Cutting Kerdi with Rotary Cutter

I have found a new use for your Rotary Cutter.  Doug and I are making a tiled shower in our bathroom.  The Kerdi membrane needs to be cut into various straight edge pieces.  Doug asked me if I thought my Rotary Cutter would work for the job.  The Cutter, Mat and Rulers all moved to the dining room table and made short work of the Kerdi.

My secret is out.  I will never make it as a hand model!  Those of you that know me have figured out already that yes, I was wearing my famous housecoat during this process.

Doug measured all the sections.  The same goes here as in all measuring, measure twice, cut once.

And here he as after a long afternoon of applying the Kerdi Membrane.  Next up is the tile.  I can hardly wait.

Quilting Inspiration #2

Fabric is my favourite place to look to for inspiration.  I was asked to do a quilt with a whimsical feel to it.  One of the fabrics within the quilt was my inspiration for this flower.

The original design is in the midst of snowflakes, but I decided it would make a great flower.  The following fabric is a Nancy Halvorson fabric that I was ask to use as inspiration.

This fabric has lots of swirls and flowers in it that are similar to what I normally do.  I love to play!

The thread I used was Superior King Tut #921.  It is a 40 wt that is stunning on this quilt.  If you want to see the completed quilt hop over to Katja's blog and check it out.

Now to quilt the original flower I started with a loop in the centre, added five petals around the loop and then went back and added the swirls around the petals.

Elegant Embroidered Ladies

A few years back I asked my Mom if she would be willing to embroider some blocks for a quilt that I just didn't have time to do the hand work on.  Luckily she said yes, one thing led to another, and now I have several beautiful quilts that showcase Mom's wonderful handiwork.

One of my favourites hangs by my front door so everyone who enters gets to enjoy it.  The original pattern was purchased in 1983 and showed a quilt that was painted with the liquid embroidery that was popular at the time.  I set the pattern aside knowing that some day I would have the time to embroider all these beautiful blocks.  About ten years ago I pulled the pattern out and decided it was time for this quilt to come to life.  Mom embroidered all the blocks, I pieced the top together and quilted it and then my daughter helped sew on the binding.  All three generations had a hand in this quilt!  A real family treasure.

Now I would love to give credit to the designer but.......  I hunted the house over for the pattern to no avail.  On a good note, I did find a couple of other patterns that I had been looking for a month or so ago.  There is an upside to everything.  If anyone knows the original designer, please let me know.

My Mom is talented in so many ways.  Below is a shot of Blanche posing in front of some yard decorations that Mom and Fred gave me a couple of years ago.  Thanks Mom, love you!

Relaxing by the pond

Fridays are for sipping tea and relaxing by the pond.  My first Lily blossoms are out and my flower pots are just starting to take shape.  Everything by the pond is a little behind but with the cooler weather we have had, I'm impressed by how well it is doing.  My Azalea and Magnolia took a big hit with winter kill this year and had to be cut way back.

If you would like something quilt related, hop over to Carla's blog and check out her quilting practice.  She is getting more adventurous every day.  Way to go!!!!!

Now to tease you a little, below are a few beautiful Batiks I'm currently playing with.  Stay tuned to see what I'm making in my spare time.

You are never to old to quilt

Today's quilt is a Thimbleberries Quilt that I just finished for Doris.  Doris recently turned 90 and is still a very active quilter.  She belongs to Sagebrush Quilters' Guild and can be seen regularly shopping with her Granddaughter for more quilt fabric.
When I phoned her to ask if I could feature her quilt on my Blog she said "oh yes, I just read your Blog."  So not only does she quilt, she is active on the internet.  Doris has just purchased a Janome Horizon and declares that it is a beautiful machine.  She says that she has been quilting for years as well as making dolls.  A friend of mine took several doll making classes from Doris when she was still teaching, not that many years ago.

The piecing on this quilt is incredible.  Doris is my hero.  I want to be just like her when I grow up.

Is Summer Finally Here?

What a glorious day.  The sun is shining and it is 25 C.  I'm hoping that summer is finally here. It seems that we have been waiting forever for pleasant weather to arrive.

Today I didn't accomplish a lot in my sewing room as I was out shopping with my mom and sister. My nephew is getting married soon, and the pressure is on to find everyone a dress. We had some success and in the process, had a great day together.  None of us is big on shopping, but together we got through it!

Since I have nothing new to show, I though you might like to see one of my prized possessions.  It is a miniature Cathedral Window quilt that a very good friend gave me on my 50th birthday.  The Canadian nickel in the second picture gives you an idea of how tiny this quilt is.  The stitching is unbelievable.  The quilt is 4" x 5 5/8".  Enjoy!!!!

Quilting Postie

The quilting Postie has struck again.  I asked Doug to come downstairs and take a picture of me quilting.  He ask if I was sure I wanted the picture taken wearing my postie uniform.  Those of you who know me will probably be impressed I had my uniform on.  Most of the time I'm quilting in my housecoat, and really, nobody needs to see that on a Blog.

I feel I am a typical quilter who just happens to have a Long Arm Machine in the basement. Whenever I get a moment I slip downstairs to do a little quilting.  Most of the time this is in between my day job and getting supper ready.  If you arrive at my house during this time, this is what you get!

The quilt I am working on is another Jelly Roll Quilt.  Linda T did a great job on this one.  One of the fabrics in the quilt had daisies on it, so that is what she ask me to quilt.  Got to love a woman who know what she wants.  We picked a bright red thread so that it would show up on the black outer border.

I struggled a little with my daisies because the fabric daisies had six petals, and I usually make five petaled daisies.  Not a big deal for non quilters, but a big deal for me.  I compromised by making some with five and some with six petal.  On this quilt I did stop for borders.  I stitched in the ditch the little black border and then placed a daisy vine in the small red border.  Before you say that daisies don't grow on vines, you have to understand that in my world they do.

Another great Jelly Roll Quilt!  Black and white and red allover.

Quilting Inspiration #1

I have named this post Quilting Inspiration #1 because this is a subject I would like to explore in great length.  I am frequently asked how I come up with ideas to quilt a quilt.  Often my ideas come from the fabric within the quilt.

I recently quilted the purple quilt that was posted as one of the jelly roll race quilts.  I was told to quilt it however I wanted to.  So for inspiration I looked at one of the fabrics within the quilt.

This funky flower is repeated in several fabrics within the quilt.  Since the quilt has a random placement of pieces, I felt that an overall pattern would suit the quilt.  Usually I stop for borders but since the border was fairly small, I decided to quilt right over it.  I played with drawing the flower until I came up with this design.  I will show how I quilted the continuous design beginning with a loop in the centre, and then petals around.

Next I finished the petals and then placed another line of quilting within the petals to add a little depth to the quilting.

When the petals were finished I went into the circle in the centre and quilted some smaller circles.

I randomly placed the smaller circles.

After completion of the flower I quilted outlining to fill in the space between the flowers.

The thread I used was a signature 40 wt turquoise.  I decided that the quilt was purple enough!  Those of you that know me might find that statement a little funny.

The flowers were between 6" and8".  This was big enough that I could do the outlining between flowers without over quilting.

I was pleased with the final result.  What do you think?

Friday Afternoon Tea

As my reward for a long hard week at work, I go to Katja's for tea on Fridays.  This is my way to unwind and hopefully, be a little creative.  So even though I'm currently "Locked Out" from work, I felt that I still needed my reward.
A few of my regular quilting friends stopped in and luckily I was there to make a new quilting friend.  A man from Lilloet named Greg stopped in to pick out borders for his first quilt.  He had previously made a blanket on his old treadle machine.  He used a newly purchased Featherweight to piece together this quilt.
For a little advice he joined a quilt guild in Lilloet.  His comment about the guild was they really know how to have fun.  Greg's daughter and grand daughter came along for support and advice and were very proud of his new hobby (obsession.)

Greg's new quilting friends had explained sashing, cornerstones, borders and binding, so Greg was ready to do a little retail therapy.  With the help of Katja borders were picked out and Greg happily headed home to finish his quilt.

Sonja, Sharon and I were all content to sip our tea, do a little work and just enjoy the atmosphere that quilt shops provide.