A Beautiful Scrap Quilt

A scrap quilt truly shows how well fabrics "play" together and shows us that there are endless combinations that work, and that work well. I enjoy seeing the various colours and fabrics in a scrap quilt and as I progress with my stitching across the top, I study the fabrics and visualize future possible colour combinations.

I especially enjoyed seeing the variety of fabrics Nancy used in this wonderful quilt - she has placed Christmas prints near kiddie prints, stripes next to florals, novelty prints close to Christmas prints...a huge selection of fabric themes with simply festive results. Her solid red border pulls it all together and a thick poly batt helps create a soft, cuddly quilt ready to brighten up any room. 

I used a simple stitch pattern to create a secondary design within the main body of the quilt. I quilted the outer borders with what I call my "fake" feathers, a quick feathery stitch that carries your eye around the quilt.

Marie's Christmas Quilt

My friend, Marie asked me to quilt this lovely Christmas themed quilt for her as she works on completing a number of her unfinished projects.

Like many quilters, Marie is involved in so many different projects that I sometimes wonder how she gets done what she does and although retired now, she still remains active in many charitable groups. While working as a nurse, she led a campaign to have quilts on every bed in the oncology unit at the George Dumont Hospital here in Moncton. She orchestrated all stages of completion of these quilts and she even looked after the necessary washing and mending that came with strenuous use. The small part I played in this project was to create hand lettered labels for each of the quilts.

So, now in her happy retirement, Marie is actually getting to a few of her own quilting projects, although still in between a lot of her other community based activities. This cheerful quilt was recently on my long arm and Marie has added the binding using the same blue snowflake fabric, making that one Christmas quilt ready for next year. Fortunately I was inspired by the wintery view outside my window as I quilted it.

Tomorrow we are expecting even more snow.

The Festival of Broken Needles, GMQG Retreat 2015

Whew..Well, it's over..There is still a mountain of paperwork, finances, thank you's, photo editing, a post-mortem meeting to be completed, but the actual physical retreat is over and done with. 

A puzzle table in the sun

I belong to the Greater Moncton Quilt Guild, a guild currently in its' 29th year. Each year a retreat is held and this year we were able to accommodate 40 participants. Last year I was one of two "assistant planners" and this year I was Co-Chair and next year I go back to being a registered participant.

Our block challenge was a spool block and the lucky winner went home with enough blocks for a very large quilt top!

 
We open the doors to our weekend retreat on Friday at noon and close up shop at noon on Sunday. What happens between these hours is pretty amazing whether you are considering what the collective group manages to produce, or whether you are considering the sheer dynamics of 40 women talking, laughing, joking, eating, and drinking, with a few tears mixed in, some from joy and a few less joyful, but all therapeutic none the less. 

I love to plan and execute events. And I feel establishing a theme helps create a cohesive event and makes it easier for the organizing committee. Last year our theme was "Quilters Love to Strip" and all the projects, games, prizes, decorations focused around strips. This year we based our retreat on the Japanese Festival of Broken Needles, an annual ceremony where Japanese seamstresses honour their broken tools by laying them to rest and giving thanks for their service. With this focus on gratitude, we also wanted to educate and were able to include valuable information on needles, pins and thread as part of the handouts. 

Juanita made herself and Shirley oriental mug rugs for the occasion!

We contacted sponsors, both local and online and were absolutely astounded by the support we received. In addition to the small budget we had from our retreat fees, we raised funds by selling tickets on a basket of quilting goodies. Combining what we raised and what was donated, we were able to provide each of our participants with a wonderful goody bag and a door prize! 

The last two years we have included a banquet on Saturday evening as part of the price of admission. This year after the meal, we also held a small ceremony conducted by our own Geisha who gave us much food for thought with her reading of Emily Dickinson's poem, "Don't Put Up My Needle and Thread". She invited each of us to consider the importance of these simple tools as we placed our broken needles and pins in a bed of tofu, just as they do in Japan. 

Our altar

Our broken needled and pins were laid to rest in a bed of tofu

Afterwards we invited everyone to come and have their photos taken in the photo booth we had set up, complete with costumes and props. To say we laughed is an understatement! What a wonderful group of women! Everyone participated and we have some gems of photos as they shared this fun activity with their quilting friends. 

The planning committee 

Co-Chair Nancy and I hammed it up

You might guess I am weary now. I had a full three weeks with a week long trip to Toronto, a three day seminar here, and then this retreat. Today I stayed in bed a bit longer, wore my fleece pyjamas longer than I stayed in bed and I enjoyed endless cups of coffee while I readjusted to the inside of my house. 

Chocolate River Comfort Quilt

I belong to two traditional guilds. One of these quilts meets every second week during the day and the meetings are working based. Most members bring their sewing machines while others focus on cutting fabrics, or on hand work. Everyone brings their lunch and there is a short business meeting while we eat. I am discovering I like this format and although I am not keen to drag my machine most days, or perhaps just while it is winter, I organize something simple to work on beforehand and enjoy spending some time catching up with my quilting friends. 

This group has decided to create one quilt each year for charity and this year the finished quilt is to be donated to the local women's shelter in memory of Ree Defina who should have been joining the group this year, but who passed last August.

Two members, both close friends of Ree, organized the making of the top and members pieced the blocks at one of our meetings. The top was sewn together and I volunteered to quilt it. I kept the quilting simple because we all know that many hands make light work and I have learned the best way to enhance multiple sewers is to use a simple quilting design. I used my favourite Glide thread with a 20/80 batt. The colours chosen for the quilt were Ree's favourites and the finished quilt has been donated and is hopefully bringing comfort where needed.

Cabin Life and Pickle Quilts

I have to be honest, sometimes by the time I complete posts for the SAQA Atlantic blog where I share moderating duties, I am blogged out. I am transitioning to a new computer as well and the aging MacBook I use for all my photo work takes soooooo long some days when I am trying to edit, watermark and post photos, that I feel like a 4 year old about to throw a tantrum. I usually end of sliding down in my rolly chair (highly technical term for an office chair, but around here, we know of what I speak), throwing back my head and doing a grotesque version of jazz hands...It isn't pretty.

I believe I have written at least a dozen posts for my own blog over the last 3 weeks...apparently all in my head and never committed to the blog. I realized that now as I completed a post for SAQA Atlantic. Wow. Reality check here. 

I could say I have been busy. Which I have been. But after an interesting conversation with my son over Christmas where he detailed his reaction to people who tell him they are busy, well, I hesitate to say that. He pointed out that as an opener, saying you are busy is the best way to stop interaction. If you are that busy, well you had best get back to what is keeping you that way. I am still pondering if that is a "big city" way of thinking as opposed to the more relaxed east coast mentality. But, best to not take chances..

So, I will just show you a couple of lovely quilts by my friend, Giselle, who made these for her very talented daughters as Christmas gifts. She requested straight lines and simple quilting, so I did my best to oblige. 

This one her daughter, a photographer, dubbed her "Pickle" quilt. It is pieced with Kona Cottons.

Giselle used a fabric she ordered from an upholstery shop for the backing. It is relatively soft with a looser weave and matches the colors of the top perfectly.

The second for her daughter, a chef, and is called Cabin Life. This is a free download from Connecting Threads and Giselle pieced hers from their beautiful flannels. Giselle provided 80/20 cotton batting and as always, I used my favorite Glide threads top and bobbin. 

Superwoman in Training

I redeemed myself the next day. I started early, stayed focused and didn’t give up until the quilt was done. I was tired at the end of the day as I finished sewed the binding on by hand, but I was pleased with my results and felt back on track. Well, not completely on track, that might be asking too much, but it was another project checked off my list.

We were hit with freezing rain on Wednesday and our road was not passable until after 2 pm, so my plans for the day were put on hold. Ah well, staying home gave me the incentive, as well as the time, to piece and quilt and sew.

At the end of the day I had this..

It really doesn’t ripple on the edges - it’s just the way I draped it over the edge of the bed for photos.

A quilt my daughter asked me to make.

It has been carried by friends to Halifax and tomorrow it will travel a little further to be delivered to its new owner.

The true color is more like in the photo below on the bottom left corner. 

It’s a surprise gift for someone who has been generous and loving and treated my daughter like one of her own.

Like most of my projects, I seem to think I am going to be able to make exactly what I want with limited amounts of fabric. (Do I really have to wait until Christmas Day to open that 3D printer, Santa??) As it turned out, I had to get creative with what I had and the result was a bit smaller quilt than I originally planned. But, at 48 x 68 it is still a lovely size for keeping cosy and the minky (from Marden’s!) will add to that warmth factor.

Interestingly, in this rather small project, I used fabrics from Sew Sisters, Hamels, Mardens, Avonport Discount and thread from Barbados and New Maryland! Cotton top, poly batt, minky back, Glide Thread and my free wheeling on the needle.

It’s bright and cheery and I hope it is well received.

Marie’s Beautiful Batik Quilt

Marie has a huge collection of batiks, many that I have never seen, and it was so much fun quilting this lovely top for her, all the while admiring the fabric designs!

I know that Marie likes stippling designs and pantographs, so for this quilt of hers, I decided to try a pantograph I had ordered and never used. Actually, I broke down and ordered 5 pantographs last winter and this is the first one to make it out of the wrapper. I decided it was time to give it a try!

A section of the back

The design is called Feather Breeze and is by Lisa Thiessen of Threadsongs. I chose to buy it because it is a lovely, flowing design and I chose it for Marie’s top because it would enhance the simple, striking pattern she had chosen to piece. I used a variegated thread on the top thread and a solid orange hue in the bobbin.

The quilt is for Marie’s sister and her sister chose the backing herself. I think Marie was a bit surprised by her choice of this bright, vibrant fabric, but we agreed it suits the quilt quite well!

I am inspired to start piecing some of the rather large stack of batiks I have on my shelves. The wonderful thing about a pattern such as this is the variety of prints you can use and still have lots left for other projects!

First Snow and My Frozen Tears

I don’t take well to having any kind of a schedule on Mondays. Even when I worked full time, I would prefer to work longer hours the other days of the week so that I would have Mondays for me.

This morning I had to attend a meeting at 10 am and as my husband got ready for work, I lay in bed, bemoaning the fact that I had to get up and that not only did I have to leave the house, but also that I couldn’t attend the meeting in my pyjamas..My whining started before I even had my glasses on and when I caught on that he was ignoring me and my rant, I asked him what kind of day it was out there. When he replied that it was a white world, I sat bolt upright in bed and if I recall correctly, I screamed, “WHAT!” With a flourish he whipped the curtain back so I could see for myself and I know tears pooled in my eyes..

I am not a huge fan of cold weather. Or snow. Or ice. I don’t like driving in it, I don’t like other people travelling in it. I don’t like being cold and I always am. Case in point, I am currently wearing a hoodie (with the hood up) and have a heated magic bag in my lap. My husband says it is obviously the season of gnomes because when I am home I tend to look like one as I transition from summer’s bare legs and feet, to multi layer coverage. He is used to me wearing a toque at mealtime, along with a selection of scarfs round my neck. He is also aware that I own three magic bags that sometimes can be seen peeking from inside one of my layers when I am really chilly. Meanwhile he is in short sleeves and bare feet.....

My mother told me that I wasn’t always cold. When I was 13 and a Girl Guide, I was part of a group of three Guides who chose to work on receiving Outdoor Winter Camping Badges, a spanking brand new badge offered. Well. The night we built our lean to (back in the days when you could actually cut tree branches and build outdoor fires), dug our outdoor latrine and cooked our supper in a snow bank just happened to be the coldest night recorded that winter. It was -54 degrees with the wind chill. I have a very vivid memory of lying in my sleeping bag with its frozen zipper on top of a layer of spruce boughs and an icy tarp and staring longingly through the trees to the brightly lit windows of the farmhouse where our leaders were nice and cosy.

But, we all hung in there, had lots of fun, made some crazy wild memories and were the first three Guides in Canada to receive our badges. I came home with my waist length hair full of huge hunks of ice that mom spent hours on melting and combing out. And I came home with a chill that I have never been able to shake. Well, except for when I was pregnant with my son. But, that is another story for another time..

Totally unrelated to my winding tale, but because every post deserves a photo, here are two baby quilts that I quilted for Florine. These sweet little quilts have found they way to brand new babies in Edmonton. Hopefully these new little folk will be kept nice and warm in these adorable and colorful quilts.

A Client’s T-Shirt Quilt

My friend, Maureen is great at creating quilt tops for clients. She is often asked to piece memory quilts, including t-shirt quilts. She takes on any project with a huge smile and a winning attitude and often times I have seen her take partially finished projects and turn them into beautiful quilts for people who might not yet have the skills required for the project they have started.

This quilt is one she has pieced for a client using t-shirts saved for years from travels all over the globe. The wonderful thing about this quilt is that the shirts have been worn, and worn well. There are streaks of mud and dabs of paint and you can tell the shirts, like the person they came from, have lived a life well lived.

We decided a large meandering stitch would best hi-light the shirts so using a poly batt and a co-ordinating grey thread, I quilted a large stipple over the top.

A Collaborative Quilt

One of our local guilds held their annual retreat this past winter and as part of the Saturday evening events, participants were invited to play a quilters game of dice and strips. Fabric strips, that is. Our retreat theme was, “Quilters Like to Strip” and all activities on the weekend revolved around 2.5 inch strips. Since I was one of the organizers, I like to think that everyone had a great time and that it was a very successful retreat.

The game was a success and my quilting friend, Juanita won the strips. Being a good sport, she announced that she would use the strips to make a charity, or comfort quilt, and I offered to quilt it.

Fast forward to August. The top and back were pieced, I finished the quilting and Juanita added a beautiful binding and label.

Top

Back

Juanita used every bit of every strip and pieced this lovely top and equally fun back.

On August 24th, one of Moncton’s most enthusiastic and positive quilters passed away. Ree always wore a huge smile and her hugs were legendary. Although I didn’t know her really well, she was exceptionally kind and encouraging the last time we spoke and I will always remember how excited she was for me as I move my way into the world of longarming.

Today Juanita delivered the quilt to Crossroads for Women on behalf of the Greater Moncton Quilt Guild in memory of Ree. We think she would approve.

Marie Ree Defina