Christine Baker - Fairfield Road Designs

Another New Pattern!!

2012-01-28T08:00:00.000-08:00

Here is the second new pattern that I am releasing this month - called "It's A

Spring Thing". Many thanks to my friend Liz Healy who came up with the winning name in my Facebook contest last month. She won a pattern of her choice from Fairfield Road Designs.

New pattern!!!

2012-01-24T07:37:00.000-08:00

Now that things have gotten back to "normal" around here, after Christmas and a wonderful vacation in Florida, I have finally had a chance to finish up a few new patterns. Here is the first one "Cornerstones". You only need one jelly roll or "Stone strips" set to make the centre and pieced border and two other fabrics for the inner border/binding and outer border. Many thanks to my friend Darlene Nelson for testing the pattern for me. I will be teaching this pattern at Taylor Sewing Centre on February 13 & March 5 9:30-12:30. Check out the class schedule at http://www.taylorsewing.com .

Create and Decorate

2012-01-22T07:47:00.000-08:00

Another one of my favourite magazines is Create and Decorate. I recently ordered a subscription and just love it when it appears in my mailbox!! It has quilting, punchneedle, wool applique (all of which I love) and lots more! And my "Clematis Vine Tablerunner " will be featured in an upcoming issue - I can't wait!!!

Primitive Quilts and Projects

2012-01-17T07:41:00.000-08:00

Here is the newest magazine that I have a subscription for:

For those of you who like primitive and country quilts, you will LOVE this magazine. There have only been two or three issues so far, but they have been beautiful. I can't wait for this spring issue to arrive in my mailbox. I will be eagerly awaiting the summer issue too as my quilt "Carson's Courtyard" will be featured!!!

Happy New Year!!!

2012-01-13T07:08:00.000-08:00

Wow- I can't believe that it is January again!!

Looking back to last January's posts I found my list of new year's resolutions: 1. Spend one day each month clean-sweeping a different room of my house.2. Spend time creating just for "fun".3. Read all of the "Quilting Arts" magazines that I bought from my friend Colleen (at our huge quilting garage sale) and try out some of the different techniques in them.4. Write a new book with Nellie.5. Take a yoga class.6. Keep up with this blog.7. Use my new AccuCut machine.8. Use my felting machine more often.

So, I didn't exactly do ALL of them (but who EVER does). I did clean sweep a few AREAS of my house, Nellie and I did do some fabric painting and wool dyeing, I "kinda" kept up with my blog and I DEFINITELY used my AccuQuilt machine, so I think I did OK.

I also took a FOUR month online pharmacy class, designed four new quilt patterns for Fairfield Road Designs that will be published this month (hopefully), Nellie and I designed quilt a few new patterns for Northcott, I started a Facebook page for Fairfield Road Designs and a profile on Craftsy AND I have patterns coming out in a bunch of magazines over the next few months so I think 2011 turned out pretty good!!!

This morning's view out of my front door.

Festive 2011 Issue

2011-11-28T21:11:00.000-08:00

My "Batik Beauty" bed quilt is featured in this month's issue of "A Needle Pulling Thread" magazine (that's it in the bottom left corner of the FRONT PAGE). Once again Carla and John have put together an amazing issue and have made my quilt look even better than it does in real life!! I spent a long time collecting fat quarters of batik fabrics before I had the courage to CUT any of it and this was my first project using some of them! I love the quilt so much, and would love to put it on my bed BUT I would just hate my DOGS to be sleeping on it! Check out this month's issue of A Needle Pulling Thread magazine - available now!

Free patterns from Fairfield Road Designs

2011-10-29T06:47:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow, October 30th, is the day of our facebook fan draw! One lucky winner will get FIVE FREE PATTERNS of their choice from Fairfield Road Designs. Please visit our facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/#!/FairfieldRoadDesigns and "like" us to have your name included in the draw. If we make it to 100 fans by tomorrow night, I will pick TWO LUCKY WINNERS. So tell your friends. Good Luck!!!

Free Pattern Download

2011-10-21T08:51:00.000-07:00

Check out the free pattern available to download called HAPPY HALLOWEEN on my website http://uppercanadaquiltworks.com/fairfieldroaddesigns/index.html

Cornerstones

2011-10-15T20:13:00.000-07:00

One of my new patterns (yet to be published) is called "Cornerstones". This pattern uses one Jelly Roll to make a lap sized quilt. I'm having trouble deciding which version I should use on the front cover of the pattern. These two versions use Stone Strips from Northcott, but I have made other versions using Bali Pops batiks - and they turned out BEAUTIFUL!!! Which of these two versions do YOU like???

Jewel Tones - Stones-3

Brights - Stones-4

Wow - where did the summer go???

2011-10-13T20:05:00.000-07:00

I can't believe that I last posted in JULY!!!! But I do have a good excuse. In addition to family vacations, kids home all summer and working, I have been taking an online pharmacy course from the University of Waterloo since August 3rd - it has been very intensive and just now I am feeling like my head is once again ABOVE water :) It goes until the middle of December, but I have been able to fit in a little quilting here and there. I have also been writing LOTS of patterns as I will have 2 projects in the Spring 2012 issue of A Needle Pulling Thread, one project in AP&Q "Quilts and More" next spring, one project in "Create and Decorate" in April 2012 and finally one project in the new magazine "Primitive Quilts and Projects". All of these projects are already made (thank heavens) but now the instructions need to be written. Wish me luck!!

Sunset on Coastguard Beach - Cape Cod - Our summer family vacation

Full Bloom

2011-07-20T13:05:00.000-07:00

Here is our new pattern called "Full Bloom" in which we used the Emma line of fabrics from Northcott. It uses two different blocks and the large flowers are done using fusible applique. Even though this design is only a wall hanging size, we think it would be lovely made as a large quilt too. The pattern is available in quilt shops or on our website:

http://uppercanadaquiltworks.com/uppercanadaquiltworkspublishingco/pages/patterns.html

Emma

2011-07-18T13:01:00.000-07:00

Here is another new line of fabrics from Northcott - called Emma. It is super cute and the colours are so fresh!!! We just LOVED the little birds and teal and chocolate brown are one of the colour combinations we really love. We just can't wait to get the fabrics!

Paisley Picnic

2011-07-16T12:57:00.000-07:00

Here is our new pattern design using the Pinfeathers fabrics from Northcott - we called it Paisley Picnic and the pattern has directions for both a table runner and table topper. The pattern will be available soon at your local quilt shop, or online from our website:

http://uppercanadaquiltworks.com/uppercanadaquiltworkspublishingco/pages/patterns.html

Pinfeathers

2011-07-14T12:52:00.000-07:00

You may have seen this fabric line in one of the latest quilting magazines - it is called Pinfeathers and it is just beautiful! Recently Nellie and I got to design with both it, and another line called Emma - both from Northcott. We can't wait for the fabrics to arrive so we can get sewing!!!

A Needle Pulling Thread

2011-07-13T13:11:00.000-07:00

Now that the mail strike is over, our mail is slowly trickling in. So today I was very happy to look in the mailbox to find the summer issue of A Needle Pulling Thread magazine. My

Scrappy Hearts quilt pattern can be found on page 14. For this quilt I used some of my favourite country colours in two alternating blocks with a wide border. In the border I appliqued hearts that I made using crazy quilting. I just love it and hope you will too!! Look for the summer issue in book stores and quilt shops NOW!!!A Needle Pulling Thread's website is: http://www.aneedlepullingthread.com/

Woolen Sunflowers

2011-07-12T12:45:00.000-07:00

This morning I finished writing the instructions for my Woolen Sunflowers tablerunner that is going to be in the April 2012 issue of Quilts and More by American Patchwork & Quilting. I'm so excited that I am going to have a project in that magazine!!! Can't wait to see it - I'd post pictures but I'm not allowed to until the issue is released!!! I've sent them pictures of a few other projects as well, so hopefully this is just the beginning....

Stone Circles

2011-05-30T18:05:00.000-07:00

I just loved using my new "Winding Ways" die that I wanted to design a project that I could teach in the fall. Here is what I came up with - I just love the look of the Stonehenge fabric and how you get the circle secondary designs! This pattern will be available soon at a quilt shop near you, or on my website http://www.fairfieldroaddesigns.com/ !!

Garden Path

2011-05-26T18:01:00.000-07:00

Here is our lastest pattern "Garden Path" designed using Northcott's "Mums the Word" line of fabrics. What do you think??? It will be soon be available at your local quilt shop or on our website - www.uppercanadaquiltworks.com !!

Mums the Word

2011-05-23T17:56:00.000-07:00

The latest fabric line we received from Northcott was their "Mums the Word" line. Here are a few of the fabrics in the line - as you can see they are just gorgeous!!!

My newest Accuquilt die

2011-05-21T17:51:00.000-07:00

I recently purchased a new die for my Accuquilt Studio cutter - the Winding Ways #2 die.I have always wanted to try curved piecing, but the idea of making templates, and cutting the shapes by hand turned me right off. So when I saw this die in the catalog, I wanted to give it a try. Each of the shapes has a small notch on the curved side to make pinning the blocks so easy and sewing them so accurate!! Here is my first block - I am so happy with the results!! I can't wait to make a quilt with it!!!

Fibre Friends Round Robin

2011-05-19T17:47:00.000-07:00

This year some of the members of our Fibre Friends group decided to participate in a Round Robin Challenge. We each created an 18" square quilt centre and each month we will pass that on to a new person, who will add whatever they want to it! After everyone has had each centre, we will get our quilt top back - ready to quilt!!!

Here is my creation - I can't wait to see what I get back!!!

More ten year olds...

2011-04-12T09:06:00.000-07:00

After my first pattern was published, I had many more ideas for quilts and decided to make them all similar in size so that I could have one nice display space and rotate the quilts to match the season - my "Changing Seasons" quilt series was born! Here are "Butterfly Spring" and the ever popular "Cold Weather Friends" which incidentally was designed on one of the hottest days in July AND remains one of my best selling patterns EVERY YEAR!!! They are both available for sale on my website http://www.fairfieldroaddesigns.com

Ten Years Old!!!

2011-04-08T08:55:00.000-07:00

My son, Carson's, birthday is coming up at the end of the month and he is going to be TEN YEARS OLD. And he isn't my only baby to be turning ten this year - my business, Fairfield Road Designs, was started ten years ago while I was on my maternity leave with Carson. Boy how time flies!!! Here is the first quilt that I designed and published as a pattern and it is called "Everlasting Harvest".

Baby Blocks

2011-04-05T08:51:00.000-07:00

Here is our newest pattern, designed with the "Teddy Bear Dreams" fabric line from Northcott. It is called "Baby Blocks" and is available now on our website!!!

Teddy Bear Dreams

2011-04-03T08:46:00.000-07:00

If you are looking for fabric to make something for a new baby you should check out the "Teddy Bear Dreams" line of fabrics from Northcott. The prints are too cute - I just LOVE the one with the rubber duckies all over it!!

New patterns have finally been added!!!!

2011-03-30T21:27:00.000-07:00

I have been a busy girl tonight! Our three new patterns, "Skating Party", "Snowed In" and "Sandstorm" are all now available on the Upper Canada Quiltworks Publishing website. Check them out at the following link:

http://www.uppercanadaquiltworks.com/uppercanadaquiltworkspublishingco/pages/patterns.html

Sandstorm

2011-03-29T19:42:00.000-07:00

Here is a picture of our newest pattern "Sandstorm" designed using Northcott's new fabric line "Stonehenge - Mother Earth Skins". The pattern will be available soon in quilt shops and on our website http://www.uppercanadaquiltworks.com/uppercanadaquiltworkspublishingco/index.html

Stonehenge - Mother Earth Skins

2011-03-26T19:38:00.000-07:00

Now, animal prints are not usually my thing, but I am super excited about the newest quilt pattern that Nellie and I have designed for Northcott - here is a sample of the fabrics that we used from their new line "Mother Earth Skins":

Top secret quilt

2011-02-28T21:56:00.000-08:00

One of the ladies in our quilt guild asked me to quilt her cross-stitched sampler quilt for her. She is planning to "unveil" it at our guild quilt show next year, so she asked me not to show anyone the quilt. But I am quite proud of the quilting I did for her, so here is the back of the quilt.

The front is mainly done in browns, but the backing she gave me was a teal blue. Not wanting any blue pokies to show through on the front, I decided to use brown in the bobbin - and I'm glad that I did because it REALLY shows off the quilting! Can't wait for everyone to see this quilt - it is AMAZING!! She must have spent thousands of hours doing the cross-stitched pieces.

Carson's Turtle Quilt

2011-02-28T21:46:00.000-08:00

One Saturday morning, I was in my studio loading a quilt onto my frame. Carson came in, was looking around and asked if I had a quilt that had turtles on it. I told him "No" and of course, the next natural question (from Carson) was "Can we make one today?". So I abandoned the quilt for the morning and we got busy! I showed him how to draw his design onto paper, then transfer it onto fusible web. He picked out the fabrics, then I ironed all the pieces for him. I cut and sewed on the borders for him, then he got to work cutting and organizing all of his "turtle parts". He used the AccuCut machine to make some flowers for the background.

I showed him how to use a Teflon sheet to assemble his turtles - then we were ready to adhere them to the quilt. We used fusible batting and some invisible thread to quilt/applique down the turtles - Carson did most of the quilting.

Then he finished quilting the background with some nice bright variegated thread and I sewed on the binding. Here is his finished quilt - as you can tell, he is quite proud of himself!!

Skating Party

2011-02-24T21:42:00.000-08:00

Here is the second pattern we designed with Northcott's Snow Day fabric - this one is called "Skating Party" and uses the panel as the centre of the quilt. We just LOVE this one too and will have it available on our website very soon. The fabrics will be available in quilt shops this spring/summer.

Snowed In

2011-02-24T21:38:00.000-08:00

One of the latest Northcott lines Nellie and I have designed with is "Snow Days". We liked this line of fabric SO much that we designed two different patterns. Here are a couple of the fabrics in the new line:

And here is our quilt pattern - "Snowed In". We are just in the midst of writing and printing the pattern. It will be available on our website very soon!

Mod Garden fabrics have arrived!!

2011-02-20T21:32:00.000-08:00

A couple weeks ago, we got a large box in the mail from Northcott - full of fabrics!! It contained both the Mod Garden line with with we designed our pattern "Flower Power" and the Jungle babies flannel line. I just couldn't wait to make something with the Mod Garden fabrics - and decided that it needed some wool applique too.

I got out my pink and green wools and all of the flower dies that I have for my AccuCut machine and GOT TO WORK! The only problem with the AccuCut machine is that it is SO easy to cut the shapes - I go a little overboard with the number...

BUT, I did manage to fit ALL of those flowers and leaves on my quilt - now I just have to stitch all of those down!

Nellie's Country Rose Garden

2011-02-16T21:28:00.000-08:00

Here is the second quilt that I quilted for Nellie - her version of our pattern "Country Rose Garden". I decided to do big flowers, leaves and swirls all over the top - I think

it turned out quite nice. That pattern is also now available on our website: http://www.uppercanadaquiltworks.com/uppercanadaquiltworkspublishingco/pages/patterns.html

Little Tricksters

2011-02-14T21:23:00.000-08:00

I told Nellie one day that I didn't have any quilts waiting to be quilted, so she gave me two quilt tops to do for her! This one is our "Little Tricksters" pattern - made with fabrics from Northcott. This fabric line is so cute - it's no wonder the quilt turned out fantastic! The pattern is available on our website: http://www.uppercanadaquiltworks.com/uppercanadaquiltworkspublishingco/pages/patterns.html.

Fibre Friends Quilt Exchange 2010

2011-02-10T21:00:00.000-08:00

On the second Friday of December, my quilting group (The Fibre Friends) got together at Dyane Dezainde's house, for our annual Christmas lunch and Quilt Exchange. We have been doing this for nine years now and as in every other year, the quilts were all so diverse and completely AMAZING!

Here is the quilt that I made for Trudy Bakker, using a Bali Pop (Jellyroll). It is an original design that I just may make into a pattern one of these days!

Here is the quilt that Nellie made for me!! I just LOVE IT!

My newest toy

2011-02-06T20:53:00.000-08:00

At the beginning of December, I bought my self a Christmas present. My friend Jean Boyd was selling her Accucut machine (and many dies) and wanted to know if I was interested in buying it. She had been using it to make pre-cut applique shapes (with fusible web on the back), but had decided that she was no longer going to be selling them. I wasn't sure if I would have any use for it until I asked if it would cut felted wool. Her answer was "It will cut just about anything". So I decided to take some wool over to Jean's house and try it out - after the first cut I was sold! Here is the first project I made using the star die and one of the circle dies. All of those stars and circles were cut in appoximately FIVE MINUTES!!!!

One month in...

2011-02-02T20:40:00.000-08:00

Well, so much for my list of resolutions!! Especially the one about keeping up with my blog! But now that I have downloaded the 400 pictures that were on my camera, I can finally post about some of my latest creative endeavours!

Here are a couple pictures from the Studio Tour in November - it seems so long ago! I was really pleased with my display this year - I had a little something for everyone. Some of the things that I didn't end up selling I have listed on my Etsy store - http://www.etsy.com/shop/fairfieldroaddesigns - check it out!

New Year's Resolutions

2010-12-29T22:00:00.000-08:00

I can't believe that Christmas is over and the New Year is only days away! The studio tour has come and gone and although it was fun, I am glad that is all finished. I have decided to not do the tour again, as it is a HUGE amount of work and there is HUGE time commitment involved. I've decided that I would rather devote that time to other ventures. Although I don't usually make a lot of New Year's resolutions, I do have a list of things I would like to do this coming year:

1. Spend one day each month clean-sweeping a different room of my house.
2. Spend time creating just for "fun".
3. Read all of the "Quilting Arts" magazines that I bought from my friend Colleen (at our huge quilting garage sale) and try out some of the different techniques in them.
4. Write a new book with Nellie.
5. Take a yoga class.
6. Keep up with this blog.
7. Use my new AccuCut machine.
8. Use my felting machine more often.

I'm sure there are other things I should work on as well, such as eating better, exercising more etc. etc., but I think my little list is a good place to start.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!

One more week!!

2010-11-20T13:13:00.000-08:00

I can't believe that the Studio Tour is only one week away!! I have so many things made, and have been working on it for so long, that I think I will be surprised by what I have accomplished when I go to set up in the middle of next week. I have finally finished quilting the four "Noel" wallhangings that I started making in the summer (while we were at the Sumler cottage), now I just have to sew on the binding and they will be reading to go. Here they are all lined up on my quilting frame.

If you have a chance either next weekend, or the first weekend in December, stop in to see me at Studio #7.

New UCQP patterns available online!!!

2010-11-18T13:07:00.000-08:00

The two newest patternds that Nellie and I have designed using Northcott fabrics are now available on the Upper Canada Quiltworks Publishing website.

"Country Rose Garden" and "Flower Power" are now both available for purchase on our website. Check out the "Patterns Page" for ordering information.

Funky Gift Bags

2010-11-16T15:16:00.000-08:00

Last year I bought this fun line of Laurel Burch Christmas fabric, but had no idea what to make with it. One day I was in my studio and decided to make the fat quarters into Christmas gift bags. I had co-ordinating fabrics that I used to make the ties. As I was looking through one of my cupboards, I found a bunch of Christmas felt cut-outs (reindeer, snowflakes and ornaments) that were just perfect to applique on each bag. They are all so cute and colourful, I think I will have to save a few for myself, but the rest are going to the Studio Tour.

Funky Stocking Kits Now Available!!

2010-11-14T12:58:00.000-08:00

I've finally had a bit of time to sit down and do some maintenance on our website. As a result, the kits for my "Funky Stocking" punchneedle project that is featured on the cover of the 2010 Festive issue of A Needle Pulling Thread magazine are FINALLY available online!! These kits include the Valdani 3-strand embroidery floss and weaver's cloth needed to complete the project as well as one of my "Fresh and Fun Punchneedle" books FREE!!!!
Check our my website for ordering information!

Stockings

2010-11-12T15:04:00.000-08:00

At our house everyone has a homemade stocking - even the two dogs and the cat!! So of course I wanted to make stockings for the studio tour. I had a bunch of leftover Jim Shore Christmas fabric (which I LOVE) so I found some co-ordinating fabrics and made the stocking bottoms using a quilt-as-you-go technique then added felted wool cuffs. There are green, blue and red ones and I think they turned out quite cute.

Bookmarks

2010-11-10T15:11:00.000-08:00

A few months ago I decided to make some bookmarks for the Studio Tour - I thought they might make nice gifts, especially to give along with a special book. I used "Fast 2 Fuse", fabric scraps, decorative stitches and fun ribbons - and my new "Crop-A-Dile" to set the eyelets. They were fun to make and I hope they will sell well.

Halloween 2010

2010-11-07T14:53:00.000-08:00

Since Carson was sick last Halloween, he didn't get to wear the AWESOME Ninja costume that I made him. Luckily (for me) he decided to wear it this year - and (luckily for me) it still fit. Aidan decided to not dress up. Instead he stayed in (where it was WARM) and handed out candy.

A very productive (and fun) day!!

2010-11-05T14:46:00.000-07:00

Today I spent the day in Morrisburg with the ladies at Nellie's Fall Quilt Retreat. Since I have had a few weekends away over the last couple months, I decided that I was not going to attend the quilt retreat this fall, BUT since I was off today Nellie invited me to come up to spend the day (I got to use my friend Trudy's table before she arrived late this afternoon). While I was there I worked on my ornaments for the Studio Tour. I started them last weekend, and have been working on them whenever I had a chance, but with 5 dedicated hours today, I managed to finish up 45 of them. Here is a sample of what I have been making. I have 25 more to finish (but I still have 3 weeks!).I hope the retreaters have a great weekend and get lots of quilts made!!!

Studio Tour - only 4 weeks away!!!!

2010-11-01T20:41:00.000-07:00

YIKES!! I can't believe that the "A Country Home Christmas Studio Tour" is only four weeks away! But I have been busy all year long (or so it seems) making things whenever I had a chance. So far I have tablerunners, stockings, some really cute bookmarks and a few new wallhangings that are either finished or well on the way to being finished. Now to get everything done!! Here is the website for Thousand Islands Arts studio tour : http://www.tiarts.org/tour_cc/index.php

Mod Garden fabric line

2010-10-29T20:37:00.000-07:00

Nellie and I have been doing some more designing for Northcott - one of their new Spring lines is called "Mod Garden". It is a fun line line with butterflies and paisleys done in hot pink, lime green and yellow. Here is the quilt that we designed - we are working on the pattern right now and will soon have it up on our website. Look for the pattern and fabrics at your local quilt shop!

Carson's Recycling Adventure

2010-10-25T20:22:00.000-07:00

While at school one day, Carson heard about recycling Kool-Aid pouches into tote bags. So, of course, we had to give it a try. It took a couple weeks to accumulate enough pouches (some of his classmates donated theirs too), but eventually we had enough to start sewing.

First of all, we sewed the packages together into strips, then sewed the strips into two big squares (my sewing machine had not idea what was happening to it - it has NEVER had to sew any material like THAT before). Then we added the sides, bottom and handles. Here is Carson modelling our creation - it is a strong bag that will be great for carrying books or heading to the beach!!!

Now we are saving up more pouches for another project - possibly a Hallowe'em costume for Pugsley (?). Or maybe just another bag!

OMG - I'm a COVER GIRL!!!!!!!!!

2010-10-24T16:46:00.001-07:00

OK - so it's not me on the cover, but it is my punchneedle project! Yes, my punchneedle project "Funky Stocking" graces the latest issue of "A Needle Pulling Thread" magazine (which was debuted at the CreativFestival this weekend). Needless to say I was SUPER EXCITED when Nellie and I arrived in the booth and I saw the new cover!! Nellie and I also have another project - our "Gingerbread Sampler" - in this issue as well. Subscribers will get their issues in the mail this week and then the magazine will be available in stores the next week.

Keepsake Quilting

2010-10-21T20:11:00.000-07:00

In July my family travelled to Lincoln, New Hampshire for our summer vacation. What a great place! Lots of things to do AND only 1 hour away from Keepsake Quilting. So one day I convinced the boys that I HAD to go there to do some shopping. Luckily there were other shops and an ice cream parlour nearby, so Mike took the boys for 1 whole hour and I got to shop. Here are some of my "treasures".

They package every sale up like a special treat!

If you love batiks (like me) you NEED to make the trip - I have NEVER seen so many batiks in one place!!

Little resin figures I couldn't resist.

Road Trip to Toronto...

2010-10-19T19:56:00.000-07:00

Actually, it will be a train trip, and my kids don't know about it yet, so don't tell them!!!
Nellie and I are heading to Toronto early Friday morning (like 7:07am early to be exact) to go to the CreativFestival! We will be doing demos in the "A Needle Pulling Thread" booth and signing autographs/doing demos in the "Garden Thyme Quilts" booth. We are staying just one night and then taking the late train home on Saturday night. I can't wait - it's always fun to get away and going somewhere "creative" is an extra bonus!!!

If you are going to the CreativFestival stop by one of those booths to visit us AND don't forget to pick up a copy of the Festive Issue of A Needle Pulling Thread - Nellie and I have a wool tablerunner project in it AND I have punchneedle project featured as well. See you there!

Country Rose Garden

2010-06-22T21:18:00.000-07:00

Here is the newest pattern from Upper Canada Quiltworks Publishing - Country Rose Garden. It uses Northcott's new line of flannel fabric called "Rosie Posie". http://www.northcott.net/?sid=2&layout=2col&content=fabric_details&colid=384&colorid=630

The fabrics will be available in quilt shops in August and the patterns will be available soon from your local quilt shop or online at http://www.uppercanadaquiltworks.com/uppercanadaquiltworkspublishingco/index.html

Economical quilting - waste not, want not

2010-06-19T21:05:00.000-07:00

When I had all of those tablerunners and other projects ready to quilt I loaded one backing fabric and large piece of batting onto my frame and quilted EVERYTHING onto them! I just sprayed the back of the small items with 505 spray and stuck them onto the batting. It worked just great. I managed to get two large wallhangings, five tablerunners and three other smaller pieces all onto the same backing - I hardly wasted a thing!

Here's Willow - right in the middle of things as usual!

More tablerunners

2010-06-17T21:03:00.000-07:00

Here are two more of the tablerunners that I made using up my leftover bits and pieces.

Using up my leftovers

2010-06-15T16:31:00.000-07:00

For a long time now, I have been cutting strips and 2 1/2", 3", and 4" squares from whatever small pieces of fabric I had left over from a project. I have little tubs that are marked with the sizes and I have almost filled each one - but I haven't been using them to make all those scrappy quilts I thought I would make. So when I finished making some bigger projects, I decided to make some tablerunners to use up the leftovers right away - instead of putting more squares into those boxes! Now I'm wondering what to do with them all. Here are the first two.

Hmmm.. I guess I didn't have it after all....

2010-06-13T20:55:00.000-07:00

Trying to put these punchneedle videos onto the web has proven to be much more time consuming and frustrating than I EVER thought possible!! YouTube uploaded three of the videos (after multiple tries) but for some reason #3 and #4 are just not working. So I tried to upload all of them on Flickr - nope. So then I tried putting them right on my website - nope again. So then i decided to take a break and print some of our new pattern "Country Rose Garden" and my laser printer stopped working. So then I decided to use the ink jet printer in the boys' room, and it ran out of ink. Tried to do some laundry and the washing machine stopped mid-load. Hmmm... do we see a trend??? So, I'm back to the beginning again and working on YouTube. PLEASE, PLEASE work!!!!

By George, I think I've got it!!!

2010-06-11T20:56:00.000-07:00

For the last three days I have been trying, in vain, to get my new punchneedle videos onto this blog. It has taken HOURS to upload the individual videos, I had to open a YouTube account to link my blog to, the Internet kept crashing, and in the end I had to upgrade my browser, but FINALLY (I think) it has worked.
You'll see the videos listed on the left side of the screen. There are five separate videos going through all of the steps. Watch them in order, but you can watch each of them as many times as you need to! Let me know if you like them and if you find them helpful!

My diamond quilt

2010-05-31T16:44:00.000-07:00

When I was at the quilt show in Ottawa last May, I bought an assortment of Japanese butterfly and dragonfly fabrics from Kallisti Quilts. I ended up having to buy more fabric for the border off of her website: http://www.kallistiquilts.com/ - she has a great selection - check it out.

I wanted to make a quilt using all of these fabrics together and came up with this diamond design - only problem was that when i finished piecing the top it WASN'T SQUARE - by A LOT!!! So, instead of crying, I mounted it on my frame and just kept tugging at the sides as I quilted it - it really is amazing how you can "Quilt it out". It's almost perfectly squared now!

Saying goodbye to a friend

2010-05-25T20:04:00.000-07:00

It's been a hard week in the Baker household. Our good friend Steve Armstrong passed away suddenly last week of an aneurysm - he would have been 45 last Friday. He and my husband Mike have been friends since grade 2 - over 37 years. I've been his friend since I met Mike - 20 years ago. He was an usher at our wedding, and gave the most hilarious toast to the bride EVER. We travelled to Cancun with him for a week's vacation a couple years after we got married, and when our area was hit with the big Ice Storm of 1998, Mike, our dog Casey and I moved in with Steve for 5 days as he had a gas furnace and therefore had heat AND hot water for showers. Steve never married, or had kids, so for the last 10 years or so we would only see him sporadically, but he could always make me laugh so hard that I would think my sides would burst. I just realized today that he is the first friend that I have ever had die. We've had lots of family members pass away and family members of friends, but he was the very first "friend" that we have lost - and I just can't believe that he is gone. Today was the visitation at the funeral home - i couldn't look at the open casket - I didn't want to remember him that way. I will remember him with these pictures and all of the funny things we all did together. Goodbye our friend - love Mike and Christine.

Winter Warm-Ups

2010-05-23T20:23:00.000-07:00

New pattern number two is finally ready and now available on my website.

"Winter Warm-Ups" features a snow globe, fuzzy mittens and a nice warm mug of hot chocolate. What fun it was to do applique with batiks! I'll be dipping into my stash again - SOON!

Sunny Days of Summer

2010-05-20T20:21:00.000-07:00

My newest pattern is FINALLY published and available on my website http://www.fairfieldroaddesigns.com/ .
Here it is... "Sunny Days of Summer".

Have a peek at the back...

2010-05-15T20:18:00.000-07:00

I was so impressed by the back of Cathy's quilt that I just HAD to take a picture of it. The fabric is actually light yellow with white polka-dots. This picture makes me want to make a whole cloth quilt. Maybe someday...

A Beautiful String Quilt

2010-05-12T20:12:00.000-07:00

My latest machine quilting involved this lovely quilt made by Cathy Wood. Although Cathy says it was "totally out of the box" for her, I think it turned out just beautifully. I used one of my favourite quilting designs - this great echoed flower design! The fabrics were just perfect for it.

Happy Birthday to Me!!!!!!!!

2010-05-10T20:15:00.000-07:00

Wow - how did that happen???????

Long haired boy

2010-05-08T20:08:00.000-07:00

Aidan has decided to not cut his hair - for awhile now. As you can see from this picture, he could be easily mistaken for a girl (and has had that happen a few times now). But I still love this picture - he looks so happy, a boy and his dog. Today is Willows 1st birthday! Happy Birthday Willow!

An anniversary too!

2010-05-07T20:06:00.000-07:00

Last Tuesday was also my Mom and Dad's 42nd anniversary. To celebrate both occasions we all went out for dinner. While there Mom presented Carson with his birthday present - a new quilt for his bed! He just loves it - and tells me so EVERY night when he crawls in under it. Thanks Grandma!

Happy Birthday Carson!!

2010-05-05T20:02:00.001-07:00

Carson's 9th birthday was last Tuesday. I can't believe that my "baby" is NINE YEARS OLD! But he was so happy with his presents and VERY excited that we had a huge SNOWSTORM on his birthday - that has NEVER happened before. It wasn't enough snow to cancel the buses, but it was exciting anyway.

FindAQuiltPattern.com

2010-04-17T08:55:00.000-07:00

My patterns are now listed on the FindAQuiltPattern.com website. On this site you can use the search engine to look through a HUGE array of patterns (300+).

Check out their "Button, Button Who has the buttons?" game which starts TODAY! Look for buttons that are hidden throughout the website to try to win prizes like patterns and books. here is the link:
http://www.findaquiltpattern.com/link.html

Costume Club fabric

2010-04-16T08:44:00.000-07:00

Here is our newest pattern "Little Tricksters" which uses Northcott's new line of Halloween fabric "Costume Club". As I type, I am printing patterns to send to Northcott - so look for them soon in a quilt shop near you!!! It will also be available on our website by going to this link: http://www.uppercanadaquiltworks.com/uppercanadaquiltworkspublishingco/pages/patterns.html

Spring has Sprung

2010-04-14T08:35:00.000-07:00

I can't believe that it has been a month since I last posted!! But, in my defense, I have been a little busy.

At the end of February I attended the Quilt retreat in Morrisburg that Nellie organizes. I didn't quilt though, I decided to SCRAPBOOK since I am way behind in my pictures - I got lots done and had a great time!!

For two weeks in March we headed down to Florida for our annual March break vacation. A few days visiting Mom and Dad in their new little house, a few days in rainy Cocoa Beach then a four day Carnival Cruise with our friends Lynn, Blake and Alexia. That was lots of fun - but we ate WAY too much!!! And now that Easter has come and gone, I think it is time to think about more exercise and less food!!!

Favourite Haunts

2010-03-02T21:30:00.000-08:00

Back in the summer, Patti Carey at Northcott Fabrics sent us some digital images of their next Halloween fabric lines and asked us to design a couple quilts for them. This week they called to say that one of the fabric lines will be arriving soon and to start publishing the pattern. This is our newest pattern and it is called "Favourite Haunts". It will be available in Quilt shops and on our website http://www.uppercanadaquiltworks.com/uppercanadaquiltworkspublishingco/index.html soon!

Sherwood Park Manor's Butterfly Quilt - All DONE!

2010-02-28T21:22:00.000-08:00

I finally finished quilting the Sherwood park Manor quilt, and took it to my last guild meeting for Show and Tell. Here is a picture of the quilt with some of the members who helped to make butterlfy blocks.

Here is a close-up of the quilt (with Pugsley in front) and a couple of the blocks to show the quilting on the different butterflies. I handed the quilt over to the Manor a couple days later - everyone was very pleased with the end result!

Quilt #4

2010-02-26T21:18:00.000-08:00

Last Sunday, since we didn't get to go to Toronto and Mike was sick on the couch all day, I managed to quilt this big star quilt for Elizabethann. She made it following a pattern in one of the Fons and Porter magazines and it is a birthday present for her grandson. I had fun doing this one as there were lots of big areas to fill in using different motifs - I think it turned out quite nice!

Quilt #3

2010-02-23T21:14:00.000-08:00

Later that week, when I was home with Aidan all day when he was sick, I managed to quilt this doozy for Donna at Taylor's - another shop sample, but this one was HUGE - 98" x 88"! I told Donna that she should try to make smaller shop samples!! It is made using Northcott fabrics. The reason it only took one day to quilt is that Donna just wanted a large meander across the whole quilt top - it took no time at all!

Quilt #2

2010-02-21T21:11:00.000-08:00

The second quilt I did that afternoon was this shop sample for Taylor Sewing Centre. All I did was a daisy chain down each row, which made the quilting go super fast!! Donna was very happy with and super surprised that it was done so fast!

Busy, busy week

2010-02-19T21:06:00.000-08:00

Last week my family came down with the Norwalk virus (I think) and it ran through us like a grass fire!! Carson started on Tuesday, I got it Thursday, Aidan Friday and then finally Mike on Saturday morning. As a result I had many sleepless nights, called in sick to work for one day and we had to cancel a weekend trip to Toronto. On the upside, I was housebound for many, many days and as a result got lots of quilting done. I made this first quilt in one day the week before using a Jelly Roll. I quilted it on Monday afternoon after teaching the machine quilting class at Taylor Sewing Centre. I did a pantograph across the whole top, so it went super quick! Then I went on to quilt another top that afternoon as well!!!

Lynn's Birthday Present

2010-02-16T21:01:00.000-08:00

My best friend Lynn, who lives too far away in Oakville (OK - it's only 4 hours away, but that is still TOO FAR), had a big birthday on Saturday. We have known each other since we met in Grade 9 - 24 years ago!!! Here is the surprise present that arrived on her doorstep on Friday. I made it using all of the left-over fabrics from Linda's Fibre Friends quilt. I just started sewing all of the left over triangles together and kept going until I had enough for each border. Lynn was very surprised AND she LOVED IT!!! Happy birthday Lynn!

Happy Valentine's Day & YAY CANADA!!!!

2010-02-14T20:57:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentine's Day to everyone (here is our Valentine's Day cookie that we made tonight - we've already started eating it), and congratulations to Alexandre Bilodeau for winning our first ever Gold Medal on Canadian soil!!! How exciting!!!!

Nellie's Christmas Present

2010-02-04T08:02:00.000-08:00

Over the holidays Nellie and I rarely see each other as we are both so busy with our families. We decided this year to not BUY each other a Christmas present - if we wanted to exchange presents they had to make them. After he studio tour was over Nellie presented me with a BEAUTIFUL Rumbleford Bag that she had made. A few weeks after Christmas I was FINALLY able to give her the present that I made for her. I used her

"Angels Don't Have to be Perfect" pattern and did a punchneedle piece of one of the angels. I then framed it with a orange leather frame that I had had for years.

Sherwood Park Manor's Butterfly Quilt

2010-01-30T07:57:00.000-08:00

As part of my responsibilities at work, I am the consultant pharmacist for two of the nursing homes that we service. At Sherwood Park Manor, I sit on the Palliative Care committee. A couple months ago, the committee members asked if I would be able to design a quilt for them. They wanted a quilt to place over the bodies of residents who have passed away when they are being wheeled out of the home by the funeral home staff. Since the symbol of the committee is the butterfly, I designed a quilt using several different butterfly blocks from EQ6. I made up 20 kits and miraculously found people to applique 19 of them!! The blocks have finally all been returned and I am now in the process of piecing the quilt top. We hope to have it all done by Valentine's Day!

More Fibre Friends quilts...

2010-01-20T07:54:00.000-08:00

After all the quilts were unwrapped, everyone snuggled up under their new quilt for our group

photos.

More Fibre Friends quilts...

2010-01-17T07:52:00.000-08:00

And even more...

It turned out that the quilt I quilted for Marilee was for Trudy - she just loved it!

More Fibre Friends quilts...

2010-01-15T07:50:00.000-08:00

Here are more pictures from our exchange.

The BIG day!!

2010-01-13T07:48:00.000-08:00

Our Fibre Friends lunch was held at Dyane's house - her husband Rene was the cook - and it was delicious!! Here are some pictures from the big day.

Now to quilt MY QUILT!!!!

2010-01-11T07:41:00.000-08:00

I finished Marilee's quilt and then moved on to the quilt I was to give to my friend Linda Potter. Linda had put some interesting fabrics into her brown bag last February - so interesting that I really had trouble figuring out what to do with them. After much deliberation, I decided that doing a simple block would be best - then I could just "quilt the heck out of it".

This is my FAVOURITE quilt design that I have done so far - I lust loved those feathers!!!

Here is the final product - modelled by Aidan. And I got it done TWO WHOLE DAYS BEFORE OUR EXCHANGE!!!

Now back to Machine Quilting

2010-01-09T07:38:00.000-08:00

I had a quilt top to quilt for my friend Marilee and when the studio tour finished I finally got around to doing it. I knew it was for our Fibre Friends exchange but I didn't know who the recipient would be. I just LOVE these fabrics!

Pictures from the Studio Tour

2010-01-07T07:33:00.000-08:00

Here are some pictures from the studio tour that Nellie and I participated in last month. As you can see the venue was perfect for our quits!

What a cute Christmas tree.

The table was filled with goodies.

Happy Belated New Year!!!!

2010-01-05T06:48:00.000-08:00

WOW - where did that month/year/decade go?????

The studio tour was a great success and it was so much fun sharing our space with Linda Hart the jewelry designer - we did do (just a little) shopping on her side of the building!! My agenda covers sold out and many of my punchneedle pieces went fast. All of the ornaments I made were gone by the end of the tour - the tree looked very bare the second Sunday! All in all we had a great time. Thanks to all of our friends who came to visit.

Our Fibre Friends quilt exchange was GREAT!!! I have lots of pictures and will post some in a couple days.

Christmas and New Year's were busy as always, so now I am enjoying a little down time and the return to a normal schedule. Now we are counting down the days until our Florida vacation!

Two weeks to go!

2009-11-13T07:03:00.000-08:00

The countdown is ON. The studio tour starts two weeks from tomorrow, so the clock is definately ticking. I feel like I'm almost ready though. I made 14 pillowcases last week, and a bunch of ornaments this week. Everything is priced and packed, so if i have time to make more things great - if not, it's not a problem. Hopefully Nellie and I can get into the building next week to start putting up tables and display racks. That will make set-up day much easier. Check out the brochure for the studio tour at:
http://www.tiarts.org/tour_cc/index.php
We are at studio #8.
Hope some of you will be able to visit!

Make-up bags!!

2009-11-05T08:08:00.000-08:00

I still have lots of batik scraps left over, so now I am making make-up bags. I think they will be a nice addition to the Studio Tour line up! I think I will make more in other scraps as well. My friends and I all LOVE batiks, but there may be people out there who don't. I hope I have enough room to display everything!

The Purse Quilt

2009-11-02T07:59:00.000-08:00

After Nellie and I had finsihed making all of the quilts for Camelot Fabrics in the spring, we had LOTS of the Lulu fabric left over. I REALLY wanted to make a purse wallhanging using those fabrics, so while I was in Florida last March I stitched up this wallhanging. I just now finished quilting and binding it.

I went to a garage sale in the summer and bought some fancy rhinestone broaches to use as embellishment.

I really love the way it turned out, but I'm not too sure what to do with it. It doesn't fit anywhere in my house and I don't know if I want to make a pattern out of it. Perhaps I'll sell it at the Studio Tour.

Winter Wonderland

2009-10-30T07:56:00.000-07:00

Here is the third batik fusible applique wallhanging I designed over the summer. I just LOVE the snowman batik fabric in the corners of the outer border - I actually bought that one in Florida a few years ago!! Now I have LOTS of work ahead of me getting all of these new patterns onto PAPER!

The agenda covers are done!

2009-10-28T07:53:00.000-07:00

I figured out how to do the agenda covers pillowcase-turned so that I wouldn't need binding on them - they turned out GREAT!! I ended up making 14 - I'll need to go buy more agendas.

Summer Fun

2009-10-25T07:51:00.000-07:00

Here is the second of my new wallhangings - another batik fusible applique quilt. I LOVE batiks and have a big stash of them in my studio and I have FINALLY worked up the nerve to cut into them - I just love the finished result. I'll let you know when the pattern is done!

Coffee Time

2009-10-22T07:29:00.000-07:00

Over the summer I designed four new wallhangings and did lots of hand stitching. This fall I have been working on quilting these tops and I just finished putting the binding on #1 - Coffee Time. I bought the coffee cup batik fabric at Taylor Sewing Centre in the spring and I just HAD to do something with it! So I found more brown and turquoise batiks and VOILA! Now I just need to get to work writing the pattern!

Next on the to-do list....

2009-10-19T07:24:00.000-07:00

Now that the paper, cutters, adhesive and photos have been put away, I have cleaned off my cutting table and I'm ready to sew. Now I am working on quilted agenda covers! I made a quilted cover for my day-timer/agenda a few years ago (using Laurel Burch fabric) and EVERYWHERE I go people comment on it. So I decided to get a few of the purse size agendas and try to make covers for them for the studio tour. I don't want to put binding on them at the end (takes WAY too much time), so I'm trying to figure out how to assemble them without binding. I'm going to use some of my batik scraps left over from other projects. I think they'll look really cute when they're finished.

The gift tags are DONE!

2009-10-17T07:18:00.000-07:00

I ended up making a total of 480 gifts tags! I sorted them into two groups - Christmas and Everyday and then made up packages of ten. I ended up with 24 Christmas packages and 24 Everyday packages. They are really cute and I'm very pleased with how they turned out. My Creative Memories tag maker and my Making Memories Slice cutter REALLY came in handy!! Check out www.whyslice.com to see the Slice in action. My family gave it to me for Christmas last year and it is so neat - I just love it!

Happy Belated Thanksgiving!

2009-10-15T07:13:00.000-07:00

Happy belated Thanksgiving to all of my friends in Canada, and to my friend Christa in Colorado!!
We spent Thanksgiving day morning stacking firewood! Then, as a reward, I took the boys and the dogs to the Mac Johnston conservation area to meet our friends, the Hazlitts, for a walk. Since Beth has two boys the same age as my boys, we have lots of fun when we get together. Her oldest daughter Chanice came along too, as well as their dog, Winnie. With four boys and three dogs along for our "walk", we didn't take long to complete the trail - we decided that it was more of a RUN through the trail. But it was fun and the trees were in full colour so it was a really beautiful way to spend the afternoon.