TST #27 - Almost Amish

I had attended a colour class at a quilt conference in Santa Clara, California.  Yes that's right it was the Pacific International Quilt Show.  The class was with Katie Pasquini Masopust.  Part of the supply list required that we bring along at least 2 two-inch squares of each and every fabric we had in our stash.  It took a long time to cut all those little squares.   When the class ended there were thousands upon thousands of those squares on the tables. Katie asked each of the students to take some of the squares home because she had no intention of taking them home with her.  Can't remember what year that was, but I know that it took a long time to use up the squares that I took home.

Anyway, I ended up interpreting some of them into an Amish inspired quilt.  I have always enjoyed seeing Amish quilts that are created using a dark background and bright coloured blocks.  I even called it "Almost Amish".

It was donated to a local senior centre.

TST #26 - Never toss the leftovers

The quilts for today's trunk show come from left overs from previous quilts.  In a previous post I showed you a Mystery Quilt.  During the construction of that quilt, I ended up with a considerable number of half square triangles.  I had lost track of those HSTs until I came across them while looking for something to take to a retreat.  I chose to take those with me and just play. 

What resulted was this happy little quilt that was donated to the neo-natal ward at the local hospital.

Sewing Machine Skirts

My Guild is getting ready to have a quilt show.  Along with a display of our member's quilts, we are planning on having a merchant mall, tea room and boutique.  I've been busy making some items for the boutique.  Here is what I've produced thus far.

This sewing machine skirt was a good use for the fabric piece that I had picked up at a stop at Bayside Quilting.  The net pockets along the lower edge will hold your tools at the machine.  It is supposed to go under your sewing machine with the four pockets hanging over the edge.  A simple item to make and hopefully something that will raise some funds for our Guild.  Here are a few more.

If you happen to be in the area, come visit the Quilt Show.  You can get information about the date, location and time here.

Architecture Reveal Day!

Today is reveal day over at the Tangled Textiles site.  Our challenge theme this time was Architecture.  Here is my piece.

Yes, yes I know.  What do bees have to do with architecture?  Think about it.  What is architecture if  not construction of a structure?  Well a beehive is a structure of sorts.  One for bees; and one that was constructed with considerable labour and amazing symmetry. 

This time inspiration came late from a nature program on television about bees.  Once I had my idea, it was time to formulate a plan of construction.  I did some research on the Internet, found some images of bees and beehives and made a sketch of what my piece might look like.

I chose to do the piece so that it looked like light coming into an imaginary window, hence the different coloured hexagons.  After selecting the fabric, each colour was fused with Steam a Seam to a background of very light yellow Kona cotton.  You didn't think I was going to hand applique all those hexies, did you?  I was running short of time.

I initially wanted to do some thread painting on each of the hexagons, but after some testing on some extras, it didn't create the effect that I was looking for so I stitched around each hexagon.

Next came the bees.  I initially thought of using pipe cleaners, but I didn't like the look.  Next I thought of using velvet, but didn't have any in my stash.  Aha!! I had some felt squares that would work.

The wings were made out of wire lace stuck between two sheets made out of angelina fibers.  Here is a photo of the wire lace. 

This came from Stitches, a quilt and yarn shop on Saltspring Island, British Columbia.  The wire lace added just enough stiffness to be able to manipulate the wings to give some additional dimension.

All that was left to do was mark a few veins on the wings with a fine Sharpie pen and there you have it!  Nature's Little Architects!

So what's next?  Well I can finish up some UFOs until the next Tangled Textiles challenge is announced.

Until then keep stitching and pop back here now and then.

TST #24 A Bear's Paw and Sporting Fun

Like so many of the quilts we make, these two quilts were made from left overs that I had on hand.  The one on the left was designed using a demo version of Quilt Pro designing software.  Made from four squares depicting various sports it was donated to the neo-natal ward at a local hospital. 

The one on the right was submitted to a local fabric store for an auction the proceeds of which were going to raise money for BC Children’s Hospital.  As it turned out, one of our guild members, ended up with the quilt.  She didn't know that I had made it and was quite surprised when she found out.

TST #25 - A BC Dogwood

Posted at TST #6, I showed you the block that I contributed to an international block exchange.  Despite making sufficient blocks for the exchange, I also made additional blocks.  Why?  My mother had been very supportive of my quilting hobby/habit/obsession.  She had help me pick fabric and patterns for some of my past projects. She was amazed at the number of participants that had joined the exchange.

She liked the block so much that I made a wall hanging from the extra blocks and hand quilted it.  It was completed in December 1996 and hung on her bedroom wall.  As a representation of the provincial flower of British Columbia where we lived and a reminder of the postcard depicting the dogwood that my father had once sent to us, it must have made her heart sing.

 Here is a closer view.

TST #23 - Czech Bay Quilt

My father had taken a trip to his birthplace in Europe.  While there he was able to visit the house that he grew up in and was raised in by his grandfather.  A Czech couple now owned it as a vacation home.  While there my father recounted stories of playing in the stream that ran next to the house as a young boy, just like the young grandson of the copule now did.  When my father returned from his trip, he continued to correspond with the couple.  During that correspondence the couple were expecting the arrival of another grandchild.  My father asked me if I would be willing to make a small quilt that could be sent as a gift.  I agreed.

I had purchased a small colourful panel of zoo animals that would be just right.  With the addition of some colourful 4-patch blocks and some flying geese patches, the panel would come out to the right size.

When completed, my father suggested that perhaps a label showing both Canada’s flag and that of British Columbia would remind the couple of where the quilt originated.  The results are shown below.