Spruce It Up Quilting's 8th annual Christmas Ornament Challenge

DEADLINE EXTENDED TO NOVEMBER 15TH 2022

Are you ready?? 

We are... 

Check out the ornaments already received... Look up there on the header for ORNAMENTS 2022, click on it and you'll find all the beauties we've received so far!

WAIT... since we only have 10 ornaments, we're extending the deadline to November 15th so there's still time for you to send us yours!! Or deliver it in person!

DATES: Deadline Nov 15th

              Voting begins Nov 16th

              Sale of ornaments Dec 1st... but you can reserve your favorite anytime; just send us a private   message.

REMEMBER the proceeds from the sale of the ornaments is matched by SIU and we'll be gifting The Brain Aneurysm Foundation. My oldest sister died of a Brain aneurysm... age 63! Too young!!

And what can the viewer's choice creator win??

A beautiful basket of goodies valued at around $140

We've added a few extras to the list already in our announcement! The basket/rope bowl was made by Norah in a workshop at the Sackville Quilt Guild and suited the purpose very well... New use for decorating! 

So don't be shy... offer us a beautiful ornament and these goodies could be yours!! We're waiting...

Toodles,

Lorette

THE VOTES ARE IN!!

WINNING ORNAMENT!!

CONGRATULATIONS!

Christine Prime McCarthy

Your ornament is superb!



Thank you so very much to everyone who donated an ornament or two or three... it was very difficult to choose... they were all lovely!

The ornaments are now ready to sell... $10 each and if you wish you can increase the amount... all funds collected will be matched by the shop and the donation will be made to Victoria's Quilts, an organization that provides a comfort quilt to anyone with a cancer diagnosis. It's very worthwhile and they are in constant need of supplies, fabrics, backings, and batting. Last year in our province alone, they gave out over 900 quilts.

Be generous! Visit the Ornaments 2019 to see which have already been sold... they make a great Christmas gift! Then contact the shop or message me to reserve yours today!

Again, many many thanks!

Lorette

2019 Christmas Ornament Challenge

Spruce It Up's 2019 Christmas Ornament Challenge

We're in our 6th year!!

Please check the new page up there ^ to find the 2019 ornaments!

 Today (Sept 30th) is the last day for delivery of your ornament to be considered in the early-bird draw... you have until 4pm today to deliver. Draw will happen tomorrow. The winner will win a Christmas tree/white truck panel on red background! Quite cute!

Ornaments will be collected until October 31st. You can hand-deliver or mail (post-marked before the 31st... please send us a photo).

This year the money collected from the sale of the ornaments will be donated to Victoria's Quilts, an organization that provides a comfort quilt to anyone with a cancer diagnosis. It's very worthwhile and they are in constant need of supplies, fabrics, backings and batting. Last year in our province alone, they gave out over 900 quilts. 

Here are the rules:

SPRUCE IT UP QUILTING

Christmas Ornament Challenge 2019Contest rules: please read carefully and follow the rules!
1) Ornament must be made of fabric, felt or wool, wood if decorated with fabric
2) Ornament may be pieced, appliqué, fused, thread painted, hooked, machine or hand quilted, embellished with beads, sequins, thread, paint
3) Ornament must have a hanger made of string or ribbon
4) Your initials can be added to the back of the ornament; no signatures allowed
5) Ornament can be an original design or an interpretation of a published design
6) You may make more than one ornament; each ornament must be different
7) Ornament must be submitted to Spruce It Up Quilt Shop in person or by mail
8) EARLY BIRD PRIZE: Ornaments received between Sept 1st and September 30th will be eligible for this prize
9) All entries must be received by October 31st, 2019. No late entries will be allowed; postmark date will determine eligibility of mailed packages.
10) Ornaments will be photographed and posted on the blog and Facebook (TBD: frequency) www.spruceitupquilting.com

11) Each ornament will be assigned a number when received and will be displayed at Spruce It Up Quilt Shop
12) To keep voting fair, no names will be published or displayed with the ornaments on the blog or at the shop
13) Voting will begin November 1st and continue until Nov 15th 2019; one vote per person please
14) Voting can be done in person at Spruce It Up Quilt Shop, by email, or by phone (506-538-7888)
15) Winner will be announced Wednesday November 16th, 2019

8-fat quarter bundle of Christmas fabric
1-spool Aurifil sewing thread
3 skeins of Valdani Perle Cotton #12
1 pkg Chenille needles

Ornaments become the property of Spruce It Up Quilt Shop and will be for sale at $10/ornament starting November 16th on the blog. Proceeds this year will go to Victoria’s Quilts

EARLY BIRD PRIZE

Christmas panel/white truck on red fabric

GRAND PRIZE

GRAND PRIZE

1 pair (small) Perfect Scissors by Karen Kay Buckley
8-fat quarter bundle of Christmas fabric
1-spool Aurifil sewing thread
3 skeins of Valdani Perle Cotton #12
1 pkg Chenille needles

thank you to all who participate... some of you have done so every year and we really appreciate it!

Toodles,

Lorette

Christmas Ornament Challenge 2017

Spruce It Up Quilting's Christmas Ornament Challenge is in its 4th year!!! WOW!! Thank you to the previous ornament makers for your generous donations of ornaments... If you're new to the blog, have a look up ⬆ at the top header for the pages where you can see the photos of previous ornaments. Very inspirational!!

Ornaments 2017 page is up and we've posted 2 ornaments already!! Great start... thank you!!!

BTW: For new readers, we assign a number to the ornaments as they arrive at the shop; no names are published to keep voting fair.

We're aiming for a bumper crop of ornaments... the winner of the viewer's choice award will be gifted this:

GRAND PRIZE

1 pair (small) Perfect Scissors by Karen Kay Buckley

8-fat quarter bundle of Christmas fabric

1-spool Aurifil sewing thread

3 skeins of Valdani Perle Cotton #12

1 pkg Chenille needles

I do like to start thinking of Christmas early. The proposed deadline for submission for the 2017 challenge is October 31st.

Submissions accepted: October 1st-October 31st

Voting begins: November 1st- November 15th

Sale begins: November 16th-until all ornaments are sold

Spruce It Up Quilting will match the total amount of the sale of the ornaments and the donation will go to the Heart And Stroke Foundation of Canada. So please be generous! We all have family, relatives, friends who have been and/or are affected by heart disease and or stroke... let's support this foundation in their research.

Happy stitching!

Toodles,

Lorette

and the winner is...

Viewer's Choice Award goes to:

#18

Congratulations Darlene Phinney!

Your ornament evoked a sentimental feeling in a lot of folks! It's beautiful!

GRAND PRIZE

1 pair (small) Perfect Scissors by Karen Kay Buckley

8-fat quarter bundle of Christmas fabric

1-spool Aurifil sewing thread

3 skeins of Valdani Perle Cotton #12

1 pkg Chenille needles


Thank you so much to all the participants! It was really hard to choose just one favorite!

Christmas Ornament Challenge 2015

Hello everyone! 

I hope you haven't lost patience waiting for a blog post! I'm so sorry to have kept you waiting... We've been very busy all summer long and fall hasn't been quiet either! We're back to business now and we feel a little less harried! Regular blog posts will resume shortly with photos of all the quilts that were completed on Lolah! Let's just say you will be impressed!!

The Christmas Ornament Challenge has seen a slow start but perhaps that's not all your fault! I do like to start thinking of Christmas early and maybe our challenge opening was a little too early! The proposed deadline for submission for the 2015 challenge was October 31st (this Saturday) but with the slow start, we feel comfortable giving you all another 2 weeks to prepare. After all, the Grand Prize is quite lovely, and you won't want to miss the change to win!

So with that said, we are extending the challenge deadline to November 15th!! 

Please have a look at the new pages created with 2015 Ornaments (and the challenge rules)... look up there under the header... there are 13 so far!!! Thank you to all who have contributed! 

Recap:

New Deadline for submissions: November 15th

Voting begins: November 16th-December 1st

Sale begins: December 1st until all ornaments are sold.

Spruce It Up Quilting will match the total sale amount of the ornaments. So please be generous! Have fun too while you're at it! It's for the children!!!

Happy stitching!

Toodles,

Lorette

Marie, Hollie and Sally say hello!!

Sale of Ornaments...

UPDATE!

It pleases me greatly to announce the closing of the ornament sale!

THEY ARE ALL SOLD!!

Thank you so very much to everyone who contributed to this successful challenge and sale!

The cheque is in the mail!! 

I'm sure the MS Society will be very happy to receive our donation.

Merry Christmas!

Toodles,

Lorette

Hollie's threesome!

Christmas ORNAMENTS update....

Before I launch the next session of Lolah's friends, I want to tell everyone that there are still a few ornaments left to purchase... hurry... go have a look and make your donation today. You can call me to reserve yours or email me your request! I'll set it aside for you! PLEASE!!

On with the show...

I first met Hollie in the summer of 2013 at the Lupin Quilt Fair & Sale. I purchased 7 quilt tops and several were Hollie's. As the show was drawing to a close, I went to pick up my purchases; Hollie came up to me and introduced herself. I love her work, she's an expert piecer and she has a great sense of color. We seem to like the same fabrics/colors/scrappy look.

If you've been to the shop in the last few months, especially if there was someone on Lolah, you might have met Hollie. She is a local crafter who grew up in the area; she's very productive and sells her crafts at many local shows and at the craft shop in her village. 

Hollie is a dedicated hand quilter. I remember the first time she came to visit the shop and she looked at Lolah with skepticism. Not her thing! As she worked with those who came to quilt on Lolah, she became anxious to try her hand at it. Soon she was so excited to try Lolah that she even dreamed about what and how she would quilt.

She came armed with 3 lap-sized quilts... not shy at all about the process! Her first quilt is called: To Ryan; she chose wool batting and FilTec's Citron Yellow Glide Thread, a perfect green color thread that seems to glow in black lighting. 

We turned the overhead lights off, turned on Lolah's black light. She quilted this quilt in no time at all. 

Sweet... Hollie is looking for a black light for Ryan's room! How cool would that be for a little boy to sleep under a glowing blanket?

The backing is flannel.

This quilt was done by 10:30am.

What a lucky little boy!

Wasting no time, we loaded quilt no 2 and then the shop got busy. I don't have pictures of Hollie quilting on this one but we have the finish. 

Quilt no 2 is a gift for her mother-in-law for Christmas. This one also has a wool batt and it was quilted with FilTec's Mango Glide thread. 

Beautiful birds on this fabric... all free-motion quilting. Did I tell you that Hollie prefers free-motion to pantographs? She has tried her hand at the latter and she doesn't care for it. 

The backing for quilt no 2 is this gorgeous Christmas fabric... I spot a butterfly... the thread looks gold on the backing! Very good choice Hollie.

Her two quilts...

By the time she finished the second quilt, it was 11:30 am and lunch time. Customers were still in the shop and after they left, we loaded top no 3. This is a Santa panel to which she added a series of borders pulling fabrics from her extensive stash to coordinate with the colors in the panel... very clever. I recognize some, drool over others. 

Hollie brought this panel to the shop one day to find the right fabric for the outer border. This tree fabric was perfect. That day, I thought the panel looked familiar... I reached on one of the shelves under Lolah and took out my Santa panel... exactly the same! No wonder I like her fabrics! 

We turned out the lights again... wool batting made these quilts so soft... this time she used FilTec's Graphite Glide... the color name sounds grey but it looks blue on this quilt.

I took the following picture to record her start time... 

Hollie was anxious to try some ruler work... as a hand quilter with years of experience, she has developed a sense of how she will quilt the top she's working on. That is a big help when it comes to working on a longarm. Here she's quilting it the same as what she intended to do by hand. Only it took her less than 2 hrs instead of a week.

There was a lot of rolling back and forth to work around the quilt which is much easier to accomplish with a helper.

Hollie went looking in her stash and found this plaid for the backing. She's made it a point to use up some of her stash and made a pledge to refrain from purchasing ANY fabric in 2015!! Now I couldn't do that!! 

Well done Hollie! Three quilts completed each taking less than 2 hours. 

All the time she was quilting, she was dreaming of her next session... stay tuned for her second visit! Didn't I tell you she was productive? I wasn't joking!

Toodles,

Lorette

SALE of Christmas Ornaments

The Christmas Ornaments are now for sale. 

After much thought and consideration of where the money is going, we decided to price the ornaments at $10 each. 

Consider it your donation to the MS Society.... every little bit counts.

As the ornaments are sold, the page will be updated. 

Spruce It Up Quilt shop will MATCH your donations dollar for dollar! Make this a successful drive... purchase your ornament today!

Toodles,

Lorette

Winner and winnings!

CONGRATULATIONS TO BETH SEARS! 

2014 Spruce It Up Quilt Shop's Christmas Ornament Challenge Winner!

Christmas Ornament Challenge WINNER!

and the WINNER is: no 15... Beth Sears!

Your ornament is simple and beautiful! 

GRAND PRIZE

1 pair (small) Perfect Scissors by Karen Kay Buckley

8-fat quarter bundle of Christmas fabrics

2 spools of Mettler Sewing thread

3 skeins of Perle Cotton #12 in Red, White, Green

1 pkg ofJohn James Chenille needles

Thank you to everyone who participated in the challenge! All the ornaments are gorgeous! 

Toodles,

Lorette

Georgina's quilt

November has been a very busy month for Lolah! Georgina came by with her beautiful black and white quilt and decided she would try free motion quilting on Lolah. 

She chose FilTec's Light Turquoise Glide and a double layer of wool batting for her lap quilt. After the wonderful start to her all-over meander, we decided it would have to come out as it was too tight a design. We chose to remove those stitches at the end once she was comfortable with a larger design. 

Her appliqué flowers give this quilt a girly look... perfect for the grand daughter who will receive it.

Look at these gorgeous prints!! What a collection!

Very pretty backing to match the flowers on the front.

Georgina did such a great job...  a very pretty quilt... love the turquoise with the black and white!! I must remember that! And that wool is just soooo soft!

Georgina also brought in another quilt to match a backing... it stole my heart... no pictures yet... you'll have to wait for it!  The fabrics are French General in reds, creams and pale green... the fabrics used by Anne Sutton of Bunny Hill Designs in her Merry Merry Snowman quilt. Can't wait to see that quilt quilted! 

It was a snowy day when Georgina came to quilt. DH was on the road delivering Bessie (the old Windstar) to our mechanic for winterizing and storing. This was at the beginning of the storm...

Of course the pictures can't really capture the size of the snowflakes that looked as big as golf balls! :) Any other day I would have been happy to see the snow but when a loved one is on the road, it's hard to stay focused and appreciate the beauty of a snowfall.

Today is the last day to vote on the Christmas Ornament Challenge! Please take the time to review them and cast your vote if you haven't done so yet. Tomorrow, we'll announce the winner!

A new feature has been added to the blog... have you noticed? A new page to showcase YOUR talents! SHOW & TELL page went live last week... bring in your finished projects (no matter where you purchased your fabrics/patterns/quilting) and we'll take a picture and feature it on this page! We love to see your work so bring it in! 

Happy stitching!

Toodles,

Lorette

Around The World Blog Hop Tour!

I was invited to participate in Around The World Blog Hop Tour by Ruth at Stitching Impressions! Ruth is a passionate hand appliqué-er and a very busy longarm quilter. You must browse her blog to see the beautiful quilts she gets to work on and her own gorgeous works of art! Check out her Lily of Rosenberry quilt. She's truly amazing! 

This is my first time at blog hopping so please excuse any errors... I have followed many blog hops but never participated in one. Thank you Ruth for including me in this adventure!

Let me introduce myself... I'm Lorette Cole...daughter, wife, mother of 4, grand-maman to 1, quilter since the 70s, obsessed with fabric, and living every one's dream. 

My husband retired at the end of 2013 and we made the long-awaited move back to the Maritimes of Canada from Los Angeles. We've been preparing for this journey for many years and we're thrilled to be back home.

On June 10th of 2014, I opened a small quilt shop in our home, called "Spruce It Up" offering quality goods at a reasonable price. I also offer my longarm quilting machine, which I named Lolah, for rent to local quilters wishing to finish their quilts. Face it... we all love to piece tops but we don't have time to hand quilt all of them.

Ruth asked me to answer 4 questions:

1. What am I currently working on?

Do you remember Yoko Saito's Quiltmania 2012 Quilt Mystère? This is block no 4 which has been sitting on my crafting table since August. I have not found time to get this ready to appliqué! I wish there were more hours in the day! Perhaps winter will allow me time to catch up. I really love appliqué and I teach my favorite method to anyone who walks through the door of the shop. Maybe I've made converts?

This is another project ready to put together for appliqué... 2015's Block of the Month at Spruce It Up Quilt Shop. It's called A Graceful Winter, a beautiful pattern by Denise Sheehan. Care to join us??

I'm happy to have several projects on the go. I learned years ago that when you get tired working on one project, a change of pace is needed. It breaks up monotony, allows a fresh view, gets more creative juices to flow.

Peppermint Place still needs borders...

I've had to pause this one as more pressing projects landed on my table. These borders have to be redone; I've started un-stitching, never a fun task but it has to be done before I can move on. 

2. How does my work differ from others?

I don't believe I'm that much different from anyone else. I stash fabric and projects just as quickly as most of you; there doesn't seem to be enough hours in the day to make all I wish to do.

However, because I offer rental time on my longarm, I get to see a lot of very creative people's work. I'm very fortunate to get a chance to teach others how to use the longarm to finish their creations! The joy of seeing someone with their quilted top counts as the utmost thrill! That makes me happy and I hope the quilters who come to rent time on Lolah enjoy the process. Seeing so many beautiful quilts gets me inspired too.

Also, if I like something, I am quick to work it out... I know what I like and for the most part, I'm able to recreate it. This is a piece I found irresistible in the Nov/Dec 2014 American Patchwork and Quilting magazine. It will grace our dining table this Christmas season. Did I tell you how much I LOVE appliqué? It opens the door to so much more... you look at patterns differently when you appliqué!

3. Why do I create?

That's a question with a simple answer: because I love it! Perhaps what helps too is the inability to sit with idle hands. Therapy... Sewing grounds me... I use it to work out problems, pass the time, to create something useful, something beautiful, something to gift, something to save, something to cherish! Crafting is in my genes... I can't remember a time I didn't "craft"... I've knit, crocheted, cross stitched, embroidered, tole painted, water colored, played with wood working, scrap booked, but the one constant in my life has been sewing. I can sit at the sewing machine for hours and resolve any issues that crop up. I do my best thinking while sewing.

4. How do I create?

I can't say that I'm very original. I'm very good with instructions! Give me a good photograph, or drawing and I can make it into a pattern. I love to re-purpose useful articles: for example, when I needed a display for thread, I found a lazy susan and had DH drill holes for dowels. It works beautifully.

I get inspiration in the beauty that surrounds us... Colors, patterns... I've joined 3 local guilds where I've met many wonderfully creative quilters. 

Sometimes it's a color that sparks the first notion...

sometimes it's a pattern found online...

Whatever causes that sudden need to create, will have my interest until it's finished. The process! I LOVE all aspects of quilting, from washing the fabrics, up to binding! Today I get to see YOUR creative juices at work... 

Thank you Ruth for asking me to join this trip Around The World Blog Hop. Next up is Chris McCarthy from KrissteezKreationz. She's a very busy lady so her blog may not be up to date... perhaps this will inspire her to update us all on her work. Look for her on December 1st.

While I have your attention, this is the last week of voting for the Spruce It Up Christmas Ornament Challenge... take a look at them now and cast your vote please. Voting ends November 30th and a winner will be announced on Dec 1st. Come back then and purchase an ornament or two... it's for a good cause! The ornaments can be found on their own page... found at the top of this blog! And thank you for taking the time to read this long post!

Toodles,

Lorette