What is it about life getting busy?  Is that a good excuse?  Honestly, no.  But it was real including I totally forgot I had this site.  Life truly can get away from you.  

I am still quilting and designing and and.  I have done some rug hooking and some experimentation with mediums both fabric and paint etc.

Here are some photos.  This is the beginning of using up scraps.  And no, I did not design the blocks.  They are from 'A Quiltersmakers 100 Blocks' Volume 8; Winter 2013.  The magazine surfaced from a pile of magazines which I occasionally dig through.  I am now in the process of adding other rows.  What the finished product will be is a guess although I have added some blocks but they are not sewn on and might not make the cut or will be altered.

I did not stop quilting in the long interlude since I last posted but life does add things that are unexpected and keeping this up to date was sacrificed.  If no one sees this then I will remove it but if it does get looked at I will continue.

My quilting machine has been busy though for others and I have done some experimenting.

This one below is paper pieced and was intended to use scraps.  Carol Doak sent a pattern a month and this was so much fun to do.  It was a block every month.  One of the great things about this aside from the fantastic designs was that quilting each one differently was a great teaching tool to broaden my quilting.  It was also such a lesson in using scraps.

This photo below is not a quilt but I taught a class in using different materials to create a design.  This is an embroidery done on my embroidery machine and then the use of simple childrens' crayons to colour the fabric inside designs.  For many being able to preserve those precious early designs done by grandchildren is very important.  I did use a machine to create the embroidery outlines but it is not necessary. It could be done by hand.  The actual fabric is simple a piece torn off an old sheet.  To use crayons, first experiment.  To make the colour stick on the fabric, use a paper towel on top and iron,  The paper towel will absorb the wax but leave the colour.  It has been hanging for quite a while and has not faded.

Quilting is one of the most flexible and creative mediums.  

Bye for now.  I left in the old links to sites that might not still be active but if there is still information on them it would wrong to unlink them.

 It has been a long time since I did a posting.  I have not stopped quilting for others and above all keeping happy with having it to do.  But like for everyone, life sometimes interferes and turns our priorities upside down.  My house makeup has changed.  I have lost the last of my beloved goldens and the hole remains large.  So grateful to have had them to make my life richer.  My Siamese of 22 years also left us.  A little quilt on my wall reminds me of the many cuddles and rubs and purrs.  I also lost my Himalayan but unfortunately do not have any pictures readily accessible.

But the house has been enlivened by two standard poodles and I mean enlivened.  One black and one white.  1 year old and 3 years old.  Like children, poodles are not grown up until about 3 years old and also like children, one child eggs the other on.   It is impossible not to smile with them around although sometimes patience is tried.  Strangely they are quiet when I am quilting.  

For a while I was not quilting.  I had problems with my long arm when they upgraded the software and related parts and that is a tale best left off the page.  I was ready to give up entirely when I resolved the problem without the advice of the technicians.  YAY!!!! I had felt as if I was losing my best friend.  Hortense is working with updated software and she has kept pace with me as I have learned and designed my own quilting motifs.  

Experimentation has been fun both in creating quilts and in quilting them.  I finally finished a French Braid that languished and taunted me.  I hate to say how long.   Sometimes it has to be the right time to do something.  When I was finished quilting I realized I did not like how the back looked so I put on a new back and quilted it again.   No, not over the previous quilting but added more.  

I have tried techniques such as metallic paint to represent an old dead oak tree.  This has triple batting behind the trunks and double batting all over.  A bit bulky but adds to the feel of a very old trunks.  Metallic paint is fun.

Quilting for my self languishes at times with client quilts a priority.  But a few art quilts sneak in when a challenge is issued for a show or just fun to try something.  For example the postcard challenge in 2019 for the CQA.

This was a chance to play with Inktense pencils I had purchased in Australia.  They are fun and I added some new Inktense sticks to my play things when I was in Scotland where I found a fabulous shop in a small town.  

And just look what a fabric panel can do.  The flowers were cut from it; the vase was inspired by a serviette in the local coffee shop.  The light shines from a window through the back fabric found in my stash and gives the appearance of watercolours. 

Enough for my first post in such a long while.  Now back to creating a back for a large bed quilt for myself.  It too has been hanging too long on the design wall.

Thanks for reading

NOVEMBER!!!!

Where has time gone.  I have been quilting but I also have been on a long holiday and have had a friend visiting.  I also had a couple of shows in which I had art quilts.  It was a fantastic experience for a relatively newbe quilter.  And I got to share with a very old friend who arrived just before the weekend when there were two openings.  How to explain how good it felt to be up on the walls of a gallery with well known quilters.  Here are pictures of the quilts I submitted and were accepted.  One show was juried and that made the excitement greater as the judges were well known.  Enough about my feelings and on to pictures.

I entered a couple of contests, one with a lady from South Carolina which was a very nice experience.  We exchanged the finished quilts and have enjoyed our email exchanges.   I also completed quilts for customers.  I have a half completed French Braid which was lovely to work on after digging out fabric bought a few years ago. The center blocks are behind the small blocks above.  It is on the agenda as soon as I clean up my sewing room.  (this p.m. I promise myself). The quilt is not finished as other things took over like housework (ugh) for the visit of my friend and heat.  No matter what time of day, my sewing room was hot. It was the right time to just try to stay cool.  Houses build when this one was never heard of air conditioning. (1833).  

As a bit of cool air came, I did 3 charity quilts and worked on a couple for myself.   Charity quilts are fun as I get to try out designs.  No pics unfortunately.  I was also doing a monthly quilt from a quilt show.  It is on the frame and it is all traditional blocks so will post when completed.  I changed the design a bit as what had intrigued me to do the quilt lost its appeal.  Using fat quarters has made it quite colourful.  It might find a home with someone as a throw quilt to brighten a corner.  

I also am creating an embroidered logo for a business and people like quilted labels for quilts.  

And to appeal to my need to learn, I have taken up hooking with a group of local ladies.  Using other materials and methods helps to explore colour and its use and texture which can be translated into art quilts. Saw some beautiful ones at the Hooked Rug Museum. 

Overwhelming displays.  Like in sports, crossover disiplines, make for a better athlete.  So it does in fabric art.  Digging out old needlework helps as well.  So when these projects are further along I will post. 

Can I say it has been a meager output in the last few months?  Overall I would say yes but if I include trips, company, sharing events, learning about where I live, nice coffee afternoons, walking, talking, sharing meals and meetings with other fibre artists it has been quite full.  

Add to this changing my technology to cell phone and a new internet provider it has been busy.  The last added some grey hair and lines.  My dogs thinks I have forgotten them.  

Whatever you do today or this week, have fun.

A long while

It seems eons since I last posted.  I did not disappear except in that time disappeared.  So many things have been happening.  There have been quilts coming into and out of the door and Hortense my long arm has been busy.  And I have taken time since the spring to also unwind and to focus on what is important in my life and one of those is deciding where to put my energy in addition to quilting. 

I am sure many of you have had those periods in your life when the 'you' the world sees is just perfect but the 'you' you live with is not quite there yet (in fact far off in the distance).  And I am also sure that many of you have developed goals and struggle to keep up. 

Well, I decided to stop struggling and refocus. 

So that leads into the reason for this post.  I am mostly alive again and working on several quilts of my own.  It is always to have something that is not intense and piecing provides that.  They all get finished eventually but the variety makes for interest capture in mind and soul.

And I joined a group who accept that I don't always do traditional quilting.  This group is located in the Annapolis Valley area of lovely Nova Scotia in Canada.  Quilting and fabric arts are alive and well in this area.  The group is called SOFAAR and here is a link to the site. SOFAAR  The group is young with a quite large membership representing multiple artistic endeavors with fibre.   The creativity in the group is so vital and alive.

This fall there are two events for SOFAAR members.  I happen to have something in both events.  Have a look at the posters below and if you are anywhere near either event, please come and see what our members can do.

Quilt Rescue

Have you ever had a quilt which when finished was not quite what you wanted or up to your standards?  And your standards do change over time and with experience. 

Well I had such a quilt.  I was a relatively new quilter and I led a group to make a strip quilt.  I did not really like the particular strips but it was all that was available at the time.  But I loved the back fabric; an expensive batik.  At that time it was over $15.00 a meter which was expensive then but not now.  And I was new at long arm, actually a mid arm at that time, and the design was not good especially by my current standards.  It left too many sections without some quilting.  I subscribe to Angela Walters philosophy of quilting it to death, at least on my own quilts.

The quilt has been used to make cats happy and is in a post ' Dull and grey but' on this blog from a while ago. It nagged at me to do something to rescue the batik in particular.  And I LOVE red.  Well rescue came in the form of a show on The Quilt Show with Katie Fowler a couple of years ago when an existing quilt was cut up on the show.  Finally, and I am sure the quilt is grateful, it got its rescue a week ago. 

I cut the quilt into 3" squares and put them back together by butting them up against each other and stitching with invisible thread.  I learned a lot as I went but it was in the end pretty simple.  And I think it turned out well.  Even the ugly strips which form the back look better.  The back is really crazy as the original quilt front was 4 patches using the strips.  And as a bonus I found a roll of binding, cut pressed and not used that just went right.

Pictures tell the story better so here is the front and now the crazy back.

I can say I now really like the quilt.  I learned a lot putting it together about butting up quilted vs. non quilted sections.  But a project is best when there is learning.  It took only a relatively short time to make the change in the quilt.  Would I do it again?  Yes if I disliked the quilt enough.  Katie Fowler believes in 'What if?' and it is fun to say that and then try it.  Nothing to lose.

The quilt is bright; I get my lovely red and it is not in the landfill.

Time away and quilt ideas

A lot of fun getting away and seeing different things and catching up with good friends.  But quilting is never very far from my my mind and the fields and flowers of Scotland and the tulip fields outside of Amsterdam were wonderful inspiration.  In Scotland every town and farm had masses of daffodils in bloom on the roadside; nodding in the breeze and declaring that Spring was here.  The hills rising out of the valleys were rich blocks of various greens bordered by the rock walls.  The fields were full of sheep and their tiny lambs; like dots on the hillside.  Home.

The gardens at Keukenhof outside of Amsterdam were fantastic and so beautifully landscaped.  Lots of fun pictures.  Now comes the hard part - finding time to create some art quilts of my memories.   From the plane going into Schiphol, you could see there were strips and strips of colour below us.  A strip quilt comes to mind with lots of French knots; lots and lots.

Some lovely landscaping with the magnolias out

 This view was from the gardens into nearby tulips fields.  Now imagine that from the air; acres and acres of neat rows of colour.  The vibrancy of the colours were stunning.  Massed blocks of reds, purples, yellows, whites and blues.

Fields of colour everywhere

Before that though it has been a busy time; getting ready to go away and then recovering from the trip and a cold generously bestowed by a seatmate on my return flight.  Two weeks lost to coughs and sniffles.  No quilting inspiration there.  But it did allow some time to mull over potential projects and possible quilt designs.  There is always some good to be found.

I did manage to finish a quilt belonging to a client that I hated to give up.  Stitch in the ditch was challenging but with lovely results and the feathers just added to the look.  Have a look at the beautiful job the maker did on creating the quilt.   Fresh off the frame.

The back looks wonderful too.   The design translated to the back beautifully.

On to the next one which has a simple meandering on a beautiful traditional quilt.  So much fun making quilts have personality.  Each stage of a quilt from beautiful fabrics through to the quilting makes the quilt come alive.  It is a partnership between the maker and the quilter.   

A pile of fabrics and a pattern become a beautiful gift like this one above.

Trying something new in a small way

I love the graffiti quilting by Karlee Porter.  I have saved lots of her designs on Pinterest.  So I thought about how to just ease into doing some fairly quickly.  So I took an afternoon rest from doing client quilts to sit at my new Bernina and try.

First because the creation of a pattern seemed too daunting for a trial run although I do freehand quilting on large quilt and small quilts, I unearthed a plastic quilting template.  Just the right size.  I then used an old piece of sheeting and some leftover batting to create the sandwich but not before I used the template to trace a pattern on the top piece of fabric.  The design was actually quite simple but it gave me spaces to fill in. 

It was fun.  I got out some threads from my stash for embroidery and started to outline and fill the spaces. 

It worked.  It is a start with training wheels.  Now I feel I can sketch a pattern; not too complex but with space to be creative and try again adding more detail and some thread sketching which I have done before.  

Most important thing is to try.   Then came binding so I tried something different that did not require me to hand finish the back of the binding.  This was to be a quick exercise. 

I put on a flange pieces, put an additional back on and made it like a pillow you turn inside out.  Did that then stitched it closed carefully, flipped the little flange to the front and did a blanket stitch.  It worked but I would make the flange piece a bit bigger next time and trim a more off the corners.  Again, important to try.  

Quilting goes into the kitchen

Do you ever see those beautiful dish towels in the gift shops?  They are colourful and well designed.  So tempting.  Well, I think about 3 or 4 years ago I succumbed to one.  It made me think of summer and outdoors and I was not eager to muck it up in the kitchen.  When I cook it is not like the pristine cooking shows but more like too many helpers making too much stuff and needing lots of ingredients.  If you are going to make 'A' mess, make several.  It takes the same energy.  I also pays off when you want to quilt all day and only want to take something out of the freezer and nuke it.

So the dish towel languished until I started doing a series of small quilts representing the seasons.  Fall, Winter, Spring.  Somehow when it came to summer my fuel ran out.  Then I remembered the dish towel.  What if I quilted it?  Ok, the idea rolled around until there was a challenge at my guild to make an apron.  I don't wear one; forget every time to unhook it from the back door.  What if I used the dish towel in the apron?  What if I quilted it first?  Then how would the design progress to go around someone's hips?  Well all was conquered and I have this to be given away. The ties at the waist are not tied to better show the finished product.  And now I think I will haunt a few gift shops looking for my summer in my series since I have it all figured out.  Quick to quilt.  And I can also tuck away a special gift for a non messy cook if I never get to the summer quilt.

 I also had fun with a challenge.  Two paper bags; one with a colour and one with a shape.  With those two items you make a small quilt.  I got grey and circles.  Circles ok; grey not so much.  I think I have had only one piece of grey in my stash and I used it for something else.  At my little local variety store I found a fat quarter of a dark grey with an etched design in lighter grey.  This is the result.

 

There is no more fun than just quilting and quilting in various shapes; mix things up.  Add heavy quilting to make things bounce off the surface and in other places almost engulf the background.  Lay on lots of light grey thread to add a bit of brightness.  Some glitter ribbons, some beads, some glue rubbed into the center of a circle with sparkles rubbed in after.  It really highlights the stitching. My Bernina BSR came through. Then add my favourite colour, red.  A thread binding finished it off.  

Now, I have some quilts waiting to get on to the frame so I leave you with this recipe for blueberry pie.

How to make a Fresh Blueberry Pie

1.  Convince your husband that picking fresh blueberries will make THE BEST PIE. Make sure he has a hat to avoid sunstroke while he picks the blueberries.

2.  Sit down and have a glass of iced tea after he leaves.

3.  Invite your grandson over when you get the blueberries; the one who loves to play in the sink.  After all the berries have to be washed.

4.  Now with the blueberries all ready, you need to make the pastry.

5.  Call your good friend who is so proud of her pie crust at every social event and tell her you want to learn how to make the pastry as good as hers.  You want to watch her every step.

6.  When she comes over, offer her a glass of iced tea as she works and you watch.

7.  And since you have lots of blueberries, you watch her make two pies while keeping her cool with iced tea.

Now that was easy wasn’t it?

Just some fun

Well, with the grey of winter, one has to have a bit of fun.  For the longest time I have had a silk flower on my shelf of 'lots of things'.  You know; what you see and wonder what you can do with it.  Or perhaps you are not such a magpie as I am.

One day I found a silk flower in a bright green; the opposite of what it was outside.  It was on sale and looked lonely.  It has floated around but today I did try something.  It is not perfect but it does hint a possibilities in the right circumstances.

I took a few minutes and grabbed spare bit of fabric and batting lying around already from the teaching prep I was doing and this is what I created.  The colour pops and although he is not what one might call practical he is amusing.  A light sketch with a pen, some petals and a bit of embroidery with straight stitches and

If nothing else he is a spot of colour in my sewing room on the design wall.  But the petals give texture and it is all done with just straight stitches.  I can see some possibilities.  And of course there are all those beautiful silk flowers on the shelves of the craft store.  The colours are intense and gorgeous. 

Here is a closer look at the stitching.  The thread is a 60 weight cotton so it does not show too well but you can see  how the outline stitching lets the petals take the cupped shape they originally had.

Not just quilting

It is January.  This is cabin fever time for me in Nova Scotia.  It is not always this way but we seem to have attracted storms for the past few weeks.  Going out to blow snow is not exactly the excitement and company I would like.  It is a good time to clean out cupboards and to sew and to think about cleaning up the sewing room. 

I have been working on a International Challenge Quilt from The Quilt Show.  My partner is a lovely lady from South Carolina.  The Quilt Show, International Exchange.   All participants have been matched but you might be interested in following the exchange on the newsletter.  No pictures until it is allowed but it has been fun and so good to meet someone with similar interests.  Expanding friendships especially across borders is interesting and rewarding.  And serendipity has arranged that we have things in common and some links. 

As well The Quilt Show has been having the block of the month for this year and as a member I decided to do the quilt.  There are 3 blocks x 3 at the start of the month. January has been completed. The designer is Edyta Sitar.  Beautiful quilt so I have decided to do it with my scraps. Who knows exactly how it will turn out. I love barns and here in the Annapolis Valley in Nova Scotia there are lots.  Like many areas many are abandoned as farms have no one to take over.  I keep pondering a series of small quilts to record this.  Pondering is the word.  Is there a way to extend the number of hours in a day?

Back to cupboard cleaning.  I am ashamed to say I found in the laundry cupboard which is huge, a lot of plastic bags.  There are many more than I can use.  The supermarkets have cloth bags but they are big and difficult to hump from car to house because of the weight when full.  Then a light bulb went on and I remembered a big bolt of fabric I purchased for whatever reason.  It is upholstery weight with a lovely design.  It has taken up shelf space for too long. 

Rather than start from scratch I went looking for a pattern,  I found several but particularly one that seemed simple and more closely resembled the plastic ones; i.e. the integral handles.  This makes it easier for the clerks in the store to fill as they have a hook for the plastic bags.  This site is where I found the pattern.  Mansewing.  I followed the pattern but after one bag realized that the instructions did not quite fit my weight of fabric. For regular fabric the instructions are great.  So with a few modifications I am now cutting out and sewing in under an hour.  Four are finished and four more to make today. Here are a couple of pictures.  I think the fabric must have been intended to be cut into panels, hence the white line but I will consider it a design feature.  They are grocery bags after all but different from others and washable.  The size has varied in some part to take advantage of the print.  We shall see how they work but I do hope so and I know the fabric washes well. 

 But I won't be filling up my cupboards or the landfill with plastic bags from groceries.

When these are finished it is back to quilting.  There is a special one coming in that I have not seen and I know it will be beautiful and probably challenging.  Great. 

Snow, snow, snow

For days we have had flurries.  But flurries soon become lots of snow.  Combined with cold, it is a great opportunity to get some things done.  Of course all quilters with a few exceptions have UFO's.  And I also read today about a condition I can totally sympathize with.  It is where one starts something exciting and it gets part way there when the eye and/or mind is captured by something new.  I try to use restraint but that desire to move on to another project does breed UFO's.

Example was a guild challenge to make a block.  Ok, the block was finished.  Had fun but what to do with the block.  It languished on my design wall.  Not big enough to make a bigger quilt; too unique to be anything but a one off block.  So a little quilt was the solution.  But finding a suitable fabric for a border was a challenge.  Box after box of fat quarters were investigated.  That alone was a sad exercise to see all the lovely fabrics still to be used.  Finally I found a batik which reminded me of sea horses.  It did not bear any likeness to the block but it worked.  Here it is.   I will add it to my quilting room wall somewhere.  It was a good practice for my new BSR.   Do I see an ulterior motive to making a small quilt?

In looking around on another day I saw a big block of fat quarters in coordinating fabrics all tied up with a ribbon.  I wanted to make a Christmas gift which was going to be late to the post; of course.  I took the fabrics apart and they were really luxurious.  Perfect for a lovely table in an old stone house in Scotland.  I very, very quickly cast aside one of the fat quarters thinking it would make nice borders.  It was a quick decision and I got on with the blocks which were to be a table runner.  A ten degree ruler which had lain unused was tried out.  This is the result.  

Notice there are no borders and it is not a table runner.  That is because the blocks did not finish as I thought they would so I ignored them for a bit.  Out came the ignored fat quarter from the pile and I mean  a large pile of fabric on the cutting table.  It multiplies overnight I am certain.  The fat quarter was actually a picture which coordinated with the other fat quarters.  So change in plans; it became the table runner.  Good old longarm got to work on tracing components of the picture and it turned out nicely and one of the neglected fat quarters made the binding.  

So, more projects are finished but there are some tempting things from leftovers; a challenge that is partially finished.  And I came across some hexagons in an orphan state and so began a small quilt this p.m. to use them.  I wonder if there is therapy for those quilters who keep imagining projects before finishing the current one or ones.

Constant Learning

When I started this blog, I wanted to record and show about learning about long arm quilting; the good and the bad.  I have certainly encountered the bad but on balance it is pretty well all good now.  The techniques and stitches do not seem as formidable as at the start.  Practice certainly does make it easier.  There is so much to learn from how you treat and prepare the quilt to mounting, adjusting tension and picking patterns.  And that comes before you actually do the work.  Tension; the quilt itself can play havoc with your plans. 

Thanks to the many experts on line who share their knowledge so freely I enjoy doing quilts.  The videos are wonderful.  You repeat them if you miss something or do not quite get it.  And the repertory of stitches is so huge.  They are based on the simple geometry of lines and curves at the most basic level. But combined they sweep your eyes over a quilt in a pleasurable way.

Of course once you get to stage 1 in your skills and knowledge, there is the excitement of getting to stage 2 and onward.  Until a quilt is quilted, a true assessment of its success cannot be made.  A quilt top, bottom and batting comes in and a QUILT goes out back to its owner.

But not all quilts are big enough for a long arm.  That leaves the domestic machine.  There are art quilts, table covers and runners which can be done with a walking foot but once you have become used to swirls and pebbles and flowers and geometric designs on a larger scale you don't just want straight lines except when they are the right thing.  I am afraid I would not do a full size quilt on a domestic machine but starting with a long arm made me prejudiced.

However, translating from using the machine as an art pencil where the machine moves to moving the fabric is not easy.  Your mind needs to make the shift so your hands can do the work.  You are back again to tension, stitch length, and keeping the quilt itself with enough tension on the layers.  It is easier on a frame.  And of course there are aids on the long arm.  The stitch regulator.  That is a somewhat controversial subject as to whether that is a form of cheating.  I prefer to think that tools are made to be used and if they help then they are great to have. 

I have a wonderful domestic machine which I have had for several years.  I have enjoyed using it for embroidery; embroidery as applique and just plain piecing as well as decorative stitches on quilts and other objects.  But no stitch regulator or at least one that is easy to use.  My quilting without a regulator did get better but in comparison to the long arm it was not satisfactory.   So,...................

I gave myself a Christmas present.  A new machine with a stitch regulator by Bernina.  The regulator comes in its own box; packaged in protective foam.  It looks a lot like an ordinary quilting foot but it is laser activated.  Oh how wonderful is technology.  Is it worth the cost?  After some practicing I believe it is.  It will allow expression and control that the long arm provides with the convenience of being able to do small pieces readily.  The following are examples of just doing some practicing today.  There are mistakes but I love Angela Waters concept of mistakes.  So here is an example of a second piece.  The first one was defeated by the wrong choice of a patterned material and the ability to keep the 3 layers completed synchronized.  I admire those whose stitching on a domestic machine is perfect but am willing to admit it like the stitch regulator.

Red, black and white

This picture does not do justice to this beautiful quilt.  It is made for a bigger bed which does not have posts. It is quilted simply in an overall pattern which was hand guided.  That is all it needed as the quilt speaks for itself and anything else would be lost in the colour and design.  The maker has not been quilting for long but she is not afraid to tackle challenging projects.  I hope she enjoys the finished product.

Small Fun Challenges

Big quilts, small quilts and blocks.  I love them all.  Do I have time to make many?  Not so much any more with running a long arm business. So when my guild Annapolis Valley Quilt guild sets a small challenge, it is a fun thing to do.  There is no pressure to do a project so that adds to the fun factor. 

This challenge is to make a block, 12 x 12 inches finished with a theme for your birthday.  Well there could be flowers but it did not set my heart fluttering.  Another symbol was needed but for my birth month the chances that an all white block like the view that will probably be out my window at birthday time is pretty boring  so I started rattling around in my brain for something.  This is it.  Pisces.  I know it is cheating a bit as Pisces straddles two months but it is my symbol.  Certainly more fun than a landscape in white.

Off to my sewing room once I chose Pisces and found a picture I could use.  I did a bit of editing of the picture, changing colours.   I have a couple of editors but used the new Microsoft 3D one.  I also had one sheet of printable fabric left so I printed and I loved the way it turned out.  

Then the search for fabric.  Fortunately my search did not take too long.  Did I have a pattern for my background?  Nope.  I just cut strips, sewed them with curvy seams as it suited, pressed and this is the result.  Being from Nova Scotia I know the sea has so many faces and colours that I took a bit of licence from totally blue.  I cut out the fabric picture, used small bits of very soft Heat and Bond on the main body then with a very small blanket stitch sewed the picture down.  It was fiddly, especially the thin tentacles but my Husqvarna machine was up to it.  Oh it was fun to just be creating again.  

This morning I put batting on the back with a stabilizer on behind it to prevent the batting clogging the machine and stitched tiny stitches around the outside in black and then did interior stitches to create the trapunto.  The hardest job was trimming the final product.  It was so much fun to just put my  head down and go from idea to product.

Well back to finishing a gorgeous quilt made by someone else.  A couple more turns and it will be all done and I will post a picture when it is finished.

Florence and Quilting

Now you would say there is no relationship to the two things; Florence and Quilting.  I just came back from a trip to Florence.  This was my second time to go there and it is more beautiful, intimate and enjoyable than I remembered.  As a quilter I looked up quilt shops before I went but never got to them; them being 2 shops only. 

What I did see was gorgeous architecture; beautiful shapes; breathtaking sculptures and tiny residential alleys with balconies and flowers.  On the Pont Vecchio were windows of sparkly jewels and silver and gold in sinuous shapes.  What does that have to do with quilting?  Well the use of colour is always something that can spark ideas; contrasts of light and shade help to make good quilts.  Architectural shapes and shapes in jewelry can spark quilting designs.  And window displays that played with colour and the sculptured clothes provided inspiration. 

One thing that is a recurring theme in Florence is the tile floors and they totally are squares, triangles, half square triangles, rectangles.  This is certainly a connection to quilting.  Quilting block components  have a long history even if they were not quilts but decorative features of homes and buildings.  Another connection is to art quilts done with mosaics.  These ideas were everywhere. 

In addition, the views of Florence from the opposite side of the river provided living landscape quilts.  There were displays of modern chrome shapes in the Boboli Gardens that reflected the surroundings and fractured the very shapes and the colours nearby.  Think abstract quilts. And think of the contrast of the surroundings; formal lawns, trees, buildings in soft colours all captured in the chrome sculptures of various shapes.

Our trip included the Cinque Terra where the villages are nestled into the valleys formed as the cliffs stretch from the top to the sea.  I have seen many quilts based on the vista of the hills and the houses clinging to the cliff sides.  How wonderful to see them come to life.  Here is a picture that might make a small quilt.

Here are some pictures which include shapes and colours and shadows and mosaics.  

 Abstract

 Quilting shapes

Landscape quilts

Yes, this is all mosaics.  

Shapes for quilting, shadows and light

Shape, shadow, colours, fractures

There is a relationship between Florence and quilting as there is in the things around us every day.

Hope this works

If you read my blog you know I live in Nova Scotia Canada.  I did not grow up here so am 'from away'.  It is a Canadian province that is so beautiful but often overlooked.  It is a quilting province and has many creative art quilters.  You cannot ignore the colours or the sites both of which can inspire traditional, modern and art quilts.  Here is a Pinterest site full of both.  I hope the link works.
Nova Scotia.  Here is where I live and work.  Inspiring is it not?  Every season is rich for a quilter.

Time to go out and enjoy the colour.  The garden is fading; the trees are just getting their colour; the big chestnut is providing lost of noise as they fall on the patio and other objects.  Their beautiful brown of the nuts minus their ugly 'conker shell'  is lovely to look at but it is like walking on ball bearings. 

Last of the Round Robin Guild Quilts

The center is again the Tree of Life.  It is the same but different.  Colours can make a block and/or quilt be quite dissimilar to another quilt/block.
Dealing with large borders can be problematic as designs to quilt them are not necessarily those you would normally use in a border or sashing.  But you want something that will not just leave the border to be uninteresting.  This loop t loop stitch with periodic stylized small flowers worked quite well.
Fern shapes around the Tree of Life in the corners gave it some definition but are not as fussy as traditional feathers can be.  Fern shapes is a great stitching element for a large border as well.  I did it on a quilt of my own without realizing it is a bona fide stitching pattern.   I just liked doing it.

This quilt made by members of Annapolis Quilt Guild, like the others, will go to give comfort to someone a guild member knows who is either in therapy or recovering from cancer.  When doing these quilts I consider each stitch a prayer so the quilting plus the piecing is putting a huge number of prayers for the recipient into the quilt.

Another UFO Finished - Happy Face

This throw quilt has been hidden in a box for, I hate to say, 4 years or so.  There was a craze for these quilts in a couple of guilds I belong to.  I made one for my self which I called Logic and Passion (a previous post) and so as a gift I started this one to match the decor in a TV room of friends.  I got the center done and many things intervened.  

I had an urge at the end of last week to do some piecing instead of just quilting so I dug it out and added the border. Better that than start something else which would fall into the UFO category. And better than staring at my unfinished bathroom renovation.(Oh for a nice hot shower)  Started on Friday and this is Monday and the border is on; the quilt is quilted and bound.  It was not a summer weekend and great for staying inside. 

The quilt took about 7 fat quarters and one more trip to the local quilt store (The Wooden Spool in Granville Ferry, NS)  to get a back which is a brilliant yellow; the binding is made of that material.  A great colour to have in the depths of winter.  I cannot wait to see the surprise when I take it to its home.  It will truly be unexpected.  

Now, there are no more UFOs i.e. unfinished objects but there are still lots of nicely stacked plastic boxes with fabric and patterns that can become UFOs.  I do not have the heart to count how many boxes.  So I will celebrate this and close my eyes to the boxes but unfortunately not my mind.  Maybe I should just count boxes instead of sheep at night.

Continuing the Guild Quilts

How different a quilt can be when the center medallion is very similar, a Tree of Life block, but the bag get passed around to another group.  See the previous post for an explanation of how this works in the guild.  Here is the 2nd quilt.  The fabric around the tree of life is darker and the border is light.  It makes a different impression on the eyes.  The Tree of Life seems to pop out more from the darker fabric.  The borders are quite simple but effective.  The final border was very big but was broken up with inserted blocks at the corner.  You can see the insert at the bottom right of the photo.  I really like that and will remember it if I have the same type of large border.  The effect really breaks up a large border.

I quilted many, many roses in the border.  In fact, by the time I finished, roses were something I will shelve for a while and will use in a smaller area.  I did something similar on a Christmas quilt a few years ago and while effective, boredom sets in.  I was tired at the end but it turned out ok.

This quilt will find a home this fall.  I hope it brings warmth and good feelings.  I know the makers put a lot of care and love into making it.  

Many Hands in a Guild

One of the pleasures of belonging to a guild is when all the members come together in a good cause.  The Annapolis Valley Quilters in Nova Scotia do this.  It starts with a center medallion and a bag.  The medallion is donated by a member.  This year all 3 quilts will have the same Tree of Life Block donated by one member.  The bag gets passed from member to member each month during the year except July and August.  A name is drawn for each bag and the member takes it home without opening and returns it bigger.

It is amazing to see the end results of the quilts.  I do the quilting which is fun because the quilts vary so widely and there are great possibilities for using different quilting designs on them.   No possibility of being bored with a repetitive design.  All designs are done on a long arm with stitch regulator and hand guided.

During the beginning of the next year, members submit names of friend, family, church members, neighbours who are suffering through cancer.  The quilts warm those receiving chemo; cuddle those recovering at home.  There will be 3 draws for the 3 quilts.  And for the members there is a warmth in their hearts that they can make a difference to someone close by in the community.

These would be classified as scrap quilts with the center medallion providing some idea of colours.  This time it is fall; a beautiful time in this part of the world.  Here is quilt #1.

Two more to go.  Have a great day.