Saturday, April 21, 2007

Quilts and Wild Thang

Well I have recieved complaints from a few people that I haven't been writing enough. I just haven't had anything to say. Well this is the quilt that I basted and am currently machine quilting. Since this is one of my favorite Scrappy Quilts i figured that i would show it here. Once it is finished quilting i will probably show it again. The fabric from this quilt is scraps left over from hundreds of fat Quarters . Scrappy is the way to go for me. When i take a picture of the log cabin i did it is with the same fabrics the colours look so different. I will put it up. Maybe tomorrow.
Well this was a project of insanity. There is hundreds of half square triangles. My husband thought that i was losing it. 2 inch half square triangles. He doesnt' really appreciate the cursing and the work that went into matching all those points. It isn't perfect but what is really? Heres a close up look at those darn 2 inch half squares. Previously to this i was a not one to pin . It made other quilters shudder when i told them that i usually wing it and not pin. I actually took the time for this one. hense the cursing. I was stabbed by pins . Poked and stabbed. My hands looked like there was crazed sugar testing being done on my hands.

Any way today i went on a field trip to a nearby town of Beaujejour. ( i probably spelt that wrong) for a quilt show. It was great the ladies there put on a really nice show. There was Challenge quilts, they were using Blues as the challenge fabric.
There was a number of absolutely gorgeous quilts. Doll quilts, miniature, wall quilts , bed quilts , and tree skirts. The bottom two quilts are made by Melissa M. They are her original works and I love the red and yellow one . Its called WILD THANG. In this piece she has couched yellow yarn in the vertical red strips and it just adds a zing. P.S. I have her permission to post a picture of her quilt. I had on of just the yellow but it was blurry so you get to see 2 of her works.

I had gone there not expecting to know any one and low and behold I ran into Ursula of Gimli fame. She was there with her daughter. While I visited a bit and went around the hall and church twice , she went off to go see another show in East St. Paul. I plan on going tomorrow.
thats it for now but i will add a new posting later tonight. Ciao

Friday, April 6, 2007

Flooding 2007

Spring time here on the praries mean well snow rain high temps and low temps. Last week we had wonder +9 degree weather everything soggy and it rained melting the snow even faster.


This past couple of days well Somebody opened the floodgates south of winnipeg and now we are flooded again. There is only one direct road from Selkirk to East Selkirk and now its flooded. And then it froze right back up flooded.

This is the road I would normally take to go to the grocery store. as you can tell I am having a bit of a problem with that.






The ice pack has buckled and broken for at least 4 miles and its all jammed up. Since that happened the tempertures have fallen freezing the slush around all those big chunks of ice and its not moving. With the road closed it is a 15 k trip around going south through lockport or north to the big bridge. From the big bridge it is all ice chunks all the way into Selkirk. Wednesday night my cousins Omma was evacuated from her condo because the bottom of her building filled up with river water. They built a dike system to protect these apartment from this happening they built them upt to the hieght of the 1997 flood thus ensuring that the flooding couldn't happen again...RRRRRRIIIIIIIIIGGGGGHHHHT.


The municipality also built the dikes up around the Selkirk Park and The Marine Museum. Now to me the Marine museum is special the boats that are housed there more than a few of my uncles and great uncles worked these boats when Selkirk was the home of Selkirk Fisheries. Long time ago I used to wait at the docks with my mother and grandparents and watch the boats come in waiting to see my uncle Snake Island Slim , its a bit of a colourful name but he is a bit of a characture and it suites him. I digress back to the museum.

There is a lighthouse there that my grampa ran for the government after he came back from WWII. This was on Black Bear Island. Their home was on a nearby island called Matheson Island ( Previously called Snake Island I don't know why they changed the name)



Any way this is the lighthouse that was my grampas and inside there is carved into the wood the names of my Uncle and my mom. I actually had my Wedding photos taken in front of the lighthouse and on the Kenora. Just keeping family history alive folks. Actually I will probably do some fundraising to help them out If anything is selvagable. It takes a lot of work and $ to keep this Museum open. I don't even think they recovered financially from the Flooding that happened in 1997





Any way I will put up a few more pics and then I am planning to work on something quilty. Maybe one of the swaps that I am now saying what am I doing signing up for this many in a 2 month period. 3.5 inch 9 patches. 10 per set. or may be the strip swap with 10 per set, or the row robin, or the monthly block swap, the row robin, or maybe work on the big orange egg or coneflower wall hangings. Or I could .......

Sunday, April 1, 2007

Blanket stitch Applique classes

This was a lonestar top that I had done for a raffle a few years ago I just found the disk that the picture was on. I did it for Lil ' Peguis Ceremony Grounds. Not the best of pictures I had to take the picture with it laying on the floor and me standing way back to get most of it in. Not my favorite just because I had paperpieced a round to get smaller diamonds in one row. But I was happy with the end result.










Well these two masterpieces are from my classes I took on the 31, and 1st. The one that looks like a big orange egg is actually the body of a fat cat. Unfortunately this was as far as I got before having to leave for the day . The class was done by Inez D. You Manitoba gals should know who that is. The class was Machine Blanketstitch Applique. Since I am a piecer this is all new to me. So like before I am moving out of my comfort zone to learn a new skill. Inez's work is fantastic. And she made it look so easy. cutting templates of freezer paper and ironing around the 1/4 seam , measuring and tacking in place. My only complaint was i didn't have enough time to do more . Meaning I have another WIP.
But before I could do any sewing I had to phone my husband to do me a small favor . Seems in the excitement of leaving for class I forgot a few things. My foot pedal and my power cord. Seems pretty important things to forget. And of course since I didn't know what pattern I was going to use I brought the patterns and fabric for 3 projects, in a small suite case. I had to bother people for pencils for marking the freezer paper. I brought my travel iron nice and hot but forgot my pad to iron on.
Todays class went a little smoother but someone ordered snow and it was a greasy slippery ride into the Peg to get to class. This one was fusible applique and thread painting. Its going to be coneflowers. So far I have attached the stems and leaves and starting the button hole applique stitch on the stems. Yes another WIP.
WIPS actively on the go 6, attentions span for myself to complete said WIPs 0. Plus I have 3 BOM that started in January , haven't touched them yet. . ... I need a sewing room to spread my projects out in. My DH is feeling a little crowded out by my quilting fabric and all the tubs and totes and my machines. Oh well maybe I won the 649 and I can have a magestic sewing palace of my dreams. Better go and check my numbers.