March BOM done.

Yesterday I sat down and got my two remaining BOM done.  First up is the Buttermilk Basin March Mystery BOM.  If you want the pattern you can go and click here for the pattern.

Here is a closer look at my bee, some of my bullion knots are a bit slim for the queen, but I like how she looks on her hive.

 Here are the three block so far, January is the sheep, February the flower and March the beehive.  I'm really liking the direction Stacy West is going with these; thanks Stacy.

 The other one I'm working on is actually another Ornament called Snow Happy, but I'm doing it as a wool on cotton block.  You can find all the ornaments from Bunny Hill Designs if you click here.  I love the expression on his face, I chose the line mouth rather than the suggested French knots.  You can't see the eye on the sheep as I forgot to stitch it.  He is supposed to have a closed eye, so you just can't see it on the black!

 Here are the January angel, February friends with a heart and March with lamb blocks. Done before the end of the month Yeah!

I'm still working on my collaboration of the projects from the Buttermilk Basin Spring Thyme Blog hop into a single project.  Not yet finished, maybe for Easter.  Stay tuned.

Ornament of the Month...

I joined an online Wool Applique group and Trish Harriman is designing an Ornament of the Month for us.  If you aren't a member of the group you can order an ornament pattern or kit from her shop Attic Heirlooms.   She offers the pattern free for the current month so if you go to the link you can still get the March block.

Here is my interpretation of the January block.  Growing up we always had blue and green ornaments on the tree so that is going to be the background colour of all my ornaments. 

 February was this cute mitten one, Trish put 3 small rusted bells on her sample.

 February was a star, as you can see I've decided to add some snowflakes to each of the ornaments.  I also made the hangar about half height.

 Here are my first three ornaments.  Are they not too cute?

World Quilting Weekend, Sakura and Magnolia blossoms on a rainy weekend.

In East Vancouver there is a street that is amazing each Spring.  Unfortunately our Spring started as a rainy weekend although Saturday had some lovely sunshine.  Located just north of East 1st Avenue and Windermere Street is this lovely two block stretch of flowering Star Magnolia and Cherry trees.

Looking west under the Magnolias you can see the pink of the Cherry trees at the bottom of the hill.

 Across the intersection of Windermere you can see the cars parked under the Cherry Trees and one Magnolia on the right through my windshield.  It was raining and I didn't want to block traffic by getting out of the car to take pictures.

 Driving up the hill you can see how the trees have been peched to arch over the road.  They have been battered by the wind and rain over the weekend and are dropping their petals like pink snow.

These trees have been here for more than fifty years, I love the interesting shapes to their trunks and branches.

 Grey with a touch of blue sky beyond the shades of soft pink.

 Check out the size of that trunk and how the centre branches have been trimmed to shape the tree.

 A few blocks away an incredible pink Camellia tree.  There are several spectacular ones in this neighbourhood and a pink Magnolia behind it.

 Looking back down the street offers a different perspective of the trees.

 Just gorgeous and breath taking.  Cherry trees are planted in many neighbourhoods in the city.

 The blossom are huge!

 Saturday to celebrate World Quilting Day I decided to start a new wool project.  I used a piece of Osnaburg cotton as a template.  I traced the edge of my design and then 3/4" in a second line to show an edge of what is going to be made.

 I interviewed several turquoise wool fabrics including a plaid but decided on this softer mottled one and a strip of green plaid.  I basted the fabrics onto my base and then stitched the ink lines to give me areas to work within.

 My first piece of stitching was using a variegated shades of green to join the green to the turquoise wool

I've added some motifs to the project but you will have to wait and see what comes...what is your guess?

Happy First Day of Spring and Happy Birthday Dad

Today is the anniversary of my dad's birthday so thoughts are about him today.  My spring wreath hanging on the front door that I made several years ago.

 Birthday tulip quilt designed by my friend Ethel Snow and made by her and two other friends Tricia Brown and Linda Rothe.

 Spring Block swap made with Debbie Matthews, Shona Kelly, Tricia Brown, Ethel Snow and myself in order of the rows made.

 New Spring wool fabrics arrived today, Brights on the left and Sparkles on the right with larger cuts of sky blue and midnight blue.

 A bit closer look at my Spring treat to myself from Dorr Mills.  Love those Brights and those Sparkles!

A picture from last week looking out at our pond in the courtyard.

Stitching some Freebies!

I have several blogs I visit on a regular basis and one of these is Wollensails. She has a lovely design aesthetic and is a very sharing person. Several weeks ago she shared a lovely needle punch design as a Monday Freebie; click here to go to it. 

 

As you can see I decided to do mine in wool.  Not sure what it will be in the end but I'm pleased with how it turned out in wool.  Here is a closer look.

I also collected most of the patterns from Buttermilk Basin's Spring Thyme blog hop. Today is the release of her latest Mystery BOM; I just printed if off to add to my to do list.

This design was offered by Quilts by Cheri; Here is the link to the project.  I chose to add stems to my leaves and use a smaller button on mine.

This next bunny was also part of the Spring Time Blog Hop and is from Jeni's blog from the Willow. Here is the link for her pattern.  Once again I went a bit brighter with my colours.  I'm not sure if I'm going to add the grass fringed border when I finish mine off.

There are several stitchery and other wool projects that were featured but as we are winding down Winter and enjoying Early Spring blossoms I thought I would share what I stitched over the weekend.  And to finish off this post my favourite picture so far taken on February 18th..an early bee enjoying some pollen gathering time.

Early Spring Flowers.

Gorgeous orange tulip in Rita's garden yesterday.



Mini yellow iris also in her garden.


Tulips in bloom along the quay.


Forget me note.


Pretty blossoms below the roses.


Daffodils with Forget me nots amongst them.


View of a weeping Cherry tree in my condo courtyard beside the pond.


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Designing and photographing a BOM..

My friend Rita is the BOM coordinator for our guild. She has been working on a theme of nine patches and for the April block she wanted raindrops but was having problems coming up with a concept so I came up with an idea for her.

We decided that three raindrops would be used with six background fabrics.

I went home and started to play with fabrics and with the layouts on a black flannel board that I covered as a portable design board.

I wanted to point out a couple of things I've found about taking photos with and without flash.

First note that two of the raindrops were not fully trimmed on the left upper side so the white fabric looks darker. Having a dark background shows off the white and white design nicely.








This is how I decided to have my final block layout be.


Here is the same block photographed on Rita's white design wall. You don't see the white design as well.


On the same design wall, almost the same place Rita's block...my flash didn't fire hence the different tone to the picture as the natural light changed it.


A second picture is even darker as I changed the framing.


Here are both blocks in one shot with the flash on.


Now I had some fun and cropped out the design wall grid and the same photo looks different again.


My point is, consider the lighting..natural verses artificial verses flash. What you are photographing the fabric against. Finally how you frame your photo.

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Planning a new project.

Any suggestions for binding?


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