Northern Needles

What a great day!

It’s sunny and warm and I’ve had my doors and windows open all day!  We’re at a whopping 26C right now which is amazing.  Not only that, we’re creeping closer to our longest day on June 21st (where sun technically sets for a short time, however, that means it just goes behind a mountain top so it doesn’t get dark).  So we are bright until 11 pm now.  Yay!

I raked this morning so felt completely justified in spending some time at the sewing machine.

I finished my Easy Curves table runner (which was my february quilting class at Bear’s Paw Quilts).  I love the fabrics so much, I wish I had an outfit in those colours!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And I finished all I could on my chicken quilt (All Cooped Up).  I’ve decided to do a stop border of a rich red (the body of the red chicken) and then a thicker border of the black to finish it off.  But I’m out of those colours so another trip to the quilt shop is in order!  (give me a reason…any reason).  By the way, the background fabric isn’t white, it’s white/cream with some dirty spots that look like a herd of chickens have run over it a few times.  Unfortunately that isn’t showing up in the blinding sunlight!

 

 

 

  

 

Once the quilting is complete, I have the eyes waiting, I think they are little abalone buttons..they change colour as you look at them so they’ll shine nicely off the fabric.

Thank you Lisa-girl for holding the quilt in place.

 

 

 

Have a great sunday evening everyone!  Happy stitching!  Vivian

 

 

 

 

 

Happy weekend everyone!

It started out with a bang.  We got the afternoon off at work and spent the afternoon and evening golfing.  It was so much fun, I think almost everyone from work came (which is quite a logistical miracle!).  We were a bit worried as the temperature hovered at 5 C and there was rain, and up high there was snow.  We were wet, we were cold, but we were happy (some moreso then others due to little nippies on the back nine LOL). 

Today we had a run to town and since we were there anyway, I visited my quilting shop!  I needed some black fabric anyway (to do the binding on a table runner, I’m hoping to finish that off tomorrow) so what harm is there in popping in right? 

Well, not only did I get the black it was buy 3 fat quarters, get the 4th free day.  Yay!  There was some new fabric and I found three that I loved and can’t wait to figure out what to make with them.  And the fourth was just pretty and I can use it as an inspiration for my stitching designs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now I have so many ideas running through my head, who wants to do housework!

And I’m not the only one being creative…check out Jenny’s tie-dyed shirt!  I better watch out she may want to start tie-dying everything!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Stitching!  Vivian

 

 

 

 

I got my nails done for the first time!  This is me wearing Opi’s Jewel of India polish.  Oh what pampering!  Apparently I have to do this again, and again, and again.

I also had an ionization treatment done on my feet.  Wow, the toxins that came out of me!   I’ve been off caffeine and pop for over 2 weeks now.  I think all that was left in my body was pulled out today.  My feet are all tingly and feeling good.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Teddy felt like modeling today.  Here he is wearing his quilt (pink and greent) and Pookie’s quilt (red) that I just finished.  Pookie was unavailable for photos today.

 

 

 Happy Saturday!  Vivian

 

 

First…yay!  Got my camera back!  Luckily I had lost it at home.  Whew.

And now I can share more things with everyone!

First, I mentioned previously that I won in a blog contest a wonderful necklace from a brilliant Australian woman named Amanda.  You can see her blog (Sea Breeze Quilts) by checking out my links on the right (scroll down!).

 

 

 

 

It’s called Endurance Necklace and there are beautiful words written on the paper rolled up insde the glass holder.  It’s quite a romantic piece and leads me to dreaming of knights and ladies and castles.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now for my quilting WIPS!

First is my chicken quilt.  I love these little ladies.  I have a lovely, dirty looking creamy fabric (looks like it’s been run over by several chickens!)that I need to cut and piece to fill in the outer pieces to make a square out of this.   The pattern is called Cooped Up by Misty Bowman of Seams To Be (www.seams2be.com).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next is my coffee quilt!  I love Moda Fabric’s line called Bistro.  This one uses a jelly roll and a charm pack.  I found the pattern in the premiere issue of the magazine called Irish Quilting.  The pattern is called Mind the Garden and uses wonderful floral fabric.  As I’m using coffee themed, I’ll call it Mind the Coffee!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is a close up.  I still have to do the sashes and find a stop fabric for the outer edges.  And a backing fabric.  This one will take a long time to finish but it’ll be my couch blanket and I’ll thoroughly enjoy it during those cold Yukon winters.  Heck, I’ll be able to enjoy it during the only slightly warmer Yukon summers!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And here is the kit my girlies and “the king of the remote” got me for my birthday earlier this month.  (for those that forgot to send me a gift, there is still time LOL).  It’s called Northern Solitude and uses the Northern Solitude line by Moda fabrics (I so love Moda fabrics!).  I have the green border fabric yet to cut up and piece. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And here is a close up of my favourite of the fabrics included.  I love the pink with the words running across.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And lastly, the bucket that holds it all.  Unfortunately, room is quite tight in our little Yukon home, and when I’m in a sewing mood we lose our kitchen.  So everything needs to go away somewhere safe daily.  Ok, if I can get away with sandwiches outside I can leave it out for a couple of days.  The kids like picnics anyway.

 

 

 

 

 

There we go, all caught up!  I hope you enjoyed a peek at what’s keeping me busy.

Happy Stitching!  Vivian

 

 

 

 

 

Well I guess I should have put this all in one post but it’s hours later LOL.

I just finished (finally!!!) sewing my Grandma’s Arms pattern.  I did it ages ago but just didn’t know how I wanted to finish it.  I just got tired of looking at it in the finished basket so I made an ornament. 

 

 

Then I couldn’t decide what picture to use!

 

 

Grandma’s arms are made for hugs.  Aren’t they though?

 

 

 

 

 

Oh and here are my Kissing Pillows with the backing fabric.

 

 

 

Now off to watch Criminal Minds, season finale!!

 

Happy tv watching!  Vivian