My Color Affection

This past month I have kept my hands busy with this Color Affection Shawl.  As I was in the process of the knit, I was unsure of my color selection but once it was completed, I quickly changed my mind.  Here is a few pictures showing off this striped beauty!

...I am already thinking of making another!

Link to pattern:  Color Affection by Veera Välimäki

For more info about MY color affection, click HERE.

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Ribbon Box Quilt - WIP

Last year I had finished this Ribbon Box Quilt top and finally decided to start quilting it.  When I picked my fabrics for this quilt I was certain that the prints and colours I had selected would work perfectly with the design of the quilt, but when I had finished piecing it, I was not entirely sure if I had made the right selections.  Because all of the fabrics are light to medium together with the white background fabric, I don't think that the ribbons 'pop' as much as I had hoped.  

In the end it is a really pretty quilt and together with some beautiful textured quilting I think it will look great!

I had decided to quilt a rather dense (small scale) stippling in the background, the idea is to have the background area lay a little 'flat' and hopefully that way once I quilt the ribbons they will pop and stand out.

With all of the stitch in the ditch complete and the background quilting done it is time to move on to the 'ribbons'.  I just love quilting swirls!!!  I think I am going to use three or four different designs within the ribbons, its hard to decide which, but so far the swirls looks great!  Maybe some large pebbles and curvy lines will work well too... I just want to have fun playing around with different textures.

So far...I think it looks great!

If you are interested in the making your own 'Ribbon Box Quilt', you can find links to the pattern in this POST I shared.

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Heathers' Quilt

Charlotte's Quilt

Last year I was invited to the Carletonville Quilters regional meeting for a 'show and tell' and during that visit I volunteered to free motion quilt 'Charlotte's Quilt' for the husband of a lady who had passed away.  

It was my very first volunteer project AND my first experience quilting for someone else.  It was a true honor and I loved to work on that quilt.  I had hoped that once others would see it, that they would call on me again to FMQ their quilts for them.  To see a lot of close up pictures of Charlotte's Quilt, click HERE.

Soon after they had shown that quilt during their next meeting, Heather contacted me saying she loved what I had quilted and that she had a little quilt she wanted me to free motion quilt for her.

I was so excited!  A few things came up that prevented me from starting right away but a couple of weeks ago, I finally got the quilt and I started right away.  Here is Heather's beautiful disappearing nine patch quilt.  I loved her fabric choices!  It screamed Look At Me!!!

She gave me some guidelines of what she wanted me to quilt, but in the end I made a few suggestions and from there I had free reign and quilted what I thought best.    

I kept to the leafy designs she initially suggested within the sashing and borders and extend that design within the block with a custom motif that I think ties in well with the rest of the quilt.

She chose not to see any progress pictures, so I was rather nervous after I was done if she would like it, but when she phoned me after getting her quilt she was over the moon and completely happy with what I have quilted.  Happy happy day!!

I offered to do everything from the basting right through to the binding, and I am so glad I did!  This way I had the chance of seeing the quilt completed.

Note to Heather, thank you so much for allowing me to work on your quilt, I had a lot of fun!  Your quilt is truly beautiful and loved every second I spent quilting it.  I look forward to quilting for you again!

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...at long last!

Wow, has it really been 3 months since my last blog post?  It honestly feels like forever...  We had an unfortunate little incident just after the new year.  A huge hail storm passed through our little town.  Normally I am not one that scares easily, but that night I was pacing through the house nervously and scared!  The sound of thunder and hail hitting against the window got me completely rattled.  It really sounded like all the windows was breaking, so I frantically walked from one room to the next checking for damage.  

    

View around our home the next morning

After the storm had passed which was at about 1 am, and it was just raining I decided that I could finally go to bed.  Unfortunately during the hail storm some of the tiles on our roof shifted and some damaged and large amounts of water leaked through (as my luck would have it) in my sewing room.  Murphy's Law I guess, the only thing that got damaged was my laptop, it was completely drenched in water.  I was so upset, I only had it for about 5 or 6 months and was still brand new.  It was quite a struggle explaining it to our insurance, and it took some convincing and even some arguments to have it replaced.  After many phone calls and a lot patience, I now have a new laptop.  It was such a relief since we do not have the means to just open our purses to buy a new one on demand.  

After I got my emails set up again I received quite a few messages from many you following my blog, some concerned messages and even some just saying 'hi, you are missed'.  Thank you for that, it means a lot.  I am going to make some time today to reply to each of those emails.  

Regarding our 'Anything Goes Mondays' linky party, my subscription to inlinkz has expired during this time and I am now unsure weather or not to carry on this year.  I have enjoyed hosting the linkup but I have been rethinking it for some time, it just felt like my blog has lost its 'personal touch' and I was sharing less and less of my own quilting...  So for the time being or for this year at least I am going to put 'Anything Goes Mondays' to rest.

I have been busy in my sewing room during this time of absence, and I will share it with all of you soon!  For now I am just happy to be back!!! 

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Guest Host for Anything Goes Mondays - Allison from Babco Unlimited

Today’s Guest Host for Anything Goes Monday is Allison from Babco Unlimited.

By day she is a wife to one tech-savvy husband and mother to thee active children. By night she is a quilting superhero! Okay, not really. She doesn’t truly have superpowers, although she’s tricked her kids into thinking she can make just about anything.

She started quilting 7 years ago and life has never been the same since.

It all started when she asked her mom to teach her how to make a quilt. Mother and daughter would meet up weekly to learn about ¼ inch seams, rotary cutters, half-square triangles, and more.

Her first quilt won 1st place in a local quilt show. The quilt was intended for her eldest son, who quickly took credit for the win. Upon learning of the award, he called his dad and said, “Dad. The quilt mom and I made won First Place!” 

First place for my first quilt

She volunteers and serves with several quilt guilds. She edits the newsletter for one guild of 275+ quilters; She helped organize a new guild (then promptly moved—so maybe she’ll have to do it again in her new neighborhood); and she helps organize a Quilt Retreat for her State Guild that spans 4 days of quilting classes, luncheons, vendors, and events.

She loves piecing, free motion quilting, and learning new quilting tricks. She will be reopening her Tuesday Tips after the New Year sharing all those quilting tips and tricks that make quilting easy and fun.  So be sure to follow her to discover new tips. Her kryptonite are appliqué and binding. (She is still sore about her near loss at the Battle with Binding.)

I hope you enjoy visiting Allison's blog and remember to link up.

*  *  *  NOTE  *  *  *  

This will be the LAST Anything Goes Mondays link up for this year and will resume 

on Monday 5 January 2015

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