doll quilt finish, porch views

 Well I have a finish! this little doll quilt will be on its merry way to the person that was selected to be my swap partner. I was lucky enough to have some time on my porch and view the gardens with my trusty pal beside me on our new cushions. Ted loved it out there it was a perfect 4 days of weather to do some gardening then sit on the porch and watch our Monarchs, Swallow butter flies and bees start their harvesting.
The backing of the quilt is a great addition since it is part of what the theme was about " A token of Friendship"

 I had to make a decision on the quilting since the heart/tulip left too much space so I quilted the lines and I am pleased how it turned out.

 Teddy with chin in paws as he watches the world go by and me working in the gardens he did not want to leave his perch. I see that the cushion has passed, we were lucky to get these cushions "free" my canadian tire money paid for them!

 My hibiscus Mallows are all flowering and they look fabulous so much I had to get another one, there was alot of splitting and replanting and I am not done yet. I am hoping for more time in the following weeks. I had to work in the backyard for a while and as you can see there is a spot under the Oakleaf Hydrangea, it got so big this year with loads of blooms.

 Love this red Mallow it is so rich and really shows up from the road, lots of people are slowing down when they either drive by or walk by this is a great way to control traffic fill your garden with brilliant easy care plants so that everyone thinks you have a gardeners thumb.

 The Alice Oakleaf turns this rustic rusty brown soon the stems will be orange and they will peel I love how it transforms into its fall majestic beauty.

Fall is approaching and soon it will be quilt show/ quilting weather I soo can't wait!!
Do what you do best!

slow motion

 Well I have it pieced this little doll quilt and I have it quilted about 3/4's I have slowed down a little because of all the silly quilting I decided to do...never ever keep it simple Deb!!

I love the beautiful border fabric I got from Sew Sisters  I bought it without an idea until I came home and saw why.

 Teddy and I sat on the porch for a little while one day I wasn't able to go much further so we had a relaxing time of just enjoying the garden and stitching.

I have not been able to add any more blocks for Let's be Friends blocks by Border Creek Station but have 19 on the board now. I will be sewing more this weekend! why you ask? because it is a long weekend and I am not working! this does not happen very often

Hopefully it is a little cooler weather with no humidity so that I can be out in the garden I finally moved the Yucca from the driveway I think I am safe to put a new plant in the hole that was home for the yellow jackets.

Hope you all are safe and just do what you like to do best.

big wall, little wall

Well as you can see I am getting a wee bit of stitching in. The left is the sew along with Border Creek station Let's Be Friends (one of the sew alongs), yes I am behind but the point is to go slow and enjoy. I am a little slower, my goal is a queen.

I am having fun picking some fabrics from my stash, as well as, a kit that I had to get from Quilt Junction  of selected colored fabrics.

The right is my doll quilt that I am making for a swap. As you can see there can never be enough tools. LOL This is from the mag Miniature Quilts I think we can call it archaic, but still is my reference guide to small quilts. This is a swap that is being run on Instagram.  I am not even gonna tell you how small these pieces are but they are small and now I can work with the borders wait till you see what happens.

It is stunningly, gorgeous outside, the weather is perfect, it will be hard when the season changes I am not sure where the months have gone. Soon this look will be chin down to the paws because it will be too cold!

do what you do best to enjoy your day! 

Flowers, bugs and updates oh my!

 this guy just gives me the biggest heart.,,EVER!

How can I refuse that look!

 this is in front of the house I am going to get a mix of flowers next year too. love how they are coming around.


The spiral tree that they are on was found on the road side waiting for the garbage man I carried it home when I had the 2 dogs they were very patient as I had to stop every once in a while to re-position

This is sedum my husband does not like this because when it blooms it tells him fall is approaching. I am the opposite it tells me quilt season is upon us!

I am not sure if I posted about this sew a long, okay yes it is the same block but it is free and it is fun to sew with others and see the different fabrics everyone is achieving with it.

Border Creek Station will be able to give you all the details. these blocks are only 8 inches so any fabric is going to look amazing I actually have put 4 more on the wall and cut a whole bunch more!

More garden fun in my front yard. All these are just my front yard! the back yard will be next this is low maintenance with hosta's and hydrangeas

As you can see there is a hole here, we had to get exterminators to come in and remove a yellow jacket nest that was under my Yucca plant. It is now road kill in the middle of my driveway. We give it a wide birth because I want to make sure everything is gone from it. I only found out they were there because of disturbing the nest and getting stung a few times.

This was 2 weeks ago Sat and I still have some skin discoloration where they done havoc on me.

On the side note I can go to Vandermeer's and see what I can get to replace that hole in memory of those vicious yellow jackets.

I posted about this quilt a couple of weeks ago. I am posting it again because I am going to change the border I am not happy with it. I am going to make a thin frame of the brown around it. I saw a quilt that was finished with the churn dash block as the boarder all the way around and I loved it. so this is what I am going to do. Lets see if that works using up more of those scraps.

August already! What!!

 Look at this little sweet heart he makes my husband and I so happy he really is a joyful sole I am BBQ'n some chicken so I have peaked his interest

 I am still catching up on some of the stuff I have been working on this was a challenge by Kathleen Tracy for one of the months and I had some blue package of fabric from Cotton Harvest Quilt store. They have been at the quilt shows and oh my I could just buy everything they have!

I love all the quilts in this book and thought this would be the perfect pattern for my wee stash see how different the coloration makes the quilt?

 I still have enough to create something else out of one Kathleen's books you will have to google her there is so much to share.

 Okay do you see this on the left? is it not the most adorable pin cushion? not only did she make the doggy but also the mat for the puppy to lay on and a bone to chew on, it also had scissors this was a swap of pincushions I was in and this is the treat I got back I love it so much!

 I also have been slowly stitching the dutch treat blocks with Meerkat shweshwe fabrics. The designer for this gorgeous quilt will be at our next sit and sew and there are still openings, you can bring any show and share plus any hand work that you are working on...even binding! LOL

My next fetish is gold fish I could live on these!

This was a wee applique quilt I made, the pattern was from the mini quilt mags that used to be published and then I used it to show people how to applique with the no melt templar method. This sweet thing was also hand quilted...which reminds me I have to work on another wee quilt that is going to another quilter...will follow up with some pictures later

Stay cool summer is whizzing by!

Full weekend -photo heavy

Party on Lake Ontario this was our view the Weather was perfect

 We had an eventful weekend Mom came to visit and in that we were extremely busy.

Mom petting one of the sheep

 We visited the Oldest Pioneer village in Canada Black Creek Pioneer Village. They have their Annual out door quilt show, that is sponsored but a group of hard working quilters/volunteers that put the quilts up and down for the 2 day duration.
This may be the last year if they don't have a volunteer to spearhead the event. Today we got to enjoy it. This was the first one that my mother attended. Usually I go with my friend Rose Marie of Applique n' Patches she was not able to attend this year, Friend you were missed.

I can show you some of the quilts and will post more later.

Loved this idea for growing herbs 

loved the Polaroid quilt! 

gorgeous applique

still waiting to make this one loved it. 

Loved her idea of putting the chimney's together

very elegant 

dimensional plans unique idea! lots of work! 

still on of my favorite patterns love this rendition.

Well that is it for now the weather was perfect we went to a BBQ later in the Mimico area right on the lakefront and you can see the view we had. There was a great live band in the back yard and lots of people with excellent food choices it was well organized with a bar and dancing as well. Like I said it was a full day!

Blocks of fabric choices

 I wanted to show you a couple of the blocks up close of the scrappy star quilt. This one is my favorite. I love the wee person hanging out under the tree.

 I thought this one was sweet with the dove holding the peace branch and the ray of sunshine in the background to show that the showers have ceased.

 then we have the wedding birds I always think of Cinderella where the birds helped her with her dress.

 The walking dead fabric of course I think this fabric will be walking into every quilt till there is none left I am saving some for an applique quilt that mom and I want to do with black white and red.

i had fallen for this fabric this winter and made 2 quilts with it and now I have fussy cut a block the fabric is called bear hugs. It was just so sweet.

 Another bird perched I think this was some scrap that was given to me by someone

 this one I am going to put my initials and the date in the middle of it. this will be the center block

this was part of the fabric above I liked it so much I had to make 2 blocks with it. I think this day I didn't really want to dig to much deeper in the scrap barrel.

I love the scraps though because each has its story...no one will know and when they see this they will wonder why this quilter picked this fabric. I would!

This weekend is the Quilts at the Creek show at Black Creek Pioneer Village in Toronto. I will be doing a lot of wondering and pondering about other quilters choices and decisions, making stories that probably was not their intentions.

Quilting is a wonderful mystery stories and history that will live long after the quilter is gone. I hope you have a chance to "get away from it all" and float through this wonderful outdoor event!