Friday Night Sew In for October

This month I didn't actually do any sewing on Friday night.  That is because there was a quilt show in Whitehorse and a quilt show around here just cannot be missed as they come up once a year at the most.  I love quilt shows.  I love seeing what other quilters have done, I love getting to chat with the people who made the quilts, as one does in a small town like Whitehorse, and I love the ideas that I come away with. 

This quilt show is nothing like the big shows that so many of you get to go to, and I am sure they are spectacular.  One day I will get to one of those.  This one was put on by a local guild.  It has thirty members.  They are all dedicated quilters and one of them, Joanne, is a fantastic quilter who has won prizes in national shows.  We all got to vote on best small quilt, large quilt, Canada 150 quilt and favourite overall quilt.  All blindly of course - meaning the names of the makers weren't advertised.  Although, some of them had labels and you could touch them. 

Joanne won three of the categories, go figure, but there were many lovely quilts.  The show was in a church basement.  It was crowded and the quilts were hung on ropes strung here and there or laid on tables.  It wasn't easy to get good photos.

But I did take a few.  This was my favourite small quilt.  

It was about 16 x 20.  I loved the use of the colour fabrics for the spots on the dog and the eyes were very expressive.  I didn't find out who made it.

This is the quilt that won for small quilt.  One of Joanne's masterpieces and quite beautiful.

This is the quilt I voted for in the Canada 150 class.  It was made by Cathy, who is Joanne's best friend.

I liked the simplicity of the pattern and of course the Canadian feeling it expressed.

This was the winning quilt, made by my friend Agnes.  She said she cut all the pieces by hand.  What a feat that would have been!  It isn't that easy to see but the red batik is all maple leaves. 

Here is the quilt I voted for in the large quilt category.  It was made by my friend Catherine.  She and I met in French class which we have both been attending for a few years.  I remember when she brought in photos of this quilt when she was making it last year.  

I am, of course, a sucker for all that colour.  She said she didn't like the way she had quilted it, but I liked it.  It really accentuated the heart shape.

And this is the quilt I voted for as overall favourite.  It was made by Susan.  The pattern really appeals to me and the fabrics are appropriate for the pattern, although if I was to make it I would probably try to add more colour.  But her hand quilting was superb!  Unfortunately I didn't get a close-up of the hand quilting.

Here is the quilt that won for best large quilt and overall favourite.  Another of Joanne's and it is really stupendous.  She is in a class of her own, in our town anyway.

She had detail on her label about how she had hand painted the applique fabrics following some instructor's method.  Unfortunately in all the excitement I didn't put the information in the right file drawer in my brain and I can't find it now.  

And here are two more photos of quilts that I particularly liked.  Well there were lots more that I liked but these were the two I took photos of.  I don't know who made either of them.  First up, you know I am a fan of hexie quilts 😃.  This one was in the small quilt category - it was a lap size.

And this one grew on me the more I looked at it.  I liked the colour and hue transitions.

I have been doing a bit of sewing this weekend but I'll save it for another post.  Hope you enjoyed my quilt show tour.  I hope you have time to check out what everyone else did on Friday for Friday Night Sew In.  Thanks to Wendy for being a great host.  😍

Janet 

Friday Night with Friends Report for October

I am really late posting for FNWF.  Arghh!  Life seems to be so busy all the time now.  Is the world spinning faster?  Am I out of control?  Or maybe just lazier?

On Friday night I laid out two En Provence blocks to sew together.  You may remember from my last post that I have four left to sew.  This is as far as I got.

The sub-blocks for the first block are sewn into rows, but the rows aren't sewn together.  The second block isn't even started.  I kept thinking I would at least get the rows sewn sometime this week, but it isn't going to happen.

It was Thanksgiving weekend in Canada last weekend.  I had to attend one turkey dinner and host a second one.  Both were delicious!  Lots of turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes with gravy, yams, Brussels sprouts, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, whipped cream and other miscellaneous offerings such as broccoli salad, kale salad, green bean salad, and delicious appies.  Today is my hubby's birthday as well as a good friend's.  We are going out for dinner and then to a documentary about the Tragically Hip, a legendary (at least in Canada) Canadian rock and roll band, which is one of my hubby's favourites.

On a fun note, I have another "what is it" photo for you.

This one should be easier to guess.  The teaspoon is there for determining size.

I hope you will stop by Cheryll's blog to see what everyone else got up to for Friday Night With Friends.  I haven't had a chance to check them all out yet myself!

Janet 

Quilt Retreat Fun

Our local quilt store hosts two big quilt retreats a year in the Village of Haines Junction, about three hours from my town.  Last weekend was the fall one and, yes, I attended. 😃 The retreat runs Thursday through Sunday, so there is lots of sewing time.  As well there is tons of good food.  Jonathan, our cook, comes 1,400 km just to cater for us.  And a group of us put on a pre-dinner cocktail hour with good cheeses and other delicacies, that he loves to attend as well. 

But I guess I should tell you about the sewing... I made my September swap hexies for Jacqui and got them into the mail on Friday. 

When I was gathering up my pin cushions for the parade a few weeks ago I found yellow pieces that I had cut to make a block.  So I put them together.  

 I had made the orange block last year sometime.  Eventually I want to make more of these blocks and put them into a quilt.  But they are pretty complex - one block takes about four or five hours to make, what with finding the scraps and cutting the pieces etc.  So this is a project for later.  This block was designed by Elizabeth Hartman and can be found by clicking on the link.

I have been wanting to make myself a new tote bag and really love the shape of a bag I made last year.  My blue scrap bin is overflowing, so I decided to make this a blue scrappy bag and I made a larger size.  I still have to find grommets that will match with it to put the handles through.  So right now it just looks like a lump.

And the pièce de résistance - I now have twelve En Provence blocks done!  Only four more to go.

There were tons of beautiful quilts being worked on, but I only took a picture of one.  Of course I want to make this quilt pattern!  Isn`t it fantastic!  

You might think I would want a little break from sewing - but it is Friday Night With Friends coming up this Friday and I have my name on the roster.  Why don`t you come along too!!

Janet 

A lovely weekend

I had an extremely stressful week last week.  Monday and Tuesday were long days taken up with back to back meetings at work that were not fun.  Then I had a ton of work to do the rest of the week and hubby was away from Wednesday on.  Although I like having time to myself, I was too tired to do anything constructive with it and my diet deteriorated rapidly as I didn't have to cook for him.  So I was ready for some fun this weekend!

On Saturday a group of us got together to do some talking and scarf dyeing and a little bit of sewing.  It was supposed to be a lot of sewing but the talking took over 😂.  I took a few pics of the scarf dyeing in process.  This is the same method we learned about in Saskatchewan in the spring.  You can read about the process here

I wasn't happy with how my scarf turned out, so I redyed it this morning. 

I didn't get a great photo of the overall scarf, but here are a couple of closeups that give you an idea of the detail.

Seeded Eucalyptus 

Raspberry leaves

This afternoon we went for a bike ride to the cranberry patch with our neighbours.

And we came home with lots of cranberries.  Here are a couple of trays ready to go in the freezer.

So all in all it was a very pleasant weekend and I feel ready to tackle work again this week.  Only three days and then I am off to a four day retreat.  YAY!  So I'll see you hopefully next weekend with some sewing updates to show. 

I hope your weekend was equally as relaxing and fun.

Janet 

September Friday Night Sew In Report

I had my usual tired Friday - I think that is going to be my new name for it - like thirsty Thursday, then there is tired Friday.  Not that I hit the bar or the put on Thursday! 😇

But even though it was a tired night I managed to work a bit on a hand work project.  DD # 2 is coming for a visit in November and I realized that there are two projects that I want to finish before she arrives - not that they are gifts for her, but just so I can show them off to her.  She is my biggest critic of the fact that I don't finish things.  Well I do, but she is sceptical about the number of projects I finish compared to the number I start.  Probably correctly.

Anyway I can't show this project because then she'll know as she does read my blog.  But I took a little sneaky picture.  Tee hee...

And then today I managed to finish sewing the four patch purple squares for En Provence.

And remember this photo that I showed you a couple of weeks ago...

A lot of you bravely guessed what it is, and lots of you were close or spot on....  it is a milk crate full of potatoes that were in a cold room in my friend's basement, for who knows how long, trying their darnedest to grow.  Here's what they looked like when I tipped them into the compost pile.

Please be sure to drop by Wendy's blog to see what everyone else got up to for Friday Night Sew In.

Janet 

Ugly Pincushion

It was hard to pick an "ugly" pincushion, because really I like them all and they all have a little fond memory of some kind for me.  But this one got the honor of being the ugly duckling.  My friend Nancy gave me this pincushion.  She also gave me my little chair pincushion that is made out of a tin can.  So you can see the style of pincushion she likes, even though she doesn't really sew much and doesn't have a pincushion collection of her own.

The reason I don't like this one as much is because it is so small, and I don't really have a spot to put it where it would be useful.  So it is being useful today, as my ugly pincushion!

And I think this is my last post for the Perfectly Pleasing Pincushion Parade hosted by Ida at My Sister Made Me Do It.  Go and check out the other entries - they are all really fun!

Janet 

My Pincushion Parade

Today I am linking up with My Sister Made Me Do It to show off the rest of my pin cushions.  Last year I posted quite a few of my pin cushions for the parade  You can see them here.  But I realized I missed a few, and maybe I've acquired a couple of new ones since last year.  😉

I bought this beautiful swan from someone online.  She had acquired a lot of old china pieces like this and had decided to make them into pincushions and sell them to raise money for charity  I think I paid $10 for this though, so I'm not sure how much she would have raised.  Unfortunately I can't remember who she was.  The pin cushion is very elegant and sits on the windowsill watching out for wandering animals in the yard.

This is another one that I acquired and I can't remember who from.  I think it was in a swap or a giveaway.  Isn't that terrible - that I can't remember, I mean.  This one is felted wool and I like it quite a bit except that it is only about an inch thick.  I have it hung on my cork board and it does get the odd pin or needle stuck in it.

I got this one last year at retreat.  A little fairy came through in the night and lift it on my table.  I made the decorative pins using buttons and tiny glass headed pins.  They aren't really practical for using but they are cute.

This last one was made for me by Lynn from Ontario.  It is pretty but very shallow so it is a decorative rather than useful pincushion.

And here are all of my pincushions out on parade.

Except that there is one more.... The ugly pincushion.  He gets a post all on his own....😍

Janet 

Perfectly Pleasing Pincushion Parade

I said I was going to make a new pincushion for this parade.  And I got an idea in my head and even though I didn't necessarily want to make it, it wouldn't go away.  So I made the pin cushion yesterday.  I hope this pincushion is not offensive to anyone.  I am trying to think of the right way to describe it and all I can think of is commemorative, but maybe memorial would be a better word.

I have no idea why I was so fixated on making a pin cushion to remember what has been going on in Texas the last few weeks.  I have no connection to Texas, other than my friendships with Irene and Ida.  My brother and sister-in-law lived in Dallas for about five years before they moved to Seattle.  And I drove through Texas once, back in 1975.  I was on my way to a year of travel in Central and South America with two companions.  We were going to cross into Mexico at Brownsville, Texas but one of my friends fell in a big pit in the middle of the night and broke his leg.  He had to fly home to Canada.  My other friend and I decided that we wouldn't take our car into Mexico and we drove on to Phoenix where we left it at a friend's house.  So I probably spent two days in Texas and the time was spent travelling.  Hardly an experience that created huge bonds.

But hey I needed to make this pincushion and here it is in the parade.  It isn't too beautiful, but it is good and sturdy.  Stuffed with fibrefill but I put a little pouch of lead shot in the bottom of it so it is sold and stands up the way it is supposed to.

I'm linking this up with the Perfectly Pleasing Pincushion Parade at My Sister Made Me Do It.

And I'm off to see the parade of pin cushions!

Janet 

Friday Night (and Saturday and Sunday) with Friends

I hope everyone had a fun filled FNWF.  We did here! I was terrible at taking pictures and the ones I did take aren't flattering so I am not going to post them.  But I really did sew with some in person friends as well as all my cyber buddies.  Lori was working on a UFO that she figured was about 17 years old.  Marg had made a large wall hanging of a rearing stallion using the fusible web method and she was busy stitching around the edges.  Linda started a new quilt and got four blocks done.  And Connie, who is a bit of a new quilter, made a set of four placemats with matching coasters.

On Friday night I finished stitching down the binding on my postage stamp quilt and sewed on the label.

I'm keeping the details of this quilt for a full post sometime so you're only getting a peek.  😊

And then I spent the rest of the weekend working on En Provence.  First I cut and sewed 169 of these two patch purple blocks to make a total of 336 of them altogether.

And then I turned about half of them into 4 patch blocks.

But then I had to say "enough" because I wanted to at least make one more block.  Four of the sixteen done!  But I still have to make a whole lot of the joining strips and then there is the border to put together.

And there you have my weekend's worth of sewing.  It seems like so little in retrospect.  😞

Here is a little quiz for you.  Can anyone guess what this is?

 Tee hee! 😃  Head on over to Cheryll's blog to see what everyone else got up to for Friday Night with Friends.

Janet 

Upcoming Fun

In case you have been wondering.... I am still around... We have had such a busy summer with visitors for about two months straight and lots of outdoor time.  My quilting has suffered.  But September is coming, along with winter.  We have cool temperatures and the leaves are turning.  And quilting is ramping up.  Friday Night With Friends is on this Friday and I have a quilting weekend with in-person friends Friday through Sunday as well.  Then our big fall four day retreat happens at the end of September.

And I will be joining up with Ida and Irene's Perfectly Pleasing Pincushion Parade again at My Sister Made Me Do It.  It starts on September 4th, so get your pincushions ready to strut their stuff!  I have threatened to make a new pincushion for this year's parade and I even have my idea formulated!

I have managed to do a little bit of stitching over the summer - for instance keeping up with my sewing obligations for the Inchy Hexagon Flower Swap.  Here are the hexies I made for Gail, my August swap partner.

And I finally blocked and hemmed the woven rag placemats that I made in a weaving course last fall.

And there have been some exciting times in our yard...

Aren't these guys cute!!  Here's a close up of the twins.

I passed my 10 year blogging anniversary in June and I have been meaning to do a giveaway to celebrate.  So stay tuned....

I hope you will join in some of the upcoming fun with Irene and Ida for the Pincushion Parade and with Cheryl for Friday Night with Friends.

Janet

Friday Night with Friends Report and Some Lovely Mail

I did not get anything done on Friday for Friday Night with Friends.  Friday nights after a week of work are hard, but I can usually rally myself to at least make a hexie flower.  But not last Friday.  I was tiiiirerd and I made dinner and went to bed.  But I did get a few things done earlier in the week.

A couple of hexie flowers for my July swap partner - Jane in the UK.  These were off to her in the mail on July 31st - squeaking under the wire!

And another hexie flower for my Grandmother's Flower Garden.  I was really obsessed with using the six pieces that make up the inner petals of the flower.  It turned out a bit odd looking but at least I have that obsession out of my brain now!

This weekend DD # 3 came out so I could help her sew.  She signed up to make a block for a baby quilt for a friend who is having a baby.  She has a sewing machine and says she wants to learn to sew, but pinning her down to actually do some sewing is often difficult.  And this block was to be made using fusible applique to make a picture - definitely not my favourite type of quilting.  But she got it done with her own design and a lot of instruction from me.  And it turned out quite cute!

We have had what for us is really hot weather for about a week now.  We have had lots of company with my granddaughter and her friend staying here for three nights of the week while they take their Bronze Medallion course, our friends from Nelson, B.C. visiting and of course DD # 3.  We have been enjoying getting out in the boat, splashing in the water and soaking up the sun!

And today I had a lovely surprise at the post office.  Quite a while ago I won a book from Raewyn at Stitching Farm Girl.  But it took her a while to get it in the mail and I had temporarily forgotten that it was coming.  But there in the mail today was a parcel pour moi!!

Along with the book Raewyn sent a lovely hand towel with an appliqued strip of Kowhai - a New Zealand flower.  The bird on the card is a fantail and the same bird appears on the pen.  Chocolate with plum and almond in it - yum!  And of course a quilting themed book for me to read. This was such a fantastic parcel to receive.  Thank-you so much Raewyn!

That's all for today.  I will be sure to check on at Cheryl's blog to see what everyone else got up to for Friday Night with Friends.

Janet