Four Patch Charm Quilt in Shimmer

I made this sample as I was writing up my pattern for the Four Patch Charm Quilt,  I wanted to make sure I had all the measurements right!  Nice to finally have the time to pop a panto on it and get it done.   The fabric is Northcott Artisan Sprirt Shimmer Charm packs in four colorways, Pansy, Peacock, Sunglow and Hibiscus.   The pattern only calls for 3 charm packs but I bought four from Keystone Quilts when they had a buy 3 get the fourth free!  Can’t resist a sale like that!  I was able to pick and chose the colours I wanted with the four packages.   The background is a white Colorworks, I find this line of solids nicer than Kona solids as it has a finer weave and less fraying. 

I chose the Wave on Wave pantograph as it is one of my favorites.   Used white So Fine thread and Dream Blend batting.

I was out again taking pictures of the eagles, they have been very cooperative this summer!

Update on the Move

So I just got back from a week long house hunting trip to Emo, Ontario which is going to be our new hometown soon. Its a very cute little town with a population of 1,300 and is right on the Rainy River which borders with the States.  The main business area is right on the waterfront and is very inviting.  There is a river walk and up on the street level they have four decks to enjoy the view from, one has stairs down to the river.    I will apologize for the quality of some of these photos as I used my phone for a few!

Now to the good news… we bought a house!    No it’s not on a lake, and no it doesn’t have a great view (yet) but the house is perfect for our family.  Best of all it has a huge room in the basement for my longarm!! I can finally have my sewing machines and fabric all in one room!    If you are curious and want to check out the listing you’ll find it here.  The listing doesn’t show the new quilting room but is what they called the ‘game room’ in the listing.   It is in a relatively new subdivision with about 70 lots but only 10 house build on it so far, the house is two years old.  We will have a green space to the north and east, and have a few neighbours to the south side.  Only thing it didn’t have on our check list was a garage so we will build one next year.    We do not get possession until Oct 2 and have to be out of our house here on Sept 1 so will have to put the longarm in storage for a month with the rest of the furniture. That’s not too bad! Gives me plenty time to plan my new quilting room! Glad the company Tim now works for gave us a rental house until we get possession so we are not homeless for a month!

We explored a lot of the area last week and Tim noticed an areas just off the highway about 5km from our new house that is a heron nesting ground! I wish I had my big zoom lens but my regular lens would have to do!    I had been told that herons nest high up in the trees but have never seen this before. Well I couldn’t believe how many nests there were in this one small area. There had to be a least 20 nests and most had herons in them!  Here is the view from the highway and I zoomed in on a few.  The noise from the herons were quite loud and I even saw two in a bit of a scuffle.   It will be fun to capture this again next year with the right equipment!

We also drove about 40 km north to a few lakes and I think I’ll be quite happy kayaking these lakes next summer!    Not right out my door anymore but not too far away.

I also brought along a quilt with me to bind, it is a Quarter Sections quilt that I made as a class sample, so used it to audition locations for quilt pictures.  There is even public dock on the river I can use but it was too windy when I was there this time.    This quilt was made with purple batiks and I used Water Wings as the panto design.

Four Patch Posies

I managed to find time to squeeze in a guild comfort quilt this week and this one is called 4-Patch Stacked Posies by H.D.Designs.   It is a simpler version of the Stack and Whack technique.   We found a fabulous large print black and white fabric to us and added a red inner border to allow the bit of red in the fabric to pop! Turned out great and I love how each of the block are so different.  I quilted it with the Popcorn pantograph, used black So Fine thread and Quilters Dream Blend batting. 

Graduation 2017

Last Thursday my youngest son Daniel graduated from high school and we are so proud of him!   The graduation class was 55 graduates which is a typical size for our  town these past few years.

It just feels like yesterday I was watching this sweet little boy get on the school bus to go to kindergarten for the first time, where does the time go?

It was a rainy and cool day but we did manage to get a few family pictures in the front yard between rain showers.

Here is the whole graduating class of Hapnot Collegiate 2017!  Congratulations Daniel!

Happy Canada Day!

Last night we went to town to watch the local Canada Day Fireworks display that are shot over Ross Lake.  They put on an amazing show and I always enjoy the ones that they bounce of the water like the one pictured above.   The lake was calm so was able to get a nice reflection of the fireworks in the lake.  As you can see there is still some light at midnight up here as the sun doesn’t set until 10:30.

I was also able to get more pictures of the eagles at the dump, all 9 were still there again. 

Four Patch Charm Quilt #6

This is Laura’s Four Patch Charm Quilt which is my free pattern that you can download off my blog sidebar as a PDF.  I love the colours of the batiks Laura used, they remind me of sea glass colours.   She asked if I could quilt it just like my original quilt and I was happy to oblige!  I quilted all the pebbles and swirls free hand as well as the CC’s in the triangles, just used a straight ruler for the SID.   I used an off white Bottom Line 60wt thread on the top and bottom and used Quilters Dream Blend batting.

So this is my last client quilt for June and I plan on working on a few of my own quilts this summer when I can find time and I promise to share those with you!  I also have a guild quilt top that I want to finish for them as it is a large one and wouldn’t be fun for them to quilt on a domestic machine.  So I will still be blogging just not as often.

Eagles, Luna Moth and an Update

On Sunday we drove to the dump and spotted 9 eagles high up in the tree tops.  We had noticed 2 eagles there the week before so I was prepared with my camera this time but didn’t bring my super zoom lens. I’ll do that this Sunday in hopes of see them again.  There were quite a few fledglings but they were usually sitting in a different tree from their parent, until this happened!

I was told the fledglings do not develop the white head until they are around 7 years old.

Then I also spotted a beautiful Luna Moth in my yard last week.  I had not idea what it was until I posted pictures on Facebook.  My friends educated me on this rare sighting up north as we must be on the edge of their habitat. It camouflaged very well on my plum tree and I’m surprised I noticed it.

And now an update on our move…we received an offer to purchase the house before putting it on the market so what a relief!  It all happened very fast and I am so happy to not have to show the house at a moments notice,  I can just enjoy one last summer here!   Possession date is September 1, now to find a new house in Ontario!

I have one last client quilt to share for June but it has been raining all week!  Hope the sun shines soon so I can get pictures.