There Was Sewing

While I was away I spent 4 days at the Pictou Lodge with the Mayflowers Quilter Retreat. Three straight days of sewing in log cabins! All meals made for us, cozy cabins with ocean views, and an amazing group of women.

I taught my Improvisational Piecing class. With a three days in front of us we were able to spend a day on techniques and exercises, then each student got the chance to run with it. Everyone started with an idea and some fabric then went to play. And play they did! Seventeen students and seventeen different projects. I love them all!

Thank you so much to all my students and the Mayflower ladies for a great time. I am totally inspired by you all.

And way up at the top there? That great lady was making her first quilt for herself after fifteen years of quilting. The pink and purple blocks are hers. Can't wait to see how it all comes together.

Hugs and Kisses

Hugs and Kisses 

105'' x 90''

The Beast is finally done! I really should call it that instead of Hugs and Kisses. It doesn't seem quite appropriate for something that is supposed to be a romantic gift.

I actually finished it a few weeks ago, but it's taken me a bit to clean up our room and take photos.

For more on the progress of this quilt you can check out these posts.

The fabric stack
In Progress
Admitting Defeat 
Clear the Decks (committing to finishing this and only this quilt)
Been Quilting in progress
Picking Binding (you'll see I went with none of these)

Quilted with Wonderfil, a local thread company. It was a great variegated pink that worked nicely. And Aurifil white on the Xs. As usual, I used Quilter's Dream 100% cotton batting in Select weight.

And now we sleep under it. We can still keep the window open even though fall settled in to a night time chill. With all that quilting it is a heavy quilt that wraps around us.

Friday Favourite - The Kwik Klip

My least favourite part of quiltmaking is basting quilts. It really is the reason quilt tops languish in my closet. I think I'm slow at it, that's part of the problem. And now, with our TV in the basement, I can't rope Hubby into helping me anymore! I baste on the living room floor. When the TV was up here he had no choice - watch me get in his way or get on the ground and help me. Now he runs away to the TV as soon as he sees me pull out the masking tape and pins.

Loving me is not enough, the only reason he was willing to help me is that he was allowed to use the tool involved. Men and tools, right? Man oh man, he can wield a Kwik Klip like the boss.

Honestly, if it wasn't for a Kwik Klip none of my quilts would get basted. I am a pin baster, and I use a lot of pins. (I didn't think it was a lot, but then I saw people commenting on an IG photo of someone else's basted quilt. So many pins! Wow, you sure use a lot of pins! And there I was thinking that it looked totally normal. But I don't get puckers with my quilting. Happy for that trade off.) So the Kwik Klip makes very short work of closing all those pins. And it saves both what is there of my nails and my fingertips.

You simply hold the tool in your dominant hand, lift up the straight part of the pin, and clip it into place. Done. I've heard of people using an old teaspoon to the same effect. That, however, is not as fancy as the tool. And seriously, if a tool is what it takes to get your man to help you with the basting then a tool is what you should get.

I'm sharing this post as part of National Sewing Month, brought to you by The Sewing Loft. Check out a month long list of sewers sharing their favourite tools.

Beanie's Blocks

I couldn't do it. I wasn't quite done the beast of a quilt and I had to start something new. Not just play with fabric, not just sketch, but actually start a new quilt. And oh, it felt good. It had been MONTHS. So far I've only got a handful of blocks done for a baby quilt that needs 20, but it's a start. And the beast of a quilt is done now too! So as soon as I finish some deadline work these blocks will get some more time on the design wall.

These are made from the same pattern I used on the New Leaf blog hop with Daisy Janie. What a totally different look with this low-volume fabric selection. (I also made them 10'', not 12'' finished.)For the centers I used a fun map fabric that's been hanging out in my stash forever. These blocks are intended for a baby quilt for dear friends of ours and they are mega world travellers. 

I'm not going to lie, it felt so good to play with these blocks. Quilting and binding the beast took over my summer almost more than the girls being home did. It felt great to work on something new, with a vastly different range of colours, and on an entirely different scale. I also can't lie about this, I played on another new quilt too. That's for another day.