St. Patrick's Day

Hope everyone enjoyed a day of Irish fun yesterday! Unfortunately my day consisted of an exam, and lots of studying. But teaching my sewing lessons in the afternoon is always a good pick-me-up.

Here is a picture of two table runners I have been teaching lately.

I have a few students who are nearing the end of their projects, just need to quilt and bind and they will have many completed projects! It brings me so much satisfaction and pride to see others finish their projects. Photos to come soon!

Off to do more studying, two more midterm exams left!

March...already?

I can not believe that it is already March! wow!

Last Saturday in my class one of my star students completed her wall hanging. It is a paper pieced light house scene, with tiny sail boats in the ocean. Very pretty and so well done, especially for dealing with so many tiny pieces! I'm so proud of her accomplishment.

I have also recently added a new video to my YouTube channel. It is a tutorial on basic hand embroidery. The link is below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmQjEaYYQCU&context=C3312f61ADOEgsToPDskLXr8YrnYYjN9TrKPtAPCXj

Reading Week!

I realized it's been so long since I have made a new post!

Even over reading week, life doesn't stop being busy! It seems to be flying by so quickly, although I did try my best to get lots of sewing time in! I spent a few days at the cottage over reading week, it was so nice. This is a picture of the view of the lake from my balcony.

I recently finished a table runner for my Mom. It's made with five paper-pieced turtles. My family has an "inside-joke" with turtles as people frequently mistake our last name, "Tuttle" for "Turtle", so I thought it was quite fitting.

I have also been tidying up my room...(mother's orders! haha) and I have begun to make a T-shirt quilt. I'm not following any specific pattern, just cutting up and sewing together what I can. I didn't really plan on it looking symmetrical or "organized" I just wanted it to look scrappy and warm. I have already decided I'm going to put it on my bed at the cottage when it is done. Hopefully I can get the top together before I start school again next week.

Picture to come soon!

Completed Projects!

Here's two quilts that two of my adult students recently completed!

The first is a memory quilt, for her Grandson, done in team colours with photos of the mascot, and the team photos for this year and last year. We have left the opposite corners empty for now, so that we can add team photos for the next two years that he is on the team. An excellent keepsake, it will also keep his Mom warm, cheering for him at all his games!

This next one, was done by another one of my students who is excitedly waiting for the birth of her new Grandson! It was the first time she completed a quilt from start to finish, so proud of her! She quilted a heart, in each of the large blue squares, they look great from the back as well.

I love her colour choice, he will be able to grow with it.

No one will ever understand the feeling I get when I see my student's succeed at something they doubted. I almost find more joy in watching other people finish their quilts, than I feel when I finish my own!

Awesome job ladies!

Angels

Recently been making some cute paper pieced angels from a book called "24 Angel Quilt Blocks" by Linda Causee. The patterns vary in difficulty and are all very sweet! Since they are paper piecing foundations it makes it easy to enlarge the block to use it for whatever you like.

I have made a simple wall hanging, by piecing 2 different angels, adding borders and hand embroidering the details.

For the students in my classes, I have been making paper piecing blocks and adding a ribbon so that it can be hung from a door knob or hook as a decoration.

On the backs, I used a fabric both light in colour and with a simple print, so that the students can inscribe a message on the back using fabric pens. I thought the angel would be appropriate as a Mother's Day gift, and the little heart is going to make a cute

Valentine's Day decoration.

I also have a new edition to my family. He is a long-haired guinea pig and I named him Pig. Wouldn't it be wonderful if he could learn to sew? LOL

Quilt Show

I wanted to advertise an event being held in Wellington, by the Prince Edward County Quilter's Guild, this coming July 7th and 8th 2012.

Last spring I presented my trunk show to their guild and I am also going to have a booth at their quilt show. I received some small book marks in the mail today to advertise their show, so I am posting the picture for everyone below!

I know it is still quite some time away, but I am so excited for it!

Back to Work We Go...

It's official, the holidays passed us by so quickly this year! I am glad to be back at school though and I'm sure I will regret those words as soon as the semester starts getting heavy!

Last night I finished binding the quilt I gave to my brother for his 23rd Birthday. I made it with warm earth-tones, beige, brown, green and shades of blue. It is quilted using beige thread, and since the backing is green, you can see the stitching designs nicely on the back. I'm very happy with it.

I taught my first sewing class of 2012 on Monday evening, and am pleased with the work some of my ladies did over the holidays! Their quilt tops are almost complete and soon they will be quilting and binding!

Looking forward to my Saturday class to begin as well. I'm sure there will be more projects being completed and some brand new pieces to begin!

My favourite part of quilting is always picking the fabrics. Sometimes I don't even know what pattern I am going to do, but I find it helps if I am inspired by a specific print, then I can go from there and decide what I want to use it for. The problem with this however is that it is extremely addicting and tempting to pick out lots and lots of projects, and then I get ahead of myself and want to start too many projects at once. I often get bored working away at just one project though, I find it boring to stare at the same colour palette for so long, especially if I decide to work on a project for a whole day. I like to have at least two projects going, with drastic differences in colour palettes, so I can switch when I get tired.

I had a meeting tonight with one of my fabric sales reps, so many beautiful new prints out for spring! It makes it so hard to choose only a few, or else I would be absolutely broke! I'm so excited for the bolts to arrive!

"A bed without a quilt is like a sky without stars" -my excuse to make more quilts.