My Sewing Case

My DD came fro a visit and even brought the Grandbabies.  If that wasn't enough she had sewn up this darling little sewing case.  And she gave it to me as a hostess gift.So it stands to reason that I have to reciprocate.  So after watching Iron Man 2 I am on the home stretch of her citrus blocks.

Although I did hear some rumblings that maybe a few more blocks and we would have a queen size quilt....

She is so clever at reusing all those men's dress shirts for the background squares, and then convincing me to pick out the cool citrus colours from my stash.  And where we were running short especially in the yellows she importuned her grandmother.  Very clever indeed.

A June Evening

'nough said

What's on my quilting frame?

Now for the hand quilting....

Pyramids

I have also squeezed in some time to work with a new ruler.  It's the Fons & Porter pyramid ruler.  I just happened to be watching a taped episode of Fons & Porter working on Kalamkari strippy quilt from the Sept/Oct 2008 magazine.  It turns out I had just purchased the exact ruler they were using on the show a month ago in Red Deer called Kwilted Keepsakes.  How amazing is that?

Anyhow, I just had to try some.

I used the same bali prints for these as for the bow-tie mat ( I bought them in Moose Jaw at The Quilt Patch).  They were a bunch of 2.5" strips.  Now sadly used up.  No tears here though.

Completed Bow-tie Mat

I just realized that I didn't show off my new Bow-Tie Mat made from a tutorial I found on the internet.  Well here it is.

I am very pleased with the result and the quilting itself was sooo fun.

My New Old Rooster Quilt

I dug out these finished blocks last week and started sewing the blocks together.  The pattern is from Quiltmaker's All-Time Favourite series of magazines from Spring 2002.  I seem to have misplaced my copy of the magazine itself, but here are the blocks.

I am kind of crazy for needle-turned applique as you can see but in my usual way I sort of loose interest once the applique is done.  Oh, sigh....

But after quilting the bow-tie mat, I really wanted another project to quilt and this one was elected.

Mr.'s new shirt

This week I was inspired to take this old truck fabric I bought at Fabricland and generate a new shirt for my Mr.  He would really like to own an old truck

but I think an old truck shirt would be better especially given the storage and maintenance schedule of the shirt as opposed to the actual truck.

The Queen's Happy marriage

Happy Birthday Prince Philip.

Binding in the rain...

So in my wanderings on line I came across a gorgeous tutorial for a bowtie block done up as placemats.  It was sooo cute I went straight to my sewing room and whipped up a mat to Lee's specs.  Today I'm binding the mat I made. And it's raining gently on the roof...

Cute little shopping bag

Guess what this is...haha, a new smallish shopping bag to carry in my purse so I will always have a bag for my personal stuff at Shoppers, and I won't have to pay their stupid $.03 any more.  Yeah, me.  Want to see what it looks like unzipped ?

I love it!  It came from Sew Mama Sew It is their featured tutorial.  Very clever.

Sewing a shell for me.

While perusing a rabbit trail on the internet, I saw this shell top.  It showed up as a freebie on Collette Patterns I liked it a lot and I was just lamenting that I had no summer things that were new.  Well I downloaded the pattern that afternoon and did the sewing yesterday although my son called me a troll for staying in my basement studio all morning.  It was worth it.  I am very pleased with the result.

This fabric is 100% cotton and I used the scraps to make the bias binding.   Mr had brought it back from Ankora, Turkey and it just hadn't fit in yet to a quilt...

Now as for the troll thing - aren't they about bridges....

A morning of Hexagons

So I am back at the hexagons.  After a wonderful 2 week visit from the grandbabies (and their parents of course- or maybe I should say thank goodness)  I am back to my hexagons.  They endlessly fascinate me.  It's like a series of small postcards of all the fabrics I've used on other projects.  Using up scraps is a kaleidoscopic soothing activity.  I find myself feeling strangely lonesome after the blur of movement and cacophony of sound that I enjoyed these past weeks.  Now I must return to my usual round of quiet concentration with a background music overlay from Country 105.  Change....

Sometimes I think my life is just one long process of accepting change.

Well, Hexagons don't change too much and the stitching calms the mind and spirit.