Quilt Art

So many quilts catch our eye but there are some that are just meant to be hung and enjoyed for the works of art that they are. One such work is Jane's recently finished Untraditional Log Cabin.

Last summer she pulled out her collection of predominantly Kaffe fabrics and a fabulous collection of greys that she had picked up at Quilt Canada when it was in Ottawa a few years ago and started cutting strips. 

She set to work hand stitching gorgeous blocks, using orange for the centre 'hearth' block and staying within a single colour range for each.

Once she had built up a good inventory of blocks it was time to test a few layouts.

It was hard to look away.

We played around with this 'peaks' idea but eventually landed on an asymmetrical design, diagonal strips emanating from near the bottom left of the quilt - it just showed off the colours to their max.

She looked at a few more options before deciding on her fourth choice - diagonal rows of blocks offset slightly from one corner. Now she knew how many of each colour she needed still to make.

Roberta quilted it with Abundant Feathers. Oh my! 

It is such a lovely contrast to the grid of the blocks and softens it up so beautifully.

She chose to bind it with an orange print that nicely echoes the orange squares at the centre of each block.

Early on Jane knew that she wanted this one to hang in her bedroom, but for a little while it found a home across the back of her sofa, which is the dark grey that you see, a terrific combination.

Recently we got together and figured out how to make a hanging sleeve and finally got it hung (I do believe that there may have been one or two squeals of delight as it was revealed 😉).

I haven't checked lately but I suspect that it's a little tough getting much shut-eye with this beauty staring back at her from the end of her bed....M

Roberta's On A Roll

It's International Quilting Day. Over the past two years, Roberta, my friend who does my longarm quilting, has gone above and beyond, stitching seemingly everything in sight as her clients turned to quilting to cope with the lockdowns and stresses of the pandemic. Believe it or not, she has also managed to squeeze in a fair bit of her own work, so it seems like the perfect time to showcase more of it. 

In addition to the two Snowdays quilts that I shared with you last time, since the holidays she has been finishing projects like they are going out of style!

This hanging is Back To School from APQ. Designed by Sheryl Johnson and Linda Sawrey of Temecula Quilt Co., it's one that I've also had my eye on for a few years now. I just love it.

That combination of scrappy, houses and baskets is just so hard to beat. I think that it would make a beautiful full-sized quilt as well. Her little victory on this one was eeking out just enough fabric for the binding that she found in her stash.

She's also finished up this spectacular Ohio Star. The colours are so rich.

All of those gorgeous fabrics combine beautifully to make these stars shine.

This is another one where she got lucky with finding enough for her binding in her stash.

Miss Ivy seems to have picked this next one as a favourite for napping on. It's Eventide from Miss Rosie's Quilt Co. Lots more stars but in a very different palette. Beautiful. I am always amazed at how similar our taste is.

And then there's this runner that now graces her entranceway (definitely as star theme going on, wouldn't you say?).

She is so busy quilting for others that I have absolutely no idea how she finds the time to do even half of this, but I love getting to see all of her creations. One thing is for certain, Miss Ivy is overwhelmed by all of the productivity and needs to nap every now and then to keep her energy up 😉. Happy International Quilting Day!....M

Snowdays

We changed the clocks last night which, while we lost an hour of sleep, means the evenings will continue to get longer and longer as the days begin to get milder. That said, both last weekend and this the weatherman had storm warnings for us, so we're not out of the winter woods quite yet. That's okay by Anne because she is happily enjoying her beautiful flannel Snowdays quilt.

The pattern is really called Home Quarter but she's named it after the fabric line that she used.

Roberta quilted it with a pattern called Sea of Snowflakes, which seems more than appropriate - it reminds her of a giant snow globe.

The candy cane binding is lots of fun - just finishes it of so nicely.

And isn't the red backing gorgeous with those quilted snowflakes rolling through the stylized holly?

Roberta also made this quilt, not once, but twice - first with a red border...

And then with a black border. 

She mixed in some of Bonnie’s Sullivan’s Holiday Warmth Woolies so it has a slightly different look than Anne's, but, as she says, it's still over the top Christmassy. 

Roberta prefers the one with the black border (I think that I do too), but that being said, she finished the red one first and it was so nice to have at Christmas. She echoes Anne's comments that these quilts weigh a ton and certainly keep you tucked in at night – no falling out of bed with one of these on top!

So fun to see the same pattern done up in three slightly different ways, each with their own personality....M

Halo Has A Growth Spurt

Every now and then a little more gets added to Halo. 

Last week it was time to fill in the few remaining blanks that were dotted throughout (they are just placed for positioning, not sewn in)...

Much better.

Then, when all the blanks were filled in, I started second guessing myself and wasn't convinced that when all of the seams in the next step were sewn that it was going to be large enough. I don't want a border on this one, which meant adding another row along the side and the bottom. Yup, 15 more blocks. Sigh.

So I madly attacked pieces that I had cut for the 'T' centres (square-in-a square blocks with the four curved pieces to rest the pie-shaped pieces into) and they are now finished. (I love those scrappy square-in-a square blocks - I'm pretty sure they will show up in another quilt...)

Now I'm back to making more pie-shaped segments, which is going to slow me down again. I've got to cut lots more pieces and the curves don't come together nearly as quickly as straight seams. Oh well. 

By the way, congratulations to Joceyln who won the Quilt Design book giveaway! And thanks again to Ann for donating it. I hope you enjoy it and get lots of use out of it Jocelyn....M