This is a Hoot!

I love this owl quilt SO much.  It really makes me giggle.  I pinned it.  I stitched in the ditch.   And then I began the visual quilting.  This is the thread I chose.

Sulky thread

 I did some echo quilting with white first.  And then this is what I stitched with the variegated thread...

Little asterix!  And the go on...

looks like our highways!

and on...

Isn't that crazy?  I love it though.  I still need to decide on a binding color.  And I will most likely do more horizontal stitching in the white boxes.  Then I'll prewash it to pucker it all up, and put in in my ETSY store.

And oh!  Look!  The sun is out!  : )

the path to our backyard

~Monika

sewing in Saskatoon

* * *  ps - check the last posts - there's Angelina hot-fix fibres up for grabs!  You have until midnight on Monday to leave a comment to qualify.  * * *

 

Pinning vs Seam Ripping - Which Takes Longer?

This is my second Sunday post - but it's all about the quilts.  I cut up one choir gown into many 2 1/2 inch strips and started putting the top for this cute owl quilt together.  Then I realized - OOPS.  I don't pin.  My machine seems to take care for me.  But the rows of little boxes didn't line up, so... out came the seam ripper again!!  The birds don't look too impressed.  

One is in shock.  One is in disbelief.

: )  I'm funny hey?  lol  Yeah.  I"m funny.  Maybe I should have been a comedian instead of a quilter.  Needless to say, I learned my lesson.  Shortcuts in quilting often are not.  So I vow now to pin my rows from here on.  And WOW was that fast and easy.  Silly me.

Here are some more owls, checking out the new top.

It's raining today, so I put the top up in the window.  Pretty how it glows!

 

I can't wait to quilt it!  The quilting always changes the look of the top.  I'm not entirely sure how I'll do this up.  Those owl boxes make me happy.  They remind me of a computer game called Chuzzle. 

I think I'll chose red for the binding.  Prairie points would really rock this quilt!  hmmm

I will need to put it on hold for a couple days.  I need to gather all my wares to sell at the quilter's flea market tomorrow night!  YAY.  I look forward to getting out of the house and being with other quilters.

~Monika

Country Courthouse Complete

It's done!  Oh my.  It's really done.  Look!

That is a whole lot of quilt.

And that was a whole lot of quilting!  I wend around each block SEVEN times;  tedious, but so worth it.  It really looks done now.  And it was easy turning this big quilt around and around under the needle with this big Janome Horizon.  WHEW.

Tomorrow I'll attach the hanging sleeve and label.  My plan is to put all the right hanging hardware on all my pieces and then that's it! My husband and I have an event to attend Saturday night.  So I'll have it all done by 5 pm, and then Sunday I go all alone to hang the show.  gulp.

wish me luck!

ah!  I'm so happy with this quilt!

~Monika

...absolutely LOVING everyone's moon stories!!!  ; )

THANK YOU!!

It's a Love / Hate Thing.

What a day.  Here's what happenned.  

I love quilting.  I hate ripping seams.  Often I do both.

I decided that the second yellow fabric that I used in the Courthouse quilt didn't work.  It was too drab.  So, out came my trusty seam ripper.  It was still warm from the last project.  And off came the drab...

If you've ever seam-ripped, you know it's slow and tedious.  It's somewhat sad since you are undoing a lot of work.  And POOF!  I got this great motivation to do a tutorial on replacing pieces in a quilt!  Great idea?  I thought so.  So examined the quilt top and decided that I needed some darker browns in one row of centres.  So away I went...

Slowly but surely.  I snapped photos along the way for my brilliant tutorial that perhaps would get published in my favorite magazine.  : )

Here I go... stitch by stitch - rip.  rip.  rip.  I cut about every fourth stitch.  I'm not doing all the centers, only a select number in one diagonal row of blocks.

And when I'm done, I flip over the quilt only to realize that I CUT OUT THE WRONG ONES!  lol

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

I laughed.

I cried.

Mostly I cried.

I took a deep breath and went & had a big cup of coffee.  Can you believe this!?  lol  And I spent even more of the day just putting fabric back into my quilt top.  I added the new yellows.  I like it.  I took out the brown centers that I meant to in the first place, and replaced those with deeper darker browns.  I added a red border.  FINALLY it's done.  And it's right this time. 

And it was worth it.  I love it.  The binding will probably be a deeper red.  I haven't decided yet.  I lost all ability to make any more design decisions after all that!  lol

Crazy.  

~Monika

making it right.
probably NOT publishing it.  lol

Quilts in Progress - 2 on the go

Yesterday had me quilting the 'Black and White and Red All Over' babyblanket.  I like it!  I chose straight lines at a variety of widths apart.  

I like that it gives a modern sleek look to a very flowery busy quilt top.  I like the design contrast.  Meandering free motion quilting would have just pushed the business of it over the top.

My next move was to put all the blocks of my Courthouse Country quilt top together... only to realize that I don't have enough.  Furthermore, I ran out the fabric I needed to make more.  Typical.  So I drove all the way across town to get these coordinates.  The fabric store closest to me had shipped them all over there. 

Aren't they great!?  Of course, I bought more than I needed.  I only ran out of the first yellow floral print.  They were all on sale for 4-6 dollars a meter!  I couldn't resist.  I'm quite sure I'm going to take them all and make a big flying geese quilt.  

~Monika

off to finish what she started...

Quilts at the Bookstore

What a cold blustery day!  I did a family photo shoot at the university for another family.  I'm sure it was the weather... all the little kids in that area were crying!  Oh dear.  We'll have to try that again.  On the way out I snapped this!

My daughter and I then dropped in to McNally Robinson Booksellers today for a field trip. We found the Canadian quilting magazine: Quilter's Connection!  I'm glad they carry it!

And look!  The orange looks great in there!  My quilt, "Daisy Daisy" is hanging right in front of the Canadian Children's Books by the circle of trees.  All the quilts on display are courtesy of the Saskatoon Quilter's Guild.

Funny.  I never noticed that the ceiling in the is orange!  lol

There's my daughter sitting on the main floor.  I love this store.  There are nooks and crannies everywhere with such nice big comfy chairs. We stopped to read "Red is Best", our favorite Canadian children's book. 

Back home now... It's pouring rain.  I'm about to start making supper, packing lunches, running baths, doing laundry, clipping fingernails, washing dishes... ; )  Maybe tonight after the kids are in bed I'll put on a fire and get that Courthouse Country quilt top put together. 

Stay warm!
~Monika