Four Food Groups

Hope everyone had a great Christmas!

'Tis the season for colds. This is when my most favorite 4 basic food groups chips, ice cream, pop, and CHOCOLATE are the best.

One thing about being not quite so sick is that you can still piece. The process may be slower but it can be done. This block was to be a log cabin block, but, in my wisdom, or Not, it was changed to a spiral.

Maybe not such a great idea to do this when the head is foggy. But, after a few unsewings, Voila! This was sooo worth it and sooo much fun!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas To All & To All A Goodnight!

Quilt to Music

Quilts set to music from Canada.

Ice &quilts

I spoke a day to soon. The next day it turned cold and snowed and the lake froze over completely. The second day, the Chinook came and melted the snow by the afternoon. Unfortunately, the ice is still on the lake. Winter is really here. The arch in the photo is the Chinook cloud.

Not only is the Rocky Mountain Puzzle quilt completed, but so is the Domino quilt.
Rocky Mountain Puzzle quilt is from Moda's Terrain layer cake by Kate Spain.

Domino quilt is from stripes, plaids, and the odd dot that I cut up to make my own layer cake.

November Geese

It's mid November and the lake is still open. Open that is to gaggles of Canada Geese. Ice has been trying to form some nights but, thank you mother nature for standing up to the north winds and only allowing the chinooks go come through.

Early Morning Geese

The last gaggle this morning

Afternoon rest from the blustery winds
Calmer in the cove

 

Remembrance Day

In Flanders Fields

by Canadian military doctor and artillery commander John McCrae, May 1915

In Flanders fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row,

That mark our place; and in the sky

The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

Loved and were loved, and now we lie

In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:

To you from failing hands we throw

The torch; be yours to hold it high.

If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

In Flanders fields.

For information on the Poppy and Remembrance Day

Rocky Mountain Puzzle

Layer cakes - what do you do with 42 - 10" squares? Besides checking out Moda Bake Shop. I wanted to design one of my own bakeshop goodies. Born is the Alberta Rocky Mountain Puzzle quilt.

These 420 hst's are from one Terrain layer cake and twenty-one (21) 10" x 21" white pieces of fabric. Why I made the 420 hst's larger to trim them to size instead of using one of the paper piecing methods is beyond me.

Canadian Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving

Canada!

Wishing you the very best turkey day ever!

Thanksgiving reflections:

Addition to the family

It's here and set up! Fusion aka Fred! Joyce and her husband Joe, from Big Sky Quilts in Montana, did a wonderful job of putting everything together and getting it all setup in a day. What a job that was! So grateful I didn't have to do it! The next day a had my first lesson. Woohoo!! Talk about exciting!!

And then, I badly hurt both hands so Fred has been relaxing and getting acquainted with his new home. Only this past week have I been able to piece. 

What happened to the office that was where Fred is now? Everything has been moved upstairs and combined with a living room office into the long forgotten den that was used as a storage for trucking and quilt store paraphernalia after closing and selling the businesses respectively.

Yes, that is a pink elephant in the chair. But, that is another story. Time for another reorganization. Yes, this is one of the other rooms that was mentioned in the first reorganization that needed to be redone. Anyone out there starting a business that requires office paraphernalia?

Renewed WIP

Hi everyone! Jo here; Kat's cohort.

Isn't it great when you can throw a WIP in the box because you're sick of the fabric, let alone the quilt, and 10 months later, when you find it in a pile, it is the best looking WIP again!

Mystery Final Chapter

Here we are at the final chapter of the Mystery. I hope you enjoyed the journey. There are pictures of other color variations that you can try. Mystery is no longer available. Stay tuned for another mystery in the spring.

It's finally a hot summer here even though it is September. I guess technically it really is still summer because the first day of Fall is in October. Even the poplar trees are still green.

I always feel like saying Happy New Year September 1. Don't you think this is the beginning of the year? Everyone gets back into a routine and most groups/institutes start their programs at this time.

You may have noticed that the previous post was by Jo. She is a great friend and cohort. Jo enjoys quilting period. She is one of those that actually pieces every day. She tests my patterns, sews my samples and gives me a kick when I need one to move forward. Jo recently purchased one of APQS' first midarm, longarm at that time, quilting machine. It's like working on a Featherweight. Hums along beautifully!

Jo will be periodically blogging at Next Step Quilt Designs. Her enthusiasm for quilting is contagious so stay tuned!

Summer Daze

Summer is over, boo hoo, and the city is back to normal. Because of all the construction projects, the one hour drive across the city is back to two hours. 

The design wall is getting fuller by the hour. Kat is experimenting with 'modern quilt' fabric in her traditional “block of the month” blocks. It works for those who like blended quilts, which we do. Well I do; Kat is experimenting. Here is a portion of her Summer Daze block of the month.

Many modern quilts look somewhat simplistic but in studying many of the websites with Modern quilts, I came to notice that the only restriction is my own fear in using whatever fabric you want. Kat noticed that many Modern quilts use plain white for a background giving the quilts a clean look. The impression that many modern quilts are just large pieces of modern fabric sewn together doesn’t hold true for us either. Anyway, a new door is now open for us to try and we have found another reason to add more fabric to our stash.

Slow posting and slow sewing. All though I did quilt the Summer Daze quilt myself on an old (l988) “midarm” longarm quilting machine (that doesn’t sound right), the fact is that the last time I quilted on any type of longarm machine was back in the early nineties. A pretty fair job if I do say so myself.

The next modern quilt is also done is ready to go on the Midarm quilting machine. I love how the colors worked in the unusual setting. The simple border really showcases the blocks.

Mystery Lucky

	Mystery is no longer available. Stay tuned for another mystery in the spring.
This is Lucky. Mouser, birder, mischievous elf, lady of the house, master of the house, alarm clock, de-stresser, time to take a break and pet or feed me clock, my boss, my baby. Now my Angel. She is greatly missed.	

Mystery Calgary Stampede

Mystery is no longer available. Stay tuned for another mystery in the spring.

The Calgary Stampede for 2011 is 5 days old. There are free, yes free, Stampede Breakfasts everywhere every morning. If you love flapjacks (pancakes) this is the place to be. Thousands of people are fed every day. One thing about it is that after Stampede is over you will never have to eat another flapjack for a year. The Chinook Centre breakfast is 50 years old. 

Modern - Nature and the Fire Department

You just have to love it when a plan comes together. It's even more rewarding when a friend's stash can come to the rescue when you cannot find the right fabric in your stash.

1st attempt

The revised block turned out great. It is amazing how the scale of the new fabric makes all the difference. The small checked fabric adds even more interest.

revised

Firemen are so compassionate! They do so much to help all creatures great and small!

This family of ducks was ready to hit the pond in the green space behind my friend's house. She walked down 3 houses looking for a route to the pond before the firemen came and escorted them to the back thru a neighbor's yard. You just have to admire the firemen's willing ability to help everyone!

looking for a route to the back

on to the next house

C'mon li'l duckies.

Watch that they follow the path.

Have you ever notice that the smallest things can give you the biggest smiles and the best feeling!

Modern Quilts

For a few years now, very large, large and large medium scale fabrics with all kinds of textures have been around. Everyone loved them but no one really knew what to do with them. One would never think of mixing any of these textures in a quilt.

Then the Modern Quilter arrives. They pick the fabrics they love. They mix all textures and colors together. They create their quilts without inhibitions.

Over the last 3 years, I have learned a great amount about combining stripes, plaids and various textured fabrics from the freebie 15 program at Traditional Pastimes in Calgary. It is nothing out of the ordinary to receive a package similar to this each month.

Then, ding ding ding and the light goes on. The Modern fabrics are similar to the Thirty's fabrics. They are bright, true color fabrics and are combined with white or another solid color. Here is my attempt to moderize the block of the month quilt, Elegance, with the fabrics below.

Same blocks - 1st block Traditional - 2nd block Modern.

Unfortunately, the second block from a distance shows that both the black and red colored fabrics are too similar.

The block looks better close up.