Carrie over at La Vie en Rosie and Camille at Simplify have challenged us to share our first quilts.
I still remember buying the pattern and fabric and floss for my first quilt about 24 years ago, I was expecting Sarah and I wanted to make a blanket I didn’t realize what I was making. I was so excited, I was 23 and I was going to be a mom! I bought the supplies from Zellers (Canadian Readers might remember when they used to have a fabric department) The fabric was all poly cotton and I bought enough to make bumper pads as well.
I couldn’t figure out how to sew the corners down on the binding and I always meant to finish the binding but Sarah came along and then I thought I’d finish it but before I knew it I had all 4 girls. They all used and loved my unbound quilt.

When I was a teenager I wanted to make “blankets” like the ones on Little House on the Prairie. When I told my mom that she replied oh you don’t want to make those they are called quilts and only poor people make quilts. But she was wrong (she’s now a quilter too by the way), I wanted to make them and eventually I found Eleanor Burns on PBS and watched her show and took notes. After watching her show the first time and taking notes I quickly went to work and my first deliberate quilt project was made.

I was so proud of my little quilt, its hand quilted and I still love it. Money was very tight when I was a young mom and I treasured every little piece of quilt fabric I could find.
My first bigger quilt was made before I really knew what I was doing you can read it’s story here

and my most recent quilt
this little schnibble its quilted and bound.

and my latest top

ok so there’s only 6 minutes left of Canada Day but still it’s not over til it’s over. Its been a good low key day here. A nice day off of the day job with pay is always a good day
I slept a couple extra hours and then enjoyed both my morning cups of coffee in my jammies and at my own pace. I really don’t like to be rushed. Then I spent some quality time with my longarm and almost finished the job I started. The quilt is 99×76, I pieced the back, loaded the quilt and have all but one more row to quilt.
Then off to Erik’s for some supper and time together. I spent a little time in my flower beds weeding and watering and cleaning up a mess a certain critter who shall remain nameless in this post made he belongs to Erik’s youngest and like she says He’s so cute though

later we went for a nice country drive after getting some dairy queen for the trip.
I made it home tonight just in time…
first I’ll show you the picture I took out my bedroom window this morning.

For those of you that don’t know I live in a housing co op. Every year they really do up Canada Day and every year they do a huge fireworks display right behind my house. These pictures were also taken from by bedroom.

and last but not least to keep my post kinda quilty here’s the quilt I’m working on. Its also a customer quilt. I have another 4 to do before its holiday time.

time for bed. only 2 workdays til the weekend and the weathers looking great for some fishing!!!

The end of June has always been a favorite time for me as a child it wasn’t only my Birthday but also the end of the school year. Somehow I managed for the first 44 years of my life to have no school or work. Today I had to work but it was a lovely day anyways. I work with some great people.
All of my girls called me and my Parents had me over for a very yummy lunch and when I got home look what was waiting for me from Erik

Sarah brought supper home for me and after dinner I indulged in a little nap.
and for a treat to myself I worked on a personal project instead of customer work

and I did some blog surfing, one blog made me ponder my parenting a little. I have a little quilt that hangs in my upstairs hall way I made it several years ago, I removed the dad from the pattern and added my girls instead of just a boy and girl. At the time I was very content for my life to have only my girls and myself but now I’m so thankful that I have Erik in my life and his girls too.

the weather over the weekend and the next coming days is for rain, my hair looks great but I sure am missing the sunshine. I took a few pictures out at Erik’s on the weekend, I was trying to capture the feel in the air but it didn’t really work. The gardens are coming along though.


next sunny day there will be some serious weeding happening!

Blueberry Bushes that we are hoping the bears will leave alone, we might need to build a fortress.

I also finished a customer quilt this weekend, this quilt belongs to a good friend of mine and I just love it!

For a lot of my life I never really thought of myself as a perfectionist. I think for the most part I’m very easy going, but when it comes to my quilting I strive for perfect. When I’m quilting for customers I see any imperfection in my work, and it can make me a little crazy if you know what I mean. It can get a little stressful for me when I’ve been instructed to quilt how I think is best. For the most part I love freehand quilting and I have a lot of fun when I work on a quilt, and when I’m finished I will agonize abit about whether the piecer will love their quilt.

When I’m piecing I strive for that same perfection, though I have learnt over the years that sometimes a little fudging is called for and as long as it doesn’t affect the integrity of a quilt I’m ok with that, I won’t allow my seam allowances to be so narrow that a little fraying will cause seam to open. Nicole at Sisters Choice asked her readers about their piecing habits this week, thats what got me thinking about my feelings on the subject.

Today I pieced the first block for the designers BOM from Fatquartershop.com and 2 of my half square triangles just are not right, and there isn’t enough fabric to fix them. I used a very scant 1/4″ when I was sewing along the diagonal line so there really shouldn’t have been an issue but who knows, regardless they are a little wonky but not so wonky that in the end they won’t work. So for today anyways I’m calling my block done.

While doing the laundry and other catch up Saturday jobs I managed to load a customer quilt that is so gorgeous. It was a local shops BOM and now that I’m seeing it on my longarm I’m wishing I had made it too. But I seem to recall that when it came out I had too many projects on the go to justify another.

Its been a rainy Saturday, which has been ok with me. The weather forecast is calling for about 4 days in a row of rain. Thankfully my holidays aren’t for another few weeks and I’m really hoping for some great weather while I’m off my day job and I’m striving to be somewhat caught up on my quilting so that if I decide to spend some time in the studio it can be on my own projects.

Have a great weekend!
Wendy

4Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

8Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. 9Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you

Life sure is a journey and at times the journey sure does get bumpy. At times life has felt like a never ending roller coaster ride. But God is in Control and I know that He has a plan and a purpose in all thing. He has a plan for all of my daughters and even for me. Childhood sure does pass quickly and then you have to allow your children to spread their wings and fly…..

Happy 18th Birthday Mary!

its hot outside! I know our little heat waves are nothing compared to what people live with in the south, but our houses are built to hold in the heat and I don’t have central air. Thankfully I have a little window unit that’s busily cooling off my room while I blog. The temps have been in the 30C range with lots of humidity. Tonight I was so thankful that my studio is in the basement, since I had to quilt all night anyways.
This week I’ve quilted two customer quilts and hopefully I’ll get one more loaded and started before the weekend.
here’s a glimpse of the two that are finished

This one says Canada to me, and how fitting with Canada Day next week.

and the pattern for this one is called Square Dance, I had so much fun quilting this one and had absolutely no tension issues, it quilted up so beautifully.

I am so impatiently waiting to get moving on my BOM from the Fat Quarter Shop.

This week has been especially busy, but I’m hoping to spend a little piecing time this weekend, even an hour would be good.

Last weekend we drove down to the states to pick up parcels at the border, and then we continued on to Grand Marais for a little supper at Sven and Ollies, I’ve always wanted to stop and take pictures of some of the buildings along the way, I love houses that must have some kind of a story even though I have no idea what they might be.

I love this picture

each day this week I’ve felt like it should be Friday, I really don’t want to wish my life away…..but I’m so ready for Friday!!

Have I ever mentioned how much I love Friday?

Had a little visit tonight with my daughter Emily’s Boyfriend who is in town picking up their new to them car. He came by to pick up the things that I had to send to her. Along with what I showed in my previous post I added one of her quilts and an extra one cause you can never have too many quilts and also some batting and fabric. I also sent her a gypsy rose jelly roll. I found out last night that there is a quilt shop within walking distance to her apartment and thanks to another longarmer in Edmonton I was able to find out a little about the shop and it sounds like a good one.

The car is a 97 Ford Mystique sp? and was owned by one woman and has 56000 km on it. It looks like it was regularly rust proofed which is super important around here. The interior looks new too.

and I just had to check out the

tires to make sure they were good, apparently they are almost new.

My daughter had a car but unfortunately her bf was in an accident with it. He was hit by another car being driven by an uninsured car thief, the car was even full of drugs it was quite a story. and because the car that hit him was uninsured and my daughter didn’t have collision on her cute little cavalier they were out of luck. Such a tough pill to swallow. I am so thankful that his parents were able to find them this car and at a very reasonable price of $3500.

While I was outside taking car pictures anyways I took some of my little front garden area. I do the minimal here, because when I am here I’m either quilting or sleeping. I have more flower beds at Erik’s and its much more peaceful for me to work there.

I spent the rest of the evening quilting a customer quilt and hopefully I’ll have it finished up tomorrow and I’ll get another loaded this weekend.

I’m also planning to get the applique done on this quilt top. The fabric and pattern are from Heather Mulder Peterson. Emily saw the quilt on her site and really liked it and wanted one for her apartment. I’ll have it finished this summer for her and will be a belated housewarming gift for her. Emily’s wants Faith Hope and Love. Sarah wants Live Love and Laugh and hers is coming too.

and somehow this weekend I need to make a trip to the border to pick up my lastest order from fatquartershop.com I really should stay off that site

Have a great weekend
Wendy

Funny how you can do a short little quiz and it can tell you what your personality is. I’ve done this one several times over the years. The first time in college and it always comes out the same.

INFP – The “Dreamer”
Jungian Personality Types (Free Test)

INFPs are introspective, private, creative and highly idealistic individuals that have a constant desire to be on a meaningful path. They are driven by their values and seek peace. Empathetic and compassionate, they want to help others and humanity as a whole. INFPs are imaginitive, artistic and often have a talent for language and writing. They can also be described as easygoing, selfless, guarded, adaptable, patient and loyal.
I like how this site has a list of fictional characters that have your personality type. like Anne of Green Gables and real people like Audrey Hepburn, not too sure about Fred Rogers though. But then there’s Mary Mother of Jesus and Laura Ingalls Wilder.
Professionally my day job is not on my list, which I already knew of course. But you do what you have to do to support your family right.
Tonight my Emily took the test and she’s like the opposite of me, her real life people she’s like are mostly presidents, Billy Graham, Sam Walton and John D. Rockefeller. A fictional person on her list was Rachel Linde which didn’t thrill her at all.
Emily is studying to be a teacher which of course was on her list of professions. Emily has always been organized and diligent. She’d got upset with me when she was in Grade 6 when I asked if she’d done her homework, she said that was insulting because of course she’d done it and did I have any idea how embarrassing it would be to go to school and not have it done.
Well as opposite as my Emily in personality we are also very alike in values. I really admire her so much and I’m also so thrilled to pieces that she wants me to send some things to her this weekend. (She is attending University in Edmonton)
She’s decided she needs a hobby

so I had to go and pick up a few things she’ll need for her new hobby and my Mom is sending her

its a sweet little machine, though testing it tonight made me realize how spoiled I’ve become with my newer machines.

We spent some time tonight looking for quilt shops in Edmonton that are close by her place and hopefully we can find one that’s offering a beginner class over the summer. I did find one and I wish I knew more about the shop. For now I’ll send some fabrics and magazines that will get her started. Of course she’s been watching me quilt for years so she has some ideas.

I think summer is finally here! We needed sunscreen! I finally got to use my Christmas Present and Erik did too. Last Christmas I gave Erik a GPS

and we tried it out at the border lake we were fishing at today. He gave me a Pink Ugly Stick

We realized today that its been over 8 months since we’ve been fishing. With the cold weather this spring and then company from Finland, Sarah’s Graduation and our trip to Duluth there hasn’t been a chance. Even this weekend was a challenge to get away but Friday night we decided enough was enough and we were going.
I love this boat, its just perfect for a good days fishing, the seats even fold down allowing for a wonderful afternoons nap.

The first fish I caught with my new rod was only a pike so he didn’t really count but right after that I caught what I was looking for, a walleye

I love pictures of Erik esp our fishing pictures

The day really flew by too quickly and now I’m already itching to get back out there. I can’t wait to get out camping and spend a couple days on the lake and evenings by the campfire.

The lake we were at today straddles the Canadian US Border. This sign is posted with instructions that I hope don’t apply to us. We try not to go over to the US side of the lake.

Time to leave, this is the road its pretty narrow and parts of it are very rough which in some ways is a very good thing.

Look who was walking along the road out

he just continued running slowly on the road just ahead of us and I was able to get some great shots of him. For those who don’t know this guy is a bull Moose.

Then on the side of another highway on our way home look who was right beside the road, a cow and her calf

When my girls were little, after a fun day they would sometimes ask if we could do that day again tomorrow. Today was one of those days for me. But I think it’s Monday in the morning so off to work I’ll go.
til next time
take care,
Wendy

I’ve been wanting to dig into my jelly rolls but thought I’d start with a honey bun. This one is Deb Strains Fresh collection. While its not really my colours, I enjoyed working with these very bright sunny colours. My oldest daughter’s response was “well I don’t hate it” my youngest really likes it. I’m thinking it might make a fun baby or child’s quilt. It could be a fun little picnic blanket or something. What do you think?

This is where I found the idea, I really like it in those soft colours:
Moda Bakeshop