One More Freebie Fifteen

I'm still plugging away on these blocks.  I think there are just two more months to go.  At Traditional Pastimes this last month, they had part of the quilt put together - made me realize that the end is near!

So, here is this month's block:

Compared to the last couple months, this one was a piece of cake!  Nice squares and half square triangles - I didn't have to moan to Mr. CQT about it being "too haaaarrrd" once!  (He's not all that helpful when I do moan.  He says "Well, don't do it then."  What kind of advice is that to a quilter?  Of course I have to do it!  He just needs to pat me on the back and agree that I really am tortured by all of those horrible templates and to compensate, he'll take over the housecleaning or take me out to dinner.  Why doesn't he think of that?)

Central Alberta Quilt Show

Mr. CQT and I had a nice trip to Red Deer today for the annual Central Alberta Quilt Guild show.  Actually, I dropped him off at the motorcycle dealership, and went to the show myself.  That way, we both enjoyed the trip.

This is a great show, with gorgeous quilts and LOTS of vendors.  It is really well done for a show done by a smaller centre. It has a huge draw, with people coming from Calgary, Edmonton and beyond.

I arrived just before the door opened, and there were about 100 people in line!  I made a good choice - I decided to go look at the quilts first.  The other 99 people headed over to the vendor booths and I was all by myself wandering amongst the quilts.  Since I actually remembered to take my camera, it was great.  I could take lots of pictures with no one getting in the way!

After that, I wandered around the vendor booths.  I only bought one thing - a DVD, "Sally Collins teaches Precision Piecing".  Mostly, the vendors this year were selling kits.   Tons of kits!  I looked at them, but kept thinking about all the fabric (and a couple or six kits) I have sitting in my sewing room.  I really, really don't need any more!  So, I looked for new templates and notions, and really didn't see any.  I looked at books and patterns, but nothing jumped out at me, so my Visa did not get the workout it expected.

Here is a slideshow of some of the quilts.  I probably took pictures only of a third of the quilts that were there.  These were the ones that inspired me.  I discovered something -- I really have to learn to hold the camera straight!  I hope you don't get too sea sick looking at these!

I'm Back!

Mr CQT and I took a week's vacation in Phoenix and soaked in the heat - which was good, as we really haven't had any heat yet this year in Calgary.

We also drove up through beautiful Sedona to Flagstaff and the Grand Canyon.  It was the first time I had ever been there.  It is awe inspiring!

This photo doesn't even begin to do it justice.  After walking around, we headed into the gift shop to look for a fridge magnet (we collect fridge magnets wherever we go!), and what did I see, hidden in a little corner?

Imagine that!  A Grande Canyon quilt!

We also managed to visit almost every quilt store in Phoenix / Sedona / Flagstaff, and I did a little shopping. You can't just go into these stores and not buy anything, right?  And there were Memorial Day sales going on in some of them, so I got some really good deals!

Here's my loot.  I have no idea what I will do with these bright fat quarters, but they were so pretty, I couldn't resist

 Same with these solids and the pastel coloured ones below - although I'm sure a baby quilt will be needed at some point or another, and I'll be ready with these fabrics!

Part of the reason for our trip to Flagstaff was so that Mr. CGT could experience Route 66.  He has always dreamed of driving on that route, so the bit that we were able to experience in Flagstaff was fun!  And, in one of the stores, I found some Route 66 fabric.

I'm going to make Mr. CGT a pillow out of this.

More fabric, a ruler and a book:

I've got an idea for a Mariner's Compass quilt that I would love to make to hang at work.  We work with people going through separation and other family disputes, and a big focus of the work is mediation.  The Mariner's Compass would be an ideal symbol of the mediators goal - to guide people to a better way of resolving their disputes.  This is a "someday project", for sure, but getting the instructions is a first step.



I also bought myself a hat.  Usually I look absolutely ridiculous in hats.  But I found this Anne of Green Gables style hat in Arizona, and I don't think it's that bad!  Now I've got something to wear when I'm gardening.  Have to maintain the pasty white Canadian complexion, eh?

Next Freebie Fifteen Done

I'm done a little lot early this time.  It helps to be on vacation!  This is the Freebie Fifteen block of the month from Traditional Pastimes.  It isn't actually due till June 15th.

This is the one I mucked up a bit.  I had cut the strip sets to make all of those 9 patches, but accidentally cut them at 13 /16 instead of 1 3/16.  Of course, there wasn't enough fabric left to cut strips of the correct size. Luckily, though, I have a fabric or two in my stash.  They had provided a mostly black fabric for the dark squares.  I had some Kona charcoal left from the baby quilt, and I think that looks just fine with the other colours in this BOM.

You Won't Get the Best of Me!!

Ha ha! she says.

You may remember this post, where I was whining about the difficult block in the Sand and Sea Glass BOM.  If you recall, there was a part of the pattern that looked like this:

The instructions were to cut out all of those tiny little triangles using templates and sew them together.  Twice - there are two units.  (In case you're not totally insane after the first one.)

After much hemming and hawing, and seriously considering ditching the whole thing, I decided to draft myself a paper piecing pattern.

And.......success!!

The entire block is 12 1/2 inches, so you can see how tiny those little triangles really are.  This block took me about 6 hours to complete - not including the drafting time.

Here is a close up:

It's not perfect, but it's done.  Mr. CQT was taking a careful look at it, and said, "Is there supposed to be that overlap there?" - meaning the cut off parts of the triangles.  I snatched it away and replied, "They told me that you non-quilters weren't supposed to notice those things!"

Meanwhile, I had a bit of  a setback working on this month's block.  The instructions said to cut 12 strips 1.3/16 inch wide.  Even with my bifocals, I missed that tiny little dot, and cut them ALL 13/16 inch wide.  And sewed them together.  Then realized that the resulting strip sets were WAY too small.  Oh well - it's only fabric.

Bloggers Quilt Festival

Something new to me, but not to Amy at AmysCreativeSide - the Bloggers Quilt Festival.

Here is my feature (and favourite!) quilt. 

This is Spanish Steps, a pattern by Judy Martin.  I made it in a class at my LQS - because it looked like it might be difficult to do.  Turns out, Judy's instructions are so clear that our instructor didn't do much more than tell us what page to turn to in the book.  I was really happy with how it turned out - I love the shadowed look that many of Judy's quilts have.

I gave the quilt to my brother and his wife.  When they opened it, my SIL announced that it would be perfect for their dining room wall.  Well, that required a hanging sleeve, so I took it home and quickly attached one.

Now, I'm off to tour the other linked up blogs!

Well, That Was Short

Yes, that is snow falling.  It's currently 4 degrees (C = about 40 degrees F). I know I said that summers were short here, but this is ridiculous!  The tree in the foreground is our crabapple, which is just starting to bud out.

Actually, this isn't all that unusual for Calgary.  No one with any experience plants their bedding plants until the week after the Victoria Day long weekend (which is this weekend).  I haven't even bought mine yet.

So, what to do when you're on vacation and the weather is awful?

Have a great day!