Grand Illusion and winter.

Well we have had about 12 inches of snow and it is cold, I think winter has arrived in the north.  This was last week on the front lawn.

And here is today! -23C with the windchill.

I have made so many changes to the fabric for Grand Illusion, I hope I can stick with this palette. I have purple as my black and whites and grey as my lights. The green is darker than it looks. I have one more of the rose color to add in, and I think the turquoise is brighter in person too.
 Eagerly awaiting our first clue .

Two finishes

 I have linked up to the Canadian Bolgathon and look forward to visitors. I hope you will visit all the blogs on the tour.

I have two quilts finished. Both were in the please quilt me pile for some time. It does feel so good to have them finished. Still a couple more to do before the Bonnie Hunter mystery starts.
This is the Downton Abbey Mystery Quilt from last winter, I chose the Dowager fabric and quite like the end result. My prop guy isn't quite tall enough to hold it straight. We did have a snowfall, not much left but sure we will get more soon. That's ok, bring on winter and bright sparkly days.

This is Bonnie Hunter's pattern Scrappy Bargello. Used up a fair bit of stash and love it, I love scrappy!  

Proud to be Canadian

It has been a rough couple of days for Canada, but we will stick together and we will not hide. Parliament is back in session today, all is well. I honor the soldiers that have fallen and thank every man and woman who serve our country daily to protect us.

I am busy with a new quilt design and am loving how it it turning out. Hope to have it finished soon and have no idea of a title!

I have my Bonnie Hunter fabric picked for the next Mystery Quilt, can hardly wait for it to start. Love Bonnie's mysteries and the manic sewing that goes along with it:) If you missed the requirement post you can find it here. http://quiltville.blogspot.ca/p/grand-illusion-mystery.html

I hope you are having a great day and to all my Canadian sisters and brothers , we stand strong and free. 

In The Berry Patch

The pattern for In The Berry Patch is ready. This quilt measures 72x72 without borders and 79x79 with the borders. To order just click on the paypal link.

FALL... a plethora of colors and smells

Fall is definitely in the air. After the fabulous fishing trip, came home washed clothes got the Motorhome ready and canned the sauerkraut that was ready and then  my sis and I headed for the beautiful Okanagan. Weather was so gorgeous, scenery so beautiful with all the colors of Fall. We did load up with fruit and tomatoes.

This is what the back of the motorhome looked like!

Spent a few wonderful days exploring and shopping and then headed home. And you know what came next??? Yes, processing all those gorgeous fruits. A plethora of color in the jars!
 Canned a lot of tomatoes, the ones from Keremeos are out favorite they are so sweet.  Also made salsa.

And a few peaches, most of the peaches and pears were eaten fresh.  Had a nice surprise in the Raspberry patch, picked more and made more jam.

And happy to say I have finished another one of my own designs. This quilt is called In The Berry Patch, reminds me so much of my Mom and her love of picking berries.

Such a gorgeous Fall day to photograph it in front of the Raspberry patch. I do hope you are also having a wonderful Fall, enjoying the colors and smells of this wonderful prelude to winter. And next will be Bonnie Hunter's next Mystery Quilt !

Summer time.

Time goes by so fast and I just can't seem to keep this blog up to date, must try harder!! Have had a very busy, summer I designed and made this quilt "Geese In The Gardern"

This is my first large quilt, I have designed many wall hangings. it was a lot of fun designing the eleven blocks and doing the layout. I used Peppered Cottons, by Pepper Cory. The sales rep saw the quilt at our local shop and has asked for me to supply patterns for them to distribute to the stores that carry their fabrics...wow I was sunned!  The pattern is available for sale. Contact me at forbesrj@shaw.ca if you are interested or purchase using the paypal buttons. 

FOR USA ORDERS CLICK  BELOW           





FOR CANADIAN ORDERS CLICK BELOW

I will be teaching this pattern at our local quilt shop in the Fall.

After delivering the quilt and patterns we headed off for holidays.  First off to  Meziaden Lk for some Salmon fishing, such a gorgeous piece of heaven. Friends from Fort Nelson met us there and we went on to StewartBC/Hyder Alaska...what a great little town we had so much fun. The guys put the boat in at the Portland Canal and with help from one of the locals, set two crab traps....well wow were they surprised. 16 crabs in total, and were they good!

 Kaylan and I enjoyed burgers, halibut burgers, fresh halibut!

I celebrated my 70th birthday in Hyder, AK. 

We also viewed the grizzlies eating salmon in the creek, the viewing platform is operated by the state and it is fabulous. Here's one big guy  sauntering along and a close up!

And then it was up to see the Salmon Glacier, you actually cross back into BC on the road , the glacier is in BC and it is mind boggling...so huge...unbelievable!

Hyder  and Stewart are very small friendly towns, and it is so easy to spend a lot of time there :) We will be going back.  We finished off our holiday by going into Babine Lk salmon fishing for a few more days :) Had such a wonderful time with Rob, Brenda, Kaylen and Mike .

But now it is on to harvesting the garden and getting back to some sewing. Hope you enjoyed the review of our summer :)  I hope you have all had a fabulous summer.

Summer time and the livin' is ____________

I can not believe it has been so long since I have wrote in my blog! How can time go by so fast.  We finally got summer, it was slow coming but have enjoyed some gorgeous weather.
 I HAVE NO IDEA WHY SOME WORDS ARE SHOWING AS A LINK, DON'T CLICK ON THEM.

I have never sewn outside...well on a very hot day...my cousin and I sewing under the awning of the motor home. It was such a fun weekend, she only lives 50 miles away so a short trip :)

 I was working on a new design. While cleaning up my fabric I ran across these taupes, they so reminded me of my Mom and her love for picking berries. Huckleberries, saskatoons, blueberries, strawberries...you get the picture. I am call it "Gramma's Berry Patch" My border fabric was too light so I took it off and tea-dyed it...perfect solution. Still have to quilt it and write up the pattern , I am happy with the design. What do you think.

 Celtic Solstice (Bonnie Hunter mystery) finally found it's place in the motorhome.

Bev was working on her Celtic Solstice quilt.

Spring

Finally having some decent weather and the snow is just about gone. I've neglected my blog badly. Will try and catch you up on what I've been up to.
Finished Bonnie Hunter's Celtic Solstice, I call mine "May The Wind Always be At Your Back" an ode to my Irish Roots.

I have had quite a few finishes over the winter, and it makes me happy to have them off the UFO pile. 

 This one is called Mountain Flowers, lot's of applique which I enjoy.

"Snowy Days" a Crabapple Hill design, enjoyed embroidering the blocks. 

A simple rag quilt with large flannel blocks. 

'Heart" string block quilt. 

I am still working on the applique wool blocks, have one more to do. Here are four more of them. I love wool applique!

 I hope that you have all had a wonderful Easter weekend with family and friends. Ours was just wonderful.

Celtic Solstice and more

On January 1st we got the last step for our Celtic Solstice Mystery by Bonnie Hunter. As I was putting my blocks together I decided to make it 8x8 blocks...so spent some time making extra units, so as to have it Queen size and fit my bed! Here is the progress so far, I have five rows done and now have to sew more blocks together. I LOVE her mysteries, this is the third one for me and I am always so amazed to think wow I made this quilt! I am loving Celtic Solstice with the bright beautiful spring colors. As today it is -42 with the windchill, and folks it is the kind of day to spend in the studio playing with lots of color :)

I love how the blocks are forming the circles...a bit of magic.  I've been watching Bonnie's page on FaceBook and there are some gorgeous Celtic Solstice quilts and different color combination.

I like to stitch in the evening. Here is another one in progress. I am doing a wool felt quilt, the background is almost like pillow ticking ( I believe that is what it is called) I purchased the kit at Buggy Barn in Washington last Fall when my sister and I visited.   I hope you all have a lovely Sunday and are doing something pleasurable...I always say sewing is my sanity .

Happy New Year and Celitc Solstice

Happy New Year to you all may your year be filled with lot's of color and wonder!
I spent yesterday making mug rugs for two gals who did not receive any ... in a swap that I hosted :) Ahh the wonders of being a swap host !

Today I put the tree and decorations away. That is always a bit sad for me, it is so pretty and festive. We will continue to turn on our outdoor lights to light up and add some color to  our world of white. This is out the front door...lots of snow.

 I was sure we were going to have more little units to make! Here are the blocks sort of laid out and I've started sewing the star one together. Hopefully will get some time in the next few days to get it all together. Again it was another wonderful mystery from Bonnie.

Happy sewing :)