A Client Quilt of a Musical Theme

This quilt was such an absolute pleasure to work on.

The piecer, Elaine, is a very skilled seamstress and she did an wonderful job creating this beautiful top as a gift for her grandson on his graduation from high school. Music plays a prominent part in her grandson's life now and will continue to do so, and thanks to his grandmother, he will have this lovely themed quilt to keep him cosy as he begins university this fall.

Elaine told me she liked my swirls and leaves, so swirls and leaves it was! As I free styled over the musical instruments on her carefully pieced blocks, as well as on the pre-printed panels, I tried to create movement and what I imagined to be beautiful music flowing from the horns, pianos and stringed instruments.

I quilted this with a variegated Rainbow thread on the top and a honey gold Glide in the bobbin. I didn’t get a close up of her backing fabric, but it was music bar-lines with notes and treble clefs.

  

A Client’s Beautiful Batik Floating Star Quilt

I love being given free reign on the quilting on a client’s quilt. I absolutely love free styling a quilt top!

This lovely floating star was a blissfully beautiful quilt to work on.

Each wonderful block was made with a different batik fabric and I just so enjoyed admiring each one as I quilted the top.

Claudette did a great job piecing this large top (96 x 106) but unfortunately I really couldn’t get a photo of it in its entirety. Weather and my circumstances made it necessary to keep it inside to photograph.

If summer ever does arrive here in the east, there will be many shouts of graitude. For now we try to make ourselves feel that a high of 17 degrees really is warm and that the rain is refreshing. Meanwhile I wrap myself in three layers and dream as I quilt as to where we can go this winter that is hot and dry. And that is hosting a quilt show, of course!

For those who might be interested, I quilted this with Omni thread on the top, a polyester thread from Connecting Threads in the bobbin, and Claudette provided me with a Quilters Dream Cotton Batting. 

Time well spent!

The south western shores of Nova Scotia are breathtakingly beautiful, especially at this time of year.

I recently had the pleasure of taking in a few sights along the shore with my daughter as I begin to learn the ways and habits of not working every day. Mind you, I did have my chores that kept me busy enough while visiting! I had a quilt to bind, and blocks to make, and some piecing to plan. And on what would have been my Mom’s 79th birthday, I tried 4 new recipes and each one was a success! 

One of my daughter’s co-workers gifted us with a huge bag full of fresh rhubarb, all in exchange for tips on picking and caring for his patch. Then came the big decision as to what to make! Rhubarb muffins, rhubarb crisp, cobbler, stewed rhubarb, strawberry rhubarb pie, oh my! A chance trip to the grocery store where ceramic loaf pans were on sale for what we felt was a dirt cheap price, made us decide loaves would be a good idea. I started flipping through recipes online and having faith in Canadian Living Magazine recipes, chose Rhubarb Loaf which conveniently makes two loaves, so one for us and one for the kind owner of the rhubarb patch. Be aware though, this recipe has soooo much sugar in it, it is not the healthiest choice, though most definitely a very tasty treat!

With still more rhubarb chopped, it was on to another Canadian Living recipe, Rhubarb Almond Crumble Squares...oh dear. If you like date squares, this is a must try! Again, lots of sugar, but all we rhubarb lovers know that is the price you pay for cooking with this fruit. This recipe is actually a bit more labour intensive than I am used to making in the past while, but again, I was trying to embrace the idea of being on my own schedule. When Simone walked in the door after work, the look on her face as she smelled the sweet aroma was well worth all my efforts. 

We also had an idea that a strawberry rhubarb combination needed to be included, so I made Rhubarb Strawberry Scones, but I used milk instead of heavy cream. Another delicious choice!

The fourth recipe tried that day was Kale and Quinoa Patties. We fell in love with these yummy burgers! So delicious and so worth making again and again! We did discover later that they are best reheated in the frying pan and not the oven, as they tend to dry out and become too crispy in the oven.

The sun was shining and though we had plans for a bike ride, the wind was just too wild for us that day. So, off we went to find a beach for a walk, with a pan of hot crumble and two forks, knowing that Mom would find this a perfectly suitable way to celebrate her birthday.

As is the norm in this area, the fog started to roll and when it rolls, it comes quickly, but we still managed a walk before we had to give in and get out of the damp wind. Besides, we did have that hot crumble in the car!

On Saturday we headed to the local Farmer’s Market where we tried even more scones - can you tell there is weakness here? And then we found me some more of this delicious coffee at the Natural Food Market.

Another great pastime is “antiquing” and I am one who loves to put all good things to use over and over! We visited four stories of antiques, 90% of which I could identify, own, or have seen in my family’s homes. Simone also tends to love the workmanship and intrigue of antiques and uses her Great Aunt’s dishes and her Grandmother’s silver daily, has her Great Grandmother’s table and chairs as her kitchen set and regularly collects new to her items for her home (Especially hats! Grandma June's granddaughter for sure!). One lovely purchase Simone made recently was with me in mind and I was the lucky one who came home with these beauties to use in my kitchen!

Freehand Quilting

I find myself in the very fortunate position of having a number of comfort or charity quilts to stitch. These lovely quilt tops give me the opportunity to learn as I go and to practice my own longarming designs. When I am faced with a client’s top and I am still not completely sure what approach I will take, I load one of these tops on my machine and stitch away. It is always interesting because I often have an idea of what I will be quilting and then when I start, well, what I stitch is usually nothing like what I have been sketching out and practicing in my cool and handy Wipebook my sweet daughter gifted to me.

This time I did stick to my plan and I am especially pleased with this design. I love being in front of the needle on my longarm. In some ways it reminds me of my days wielding a brush and letting the paint flow!

This design is one I randomly stitched on a sampler with while at Road to California and I was itching to take it a step further and develop it into a full edge to edge freehand design.

I always tend to try to fill every space and I working to learn the fine art of less is more - for some quilts! I think it has a lovely, casual feel and yet maybe is a bit folksy as well.

Colors of Cozumel

Spring is slowly making its way back into our lives, although as I drove through the Annapolis Valley, Nova Scotia this week, I saw evidence that New Brunswick is still slightly behind on the calendar. Even though I attended Acadia University way back when, I had never witnessed the apple blossoms in all their glory! So, I was actually momentarily puzzled when I saw the rows of trees laden with their ethereal whitish pink flowers. I remember the thought crossing my mind that it seemed like an awful lot of ornamental cherry trees off the highway with no houses in sight. Yes, I have days like that where the obvious is just not obvious...

Had I not been so focused on making my way to my destination, I might have stopped and taken a photo or two to share. But, I also remembered one night, those many years ago, when a group of fellow students and I made our way into the apple orchard, bags in hand, with plans to help ourselves to some deliciously juicy pickings. The details are now vague, but I do recall a couple of twisted ankles and scraped knees as we breathlessly raced out of the field when we were spotted and told on no uncertain terms to beat it!! Still embarrassed by this escapade all these years later and not willing to twist my aging bones and joints, I simply stayed out of the field and enjoyed the view from afar. You will have to trust me that it was a glorious sight with a very festive feel as the laden branches delicately danced in the breeze.

After that long winter we all persevered, I am visually hungry for new growth this spring and am anxiously waiting for my magnolia tree to bloom, for flowers to begin popping up, and for the greens of summer to grow strong and true. Nova Scotia is weeks ahead with magnolias beginning to drop their blossoms, ornamental cherries and dogwoods in full bloom, wild flowers and tulips in abundance and trees full and green. 

So, to appease my senses, I have been looking at some photos I took while in Cozumel. Until I get some more local color photographed, I am sharing these..

Changes

I have been gradually transitioning away from a job that has kept me very busy and pre-occupied for the last 14 years. There was very little, if any, creativity in my work and at the end of the day, I was exhausted. Finally the time came for me to say goodbye to this part of my life and to move on to something that makes me happier. 

And, you know what, I am really okay with my decision..

All keyed up! A client quilt

Lately I have been robbing Peter to pay Paul, so to speak. Life has been a delicate balancing act and sometimes sleep just doesn’t come easy with all the file folders in my head filled to capacity and spilling out into my REM time. This morning I was awake far too early and after struggling to stay comfortable and not disturb my husband, I gave in and got up. Did I want to be up and moving before 4 am? No, not really, but sleep was evasive and I knew it was futile to fight. So, with visions of our fridge full of fruits and veggies, I began chopping and sauteing and blending. 

Soon I had a lovely pot of leek soup simmering. 

There was a pasta salad that got pulled together as well, along with my favorite way to start the day, smoothies. There is no set recipe for blender drinks in our house, but today I had a juicy grapefruit that was perfect for the mix and added some zip to our yummy concoctions.

What had been occupying some of my thoughts? Earlier I had received this top from Marie:

Her quilt was the result of a challenge she participated in at one of her guilds. A fellow member brought in a selection of Fons and Porter magazines and challenged the members to complete a project found within the pages. Marie chose to make this wonderful little cuddle quilt for a niece who just happens to be a composer.

The perfect backing!

Marie brought me a 35% higher loft poly batting and using a neutral thread on the bottom and a black thread on top, I quilted a variety of designs to suit the quilt.

I created piano keys in the borders, quilted some stippling in the piano and background, did some straight stitching in the borders and on the red music notes and tried to create a simple design on the keyboard that would reflect a classic style.

I also stitched around the pre-printed keyboard with a monofilament thread to hi-light the individual keys.

There was a bit of discussion about the binding that Marie would add. As with many projects, we sometimes run out of the exact piece we might use because we have bought our fabric with no particular project in mind. Although her first instinct was to sew on a red binding, I think she may go with a solid black.

Discharge Dyeing

Right now I have dye buckets and dishes and measuring cups and dish pans and PVC pipe and measuring spoons and ice cream buckets of soda ash solution and colorful rags and all kinds of other fabric dyeing paraphernalia “decorating” my dining room, kitchen and maybe a few other spots in the house..When I get a few minutes and the urge, I mix up a bit of dye, manipulate some fat quarters of fabric and do a bit of dyeing. However, my last batch reminded me that using less than the perfect fabric is a waste of my time.

To say I was disappointed those results is about right. So, for now, those pieces  have been set aside until I feel ready to deal with them by over-dyeing, discharging or using some sort of stencil, stamp or brush on them.

In the meantime, to make myself get over that annoying sense of failure we Type A’s sometimes suffer when our results are not up to our own sometimes impossible standards, I decided to do a little discharge dyeing. Discharge dyeing is always a success because you cannot predict the results and what you get is always a wonderful, useful surprise. Or, at least that is what I tell myself!

I have a “reasonable” collection of fabrics so I scrounged up a hunk of black cotton from the stacks and using a 50/50 mix of water and bleach, I tried some folder and pleating and brushed my bleach solution on each piece. When I discharge fabrics, I watch closely for the process to start and then quickly rinse the fabric in a pan of cold water, then toss it in a stop bath of vinegar and cold water. Afterwards I wash it in hot water with Blue Dawn dish detergent, dry them, press them and then dream of where I can use these lovely fabrics.

 

As a point of reference, all these fabrics originated from that same piece of black in the photos. Which is one of the fun things about this process - the unpredictability of what you will uncover.