Made It!

Thursday was amazing!  Linda and Gillian scooped me up at about 11:00 A.M. as promised and we were on the road.  Missy came with us all snuggled up in the back seat with Linda. We were off to Guelph first and our first stop was Greenwood Quiltery.

I was on a mission to find Kaffe Fassett Shot Cottons and this was definitely the right choice.  As a matter of fact, they were waiting for me right there at the front door along with some very tempting KF prints.

However, I was on a mission and I behaved myself.  Out came those gorgeous prints I bought from Hygelitt at Black Creek Village this summer and I matched up the two shot cottons I had in mind for my project.....

My mission for the day was done.  Linda did well too, she chose a number of fabrics for her new project.  Gillian, unfortunately, did not find what she was looking for.  We didn't break the bank but we did some damage.....

Next stop was St. Jacobs and lunch.  We were all starving and getting lost on the way to St. Jacobs was truly not part of the plan but once we got back on track we had no problem finding our way to the Stone Crock Restaurant for lunch.  It's definitely my go to place for St. Jacobs....that, however may change and you'll see why later on....

Linda and I headed inside to get seated while Gillian took Missy for a much needed outing.

I had to reminisce about the next photo, this place has been around forever.  When I bought my house back in 2004 I came here to buy my mailbox, which I hung onto for years.  They've got some great little items which I why I stayed away.....

We had a lovely lunch - Gillian had French Onion Soup while Linda and I had the lunch buffet which was delicious.  Real down home fare!  Of course we had to go to the Stone Crock Bakery and pick up a few goodies to take home.  The ladies continued their shopping at the Silo while Missy and I took a nap.

Then we were off to find the other quilt store which is just north of St. Jacob's on Hwy 85.  It's at a little complex called The Crossroads which boasts a lovely restaurant, gift shop and Quilters Nine Patch, a wonderful quilt store.  We actually drove right by it because we didn't know what we were looking for but once we found it we were happily impressed.

The Crossroads Restaurant is something like the Stone Crock and boasts a lovely buffet as well.  Once we finished at the quilt store we stopped for a cup of tea for Gillian, Ginger Ale for Linda and a hot Peppermint Chocolate for me.....

Just so you can see why it's worth the drive (on the way to Elmira)...I took a few pictures of the gorgeous fabrics and quilts at Quilters Nine Patch....

She's  got a great variety of fabrics and a really welcoming store.  Loads of kits and samples which are so much fun to look at.  Linda did some major damage while Gillian bought a bit as well.  I, unfortunately, did not bring my current project with me so I couldn't get the additional fabric to complete it.  But I will definitely be coming back.

We left Elmira at about 5:00 P.M., a little later then we had anticipated but Gillian really needed that tea to get moving.....That was when we heard the news about Nelson Mandella, so on the long drive home we tuned in to CBC.  It did take a little longer than anticipated to get home but we made it by 7:00 P.M..

Of course, I paid for it!  It was an extremely long and wonderful day for me, however I spent most of Friday and Saturday in bed recuperating.  Sunday was a little better and today I did three more loads of laundry....

I have managed to get back to The Farmer's Wife (stitching) and will update all of that in my next blog....in the meantime, the plan for tomorrow is to work on organizing and cleaning....

Have a great day everyone!

Jo-Ann

Label It!!!!

So, although I keep finding water in places I forgot to look, like under the sink in the pots and pans that are stored there (easily dealt with, just a pain), I have managed to tackle my "list" from yesterday.

The first thing on my list was to label a quilt that I am gifting.  My son Jonathan has a friend (girl) named Sydney whom he met when he went to Israel a few years ago (2006) and I had made a quilt for her back then.  You may all recognize this quilt ....

Mystery Quilt 5 - 2007

It hung in the store on and off for the last few years.  I taught it as a Mystery Quilt in the summer of 2007.  I actually made two of these quilts but I honestly can't remember where the second one is.  When I chose these fabrics it was for the "fun" value, all different kinds of candies, which I felt was something Sydney would like.  The back was fun too, I chose to do it in those  Faux Ultrasuede fabrics we had in the store and I chose really bright fabrics.  I sent it off to Linda Robertson to quilt and she did a fabulous job as always.  I also chose to do the binding by alternating the candy fabrics with the black background fabric.

Faux Untrasuede backing

It still needed a label - all these years and I had never labeled it!  There are so many ways to label quilts and I thought I would share this method with you.  It is the first time that I have done a label this way.  Here's the label -

I happen to have a stack of prepared squares left over from a previous project that I have found very useful.  They are Muslin squares backed with freezer paper and then the edges are taped with green painters' tape.  So - I designed the wording part of the label on the computer.  Using a light box and a Pigma Pen I wrote out the wording on to the Muslin.  I decided that I didn't want a plain label so using Mettler Variegated (4820-9981) which is very colourful I made a frame and then used one of the decorative stitches on my Janome made a second inner frame.  I pressed the label and then turned it under 1/2" and pressed it again.  Put it into place on the quilt back and sewed it on (left hand corner).  It's now ready to go for her Birthday today.

I believe in giving my quilts a "history" by labeling the ones that I give away.  The ones I keep, I am not so adamant about but may just start doing it just so Jonathan will have the history for the future.  I think that it is important that people know that these quilts are not store bought but are a gift of love and their labels should reflect that.

Hope everyone is having a great day!

Jo-Ann