Star Spin by Oregon Treasures

Here is last week's beauty.  The pattern is Star Spin, by Oregon Treasures.

All of the spinning log cabin blocks were quilted with stitch in the ditch.  The background is a freehand feather meander.

The funky star blocks were s.i.d. with a motif from IQ dropped in.

Ah. I heart backs.

I have been busier'n a fart in a windstorm (to quote an old former neighbour, who happened to pop in for a visit on the weekend). 

Thursday was Red Hat day.  A few of us got on a bus trip with the Haldimand Horticultural Society and headed out to the Niagara region.  Stopped at three fabulous private gardens, two garden centers, and had supper at Kings Buffet.  The instructions told us to bring a container (boxes/bags) for our purchases.  I thought "nah, I'm not buying anything".  Um.  Mistake.

DH and I celebrated 28 years of wedded bliss on Saturday.  He is not always a sweetheart, I mean, really - who is?  But in THIS case...he surprised me by inviting 9 of our favorite people to join us for dinner at Canyon Creek.  The restaurant put us in a nice little private room, AND provided champagne on the house.  How great was that?  We had a wonderful time and I hope he knows how much I appreciated it. I did tell him, but, you know.  A little repeat doesn't hurt.

I have been quilting my fingers to the bone, in anticipation of my ... first.  ever.  summer.  vacation.  My darling nephew (who IS always a sweetheart, heh, heh, heh) has been stocking me up with technology.  I have a tablet that I got in February, and picked up my new cell phone tonight.  I should be able to take pics and post to my blog from many pieces of equipment now.  If I remember how to make anything work.  This old brain ain't what it used to be.  So... stay tuned.  My next post may come from NY.  Or MA.  Or ME.  Or NB.  Or LL Bean.  :-)

Flower BOM

This is a Block of the Month that was run at the Binbrook guild.

Every month we got a pattern for one of the flower blocks.

The layout needs to be on point because of the orientation of the blocks.

I had some fun taking a block pattern from the Intelliquilter and changing it by bits & pieces to match up with the pieced block.  In the block below you can see there are three legs to the quilting design.  In this case I had removed the bottom leg and inserted two smaller leaf shapes.  And yes - when you work alone in your basement, day after day, this DOES constitute 'fun'.

Last week was my annual trip to Diane's for Beach Day, which is when we never actually make it to the beach.  This year we took a side trip to Strathroy to have lunch with another friend who is no longer able to travel to meet us.  Boy, I hope when that happens to me there will be some people who love me enough that they will come and take me out for lunch.  On our way home, Deb & I stopped at the Red Red Bobbin where they were having a quilt hanging and fabric sale.  Hmm.  The stash report will  not look quite so, um, negative next time around.  But I purchased Christmas fabrics that I will be needing to make a couple of quilts for donation to the Rotary Auction this fall, so... does it really count?  heh, heh, heh.

Summer Blue & White and Wholecloth

This is such a cool, summery quilt. Blues, whites, and a beach-theme border fabric.

The quilting is a seashell design. That white thread looks wonderful on the bright blue back. I've seen pics of this completed- it was treated to a scalloped edge border that looks great.

Once every year or two I have a request for a wholecloth. Usually the customer will bring me a premarked top, but this time I was asked to do the design from scratch (that's where I sit around for a while and scratch my head. heh, heh)

This turned out really pretty. The top is a milk-white sateen with a lovely sheen. It took forever to mark the crosshatch, using a blue washout marker. There were a few marks that ghosted back after an initial spritzing with water, but a second application got rid of them.

Note to self:
DO NOT DRINK COFFEE AFTER SUPPER, YOU IDIOT!!!!  I finally got out of bed at 2:30 am because I was sick of laying there, tossing & turning.  I went and had some milk & cookies, then tried bed again at 3:30.  By then DH was snoring up a storm and going through his full repertoire of snuffleupagus, roaring train, and purring tiger (which is the one I really don't mind too much).  I think it was after 4 by the time I finally drifted off.

Block of the Month Quilt & Ruffle-bum Onesies

This was a BOM that was run at the Caledonia guild last year.

I love how that gold-ish thread looks.

She had many half-squares left over from making the top, so she made a fancy back.  I was not able to get it perfectly centered, but it's pretty close.  I really love these surprise backs - much more interesting than plain backs.

A little more detail.

In anticipation of meeting my new grand-niece from Singapore, I was making ruffle-butt onesies.  Aren't they cute?

When I was out for dinner with friends last week, I was telling them about the onesies.  We got talking about our ruffle-bum panties from when we were little girls.  Teresa made me laugh when she said she always wore hers with the ruffles in the front, where she could see them.

Happy Canada Day

I am so grateful to be Canadian. Freedom, peace, health care, a secure banking system.

I hope you all had as wonderful a day as what I had today.