Quilt 'til You Wilt

Yesterday was a glorious day of sewing, chatting with friends, and being inspired by the projects of others. The London Friendship Quilters Guild hosts a Quilt 'til You Wilt day every November. It all starts at 9am although some people arrived earlier than that.  By 8pm, most had wilted and headed home but during those 11 hours, the machines were humming, the irons were hot and the rotary cutters were slicing! 

I brought three projects with me. A couple of weeks ago, my MIL mentioned that she would like a new Christmas table runner for her dining room table.  It just so happened that I had some fabric in my stash that I could use for the runner...LOL.  I spent most of the day working on the runner. I used a couple of blocks from a pattern for a full sized quilt that Christine had printed out from the Moda Bake shop.

I made one block like this...the pattern called for a four patch in the middle but I changed it.

Here is the first star block of two. The star points are supposed to be wonky.

I quilted it organically with cream coloured thread. Several others were doing organic quilting yesterday too.

I used the green fabric for the binding.

Do you remember the Quilt of Valour that I mentioned a couple of weeks ago?  I had brought it home from our last LFQG meeting and my job was to sew the binding on and finish off the quilt.  Somehow, the binding was lost between the meeting and home. Another member of the guild found it and called me to see if it belonged to the quilt I had brought home. Her husband dropped it off at my workplace and yesterday, I sewed it onto the quilt.  This was project number two for the day.

This will be today's slow Sunday stitching project.

Project number three was a stitch and flip UFO that I started in the Spring of 2014 at a workshop with Jacquie Gering. I did some cutting and made some parts but did not take any pictures.  My phone was almost dead by the end of the day and I wanted to save some power for the trip home in case of emergencies.

It was a fun and productive day!  I have not had very much time to sew this year and enjoyed every minute of my day yesterday!  I am linking to Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching.

Hand Quilting at the Curling Club

I have had this wool project basted and ready to hand quilt for months now.  It may become a pillow or it may become a wall hanging...I am not sure yet.  I spent some time working on it while watching my daughter curl on Friday night.  I am quilting around the wool appliqué and have not decided what to do after that.  

My daughter curls in a mixed competitive league.  One of her teammates asked if I was crocheting.  His girlfriend admired my project.  She knew it was not crochet. 

I hope to get some more stitches in this week.

Improv with Intent: Workshop with Cheryl Arkison

 

I spent a glorious day at a Cheryl Arkison "Improv with Intent" workshop in St. Mary's, Ontario just over a week ago.  We started out with a playing with fabric exercise. Each table group had a pile of Cheryl's scraps on it and we were told to grab two pieces and sew them together.  Then, pass it to the person on our left.  Then, we added another piece...etc. 

 

 

We ended up with several improv blocks that Cheryl displayed on a design wall. Cheryl encouraged all of us to play with fabric on a regular basis and not to always work from a pattern.  Personally, I would rather play than follow a pattern...

 



We were to bring an idea, or a picture or something that would inspire our improv project for the workshop.  I brought a picture of Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater.  My husband and I took an in depth tour of Fallingwater near Ohiopyle, PA earlier this year.  We have toured several of FLW's buildings including Kentuck Knob near Ohiopyle, PA, Talliesen in Spring Green, WI, the Darwin Martin House in Buffalo, NY and Greycliffe in Derby, NY, as well as his studio in Oak Park, IL.  All of his buildings and the stories that go with them are fascinating.

I started by making a couple of architectural features of the house that stood out for me.

This column of windows is sandwiched between the two chimneys of the house. The chimney fabric actually has a brick pattern on it.

Next, I worked on the stairway that goes down from the living room of the house down to the water.

Here is everything I had on the design wall by the end of the day.

Everyone had a chance at the end of the day to explain their projects and talk about what they were going to do next.  I did not want to go home...I just wanted to keep sewing.

Here is Christine and her blocks that she had done by the end of the day.

Thanks, Cheryl!  I had a wonderful time and can't wait to get working on my project again! 

Cheryl Arkison's Lecture

A week ago, I went to a truck show/lecture by Cheryl Arkison from Calgary, Alberta. She was in Ontario for several days to do a couple of trunk shows and teach 4 classes in London and Toronto. She brought a suitcase full of quilts to show to us! Cheryl loves to use scraps and made the above slab quilt using her scraps which she had sorted into piles by colour.

This quilt was made using her low volume scraps.  I love how soft it looks!

Cheryl recommends making baby quilts no wider than 40 inches so that you don't have to piece the backing. This baby quilt was quick and easy to make.

A crossword puzzle was the inspiration for this quilt.

The wonky yellow triangles are made log cabin style.  Who said you should not use yellow in a quilt???

This quilt was inspired by reading Gwen Marston's book, Liberated Quiltmaking.  I have a copy of this book and several others by Gwen on my shelf.

Cheryl went through a green phase and decided to try making the corner stones and sashing the focus of this quilt.

Inspired by a mountain meadow, this was my favourite quilt that Cheryl showed.

A perfect quilt for a sewing room wall!

Her husband challenged her to make a quilt that looks like an equalizer on an old stereo.   The lights just glow on that black background!

I bought a copy of Cheryl's latest book and she signed it for me.  It was a fun and inspiring evening.  Now, I just want to spend my time in my sewing room playing with fabric...  Thanks, Cheryl!


It is Slow Sunday stitching time tomorrow...  I bought home a Quilt of Valour from the London Friendship Guild meeting this past Thursday night so I will put putting the binding on it tomorrow. Somehow, between the meeting and home, I have misplaced the binding.  I think I might have some fabric around here somewhere that I can use instead...

All Cooped Up

I was at a quilting class, "Improvising with Intent", on Saturday with Christine.  Cheryl Arkison from Dining Room Empire was our teacher.  I will do another post soon about the class and her trunk show but I wanted to show you our treats:  

 

 

Quilter's Chocolate!

 

 

Tonight was sewing night with Christine.  I worked on an attic windows setting for my chicken blocks I made earlier this year.  I am going to call this quilt "All Cooped Up!"   The 3D boxes really show up with this picture. I have some fun fabric to use for the border which I will add once the blocks are together. 

 

 

I also made two pillowcases for our local "Inn out of the Cold" program.  The Elgin Piecemakers Guild members each make two pillowcases to donate each November. 

Christine worked on a placemat for Meals on Wheels and on a pieced backing for a quilt top she made earlier this year.   Next week, we are going to make Christmas stockings for a homeless women's shelter before working on our own projects.  I already have fabric picked out for the stockings...

Baby Quilt in Waiting

This week, I finished off the baby quilt I started a couple of weeks ago.

I pin basted it, machine quilted it and attached the binding when Christine came over to sew on Tuesday night.   It was a very productive evening!

 

I did an organic cross hatch over the entire quilt with light gray thread.

I took these pictures outside this morning, before work. A few colourful leaves are still clinging to the branches of our worplesdon sweetgum tree.

 

I bought two of these little chipmunk fence sitters at a store in London, Ontario. They help the real chipmunks in my backyard to feel welcome!

I like the turquoise binding on this quilt.  I finished off the hand stitching last night.

The backing is soft flannel.

 

Someday, this will be gifted to someone who has a baby girl. In the meantime, it will live at my house.

 

 

Frank is DONE!

 

Drum roll please!  I am happy to announce that Frank is done!  I finished the last stitches last Sunday afternoon while on our way to our nieces' birthday party. I now need to wash it and have it framed. I am hoping to hang Frank in my new sewing room. 

 

This week, I made two place mats for Meals on Wheels. The place mats will be put into gift bags that are delivered along with the meals on Christmas day.  This is an annual project for the London Friendship Quilters' Guild. They are ready to take to our next meeting so labels can be added.

 

 

I also made binding for a charity quilt made by members of the Elgin Piecemakers for an adult chemo patient at our local hospital.  I only have part of one side to finish stitching tomorrow. Each member of the guild made a different coloured slab--they were put together into one top which was quilted by one of our Heather's husband. I offered to do the binding.

 

 



Did I ever mention that I love orange!!!???

I will be linking to slow Sunday stitching at Kathy's blog.

I went fabric shopping this past week. I just wanted to get some flannel for the backing of the baby quilt I just made..., however,  several pieces of fabric leaped into my bag and came home with me. 

The two darker fabrics are for pillow cases for our local Inn Out of the Cold program.

 

I am sure it will all be put to good use, someday!