April goals...

I'd like to say that today will be spent doing some "slow" stitching....not to be. It'll have to be a work day for me, but that's ok since it's such a fun quilt that needs finishing! I'll have to ask if I can share pictures for next time.

I was able to spend my morning coffee-time putting in a few stitches, of course. I finished this month's block for the HappyDay BOM. 

I don't know that it shows well in the picture but it's really pretty in real life.

I have two goals this month. One is that before I pick up another bit of applique I want to finish quilting my Moonlight Through the Trees. Here is a reminder of this quilt....

It's not a big quilt and I have incentive to complete it...I'm doing a trunk show in May and think it would be nice to include this quilt. I am quilting it with perle cotton, which is new for me, and it should quilt up quickly....if I keep at it!

The other goal is regarding a BOM I'm doing at Quilt Junction. We meet once a month (yesterday) and get the next set of clues for a mystery quilt. The quilt is Quilter's Legacy by Border Creek Station

Somehow I've fallen quite behind. Yesterday was the sixth of eight installments....I came home and finished installment three. So I have a couple of weeks to get caught up....and I'm determined I will!

Hopefully everyone has a bit of time today to take it easy and do some peaceful stitching.

Have a visit with Kathy over at Kathy's Quilts to see what others are working on today!

A return to back-basting

In January I shared my attempts at back-basting applique (which you can see here).

Yesterday at my evening guild I was asked if I've kept on with this technique. I have to say I have thought about it but it seems that old habits die hard and I end up prepping my applique the old way without even thinking about it. 

This week though, funny enough, I had been thinking of giving this more of a try. I told my friend that, in fact, I have been preparing a couple of items for back-basting.

I have a pile of hearts ready to take to my day guild today....we sit at tables so a lot of people bring hand-work to do while the meeting is on. It's nice to take an easy project to work on as well as seeing what others are working on!

There are a few hearts ready for back-basting, except for a rogue squirrel that I did the old way...I think because at this point this method is easier for me to fussy-cut.

I also decided that back-basting would be the way to go for this Splendid Sampler block....it's quite finicky and this method was probably best.

With the thimble in the picture for scale you can see how small these seagulls are. I'm doubting my fabric choice on this one but I'm not going to do it over. Maybe I'll outline the seagulls with a stem stitch to define them a bit better.

In the end, I have to say that I still like this method and am going to try to remember to do it more often.

Have a great day, and I hope it includes a bit of stitching time!

Niagara, quilt shops, wineries!

We had a nice little mini-holiday this week to Niagara Falls. The weather didn't co-operate but it was nice to get away for a bit and have some fun.

I don't quite know how we packed so much activity in such a short trip. We stayed in a hotel right in the centre of Clifton Hill, where most of you probably know is all the wax museums, restaurants, touristy stuff, etc....as well as the main attraction...

We had dinner at Antica Pizzeria. I ordered what I'm pretty sure was the best lasagne I've ever had....I highly recommend it! 

Somehow we managed to squeeze in three quilt shops.

The first was The Quilting Bee in Fonthill. I wish I had remembered to take a picture with one of the knowledgeable staff there. Her name is Crowley with a "w"....so I always feel like I'm in a Dr. Seuss book when we greet each other with a "hello, Mrs. Crowley" and a "hello, Mrs. Croley". 

I did take a picture of a quilt that I hadn't seen before since I wanted to show it to one of my "horsey" friends...

Quilt shop #2 was Stitch in Jordan Village. It's such a unique shop....for quilters and knitters. The owner of the shop actually designed the quilt that I have had accepted to Quilt Canada this year. She is a bit photo-shy, so I took this picture instead...

On our way home on Friday we stopped in St. Catharine's at quilt shop #3, Kindred Spirits. It was nice to see their new location (actually in the same strip-mall as before, just a larger shop), as well as my friend's daughter, Amy, who works there. I asked if she'd strike a pose with the Farm Girl Vintage quilt that was on the wall (it's the one in the left corner of the picture)...

I am also working on my own Farm Girl Vintage with a group of friends as a support group. We are doing two blocks a month. I've been very happy with mine, so far, especially my polka-dot background fabric...

A couple of weekends ago I was in Quilt Junction and the first thing I saw was this fabric...

I thought it was perfect to throw some of this in with the red polka-dots....but I don't really think it works, after-all....

I'm not sure if it's the background "cheerio's" that don't work, or my choice of fabrics???? Any opinions are most welcome! I really think I have do re-do these blocks. 

What would a trip to Niagara be without some visits to a couple of wineries? We have some favourites in the particular area of Jordan/Beamsville/Grimsby....I think referred to as the Beamsville Bench. 

Our favourite by far is Kacaba. We didn't go there this time, we wanted to try a couple that we hadn't been to before. 

We came across Cave Spring in Jordan Village. They had a lovely Reisling (my favourite), which isn't surprising as most of the wineries on the "bench" have great Reislings...I think I've been told that it's the limestone in the area. 

We met Meg, who agreed to a photo (excuse my "hotel" hair...nice and poofy...usually from the shampoo in hotels...this time very little water pressure!)...

Then we came across quite a new winery, Redstone. They also had a nice Reisling...a little sweeter that I usually like, but still wonderful!

Of course, I did take a bit of stitching with me....my latest block from Life is Beautiful. Not much accomplished on this block since last time, but still nice to put a few stitches in while I was away!

I think I was a little optimistic, since I actually had another block ready, too. I just hate the thought of being left with nothing to work on if the opportunity arises!

Oh well, that one will be ready to take along to guild this week!

This is the time of month to check in with Audrey at Quilty Folk. She will have people linking up to see progress on Quilty365 circles. As I've shown before, my circles happen to be heart-shaped.

On Saturday I got another row of hearts sewn on...which makes 9 rows of 15, so far....135 hearts! I still have three more completed and four more to get started on to be up-to-date....not bad!

I've referred to this quilt as "A Day in My Life"....but I think more appropriate will be "A Year in My Life"....so that is now the working title.

The photo represents 4-1/2 months...so over a third of the way through! 

When you visit Audrey at her post, she mentions an interview she did with Stephie Boon at Dawn Chorus Studio. You can see the article on her at Stephie's blog HERE. The blogpost is a good one and Audrey's quilting-ways really resonated with me.

Today we celebrate our hand-stitching with Kathy over at Kathy's Quilts . I started an online BOM with Sarah Fielke of Australia this year called Happy Day. There have already been some highly challenging blocks and piecing methods. The blocks are released on the last day of each month and I was happy to see that we are just doing two applique blocks this month. So, right up my alley!

This morning I put the final stitches in the bird block....

Sarah had a different method for making the narrow legs on the bird which I was happy to try. I'm all for trying new techniques and I liked this one. As this post is seeming to get a bit lengthy, I think I explain it another time!

Since both my projects today are of a scrappy nature, I'm also linking up with Cynthia over at Quilting is More Fun Than Housework for Oh, Scrap!.

It's quite snowy and frigid looking outside today...I heard a weatherman say we may have more snow in April than we had in December! So, a perfect day to hunker down with some quilting and maybe a bit of a good book later, too!

Have a good one!