in my sewing room

To the Garden Tomb

2012-02-27T11:57:00.001-07:00

Our last day has come and gone and it was a perfect ending to this journey of retracing the steps of Jesus. Today was a full day walking tour of the old city of Jerusalem and some of the stations of the cross.

We entered the walls of the city from the east side through the Lions Gate, which is also known as St. Stephens gate. This is the gate where Stephen, the first Christian martyr, was stoned.

Through the Lions gate, we went right to the pools of Bethesda. There is a lovely courtyard there as well as the church of St. Ann's. Traditionally it is believed that Mary's mother's name was Ann and this church is dedicated to her. There is also a cave underneath it that contains the place where Mary was born. Besides all that, the best thing about this church was the fantastic acoustics. We all gathered and sang the Doxology and Amazing Grace. The reverberating echo was so cool and lasted almost 25 seconds!

Of course outside St. Ann's church you can see the ruins of the pools of Bethesda. This is where people would wait for the water to stir and then the first person to immerse themselves would be healed. It was here that the lame man called out to ask Jesus to help him into the water and instead Jesus said "Get up and walk", and he did! Of course it was the Sabbath and not only did the man walk but he ran and even carried his mat, breaking the Jewish laws of not "working" on the Sabbath. To make matters worse the Pharisees discovered that it was Jesus who healed him on the Sabbath giving them more ammunition to accuse him with.

From there we went to two of the first stations of the cross. They are both within the old Antonio Fortress which was on the north west corner of the temple mount and was built by Herod the Great. The fortress itself is not there anymore but of course they have built two churches on the site. Even so, you can still find the original floor of the Antonio Fortress in tunnels below these. This is the place were Jesus would have been taken for his appearance before Pilate and then where the soldiers flogged him and placed the crown of thorns on his head. So here we have the Church of the Condemnation, over the place where Jesus was condemned to die.

The other church is the Church of the Flaggelation over the place there Jesus was flogged. This church features a crown of thorns over the arch of the door and an amazing mosaic inside the dome.

I usually find the places where they have enshrined "holy objects" distasteful but I actually did appreciate the artistry of these places simply for the beauty and for a place set aside to remember the events of the Passion. However, the actual original floors of the Antonio Fortress are in tunnels below and we went down there to see the place where these events actually happened.

From there we walked through more of the old city to the western wall. This is the holiest site for Jews. It is only comprises about 1/8 of the remaining wall of the temple mount. It is Monday and there were all kinds of people there celebrating bar mitzvah's. I did go up and touch the wall and see the prayers that people put in the wall, but for me it was only a wall. I have a relationship with God through Jesus and I can go directly to him with my prayers. That's all I have to say about that. :)

Our next stop was at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre which has been the traditional site for the crucifixion and tomb of Jesus since 300 AD. This church is divided by Catholics and Greek Orthodox denominations and it is the most fought over site in the world. In fact there is a ladder that has remained on the balcony for many many years that they call the "status quo" because no one will move it in case they upset the other and thus it stays there to maintain the peace!

Inside the church they have enshrined the place where they believe the cross was when Jesus was crucified. They have also taken the stone slab where Jesus was laid out of the tomb and people gather they to touch it and rub their belongings on in hopes of... well, I have no idea really. Then in another area of the church they have also enshrined the tomb where Jesus' body was laid. Look at the pictures and decide for yourself, but I did not in the least find this to be a very holy place.

All throughout the day we were walking through the markets and bazaars. It was so beautiful, really! The colors and the smells; some were bad but others were of incense, spices, and fruit!

Did anyone notice that last picture? That's right! It's a fabric shop! :)

Our last stop of the day was at the second proposed site for the crucifiction, burial and resurrection of Christ. It is the Garden Tomb and it is located just north of the Damascus gate. It seems likely that this could be the actual site of the crucifiction or very close to it at the least. It is in a rock quarry near the main highway, and on the cliff is visible the face of a skull, as the name Golgotha suggests.

It may bother some people to know that today this spot is a bus stop along a busy road, however this is extremely appropriate because it is a lot like the busy highway along which Jesus was crucified. He was not killed on a quiet hill far from the bustle of the city but rather close to the road and main entrance of the city during the passover for maximum humiliation.

Very near to the site of crucifiction was the tomb of a rich man, Joseph of Arimathea, where Jesus' body was laid. A tomb was found at this site that was likely the tomb of a rich man because there are signs of a large cistern for watering a garden and a wine press, which were things commonly owned by the rich. The tomb itself is also large enough for a man to stand in which aligns with the gospel accounts of the resurrection scene. They have preserved this spot as a beautiful garden and place for prayer and reflection as well as praise and adoration for our risen King!

After seeing the tomb we were given a private place to celebrate communion together as a group. It was a beautiful, worshipful time together. Pastor Marcel led while Ed and I served the bread and wine. It was the perfect way to share together in the relationship we have in Christ after seeing all we did this week!

It's hard to believe that after all the waiting and anticipation the trip is over. I loved it! It was fun, educational, and a time for renewal and refreshing in my faith. The things I learned will stay with me forever I'm sure! We are flying out of Tel Aviv tomorrow at 7:30am and we will arrive back in Calgary at 6:30pm. I will leave you with one last picture of the door of the Garden Tomb. It is the reason for my faith, the only thing that makes these experiences meaningful, and the foundation of our salvation!

Garden of Gethsemane

2012-02-26T13:11:00.001-07:00

This morning was an amazing time. It's difficult to put into words the feelings and emotions of going to the Garden of Gethsemane. The church of Nations is there and it's beautiful.

There are olive trees that are likely 2000 years old...they would have witnessed Jesus, the Son of God, praying.

There is a view toward the Temple Mount and the Kidron Valley. When Jesus was crucified it was the Passover so imagine almost a million people coming to the temple. During that time they estimate that 250,000 - 300,000 animals were killed at the temple and their blood was washed down through the Kidron Valley and towards the Hinnom Valley. As Jesus prayed, knowing the time was near for him to give his own life as a sacrifice, the stench of the blood of animal sacrifice literally flowed like a river through the valley less then half a kilometer away. He prayed for several hours, for himself and for the disciples and particularly for me, and all the other Christians that would come to believe. When he was betrayed and taken to Caiaphas's house he would have had to walk through the valley running with the blood of the sacrifice and he prepared to become the last and ultimate sacrifice. The weight of this fell around me this morning and it was a struggle to keep the tears from flowing. We sang together for a bit and then had some free time to sit and pray or cry or enjoy the grounds. It was a very emotional time for me as well as a lot of others with us. The best way to describe it was that it was heavy...the place, the reality, the truth of it. Like the name suggests, an olive press squeezes out the oil and I felt God pressing my heart... Words are hard to find.

After that I was afraid to speak or look anyone in the eye lest I cried more. We went to First Baptist Church of East Jerusalem to join their Sunday service. It was an amazing time! Worshiping God with other Christians in the Palestinian Church was such a fitting thing to do in the Holy City. It was a small church. Brian volunteered to lead worship and it was totally improvised. There were more tears but it was joyful and touching to be a part of that group of people praising God! My heart was filled!

Psalm 48:1. Great is the Lord, and most worthy of praise, in the city of our God, his holy mountain.

After church we went to the top of the Mount of Olives to the Church of Ascension, where Jesus left this earth and ascended to heaven. Interestingly, this is a Muslim site. There is apparently a foot print of Christ on the rock within this simple church that was filled with pigeons! Take a look and see what you think. :)

Next we went to the Israel Museum and the Shrine of the Book. It is a huge fairly new building where they have built a model of the city of Jerusalem from the Second Temple period. The model was impressive, it took 25 years to complete. It really helps put everything in the massive city into perspective. I bought myself and map and a book there so I can study it more later (I know, I'm a bit of a geek!).

The other part of this place is the Shrine of the Book which holds fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls found at Qumran. It was really quite cool to see those pieces. Especially the piece of the Isaiah scroll. I told you all about this when we saw Qumran, yesterday but here we were able to actually see the scrolls that were found.

The rest of the museum was filled with antiquities. We had an hour or so to wander through, but a person could really have spent three days there! We will leave it at that.

Tonight there were 13 of us who walked down from our hotel to the old city and the Western Wall. I was quite tired but it was definitely worth it! We followed Pastor Marcel through the tunnel streets under all the tightly packed houses. There were narrow corridors and vendors, children playing, women selling spices and herbs, and even the odd car squeezing down the tunnel roads! It was a very cool experience. We will be going back there tomorrow during the day to follow the Way of the Cross (Via Dolorosa) as well as several other stops. At the western wall we saw many ultra orthodox Jews praying and crying at the wall. The women have a separate section that they are allowed to touch and so we went up and touched the wall. We were struck by all the piety and religiosity around us, and yet is was in an olive grove near the Kidron Valley and in a tiny unmarked church in east Jerusalem that God's presence was so powerfully felt today.

Only one more day left here in Israel and there are still new things to see and learn!

Riding Camels and Floating in the Dead Sea

2012-02-25T14:15:00.001-07:00

This morning we headed off towards the Dead Sea and Masada. On the way we stopped at sea level where George knew of a Bedouin man with a camel we could ride! It was so much fun! It was only a camel on the side of the road but still it was my first time and we all had a blast!

Our next stop after driving along the Dead Sea (which by the way is the lowest place on earth at 423 meters below sea level!) was the famous fortress of Herod the Great, Masada. We rode a cable car to the top and explored the ruins.

There is still much of the ramp that the Romans spent 3 years building in order to breach the walls of this fortress in 73 CE.

Standing on the top of the three tiered palace built by Herod we had an amazing view of the vivid blue dead sea!

After exporting the site at Masada we headed off to discover Qumran where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found. The Desert cliffs and wadi's here are beautiful in themselves and they are made more amazing when you consider the treasure that they protected for so many years! There were 15,000 fragments of Biblical texts found in 11 different caves here. Parts from every book of the Old Testament except for the Book of Esther were found. One of the greatest finds was the scroll of Isaiah that was written about 100 years before Jesus. It is the oldest copy of the book that we have and it is nearly exactly the same as the translations we have now. There are so many detailed prophesies about Jesus in Isaiah and it is proof that the text was written before Jesus and not composed afterwards to account for the fulfillment of the prophecy as some have suggested. Very cool!

Our last stop today was at the Dead Sea! We all had so much fun floating in the salty mineral rich water! I didn't think I would enjoy the free mud bath treatments either but it was great! It left our skin feeling amazing!

Tomorrow we are going to the Garden of Gethsemene and in the afternoon to the Israel Museum. Only two more days of adventures to be had for a lifetime of impact!

On the Jericho Road

2012-02-24T12:24:00.001-07:00

Before I start this post today I would like to address a comment I received. My dad told me that I have only been featuring women on our trip in the pictures on this blog. There has been a request to feature a few of the men and today I made my best attempt to capture some snapshots of them. So to start I will feature me and Henry Strauss together outside the Bet She'an tel.

This morning we left the Sea of Galilee, dorve south along the Jordan river and made our first stop at Bet She'an. Who can guess what biblical event occurred here? .... anyone? ...anyone at all? Well the truth is I had to ask as well! Bet She'an is an ancient city with a tel like the one I described yesterday at Megiddo. It is a strategic city at the junction of the Jezreel valley and the Jordan valley so as a result is was continually fought over and used by civilizations as far back as 1000 BC or earlier. The main attraction here is the Roman bathhouse. You can see the pillars that would have been under the floor of the hot room where they had fires going to keep the room above hot.

This archeological site also features a large Roman theater, as well as an amitheater, and a hippodrome.

In this Roman city during the 4th century AD they had devised a way to have the sewer drain away under the streets. This road has been reconstructed from the remains but it is none-the-less cool to see how they made that work. In the picture you can see the canal under the peak of the road.

Lastly at this site we went here... See if you can guess where we are sitting!

It's the public latrine! This was a bit more advanced then the one I showed you at Ceasarea because this one had flowing water below the seats to wash things away!

So have any of you figured out what event happened at Bet Sha'an? It is found in 1 Samuel 31 when King Saul fights his final battle against the Philistines and he knows that the battle is lost so he falls on his own sword. When the Philistine find his body they behead him and nail is body to the walls of Bet Sha'an, or Beth Shan as it is called in the Bible. It's a gruesome story I know but certainly a pivotal point in the history of Israel because after Saul, King David takes the throne and leads Israel triumphantly for many years.

Our next stop along the way was Jericho. On the way there while we were on the road to Jericho, Henry Strauss led some people on the bus in a chorus of "On the Jericho Road"! So cool I thought. :) We stopped outside Jericho at the Mount of Temptation where Jesus was led into the desert for 40 days and nights to be tempted by the devil after his baptism.

At this stop we saw our first camel as well! Look how cute he is! I took this picture specifically for my nephew who is waiting for me to bring him home a camel stuffy!

We stopped for lunch at the city of Jericho. Did you know that Jericho is the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world? I know, amazing! It is because there is a fresh spring there and so it is desirable for people in the Middle East to settle where your find fresh water. Also if you recall 2 Kings 2:19-21 the people of Jericho asked Elisha to to heal their spring which only produced bitter water. He does, and from that day on the water has been sweet from this spring. :)

After lunch we stopped at the traditional sycamore tree that they commemorate as the tree that Zacchaeus climbed to see Jesus as he entered the city. Very cool, particularly because we had all just been tricked into buying sycamore nuts from a fruit shop. They turned out to actually be peanuts coated in a sweet meringue stuff! It was too funny!

Finally our journey today brought us into Jerusalem. We drove through a tunnel and emerged along the side of the Mount of Olives with the Dome of the Rock in view. That will be a stop for another day. Today we headed to the House of Caiaphas the High Priest. This spot is also known as Peter in Gallicantu; Gallicantu is Latin for cock crow.

The amazing thing about this site is that they are very sure that this actually was the true house of Caiaphas where Jesus was taken after he was arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane. It was here, while Jesus awaited trial by the high priest, that Peter denied knowing him three times before he heard the rooster crow, just as Jesus had predicted only hours before. Although it is not known exactly what happened to Jesus while he was in Caiaphas's house it is likely that he was thrown in to the dungeons and more specifically into a pit of solitary confinement. We walked through these dungeons and even entered the exact pit where Jesus was held and here Ed read for us Psalm 88. It was a very profound and sobering moment for everyone as we listened to the Word of God, written by David a thousand years prior to the event, and imagined the son of God, our Redeemer, in the pit waiting to pay the price for our sins. There were few words spoken in this moment and we ascended back up.

There is not much to added after that. We took in the view of the Mount of Olives and the Kidron Valley from this vantage point before heading to the hotel in East Jerusalem for supper and an evening of visiting and enjoying one another's company. Tomorrow it is off to Masada at the Dead Sea!

From Nazareth to Megiddo

2012-02-23T12:00:00.001-07:00

Our first stop today was in Cana where Jesus performed his first miracle, turning water into wine at a wedding! There was a lovely small church there and a spot to taste the sweet wine of Cana and even buy a little bottle to bring home.

Today stood out for me most in the artistry and beauty of the things that we saw. There are basically churches, shrines, and basilica's covering most of the traditional holy sites and Nazareth is no exception. At some of the sites the churches and shrines seem to border on idolatry of the object rather than commemorating the significance of the place. In Nazareth, the Church of Annunciation to me was most striking in the beauty of the art work and the nations of the world that contributed to it.

Yes, the church does stand over the traditional house of Mary where the angel appeared to her to tell her she would conceive the son of God. It is amazing to contemplate the reality of that event for sure.

For me though I was most taken by the art work. The beautiful stained glass windows were breathtaking!

There is an area in the church where all the different nations have contributed art work. Canada's contributions is... interesting.

Japan's and Mexico's I think were my two favorites.

China had a contribution that had to be smuggled out of their country by the underground church to get here and that made it really special to me.

Then we had the unique 3D art from America. Well, you be the judge!

After seeing that church we walked through the Nazareth bazaar to the synagogue.

This is a replica synagogue of what one may have looked like where Jesus taught and read his famous quote from Isaiah.

For lunch today George took us to an Arabian restaurant outside of Megiddo. It was an absolute feast! I had lamb kabobs and they were melt in your mouth delicious! The table was filled with Arabic salad, hummus, babba ganouche, pita bread, cabbage salad, and several other things I can't even name. We had lovely fresh lemonade made with added mint leaves as well. Delicious! For dessert, baklava and Arabic coffee (which might be my new favorite thing)! We were all stuffed after that meal!

Next was the archeological site of Megiddo. Megiddo was a strategic military site on the edge of the Jezreel valley so for centuries kings built fortresses there on the hill overlooking the valley. On this "tel" or hill of ancient ruins, there are represented 17 layers of cities and possibly 30 different settlements. In ancient times they used to just build a new city right on top of the destroyed old city and so as time went on you basically built up the hill with layers of old cities below you. There are layers here reaching back before the time of David and Solomon. There are also of course ruins from Solomon's time and all the way up to the time of later kings such as Jereboam and Ahaz.

From the top of this point you can see the peak of Mt Carmel.

The Valley of Jezreel is also know as the place there the last battle of Armageddon will take place. It is interesting to think that Jesus grew up in Nazareth with a view of the place where he will one day return to fight the last battle!

We gathered for a group shot on this lookout over the Jezreel valley. Nice group, don't you think?

Finally on our way back to Tiberius we drove through Nain were Jesus raised a man from the dead and from there we got a view of Mt. Tabor. Mt. Tabor is the most likely site for the transfiguration of Christ.

Tonight is our last night here on the shore of the Sea of Galilee and tomorrow we head back south towards Jerusalem where we will be staying for the next 4 nights. My heart is sad to leave this place but excited to see what awaits us in Jerusalem!

To the gates of hell and back!

2012-02-22T12:38:00.001-07:00

Well today was another new and interesting day. We left Tiberius at 9am and headed north to the Golan Heights, the farthest northern point in Israel. This is the area where Mt. Hermon is located which is a possible site for the transfiguration and the northern boarder of the Promised Land. Along our way we stopped first at the Banias waterfall. The Banias is one of the three rivers that flow into the Jordan river. The short hike down to the falls was lovely, reminded me a lot of Johnston's Canyon near Banff actually. There was a beautiful almond tree in bloom near the path and it smelled lovely and sweet!

At the bottom of the path was a tremendous misty waterfall!

After that we headed along the boarder of Syria towards Ceasarea-Philipi. Here it became quite obvious that we are in a milatary state when our guide pointed out the signs all along the road. Sorry the picture is fuzzy, it is taken from the bus window.

Yup. A mine field! Crazy! Next we arrived in Ceasarea-Philipi where the ancient city and Temple of Pan was located. The god Pan was a Greek god who was said to live in the cave in the cliff there. Pan was a notoriously terrible god who required drunkenness and human sacrifices. It is said that the cave was the entrance to hell where the gods descended in the winter and emerged in spring after the appropriate sacrifices were given. This is why this place is know as the gates of hell. There were several pagan temples in this city, including a temple to Zeus and a temple to Augustus. In the Bible this is the city that Jesus retreated to to avoid the crowds of people following him. It is here that he asked his disciples, "Who do you say that I am?" and Peter replied correctly saying, "Your are the Christ, the son of God". It was here among the temples of many Pagan gods, in the city that may have been considered the Las Vegas of ancient Israel, that Peter declared and Jesus confirmed that indeed he was the messiah, the son of the one true God! How profound and what a unique spot to do this in.

After visiting this place we continued towards the snow coved peak of Mt. Herman.

There are villages in this area belonging to the Druze people. They are a unique group of people with their own non-Jewish religion. We ate a traditional lunch at a restaurant run by these people. They made something out of dough that resembled a huge crepe, called shrake. We had that spread with a cheese/yogurt filling along with thyme and sesame seed oil and then added salad to it and folded it all up like a pita. It was cool to see the Druze woman making the shrake right there on their giant upside down wok thing!

After lunch we drove south past the demilitarized zone where the UN has a base camp. All along the way we saw CAT5 helicopters circling and the odd M16 flying overhead monitoring the area.

Once again we reached the Sea of Galilee and went to the place where it drains into the Jordan river. This is a popular baptism site, although it is probably not the actual site of Jesus' baptism which was likely farther south along the river. It is surprising to see how relatively narrow and unimpressive the Jordan is. It's actually quite muddy and filled with catfish!

When we arrived back in Tiberius we spent about an hour walking downtown and looking at the shops and flea markets. I must say, pedestrians certainly do not have the right of way here! Also, on another similar note, our bus driver Ludwig is an amazing driver! He maneuvers that huge coach bus down any street and into any parking lot with the greatest of ease!

Tomorrow we are off to Nazareth and Cana, and then to Meggido. I'm sure it will be another excellent day!

On the Sea of Galilee

2012-02-21T13:09:00.001-07:00

I don't even know how to begin. Today I truly felt like we walked where Jesus walked. Most of his ministry was on and around the Sea of Galilee and today we went to many of the traditional sites. First things first, we went for a boat ride on the lake. It was amazing! Probably one of my best activities so far along with another highlight from today that I'll mention shortly. We got one "Jesus Boat" all to ourselves and sailed out for about an hour on to the calm waters of the Kinneret, the Hebrew name for the Sea of Galilee. The sky was clear, the sun was shining and the rolling hills surrounding the lake were green. Perfect!

Paster Daryl led us in a devotional on the boat from Matthew chapter 4 and the calling of the disciples. It was so excellent! Everyone seemed to enjoy it!

From there we went to the Mount of the Beatitudes, a possible site where Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount. Driving to the church site we saw examples of how the valleys of the hills form natural theaters were you can imagine Jesus teaching large groups. At the top of the hill we read the Beatitudes from Matthew 5 and then spent about a half an hour reflecting and wandering about the area. It was truly quite special being there and looking at the hills and the lake below which are much the same as they would have been when Jesus lived here. The church that is built there is octagonal, with 8 sides to represent each of the 8 beatitudes.

We then headed to the site of the Jesus Boat again to see the actual boat that they uncovered there in 1986. Seeing something that was very likely from the time that Jesus lived, or perhaps only a few decades later, was really cool. The fact that they were able to find and escavate this completely wooden boat that had been submerged in the water for 2000 years was also impressive. We had lunch there served by the kibbutz and continued on our journey around the north side of the sea.

We came next to the church over the proposed site of the feeding of the 5000. Our guide made an interesting point here that this miracle of providing food for so many people with only a few fish and loaves was not so much the "magic" of making food multiply but the realization that with God and even just a few people serving the blessing is multiplied. Have you ever noticed that? A missionary can often touch so many lives just by being amoung the people and not alway because he has a million dollars to build a school. Although of course that is good too, I hope you can still see my point.

The church on the site of the fish and the loaves contains a famous mosaic floor. The original floor was lifted and the missing pieces of the mosaic have been filled in. It is quite cool to see.

Now my next favorite spot of the day! Peters Primacy was a simple spot on the shore where it is suggested that the episode of John 21 took place. Here, after the resurrection while Peter, John and others were fishing in the morning, Jesus appeared to them and asked, "Peter, do you love me?", three times. To sit there on the shore, looking out at the lake, knowing that the resurrected Jesus actually stood there (or nearby) and commissioned Peter, the Rock, to build his church... It really was holy ground and a special place. For me this was a highlight and a time to reflect and feel God's presence... What more can I say?

Last but not least we went to the city of Capernaum. This is one of the few places where we are certain the biblical city was. We know from scripture that this city was where Peter lived, and where Jesus set up his home base. It is an archeological site where there is a synoguoge where Jesus may have taught, that was rebuilt in the Byzantine era. I really liked this place, wandering through the synagogue and imagining what it would have been like to be in the court of woman to pray and worship. Of course there is also the famous site where they believe Peters house was. They have built a huge spaceship-like thing over the spot which I'm not a fan of honestly, but whatever. Throughout the city you can see the foundation stones of houses that were made with the original basalt stones. The white stones that are found there were imported by the Turks during the Byzantine era.

My mind and heart are full as we relax here in the hotel before supper. People, Christ came, he chose to live in Israel and he offered salvation to all people! Jews, Palestinians, Canadians, Americans... the world! It has become so clear to me since I've been here that the New Covenent is for all people and the land we are promised is The Kingdom of God. Something to think about. I'll step off my soap box now, but I just wanted to share with you what many of us on this trip have been coming to understand. :)

We went to Caesarea!

2012-02-20T12:20:00.001-07:00

Today we drove north to the coastal town of Caesarea. It was a long bus ride, a couple of hours, and we arrived at Herod the Greats palace on the shores of the Mediterranean at 11:30 am. The first place we explored was the great theatre. It was built facing the sea and there they held many theatre events as well as public trials. Paul was on trial there before Bernice and Agrippa before he was sent to Rome under house arrest. The theatre has actually been reconstructed and they still hold events there now and then. Today actually we were treated to having Petra sing on the stage! Without any microphones she sounded beautiful throughout the entire theatre!

Next we explored the area of Herods Palace. It was actually built out on a man made island stretching out into the sea. Although this must have been an amazing view, the great rift plate that runs through Israel sent earthquakes that caused the palace as well as the amazing breakwater he built for the harbour to sink into the sea.

Directly beside the palace was the hippodrome where they would hold chariot races and relay races. Since these events were action packed and often went on for 3 hours or more they had conveniently placed toilets, literally, in the entrance so you would not have to miss any of the action! Ba ha ha! Brian and Fred tested them out for us! :)

We drove a short distance up the coast to the aqueducts that Herod build to bring fresh water from the springs of Mt. Carmel, 70km away, into the city of Caesarea. Here we enjoyed a chance to explore a bit by the ocean and a few people even waded in. There was all kinds of shards of ancient pottery that had washed up on this shore there!

Around 1 pm we travel eastward towards the Carmel mountain range and stopped for another falafel lunch before reaching Mt. Carmel. After lunch we headed up to the site at the top of Mt. Carmel where Elijah challenged the 450 priests of Baal to have their god send fire down on the sacrifice. They were unable to do it but our God sent fire that licked up the trench of water and the sacrifice and all! What an amazing site that must have been! After the display of Gods power the people praised Him and killed the 450 priest of Baal. Standing on the top of Mt. Carmel and looking out at a view over the Jezreel valley imagining it filled with the nation of Israel and the power of God pouring down from heaven... Wow!

They call this area the bread basket of Israel because it is the most fertile land around. This is also the valley where Revelation says the battle of Armageddon will take place! It is all a bit too much to comprehend.

Today was a relatively relaxing day. A lot of time on the bus today but we saw much of the country, from the very rocky and almost mountainous area of Jerusalem and Bethlehem, to the fertile rolling hills near the coast and in the Jezreel valley. Tonight we are staying in Tiberius on the Sea of Galilee. We have an amazing view from our hotel room over the sea... We are staying here for the next four nights at a hotel/apartment (?) that is run by a Jewish kibbutz. It is a lot different than the last hotel we stayed at, we were a bit spoiled in Bethlehem! :)

Tomorrow we are all excited to ride on a Jesus boat on the Sea of Galilee!

Sights, sounds, and smells for Bethlehem

2012-02-19T11:48:00.001-07:00

Wow! What a day! Today was our first day of touring and learning. As we travel the Holy Land and walk where Jesus walked it is only appropriate that we would begin at the Church of the Nativity. So this morning at 8 am we entered the church over the place where Jesus was born. The church is shared by Catholics and Greek Orthodox people. The half that is taken by the Greek Orthodox is said to be arguably the oldest church in the world that is still used as a church.

The first thing that hit me as we walked in while they were performing the morning mass was smell of incense. It was strong and sweet in the air and my mind immediately went to the tabernacle in the wilderness where they would burn incense to the LORD on the alter of incense to represent prayers going up to God.

Next the sound of the chanting during the Greek mass that was spoken in Arabic. It is still ringing in my ears. That sound is also heard from a different religion from the minarets all around the city when the Muslim call to prayer is broadcast 5 times per day. Although both of these are more religious rites then relationship, they remind me to pray and talk to God often.

We made our way down in to the crypts where it is said that the baby boys killed by Herod when Jesus was born were buried. Here there was also the study of St. Jerome who first translated the Greek Bible into Latin, making it accessible to the entire Roman world.

At last we entered the cave were it is believed Jesus was born. Could it really be the place? I laid my hand on the stone where they say the infant Saviour was laid, and it didn't matter to me at that moment whether it was the true spot. I knew I was in the city of David, the city where Jesus was born, and it all just seemed very real to me at that moment.

After the Church of the Nativity we went to the Shepherds Field. It was quite cold and rainy this morning but we all gathered on a hillside at a place where there were ruins of a monastery and read Luke chapter 2. What an amazing time! Sitting, looking out at a field very much like, if not the exact field, where God broke 400 years of silence and chose to speak through a host of angels to shepherds. He gave this amazing message of peace and good to shepherds, the lowliest of people, perhaps the humblest of people. Then sitting in the rain looking over the fields outside Jerusalem we sang Silent Night. I could only get the first two lines out before I choked up at the significance of where we were and what we were singing!

God provided a slight lull in the rain and we hiked down in to an actual undisturbed natural cave much like the ones that shepherds used to stay warm at night.

As we drove from there around the city of Bethlehem we passed olive groves, houses and shops, the separation wall between Bethlehem, which is Palestinian, and Israel. There was a lot of profound graffiti in various places.

We spent some time at a really nice shop that sold olive wood carvings and jewelry as well as lots of other trinkets and such. I bought an amazing nativity set and had it mailed home! After shopping for a bit we went for lunch at a Falafel place. Did I enjoy the falafel? Well I was hungry and it was flavourful and stuffed with salad so it hit the spot.... But I'm not sure I really loved it :)

After lunch we did a short driving tour. It was too rainy and muddy to climb the mountain to the top of the Herodium, so we stayed at the base near the ruins of an old army barracks. The Herodium is a palace that Herod the Great built into the top of a mountain. It looks like a mountain with the top shaved off but apparently when you look down inside from the top you would see the inside of the palace that he built.

Along the side of the Herodium were shepherds tending their flocks! Seriously! There was a small boy there as well that must have been about 11 and Pearl and I got to thinking David would have been a young boy just like him when he was first anointed to be the future king of Israel.

We then drove up to Solomon's pools, which were actually built during the Ottoman period, not by King Solomon as the name would lead you to believe.

It turned out today was Tina's birthday so we stopped at a gelato place were we enjoyed gelato and birthday cake as well! It's possible that I ate exactly the right amount of chocolate! Although I was certain close to the edge of eating too much! :)

Finally we headed over the the Bethlehem Bible College were we met Pastor Alex of the East Jerusalem First Baptist Church. He is quite a renowned Palestinian Christian and author. He talked with us at length about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Rather eye opening for me. I'm not one for politics necessarily but I certainly learned more about the conflict from a new perspective that we don't often hear in North America.

Whew! What an amazing first day! Supper was excellent and then a time of debriefing with the group. Tomorrow we head off towards the Sea of Galilee, stopping at Caesarea Maratima, Nazareth, and Mt. Carmel!!! I can hardly wait to stand where Elijah stood when he called down the fire from heaven on the sacrifices before the priests of Jezebel!

We arrived in Bethlehem

2012-02-18T07:45:00.001-07:00

We all arrived safely in Tel Aviv this morning at 5:15am, and made it through customs with no problems! We meet up with our Palestinian Christian tour guide, Gabriel and he is fantastic! We took a 45 minute bus ride to Bethlemhem. We arrived at the Jaric Palace hotel at 7am and enjoyed a breakfast before getting our room keys and heading up to rest. We actually have the whole day off to rest today. Many of us need it because it was difficult to sleep and rest on the 2 day trip here.

This is our view of Bethlemhem from our hotel room

After a nice rest and a shower, Pearl and I went down for a snack of hummus and ba ba ganoush! It was delicious!

Check out my Arabic Sprite!

Tomorrow we start our tour from here, Bethlehem, where Christ was born! First stop will be the Shepherds field!

A Day in London

2012-02-18T06:35:00.002-07:00

We are still in transit as I write this post. The flight from Calgary last night, was for the most part, a good one. I got only a few hours of sleep but it was a comfortable plane, we got 2 hot meals, and everything was on time. We arrived in London at 12:30pm (5:30am Alberta time... Luckily my sister was already up at that time so I could send her an iMessage; Thank heaven for iMessage!). Everyone went their own ways and either found their way into London or else stayed in the airport to rest.

As for me and Pearl, we found a locker for our carry-ons and then took the Tube straight from the airport to Piccadilly Circus.

As we emerged from the underground we ran into Denise and Charlynn! We took in the atmosphere and excitement at Piccadilly Circus for a few minutes... Wow the crowds were amazing!

We bought tickets for a double decker city tour and sat right on the top of the open air bus for a 2 hours tour of many of the main sights in London. We saw St. James castle, Buckingham Palace, Trafelgar Square, Westminster Abby, Big Ben and the Parliament buildings. We crossed the Thames river on the London Bidge and saw the London Eye and then crossed back over the Thames on the famous Tower Bridge. We went by the Tower of London and saw St. Paul's Cathedral. It was your typical complete tour of London in 2 hours! my dad would have been proud!

We got back to Heathrow in plenty of time for a bite to eat and then Charlynn, Denise and I found a spot to get massages! ah! Best money I spent today!

I can't believe I'm still functioning on about 2 or 3 hours of sleep. I am on the plane to Israel as I write this and I'm hoping to post it when I arrive in Bethlehem around 9am Israel time.

I am having such a great time with the people on the trip and I'm am really excited about what the next 10 days has in store for us!

2012-02-16T19:55:00.002-07:00

Leaving on a jet plane!

2012-02-16T19:33:00.002-07:00

We all arrived safely in Calgary today and we are hanging out in the airport waiting for our flight which leaves at 8:35pm. That's right, a lovely overnight fight to London Heathrow!

I travelled here with a group of 7 and we all chipped in for a limo ride! I have to say it was awesome and for me because it was much cheaper then driving up and paying for parking or a hotel. And it was a limo! Seriously! :)

We are all in great spirits and ready to head out on our journey! As I'm starting to meet all the people on the trip I'm really looking forward to the relationship that I'm certain will develope. Everyone seems to agree that it is a great group of people!

There are 26 of us in all and more the vast majority of us this will be our first trip to the Holy Land. I have been told that once you go you will want to go back again. I tend to think that might be true!

Our next stop is London and we have a 10 hour layover there. Some of us plan to stay in the airport while others are going to take the train into the city. I'm am still undecided at the moment but more then likely I will go in to the city.

Signing off for now! Talk to you all again on the otherside of the Atlantic!

Box of Chocolates

2012-02-12T17:58:00.003-07:00

Valentines Day is just around the corner. I finished this quilt just after Christmas but I have been saving this post for Valentines Day because it fits so well. :)

I found this pattern in the November 2010 issue of American Patchwork magazine. I immediately tore out the pages and started my search for the fabrics they used. Sadly at that time the "Pink Chocolates" line of fabric was completely sold out everywhere! I couldn't even find it on Etsy. Then in Phoenix at Christmas last year I found a fat quarter stack of pinks and browns that would work perfectly! I probably could have made two quilts out of the stack actually!

I started working on it at the Spring 2011 SMT quilting retreat and I finished it in November 2011 at the fall retreat.

I love the way the star blocks and the log cabin blocks blend together to form this pattern. It's like the dark brown squares are sort of floating in front of the light cream and pink stars.

I used Shanna's (Sweet and Sassy) idea of her wave quilting on a smaller scale. It like how it turned out but I think I will try it a bit looser next time. I made a label and attached it to the backing that I made out of minky! I love the minky backing? It makes the quilt supper comfy for cuddling. :)

I finished the last of the hand stitching on the binding in the middle of January. Once again I used the scrappy reds for a binding. I love that look!

This quilt works perfectly with the color scheme of my living room as well. This quilt is all about me. I love the pinks and the browns, I love the minky backing, I love the name, Box of Chocolates!

We have had such a mild winter here in Alberta this year so I was able to take all these photo's outside. You may notice in this popular picture that I am wearing my new walking shoes for my upcoming trip to Israel!

In the next few days you will notice some changes on my blog. Not permanent changes, this will still be a quilting blog, but for my trip I plan to post daily updates of the places and people that I will be seeing. I hope that you follow along on my journey as I travel to the Holy Land to walk where Jesus walked!

An Afternoon with Donovan

2012-01-16T14:34:00.001-07:00

I didn't do a lot of quilting this week but one thing I did get to do was spend the day with my nephew Donovan! At noon his mom and dad dropped him off at my place before they went to Calgary for a boxing match. It took less then 5 minutes for Donovan to get out the lego's and have me building a fire truck and police helicopter. We had Milo and Otis playing in the background while we played firefighters with the lego's.

Next we we played police and criminals with the little Lego men. I was the criminal of course and I was told to try and get the money from the police. I was also told that I was to have the criminal's "wait over there and say something funny" while the police hid the money! He is seriously so cute it's hard not to bust out in hysterics the whole time he's around! Loved it! I loved every minute of it!

Later we went downstairs and I introduced him to the game "barrel of monkeys". Surprisingly, I think this simple game was his favorite!

Next we played Connect 4, but of course Donovan was well versed in this game and told me everything I had to do and when I was allowed to play. Not surprisingly he won all the games!

He also loved this although he had a lot of questions about the bed bugs; Where did they come from? Why are they on the bed? Are they tickling the man? Do I have bed bugs in my bed? Etc... I assured him that his mom keeps all the bed bugs away by cleaning his sheets and making sure Donovan always has his bath. He was glad to hear there was a purpose for these things I think! :)

We also built 2 puzzles, a Lightening McQueen and a Buzz Lightyear puzzle.

Finally it was supper time. I rarely make a big meal but I actually planned something for Donovan and I tonight. Shake&Bake chicken, potatoes, carrots, cheesy noodles, and cherry tomatoes! To my surprise, Donovan no longer likes potatoes or cherry tomatoes and he rejected the chicken. No worries though! He ate enough carrots to turn his skin orange and noodles are a staple in his diet so at least he got a full belly! I myself, thoroughly enjoyed my delicious meal! Best meal I've cooked in months I'd say!

After supper Donovan was disappointed to find that the ice cream he put in my freezer in November was no longer there and he was not happy with the idea of an orange for dessert. So being the kind of Auntie who spoils kids, I took him out to the Marble Slab for strawberry ice cream with gummy bears! It really wasn't hard to convince me because I'm totally addicted to Marble Slab ice cream! My favorite is double dark chocolate with butterfinger mixins!

We made it back home by 6:45, just enough time to play another round of police and criminals with the Lego men! Of course I was the criminal again. Then up to bed at 7 where I read four stories, "Too much stuff" by Robert Munch, "Oh the things you can think" and "Fox in Socks" by Dr Seuss, and the Toy Story book.... Whew! When I kissed his head and told him it was time to close his eyes and go to sleep he gave in to the exhaustion and drifted off without a peep! I checked on him an hour later and couldn't resist snapping a pictured of this bundle of amazingness sleeping soundly under the Monster Quilt (remember only a year ago when he rejected it?) and hugging his teddy bear.

What a fantastic day! I get so much joy from just playing with him all day! Although I must say, neither of my cats want anything to do with him. They run and hide as soon as they hear him! Megan was all to relived to come out of hiding after he was in bed and snuggle in for a nap on top of the monster pillows that I had to take out of the room before Donovan would go in! Oh well, at least he has accepted the quilt! One step at a time!

I also had another new game to try... Well actually it's an old game that I used to play as a child. Bed Bugs!

Prince Charming Placemats

2012-01-10T11:59:00.000-07:00

Well check this out! I finally found a project that I was willing to cut into my Tula Pink, Prince Charming fabric for! My sister has admired this "frog print" fabric a few times when she has perused my sewing room and so I knew for a while that she would receive a project from this line. I have been meaning to make her a set of place mats since her birthday but for some reason have just never gotten around to it. So finally before Christmas I found the time and the inspiration to get started. It began as a dream to make her a set of 12 and slowly dwindled down to a small set of 4... :)

Each place mat is backed with the frog print fabric and bound with the red tone-on-tone fabric. I added these cute little tags as labels to the back of each one as well. I have been really trying to maintain the habit of labeling my quilts and projects and this was just one more option that I found.

Two of the place mats are quilted with a small stippling pattern like this one.

The other two are quilted with this straight line grid pattern.

Here are the 4 designs that I made. Each one was inspirational. I used the general idea of known blocks but designed my own layout, sizes and colors. the first one I made was this pinwheel design. I must say it was rather a bit tougher then I anticipated, but I'm please overall with how it turned out.

The second one was the wonky star! This one was fun to make and I love the way it turned out even though it did involve a bit of math and sewing and unsewing to get it right!

The third one I tied to make was the star in a star block. I feel like I had seen this pattern done before but when I actually went to find it I couldn't so, I made it up myself. I'm also quite pleased with this one!

Lastly, there needed to be one especially for my nephew. I knew I wanted to make a frog but the trouble was finding a pattern! I search online and found a picture that I like and then made it in to a quilt pattern using HST and blocks. I think he turned out rather cute!

Jellyroll Quilt

2011-12-21T10:30:00.001-07:00

Here is the quilt I made for my other receptionist Ashley. She has worked for me for 13 months now and has really stepped up in her job. I was too excited to wait to give this to her on the last day of work. Honestly, my favorite part of Christmas is giving people things that I've sewed.

I started this jellyroll quilt at the SMT Quilt Retreat in November. This is the super fast jellyroll quilt that is rumored to take only 30 minutes to sew. I watched the YouTube video showing a woman who sewed this in 30 minutes... but honestly I think she must have started the clock after sewing all her strips end to end! I timed myself (because I needed to see how fast I could do it!) and it took me 2 hours and 40 minutes, including sewing all the strips end to end, then sewing the whole quilt together and ironing, but not including the borders. That woman's machine must have been smoking if she actually did that in 30 minutes!

So here is is all finished! It is such a simple quilt but I think it turned out super cute. The borders really help to finish it off I think.

I used blue flannel on the backing because as you know, flannel makes everything much more snugly

Once again I did a simple medium sized meandering pattern for the quilting using a variegated blue Sulky thread. But I must say... I really prefer Aurafil over any other thread. The sulky thread broke on me a bit more often then I would have liked.

I added a label to this quilt just by free-motion while I was quilting. It sort of blends in but it worked so I was happy!

This picture is well becoming my favorite quilt shot. I hope you like my little while ruffled slippers! :)

Another shot that I really like is the folded up one. :)

And finally we have the gift all wrapped up and ready to give her. She got the gift Monday night before our staff Christmas party and she loved it! It makes me so happy to give the gift of a quilt!

Down Home Tote

2011-12-20T10:30:00.012-07:00

This year for Christmas I felt my receptionists deserved something extra special. They have been working so hard for me these past several months, handling a busy schedule and staff changes as well as the regular day to day activities at the clinic. Good receptionist/opticians/assistants are the key to exceptional patient care and I am so thankful for the girls I have. Two years ago I made each of my three girls a quilt for Christmas and so this year I needed to make a quilt for my one new girl who join our team in November 2010. But what was I to make for Kyndra... she already got a quilt when I made the first batch. This summer I overheard her talking to my mom about how she would love to have a tote bag. So I picked this pattern by Sweetwater and broke into my prized stash of Enchino fabric to make this bag for her!

I used the brown Enchino twill fabric for the base of the outside bag and added some appliqued panels using some basics that I had. For the inside I used this cool new word print canvas. I bought a whole lot of this great canvas and this was the first time I've cut into it. I think it's a great choice for bags and totes because it adds stability and durability... and it's cute I think! :)

I added a small label by stitching my initials and the date onto the inner pocket. I think it worked fairly nicely there. I put two pockets inside. One 6 inch square and one cell phone sized. I almost always add a cell phone sized pocket to my bags because I like my phone to be easily accessible. :)

Here is the back side of the tote

Here's one last picture of the front. I was so happy with how this turned out I will definitely keep this pattern on hand for future use. I think my mom already plans to make one for herself as well!

Christmas Table Runner

2011-12-19T14:24:00.000-07:00

Last week I finished this table runner. It was made from a pannel that has been in my stash for a year. I added the candycane border and then decided I would do some special quilting on it. This is a gift for one of my friends (who shall remain nameless incase she's reading this post!) and I know that she would appreciate that I quilted each one of the little Christmas balls, changing thread everytime so that the colors matched. :)

I also tried some free-motion leaf patterns in the narrow inner green border. I'm rather impressed at how they came out, I will certainly be trying this again sometime!

Each of the Christmas balls I sort of "colored in" with thread. This was my first time trying something like this as well but I was fairly happy with the results, especially if you don't look too closely at it!

It might be a bit hard to see in this picture, but the backing looks pretty cool as well! I love my Bernina stitch regulator foot! It was definitely worth the money and it makes my quilting so much better!

Here are my kitties examinng my work from their current favorite place under the Christmas tree! I think they approve!

Wrapped in Love

2011-12-14T12:20:00.000-07:00

This fall there was one special project that I had the privilege of working on. My sister Jackie (who blogs at Educating Jackie) approached me with an idea. She met an amazing woman at BlogHer 2010, Susan Niebur. Susan blogs at Toddler Planet. She is a mother of two young boys, a wife, a NASA scientist (that's right NASA! So cool!), and she is currently fighting metastatic breast cancer which has spread to her spine, neck, ribs, and hips. Her blog is absolutely inspiring! She is candid about everything she is going through and struggling with, while exhibiting a grace that can only come from God in the midst of some of the most difficult situations.

Jackie came up with a project she titled Wrapped in Love. The idea was to show Susan that she is not alone and that there are a whole world of people fighting right along side her. People had the opportunity to write Susan (@whymommy) letters and cards and send her their well wishes via twitter using the hashtag #wrappedinlove. The other part of the project was to literally send her something that she could wrap herself and her boys in! Jackie approached me about sewing a quilt especially for Susan and I immediately jumped at the chance!

In August Jackie and I set to work on choosing the perfect pattern and fabric for a quilt for Susan. I went to straight to my favourite pattern designer, Julie from Jaybird Quilts, and picked out Firecracker.

Jackie agreed that the star pattern seemed perfect for someone in space science like Susan. We really wanted to choose something that would suit her and that was not too girly because we wanted her boys to also enjoy the quilt and snuggle up under it with their mom.

The job of picking the right fabric proved more difficult. I have so many favourites but we needed something that worked with the star theme and wasn't too flowery or overly feminine. After several days of scrolling through Etsy and The Fat Quarter Shop, we finally settled on a line of fabric called Sea Glass from LouLouThi by Anna Marie Horner. I decided to pair this with Circa Celadon Bella solid by Moda. At first we wanted a dark blue background to simulate the night sky but I worried that the stars would not stand out as much on that so we went with the mossy green colour instead.

I doubled the pattern size to allow for more family cuddling and began the job of cutting out the several hundred pieces that would make up the quilt.

I must say, the cutting out was the most tedious part of this quilt. After I got them all organized I sewed the pieces together fairly efficiently.

I loved the way the colours all look together! Next we chose the border fabrics. I used Cabernet from the Pure Elements line by Patricia Bravo for the narrow inner border. It was a good choice I think to frame up the centre panel. I love how the Pure Elements fabric shimmers slightly and it worked perfectly with the other fabrics.

Next I added a wider outer border using of one of the fabrics from the LouLouThi Sea Glass line.

Brenda at Sew Many Treasures, my LQS, helped us choose some comfy soft flannels for the backing fabric. I thoroughly enjoyed piecing the backing. As my readers know, I love making pieced backs and I totally love how this one turned out!

Next I layered and sandwiched the quilt, pinning carefully to avoid and tucks and wrinkles.

Once again I used my favourite free-motion meandering pattern for the quilting. This part of the process is so relaxing and therapeutic for me. I can just let my mind go and think about the recipient of the quilt, praying over my work and for the family who is to receive it.

The quilt label was not to be neglected either. Jackie and I chose a verse from the book of Joshua in the Old Testament that expresses God's encouragement to remain strong and trust that He will be with you though everything. We felt that this verse would be a special reminder for years to come for both Susan and her family whenever they look at the quilt.

With the quilt complete, I thought I would take a picture to demonstrate the intended use for this gift. :-)

As a quilter I often make quilts just because I love the fabrics, or the pattern, or because I want to learn a new technique, or even just to add to my stack of personal quilts on a bed or the couch or as a wall hanging. Of course there have been many quilts made as gifts as well, and these usually start out from the beginning with a specific person in mind. I think about the persons personality, lifestyle, and decorating preferences and then I make the quilt from start to finish with that person in mind. In this case I have never personally meet Susan or her family. However, even after reading a few of her blog posts I was struck by her courage and strength. I recognized in her writing the familiarity of a sister in Christ. I was taken with admiration for her position as a scientist and advocate for women in science (being a woman in the the field of science myself). My heart was broken by her candid descriptions of her struggle with cancer and I was moved to create something special to share with her.

I want to thank my sister Jackie for initiating this project. She met Susan at BlogHer last year and was moved with compassion to show Susan that there are women around the world standing behind her and loving her from afar. Jackie is a generous, loving, and fierce friend to whom it matters not whether she knows you in person or via the internet. It is her heart to encourage and offer support to someone who has been an inspiration to so many others, that made this project a reality. Thanks Jackie!

Here are the rest of the pictures I took of this quilt. I finally had a sunny day in November to take these pictures in my front yard. Everything in the quilt came together so beautifully is was hard to limit the pictures I took!

If anyone would like to leave a word of encouragement for Susan feel free to visit her blog, Toddler Planet, or find her on Twitter, @whymommy. Use the hastag #wrappedinlove.

Christmas!

2011-12-11T21:43:00.001-07:00

I have certainly been busy the last 3 weeks! I finished my Seminary class, wrote my exam and got my marks back. I did really well, and I feel really great about what I leaned! Next semester I'm going to take Introduction to Old Testament, and I already have my books ordered.

This weekend is my fist weekend of free time and it felt so good to just enjoy myself! My sister and I had a marathon day of Christmas baking yesterday.

Last weekend her and I went to see the ballet, The Nutcracker.

It was a fantastic show and we has an awesome time! It was the perfect way to kick off the Christmas season!

It has been 3 years since I've been home for Christmas. For the last several years I've gone to Phoenix over Christmas and loved every minute of the warm, snow-free holiday! :) So this is the first time in a long while that I have decorated my house and set up my Christmas tree.

I even went all out this year decorating my tree at work!

So tonight I finally had a chance to sit down again and do some quilting. I am working on a table runner that is to be a Christmas gift. It was great to get back to some free-motion quilting. I tried some new leaf designs and they turned out pretty well I think. Hopefully I will finish it tomorrow and then you'll see the finished project! :)

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Quilt Retreat Day 4

2011-11-20T21:54:00.001-07:00

Another great retreat has come and gone. I think this may have been my most productive retreat so far! It may be because I have been so busy this fall and I haven't done a lot of sewing, so I had a ton of pent up quilting energy. Is that a thing? It must be... :)

So this morning people were finishing up what they had left and slowly trickling out as they packed up and headed home. I, of course, was one of the last ones to leave.

Janet finished up her sampler quilt this morning. It's amazing how adding a few boarders can really finish off a quilt!

I continued to work on my Greetings from Canada quilt and got a good chunk done. It's got big blocks so it seems to go rather quickly.

It's not usually the type of quilt that I like to make but I'm really enjoying it! I plan to make this quilt for out at the cabin.

One of the last activities that we had planned for the group was to make a string pieced scrap quilt to donate to a local charity. Brenda demonstrated how to make them and then everyone went to work and in absolutely no time at all we had nearly a whole quilt top done! These are the two that I made.

Here's the rest of the quilt. We are going to leave it up at SMT for a while yet so if others want to add a few blocks they can. The when we have a full quilt we will finish it and choose a charity.

Aren't you impressed at how it turned out? It think it's amazing! My blocks totally stand out because they are brighter the the others but the more blocks that are added the more they will blend in. :)

So it's back to work again this week. I have two more weeks until my seminary class is finished so my priority will studying until then. I'm hoping to get lots of quilting done in December though so you can look forward to lots of posts of finished quilts!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Quilt Retreat Day 3

2011-11-19T23:17:00.001-07:00

Yet another productive day has come and gone. I must say, it's so inspiring to see what everyone else is working on. It really makes me want to quilt all the more!

First thing this morning Donna finished a fantastic appliquéd tree skirt.

I began my day with a very simple panel that I added borders to, to make a table runner.

I plan to add some nice decorative quilting at home and the it will become a Christmas gift. :)

Meanwhile Lorraine made this awesome cowboy quilt for her daughter-in-law.

After that Lorraine was so exhausted she decided to test out the brown minky quilt that Mary-Anne completed! Lol!

Now, I think that Sweetwater might be my very favorite fabric designer, and one of my favorite lines of theirs is Hometown. Debbie pieced a GORGEOUS quilt with this line! It was so big that we had to hang to design walls side by side so that it would fit.

I absolutely love this! I love the pattern and the scrappy random look of it all. I think I have the perfect idea for this pattern... We shall see.

Brenda had been diligently working on flying geese for her Reindeer Games wall hanging since yesterday and she finished it in the afternoon.

Florence has been working away at this lovely quilt design all weekend, carefully placing each square on-point.

Then we have Janet's quilt (not my mom, but another Janet). She is working on a sampler that she improvised! She just searched through some magazines and books and dug through her scrap bag and made up 12 different blocks using pinks and blues. We all teased her about never letting any tiny scraps go to waste! But she did a fantastic job and I'm sure her daughter will love it.

Finally we have several pieces by Cynthia. She made an apron, a tea towel, and a set of placemats. Then June made two cute little 9 patch table toppers.

Are any of you wondering what I worked on all day? :). Most of the day I laid out the blocks from my Box of Chocolates quilt and sewed it all together. Let me tell you there really are ALOT of points to line up and so that meant a slow work of pinning and sewing and pressing. I finished it around 9 pm and I absolutely love it!!!!!! I can't wait to quilt this and start using it!

Here it is from another angle. :)

I ended off the night by starting on a Greetings from Canada sampler. I have about four of the blocks finished. I'll keep working away on it tomorrow for sure.

I can't believe that the retreat has gone by so quickly! Only one more day and then it's back to real life again. I guess I better get some sleep tonight so that I'm ready to go for one more day of quilting! Good Night everyone!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Quilt Retreat Day 2

2011-11-19T00:10:00.001-07:00

Another great day of sewing is complete. I learned a couple of new things and I finished a couple of new projects. First off this morning, like I planned, I pieced together the blocks of my BQ Halloween quilt. I totally LOVE how it turned out!

After that I prepared two more fabric baskets to demonstrate as a tutorial.

The ruffle on the blue one took way longer then I feel it should have but it looks super cute so I guess it was worth it.

After that,Brenda demonstrated how to make the bow-tie block and I tried a couple of those.... Perhaps these will become a table runner.

Finally after supper I was able to get to making the 1600 Jelly Roll quilt. I watched a YouTube video showing someone making this quilt in 35 minutes. So I timed myself... Because of course I felt I needed to challenge that time! But holy cow! It took me an hour and a half to sew all the jelly roll strips into a long row (mitering all the joints and pressing the seams open). Then another hour and 35 minutes to sew the long strip in half five times to make the quilt top and press it. So that's a grand totally of 2 hours and 45 minutes to make an entire quilt top from start to finish! I have no idea how anyone was able to do it in 35 minutes... Their sewing machine must have been smoking!

I decided that I wanted to add boarders to my quilt and make it a bit bigger. So I added a 2 inch inner boarder and a 6 inch outer boarder. Unfortunately I was about 30 inches short on the fourth side on the outer boarder...rats! Luckily Brenda said that she still has that fabric in the shop so I will get a bit more and finish the final boarder next week. I am really pleased with how this quilt turned out! I may just need to make one or two others like it! This one is going to be a Christmas gift.

Many other quilts were finished today as well. Here are two of my favorites. This one is a Buggy Barn pattern made by Lorraine. So pretty! I especially think the checkerboard pieced sashing is absolutely fantastic!

The second one is the sports themed quilt that Debbie made for her grandson. It's an awesome boys quilt, and I love the coordinating solids with each of the sport prints.

I called it a day at 12:15am and took a final picture of all the finished quilts. This is by no means all the projects completed today but it's a good sampling of them!

Good Night!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Quilt Retreat Day 1

2011-11-17T23:15:00.001-07:00

Well, here I am again! The biannual Sew Many Treasures quilting retreat in the Cypress Hills! ahhhh.... I love it! I have lots of projects yet again that I hope to complete. I must say, I've gotten off to a great start so far. I left at 8 am and braved the icy roads (passed 5 vehicles in the ditch!) and made a stop at my favorite clothing store in Maple Creek. An hour and a half later I left with several new pairs of pants and some tops for work (success!). We arrived at the resort by 12:45 and got right to work setting up all the tables and sewing area's for everyone. This year Brenda (my friend and quilt shop owner) asked me to help with planning the retreat. So I made little quilted name tags for the 11 ladies who are here. I have also have prepared some door prizes and a fabric basket tutorial. Brenda plans to show us the 1600 Jelly Roll quilt (that is first on the agenda for tomorrow I think!).

So first things first, I finished up two sets of cupcake potholders that I are Christmas gifts.

After a lovely supper in the restaurant I started my Halloween quilt with that fantastic pink and grey fabric I bought a month ago. And no, I'm not two weeks late for Halloween but I'm actually a year ahead of schedule for next Halloween! ;) I used a pattern called BQ and it was ideal for the fabulous print and fussy cutting. It went together really smoothly! I got all the blocks cut and pieced and arranged on my design wall before I called it a night!

Tomorrow morning I'll sew these 18" blocks together before I get started on my 1600 Jelly Roll quilt! I can't wait to try that! Brenda made her's tonight with a Jovial jelly roll. Check it out!

It was an excellent start to another, sure to be fabulous, quilt retreat! The only thing missing is my mom who normally joins me on retreat. Sadly she had to cancel at the last minute because a severe sciatic nerve injury. Like a good daughter I am sending her constant text messages to keep her up to speed on what is going on throughout the weekend!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Boxtrot - Hedgehogs

2011-11-08T14:42:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I finished my Hedgehog Boxtrot quilt. I started this last January using fabric that I got for my birthday a year ago from my sister.

I plan to take this quilt out to the cabin for nice "cuddle on the couch" quilt!

I stitched this lable on it.

I used a polkadot minky for the backing in hopes that it would be as soft, warm, and cuddly as possible! Mission accomplished!

This is the frst large project that I tried straight line quilting for. I did large spacing of the lines (about 1.5") because I wanted the quilt to remain a bit puffy. I also machine sewed on my binding. I have never done this on a full sized quilt and to be honest I'm not a fan. I think a hand sewn binding looks much cleaner and profetional looking. I know there are some quilters out there who have mastered the machine sewen binding but I find it nearlly impossible to get my stitching perfect, it always slip of the binding on one side or the other. I did a zig-zag stitch on this quilt, thinking it would be more forgiving. I guess it looks ok but I'm really not happy with it. Perhaps it's the prefectionist in me! At any rate this one was done by machine so it will be nice a sturdy for all the use and washing it will get out at the cabin!

LouLouThi

2011-11-02T10:00:00.001-06:00

For the past two months I have really been doing a lot less quilting then I normally do. One project has been ongoing, slowly. It is something I'm doing as a project with my sister. The quilt itself is a secret still but the fabric choice is so greatI wanted to share it with you! I choose, Sea Glass by LouLouThi. So cool!

I'm using the a pattern by Jaybird quilts for it and I doubled the size so I have like 350 triangles to cut out to begin with! Fun fun fun!

So what else has been filling my time, you might ask? Well, I am taking my first class towards a Masters of Theological Studies. I have been absolutely loving this! It is a distance education class and there is a professor from Taylor Seminary who comes here one weekend a month for about 10 hours of lectures each time. The first weekend in September the class was so great I nearly cried when I went home Friday night! It was so great to be taking a Bible College class and to be studying something I love at a university level! I am one of those crazy people who loved university. I was in university for 8 years getting my Bachelor of Science and my Doctor of Optometry between 1997 and 2005. I am definitely a science geek (with an artsy outlet in quilting!) but I have always wished for an opportunity to go to Bible School. My chance came this year and I jumped at it! Needless today I have been neck deep in books and papers since September.

This class is the reason my quilting has slowed down of late, but do not fear! I am picking things up again now that I have my midterm and two out of three papers done!

Pink Halloween

2011-10-31T10:00:00.001-06:00

O.K. Seriously. I have never been too excited about Halloween fabric, but this... It was just impossible to pass up! Grey and pink Halloween fabric? Awesomesauce! I have a cool pattern picked out for this group of fabric. It would have been nice to get it sewn before Halloween, but I'm just thinking of it as being 11 months early for next Halloween!

This line of fabric also comes with a dusty green colour-way... incase anyone is interested!

I plan to work on this quilt top at the upcoming Fall SMT Quilt Retreat... it's only 2.5 weeks away! Hallelujah!

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-30T22:02:00.000-06:00

Today I carved a jack-o-lantern for the first time in at least 7 years! I used to do it all the time with my friends during university but since I've been home I haven't really been around home for Halloween. This year will be different! I am hoping to have a few adorable children visiting my house for trick-or-treating and so I carved a pumpkin and hung my Buggy Barn "If the Hat Fits" quilt!

Don't you just love the dangling legs on these witches? :)

Also, about a month ago I made these baskets from a pattern I found on Pinterest (that's right! I actually made something off Pinterest!)

Tomorrow night these will be filled with candy to hand out to the kids who come by!

Also this year I have a costume to wear... it's a surprise though!

Christmas Fabric Swap

2011-10-12T13:34:00.001-06:00

About two months ago I was asked to join a Christmas Fabric Swap. I have never done anything like that before so I signed up!

I searched through my stash and pulled out some fat quarters and some yardage that I've had for ages. You know, the kind of stuff that you love and have great intensions for but never get around to cutting into?
So the idea was to trade your Christmas stash with someone else, to get so fresh idea's and new fabric on your shelf. I also picked up 3 cute fat quarters in Florida last month that I included in her package. My partner was Sandra and I sent off my package for her two weeks ago.

This weekend I received my package from her in the mail! It was so much fun to see what she choose to send! I told her that I like penguin fabric and she searched out a couple of super cute pieces for me! Not only that but she included thread, a whole bunch of buttons and an adorable Christmas ornament! How lucky am I?

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Swoon - blocks #2 and #3

2011-10-06T21:01:00.000-06:00

I started working on a Swoon quilt couple of months ago, but since the Summer Sampler and my Wrapped in Love (more details to come!) projects, I haven't done much work on it. I wanted to share with you something of what's been hanging around in my sewing room!

This is the second one I made... orange... obviously. :)

Here's the third one made with blue! I really like this one!

Lastly (just as a review since it's been ages!), here is the first one that I made with pink as the focus fabric!

There are still 6 more of the huge 24 inch squares to go. I'm not in a big hurry to finish it. This is the sort of project that I like working on when I don't have a lot of time but just want to sew. Then I pull out a couple of the pre-selected fat quarters and the pre-cut grey background fabrics and sew one up. I like having this quilt on the go for exactly that reason. It's one I can work on at my own pace, in my own time, just for me! That's what quilting is for me... my time!

iPad case

2011-09-30T11:33:00.000-06:00

Last month I finally broke down and bought an iPad. It took me over a year to gather a list of justifications long enough to decide that I need one. The main reason was that I wanted to be able to blog when I am away on vacation. I am planning a trip to Israel in February and so I hope to have you all follow me as I travel the Holy Land for two weeks!

In the last month I have been working on getting blogger to work from my iPad and I finally discovered BlogPress. It works very well, as you may have noticed my last two post were made from there.

So anyways, on to the sewing!

I have had this pattern for an iPad case actually long before I bought the iPad itself. In fact I actually even had it sewed before the iPad even arrived! I'm such a keener. I used my left over Pure Elements fabrics from the Summer Sampler Quilt along.

For the back I used the scraps from all my string pieced blocks. I couldn't bare to throw them away because they were just so pretty, so I incorporated them into the back of this bag. I think it makes it look modern and clean on the front with the four flying geese and then with a punch of "zubataz" on the back!

I used minky fabric on the inside for a nice soft lining to protect the iPad. There are also two pockets that conveniently fit my cell phone and my car keys.

It has been almost a month now and I am really please with my purchase. I have gotten lots of use out of both the iPad and the iPad bag! I have actually discovered that it is a super handy size for a travel purse in general. I used it on my recent trip to Florida and it would wonderfully!

Love for Mrs. Ohlmann

2011-09-26T22:08:00.001-06:00

Cancer sucks. It seems lately that it's ugly reach is getting a little to personal for my liking. About two weeks ago I found out that my best friends mom has colon cancer. Last week she had major surgery to remove the tumor and right now she is in the hospital recovering. I visited her on Saturday and I wanted to bring her something or do something to show her that I love her and am praying for her recovery. Then Sunday morning at church my friend (her daughter) Sara and her dad were leading worship. It was amazing to see them worshiping God during such a difficult time while Mrs. Ohlmann is in the hospital. It was a potent reminder that God is worthy of praise even when life sucks.

One of the songs they sang was Chris Tomlin's "Strength will rise as we wait upon the Lord". Amazing! That gave me an idea.

I made this mug rug for Mrs. Ohlmann.

I used my machine to embroider the words from the song I mentioned. It comes from Isaiah 40:31, "but this who wait on the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.".

The rest of the design is the combination of two different paper piecing patterns that I picked up in Florida last week.

I also added a simple label on the back.

It so hard to know what to do when someone you care about is sick. For me this felt like something nice that I could do for her.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Where have I been?

2011-09-25T15:24:00.001-06:00

It looks like it has been almost four weeks since I posted on my blog. Where have I been? What have I been up to? Have I been sewing at all? The answer is that I have been a bit preoccupied lately. Work has been very busy, which is a great thing! Then the tough stuff came along... Sometimes life doesn't go as we planned. Sometimes people don't do what you expect them to do. Sometime I can't handle everything that I think I can and sometimes I'm not as strong as I think I am. So I have been going through some hard times and I have been working towards healing and getting back to being healthy and content with the life God has blessed me with. Yes, even when it's not what I planned and not what I hoped for my life is a blessing and I will never stop trusting God.

I am learning that "self-care" is not the same as selfishness. I am learning to let things go and keep the important things in the right perspective. I am setting boundaries and letting go of guilt. I'm trusting that friends and family love me and will always be there for me even when time commitments or perhaps whole provinces separate us. I have discovered that I can be honest with people and they will still love me for who I am. I don't have to stress so much about what other people think. These are little changes but huge stress relievers. I am being purposeful about taking care of myself. Problems don't go away but I'm dealing with them in a better more health way.

So that's where I've been. :)

Yes, I have been sewing, a bit anyways. I am working on a project called Wrapped In Love that my sister has instigated. That quilt top is finished and ready for quilting. Today I am quilting my Hedghog Boxtrot quilt. I'm doing some wide scaled straight-line quilting with a minky backing so that it will be a snuggly warm quilt for out at the cabin.

I've also started my Masters degree through Taylor Seminary. My first class was this weekend and I absolutely love it! If I do finish the entire degree it will take quite a while because I can't do more then one class a semester but that is not important. I love this class! It was so refreshing and thrilling to be studying and learning something that I'm so passionate about again! So some of my time in my sewing room lately has been spent reading and this coming week it will be spent working on my first paper.

I plan to continue blogging as often as I can. Blogging and the on-line quilting community have been such an inspiration to me! I have been pushed farther in my art and I have loved every moment of it! I may not post as often, but I will still share my quilts and my WIP with you as often as I can.

I do not have everything figured out and I still have things to work through and figure out, but for now I'm happy. :)

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Summer Sampler Quilt Along

2011-08-30T14:27:00.000-06:00

This weekend was the weekend of the flying geese! I sewed up 92 of these little guys to make some vertical sashing for my Summer Sampler quilt top. I am very pleased with the way that it turned out! I wanted to do something different then just putting the blocks in rows and so I went with arranging them on-point instead. I think that it made the quilt a little bit bigger and gave more attention to each individual square.

I took this picture at 11:30 at night and so the lighting is poor, I know. I will certainly take some better photos once I get this one quilted and bound.

I had a lot of fun with my very first on-line quilt along! Thanks so much to Lee, Faith, and, Katie for all their hard work and excellent tutorials! One of my new skills that I acquired in this quilt was the strip piecing as well as even more practice with paper piecing. I will certainly use what I've learned in future quilts!

One of the first

2011-08-25T08:22:00.001-06:00

Check this out. Several weeks ago I helped my mom clean out and organize one of her spare bedrooms. It just so happens that the spare bedroom in question was my bedroom from grade one until I moved away for university! So look what I found on the bulletin board over my old desk!

I think I made this one right after I made my first flannel baby quilt in 1999. I specifically remember that mom was taking a nap on a Sunday afternoon and I decided to raid her fabric stash and I made this tiny paper-pieced wall hanging in one afternoon. Its funny, because at the time, not knowing any better, I just followed the instructions and had no issues whatsoever. But that's how I am. I'm a rule follower and a pattern person. I have done very little improvisational quilting but I prefer using a pattern at adding my own twist or perfecting a block pattern and making it into a quilt.

This little wall hanging perfectly exemplifies my house... a stack of quilts with a cat on top! Ha ha! That is a commonly seen situation for me. If there is a quilt in sight, one or both of the cats with be sitting on it! :) It actually makes for lots of great photo opportunities!

You can see in the above close up that my thread tension was slightly less then ideal, but that's because true to form, I did not wait to ask my mom for help, and instead I rushed ahead to do things my own way! Lesson learned... well sort of! I still don't often ask for help. Its a weakness, I know!

Here as well you can see my first feeble attempt at FMQ and my terrible attempt at putting on a binding! I now always hand stitch my binding and miter all the corners. Looking at this sample reminds me to take extra care making a nice binding. I think the quality of your binding really finishes off the look of your whole quilt.

Here is were I have it hanging on my wall right behind my sewing machine so that it's always in view. The art work above it was done by my sister who is a painter and a photographer. You can find her blog at Educating Jackie and there is a link to her fabulous Etsy shop called Art in the Canadian Desert.

On display

2011-08-23T14:37:00.000-06:00

This post has taken me a long time to get together. Remember in June when I made the Unwind quilt and the Carnival quilt? I made those quilts as samples for my LQS, Sew Many Treasures, and they have been on display there all summer now. I finally got around to taking pictures at the store so that you could see these lovelies on display! Sorry that the photo is a bit dark, I was using my iPhone. Here is the Carnival quilt right under a light in the middle of the store!

In the next picture you can see it from the back. I really like how Brenda hangs the quilts so that you can enjoy the back as well! Boy, the lighting in this picture is much better!

Unwind is hanging at the back of the shop over the fabric stacks.

Both of these quilts have been offered as a class (which I will be teaching!). The classes in the summer didn't run because we did not have enough interest but we are offering them again in the Fall if you are interested. If you live in Medicine Hat and want to know the dates facebook me and I will get you signed up for either of them The Unwind quilt is a confident beginner project and will be offered as one, 3 hour class in which you will learn the techniques for making the quilt top only. The Carnival class is an intermediate level project which will be offered in two, 3 hours classes. This will be my first time officially teaching a class at a quilt shop!

Bistro Table Topper

2011-08-15T14:40:00.000-06:00

Sorry for leaving you all hanging for a week! I was practically a quilting maniac two weeks ago when I had my holiday and then when I went back to work I was so busy that that I didn't get much sewing or blogging done at all. I have been working a little bit on my Swoon blocks (I've made 3 and a half so far!) and I finished hand sewing the binding on a table topper (yet to be photographed). Last Friday I went over to a friends place to help her learn how to do FMQ. That was a lot of fun! On Saturday my LQS hosted a Notions Trunk Show. There were 3 hours of presentation on the latest little gadgets and notions from several companies including Clover, Unique, and Sulky, to name a few. I picked up my fair share of new things that day! The presenter also showed us a huge variety of sample projects to inspire us... I was inspired! I may even consider bringing my old Brother embroidery machine out of storage... maybe. :)

In the meantime I am sharing the Bistro Table Topper that I made 2 years ago. This fabric was so popular at my LQS for a few years that you will find bits and pieced of it in several of the quilts that I have made. It features the Moda Bistro line which I also used in one of my Field of Flowers quilt.

This table topper has been my main tablecloth for the last few years. I recently finished a table runner that has replaced this one for the time being. Hopefully sometime soon I will be able too share that one with you as well!

Purple Minky Quilt

2011-08-06T08:00:00.000-06:00

This is the purple minky quilt that I started back in the Fall at the Quilt retreat. I bought the pre-cut pieces and sewed the top together one evening at the retreat and then one morning this week I finally decided to finish it off.

I tried something new on this quilt. Rather than making a binding I sewed the batting and top right-sides-together with the backing and turned it inside out. This gave a nice finished edge in WAY less time then a binding would have taken.

Also for a quilt made from fuzzy material like minky, skipping the binding made it much lighter and soft.

I did straight line quilting with my walking foot at a half inch from all the seams, including around the edge of the quilt. I often do much more quilting but I think this quilt needed a simple light finish.

The backing of this quilt is a super cute solid purple minky with an imprinted paisley design!

Block #12 - Kansas Dust Storm

2011-08-05T21:57:00.000-06:00

Finished! This last block took ALOT of piecing to complete! There were three different templates and four copies of each one. I really planned out this last block carefully and I'm really proud of how it turned out. This was a great sampler to do and it definitely helped me to improve my skills. It was a lot of fun to do this along with so many others in the blogging world. It also gave me my first introduction to flickr which I must say has turned out to be a great place to share and get inspiration! I probably say this about every block, but seriously I think this one is my favorite and block number ten, Evening Star is my second favorite.

So that's all twelve of the blocks; now I just have to decide how to put them together! I'm thinking white sashing for sure and perhaps colored cornerstones... but I'm not sure about that yet. It definitely needs a border as well but thats something else I will need suggestions on! What do you think?

If you haven't checked yet be sure to head over to the flickr group to see the wide variety of blocks that other members of the quilt along have completed!

Block #11 - Rocky Road to Kansas

2011-08-05T16:18:00.000-06:00

It's Friday. I know, I'm two days behind! I was so good at keeping up with making each block on the day the tutorial came out. This week is my summer holidays and you would think that I would be even more on top of things but alas I was not. I did get lots of things done and lots of WIP completed or at least taken a step closer to completion. Anyways, enough of my rant. This is block eleven in the Summer Sampler Series! Its called Rocky Road to Kansas. Don't you just love the names they come up with for the blocks? I do. This is another strip-pieced block involving paper piecing. I know I've mentioned it before but I'm really starting to enjoy paper piecing! This time I made slightly larger strips than I did for block seven the Six Point Star, and it went alot better.

As soon as I am done this post I will check out the pattern for the last block and sew that up tonight as well. I'm so close to finishing! I can't wait to get these all sewed together into a quilt! Perhaps I should stop and eat supper at some point... :)

Flannel Squares

2011-08-05T08:00:00.000-06:00

I finally finished my flannel squares quilt! It seems silly but I first sewed this top together about ten years ago! I was home for a visit from university and just for something to do one afternoon I sewed these precut flannel squares together.

Then they were folded up and set aside for a VERY long time!

Last year I bought some of this fantastic owl flannel and as I was thinking about what project to use it on, this simple old quilt called out to me

Sadly it took nearly another year before I actually quilted it!

Well, about eleven years have past and it is finally quilted, bound, washed, and ready to go!

It's such a simple plain quilt but it's incredibly soft and I just love the rainbow of colors!

I don't have any plans for this yet but it will likely go to someone as a baby gift or perhaps as a donation. At any rate this little quilt makes me happy!

Block #10 - Evening Star

2011-08-04T15:56:00.000-06:00

I finished this block two days ago but I haven't seemed to get around to blogging about it. This holiday has been lovely and relaxing and so I havent been as festidious about blogging! None-the-less, here is Evening Star!

This is my favorit block so far! This is one of the blocks that I noticed in the Summer Sample Button that drew me to the quilt in the first place. The center points are not perfect but triangle points in the star are all perfect! That is one reason that I'm really liking the paper piecing blocks, they come out so precisely nearly all the time.

I have the pattern for block #11 which came out yesterday and I will likely sew that one tonight. Then tomorrow will be the final block! I can't believe this is already coming to a close!

Here is what I have so far on my design wall.

Block #9 - Minnesota

2011-08-01T23:47:00.000-06:00

I finished block number nine on Saturday. It involved a combination of paper piecing and regular piecing of the hourglass blocks. Although this is probably not my favorite block I still like it a lot. This block is called Minnesota.

The tutorial for block number ten was out today but my internet was down for the past day and a half so I only got to uploading this post and downloading the new tutorial late Monday night.

I have this whole week off work and there will be a lot of sewing going on! Today I spent a good chunk of the day cleaning up and re-organizing my sewing room. It's always nicer to sew in a space that's tidy and pretty looking. I think so anyways! Already today I finished 3 UFO's and I have at least 3 more to go as well as finishing my Summer Sampler this week. I also have another purse pattern to try and I hope to get a few more Swoon blocks finished to show you as well! Wish me luck!

In Town Bag

2011-07-29T11:59:00.000-06:00

Recently I was feeling like I needed a smaller cute purse to take to special events like weddings and what not. I have lots of purses and bags (as you may have noticed ;) ) but they are all quite large and I needed something smaller. Just as I was thinking about this, my mom brought me a hand full of patterns that she picked up on sale at my LQS. Amongst them was this one by Amy Butler called In Town Bags.

The small clutch bag seems to be just what I was looking for!

I also recently discover Betz White and her printed organic fabrics. Her etsy shop (find it here) offers sateen organic cotton and organic canvas as well as a lot of great PDF patterns. I absolutely love the Indian Summer collection.

I pieced together the front panel using my favorite prints from Indian Summer and even added a little pleat! The side panels and lining are Kona cross weave solids from the Fat Quarter shop. I was very pleased with how this little bag turned out; it is exactly what I was going for!

On the inside I made a pocket out of the polka-dot Indian Summer print.

Also I added a zippered pocket that the pattern did not call for. I thought this small little purse needed a spot for me to put my change! Also I'm getting much better (and more confident) at putting in zippers so I figuered I's give it a try.

It's turned out great I think!

I stayed up until 2am on Sunday night finishing this purse. I'm really happy with everything about it!

Block #8 - Lucky Pieces

2011-07-27T22:58:00.000-06:00

Hurray! An easy block to piece after the last three tough ones! I find I now really like piecing the HST's! So here it is, Lucky Pieces (also, I think the name is great!)

Just look at all these beauties! I'm so excited about this quilt! I cannot wait to find out what each square will be. Every time I add a new one I love it more and more!

Stay tuned! I have a weeks holiday coming up and you can bet there will be lots of quilting to do and lots of blog posts as a result! :)

Block #7 - Six Point String Pieced Star

2011-07-27T16:38:00.000-06:00

This was the first string pieced square I have ever made. I was all excited about this one because it looked so cool! Then I started making the 12 string pieced triangles and 4 hours later was not quilt as excited! I love the overall look of this block although I would definitely make larger strips next time and be more accurate when cutting out my equilateral triangles. I used a paper template for them but I should have used template plastic because I kept accidently trimming away a bit of my template. There are so many seams in this block that by the end It was impossible to keep my points sharp because the triangles were not exact. Well, lesson learned. :)

I certainly do love the look of this block and I will definitely try it again... perhaps with a different method of piecing though!

So here I have 7 of the 12 blocks completed! I can't wait to see the finished quilt!

Sew 'N' Go Tote

2011-07-27T11:39:00.000-06:00

Last week I finally got my jelly roll of "Make Life" by Sweetwater for Moda. It was surprisingly hard to find. I love it! I wish I could get some yardage of this material some place... Anyways, I was hoping to use it for the super cute sewing tote that I found in the new Moda Fresh Fabric Treats book. This weekend I sewed up this great little tote bag!

I used a Bella Solid and some yardage from the Chrysalis line for this bag as well. I actually think that it went very well with the Make Life fabric. I also like the little buttons on the outside pockets, they add just that extra detail that makes this bag so cool!

For the life of me I can't remember what the product is called that I used for the straps... but non-the-less, I used that instead of making my own fabric straps. I think that it suits the bag quite well and will make for a nice sturdy strap when I pack that sucker full of sewing stuff!

I like to go out to a once a month craft night at my church and I often go to my LQS for "Quilt-til-you-wilt" nights as well so this tote will get a lot of use I'm sure!

Here is a bit of the detail of the fabric and the fancy stitches that I used to quilt it!

Block #6 - Arkansas Traveler

2011-07-25T13:48:00.000-06:00

I have been so on top of this Summer Sampler so far, getting the block sewn and posted in the same day it is released... until block #6. It took me all weekend to get around to making this one that was revealed on Friday. It is a lovely block but it entailed some things that I have never tried before including diamonds at a 60 degree angle and then matching up the corners of the diamonds. It was such a pretty block though! After a mere 3 hours working on one block it finally came together to a point that I was satisfied with it. Well actually the "point" at the center was the problem! I picked that out like four times before I got it right!

Also, I love the history behind this block with the unique name; The Arkansas Traveler! You can read it here at Freshly Pieced. My favorite part of the tradition is that there is also a song called the Arkansas Traveler, and many of you may know it! The tune is heard in the popular childrens song, "I'm taking home my baby bumble bee!". I think that's cool!

So here you have the first half of my blocks totally finished! I can't wait to see what todays new block is!

Lil' Twister

2011-07-24T09:00:00.018-06:00

I have been working on the baby quilt, Lil' Twister, for about 2 months now, on and off. It will be my third project using the Twister ruler . I love this tool! It think that it is a simple technique that creates a stunning quilt!

For this quilt I started with a charm pack of Pure by Sweetwater for Moda. I love this line and I think it will be cute for a boy or a girl even though it is mostly blue!

First, I laid out my 5" squares on the design wall in a pleasing array.

Next I sewed the blocks together adding a boarder to them.

Then you cut this all apart using your Twister ruler!

During this cutting process I also managed to cut my finger with a rotary cutter! One of the hazards of talking while cutting and not paying attention! No stitches required though, and all was well!

After cutting apart the squares, you then sew them back together and you get this cute pinwheel design!

Next I added a thin blue boarder and a wide exterior boarder in which I made a few more pinwheels. This way the quilt is a little bigger without looking like I just slapped on a giant boarder!

Then I designed a pieced back using the scraps of the squares that I cut up and a little bit of yardage. I also included a label which I sewed right into the backing.

I did almost all of the previous work in one weekend and then the quilt sate waiting to be quilted for a while. When I quilted it I did straight line checker board in the center area and FMQ with hearts in the boarder. I added a scrappy binding... well because I didn't have enough of any one fabric left over! Still I think it's perfect for this quilt!

This baby quilt was made for one of my employee's who will be having her baby in the next one or two weeks! We don't know if it is a boy or a girl yet but I think this quilt suits Emily either way!

Altered Squares

2011-07-23T11:13:00.001-06:00

My Altered Squares quilt is finished! I actually finished it last week, but with all the quilt-along posts it had to wait to be revealed! I made this quilt for my friend Jenny, who is celebrating her wedding today to Andrew. They are having an intimate outdoor wedding in her mom's garden. I can't wait to go because I know it's going to be beautiful!

I made this quilt for them right from the start. I choose the fabrics because I thought they best matched her decorating style. I decided on a pattern that was modern, but not too feminine. I think I have achieved both! This is a large quilt that will fit their bed as a bedspread if they like, or will be big enough for two to cuddle under on the couch. The finished size 105" by 110". Mission accomplished!

Again I did a pieced back for this quilt. I would have liked to have a flannel back but this fabric worked out better I think. I have gotten a bit obsessed with pieced backings as of late. It's like having two quilts in one!

I also included a label on the back. This is another thing I have started doing on all my quilts. The more I quilt the more important it seems to label them.

I went out to a park near my house to take some photo's of this giant quilt, and that park is SWARMING with mosquito's! I think I got like ten or twelve bites while I was there! Still the pictures turned out lovely because it was such a nice clear sunny day!

After taking this quilt to the park I washed it and it came out absolutely lovely! This afternoon I will be attending their wedding and I hope that this quilt becomes part of what they remember about their special day! Congratulations Andrew and Jenny!

Cabo Halter

2011-07-22T06:00:00.000-06:00

My friend at my LQS and I always discuss the difference between a "sewer" and a "quilter". She feels she's a "quilter "because she only makes quilts. A "sewer" is someone who sews others things like clothing and bags and crafts as well as quilts. There are certainly some truths to this I believe. There are a lot of unique tricks and techniques to sewing clothing compared to the techniques of a quilter who focuses on perfect 1/4 inch seams and matching precise points. I started my career as a "sewer". When I took my first sewing lesson in grade 4 I learned to sew pencil cases, and pajama pants, and quickly moved up to skirts, and vests and shirts. It wasn't until university that I began to dabble in quilting. Once I sewed my first quilt I was off and running! Since then I have mostly been a "quilter", although I do sew my fair share of bags and purses still! That being said, I found this Amy Butler pattern in a quilt shop several months ago and I immediately thought, "this is something Jackie would love", so I picked it up.

This is the first piece of clothing that I've sewed in a long time. It also contained the first invisible zipper that I've ever had to do! This was the zipper that I was attempting to sew in when I sewed through my finger three weeks ago! (warning, do not click on that link if you are squeamish!). Because of that incident, the invisible zipper is actually rather "visible" (lol) but it still works and looks alright I think!

I made this for my sister Jackie for her birthday. She recently has been working a "getting healthy" routine and it has certainly paid off! You can find her blog, Educating Jackie, here, and she posted about her wieght loss here. I think she is a beautiful mother, sister, friend, and woman. I am so proud of her accievements! So without any further ado... here is Jackie modeling the Cabo Halter!

Block #5 - Star

2011-07-21T12:43:00.000-06:00

Block five in the Summer Sampler Quilt Along is simply called the Star. It is the first paper piecing block in this series, but I have to say after paper piecing the whole Stepping Stones Quilt, this was a snap! The hard part for this block was choosing the colors. I always tend to base my blocks around pink, but I decided that to give my whole a quilt a more scrappy look I need a couple of blocks that focused on other colors rather then pink. This combination was really a stretch for me. I literally choose my 3 least favorite colors from the series and went with them. This picture does not do the block the justice it deserves! The colors turned out fabulous together! I'm glad I pushed myself to try something out of the box!

I love that this quilt along has new blocks every 2 days! I sometimes don't know how I wait for the next pattern on the off days! I love this quilt along, and I can't wait to see how all 12 blocks turn out!

Make sure to check out what the other participants are making on the Summer Sampler flickr group. There are so many great idea's and everyone is unique!

Quilting

2011-07-19T13:59:00.001-06:00

On Sunday I posted a blog tutorial on sandwiching a quilt. Today I though I would share with you a few pictures of my quilting process. By far, my favorite method of quilting is free-motion machine quilting (FMQ). I often do stippling (or meandering as some call it), but I also like to some swirls like in my Carnival quilt or other unique designs like in the Convoy quilt. I know there a lot of quilters out there intimidated by this method. It was actually the first method that I learned so I never knew any better and I just went with it! No one ever told me to be intimidated and when I first started quilting I'd had over 10 years of sewing experience behind me so I was willing to try anything! Basically FMQ is my go-to method.

For that reason, I recently upgraded my sewing machine to the Bernina 820. Some of you may remember that I bought a Pfaff 4.0 in the Fall, but that machine did not stand up as well as I had hoped for the large amount of quilting I was doing. While the Pfaff worked fine for piecing and sewing, I really wanted something more. So I sold my Pfaff and bought the Bernina. It was a great upgrade! I love the features and the stitch quality of the Bernina. Also, it came with a fabulous device called the Stitch Regulator (BSR). The BSR is an optical sensing regulator and controls the needle speed based on the speed that I move the fabric through. It is AMAZING! All my FMQ is now perfectly even and holds a perfect thread tension balance that makes my quilting look like it was done by a professional! I love it!

Today I'm showing a few pictures of me quilting the Altered Squares quilt. because of the size it would normally be difficult to FMQ through a short armed basic machine but the Bernina has a lovely wide arm that makes even this king sized quilt fairly easy to maneuver.

Here you can see that little white attachment on the needle arm. That's the BSR foot! I take good care of that puppy! There was a bit of a learning curve working up to using it easily. I was used to controlling my speed with my foot pedal and now the speed is controlled by how fast I move the fabric. It took a few tries to wrap my brain around that, but now it's smooth sailing!

Here you can see the full extent of this gigantic quilt taking up my sewing room! I'm glad that I did this two weeks ago before the temperature soared to 36 degrees Celsius here! No one wants to spend hours sitting under a big quilt in that kind of weather! :)

*I have no financial interest or gain in Bernina. I just love their products!

Block #4 - Flower Garden Path

2011-07-18T17:26:00.000-06:00

Today I made the fourth block in the Summer Sampler Quilt Along; the Flower Garden Path. I must say there was an awful lot of HST's to match up points to! I love how it turned out in the end!

The tutorial for this block is at Swim, Bike, Quilt.

Here are all my blocks so far! I guess I'm already a third of the way finished! Every block I add makes me love this project more!

Sandwiching a quilt tutorial

2011-07-17T09:00:00.001-06:00

This is the biggest quilt that I've ever made measuring 105x110 inches! It's called Altered Squares, and I first sewed the top together back in April at the quilt retreat. Since it's so large I had to take my stuff over to my mom's house because I don't have floor space big enough to stretch this out in. As I was working away I thought perhaps I would share the process that I use for layering and sandwiching a quilt. I've seen a lot of tutorials out there but never one for this important part of the quilting process.

If there is one thing that I have learned it is that you must get your back tightly laid out and pinned down either on a table using alligator clips at the edges or on the carpet using safety pins. Since the quilt I was doing was so large I will show you my method of layering on the floor.

After piecing your backing and ironing it well you lay it right side down on the carpet.

If I'm working on carpet I will pull the edges tight and pin with safety pins right into the carpet. If I'm working go a hardwood floor I will use painters tape and tape the edges of the backing to the floor. This step is very important to make sure that the back is flat and there are no wrinkles in it as you pin the layers together and later as you quilt. For this quilt I used my safety pins and pined the edges to the carpet. because of the large size of the quilt I used a lot of pins about 6 inches apart.

Next, after I'm sure the the backing is nice a smooth and taught, but not to tightly stretched to the floor I carefully lay my batting out over the backing. I find that the backing sticks to the fabric and with pull it up and wrinkle it if it's not pinned down well enough so I try to be careful at this stage. Once the batting is laid out covering just to the edge or inside the edge of the backing I get down on my hands and knees and smooth it out starting in the middle and working to the outside.

The next step is to carefully lay your quilt top over the batting, right side up. In this case you want to have your quilt top to be about 5 inches smaller then the backing and batting. In other words I make my backing a cut my batting to be about 5 inches larger on all sides of the quilt. I also then get down and smooth out the quilt as best as I can starting in the middle and working outwards, making sure that I can't feel any wrinkles or lumps within the layers.

Next you begin pining. I use these nice sharp slightly bent safety pins that I buy at my LQS. They are better then regular straight safety pins because they are sharper and the bend helps them to keep the quilt layers laying flat rather then bumping up at each pinned site. I also use a handy little device call the kwik klip. It allows me to close the pins easily with out wearing my finger tips raw!

I start pinning in the center and work my way out, smoothing the layers out with my hands as I go.

As you can see I try to pin about 6 inches apart so that the layers are well secured and there is no chance of anything wrinkling. For this quilt, because of the huge size I pinned a bit closer then 6 inches.

So there, you have it! Tomorrow I will post the pictures of me quilting the huge bad boy!

Block #3 - Mosaic Block

2011-07-16T18:40:00.000-06:00

Here we have the third block in the Summer Sampler Quilt Along! The mosaic block. You can find the tutorial at Freshly Pieced.

After I made this one I realized that I screwed up... so I "unsewed" it and put it together the right way! Here is the correct mosaic block!

I know it's completely geeky, but I was so happy with how my pressing went that I took a picture of the back as well!

So here you have all the blocks from week one of the Summer Sampler quilt along!

Block #2 - Greek Cross

2011-07-13T20:54:00.001-06:00

Summer sampler block number two today! I had to wait all day at work before I could go home to make this bad boy. Isn't she lovely? :)

Todays tutorial was from Fresh Lemons and it was excelent I thought! The next block will be released by Freshly Pieced on Friday!

New Fabric

2011-07-13T11:30:00.001-06:00

It's weird. I always tell people I've been quilting for well over 10 years, but I feel like only in the last 2 years have I really started to develop my own style of art in quilting. I found a collection of fabrics at the Out of Hand quilt shop in Calgary that I feel, right now, define what I love about color, patterns, and design in fabric. That's not to say that everything I make reflects this collection but it just seem to me to be my ideal choice for myself at the moment!

First of all, as an optometrist I can't believe I went this long without purchasing this fabric! I mean seriously! I should have bought the entire bolt really! I don't know what I pan to make with it yet, but who cares! It's awesome anyways!

I just loved this bicycle fabric! I think I'm going to make a new ironing board cover out of it! Either this one or the blue one below it... we'll see.

This lovely fabric did not come out as vibrant in the picture as it is in real life. You'll have to trust me that it's lovely and elegant!

Finally from the same Echino line, there are these pixilated birds on blue! I feel like this fabric is dying to be made into a bag or purse of some kind.... We shall see, I'll nee the perfect pattern first!

This fabric is from a different line all together. There are lots of patterns with chairs and birds and what not, but I choose this one piece of the purple couch with the little bird on the arm. Love it! No idea what I'll use it for, but any true quilter knows that's not always why we buy fabric! We buy it because it's beautiful!

Finally I picked out this piece of linen Fairy Tales fabric. It's the Princess and the Pea! I mean seriously, how could I pass this up? Surely one of these days one of my friends will have a baby girl that would love a Princess and the Pea soft snugly quilt!

Out of Hand

2011-07-12T13:23:00.000-06:00

Yesterday I spent the day in Calgary with my Mom. She had an appointment to go to, but after that we ventured to a new quilt shop. It's not actually new I suppose but it was new to us! It's called "Out of Hand", and let me tell you the collection of fabric they had in that little store was certainly out of hand! I mean that in a good way of course! There was literally fabric stacked everywhere! It was like a maze trying to find my way to the cutting table.

I found a whole bunch of really cool stuff that I have been admiring for a long time on on-line stores. The more I looked around and shifted bolts of fabric, the more cool stuff I found! Let me tell you I spent a fair deal of money there yesterday but I could have easily spent twice that much!

One cool thing about this store is that they carried most of the popular quilting cottons but they also had many different materials such as laminates, linens, canvas, silks, rayon/polyester blends, and knits. They also had every type of thread and accessory you could imagine for needle work and embroidery. I'm not so into that stuff, but my mom is and she found some great books and threads and even a crossstitch kit!

Block #1 - Star of Virginia

2011-07-12T00:15:00.001-06:00

I was so excited to get started on the Summer Sampler Quilt Along! I had to go to Calgary today but I got up early and checked the blog for the first tutorial and then when I got home at 10:30 pm I went straight to my sewing room and sewed this up! I love it! Check out the flicker group to see what other people are making!

The Abby Bag

2011-07-05T09:00:00.002-06:00

On Sunday I pulled out some of my Amy Butler fat quarters and the Abby Lane pattern that I bought in Phoenix several months ago. I decided to make myself a new pincushion with a thread catcher!

And here it is! It is a rather handy little thing! I particularly love the outside fabric on the bag. I like the gathering on it as well. The pincushion part on the top however was not my favorite part to sew. It had all these gathering stitch's and I kept breaking my threads and it just wasn't really very fun. After this weekend and sewing all the clothes and crafts I have decided that I really prefer quilting over other sewing! LOL!

This weekend

2011-07-04T14:20:00.001-06:00

I had an absolutely perfect Canada Day long weekend! The sun was warm, the wind was calm, and the mosquitoes were scarce! I spent Friday evening at the park listening to concerts and watching the fireworks. It was a lot of fun! On Saturday I spent the afternoon with my mom who's been gone for most of June. I of course had lots of free time for sewing and I took advantage of all that I could. On Friday I decided to sew up a couple of blocks from the scraps and triangles cut off from my Swoon block. So in the morning I whipped together two of these blocks.

I don't really have plans for them yet but perhaps if I make a couple for each giant Swoon block I'll have a baby quilt made with them as well.

I also sewed another project on Friday and Saturday, but it shall not be mentioned because the recipient reads this blog! This project required me to try some techniques that I almost never do and as a result, this happened...

That's right, I sewed right through my left pointer finger! I was trying to line up the fabric as I sewed and I sewed right though my finger! The needle broke off and I pulled the end of it out through the bottom. Luckily my tetanus shot was up to date so I avoided the ER. I must say, it rather hurt! However now two days later its feeling pretty good and beginning to heal so I think I'm past the point of worrying about infection.

I feel like after doing this I've truly initiated myself as a sewer! Or maybe confirmed that I'm actually not that good of a sewer if I sewed my finger! LOL. Needless to say this project literally involved blood sweat and tears! I hope she likes it!

I also made this cute little jumper for my friend Jenny's one year old daughter, McKenna. It was a bit fussy to sew but turned out out super cute anyways I think!

I did this great new stitch on the hem as well which I think adds to the cuteness!

I also sewed up a a new pincushion with a thread catcher. It was also rather fiddly to make but I like it now that I'm done! I will post some pictures of that one tomorrow. Hope you all had a productive sewing weekend, and wish all my American friends a Happy Fourth of July today!

Swoon

2011-07-01T10:44:00.014-06:00

This week I decided I needed a break from all the quilting I had been doing and it was time for some piecing. So I started a new quilt! Oh boy, I think I have a problem! All these projects are getting out of hand! Not that that will stop me though! I still have lots more idea's that I want to start in the next several months!

I found this pattern over here on Angela's blog, Fussy Cut. So I searched it out and ordered the PDF pattern. Angela's blocks are so fabulous, and every time she posted a new one I felt more and more like I wanted to make one for myself. So last week I went ahead that sewed up my first block!

This block is really so much brighter and vibrant in real life... I'm still learning the functions on my camera. One of my favorite things about this block is that it is 20" square! It's a huge block compared to what I've made before! I love the scale of it. This quilt will consist of 9 blocks, all with the same grey background and each of the stars will be a different pair of colors. Except for the grey bella solid that I bought, all the other fat quarters were pulled out of my stash.

Summer Sampler Quilt Along!

2011-06-30T15:45:00.000-06:00

I am so excited about this! This will be my first virtual Quilt Along. Lee at Freshly Pieced initiated the fun summer project and I jumped on board! I have decided that this will be my first quilt made from all solid color fabrics. I love the color suggestion that Faith at Fresh Lemons has given and so I ordered up my fabric bundles today from the Fat Quarter Shop. I will be using Pure Elements by Patricia Bravo with Ivory as my background and sashing color.

I have joing the Frickr group for this project as well so if you'd like to check out what others are doing take a look here.
I will do my best to keep you updated with my blocks as I get them finished!

Carnival!

2011-06-27T12:00:00.002-06:00

This weekend I finished my Carnival quilt! Now that it's done in it's entirety I think that it is my favorite quilt that I've made so far! The pattern was designed by Julie at Jaybird Quilts and uses the Lazy Angle ruler. Again did a pieced back using some of the extra pinwheels that I made as well as a square with a label embroidered onto it. I also did my own free-motion quilting using a spiral pattern. When I was about halfway through the quilting I was worried that it would be too much, but the in the end the overall effect was perfect! I used 50 weight Aurfil thread in a beige color. The extra fine thread made it look almost like I used invisible thread and all the was left was a lovely texture pattern. This quilt was made as a sample quilt for my LQS, Sew Many Treasures, just like Unwind. As it turns out the owner has asked me to teach a class for each of these quilts! It will be my first opportunity to teach a quilting class and I'm rather excited about it! The Unwind class will be held on August 4th from 1-5 pm and the Carnival class with be August 2nd and the 16th from 6-9 pm.

I took a lot of pictures of this quilt because I just loved it so much! I choose a few of the best to share with you. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

My nephew, just breaking it in for me!

I linked to Fabric Tuesday at Quilt Story!

The Making of Carnival

2011-06-26T16:01:00.001-06:00

Here is another quilt I made using a pattern from Jaybird Quilts and the Lazy Angle ruler. It's called Carnival and I absolutley love the way it turned out! It's been a while since I showed you my step-by-step process, so I figured that this was a good quilt to use.

I used two layer cakes for this quilt, Just Wing It by Momo for Moda and Bella solids in Snow. I probably would have had less waste if I had used yardage for the background but I had the layer cake of solid white (Bella Snow) handy so there you go!

This is what you have after all the preliminary cutting finished:

two stacks for the right and left facing pinwheels.

I love chain piecing and so that's what I did here to sew the small white wedges to the colored pieces.

Pressing....

Next is trimming and the re-cutting each square using the Lazy Angle ruler.

Then more chain piecing the second white wedge to the squares. (sorry the pictue is sideways!)

Pressing....

And now for the fun part... Laying out the squares to make the pinwheels! Look how cute they look!

This is where I spent a lot of time on the quilt. I worked really hard to get the seams and the points to match up perfectly. I will be giving this quilt to my LQS to display so that she can sell the patterns and so I wanted it to be as precice as possible.

Pressing towards the colored side...

Then you go back and sew the next seam. If you know how to make the mini piwheels on the back it helps to reduce the bulk of these squares. I learned this technique form Elenor Burns in her Underground Railways book. I highly recommend this book to others. Elenor's instructions are probably the best that I've ever seen for quilting. She not only explains how to cut and piece the blocks but teaches little hints about chain piecing and pressing and making HST and flying geese etc. She is wonderful! I have picked up a lot of hints from her book that have helped me progress in the quality of my quilting.

And finally, there is the finished pinewheel! I found since I have carefully pressed and trimmed as I went along there was little to no triming needed on the finished blocks. The pattern called for a design of 4x5 blocks but I doubled my blocks and did a 5x6 layout. I had some left over pinwheels for the back and for a pillow this way (and 3 that did not make the cut... it's possible that I screwed those ones up!).

Here is a sample of the lovely points that I made at the center of the pinwheels! I really had to pat myself on the back for making these! :)

Here's my pile of finished pinwheels. I made 40 in all.

Next I spent a long time (about an hour and-a-half) arranging these for the best randomizd look. To the right side you can see the row of some of the extra's that I had.

This is the finished center of the quilt top after sewing all the blocks together. After I finished this and got a good look at it I decided what colors to buy for the two borders.

Finally we have the finished quilt top with the borders added!

Make sure that you check in tomorrow for the final pictures of the quilted and bound quilt!