Sunday Summary: June 29

Well, this is ALMOST true!! I have no interest in having mice in my sewing space, nor a fox or a goat … but the rest is true!

You can read more about this quilt HERE. It was a fun mystery quilt to make. Thank you Joanne (from Canuck Quilter Designs) for the fabulous directions and great mystery!

Kate, from Life in Pieces, is hosting “Stitching Stuff” and the goal is to sew for at least 15 minutes a day. I use Kate’s guideline, but my personal goal is to sew for 30 minutes a day. On those “blah” days, it does motivate me to sit at my machine and 30 minutes often turns into several hours. Thank you Kate for the motivation!

  • January – April 150 / 151 days
  • June: 25 / 29 days
  • Total: 176 / 18097 %

Design Wall Mondays

Judy, at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts, hosts a linky party for “What’s on your Design Wall” every week.

Piecing projects:

  • I’m using a 2 1/2” stack of Island Batik’s “Splish Splash.” It’s a recently release collection. I love the seahorses, fish, bubbles … well, I just love the whole line of these fabrics. I’m using a pattern from The Fat Quarter Shop called “Jelly Roll Twist” and you can get the free pattern HERE.
  • Disappearing 9 patch using “ORANGE” and Island Batik’s solid grey for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.
  • I need to pull fabrics for “Bloomers

Quilting projects:

  • Swan. is sandwiched, needs quilting and binding

Donna at Quilt Paint Create hosts a weekly linky party where you can display your stash numbers. This has really kept my stash from growing (somewhat!) Before I buy anything, I am always mindful of the fact that I need to report it on my blog … That sometimes stops me in my tracks!

No shopping … I used 7 yards for the Canuck Mystery.

  • Fabric used in the last week: 7 yards
  • Fabric Used in 2025:     135.5 yards. {38.5 yards of non Island Batik fabric}
  • Fabric Added in the last week: 0 yards
  • Fabric Added this year:    17 yards 
  • Net Fabric used:              118 yards

Carol from Quilt Schmilt is hosting “To Do” every week.

To Do from the last week:

  1. Canuck Quilter Colour Value Mystery. Quilt it! √   DONE.
  2. Make the backing and Sandwich Swan. √   DONE.
  3. Work on Disappearing 9 patch: “ORANGE” Rainbow Scrap Challenge. √   DONE.
  4. Work on getting scraps for placemats completed … there are at least 6! XX NOT DONE XX
  5. Do NOT be distracted by any SQUIRRELS! I NEED this continual reminder! √   DONE. 
  6. Tidy & clean studio for 30 minutes. √   DONE. 

To Do for this week:

  1. Quilt & Bind Swan.
  2. Web Disappearing 9 patch: “ORANGE” Rainbow Scrap Challenge.
  3. Web Jelly Roll Twist
  4. Work on getting scraps for placemats completed … there are at least 6!
  5. Do NOT be distracted by any SQUIRRELS! I NEED this continual reminder! 
  6. Tidy & clean studio for 30 minutes.

This officially starts soon!!!

I have done several of Denise’s Sew Alongs and they are always AWESOME!!! I’m going to be doing this one!! Are you going to join me???? I promise, it’s a beauty!!

Don’t Forget

I am now a Silly Moon affiliate! So what does that mean? When you use my affiliate code Quiltinggail2024 at Silly Moon, you will receive 10% off your order and I will receive a small commission.

One who sleeps under a quilt is covered by LOVE!

Linking to:  

Canuck Quilter’s Mystery Quilt

This quilt is FINALLY done!!!

Joanne Kerton from Canuck Quilter Designs offered a mystery quilt this spring. I’m a sucker for mystery quilts and couldn’t resist doing it! She called it a “Colour Value Mystery” and offered 2 options: Modern or Traditional. I opted for the Traditional. I’ve done a few of Canuck Quilter’s Designs and they are always well written!

Here’s a few of the progress pictures: Fabric cut out, blocks ready to assemble and on the design wall prior to sandwiching.

And the Finished Quiilt:

Close up of the Quilting: A little free motion, but mostly ruler quilting.

Thanks Joanne for the fantastic mystery sew-along!

Quilt Stats:

I am now a Silly Moon affiliate! So what does that mean? When you use my affiliate code Quiltinggail2024 at Silly Moon, you will receive 10% off your order and I will receive a small commission.

One who sleeps under a quilt is covered by LOVE!

Linking to:  

Sunday Summary: June 22

Totally!! I struggle to do any housekeeping!

A Fun Photo

Last year, my sister and 2 cousins and I went to Lori’s Country Cottage for their longest day of the year sale. It was a lot of fun. We went for the 10 pm part of the sale, where everything was 40% off! Yup it was fun! One of the employees climbed up on a cutting table and took this picture. They posted it on their Facebook page to advertise this year’s sale. (I’m the one in the white at the front of the picture and my sister is towards the back of the line … my cousins had already left as they were finished shopping). Unfortunately, I wasn’t in Edmonton to go this year, but my sister went to on Friday night and got lots of goodies!

I often join in MMM Quilts sew alongs each spring. She always has interesting patterns and ways of doing something. This year did not disappoint! See THIS POST for details on my Glowing Hearts Quilt.

This used 13 fat quarters from “Bluebird” by Editya Sitar. There is Hobbs Batting 80/20 inside, Aurifil Thread #2600 (Dove Grey) and Schmetz Needles were used. The project was pressed with my Oliso Iron m3Pro. I used Silly Moon‘s “Cupid” for the quilting on my domestic machine!

Kate, from Life in Pieces, is hosting “Stitching Stuff” and the goal is to sew for at least 15 minutes a day. I use Kate’s guideline, but my personal goal is to sew for 30 minutes a day. On those “blah” days, it does motivate me to sit at my machine and 30 minutes often turns into several hours. Thank you Kate for the motivation!

  • January – April 150 / 151 days
  • June: 19 / 22 days
  • Total: 169 / 17397 %

Design Wall Mondays

Judy, at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts, hosts a linky party for “What’s on your Design Wall” every week.

Piecing projects:

  • I’m using a 2 1/2” stack of Island Batik’s “Splish Splash.” It’s a recently release collection. I love the seahorses, fish, bubbles … well, I just love the whole line of these fabrics. I’m using a pattern from The Fat Quarter Shop called “Jelly Roll Twist” and you can get the free pattern HERE.
  • Disappearing 9 patch using “ORANGE” and Island Batik’s solid grey for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.

Quilting projects:

  • Swan. needs sandwiching
  • Canuck Quilter Colour Value Mystery

Donna at Quilt Paint Create hosts a weekly linky party where you can display your stash numbers. This has really kept my stash from growing (somewhat!) Before I buy anything, I am always mindful of the fact that I need to report it on my blog … That sometimes stops me in my tracks!

No buying this week … although my sister was going to be going to a fabulous sale at Lori’s Country Cottage and planned to buy me some Island Batik fabric …

I used 13 fat quarters (3 1/4 yards) for the front of Glowing Hearts and 2 3/8 yards for the backing … So, I’ll say that I used 5 1/2 yards.

  • Fabric used in the last week: 5.5 yards
  • Fabric Used in 2025:     128.5 yards. {36 yards of non Island Batik fabric}
  • Fabric Added in the last week: 0 yards
  • Fabric Added this year:    17 yards 
  • Net Fabric used:              106 yards

Carol from Quilt Schmilt is hosting “To Do” every week.

To Do from the last week:

  1. Canuck Quilter Colour Value Mystery. Sandwich it and Quilt it! in progress
  2. Make the backing and Sandwich Swan. XX NOT DONE XX
  3. Plan something for “ORANGE” Rainbow Scrap Challenge. in progress
  4. Quilt MMM’s Glowing Heart √   DONE.
  5. Work on Island Batik’s August challenge √   DONE.
  6. Do NOT be distracted by any SQUIRRELS! I NEED this continual reminder! √   DONE. 
  7. Tidy & clean studio for 30 minutes. √   DONE. 

To Do for this week:

  1. Canuck Quilter Colour Value Mystery. Quilt it!
  2. Make the backing and Sandwich Swan.
  3. Work on Disappearing 9 patch: “ORANGE” Rainbow Scrap Challenge.
  4. Work on getting scraps for placemats completed … there are at least 6!
  5. Do NOT be distracted by any SQUIRRELS! I NEED this continual reminder! 
  6. Tidy & clean studio for 30 minutes.

I have done several of Denise’s Sew Alongs and they are always AWESOME!!! I’m going to be doing this one!! Are you going to join me???? I promise, it’s a beauty!!

Don’t Forget

I am now a Silly Moon affiliate! So what does that mean? When you use my affiliate code Quiltinggail2024 at Silly Moon, you will receive 10% off your order and I will receive a small commission.

One who sleeps under a quilt is covered by LOVE!

Linking to:  

Glowing Hearts

I joined Sandra Walker’s (MMM Quilts) Glowing Heart Quilt-a-long this spring. I originally was going to make a baby quilt, then I changed my mind and made it bigger. I used 7 fat quarters from a bundle of “Bluebird” by Editya Sitar for the hearts. 3 for the background of the hearts and 3 for the sashing. My intention was to alternate the ‘backgrounds’ with light and dark, but I wasn’t paying attention when I cut the darks and all of a sudden, I had enough for all the backgrounds. The light fabrics then became the sashing. The extra pieces were used for the scrappy binding!

To quilt this quilt, I used Silly Moon’s 4″ Cupid ruler. I started off in the middle, doing half hearts in a vertical row. It was OK … but once I got back to the top, I decided ‘enough of that!’ Then I filled out the sides of the quilt with random hearts. I did a heart, back-tracked on the ruler and started the next heart. In a few spots, I used the 3″ Cupid to fill in.

I’m joining in the Glowing Hearts Parade! There are already several quilts posted … it’s quite the variety and well worth going to check it out. HERE. Thank you Sandra for the easy paced, wonderful sew-along!

Quilt Stats:

I am now a Silly Moon affiliate! So what does that mean? When you use my affiliate code Quiltinggail2024 at Silly Moon, you will receive 10% off your order and I will receive a small commission.

One who sleeps under a quilt is covered by LOVE!

Linking to:  

Sunday Summary: June 15

It is. If you take any pattern and change the colours, it’ll be a totally different look. I’ve been known to add more blocks or rows for a larger quilt, or take away blocks or columns for a smaller quilt. However, whenever I do this, I always credit the original designer because the basis of the quilt is their idea, not mine.

An Island Batik Challenge completed

I made two Funky Friend squirrels. You can read about their adventures HERE.

see THIS POST for details on these placemats:

This used fabric from Island Batik‘s (Lumin Fabrics) Tinsel Treasures and Midnight Blue (a foundation that is available all the time. There is Hobbs Batting fusible inside, Aurifil Thread #2600 (Dove Grey) and Schmetz Needles were used. The project was pressed with my Oliso Iron m3Pro.

Kate, from Life in Pieces, is hosting “Stitching Stuff” and the goal is to sew for at least 15 minutes a day. I use Kate’s guideline, but my personal goal is to sew for 30 minutes a day. On those “blah” days, it does motivate me to sit at my machine and 30 minutes often turns into several hours. Thank you Kate for the motivation!

  • January – April 150 / 151 days
  • June: 12 / 15 days
  • Total: 162 / 16697 %

Design Wall Mondays

Judy, at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts, hosts a linky party for “What’s on your Design Wall” every week.

Piecing projects:

  • I’m using a 2 1/2” stack of Island Batik’s “Splish Splash.” It’s a recently release collection. I love the seahorses, fish, bubbles … well, I just love the whole line of these fabrics. I’m using a pattern from The Fat Quarter Shop called “Jelly Roll Twist” and you can get the free pattern HERE. And, as I said earlier, “A Pattern is only a suggestion.” I’ll be making it a little bigger … it’ll be 7 blocks by 7 blocks.

Quilting projects:

  • MMM’s Glowing Hearts
  • Swan. needs sandwiching
  • Canuck Quilter Colour Value Mystery

Donna at Quilt Paint Create hosts a weekly linky party where you can display your stash numbers. This has really kept my stash from growing (somewhat!) Before I buy anything, I am always mindful of the fact that I need to report it on my blog … That sometimes stops me in my tracks!

I did buy 2.5 yards of fabric at “The Chicken Coop” in Mundare, Alberta and 1 yard at Emmaline Bags in Spruce Grove, Alberta.

The placemats used 1 yard and the squirrels used 2.5 yards

  • Fabric used in the last week: 3.5 yards
  • Fabric Used in 2025:     123 yards. {30.5 yards of non Island Batik fabric}
  • Fabric Added in the last week: 3.5 yards
  • Fabric Added this year:    17 yards 
  • Net Fabric used:              106 yards

Carol from Quilt Schmilt is hosting “To Do” every week.

To Do from the last week:

  1. Canuck Quilter Colour Value Mystery. Sandwich it! XX NOT DONE XX
  2. Sandwich Swan XX NOT DONE XX
  3. Plan something for “Green” Rainbow Scrap Challenge. XX NOT DONE XX
  4. Get MMM’s Glowing Heart’s quilt to flimsy stage √   DONE
  5. Do NOT be distracted by any SQUIRRELS! I NEED this continual reminder! √   DONE. 
  6. Tidy & clean studio for 30 minutes. √   DONE. 

To Do for this week:

  1. Canuck Quilter Colour Value Mystery. Sandwich it and Quilt it!
  2. Make the backing and Sandwich Swan
  3. Plan something for “ORANGE” Rainbow Scrap Challenge. XX NOT DONE XX
  4. Quilt MMM’s Glowing Heart
  5. Work on Island Batik’s August challenge
  6. Do NOT be distracted by any SQUIRRELS! I NEED this continual reminder! 
  7. Tidy & clean studio for 30 minutes.

I have done several of Denise’s Sew Alongs and they are always AWESOME!!! I’m going to be doing this one!! Are you going to join me???? I promise, it’s a beauty!!

Don’t Forget

I am now a Silly Moon affiliate! So what does that mean? When you use my affiliate code Quiltinggail2024 at Silly Moon, you will receive 10% off your order and I will receive a small commission.

One who sleeps under a quilt is covered by LOVE!

Linking to:  

Using Left-overs and TGIFF

I love using Left-over pieces and blocks from quilts. And the sooner they can be used, the better. When I made one of the quilts using Tinsel Treasures for my May Island Batik challenge, I had a design change that left me with lots of the longer Irish Chain pieces.

Where all the white sashing is, I originally had pieces from Tinsel Treasures. But, oh my! It was WAY too busy and did not look good at all! I swapped them out and used Island Batik’s solid white instead. It was much better, giving the eye places to rest!

I put all of the longer pieces together and joined in lots of the smaller blocks to make these 2 place mats. I had the extra smaller blocks because I had miscounted. Yup, I do that often!

These placemats will be donated to the guild for Meals on Wheels at Christmas time.

They were pieced and quilted with Aurifil Thread #2600 (Dove Grey). I used Hobbs fusible batting in the middle.

Here’s the link for you to add your Finished project for this week!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter
https://fresh.inlinkz.com/js/widget/load.js?id=c0efdbe6b4add43dd7ef

I am now a Silly Moon affiliate! So what does that mean? When you use my affiliate code Quiltinggail2024 at Silly Moon, you will receive 10% off your order and I will receive a small commission.

One who sleeps under a quilt is covered by LOVE!

Funky Friends Factory

June is a fun month!! Pauline McArthur from Funky Friends Factory has partnered with Island Batik and each ambassador is to make a Funky Friend. We could choose from a LOT of Funky Friend patterns. I have made several Funky Friends in the past. This year, I chose to make Sue the Squirrel. Squirrels are famous in the quilting world … all the distractions of new projects are called ‘squirrels,’ This BLOG POST talks more about squirrels. I figured I needed a ‘real’ squirrel in my sewing area!

Sue the Squirrel is an Instant Download and you could start making yours today! See HERE.

Funky Friends patterns come with very clear directions. Sue the Squirrel also has a photo tutorial to help if you find the directions confusing! The link is in the pattern.

After I received the pattern from Funky Friends. I pressed my fabric with my Oliso M3Pro Iron (which I LOVE). and then started cutting. I decided to make 2 squirrels, a brown and a purple one.

  • Island Batik Fabrics Used:
    • Purple Squirrel:
      • Lavender (part of the Playful Purples – always available)
      • unknown purple from my scraps
    • Brown Squirrel:
      • Earthly Stories – (2) 10″ squares from a 10″ stack (a collection released this year).
      • Weave – Brownie (a blender – always available)

It is super important to mark all of the edges, so when the directions say, “Sew from F to G,” you don’t have to go back to the original pattern to figure out where F and G are. I use a Frixion pen and make sure that I mark only within the seam allowance. Normally I highly dislike Frixion pens because they can leave small white lines on the fabric. However, they are perfect to use in the seam allowance!

With a Schmetz Needle and Aurifil Thread in my machine, I started sewing. Here are some progress pictures: (the ears // arms // and the face with safety eyes already inserted)

Once they were made and stuffed, Sue (purple) and Sam (brown) agreed to a photo shoot. The first one is in the sewing room with their Simply Stuffing from Hobbs Batting. It’s wonderful and they said they really liked it! They wanted to go outside. They were really good until they decided to hide in the maple tree.

Then we went into the backyard and they posed really nicely with Daphne (our grand dog). Then they scampered away and were climbing the tree. Daphne told them “Get down!”

That was enough of their misbehaving! ** Until ** we went on a trip and they snuck into the truck! They were good travellers! But they really liked the window seats best!

Sue and Sam were really good at my sister’s and enjoyed Brûlée (a real cutie!), until they started to climb around!

We went shopping at Emmaline Bags in Spruce Grove and Sam and Sue very politely asked if they could sit in the Adirondack chairs in their Canadian display. The chairs were a perfect fit, but they were not for sale. Sam was a bit grumpy that he couldn’t take a chair home, but Sue told him that he would be better off sitting on the couch than sitting in a wooden chair!

As we headed home, they asked if they could have their picture taken at the Jasper sign. As soon as the picture was taken, they scampered off and ran up the trail towards the town. I did manage to catch up and caught a few pictures of the 2 of them …

Sam sat on a rock, enjoying the scenery while Sue sat on the bench.

And their final portrait …

Here’s a peek at my previous Funky Friend projects: Randy the Rhino, Alice Alpaca, Ella Elephant, Gregory Gorilla, and Taylor the Tiger.

Thank you to the generosity of Island Batik (Lumin Fabrics) and Industry partners! They have supplied the products for free as my role as an Island Batik Ambassador! Island Batik, Aurifil Thread, Hobbs Batting, Schmetz Needles, Oliso Iron, and Funky Friends.

Island Batik Ambassadors

Visit the other Island Batik Ambassadors to see the Funky Friends they made this month:

I am now a Silly Moon affiliate! So what does that mean? When you use my affiliate code Quiltinggail2024 at Silly Moon, you will receive 10% off your order and I will receive a small commission.

One who sleeps under a quilt is covered by LOVE!

Quilting for a Friend

This is the first time I’ve quilted a quilt for a friend. It has been an honour to quilt it. I typically refuse to quilt for my friends! I’m more than willing to help them learn to quilt … but I don’t want to quilt their quilts. However, Amy passed away last year. Her husband contacted me this spring, stating that she had started a quilt for their daughter. It’s a Jacqueline de Jonge quilt called “Catch Me.” I remember her showing us as she progressed along. I remember being amazed at the intricacy of the pattern and all the colours! Amy had quilted the flying geese and triangles around 2 of the stars. She had quilted in the ditch. That’s as far as she got. SIGH!!!

I knew I could quilt in the ditch … probably not with the skill that Amy had … but I could do it!! I brought the quilt home and it sat for a few weeks. I had a few ‘deadline’ quilts to finish. And to be honest, I was feeling a bit overwhelmed!

Although I wasn’t sure which threads Amy had used, a lady at Chitter Chatter Fabrics helped me select colours that had been used in the quilting. Part of the solution was easy as I knew that Amy loved using Glide thread.

Finally, I started! Using my domestic sewing machine: Janome M7 … First, I outlined all of the black areas by stitching in the ditch.

Then I started outlining all of the triangles and flying geese. But, I neglected to take any pictures. I started out by using Silly Moon’s “Rocket” ruler and then switched to “Charming” since it’s smaller, but still has the ‘guides’ for stitching in the ditch. For the ‘spokes’ of the stars, I used “Jelly.” All other areas were free motioned.

Here’s some pictures of the back of the quilt:

And close-ups of the front:

And the whole quilt:

The quilt has been given to Amy’s daughter, Danielle, and I received permission to post the quilt on my blog.

I am now a Silly Moon affiliate! So what does that mean? When you use my affiliate code Quiltinggail2024 at Silly Moon, you will receive 10% off your order and I will receive a small commission.

One who sleeps under a quilt is covered by LOVE!

Sunday Summary: June 1

Can we start our Christmas Wish List in June?

When I made the Irish chain blog hop quilts, see HERE. I had some left-over squares. I finished this little zipper pouch … I had some more left-overs, but haven’t finished that project yet. Here’s a picture of the front and back of the zipper pouch.

This used fabric from Island Batik‘s (Lumin Fabrics) Tinsel Treasures and Midnight Blue (a foundation that is available all the time. There is Hobbs Batting 80/20 inside, Aurifil Thread #2600 (Dove Grey) and Schmetz Needles were used. The project was pressed with my Oliso Iron m3Pro.

Kate, from Life in Pieces, is hosting “Stitching Stuff” and the goal is to sew for at least 15 minutes a day. I use Kate’s guideline, but my personal goal is to sew for 30 minutes a day. On those “blah” days, it does motivate me to sit at my machine and 30 minutes often turns into several hours. Thank you Kate for the motivation!

  • January – April 150 / 151 days
  • June: 1 / 1 days
  • Total: 151 / 15299 %

Design Wall Mondays

Judy, at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts, hosts a linky party for “What’s on your Design Wall” every week.

Piecing projects:

  • MMM’s Glowing Hearts I’m using a fat quarter bundle that I bought from Chitterchatter Fabrics called “Bluebird” by Editya Sitar. I used a total of 7 fat quarters for the hearts and 3 different fat quarters for the ‘darks.’ I’ll use a couple of the lighter fabrics for the sashing … and dark blue for the cornerstones.

Quilting projects:

  • Swan. needs sandwiching
  • Canuck Quilter Colour Value Mystery, needs sandwiching

Donna at Quilt Paint Create hosts a weekly linky party where you can display your stash numbers. This has really kept my stash from growing (somewhat!) Before I buy anything, I am always mindful of the fact that I need to report it on my blog … That sometimes stops me in my tracks!

The little zipper pouch used 0.5 yards

  • Fabric used in the last week: 0.5 yards
  • Fabric Used in 2025:     119.5 yards. {30 yards of non Island Batik fabric}
  • Fabric Added in the last week: 0 yards
  • Fabric Added this year:    13.5 yards 
  • Net Fabric used:              106 yards

Carol from Quilt Schmilt is hosting “To Do” every week.

To Do from the last week:

  1. Canuck Quilter Colour Value Mystery. Finish making the extra blocks to make the quilt bigger √   DONE
  2. Sandwich Swan. XX NOT DONE XX
  3. Plan something for “Green” Rainbow Scrap Challenge. XX NOT DONE XX
  4. Get MMM’s Glowing Heart’s quilt to flimsy stage. In progess
  5. Quilt Friend’s quilt √   DONE.  (I’ll show you if I get permission!)
  6. Do NOT be distracted by any SQUIRRELS! I NEED this continual reminder! √   DONE. 
  7. Tidy & clean studio for 30 minutes. √   DONE. 

To Do for this week:

  1. Canuck Quilter Colour Value Mystery. Sandwich it!
  2. Sandwich Swan
  3. Plan something for “Green” Rainbow Scrap Challenge.
  4. Get MMM’s Glowing Heart’s quilt to flimsy stage
  5. Do NOT be distracted by any SQUIRRELS! I NEED this continual reminder! 
  6. Tidy & clean studio for 30 minutes.

I have done several of Denise’s Sew Alongs and they are always AWESOME!!! I’m going to be doing this one!! Are you going to join me???? I promise, it’s a beauty!!

Don’t Forget

I am now a Silly Moon affiliate! So what does that mean? When you use my affiliate code Quiltinggail2024 at Silly Moon, you will receive 10% off your order and I will receive a small commission.

One who sleeps under a quilt is covered by LOVE!

Linking to: