Sewing!

Yup, I did some sewing this weekend.  Ten blocks for my colours quilt.  All the greens, yellows and light blue blocks are done.

Sorry the picture isn’t great.  I have eighteen blocks left to do, in orange, red, purple and dark blue.  I ran out of muslin.  Yes I am sewing these onto muslin.  I ordered backing fabric for this quilt and know exactly what I want to do for the back and the binding, but I’m not sure what to do for batting.  I don’t want the quilt to be too heavy.  I read on someone’s blog that they had made their quilt on muslin and it was heavy.  I have a roll of really thin batting which I use for wall hangings; I may use it in this quilt.

Last weekend I took a daytrip to Juneau, Alaska.  I went with my friend Kim on the Fjordland Express.  It was a fantastic trip.  The owner/operator, Glen, relays lots of information about geography, history, ecology, the animals and birds, and his own experiences.  Did you know that the Lynn Canal, where Skagway, Haines and Juneau, Alaska are situated, is the deepest fjord in North America?

I have lived in the Yukon for 35 years and sad to say my excursions into Alaska have so far been paltry.  This was my first trip to Juneau.  It was a grey and rainy day but the sea was calm.  We spent lots of time seeking out sea mammals and birds.  We saw Harbour Seals…

Stellar Sea Lions….

Hump Back Whales….

Porpoises… no picture, they are much too fast….

Hundreds of bald eagles…

We saw eleven bears, ten on the road trip to Skagway and one on the road into Juneau from our docking point.

There were three of these brown coloured cubs with a black bear mama.

We also saw a moose and porcupine, as well as numerous other birds but no pictures…

As well as the boat trip and a couple of hours in Juneau, we had a side trip to the Mendenhall Glacier just outside Juneau.

I didn’t realize it was such a wild hair day for me.  

If you ever take a trip to Alaska I would really recommend this tour.  You can turn it into a several day adventure if you want to stay overnight in Juneau and check out the gazillion touristy stores.  There is a quilt shop there too. 

Janet

An update on swap items

Since the two swap parcels have arrived at their homes I can show you what I made.  The first one was for the scissor keeper swap from last fall.  I got behind on this swap and my partner foolishly said “whenever you have time”.  Well I finally had to just say to myself “NOW” as there was always something else urgent that needed to be done.  Here is the scissor keeper I made for Kerry-Ann who lives in Texas.  You can see my recent sewing influence at work here.  My flower was inspired by Ann Weber's Flower Patch block in the latest Quiltmaker’s 100 Blocks magazine.

The other one was the Friends with Benefits swap.  I received this lovely sewing folder from Lyn in New Zealand.  What gorgeous embroidery!

And here’s what it looks like on the inside.

Lyn also sent a copy of New Zealand’s only quilt magazine.  Pretty quilt on the cover!

I sent Lyn a blue and yellow friendship sampler made in this quilt-along from Joanne at Thread Head.  Lyn had answered my Tag questions from this post so I knew that one day she wanted to make a quilt in blue and yellow, which are the colours of her province in New Zealand.  I also knew that her first attempt at quilting was a sampler quilt that she never finished.  So voila…

 

The finished size of this is about 11” by 7”.  It was challenging to make the tiny blocks and be precise.  I used Joanne’s suggestion to use YLI silk thread for the quilting and I really liked how it looks. 

I forgot in the last post to show all the “extras” that Leslie sent along with my name hanging.  Look at the lovely batiks and a whole lot of fat quarters of pirate fabrics plus a little strip of fireman fabric which I’m already using!

I did my first sewing today for the last few weeks.  I made two blocks for the 6 inch swap for May-June today and got them in the mail.  I am forcing myself to do some sewing as my doctor said I need to “make” myself do things.    My swap partner wanted any star blocks in blue and white.

Janet

Giveaway winners and some hot mail!

Hi all, sorry to be so long letting you all know who won the place mat panels.  The pirates went to

and the I Spy went to

Congratulations ladies!  The packages are in the mail.  And if anyone is wondering, the pirates are a Timeless Treasures fabric and the I Spy is from Quilting Treasures.

I need to start showing some of the wonderful things I’ve received in the mail lately.  Tonight I have these two lovelies to show. 

My Friends with Benefits swap was slow to arrive but worth the wait. Leslie of Les Quilts made me this gorgeous hanging.  In the centre, hand embroidered, is my blog name. You can’t see it too well in the photo but she has held back the yellow border with stitching in several places which make is look like a curtain has opened to reveal it. 

Then surrounding the centre panel are gorgeous batiks and wonky stars. And in the overall looping quilting she has stitched a J in each of the stars. 

And here is the back with a lovely label and more of the animal batik from the embroidery panel.

I love all the detail she has put into this.  Just gorgeous!

I also want to show you a gift from Leonie at Strandkorb-traum.  I admired this “fly cover” on her blog and she offered to send it to me.  What a sweetie!  It arrived with a nice letter, a postcard, some drink powders to add to soda water and some extra yarn so that I can add beads around the edges to help it stay snug on the bowl.  If you look closely you can see one green bead that she added on the edge to show me how they go.  I love the rosette in the middle!

And here it is on my favourite bowl which is also from Germany.

Thanks so much Leslie and Leonie!

I did do some sewing this week as I had to get my May hexies finished for Deb.  But I forgot to take a photo before I mailed them off.

Janet

Hi, it’s been a long time and a giveaway

I’ve been busy the last few weeks fighting with my nemesis, the big D.  Down in the dumps, digging for doomsday, in the depths of despair, with depression.  Darn and drat. But I’m on the uphill side of the dip in the road and hopefully on to happier things this week. 

I haven’t done any sewing for a couple of weeks.  I did finish two swap items prior to that, both of which were overdue.  But I haven’t heard that either of them have arrived so I won’t show them yet. 

I can show the third place mat I made at Easter.  It was for my DD#2’s boyfriend’s daughter and DD finally sent me a photo.  Isn’t it the cutest fabric!  And an I Spy all on it’s own. 

DD also sent a photo of the Grandmother’s Flower Garden quilt at its current stage.  It’s getting there!

DH has been working at the next town over – 35 minutes down the road and he has seen a bear or three everyday on the way to and from work.  I have a couple of pictures to show you.  This first one is a beautiful grizzly bear.  The colour in this photo is not that great but the head shot is. 

Here’s another with better colour.  Isn’t this bear gorgeous!

And look at these cuties… there are three of them so look up…

Our weather has been grey and cold up until the last two days.  I finally planted my garden.  It is late and who knows if I’ll get any food out of it, but maybe fall will be late.  I have potatoes, carrots, parsnips, Swiss chard, peas, lettuce, radishes and Joy Choy.  In the greenhouse there are some tomatoes and zucchini plants that were given to me.  I think I’ll plant some beans tomorrow. 

It was my intention to do a giveaway of the two place mat panels and now that I have a photo I am going to do that.  One panel like the I Spy one above and one pirate panel as pictured on this post.  This will be a quick turnaround giveaway – closing tomorrow at midnight Pacific time and I’ll post the winners on Tuesday.  Please just leave a comment if you want to enter.  Let me know which one you like and I’ll put your name in for that one, or if you like them both you can have your name in both draws.

I have some happy mail receipts to show so I’ll be back with them soon.

Janet

Friday Night Sew In Report

On Tuesday I had a knee arthroscopy.  The surgeon said six weeks recovery time and so far it is going well.  Day 1 I was in bed and only hobbling to the bathroom.  Day 2 I was up and hobbling around with a cane.  Day 3 more hobbling but exhausted.  Today the swelling is noticeably down and there is little pain.   Here is the gruesome photo.  Don’t look if you’re squeamish. 

The surgeon told me I had a “large meniscus tear”.  I am looking forward to being pain free as it has been almost constant for the last three months.  I want to get out and exercise and maybe even run again! 

Yesterday morning I sewed a little.  I put a round on the Mystery Round Robin block for May (can’t show…) and I made these two blocks for Billy for the April 6 inch block swap (only a little behind…)

And then exhaustion hit and I had to lie down on the couch.  Later in the day I thought “It’s Friday Night Sew In.  I must get up and do some sewing.”  I wanted to work on the quilting for my Friends with Benefits gift (which is a little bit more behind).  Because it is some fine work I wanted my reading glasses.  I looked for them for half an hour, thinking they must have fallen on the floor when I took them off to answer the phone in the morning.  I finally discovered them, in their case, and realized I actually hadn’t used them when sewing that morning! 

At that point I realized I was probably too tired to try and sew.  Instead I looked at Bloggers' Quilt Festival posts and viewed a lot of lovely quilts. I hope you have the time to browse them.

Janet

BLOGGERS’ QUILT FESTIVAL

 

http://amyscreativeside.com/2012/05/18/bloggers-quilt-festival-spring-2012/

There is so much excitement all over blogland about Amy's Bloggers’ Quilt Festival.  I was going to enter, then I wasn’t, and well, now here I am….

The quilt I am showing is “But Granma, Where’s the Quad?” made for my grandson last Christmas. 

Front…

And back….

I had lots of help from my friends in collecting all the fabrics for this quilt.  If you would like to know more about the details of the fabrics, size etc.  you can see them on my blog post here.

I’m off to check out all the other lovely quilts in the festival. Click on the link at the top of the page to check them out too.

Janet

Mail, mail, mail!

I’ve been promising to show some mail receipts for a few weeks, and the time keeps slipping by.  So here I am with a few goodies to show you. 

I am participating in a Bee organized by Victoria on her 15 Minutes Play blog.  The blocks incorporate "made" fabric.  April was my month and my blocks have been arriving one or two a week. 

Cathy’s block

Victoria’s block

Lauren’s block

Kathy’s block

Em’s block

Chris’ block

My block

I asked for the block to be made in any two contrasting colours – maker’s choice.  You can see that pink/red and blue/green have been popular choices so far. 

I’m still waiting for three blocks to arrive.  In the meantime I’ve been playing with layouts.  Any suggestions for a background colour?

What else have I received?  Alberta and I did a swap for 2 inch postage stamp blocks and along with 100 blocks – which I can’t show you because I added them into the pile before I remembered to take a photo – she sent this lovely mug caddy. It is cute, such a neat idea and her sewing is absolutely impeccable!  I have it loaded up with all my marking pens and pencils.

A couple of prizes from the St Patrick’s Day Blog Hop Giveaway arrived.  I received these three videos from Christine.

And this super cute pattern from Susan.

I showed you the three purple postcards I sent earlier.  Here are the fantastic ones I received from Karen, Wendy and Linda.

From Maggie, my February Inchy flowers.

And from Medora, my March Cathy’s Campfire blocks for the 6 inch block swap.  She sent me the scraps of leftover fabric and some embellishments too.  So sweet!

Lots of fabulous goodies!

Janet