Pincushion/Binder Clip Holder

I have seen so many cute little pincushions on blogs lately.  I wanted to whip one up, but I wanted it to do a little more.  English Paper Piecing has been my hand work lately.  I use binder clips to help hold the pieces together, so I wanted something to help me keep track of the clips.

I started with seven 1 1/4" strips of assorted "Hi-De-Ho" fabric by Me and My Sister Designs for Moda.

They were sewn together with seams allowances pressed alternating for each strip.

The strips were sewn together into a tube, bargello style.

Five 1 1/4" slices were cut.

Opening a seam as desired, I arranged the strips into a fun design.

The slices were sewn together, and then a flange was added.  I cut a 2 1/2" piece of fabric and ironed it in half.  The raw edge was basted onto the piece work with a scant 1/4".

A 1 1/2" border was added.  the seam was pressed so that the flange would lay on the outer border.

The process was repeated for the ends of the piece work.

I made a quilt sandwich and quilted a basic crosshatch, stitching on the inner edge of the flange to hold it in place.

A piece was cut for the back.  The back and the piecework were sewn together right sides facing, leaving 3" open for turning.  Corners were clipped and the pincushion was turned right side out.  I filled it with walnut shells and stitched the opening closed.  It is ready to sit beside me on the couch when I'm English Paper Piecing.

Linking up with Finish it up Friday.

Rosette 9 of The New Hexagon Millefiore Quilt-Along

Where does the time go?  Rosette 9 has been done for a while, I just haven't had time to blog about it.

I love the horses from the latest Cotton + Steel line.  They just had to fit into my Millefiore.

On the quilting front, I did manage to finish up this lovely scrap quilt of Sylvia's.  She combined fabric from her stash with a little bit of newer fabric to come up with this beauty.

Spurred on by Sylvia's scrap quilt, I dug out my box of 2 1/2" scraps and my latest book purchase.  Hopefully I'll have some results soon.

A local group of ladies asked me to teach them my Lone Star class.  This was the results of their efforts.  They are all currently on retreat and plan on having the stars finished before coming home.

And just incase that isn't enough since last time I blogged, Doug and I squeezed another camping trip in.  This time we went to Radium Hot Springs.  I have driven through this area of B.C. several times, but this was my first time stopping.  Beautiful scenery topped off with a great soak in both Radium and Fairmount Hot Springs.

The local Mountain Sheep know they are quite safe wondering throughout the town.  This was taken out the window of the truck, without a zoom lens.  They might be a nuisance for locals, but a nice treat for tourists.

Linking up with Finish It Up Friday.

Betty's Butterfly

You must stop by Katja's shop and check out Betty's Butterfly from the Tula Pink Pattern.  Awesome!!!!!!!!

The fabrics she used are incredible.  I must make this quilt.  Lol, let's put it on the to do list.

Betty let me do my thing.  I played in the background a lot, and in the butterfly just a little.  The fabrics were so beautiful I ended up quilting in the ditch a lot of the blocks.

I was out to Katja's today, and it is bound and waiting to put up on display.  Woohoooooo.

While I was there, I noticed that Christina Cameli's new book was in.  Her first book was good, this one is even better.  Of course it came home with me, along with a little "For You."

Linking up with Finish It Up Friday.

Kaleidoscope Ruler Meets Zen Chic

Zen Chic "For You" is finally available in local quilt shops.  Yahoo.  I've made more than a few quilts from the fabric, and I love it all.  This quilt uses the Marti Michell Kaleidoscope ruler.  I've used the ruler many times and I still love the results.

The background fabric is from a roll of fat eights available at Katja's.  The quilting is a variation on the orange peel design, stretched a little to overlap.

The Zen Chic trunk show featuring "For You", "Paper" and "Ink" is currently at Katja's shop.  If you are in the area you must stop by and see it!  Amazing.  When it leaves on September 8, the trunk show will be traveling to Summerland and you can see it at Cherry Tree Quilts.

Linking up with Finish It Up Friday!

"So Change It"

Katja has her 16th Anniversary challenge quilts up in the store, ready for your vote.  Drop in if you get a chance and vote for your favourite.

Very creative quilters in Kamloops!  I'm not sure if I can pick a favourite.

The fabric that had to be included in the challenge was unique, to say the least.  Everyone put their own twist on the "so change it" challenge.

Flying Away

This quilt was a challenge I gave myself.  Work flying geese blocks into a colour play quilt, and then come up with a different way to quilt each block.  I had read an article about three different ways to quilt a flying goose.  Surely I could think of more than three ways.

I snapped this picture on the way home from our latest holiday to Whistler.

The colours all play nicely together.  My Moda scrap bin came in really handy with this one.

The binding was finished one evening sitting in the camper.  The finished quilt will go into my trunk show for the machine quilting class.  Yes, I did come up with twenty different ways to quilt a flying goose.

While in Whistler we travelled to the top of both Whistler and Backcomb.  I've heard that we should all try to do one thing a day that scares us.  Well, the open chair lift to the top of Whistler had me a little scared.  All went well and we had a delightful walk around the back of the mountain back down to the Gondola.  The views were stunning but with the smoke in the air the pictures just don't turn out as nice as I would like.

Linking up with Finish It Up Friday!

The New Hexagon Millefiore Rosette 8

Yes, Rosette 8 is done and stitched into place!!!!!

It is the rosette in the bottom left corner.  I forgot to take a picture before I stitched it in place.  Oh well.  I'm loving my quilt so far.  Only four more months to go.

This shows the rosettes in their entirety.  I love them all, but the upper left rosette is my current favourite.

I had taken it to Katja's to pin on the wall to get a good picture.  While I was waiting for a friend to arrive I started pulling the papers out of the centre.  I have a few more to pull yet, but I'll worry about them when all the rosettes are done.

I'm heading to my Cotton + Steel bucket right now to start the next one.  Deadlines are looming and this has to be pieced and quilted by mid October.  Yikes, Katja and I had better both get moving!  LOL!!!!!!

I hope you are having a lovely summer weekend.  Those of you that have a long weekend, stay safe and enjoy!