Snow Days

After being teased with the wonderful sights and sounds of spring a few weeks ago--things like crocuses blooming and robins singing--we were hit with another blast of winter this past week. Hubby Ben was off work and took this picture of our back yard.

And how about my poor primroses!

Oh well, the best part of being snowed in is finishing up some of my projects. So I completed the "Always Friends" sampler by primitivebettys. Now I need to find a worthy place to display it!





And how cute is this? I'm still trying to get the knack of punchneedle but I think this one turned out great. It's a little picture called "Crescent Moon Crow" by Mosey 'n Me (www.moseynme.com).




And now it's back to more unfinished projects--still lots to go!

Canadian Prims

Oh my, I can see now why this is addicting! I thought I'd be lucky to think of maybe one item a week to post but so much for that! Anyway, I know there are some Canadian prim lovers out there and I know we often have to travel south of the border for our "fix" so I thought I'd share some of my Canadian creations with you.

School Days--New BOM Pattern

I want to give you a sneak peek at my latest BOM (Block of the Month) pattern. It's called "School Days" and was actually several years in the making! Back in 2003, a teacher friend of mine commissioned me to make a quilt for a conference she was attending, entitled "Pathways to Children's Learning." So I designed this quilt and started writing up the pattern in Publisher. After that, I got a different computer that didn't have Publisher installed so was unable to finish it. The pattern and quilt just sat on a shelf for 6 years! Several weeks ago I decided to do my part to jump-start the economy by buying a laptop for myself. It came with Publisher, and you can guess the rest! I'm still finishing up the package details and will then post it on my website.

If you follow the checkered "path" around the quilt you'll see the influences on children's learning that I've included--home, school, nature, letters, numbers, creating, and of course, love, at all stages of the journey.

Creations

Thanks to all of you who have already checked out my blog and for taking the time to comment.



A beautiful sunny (almost spring) afternoon and I've spent it trying to add a slideshow to my post. Hope this works! I want to share some of my creations with you so hopefully if you click on this link, you'll be able to see quilts and crafts I've made over the years. Some are original designs, some are made from patterns or pictures that I've seen and loved. Enjoy!

New Patterns

The second pattern, "Country Days" is a smaller version of my "Peaceful Valley" pattern. It's another peaceful country scene made with wool handstitched onto muslin and accented with embroidery stitches. I've just started hand-dying my own wool so as soon as I get more wool in stock and dyed, I'll be making up kits for this pattern. Keep checking the Kits page of my website!

The next pattern is called "Country Cabins". I wanted to design a simple, scrappy pattern with rich warm colours. The houses are pieced and the stars are fused on. As a bonus, I designed a pillow to go with it. The pillow has a hooked wool star in the centre.

Then, I made a couple of smaller projects. "Autumn Leaves" is made from hand dyed wool which is great for capturing the warm colours in this candlemat. The leaves and flowers are embroidered; the center is quilted muslin.
Also soon available as a kit!

And thanks to Sandy W. on my email list who suggested the idea for a Santa candlemat! I've combined wool, chenille, bells, pom poms, and embroidery stitching in this fun penny rug, "Santas and Rudys" is one of my Christmas Mini Collection patterns. Soon available as a kit!

Welcome to my blog!

Hi and thanks for taking the time to stop by! This is a new adventure for me and I'm just learning so it should be interesting. I'm going to use the blog to let you know about patterns I'm working on, shows I'm attending, and anything else exciting that's going on in my life.

I've got a bunch of new patterns to share with you today and here they are! You can see them all on the New Patterns page of my website, www.countryquilts.ca, along with pricing.

I had so much fun making this kid's quilt! I had the title in my head for a long time but couldn't figure out a quilt design to go with it. Then I saw a picture of a maze somewhere and the two came together. It was a great way to use up some fabric scraps. So I put poor Bessie at the top, looking a bit confused and the farm at the bottom. She needs to find the path home in the maze.

The farm scenes are handstitched with wool.