Quilt Show

I almost forgot to show these pictures of the local quilt show from last weekend. Lions Gate Quilt Guild had a spectacular show of talented quilters. Here is a mini version for a Sunday afternoon, grab a cup of tea and enjoy.

This oak leaf quilt was my favourite, it's all done in homespun's....just gorgeous.

Close up of the applique.

Winter Barn.

Cute quilt.

Simple and lovely.

Just because I love Halloween.

Sunflowers are beautiful, look at the humming bird.

More sunflowers.

I think these are poppy's.

Might be maple leaves, I think I've got the picture sideways...oh well you get the idea.

Have a wonderful afternoon. I hope you enjoyed the show.

EDITED: check out Pam's blog, she has posted some from the same show and they are different then the ones I posted.

Jam and Pumpkins

Firstly, I would like to say a "heartfelt thank you" for all your sweet, kind and supportive words. I appreciate each and every comment and feel so much love from everyone.

I made some blackberry/raspberry jam on the weekend. The blackberries were picked by my youngest daughter and her boyfriend and the raspberries came from my back yard. I love homemade jam and try to make some every year. Since I didn't have enough of either berry, we now have a mixed berry jam which is an excellent combination. Oh....buttered toast and jam is so delicious.

As promised here is the pumpkin quilt I've been working on. The pattern can be found in this book by the Joined at the Hip ladies, the book has some great folk art patterns. I'm not sure how I'll quilt it or where I'll hang it yet. I sure love the colours of fall especially when pumpkins start coming out. Happy Fall!!

Jenny

I had mixed feelings about whether this was appropriate to post or not, then I remembered why I started blogging in the first place. I started blogging to share my adventures in quilting and Jenny had been a huge part of that journey. She was there with every quilt I made and she loved to be in my sewing room with me, her hair is sewn into all my quilts. She was there to watch me pick fabrics, cutting (sometimes getting ever so close to the blade), she'd walk in front of my sewing machine while I'm feeding fabric through or sometimes she was happy to just watch me. Jenny's favourite spot was sleeping in the middle of my ironing board. I didn't mind working in the small space she left for me. Jenny was a very verbal cat, when I walked in a room and said "Hi Jenny" she always popped her head up with a welcoming "Meow, meow, I'm so glad to see you". She verbalized everything from when she is hungry, wanted outside to play and even when she needed a lap to sleep on. Jenny was a very needy cat and was a big part of my daily routine. She spent most of her time following me around the house, jumping on my lap every opportunity she could get, racing me down the stairs for breakfast every morning (doing her best to try and trip me) and fighting me for the most comfy chair. She loved it when she could get a taste of something sweet, Jenny loved licking up the sweet milk left over from our morning oatmeal. She'd stick her paw in my glass of egg nog to get a taste and watch out if anyone was eating cream cheese. Jenny was a week away from her 17th birthday and lived a very happy and playful life. My quilting routine will never be the same without her. DH and I miss her terribly.

Awards and Jo's Club

I've been very slow to acknowledge these awards. I can't believe it, two in one week. Melissa was so kind to award me the Primitive Excellence Award, thanks so much I really appreciate you thinking of me. I just discovered Melissa's blog and love it. I'm suppose to name 7 more bloggers to give this award. There are so many deserving bloggers I can't name only 7, I'm going to take the easy way out and say that anyone reading my blog please consider yourself awarded.
And then in the same week Ruth has giving me the Kreativ Blogger award. I'm very touched by both of these. Ruth is also a new blog to me, she is working on the Polka Dot Girls as well, I love seeing them on her blog. Thanks so much to both of you. The rules say I must nominate 5 bloggers, again I will take the easy route and if you read my blog then you are also deserving of such an award.

I can't finish a post without something quilty to show. My last Jo's club meeting was this week. I knew I wasn't going to have enough time to make the big version. Mine is the much much smaller one. It's very funny only 2 of us finished the project in time for the meeting and if you bring your finished quilt, a name is drawn to win a FQ. Well I had a darn good chance of winning this time.....you guessed it....I won a FQ.

I've been tagged by Katherine to write 6 random things about myself, I haven't forgotten. I'll save this for another post.

Pumpkins and Purple Steps

Here's what 4 coats of paint looks like. A few areas are still drying which makes it look a bit spotty in the picture. The painting took so long mainly because the paint needed to dry for 3 days in between coats and as soon as Sept hits we get cooler nights with moisture. Which means the steps would be wet in the morning and I had to wait until the sun dried the steps before painting again. And then there were days that I really didn't feel like painting. It's done....woohoo and I'm really happy with how it turned out. Next is to get the walkway done, the guy is coming at the end of Sept to lay bricks for the walk. Now I should make a sign for the bottom of the steps saying "take your shoes off"....wouldn't that be funny...LOL
I finished a little stitchery for fall decorating. I was undecided about putting this on a towel. It is a towel band but I didn't want anyone to use it. I went ahead anyway and it will look nice folded over the kitchen cupboard or maybe laying on a table with pumpkins.
Thanks for stopping by. Happy Stitching,
Wendy

No Sewing, Only Yard Work

Not much sewing going on when there is so much yard work to catch up on before winter. We down sized our yard when we moved into this house two years ago, I thought there would be less to do but somehow it still seems like there is sooooo much clipping and pruning to do. I cut back the ivy, a couple of bushes and hubby mowed the lawn and that was 2 trips to the recycling depot, I can only put so much yard waste into the back of my Subaru.
Since I don't have any progress to show on stitching, I took a couple of pictures of these older quilts "old to me but new to you". I haven't shown these yet. The top quilt is a Blended quilt I made over 5 years ago and I would guess the crow and chicken stitcheries are just as old.
The chickens haven't been quilted yet....on my "to do" list...along with many other flimsies. I should finish this one, I like how the tea dying turn out and it would look nice in my kitchen.
Wendy

Polka Dot Girls Block 7 and Quilting at the Lake

I'm back....Wow did this week ever fly by, with painting and a few days at the lake it was a busy time and here it is Sept already and the kids are back to school. I hope everyone had a relaxing long weekend, I sure did. I'm not done the painting of the steps yet...too much rain last week and today is more of the same. The days I could have painted we were at the lake on Vancouver Island...it was excellent that we had wonderful weather while we were there. I finished another block of the Polka Dot Girls, I have one more of these larger blocks and 3 of the little ones and then.....I'm done...I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.
Here is a little basket I made last week, I've been using it for my stitchery. You can find the instructions here. Some of us have been extra busy making several of these baskets, check out Darlene's dozen...they are so adorable.
This is our view of the lake from my in-laws house. Would you believe in the winter the lake comes up close to that line where you see the railing. All the grass, brush and trees are under water and sometimes the lake will freeze a bit too. It's just incredible to see how close the water comes to the house. You can't see it from the picture but the house is on the side of a hill, so they've never had a flood.
While the guys were off Kayaking for the weekend, the girls were busy making this Double Irish Chain. My Aunt wanted to make a quilt from her oldest daughter and since my Aunt and MIL are both not experienced quilters, I offered my help. The three of us finished this queen size top in a couple of days. We don't know yet if the quilt will be a wedding gift or not...the engagement hasn't happened yet but my Aunt is keeping her fingers crossed. She wanted to be ready just in case.