Celebrating Canada . . .

Quite a number of years ago, my friend, Judy P., embroidered a hand towel on her Brother machine. She found this design, which was done in red, white & blue for the 4th of July but she changed the blue to red, so now it's just perfect for Canada Day! Since my birthday is in July, this was my gift from her.

Enjoy!

Paper Piecing Canada's 150th!!!

Atlantic Fabrics was on my list of places to visit, which I did this morning. Gale and I had a grand time walking up and down the aisles checking everything out. She loves to feel soft things. Of course, she found the bolts of fleece and called me over to feel how soft they were.

While there, I purchased the pattern, Happy Birthday Canada 150 by Sugar Free Quilted Designs, Nova Scotia. I like the simplicity of this design and I have no idea when I'll make it. Thanks, Karen Chase, for this great design.

Linky Tuesday and More

It's still Tuesday here in Canada so I'm not late posting this one. Check out Free Motion by the River for Linky Tuesday as there are always new things to see.

So Sew Easy has some fabulous Best Free Tote Patterns. Free is nice.

Celebrate Canada's 150th by making your own banner. It's a free pattern!

Happy Stitching!!

Anniversary Flowers from M & B - beautiful!

Almost Ready . . .

I still have to package these Maple Leaf Pendants and they will be all ready for Canada Day on Saturday. When felting the background fabric, I added bits of navy and red roving to the red felt. It's a little difficult to see it in the photo but each pendant is unique. These will be in Bridgewater, Nova Scotia this weekend. My daughter, Jill, is participating in a one day pop-up shop in downtown Bridgewater, so a few of my things will be there too.

Black Gold Tapestry

The Black Gold Tapestry is a stunning hand-embroidered illustrative tapestry that tells the story of how oil has impacted human civilizations around the world, from the beginning of time to present day (Calgary Petroleum Club). Calgary artist Sandra Sawatzky has been working on this 220 feet of stitched linen for almost a decade. It will be unveiled at Calgary's Glenbow Museum on October 7, 2017.
To get a glimpse of this tapestry, view a short video HERE.  
The Black Gold Tapestry Blog, started in 2009, documents the making and the ideas and the behind the scenes of the project.
Enjoy!

Temari Ornament

Verna gave this Temari Ornament to our friend, Marilyn, for her birthday. Isn't it exquisite!

Stitching A Canadian Memory

The theme for the 2017 Trend-Tex Challenge, at Quilt Canada, was Stitching A Canadian Memory. Trend-Tex donated these beautiful fabrics to be used in the challenge. It is interesting to see how these were used in each of the quilted pieces. The winners have been listed on the CQA web site and photos of all the entries can be found HERE. Grab a cup of something and enjoy the wall hangings and bags.

Strawberries = Jam

Today's post comes from my kitchen! Fresh strawberry jam! Mmmmmm . . .  Kitchen make-over is almost done (new counters, subway tile on the walls behind counters, new paint job, cabinets refinished - all that's left is the flooring). To celebrate, I made some jam! Actually, I found some nice strawberries at Costco this morning and had nothing to do with the kitchen. I was just glad to have a bit of free counter top space. Why is it that every surface gets used when working around the house! Nothing gets put away. My rant for the day.

• Pinterest HERE,  HERE, 
• Wild Strawberries Embroidered Quilt Block   
• Quilting Strawberries 
• Strawberry Mug Rug 
• Strawberry Applique   Another HERE & HERE 

  Enjoy!       

Playing Catch-Up

Well, it seems the plants in my garden are playing catch-up. The spring plants are in full bloom. Have a look!

• Flower Power Mug Rug (start HERE for more)  
• Mug Rug Spring on Pinterest   
• 3-D Flower Mug Rug Tutorial 
• Fiesta Flowers Wall Hanging 
• Spring Flowers Wall Hanging       

Enjoy!!     

Sewing Room Ideas - Links to Check

There's not much creativity going on in the studio these days. The room has to be painted so I'm slowly packing up my stuff  to be moved out. Big job!!! I have been looking at small projects and wishing I could get on with some of them. Shimmer production is still going on but that's not new.

Here's a few links to check:

• 15 Free Patterns for Your Whole House   
• Sewing Rooms Ideas   
• Organize Your Sewing Room   
• 5 Simple Ideas For the Sewing Room      
• Sewing Room Organization Hacks for Hassel-Free Sewing  
• 17 Organized Sewing Room Ideas to Inspire You     
• Task Basket - Tutorial   
• Sewing for Beginners  

Enjoy!

Periwinkle

Friday Finds and More . . .

Time to check out some of the Friday Finishes!

• Crazy Mom Quilts   (scroll down)
• Off The Wall Friday 
• Finished or Not Friday (scroll down)
• Free Pattern Friday    

 More links below:

• Mug Rug Binding Tips  
• Free Sewing Patterns 
• Sewing Patterns for Sewing Retreats & Getaways     

Enjoy!

From my garden:

           

The Winners . . .

Here are the 2017 National Juried Show winners at Quilt Canada, Toronto, Ontario. Amazing work by fabulous quilters!

The Best of Show was won by Colette Dumont for Fleur de glace. Please visit the Canadian Quilters' Association web site and click on each quilt photo to see the quilts.
Congratulations to all the winners and everyone who had pieces accepted into the show - you are all winners.

Frogs in the Garden

My sister loves lawn ornaments! Let me introduce you to three of her frogs:

 

Frogs in projects:

• Mug Rug   (templates at the end of post)
• Pinterest HERE , HERE  
• Stuffed Frog Free pattern   
• Bean Bag Frog 
• Frog Prince  

Enjoy!     

Whink!

It's been busy here - packing up stuff, trying to tame the garden and still making Shimmers! The newest place to have my Shimmer Ornaments is Whink, on Water Street. I dropped off their order last week. If you are ever in the area, please drop into the store as it's lovely. It's brightly lit, inviting and has marvelous gift items.

Delivery to The Rooms

Today, I took some more art pieces to The Rooms Gift Shop. This is the second order in a month, which is great! I took these photos this morning. It was sunny but cool.

The Rooms

On the grounds of The Rooms  (spring is very late indeed)

New pendants delivered! Lots of Shimmers too.

Summer Block Party

Here's a Summer Block Party to check out! For the month of June, two block patterns a week will be posted. Each block is made by a different designer. The first block is called Candied Pineapple by Eye Candy Quilts and can be found HERE.

Enjoy!

This & That

Have you been checking out the Canada 150 - It's in the Bag Tour, that I posted about yesterday? The participating quilters are doing a magnificent job on their bags.

I have a few more links for you to check:

• How to Frame a Mini Quilt    
• Stitchers Challenge from Pintangle   (This is a long term project)
• Paper Pieced Logo for Canada's 150th to use in the Ottawa Modern Quilt Guild Project
• My post on projects for Canada's Birthday   
• Canada 150 Mosaic  scroll down and check out some of the finished ones

   

Canada 150 - It's In The Bag Tour

I missed the start of the Canada 150 - It's In The Bag Tour but that's not a big deal. Don't forget to check out any tutorials, patterns, etc. that the various links might provide.

Have fun!

Oshawa Fibre Art Show

The Oshawa Fibre Art Show was advertised on Face Book today. There are 63 Canadian fibre artists participating to date, however, only a few of them have links to a web site. A couple have a face book presence. Too bad there's not more links to all the others.

Check them out below:

• Gordana Brelih 
• Cathy Brownson     
• Lyn Barrett - Cowan 
• Andree Fredette    
• Joan Hug-Valeriote  
• Jeannie Jenkins 
• Deb Kopeschny     
• Joyce O'Connell  
• Rosemary Oliver    
• Janet Rhind
• Cheryl Smith 
• Coldwater Studio Tour   

Enjoy!!

Hello June!

After yesterday's warm, sunny day, I figured things were looking up. Not so - it was mostly overcast and 16 C but it felt cooler. Then my brother sent along the temperature showing on his truck gauge. He's out west. Just what I needed (GRIN).

Ok, when the weather doesn't cooperate, sew, quilt, stitch . . .
Here's a few summer sewing projects to check out:

• Pinterest HERE,  HERE, 
• 23 Easy Summer Sewing Projects 
• Summer Sewing Camp 2017
• Summer Sewing for Beginners 
• 101 Summer Tutorials for Summer    

Enjoy!