Category Archives: Quilting

I’m a fair-weather walker

Journal, Quilting

Sunday, September 16, 2018

I went up to the Fall Fair yesterday afternoon; next time I’ll have to take a bit more money. I checked that I had my $5 admission and I certainly didn’t expect to be spending any money. But the firemen had a Fill the Boot fundraiser for MS so in went some money. My first stop was the barns; not exactly up to PNE standards but there were some sheep, goats, chicken and a llama. On my way to see the garden produce and 4-H sewing displays I ran into a friend selling fresh-pressed apple juice. They were offering it by the glass or quart bottle but, since they had run out of glasses, I had to buy a quart. Next stop was at Carola’s booth – fortunately she offered the bee’s wax wrappers as a birthday present. I walked through the grounds, chatted with several folks and then was ready to go home. But then I remembered that I was out of the pine tar soap I like so I picked up a bar. Then I remembered that all summer I planned to get up to the market to get some of the salve the first-nation folks were selling – works good on sore hands after a long stitching session. By the time I left I had only a bit of silver left in my purse.

I finished binding the community quilt last night. Although I didn’t make any of the blocks in the quilt, I made a number of other blocks that went into other quilts. One of our on-going challenges at the Guild last year was to pick up a bag of scraps each month and make a 12″ square. When we got together to put the blocks into quilts some of the blocks really didn’t go with others ( I had one of the better ones with a blue theme). We’re going to do the same thing this year except each month will have a colour. This plan should mean the quilts will be more pleasing to the eye. I had practiced a quilting design on cards and it was nice to know before I started exactly what I was going to do.

Today was the Terry Fox Run but as soon as I woke up this morning I could hear the rain pouring down. I don’t mind walking in a bit of mist or drizzle but there was no way I’d walk in a downpour. The rain lasted until early afternoon when it rolled out but by then the walk was over. Although I didn’t walk, I have sent in my money.

I don’t have a project to work on this evening – what will I start?

4-Seasons Tree

Quilting

My first inspiration for this probably came eight years ago when we moved to Powell River. From my kitchen window I can see a big tree across the street on the grounds of City Hall. I’ve seen it through many seasons, as well as some storms that have broken branches but never toppled the tree. I kept thinking I should take photos of the tree at each equinox; of course that hasn’t happened yet.

The Splendid Sampler 2 sew-along that I’m involved in had Flowering Tree block; someone in the Facebook community suggested that it would be nice done in colours to represent each of the four seasons. That sparked a memory I had of a Hands Across the Water block that was to be done in different colours based on your last name (the colours represented four different seasons).

About the same time we had a reminder that our miniature was due early in September. I knew that when the Hands Across the Water block came out I purchased fabric to make all four seasons. The fabric was in a bin, buried beneath several other bins, but when I opened it there was no pattern.

I checked online for the pattern but I didn’t remember what year the block was from (2015 as it turns out) or which Guild was sponsoring the event (Quadra Island). But I am in charge of our blog site and I hoped that at some point the block had been posted. As t turned out the pattern had been removed quite some time ago but I was able to find it in my saved files.

Spring & Summer
Fall & Winter

I don’t generally sew with batiks (they don’t have enough “give” to let me fudge on the sizing) but I bought the fabric so long ago I probably hadn’t yet realized I didn’t like batiks. The block was paper-pieced so it was quite precise and I didn’t need the fudging. The quilting pattern in the sashing is called Cascade.

The Betsy Bag

Quilting

Thursday, August 9, 2018

I couldn’t remember how much I had left to do on my bag; it’s been a long time since I was with my Thursday group. As it turned out, even after an hour spent catching up, I was able to finish it this afternoon.

The selling factor on this bag, although I swore I would never make another bag, was that it was three bags in one. I’m not sure how often I’ll switch between the three models, but I think I will use of the bag quite often.

The bag is fully lined and Gail altered the pattern to add four very generous pockets on the inside. The turquoise zipper closes one of the pockets.

This version uses a drawstring closure on the top
This version is most like a purse, with the pocket on the inside
This version is the full height of the bag

 

 

 

I’m never making another bag – and this time I mean it!

Guild Challenge 2018

Quilting

I usually take part in the Guild challenge; a challenge put out by the member who won the challenge from the previous year. Winners are chosen in a draw and I was always very careful not to put my name in the hat. At last year’s year-end party when the challenges were on display someone remembered mine and added my name. I wasn’t worried though because I seldom win a draw. I think my streak continued because when my name was pulled I certainly didn’t consider myself a winner.

Here is the challenge I put to our members:

My challenge to you is to use the enclosed fabric as the background for a standard-sized placemat (~12” x 18”). But not just any placemat – one that totally belongs to you.

Using your three initials (first, middle, and last names) one of those initials should represent the block pattern you will use on the front of your placemat; one of the initials should represent the main colour in your block,; finally, the last initial should represent the quilting motif you pick to quilt your finished masterpiece. The block you put on the front of the placemat can be a minimum of 6” to a maximum of 10”.

Your three initials can be used in any order to represent any of the required elements. For example, Annette Delores Baker could be a Drunkard’s Path block in Aqua and quilted with a Baptist Fan motif.

Since I came up with the Challenge I had to take part. The block on my placemat is called “Summer Solstice” (Sherrida),  I picked Emerald Green as my main colour (Eldine), and the quilting motif is “Morning Glory” (McKnight).

 Here is a closer view of the Morning Glory motif.