Check out the amazing quilting job - it is just stunning...........
Just after Sandy left (and I was so upset that she missed this), Andie dropped by to buy backing for her FIRST QUILT! I mean seriously......no lessons, nothing, she's a natural and she whipped this one up in less than a month......we were all blown away!
The girls showed up for the monthly Sunday Sit & Gab (I mean Sew) and Cathie and Gail and Una got to show off all of their treasures from their recent cruise to Alaska where they stopped at all the quilt stores!
Everyone wanted to know if they left any fabric in Alaska.......we know the did! Here they are pictured with Nanook (the Polar Bear) and Al (the Moose) and Gail's newest additions, the sea otters (hmmmm, forgot their names!)
Then Show and Share really got started......Gail showed off her Salad Bar quilt which she got busy quilting with eggplants......
......and the quilt she made with Bali Pops.........
.......and her Lakehouse Hydrangea quilt which she got ready to cut the scalloped edges on......
Christina was working away on her Celtic quilt...............
Cathie was very busy working on her Elephant Lap Quilt......it's the same quilt that our Kathy made up for me a few months ago. I had designed it as a lap quilt but gave Kathy the wrong measurements and before we knew it, there was a queen size quilt.......
Cathie was cutting strips for the sashing when she realized she didn't have enough fabric and it was all we could do to find a fat quarter for her (everyone loved that quilt). In her rush to get out the door at the end of the day she left the blocks sitting on our design wall......I went to put up my "masterpiece" to take a picture and there were Cathie's blocks! Since I had to go to my mom's for dinner I asked Barb to give her a call and tell her I'd deliver them later....here comes the story.......
Off I went to my mom's for dinner and the plan was that Barb was going to hang out at the store for awhile and then we would go up to the Walmart Superstore to do some shopping (they're open until midnight)! Since Cathie lives in Unionville - we would take the blocks with us and scoot across the highway and drop them off! Great plan! So - around 8:30 P.M. I head back to the store and pick Barb up and off we go. Half way up the 400 I say "Did we take the blocks?" - of course not! Why would we remember the blocks! So - we rush through the shopping and rush back to the store to pick up the blocks! No biggie!
We head up to the 401, up the 404 and we're there in 1/2 an hour - a little after 11:00 P.M.! Full service Quilt Store and all that jazz! Bet you think it's over - no way!
Just a bit of background before I tell you the rest.....Barb sometimes uses the Cock-A-Doodle Mobile (my car) when she runs around for store stuff and since she's shorter than me she usually moves the car seat as well as the rearview mirror! Makes sense right? Well my rearview mirror has a direction thing on it which lets you know in which direction you are going and there is a button right next to the ONSTAR button which turns this thing on and off and it inadvertently got turned off! We both commented on it being off - maybe the fuse blew or something (we didn't realize there's a button!).......
To continue - we leave Cathie's at approximately 11:20 P.M. and I think why go back the way we came, we're up on 16th, why not just drive back across 16th and drop down to Major Mackenzie and pick up the 400! That would have been fine had I been travelling west. However, I turned right coming out of Cathie's and we ended up driving east. I usually have a good sense of direction so when I passed Warden and then Kennedy and we had dropped down to Major Mackenzie and it suddenly jogged north I really should have realized I was going in the wrong direction. Then I found Hwy 7 and thought, okay, now I know where I am and proceeded to turn left onto Hwy 7 east. We see a sign for the Toronto Zoo - still doesn't register and we think we're going in the right direction. The signs for Pickering were what gave it away! By this time we were almost on the floor laughing.....and I finally ended up on Brock St. (or Rd. whichever comes first) and dropped down to pick up the 407 (going west). As we're travelling back along the 407 we start playing with the buttons on the rearview mirror and lo and behold one of them turns on the direction thing.......so 1/2 hour to Cathie's and an hour and a half to get back........at least we were still laughing! We had already decided we would call Judith from Ottawa in the morning and tell her we would both be a little late getting back!
We dropped the groceries at the store and I finally took a picture of my "masterpiece". If you've been following the blog the last couple of weeks you will remember this picture of my flannel blocks.......there were 118 blocks! Nancy helped me put these up and only used 63 - what to do! As it was I wasn't that impressed with the whole quilt but I decided to go ahead and sew them together and see what happened......
After getting the 63 blocks together I went out into the store to find a flannel fabric to border with that would bring the whole thing together.......I think I more than succeeded and was absolutely thrilled but I still had 55 blocks left over....
Nancy thought I should make two quilts......yeah right! I came up with a much better idea and got the last border on this afternoon! I am so blown away by this quilt that I have decided I am going to hand quilt it with #8 Pearl Cotton in royal blue - it's my winter (in front of the TV) project and I really can't wait!
I have to say it's been a long time since I've gotten this excited about a quilt! I really thought these blocks were destined for the perpetual UFO heap! Now - I wouldn't part with this quilt for anything! It's actually triggered an idea for a class we're gonna call Fun With Flannels! Hope I didn't bend your ears off too much on this post......
Happy Quilting everyone! (I know I was happy quilting today!)
Jo-Ann and Barb
3 comments:
Thelma and Louise - that'a all I can say!!!!
Oh Joanne, what an adventure!
It's just like my friend Mary and I when we were in high school.....the memories!!!
What a great solution! I have a bunch of friendship blocks that never turned into anything, but I like the idea of using some in a border, so maybe I'll start working on that! So many UFOs, so little time...
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