Show and Tell #7

It's high time for more Show and Tell. Many thanks to those who have sent in photos!! Keep them coming! And my apologies to those who sent photos quite a while ago... here they are, finally! I've been very tied up for the last 6 weeks with two senior family member "issues"...That, on top of Blogger is now using a new interface..... grrrrr....this post came with many frustrations.. photos wouldn't load, then they loaded sideways, etc. etc.

I've always thought "If it ain't broke, don't fix it"...

I wish Blogger would live by that too... So again, my apologies for being a little "behind"...

Angela L-P kept busy with some orphan blocks after our lecture/demo on "Using Orphan Blocks" by Joyce Newman. Angela had fun creating several lovely quilts. Do you recognize any of your donated blocks here? 

Angela also had some fun with the mini quick curve ruler to create a quilt for her young granddaughter. Birds, leaves and flowers....  beautiful Angela! I bet she loves it! This was a wallhanging size

design which she enlarged.

Fran B. was in "production mode" and completed 24 masks and 14 scrub caps! Great job Fran, I'm sure they were appreciated.

Gail B. sent a heart-warming "Covid quilt" story:  I met my new neighbour for the first time just a few days before Christmas. Her name is Hui and her daughter was just about to arrive from China to spend Christmas with them. She was so excited!

I didn't see them over the winter until mid-April. They then told me that the daughter hadn't been able to go back home due to the Covid outbreak in China. She was 5 months pregnant when she arrived, and now had just had a baby girl the previous week. I had this top ready to put together for a Community Projects donation, but I thought a direct gift to this young woman for her baby so far from home was well suited.

What a lovely story. A kind and generous gift, Gail. I'm sure that new Mom was thrilled with your thoughtfulness.

Last up today is Diane R. who has finished a scrappy batik quilt made with the Strip Tube ruler. This was a retreat project, now finished and quilted by Diane. Beautiful, Diane! What's not to love about batiks?!

Happy Canada Day everyone! July is right around the corner....  Is anyone doing a Christmas in July project??

Two Timely Offers...

Hello there! How is everyone doing? Just a couple of things today that you might be interested in...

CQA/ACC invites us all to join in the fun of a special virtual quilt show to celebrate Canada Day!  It is open to ALL Canadian quilters and will be displayed on the CQA/ACC website from July 1st - 10th. The entry form for A Virtual Canada Day Quilt Show is available now and until June 22. To enter, fill out the form and submit a photo of you with one of your favourite quilts that you have made. Click here for the form.

How are you passing the time during these "stay at home" days? Maybe you have decided to use some of this "extra" time to practice a particular quilting technique... If improving your free motion quilting skills is on your list, you might want to take advantage of Lori Kennedy's offer. If her name doesn't ring a bell, she has a very successful blog called Lori Kennedy Quilts and has authored several books. She is offering a 25 week free motion quilt-along based on her newest book, 25 Days to Better Machine Quilting. Starting on Monday June 15, she will cover one chapter a week to help you improve your machine quilting skills and knowledge. Read more about it here and here.

Remember, send me a photo of any projects you have completed, or are working on, or anything  "quilty" that might interest our members. Another Show and Tell post will be coming soon. Stay tuned!  Happy Sewing!

Andrea's shop move, a Bernina for sale and Show and Tell.....

First of all, in case you are not aware, Andrea has moved her shop from Keswick Ridge to Hanwell! Yay! Closer to us all! Her new address is 1881 Hanwell Road which is the next civic number after Jardine Auctioneers.  With this move comes a new shop name, "The Quilting Shed." No in store shopping is possible right now, but she is open for online ordering with local pickup. You can reach her at 478-2349 and visit https://thequiltingshed.com/ to check out products and sales. They will soon be working on building the new shop and hopefully by the time it is ready we will be able to happily shop "in person."


Former member Eleanor Puxley has a Bernina Activa 130 for sale. Contact Gail M for info...

Here's some Show and Tell today from Gwen Buchanan. She has been keeping busy with two projects full of colour!

Gwen says  "I've been switching it up and doing some crocheting... something I have done very little of until this year... it's really fun and easier than  knitting, at least I find it so... surrounding myself with colour and things to keep my hands and mind busy... eventually with the addition of many more crocheted circles and an additional contrasting circular round on each one, this will be a super cheery "Flower Garden Blanket."
The basket is filling up.. using all kinds of different colours and sizes of yarn in any type I have around, wool, acrylic, silky stuff, fluffy stuff, mohair, cotton... anything at all.  :)  Just stuff from a grab-bag of scrappy odds and ends that have accumulated... doesn't take long..  and I love the multitude of combinations. ♥  Just using the simple steel crochet hook that's shown lying in the middle of the pile. When I have enough 2-colour circles done the third colour is added to each circle as they are attached together.

To attach them together, a third round of colour is added....

















..and the circles are attached as you go along.

Little half circles are attached along the edges to make a straight edge.












Then a red border to frame it is crocheted all around the outside edge. I'm happy with how it turned out. This is the first finished blanket, and I have now begun a second one."

If anyone wants to give this a try (and you're missing out if you don't)  this is the Arne and Carlos video I learned from: click here. 















Gwen also sent along a few pictures of the planning and prepping of the tiny 3" blocks of the 9 patch quilt top she made.




















Each block is made up of nine 1" (finished) squares in dark and light plains and prints.

"I am window-paneing it with white 1/2" strips with black corners... keeps the mind focused, very colourful.. and scrappy and frugal.. much pressing... cheerful!"

(Not sure, but I expect Gwen is hand quilting this!)

Beautiful Gwen! Lots of cheerful colour for spring!! Thanks for sharing your photos and process with us!

For those of you who don't know Gwen, she is a talented artist with many "fibre loves" - she spins, knits, crochets and quilts, designs and makes jewelry, draws and paints and has a wonderful blog which you should check out here:  http://gwenbuchanan.blogspot.com/
We are fortunate that she has joined us at FQG!