Answering the Call ... Quilts for Maui

I think by now we've all heard of the devastating fires in Maui. Today on Instagram, I saw a post by @quiltwithmisskate calling for quilts of comfort for residents of the island that have lost everything.

As I've thought about how I could help, it occurred to me that Bonnie Hunter has a free pattern which I believe would be a perfect Hawaiian-themed expression of love to the victims of the fires.  It's called Pineapple Blossom.  It has been on my 'to do someday list' for years.  I can't think of a more perfect moment to make this quilt.

Here is the link to the free pattern:  https://quiltville.blogspot.com/2005/06/pineapple-blossom.html

As you can see, it works well with so many different colors and fabrics. And it's a really simple block.  

I'm issuing a challenge and an opportunity.  Our shop in Cleveland, TN is going to be opening in a few short weeks.  We have a nice, bright classroom and I can think of no better way to break it in than with this charity quilt project. So check out our website at www.thestitcherytn.com and watch for an announcement.

Whether you can join us in person or from afar, contribute one block or a whole quilt top, we welcome you to pull out your 2" scraps and some neutrals and join us in making some quilts to ship to Maui.

Details to follow.  In the meantime, how about downloading Bonnie's free pattern, gathering those fabrics, and let's prepare to get sewing!

Sending love and prayers to the people of Maui.

Mavis

Tennessee Backroads - Pattern Release!!

This pattern has been in my brain for awhile.  As we familiarized ourselves with our new hometown in Cleveland, Tennessee, we used our GPS for going almost everywhere.  

Sometimes the GPS would lead us down country backroads leading to what looked like a dead end.  Some of these nail biter journeys were in the night with no street lights as we live in a rural area and these drives were in the pitch black.  But these backroads always seemed to lead where we wanted to go.

And so this quilt design was born.  My new phraise became "backroads lead everywhere" and they truly do in this little corner of the world.

I created the quilt pattern with a two color theme (plus white) but I can totally see it in scrappy as well.  I might just have to try that once I excavate the storage locker and find my scraps.

The pattern is available for immediate download in my online Etsy shop:  My Etsy Shop.  Soon, my Tennessee quilting studio will be open and print copies will be available there as will some lovely fabrics to choose from.  Stay tuned!  Our website is nearing completion:  www.thestitcherytn.com.

Quilt pieced and quilted by Sharlene Lyseng

This pattern was released a few months ago so this post is a bit tardy.  When you make the quilt, please share it online with the hashtag #tennesseetrailsquilt so we can all see your finished work of art.  And thank you to my friend Sharlene for testing the pattern and piecing and quilting the quilt while my studio is still under construction.

Until next time, happy sewing!

Mavis

I Spy with my Little Eye....

 .....something that is GREEN.  This was yesterday's game in the car with my grandson and daughter as we were driving home together.  When I heard green I actually laughed out loud and slapped my knee.  Why?  Because Tennessee is the greenest place I've ever seen.  The answer was equally hilarious.  That tree?  That tree?  How about that other tree?

Smokey Mountains - Sunset

It's been a year since we left the west coast ... the 'wet coast' as we called it ... because we thought it rained all the time, that we lived in a rainforest and that it was lush and green.  Green until July, that is.  And despite all the sprinklers and watering of lawns and gardens in Victoria, BC (labelled "the city of gardens" and aptly so), everything turns brown by July.

I should have been paying more attention last August when we arrived here in Tennessee.  It was late August and everything was still green.  And I didn't see one irrigation system, not even one sprinkler system anywhere.

I recently looked up the rainfall in Tennessee vs. the rainfall on Vancouver Island (the wet coast).  It turns out that Tennessee gets double the rain that Vancouver Island gets.  Who knew?  Not this girl.  Victoria's average is 23 inches annually.  Cleveland's average is 55 inches annually.

☔☔☔☔☔☔☔☔☔☔☔☔☔☔☔

We experienced lots of different weather systems as we ventured across the USA towards Tennessee.  From the lush yellow fields of Canola in Idaho to the deserts of California and Arizona, to the midwest with its flashfloods, I have to say we've experienced a lot and every change of scenery held its own beauty.

Idaho canola fields

It's really hard to believe that a year ago we were on the road.  On July 19 last year we were in Peachland, BC catching our breath and plotting our journey.  We had no idea where we would end up.  The plan was to visit Tennessee for Sukkot, then head to Florida to visit friends and Legoland and from there plot the journey back. But it was always a surrendered plan.  We all wanted to be where He wanted us and we followed Him the best we could.

I wasn't sure where we would end up after our RV adventure. But that didn't matter. One day at a time.  One campground at a time.  One adventure at a time.  One sunset at a time.

The stickers represent the states we visited on the journey

Before leaving, when I dropped my doggies off with my friend on Salt Spring Island I thought a few times "I could live here".  Then as we stayed in the Okanagan in British Columbia, after leaving the island, I thought a few times that "I could live here".  It's beautiful.  But He hadn't revealed anything to us yet but just asked us to trust Him, not to make presumptious decisions, but to walk with Him.

Neither of those locations was God's plan.  We didn't know that Tennessee could be the plan until October.  Then at Sukkot we knew very quickly that we had found our people, our tribe, our home.  When my daughter met her future husband there, that cemented our plans.  As our chief driver, it would have been an interesting pivot to get back to BC without her. But a lot of things had to happen to make our stay happen, immigration being the main one.  As a tourist we could stay for six months and then we would have to leave.

So began the immigration process, which included a business plan for a quilting studio here. And now here we are a few months later and the shop is almost ready to open.  My life right now does not resemble my life a year ago.  It's amazing how the Father will lead and guide you if you let Him.

Immigration approved!

A year ago I was laying down my quilting on the altar.  I was laying down my business.  I was surrendering our home and I was leaving precious family, doggies and friends behind.  Parts of it were excruciating.  The journey has been one of growth in the Lord, of healing of parts of me that I didn't know needed healing, a year of pressing in for more in my relationship with the Lord, a year of receiving the gift of new friendships, and a gift of my new passion project with the quilting studio.  None of this was anticipated a year ago, and yet here we are.

Here are some photos of our space before (it was a glow in the dark mini golf and was pitch black, windows and all).  The second picture is a progress shot of a few weeks ago.

The Lord is so good!

This post started with weather and greenery and ended with the high notes and gratitude for what the Father has done for us.

Tennessee experiences very wet spring/summer seasons complete with many lightning and thunderstorms, extreme rains that make it feel like we are in a carwash with Harriet (our RV home).  But then the skies clear and those beautiful blue skies return.  It's hardly ever grey here as the storms pass quickly and bright days follow.  I'm grateful for all of it.  I'm grateful for a safe haven in the storms as we dwell under the shadow of His wings.  I'm grateful for my simpler life.  I'm grateful for my family, friends and church family. And I'm grateful for my new business venture with my dear friend.

Thanks for hanging out with me for these few moments.  I'll soon be back in the quilting world with more colorful fabric posts.  In the background while we are waiting to move in, I'm busy working on loading the website, tracking inventory of quilt backings and batting, and preparing rental class curriculum, and helping my friend Sandi choose fabrics for her part of our store.  I'll be the quilting studio and she will be the fabric shop.  And it will be wonderful!  Currently no blog worthy photos to share though. Stay tuned!

Until next time,

Mavis

Update from my sewing nook - RV quilting!

I think it's time for an update from my sewing room (nook).

There has been some piecing in 2023 but no quilting completions until I have my storefront space and machines set up.  Then I will take a victory lap.  So for now, it's just piecing and pattern designing.

"Sew in Love" quilt

I did this class with my friend Sandi at Lana's Quilts and Sew Much More over 10 weeks.  It is an Edyta Sitar pattern.  It was challenging but we got our blocks done.  Now for the borders.  I have everything cut out.  I just have to get it done.

My hand sewing project, La Passion Hexagon quilt gets some attention from time to time.  This is a lifetime project.  I fit in stitching every so often and sometimes take it to church with me for in between the service and the afternoon Midrash.  I'm currently working on the outer blue border.

Progress shots on my La Passion Hexagon Quilt.

I started this Time After Time sew-a-long with Sharon Blackmore of Prairie Quilt Militia back in  the fall when we arrived here in Tennessee.  The fabrics were purchased at Lana's also.  I am very near finishing.  I just have to press, trim and add the borders.  I'm excited to get my long arm machines set up so I can get back to quilting these treasures.  I already have a recipient in mind for this one.

Aside from these projects I have been working on two baby quilts.

The lighting is bad in the RV but I hope you can get the idea.  This is "Boxy Stars", a free pattern by Bonnie Hunter.  There is a funny story attached to this one.  I prepared this kit before we left Victoria.  I thought it would be a good one for RV sewing.   I made two blocks before we left to test my colors.  I did the remaining blocks months later (August 2022) and I made them with the fabric values in the wrong place.  So I initially thought I had 2 blocks wrong.  But I in fact had 2 right and the rest wrong.

Do you see how the value placement on the two on the left makes darker star points?  That's what I was going for.  And since I had precut this 'kit' to take on the road, I didn't have any fabric to fix the problem, so I just had to roll with it.  I figure the baby who receives this quilt won't know the difference.

Then I found some pre cut 2 1/2" squares in a quilt shop in Texas.  I set them aside.  One day I just wanted a quick and easy thing to sew so I decided to make another baby quilt.

I have purchased some aqua for the border of this one and some minky style backing.  This one will be for my new grandbaby due in October.

It hasn't been a very productive year so far but I've enjoyed the piecing time I've had and am now getting excited about getting those quilting machines set up and ready to stitch.

Thanks for following!

Mavis

A year ago today...

We were at a home fellowship gather this past Friday evening and the Father led us to a time of thanksgiving.  Sometimes, we are so busy going forward that we can sometimes miss the sweet memories that led us to where we are now.

A year ago we accepted an offer on our house and put that sold sign up.  We sold almost everything, bought an RV and truck in anticipation of a journey with God to parts unknown.

Boondocking at blueberry farm in Idaho

The day we took delivery of Max Blue (Aidan named the truck)

This post from March 31, 2022 tells the back story:  Dayspring Quilter On the Move

In hindsight, the Covid years were hard and took a toll on all of us.  We endured isolation, judgment, misunderstanding, lack of community and despair.  

We took a time out.  I put my quilting business on hiatus and my long arm in storage.  I spent two solid months scanning all the family photos.  We gifted some art pieces to friends.  We lived our last days in the house minus livingroom furniture but happy on lawn chairs. We packed a storage locker with our remaining precious items. We arranged for care for our doggies.  We had a hard but sweet goodbye with our son who wanted to remain in Victoria.  He had lived with us for 30 years and he said it was time for him to find his own way.   We stepped out in faith that God was leading us, all of us, and in hindsight we can say He certainly was.

Lovely farewell picnic before we left Victoria

And here we are a year later.  We are in a wonderful Church community, living in a beautiful part of the USA (Eastern Tennessee), with a new son-in-law and a new grandchild on the way, a new quilting studio and fabric store underway (The Stitchery LLC).  We are on a two year visa which is extendable so Tennessee is now home.  We sure didn't see that coming but are very thankful for where He led us and the spiritual journey that got us here. To God by the glory!!

The Lord has done so much work in our hearts with healing, recalibration, and restoration, that it was wonderful to pause on Friday night and speak out those prayers of thanksgiving.

Wow!  What a ride it has been.

Mavis

Never too old for a big change....

If you've been following me this past year, you probably know that my quilting business is on hiatus.  I described the journey in detail on the pages of this blog and have been anxiously awaiting some news so that I could share with you the direction I'm taking. Hubby and I applied for a VISA to stay in the USA (where our daughter married the most wonderful man).  

On February 14, 2023 the approval came through and I'm happy to announce that I will be setting up a long arm business, continuing what I was doing for customers in Victoria but adding a rental program component for those that would like to quilt their own quilts but cannot afford or don't have room to buy their own long arm. I am still a representative for APQS and will be adding machines for this purpose and my shop will be a mini APQS showroom.

The machines have been ordered (Lenni, Lucey, and Freddie with QuiltPath) and my Millie with QuiltPath will be joining the fleet.  My business will be called The Stitchery LLC.  I am currently trying to find a commercial location for the venture.  The machines are ready to ship now so I'm hoping this happens this week.  It was a 'hurry up and wait' scenario until the approval for the VISA came through and now it's full steam ahead to get up and running.  SO MUCH TO DO!!!

God has been faithful to lead me this far and the plan has taken shape slowly and methodically, including having my new best friend down here want to join me.  We lunch together every Friday and besides a beautiful friendship forming we have talked about her opening a fabric shop under the same roof as The Stitchery LLC (separate but complimentary).  We got all sorts of excited at this prospect!! Dreams do come true y'all!  Since I was a little girl I've wanted a store.  It took until retirement from a stressful legal career and a radical life change to bring it to fruition. And now I have a friend to do it with. And here we are.... We don't have everything quite figured out yet.  It's still all gelling.

I will be changing this page from Dayspring Quilt Company back to my personal blog in the near future.  It has chronicled my quilting journey and I don't want to lose that.  It served my purpose as a simple website for Dayspring but I will now need a more robust website.  I plan on a blog page on the new Stitchery website for the business but that is all still in production.  Like I said...SO MUCH TO DO!!!

You can visit my new business at The Stitchery LLC in the near future.  The website is still under construction so there's nothing to see there now but hopefully soon enough!

What a wild ride!  Thanks for following along and I'll see you at The Stitchery LLC!

Mavis

It's a Mystery! (quilt)

 In my previous post here I shared my photos of my fabric choices for the Bonnie Hunter Chilhowie mystery quilt which started on Black Friday. This was my post wedding project to help me transition to the next stage of our adventure on the road.

I haven't kept up with the clues (my normal) but have been very amazed at the reveal.  This is Bonnie's quilt:

I chose her colours this year basically because my stash isn't with me and it was just easier.  And of course it wasn't a chore to actually visit quilt shops in my area of Tennessee to find a suitable array of fabric.

Look at some of these other spectacular colourways and finishes.  I'm so inspired by these variations.

I'm plugging away at the steps.

This blocks gets enlarged once I get to the next step.  I'm LOVING this quilt.  

I ended up using Triangulations software for the hourglass units (quarter square triangles).  The accuracy when using these is amazing.  I'll be using them for all my triangle units in the remaining steps.  I don't mind tearing the papers off while watching a show.  And they are so uniform!  It makes the final product so much better.  If I had my Accuquilt Go cutter and dies with me then I'd probably use those but these are a great option when you don't have your tools with you.

I am up to Step 4 which is the hourglass units.  i've finished them all and they are neatly counted and in a ziploc bag awaiting their next step. 

Next up is some half square triangles.  And yes, I've got my Triangulations papers printed out and ready to process into fabric units.

Until next time,

Mavis