Racing the Storm Home

Racing the Storm Home, original quilt by Vivian Bales, 2013

My quilt is now finished.  Some days binding seems to take forever!!!! 

Here is a close up of the raven applique and some of my handquilting.  I chose to do all the lightning as handquilting and I'm pleased with the result.

And guess what!!!!  It's hanging on display at our local quilt shop!  Hopefully it helps customers realize what can be done with this extremely amazing lightning fabric and make them excited to try their own!

Have a good one everyone!

Vivian

Current WIP

First, thanks for hanging in there while I'm unable to attend to my blog.  It's the little things, like a power cord that no longer works.  What a pain, I used up all my battery power and now my laptop is just a big paperweight.

I'll get another cord but I'm trying to live without it.  This will be the 3rd one!

I can play on the internet though with my little playbook (which until this point was just for reading Kobo books) but it's not really helpful for taking photos and then putting them on my blog.  I need a real keyboard in my life for that.

So I will pop in when I can (when I  am on a real computer) to try and update you on what's up with me.

One day, about a month ago, I walked into our local quilt shop and didn't even make it down the stairs.  Hanging along the wall were these amazing new panels.  Full of lightning and fire and brimstone.  I was hooked.  I immediately took one home and played with it.

The Raven is our territorial bird.  They are everywhere.  They talk to you, they follow you, one used to sit outside my window at work (3 stories up!) and watch me eat my sandwich.  Thinking one day, just one day he'd be able to snitch it.

I decided to applique a raven onto this panel.  The cliffs reminded me of the clay cliffs surrounding Whitehorse, and our lovely canyons.  I added some pieced blocks to represent lightning and the log cabins along the bottom represent home.  I've been calling this one Racing The Storm Home.  Will it keep that name?  Not sure, we'll see how it talks to me when I'm done the quilting.

I've been handquilting the lightning.  What a job!  Once that is done I'll do the rest on the machine.  Otherwise it'll take me till next summer to finish!

So here it is...I just think it's so cool and so me.  Definitely not a bed quilt.

 

 Thanks for stopping by!

Vivian

Do Me a Favour

Google (or Bing or whatever you search with) Sieglinde Schoen Smith.

You have now met the quilter that I want to become.

WOW!

I can barely stand it.  How amazing are these appliqued quilts!  

What do you think, is it even possible?  Wow.  Just wow.

Vivian

Ps:  it's snowing again, where the heck is Spring!!!!

 

UFO finished!

It's a good Sunday at my house!  Last weekend I was tidying my cross stitch basket, planning my life, you know how it goes.  Anything that wasn't actual housework.

I came across an old UFO from about 3 years or so ago.  I had bad feelings over it, and wasn't really interested in finishing it.  I was preparing to remove it off my scroll frames when I received some great words of wisdom from my daughter.  How is it that sometimes a 12 year old knows more then a 41 y.o.?  She inspired me to work on it again and today I finished it!

Here is my Birds of a Feather by The Victoria Sampler.

I had left it at the 9th band, the one with the flower.  Funny how much you can accomplish with a fresh perspective.  I am so happy it's finished.  Well, at least until I order some bellpull hardware.  Fortunately the instructions for sewing it unto a bell pull are included. 

Vivian

April 1st in the Yukon

I know, I ignore you all for days and days and then post twice in one day.  I think I'm back in the blogging groove!!

I just wanted to share some pics my daughter just took this morning when she took the dogs out for a walk.  I think I'm just going to go buy some flowers from the grocers and carry them around with me.  That may keep me going till spring really gets here.  It's been snowing all night and all day!!!!  (not that the flakes show up in the photos)

our driveway is about 250 metres long, so hard to keep clear all winter

who loves going for a walk?

Have a wonderful day everyone, thanks for stopping by!

Vivian

My Sewing Plans

Ok, I feel safe talking about this here because my two special friends do not visit my blog.  I'm not even sure they even know I have a blog!   That's ok, because it is a good thing as I can share my secret surprise with all of you over the coming months.  I'll need the motivation LOL.

We (my family) have these friends that we are really close with.  Dave and Sandy.  For almost 10 years now!  They are older then us and have become like family (since our family is so far away).  We watch their dogs when they are away, we go over for Saturday night dinners once a month and spend Christmas day together.  They go to our girls' Christmas concerts and band recitals.   We are a part of each other's lives.

This Christmas (2012) they got engaged.   Yay!!!!  How amazing is it that when you are in your 60s you can still fall in love and start a life together.   I'm so happy for them.

Wedding date hasn't been set (although Christmas eve was thrown around as it'll be "easy to remember" LOL).

I want to make them a quilt.  Something meaningful to them and reflects their personality.  They both love my quilting and when on trips always make a stop somewhere to find me some fabric to use.  With the help of my friend Holly, I have the perfect quilt for them.  Holly has lent me her pattern (well she had an extra so I'm not sure if lending is how it will end up).  It's called Alaskan Silhouette Sampler by Brenda Henning.

Isn't it beautiful?  I will make a few changes though to make it more Yukon then Alaskan.  Change the Lupin to Fireweed and find something to replace the Alaskan flag.

This quilt is paper-pieced which I am NOT a fan of.  I tried it once and it wasn't fun.  But Holly has assured me I can do it, so I'll be keeping my fingers crossed and grit my teeth and just try it.

I've seen it completed in a green/tan  colourway so will spend the next little while pulling my fabrics to see what colour I would like to go with.

Because of this I will be putting most of my other sewing aside.  I'll finish up my french braid and try to get a couple of things quilted but will try and ignore everything else.

You may have noticed I've added a new cross stitch piece to my line up (I'm trying to keep a list on the left hand side).  I fell in love with this pattern the moment I saw it over the Christmas holidays and immediately contacted my needlework shop ( Traditional Stitches in Calgary) and ask that they kit it up for me and send when ready.  The fabric was backordered (so many of us wanting to stitch it maybe???) and I finally received all my supplies about a week ago!!!  I love love love it and hope you will enjoy seeing it come to life over the next year.  I hope to have it done in time to get it framed and hanging this Christmas.

The pattern is called Christmas at Hollyberry Farm and is designed by Stacy Nash of Stacy Nash Primitive Designs.  Isn't it lovely?

Are you working on anything new?  I swear these two will be my last two NEW items this year LOL....I really have to get something accomplished and the "Yukon" quilt and this Christmas sampler are it!

Take care,
Vivian

PS:  It's been snowing all night and still coming down!!  I'm so jealous of those who have green grass and tulips pushing through...someone please sniff a flower for me and walk barefoot in your grass.

Happy Easter!

All the best to you!

Spring is in the air, the snow is melting, I filled the bird feeders for the first time this year and our cat is out stalking sunpatches.  He's a bit too heavy to walk on the snowbanks so he's hopping from a less snowed area to another.  Like a fat grumpy bunny LOL.

Have a wonderful day everyone,

Vivian