Simple Things are the Best Gifts

So this weekend was a bit of a busy one. Made a round trip to Halifax for my Godson's birthday and did a good  bit of quilting. I did however have one of the worst migraines ever that put me to bed for quite a few hours but I still feel as if I was quite productive. So here are my blocks for my Whispering Lake Quilt.

The one below is my favourite :) I just love the flower prints. These were Fat Quarters that came from the Bargain Lovers club through Sew Sisters.
 

So the progress on that quilt is going quite well. Hopefully after work tomorrow, I'll be able to get the quilt layout done so I can start sewing these gorgeous blocks together :)

This weekend I received one of the best gifts ever. My aunt gave me one of my grandmother's old quilting books. And in that book was a scribbler with pages full of blocks and her writing and colours....it's just so beautiful to have this! I will cherish this forever. She had Alzheimer's Disease and passed away 14 years ago so I never had a chance to talk to her about quilting or sew with her. I did bake with her and will always cherish those memories :)

So I was completely thrilled to go through her old notes and wonder when she had written them. There isn't any dates but if I would have to take a guess, I would say around 20 years ago. Here are some of the pages to show you. I'm just completely in awe.

This is the quilting book called "Prize Country Quilts" by Mary Elizabeth Johnson which this copy was published in 1982.

Here's a page from her notebook recorded as Dutchman's Puzzle with templates!

This one is recorded as Variable Star. I just love seeing her writing :)

There's also some other blocks in there too. I would like to make multiple quilts from all of these blocks. There's one in particular that looks incredible and is a lot of piecing called Morning Star, Evening Star. It's the last pattern in her notebook. I think I will attempt to make that one in the near future. Hoping to make her proud :)

I always feel like she's watching down from Heaven either laughing, smiling, or crying with me as I make quilts. I'm just feeling so grateful to have this. Just incredible to have as a family heirloom. A notebook that she paid 59 cents for, but it's worth the world to me :) Just feeling so full of love and happiness right now.

Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend.

Julia

Friday Finish :) and Quilty Secrets

Well actually a late Thursday night finish but I didn't have a chance to take pictures until this morning. So the Charm Square baby quilt is finished. So happy with this :)

I just love how this one came out. So for now it will have a home here unless some little one comes along to pass this lovely darling on to.

So Jenn @ A Quarter Inch from the Edge put up a post yesterday about quilty secrets. And asked about readers little quilty secrets. I know I had some of the same as Jenn's but I gasped at some of them lol.

So here are my little quilty secrets :)

1) I am a wannabe perfectionist when it comes to cutting....if my cut is slightly off, I'll toss the fabric in my scrap basket.

2) I hate when fabric stores rip fabric off the bolt....it just boils my blood. Seriously I'm buying this fabric because I love it and want to touch the fabric goodness and you're just ripping it off! I've even went as far as avoiding these fabric stores or requesting that all my fabric be cut!

3) I use decorative stitches on my binding so to make sure that I sew both sides of the binding without missing a section. I've tried sewing that straight stitch and I always miss a section that does not get stitched on the backing side.

4) I always use pins while I'm piecing. I gasped at this one for Jenn's post but she's a pro :)

5) I've only started doing this in the last 6 months but I now price all my fabric before storing it....it's geeky I know.

6) I almost always neglect housework and have a cleaner in about every 3 weeks so that our house is liveable while I spend more time quilting :)

7) I scare myself with how much I spend on fabric....and my husband tries not to think about it lol

8) I hate working with anything besides cotton.

9) I just started cutting fabric layered on top of one another....I know it sounds crazy that I didn't do this before but having the perfect cut makes that 1/4" seam so much easier.

10) I spend way too much time quilting.

So there are 10 quilty secrets about me. What are your quilty secrets? Care to share :)

Julia