The Sixth Quilt...

We got a good start on the sixth quilt top yesterday, but didn't quite get it finished. So I kept it and finished it off today.

We started with a pattern from a book by Beth Ann Williams called A World of Quilts. This design started life as "Australian Rail Fence." We adapted it a bit to fit a pre-printed panel that we are going to use as the backing.

Summer Divas' Day

July 25 - Divas' Day!

It was at my house again and I seem to be camera impaired when I'm at my place - didn't take any pix until the very last minute before Divas were leaving. We had the food, the chat, the sewing, the food (thanks again to Gourmet Diva Susan ably assisted by Diva Karen) and the fun.

Three of the divas were hand stitching binding to quilts from previous days and the remaining three were working on the top for the last quilt. We started out to make "a quilt" for the auction and ended up with six. We've decided to call a halt and see if these ones generate any interest. In the meantime, when we have future get-togethers we'll work on our own projects (e.g. help Dorothy with some of her wedding gifts for her sons!).

Since it's all about the quilts, I was brilliant enough to get a couple of pix of the most recent finished quilts before everyone went home.

Here Susan is holding up the not quite finished quilt - it's green and pink.

This is the Christmas quilt - modeled by Kristie and Susan.

Black and white quilt - also modelled by K and S.Back of BW quilt.

More Musing

There were a number of fabric sales in Calgary lately. I love sales. And in fact, I am pretty religious about ONLY buying fabric when it's on sale. I have referenced my dominant Scottish genetics before.

Unfortunately, one store was going out of business, which is the reason that it had a 45% off sale. It has had a couple of sales recently. I was wondering what was up because these stores typically do not have sales so frequently. Now I know. I did purchase some fabric, but I also picked up a few books....

I have done a lot of beading on clothing items but these books have some cute ideas for little gift type items. More things to make for unsuspecting friends and relatives!

Thinking Outside the Block was on my "hit list" to get so I was delighted to be able to pick it up on sale. My true confession is that I had copied about 80% of this book, so I'm happy to actually own the book. It's so much nicer and this way I have it legally!

As I said, the sad thing about this particular sale is that now the store is gone. Apparently the rent was doubled (at least this is the story we heard) and rather than try to find a place to move to, the owner decided to pack up and retire to Costa Rica. Good for her, bad for us! This was the store closest to my house!

And the other bad is that a number of jobs disappear with the store. A sad day.

The other sales did not signal such an ominous demise - at least I hope not! Picked up more fabric at both of those, too. My stash continues to grow.

Kokopelli Blues

Chris is on holiday - in Peachland at our parents' place near Kelowna. There is a wildfire very near there. Our Mom is totally stressed. So far their place is OK, but they have friends in other areas who have been evacuated. It's very frightening for them. We're keeping our fingers crossed that the worst is over.

All that to say, Chris is not available to model her quilt. I had Joe hold it up for me last week with the intention that I would have Chris do it later. He's on our deck at the back of the house. It was starting to get a bit darker so the pix is a bit dark.

As you can see, I relented and did the border. It just had to be done. My problem was deciding which fabric to use. I had some yellow like one of the reds, I had some of one of the reds (so a yellow fabric and a red fabric). I asked Joe which one he liked because I couldn't make up my mind. He said none of the above, and suggested I use the blue, which was a brilliant idea as it turns out. Not just another pretty face, that guy!

And I decided to call it "Kokopelli Blues."

I took the next two out on the front lawn about 7:45 pm or so - a bit brighter. I will get Chris to model it eventually - in full sunlight.

Here is a close up of Kokopelli.

Look What I Found!!!

I've been moving things around for the basement reno and I came across a quilt I made for Craig when he was a baby. He's 28 now, so the darn thing is that old! It's the only quilt I'd made up to last year (see first post of this blog).

I believe I used a pattern I found in a magazine. All the little bugs and animals are hand appliqued (not glued on first!). The back is flannel and I don't think there is any batting in there. I also hand stitched the edges. It's been washed quite a few times without falling apart, so I guess I did an OK job. The things you do for your first born!

Anyway - I can't get rid of the darn thing. Maybe if Craig ever procreates I'll pass it on.

Navajo Blocks

Here are the Navajo blocks all stitched together. Now that it's together, I like it. Since I took this pix, I've added a black border. I had big plans to add even more, but I'm getting bored with this one - it's time to move on. I'll get it on some batting and backing. Backing and binding will be the blue kokopelli print. Once it's done, I'll have Chris model it for some more pix.

Here is Kristie's lap quilt made using the same Navajo block pattern. Her's is great! It's much different from mine - she's used very different colours, added a border around each block (I know there's a scientific quilting name for that, but don't know what it is), and was very creative with the large centre rectangle for each block. Love it!