January Joy do. good stitches bee

For a number of years I have belonged to a quilt be that makes quilts for charitable causes. My bee group is call Joy and is made of Canadian quilters.  This month was my turn to pick a pattern and colors and ask the ladies to make a block or two.


The colors that I choose are from my favorite color site, Design Seeds, who posted a photo called Logged.  As it was cold and I was wanting nothing more than to warm up in front of a fire it thought it was very appropriate.

The block pattern is from the Fat Quarter Shop and was part of their Wishes quilt along.  The pattern is called, Stair Step. This block is very simple to put together and will look great when combined together for a scrappy look.

Navy Fizz Finish

Navy Fizz

As mentioned a few posts ago I made a very simple quilt for a retirement gift for one of my colleagues. I picked it up on the weekend and spent a few hours sewing away on the binding. The quilting is a simple curling wave which suits a quilt with a navy theme.

  My colleague Stephen (in the white shirt) is a Methodist minister who has faithfully served many parishes and in the Canadian Forces. He has reached retirement age and has decided that he would retire.Selfishly I say that is a shame as he is a humble faithful man who's wisdom and support I and many others have been grateful for.

 It is interesting going to these Depart with Dignity ( another name for retirement parties) as you never know who will show up. In the case of many clergy it is a good sampling how how many peoples lives you have interacted intimately with over the years and a reminder of how small our Canadian Forces is.

Fellow Padres

More Fellow Padres

Navy Fizz

Last week the Fat Quarter Shop came out with a new fast and free pattern called Fat Quarter Fizz.  It is very simple and the placement of light and dark make a nice overall pattern.  What I like is that is is simple cause I have to get a quilt top done and to the long armer pronto!

Working weekends, unplanned has messed up my sewing plans to get a quilt done to say Happy Retirement to one of my colleagues in early September. I chose a two fabric lines I had collected with a navy or mariner theme, pressed and cut them out and spent a few hours sewing these blocks.

Next step is to lay them out on my bed and try to figure the best placement for them all, sew them up, make the back and get the batting then off to the long armer for her magic.

London Calling

Well the Olympics are over and now we are seeing images of the para Olympics on our TV screens. Getting inspired by images of the UK, a few months ago I picked up from the Fat Quarter Shop, ‘Cool Britiannia” by Benartex Fabrics fat quarter packet.  

I wasn’t sure what to do with this fabric, only that I really like it and wanted to get it.  Laying out all the pieces after pressing, I thought something free form would be good for the first quilt made from this fabric.  Yes I did say first quilt, because I expect that I will have enough bits and pieces left over for a second quilt that will be baby size.  I think that quilt will be a wonky star or a rectangle square quilt. 

In the meantime, I am left with what to do with the first quilt.  So far I have been making some random blocks. A wonky star, some stripes to mimic the cover of a certain Beatles album, and a disappearing nine patch which looks really cool with mini British flags. This is what is it looks like so far.

The configuration will be making some changes I think.  Shortly after taking this photo, I was eyeballing it and thinking I need some more solid spaces to give the eye a place to rest. Or do I keep it really busy?  Kinda like being in Piccadilly Square with all its overwhelming sights, sounds and traffic.  I will make some moves of the blocks on my flannel wall over the next week and see what I can come up with.  But right now I am really torn.