Candle Mat #2

A friend gifted me this pattern sometime ago and I just never got around to trying it out until today . Funny how things go I was going through some stash when I came across a fat quarter that I thought would be perfect for this candle mat so I proceeded to get things ready . This pattern only requires four charm squares which I thought was kind of cool and wanted to find out how that worked . One thing I am not too crazy about is that this is raw edge applique and maybe if I had one of those fancy rotary cutters with the scalloped edge this would be better as I am not real happy with the edges , however it is what it is but I did come up with a clever way to quilt it. The pattern asks that you quilt   3/4" away from the border triangles , ok I say to myself , how will I do that so it is even ,I know I could take the time to mark it but instead this is what I came up with .

That's right this is painters tape and I very crudely taped it down along the edges of the triangles and then stitched next to the tape and this is what I got.

 Nice even stitching , yippee and took much less time than marking . So here is the completed project ,oh by the way the pattern is called Pinwheel mini Table Treat by Kansas Troubles Quilters .

Although none of these are Christmas prints it does have a Christmas look to it. The lighting is poor today so that binding looks more gray than the green it is .
 Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the day .
 hugs Sheila

A Dresdan Finish :-)

I surprised myself on this one getting it finished off so quickly and I have to say I love it !!

I know this picture is not the best , the sun is shining and therefore casting shadows but hey I am not complaining about the sun it is wonderful to see it :-) I learned a few things in making this , first off READ the instructions , sometimes I tend to just barrel forward and not read all the way through ,well the problem there was the large background circle was NOT suppose to be cut before sewing but I did ,so had to be extra careful with stitching to make that circle a proper circle and I bet you want to know how I did that right , well I will tell you , I have a stitch in the ditch foot that I had not used much and I thought why not let that little bar rest along the edge and position my needle to make the seam allowance I need and let me tell that worked like a charm .I didn't have enough extra fabric to recut so had to be  inventive and see I learned something along the way . This pattern is by Kay Buffington and is called Dresden Plate Candle Mat , just incase you have a hankering to give it a try , I can see myself doing this one again :-)
That's it for me folks off to enjoy the sun while it is out. Thanks for visiting and come again real soon.
 hugs Sheila

WIP Wednesday

Wednesday sure seems to roll around quickly don't you think. I have a few irons in the fire , well maybe more than a few ;-) So here is what I worked on since last week .

This is my completed runner that I showed you last week , I am quite pleased with how it looks on my hutch , now will I actually keep it is another question but it was fun to make.
I have also been making a few zippered pouches of which I just have one to show , they are quick and fun to make and make a great gift .

Then today I started a new project , yeah I know I have other things that need doing but this little table topper was calling my name and since I had enough fabric in my stash I did some cutting and have all the pieces cut and now ready for assembly .This is just a peak and you may not be able to figure out what this will be but by this time next week I should be able to show you .

 These dresdan points are just resting there and will be sewn together than on a round background , the dark fabric is green although it sure doesn't look like it.
 I am linking up today to the Needle and Thread Network and I want to thank you for stopping by .
 Hugs Sheila

2012 Christmas Quilt Show

We all love a quilt show , well it just so happens that Michele at Quilting Tutorial  is hosting a wonderful Christmas quilt show , you can enter your favorite quilt now until the 30th of Nov. and then in Dec. we get the opportunity to vote for our favorite quilts and oh did I mention there are prizes to be won . Several blogs that I follow have now entered a quilt so I thought why not, I have plenty of Christmas wall hangings I can choose from but to pick my all time favorite it would have to be this very special to me wall hanging. I have shared this before but I feel it deserves showing again .

This Santa was a drawing by my sweet granddaughter when she was just 8 years old , I traced each and every line she drew and created this wall hanging , she had even added those snowflakes, it was drawn on a large piece of construction paper so this was the actual size of the drawing in its original form . Alyssa will be seventeen tomorrow , Happy Birthday Alyssa !!
 Be sure to head on over to see the quilts in this amazing show and why not enter one yourself . Go here to read all the rules and see the quilts on display so far.
Thanks for stopping by and enjoy your day.
 hugs Sheila

Sunday discoveries

The skies are dark and the snow flakes have been falling today with a strong cold north wind ,winter has arrived so what is a girl to do but spend some time in the sewing room . I had a plan to work on a small project today and needed to find some zippers and was not successful in my sewing room so off to the spare bedroom I go as that was once the sewing room and it still has a closet full of sewing related stuff ;-) I did not find any suitable zippers BUT I did find these long forgotten blocks.

Around the year 2000 I started swapping blocks via the internet within a group on a site known as Sewing World ,  and for eighteen months I swapped a twelve inch block with a different person each month and since I was a new quilter I always did a practice block first and thought it would be fun to have some blocks in Christmas prints and these blocks are the result .I had completely forgotten about  these blocks along with a few other blocks in the pizza box in which these were stored .  Then you know what else I discovered in this same box , this little reverse applique poinsetta , Diane R. will remember this one as we both went to a retreat together and made this block but I bet hers has been made into something years and years ago. I think the retreat was in 2002 .

I think I will push myself to sew some borders on this and make a pillow for Christmas . I don't think I have done any reverse applique since , not that I didn't like the process just didn't have any reason to I guess.
 I also found these flower pounded pieces that were done at this same retreat or just after I got home and were my first ever attempts at this process .

Not sure what will become of these either but they have been well preserved .
 Now my dear sweet hubby surprised me on Friday with a new to me sewing machine , I don't know if you are aware that I love vintage sewing machines and when he lifted the lid on this baby my heart beat a few extra beats. What a gem it is and in very good condition , needs a little cleaning up but the bed is not scratched and I am told it works although I have not tried it out as of yet.

This is a 99K which is similar to the sought after feather weight machine also by Singer , the size is pretty much the same the only difference is the machine is in this case where as the feather weight is not and the bed of the feather weight lifts up which this one does not. Now I do have a little problem here which I am hoping someone can help me with , the case has a strong smell of mustiness , does anyone know what can help with this .I am so sensitive to mold that I really have to get this smelling much better to even try it out.I would really appreciate any suggestions you might have ,thanks.
 Oh and I have sewn the runner together and have the quilting done and the binding sewn on but I need to sew that down on the back then I will share a photo with you , it is ok, maybe not great but I enjoyed the process so that counts for something I guess :-) I am off now to do a little stitching , hope you are enjoying your day doing what you love most.
Thanks for stopping by and enjoy your day.
 hugs Sheila

WIP Wednesday

It is beginning to feel much more like winter these days , so cold in the mornings with heavy frost but so far no snow on the ground :-)  Since today is Wednesday it is time to share my work in progress , I won't take up too much of your time but will share a couple of projects on the go . For several months now I have been swapping nine patch blocks with 10 other ladies , mostly the girls I quilt with on Tuesdays , yesterday was the day for swapping so my little pile was getting quite large and just now I decided to spread them out on the display wall so you can see just how many I have gathered , we decided to do this at least once more  so we will have enough to make a decent size quilt .

These are placed in no particular order and at this time I have no idea just how I will use these but do have a few options to choose from. I was enjoying making nine patch so much that I then joined my friends at Wednesday sewing session but the spin on these is they had to be Christmas prints so here is what I have so far ,this should be enough to make something with  .

Again in no particular order just the way they came out of my bag ,such fun !!
Now the other thing that I am involved with is postcards , our guild is planning on an exchange with friends of Annette of In Stitches and Seams ,the plan is to exchange in January for February and our theme is Valentines so I did a couple of samples to show our quilt guild tonight at the meeting .

This is another of my vintage cards that I printed from onto a fabric sheet  and then this one is a small stitchery that I came across and it was the perfect size for a card.

I don't have any further progress on my runner to report at this time maybe in a day or two . I am linking up today to the Needle and Thread Network .Thanks for stopping by and enjoy your day .
 hugs Sheila

Canadian Quilters Connect

Welcome to my blog , if this is your first time visiting I hope you enjoy your stay .I am happy to be taking part in the Blogathon hosted by Sew Sisters  ,each day there will be different provinces featured introducing us to other quilt blogs in the province  and today is Nova Scotia and our special  hostess is Jeanette of Stamp Stitch Create . Visit with Jeanette for a list of other Nova Scotia quilt blogs and be sure to enter in her great giveaway . Below is a list of all the host blogs , take some time to visit , you will be sure to be inspired and maybe create a few new friends along the way . Thanks for stopping by and hope you will come again . Hugs Sheila



The host blogs!

Sunday, November 18 Kick-off! Michele Quilting Gallery Monday, November 19 BC Felicity Felicity Quilts Monday, November 19 BC Cathy Blueberry Patch Tuesday, November 20 NS Jeanette STAMP * STITCH * CREATE Tuesday, November 20 NB Holly Through My Window Wednesday, November 21 AB Shena Apple Pie Patchwork Wednesday, November 21 SK Patti Retired to Quilt Thursday, November 22 QC Marika Live, Laugh, Love... Sew Thursday, November 22 MB Heather Church Avenue Quilts Friday, November 23 YT Vivian Quilting Under the Midnight Sun Friday, November 23 YT Janet Caribou Crossing Chronicles Saturday, November 24 ON Cathi Quilt Obsession Saturday, November 24 ON Cara Cara Quilts Saturday, November 24 ON Kaye Miss Print

FNSI Report

I know I am slow with the report for  FNSI  but better late than never I suppose . Thanks to Heidi for being our hostess .On Friday afternoon I  the did a little quilting , made the binding then stitched that on these two little minis so I could sit in my comfortable chair in the evening and stitch down the binding and sleeve .

I am too lazy to take the time to put this on the little table topper frame so just pinned it at the top ,there is actually a mini behind it , see I am in a lazy mood ;-)

And number two finished , this cute little Gail Pan stitchery .
I am hooked on pinterest lately , so many wonderful ideas on anything you can imagine and I came across this runner that took  my attention and I figured it would work with Christmas prints so I investigated further and decided to give it a go and here it is so far , I do have a way to go yet and hopefully I won't get things mixed up as I tend to do at times . Not sure about my colors but it is what I had so what the heck ,it is kind of like getting it for free when these were just scraps too small for anything much .

Doesn't look like much yet does it , oh well perhaps the next time I post it you will be able to tell just what it is ,I can't even direct you to where I seen this but if I find it again I will let you know. Hope you are enjoying your Sunday or Monday if you are over on the other side of the ocean :-) Thanks for stopping by .
 hugs Sheila

These boots are made for walking ......

Well maybe not , but they are darn cute ,I am taking part in a postcard exchange with a yahoo group and this months theme that I signed up for was boots or shoes so I found an illustration of a boot that I liked and these are the three boots that I will mail out .

Strange photo I know but I lined them up on my design wall and all you could see was loose threads so I cropped the photo . This is about as close as I will ever come to even owning a pair of boots like this , wearing them would be out of the question with my knees but hey I think they are cool ;-)

I also wanted to share this photo that my granddaughter Caitlin took with her phone camera , it kind of blew me away , see if you can see the image I see . Pretty neat photo I thought.

What do you think , Caitlin really loves to take photos and does a great job , she is very artistic .
Thanks for the visit and hope you are having a terrific day , I am off to have some lunch then back to the sewing room .
hugs Sheila

WIP Wednesday and you know how it goes

It is a raining day here on the east coast , seems I am always saying that lately but we actually have had some incredible warm weather lately with beautiful sunny skies and today we are making up for it ;-) I don't have a lot to report on progress this week , I have been otherwise preoccupied but I did a little landscape postcard for a 5th anniversary for the Val Hearder landscape group on yahoo .

This was made using hand dyed fabrics I purchased in Mabou ,kind of fun to do. I also did a few more Christmas postcards but did not take a photo so you will have to take my word for it.
 Now for the rest of my title , "you know how it goes" well I have many favorite blogs I love to visit and recently I was visiting with Raewyn  and she was showing us her delightful little quilt which she had displayed for a little mini quilt show over at Taryn's blog and you just know I had to check this out as I love mini quilts . Well I discovered a lovely blog , had never been there before and now I am a happy follower so thanks Raewyn for introducing me . I am going to enter this little quilt into her mini quilt show as it is one of my all time favorite mini quilts I have made so far .The basket quilt was a free pattern on Temecula Quilt company ,it was a really fun quilt along project.

The little quilt is now in my childs cradle that I had as a small child along with a rag doll I made some years ago . You should head on over and see all the wonderful little quilts that have joined in on the mini quilt tour so far.
I am linking up today to the Needle and Thread Network ,thanks for stopping by and have yourself a wonderful day .
 hugs Sheila

It might be raining outside but the sun is shining in here

Yes it is a dreary wet day here on the east coast but this morning a package arrived in the mail from my friend Judy of Knit,Quilt , Spin and Weave (Fundamentally Fiber) ,what a lovely way to brighten my day just look at what she kindly sent to me .

 This gorgeous wall hanging , so well done with a pieced star /sun in the center and quilted rays to finish it off,oh and I must mention her pretty hand dyed fabrics she used for the sky , wow ,such talent . Thank you so much Judy for thinking of me it truly did brighten my day and will find a spot in my sewing corner so I will always have the sun shining no matter the weather outside. As you can see by her blog title Judy is a multi talented lady who happens to love to ski and is probably praying for snow ;-)

 My  friend Annette of In Stitches and Seams also was sweet enough to send me on some of her patterns she designed , you will remember this bag that she gave me when we met in Saskatoon in August , well she sent me the pattern so I can make more of these wonderful bags,two in fact so one to share  .

 This is the bag she gave me in August and I use this all the time , it is large and sturdy and holds all my quilting supplies when I go quilting on Tuesdays .So now I have these patterns to make more if I so desire .Thanks so much Annette you are a sweet friend .

 Annette is an amazing designer and recently took part in the McCall's Design challenge and made it all the way to the finals , way to go Annette !!
I have to tell you what I have been doing , you all know that it was Halloween recently and that means pumpkins , well I don't carve the pumpkins anymore but still like to have one or more on display and for my eating enjoyment later on .I had Bill help carve up the pumpkin for me and I cooked it and pureed it and then had all this pumpkin ,so what to do .I searched the internet for recipes and came across a pumpkin bread I had to try and I have to say this is the best pumpkin bread I have ever eaten and I think Bill will second that .

Now doesn't that look yummy, I suppose you would like to know where I got the recipe , ok I will share that because something this good should be shared .By the way the white part is a cream cheese filling , yeah that could explain why this is so good . The only change I made was I left out the nuts but I am sure they would be a lovely addition .http://www.joyofbaking.com/breakfast/PumpkinBread.html
I also made some banana pumpkin muffins which were good but nothing compared to this bread . Now there is plenty in the freezer for when the need for more yumminess arises ;-)
 Well I am off now to do a little sewing in my now sunny corner so thanks for stopping by and have yourself a wonderful day .
hugs Sheila

WIP Wednesday

I can't believe a week has gone by , where does the time go anyway ? My dear little granddaughters Nila and Elise spent the weekend with us so I was busy playing checkers and monopoly and no sewing took place but that is just fine , I had a delightful weekend . Elise who is just four asked me if it was hard to sew , I told her no and that when she got a little older I would be happy to teach her to which she replied " Oh good Gammie because I want to be a fashion designer when I grow up" ,how precious is that :-)
 So what did I work on you are asking , well I did get a few small things done since last week , first off I came across a pile of Christmas strings so proceeded to make mug rugs and I even had some left over bindings to use to finish them off.

 Then I came across some sample pieces from a class I had taught with permission using a pattern by  Annette of In Stitches and Seams for a sweet little candle mat , To make the original pattern I needed six sections , well I had only four left so I did a little thinking and decided to reduce the pattern by 60% and voila here is my little version of Annette's pattern.

 If I was smart I would have taken a picture of the large one next to the reduced size , ok just wait and I will go do that .

There you go , there is quite a difference but the smaller one is ideal for a mug rug or even a candle , just so cute.
I also finished off a little wool pincushion I had started ,this is a free pattern by Terri of Whimsical Quilts

And finally for today I am in the process of adding borders to one of the red work projects I showed last week, it was a little challenging trying to figure out the width of the inner border so I could use these pieced strips I had left over from another project, see I hate to waste anything and try to find uses for even the smallest pieces of fabric . Shelley helped me figure out the necessary changes to make this work and it looks great .

 Thanks so much for stopping by , I am linking up today to the Needle and Thread Network , be sure to hop on over and take a boo at what everyone is doing this week .
 hugs Sheila

WIP Wednesday on Thursday

A day late but better late than never I guess . In the evenings I like to sit and stitch ,sometimes it is redwork and sometimes it is just sewing on a binding but my hands do not care much for being idle . I recently finished off these two redwork projects , now to make them into something .

This one has been in the works for a long time actually , I kept setting it aside and doing something else but decided it was time to get this completed , this was a free pattern but I do not remember where I got it from and I can't locate my print out right now,if someone recognizes it please let me know the designer so I can give credit.Thanks to Kate I have an answer to the designer for this cute pattern, you can get the pattern here  and the designer is Jan Wilde .

This next one is  Gail Pan design called Red Robins at Christmas , isn't it a sweet design. This one I remembered to iron on some interfacing on the back so you can't see my threads traveling :-)

 This little project was a delight to make , a sweet little pattern by Anni Downs of Hatched and Patched ,I just love it!

This stitchery has been done for months and finally I got around to adding borders , this is a This and That pattern and another favorite of mine.

I had made nine patch blocks for an exchange and had some strips left over so rather than toss them I looked to see what I could use with them to make some mug rugs , I made two of these .The Santa fabric I have had for years and years and since I had just small scraps of that fabric too I used it and really love how they turned out.
I showed you some postcards I made using vintage Christmas cards in an earlier post , well I also made these two using fabric scraps just for the fun of it .

 Now that may seem like a lot to show but this didn't happen overnight , it represents quite a few days of sewing over the past while . I am linking up to the Needle and Thread Network ,thanks for stopping by today and do yourself a favor and head on over and check out what others have done this week.
 hugs Sheila