Blogathon Canada Comes to Saskatchewan and Yes, Virginia, There Is A GIVEAWAY

Welcome to the Prairie Leg of Blogathon Canada 2014! I'm blogging from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan (not nearly as snowy as Buffalo, I must add. At least not today!).  My Co-Prairie-Host today is the talented Lori from Manitoba who blogs at Night Owl Quilting. Be sure to visit her! Thanks to Sew Sisters Quilt Shop and the other sponsors for sponsoring and organizing this annual event.

Browse through my quilt gallery (tab above) if you're interested in seeing the kinds of things I've made so far. I'm not terribly productive. I refer to myself as the "slowest quilter EVER"! I've only really been quilting for the past 5 years though I have some earlier experiences and long held on to the dream of quilting hoping to really dive into it when I retire someday. As it turned out, I decided that I best not wait for retirement so here I am doing my best to make quilts for "all the people I love". I love SO many people that I know I'll never reach my goal but I'll give it my best shot! My quilting life has been greatly enhanced and expanded by the recent establishing (and my joining) of the Saskatoon Modern Quilt Guild. Here is where my local quilting peeps are. They nourish and inspire me and make my stomach muscles hurt from all the laughing!

As you might have guessed from my blog header, I was a teen in the 70s and I still identify strongly with my inner hippy. I might not look like one on the outside but on the inside, I'm still wearing bell bottoms or cut offs with a wide, purple suede leather belt, a pop top, a fringed vest, water buffalo sandals, and groovin' to my vinyl. Pop art, black light posters, fat albert lights, incense. Love. Peace. And now I quilt.

Here is a sampling of what I've been working on lately. I don't have many finishes right now. Just lots of things on the go.  Forgive the quality of these photos. Darkness has come to the prairies and it's hard to get good enough light in our fortress for proper photos. I'll take better shots of these when I'm home some sunny day and when I can take photos outside.

This is a wedding gift. I just have to add the binding. I can't remember the name of the pattern right now but it was a free one I found on the interwebs. (UPDATE: The pattern is Movement in Squares and it's a free download from Ivory Spring). What I learned with this quilt is that ironing seams open is what works best for me. On the first block I sewed, I ironed to one side as per the instructions but when I joined the pieces together, it just looked bad. I tried the next one with seams pressed open and voila! Perfect! I remade the first block. I really like the IKEA fabric I chose for the back. The colours match the front almost perfectly! I added some extension fabric on the bottom. Lisa (a friend in our modern quilt guild) did the wonderful "tangled squares" quilting on it. 

I've long wanted to make a "Sparkle Punch" quilt and so I'm making this one, also a wedding gift. If I had known how long it would take to make all those 3.5" crazy star blocks, I might never have begun but now that I've got almost 400 of them made, I'm glad I did. I love the look of the rich colours on the warm grey "Moda Weave" background fabric. My plan is to insert some extra large wonky stars (here's the inspiration quilt for that) but first I need to do a full lay out of the smaller stars. This is not an exact science. By the way, there are no orangy colours in this quilt. The light just wasn't good for photos. The colours are all true blue, turqoise, purple, plum, fuschia, and white. 

This is my Fishbowl and Terrarium baby quilt top. I need to get it completed.  It's one for the vault.

I made the flying geese block below. It's to go with the Modern Maples block that was given to me as part of our Guild's Taveling Quilt event. We have 11 participants and we each start a block and pass it to the next person. I have to finish a block for another quilt this week. It's a fun project to be part of but the talents of the others makes this a bit intimidating! (Ahhhh ... outdoor photos ... so much better!)

Now that you've poked around here for a bit, please check out some other Saskatchewan quilt bloggers. THANKS FOR STOPPING BY!!

• Sew.Darn.Quilt
• Prairie Charm Quilts
• Stitched by Sheila
• My Daily Dose of Fibre
• My Creative Side
• Retired to Quilt
• Citric Sugar
• Saskatoon Modern Quilt Guild
• Jaclyn Quilts
• Butterfly Quilting
• Sheila Clark Art
• By the Babbling Brook
• PieceMakerQuilts
• Mrs. Pickles Garden
• A Sometimes Quilter
• Quilting Curve
• Second Story Quilting

Oh, yes! THE GIVEAWAY ... a stack of fat quarters of Alice Kennedy's Field Study line ...  generously provided by Sew Sisters Quilt Shop.

GIVEAWAY NOW CLOSED: Winner is #128 - jmniffer from Minnesota! Congratulations, jmniffer!

Just add a comment ... tell me where you're from and/or anything else you'd like to say.  The giveaway is open to everyone, including international visitors and a winner will be randomly chosen on November 23. I'll make the announcement on November 24.  (Make sure I'm able to reach you by email. If you're email is not provided, I'll have to pick another number.)

FYI ... All of the giveaways during Blogathon Canada are open until November 23 so if you missed any, you can still enter. There's also a giveaway on the Sew Sisters blog, compliments of Robert Kaufman Fabrics.