Red and White Quilt Challenge a Big Success

Well, the voters voted and  the winner of the Red and White Quilt Challenge at The Cloth Castle in Category 1 is.....

Miriam was the winner and this is no surprise.  She has been working on this 1930's style paper pieced quilt for a year and what a great job she did.   This gal hasn't been quilting for very long and this is her second first place win, she kicked butt at last years challenge too sew look out folks she keeps raising that bar.  Here are a few close ups of some of her blocks, I think she could teach a class on paper piecing, another sideline job for you Rogue, just saying.

Doesn't this make you red with envy, somehow my Farmer's Wife Sampler Blocks look so insignificant compared to this piecing.  And to add to her talent she also machine quilted this project all by herself, Booyah I say!  There were second and third place winners in the two categories so watch for the ribbons as I add a picture of all the quilts at the challenge.

Oh look, here is my quilt and though it wasn't a winner I still like my Churn Dashes

This quilt was the Viewer's Choice.

Here is another picture of Miriam's winning quilt with the paper pieced border, far too much work for this old dog!

Hopefully I didn't miss any and now don't forget there will be another Quilt Challenge next year and it will be tah dah ....Dresden Plate.  Be still my heart, I already have a Dresden Quilt top pieced but you know how that will end, I'll still be putting on the binding a week before the challenge!  Such is a quilter's life.  Off I go as my third batch of company arrives on Friday and I need to clean out the fridge, dust, do laundry, vacuum oh ya that's not until Friday so I can do all that Thursday night  because I have some quilting to do right!  Happy Dance!

Hubby's In Big Trouble

I thought when I said don't close my "stuff " on the computer hubby would understand the meaning of that statement but apparently not.  So after he was done on Facebook he closed "everything" off and happily left.  Myself not so happy, especially when I found out he with the strike of a key erased an hour of blog posting.  So I will once again try to getter done as it has been a month of travelling, family fun and more visitors.  I had titled the earlier post Happiness is - but of course thanks to you know who the title was changed.

Here are a few photos from  a class I took earlier at Cloth Castle, this bag can be used for make-up or for sewing supplies as the Rogue Quilter did with hers (closer inspection of her bag will reveal pink hearse fabric).  Natasha, the gal standing was our instructor for the class.

Diane with her nose to the grindstone.  She was very serious that day which is very unlike her, :) 

Not allowed to take a picture of Janice so this is the most she would give me.  Ok bird lady maybe next time you can show you eyes.

Miriam and myself with our finished project-yes you heard it right, a finish!  See she already has her filled.  Mine will go to my daughter-in-law Teri for Christmas as she appreciates anything handmade.

I had a great visit with my family back in Saskatchewan a week ago and after my return I've been busy with out of province company.  My niece is here now, just a couple of days after my brother and his wife left.  She is off to  see the RBC Museum today so I will try to make some headway in my sewing room.  After dinner we are taking her to Butchart Gardens and staying until dusk so she can enjoy the gardens lite up at night, spectacular!  But before that I want to show you some of the fun I had back in Saskatchewan swimming with the fishes aka Maddy and Boo.

Pancake breakfast hot off the BBQ, OMG you haven't lived until you had this breakfast!

Grandma on towel detail.

Nachos off the BBQ, yes another delicious meal, though I'm not a beer drinker the weather was the perfect temperature for a cool one if you are so inclined.

Boo celebrated her 6th Birthday while I was visiting and what a celebration. The birthday girl requested a pancake breakfast, notice the candle and balloons.  Her Mom, Teri knows how to make her girls feel very special indeed.

This was at the foot of my bed when Boo came down the morning of her birthday, a tea set that belonged to Papa when he was little (I guess they did those things in his day).  Anyways I set it up the night before so that she could see it when she came down in the morning.  We had many a tea party while I was there.

The birthday girl all dressed for her big day.

A Barbie cake that Mommy made the night before and what a great job she did!

We also did some apple picking in their backyard and what a bucket load of apples!

Hanging like grapes but eventually they were turned into apple butter, apple crisp and a yummy chunky apple sauce for the cold winter months.

Brooke enjoying a biscuit she helped me make, she loves to help in the kitchen and she was a big help on our apple day!

Maddy has a creative soul, just like her Gramm and she can be found cutting, gluing, coloring, etc. This is an outfit she created from tulle and dedicated it to Papa because he couldn't be there for this visit.  Her tiara was from Alcan foil, I told you she was a creative genius! I just loved it, a girl after my own heart!

I finished the 10th anniversary quilt and it is now on their bed and I couldn't be more pleased with the end result.

When I was putting on the binding of this quilt while I was there I received  a call from a BBF who has the quilting disease, which we contracted at the same time.  She wanted to know if I would like to tag along to a quilt shop, Extraordinary Extras with her where she had to pick up two quilts that they had machine quilted.  Not having to be asked twice I was off like a shot and here we are after a couple of hours in the shop.  Notice how little my package is, yes I was a good girl!

Time to grab a cuppa Joe and head off to my "Happy Place" and my hope is that everyone has that same luxury today!  

Hand Delivered my Giveaway to the Winner

So, how often is one able to hand deliver a giveaway from one's blog to the winner.  The 17th comment  on my giveaway was Doreen from Mill Bay who lives less than an hour from where I live in Victoria so I decided to hand deliver her win.  So that is exactly what I did yesterday morning, my hubby and I headed out to the Tim Horton's near Mill Bay and we met up with Doreen for a cuppa Timmies and had a great visit while she opened her win.  I initially met Doreen at the Cloth Castle quilt club two or three years ago so when my Mom chose that number (my Random Number Generator) I knew exactly who the winner was.

It was a delight to get to know more about Doreen and can't wait to see her again at Club in September.  Yes Doreen, I expect to see your black and gold quilt with or without the binding for show and share this Fall, wink, wink!

Speaking of blog giveaways I received my win from Fabric N Quilts http://fabricsnquilts.blogspot.ca/2012/07/fresh-cut-july-snap-sack-giveaway.html in the mail yesterday so what a great day it was.  This is the kit I won and hope to make it up real soon.  I think my Mom would just love this after all she wouldn't ever have to water them and they will always be in bloom for her, yep that's exactly where I will hang it when I've quilted it.

Well, I'm off to get a manicure and pedicure to which I ever rarely do in fact the last time I got a manicure was when my son go married 10 years ago and that's exactly how awful my nails look so there is more hope for my pedicure but wish me luck!  Have a quilty day.

Winner of my 100th post giveaway

Winner of my giveaway whose number was picked by my Mom is - Anonymous aka Doreen from Mill Bay!  Congratulations Doreen on winning the giveaway so happy for you!  

Smores

Smores aplenty and not one burnt Marshmallow!

Isn't this just the cutest fabric and so appropriate for this time of year too, can't believe my luck in scoring the Smore!  I decided it was time to wander downtown Victoria yesterday and found this fabric at Gala fabrics and on sale for only $6.00 so I decided one meter would make up a couple of pillowcases for Maddy and Boo.  I'm going to spend a couple of weeks with them at the end of this month and always like to bring something I've made for them that they can use and this will be just perfect for the camper.

So last night I sewed up a pillowcase using this tutorial on You Tube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrYWCma9wgM by Missouri Quilt Co and it went together really quick!  Will finish the second one today, honest!   I also picked up a couple of meters of goodness from Satin Moon Quilt shop and think I will have to keep tabs on the coordinating fabric there and add it to my stash when coin permits.

I have been waiting for a book to come through the mail and it finally arrived and so now I can let you in on my latest giveaway.  My 100th post has come and gone but I will call it the celebration of that newest milestone and here is what my giveaway includes:

The book is by Susan Cleveland, Precision and Panache and she helped out with postage so I could do this giveaway so many thanks Susan!  Go to her website and check out what she has to offer.  

http://www.piecesbewithyou.com/ you'll not be disappointed.  I have her Prairie Pointer tool and find it so easy to use and discovered it after watching her on The Quilt Show and Quilting Celebrations with Patrick Lose.  She provides so many great ideas in this book and the pictures of her own projects provide a great jumping off point for your own. 

 Also included is a charm pack Puttin' on the Ritz

One of my favourite notions True Grip

Incredible Tape which I use to wrap around my Embroidery Thread to keep it under control

A Bobbin Tower which is a very useful notion to keep your bobbins in order :) !

A panel of quilt labels 

So if you would like a chance to win my giveaway just make a comment on this post about what is your favourite dessert by midnight on the 20 of July and I'll have my Mom pick a number from the entries (she's my random number generator).  Please make sure I have a way to contact you because I would be sad to have someone miss out on this giveaway because I couldn't contact you!  I can't wait to hear from you my readers and good luck in my giveaway!

Happy Canada Day-Let the festivities begin!

My Dresden's are now sewn together and I just have to decide on the sashing so this will be my day today.  

So while I'm playing in my sewing room today I won't be far from my computer with my Skype on because my oldest Grand daughter, Maddie has her last day of school today and she will be receiving an award for leadership.  She doesn't know she is being given this award so what an awesome surprise for one so young.  I'm so pleased that you can't wipe the smile off my face and yes, I have shed a tear or two.  Gramm is pretty proud and just as proud for her sister Brooke who was done Kindergarten yesterday and her report card was as her Mom said "FANTASTIC"!  Life is good!   Have a Quilty day!