Northern Needles

get out of the Yukon!!!!!

We’ve had blistering heat this week…in the 30’s celcius.  This is not normal…this is extreme.  Our blood is thicker in the north, it has to be to survive the -40C temps in the winter.  That means anything above 27C is extremely uncomfortable, extremely…air conditioning is a myth in the Yukon LOL.  Really, it’s very rare to have air conditioning except for office buildings, bigger stores, etc.  What that means is I love work LOL. There is a vent near my desk and it’s wonderfully chilly.

Ok, time for updates….first I won a contest.  If you haven’t stopped by Prairie Moon’s blog yet be sure to do so:  http://prairiemoonquilts.wordpress.com/ .  She held a contest for her Prairie Moon Ranch BOM and I won!!!  Yay!!!  I can’t wait.  As a newer quilter my stash of quilt related items is still quite small and it needs to grow LOL.  And all the different features in this…I’m going to have fun all winter!

I’ve discovered flickr.  i’m really enjoy it.  There are fun people on flickr!!!  Who knew?  I joined accidentally when I joined the summer mini-quilt exchange at:  http://quiltinggallery.com/quilting-bloggers/ .  Once there I discovered the Doll Quilt exchange which of course I signed right up for (check out below for my finished doll quilt!!!).  And from there I found the Old Red Barn Quiltalong and now I’m part of a zig zag quiltalong.  Can you tell I can’t say no?  LOL.  For added fun at the Old Red Barn Quiltalong a fat quarter contest was held.  Entry fee was one fat quarter.  There were 50 entries and 5 winners.  And guess who was winner #5?   I know!!!!!  I’m floored.  Soon 10 different fat quarters will be arriving in my mailbox. Hmm…wonder if any would work with the prairie moon ranch BOM?????  Maybe!!!  Oh I’m so happy, I need to buy a lottery ticket LOL.

And here is a photo of my finished Doll Quilt…I washed and through it in the dryer to give it that vintage, crinkly look.  I love it.  I hope my partner does.

And I’m working on another doll quilt.  This one is for my daughter Lisa who’s birthday is in August.  I’ve got the top pieced and am working on the quilting part, had to stop because I ran out of thread!  LOL.  I hope she likes it!

Happy quilting everyone!

Vivian

I love saturdays like today.  I spent the day with a friend and now I’m relaxing at home and waiting for my steak dinner on the barbeque!  Yummy!

I’m trying to keep busy, my girls have been gone for a week and a half and I miss them!  But they are having the time of their lives with their grandparents, their aunts and uncles and cousins.  They even went to a farm today and fed a calf and rode horses and stuff. 

Since I have loads of time on my hands tonight, I’ve been doing a little surfing and have found one of my favourite blogs is having a giveaway!  you can win fabric and one of her handmade pincushions (oh they are just lovely).  Check it out!  http://www.thepatchworkorange.com/The_Patchwork_Orange/Back_To_Blog/Back_To_Blog.html

Happy Saturday everyone!  Vivian

I joined two exchanges…one is the Good Ol’Summertime Swap (http://quiltinggallery.com/swaps/summertime-2009/).  I picked out my fabric today:

I hope my exchange partner loves the colours!!!!

And not to be left out of the fun, I joined a doll quilt exchange as well!  I know, I tend to jump in with both feet don’t I?  LOL.

http://www.flickr.com/groups/dollquiltswap/

And here is the fabric I’m going to start with…I just thought it’s delicate nature would be suited to a tiny quilt.

Isn’t it pretty?

Ok, off to cut and sew and cut again!  Happy friday all!

Vivian

stop by Jolene’s blog (Di Diddly Designs) to take part in a great stitching giveaway!

http://dipdiddlydesigns.blogspot.com/2009/07/my-first-giveaway.html

It’s a lazy day today, I’m finishing up the binding on Kiefer’s Cars quilt, wrapping Sydnee’s presents and spending some quality time with my girls who will soon be leaving for a month with their grandparents!  Breathe Vivian, Breathe.

BTW, found a great blog that is celebrating a milestone, her 100th post…stop by to join in on the fun and giveaway:

 http://piecemealquilts.wordpress.com/

She’s also posted some basket patterns to quiltalong with.

Have a great day everyone!

Vivian

Before I get too far, Happy Blogiversary to “A Quilting Life”!

Stop by to take part in a blog contest!

Well I’m nearly done with Sydnee’s Roses, I’ve quilted it and have sewn on the binding, I just need to handstitch it on the back and it’s fini!

Then, not to leave anyone out, I made a quilt for big brother Kiefer.  He’s 3 and a Cars fanatic.  I will be honest, I did not enjoy the fabric, I bought it at Walmart and it’s not 100% cotton.  I’ve become spoiled and love 100% cotton.  But it’s not for me, it’s for a special little boy so I bit my lip and perservered.  I think it turned out pretty good.  I just need to sew on the binding now.

Happy Quilting!  Vivian

What did I do today?  I pieced a quilt top for the newest addition to the Bales’ family…my niece Sydnee Addison. 

I stopped yesterday at Bears Paw Quilts ( http://www.bearspawquilts.com/ ) and found some pink and green flannel.  My first flannel quilt. 

I chose two pink fabrics called “Sweet as a Rose”, one with pink dots and one with green dots, and the green fabric is called Wiggles and Giggles by Thimbleberries.  I don’t know what the others were b/c one was a FQ (that’s the dark colour) and one was a piece in the basket of end of the bolts. 

I decided to call the quilt Sydnee’s Roses.   Tomorrow I stop and pick up more batting (I can’t believe I’m out!) and spend the evening quilting.  I’m not confident enough yet to do free style machine quilting (only did the one bag so far and this is much bigger!) so I will probably end up doing a cross hatch on it.

Thank you for looking!  Happy quilting,  Vivian

Happy birthday Canada.  Don’t forget to scroll down to an earlier post to get my special gift!

It’s chilly, it’s overcast, the mountains are shrouded in a foggy cloud.  So we’re hunkering down and contemplating lighting the woodstove. 

I started cutting a baby quilt last night and am piecing this morning.  I hope to have the top pieced today and then I’m picking up some more batting tomorrow so I can quilt this over the weekend.  Yay baby girl! I chose pink flannels..my first time working with flannels, I was a little scared but it seems to be going well.  Stay tuned for pictures!

Another contest out there in the quilting blog world.  Check out http://stitchduchessscrazysanequiltingworld.blogspot.com/ for a chance to win a mini-quilt!  Just scroll down to the June 16th post (blogversary).  I have discovered that quilters are the most generous people out there, why didn’t I find you earlier!  Not only do the blogs enrich my world and get my creative juices running, they have such fun contests. 

Have a great day everyone,     

Vivian