The Magic Carpet.

Inspiration can come from so many places, including a Persian carpet.  The carpet is small, made with silk and needless to say, one of a kind.  It was a Christmas gift a few years back, which one very special lady received,  from the love of her life.  How could he top this one, ever?  A quilt inspired by the carpet.  It is a combination of machine and hand applique, with hand quilting.

The Corners.

Design elements for the corners.

 Creating templates for the applique.

The center and the border designs.

Using thin bias strips to outline the applique.

Reverse applique was used in the center, to show the ivory background fabric.

Machine applique with blanket stitch for the leaves and petals.

Lots of satin stitch, to stitch the blue designs.  The green bias, are stitched by hand, so is the red dots.

The center of this quilt.

The whole quilt design on paper.

The finished quilt.

This is a queen size quilt, with a grid pattern of quilting.  This quilt was made in a record time of just two months.   When the gift was unwrapped on Christmas morning, in 2010, it was one of the best kept secrets.  Her own daughter had to take photo's of the small Persian carpet, when her Mom was out of the house, as to not,  let the cat out the bag. .....

This is just a picture of the carpet, considering how small it is, it had a big impact on the final result.

Applique and Spring.

What do the two have in common?  Nature, lots of flowers, leaves, stems and berries.  In a rainbow of colour.

 Playing with colour, this petal had two colours.

 All of this is to practice needle turn applique.

The House quilt, Home Sweet Home.

At Retreat Catherine did this ladybug, it was a mystery paper piece pattern.

 A close up of the hexie project, showing the colours.

As the weather has turned warmer, we have turned our attention to the garden.

Who can stay indoors, with such beauty, outside?

Tulips and Turrets.

We had to go on a mini road trip today.  Stopped on our way back at Fergus, for a late lunch.

Discovered this restaurant on the river.  A Newfie is a special kind of person in Canada.

The weir in the river in Fergus.

These stone pillars and decorative stones, just reminded me of castle walls and turrets.  Many of the buildings here have stone walls.

The steps lead all the way to the river.  It is closed of in the winter because of ice and snow.  On sunday we did get all the crazy weather, snow, rain, ice pellets and cold.  As you can see the difference a few days can make, sunny today, with not a hint of what the weather brought to us yesterday.  I stayed indoors and caught up on my bargello strip sets which I had to sew.  They are now done, ready for the next step.

 The two colour ways.

The strips have been cross cut in the different widths and awaiting the creating of the new strips, before sewing into rows.

The top's so far:

 Rolled up, with the first skinny border on the left and the first five rows sewn together.

All the strips are prepared and just need to be stitched into rows.

These tulips was beautiful.  They were at our first stop, much earlier in the day!

Tulips and Daffodils.

 Our Spring is still playing hide and seek.  The weather report suggests even snow flurries?...  This in May, we can only hope it will be gone quickly, so we can enjoy some warm weather with lots of sunshine!

My Hexie project, this a photo from a little while back.  Have prepared the next round of hexagons, which is a red frame around the butterflies and flowers.  Then the snails will follow.

The trees are getting there leaves on.

 A dark dark blue for 365, with two fabrics which I have used in the center, this will be used on the corner blocks.

 The last five blocks.

My wonky lotus flower.

Anna, at The Sewing Cafe, won this top at her Retreat.  It is all black and white, with a skinny purple border for a pop of colour.  Everyone made a black and white block, then these blocks was sewn up into tops, and names placed in a hat for the draw.  She is going to finish it, so it can go on its first road trip,  to Montreal.

These beauties are just waiting to open up.

The lastest block for the Splendid Sampler.

These dies are great, if you are doing Sue Garman's Omigosh Quilt pattern.  Cutting these triangles can take time, as the blocks are small.  Using the triangles as, leaders and enders, thanks to Bonnie who inspire us from Quiltville.

Blossom's and Tulips.

365 Challenge:

 The light blocks, they are six and a half inch blocks, compared to the dark three and a half inch blocks.

 All the dark blocks still need to be sewn to the center of the quilt.

 These blocks are just as busy as the smaller blocks.

The Splendid Sampler:

 Using the left over fabrics is helping to sew up the clutter in my sewing room.  One square at a time.

The Sunday Best Block.

Healing Hearts.

The blossoms's are blooming all over, trees are covered in them.

While I had to get a few things, I needed yesterday, Gail at The Hobby Horse showed me her stitching on this panel.  The shop has lots of stitchery samples and completed stitchery quilts.  If you love stitching, stop and just enjoy this feast for the eyes!

 At just the right time, late afternoon, the stream offers yet another treat, the fish jumping out the water to catch bugs.  They are quick and trying to catch them on film is another story all together....

Treasure the simple things in Life.