A great find at Ikea

 Most of Ikea's fabrics are thick, drapery/upholstery grade.  I found some thinner fabrics on sale for TWO dollars per meter....100% cotton, 150cm wide.   I thought these would be awesome backing fabrics for some bright modern quilts.  

This one is the same quality but it screamed summer picnic quilt to me -   If you look closely there are fruits, veggies, lobsters.... so sweet!   I can imagine pairing this backing up with Pat Sloan's line of Eat Your Fruit and Veggies. 

2.00 a meter....can't go wrong!

Craftsy Class

No...not ME!  LOL  

 I'm giving a shout out to my friend Cheryl Arkison who has just announced she is now part of the Craftsy.com instructors and has a great class to offer.   How cool is that?  I know a Craftsy celebrity! And I've eaten at her house!   

Go check her out!   

Oh yes...and this quilt here?   The one that is a sample feature of her craftsy class?  

It's been quilted by MOI!!

Aviary Quilt

Awhile back, a coworker of my husband got wind that I am a quilter.   She was looking for someone to make her a quilt like this one that she saw on danimiller.com except for her KING sized bed.   I was up for the challenge.   I got her to purchase the fabric and I did the rest.  

Even though it is a simple pattern, working in such a large size is tricky...trying to keep it all squared up,  etc.  

backing...

I quilted it in my favourite style -  the watery meander.  Thank heavens for my longarm quilting machine...this was a breeze to quilt.

Fabric:  Joel Dewberry  Aviary 2

Quilt measurement:  100 x 88 (after shrinking...another post for another day...sigh)  

Next up,  putting together a new quilt...

Quilting Malpractice #267

The Seam Ripper.

Yesterday, my seam ripper went missing.  My beloved 29 year old seam ripper.  Yes, you read that correct.  The one that I stole borrowed in junior high home ec class.  I loved it.   When I couldn't find it anywhere in my studio, I kind of panicked.   Loss of family feeling or something.  I couldn't continue my quilting,  I was at a standstill.  This is where the malpractice comes in....

#1 - always have a backup seam ripper.

#2 - antique seam rippers are for display only, not for daily use

 I decided I needed to buy not one,  but two new seam rippers.   My husband told me that he was shocked...and proud of me to be spending money on a redundant item.  (two of the same thing?)

I bought these two seam rippers...the white one was 5.00 and the blue fancy one was 12.00.   The cheaper one is by far my favourite,  there are just little nuances that feel right, and it just hooks the stitch a little easier.   The blue one has an eraser type end to it to rub the stitch threads away.  It's okay...and will be a good backup.   

Well, both will be good backups, because LOOK WHAT I FOUND after I drove 30km to my nearest quilt shop!!!???

 Naughty dog.   He won't chew anything up, but he will come up and show me what he found - and he dangles it from his lips....

Back to work!

Here are some photos from our recent weekend drive down to Montana....we took the 'Cowboy Trail' from Alberta through the Rockies, and then down to Whitefish, Montana.  Stunning stunning scenery: