Little Bits.....: I've been.....................

out visiting with friends these past two days. First, I went to Andree's house to drop off some things and of course stayed and looked at all her new fantastic quilts. The lady is amazing. Not too many small quilts.................BIG quilts............................some really BIG quilts. If I could choose, I'd pick them all.

On the kitchen table were a bunch of pamphlets she was going through so we sorted. Some had more than one copy and I got first dibs. I love this one.

http://www.lyndhurststudio.com/?sid=3&layout=2col&content=pattern_details&pid=358&colid=265

It's a free PDF from Northcott fabrics. I need to make a quilt for grandson #3 and his favourite colour is now and has always been.....................green! Doesn't matter which shade, he just loves green. I have some green batiks I've been accumulating and I bought some brown ones and cream up at Creative Sisters, the one and only time I was there. I added a couple of more on Monday while I was out booting about. I'm thinking of doing oak leaves as the boy was born and raised here in town. I'm planning on golds, yellows, oranges and reds. I want to make the top first and then select the leaf fabrics.

By the way, that pattern is downloadable (is that a word), so you could do it too. It is twin bed size.

I have more patterns and I'll be making them up in the future too. I'll get them organized and show them with their fabrics.

Yesterday, I dropped over to Elaine's. We were looking at batiks at her house too.............say, that's where I could go for my leaf fabric. Oh-oh, Elaine, just read that. Darn, now when they go missing, she'll know who took them.

I'm passing on a tip that Elaine gave me. I asked if she would mind, and she said no, so here goes. When making shingles on the roof of a house use your blanket stitch.

This is definitely not a roof, but I wanted you to be able to see how it works. The top of the roof was a complete goof and its much too small for the size on this particular house. The sizing of the length and width will depend on the roof. The bottom stitching is more in size with what I drew. You do have to remember to off set the stitching to make it realistic. Its a darn good idea and something I'll be keeping in mind next time I do a house.

Awhile ago Karl and I were in my favourite Dollarama. For the locals its way out on Wyecroft Road. Super big store and lots and lots of "stuff" inside. I always hit the craft aisle when I'm there to see what's new. I found little wee tiny clips. I bought the package convincing myself I'd find a use for them. I did.

I've been holding my blocks for BOM together with these clips instead of with a straight pin. I tend to rip my skin on pins and I'm getting just a titch fed up. They are doing the job very nicely.

I've used them while binding too. The last bunch of binding clips I bought are terrible. They keep popping off and scooting across the floor. Her majesty gets them, and I have to get down on hands and knees and find them under the couch, or the coffee table or worse yet.....................the hutch! I'm going to sort through my box and take the bad ones out and find another use for them. I'm not impressed with this batch and I paid "bucks" for them.

I have used the larger ones when machine quilting for holding the edges of the quilt when I roll it. These seem to work the best for me. I've tried bicycle clips but somehow or other they pop off when I try it.

I'm having a "give away" on Thursday. It doesn't matter where you live, you are welcome to take part.

To make it fair to everyone, I will be asking you to email me at quiltonsdoings@gmail.com

More information to come on Thursday.

Oh, and don't worry about emailing me. I don't have anyway to pass your email on to those wonderful sites that inundate you with dopey sales pitches. Once the draw is completed all emails will be deleted from my account.

See you tomorrow...................fun day...................more fabulous websites