New Give Away From Melissa

A layer cake of O’ Tinsel Tree by Robert Kaufman Fabrics! Hop on over to Melissa's Blog and enter. She is doing a free Christmas Sampler Quilt as well and I like her tutorials - work well for someone at my level.

As for me, had a garage sale this past week-end which was a lot of work and only brought in $200. We were amazed at how little people would pay for some really good stuff. I knew things had to be priced low but really......... Still have lots of 'junk' left (nothing quilty) and will think about having another one or giving to charity as we usually do.

On the sewing front I have made my daughter a pillowcase:

 She loves Hallowe'en! This was fun and quick to do - used my serger for most of it. I bought .7 metre of black and pumpkin and added an 8 " orange flange folded and a 2" green 'piping' folded. I have made her a couple of nice flannel winter themed pillowcases in the past which she loves and now she has a fall one.

I have had some good luck collecting cottons at second hand stores in the area and would love to share the photos with you.

Sophie wants something!

 

 

 

 Have a great week - seriously. hugs, Vicki

Intrepid Threads Giveaway

What yummy flavors for a Friday! Sunni at Love Affair With My Brother (sewing machine) has a give-away, as does Melissa at Bitter Sweet.

It's Not That I Don't Want to be Quilting BUT.........

My sewing room beckons me but there are so many other things that need doing and now this is one of the things in the way -

Yup, new homes need landscaping and we want to start on the front this fall. We found a small nursery in Chemainus, Sandpiper Garden and Glass and it is quaint and wonderful. They want to remodel so lots of sales and we bought some of the bigger items which are standing in tubs in the view above.Oh, dear, doesn't look like much when placed in the yard. Here's a photo of Sandpiper Garden and Glass.

It's owned and operated by people we knew when we lived in Mill Bay which is part of the "south end of the Cowichan Valley". Was great to see Gunnel and know her expertise is there for us. I was thrilled with my purchases and now have my first flowers planted.

And the plan is that I will be able to change the groupings with the season! I know this is not a new concept but had fun putting this together - and I think it adds a simple yet inviting touch. So the front entrance has some charm. I have several more ideas but they will have to wait for now.

That was yesterday and today I went shopping, bought this -

 to turn it/them into -

Spicy Yam and Red Pepper Soup

It will be served with Black Bean veggie patties. Hope everyone had a nice week-end and let's keep smiling!

AccuQuilt Flower Die

Here is another look at the Die I bought in Kelowna. I am such a novice in all of this but here goes.

Here is the Die with the cutting areas outlined in black marker. I chose some fabric and ironed on a scrap of lite 'steam-a-seam' onto the back and cut out one layer only with nice results - clean edges but it did require scissor cutting a couple of strands of fabric.

This is how the flower looks ironed on a square of fabric. Easy to do. I like it without the flower centre but I haven't done any applique yet.

Here is the small flower cut out and adhered to a block. I didn't use all of the petals and may or may not use a circle centre. The thought of machine applique is overwhelming as the petals are so small but guess I'll just have to practice. I would be comfortable trying hand applique on this project. Would love suggestions, ideas, input - constructive - of any kind. I did cut a layer of waxed freezer paper thinking I would like to try English Paper Piecing using the Die Cutter as the template and of course that was easy piecey and I have saved the backing pieces from the steam-a-seam cause you never know! Am afraid to throw anything out in quilting anymore. haha.

What do you think and what would you do with this Die? Inquiring minds want to know.

What a Wonderful World!

We spent the week-end on the west coast of Vancouver Island in Ucluelet where we have a vacation home. Ucluelet is at the end of a Peninsula with calm waters on one side and the open Pacific on the other. On another peninsula at the other end and about 40 minutes away by car lies Tofino and inbetween lies the Pacific Rim Park which is owned and operated by the Canadian Government. Here are a couple of pictures from our walk at Wickininnish Beach.

kelp that was rooted in rocks

This was our 3 day Labor Day week-end in Canada, the last hurrah before school is back in session and it marks the end of summer. Although the weather can remain warm for weeks yet, the evenings and early mornings are cooler and signs of fall are just around the corner. It's an amazing time of year and my favorite.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sew Tuff Tofino BC

http://www.sewtuffquiltingco.com/Site/Welcome.html

I found this little shop in Tofino last time we went to the west coast and had a chance to revisit it last week-end.

 

Strutting his stuff inside was this little guy.

 His name is Winston and he's bigger than this now as he's 5 months old but he is still pretty little. He's a mini pig and won't get very big but he's teething now and he wanted to chew on my runners!
This shop is WONDERFUL - the owner is in her early 30's and just buys what she likes. And though I'm not in my 30's (haha) I found a lot to like and settled on these fabrics (had to buy after I drooled on them)

Do you like? I sure do. I'm hoping to make a baby quilt and think I can fussy cut 15 birds out. Tried to start cutting today but you know, I just couldn't do it - worried about making a mistake. Please wish me luck.
Anyway this shop is really refreshing and I plan on getting to know it, the owner and Winston very well over the next few years. Her website is easy to navigate and she welcomes online orders and has her fabric online for you to see. If you take a look let me know what you think.

First Rug Mats

Went to Kelowna for a wedding and to visit the bride's mom so I thought I would make a couple of rug mats to take along. What a great way to try new techniques! This one is an applique technique of Penny Haren's. This block started life as a 9 patch, something I thought I could handle, and then the yellow squares and triangles were appliqued on top to change it up - easy and relaxing - except for the fact that it's not perfect (oh, well - maybe the next one would be ?) I understand that experieced piecers say this technique takes too long but since I like to applique it worked for me.

 This second one is from a blog tutorial from Terri from
http://sew-fantastic.blogspot.com/2011/03/mug-rug-tutorial-scrappy-colorblock.html
The binding hasn't been sewn on either of them but gives you an idea of what I was doing.

Kelowna  was hot as was expected and the wedding was very nice. I arrived the day before and helped prepare supper for 23 and then relaxed and visited for the next 4 days - great time.

On my way to the airport prior to the flight home, Mary stopped at Linda's Quilt Shoppe, a serious generous sized quilt shop in Kelowna - lots of eye candy here - fabric, kits, classes, tools and thread. I didn't have my camera with me but she does have a web site so you can browse a bit. I did indulge in a new die for my GO Cutting machine.

Isn't it cute? Am looking forward to playing with it when I get a chance.