I bet you'd like to know

Last night at our quilt guild meeting we exchanged brown paper bags , why would we do that you ask , well just look here .

You see it is just a plain lunch bag , no significant markings ,no name and no way to know what is inside unless you open it . Haha , you thought I was going to show you what is inside but nope , not today and infact you won't see what is in here until May , that is right a few months down the road . This is a secret challenge , those who participated were to place some fabrics of their choice in a brown paper lunch bag which was provided the month before and we were to place our name inside but nothing was to be placed on the outside we don't want anyone to know that we have their bag and vice versa . Once we were given the bags we were not to even peak until we got home in the safety of no prying eyes , not good to spoil the surprise.  Our guild has had this challenge in the past and it is such fun , you just never know what the person will make with your fabrics . Do I know what I am going to make with the fabrics inside this bag ? No again , not a clue , they did not speak to me just yet , I will have to ponder this one for a while , thank goodness I have a while to get this done . We are permitted to add one fabric from our stash to complete the project but otherwise just use what is provided , I don't think this will be  a problem , the bag that was given to me has plenty of fabric to make something , what will it be ?? Mean aren't I but those are the rules . So what else am I up today ? I am making X blocks , I have at least ten more blocks to make if I stick with the number of 16 patch blocks I have already made .

You see I have half of one section of a block done so will now chain piece the next half , that helps a lot . You know the sad thing about this I have not seen even the slightest dent in the scrap pile. Yesterday I took all the 2" blocks out of the jar on my counter and made a fabric basket to place beside my machine for doing these blocks, it will keep things organized some I hope as I am constantly knocking them off onto the floor.

 This is a free tutorial with the Pink Penquin , I have made a few of these over the years and I also received one from Jeanette years ago at Christmas which is still in daily use .

As you can see it is very scrappy , these are so cute I just love them . I also forgot to share my redwork block , it is finally finished and I am working on the second one now .

Isn't that a gorgeous basket , the one I am working on is equally as beautiful.
So that is it for me today I am back to the machine to sew those X blocks . Enjoy your day whatever you are doing and thanks for stopping by.
 hugs Sheila

A finish and some postcards to share

Good morning , it is sunny and brisk here this morning , a lovely day ! My pillow is now complete and I was very pleased I already had a pillow that fit , this is a very large pillow .

As you can see the edge is bound like a quilt , something I had never done on a pillow before but I am really liking this look , it looks a bit like piping . I will be linking up with Sharon for Let's Book it  .
                                                       
I decided to play along with Sharon as I have lots of books and patterns that I have on my long list of things I want to do someday and this month I decided to use this wonderful book " Country Cottage Quilting " by Lynette Anderson which I won from Fiona quite sometime ago , thanks Fiona I love this book , everything in it ! Here is the book I used for my project this month .

Somehow I missed the fact that I should have quilted this pillow but I like it anyway :-) There are several other projects in this book that I would like to make :-)
 A couple of weeks ago I took part in Grow your Blog and I had a little giveaway of two postcards , the winner of that giveaway was Sandra of Thistle Cove Farm and I learned this morning that she had received her postcards so I can share those with you now , I didn't want to spoil the surprise.

 This was the first one I made , I just had to make a thistle ! It was such fun threadpainting the flower . I then explored her wonderful blog for inspiration and she has some really beautiful photos of her farm so I chose one that I felt I might be able to do in fabric and here it is .

This one was also fun to make , I did some threadpainting to create the fence posts as well as the trees and for the first time I used water color pencils to create the leaves as I had no idea how else I could accomplish that in such a small space. Be sure to stop by and visit Sandra , she really has an interesting blog about her farm life and her many trials of this winter and her animals.
 I have now assigned most of the partners for the postcard swap , if you have not heard from me yet, don't worry I will eventually get to you , I have not had a lot of time to get this done but it will get done.  You can certainly start making your spring postcard and once you have your partner you can mail it off anytime you wish as long as it is no later than March 20 ,and thansk so much to all who signed up , we have a few new participants this time which is just wonderful . I hope you enjoy the swap and if you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask  .
 Have a wonderful day and thanks so much for stopping by .
 husg Sheila

My pillow so far and some mail I neglected to share

Another spring like day here on the east coast , not as balmy as yesterday but lovely all the same . I received some mail recently that I did not share and although Valentines day is past I want to show you what my blogging friends sent to me.

I first received this lovely handmade card from Karen , her daugther made this sweet card . Thanks so much for thinking of me Karen.

Next I received this postcard from my friend Linda ,isn't it sweet ! Thanks Linda , I love it .

Finally this warm hands and heart postcard arrived from Annette a few days after Valentines day , I think the postal workers enjoyed it for a time ;-) Thanks Annette , I love this one too .
 Now to share my pillow so far , lots left to do , I just finished ironing on the applique so need to stitch that down .

I know you are going to need to use your imagination but that is a bird on the top of the flower and hopefully when I finish it will look a tad more like one ;-) I love my flower even if it does have blue leaves !
 I am off now to do some stitching on this project , hope your day is going well , take care and thanks for stopping by .
 hugs Sheila

A few small finishes

Can you believe the sun came out today and the temperatures rose all the way to +7 , it felt like spring !! I was too busy enjoying the sunshine to even take a picture to prove we didn't have snow today ;-)

 My Mom has some friends in England and she asked me if I would make a couple of postcards so she could mail them off for Easter . Easter is still a ways off but since I have to mail them to my Mom and then she has to mail them overseas I decided it was time to make that request a reality . Here is what I made for her...

This is the first one I made , I think this is so cute , the basket is purple although in the photo it really doesn`t look like it. Well I will tell you a funny story , my mom asked for one postcard for her friend and when I told her I had it made and it was in the envelope to mail off she said oh Sheila I really need two as she has a sister and I can`t very well send one to one without one for the other`` so being the good daughter that I am I said ok I will make another so here it is ..

Simple but kind of cute so they are now both mailed off and my Mom should have them by Tuesday or Wednesday , hope she likes them . Since I was on a roll I also made this spring postcard , oh wait maybe I shouldn't share this , one of you might just receive this but what the heck I don`t think you would mind a preview .

Some spring tulips ,one of the first signs of spring in most gardens  .

I also finished off a small UFO , I can`t believe how long this sat on my window sill just waiting to be stitched together , kind of sad but it must be at least six months .

A bookmark , the embroidery had been done ,I just had to stitch around the applique and sew it together and voila a finish , 

Today as I was waiting for my hubby to come home I decided to start something new , ok I know I just started something new a couple of days ago and I know I also have oodles of things on the go but I just had to do this and I don`t have a picture to share just yet but I am loving it so far , it is a new pillow for my sofa , a spring pillow , oh so pretty I can`t wait to share it with you  but for now I will just say I think you will love it too . Off I go now to do some applique on said pillow . Enjoy your day or evening and thanks for stopping by .

 hugs Sheila 

A little of this and a little of that and more on postcards

Good snowy afternoon , winter just wants to hang on here but no point complaining , I can't change it so must embrace it . These snow days do make good sew days ;-)  This morning I made a pillow for my One Christmas item a month , I know I am early to post this but I am so pleased I just have to share .

This is a Bunny Hill design and is a free pattern on her site right now so head on over and snatch it up, it is quick and fun to make . It blends in a little too well with my sofa but you get the idea. 

 I also started a new project , oh not a big one , one I have had on the back burner for a long while now .

 Here is just a sneak peak , I don't want to reveal the whole thing until I have it completed . It involves wool so it should be fun to make . 

POSTCARDS 

I have had a good response to the postcard exchange but would love to have more participants so will explain what is involved . First off the theme is" Spring ," that is a broad range and use your imagination to interpret spring . For those who have never made a fabric postcard before there are several really good tutorials out there and I did one on my blog a while back and you can go here to access that . http://sheilasquiltworld.blogspot.ca/2011/08/postcard-tutorial-and-swap-sign-up.html 

Also on my sidebar you will see my pinterest button , check that out and under fabric postcards you will find lots of inspiration as well as some tutorials that I have pinned there . Fabric postcards are 4"x 6" with fabric on both the front and back and they can be mailed as is or if you prefer you can put them in an envelope for safe travels . I have never had too many issues with sending them naked but it is really up to you whether you would rather put it in an envelope . Please don't be shy , it is a lot of fun and we would love to have some new comers to try out this simple art form . Let me know in the comments if you are interested and then send me by email your info which must include , your name, address , blog address and also your email , don't put that in the comments , you might end up with spam. I would like to assign partners early next week so if you are on the fence about joining don't hestitate I know you can do this and it is such fun receiving the postcards in the mail. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask , I will do my best to answer . 

 Thanks so much for stopping by and hope you have a great day.

hugs Sheila 

Something new for me and are you ready for another postcard swap?

You all know how much I love making fabric postcards , well I tried my hand at something new this morning . The yahoo postcard group I am a member of has a swap of prayer flags , hmm , heard of them but certainly never made one so I signed up anyway and figured I could figure it out ;-)  The theme for this particular swap is Unity , something that I could relate to which helps when deciding what to do . My first thought was circles , no beginning and no end so here is what I came up with , want to see ?

 I took an antique linen napkin and cut it down to size leaving the decorative edge for the bottom , didn't have the heart to cut all that off . I then chose some antique doilies , and some antique buttons and began sewing those on  ,the doiles being round as well as the buttons . I also hand pencilled out a quote by Helen Keller " Alone we can do so little , together we can do so much " ,perfect quote for Unity I thought .  

I think I am pretty safe showing this as I doubt very much my partner even knows I have a blog and if she does happen to see this I hope she likes it :-) I will get this mailed off in a day or so . 

While I am on the subject of fabric postcards , I am wondering how many would be interested in taking part in another postcard swap ?? I am thinking we could exchange by mid March if that is agreeable and would give you close to a month to make a postcard . As for theme lets make it spring , I am needing some fresh colors and brightness in my life so spring says all that and more for me . Please let me know in the comments if you are interested and then send me your info via email . I will need your email , home addres , blog if you have one and if you wouldn't mind putting that so I can copy and paste it would be so helpful to me when I assign partners , saves me countless time in typing . Oh even if you have participated before I will still need that info as I have lost all those former documents when I had a computer crash . Thanks.

I just have to share my little visitor a day or so ago .

This beautiful ring neck pheasant came to see if there was any bird seed left to munch on , incredibly beautiful. It was on the deck but they have amazing eye sight and all I had to do was raise the camera slightly and off it went but I managed to capture it as it headed off into the field. 

Grow your Blog winner

                                                            
 I want to thank each and every person who took the time to stop by for a visit during Vicki's Grow your Blog event , it was a lot of fun and I have many new followers for which I am thankful . Welcome to all my new followers as well as my regulars , I appreciate you all so much . Now on to the winner of my little giveaway ,I promised to make two postcards for the winning person , their choice of theme and this morning using the random number generator the number 62 was chosen which was Sandra of Thistle Cove Farm  and here is what she said ..

Your quilts are beautiful as are the collages (or is it collage, can't remember right now...). Visiting via Vicki's GYB party and enjoying your blog. I'm a big fan of postcards!

Congratulations Sandra and I have sent you an email and once I get a response I will start making the postcards .Thanks again for being part of my grow your blog event , it was a lot of fun . Have a great day and thanks for stopping by 
 hugs Sheila. 

Some workshop fun

Yesterday I took a little workshop at our guild , our instructor Janice was teaching us Seminole piecing  and a couple of projects to showcase this fun technique. I had done Seminole many years ago but felt it would be fun to do this project again .Here are some samples of what others were working on .

 The beginning of a strap for our name tags

This one is a little further along 

This one is just ready for trimming .

Busy at work making the strap .

This is a thread catcher bag in progress .

This is my finished thread catcher , a large pincushion on top weighted down with kittie litter and a recycled yogurt container to catch all those stray threads . 

This is a better look at the seminole piecing I made for the bag . 

I also made the strap and name tag holder , my strap is a little wider than the others as I was just using what I had left from my first project which was the bag . I therefore made my name tag area larger to accomodate the extra width of the straps and also it made room for my other guild pins. I am really quite pleased with how these turned out and I will definitely be doing more Seminole, a little time consuming but the results I think are awesome. 

We are bracing for yet another storm this evening , no snow yet but it is coming so time to batten down the hatches and get that handwork out to wile away the evening hours , let the wind blow but please don't blow out the lights ;-) Thanks for stopping by today and hope where ever you are that you are safe and warm .

 hugs Sheila 

A Finish and a couple of reports

Good afternoon , as I sit here in my sewing room and look out the window , the snow is gently falling like a snowglobe , pretty to be sure . It is a little on the chilly side today so I am happy to be nice and cosy inside :-)
 I have a finish for February , yeah , the baby quilt is complete , even sewed the label on , miracle of miracles .

I quilted in the ditch around each block as well as the border and did an X through each block as well , then I did an elongated zigzag stitch in the border which looks more like a little wave .

 Here it is all rolled up ready for the new owner .

On the weekend I also worked on some blocks , I made this months blocks for Good Night Irene , 

Sorry this is rather crooked , must have had too much to drink lol . I am really enjoying this QAL with Terry , and I am pleased how quickly this is growing .

Since I was in the sewing mood I cut and sewed this months Block for the Aurifil BOM .

The one on the right is this months block , again I used the reproduction prints and I love it , these fabrics just make me feel good , maybe because they remind of the little dresses my Mom made for us when we were little or maybe it is because we are in the dark days of winter and they are fresh and pretty and bright and cheerful , whatever the reason I enjoyed making these blocks .

 I am not going to keep you as I want to head back to the machine and do a little playing so enjoy your day and do something creative , it is good for the soul. .

 Thanks for stopping by .

 hugs Sheila 

FNWF report

Its time to report my stitching for Friday Night with Friends ,hosted by Cheryll . I know it is only Friday afternoon here in Nova Scotia and the evening has yet to arrive but I stitched along with my Aussie friends last evening as well as others around this globe. So what did I stitch ? Some redwork that has been on the back burner far too long .

This basket block is preprinted so it is a little difficult to see what I actually stitched but the butterfly as well as a few flowers are now complete ,I have several blocks to do and they are all very beautiful. This was a gift from my friend Linda last year so it is high time I started to stitch .

 Tonight I will be stitching too , this time I will be sewing down the binding on the baby quilt. I managed to get it machine quilted today . I will say that flannel is not as easy to work with as cotton , it tends to move ,oh well it will be still cuddly . 

Here you can see the cute print I used for the back , it is so..... soft .

 Off now to start supper so take care and thanks for stopping by today ,oh and by the way you should hop on over to see what others have stitched last night , just go here .

 hugs Sheila 

Mystery top complete

Good afternoon , a lovely sunny and cold day here on the east coast as we dig out from yet another storm, seems every Wednesday another one rolls through but no point in complaining I don't think Mother Nature gives a hoot. I have finally  sewn on the final borders to my mystery quilt designed by the creative Darlene of Quilts by Darlene .  I loved every step of this quilt ,it is the type of quilt I enjoy doing , I don't care for making the same block over and over for an entire quilt , variety is the spice of life so a medallion quilt like this one really is wonderful to work on .

 Not the best picture , a little too much light in the room but I wanted to show the side view so you can see the final two borders I did sew on . 

A front view , this is a very large quilt , probably the largest I have made so far and I love it. Now since  my last post I also started a baby quilt ,a flannel quilt .

Thanks to the generosity of my friend Linda I had the print flannel  , they are dragons playing baseball , perfect for a baby boy , I bought the green check flannel to frame it all and now I must get it sandwiched and quilted ,nothing fancy just some stitch in the ditch or an x through the blocks . I have to piece  a back now as the top is just a tad too wide for the width of fabric I was planning on using . 

I have been having some issues with my joints lately , all these storms have caused my joints to go to war with each other and I am loosing the battle so had to resort to some cortisone shots to calm things down , not pleasant but neither is the constant pain . I am hoping we don't have another storm for a while , a break is much needed . 

 Thanks for stopping by today and I hope your weather is treating you kindly .

 hugs Sheila