Taking time to breathe

We all need such times.  Time to just do things we love and ignore the pesky chores which do not generate the same pleasure.

I am going to teach something to a small local guild that  I saw and have to credit Cheryl Arkison
 http://www.cherylarkison.com/ who showed a quilt on The Quilt Show https://thequiltshow.com/ using her free form curves.  I just loved the verve of the free form curves.  I had been taught a version of free from curving originally by Becky Goldsmith https://pieceocake.com/ at a class and truly enjoyed the freedom of cutting fabric in curves with just a rotary cutter.  I did a whole small quilt at that time and this one carries on from both experiences.

First of all curves seem so difficult but are not and curves are so much a part of what we see.  I love the detail of paper piecing and the geometrics of traditional quilting but curves are so ever present in our lives.  Just look at the curves in the letters we use when keyboarding or writing with a pen.  Actually with a pen, my writing is totally unrestrained curves, illegible, almost.  Our bodies are made up of many curves, some of which we strive to contain.  But we certainly do not look like boards.

This quilt is the first of the demonstrations and with luck today will have an almost finished small quilt with another application of free form curves.  This is in my head, but not made so we shall see what the finished product is.  I have an idea built on an existing technique and will see if it works.

I also tried something different with this quilt.  I have done it before but this was with a thicker batt than I had on hand. So, I doubled the batt.  I had some spare from a larger quilt and it was not quite as 'fluffy' as I wanted for the curves I was going to quilt so I doubled it.  It did present a challenge as the sandwich was quite thick and with the pieced back it required quilting a bit slower because of the seams and the bulk.  But it certainly enhanced the quilting.  I love piecing backs particularly on smaller quilts but there is a challenge when seams on top and below are right together.  That combined with continuous curves was a challenge.

Time to get the ideas in my head into cut and sewn fabric.  The day is fast disappearing.

Wonderful Class

This past week/weekend I attended the Extraordinary Quilter 2 day class with Becky Goldsmith put on by the Mahone Bay Quilters Guild.  I am still unloading everything so pictures will be delayed.  

Both days were ones of learning and fun.  Becky is an excellent teacher; she is positive,organized, creative in her methods and she runs a tight ship.  I cannot say I have taken any better course.  The improvisational day was much better than I anticipated.  Perhaps that is because my piece was turning out better than I imagined I could do.  I took masses of fabrics, uncertain of what would result.  

The second day was invisible applique.  I love applique.  I love the way quilting makes the applique comes alive on quilts.  But I have not settled on any one technique to do applique.  I have done hand applique on a quilt but was not happy with the smoothness of the method I used.  The way Becky teaches applique truly is invisible and so beautifully finished that in future I will use it when doing hand applique.  Not sure how much I will do but when I do it, it will look much more professional.

We had beautiful weather during the course time and that was nice because one always wants visitors to our province to see it at its loveliest.  Seeing it through Becky's eyes was fun. Unfortunately, Mother Nature decided to rain on their parade after the course but that is part of Nova Scotia.  Like Scotland for which it is named, just wait an hour in Nova Scotia and the weather changes.   Here is a link to her blog.  Becky's Blog  

It has been a week of Quilt meetings, show and tells and travelling. I belong to a local guild and to one which requires a 1.5 hour drive.  The nice thing is the drive is through beautiful country and I tell myself it beats the same amount of travel on intercity highways I used to do.  Coming back in the dark in spring one can hear the wonderful sound of the spring peepers.  Going in the light and sun, the waterways are sparkling ribbons of blue.  The trees are leafed out in the beautiful greens of spring.  By summer it is just green but now it is every possible shade.  It is a lesson is the use of colours in quilts.

So quilting is not just quilting but it is friends; learning; visual and tactile experiences and above all generosity of spirit and time.

Now to try to satisfy my golden retrievers for hugs and pets as they have been in the kennels.  This is my youngest dog with the Siamese who thinks he has a Mommy.  He is a bit mixed up in general.