Two little patches of sunshine

Paintbox blocks

I got my last two yellow Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks completed.  Yesterday was a good day in my Quilt Studio (uppity term for my sewing room) as I got a customer’s quilt finished, my yellow blocks completed and a big chunk on another project done.

Today I will be spending the afternoon and evening at the Heritage Park Festival of Quilts in our lovely city of Calgary.  I’m looking forward to being inspired by all the beautiful quilts and tempted by fabrics in the Merchants Mall, then an evening dinner and talk by Joanne Middleton a local quilter.

Sunshine tidbit - On average, it takes energy between 10,000 and 170,000 years to leave the sun's interior and then be emitted from the surface as light – who knew?

A good laugh is sunshine in the house.

Double Wedding Ring Quilt

Double Wedding Ring Quilt

Today is my 25^th wedding anniversary, so I’m posting a picture of my Double Wedding Quilt which is also the background of my blog.

This is the first quilt I made after taking the beginning class at a local quilt shop (many years ago).  I decided to make a queen size quilt and got the top done promptly, originally I thought I might hand quilt it however after practicing on another quilt (for several years) I have realized hand quilting is not for me.  I eventually took it to Colleen Tessier – a local longarm quilter and she did a beautiful job quilting it, this was before I bought my APQS Millennium longarm quilting machine.

Close-up of quilting

The double-ring ceremony, or use of wedding rings for both partners, is a relatively recent innovation.  Originally worn by wives only, wedding rings became customary for both husbands and wives during the 20th century.

Chains do not hold a marriage together.  It is threads, hundreds of tiny threads which sew people together through the years.  ~Simone Signoret

Tuesday Tutorial – Special and credits

Longarm Special

 

Are you taking part in the Mile a Minute Tuesday Tutorial?

Have you read down to the end of Step 6?

I have offered a special on quilting so in case you haven’t read to the end of step 6, here is the special:

If you complete your Mile a Minute top and get it to me in May I will give you 50% off the longarm quilting price.  I will then reduce the discount by 10% each month until October (full price). 

Some details:

     For this special you can choose from one of my all-over pantograph designs. 

     Your backing fabric and batting must be 4 inches bigger or more on all four sides. 

     You can purchase batting from me if you like. 

Click on my name, then 'email' on the left to contact me.

Let’s get these lovely quilts finished and on your beds!

I also meant to post in the last step of my tutorial that my Mile a Minute instructions are based on and adapted from instructions that I received from Nan Williams.  Nan and I both taught at a former quilt store in Calgary and she has since moved to Germany where she now teaches quilting in metric as well as inches.

Joe's Quilt

Joe's Trip Around the World

Trip around the world style.   Across the top I quilted a saying about sleeping under the stars and hidden in the quilt is Joe’s dogs name as well as the year it was quilted.  On the bottom two corners I quilted ‘Pieced by Carolyn’ and ‘Quilted by Edith’.  This is the Shooting Star pantograph by Sue Schmieden.

Close-up of quilting

Dora snuggled in

 

 

A quilt will warm your body and comfort your soul. (and your dog)

Yellow rays of sunshine

Paintbox blocks

Yesterday I did a bunch of shopping and arrived home exhausted, so didn’t get as much sewing done as usual for a Friday night.  I did manage to sew these four Paintbox blocks so that I would have something for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  I wanted to do a couple more but sleep overcame me.  So they will be posted next Saturday, the last day for Yellow in the challenge.  Have a look at soscrappy to see what others are doing; be careful you might be inspired.

The existence of nearly all life on Earth is fueled by light from the sun. Most plants, use the energy of sunlight, combined with carbon dioxide and water, to produce simple sugars - a process known as photosynthesis.

Keep your face always toward the sunshine - and shadows will fall behind you. Walt Whitman