My Tula Pink Butterfly

I thought I would participate in the fun over 

at

 AMY'S CREATIVE SIDE

Amy is hosting a Quilter's Blog Festival!!

Be sure to go check out the amazing quilts over there!!

When I saw this pattern 

by Tula Pink .....

I really wanted it to do it.

But Pink is just not me...

Now on the other hand.....

 Blue and Browns in Batiks.....

I wasn't sure it was going to work

but

they always make more fabric....

I am also the luckiest person in the world

as

my friend, Terry Whitman is an amazing custom longarmer!!

She brought out all the details of this beauty!!

I especially love the feathered feelers!!

And the filler in the background...

I was also VERY lucky that Terry had purchased the same pattern 

as

MY book was missing the 4 middle pages.

I had the start and end but was lost in the middle!!

This butterfly won't be migrating anywhere!!

Christa 

Summer...

Otherwise known as the season where you hit the ground running...

8 short weeks of sun and fun!!

As you can see...

Summer has arrived with all the flowers blooming!

I realize I have been a very bad blogger....

But in my defense...

I have been super busy with seeding and getting cows to pasture.

The cows are usually gone around May 5th 

but

 with such dry conditions there was no grass yet.

Thank goodness for the last few rain storms!!

I hope Thursday's storm is the last for the summer!!

This photo was taken by Jeremy Russell

 of the possible tornado

 on Thursday near Estevan,Sk

With crops in and the cows finally gone.....

The garden seeded....

My 50th Birthday celebrated with family and friends...

Spoiled with gifts of fabric and this amazing bench made by Chantel

My sisters and mom made a list of the things that make me special.

It was pretty cute....

#29 Can get a weeks worth of work in 2 days.....

 Brenda King?? Were you talking to my family???

I loved #31 and 32...

31 - I am an animal whisperer....

and

32 - I can castrate a pig....

Justin's piglets were not whispered when #32 was in use last week.

Also not something I usually put on my resume.

Now you know... the secret is out!!

I haven't had a ton of sewing time.

It's a good thing I bought a big machine as Lucy can be 'close'

I did give Amy Ellis' pattern Hyperspeed a try...

I have to say my version has failed Amy miserably....

I thought the blocks would work...

No contrast what so ever- 

I am going to have to use this as a back or add some kind of snazzy border!!

Sorry, Amy!!

But on a brighter note...

My Ricky Tim's exchange quilt arrived on Friday!!

This was made by Gwen Mitsche of Wisconsin.

She made a mini bargello as her rendition

of

 the Canadian Rockies 

to

the open Plains.

She did hand quilting and bead work which is hard to see in the picture.

Thanks so much, Gwen!!!

This was my exchange quilt for her.

I made a mini wedding ring quilt.

This quilt is only 20" square 

 and

 has 72 rings!!!

I used bias strips to make the rings stitching down both sides of each ring.

This is truly international as the blue is from Hawaii 

and 

the green is from Bali.

The intersections were too small to piece so I used little sequin flowers 

and

beads to tie it all together.

My free hand machine stitching definitely needs improving.

They really do not flow like I would have liked 

Practice...practice...practice....

It was a fun project.

 I love thinking outside the box!!

Hope she loves it!!

Christa 

Blogger Festival Takes Flight

This is my second entry for Amy's Blogger Quilt Festival 2017

This is Tula Pink's Butterfly

in 

Batiks

Terry Whitman did an insanely incredible job quilting this for me.

 

I was not sure batiks were going to work with this pattern

I think it worked out pretty well in the end

Thinking outside the box!!

Christa 

Blogger's Quilt Festival

 

If you want to see some amazing quilts,

head over to Amy's Creative Side

Amy is hosting a Quilt Festival this week

Click on each picture to read about each quilt!

This is my first entry 

I had the pleasure of meeting the designer, Jacqueline DeJong

This pattern is called Infinity

I used Kate Spain's Latitude 

 

My girlfriend, Terry Whitman is the most amazing long armer

She really brought it to life!!

Christa

 
 

Blogger's Quilt Festival...Our Group Effort

 

Thanks to Amy's Creative Side for hosting this Festival!

 

 

It is great to see all the amazing quilts and be inspired from the comfort of my armchair!

This is my second entry on behalf of my guild called THE BLOCK PARTY

 

 

Martini Time...

 

This is a quilt that my guild all participated in.

 

We are just a small group of 10

and

it's really more like therapy than quilting.

 

We meet twice a month to sew together.

 

Last winter,

 

 a quilting friend from another area was diagnosed with a tumour. 

 

To 'cheer' her up,

 

 we each made a Martini with the only stipulation being white as the background

 

 

It was awesome to see the creativity everyone came up with in their rendition of their drink

 

These were starting to make us thirsty.....

 

With donations of the recipe fabric from friends wanting to help,

 

we shucked and jived till we came up with a cute wall hanging

 

Thanks to Terry Whitman(our in-house Longarmer) for the great job of quilting it!

 

We are happy to report our friend now has a clean bill of health!

 

Cheers to good health!!

 

Christa



Blogger's Quilt Festival Kickoff

 

 

I am participating in the Blogger's Quilt Festival for 2013

 

hosted by Amy's Creative Side

 

 

 

This is my most favorite 'Scrappy' quilt thus far...

 

My 'Farmer's Wife' Quilt

 

 

When I first read about the Farmer's Wife Sampler book, I was intrigued.

 

I was never raised on a farm but was given a real appreciation for life in all it's aspects.

(listen to me go on....I sound like I am 80...must be an old soul!)

 

Having married a farmer at the age of 16,

 

 I took on the lifestyle in full force learning how to care for all kinds of animals, fixing machinery, seeding, haying, harvest....

 

You name it, I have taken it on!

 

So when I read the first line of this book....

 

"If you had a daughter of marriageable age, would you, in light of your own experience, have her marry a farmer?"

 

A magazine at the time had 750,000 subscribers, and received over 7,000 letters. The best answers to this question are included in this book, along with the traditional quilt blocks they inspired.

 

 

This book was a compiliation of 55 letters and 111 blocks.

 

I have a daughter ....of marriageable age.

 

My initial reponse was "HECK NO!!"

(o.k. maybe it was a liiiiittle stronger words than that...)

 

There have been some EXTREMELY tough times in our lives to make a living as a farmer.

 

I wanted an easier life for my daughter.

 

I bought the book to see what the feeling was at that time in the life of farming.

 

I started making the blocks out of a box of leftover Pumpkin and Spice by Red Rooster fabrics

 

 

As I worked on this project, I read each letter and started to change my mind.

 

 

 

Farming was not so much a 'living' as it was a way of living.....

 

It's a lifestyle

 

Farming is at the mercy of Mother Nature and it can be FEAST or FAMINE.

 

The more I read, the more I appreciated the true love of farming.

 

 The real draw to the life has to be the times you spend with family..

 

Working together....

 

 

 

 growing good food.....

 

 

 

 helping sick animals....

 

 

Batches of new life....

 

It is about the great memories and time spent together

 

 

It's the feeling you get when your heart smiles,

 

when you think back to the life you have created.

 

You put down roots, grow a healthy trunk and spread your limbs out to embrace life!

 

 The Tree of 'Life'

 

 

I get a lot of flack from quilters when they see I have left a salvage edge in my blocks....

 

But to me, this is history....

 

It's like the markings the bottom of fine china....

 

A hundred years from now, 

 

someone can research and discover the journey and times my quilts have come from.

 

I backed this quilt with traditional blue striped ticking in keeping with farmer style.

 

There is a lot of love in this quilt!!

 

 

Christa