Pitty Pats Sewing Machine Swap.

I'm posting this now because tracking tells me she has received it.

April 26th, 2011.

I will post this when Alda receives my swap to her.

When Maria introduced me to Aunt Pitty Pat's Swaps, her name is Marcel, she didn't realize what a blessing that was. I not only enjoy her blog, she is very funny, but I met some interest and creative people. In each of her swaps that I participated in, I feel I got the better of the swap. I recently joined her Sewing Accessory Swap.

My partner is Alda and here is her story.

Yes I am the quilting (and a little crazy of course) cat lady owned by 2 cats. I love looking at beautiful fabrics, buying them and sometimes sewing them into a quilt or something else. I am born and raised in Iceland but moved from the cold but beautiful Iceland to the flat Denmark and lived there for 9 years. The family decided to move to the hot flat south Florida 5 years ago and here I am.
This is what I enjoy about the swaps.

This is what I made for Alda.

The first photos show a few extras I'm adding to her swap, I know she likes cats.
The second two photos are the pin cushion. I used Sunkissed fabric from Moda.
The next two photos are a Sewing machine apron. It's a way of keeping your sewing tools very close at hand. More Sunkissed fabric from Moda.
The last two photos are the sewing machine cover, front and back.



































Read Alda's comments, she is a good swap partner.

Our trip to the US border.

Friday, May 6, 2011.
Maria, Kathy and I went to the border to mail our Sewing Machine Accessories swap package, and I had a parcel for Trenton, in Utah. We had a few bumps along the way but that's what makes our trips so interesting. We checked in at the American border with our passports, everything was fine, the custom's officer came out, looked into the car and asked, "what's in the box". I told him it was a quilt, a 911 quilt. He picked it up and said it felt heavy for a quilt. He said he'd wrap it up again, and for us to pull over to the side and come in. When the 3 of us walked in, the custom officer was looking in the box at the quilt and the few chocolates I had put in. I asked him if he wanted to see the quilt. Every one in the building, including a young woman, came to look at it. Maria and I tried to hold it up but we were to short, the tall officer held it, and another officer took photos of the quilt. I folded the quilt but it wouldn't fit back in the box. Maria and I finally got it in. The officer didn't rewrap the parcel, Maria did, although they did give me the tape and scissors.
I've gone to the border many time with my sister to mail parcels to the States, this is the first time they stopped me. Next time I'll take Bill for the ride and I'll leave the parcel open. I forgot the lovely lady at Grand Portage Post Office would have wrapped it up. The reason I like to mail my parcels from the border is the package can be tracked and I mail it on Friday and it gets to it's destination on Monday. I mailed the Olympic quilts to Al in Calgary, on Monday, May 2, 2011, he may get it today.

2008 Trenton Christopher Maki and my scrapbook page of his 911 quilt.





Trenton today.

God has always blessed me.

My Dear friend Crystal.

Crystal and Kay packed 3 suitcases and came from Grand Marais, Mn to our Quilt show in Thunder Bay. She brought beautiful quilts she designed, and many other things, including interesting fabrics. It's always fun to see and talk to Crystal.


I received a wonderful gift.

Years ago Crystal introduced me to Printed Treasures, from that time on, every time I went to see Nicole and Chris, Nicole made sure I bought more.
It is, Quick and Easy, Superior Washability, Paper-like Print Quality, 200 Thread Count Prima Cotton.
It is ideal for printing photos, images, or designs of any type. September 2004, I made a photo quilt for Bill, it's on his bed and he always has it on him or beside him when he's resting. I print the photos and labels from my Epson Stylus CX7000F. This is a wonderful product, the pictures turn out so well and the paper on the back peels off easily.
A few months ago I bought a package from Fabricland. I was so disappointed because the paper wouldn't peel off, most of it stuck to the cotton. I was more concerned about the wasted ink than I was about Printed Treasures cotton sheets. Laura, the manager of Fabricland was very kind, she phoned head office and they replaced the package of Printed Treasures from a new shipment and gave me a gift certificate. Sad to say that package didn't work either. I went back to Fabricland because I wanted this product to work, I love using it. Laura talked to Valerie from Prym Dritz, Canada. For all the years they have been selling this product, they had only one other complaint. For my troubles they send me a gift box full of wonderful quilting accessories and a package of 50 Printed Treasures sheets. To say I was surprised is an under statement, but I'm so grateful to Valerie and Prym. The best part of this story is, the paper backing quickly and successfully peels off the cotton. Now I came make beautiful labels again. Here is everything I got.

Thunder Bay Quilters' Guild 30th Anniversary Banquet.

April 30, 2011.

Wendy pick up Marlene, Diana and me and took us to the banquet. What a blessing that was, it was dark and rainy out but there was a very good turn out. The food was fantastic, and in between there were many draws. Our guest speaker was Paulette Eccleston, describes as a "tireless Crusader" for the art of quilting, she is a distinguished quilter, teacher, designer, reviewer, author and collector. We were lucky to have her. She showed us her quilt tops, and they were amazing. We all had a great evening. Cindy did a wonderful job coordinating the whole quilt show with the help of some volunteers. Wendy and Marlene sat one table, Diana and I at another. When we sat in Wendy's car to leave, we realized the four of us all won a prize, in fact Marlene won two prizes, she won the door prize.

My prize was a digital camera key chain and a photo album. We all got a gift from the guild and from Luci. She gave us a spool of her favourite thread, Tre Stell Filato from Milano, Italy, a piece of beautiful fabric and 10% discount.












Getting read to eat.





Our Table.




We all enjoyed seeing Paulette Eccleston's quilt tops.

Our Featured Quilter

Helen, LeeAnn and Maria.








Helen Knights is our oldest member, who at 99 years is still very active in our Guild. She is a talented artisan in many disciplines. Helen is still driving her own car, and we all love her dearly. Here is some of her work.

Quilts from the Thunder Bay Quilt Show

Our Thunder Bay Quilters Guild Logo.













Maria's quilts.














Wendy's quilts or her longarm quilting on Alva's quilts.


























Alva's paper pieced quilt.








Maria made this jacket for her grand daughter, Lily.











Heather was impressed with Maria's jacket, she pieced and quilted the blocks and had Maria make one for her grand son, Preston. It was well received at the Quilt Show.

Superior Quilts 2011, Thunder Bay Quilter's Guild.

This is Luci new quilt shop's logo.
It's a elegant design.









Shown here is part of Luci's display at our
Quilt Show this week-end.

The fabrics are from Moda's new fabrics, Sunkissed. Wendy made and quilted the quilt on the table.




Check out Wendy's blog. Quilting and Life.

http://wendysquilting.wordpress.com/


You will see her quilts and long arm quilting, displayed at our Quilt Show.