The Cuddle Quilter: April 2012

Sunday, April 29, 2012

I'm (Almost) Speechless

No words...just oohs and aahs from yesterday's Ocean Waves Quilt Society parade of quilts at the Annual General Meeting held in Sydney, Nova Scotia. Here is just a sampling of what we enjoyed.

Some close ups...

And a few pics from afar...

A few smaller projects...

And just a few words...

Of course there was one Wonky House quilt top in the parade. I was at the podium so couldn't take a picture. For a picture and info click here. From the pics above, you can see that we tend to be a pretty traditional group of quilters, but always looking to try something new or incorporate the new with the old. I was thrilled to be introduced as "our blogger" and able to tell folks about The Cuddle Quilter and the many projects in the quilt blog community.

I highlighted the Wonky House Block exchange and was even interviewed by CTV news as part of a segment about the Ocean Waves Quilting Society. The segment aired last night around 6:50 so I got home just in time to watch it. It was pretty exciting for me but I was a little nervous and there were a few mangled words...

A wonderful day yesterday, and another wonderful day today! Thanks for coming by. Hope you enjoyed the show. It's a great day for quilting!

Saturday, April 28, 2012

You Gotta Love Blog Hops

Madame Samm at Sew I Quilt has done it again! She has fired up our engines and has just announced the July 1 Blog Hop to Celebrate Red, White, and Blue!

This will be a blast...a chance to create a table topper in either of two sizes and show it on your blog for all to see and be inspired! Wonky House leader Jane, of Jane's Fabrics and Gifts is working very closely with Madame Samm to ensure another successful table topper blog hop and she will be the host for the July 1 celebration. Deadline to register is May 4 and you don't want to miss out, so visit Jane and let her know that you are in!

Madame Samm is also looking for bloggers to host a future blog hop. And I love Santas...just saying...

Last week's "Spring is in the Air" Table Topper Blog Hop was so successful and so much fun. You can see all the 159 table toppers by visiting Madamme Samm' s Pinterest page here.

It's been a busy week here at The Cuddle Quilter! Quilting Bee on Tuesday, Chip and Dale Quilt Retreat yesterday, and this morning I'm off to a quilt meeting, show and tell, and presentation by author, teacher Lynne Edwards who is visiting us from the UK. She has several books published, including her most recent called "The Essential Sampler Quilt Book: 40 Quilting Techniques for Machine and Hand Patchwork". (Oops, I just got home and had to update the earlier posting to correct the name of the book and link to it. All good now!) My drive will be here in five minutes and I may be late if I don't get going...

It's a great day for quilting!

Monday, April 23, 2012

A Monday Winner and the Blog Hop Continues!

Congrats to Margaret(rosenbrookm) who was the lucky gal picked with the help of Random.org to win my Granny-Album block and kit! Margaret was contacted by email and will be receiving her gift as soon as the post offices in Canada and the USA can do their magic. Thanks to all of you for visiting and commenting!

I get so much inspiration for quilting from this blog community, but I also get inspiration for washing! Kaaren at The Painted Quilt recently shared a picture of a wonderful Dresden Plate quilt she made in 2008. It looked so beautiful hanging on the line, so on a beautiful sunny breezy day in Cape Breton last week, I too decided to wash and dry my Dresden Plate.

I made the quilt in 1992 and about a year after that, it won a prize in a hand-quilted category and toured Cape Breton Island during a Quilts of the Island exhibit. At that time, I used the "new" freezer template technique. Remember all those blues and pinks? Quilts may come and go over the years but right now this one has made it back to our bed.

Now from old to new. I sewed together my Wonky Houses that I received in Jane's Wonky House Swap. I wanted to keep the quilt a "cuddle" size, and also like the "wonkiness" of the houses in a tight little neighbourhood, so I chose to sew them without sashing and bordered them with a bright pink polkadot.

My next step is to create the backing. Each block came with a wonderful little signature block signed by the quilter, so I plan on framing them with bright purple polkadot fabric and joining them together with strips of some of my brightest fabrics to put together a wonky backing. Stay tuned! In the meantime, please visit Jane. She has another fun round of wonkiness starting...an exchange of wonky stars and 4-patches. We'd love to have you join us! To find out more, visit Jane's Flickr page here.

I finished Block 3 of Clover and Violet's Garden Steps quilt. I love their stitchery patterns and love the creative element of putting my own slant on it. It is also giving me lots of practice...I really hope to improve by the end of this. Am I the only one who still struggles with French knots? I swear I make them a different way every time!

There are only a few days left of Madame Samm's "Spring is in the Air" Table Topper Blog Hop! It has been fantastic...a slide show every day from some pretty talented folks across Blog Land. The Blog Hop started on April 16 and will finish on April 25.

Madame Samm says there will be huge prizes at the end, but I think the prize is just visiting the blogs every day for some eye candy, plus many of the participants are offering their own giveaways. So don't delay. There's a group of bloggers just waiting to welcome you to their parade of table toppers. My day was April 16 so check here to see my table toppers and to see the complete schedule. Thank you, Madame Samm, it has been a blast!

What's up for today? I've been away for a few days so it is going to be a great day for quilting! Thanks for coming by!

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Winners, Thimbleberries, and More

The last few days have been awesome! Thank you so much for visiting my blog, participating in the special events, commenting, becoming a follower, and entering the giveaways. You are wonderful!

It's been a flurry of activities from morning 'till night, starting with hosting Quilt Sue's Christmas Quiltalong on Saturday. Between eating cinnamon rolls all that day and and replying to the wonderful comments from you all, I didn't have time to finish the Unit 3 blocks. But I did finish them on Monday! A friend said the picture looks like an argyle sweater and I think she is right! Look closely and you'll see the 20 units, each one made from 3 hourglass squares.

Giveaways...speaking of giveaways, with the help of Random.org , two winners were selected from the entries that day to receive a package of 6 Christmas Fat Quarters. Drum roll please. Judy 1522 and quilary are the lucky recipients! Your packages will be put in the mail tomorrow. Sorry you all couldn't win... you were so supportive and your comments gave me so much enjoyment and giggles! I wish I had a cinnamon roll for you all!

Remember I still have one more giveaway under way. The Granny-Album block and kit. For details and to enter, click here.

After the excitement of the Quiltalong, I moved right into the "Spring is in the Air" Table Hopper Blog Hop sponsored by Madame Samm at Sew We Quilt. My day was Monday, but the Blog Hop continues through until April 25, excluding weekends. For the complete schedule, click here. Every day during the Blog Hop seems like Christmas. I wake up and immediately visit the Table Topper Blog Hop Hosts (now that is a tongue twister) to see the eye candy! There are prizes at the end of the draw ( Thanks Madame Samm and sponsors) and some of the hosts have giveaways as well. Please do some visiting...you will be very inspired!

Today was me time. So what did I do today?

Yes, it is Thimbleberries Sew Day! ( UPDATE: Thimbleberries Sew Day is actually next Wednesday, April 25! Thank you so much to Sandie at Crazy 'Bout Quilts for letting me know...guess I was too busy lately to read the calendar, so I feel like I just gained a week! Please keep reading and pretend today is Thimbleberries Sew Day!) I set aside a few hours today, the last Wednesday of the month, to join up with other Thimbleberries enthusiasts throughout the quilt blog community. I foraged around and found my tote with my Thimbleberries project and opened it up to see my treasures from last time and to add a few more.

I worked on my flying geese. I cut and I sewed and I now have lots of little geese waiting for the next step. And of course I didn't want to waste fabric, so after I sewed the geese together, I then sewed the little triangles that remained. Do I detect a checkerboard strip for the border? I'll pack these all away 'till next month.

Today I also finished up Block 3 of Pam Buda's Heartspun Quilts 6-week project. She calls it Patchwork Pockets...gotta love that name! In hindsight, I probably should have used more contrast between the fabrics, but I'll let it go for now. Maybe I'll make another one later, but not today. The block is a little bit busy...

Another block I made recently and sent on to Michele at Quilts From My Crayon Box is the Star of Hope block. I found the design on my iPad app, Block Tool, and it was a perfect choice!

I made an 8-pointed star in red, black, and white, as requested by Michele. The block will be added to other blocks that Michele has received from quilters all over Blog Land for "Danny's Quilt". The blocks will be used to make a quilt to raffle off for a fundraiser for a very good cause. Please visit Michele's blog here to read more about it. There may be time to add yours to the mix!

And that's it! Thanks again for coming by and a warm welcome to my new followers. So glad to have you with me. Time for supper, and then, it's a great night for quilting!

Monday, April 16, 2012

Day 1 of the Table Topper Blog Hop

Good morning and welcome to the "Spring is in the Air" Table Topper Blog Hop!

I am so happy to be participating in such a trend setting blog hop! Thank you, Madame Samm. When you put the call out for table toppers, I could say "Yes! I have some to show!" And of course since then, I have made just a few more. Table toppers are certainly coming into their own and getting so popular!

For this Blog Hop, it's all about the pictures. I used designs and patterns from a variety of sources and will share them with you. If you see a table topper you want more info about, just let me know in your comment and I'll get back to you.

So without further ado, let's get started!

Here in Nova Scotia, you have to have a cold winter before you can have a warm(?) Spring. So what better way to liven up the livingroom in winter than with Mr. Blueman! (Pattern by Sherri Falls of This and That Pattern Company.)

February arrives full of promise and lots of love! (Pattern for the Be Mine stitchery is a First Friday Freebie by Kaaren of The Painted Quilt.)

And you can never have too much love! Heart to Heart Pattern by Victoria White.

Looking for a cozy house? Inspiration from Edyta of Laundry Basket Quilts from her book "Friendship Strips and Scraps".

Easter came and went, so I just had to have a few baskets. I used Kathleen Tracey's Civil War Baskets pattern and arranged them to fit my frame.

I love the fact that a block for a table topper can be almost anything you want! So I decided I wanted to make something with selvedges. I've been collecting them for awhile and found instructions in Volume 2 of Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks that was perfect for me... Block 168, Upcycle, designed by Karen Griska. I wanted to make something bright and cheerful, so this is my salute to the Blog Hop, my "Spring is in the Air" block!

I've had so much fun making these table toppers. All of them were hand quilted, many using colored thread and often quilted with large utility stitches...which I love. And all of these were quilted in my quilting chair as I waited for the sun to come up and watched some favorite movies on the TV...multi-tasking!

Thank you, Madame Samm, for hosting this Blog Hop. It was a wonderful idea that you had back when Spring looked like it would never arrive. I'm going to finish off my parade today with one more table topper...a very special one. In March, I was gifted a wonderful "extra" block of wonky houses made by Madame Samm herself! We were participants in Jane's Wonky House Block Exchange. I already had the 12 wonky exchange blocks the quilt called for, and this "extra" was a true treasure for me when it arrived and one I wanted to keep at hand. What better way than to create a table topper? A little hand quilting, some cute border fabric, and Presto!, my table topper tribute to Madame Samm...

My table topper parade has come to an end and what a ride it has been. Thank you so much for coming by to visit! Madame Samm and her wonderful sponsors are making lots of prizes available throughout the Blog Hop. I'd like to add my Giveaway to the table! But rather than offer a new Giveaway here, I'd like to invite you to participate in two current Giveaways that I announced on Saturday on my blog. Deadlines are fast approaching, so to enter click HERE and HERE.

Make sure you visit the other blogs today for lots of inspiration and excitement. The full schedule is below. Just click to go to their blogs.

Table Topper Blog HOP Schedule

Monday April 16th

Jacque (Snoodles)

Lesley (Me!)

Sharon

Dawnmarie

Piece Peace

Tuesday April 17th

Sheila

Wednesday April 18th

Mrs Pickles

Thursday April 19th

Jennifer ( that girl)

Karen

Katherine

Friday April 20th

Marlene

Charlotte

Cherry

Monday April 23rd

Patty D

Tuesday April 24th

Jennifer m

Roxanne

Syd

Wednesday April 25th

Shanna

Marnie

Mdm Samm

It's a great day for quilting!

Sunday, April 15, 2012

Table Topper Blog Hop Starts Tomorrow

Spring is in the Air! Even though some of us were in the festive Christmas spirit yesterday participating in the Christmas Quiltalong, today is a new day and a wonderful opportunity to invite you to the Table Topper Blog Hop being hosted by Madame Samm starting tomorrow.

I am thrilled to be participating in the Blog Hop and even more thrilled to be included in the first group of quilters to open their Table Topper blogs on the opening day. Every one of us has been busily preparing behind the scenes and are now ready to reveal their treasures.

Every day from April 13-25, excluding weekends, participating bloggers will welcome you to their blogs and show you their table toppers. Madame Samm, with the assistance of her wonderful sponsors, will be providing lots of prizes for this Blog Hop, and some of your wonderful hosts may also treat you to an opportunity to win a giveaway.

So, let's get to it. Here is the schedule for the Table Topper "Spring is in the Air" Blog Hop. There are 46 quilters participating in the hop...an amazing group with some amazing table toppers ready to reveal. All you have to do is click on the names listed below to get linked to their page. Hope you'll hop along to visit them all. It starts tomorrow!

Table Topper Blog HOP Schedule

Monday April 16th

Jacque (Snoodles)

Lesley (Me!)

Sharon

Dawnmarie

Piece Peace

Tuesday April 17th

Kris

Marcia

Jenny

Sheila