I think he likes it!

I think he likes it!

More work on my Dutch Cathedral windows...


I think I will make a decorative pillow out of it. I bought the blue background fabric when I was in Holland. It is the fabric they would use to make the traditional costumes that they wore. I bought it at the Zuiderzee Museum; it is an outdoor museum like a pioneer village, where there are demonstrations done by people in period costume.

Andrew's Scrappy Bargello done!

Yay! My brother's Christmas present is done, with a couple of weeks to spare! I am pretty happy the way it turned out. I decided to just do straight line criss cross machine quilting...(does this have a name?). Many thanks to Jacquie at Tall Grass Prairie Studio for her advice and to Bonnie at Quiltville for the free pattern!

And whenever I have time I have been handquilting my BIQR floor scrap quilt. I designed this celtic knot but I am not big on marking my quilts, I usually eyeball it.

But with this pattern I can't even draw it on paper without making a bit of a mess of it and it turns out all uneven. So I came up with making templates of the inner shapes and handquilting around them and then just eyeballing the rest.

Unfortunately, I should have spaced them farther apart, so that my double lines don't get too narrow, and I also had to take care that they looked like they were inter weaving.

Making progress!

Andrew's Scrappy Bargello top is done! Just need to make the back and sandwich it, missed his birthday, though,... for sure for Christmas!



I finally made a label for Black Cats Staring:

Remember my iron fist comic inspiration? Well I didn't like how it turned out so I cut it up and am making postcards out of them. Here is "Cat in a Box" and "3 Cat Tails":

My Robyn Pandolph folk art applique quilt is done!

Liberated Quiltmaking and Hup Holland!

First just letting everyone know that Tonya at LazyGalQuilting is doing an online poll on who wants to pre-order a second printing of Gwen Marston's Liberated Quiltmaking book. The publisher is trying to find out what kind of interest is out there for reprinting this book. Visit Tonya's blog today and vote today!

Next topic: Hup! Hup! Holland!

Holland wins again, this time against France! Below is my experiment of hexagonal piecing in Dutch Oranje fabric. I've hung it in my door window for the Euro cup. It's not finished, though.


This is just a photo of a wild flower I found growing in my garden. I've never seen this flower before and I am unsure how it got there. According to my Audobon's Guide to North American Wildflowers it would appear to be Yellow Goatsbeard or the closely related Meadow Salsify. Goatsbeard sounds more interesting to me.


More scrappy bargello progress, all the strips are cut, they just have to be sewn together. I have enough scraps to make a 5th panel...I will see how big this is when sewn together before I decide to make a 5th panel.

Scrappy Progress

Making progress on the scrappy bargello! But will be busy in the next few days, guild executive meeting, D&D day at the store and just work in general, I tire thinking of it all...

My brother bought a house!

My brother just bought a house and we're all pretty happy for him. He's 40 something and it's about time he settled down! Now it might not be the house we would have picked for ourselves but I think it suits him. It's a small bungalow, with a decent sized property that backs on the river and a park. It has a large detached garage/workshop, one of the things that makes it perfect for him. He's very talented and designed a lot of the fixtures we have in our store. So it's great he will have his own permanent workspace. The former owner was a mechanic and the place was filled with cars and car junk! I'll spare you those before photos! The former owner had until the end of May to clear out the garbage! As of yesterday, the vehicles were gone an the garage cleared, but still there was quite a bit of junk on the property; he is supposed to get the junk removal people in today to clear the last of it! Cross your fingers!


Above is a photo of a steel rail from a railroad, that is actually one of the beams in the ceiling of the basement in his house! There are 2 or 3 of these rails in the house used as beams. We find this ironic, since my brother is an avid model railroader, so another reason that this is his "perfect" house. :P


My brother is a notorious collector of speakers and stereos. Above, a turntable or some call it a record player....these predate CD's for you young folk(hehehe), he buys them from garage sales, Goodwill, auctions, and yes he will even pick them from garbage. Amazing what people will throw out that still work!

Anyway, what has this got to do with quilting? well of course I must make him a quilt for his new home. I originally thought I would make a psychedelic quilt based on his favourite TV show The Prisoner, going as far as designing 13 different versions on my EQ5! but then I rediscovered Bonnie's website and was admiring all her scrappy quilts, and thinking I really should have a go at that Scrappy Bargello quilt....but do I really have enough scraps? It turns out I do! I call them "scraps in waiting".

Bonnie says even your ugliest fabric looks great in this quilt....I don't usually make scrappy quilts, so Bonnie, I am putting my trust in you! I dug down deep into my stash to find stuff I've never used, haven't used in 10 years and stuff other people have given me that I didn't know what to do with. I've reacquainted myself with my Debbie Mumm, Thimbleberries and even some pieces of old clothing. So, now I am thinking a scrappy quilt, is perfect for my brother the recycler! And so it begins....stay tuned!