May 22, 2011

The S Did It

Cannot believe it is the May long weekend already. It's still cool and rain threatening. The trees and the early spring flowers are finally coming out. On the bright side that gives you time to get your fabric ready for the



Mystery is no longer available. Stay tuned for another mystery in the spring.


If you are like me and cut your pieces larger sew together and then trim down to size email me for different cutting instructions.

Have Fun!

May 4, 2011

Changes

What a week of down and up!
Assassination of Osama Bin Laden - Royal Wedding.
Canadian Federal Election (4 in 6 years) - Conservative Party majority seats elected (no more elections for 4 years).
Purple quilt cancelled - New quilt Royal Stars top finished. Thank goodness for deadlines.

Finally had to give up on the purple quilt. Just could not get it to work. Trying to force it was leading to more trying to force it. Even made three blocks to try to convince me that the fabrics would work. NOT!

Ding Ding Ding There's a quilt design that's been sitting in The Book for a year waiting to be recreated in batik fabric - EE Schenck, Galaxy, Java. Royal Stars. Coincidental that the Royal Wedding is happening. Does 1+1 really = 2?



Quilt was designed using EQ7. This is Block 1. Blocks are numbered easiest to hardest. When the pinwheel turned out fantastic this was the right project at the right time.
Auditioning which color, medium or dark, look best around each block
Which block goes where? Looking through the peep hole/reducing glass/digital camera picture is the best way to see if anything jumps out at you. You also want to scatter blocks that are similar in shape.

Sometimes just being together is what matters!
Borders - what kind, what width, what color, design or plain?
Another background border it is. Eleanor Burns was here and put all the auditioning pieces on the floor.
Now what? Add another border or not? Again wide or narrow? Color? Type?
Ok, a small red border.

Add another border? Now my head hurts. My eyes are not seeing. Tired. Lazy. Don't want to. Off to my friend's house for another opinion, a set of fresh eyes. Good thing because her daughter asks "Why does one of the sashings have a strip the other way around?"

Oh brother! LOL Do you know how many times this quilt has been examined, had pictures taken of and have never noticed the oops. Can you find the oops?

Audition more fabric, more widths ... Unanimously, no more borders. A welcome relief!

April 17, 2011

Cincinnati Quilt Festival

Cincinnati Quilt Festival was wonderful! Very clean city. Excellent venue. Two major hotels across the street, one a short block away, another two short blocks away. Classes were excellent. The food not the usual large venue food but instead diverse and very edible. Definitely worth a return to next year. Maybe next year will attend the ball game as well.

One of the tours offered at Quilt Festival in Cincinnati went to the Warren County Museum in Lebanon OH. Two particular and different articles caught my eye. The first, an Irish Chain quilt pattern on point ...



the second, a crystal pitcher.

The eye in the center is from the other side of the pitcher.

So many quilts to view at the show. This year I am particularly interested in how people quilt their quilts. How do they fill the large areas, the very small areas, the separate blocks, the border, the separate borders...



All so impressive!



Can you see Whoo welcomed me home.


Must be a night owl pretending to sleep on the branch above the magpie nest.

Oops, Whoo watches me now!

After 6 hours of periodically disturbing him to take a picture he flew off. It was interesting to note that the sparrows and chickadees were not bothered with him as they flew in and out of the tree beside this spruce.



Here we go again. Heavy wet snow that melts the same day only to snow again a couple days later and stay for a few days. Welcome to Spring in Calgary Alberta Canada!


Just had to take a picture of this.




The fabrics have been choosen for, LOL, Spring Crocus.