Our Pincushions

Yesterday we spent the evening making pincushions with our quilting group. Kerri hosted the event. A good time was had by all! We came up with quite a variety of styles and shapes. Mine is the one in the Corningware pan. Photo by Barbara Blysak

Donation Quilt Completed

Our guild is going to donate a stack of quilts to the local Women's Resource Centre in the spring. We donated a dozen last year and they appreciated them, so we'll do it again. We were kindly given a generous community grant, so that helped with the cost of buying batting and backing for these quilts. Everything is so expensive these days, it's not cheap to make a quilt, let alone a dozen of them. This pattern is a variation of the Potato Chip block, I don't know if it has an official name. I made a silly mistake when quilting it, I accidentally put a cone of Bottom Line thread on the top. I wound it on the bobbin and was going to use Glide thread on the top, but I grabbed the wrong cone to thread the machine. Duh! After an entire section was done, I discovered the error. It was too late to change thread, so I continued with it. The end result was ok, but the quilting doesn't show up on the top very well because the thread is so fine. Oh well, live and learn.

Sixteen Year Old UFO Completed

After sixteen long years, Sunny Lanes is completed! It's a pattern from the "Nickel Quilts" book by Pat Speth and Charlene Thode. I started the blocks and abandoned them for several years. I dug them out and made quite a few more, then those sat in a box for many months. There were two bolts of fabric that came from the fabric store I had a few decades ago. I never knew what to do with them because they were unusual. The two prints coordinated. If they were cut apart and joined together, they formed Drunkard's Path blocks. I decided to use one of the fabrics as a backing for this quilt. At least it gets used up that way. I'll use the coordinating fabric as backing too at some point. The quilting is a "Topographical Map" design with King Tut thread.

Throwback Thursday; String Quilt From 2014

I completed this string quilt in 2014 and never used it until yesterday. We got a new couch and it needed something on the back of it. Yay! The quilt finally has a purpose.

2023 Stashbuster Challenge Is Completed

This was a challenge hosted by a Facebook group, "2023 Stashbuster Challenge". The goal was to make a quilt from a particular block. Linda H's friend didn't want a partially finished quilt top anymore, so it was given to me. I added white borders and made it into a backing for this quilt. Interestingly, the block's name is "Northwind" and the back has a northern scene on it. I quilted it with vertical wiggly lines, Isacord thread on the top, Decobob in the bobbin.

Throwback Thursday; Christmas Tree Skirt

I put all the Christmas stuff away on January 2nd, but I kept this tree skirt out so I could take a picture of it. This was made in the early 90s and has held up very well. Back in the day, I was a lot braver than I am now, I used a metallic fabric on some of the triangles. That stuff isn't easy to work with and it frays like crazy. It has to be washed in a gentle cycle so the fibres don't splinter. Now it will go away to rest until next Christmas.

First Finish Of 2024

Hmmm, where did this pattern come from? I watch so many YouTube videos for inspiration. When I locate it, I'll post the source. A major blunder occurred when this quilt was on the longarm frame, I ran short of backing! I accidentally measured the shorter side twice, it doesn't pay to be hasty. I took it off the frame and added a section. Since it was such a ridiculous mistake, I decided to own it and attach a completely different fabric. After the quilt was finished, I discovered that there is a way of adding more backing without taking it off the frame. Oh well, lesson learned. I hope to not make that error again. That's why they always say to measure twice, cut once. This quilt will most likely be donated.