New local quilt shop! Cornerstone Quilt & More

 Somehow I missed there was a new quilt shop in town! It's been open for 5 months! Can't believe I missed it!
However that oversight has been rectified and I made a trip out there.

Love it!

The owner is a lovely lady named Judy. She is super friendly and I talked her ear off for over an hour while there.

The shop isn't all that big but it is well stocked. And there isn't just one type of fabric, she has batiks, modern, solids, fusions, cute, romantic, pretty and bold. The only thing not really represented was Kansas Troubles type fabric but apparently there are on there way too.

Lot's of Kona, they are priced really well!

The shop really felt good to me, and Judy agrees that a quilt shop should be somewhere to social, and have fun, so I'm really hoping to get there often!

   It's over on Hyde Park just before Fanshawe Park Rd for those of you who are local. The hours are bit tight, 10-4 Tues-Sat but I think that may change once the shop is more established. I highly recommend stopping in!

Quilting frame/machine- why I chose the one I did

 After posting about the new quilting frame I got asked how I chose the one I did.

That part was actually fairly easy. The shop I have rented the long arm at is a Husqavarna & Baby Lock dealer.
I chose a newer version of the frame I'd used at the shop because I knew both how and that I could load and use it; it's 118" long-big enough for a king but not a super/cali king; it was on sale and it would be able to hold a long arm machine if I can ever afford one. So that was pretty easy in terms of choosing it. It's the Imperial Quilting Frame from Inspira, which is from the Grace Co.

The machine is a similar story. I went with the Baby Lock Quilter's Choice Professional. It has a wider throat space then most domestic machines, can do a straight stitch like no one's business, had an automatic scissors function and again was on sale, this time as a floor model clearance. So it was on sale a LOT. It is also a model that either the shop or the manufacturer isn't making/carrying anymore, I can't actually remember which. The table is detachable so is put away while it's on the frame.

And if I do ever get that long arm, this will make a rockin sewing machine to replace my waaaaay overworked little Husky Star that I currently sew on.

Glorious Autumn Block Party!

Michele over at Quilting Gallery has done it again! She's organizing a massive Block Party starting in September. There are still some slots for designers so if you want in go over and check it out!

Starting Sept 4th, the block party will have 45 designers each contributing a block. My block will be up in November!

Just for fun- 1/4" hexies

 When I was looking around at all the hexie projects and such popping up I saw 1/4" hexies. They were adorable and I thought whoever made them was insane.

Then I was thinking I'd like to do a smaller hexie then the 1" ones I've been doing for my other hexie projects, so I went looking for papers to buy because I'm not hand cutting hexagons and the dies I have are 1", 1.25", 1.5" and 2.5" or something like that.
I saw 1/4" hexies. I thought they were again adorable. But this time I forgot the insane part.

Luckily I decided to make a quick practice hexie flower using them before buying a ton of the papers because, yes you really do have to be insane, or have much smaller and more nimble fingers then I do to enjoy making a gazillion of these!!

But they sure are cute!

I caved! Granny Square QAL

I tried. I really did but I couldn't hold out from doing the Granny Square Quilt Along when Shane suggested I make a baby quilt for our neighbour. I wanted something fairly simple, and I wanted to use fabric I already had. Since you can make the Granny Squares using strip piecing I decided that it was a go.

It took awhile to figure out the fabric until I found the container hold almost a fully jelly roll of Max & Whiskers from when I made Avalanche, which is available at Fat Quarter Shop as a PDF still.

I add some black for the setting, and will be sashing both the blocks and border in black. I really like how it sets off the fabrics. And I still have a browns, whites, oranges and some yellows left! I'll be sad when I do finally finish my stash of this line because it really is perfect for kids, and boys in particular. It's not cutsy but it is kid friendly, and both Shane and I like it, even for adults.

Now to trim them up and hope I did it right!

Another hexie project

I have my MFHexy project for when I'm out and about, but when sitting on the couch I have different hexie project on the go.

I got the idea from the Hexa-Go-Go book I reviewed.
I'm using a charm pack of Rural Jardin by French General and so far I've only had to add a couple of spare charm squares in the red. I'll probably have to add some to the whites but not many I think. I'm going to go around the diamond once with the white, and then fill in to make the piece rectangular with whites, and maybe the tans too.

Because I'm using the Sizzix Big Shot I can get 4 of the 1.25" hexies from each charm square. That's 168 hexies from one charm pack! You can do a lot with that many hexies. Like make 24 hexie flowers.

MFHexy quilt along

 I've been plugging away at my MFHexy quilt. I have almost all the flowers done. And now have to sew them in rows. Which I may not do. I have an idea but will have to see if it would work before I share it.

I did get the border fabric, I'm using Moda Crossweave in Apple. It matches the light green that is in a few of the prints, and I think it will help lighten up the quilt since I'm using the darker of the colourways from Lilly Belle.
Which I'm loving more and more.

There is so many little details I only notice while I'm working with such small pieces. And because I'm hand sewing them, I can look closer then when they're zooming past when machine sewing.

This has been a great project to have on the go this summer. I can take it anywhere and work on it when Little Bit is playing.

Hello? Anyone there? I got a quilting frame!

I've been a bad, bad blogger. My poor blog has been so ignored lately! So much is going on and I often think about something to blog about but by the time I get around to trying to blog I've either forgot what I was going to blog about or it's no longer relevant or timely.

I won't promise to not go MIA again because, well, I probably will at some point. But I really miss blogging so I'm going to really make a point for posting more often, even if they are shorter posts. Or **gasp** photo-less!

August is a very hard month for me. My son's birth & death days fall in August, and it always takes me awhile to move out of my memories and emotions around that, then back to school starts looming which drives both Little Bit and me into a tizzy.
I'm also not feeling well, and the insane weather has left me foggy and hurting.

But none of that is actually what I was planning on blogging about today!


I had my sewing room painted! My fabulous little sister came and painted it all for me, which wasn't as hard as getting the awful wall paper border down was. She did that too lol.
 Before

  

After!

The colour makes me so happy. It's calming and pretty but not distracting and I don't think it will effect how I see fabrics when I'm making a quilt.

I have exciting news! With the help of my dad, my older sister and my mom I was able to get a quilting frame and mid arm machine!! No more renting the longarm at the shop! Getting the frame to fit in my sewing room required some more rearranging, and some storage having to leave the sewing room, but we made it fit!

I'll miss the ladies at the shop and talking for hours with people while I quilt but I'm so happy not to be under time limits when quilting. I can take my time, take breaks, and enjoy the process more.

Once I get some of my own tops quilted up I'll be ready to quilt for others. I'm also going to do a contest of some sort for free quilting.

More to come!