Throwback Thursday; Quilt From 2007

I was pleased to see that a quilt I gave away in 2007 is still being used. If I gift a quilt and you use it until it's completely worn out, I'll happily make a new one for you. :)

Table Mat

Now that this has been gifted, I can show a picture of this table mat. I made it from blocks that were from an online four-patch block exchange that I was in quite a few years ago.

Naturally Curly Hair

I just finished this quilt, which I named "Naturally Curly Hair", formerly known as "Quilt Top #15". The elongated swirl quilting design reminded me of curly hair, I have fought with uncontrollable hair my entire life. The quilt blocks were made with the stack and slash method, which a guild member taught us during one of our quilting retreats. It's going to be gifted to someone who also has naturally curly hair. :)

Quilt Top #25

Two weeks ago, a few of us in the quilting guild were discussing the Yellow Brick Road quilt pattern. I mentioned that I would like to make it with Christmas fabrics. I assembled this one with the blocks set on point, which I have done with that pattern before, it gives it a different look. I'll finish this one for next Christmas.

Rail Fence, By Linda H.

Linda H made this Rail Fence quilt for a donation. She wanted to use up some odds and ends for the backing, but really had to calcuate so it all fit together. This is a lovely quilt, I'm sure it will be greatly appreciated.

Raven

A few years ago, I bought a pattern in Whitehorse that was called "Berry Button Ravens" by Cindy Shake Design. The other day I thought of using part of the pattern to make a gift. I used one of the bird outlines to make a small wall quilt, measuring thirteen inches square. I made my own background design. Instead of a button or embroidery for the eye, I used a flat spacer bead. The black fabric frayed a little bit, even though it was fused, zigzagged and sewn with straight stitches. Oh well, it looks ok from a distance.

Christmas Gift Bag

It's that time of the year again in my great quest to use up Christmas fabric. I thought I'd try a different kind of gift bag this time with a round base. It wouldn't work for a square or rectangular gift. Rolled up clothing or a canister of goodies would fit in it. Of course, I lined it to use up a maximum amount of fabric. For those who don't know, I had a fabric store quite a few years ago and was left with many bolts of Christmas fabric. I've been trying to use it up ever since.

Asian Stars by Linda H.

Linda H was out of commission for a few months because she had a broken ankle and had to have surgery. Her sewing room is upstairs, that made it too difficult to go up there to work on any quilts. Now that she's all healed up, there are lots of things happening in that sewing room. This quilt is called "Asian Stars". Linda said, "The block I used in this quilt is from the pattern "Nova" by Kim Brackett, in the book Scrap Basket Sensations. It sure used a lot of flipped triangle units!" I think it's fantastic! The back looks nice too.

Quilt Top #24

I finished sewing this Irish Chain quilt top yesterday. The brown/black Moda fabric had been in my stash for years, I wanted to use it up. Just for fun, I put in some random fussy cut squares. Please excuse the stray threads, they'll get cleaned off later. I don't know how I'm going to quilt it yet, I'll have to search for some ideas.

Hat And Mittens

I had to take a break from knitting for over a week, my hands and wrists were getting sore. Last night I finished the second mitten. Two different strands of yarn were worked as one. A ball of the multicoloured yarn was enough to make the three items. I had to open another ball of the solid colour wool and use a bit of that. Are you supposed to call it a ball or a skein? The pattern for the mittens came from the book, "Easy-Knit Mittens". There were clear instructions, I was able to understand them without smoke coming out of my ears, like the time I was learning to make socks. :)

The Start Of A Mitten

I'm attempting to make a pair of mittens, something I've never done before. I didn't bother making a sample and measuring the gauge, shame on me. I'm using two kinds of yarn, the multicoloured one is silk, wool and nylon. The plain yarn is 100% wool. It seems to fit ok so far, wish me luck!

Mystery Table Runner

One of our guild members, Doris hosted a mystery table runner over the past several weeks. It may have been a Fons and Porter pattern, I'm not sure. I finished this one last night. It took a long time to quilt because of the different thread colours and types. I'm not used to doing that, I usually do an all-over pattern with one kind of thread. Every year I try to use up Christmas fabric but the amount never seems to dwindle. Maybe somebody sneaks into my house and adds to it. :)

Day Three Of The October 2018 Quilting Retreat

Today I worked on my Irish Chain quilt top, it's just about at the halfway point now.

Day Two Of The October 2018 Quilting Retreat

Today we had an instructor showing us how to make the "Retreat Bag". The free pattern can be found HERE. It was a fun project, each person's bag turned out very well.

Day One Of The October 2018 Quilting Retreat

Today I was trying to quilt some roses, some of them were lopsided. It wasn't easy to see where I was going sometimes. I'm hoping in the grand scheme of things, the different prints on the fabrics will disguise the wonky flowers. :)

Getting Ready For The October 2018 Quilting Retreat

I'm getting a quilt pin basted so I can start quilting it this weekend at our retreat. Igor likes to help every step of the way.

I Made A Hat

I just finished this hat or "toque" as we call it in Canada. It was made with a round knitting loom which worked great! There were two shades of worsted weight purple yarn in my stash, so I used that. Next time I'll buy some bulky yarn in a colour to match my jacket.

Fifteen Years In The Making

Formerly known as "Quilt Top #5", this "Birds In The Air" quilt is now completed. I started it in 2003 and constructed the top. It was put away until February 2016, then I pin basted and started the quilting. Life got in the way for a few more years then I dug the quilt back out and finished it. I had to take the quilt outside to take the photos, there isn't enough room in the house to stand back far enough. It was a little windy, I had to snap the pictures in a hurry before the quilt blew away. For the last photo, I threw the quilt over the barbed wired fence. I should have arranged it so it was draped nicely. Oh well. I'm a quilter, not a photographer, haha!

Quilt Repair

I made this Trip Around The World quilt for my brother in 1989. He asked if I could put a new binding on it, the edges were getting tattered. On closer inspection, it needed more work than just new binding. I didn't know how to quilt by machine at the time, it was tied with embroidery floss and over the years the ties came out. It was a good thing the polyester batting was sturdy like a Brillo pad, it hadn't ripped or shifted. The edges were all crumpled up, I tried to press everything flat with an iron but it wasn't easy. The heat couldn't be turned up too hot on the iron or else the polyester batting would melt. After mashing the edges down as flat as possible, I cut the binding off. Then I had to clip the edges together every few inches with Clover Wonder Clips as I applied the new binding. Some fabrics were ripped, I had to do some zigzagging. The backing was in surprisingly good shape, the fabric still looked like new. Finally, I did some free motion tacks at intersections in the centre of the quilt. I didn't have time to do all of it because my brother was going to be coming to collect the quilt. Hopefully, the repairs will hold for a few years. My sister and I have made other quilts for him but he still insists on using the old one.

Never Ending Binding

It always takes so long to hand stitch the binding on a queen size quilt. This Birds in the Air quilt is just about finished. :)

Four-Patch Quilt Completed

Now that this quilt has been gifted to my daughter, Lindsay for her birthday, I can post pictures. After I finished the quilting, I noticed a red spot on the white border. I put a dot of stain remover on it in an attempt to clean it. After the border was wet, I discovered that there wasn't a stain, it was a piece of red thread under the surface. I was able to extract the thread with a "Varicose Vein" puller, that's what I call the Clover Soft Touch Thread Pick. Quilters need all kinds of tools to get the job done. :)

Stitching Pillow

This strange looking contraption is a stitching pillow. It's for propping up a project so your neck doesn't get sore while you are stitching by hand. The little pocket holds a pair of small scissors. I used some 20-year-old orphan quilt blocks along with some frog fabric, seemed like a good idea to me, haha! I followed a Quilt Roadies tutorial on You Tube which can be found HERE. I made mine from 18 1/2 inch squares, the instructor used 15-inch squares. I wanted to have my work really close to my face so I'm not hunched over. I stuffed it with a combination of Polyfil stuffing and fabric scraps.