Monday, April 15, 2013

Another weekend, another snow storm....Believe it or not it is spring!!

April 15, 2013, Monday.

This blog is designed to show quilts done on the longarm machine. I like to show my quilts, ones made by my customers and also sewing crafts of my own. It is nice to see other projects besides total quilting and today that is what I'll do.
Last weekend I visited the old family homestead in Nova Scotia. It is a Christmas Tree farm, flower and vegetable gardens , and orchards which are now managed by my brother. My parents are 92 and 95 and are now in a nursing home nearby. They still love to come back home for a visit.
When I stepped out of the car I was greeted by hundreds of singing spring birds. There were crackles, red-winged blackbirds, sparrows, robins and spring warblers not to mention the many winter birds still feeding there. Down in the orchard were pheasants feeding of the old apples from last fall. When I visited the farm at this time of year, two years previously, I was delighted to see that my Dad {then 93} had spent the winter days making bird houses in the basement. He was no longer able to get around in the deep snow so picked up a new hobby. On the back sloping wall outside the basement door was all his productivity drying in the sun. I grabbed my camera and took some pictures thinking all the while that I need to make a wall hanging, and that is how many great projects near and dear to you can materialize.
I show, here, my efforts from these photos that started with a piece of white cotton. I hand painted the sky and foreground. The birdhouses were appliqued on and the rest was thread painted using my Janome sewing machine. I enjoy thread painting and bringing things to life.
I made the picture with batting and backing so it is a true quilt but decided to frame it in the end. I hope you enjoy seeing my endeavors and please feel free to leave me comments.

J

Thursday, April 11, 2013

Fun with food

April 11,2013,Thursday   Fun Food Quilt. I think everyone loves food and by the way this quilt looks it makes me hungry to write about it. JeannieKay has used all the foods in this quilt. This quilt is 60x77 and has a fleece backing. Since food has a way of making us happy, Jeannie Kay has chosen the quilt pattern Smiley Faces in a bright yellow thread. Now isn't that just fun!









Monday, April 8, 2013

Monkeying Around

Anyone for marbles or skip rope? We can at least think young at this time of year and remember those days back then when we spent hours skipping just to be out in the nice spring weather and try to keep from doing all those chores that we knew our Mothers had planned all week for us to do.
April Fools- April  1st, 2013. Look at this monkey swinging away on this sweet baby quilt done by Debra. She did a great job on this baby quilt and had it custom quilted. The outside border is done in the pattern called Safari Monkey. They are so cute running around the outside. The inside green border is a single vine called Christofers Feathers and the windmill blocks are done in Dragonfly Valentines. This quilt is exceptionly well done and with a small stipple around the monkey it pops the monkey right out. What a fun quilt!












Looking Out and In at the past

Last month, we took a walk back in time at Kings Landing. As I gazed out the window, I saw this fence wandering along the back of the property, its hard to believe that these fences could keep livestock in. Inside the house, old quilting dummies(stands) stood alongside a  bed covered with a timeless quilt just waiting to be used. A number of century old quilts adorned the beds to show pieces of our history. These quilts are very beautiful, displaying hours and days of work that took place over a century ago. I can hardly wait until summer to go back to view all the houses at Kings Landing and see their quilt displays.Today's quilts can be every bit as beautiful as we keep carrying on a Canadian tradition.




Santa Fun

April 8, 2013.Monday. We are still getting very cool weather even though Spring is here. I decided to squeeze this Santa quilt in of Jeannie Kay's before warm weather officially arrives. This cute quilt has falling Santas in each block. It is quilted with the pattern Drifting Snowflakes in a 10" pattern. Jeannie Kay always has great fun with her quilts.                                     





The back of this quilt shows you the large snowflake pattern.

Thursday, April 4, 2013

Garden Labyrinth

April 4th, 2013. The spring weather has finally come and each day is getting warmer. Today we will show you a quilt done by Lois. It is called Garden Labyrinth. This quilt is 82x103 and done in lovely red, black and white florals. The pattern used on this quilt is called Daisy May at 8".