Quilt - Pumpkin Patch

Monkey Business BOM – Block #8

Beatrice | August 1, 2021 | 12 Comments

It’s August already, and nothing is back to normal in my life but I am trying to reclaim things step by step. I have started to post again, hoping I can keep it up. I certainly have a ton of quilts to show! My garden is doing well although we are having a very hot and dry summer. Lots of watering required, next year I am planning on having more soaker hoses. It takes up a lot of time to water everything by hand. But the biggest news is that we have adopted two quilt inspectors for quality control 😉 We actually got them in mid-June when they were just three months old, and they are making such a difference in our life. We had cats in Germany and have always wanted to adopt some in Canada, and we felt we needed some emotional support and were lucky to be able to adopt these two cuties. Their names are Lexi and Lucy, and they are full of energy and mischief, always ready to get into trouble.

Quilt Inspectors Sleeping on the Job — Sleeping on the Job

Our Monkey friend has cut up a delicious watermelon this month and is offering slices for refreshment in the summer heat. Funny, I just realized that I don’t have watermelons in my garden, I should write them on next year’s list. The watermelon seeds are quite small. I appliqued them all but although I don’t mind small pieces, that was not a fun endeavour, so I changed them to embroidery for the pattern. Or you could sew on small black beads. I did that for a watermelon block some years ago, and it looked pretty neat. The August block will be available for free download until the end of the month and move over to the pattern store when the next block is released.

EDIT: August is over, and the block has moved to the pattern store where it is now available for purchase if you missed the free download. If you just need the finishing instructions, they are still available for free download.

Für die deutsche(n) Version(en) mit metrischen Maßen bitte dem/den Kauflink(s) unten für die englische(n) Version(en) folgen und beim Checkout angeben, dass die deutsche Version gewünscht ist. Ich verschicke dann per email die Anleitung(en) in der gewünschten Sprache.

Wer nur die Anleitung zur Fertigstellung sucht, kann diese nun auch auf Deutsch kostenlos herunterladen.

Longarm

Out Of The Box

Beatrice | July 30, 2021 | 3 Comments

This quilt in beige and brown colours was made by Bonnie. She knew right away that she wanted it quilted with “Diagonal Plaid Bias Cut”. This design is always a good choice when a quilt has lots of squares, and it complements Bonnie’s work nicely.

Longarm

La Vie En Rose

Beatrice | July 28, 2021 | Leave a Comment

This quilt was made by Sandra as a gift for her mom. The fabric she used for the sashing has grape leaves, and those inspired the choice of quilting pattern. “Ground Cover” is one of my favourite leaf patterns, the leaves look a bit like ivy but can also pass as grape leaves and were just right for this quilt.

Show and Tell

More Monkey Blocks

Beatrice | July 26, 2021 | 1 Comment

I am going to make an effort to return to a more normal posting schedule. First up is another round of Show & Tell. Elaine has been busy making more Monkey blocks, here are her April, May and June blocks.

Sigrid has been busy as well, and I really enjoy the different custom backgrounds she creates for her Monkeys. Here are the next three blocks she stitched.

Thank you to both ladies for faithfully sending me a picture every month. I very much enjoy seeing what others make with my designs.

Block/Pattern of the Month

Monkey Business BOM – Block #7

Beatrice | July 1, 2021 | 7 Comments

Happy Canada Day! As you can probably tell by the silence on my blog, my life is still very much in disarray. I am hoping to return to some kind of normal during July, but it might take until August to sort everything out. In addition to the emotional upset we spent the last few days under the heat dome in the Pacific Northwest, and no, we don’t have air conditioning. It was no fun but the worst seems to be over, and I managed to keep my vegetables well watered, and they all seem to be doing quite well. The spinach and corn salad bolted before the extreme heat, I had a great broccoli and cauliflower harvest, and the beans, cucumbers and squash seemed to love the weather. I am grateful every day that I continued with my vegetable garden experiment this year, it really helps me keep my sanity.

This month’s monkey is going on safari. This was the block that my husband thought was the most hilarious… a monkey in full safari outfit. But hey, he wants to see the animals too, right?? Coming up with ideas for twelve different blocks is not always easy, and sometimes I just start drawing and it takes me in a direction that I hadn’t really planned. I think for this block I was more thinking of a monkey going on a hike but when his hat ended up looking like a pith helmet I thought it was funny and went with it. As always, the safari monkey block will be available for free download until the end of the month and move to the pattern store in August when the next block is released.

EDIT: July is over, and the block has moved to the pattern store where it is now available for purchase if you missed the free download. If you just need the finishing instructions, they are still available for free download.

Wer nur die Anleitung zur Fertigstellung sucht, kann diese nun auch auf Deutsch kostenlos herunterladen.

Block/Pattern of the Month

Monkey Business BOM – Block #6

Beatrice | June 1, 2021 | 7 Comments

Life is happening in full force right now, disrupting all my plans, unfortunately not in a good way. Blogging and sharing pictures on social media is not high on my list of priorities at the moment. I am spending some of my energy on my vegetables, puttering around the garden makes me feel quite calm and relaxed. I have blanched and frozen a lot of spinach already, trying to get the most out of it before it bolts. The Super Gourmet Salad Blend from West Coast Seeds that KJ mentioned in a comment a couple of months back was my choice this year too, and I love it. Excellent results, and very tasty too. I did have a few mishaps though and killed all my cucumbers and most of my squash plants, and I also overwatered my tomato seedlings but I have learned that they are like weeds and very hard to kill. I transplanted them two weeks ago, and they made a very nice recovery. And I am very happy about the brassicas. We went through the trouble of building a cover for the whole bed, with rebar and PVC pipes (lots of good tutorials can be found on YouTube), and I bought some row cover fabric and a soaker hose. The brassicas are thriving in there, the cabbage moths and root flies can’t get in, and I haven’t seen any aphids yet (fingers crossed). The plants are huge and healthy, and the first florets are coming up on the broccoli. Even my own whimpy seedlings aren’t far behind the ones I bought at Minter’s. Last year I lost all but two broccoli plants to the maggots of the cabbage root fly. They just started drooping one day and keeled over the next, and when I pulled them, there were barely any roots left. So hopefully I will have a better harvest this year.

I will keep posting quilts when I have the time, and the Monkey Business BOM will continue as planned. The patterns are all written and will be published on the first of each month. Should I have to post a bit early or late, I will announce it in advance, so stay tuned for updates. This month, our monkey friend is still at the beach, playing ball and having a blast. The pattern is available for free download until the end of the month and will move over to the pattern store in July when the next block is published.

EDIT: June is over, and the block has moved to the pattern store where it is now available for purchase if you missed the free download. If you just need the finishing instructions, they are still available for free download.

Wer nur die Anleitung zur Fertigstellung sucht, kann diese nun auch auf Deutsch kostenlos herunterladen.

Longarm

Over The River And Through The Woods

Beatrice | May 19, 2021 | 3 Comments

“Over The River And Through The Woods” is a Crabapple Hill design, mixing hand-embroidered panels with classic pieced blocks. This lovely version was made by Sandra, and she chose “White Out”, a snowflake pattern for quilting. I wasn’t always comfortable doing allover designs across beautiful hand embroidery but Sandra’s quilt is a great example of how good it can look. The snowflake meander blends into the background and doesn’t take away from the exquisite handwork.

Over The River And Through The Woods Detail 1

Over The River And Through The Woods Detail 2

Longarm

Colorful Kites

Beatrice | May 17, 2021 | 3 Comments

Sharlene made this cute quilt as a baby gift. What a great way of using up scraps, the more different fabrics, the better! The empty areas between the kites will be filled by their tails, Sharlene wanted to have it quilted first before starting on the embroidery. The pattern we used for quilting is called “Wild Wind” – perfect for flying a kite!

Longarm

Linen Stars

Beatrice | May 14, 2021 | Leave a Comment

June made this pretty star quilt using linen in solid colours for the stars. The quilt has a modern look, and June wanted a simple, modern design for quilting and picked the pantograph “Taj Mahal” for her project.

Longarm

Musical Stars

Beatrice | May 12, 2021 | 3 Comments

This quilt was made by Mary as a gift for a music loving friend. Actually, she made it twice for two different friends. It sure gives a whole new meaning to the term “piano key border”. We didn’t have to think about the quilting very long, I have a music pattern with notes that was perfect for Mary’s quilts.