Month: June 2017

Grab a cup of coffee…

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The Canadian Quilt Show was held in Toronto last week. If you

missed it, you missed a really good show.  I have tons of pictures so

you may want to grab a cup of coffee, tea, or other beverage. Because

there are so many photos, I may stretch this over 2-3 weeks.

Judy Niemeyer Design

Wow!! Look at all that piecing! Gorgeous! There were so many great

quilts that it was hard to choose which one I liked the best.

A ribbon winner.

I didn’t take pictures of all the names of the people who won ribbons, I need

to work on this for next year. I love the colors in this quilt.

There were lots of modern quilts at the Show this year.

Kelly Corfe

Kelly Corfe quilted this beauty.  I think it is an design by Laundry Basket

Quilts.

A close up of the quilting. How can I not include the quilting and texture,

done by a longarmer?

Judy Niemeyer

Another Judy Niemeyer design. The quilting is incredible on this one.

The colored areas is thread buildup. The quilter used a variegated

thread and it resulted in all this color and texture.

This quilt is quite unique. All the pieces are made from selvages.Can

you believe it?

Selvage Fingerprints

What a cool idea.

Terry Aske design

Terry created this modern quilt. She seems to be very talented, as she keeps

winning every year.

The owner of this quilt used a dress and it seems it paid off too. Interesting

design.

Elizabeth Dillinger is another talented Canadian quilter. She

quilted a very colorful wholecloth quilt and her efforts  were

rewarded with a ribbon.

A close up of her work.

I don’t remember seeing the sailboat in this quilt but there it is.

I really love the stitching underneath of it. So simple yet effective.

I

Again, I didn’t notice the swirl around the flying geese but

it is quite effective as well.

The owner of this quilt is from Brazil. She did a beautiful job

with this quilt.

Here is the back of the same quilt. One thing I did notice about

this show,  alot of the quilts here were in the recent Spring

Paducah Show, in Kentucky. I guess if you are making a

show quilt, you might as well enter it into as many

shows as you can.

Another winner

The owner of this wholecloth quilt is also from Brazil. It also won a

coveted ribbon as well.

This is an entirely different quilt from the one above. IT didn’t win a ribbon

but it is well done and executed.

I love the colors in this quilt. Again, this one didn’t place in

Paducah but it did here. Quilt Shows are funny that way; it all

depends on the  perspective of the judges.

I love the fabric and colors here. It looks like there is some

fabric  painting going on too.

The Aspen Trees below is quite striking . Pictures never do the

quilts justice. The quilts look so much better in person and

up close.

More trees and color.

You have got to love the Adirondack Chairs. I want to

go sit and have a snooze.

Colorful Chairs

The name of this piece was called “The Secret Garden.” I think that

there is alot of thread  painting in this one.

Sunflowers

I have a thing for sunflowers and this one is gorgeous too.

I really love the center of this piece. I think it is made out of wool.

The Cat

This piece also won and award. Lots of people loved the cat in it.

I love, love the colors in this  piece. Velvet was used for the rich and

saturated colors.

A close up of the boats. It looks like the creator had alot of fun

with this one.

Carol Seely’s piece

Carol Seely created this piece. It is 3 dimensional and had me trying to figure

out how she created this. It is fascinating up close.

Close up

You can see a little of how she made this. Again, I can’t imagine the time and

patience for all that small intricate work.

This piece actually looks like a real tree!

Another close up

Moss growing on the tree itself.

Fungus

IT seems that any subject can be used for art.

I love the guy in this  piece.

This was the first piece I saw in the show. I was in for quite a Show.I

hope you enjoyed these photos from the Show. There are lots more

to come next week.

On a more humble note, I managed to quilt up a storm last week.

Huronia Drapes had me quilt up this huge piece of gorgeous fabric

for them.

The store is making a king size coverlet for the customer. And the fabric

is beautiful!! All those flowers are embroidered.

My machine

You can see here how high the roll was under my machine when I was

finished. I thought that I may not be able to have room to complete it.

It was 100 inches by 200 inches.  Glad that one is done.

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

The Quilt That Keeps Giving…

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This past week has been interesting once again.

I am sure that you remember this quilt, made by

Darlene Donohue, from South Carolina. Well, she

got an email this past week asking her for permission

for her quilt to be in the 2018 AQS Calendar. Yup, this is

the quilt that keeps on giving.

Way, to go Darlene!!

Besides this news, I am working away on Connie’s quilt.

It is a real beauty and I will have lots of pictures when it

is finished. Here are a few of what I have completed thus

far.

Lots of grid work and mashing down of the fabric. Using 2

battings also helps the fabric to puff up and give loft to

the less quilted areas. It almost looks like trapunto but

less time consuming than the traditional way of

stuffing areas and cutting off the excess batting.

4 of the 9 blocks have  alot of piecing in them. But it works well for

grid work.

Again, you can see that I have also inserted a circle in one

part of the pieced block.  Mainly to add interest and I am

becoming a little more brave with dividing up this large

space instead of just quilting around all those squares.

Here are my carrots. This was the stage I was at a few weeks ago.

I am really enjoying this color challenge and am hoping to have

it all completed by the end of the summer. That is the plan for now.

This is my new and improved “Yellow ” section. I know it looks like a lot

of green but when you look at Joan Wolfrom’s Color Tool, there is alot

of green when grey and black are added to the color yellow.

If you have noticed all the dots in the picture, these dots are really

pins that are holding the fabrics together. Susan Carlson’s

fabric collage technique is how I am creating this piece.

Eventually, all the fabrics will have to be glued down and then

quilted.

Carrots

Here is where I am currently at. I have to find some time this week to

complete this “Red” section. Again, this color tool has alot of pink  in

the color red.  I am learning so much about color and  am thoroughly

enjoying this exercise.  Hopefully, there will be more pictures and

progress for next week. What do you think thus far?

Enjoy your week. Check out the Needle and Thread Network 

as well.

 

Summer is coming…

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Summer is coming and I am trying so hard to get all caught up with

customers’ quilts. Currently, I have a quilt on the frame  that usually

resides in Florida but is home here for the time being. I promise to

put some photos up next week.

Helena’s Quilt

Helena commissioned me to make this quilt for her. She picked out all the

colors and fabrics so it made my job somewhat easier. I did all the piecing,

quilting, and binding for her. The pattern is one that I designed several years ago.

Helena chose  the “Flirtatious” design and I used a cream Omni polyester thread

for the top and the backing. The backing was a dark brown fabric, similar to the color

of the brown in the border area. It was completed last week.

Cathy’s Quilt

Cathy made this adorable quilt for a special someone in Nova Scotia. I would love

to be there when he gets it. The whole time I was quilting it, I was smiling.

It is so colorful and so much fun to work on and look at.

The quilt  has alot of Dr. Suess fabrics in  it, so how can it not  be fun?

The backing is made of minky. I love this fabric but also hate it.

You have to be so careful when putting it on the frame to be quilted

because there is so much stretch in one direction.

Minky backing

I think I scared Cathy when I explained this to her but I checked several times

when I put it on the frame. I wanted to make sure that the stretch went the length

of the frame and not the other way around. And I also made sure not to wind the

frame and quilt too tight so that the minky would not suck in once it was off the

frame. Ask me how I know that? Yes, I did a baby quilt once with minky and had

to throw it out due to all the puckering when it came off the frame.

So, my word of caution to you is, buy extra of the minky just to ensure that you

have lots of wiggle room.

As promised, I did complete my abstract piece and here it is. Several months

ago, I took an online course with Katie Pasquini Masopust. I love the fact

that you just painted and played and then picked out an area on your

canvas that you liked. This area is then enlarged and you make templates

from the painting.

This was one of the hardest pieces I have ever made; trying to figure out values

of color threw me into panic mode but I kept at it until I was satisfied. Overall,

I am pretty pleased with it but would change some of the steps in the process,

just for future reference.

Here is the backing. I chose a black polyester fabric so I could see all the

colors of threads. And to be quite honest, I think I love the back

better than I do the front. I will have to think about which side the

facing will be attached to.

The entire backing. What do you think?  Add the facing to the

white front or the black backing?

Now, that this abstract piece is completed, I am starting another

larger piece depicting carrots, using Susan Carlson’s fabric

collage technique. I don’t know why I love this picture of carrots

so much, maybe the color? Angela Liddon gave me permission

to make a quilt of this picture that she took of carrots.

Yes, I am crazy but the color bug has

bitten and I can’t help myself. I am already pulling my hair

out in regards to what colors to use. I think that I have finally

settled upon using Joan Wolfrom’s Color Tool. And thus far,

I like what I have done. Here’s a sneak peek.

I really don’t like the brown fabric so it is going to be removed

shortly. Maybe I will be further along next week, so stay tuned.

Have a great week and check out some other Canadian

quilters at The Needle and Thread NEtwork.