It's Not a Quilt, But...

I did buy the kit at a Quilt Shop!

This past summer, Mr. CQT and I went on a road trip to Montana.  I had never been there and was surprised at how beautiful it is!  We went to Great Falls, Helena and Bozeman, and, of course, I visited most of the quilt shops.

I was surprised at the prevalence of embroidery patterns, supplies and kits.  I haven't seen that many in Alberta, nor in my previous trips to the US.  Maybe it's a Montana thing?  Or maybe an up and coming thing?

This was a little linen towel kit from Prickly Pear Quilts in Helena.

I did a lot of embroidery as a child, and in my early 20's.  I then moved to counted cross stitch, but gave that up when I discovered quilting.  But it was nice to pick it back up.  My vision is bad - well, it's weird.  Even though I have 50 something eyes, and need bifocals, I actually can see better, close up, without my glasses.  So, this weekend, I stitched and listened to an audiobook - blind to the world around me - and, actually, quite enjoyed it!  I see more embroidery in my future.

It's Blogathon Canada Time!

If you are Canadian, or interested in Canadian quilters, you will want to check out Sew Sister's Blogathon Canada 2014, starting on Monday!

Sew Sisters is an online and bricks-and-mortar store located in Toronto.  I've long been a fan (well, OK a customer) of Sew Sisters, and have been lucky enough to win prizes from them on a couple occasions.  I can vouch for their great customer service.  I can also vouch for their addictive clubs - I joined their Bargain Lovers club a few years ago.  They send you a fat quarter bundle in the mail every 6 weeks or so.  I loved getting those squishies so  much that I continued on, much longer than I really should have!  Now, they also have a Kona  Solids Club, which, I'm guessing, is just as addictive!

Sew Sisters store site is here. You go on and take a look - me, I have to avert my eyes!

Anyway, back to the topic at hand.  The Blogathon page links quilty blogs in different parts of the country each day.  Those blogs are each hosting a giveaway!!  And, they are linking to lots of other quilty blogs in their province or territory, so you can check them all out.  I'll be linked up to one of the Alberta ones on November 19th.  See you there!

I Don't Believe It! A Finish!!

It has been such a long time since I actually finished a project!  Oh, I have lots of finished tops and partially finished projects, but this one - I actually saw through to the end!  Yippee!

This is a Carolyn Friedlander pattern, called Sunrise.  I won the pattern in a giveaway hosted by Stephanie, at the Modern Sewciety blog and podcast.

I don't normally work in one line of fabric, but this pattern indicated that you could use a jelly roll, so I thought I'd give it a try.  I bought "Hubba Hubba" by Me and My Sister Designs.  The frames are Kona Snow, and the sashing is - well, I don't know, some teal-ish kind of solid.  The colours make for a happy, girly quilt!

The sunrises are paper pieced.  I found that the pattern was not quite jelly roll friendly - one of the bands was wider than 2 1/2 inches.  So, I drew a new line on the pattern to narrow that one band, and it worked fine after that.

I quilted it more heavily than I normally do, with spirals in the white and loopy things in the teal.  In the sunrises, I used my walking foot to do a wide zig zag up each band.

For the back, I cut up a lot of the leftover jelly roll fabric into squares, and used them to add some colour.

The quilt is 48 by 48 - a good sized baby quilt.  I haven't got a baby in mind, yet, but I have no doubt I'll have need of a baby gift sooner or later!