation and the pattern is Wanida. The wool is Lorna's Laces.

And finally I am slowly making progress on my big stitched churn dash quilt. I am almost done the centre. I will soon be doing the outside edges. So close! I am so excited but I know from experience the edge always takes longer than you think it will. I'll have some pictures the next time I post.

Happy Stitching!

Ode to Spring

For many months my snowman wall hanging has been adorning the kitchen wall but it was time to tempt spring into the great white north! I made this little quilt this week while dreaming of warmer weather!

This is what I am hoping will go away...

 the snow piled up at the front of the house (we don't use that door!).

I tried a new batting in it too. It is Quilter's Dream Blend and it's a 70% cotton, 30% poly batting. It washed up nice and squishy just like a cotton batting does and it machine quilted nice. It seems to be heavier than Hobbs but lighter than Warm and Natural. I like it!

I usually do dark borders but with this little quilt I did it a bit different than the usual. At first I wasn't sure about the light borders but they have grown on me and now I really like them!

My next project is a quilt using the triangle exchange squares. Here they all are with the papers off!

I hope to get the rest of the pieces cut out this week and maybe get it started by the weekend.

Happy Stitching!

One quilt done!

I finished binding the quilt I wanted for my bed. Two more quilts to go! This one is a history of my 20 years of quilting so every time I look at it I think...'I used that fabric in a quilt I made for ...' I realized I have made A LOT of quilts for people I care about.

I am enjoying the memories!

And to feed my current sock knitting addiction, I started a new pair of socks.

I'll give all the details and a better picture when I am done the pair!

This weekend I am hoping to finish a little spring quilt in the hopes that it will please the weather gods and spring will make it's way here!

Happy Stitching!