Class with Maggie Bonanomi

The day before the Buggy Barn Outdoor Quilt I took a class working with wool. Maggie is a designer for Need'l Love and she has her own primitive folk shop and patterns called Butternut House.

I arrived very early for the class, I needed time to look around the store before going to class. I spent a long time in the shop before Pam came over to gently remind me, the class will start soon.
The class room inside the barn is large with lots of quilts on every wall. Here we all are hard at work cutting and deciding where the oak leaves will be placed. Maggie is a very good teacher, she helped us all get our arrangements looking good. Not much else to report, only that everyone was having a good time and the catered lunch was excellent.
My wool table mat is all arranged and ready to be hand stitched. I did some hand basting of the stems to avoid having so many pins while stitching. The outer edge of the mat will have green tongues all the way around. Maggie showed a really quick way to cut these, kinda like paper dolls.
This big fabric bundle is to make the quilt shown on the open book. The shop has two samples of this quilt, one in lights and the other in darks. I was first attracted to the light colours and though about it for awhile but finally decided on the darker colours for my quilt. This will be my first buggy barn pattern, I hope I can do it with that tiny star in the centre.
I also found a couple of other items I couldn't go home without. The wool at the shop was hard to resist, they had so many colours and textures to choose from. The patterns are for 2 small quilts I really liked and the Butternut house pattern is for a needleroll.

Thanks so much for dropping by for a visit. Happy stitching.

Buggy Barn Outdoor Quilt Show

Ladies...it's absolutely incredible to visit Buggy Barn. You wouldn't believe there could possibly be a quilt shop out in the middle of the wheat fields. We left home on Thursday from Vancouver BC and drove 2hrs South towards Seattle and then headed East to Spokane for about 4hrs, Buggy Barn is about 1/2 hr West of Spokane. When we arrived at the drive way, there was a small red building with cars parked around the building. This must be it, the sign post says its the place. The shop is a red building with white trim, if I wasn't a quilter I wouldn't have believed there could be a quilt shop out in the middle of the farm fields. The shop is so small but packed so full, I didn't know where to look first, there were quilt sample everywhere. I think I stood there with my eyes glazed over for a few minutes... Here is the wagon near the front door of the shop. Can you see the sign pointing to the shop on the left side? The house on the right is where the shop owner lives, short walk to work through the field.
Hubby got comfy right away but he's not staying. I was dropped off for my class with Maggie. He'll be back later to pick me up. I'll post about my class later as I've got too many pictures of the quilt show already. Be warned.....lots and lots of quilt photo's below. This is the front of the quaint store but wait till you see the inside....unbelievable.
Cart wheels leaning against the shop. I love this picture.
Off in the distance is the barn where I'll be taking my class doing wool applique. More about the class on the next post.
And here you go...inside that tiny little store. Packed to the ceiling with fabrics. I was amazed by how many samples they have on the walls, ceiling and in every nook and cranny you could find. Even the washroom has samples on the walls and lots of them. There was wool, needlepunch, bolts and bolts of fabrics....I'm trying to remember everything but it's impossible.
I love everything in the picture. What don't I love....what a incredible shop. I could stay for hours and not find everything there is to see in the store.
Oh...do I have time for this one...oh my I love it.
Books, patterns, wool bolts...to much for one visit.
The outdoor quilt show with quilts on all the building, fences and you'll see quilts on the clothes lines too. We are looking at the front of the store. Can you see the wheat fields in the background? Believe me there is nothing around for miles and miles.
Lots of quilts everywhere...
Quilts on the outside wall of the shop.
More beautiful quilts to see.
I love these houses.
I like pumpkins too.
Quilts blowing in the wind...do you feel like your at the show?
More quilts blowing in the wind. I'm smiling all day.....
Quilts on every building.
The side of the same building above.
Blowing in the wind.
Another building with quilts.
I like this picture...the quilts look like they are floating.
We are back to the store front. I just noticed there is an article attached to this quilt. I didn't see it when I took the picture....I was too excited to see everything....LOL Now I'm wondering what that says....hmmm...I missed something.
One of my "someday" quilts. I love sunflowers.
This is the barn where my class with Maggie is, more pictures of the inside in the next post.
Whimsy quilt of farm animals.
That's me on the left, I'm studying the "Tulip Farm" quilt, one of my "someday" quilts. So where did she put that fabric.
Walking away from the barn down the driveway towards the shop. The big white building off in the distance is where they had a "Folk Art Sale". Lots of interesting things to find in there. Antiques, baskets, linens, small quilts frame as pictures, pottery and more.
The shop looking at the back side, the drive way is on the right coming up towards the shop. The white tent on the left is where you could sit and have a burger or hot dog.

I hope you enjoyed my "photo tour" as much as I did. Check out Nicole and Juliann's they were at Buggy Barn too but we missed each other, I didn't know ahead of time they were also going to be there. We'll have to coordinate better next time ladies.

It was a fantastic trip, I'm still smiling from ear to ear....VBG

I'm off to the barn!

My first visit to The Buggy Barn Quilt Shop and the Outdoor Quilt show in Spokane. I'm so excited, we are driving down tomorrow and I will be taking Maggie's class on Friday. Maggie Bonanomi is a designer for Need'l Love books.

Have a great weekend. I'll miss you.
See you Sunday!

This and That

Time is sure flying by these days, I don't know where all the time is going. We took off early Friday and headed for the Ferry going to Victoria. We didn't expect to get there and NOT have to wait but got lucky and caught the Ferry leaving in 10 mins. We were mentally getting ready to sit in Starbucks for an hour sipping our coffee but got lucky, I think....I missed out on my latte...boo hoo

After having lunch in Victoria we were off to see the Titanic Exhibit at the BC Museum. What a tragic lose of so many. It was interesting to see dishes still in tact and wine bottles with wine in them, not bad for laying on the bottom of the ocean for 80 years. Wouldn't want to drink that wine...

That evening we drove to Lake Cowichan for some relaxation and a little paddling on the lake, in between the rain storms, well one big storm. My FIL and MIL were so kind to attempt picking blackberries for me. Ouch...those thorns are worse that a rose bush. So when I got home I made Blackberry jam and since I had a few raspberries they went in the jam too. But then I thought what the heck and through in some blueberries. So here you have it "Mixed Berry Jam".
Made some progress on my Bundling Board blocks, as you can see I've only finished one block and the other 2 have pins in them but are ready for sewing down. The fourth block is ready for "starch ironing" of the pieces. With only 4 blocks the quilt will be done soon. The finished size is 63"x63", not a bad size for a cuddle quilt.

Big "Thank You"

I want to say "Thank You" to ALL of you for the great comments on my mug dilemma. Thanks to all your ideas and suggestions (bloggers are the best) I was able to come up with this to embroider on the mug for Bernice. Yellow roses, I think is suitable for someone about to have a operation, I used a variegated green for the vine and leaves. I can't take credit for the design, I copied it from one of my Crabapple Hill patterns. It was a bit more work than I intended to do but it came out lovely.
Here is the pincushion I received from Miet in Belgium. You can't see the base but she has cleverly used a jar lid for the pincushion base, the lid is covered a a green fabric, very cute. She sent a whole pile of Belgium chocolates with the pincushion. Thank you Miet I will enjoy using my new pincushion and eating my goodies. Thanks for being a great swap partner!
Since Miet doesn't have her own blog, I thought this would be a good place to show you the pincushion I made for her.

Pretty In Pink

I belong to a stitching group that meets most Tuesdays and two of the ladies in this group are going in for a cancer operations very soon. The group decided it would be nice to make Yvonne and Bernice a quilt to comfort them at this stage in their life. We've chosen this Pretty Dresses block for Yvonne, each of us is making one block using fabrics from our stash, the only requirement is that we keep the fabrics soft and pastel. The finished blocks are 10"x12" so if we get 20 blocks that will make a good size quilt.
This is the Mug block for Bernice, the fabric requirements were to be brighter and cheerful. I think the mug might need some extra embellishment....don't know what...big sigh.... but I'll come up with something. The sashing will be wonky so all the mug will be tipped in different directions when completed. I've hand appliqued both these blocks using my favourite method with freezer paper.
From the Hydrangea family but I'm not familiar enough to know what the name is. It's so lacy and delicate looking....pretty in pink.

Thanks for visiting, I really enjoy all your comments.

More Applique Method

If you missed my tutorial on appliqué visit my earlier post.Applique Method
I decided to take the plunge (a really big step for me...teehee) and machine appliqué my block (not enough time to do everything by hand). I used the Invisafil thread in the top and in the bobbin. Most of the appliqué pieces blended fine with using the black thread but the star being so light needed the beige thread. I'm very happy with how this turned out...whew. I think I might do the machine appliqué more often. Hmmm...opens lots of possibilities, need to do more thinking on that.
Here is a close up of the machine appliqué. Don't know if you can see it but, I did a very small zig zag around all my shapes.

Fun Mail!

I've been waiting for my needlekeeper from Susan to arrive any day, she received mine a couple of weeks ago and we mailed them around the same time. Hmmmm...what does the mail man do with our precious cargo for so long.

Susan has done a incredible job of crazy quilting on this needlekeeper, she must have spent hours working on this. Susan added beads, lace, silk ribbon and a picture of two little angel girls on the front, the back is equally as elaborate. I also received a FQ of lilac fabric and the cutest scissor fob ever. Thank you so much Susan, I will cherish this incredible piece of work!
I couldn't believe it when on the same day, I also received a package from Carole. I was teasing her about all the chocolate she received in the mail and that she couldn't possibly eat all that by herself, maybe sharing will ease the load (we quilters like to help each other). So Carole sent me some of her favourites. I've already eaten one of the Cherry Ripe.....yummy....where can I get more of these delicious bites???? The Crabapple Hill Pattern has some wool applique added with the embroidery.....I LOVE it! Thanks so much Carole you are the sweetest!
I received this magazine last week from Donna in Australia. She was so kind to just send me this for no particular reason....just because. Thank you so much!

I can't tell you how much fun I'm having meeting such incredible friends in Blogland or as my DH would say "imaginary friends". Thanks for visiting my blog, I enjoy getting to know everyone as I travel around the blogging world.

Maybe my pincushion from Belgium will arrive soon...I'll have to talk with the mail man to find out where it is....

Applique Method

This is my absolute favourite and the only method I like to use for appliqué "freezer paper and liquid starch". I promised in a previous post that I would show how I do my appliqué.

1. Trace all appliqué shapes onto dull side of freezer paper (reverse shapes as needed).
2. Cut out each shape on traced line.
3. Iron on "wrong" side of fabric (pictured above).
4. Ruff cut a generous 1/4" around each shape. You're not looking for that prefect 1/4" here.
Here are all the supplies I need for preparing my shapes.
a. Liquid Starch
b. Clover Mini Iron
c. Seam Ripper
d. Small Saucer
e. Artist Brush (available at dollar stores)

5. Spray a small amount of starch in the saucer and add a couple of drops of water.
6. Take the artist brush and dip in starch mixture.
7. On the right side of fabric shape, using the artist brush wet the seam allowance with the starch mixture (without soaking the fabric)
8. I use the seam ripper in my left hand and the Clover Mini Iron in my right hand.
9. Using the seam ripper to hold the seam allowance while ironing with mini iron. The iron will dry and press the seam allowance to freezer paper side.
10. Continue around shape until seam allowance is all flipped in and starch has dried from ironing.
The seam allowance will stay flipped over because of the starch. Hold the iron for a few seconds to let the iron dry the fabric. I use the iron on the hottest setting but be very careful it gets VERY HOT. The best part is that if you don't like how your shaped turn out ie points showing up around the circle, you can re-wet and start again. Be careful with this as the freezer paper doesn't stand up with wetting too much. That's the reason I tell you to wet the right side, it keeps the water away from the freezer paper as much as possible.
Here is what it looks like when the seam allowance is all dry. The smaller circle is where I've taken out the freezer paper. You can see how it holds very well. Now you are ready to place on your background fabric and start attaching the applique shapes.
See the star has some funny ends showing. I'll trim these just a little and then when I hand appliqué I will use the needle to push under the remainder of the ends sticking out. I've used this method for all kinds of shapes and sizes, even tiny circles.
Here is my layout ready for pinning or I like to use Roxanne's glue to hold in place. I only use a few tiny drops around the seam allowance and no pins to get in my way. This block is part of a kit I bought at The Quilted Crow....oh I guess a couple years ago now. The best appliqué thread I've found is called Invisafil and it's truly invisible when you sew with it. People don't believe me until they give it a try and then are totally amazed at how you can't see the stitches. The other nice thing is that you don't need every colour, I've been using one colour for all the shapes and it doesn't show.

A small update on my 9-patches....15 of them completed...

Happy Stitching.