Happy Easter

Easter is my favorite holiday. I like the fact that it is still mostly concentrated around the spiritual aspect of the season although by the looks of things today in Yamouth it is becoming more and  more commercial. But in spite of all that one cannot,at one point, not reflect on what Easter is all about. 

Tomorrow after Easter mass I will have everyone over for a brunch and oh! yes Grand-père has an Easter egg hunt all ready to go for the "cuties". Miguel  will only be one next month so I imagine next year he will be in on it. I think I will warn the girls that next year may be a tad different. He's a go-getter even at his age.

  

Cute! 

As for my sewing .. I did a get a few things done.. Good Friday I spent  the whole day making more bible covers for people who wanted one.

There is a story behind the bible covers. Gerald's mom (mother-in-law) was a sewer and when she passed away I inherited all her fabric. I know what sewing and giving meant to her so I packaged all the fabric and this is what we use in the school to teach the kids to sew. But I also used the fabric to make these bible covers for the parishioners of the same church she was so devoted to. It warms Gerald's heart to see his mom's fabric in church,  bringing such pleasure to her community. 

I have been reflecting a lot on my "quilt-as-you-go"

 embroidery quilt and  

 I decided to combine patchwork with the embroidery blocks.

I am making the pinwheel.

The back

is all the same fabric.

For the pinwheel block 

I am using  the Holly Taylor "Northern Solitude".

The colors are so calming. 

Now about the guild.. 

It received another award. A recognition for all the creativity it brings to the community and the municipality . This was presented to the guild by "La Societé Acadienne de Clare". What an honor!

April will be a busy month for the guild. On April 13th we celebrate our second anniversary and we have an Open House planned. There will lots of activities.. displays, some members will demonstrate how to make certain projects, 50/50, articles for sale , hand quilting on our quilts, cake sale  and of course good food and good friends. 

This was last year's Open House for our first anniversary and it was a great success!

The following Saturday we will have a workshop by our sewing machine dealer. The guild purchased 17 Janome sewing machines for the kids to sew on so the members will get a demonstration on how to use the machines to the fullest. 

The following Saturday on the 27th we have a road trip planned. Another guild has invited us to go spend the day with them and  sew. They are from  Par-en-Bas. This is after Yarmouth which is a good two hours drive.  These gals are the greatest. They came with us on the  bus to Quilt Canada in Halifax .

and we had such a good time. They are also french .

 Oh! my I have been writing a lot.. I usually like to have more eye candy in my posts than a whole bunch of writing but it was not to be tonight.    

 Happy Easter !

Let us give praise to  God who moved the stone that day and who still moves the stones today, the trials of our lives .

Evening Art (Nocturne) very successful

The guild had more than 57 visitors come and try their hand at hand quilting last evening. Now this is what keeping the art of quilting alive is all about!

Members show the art of hand quilting in the large frames

grand-ma use to quilt her quilts.

Some are quick learners...with expert quilter member Clara

Our best supporter DH has a chat with member Nicole.

Young and old they want to try it..

Another of our expert quilters, member Linda is teaching the girls to hand quilt.

                    Dedicated members sew on the guild projects and show the visitors the art of quilting in progress.  

Grand-daughter Amy came to visit and is checking out a website where one of our member's bags and purses are sold.

 It was a fun evening. We met a lot of beautiful people who stopped by to support us, learn about who we are and enjoy a  light snack with us.  


                                            From hand quilting to machine quilting.

                              I machine quilted this lap quilt. The guild members makes these for our Cancer survivors in the community.

Hearts are appropriate for these projects

as our hearts go out to all survivors

who faced the dreadlful demon of cancer.

Does it pain you to crack open one of these beautifully rolled jelly roll? 

It breaks my heart even though I know it will look really good in the  project it is about to go into.  

It's done!

and it will be perfect sashing for my pinwheel blocks.

Happy Sewing!

Rude awakening....

When I got up this morning the calender said " spring" 

so I took down the winter quilt and hung the spring one.  

A Karen Neary design " Meadow Song". Our 2010 workshop.

Next I changed the bench panel in the Hall from the snowman to the spring flowers.   

  This a four season piece I painted way back in 1991.

The runner I did with a charm pack in the Kansas Troubles. 

 In my quest to make the house feel like spring, I had a rude awakening when hubby left for his walk...  

Instead of buds on the Rhododendron  there was icicles.

Whew! another  storm... 

I ventured out and on the road to work and I was slipping and sliding.. At one point the car was moving sideways and I cannot explain the feeling I had as I realized I was looking at a fairly steep slope. At that point I am certain God took the wheel because I was useless. It did straighten out but in the wrong direction. That was my message...  GO BACK!!!

The guild members said good-bye to a wonderful member today.

Cerita passed away Monday surrounded by her loving family. She was not ill very long so it is a bit of a shock.  She was a very active member who loved to quilt and share her many quilting talents.

Cerita will be missed.  

Yummy snacks for the upcoming bad weather . ..

I guess winter is not yet over as the forecast is  giving more snow for the end of winter , Tuesday and the beginning of spring Wednesday.

Stormy days are perfect for sewing and ..oh! yes snacking too...

these muffins are delicious..

Strawberry Cream Cheese Muffins

2 cup all-purpose flour

3/4 cup granulated sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

 1/2 teaspoon salt         

1 cup whole milk

1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 large eggs, room temperature and lightly beaten

1 cup fresh strawberries, chopped

Cream Cheese Mixture

4 oz cream cheese, room temperature

1/3 cup granulated suga

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Preheat over to 350 degrees. Grease muffin tin or line with muffin liners. n a small bowl, mix together cream cheese, 1/3 cup sugar and vanilla extract until smooth. Set aside.
In a big bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
In another bowl, whisk together milk, melted butter, vanilla extract and egg until incorporated. Use a spatula, mix the milk mixture into the flour mixture. Fold together until combined. Do not over mix. Spoon the batter into the prepared tins, filling them no more than 1/2 full. Then scatter a few pieces of strawberry on top of each one.
Then top with a teaspoon of cream cheese mixture, a tablespoon of muffin batter, and finally a few more pieces of strawberry. Bake the muffins for about 25 minutes, until they're light golden on top and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let the muffins cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Then invert on a plate and serve.
 

I have been making small projects in between sewing on my large quilt.

I made bible covers for some of my friends

Another on in progress

On April 13th the Guild will celebrate its second anniversary and we have an Open House so I have been making little projects for the sale table.  

Kleenex  pouches...

I just finished the top of a table topper ...

ready to be quilted...

So if we get the two storms predicted I should be able to sew a few more projects for the guild...

This Friday evening the 22nd " La Société Acadienne" is sponsoring a "Nocturne" evening. ( Evening Art). People in the community will be visiting the various art associations/groups and the Guild has been invited to take part. We will have three quilts in the frames so people can try hand quilting. Several members will be making specific projects to demonstrated the different techniques used in quilting. We are all looking forward to a fun evening meeting the visitors.

The guild now has  90 members and as much as I hate to we have decided we need to put a cap on the numbers of members  so 10 more members will be accepted to make 100. The Guild calender for the next three months is filling up quickly with exciting events.

I will keep you posted....  

Happy sewing ....   

A new baby....and spring is peeking

My DH bought me a new machine. He was tired of hearing me complain about not having enough room to machine quilt my projects so this baby has the room....

Of course when I brought the Janome home I was in the middle of making a machine embroidery project  

so I did not want to change machine and had to finish my project on the Husqvarna :(

It did not take me long after I finished the wall hanging to put the Husqvarna  way in the back ...

and the project is done.... 

"Spring Wagon " By Laundry Basket

 Sandwiched and pinned and

ready to be machine quilted on my New Baby!

♥

Last blocks and sewing green

I just finished my last embroidery blocks for the Quilt as You Go Embroidery project.

There will be one block with an embroidery design and the other block is just embroidered quilting in the same design.  

Now I put the blocks together and because it is a 

Quilt as You Go ... it finishes the project. I am not certain about the light fabric, this is totally unusual for me. I have all dark quilts but this one did not sit right in my mind with dark fabric.   

The Irish in me is getting ready for St Patirck's day

With a green table topper.

The pattern suggested a Shamrock quilting pattern but I choose the hearts.