Next on the Docket

Our family Christmas party was canceled over a month ago due to a snowstorm that made traveling dangerous. We finally got together this past Sunday at our home!  It was weird last month putting up and taking down Christmas decorations and lights without anyone but us seeing them (we didn't want them up for 6 weeks!)  So now that the party's over, it's time to get some stitching done!

This Broken Star Log Cabin quilt top (pattern from Edyta Sitar of Laundry Basket Quilts) was made a few years back. My friend Debbie S. worked on one for herself, too, back when we used to stitch every other Monday at her house. With steady stitching from 10 to 12:30, then 1 to 3 pm, we could only get 6 blocks done per time. These are 4-inch blocks, people! Simple sewing but time intensive. A closer view:

I plan to machine quilt in the ditch between the 4-inch blocks. Then I'll decide if more stitching is needed. 

I also have another quilt which will get some simple hand quilting. This top was a block of the month from Quilts Plus in Kalamazoo, from quite a few years ago.  These are also 4-inch blocks. Debbie S. has one of these, too. I'm glad we stitched together, because we had to read the directions for each block a few times, and double check with each other so we were assured that we wouldn't goof up.

I'm anxious to have these finished and hanging in my living room.

Christmas Decor and Treats

I have very few Christmas season quilts, not due to lack of wanting to make some. Work so gets in the way sometimes!

I was lucky to win the center of this quilt in our quilt bee's block exchange in the early1990's (every year Vicky R would make one of these Santas as her "block"; there was way more work put into it than you normally would think of as a quilt block. We all wished we would win a Santa, and for two years in a row, I did!)

I added the borders, snowflakes (sequins) and quilting.  It hangs with honor by my front door every year.

This is the second Santa block I won, the following year. Yay me! I plan to include this in a "someday" Christmas quilt with other miscellaneous Christmas blocks.

And my contribution to treat night at the Grand Rapids Camera Club (my husband belongs); a batch also came with me to my quilt bee's treat night.  The homely ones stayed home.  These gingerbread people were easy. I bought the already formed and frozen dough boys from Gordon Food Service, baked and decorated them with royal frosting (Martha Stewart's recipe).

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to my quilt buddies!

Quilts at ArtPrize 2013

Never too late to show you photos of quilts that showed up in this fall's ArtPrize competition!

I am so excited that Ann Loveless of Frankfort, Michigan won the first place in the popular vote at ArtPrize 2013.  Her landscape "Sleeping Bear Dune Lakeshore" was done from a photo in northern Michigan. It was fused raw edge appliqué from batiks.  I heard comments from people who could not believe it was fabric; they thought it was either a painting or a photograph.

The next is a quilt made from wood! The detail is amazing. Fraser Smith's quilt made it into the Top 10 popular vote.  Here's a close-up. See the "stitching"?

And another wood cloth piece from Fraser Smith, this time a "leather" jacket.

CAT Scan and late summer garden photos

Anyone need a CAT scan? Or perhaps a quilt inspection? Rosie's your girl!

My purple oxalis looked so sad at my office, but after repotting and a vacation outside, I think it looks fab.

Bi-color budlea (butterfly bush). Just starting to bloom at this late date.

I used to cut off the coleus blooms because they aren't so pretty, and I heard cutting them extends the life of the plant. But guess who likes these teeny tiny blooms? The hummingbirds! 

AQS 2013 Grand Rapids: See Rock City

Do any of you remember those signs painted on roofs and sides of old barns that told you to “See Rock City” as a vacation destination? Well, those barns and signs were the inspiration for this quilt. (As it turns out, Rock City is in Lookout Mountain, Georgia. I guess my folks thought that was a little too far to go for a trip with 4 kids.)

I was looking forward to seeing this quilt in person, because I had read Julie’s play-by-play process of making this quilt, documented on her blog in the last year or so.

 Julie is a quilter from Tennessee, but originally from Michigan, with family in West Michigan.  She managed to make it to the Grand Rapids AQS show to see her quilt hang (among other things at the show) and to see a nephew get married the same weekend.

There is a lot more to this quilt than meets the eye (especially since the ropes at the show kept everyone back a good eight feet).  Here’s what I know about the quilt:

• Each barn was free-pieced. No pattern used.
• There is one barn per month of the year, with details near each barn to hint at the corresponding month’s weather.
• The quilt was put together with sashing between the blocks, but not finished, because a voice in her head told her something was not right. She took the quilt apart and realized that the fabulous free-pieced barns needed a free-pieced sky to go with the barn’s season. Much better!

Click here for a link to the whole process and back story.

And I got to meet Julie ever-so-briefly in the lobby of the DeVos Place (where the show was held). Nice to finally meet you, Julie. And thanks for letting me share your quilt with people who didn’t know about you before now!

AQS 2013 Grand Rapids Highlights

Here are a few quilts in the AQS show that caught my fancy. More to follow.....

Great use of color.

Reminds me of an M.C. Escher metamorphosis drawing.

Shown at the Karen K. Stone lecture. Love her color sense.

Color inspiration everywhere

A few shots of color from the Holland farmer's market yesterday morning, before the place was mobbed!  Not much stitching lately, because my spare time has been spent outside enjoying the great weather.

Love the blue pails. Looks like everything goes with blue.

Sunflowers mean summer.

I'm thinking fajitas sound good with all the  pepper colors included.

Radishes, anyone? 

Sunset a couple nights ago. After this shot, the sky kept getting pinker and pinker, but I was in my car and couldn't stop for another shot.