Author Archives: Norma Hanson

Quilt Guild – We Care Quilts

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Last Wednesday night was our regular monthly quilt guild meeting. We have an ongoing quilt charity program throughout the year where guild members make and donate quilts to our guild who in turn donates the quilts to local women’s shelters, local hospitals–both the cancer ward and maternity wards, RCMP Victim Services, and local Seniors’ homes to name just a few.

We had 29 quilts handed in on Wednesday evening. After the regular show and share portion of the evening, we have volunteers come forward and grab one of the We Care quilts donated that evening and stand side by side to show off the quilts to the rest of the membership. Our 29 quilts managed to circle the room completely. I was not able to get a picture of the group all at once, but i did wonder what the view would have been from the ceiling–looking down at that fabulous train of quilts that circled the room.







4-Patch Stacked Posies – Poppies

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I have been itching to make another quilt from the 4-Patch Stacked Posie pattern. Since I finished my pumpkin 4-patch version, I could start a new quilt with no guilt. This is a photo of the 4-patch blocks I finished last night.

You can see the original fabric down the left hand side of the picture. I have just set the blocks on the green fabric to audition the green color choice. I want to set these blocks differently than the previous two quilts I made from this pattern. I am playing with an on-point setting. I like the green with the blocks, but I have decided that there needs to be something between the block and the green sashing. With my son’s assistance last night, we decided that the perfect colour would be a dark brown like the center of the poppy in the original fabric.
I am also undecided whether I will make one larger lap quilt, or if I will make two smaller table toppers.

Since I don’t have a fabric in the right shade of dark brown, this project will have to wait until I have a chance to get to the LQS to get more fabric.

This is the link to HD Designs’ website–manufacturers of the pattern: http://www.hddesigns.net/default.aspx?sectionid=1756&pageid=3671

Table Runners

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I have been working on Christmas table runners using a quick and easy pattern from Ursula Riegel–a Canadian quilt designer from Victoria, BC. This is the link to her web page: http://www.designstoshare.com/patterns.htm

The first picture with the snowmen in the border and the holly in the center is a picture of the first table runner that I completed. It is now quilted and bound–ready for gift giving.

I have always used Warm and Natural batting in my table runners / toppers and that is what I used in this first table runner. When my mother and I were at the Creative Expo last weekend, we were in a vendor booth where there were some wonderful table runners, but they were quilted much flatter than mine. I inquired what the batting was and discovered that this particular shop uses Hobbs’ Thermore in their table runners. The shop owner told me that Thermore makes a thinner, flatter product more suitable for items that are to be used on the table. This helps ensure that things like wine glasses don’t tip over when set on the table runner. This was a eureka moment for me–I wondered why I didn’t think of something so simple. I will be quilting future table runners with Thermore.

The next two runners are just flimsies at this point. I did not have any Thermore at home until I made a run into the LQS yesterday so these are still unquilted.

Just a note about Thermore. When I was in the LQS yesterday, they told me that Hobbs is having some challenges with the production of Thermore right now. One of the fibres that they use is no longer available. If you purchase the “new” Thermore, you will find that it is flatter and stiffer. I managed to get some of the old formula — prepackaged in a bag which is the soft Thermore we are used to. Apparently the factory is doing some re-formulations and is trying to get a combination of fibres that more closely resembles the old formulation.

Pumpkin 4-Patch Stacked Posies – Flimsy

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This weekend I finished my Pumpkin 4-Patch Posie quilt to the flimsy stage.
I have already purchased the fabric for the next 4-Patch Posie quilt I want to make so I felt I should finish this one first. ~ I also needed to get rid of the guilt resulting from purchasing more fabric for a pattern that I had not finished!
Since this quilt is now finished to the flimsy stage, I can proceed with cutting out the next quilt guilt free!

What Quilt is on Your Bed?

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Many bloggers have been showing pictures of the quilt that is currently on their bed so I thought I would join in. This is a picture of the quilt that is on my bed right now. This picture was taken just after this top was quilted on my long arm in November 2005.

This quilt was made from the book by Sharyn Squier Craig, and is called, Design Challenge: Half Log Cabin Quilts and is currently out of print.

The following three pictures are of this quilt actually on my bed. Because the bed is large in relation to the room, I can not get back far enough to get a picture of the whole quilt.

Yesterday, my mother, my daughter, and I headed into the 1st Annual BC Creative Expo where my mother and I bought some new software for organizing and scrapbooking our digital photos. These pictures were altered using that program. When I originally took the pictures they were on an angle. The software we purchased allows us to alter the horizon and crop the picture. This is how I have gotten the funky, artsy looking pictures that are cropped with more than 4 sides. I can see I will be playing with this software for some time to come!


This quilt measures 89 1/2″ x 104 1/2″ and was quilted with Aurifil #2445 Dusty Pink thread in the Baptist Fan design. The soft pink thread picks up the odd bit of pink that is in the blue fabrics without being too pronounced. I often get asked if I deliberately picked a thread that would show. Yes, this was a very conscious move and I love the effect.