Tuesday, September 27, 2016

A surefire way to get quilting inspiration

Sometimes a girl just needs to buy some fabric!!

So I've been working on my version of our New Beginnings Block of the Month quilt all year, using a beautiful selection of batiks in white/cream, navy, turquoise/teal and orange/fucshia but this month I was having a little trouble getting inspired to make my block!!

I happened to be at Taylor Sewing Centre to drop off some quilt samples for the classes that I'm going to be teaching so I decided to see what new batiks had arrives.

I came home with a nice little selection that tied in beautifully with my other fabrics:



When I got home and added them to the fabrics that I've already been working with, I immediately wanted to get working on my October block!!


Nothing like some new fabric to get a girl inspired!!


Sunday, September 25, 2016

Stitching a cute little sunflower pincushion

52 Week UFO Challenge - Project #38

Sometimes the simplest things are the ones that never get done and this UFO project certainly falls into this category!! 



After finishing my "Woolen Sunflowers" table runner YEARS ago, I had one extra sunflower than I spray basted to a circle of black wool, intending to make it into a pincushion.

The little project lived in the bottom of my hand stitching project bag forever, but I have finally finished it! And it only took about 1 hour of hand stitching and some batting.

I think it's pretty cute! 




Tuesday, September 20, 2016

New block of the month pattern NOW available!!

Tweets & Twinkles BOM

Wow!! After months of work Nellie and I have FINALLY released our new Tweets & Twinkles block of the month program! It is available in stores and as of today on CRAFTSY!!!

Here it is:

The fun thing about our quilt is that you don't HAVE to start with block number one. Actually The Quilted Cardinal is starting with this block first - I wonder why :)



The Crow & Pumpkin block is also a great one to start with at this time of year!!


This quilt was so much fun to design and make!! We hope you enjoy it too!!

Saturday, September 3, 2016

Machine quilting my QUILTsocial Mystic Garden (Mountain View) quilt

In July on QUILTsocial I used some of Northcott's Mystic Garden fabric to make two different quilts. By the end of the week I had finished machine quilting the first quilt - a lap quilt that used large sections of the main Mystic Garden fabric with flying geese sections made three different ways.



For the second quilt top I used our Upper Canada Quiltworks' "Mountain View" pattern. and substituted the main Mystic Garden fabric in place of the panels.



 I found the PERFECT thread in my stash for quilting this quilt top. Vibrant purple, teal and lime green variegated King Tut thread!!


Here is my quilt loaded on the Gammill frame and ready to quilt!


I LOVE that striped fabric in the inner border and did one of my favourite loop-de-loop designs to quilt it.


Finding a nice design for quilting the flying geese is sometimes a challenge, so I experimented with this design:


Here is the finished quilt - all it needs now is the binding!



Thursday, September 1, 2016

September Block of the Month

New Beginnings Block of the Month


Wow - it's September already!! Back to School time AND back to quilting!!!

I've been busy working on my block of the month and have just added the September Block for our New Beginnings Block of the Month quilt to Craftsy!

September Block - now on Craftsy
 Here is my September block, using my selection of cream, navy, turquoise and orange batiks. I really love how all of the blocks are coming together and how they look when they are arranged on my design wall. I can't wait to get them all finished so that I can assemble them into my quilt.




Once we've posted all of the year's blocks we will post two different patterns for finishing the blocks into a quilt top. 

Check out Craftsy to see all of the blocks that have been posted so far and to download the free General Instructions.
General Instructions for New Beginnings Block of the Month


 Also look on our pattern store for the FREE bonus blocks that can be downloaded today!! We also have a large selection of other ePatterns to download - have a look!



Craftsy