Le Jardin Block

This is block seven finished, two more blocks to go. I really like the French General fabrics in this quilt. Some of the details are done with hand embroidery, like the details of the bunny weathervane on the house.

A birthday gift from a secret sister in my stitching group. It's all hand stitched, someone knows how much I love red.

Another gift from a secret sister. Look at the ruffle along the zipper, I love it. It's been the best birthday, Thank You Secret Sister!

Happy Quilting!

Hearts

I decided I needed to make a heart runner in my colours. This pink one was for the class I was teaching. My cold is much better Thanks to my friends secret remedy.  These hearts are using the 5" squares and 2 1/2" squares, so much easier than the first one.

I had a good Birthday this week. A couple of friends, my daughter and I went shopping and lunch. We visited Two Thimbles, my favourite shop. Two of the girls are new quilters and hadn't been to the shop before. They had such fun looking at everything, I didn't think they wanted to leave.  It's fun to watch the excitement of new quilters, they are so keen to learn everything. I forget how something so simple is all new to them. A magnet pincushion is a something that wouldn't even occur to me as a new toy. I had a blast shopping with them.

The biggest surprise was from my DH, he gave me a wonderful bracelet for my Birthday. I'm so spoiled and lucky to have such a great guy in my life.

Happy Quilting!

La Petite Houses

I've been working on a few little blocks, these house blocks are only 4.5" finished. Boy are these fussy little things to put together, I think they'll go into a small quilt. I also made a couple of little baskets, those might be separate small quilt at some point. The house fabrics are from La Petite Ecole, I think it means "The Little School".

Mary sent me a birthday gift and it arrived a bit late even with her sending it two weeks ahead. The post office is very unpredictable. She also included some chocolates with caramel, nuts but I ate those before I got the camera out....teehee.Thanks so much Mary, you are a sweet friend.

I just found out today, there is a pattern coming my way from here.

Happy Quilting.

Lets Celebrate

I can't believe how fast the weekend went by, I celebrated my birthday with a little get away weekend browsing through antique shops in this historic touristy town and then staying the night at this hotel. We were not prepared for how fancy the hotel was with all kinds of athletic things to do. I didn't bring my gym wear, so we couldn't take part in the activities....well that could be a good thing since I'm way out of shape...LOL

Look at these gorgeous flowers I got for my birthday. Maureen is a very generous and sweet person to work for, I've been enjoying them all week.

How about a give away to celebrate my blog makeover last week and my birthday this week. The table runner was sewn and quilted by me, the charm pack comes with coordinate fabric in pink and the owl bundle is a kit for a bag, it comes with a pattern. Just leave me a comment and I'll draw three numbers on Valentines Day. If you blog about my giveaway let me know and I'll give you two more chances. Remember anyone can enter in the draw. Good Luck.

Happy Quilting!

Late Birthdays

I love it when Birthday gifts arrive late, especially because I was completely caught off guard and had NO idea why Sharon would be sending me something. Woohoo....what a fantastic surprise! My Birthday was 2 months ago why would I suspect anything, she even included a big birthday candle, you should smell it.....Mmmmm coconut, as soon as I opened the box I could smell it. She had everything wrap separately in tissue paper....it's just like Christmas....oops it's my birthday. The Hi! customer card looks interesting, wasn't sure if she accidentally dropped this in the box but it turned out to be a needlebook, it has needles and threader inside. I have a few antique ones I've been collecting. The note pad is funny, it says "Making a List and Chicken it Thrice", I don't often check my list 3 times. Sharon must have remembered I collect chickens. There's a cute tray with flowers, maybe I'll use it in my living room for a pretty place to keep pins and needles. There's some funny M&M's tucked in the box, I've never seen Strawberry Peanut butter M&M or Wildly Cherry either for that matter, I better hide these quick so my DH doesn't see them, he has a big sweet tooth or three. Oh my, I had so much fun opening this box, thanks Sharon for thinking of me.

Look at this sweet little package all tied up pretty.....it's a little quilt. Awww.....I LOVE IT!

Okay....now to stop playing and get back to packing. The temperatures in Cairo this week are mid 80's to 90's....oh boy that's warm. Sat is coming very fast!
Happy Stitching and have a great Easter weekend.

Where to Start?

This last week has been a flurry of activity. I'm so glad it's Feb, not just because it's my birthday month but because Jan was a slow and boring month for me. It's gotten much better, a few days ago I had a birthday lunch with friends, shopping here, tea, dessert and then next day a pedicure with my daughter. Feb is off to a great start.

On my Birthday hubby and I spent the day checking out what's happening downtown Vancouver. The Winter Olympic are starting this week, we don't have tickets to any of the events but there are lots of free things to see and do. After walking and walking around the downtown area we thought we earned our dinner and walked another 8 blocks to enjoy a delicious dinner here and then of course after dinner is was the long walk back to catch the skytrain home. We sure got our exercise for the day and I didn't feel guilty for eating appetizers, main course and then chocolate for dessert.

Now back to the good stuff.....gifts from quilting friends, I received the little valentines stitchery and it's tucked in this tiny pink box...soo cute. The book has some awesome quilts to make, I think I love almost every pattern in this book. The pile of fabrics I bought for myself and have already cut into them. The brown wool is a gift and I love it! I almost forgot, the yellow and blue pile is a gift, not sure what I'll make with them yet.

Look at that slice of cake pincushion...such a fun gift and a charm pack with gorgeous fabrics to fondle. The little zippy wallet I made from the fabrics I showed in the above picture, a girl shouldn't waste anytime. The pattern is super easy, try out this tutorial.

A couple more This and That Cobblestone Lane BOM's are finished. This is turning out to be a great quilt. I just love these fabrics and the patterns are so well written, it's a joy to be making this one.

A sneak peek at the project I've been working on. Do you recognize the stitchery, it's A Tisket A Tasket by Bunnyhill. I'm doing my own setting, you'll see more when I get the alternate blocks finished.  The patterns are going to be removed from the website soon, if you are still thinking about making them, I'd hurray over quick and print them.  Are you a cat lover, well you won't want to miss the Red Brolly free stitchery each month.

Happy Quilting, until next time.

Birthdays and Shopping

Everyone loves pictures of food especially when it's a dessert. These yummy looking treats came from Trader Joe's and they were waiting for me at Two Thimbles. The owner (Lee) of this shop really knows how to treat a birthday girl. She offers a really good deal, if it's your birthday month, she'll give you 25% off for the day and if you bring friends they also get a discount of 15%, pretty sweet deal. If you live near by give Lee a call to book your birthday, it's well worth it!

Since we all love photo's of quilt shops here are a few to browse through.

Don't you just love that antique quilt with the pinks and browns. Does anyone know the name of that block? I love it!

Some fabrics to give you inspiration for Valentines day, it's coming up very fast.

Wagon of fabric, I'll just wheel that out to my car...LOL

More pretty fabrics. Two Thimbles also has a huge selection of Jo Morton, Sturbridge Village and other reproductions. I didn't get a good picture of them.

Some goodies I received from my wonderful friends. I don't think you can see them all but there are 18 of the balls of Valdani variegated embroidery threads.....I love them!

And these are the fabrics that found a way in my bag...I don't know how they got there but I found them hiding in my bag when I got home...LOL. The larger piece with tiny red flowers is for a backing on the medallion quilt I finished a few months ago.

Have a great day!

Fall Swap Arrived

A friend of mine was having a Birthday today so it was a good excuse to go out for a leisurely lunch. The 3 of us met up at a LQS for a fabric fix before lunch. The ladies at the shop showed us a really neat trick with 5" charm packs. I'll do up a couple and show you soon...I promise. We got to the restaurant and since we were celebrating a birthday we decided to start with martini's....mmmm so delicious for such a tiny drink. After I devoured my grilled chicken sandwich and pumpkin soup, we still didn't feel like ending the celebration, so what's next??? Dessert of course....oh I can't even describe our decadent desserts. I had a Sour Cherry Dark Chocolate Bread Pudding....yes it was over the top....but oh so delicious...I think I rolled all the way home LOL.

I found a nice surprise in my mail box when I got home. Well it wasn't completely a surprise. This is my Fall Swap quilt which I;ve been waiting for the mailman to bring. Isn't this so cute with the oak leaves quilted on the front. Sue from Quilting without Guilt has even quilted leaves on the back. Take a look she has posted a picture of the back. What a sweet little autumn quilt "Thank you Sue" for being my swap partner. Sue also sent a few little goodies with my quilt. See the postcard with the flower and the black cat...it's all quilted just like any quilt and on the back it's addressed to me with a little message from Sue. The Down Under calendar will be a wonderful addition to my sewing room.
The next swap will be sometime in Nov, check it out if you are thinking of joining the Winter Swap.