Month: April 2017

I Am In Shock…

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This week is turning out to be quite interesting indeed. Do you remember

this quilt?

I quilted it for Darlene, who lives in South Carolina. This quilt is

currently in the Quilt Show, in Paducah, at the AQS (American Quilt Society).

And yes, there is a big fat ribbon on it too. YEAH!!! Darlene

sent it to me last year for quilting. It took her 2 years to

complete and it is a real beauty.

It won 3rd place in the “Wall Quilts Movable Machine Quilted”

Category, sponsored by Tin Lizzie.  As I stated before, I am still in shock.

You can watch the interview with Darlene here.  Enjoy!

Don’t get me wrong, Darlene is fantastic at picking out colors and her

applique is exquisite. I am just shocked that something I quilted

is that good.

Here are some shots of the stitching on the quilt.

The border area has alot of background fillers due to my

A.D.D problem with boredom.

The blocks themselves all have pebbles stitched around the borders;

I  thought it would help hide the seam allowances and add a

classy look  to the whole quilt top.

I guess the judges liked that too. You can watch the Awards Ceremony

here but please take note that the ceremony is over an hour long but if

you slide your cursor up to the 44 minute mark, you will see the

category Darlene entered as well as when DArlene receives the

Award.

More of the blocks in the quilt top.

And the backing:  I love the texture that all that quilting gives.

Again, I love the back. I also managed to quilt a few of my

own things last week.

Al Cote’s class

I finished the wallhanging. I like some parts of the quilting but some

parts I dislike too. Oh well, more to think about later on.

I love the bright, bold orange fabrics  in the middle of the quilt.

Al Cote’s Curved Class

The backing fabric is really an ugly color but I am trying to use up some

ugly fabric.

I also completed another wallhanging, again for another Al Cote

class, “Pieced Panels.”

I saw this panel on “The Fat Quarter” shop and liked the colors so

I bought 3 panels but you  really only need 2. Leftover

fabric is never a problem for us quilters.

It took me about 3 days to figure out a composition that I

liked. It was a grueling and frustrating 3 days but oh, so worth it

in the end. I learned so much and gained more color confidence.

I really didn’t know what to quilt so I added some lines to mimic

the bridge itself and just followed the lines and print on the fabric.

Again, more ugly fabric on the backing.

And our baby chicks are growing up. They seem to be going through

the “ugly” stage now as their feathers are beginning to grow in.

I never thought that having baby chicks would be so entertaining.

Have a great week and check out the Award Ceremony for AQS on

Utube. 

We have baby chicks…

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I am a proud grandma, kind of;  our neighbour gave us some fertilized eggs and

one of our chickens decided she wanted to be a mommy. So, now we have

2 baby chicks. They are so cute!

This is the first baby chick,you can tell by how wet she is that she has just

hatched.

This is the second baby chick; she is all dry and fluffy. It is amazing to see

how instinct tells these little ones what to do. As soon as they hatch from the

egg, they crawl under the mommy and within 1/2 hour, they are totally dry and

fluffy. We are having such a blast just watching them and their antics.

On to more baby stuff.

This is the last of  3 baby quilts that I am making for a fundraiser at my church.

I bought the panel at Fabricland; I am glad that they are done, and on time.

This is the backing fabric. It is silk and I have no idea where I picked this

up.  I also managed to finish another quilted panel for a friend.

This is a design by Al Cote and I just followed his pattern. You should

check him out; he is  a very talented Canadian Fibre Artist.

Quilted Wallhanging

In the green outer border, I quilted in arcs, after Cindy Needham‘s style. It dresses

it up somewhat. It took me 2 hours to quilt in this small section.

Green outer border

In the yellow outer border, I quilted in straight lines. The fabric is a print so

it won’t show any of the quilting anyways, so why spend alot of time in that

area. Even though it is a small area, it still takes time to do detailed quilting.

The outer yellow border

The backing of the quilted wallhanging. I was trying to use up some

fabric so thus the reason for the sunflowers on the back of this wallhanging.

Eleanor is slowly finishing up all of her large quilts before she moves to

another province.

We used “Blossoms” for the overall design and we used a light

brown polyester thread for the top and the backing.

You can really see the design in the triangle section.

The backing  is a brown color and blends well with the top.

Here is another quilt by Eleanor.

The fabrics in this quilt are alot of fun. “Fairy Wings” is the

name of the overall design used.  A light blue So Fine polyester

thread was used for the top and the backing.

Here you can see the design used.

How can you not love cats?

The backing is a deep blue.

The quilting design shows up nicely on the backing.

Have a great week and check out Needle and Thread Network.

Who Would Have Guessed…

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Well, another drawing class has come and gone. This week we were able

to try out some charcoal sticks and Conte Charcoal sticks. I came to

the conclusion that I really don’t care for them. It is nice to be able

to use these supplies  though, without having to purchase them.

Len, our teacher, uses all of her own pictures;  although this one

was taken by her mom. What do you think?

Here is my rendition. Who would have guessed that I can draw.

Once most of the picture is drawn with pencil, the artist goes back

in with ink or a micropen and draws all over the pencil lines. Then

a gummy eraser is used to erase all the pencil lines. I thought that

was ingenious, as I have never taken a class before. It is alot of fun

and you forget the time, just as when you are sewing and quilting.

You should try it sometime; it is fun to learn new things, even if it

is not as exciting as quilting.

This exciting wallhanging was made for someone special. I can’t

say any more due to fear of letting the cat out of the bag.

The border area is so cute. I love all the leaves and the whole color

scheme of this quilt. “Blossoms” is the name of the panto chosen.

One of the center blocks. I used a light blue So Fine polyester

thread for the top and a polyester red thread for the backing.

The backing is full of color too.

Eleanor is moving to Nova Scotia so she is finishing up all of

her quilts before she goes. We will miss you Eleanor.

Eleanor is a great piecer-all the borders are flat and square, no

ripples at all.

“Brocade” was the panto of choice for this quilt and we used

a medium colored brown polyester thread for the top and the

backing.

The backing

The brown thread shows up beautifully on the gold backing. The design

pops alot on the backing as well.

A close up of the quilting design on the back of the quilt.

Bonnie made this lovely quilt out of a jelly roll. She added the side

strip and diamonds to create interest; I think she succeeded.  What

a great  idea to spruce this quilt up.

“Dancing Daisies” is the name of the overall design chosen.  I think

it adds some movement and fun to the quilt.

THe backing of the quilt. I used a light So Fine blue polyester

thread for the top and the backing.

And lastly, I am so excited to be able to get to this one tomorrow, that

is my plan. Al Cote the designer of this wallhanging.

Have a great week and you should check out

The Needle and Thread Network, a Canadian site, featuring all

sorts of textile art and artists.