My postcards have arrived :-)

When I mail off postcards I am always a bit relieved when I hear they have arrived safely and both of the postcards I had sent arrived late last week , yeah! First off is the postcard I sent to Lin  in France .

A common sight along the shores of Nova Scotia in summer are sailboats enjoying the ocean waves . I am not a sailor but do love to watch and have been on a sailboat a few times .

Next is a summer sunset as yet again the waters are enjoyed by a sailboat , what a great way to enjoy a hot evening . This one was sent to Jeanneke in the Netherlands , so neat to have my postcards across the ocean . 

These swaps are such fun and I hope in the next swap we can convince a few more people to participate , I know they will enjoy it .I hope all the postcards are now in the mail , if not please let your partner know that it is on its way and also when  your cards arrive please let your partner know it has landed safely so they won't be worried about it being lost , thanks so much . Oh and don't forget to post a picture of your postcards , both sent and received and also the  flicker page up on my right sidebar.You can see the postcards that I received from Lin and Jeanekke in the previous post .

 I had such fun with creating these little beach scenes I decided I would do a few more , want to see them ?

a little dory anchored in the water 

another sail boat 

and yet another 

am I obsessed with sail boats ?

a lighthouse , another common sight here 

Peggys Cove 

The mountains in Mabou .  

 I have taken these postcards to Fiddle Stitches in Mabou hoping the tourists will love them enough to purchase them :-) I had fun creating them so that is all that really matters .

 It is raining here today and rather chilly but yesterday I took the time to plant a few flowers before the downfall came , some pretty red geraniums and some asters to add colour to my garden . 

 I like to sit out on hot days so I have this very old, very large, chair that is very rustic looking and on Saturday I covered a piece of thick foam with some decorator fabric , zipper and all and now I have the perfect place to sit and read or just listen to the birds .

Can you believe I was actually able to keep this geranium all winter and just look at all the blooms , it makes my heart happy just to see it ! 

 Thats it for me folks , I hope you have a great day , with all this rain it is a great day to quilt so you know where I will be :-)  Thanks for stopping by today and remember to do something creative , it is good for your soul .

 hugs Sheila 

Air Mail

Good morning from the sunny East coast , what a lovely day out there . I just took a little stroll down to the mail box and found a postcard from Lin , I had already received one from Jeanneke on Friday so I am pretty pleased right now . My cards are in the mail so hopefully they won't take too long to arrive .
 This one is from Jeanneke , a sweet summery picture of a beach and starry night , the beach is a wonderful place to be on a starry night . Thanks so much Jeanneke .

 Lin made a very creative card with beach houses , I love it !!! Very happy and summery :-)

I love how you created the doors Lin , I wouldn't have thought of that .I also love the colours . Thanks so much .
I can't share what I have sent just yet but once they arrive I promise to show you , I really had fun I can say that much :-) Thanks for swapping with me Lin and Jeanneke , it was fun .
 Last year the girls I quilt with on Tuesdays at the church decided to do a pinwheel exchange and I never did get around to sewing them into a quilt but others in our little group have and I felt it was high time I got my butt into gear and did some stitching . I really pondered this decision for a long while , couldn't decide just how I wanted them to look , in the end this is what I came up with .

At first I thought I would incorporate several other blocks in the quilt but that became too much of a nightmare as the pinwheels are 8" and it just wasn't working that easily so I opted for this middle block I had made which is suppose to be a wall hanging but I did make it specifically for this quilt . The middle block is called Market Angel , by Nellie Holmes , it says the garden angel is getting ready to go to market . Under the little potted plants will be two buttons to represent wheels and then buttons to represent flowers in several places . I love gardens and I love angels so these little pinwheels kind of remind me of those whirlygigs I think you call them that are often seen in gardens blowing in the wind . Since I took this picture I have added another round of pinwheels , I had first thought I would add a border but I like the pinwheels just as they are but since it wasn't quite big enough I spent some time creating even more pinwheels . My plan is to hand quilt this over the winter , crazy maybe but I love to hand quilt :-) I will also add a little more applique in the border I added to make the pinwheels fit , just a few more butterflies and a flower or two . I am loving this very colorful quilt !! Oh the other reason I had to get going on this is our group is going to have another exchange , this time it is snowball blocks , I have all my colours cut and ready just need to get the fabrics for the corners , we are all buying the same fabric for that purpose and Atantic Fabrics didn't have enough for all of us so it is on order .

Thanks so much for stopping by today , hope your day is special in some way . Hugs Sheila

Some happy mail and other news

I can't believe a whole week has gone by since I last posted , life has been hectic to say the least . On a bright note I won a couple of giveaways lately , first off from Quilt Sew Happy , a fantastic win sponsored by Connecting Threads , a bundle of fat quarters called Line Dried .

These are such fun , cute little old fashion prints , what to make that will show them off , any suggestions ?? Thanks so much Jacqueline , I am thrilled .
 The next giveaway was from Judy Cooper in Newfoundland , some really cute Shimmers and a handmade card by Judy .

I had a choice of three shimmers so I chose the houses first as it reminds me of my visit to St. John's a few years back , the star fish because I would be so excited to find one as a child and lastly the bird because I love birds . The card is adorable with some embroidery . Thanks so much Judy I really appreciate you choosing me .
 A friend was downsizing her stash and I bought a few kiddie prints from her , could't resist  . I started immediately to cut and piece this baby quilt for my sisters grandchild .

Super busy for sure but also nice and colourful which I like for a baby quilt . Here is a close up of a block .

The light blue squares have little paw prints which I felt was appropriate . Now I need to buy some batting and get this quilted .
 I completed the OOM for June , a pattern from Trish on a FB wool applique group .

This was a real simple one to make , I have a nice little collection now :-)
This evening is the last meeting for the Thistle Quilt Guild  until September and we are going to have a pot luck before the meeting starts , have to go work up my taste buds .
 Before I go just want to see how many have made and sent their postcards for the swap ? I have heard from a few participants who have mailed theirs and a couple who have received their cards . I just finished mine last night so they will go in the mail tomorrow . I had so much fun with these and hope my partners will like them .
  Thanks for stopping by today and hope you have a terrific day .
 Hugs Sheila

A few quilts to share

I am a little late, I know I promised to share some quilt show pictures yesterday but it was just one of those days and no time to do it , so on with the show . I think I already told you my camera decided to die during my picture taking so I actually have very few photos but I am pretty sure that Jeanne did a little photo taking and will have a link for us of the show so I promise to share that when the time comes until then hope you enjoy these few photos . I also want to take a moment and thank the ladies who travelled  a distance  , Carol, Sheila and Debbie , it was so nice to meet you and hope you enjoyed the show . Also want to thank Chris from Patch our newest vendor who was so sweet and her fabrics and patterns were a welcome sight to our members and also to Jacquie  from Mira Stitchin Post for returning for another year with all her wonderful fabrics etc.

First off as you entered the hall Mary and Eileen  were sitting selling tickets on the quilt behind them , this is a gorgeous quilt and the quilting is lovely too . It would be lovely to win :-)

For those who enjoy paper piecing this beauty was made by my friend Carol for her daughters 25th anniversary and she hand quilted this huge quilt with all those seams , she is a better woman than me lol!

This quilt was made by Norma , the front is lovely but the back is what really is incredible .

I had Lesley and Karen pull it back so we could see just a little of this incredible work .  Norma made this for her sister and I say I want to be one of her sisters too , she has made one for each of her siblings .

A little celtic cushion and a lovely log cabin .

Last year our little Tuesday Quilt group exchanged pinwheels and this is Joans finished quilt . I didn't get mine made yet , it is on the design wall so you may see some progress soon . I just love what Joan has done with her blocks . We are now planning on another exchange , this time it will be snowball blocks , should be fun .

 One of Gloria's incredible minis , she has such patience . She also made the cutest little cards with minature log cabin block but that photo was too blurry .

Down one side , isn't mister snowman adorable 

Some of our Christmas display :-)

This beauty was made by my friend Sharon , she made this for her daughter and her husband who are both sailors .

Some results from the Convergance pattern , and next to that is the attic windows class , I unfortunately didn't finish mine . I guess you can't do it all or maybe you really shouldn't have so many eggs in one basket ;-)

I liked this scrappy quilt , great way to make a quilt and make use of what you have .  I should have taken a picture of the purple quilt right next to this as that was the winner of the viewers choice , it is a lovely hand embroidered quilt and done by one of our newest members Anne , how wonderful . Oh she also owned this star quilt as well as the scrappy 16 patch beside it ,

Sorry I don't remember whose quilt this was , but I was so happy to see this as it was one of my favorite quilts to make , it was our BOM a couple of years ago . 

 Well sadly that is it , for a few more photos you can stop by to visit with Linda  or Karen  , they have both shared a few photos . Hope you enjoyed the show , it was truly a lovely show and lots to see , this is just a drop in the bucket of what was there . Thanks for stopping by today and I hope you day is extra special .

 Hugs Sheila

Thistle Quilt Guild Show with some friends

The Thistle Quilt Show was a huge success , I have never seen so many quilts on display from our guild , I couldn't help but think it was a very good thing we moved to this venue , it never would have fit the other hall . I think every year our guild improves our displays and I love being part of this wonderful day . The day was made extra special by the fact the Nova Scotia Quilters Quartet met to enjoy the show , this consists of Linda from Scrapmaster  , Karen from Kaholly  and Lesley of the Cuddle Quilter . I feel so fortunate to have made friends with these ladies , we enjoy our time together so much and I wish we lived closer so we could sit and stitch together .

I borrowed this photo from Linda , my photo of the group doesn't show my lovely bag all that well .
 Last fall just before Karen set off to spend the winter in Texas away from the dreadful snow and cold weather she suggested we have an exchange which would take place the first time we got together in the spring . We each had the initial of the person we would exchange with and the decision as to what we would make for that person was up to ourselves .  We enjoyed viewing the show first then set off into the lunch room to enjoy a cuppa and a cookie or two and exchange our gifts . What fun that was , it was so neat to see what each person had made . It seems three of us were thinking bags , each so different than the other .

Linda made Karen this linen cover for Karen's kitchen aid mixer , her very special addition to her kitchen , it will sure look pretty dressed up in this lovely embroidered cover .
 Karen made Lesley a sweet sewing bag and I loved the fabric she choose to do the embroidery on .

Here is a close up of her stitching , a soft blue thread was used , perfect match to the flowers in the fabric used for the bag .

Sorry this is rather washed out but you can see that Lesley is very pleased with her new bag and I am sure it will get plenty of use .
  I also made a bag for Linda , I had asked her what her favorite colour was and she told me turquoise so I went into Atlantic fabrics and found some batiks that I really liked and hoped she would too .

A multitude of turquoises with a few coordinating fabrics to spice it up . I also did the stitchery in different colours , thought it matched the bag better this way .

 I also made her a wallet but I don't have a photo of that :-)
 Now for the best of all , my gift from Lesley , a beautiful tote in blues , how did she know blue was my favorite colour  :-)

 This is the front with my initial and the back has another lovely embroidery , love it !

And we stitched happily ever after , isnt't that adorable . The bag is very nicely lined in a toile with lots of pockets for those important things we take along . Thanks so much Lesley , I  will feel very special using this tote .

I am running a tad late but I want to show you a quilt that Karen brought along to show us , quite stunning .

Very modern and colourful , and the quilting was amazing . Thanks for bringing it along to share with us Karen .
I will share some photos of the quilt show tomorrow after I get home from quilting , I am on lunch tomorrow so it has been a busy day . You might want to join us ,we are having , lasagna, garlic bread, blueberry coffee cake with  homemade blueberry sauce for dessert ,oh and I will make a salad in the morning and I already made a quinoa salad that is super yummy . Do I have you drooling yet ?
 Thanks for stopping by today and I will see you tomorrow with more photos to share , unforunately my battery died so not that many to share .