Weekend Part II

I think I have recovered from my exciting weekend.

Time to post about the Creativ Festival.

We all met up at the Oshawa Go Train station to begin our adventure. I went into the station to buy the tickets only to read a sign that said 8:41 Go Train to Union Station cancelled. GULP. What do you mean it is cancelled...this can't be. How will we get there?? A very nice lady infront of me in the ticket line explained they were going to bus us into Union Station. Phew!! OK, the panic started to subside and my breathing went back to normal..lol. So we all boarded a bus and away we went. We got downtown Toronto only 6 minutes later than if we had been on the train. So after a pit stop at Union Station we treked over to the Metro Convention Centre.

The show was great....and I bought way too much material.




Fun was had by all and 5 very tired people made the trek home to Oshawa. I know my Aunt enjoyed it because on the way home she wanted to know when the Spring show was. So I think we have another person addicted to going to the show. The Spring show is better than the fall one and it is in Mississauga. One good thing about that is that we have to drive to it, so that means you can go out to the car and drop off heavy bags full of fabric. :-)

What a weekend!

This weekend my aunt and cousin came down for a visit and to go to the Creativ Festival. What a whirl wind weekend. I sure hope they had fun, I know I sure did.

Saturday afternoon my mom called to say my aunt and cousin had arrived, so I went over to my mom and dad's house.

After all the hello's and hugs had been exchanged. My aunt asked "Do you want to see your finished round robin quilt top?" YES!!! I do!! So into the kitchen we went.

There was my quilt top on the kitchen table covering a rather large object.

My quilt top is wonderful...I love it.


Aunt Doe


So after looking at my quilt I take it off the table.



And lo and behold what do I see but....






a NEW SEWING MACHINE.



This is my Christmas present ( I got it early...lol) I am so excited. I haven't really had a chance to play with it yet.

Saturday night my cousin gave me some lessons on how to use it, and what all the presser foots are for. (Thank you A!!) I tried to do a little bit of free motion stippling on a test quilt sandwich. It was fantastic. Now, I don't think for a second that I'm instantly a brilliant quilter but boy oh boy it is so much easier on my new machine. I found I was struggling with my old machine when I stippled but on the new one it is much much easier. I still love my old machine and will still use it...but the new one is like Mercedes.

Now I have no excuses not to finish Corky's quilt my red/white/black quilt and many other projects I want to do.

Sunday we went to the creativ festival. I'll post about that in a couple of days. Lets just say I single handedly spurred on the Canadian economy with all my fabric purchases.

I am pretty sure that I can now make a quilt for every single person I have ever known. And you want to know the really sad thing....I was thinking tonight coming home from work on the GO Train that I need to go and buy some Muslin to make my lable and to make more quilt test sandwiches.

Is there a 12 step program for people who can't stop buying fabric?? LOL.

Thank you Aunt Doe and A I had the best weekend I have had in a long time. I sure hope you are able to come down in the spring for spring show. (it is even better than the fall one)Hmmmm....I wonder if I'll need to buy more fabric by then.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving
Originally uploaded by twinsline7

Love this picture.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!

I hope you have many reasons to be thankful. I know I do!!

Quilting Newbie

Finally done!!

I have finished my final border for the round robin I'm participating in...woo hoo.

Here is a close up picture of the corner.





And a full picture.




Not bad for a newbie...lol.

I hope my aunt will like it. My aunt and cousin are coming down next weekend for the semi annual Creativ Festival

I go to the festival every year (twice a year actually) with 32point5. This will be the first time my aunt and cousin have come down for the show. I'm so excited for them to come with us. I'm sure my aunt will absolutley love the show and hopefully make it an annual trip.

I have my list of "wants" already for the festival. One thing I want to stock up on is Christmas fabric and some Amy Butler fabric.

8 days until the show...woo hoo.

I also got more done on Corky's quilt today. I sewed the backing fabric together and sandwiched the quilt together and basted it with basting pins. Then I trimmed it all up. After I finish my blog post I'm going to go and see if I can find some clip art pictures of dog bones (I'm sure I could free hand one...but might as well look for some clip-art) and a fire hydrant or a dog house...I thouht those might be cute pictures to use as a quilting outline on some of the squares or on the borders.

To my Canadian readers I wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving on Monday. I will be celebrating Thanksgiving on Sunday with my mom and dad and my dad's brother and his wife. My aunt and uncle just got home from a three week trip to China, so I'm looking forward to hearing about their trip.

Final Round Robin Border

I decided to take a brake from Corky's quilt and work on the last border I have to do for the round robin.



These are the corner blocks that I completed today. I have to say I am so proud of myself. I just think they are wonderful. These are as close to perfect that I am ever going to be able to do. My squares match up perfectly. (perfect for me)

I am all excited now to finish this border off. The quilt top I'm working on right now is my aunts and I want to do a really good job on hers. (I wanted to do a good job on everyone's but my aunt's is special...she is the person that got me hooked on quilting.) For years she told me that I would be able to quilt, and then one day I decided to try it and you know what?? She was right. Practice really does make perfect...the more you quilt the better you get. I wonder if that is true about free-motion quilting...lol. Because, let me tell you, I am brutal at that...lol.

Ta Dah!!!

Here is a picture of the quilt top that I'm working on for SM




Hmm....I guess I should have ironed it before I took the picture...lol.
I'm in the home stretch now. There is not much left to do...sandwich the quilt, quilt it and bind it. HMMMMMMMMMMMMM...ok, so maybe there is a bit more work left to do on it...but the end is in site. My hope is to finish it this weekend because I really have to start working on the border I have to do for the round robin. I have all the fabric cut out for that....so it should go pretty fast.

Does anyone out there have a favourite marking pencil or tool. I've used those pens that disappear on there own after a few minutes (more like a few seconds...I mark the quilt and then run like a crazy woman back to the sewing machine and hope to god the marking is still there so I can sew the line I need), I've tried the soapstone(?) marking tool, didn't care for that at all....it didn't even show on the fabric, I've tried the chalk pencils as well(you know the ones that the chalk kind of comes out on a little wheel), that didn't work very well either. Now, please don't all gasp at once...but on occasion I have been forced to use a real pen just so I could see the mark and sew properly. (now, I used it on very dark fabric) I know I have committed a terrible sin, but until someone can invent a darn fabric marking tool that doesn't disappear instantly or worse stays permanently, then my quilting friends, I may once again be forced to use the dreaded BIC pen.