Encouragement for new quilters!

I am trying to encourage five creative, young women to become quilters..

Do you think these stacks of hand cut charm squares will help?? These great bags I received at Road from the Gammill dealer are just right for filling with some necessary piecing goodies. But, not so much to overwhelm..just enough to peak their interest.

And I am going to offer them a little workshop this summer, if they are interested. 

Note to self: add some chocolate..

1 and 1/2 inch strips of goodness!

Any time I have to be creative these days seems to spent either in front of my longarm, or, with a pair of knitting needles in my hands. I am merely a competent knitter, leaving the really creative knitting to my sister, Joanne. I have a couple of standard sock and mitt patterns that I use repeatedly (my sock pattern is so worn, I have packing tape on one side to hold it all together and no, I can’t knit from memory..). 

I have completed quilting another quilt before my kids get home for a Christmas break. This top was made by another local quilting friend and she is actually the woman who gave me my first quilting classes. When we first moved to NB, I left behind a solid group of friends in our little community in Goose Bay, Labrador and I was anxious about keeping busy and making some new connections. My husband’s job took him away long hours (which was slightly ironic because we had moved here so we would have more time to spend together as a family..) and I was kind of house bound with two little ones only 17 months apart. So, I signed up for a quilting class through the local community college and a swimming class at the Y. The swimming was all I needed it to be, but the quilting class didn’t get enough participants for it to be a go. When I asked, the college wouldn’t give out the instructors contact info but they would have her call me (a strange privacy issue in a city of 130,000 where her name is synonymous with quilting).

Well, she did call me and for three glorious hours we chatted and made connections and I found a new friend. While we chatted, my two darling toddlers mopped the kitchen and hallway floors and helped themselves to a cheerio snack! Remember, twenty years ago phones were on cords and my range of motion was about 10 feet in any direction..I could see the chaos occurring but knew the mess would be worth the time it took to tidy up. As a result of that call, she decided to give a class at home and so began my foray into the world of quilting.

Her lovely top is the result of a challenge to use up an extensive collection of 1.5 inch strips given to her.

I used Lava, a variegated thread on the top, a navy thread on the back and stitched some evolving clamshells over the entire surface.

I really enjoy being on that side of my machine and watching the design as it grows.

I am not sure who will be receiving this lovely quilt, but I know they will enjoy the calm, yet scrappy feel this quilt has.

The Needle and Thread Network will be taking a short holiday break, so I am joining them today..

Ah, I just got word she loves it so much, she is keeping it!! Great news!

A Scrap Quilt for Christmas

This lovely scrap quilt is one I recently finished stitching for two of my quilting friends. The friends, sisters, recently moved their mom from her country home to a new-to-her apartment located nearer to them. After all the cleaning and purging of a lifetime spent raising a large family on the homestead, they realized their mom, also a quilter, hadn’t kept a quilt for her own bed! Some fast action ensued and they asked me to quilt this top in time for their Mom for Christmas.

They used a gentle tone on tone white for the backing, a soft cotton batting and I used an white Omni thread and some free wheeling stitching. I think it a fresh, feminine quilt that will certainly brighten up their Mom’s new digs.

A quilt for empowerment!

Recently I quilted this lovely top. My friend’s niece has been accepted with Canada World Youth and she will be completing a 6 month placement in Bolivia and Ontario. Her program will focus on educating young woman in AIDS prevention, domestic violence and empowerment issues, all worthy areas to focus young time and energy. I have to admit, I am a little jealous of what sounds like a life altering and empowering experience! Her whole extended family is doing some intense fundraising for her trip and this quilt will be used for that purpose. I was more than happy to help a little bit by quilting the top and getting it out into the public as quickly as they could.

I especially love that Olivia actually sewed some of the blocks herself as she learned some piecing techniques from her Aunt Sue.

Of course, there is a name for this scrap busting technique, but I have to be honest, even though Sue just mentioned the name, I forget again.....I do know I tried this technique and my fabric wasn’t nearly as pretty and fresh! The idea is to sew your scraps together to make fabric and then cut your blocks from the resulting fabric. I think there are endless possibilities for colors and shapes using this technique.

The backing is a a nice light, crisp fabric; the batting is a super loft poly; thread is a 30 Wt cornflower top and bobbin. I used a pantograph design called Starburst, but it is actually a flower design so I think the designer just ran out of flower names. 

I hope the tickets they sell provide a jumpstart on Olivia’s fundraising!

Today I am linking to the Needle and Thread Network.