Back on the bike

Isn’t that what they say when you try and get back to doing something that you haven’t done in a long time? Welcome it has been a long time since I have written here, I have missed it and I want to try and catch up. My Quilt Show pages are also way out of date so I am going to add both old and new quilts, wallhangings and a few odds and ends.

I have been busy. Thanks to the help of a couple of longarm quilters, Lynn Jones and Nadine Stevens I have been able to accomplish a lot more projects. I am still hand quilting, just not the larger projects. I do love the rhythm of hand quilting (stab stitching is how I learned). I love using “Americana Quilting Thread” it is 100% cotton with a glaze finish. It rarely tangles and never breaks, it came in quite a few colours plus white, linen and cream. It was the house brand of Joann’s, an American company that closed it’s doors last fall. In the last couple of years the thread changed, it was thicker and rougher...it was made in India, previously it had been made in the USA. I have a good stash that will last me a while!

My works-in-progress include a smaller version of the “Wensleydale” quilt, I am calling it “A Gray Day in Wensleydale”, it is machine pieced and I am hand quilting it.

I am also working on two Cuddle Quilts.

“Star Pop ll” needs to have the binding stitched (quilted by Nadine Stevens) and the red and white top is “Star Pop Two”, I am in the process of piecing a backing for it.

I fell in love with the quilt called “Pocket Full of Posies”, pattern by Irene Blanck—but I was disappointed when I went to her website and found that it was no longer in print.

I emailed her and lucky me, she was going to be re-releasing it as a pdf pattern in a few days. Irene lives in Australia so a pdf made the purchase so easy. It is going to be a fair bit of applique which I do enjoy. I will post the details as I go along. I have yet to pick out my fabrics. I always look forward to that. 

Be sure and visit my Quilt Show and see what I have added! I will be back soon! 

The lost thimble came back

Back in 1997 I was awarded the Dorothy McMurdie Award for my contributions to quiltmaking in Canada.

“The Dorothy McMurdie Award was established in 1988 to recognize individuals who have made a significant contribution to quilting in Canada. It paid tribute to their accomplishments and documented their contributions to our Canadian quilting heritage. This award was discontinued in 2015. It has been replaced by the Dorothy McMurdie Founders Award, which is presented to a CQA/ACC member, whose National Juried Show entry exemplifies outstanding workmanship in an original design. The quilt cannot contain computerized embroidery or quilting.”

— The Canadian Quilters Association

I have always treasured this award, it has meant a lot to me so I always kept it in my sewing room on a shelf with many other treasures and trinkets. When we moved to Mahone Bay, we had to figure out how to put a shelf on the only wall that was empty...the slanted roof wall! Peter cut one side of a piece of wood at an angle so it would be flush with the wall. He made two shelves and installed them one below the other.

I organized everything: thimbles, tiny dolls and wooden soldiers, small baskets, small trinkets and small animals. A place for everything and everything in its place! That is until the fall of 2013 when we had a new roof put on this old house. The guys had to shovel all the layers of old shingles off, do some repairs and nail new shingles on. that’s when things started falling off the shelves, landing everywhere! I picked everything up and kept them in a box until the roof work was done.

I cleaned each piece as I put things back, I came to the base for the thimble but where was the actual thimble? I searched high and low for it but it was not to be found. I pulled all my storage baskets out and over the years I emptied them and searched for the thimble. I never gave up, it had to be somewhere. It was too big to get sucked in by the vacuum. Most people who know me know I hate to lose things and not find them.

Fast forward to September 2024, 11 years later. Heather Stewart was here for her lobster and to visit with our quilting friends. I had gathered up some cloth bags that were hanging on a door knob (just below the shelves). As I reached in one to pull a smaller bag out something smooth and hard landed in my hand...there it was, my Dorothy McMurdie thimble had come out of hiding 11 years later! It was there all the time, now if I could just find my silver hoop earrings I would be a happy camper!

Australian influence

I don’t think I have seen many Australian quilts designed by Australian quilters that I didn’t like…alot! My husband and I spent a year in Australia right after we got married 55 (!!) years ago. We shipped a trunk of belongings ahead and in it was a quilt, a “Friendship Circle” quilt (similar to a Dresden Plate) that my Grandmother made, probably in the 1930’s. I don’t know when it was given to me but it seemed to have been always in my room or on my bed or a chair. I don’t recall seeing any quilts or hearing about quilters while we were there (1969-70).

Thanks to the internet the world became a smaller place and I discovered Sarah Fielke and Kathy Doughty and then Wendy Williams with her beautiful wool applique and Jen Kingwell and the list goes on. And oh there is some amazing Australian fabrics out there too!! And books and patterns! Take a look you won’t be disappointed!

“We Three Birds” pattern by Natalie Bird, hand pieced, machine pieced, hand applique, hand embroidered, EPP and hand quilted. I loved making this quilt! Great pattern. I raided my stash for the fabrics, mostly cotton but used Essex Linen for the background of the birds and the background of the hexies..

Detail of “We Three Birds”

Another detail of “We Three Birds”.

“We Are Family” pattern by Susan Smith. Another Aussie quilt that I thoroughly enjoyed making! It is machine pieced, hand appliqued and machine quilted by Nadine Stevens. and again I raided my stash for the fabrics! I would love to make another one! With apologies for the photo, I will replace it soon!

Detail of “We Are Family”