A new year begins: looking back, looking forward.

Well, a new year has begun. 2015 was full of positive changes, both for me personally and for our home. Personally, I overcame my lifelong battle with depression with top notch professional help and a lot of hard work. Our home has a new kitchen and our yard has a new pond. As of June 2016, we will have lived in our little house for 10 years, and we finally have it just the way we like it.

I started my quilting blog in 2015 and, after a number of changes, finally have it set up the way I like it. The setup took a lot of time away from my quilting, which is kind of ironic, but I have ideas for some great block and wall quilt designs for 2016. I can't wait to start posting them!

Happy New Year! I hope your 2016 is full of joy and love.

Checkerboard Scrap Mini Quilt: FREE Pattern

This stash buster is well suited for beginners or anyone who might need a quick gift. You can use the combination of light and dark fabrics or mix it up with a variety of scraps. Instructions are given for light/dark checkerboard. This pattern would be perfect for a young quilter's first project.

Precious Bundle Baby Quilt Pattern

My Precious Bundle baby quilt pattern is now CHARM PACK FRIENDLY!

I designed this sweet little quilt some time ago and finally finished it this week. I love shabby chic and used some beautiful retro-style fabrics from Connecting Threads called Line Dried by Mama's Cottons. The fabric design was perfect for this quilt. It's going to be a gift for a very special someone.

Free-form quilting art quilt

This quilt, Happy Hour, was created for the Manitoba Crafts Council 2013 annual members' For the Love of Craft art show.

I enjoyed making this art quilt. It was inspired by Rayna Gillman's book Create Your Own Free-Form Quilts. I named it Happy Hour because the polka-dots reminded me of Leonard Cohen's song Closing Time. There's a line in the song that goes "and the men they dance on the polka-dots." I was humming that tune much of the time I was finishing up the quilt, and I couldn't get that line out of my head.

One of the most enjoyable things about free-form quilting is that it keeps you thinking outside the box. There's no real plan, which means all kinds of cool things can happen.

Many Moons: Free Pattern

This modern drunkard's path pattern was made with my own ice dyed cotton. I titled it Many Moons because the colours and textures of the fabric reminded me of the moon's surface, and the pattern is laid out similar to a moon cycle chart. The moon is also considered to be the symbol for women.

This was my first try at the Drunkard's Path block. I avoided this block because of the curves, but once I did a few, I got the hang of it. Below are links to get this free pattern, instructions for ice dying and a video on a simple technique to sew accurate curves for this block. (I wish I'd seen this video before I made this quilt).

Glue basting?? 
Fons & Porter video demonstrating the glue basting technique for drunkard path blocks.

Happy Halloween!

Halloween is my favourite time of year. I did this floral arrangement for the season and made a Halloween table topper to go with it. I think the whole thing looks quite cheerful. Also, check out my Halloween door wreath.

Sewing machine cover from an old art quilt

I made a sewing machine cover with an old art quilt that hung in our office. I had been trying out improv aka free form quilting for the first time and created this mini quilt Summer Aspen. I love the colours but grew tired of it on the wall.

I used Rayna Gillman's book Create Your Own Free-Form Quilts to make this quilt art. This book guides you along very well and has beautiful examples of some of Ryana's pieces.

At first, I thought it might look nice as a bag, but I changed my mind about that and decided to turn it into a sewing machine cover. I love how it turned out.

Crazy quilt pillows with video tutorial

I made these crazy quilt block pillows for our couch, and they really inject a bit of character into the room. I love crazy quilts but lack the patience and time for all that embroidery. So, now I use the fancy stitches on my sewing machine instead. My little Singer has the best decorative stitches, so I use that machine for crazy quilt blocks.

Below is a great tutorial by Fons & Porter for creating crazy blocks. (FYI: The quilt in the left background inspired my denim scrap quilt beach blanket.)