Dreaming and Stitching

It's been a week of dreaming about several new quilt designs as I stitched on some current quilt projects.
It was a rainy and damp week here, so I had the wood stove going as I stitched my days away...

These are some of the Black & White fabrics that are part of my stash.
I would love to design another quilt using these.
Add a splash of colour for an instant fun quilt!
I thought of a really good design idea to make 'personalized' lap quilts, that I'd like to share through my free Block of the Month.
I'm not sure if I can afford the time to create the templates for the 26 different versions required.
I've not decided yet.

This chain of blue & white patches is what was under my needle, while I thought about it.

This patch got all twisty - like a roller coaster - while I was preparing it for applique.

It's been more than a few decades since I purchase this pretty print...and it's still one of my favourite fabrics.
It's going to be part of two more of my upcoming quilts, including the one I worked on this week!
Can you guess yet which quilt I've been stitching?

My Blue & White Tiles series!
On my design wall ~ 4 blocks of the Blue & White Tiles quilt.
That pretty blue & white print I showed above is in the center of my newest block...the one on the bottom left.

Blue & White Tiles Quilt Series

The Block #4 pattern is now available online here.

Still time to catch up and stitch along!

A few days ago I thought of another quilt design that kept buzzing around in my brain.
I needed to do some puzzling to see if it would work, and considered going for a forest walk to do it, but it was a full on rainy day...so I decided to do some machine stitching while I thought it out.
I got the Row 8 Stained Glass Diamond Strings blocks done, all trimmed and ready to stitch together.
And the design I was puzzling is even better and not really the same as it was originally.

Stay tuned for more fun stitching to come!!

Queen Victoria was born May 24, 1819

Last Monday, in Canada, we celebrated our Victoria Day long weekend.

Did You Know ~> It's Queen Victoria's 200th Birthday tomorrow!

Happy Stitching!

My Newest Quilt Pattern & 20 Years Back!

Victoriana Dresden Flower

My newest quilt pattern is another in my Victoriana Dresdens series.
It's a pretty flower!
I've included instructions to make it into a pillow or the flower only (without the backing fabric square) - as a table mat - with a blanket stitching edge.
More details here.

Here's a 'sew pretty' view.

Taking you back 20 years....
This is me standing in front of my 'The Sampler' quilt.

That quilt is still very popular, and a fun way to display many traditional quilt blocks...with the wonderful Crazy Quilt center!
Seeing this picture is making me miss my dark hair! :)

...And using scraps to make a quilt is the most fun!

Happy Stitching!

Folded Fat Quarter Fabric Bouquet

 As someone who collects fabrics and sews, getting a batch of fat quarters as a gift is the best!
I also enjoy sharing ways of folding fat quarters, into pretty packages, to give as gifts.

[See below for the links to both the Fat Quarter Star and Fat Quarter Tree below, which I've had available on my site for a few years now.]

Today I'm including an easy how to, so you can fold the fabric fat quarter gift into a bouquet!

To Begin...
~Gather your fat quarters, pressing them flat.
~I used popsicle sticks, because I had them, but chop sticks or even cut up wood dowels would also work.
~I had hair elastics to hold the flowers rolled, but anything that will tie them, even ribbon would work.
~A pretty mug or container to put the bouquet in.
~I added a bunch of beads in the bottom of the mug and then covered them with a bunch of green rick rack. That gave me something to put the sticks into.
Buttons would also work.

Fold the fat quarter, as shown above, bringing the selvage & raw edge toward the center.

Then fold it in half.

Fold it one more time.

Place the stick as shown.
Fold the end of the fabric over the stick.

Begin rolling the fabric, so the fabric scrolls down slightly, with each roll.

To finish, fold the end in, to hide the raw edge.
Tie the bottom with the elastic or ribbon.

Finally put all of your 'flowers' into the container!

Fat Quarter Star

Folded Fat Quarter Star How To

You'll find the Fat Quarter Star directions available at the bottom of the web page here.

Fat Quarter Tree

Folded Fat Quarter Tree How To

You'll find the Fat Quarter Tree directions available on this web page here.

Have Fun!

Sharing a Fun Find

Such a Fun Find!
When going through a box where I have 'keepsakes' from my parent's, I found a few newspaper clippings my Mom saved.
This one (December, 1993) is about a special quilt my guild (Simcoe County Quilters' Guild) made to celebrate the 150th Anniversary of Simcoe County.
We also gave it as a Thank You to the Simcoe County Museum, for letting us hold our meetings and quilt show there.
The large older building (original county administration centre) is the block I made, which is similar in style to my other pictorial quilts (see in the Gallery of my site), I was making/teaching at the time.

I loved reading the article and remembering the lovely ladies I spent time with then!!

I'm sure you'll be happy my daylight is getting longer each day, as that helps my progress in bringing you new quilt patterns, and posting more often again.
The newest If I Drive... Truck block was added early this week.

More recent progress ~> A pretty new Victoriana Dresdens pattern - is almost ready - plus I'm working on a design that is 'sew' fun - I'm sure you'll want to make yourself one!!

You can see all that's new with my Update Newsletter here.

I 'sew' enjoy creating with fabric!

This fabric is currently inspiring me...

The spring here has continued cool, with the nights dipping down to near freezing.
But there are some more signs that we are moving to the warmer season.

My favourite grand old Maple tree is now blooming with lovely red flowers.
The light green that covers all of those upper branches is lichen.

And the Forsythia bush near the house is smelling lovely, too!
I wish I could share this smell with you.

Storyland Quilt & Companion eBook

 The newest block from the Storyland quilt - Part #6 is now online here.

Some of my weekend plans include getting a post ready about fun ways to gift fabric for Moms or friends who quilt.

Happy Stitching!