On A Weekend Away, A Girl Will Play!

Although Blackberrys and other modern technology make it easy to "check in" while I'm away on vacation, I find it hard to actually keep up with posting.  That was the trouble this past weekend.  On Thursday I went with my daughter and good friend on the 7-ish hour trip into the next province to visit my in-laws.  It was a long drive, but a very enjoyable holiday!  We took our quilty activities with us and after the little monkey was fast asleep we had at it!  I was excited to have 2 quilting completions and one more that I have only to sew the binding on.

This one is the one that needs binding. I should have started with it, but was excited to quilt the other ones. It has needed binding for about 2 years now...  At least the binding is made and just needs to be attached - an easy project! This quilt is "Country Lanes" from Jo Morton's book Remembrances. I changed the colours a bit (sorry the photo's not that great), and yes, every fabric is a Jo.

Country Lanes was a "leftovers" project.  I have a scrap basket for all my small pieces.  Every once in a while I go through the basket and cut 1.5" squares and 1" strips and put each into their respective jars.  This quilt was made entirely of Jo squares from my 1.5" jar.

My father-in-law took us out on Friday for some shop-hopping and a little touring of the area.  We were able to make it to my favourite 2 shops in Kelowna - Cottage Quilting in the heart of Kelowna and Tyjo's Fabrics in Westbank.  Sandy (the owner of Cottage Quilting) always has an excellent selection of patterns, fabrics, and new ideas.  We got chatting and finally my FIL had to come in and "rescue" us back to the van so we could continue on our way.  At TyJo's I found the Jo Morton fabric jackpot!

Old, new, borrowed, blue!  Ok, maybe not borrowed, but definitely bought!  And, one of the books I have been looking for was there too - When The Cold Wind Blows by Blackbird Designs.  There are some lovely old fashioned applique pieces in the book and I just love all the fall colours and ideas.

My finishes for the weekend included a pattern from my miniature quilt club that was from last September.  It was based on idea from a Mary Ghormley quilt in the book by Merikay Waldvogel called Childhood Treasures which is a compliation of 80 of Mary's antique quilts.  I just love it (it's the red and white one)!  And I managed to complete the tumblers quilt from earlier this month too!

I already mentioned that I at least got the binding ready for my 2-year-old UFO, and I also cut out the pieces to make a mini Irish chain type quilt for a challenge on one of my Yahoo groups.  Irish chain is traditionally 2 colours and often only 2 fabrics.  I chose to stick with the 2 colours since I am a scrappy sort of gal, and keep a uniform background.  Now for the sewing it together part!  Check back later to see what it looks like when it's all finished.  It has to be done by July 9th (or at least I think that's the date!).

Hope you all get a great finishing holiday in this summer too!