Superquilt!

I found this on Joe the Quilter's blog, I think you might enjoy. It is the unveiling of Margaret Fabrizio's 26th quilt called Superquilt. She decided she would video log (vlog) the process of making her quilt and made 32 vlogs which she turned into a dvd of the whole process! Here's a link to the first one and a link to the index of the rest.

9 Lives

There it is, the top is fused! I stayed up to midnight on Thursday working on it, I was a bit obsessed, and then I finished ironing it up Friday. I didn't have any good quantity of black, that is actually a navy blue with a black print on top, and the cats are also a blue with a black print, just a slight shade lighter. I know it might not show up that way in the photo. I think you have to be 12 inches away to see the print at all; it is that dark. I added some more birds, giving it a bit of an Alfred Hitchcock feel, also the birds flying are like in the movies when a gunshot is heard but all they show is the birds flying away.

I like the quickness of using the heat and bond, but now I hate the next part, machine stitching it all down.

New Comic Day!

Wednesday is new comic day at work. Every Wednesday the new comics come in and I have unpack them and input them into the computer, put them aside for the holds etc. It's kind of like X-mas, opening presents every week. It's one of the fun parts of the job. Every once in a while a cover of a book makes me stop and look at it. This time it was 100 Bullets #92. Wow ! I loved the colours: red, black, white, with a little bit of beige. I love the silhouette of the tree showing the branches and the roots. Oh I said I could make this one into a wallhanging! We'll just ignore the fact that the red is supposed to be blood and those are skulls buried under the trees and they are executing someone. OK that is a bit macabre and gross! but still I like it, who is the artist? Johnson, Dave Johnson, that seems familiar.....it's the same artist who did the cover to the Spectre cover I liked which I turned into this.

So I did some sketching and hunting through my stash. First I look at the cover and decide on the ratio of colour, then I jot down some notes: stuff I liked, first impressions, etc. That's when I thought of my other Cat and Mouse piece. I could incorporate a cat and mouse theme again so I am not completely copying his work.


So my gangsters are now cats, and mice and birds are their prey.


Now to think of a clever name....the original is 100 Bullets...hmm 100 cats, no, Oh I know! 9 Lives!

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!

Four totes in 2 days!

I was sorting through a pile of cross stitch projects that I never got framed or used for anything. Most of them date from 1997 or 98. I came across this one with a lady knitting on it and thought it would be nice to make a tote bag for my Tante Janny from Holland, who was visiting my parents.

Then I came across another one I thought my friend Christine would like and her birthday was coming up, too! Perfect! Another one done! I thought the butterfly would get lost in the busy-ness of the fabric so I framed it in black, which echoes the pattern of the fabric anyway. I also put a fabric behind the stitching so it wouldn't get torn away on the inside of the tote.


And then there is this Debbie Mumm sunflower garden angel, the kit came with the red birdhouse fabric. The cross stitch piece is actually sewn onto the red fabric. The yellow fabric is from a set of drapes I bought from Ikea that I didn't really like when I got it home. It is quite sturdy, so it's great for a tote bag.

Last but not least, is one made from a Godzilla t-shirt my hubby had. I was going to use it for his t-shirt quilt, but I had 7 t-shirts and it is easier to make a quilt out of 6 squares, so that one got rejected. I had it all cut out and ready to go, too. Eventually, I had bought this black denim, always intending to make a tote out of it, but me and the washing machine had a fight over this denim. I was so ticked off how ragged it was when it came out of the wash, that I just folded it and put it away. But I was in the tote making mood this weekend, and I got a brilliant idea of putting in the red trim around it. I think it looks fabulous!

LFQGuild Challenge 2008

Well, we finally had our Guild Challenge Meeting. We had 36 entries (3 of which were mine and I know Christine submitted 2) out of 126 members. It seemed like a fair amount. What is the participation rate for challenges at your guild, or does it just depend on the type of challenge? You can watch the slideshow here and you can see the winners here.

Here is my first piece I entered. Keep in mind I only used fabric from my stash and the Challenge fabric. This one is called Blowing Bubbles. That is supposed to be a Blue Whale blowing bubbles from his blow hole. I had an idea that I wanted the fish to be inside bubbles using the reverse applique method. This piece also uses fusible applique and freezer paper-needle turn applique.


The second piece is called Heads or Tails. I tried the facing the piece instead of using binding. This will be a gift to my friends in Michigan, after I show it in our Guild Show in October.


The third piece is called 2 Lost Souls, after the song How I Wish You Were Here by Roger Waters of Pink Floyd..."We are just 2 lost souls swimming in a fish bowl, year after year..." That is such a moving song!


I've also managed to finally finish my Amy Butler quilt, from fabric I bought a year ago at the Kitchener-Waterloo show. My working title has been Rob and Amy Go on a Picnic. The quilt contains Amy Butler and Robert Kaufman fabrics. Now I am just calling it Picnic for short. All though I am not really firm on the name :)

Happy Mother's Day, Mom!

I just wanted to wish my mom a happy mother's day! My mom doesn't make quilts, but she did sew a lot of our clothes when we were kids. I can appreciate all the work that went into it now, but I don't think I appreciated it then, when I had to wear matching clothes with my brother who is 2 years younger than myself. In the collage below the first photo in top left corner...we look like twins, we even had the same haircut! (am I on the right or the left?) LOL!

I also wanted to share some line drawings my mom has made. She and a friend took an art course together and ever since then she has been making these wonderful drawings of houses and buildings. The first is of my house, the second of her father's home in Nigtevecht, Holland, and the third of a maple syrup farm in Ontario.

Round Robin

I added the vines at the sides and introduced some green leaves into the piece. Christine is upset with me because she hasn't started her round yet, but I don't have 4 kids, so I wasn't expecting hers to be done...my free time is much more predictable than hers.

We went to a quilt show in St. Mary's. It was a nice outing and I picked up a few things I needed in order to finish off a few more UFO's. The weather has been fantastic, almost summer. Temperature has been in the low 20's Celcius, that's in the 70's Fahrenheit. We have hardly had any rain this spring so my early spring plants are struggling...although they have been threatening snow on wednesday! ha!...I'll bet we will have a wet May to make up for the warm dry April we have had.

My New Header!

Do you like my new header? I am thinking it may be a little big. I used an old photo that I cropped a bit; it was from the old camera and it is a little fuzzy, I think. I may experiment and take a new photo that is a little clearer. But still doesn't Our Man Spike look great up there? I am happy to report, almost 21 years of age and he's still alive! Go Spike!

I am feeling kind of Dutch today!

Here are this month's postcards I made out of my Dutch fabric. One is going to the guild swap and one is going to my cousin in Holland! Hopefully she will receive it before she reads this post!


More playing with my Dutch fabrics. I made this Shadow and Light mini block, but how shall I frame it?


And here is my round robin returned from Christine! She hasn't finished the centres of the poppies yet, but no worries.


Also check out my friend's new blog: The Cozy Quilter, that I 've added to my blog roll.

Delft Baskets

I have been playing around with my favourite Dutch fabrics. I have been making so many unusual wall hangings for the Guild challenge, that I had the urge to go back to something traditional. I've never made a basket block before. I got the idea from a Gwen Marston book I found at City Lights a used book store, Twenty Little Amish Quilts (1993). I had a heck of a time, though, there was something off in the measurements and I had to cut down all my centre squares a half an inch. The instructions said add 1/4 inch seam to template, but by doing so it made the centre square too big for the little squares. weird. But these things don't phase me anymore and a trim here or there is no big deal, I added sashing where there wasn't any, and anyway this is the result, Delft Baskets, I call it:


Spring has finally arrived. I know this because I refuse to wear gloves and my boots anymore, and of course the Thames river has flooded because of rain and snow melt. This photo shows the park behind the HMCS Prevost. As you can see the bicycle path has been completely flooded up to the base of the hill.

I like to use this sewer pipe as a guide to river depth. The first photo shows one of the lowest depth of the river, this was January.


This was March 31st:

This was April 1st:


So what is that 10 feet, maybe more? egads! They say this is the highest it's been since 1977.(I have since found out it rose 13 feet!)

Why my lights will be on

I don't usually use this space to rant about politics or religion, but this one takes the cake! Earth Hour. We are encourage to turn off our lights for one hour today to symbolize our fight to save the climate/earth/environment/electricity, whatever.

It's like having a pep rally, but there is no game! The world is not ending! We are not killing the planet. The"climate" does not have to be saved. (I actually received an email from someone that said "we have to save the climate"....how do you save climate? in a bottle? Who says the climate we have today is the one we have to have in a hundred years, anyway?)

Environmentalism is the new secular religion. They say that many people do not go to church anymore, this is their substitute. People seem to need something to believe in, so if it is not God, now it is the Earth. They worship it, they make laws about it, you cannot have dissenting views about it, they indoctrinate children in schools, make them write essays, make posters, come up with slogans.

I am happy I live in a world of electricity, I like my light bulbs, my furnace, my air conditioner, modern medicine, flush toilets, refrigerators, sewing machines, they make my life easier, I will live longer than my ancestors. I believe progress is better than the alternative. I choose light over dark. These are my slogans: I choose ideas over stagnation. Enlightment over endarkenment. Go to the Light. Do not choose the Dark side.

People often talk about light pollution, that you can't see the stars when you live in the city. That is true, but look at the satellite image of the world at night. Look where there is no light. North Korea, China, Africa. It is not because they are kinder to the environment it is because they are oppressed, they do not have freedom, they do not have progress or the environment is too harsh for humans. Turning the lights off to me symbolizes oppression and that is not what I want to emulate!

And you know what I think is sad... there will probably be more people willing to turn off their lights for 1 hour than there are who are willing to take a minute of silence for those who gave their lives for our freedoms on Remembrance Day...that is sad.

Walk to the Park

What a cold, gray day in March. Hubby and I took a walk around downtown and through Harris Park. I took my camera, but as you can see it was all grays, whites and browns. Here's hubby under the sycamore tree. I like these trees, they have neat bark, it peels off easily. There are not very many in London that I know about.


Here is some more neat bark. These trees by the river must be so very old, they are huge!

This log had no bark! It must have washed up on the shore when the river flooded and then stayed behind when the river dropped again. It was so white almost as if it had been painted!


And here is the view with the old and spent black eyed susans peeking out of the snow. The silvery brush is russian sage, I believe.


They redid the banks of the river 2 years ago with perennials, and last year it looked quite marvelous! Here is a photo from last August to remind us what colour looks like! It's almost the same view, just a little closer to the bridge.

another view in the opposite direction...sigh, green vegetation, bright sunny flowers...soon, soon...

Table Topper for CQA

Last weekend Barb from Babs 'n Jas Designs held a free table topper workshop for our guild. The CQA has asked for donations of table toppers for the up coming Quilt Canada in St. John's, Newfoundland. 2o of us spent National Quilt Day making these:



I also managed another block for my super heroes project. Instead of a symbol I tried a mask. Here is Ironman:

Woohoo! I Was Published!

This was the highlight of February for me! An article that I wrote, about how quilters' guilds can use blogs to improve their presence on the internet, was published in the Canadian Quilter a quarterly publication of the Canadian Quilters' Association!


Besides this blog and my store blog, I also edit our guild's blog. As our guild president often says, "I'm doing the happy dance!"

Round Robin: Daisy part 3

Here is what Christine gave back to me:

This is what I will send back to her:

(I have to post one photo at a time, because I am still having posting issues, I will post the last one later today, I hope)

Here are 2 postcards I created, inspired by David Mack's work:
The first one is directly inspired by the Kabuki books,with a little Moody Blues and Cat Stevens added. The second is inspired by the sunshine and a hope that spring is on its way.

Recovering from storm part 2

Aha! I figured out a way to get around my blogger photo uploading problems. I am blogging straight from Picasa. I don't usually do it this way. Picasa doesn't have as much editing choices...like how do I make this paragraph flush to the left instead of centering...? Also it doesn't want to allow me to choose different photos from different files...maybe there is a way around this, I don't know yet,

Anyway here are some of the pics. Yesterday the storm, this is a cardinal trying to feed in my parents' backyard:



My house around noon:



My house and hubby today around 2PM, a big difference!

Where to put all that snow!? Backyard is not big enough!