Author Archives: Norma Hanson

Move It Forward

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I spent Good Friday on line with Linda – Moving it Forward.

We have decided that once a month we will take at least one day and move some projects that have stalled or aged as UFOs far too long forward to the next stage. That may mean getting a top to the flimsy stage, moving a top from a flimsy to a quilt, or completing some binding. What Move it Forward is not is a day to start something new. It is all about making progress on something we have already started previously.

Before I could work on anything, I needed to clear my work surface from the project that I was working on the night before. In between passes of the long arm on customer quilts, I piece string blocks onto used Color Catchers (that is the white rectangle you see in the upper left hand corner of the picture). I had 11 blocks partially finished – they needed a strip or two and they would be finished. So before working on anything else, I finished off those 11 blocks. On the previous weekend, I took some of the blocks I have made previously and pieced them together into this colourful scrap top. This top needs the sashing finished off on the right hand side and bottom, then it will be ready for borders.

The next project I had to finish was a customer quilt that had already been loaded onto the long arm the night before. There was only about 1/2 hour of quilting left.

This is the finished customer quilt. It is a Nine Patch Pizzazz quilted with the Wave.

The next project was my Bento Box. It had stalled at the borders. I typically stall at this point so this was a great project for Move It Forward day! Also, I had the expertise of my good friend Linda to assist in deciding on which colour to use in the inner border……….green….

….or red?

After discussing options back and forth, the red was chosen. And this is the finished flimsy. This one is for me so I am really excited about getting this top to this stage. I now need to go on the hunt for just the right backing.

The next project up needed binding. This is the fabric that was picked for binding.


I made 1/2″ wide binding for this quilt. An extra wide binding serves dual purpose as an additional border and binding. Strips of binding for a 1/2″ wide binding are cut 3 1/4″ wide.
Binding was machine sewn to the quilt after supper. This top is now waiting for a quiet evening or two of hand sewing in front of the TV.

The day was busy and my quilt inspector/supervisor played out.

After the flash picture, he did open an eye to let me know that he did not want to be bugged further!

I know that both Linda and I made great progress today so we will be looking forward to the next Move It Forward Day to move yet more projects to the next stage.

Wacky Fab Challenge #2 – Reveal

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Wednesday night was the reveal for our Wacky Fab Challenge #2. The last package had arrived at its destination during the day on Wednesday. When I got home from work, there was a message for me letting me know that the planned reveal would be at 6 pm. I had just enough time to grab a bite to eat for supper. I guess I was taking a little too long because precisely at 6 pm the phone rang. The call display said Alabama. I knew I had to quickly grab my camera and get to my computer–or else I would have some explaining to do!

One by one we opened our packages and then quickly took pictures of the contents of the packages to share with the rest of the group.

This is Joey assisting with the opening of my package. The tape slowed me down and some of the other FABs wanted to know if I needed assistance in opening. LOL It is all part of the suspense.
This is what was inside my package…..summery placemats from Linda.


There were four placemats in total – one for each member of my family.
Thank you Linda! The applique is fabulous!

Do you remember me teasing with just a sliver of the project I was working on?

http://silverthimblequilting.blogspot.com/2009/01/fab-challenge.html

This is a picture of the challenge fabric:

This is a picture of the project that I made from the challenge fabric for Pat.

This picture was taken when the top was still a flimsy, before it was quilted and left my house for Pat’s house. The pattern is 4 Patch Stacked Posies from HD Designs. I know that Pat had been admiring the 4 Patch Posie quilts that Linda and I had been working on. Pat wanted to make her own 4 Patch Posie but she is a very disciplined quilter and has a quilting to-do list with at least another 10 quilts on it to make before she was prepared to start one of these. Now Pat has her 4 Patch Posie quilt and she can stay on track with her other 10 projects!
We had to use a large percentage of the 1 yard piece of challenge fabric we received while staying within the theme of summer. A Summer in Winter challenge. Summer to me is all about heat. Heat in colour is red, orange, and yellow. As soon as I received the challenge fabric in the mail I knew instantly what fabric I was going to use with it–this large floral depicting the colours I associate with heat–red, orange, and yellow.
This is the same quilt, now quilted at at Pat’s house.

This was a great challenge. Thanks to Cher and Pat for organizing.
I believe Linda and Pam are responsible for the next challenge–details TBD in the future.

Is Spring Finally Here?

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This is the weather that we woke up to on the morning of April 1st. Yes, that is snow! Although it was April Fool’s Day, this was no joke! They mentioned on the TV news that we have had 5 months in a row where we have had snow. This is very unusual weather for this part of the country. We are tired of snow! By Saturday (April 4) the weather had improved significantly. I couldn’t resist taking a few pictures in the afternoon.

This is the view that my DD has when she is at work.

The red strip in the foreground in this picture is a cranberry field. There are no cranberries at this time of year.

A pasture just a little farther down the same road. This is the view I have when driving home from work each day.

Look on the ground at the base of these trees.


This is where I found the most beautiful and delicate little blue flowers.

And at the base of another tree…..

Crocuses–a sure sign of spring.


There are no signs of spring in my yard so I headed to the greenhouse to fix that.

We have had nice warm weather with no sign of snow since Friday. Let’s hope that Spring decides to stay and the cold weather and snow is gone till winter!