Quilting getting more exposure

Wow, the Wall Street Journal, this is fantastic!
Sharon

Fraser Valley Quilt Guild Show

I promised some eye candy and here it is. I enjoyed seeing all the lovely work that came from this guild. My favorite has to be the Hexigon quilts done by Val Smith. I hope this link worked, if not, go to the Show and Tell link and you should see her listed there. Her work with Hexigons and machine quilting is amazing. I was mesmerized with her Fractured Hexigon quilt, the color theory, piecing techniques, and her quilting. While admiring this quilt, someone told me Val was at the show. I had to opportunity to chat with her, and she showed me some of her very tiny hexi's she is working on. This is one talented lady. Now here is some of the show. Enjoy the pics.




Some others to enjoy

Take time today.....

Time to reflect on what is important. And take time to remember those who have given us our opportunities and our freedoms. They have made the biggest sacrifice.
I love this quilt, I pieced the top while living in Vancouver BC, it was supposed to be a rail fence, but with my lack of knowledge about value at the time, it just would not work. After several hours in front of the design wall at my local quilt shop, I dumped my blocks into a bag and went home. I thought I would have better luck a second time, but after 2 hours the next weekend, I left with my bag full of blocks, just the same as how I had arrived. Then I made 13 star blocks, added them into the mix, and started sewing blocks together as they came out of the bag. Was I surprised, I loved how it turned out. Fast forward to living in the U.S. I took this quilt to the local Longarmer, I had my red/white/blue variegated thread and asked for stars all over. Once this was all finished I took it to Show and Tell and everyone loved it and told me how the 13 stars represented the first 13 colonies etc. Being Canadian, and not up on my U.S. history, I had no idea what they were talking about, yet they thought I had planned this great idea. So that quilt taught me that some times if you let things happen, instead of trying to force them, the results will amaze you!This one is from the cover of American Patchwork and Quilting, it is an Alex Anderson design. It usually lives on my kitchen table.

Finally doing something quilty!

This "no repetition" with my arm is for the birds, or the non quilters! But I've been taking dr.s orders and have only stitched on my hexigons in short time intervals. Today my friend Dani F. is picking me up and we are going to the Fraser Valley Quilters Guild annual show in Cloverdale, BC. With camera in hand, I will return with some fantastic eye candy for everyone! and maybe a few goodies for me. I did indulge in Kim Diehl's new book this week, Simple Comforts How I love her work! I also came home with a piece of turquoise Sateen from Two Thimbles in Bellingham, WA. Yes Muriel, I had to have some too!
Sew some stitches today!
Sharon

Still busy.......

busy getting better......no quilting, nothing repetitious with my right arm, and I'm right handed. Sewing hexi's has lasted about 10 minutes at a time. Maybe this weekend? I'm posting over here right now

Sharon

Circles or squares....

Showing off my friend Janet W's beautiful piecing and color theory!

This is the last quilt I got done before I take my surgery break. You can read about that at my other blog, Bumb In My Boob The title says it all. However, when Janet told me her top was finished, I could not say no. Her work is so amazing and as a longarm quilter, I LOVE to work on pieces that are done with such care and attention. Janet puts every ounce of her heart into every piece she does. I don't think "good enough" has been said in her sewing room.

One lucky bride and groom will receive this treasure. Just how many batiks are in this top???

Thanks Janet, you gave me something wonderful to focus on the weekend of my waiting.

I might be off this blog for a bit,
Sew long for now.
Sharon

Cross posting but so worth it

Leftovers become fine dining.

So let's get back to quilting here. I've had this top from Norma for a while now, and the push is on to get all my customer quilts back to them before I go for my surgery. I was thinking I had several weeks, but not so, I'm scheduled in for May 14th. This top was "thrown together" by my friend Norma, who does amazing work. When I needed samples for my longarm classes, she was my go to piecer. Her love of foundation paper piecing shows up in any time she includes this technique in her quilting.
Here are her left overs, along with some additional blocks she felt would compliment the center of this top. She told me this quilt will live in a cabinet, folded up with her others. I say, NO WAY, this baby needs to be hanging on a wall!

Just a few more shots of this, I loved quilting it, the colors are so vibrant against the pale yellows and creams.
Terrific design decisions were made for this top, I love how your eye just travels out to the corners and then you just keep looking around for more! Great job Norma!

On the reading front, here are a few of my new favorite books. I am overwhelmed with quilting books full of patterns, if I lived to be 837 I wouldn't make 1/2 of what is roaming around in my head. The last few quilt books I've purchased are not books of patterns, but of stories. I have no specific passion about quilts from Virginia, but is you love applique these two books are a must have, the photos and historical quilts are simply amazing.
Last, but not least, this book was a Christmas gift from my gal pal Paula. I have read the story of Aurora and how these pioneers helped for SW WA and parts of OR. Jane Kirkpatrick is a wonderful author based in Sherman County, OR. I lived in this county for a few years and had the privilege of meeting Jane. Her books are mostly fact based fiction, and her characters are strong women. Check out her site for more information on her books and writings, she was in Paducah, KY in April.
Take time to sew today!
Sharon

I've been a bit busy......

bumpinmyboob
Think Pink and visit my other blog to see what I've been up to.....
Sew many decisions
Sharon

Can it be any bigger?

There is no greater joy than when I introduce someone to quilting they take to it like a dog to a bone. But who would have thought this would have been her first quilt? My dear boss started this top in the beginning of Feb, the same time as me. I explained how my Log Cabin quilt would be a two year project as there were a lot of strips to cut and I would work on it in between other projects. I have 20 blocks made during a run of sleepless nights a few weeks ago. Here is her progress.


Little did I know her Log Cabin would be a two month project. Every day she left work and went home and sewed. After we worked on the 1/4 " seam allowance, there was not stopping her. 110 x 110 finished, amazing!


She has named this quilt "Awesome" and I couldn't agree more with her. Here is a close up of the quilting. Debbie is from Hawaii, so she chose Hibiscus as the design. Now she is putting on black binding, plotting her next project and building up her "resourse room". I have explained one can never have enough "resources"!


Just to end with a "too cute" pic. Here are the kittens we have been looking after at work. The Momma cat was a stray and she got preggers before we could fix her. So the shop guys built a cat house where she could be safe. We are adopting out the kittens, taking up an office pool to pay for the fixing of Momma cat, aka Chim.

Sew cute!
Sharon

Being a tourist instead of a quilter.

Some days don't turn out as planned, and that can be a very good thing. Last Sat, yes, I know I'm a bit behind on the news, I planned to sew all afternoon with my gal pal Muriel. I packed up my trays of Log Cabin strips, my machine and headed north to Burnaby, BC. Once I arrived, she asked if I wanted to do some exploring in the city, so off we went. Our first stop was Chinatown in Vancouver. We were at the doors of Dr Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Gardens
Just stepping in through the doors, you enter a place of tranquility and calm. They have some amazing things here and although we didn't go along with the oral tour, we certainly enjoyed viewing all that was there.

There were many windows similar to this one and I thought of all the Celtic Applique designs that could be inspired by these window frames. Since I've been waiting weeks and weeks for the tulips to bloom in this cold spring, I loved this one. It was so fresh looking.

This masterpiece was donated by a private citizen. It is all hand embroidered on silk and is the most amazing piece of work I have seen. It was a challenge to capture the detail of the workmanship since the light shines right though. Regardless of looking at the front or the back, you could not tell which side the artist worked from. Simply amazing.




Click on any of the photos for great close up details of the workmanship.


Since this was an actual garden, here is a photo of a lovely blooming shrub. There were a lot of these rocks, I forget what they are called. We originally thought they were man made, but this is a natural formation and I believe they come from somewhere on Vancouver Island, BC

After the garden tour, we wandered over the the Vancouver Police Museum. That was very interesting and fun to see a bit of the history of this great city.

Due to a brain pause I have no photo of our last stop, I guess I was so excited that we were actually going there. Dollar Meats, my favorite shop in Chinatown. This is usually a two person job. One to drive the car and drop the other on the street. The driver continues around the block again and again until you have waited in line, picked your piece of BBQ pork and BBQ sausage, had the guy chop and package it up, and go back out to the sidewalk and jump back in the car. Since we were walking, we skipped that part of the adventure. Instead we walked right in, got our box of delicacy, walked out and opened the box right there on the street. Yummmmmmm!

It's the weekend, sew go be a tourist somewhere!
Sharon