Crafts Around The Bay

Day & Night

2010-06-02T13:46:00.002-02:30

After much frustration I finally got the quilting process completed. It took a little longer than I expected. The thread kept breaking and I tried everything to fix the problem. Hopefully, cross fingers, it won't happen again. I guess getting use to the quilting frame takes a lot of practice. I am now putting the binding on, I am on the 3^rd side. Would be nice to move on to another quilt soon.

Day & Night (Part 3)

2010-05-14T11:19:00.001-02:30

I feels like I haven't been blogging as much as I like, but I have been sewing. I have finally completed my quilt top! The next step is to get it quilted together. It is a queen size quilt which measures 94" X 106". I just purchased my backing fabric and batting. Hope to get this on the frame during the weekend!

When I wasn't quilting I have had a couple of good books. Both the Ozzy Osbourne and Michael Crummey's latest "Galore" were both a good read. I am now reading another one of Jennifer Chiaverini's from The Elm Creek Quilts Album called The Quilter's Legacy. So far so good! These books go from one extreme to the other, but I like to mix it up.

DAY & NIGHT

2010-04-14T21:31:00.003-02:30

The kids are back to school and I am still trying to get back on track. I have all my strip sets sewn together and have 168 triangles cut. These are all pieced together in 6 1/2 inch squares. So far so good!

I am now in the process of joining 4 of these squares to form a star pattern.

Day & Night

2010-04-08T21:35:00.000-02:30

This post is long overdue! I finally got my fabric several weeks ago from Connecting Threads. I was so excited! I put my foundation pieces aside and started chopping away at my new fabric! I am making a Day & Night quilt. I am off to a slow start! Having the flu, then out of town and now the kiddies are out of school for Easter Break. So my sewing time has been dramatically reduced! I hope to catch up next week!

The colors are an Expresso and Frost combination. Expresso being the night color and Frost being the day color.

I Spy

2010-03-14T18:32:00.005-02:30

Usually, I do not get much accomplished during the weekends. But this weekend I feel I have outdone myself. Friday, I finished the book titled "The Bishop's Man" by Linden MacIntyre. In the beginning, I didn't know how I would find the book. However, because it is a Giller Prize winner, I read on. I am so glad I did. It was quite an interesting read!

While I am waiting for some fabric to be delievered by post, I found myself wondering what to do next. I was in quite a slump! Down to my sewing room I went, looking through my stash. I found these fat eighths sampler from Connecting Threads. I wanted to try foundation piecing, and thought this may be a perfect way to use up the fat eighths with a scrappy look! So off to the cutting board I went!

This is how one of the blocks turned out. I now have three completed. I didn't anticipate what I would go through picking the paper off the back. That may be hubby's job when all the blocks are completed!

Today, I have finally completed the binding on my lap quilt. The kids titled it "I Spy" They spied the letters L & T. As well as the shapes diamond, triangle and also a tree. The tree is the pattern that is machine quilted. I used a moda jelly roll for this quilt. The borders are from my stash.

Jean Bag

2010-03-10T20:56:00.001-03:30

Every now and then I gets an itch to try something different from quilting. I love tote bags and I love denim. I usually make rag bags out of old jeans. But this time I tried out an old pattern that was kicking around. The front has a Newfoundland dog appliqued to the center. The back has a pocket attached and the trim is with Newfoundland Tartan. The straps have denim on one side and tartan on the other. It always feels good when you can recycle materials to make new things.

Broken Star

2010-03-06T22:20:00.003-03:30

So what have I been doing for the past week? I have been trying to get some bindings in place for a couple of quilts and I just finished quilting this top for my mother. I love the pattern. Maybe one for me to try a little later.

So of course my mind is always going to the next project to go on the cutting board. I think I will try a jean tote bag for a change

Stack - n - Whack

2010-02-23T13:51:00.001-03:30

Just after Christmas, my mother and I purchased a home quilting system between us. My mom has been quilting for as long as I can remember! She is quite a perfectionist. I had some ugly orange floral material sitting around for a long time. I was thinking there must be something I can use it in! I already had a Stack n Whack book. The way you stack the layers and cut them to form the blocks to look like Kaleidoscopes was fascinating to me. So early in January, I picked up the book and started reading through the instructions, it said somewhere don't overlook some of the ugly fabrics in bargin bins, they make the greatest Kaleidoscopes. So I figured I would give it a try with the ugly orange floral print! I was telling my mother about my plans and with each stack n whack pieced together we were amazed at the shapes that took place! I thought I'd make this quilt and it would be my first on the quilting system. I was anticipating a very ugly quilt! But much to my surprise, I fell in love with it! Needless to say, the home quilting system was a whole new learning experience!

I quilted an all over floral/butterfly design.

All I have to do is find a better way to take pictures.

The lighting seems terrible.

Blogging

2010-02-20T19:40:00.000-03:30

This blogging is still all new to me! Some things I would like to do with the pictures and the layout I still have to figure out. All a learning experience! I will get it one day.

Deer Quilt

2010-02-20T19:12:00.001-03:30

I have finished my wildlife quilt top. It is probably more of a wallhanging than anything else. I have it on my quilting frame now ready to be completed. I have a couple of rows done on it, hopefully finish it off tomorrow.

Quilting on my frame using a

tree outline.

Runaway Quilt

2010-02-18T09:36:00.000-03:30

Last night I finished reading the first novel in the Elm Creek Quilts Album by Jennifer Chiaverini. The title is Runaway Quilt. It was a pretty good book. Kept my interest. Jennifer Chiaverini is the author of several Elm Creek Quilt novels that I have read over the past year. It is a series with the same characters which I enjoy!
My wildlife quilt is coming along, I am hoping that I will have the quilt top completed over the weekend so I can post a picture.

2010-02-16T21:44:00.000-03:30

One of the two Winnie the Pooh Quilts! The other had a red border. It has the 6 characters machine embroidered and 6 nine patches.

February 16, 2010

2010-02-16T21:28:00.000-03:30

Well, I can't believe how long its been since my last post. I had good intentions when I started this blog to keep it as up to date as possible. Well, I will try again. Yes I am still sewing, quilting, doing alterations and embroidery. Right now I am currently working on a wildlife lap quilt. Very tiny pieces, but I think it will look nice.

This past fall I sold my other wildlife quilt which had a deer on it, I also made a lovely Winnie the Pooh quilt which was embroidered. It was the first quilt I ever used embroidery on. It turned out lovely.

I also spent some time doing Christmas items and tried some redwork.

2009-06-14T20:13:00.000-02:30

Here are a couple of samples of personalized embroidery. They make lovely gifts.

Newfoundland Quilt

2009-03-28T09:31:00.000-02:30

This was my first Newfoundland Quilt. There were a lot of hours spent on that quilt. I was so proud of it once I finished. I felt it was terrrible to put it on a bed and then cover it up. It looked more like a wallhanging. My sister in-law wasn't long buying it from me. She has it displayed in her business Hotel Port aux Basques.

2009-03-26T15:01:00.000-02:30

This is a log cabin quilt that I made in 2008. I used the quilt as you go technique. I decided to give it to my in-laws for Christmas.

2009-03-26T13:52:00.000-02:30

I thought I would start by displaying some of my past projects. These rag bags turned out fabulous. I first made one for myself and embroidered the Newfoundland Dog in the middle. Then made one for my daughter with Girls rule. When we use these bags, people stop us and ask me how I made it. Everyone loves them.