About half done the quilting on K-5 (no name yet) aka Kaleidoscope #5. It is brighter than the photo. It came out screaming too bright so I toned it down, too much. Sigh.
This other one is a Celtic table runner from a Quilt University class. I'd never taken one before and wanted some handwork to do in the evening. It was fun. Now I need to figure out how to quilt it. Will likely call it "Running in Celtic Circles" because both fabrics have either circles or round dots on them.
Lovely day today... I should be out pulling weeds. They accumulate quicker than fabric scraps! However, this is much more fun than weed-pulling.
Finally - I can post this one! It was made as a surprise for my friend. It is called, "Blessings of Friendship" and the red is a bit deeper in real life, not quite so bright. I have a couple of detail photos and added them below.
I started this one in January, made good progress, then let it sit for weeks while trying to decide how to quilt it. I could not post it just in case she peeked at my blog. However, we had her and hubby over for tea and peach pie on Sunday and made the presentation. She went home with plans to redecorate her dining room - and a smiling hubby carrying the quilt.
"Blessings of Friendship" is 41" square, my own design using Ricky Tims rhapsody quilt methods. Applique is fused and sewn with a machine blanket stitch. It was a delight to make. The hardest part was sewing the parts together, also putting on the cording. I did a facing instead of binding. So happy that it is done and to send it to a great home!
My Internet is out. Canada Post is on strike. I am isolated from the world! Aghhhhhhhhh! So I am taking a Quilt University class and making a table runner that requires hand stitching and relaxing. It is not finished, but coming along.
I'm also nearly finished a Ricky Tims Rhapsody quilt that is a gift, so picture coming as soon as the person receives the quilt.
At least I can come to our library, five minutes from home, and use free Wi-fi. Also, amazing how much a person can get done when there is no procrastinating online, reading email, and checking out facebook. But I am reading the blogs that I love...!
Last night the Edmonton & District Quilt Guild held their wind-up banquet. Good food, fun and lots of laughter. Several people made mo-jo dolls that were used as a fund-raiser. Honors went to former executive and welcomes to new.
The annual challenge competition was also a highlight. Seventy-five Kaffe Fassett fat quarters went out, forty-eight 12" square quilts came back. Each must contain 25% of the challenge fabric. They were exhibited last weekend at the show (held every two years) and wow, what a display. No one quilt looked like any other, even at the same size and using that mustard-colored flower fabric.
The prizes were awarded last night.I'm so excited because my little effort won Judge's Choice! How can that be? The others were so good and so creative. A nice surprise and a nice ribbon! Very encouraging too.
I had to edit this for the "artist's statement" but here is what this one is about:
Volvox is one of the most beautiful microscopical sights known. Those who study such tiny wonders have claimed that “nothing compares to the grandeur of a perfect specimen with daughter colonies inside, free-swimming in pond water.” As these cells develop these new colonies, the parent eventually bursts and the daughter colonies evert, escaping to grow into their own expression of being a lovely orb in the pond.
Even though Millifiore looks like the blown glass of the same name, I could not help but notice that this Kaffe Fassett fabric looks much like Volvox. Did he see these tiny, 1000-celled globular algae and decide to change the form to floral? The possibility motivated me to mimic the shape and activity of the Volvox Tertius. My imagination saw it beginning to reproduce itself. Then, as it gazed at the garden around its home, it suddenly decided it was tired of living in ponds and going unnoticed. It was tired of surrounding flowers basking in everyone’s attention. So why not become one with them? So the microscopic cell simply burst with new life and escaped to the garden. It took on the appearance of the flora and began to send out daughter colonies to the envy of all the garden plants who now are unable to eclipse its dazzling beauty.
Working on more than two quilts at once is fun, but taxing! Here are the latest photos of the kaleidoscope quilts being constructed by our small church group. Isn't it amazing the way one pattern can have so much variety! (Note the old flannel sheets used to pin the pieces to and keep them from getting mixed up.)
The third and fourth one are mine. One of them is pin-basted and ready to quilt. I decided to leave it round and use it on a table. The other one is getting a 1" inner boarder, then another wider border. Not there yet.
Last Grad Club at our LQS, we were challenged to make a wonky house, not a difficult project. This is mine, created in eight days. I called it "Lives on Prairies... Vacations in Serengeti" and the label says, "Challenged at Grad Club (Earthly Goods) and bored with normal, this little wall hanging evolved -- as did the title. From what is seen, viewers can make up their own story!
A small project like this (17.25" x 25.5") offers lots of opportunities to try new quilt stitches or just need practice with old ones.
I know, I should be posting the kaleidoscopes. Both are ready to sandwich and quilt. I also have another special quilt ready to quilt. Sometimes a person just needs to do something wonky!
Quilts of Valor began in the United States. Most of you know that these quilts go to wounded soldiers. Not long ago, a woman from our city's quilt guild brought Quilts of Valour to Canada. She has quite a story of how this started.
This picture shows my second donation to QoV. It was made out of those Arrowhead blocks where two squares are sewn right sides together around most of the outside edges, etc., then cut in such a way that most of the piecing happens without cutting the pieces. They look more complicated than they are.
I used almost all the purple and a lot of my green stash for this one. It is about 48" x 66" (I have to spell valor in the British way, but don't have to measure it in metrics!)
In Canada, much effort is also made to see that all war veterans and casualties from RCMP, police, etc. get a quilt. Reports come back that these quilts are highly valued by the recipients. Our city just had a ground-breaking ceremony for House of Valour, a special care facility for those who suffer from being in a war.
On another note, I've also sewn together one of my kaleidoscopes and am planning a couple of borders. The other one will be sewn together today. Pictures later.
P.S. I love quilters. One asks me a question, and the next one answers it... before I even read the comments! I do have an excuse for not giving more info about this block. I found it in a magazine, made one to try it, then gave the magazine away. Thank you to Cheri for asking and Michele for answering.
