Drum Roll Please

Thanks to all who entered to win a copy of Maritime Beauty and a set of foundations. The random number generator (my youngest born) selected Vicki T as our winner. Coincidentally, Vicki is also from Illinois as was Erin, the winner of the Quiltmaker 100 Blocks magazine. Congratulations,Vicki; we expect to see pictures when you are finished!
Someone asked about purchasing the pre-printed foundations. They are available in a set of 10 (you need 8 for the project, so this allows two extras for boo-boos) printed on an easy to tear paper. The cost is $5.50/set. I have been busy trying out a new paper which looks promising and hope to soon have more designs available and listed on the checkout of the website. For the time being, simply email your request if you are interested.

Blog Tour Aftermath

Whew! Remember the song by the Irish Rovers, "Wasn't That A Party"? It's been playing through my head since Friday when the blog tour ended!
Thanks to all the visitors for the great comments and emails. It sure would be easy to get used to hearing such nice things all the time. Here's the results of the give-away from my blog: using a random number generator (who doubles as my first born son), Sallie from Texas (who obviously kept her horseshoe and rabbit's foot close by on Friday) was chosen as the winner of a copy of the Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks Vol. 3. Sallie graciously declined her prize as she also had won a copy from another blog. Thank you Sallie for being such a good sport. The new winner of the magazine is Erin from Illinois. Congrats, Erin! The generous folks at Quiltmaker have your address and will send the magazine directly to you. Since I had a spare copy of the magazine, I decided to have another draw... this one not quite so random. This draw was made from local comments and the winner is Lesley B. Thanks Lesley for your support.
Since today is Mother's Day and in the spirit of fairness (there is as yet one random number generator in this house who didn't get a turn) there will be one more give-away. If you would like to win a copy of my Maritime Beauty pattern as well as a set of 10 pre-printed tear away foundations leave a comment on this post.
As before, make SURE your email address is included in your comment. If you are not sure it's there, send a quick email to me with the info.
I hope everyone enjoyed this blog tour as much as I did; good luck in the big draw from Quiltmaker!
Edit: The Give-Away is now closed, will post the winner shortly. Thanks to all who participated.

Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks Blog Tour: Grand Finalé

Hurray! I’ve waited (im)patiently all week but my turn to post is finally here! If you are a new visitor to my blog, welcome...or as the Celts in my beautiful province of Nova Scotia, Canada say: "Ciad Mille Faite". (A Hundred Thousand Welcomes). I hope you take the time to look around and become a regular. There are lots of pictures and tips and tutorials, my main website is here and ...who knows?...you may even learn a little bit about beekeeping on the side!Earlier this week, I challenged readers to pick which was my block from this shot of the mug. Linda and Gail, two dedicated quilting bloggers, both emailed to say they knew exactly which one was mine so... ladies, did you get it right?!
It's this one, plain and simple.
If you know me at all, you know I operate on the KISS principle. My favourite quote, attributed to Albert Einstein, is "Make everything as simple as possible, but no simpler." And that's exactly how this block was born. Essentially, I started with a square and added a narrow sashing with angled ends. It was fine but Albert would have viewed it as too simple. So I split the centre square into an HST and it was immediately better. I could place blocks side by side to get this...and thus the name Hidden Stars was born.
Placing the blocks on point was even more fun:
Here are some layouts you get when rotating the block:

It's cool how the stars superimpose themselves over what's going on in the background with the HSTs.
The good folks at Quiltmaker also liked the simplicity of the block and played around with their own layout. They decided to make a kit available with full instructions and yardage to complete the quilt shown below. You can check out the details here:
For those of you who have the block instructions from the magazine, here's a simple runner you can make using large florals and only three blocks. Finished, it will measure 12-3/4" x 25-1/2". Simply follow the instructions for the block, tripling the yardage given for the materials. I like how that centre star cinches the middle section together, almost like a tiny waist or a bow on a package.
Of course, you can also do it full sized and add a funky pointy border as well.
There's no limit to where simple can take you. If you'd like to win a copy of the magazine, leave a comment at the bottom of this post by midnight tonight (Friday), AST (Atlantic Standard Time) saying where you are from. Please make sure that your email address is included so I can contact you; send it to me here in addition to the comment if you are unsure.
I'd like to thank Quiltmaker magazine for such a fun week and so many wonderful surprises. I visited every designer's blog and really enjoyed the experience. There is one final surprise once you get a copy of the magazine in your hands and that relates to the signatures you may have noticed on the blocks. Scroll back up and see mine. There's a reason they are there...but you need to have the magazine to find out! So, leave your comment for a chance to win or check the newsstands on May 10th. You will not be disappointed. Thanks for visiting, and make sure you visit the rest of the designers on today's tour!
EDIT: I am getting a lot of comments without email addresses which means I cannot contact you. MAKE SURE your profile is enabled in the settings for your mail account, type your address in the comment, or email me after you've left the comment to send your address. I need to have your email address!

Quiltmaker's Tour/A Quilt Maker's Placemats

Today is Day 3 of the Blog Tour, and if you haven't been following along you've been missing out on a lot of fun! Click the button above to see today's listing of sites including Canadian designer Sharon Pederson. Make sure you swing back here Friday for my give-away day.
Rosa from Ohio has completed her String Placemats and shared this picture. Even though she professes to be a novice quilter, those mitred corners on her binding look pretty sharp. Great job, Rosa. I have a piece of this same mistletoe fabric in my stash so now I know what to do with it.
If you'd like to make your own, the instructions for these placemats may be found here.

Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks

The fun continues! Today the mailman arrived with another parcel from Quiltmaker. This box contains a button (pin) and mug which shows all 100 blocks in the issue.
Can you tell which one is mine? It's showing in this picture, a very simple block.
In the background is my Tempus Fugit which is STILL not boxed up to head to Quilt Canada. I was busily attaching the label when the mailman arrived. It's so easy to get distracted by all this fun!
Don't forget to visit the Quiltmaker Blog to see the list of designers on today's tour. Fellow Canadian Sarah Vanderburgh of sewjoycreations.com is featured today.

Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks Blog Tour

It's here! And they're finally here! Just under the wire to kick off the start of the blog tour, the mailman has delivered my copies of the magazine. Whew! As with previous issues, this is a beautiful magazine and one which is sure to get the creative juices flowing.Here's how it works: Each designer participating in the blog tour has been assigned a particular day between May 2 and 6. The schedule is here for you to check each day: http://www.quiltmaker.com/blogs/quiltypleasures/ There are all kinds of prizes, so make sure you visit each designer's blog, as well as the main Quiltmaker blog, and leave comments. Don't be shy!
My day is Friday, May 6th so be sure to check back here to get your name in for a prize draw. Lots of fun!

Life On This Small Planet

...is busy! This week has been off in a myriad of directions, with w-a-a-a-a-y too much going on to fit everything in properly. On Tuesday evening, I "attended" the Awards Presentation at Paducah through the online webcast and it was an awesome experience. It was really just like being at the live show and I enjoyed it so much. If time permits, I hope to watch more webcasts this week; you can subscribe to them here for a modest fee.
Farrago did not win anything, but that doesn't take a tad away from my pleasure at having it included as part of this show. I'm thrilled to pieces about it all. Despite having to rearrange for flooding at the last minute, the organizers at the AQS Paducah Quilt Show are doing a spectacular job. The list of winners is posted here. It's wonderful to see a Canadian name among the big winners, Kathy Wylie of Ontario. Congrats, Kathy! If I am reading the reports correctly, I believe my Farrago has been moved to The First Baptist Church of Paducah in the Wall Quilts Exhibit.
And speaking of churches...hubby and I and the girls (and by this I mean the bees) have been invited to be part of Earth Expo at Trinity St. Stephens United Church in Amherst on Saturday, April 30.
If things go as planned (do they ever?!) we will have a display including honey and beeswax, a Power Point show on beekeeping AND a glass observation hive of live bees. We will go out in the wee small hours Saturday morning to try to find a frame which includes a queen and bring her along to show. There are all kinds of "green" displays scheduled as part of this expo, so if you are in the Amherst, N.S. area on Saturday between 1-4 pm, please drop by.
If you happen to be looking for a quilt show on the weekend, check out The Fredericton Quilter's Guild "Thoughts Of Spring" Show. I am sorry to be missing this show as there are so many talented quilters in the Fredericton area. I do look forward to seeing lots of pictures on the Guild blog afterwards.
On Monday, Tempus Fugit will be shipped off to Quilt Canada. I need yet to affix the hanging sleeve on the back but other than that it's good to go. With so much else going on, I have nightmares I will forget to post the parcel. Also next week is the release on May 2 of Volume 3 of The Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks From Today's Top Designers. As I have a block selected to be in this issue, I will be part of the big blog tour which will be taking place. There is a ginormous prize package that tourists can win at the end of the week so make sure you stop back here next week for details on how to enter.

The Show Must Go On

Oh my...as if organizing a show the magnitude of AQS Paducah isn't exhausting enough, now there's Mother Nature to deal with as well. Kudos to the organizers who are managing to pull things together.

Building A Good Foundation

Since a good many of my patterns are written for foundation piecing, I am often asked what paper I use and how I transfer the lines from the master included in the pattern. As with every thing else in quilting, there are many ways to answer the question but here's one very simple and cost effective method I like. Purchase a Doodle Pad of 9" x 12" newsprint in the kid's section of the $ store. Walmart carries these pads as well but in a larger 12" x 18" format. Sometimes there is less waste with this larger sheet as you can fit 2 or 3 foundations on the page.
Tear out the number of sheets you need for your pattern.
Lay your master pattern on top of the newsprint to see how it will fit on the page.
Roughly cut around your foundation and Scotch tape the edges beyond the lines in several places. Staple the top edges of your newsprint sheets together, making sure you don't have any staples underneath the stitching lines on the master.
Remove the thread from your machine and put in an old dull needle. Stitch on all the black lines, including the outer seam allowance.
Carefully remove your master foundation.

Voila! You now have a stack of foundations with the stitching lines all transferred.
With a marker, number and label your sections with the intended fabric colours. I've done up to 8 at a time using this method. One big advantage is that the lines are already "scored" making the paper removal even easier once your fabrics are added.
If you are really frugal (yes...like me) you can use this method to stitch through pages of old telephone books, saving you the cost of the Doodle Pad. Just be aware that it is a bit harder to see your design through the print.
Number and label as before and you're good to go!

Quilting/Bees

Although the week ahead promises to be rainy and cold, Saturday the bees enjoyed a bit of sunshine. We were quite surprised to see how much pollen they were able to collect as there were no visible blossoms we could spot. See the little yellow sacs on their legs? That's how they carry the pollen they've collected. My spring goal is to clean out fabric and the odd flimsy (i.e. pieced, but as yet unquilted, tops) which have been piling up. I found a set of Quick Trip Around The World Placemats and am free motion quilting those in circles.

While deciding how to quilt the oriental New York Beauty blocks, I am sewing red and blue scraps in 8" string blocks. They work up so quickly.

Hubby and I have been asked to do a bee display for Earth Day and it's been fun getting posters made and sorting apiary pictures into a Power Point show. We've never done a display together before and we are looking forward to this. Will post details as we move closer to the day. In the meantime, it's more string blocks until the red pile is depleted... (after which I get to buy more reds, because I can't be with my favourite colour!)

A Maritime Maritime Beauty

The title is not a typo; this is a Maritime Beauty made by a fellow Maritimer, Lynn. It's been awhile in the making, but worth the wait. Don't you love the colourful batiks she has chosen? It`s beautiful.To make your own, check at your local quilt shop for the pattern, or order it from the checkout on my website. Thanks for sharing your lovely work, Lynn. (We can see your toes in that picture *-)

There Must Be 50 Ways To...

make your HSTs (but probably Paul Simon is not going to sing about them.)
Jennifer has given permission to post this link to her tutorial for a clever alternate way to make HSTs. Try it out, and see what you think. The measurements she gives will create a 4" (finished) block. Note that the link posted above is directly to this tutorial; to go to her latest post, click on the title Bronze Wombat at the top of the picture.

For the record, I do not know what a Bronze Wombat is; perhaps we should all ask Jennifer?

New York Roundabout Progress Report

Last week, we saw the beginning of a New York Roundabout quilt by Grace from Ontario. Grace now has the top completed and is in the process of deciding how to tackle the quilting. It looks like it has gone together rather spectacularly. Grace writes that she loves the points. I expect this is the beginning of a long and happy relationship for her with New York Beauty blocks. Be warned, Grace: they are totally addictive!

IQF Cincinnati Pictures

I am so pleased to receive these pictures from fellow quilter Katie who was lucky enough to visit the International Quilt Festival in Cincinnati over the weekend. She made a special point to visit the "O Canada" exhibit to take pictures for me. I am grateful she made time and effort to do this. Katie writes that With Glowing Hearts was at the very front of the O Canada exhibit so she had no trouble finding it.

Look - here it is!

I like that Katie sent a long a couple of shots of herself; she's obviously having a great time. Hope you don't mind me posting the pictures here, Katie!

Katie also has a blog and has put together a slide show of lots of pictures from the Festival. Pop over and have a look.