Commission quilt

I was commissioned to make a quilt for a new neighbour to our area. She brought the material and the pattern to me on Monday night. It took about ten hours to piece the quilt top together. Then it took me about six hours to quilt and bind it. All complete! I think it looks very spring like and cheery. I sure hope Michelle and Paul like it!

Mennonite quilt Show

Yvonne and I attended the MQS at 10 Thousand Villages on Wpg. We enjoyed visiting with Pearl who was the featured quilter at the show. She had on display an incredible variety of quilts almost all of which are hand quilted!! Amazing!

We also enjoyed the variety of quilts on display for the show. One of my favorites was of Inuit kids being tossed into the air in the Blanket Toss game. The quilter bought the quilt kit in Alaska while on a west coast cruise.

Other favorites are included in the photos attached. Enjoy.

Pearl and Yvonne having a laugh.  

Notice all the beautiful quilts of Pearl's in the background.  All hand quilted!!

An abstract quilted wall-hanging inspired from the poem on the left.

One of my favorites.  Blanket toss made from Alaskan kit.

Very striking twisted log cabin.

Japanese cherry tree with organza overlay.

Birds Galore

I am enjoying watching the birds flit about. I put out both the hummingbird and oriole feeders last week when I happened to see an oriole in the yard. The only food available was one potted plant I had out. Then I didn't see any oriole at the feeder and was disappointed, but they are here. I have been watching one female, one male and two juveniles.

There also are at least two male humming birds. They are drinking out of both the hummingbird and oriole feeders. A ton of gold finches are eating spilled seeds from the seed plant. There is even a rose breasted grosbeak. He was eating seeds with the finches, but then came over to the oriole feeder to see what all the fuss was about. He snooped around, then went back to his seeds.

Male oriole above flower pot.  Just after Mothers' Day.  No other flowers or food around!

Put out the oriole feeder.  Here is a juvenile male beginning to get his glorious orange colour.

Male Ruby Throated hummingbird.

Male oriole approaching feeder.

Rose Breasted Grosbeak checking out the feeder

Grosbeak watching female oriole to see how it is done?!  He gave up and went back to his seeds.

Go big or go small...

Don has been grooming his seedling elm tree into a bonsai. It looks good!! Not sure if he can keep it small.

Next thing I know he is fertilizing the cranberry hedge. Only a farmer would drive over a hedge to fertilize it!!

MPQ ABC Quilt

I got the Adult Baby or Child donation quilt finished for Manitoba Prairie Quilters. This project was fun. A group of 10 quilters shared Bali batik strips with each other. Each of us ended up with 40 strips each and made a quilt of our own design.

I used the buzz saw traditional block to make the blocks out of the variety of Bali batik colors. I think it ended up looking really snazzy.

I quilted the background a tight meander and each of the buzz saw blocks I quilted a unique swirl flower with loop leaves.

Commission quilt

I was able to help out a group of ladies from Starbuck who make a raffle quilt each year. They pieced a beautiful Labyrinth quilt but were short on time to quilt it, so I helped out.

In order to have the labyrinth pop out I densely meandered the background light fabric. I outline stitched the medium coloured labyrinth lines so that they remain puffy. The dark green borders I quilted with a freehand leaf/swirl/loop design. It looked very nice when completed and the quilt group members liked it. Yahoo!

Charlie gets a haircut

Charlie had her grooming appointment at Morden. She looks like a new dog!

While she was getting her yearly grooming I visited Hillside Greenhouse. Never been there before. It is fabulous. They have one large greenhouse with six smaller greenhouses branching off. One entire small greenhouse is devoted to tomato plants with a large portion of those being heirloom seed tomatoes.

Signs of Spring

Yes, I think it is finally happening!! We are finally seeing some signs of spring!!

Mothers Day Treat

I had a great Mothers Day. We had brunch at the Treherne Golf Course. I got gorgeous flowers from the kids and a potted plant from Don. But the best part of the day was watching Don and the kids plant the garden!

Work Clothes for Leah

I helped Leah go shopping for two sets of business suits for her new job. Lots of trying on clothes to find the right ones! She looks great!

Went and visited my new grand nephew Jonah. What a cutie.

MPQ meeting

At the May Manitoba Prairie Quilters meeting was the unveiling of the 30th anniversary quilt. About 70 members each made a 6 inch block that was put into a composite large quilt.

The guest speaker at the meeting was Monika Kinner-Whalen. She has only been quilting for three years and already has photos of her work in a book, a magazine article written about her, and currently has a show of her art quilts at McNally Robinson. Her work is amazing!!

Barnswallow Quilt Show

Traveled to Morden with Joan and Shirley to attend the quilt show. There we met our sisters. Joan - Rita and Marion, Shirley - Joyce, and me - Yvonne. It is the second time we have done this. I think it is turning into a tradition.

Saw some gorgeous quilts. Checked out the vendors. Even had time for lunch, afternoon coffee, and supper. Checked out Quilters Den too! Fun day!

The Days of Creation

by seven different quilters

(first four days shown here)

(last five of the seven days shown here)

Here is the sketch the seven quilters designed before beginning the actual quilting.

I tried to get all seven days in one photo.

Here is a scrappy quilt that I really liked.

Zentangle quilting sample.

A wonderful landscape quilt.

This year's challenge was to design a wall hanging to celebrate 

the Barnswallow Quilt Guild's 25th Anniversary.  

I loved this clothes line with quilts hanging on it.