Whatever Floats Your Boat

Jane is a nautical soul and loves to be by or on the water. No surprise then that she would find a way to create these charming little boats. The trick is that she used collars and cuffs from men's shirts (thank you Martin) when designing her creations.

Aren't they just wonderful? They are about 6" - 7" tall and are a jaunty collection that looks like it's ready to hit the high seas. Love those polka dots!

Notice how she's also used the shirt labels? And I love the string of tiny sails. All those stripes and plaids and dots - it just makes you smile.
















She's not quite sure where/how to use them yet but is toying with hanging them on a rattan room divider in the guest bedroom at the cottage.

One of these days I suspect that she will have a sailboat quilt in the works. Maybe Sailing, Sailing from Hollyhock Quilts...wonderful pinwheels, and don't you just love the waves?

Or this one - Crazy Sails from The Buggy Barn. I like the Ocean Waves border on the blocks that make up the sashing strips.





















Or how about this great little block with ric rac for the waves that I found on Amanda's blog? It's from Glenna Hailey's book, Sugar Sack Quilts. I think that it's the Sailing, Sailing block from above.

Lots and lots of fun possibilities as we start looking at summer in the rear view mirror....M

Linda's Show & Tell

Of course my visit to Linda last week wouldn't have been complete without being able to peek into a few bags & boxes to see what else she's been working on besides Aowyn's quilt, and what an adventure that was!

A few years ago she took a fibre arts course at Haliburton School of The Arts and made this beautiful cushion top. It's layered pieces of fabric and fibres stabilized with Solvy, secured with tulle and then overstitched with the sewing machine.

It was spectacular and inspired her to create this small wallhanging...

...some of the embellishments were sewn overtop of the tulle for additional texture and interest.

And then a gorgeous scarf for herself.

The edges are established with the blue fabric but then the centre is more open and filled with various mulit-coloured fibres and yarns - you could spend a lot of time just looking at all of the different elements. It is really beautiful and the perfect colours for her.

She's also knitting a gorgeous felted bag for her daughter Sheri. This is the pattern...

and this is her bag so far. Instead of the leather handles she is knitting a long strap for over the shoulder. It is a good-sized bag, about 18" wide and is SO thick and durable after the felting and nice and soft at the same time. Lucky Sheri!

And of course now that she has all that time on her hands from finishing up Aowyn's quilts she's got another one waiting in the wings and ready to go. It's from Donna Lynn Thomas' book Scrappy Duos...

...and this is the pattern. Pretty, isn't it? Talk about an inspirational visit!...M