A win and some hand quilting

I really think I should start buying lotto tickets as I am fairly lucky . I recently won these gorgeous solid coloured strips of Free Spirit fabrics from Karen of KaHolly . I am looking forward to using these pretty colours as I tend to stick mostly with darker colours and a change is always a good thing .

 Thanks so much Karen,  I was thrilled to win them and  more thrilled you delivered them to me , it was so nice to see you .
 Our guild is doing a BOM this year and for the most part we are following along with Barbara Brackman of civil war quilts , with her permission.  Since our quilt will be a little larger I will add more blocks that i feel will fit the theme . One of our members showed us how to quilt as you go which I thought would be brilliant as I just might finish it a little quicker.  I can also handle a 12"block far easier than a large quilt . So......I started hand quilting a block a couple of nights ago and have two almost done . I don't use a hoop , so I basted it and hoping this is enough to keep it flat without wrinkles underneath. Here is one block that just needs a little more work . The basting looks a little wrinkly here .

This is called Sweet Gum Leaf and I substituted a block from Quilters cache rather than the original block from Barbara as that block used Y seams and we have a lot of new quilters doing this quilt and I didn't want to discourage them .
I have lots on the go at the moment and trying to keep up but some days my joints say not today.  I have managed to keep on track with the SS which reminds me i didn't take a picture of the last one I made but here is one of the two I did before that.

 I have no idea what I plan on doing with this quilt when it is finished but so far am enjoying the process .

 Well that's it for me today just thought it was past time to share my win with you . Thanks  for stopping by today and do something creative , it is good for your soul . 

 Hugs Sheila 

A trunkshow and a little finish

This has been a very busy week , on Tuesday evening our guild hosted a dessert party and trunkshow with Kathy Tidswell as our special guest . Kathy is from New Brunswick and is a very talented fibre artist creating some amazing work . There were lots of Wows from those in attendance.  I am sure you would like to see a few things she shared with us . I will warn you my photos are not the best as they were taken with my phone and I have to admit I find this thing challenging.

 So this is just a small taste of what we saw , as you can see Kathy is talented and has a wide range of talents, even making her own garments adorned with thread painting.
 Our workshop on Wednesday with Kathy was so interesting,  she gave us instructions on making grasses and weeds, flowers and trees . Sorry I don't have anything to share at this time from the workshop , I will need a lot more practice before I can share any 😉
 However I do have one little art piece to share . On saturday of last week our guild took a trip to Amherst to a Fibre Arts Festival which was just fantastic.  We viewed three quilt shows and various displays as well as a Zonta fair.  I will share those photos at a later date now that I have figured out how to get them off my phone.
So here's my story , there was a lady at the Zonta fair selling her hand dyed fabrics and in a basket on her table was bags of her scraps.  Be still my heart , I quickly dug through the pile and found three bags to call my own at only  $5 per bag.  Seemed like a real bargain to me since I had purchased from her before so knew what to expect , well sort of as you never quite know what is in those bags.  I was willing to chance it and I wasn't disappointed,  they were filled with lovely shades of fabrics perfect for landscape art . Now I had bought a bag or maybe two from her a couple of years ago and I decided to combine my treasure but before doing so felt I should at least take the time to iron them all . That's when inspiration struck . In my original bag I had some very narrow strips that i am sure most people would have tossed in the garbage but I just had to find a way to use them so here is what I came up with.

Notice the raw edges , these scraps were so narrow some as little as 1/2" and they were frayed like this which was perfect for what I had in mind . I proceeded to lay out the pieces and started stitching them down . I am really loving this and it was such fun to do plus I saved some scraps from the landfill 😉

 I will let you go for now but I thank you for stopping by and I hope to see you soon. 

 Hugs Sheila