I have gone over to the long side!

I will explain in a minute. Maybe you can guess:)

But first I can not believe how long it has been since my last post. What a whirlwind of a summer and beginning of fall. Lots of stuff happened, both good and challenging. I want to share some of the good things!

 My Sister was home from Florida and my niece from NY that I had not seen for five years. We all had such fun. They rented a little cottage very close to our house. Ten days goes by super fast.

Then we had 80th B Day celebration for my dad. Had tons of food, family and friends old and new. Mum and dad!

My amazing Dad and his four kids.

In Sept one of my nephews got married to and amazing young woman. What beautiful ceremony.

Next Phoenix Arizona for a week. It was like being on another planet. Scenery was so amazing!
This was the view from our hotel room. First time we had ever traveled to a place like this.

And then end of Sept into Oct, 3 weeks in Alberta, visiting the sweetest little family. Not bias at all. We had sooo much FUN! Walks and talks, reading and playing, holding and hugging. Basically I was given the privileged to do life with them. That is what I enjoy most of all.  Thanks guys!

As far as quilting goes, I feel like I have lived vicariously through my favorite blogs. I believe blogging (for me anyway) has an ebb and flow just like life. I loved keeping in touch and seeing all of the projects that were accomplished over the summer. Good job!

Well now to explain the title if you haven't already guessed. They say that a picture is worth a thousand words so.........

This machine IS actually in my studio! Even as I look at this photo I am still amazed. I never dreamt in a million years that I would have a long arm sewing machine, but there it is. My sweet husband convinced me that now was the right time to get one. It is a Pfaff Precision 3. Hubby and I opened the box, went step by step until it was set up. Followed the DVDs and manual to the letter and before we knew it, it was ready to go. It is a dream to sew on it.

First stitches sewn. It is so fun!

I was never a "jump in with both feet" kind of a person, but I did with this. I have a "real" quilt on the machine now, trying out different designs to get the feel of it. It definitely will take a lot of practice, but I am looking forward to the process.

Glad to be back! Will be posting a bit more often I hope. At least now you know where I will be and what I am doing!

Thanks for catching up with me.

Watch out for today's blessings!

Odd ends and bits.

That is a line from a Brooke Fraser song. It nicely describes this post.
When I first started my blog it was mainly for the intent to document what was happening in the quilting part of my world. Well, it wasn't long before I discovered that it is hard for me to separate one part of my life from another. I do try for the most part, but this is the post that bubbled to the top when I sat down this morning.
So much has gone on this past month or so. My daughter arrived home from Thailand. She was co -leader of YWAM Truro here in NS. Their out reach was in Thailand. It was a stretching time for all of us. That is her looking at the camera wearing the red dress. So good to have her back.

My Brother and his family has also returned from a year doing missions in the Phillipines. Their time there was both amazing and hard.

We have had fun homecomings and food. Laughter, tears and hugs.

When so much is going on, my quilting is usually of the "not too much thinking" type.
I made some blocks for Margaret's Hope Chest.

Here is a close up and link. A quick little block.

And delicious piecing! It is an on going nine patch scrappy quilt I have had on the go for awhile. Perfect to do when my mind and heart are in other places.

Summer is clicking along. Enjoy it with all it brings!

Watch out for today's blessings!

It has arrived!

Yes, the quilt book that I won arrived on Friday. It was exciting to say the least. I can't remember the last time I won anything. As you can see it is the book "Geared for Guys". It is signed by the author, Emily Herrick, of "Crazy Old Ladies".

 There are some amazing quilts in there. Here is the first one I want to do. It will be for a friend of the family.

It is called "Switch Back". I will probably stick pretty close to  these colours, which means I have to buy fabric. There is a huge fabric store about three hours drive from where I live. Will get there sometime this summer for sure.

Thanking the people of "Crazy Old Ladies" for the chance to win!

Watch out for today's blessings!

I am stumped!

Ok, I need some ideas. I have had this quilt "sandwiched" for a long time. Every time I pick it up to quilt it, I don't!

 I do know that I don't want an all over design, but a design that features the block.  Kind of a bad picture but you see the orange and yellow blocks come together to make a white four point star.

For those who are not sure what my set up is; I sew on a Pfaff expression 4.0 which is a home machine with a larger than normal sewing space. If you are a long armer and you have a design that might work, please pass it along.

How would you quilt this quilt?

Watch out for today's blessing!

Bloggers Spring Quilt Festival

 I just find it all too exciting for words.
Thank you  Amy!           

Here is the quilt I chose to submit. It is called "Fred's Roses". I made it just this spring for a friend of mine who turned eighty. Her husband who has been gone for several years, always had amazing roses.


It is a paper piecing design by Eileen Sullivan. Lots of small pieces, which I love. I also tried trapunto for the first time. I took the opportunity to try some different machine quilting which is another passion of mine.

You can kind of see the trapunto in this last photo.

Thanks for the opportunity to share!

D

Taking a design wall.......

to a whole new level! I wanted to use this design on a quilt that was ready to be quilted. It is Wendy's at Ivoryspring. She has lots to show you if you haven't visited her yet. Anyways, I was practicing this design by drawing it out on paper. It wasn't coming out like I wanted it to. The small piece of paper didn't allow me to get the feel of it. Can you guess what I did?

I drew it on  the wall! It was so freeing and it sure helped me get the feel of it and draw the design the size I wanted to do it on the quilt. I wasn't sure what Hubby would say, but he thought it "looked nice". It gave me the idea to maybe paint that wall with chalk board paint.

Here is what it looked like done on the quilt. What I liked about this design was the little swirly bits. I used them to "fill in" around the flowers. So if I was stuck in a weird place that a flower wouldn't fit, I did a swirl to get out.

As you can see, it is a strip quilt. Don't seem to get tired of this pattern.

I have been sewing strips to paper like you do for foundation piecing. Then you have to rip off all of the paper. Of which I have a pile in my living room as we speak, from the next one in progress. I have since discovered there is a ruler you can use! Did not know there was such a thing. I am getting one!

Going to link up with Pat's TGIFF. 

Hope everyone has a great weekend. In Canada it is a long one.

Watch out for today's blessings.

Sunday Afternoon Fun

I had an opportunity  to "play" yesterday afternoon. Last week I bought a couple of stencils from Judi http://greenfairyquilts.blogspot.ca/ at Green Fairy quilts. She sells the stencils as PDF so you dont even have to wait for them to come in the mail. Grab a cup of coffee and enjoy a visit to Judi's blog. Her quilting is exquisite.

This little quilty is just 10x10 ish. I wanted to try the design out before actually using it in a quilt. The method I used to mark the stencil you can find on Pat's blog. She follows SewCalGal's FMQ challenge. All info is on Pat's blog with links to the other blog. It worked very well.

Micro stippling on the outside of the design and pebbles on the inside. It is amazing how much you can learn from one little piece.

 I have a quilt top that has some big squares in it. I am always challenged by big open spaces. I think this design will work well.

I am forever grateful to quilters who share their knowledge and experience. So exciting to try something new.

Watch out for today's blessings!