Super Nova Scotia and Sunset Ridge Quilts

I really love Blogland. It is like opening a box of chocolates every day. I may not post as much as I used to, or comment as much as I used to, but I still use it constantly for inspiration, ideas, and patterns.  This week was such a successful week for me. I finished sewing together my Super Nova quilt top, a free quiltalong design offered by Lee at Freshly Pieced. You can read more about it on a previous post HERE. 

I decided to make the 9-block version, using a 3" border instead of the 5" border to finish at 58" square. I figure this way the quilt will work as a cuddle quilt, a couch quilt, a dorm quilt, or even a
" bottom of the bed" quilt. So many ways to use a quilt! Now the fun begins as I think about how I will quilt this baby, a quilt I am affectionately calling my "Super Nova Scotia" quilt! Those blues, greens, and even the reds and oranges are all the colours of Nova Scotia on a crisp fall day. 

The next project I worked on was making a charity quilt for Victoria's Quilts of Canada. This is an organization that provides handmade quilts for people who have cancer. They are always looking for donations of quilts, quilt tops, fabric, or time, so I figured the best way I could help from my little town was by making a quilt from start to finish. I went online to get the quilt specifications and decided to make a 50" x 70" quilt for an adult. There is a VQC branch in Nova Scotia around Amherst and I will be getting in contact with them soon to arrange delivery. 

The fabric for the quilt was ready and waiting. Last year I made a Triple Barnstar Quilt with a kit I purchased from Craftsy using Free Spirit Birch Farm fabrics by Joel Newberry. (At the time of this writing, the kit is still available for purchase at a very reduced price HERE.) There was so much fabric left over, and all so coordinated, that I cut it up in 2.5"  x 8.5" strips and put the fabric away. Last week I found a great quilt pattern in the Moda Bake Shop by Chrissy at Sew Lux Fabrics called Sunset Ridge Quilt. It was a quilt that used strips so I adapted the pattern just a tad to make my version of the quilt using my strips and some white tone-on-tone I had in my stash. 

It was such a fun quilt to sew together, piece by piece. 

Soon I had three rows and I was liking what I was seeing!

I stopped at 6 rows because that made the quilt the proper size, leaving me just a few leftovers to put towards something else. I sandwiched it on the deck one day, trying to make sure there were no fallen leaves getting caught between the layers!

I chose to quilt Sunset Ridge with a serpentine stitch on my Pfaff Expression 3.5, using stitch # 62 with a 9/50 setting. I stitched in the ditch from top to bottom and am really pleased with the results. 
Here are a few closeups to give you a better idea of the quilting.

VQC require that quilts be backed with flannel, so I used some tan Woolie flannel and stitched the binding by machine so the quilt would last through many washes.

I am so pleased with the final quilt and hope it will be loved and well used by its new owner.

Thanks so much for coming by today. It's a great day for quilting!

Fabulous Fibrearts Festival

I just returned from a fabulous weekend at the Nova Scotia Fibrearts Festival, an annual event held in Amherst, Nova Scotia. For me, it was like Christmas! As I already mentioned to fellow Nova Scotian blogger friend Karen of KaHolly, who hitched a ride up to the Festival,  I had a wonderful weekend that was packed with so many highlights! I visited with my mom and two sisters who live fairly close to Amherst and shared time with two of the three of my fellow members of the Nova Scotia Quilt Bloggers Quartet, Linda at Scrapmaster and Karen at KaHolly, but unfortunately, missed Sheila of Sheila's Quilt World who arrived on a daytrip. 

I met up with fellow members of the Maritime Modern Quilt Guild at the colorful display of quilts at the Town Hall. Here are some pics of the amazing display that delighted visitors when they entered the doors of the Amherst Town Hall.

When I could tear myself away from all the fun being had by the gals there from the MMQG, I participated in two days of machine quilting workshops offered by Linda Hubbard, who blogs at Stitch Lines. One workshop was entitled Machine Quilting 101 and the other was Walking Foot Quilting. I have been sewing and quilting for more years than I care to remember, but Linda's workshop provided me with a huge arsenal of new tips and tricks and machine quilting information that I plan to put to good use for years to come. I especially loved seeing the samples and demos of the huge variety of stitches that can be done on any domestic machine. Linda's work is meticulous and her bindings to die for! Linda has taught quilting classes for years and has judged many quilt shows, so I felt very fortunate to be able to attend her workshops and learn so much.

What else did I do? I enjoyed the Zonta craft fair and several quilt shows. The church was a little dark so I didn't take any pictures, but you can see a few of the quilts at The Fabric Cupboard's blog HERE. I bought some fabric treasures from Mrs. Pugsley's Emporium fabric shop located right on the main street of Amherst and the pop-up shops of Darlene's A Needle Pulling Thread Quilt Shop and The Fabric Cupboard. Who could ask for anything more? As I said, just like Christmas! 

Now I'm home and ready to quilt. Life is good and it's a great day for quilting, even with those little white flakes starting to cover the ground. Did I mention Christmas?

A Couple of Baby Quilts

Early in September, my nephew's wife had a baby girl, so of course, I decided to make a quilt for the new addition.  I had some lovely pink and turqoise flannels in my stash and added a sweet elephant novelty print for the giant star in Star Bright.

This is a free quilt design by Kate Blakesley that you can download at Swim.Bike. Quilt. The pattern was so easy and the entire quilt took only a couple of days for me to make from start to finish. I love how the start is offset, kind of a modern take on a traditional quilt! 

I used a serpentine quilting stitch, about two inches apart, so the quilt would be nice and soft for baby.

I decided to piece the back to add a little interest.

Going from pinks to blues now, my new grandson is almost four months old and of course I had to make one more little quilt for him. This is a small one, about 36"square",  perfect to use as a play mat or a stroller blanket. I used a rail fence pattern and managed to use many of the flannels I had already used for his bibs, burp cloths, etc. 

This one is even more cuddlier than the others I made him and also matches a receiving blanket I made earlier.

Loop de loop machine quilting was my choice, with another pieced backing added of full of fun novelty prints!

I suppose it won't be long before I am making him a big-boy quilt!

Thanks so much for coming by to visit today. Hope you enjoy the weekend ahead.  I'm looking forward to a wonderful weekend of family visiting and lots of turkey!

It's a great day for quilting!

Charity quilting with the Maritime Modern Quilt Guild

What a wonderful way to spend a Saturday! Last week I travelled to Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, about 3 hours from home, to spend the day making charity quilts for The Lodge That Gives, a place where cancer patients and their families can stay while undergoing treatments in Halifax. I am using some pictures President Adrienne took that day, but please visit the Maritime Modern Quilt Guild blog to see more pictures and learn more about the day. I am using Blogger on my iPad to write this post and can't figure out how to insert a link...sorry...perhaps you can google it? 

These are the quilts that were either finished by the end of the day or waiting for quilting.

Adrienne tells us 8 quilts are the result of the sew day. Members donated batches of 8.5" unfinished HST blocks, using a shade of grey on one side, and one of about 4 or 5 colours for the other side. 

I arrived with my portable Sew Ezi table and my trusty little travelling Janome.

My friend, Linda, top of the picture, who blogs at Scrapmaster, is always an inspiration to me. She had her blocks ready in no time, put the pedal to the metal, and quilted away!  Adrienne, who took the picture, was on the other side of me. She quilted her quilt using wavy lines and it was exquisite! 

It was a super day and I so enjoyed meeting everyone that day! 

It's a great day for quilting!