Critters in the garden

Swallowtail butterfly on my butterfly bush

My garden is looking a little bedraggled lately. But the butterfly bushes are doing great and attracting lots of butterflies, hummingbirds and even a couple of hummingbird moths.  I even had a Freudian slip a couple days ago and called this plant my hummingbird bush.  Unfortunately I haven't been able to capture the hummingbirds on camera.

Same swallowtail, different butterfly bush

Walking stick (click to see bigger)

My husband spotted this guy on the shed just before sunset. He was gone by the next morning. Don't you wonder what they eat?

More from AQS Grand Rapids 2012

Organic Log Cabin #4 by Jennifer Emry

The brighter quilts grabbed me this time. This one won a blue ribbon for wall quilts.

A close-up to remember the stitching (all by hand, rows about 3/8 inch apart).

From Michigan's Queen of Liberated, Gwen Marsten.

Next year I think I'll plan on two days to hit the show. It's difficult to see everything in one day, and there are some quilts I wished I had a chance to go back and study more. Plus I'd like to attend some lectures, too (I just have to ask for the days about 3 months in advance to make sure I get them.)

AQS Quilt Show Grand Rapids on Friday

AQS Tentmakers of Cairo; quilt approx. 70 inches square.

I took the day off work to attend the AQS show in Grand Rapids. I was very impressed by the caliber of the show, and the layout was great. I was especially impressed by the live exhibit Tentmakers of Cairo. Two men (the tentmakers) were quietly stitching away while everyone looked at their finished pieces (all were offered for sale, and some were already sold). I daresay that these two men could appliqué circles around anyone in the convention center (very fast and unusual technique).

AQS Tentmakers of Cairo; look at the use of color

AQS Tentmakers of Cairo; Appliqued calligraphy

More to show tomorrow!

Baby quilt zig zag bound and awaiting delivery

These colors are pretty true (early morning light).

Here's the bound and labeled zig zag baby quilt. Love that blue batik used for the binding (you can pick 'em, Nancy!) It just ties the whole thing together.

Now we have to wait for mom and baby to get past the 3-week-don't-bring-the-baby-out-of-the-house waiting period. (It's sort of a retro rule that OB doctors are using lately; I'm not totally sure why, but some of my co-workers tell me that the same rule was imposed 30-40 years ago and then went away. Now it's back.)

Another shot of the back with the binding.

Capturing the red

I thought I'd try showing the cool red I used in my Sourdough quilt top. I had a fat quarter of it at first, but when I started using it in some of the blocks, I decided I had better get more, it looked so good.

It's a Basic Grey from Moda, and it complements the Kaffe and batik fabrics so well, but is difficult to capture the subtleties. There is a hint of purple-blue, greeny-grey, tan and black.

And just for fun, a favorite green/multi batik I found. It also makes the Kaffes look great.

Sourdough peek

I have the center section sewn and now need to get to work on the sides before Mr. Buddy decides to rearrange my blocks.
I know this looks like a giant quilt, but the top part is for tucking over the pillows and the sides are the drop over the queen sized bed (the quilt will be approximately 88 inches wide by 104 inches long, including the 4-inch red inner borders.)

Crazy Quilt at Indy

In a recent trip to Indianapolis, a thousand or so diabetes educators were invited to an event at the Indiana State Museum, very close to downtown.

Even though the event was about diabetes and not about quilts, I was still hoping there would be a few more quilts out on display. I know they can't keep all the quilts out because they would deteriorate faster from light and moisture.  (Last year the museum hosted the Frugal and Fancy Indiana Quilts Exhibit Jan thru July 2011; click here to see some of the quilts, many from the mid-1800's).

This crazy quilt above was dated in the 1850's, and the velvets and silks appeared to be in beautiful condition. (Sorry for the blurry iphone photo; we may have had a drink or two prior to our tour. Plus, the closest we could get was about 8 feet from the quilt).  I was not with quilters, so I got to explain what was meant by crazy quilting and how crazy quilting and stitchery was done mainly by well-to-do women who had the time and the means to do fancy work.

There was one more quilty thing there; a well-preserved feed sack (still sewn as a sack) in lavender with white daisies. I got to explain about that, too.

Don't you just love that green Mickey Mouse chair? (I'm sure there is a fancier name for that style of chair; anyone know?)

Baby quilt nearly done

Margo completed the quilting with an overall squiggle using multicolored thread.  The quilt goes to Nancy next for binding (multicolored batik). As soon as Nancy's done, it's ready to give to our colleague, who had her baby last week (by C-section, cuz that baby did not want to turn around for nothing!)

Outside shot of our zig zag or Tennessee Lightning quilt. Our lighting goes sideways.

Back of quilt. Label to be completed by me tonight!

Don't forget, if you want to make this quilt pattern and have the zig zags go straight across the rows, you have to make mirror image blocks.