One of a Kind . . .

. . . is how I would describe a good friend of mine.

My friend Reta is the kindest, 

most encouraging, 

one of a kind 

loving person that you will ever meet. 

She doesn't quilt but she is my greatest fan.

(besides my Mom)

We met about 19 years ago at work.

We worked side by side for many years.

Reta has since retired but we remain good friends. 

It's interesting to me

how you can meet someone 

and know pretty quick that you are soul mates. 

We've seen each other in good times 

and in bad times.

AND, we both cry in church.

I can't imagine my life without Reta.

Reta's birthday has come and gone 

and I'm late in getting her gift to her as usual. 

 We differ that way!

I am so happy that the table runner 

I made for her is finally completed. 

I have named it 'One of a Kind'. 

I stayed after work today sitting in the sunshine 

hand sewing the binding on before I walked home. 

It was too beautiful of a day 

not to enjoy the gorgeous weather.

 The campus has some beautiful spots 

to get some pictures 

so I wanted to push myself to get it done.

You never know what the weather 

is going to do this time of the year.

I am pleased!  
 

I quilted this one myself.

Found these beauties today. 

A reminder that even weeds can be lovely.

(just not in my garden)

I'm linking up with Finish it up Friday.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Shauna

 

Quilts and so Much More

I think I say this every time I post . . . where has the time gone. April disappeared and May is close to finishing and I haven't posted forever. 

I went to out of town last weekend to my friend Wendy's place to sew and maybe help her plant her garden. Well, the weather was awful - rainy and cold, so we were forced to sew! It was a great time of laughing, talking, sewing and eating. 

I did get quite a few things accomplished when I finally got down to sewing. 

This little table runner finally got a border and is now ready to be sandwiched and quilted. It's a bright and cheery runner that will be an addition to anyone's table or dresser.

 

Then I got the next border on this quilt. It still has one more border in the white needed to finish it off.

I love the look of this quilt.

 

Then I picked up my wedding ring quilt that I had quilted. I look at this quilt and marvel that I actually made it. I am tickled 'pink' with it.

 

The backing was bought when I went down to Spokane last September. I was hoping to use it for the binding but it's a tad too bright for the front so now I will need to find something else. Still debating on what colour to bind it in. Any ideas?
 

A while ago I had a dentist appointment in Cochrane and had a few moments so stopped in at the Addie's Creative Fabrics. Dangerous to say the least!! 

Picked up this new pattern and ruler. I like that you can use Jelly Rolls if you want to make the quilt.

Started playing around with a Jelly Roll that I had on hand and it's starting to look like this.

April was a busy month in that I was away on road trip to Phoenix with my friend Laurie. She has a condo down there and graciously invited me along with her to spend some time driving and staying down there. 

We had a lot of fun!

We were able to go to some major canyons either on our way down or back. First time for me in seeing Bryce Canyon, Grand Canyon and Zion National Park.

Bryce Canyon

Grand Canyon

Zion National Park

Such beautiful country. I like to think God had fun creating all these natural places for us to enjoy.

Down in Phoenix we went to a discount fabric store. I picked up 5 yards of this which could make nice backing. I'm in love with this material.

And then this little beauty. Just 1 yard of this. Not sure what I use it for but I'm sure it will call to me when I need it.

Enjoy your Sunday!

Shauna

Round Robin Charm Table Runner

Do you have a go-to pattern that is tried and true?

I sure do!

If I need to whip a quick something, 

I have gone back to this particular pattern now three times.

Each time I have been happy with the results.  

I have modified the pattern a little just because 

there were parts that did not make sense but over all happy with it.

It's call Quilted Quickies - Charm School - Lesson Three

Designed for using 5" charm squares but of course you can use FQ or scraps.

So in my case, we are planning to have a craft / bake sale at work 

and this is what I whipped up.

It took me a good part of the weekend and a evening.

Didn't really plan that it would be Christmasy 

but with the red and green it certainly could be . . .

 . . . or you could use it all year long.

The line of fabric is from Moda called Round Robin.

I did mention that I've made it a couple of other times.

The possibilities of colours and fabric are endless.

This was the first one I made.  

My friend Wendy, who is also a quilter, 

came to visit me one weekend a few years ago and brought this pattern.

So fun to have someone to quilt with.

This one was made for my sister one Christmas.

Notice the scrappy binding.  Always a favourite of mine to do.

I have to say I like all of them for they all have a certain charm about them . . .

. . . but am partial to the pink one.

I'm linking up with AmanadaJean for Finish Up Friday.

Shauna

Heritage Park Finish

Last weekend, my friend Reta and I found ourselves at Heritage Park for the annual Quilt Fest for the Calgary region.  Reta doesn't quilt but she sure enjoys looking at the quilts as much as I do.  What fun to see all of the new fabric, goodies not to mention the finished quilts that are display.  They even display some of them in the turn of the century houses which is really neat.

Can you believe that I forgot to take my camera along?!  Not sure what I was thinking when I left the house in the morning.  Oh well, there's always next year.  My niece, Alyssa (the one who put a quilt together with me one weekend) went and took lots of great pictures!

I think that a highlight for me is to look at the quilts that hang from the Wainwright building . . . it's great to look at those ones from a distance and choose one that we think has the greatest impact.  Some years Reta and I choose the same one and other years not.

Here's a picture of the quilts hanging from the Wainwright building from a couple of years ago.

I bought way too much as usual but I always justify that it's close to my birthday and I'm buying something for myself.

The only drawback to the day was that the wind was very chilly.  Didn't stop us from spending the whole day there though.

I bought myself a table runner kit from Country Creations in Strathmore.  Lorraine runs the quilting retreat that I go to each year in January and has a great selection of fabrics, kits and notions in her store.  If you ever have a chance to get to her store, you will not be disappointed.

Here are a couple of pictures of the finished table runner.

Hope you are all enjoying your weekend!

Shauna

Excitement

I'm getting really excited . . . why, you ask?  I'm off to a quilting retreat this weekend with a really good friend of mine.  It's going to be hard to work this week but what a reward at the end!  This is the second year that I have been able to attend and what fun it will be.  Project that I'm doing is called Bramble Berries "Berry Vines" by The Buggy Barn.

Love, love, love the colours in this project!!!  It has been hard to wait to get started.  I have all the material cut and ready to go so I can start sewing right as soon as I get to the retreat.  

I'm hoping that I will be able to finish the top this weekend.

 

On another note, I have been working on a table runner with these colours for my kitchen table.  Even though it is red and green with a bit of gold, I should be able to use it longer - at least that is what I'm planning to do.  My kitchen counter tops are kind of a mossey green and I have this wonderful wall that I painted more of a brick red and have never regretted my choice.

This is how it starts . . . with a basic four patch.

And later this is what you get . . .

I've been wanting to do this one for a very long time . . .

. . . and I love it!

Well, I guess I should go do something with my house -.  Thanks for checking out blog!

Shauna

Splendor

I woke up this morning thinking of the Chris Tomlin song called How Great is Our God.  He based this song on Psalms 93 and 104.  If you don't know the words, he writes in the first verse:

The splendor of a King, clothed in majesty
Let all the earth rejoice
All the earth rejoice

He wraps himself in Light, and darkness tries to hide
And trembles at His voice
Trembles at His voice

How great is our God, sing with me
How great is our God, and all will see
How great, how great is our God

 

And then I saw the most spectacular sky this morning. 

 

I've been playing around with some fabric that a friend gave me for my birthday and think that this is the beginning of a table runner.  What do you think?? 

Summer and Thinking of Christmas

 Don't you just love summer!  These were actually from last year but there were so cheery I just had to post them.

More summer cheer

Reminds me so much of the prairies

Well, August is now half over and I have been thinking about what I had made last year for Christmas for each of my sisters and what I should do this year.  I have lots of ideas floating around in my head but haven't settled on one thing yet.

For inspiration I'll show you what I did last year.  Each of my two sisters got a table runner.  I enjoyed putting these together and wouldn't you know it I don't have one for myself.

I just loved the back on this one.  The fabric was from the Dr. Suess collection.  It was just the right shade of red and fun.

This one was for my other sister.  It was so fun to do the dresden plate pattern again (this was my second one like this - just different colours). . . and I would do this again. 

So the question remains . . .  what to do for this Christmas this year??