Saturday, December 26, 2009

It's a Hockey Christmas!!


Well here you go ... for anyone who has been following the progress of the making of the NHL quilt, here's the final result.
I used the actual black and white NHL logo for the background design and have arranged the rest in order that they joined the league, with the Original Six at the top.
I was quite amused that my Canucks ended up smack-dab in the middle! People will probably think I made it that way on purpose but it's honestly just the way it worked out.
I outline quilted each logo to make them stand out, and in the background there are orcas outlined in between them all. The final result is about 50" wide, 56" high and hangs on the wall in the office.


About a week ago, I won (again) on a call-in radio contest! They had told me at the time that I won a signed picture of Ryan Kesler and a $25 gift card. No details, just that and where to pick them up. The other day I went out to the mall to get my prizes and I was blown away by what I actually won.
The Kesler picture is an 8x10" picture in a lovely mat/frame with a certificate of authenticity on the back, valued at $150!
I don't get out to that mall very often so I used my gift card while I was there. They happened to be having a "buy one thing, get anything else at 50% off" sale so I got a long sleeved (kid's size XL) t-shirt regularly priced $35 for $20, and a $9 shot glass for half price ... total value of my prize: $194.00!!


For my main Christmas gift this year, I was pleased to receive a Team Canada Olympic Jersey with Luongo #1 on it. I figure I'll get him to sign it next fall at training camp when I go to take more pictures.
Now that I have my Kes picture in my Canucks collection I'm thinking I should get some of the other pictures I have of the guys printed off and have them sign them at training camp too. Then I can frame them myself and hang them in the hallway here ... my very own "Coach's Corner"!!

Monday, December 14, 2009

Christmas is a-comin'

It's hard to believe we're halfway through December already! I had been hoping to get my 'away' Christmas packages mailed well before now, but I've been sick since late November so they'll just have to wait until I can get out ... hopefully next week I'll feel up to it. It's a good thing I have such an understanding family.

I had heard on the news the other day about all the snow storms back east and in some of the States, my sister in Iowa was in the middle of a blizzard. We still had green grass so of course I had to send her a picture to rub it in. Shouldn't have rubbed quite so early because now they're predicting a big storm for us. It started snowing this afternoon around 4:30, supposed to turn into quite a mess by tomorrow. Normally we don't get very much snow, even when they predict a "storm" so we'll see how this one turns out. Regardless I won't want to be out driving anywhere ... the people out there are morons when it comes to slippery roads. We get the slightest bit of anything on the road and they all go bananas -- accidents all over the place, transit pretty much shuts down, traffic at a standstill, it's crazy.

While I've been feeling crappy it has given me the time to get a lot of quilted things finished up that I might not have had time for otherwise. I decided this year to make myself a new Christmas stocking, Canuck style of course. I made an orca pattern for one side, rink for the other, hand appliquéd them on and added some glitter to some areas. I quilted stars in the background and used a starry print for the cuff. Turned out pretty good. I've been hinting around the house all weekend that once it's finished it means Santa has to fill it with chocolate for Christmas. I won't get my hopes up, but you never know, Santa might get me a Toblerone or something.

I also finished an orange quilt for my favorite little man, can't post a picture of that until after Christmas though. Got all my Christmas quilting and knitting done ... a lot of yarn leftover, maybe I'll make myself a hat.








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Tuesday, November 24, 2009

New shoes!!!

I've been on the lookout for some gumboots for a year or so now, haven't been able to find any that I really like. I look in every shoe store I pass every time I go out ... well, except the fancy-schmancy hoity-toity ones, because there's no way on this earth that I'll pay a fortune for a pair of rubber boots. I'm figuring I'll probably end up getting a pair down at the Army & Navy store next time I'm downtown, they have a huge selection and decent prices, but until then I'm still looking around.

Today Gord had to go to the bank, so out we went, and as he is well accustomed to now when he goes out walking with me, we of course didn't just go to the bank. We checked out the prices at all the local dry cleaners (he has a smelly old wool jacket that needs cleaning), then Starbucks, window shopping, and ended with London Drugs. In the midst of the window shopping though, we went to Payless Shoe Store to see if they had any boots I liked.

On the way in I noticed their "buy 1 pair, get a pair ½ off" sign ... my favorite 4-letter word: SALE. So I looked at all their crappy boots, all too fluffy/teenyboppery/nonpractical/overpriced, then I noticed the clearance stuff on the bottom shelf. No boots, mind you, but I'm also looking for sneakers, as mine are starting to get old and worn out.

And then I saw them ... the niftiest ones I've seen since I got my neon pink sneakers. The grey ones with blue plaid were so cool - tried them on and they fit perfectly, regular $38 for only $13. To get in on the ½ price sale I looked for another pair I liked, since I will need another pair eventually, and found the brown ones ... really comfy and also very cool looking - regular $40 for $15.
So I got the grey ones at half, ended up paying $24 for both of them together, less than one of them would have been at regular price!!

My cool neon pink ones are no-name from Urban Planet, and they were $14 ... these were a better deal than that and they're Airwalks and Champion brands, so even better.
I do love a great deal!

Saturday, October 31, 2009

Fall and Christmas Quilting

Well, fall is here in full force and it's been pretty busy so far. I'm still making those Christmas things for my nieces and nephews, I'm about half finished them now. I decided to go a different route for the older ones, involving no less work but more appropriate for their ages. Hopefully they'll like it.

My guild had our quilt show the weekend of the 16th. I entered my Canucks quilt and my most recent Quilt of Valour, with some QoV brochures. I hadn't thought at the time that very many brochures were taken, but I have gotten some emails and phone calls since then from people who saw the quilt and did pick one up and want to get involved with Quilts of Valour - so I guess they did the trick!

I had quite a bit of interest in my Canucks quilt too, which of course tickled me to no end. I haven't hung that one back up in the house here yet ... have to get a good rod to hang it on. I didn't really have it hung properly before, since I knew I'd be taking it down to get more signatures and for the show, but now it's probably as signed as it's going to get so it's time to hang it up better.

I'm still hypothetically working on another quilt, of which I will say no more for now.

Also working on one for Jay for Christmas. The kid likes orange and if he could have his way, his whole room would be painted orange, so I'm making him an orange quilt. Well, mostly orange. It's got blue too, those two colours go very well together and his room is actually painted blue. I figure I'm over half done quilting it now. I probably won't post a picture until after Christmas, just in case he takes a look here. Unlikely, but possible, so I'll be careful anyhow.




Thursday, October 8, 2009

Hypothetically, the logos are done!

For the past year or so, ever since I finished my Canucks quilt, I've been working on another hockey quilt. This one with all of the NHL team logos on it. It was supposed to be a secret, supposed to be for Christmas this year, but then he found out that I was making it, so we call it the "hypothetical quilt". He has seen me working on each logo as I go along, and I finally finished the last one today. I saved the hardest (Florida) for last and I'm really glad I did ... I learned a LOT as I went along. Although he's seen all the logos individually, this is the last he'll see of them until the hypothetical finished product is hypothetically done :)

Here are photos of all of them, placed next to the picture I used as a guide to make them all. Keep in mind that I had NO patterns for this. They're all made from the pictures, all made totally by hand. Also, some will need a little extra work, or tweaking, once they get applied to the actual hypothetical quilt.




Anaheim Ducks









Atlanta Thrashers









Boston Bruins








Buffalo Sabres








Calgary Flames










Carolina Hurricanes








Chicago Blackhawks









Colorado Avalanche








Columbus Blue Jackets







Dallas Stars







Detroit Red Wings








Edmonton Oilers










Florida Panthers









L.A. Kings








Minnesota Wild








Montreal Canadiens








Nashville Predators








New Jersey Devils









New York Islanders








New York Rangers









Ottawa Senators








Philadelphia Flyers









Phoenix Coyotes











Pittsburg Penguins








San José Sharks









St. Louis Blues









Tampa Bay Lightning










Toronto Maple Leafs












Vancouver Canucks









Washington Capitals

Sunday, September 27, 2009

around and around we go

I'm finally on the border of the QoV, got a picture taken of it (unfinished) and sent off with the registration form to enter it in the quilt show next month. Also got 100 QoV brochures printed off and have been folding them into thirds for people to pick up at the quilt show. I'm hoping every one of the brochures gets picked up and people get interested and want more information so we have a bazillion new quilts coming in for our soldiers .... we'll see!

I've been pondering for 5 years now what to hang above the fireplace. Ideally, I'd like a huge metal star, but those aren't exactly just hanging around all over the place, so I've been trying to come up with a good quilt to hang up there. Not just any quilt, I want something really nifty, eye-catching, and different.

I got this really great batik on one of my fabric runs to the states. It's a medium blue, really cool, I couldn't resist it but had no real plans of what I was going to do with it. Lately I've seen a few different variations of flying geese quilts that got my interest and decided to do something with that. Now, I am NOT a huge fan of paper-piecing ... anyone who knows me knows that I'm usually very much anti-paper-piecing, but once I got the general plan for this quilt in my head I knew there was no way around it, I would have to paper-piece it. arrrrrgggghhhhh!!!!

Anyhow, I have the background laid out, it's the mottled blue batik, and on it there will be various sized circles of flying geese like this one here, all in different batiks. I'm not hating the paper-piecing process as much as I thought I would, maybe I'm getting used to it, I don't know. It'll never be my preferred method of piecing, but I can manage it.
So far I have this yellow one done, a lime green, and a pinkish one. They'll be placed so that some of them overlap or link, with some batik circles (non-geese) randomly among them.

The way my sewing room is laid out and the floor space I have to work on things makes it so that I had to put the quilt near the doorway. I was working on the geese, laying a ring on the background where I felt it should go, but then I when I stood back and looked at it from my work area, it just didn't look right. Something didn't jive. Then I went out of the room to get a drink, and as I went back in I saw the quilt from the other direction, in the hall. Then it dawned on me -- I was looking at it upside-down!

Gord laughs at me, he can't figure how a quilt with no apparent top or bottom could possibly be upside-down and to him it looks the same from either direction. But it definitely looks better from the other side. I think I'll keep doing the work from the wrong direction as I have been, then go around and look at it from the other side and see how that works for me.

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Christmas is a-comin'

Been getting started lately on making Christmas gifts. I decided this year on a gift to make for all my nieces and nephews ... they're all getting the same thing, in different colors. I can't be any more specific than that because they might get nosy and decide to read this, so that will just have to wait. Got the first one done, just to make sure I could actually make this thing, been a long time since I've done anything like this (curious yet?) and it turns out that it's actually very simple. So now I just have to get the materials to make the others in various other colors and I'm all set.

Also working on a quilt for Jay. He's 13 now, and crazy about 2 things: cars and the color orange. I had made Emma a quilt last year and hid a bunch of things in it for her to find, you can see her quilt here called "Stars for Emma". Jay loved the idea of having to search for stuff and requested the same for his own quilt, so I'm working on that. So far it's blue and orange, with various blue and orange things for him to find. I'll post pictures of it after Christmas, just in case he gets nosy too.

I'm about halfway done quilting my Quilt of Valour. It's the fourth one I've made, I'm planning to put it in my local guild's quilt show in October, so I need to get it finished and ready to go. Other than that I'm just waiting for hockey season to start!

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Got my prize!

Yesterday I took the skytrain out to Metropolis at Metrotown in Burnaby to pick up the prize I won on the radio show earlier this week. I used to get lost in that mall -- it's HUGE -- but not so much anymore, so I had a pretty good idea where to find this store.
I had called earlier in the week to confirm where they were and asked then what my fabulous prize was .... it was a $25 gift card to the store. Nice! When I got there yesterday I asked if they have other locations I could check out to use the card at, but the only other one they have is out in Langley ... I don't even know where Langley is ... so I figured I'd best just use the card then and there, since I only go out to Metrotown a couple times a year.
Being the bargain hunter that I am, of course I went straight to the back of the store where the clearance and sale stuff was. I browsed around a bit until I found something I liked, tried it on and voila - I had my prize. I got some Vancouver Canucks lounge pants (kinda like yoga pants, very comfy) and a matching tank top. Together they were regularly priced at $50, marked down to $24.98 for the pair, so I ended up just paying the tax, under $3. I do loves a great deal!

Thursday, September 10, 2009

More hockey - 9 more signatures, only 3 to go!


Went to yet another Canucks pre-season practice this morning, hoping to get a couple of the remaining signatures that I'm missing for my quilt and I ended up getting 9 more!
When I got there just Luongo and Pavel were practicing, so I got a couple of good pics of them ... didn't need their signatures, got them last year. Every time I go it's like I'm collecting hockey cards or something - "got it, got it, need it, got it ..."

After about an hour the rest of the team started to trickle out. I was chatting with one of the security guards and asked him if it would be ok if I went over to catch them as they came out of the dressing room, or should I sit in the seats and wait til they came off from practice ... there was a table set up over by the hall to the dressing room and he said it would be fine if I went over there so I could spread my quilt out and get them to sign as they came out. Yahooey, thankyou mr security guard! This was perfect ... I spread out the quilt with the lower half showing, later flipped it to the upper half, so I could get the signatures evenly distributed. Kinda challenging when the guys come out in herds and I'm not sure what the new guys look like, but I managed to get quite a few of them. Had a guy who works at Thunderbird Sports Centre standing there chatting with me and he was quite helpful.

This picture to the left of Bobby Lu looks like he's saying "oh come on Scrappy, aren't you done yet?" (actually he was listening to his coach tell him something to do)

Later on while the guys were on the ice, I still had a few left to get and wasn't sure if they were there or not. I saw some of the TV reporters coming in and setting up over by the dressing room exit where I'd been before with my table, so at Gord's advice I went over to see them. I knew I recognized one of them, but didn't know his name so I just went over and said "hey reporter dude ... can you help me figure something out" and he very kindly looked thru my list of got-em/need-em's and told me who was who out there and who hadn't shown up today. Very nice of him, thankyou mr reporter dude.

Later on when the practice was finishing up and the guys were leaving the ice a few at a time, some students were sitting near me to get signatures on their stuff too. I only had a few left to get so I was just waiting for my guys to be ready to leave. These kids had quite the nerve ... as players were signing their stuff they were asking for their sticks ... as if they'd give away a perfectly good stick. I think not! I was still not sure about one player that I needed, and had seen a number on a helmet that I suspected was him, so I called over one of the Canucks trainers who was waiting for them to get off the ice and asked him. He confirmed that the player in question was indeed Brad Lukowich. Almost immediately after that Brad skated over with a broken stick and traded it for a good one and the trainer asked if I'd like to have the broken stick. Yessir indeed I would, thankyou mr trainer dude! So then when Brad was finished and came by to sign my quilt, I also got him to sign his stick, which now sits on my fireplace mantle.

Scrappy had a very good day, a very good day indeed!

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Hockey and fabulous prizes!!!

Yesterday I went out to Thunderbird Sports Centre again to see the Canucks training camp. I didn't really have that much interest in seeing the rookies practicing, but I did go with a purpose in mind. That purpose was to track down Alain Vigneault (head coach) and Mike Gillis (manager) and get them to sign my quilt. I figured that since they don't go to the pre-season practices for the Canucks this was probably my best bet to get them, as I was pretty sure they'd be at training camp.
I got there good and early, got myself a good seat where I had a good view of the ice and the players as they came from the dressing room to the ice, and settled in to watch for the guys. The players came out, along with an assistant coach that I recognized and a bunch of other coaches I didn't know. Vinny wasn't on the ice! I kept watching and looking all over the place, as I was SO sure he'd be there, then the guys sitting behind me started talking (in French). One said that Mike Gillis was standing behind the top row of seats at the rail directly across the rink from us, and that Vinny was sitting in a seat alone a few rows below him. I looked over and lo and behold there they were!
So I picked up my stuff and off I went. It would have been so much quicker and easier to just go around the end of the rink to get to them, but that was blocked off for the Zamboni so I had to take the long way around the entire place to get there. Vinny was sitting there by himself so I walked up to him and said "Hi there!". He smiled and said hi. I asked him if I could bother him for just a minute and he said "sure!". I showed him my quilt, pointed out all the logos I'd made and the players' signatures I've gotten and asked him if he'd mind signing it for me too, which he gladly did. Then I asked him if Mike was busy or if he thought it would be OK for me to go bother him for a minute too, and he said to go ahead.
I went up to the top row where Mike was talking to some other people, standing back-to me, so I tapped him on the shoulder and went through the same as I did with Vinny. He, too, signed my quilt and away I went. By then the practice was about halfway finished, the arena was packed and I was cold ... plus I'd done what I went there to do, so I left. Mission accomplished!

Then last night I was taking a bath, had some milk and a cookie, quietly reading a book while Gord was lying in bed listening to a sports station on the radio. He hollered in to me to call a number to win a prize - kept repeating the number over and over so he wouldn't forget it, told me I had to be caller #10. I was all comfy, my phone was way over on the counter, I really didn't want to call anyone at that time, but just to shut him up I did. And wahooooey I was caller #10!! The guy took my name and number, told me to go to Game on Sports in Metrotown later in the week to pick up my prize. I asked him what my fabulous prize is but he didn't know, but assured me that it would be fabulous. I'll also be entered into a draw for other fabulous un-named prizes!!! I'll head out to Metrotown on Saturday and get my prize, so stay tuned to see what it is!

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

My Vancouver Canucks


Today I went to my first practice of the year to watch my Canucks. I only need a few more signatures on my Canucks Quilt. They've been practicing for a week or so now but I wanted to be sure at least a couple of the guys I need were there so we went this morning.
They used to practice pre-season out at Burnaby 8 Rinks, but now they've moved to the Thunderbird Sports Centre out at UBC. I like it so much better out there ... you have an ice-level view of the rink, it's so much easier to take pictures of the guys, plus they walk right past you to go to the dressing room, rather than sneaking out the back like before.


I had already gotten the signatures of most of the team last year, it took me 3 different practices to get them all. Willie Mitchell #8 is one of my favorite players so today since I only needed a few signatures I went with another goal in mind - to get some pictures of me with some of my favorite players. Willie was so sweet and friendly ... now I have this picture of him with me, plus he had already signed my quilt (above) and one of my Canucks ball caps.

Hoffman Challenge 2009


This year I entered the Hoffman Challenge for the fifth time. The focus fabric this time around was a gold,brown,green paisley print ... I liked it a lot more than the peacock print last year. Right away the fabric spoke "dragons" to me so I went with a dragon and yin yang theme. Sulky thread co-sponsored the challenge this year, with extra prizes for entries that incorporated sulky in the quilt.
Sulky isn't ideal for hand work, which is primarily what I do, but I did want a shot in that part of the challenge so I used it anyhow. I got some gold and green thread, used it for the quilting and doubled them up as a gold/green combo and embroidered with that.
The dragon is made with rows of greens alternating with the theme fabric for the scales, done 3-dimensionally. He holds a pearl in his front claw ... I had used a sparkly white/silver fabric for the pearl but it didn't look very pearly, so I got some pearlescent glitter glue and covered the pearl with that. It shimmers in the light now, kinda pink or green depending on how you look at it. I also used the glitter glue on his teeth to make them sparkly, and on his eye which glows green from the underlying colors ... very cool!
Today I got a letter from the Hoffman Challenge people with a fat quarter and a spool of sulky thread. The letter says that once again my quilt has been selected to travel in the year-long trunk show - that's 5 years in a row!!

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

another quilt finished


Yesterday was a busy day here. I finished putting the binding on the new Emergence quilt, this one is called "Emergence on the Warm Side". It's made with 5" blocks instead of 6" like the original blue and yellow one, so of course the final result is a smaller quilt. Did this so it would fit to hang in a specific spot in my hall near the kitchen.
I like these particular colors all together like this , it definitely gives the quilt an allover warm feeling. It ended up being about 31 x 35".

I also got my braces off yesterday ... I started with them last spring, the orthodontist had estimated about 18 months to finish so we ended a whole month early. So now, 17 months, many mouth blisters, and 1 jaw surgery later, I have nice smooth straight teeth for the first time in my life and I'm loving it!



Thursday, August 20, 2009

New camera!!

The "30 Degrees of Separation" quilt is done. I have about 3/4 of the QoV blocks pieced now, I figure another day and the top for that will be done. I'll have to start looking for something snazzy to put on the back so I can start quilting it as soon as it's ready.

I had pieced a warm colored version of "Emergence" (the blue and yellow quilt shown below the menu here) and set it aside for a bit while I did Bev's quilts. The other night I got it out and finished marking it, got it all basted (that didn't take long ... I pin-baste minimally) and started quilting. I just work on it at night while I watch tv, I figure it'll take about a week of just randomly working on it then it'll be done.

We got a new camera this week so now I won't have to take pictures with my phone! I had an old digital camera but it took really crappy pictures unless it was outside in natural light, and even then they weren't great. This new one is a Nikon Coolpix P90, very snazzy! It has tons of cool gadgets that I haven't quite figured out yet but so far it seems pretty easy to use.


Saturday, August 15, 2009

Getting things done!

I finished all the quilts I was hired to do for Bev, that was a lot of fun! Now I'm back to working on my own stuff.

I finished the "Rob Peter to Pay Paul" quilt!
It's about 52 x 64". I hand appliqued all the blocks, machine pieced them together, hand appliqued the vines on the borders, then of course it's all hand quilted. It turned out pretty good, I'm pleased with it.

Now I'm finishing up the new "30 Degrees of Separation" to replace the one I sold, I should be done that by tomorrow ... just got the border and binding to do and it's done.

I started my next Quilt of Valour yesterday. Got all the pieces cut out and about half the blocks assembled, another few days and I should be able to piece the top together and then find some backing for it. I'm planning to put it in my guild's show this October so I want to get it done by the first fall meeting in mid-September.

Friday, August 14, 2009

Tip - great product

As many people know, I only do hand quilting. Not only that, but I don't use a hoop or frame, no thimble, I do all my quilting in my lap.
One problem with this though, is that often I get cracks and splits on my fingertips, particularly my thumb. It's very painful, usually quite deep and often bleeds .... I can't do any quilting when this happens because it hurts and can bleed on the fabric.

People have suggested using the stretchy fabric bandages but I'm allergic to them, so that's out.
Then a few years ago I discovered the greatest product. They're bandages made by 3M, called "Active Strips". They're rubbery and stretchy and fantastic! I'm not allergic to them, they're tough and flexible, I can quilt and it doesn't hurt a bit - plus they 're stretchy and don't restrict movement of my fingers.

They come in regular "skin" colors for people who don't want them to be so obvious, kid designs of course, but I like the bright ones. Kinda like with my braces, if I have to wear them I want snazzy colors!

This is an excellent product and gets a big thumbs up from me!

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Quilts of Valour

I got the Quilts of Valour - Canada newsletter done this weekend, so that's one thing behind me. Don't misunderstand me, I love doing it, I just get a good sense of accomplishment when another issue is done and ready to go on the website.

The picture shown here is the 3rd QoV that I've made (you can see the others at Charity Quilts). My local guild has our bi-annual quilt show in October and I want to put a QoV quilt in the show with some brochures for the program so I'll be making another one as soon as I finish the customer quilt I'm doing now.

If I could afford it (time- and money-wise) I'd make these all year long, there just doesn't seem to be enough hours in the day or days in the week to get as much done as I'd like to. I love red and this is an excellent cause, so it's always time and money well spent. Plus it gives me a chance to be creative and make something new and nifty for people who will really appreciate it.

Anyone wanting to check out the QoV program can go to our website . There you'll find information on what we do, why we do it, how to get involved and who to contact. Past and present issues of the newsletter can be found there as well. Basically, we get quilts to wounded Canadian soldiers across the country. QoV doesn't necessarily make the quilts, tho many of us are quilters and do make them ourselves, but the purpose of the program isn't to make the quilts, it's to get them to the people that need them. I'm fortunate enough to be the BC representative so I get to take quilts to the base here in Vancouver.

There's a similar program in the U.S., their site can be found here.

Friday, July 24, 2009

Website is done!!

It took a couple of days to get it all figured out how I wanted things to look and relate to each other but I finally got my website all integrated from the old to the new.
It wouldn't have been so bad if I hadn't had to reformat the font on every single picture for every single page, but at least now it's done and it's all uniform. It seems to blend pretty well if I do say so myself.
I'll no doubt find things that need to be "tweaked" or that don't work the way I really want them to, but so far I'm happy with it.

Almost finished the blue/yellow customer quilt, I'll post a picture of it when I'm done. Still have to make a page for customer quilting to show my work, like references or something I guess, but not today ... too tired.

Been working on the QoV newsletter this week, just waiting on a few people to get some information to me so I can get everything finished there, then sending off an article about QoV to the Connections for Quilters magazine (again, waiting for someone to get back to me) but hopefully both will be done by Monday.

Overall it's been a pretty productive week and I'm satisfied with what I've gotten done.

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

busy busy busy!

Well, I finally decided to .com myself and registered www.scrappyblue.com (obviously). What a great feeling that is .... seems like such an insignificant "geeky" thing but I'm actually quite pleased with myself.

STILL haven't finished the 30 degrees or the Peter & Paul quilt, but I do have a good reason. A lady in downtown Vancouver hired me to quilt some of her quilts for her. Paying work always comes before my own, of course!

Here's a picture of one of the quilts I've been doing for her. She made the quilt top but doesn't have time to quilt it herself, so I get to do it for her. It's a beautiful lap size quilt of 5 different baskets. I put a cross-hatch grid in the background, she supplied a leaf stencil for the sashing. I still have to put a hanging sleeve across the back yet, but she saw it yesterday and was quite pleased with the work done, so that's great. Always encouraging when a customer likes my work.

I also quilted a small wallhanging for her, she took that home when she came by yesterday. So now I'm quilting a blue and yellow log cabin lap size of hers, then a black (with appliquéd fans) lap quilt, then putting a back on an antique quilt top she has from many years ago to help preserve it, and that's about it for that job.

I figure this work should take me to the end of the month probably, then I'll be back at my own things, unless something else comes along, then we'll see how that goes.