Golden

It can be very hard to surprise me with Christmas gifts - I tend to pick up on the slightest little hint - but this year Betty did it, and did it in spades. She made me this gorgeous, gorgeous little quilt in an whole array of yellows.

The ironic part of this gift, is that I made the blocks! Several years ago - I'm thinking probably five or six - I started playing with my yellow scraps. Little hits of pink, coral, mauve and blue found their way into the mix. I didn't know what I was going to do with them but I think I ended up with between 30 an 40.

As luck would have it, my niece Julia, who was taking graphic design at the time, made a quilt top for one of her courses based on the Golden Rectangle, so I gave them to her to use in a border. She hasn't added the border yet but it sounds like she and Betty have been chatting about doing just that.

Long story short, Betty was inspired to use some of the blocks and make a quilt for me - sort of like klepto quilting, but I'm thinking more like mucho value-added klepto quilting :). I. Love. It!

The blocks float beautifully on the sashing fabric - it's interesting enough to create some contrast but subtle enough to let the blocks shine. It would have taken me ages to figure out that this was the sashing to use (BTW, the yellow sashing print came from my stash too!). Random free flowing lines of stitching in perle cotton soften it.

Tiny little scraps hold such a strong appeal for me. I totally love sewing them together and I love seeking them out in finished quilts. The tinier the shard, the better. Sometimes I wonder that I buy yardage at all because I gravitate to the itty bitty scraps.

The blocks finish off at 3.5" and it is 30" square, so it gives you a sense of what size the pieces are that make up the blocks. Thank you Betty, this was a truly wonderful surprise and it will be cherished....M

It Only Takes Two

One thing I had on my wish list for Christmas and that Anne kindly gifted me was the wonderful book from Infinite Variety, the spectacular quilt exhibition of red and white quilts from the collection of Mrs. Rose that the American Folk Art Museum presented at the Park Avenue Armory in New York City in 2011. What a gift!

I had no idea how big the book is - 350 pages of pure, unadulterated inspiration. It's amazing to see how the patterns stand the test of time.

Besides being a testament to the creative energies of the hundreds of quilters whose creations are profiled it is an equally strong editorial on the power of two. Just two colours of fabrics were all that was needed to create this spectacular and infinite variety.

Many, many happy hours have been spent poring through the pages (and maybe drooling a little bit) already, playing a game to see if I could make only ONE, which one would it be. I think I've narrowed it down to 20, maybe to 30...

What is it about cutting and connecting tiny pieces of fabric that fascinates us and keeps so many of us across the world eager to pick up a needle and thread and find new ways to create our own interpretations?

The exhibition was an 80th birthday gift to Mrs. Rose from her obviously devoted husband. Eighty is still a ways off for me, but I still don't think I would be anywhere close to having over 600 quilts that I could share with the world by then - probably a huge relief as it lets the Official Cookie Tester off the hook for bankrolling it!

Not seeing this exhibition is one of my regrets in life - and I don't have many - but I was thrilled to read that the museum has kept as much of the  furniture and hanging devices as possible in storage so that it could be re-created elsewhere. As they note in the book, 'a tantalizing possibility'! I live in hope that it happens in my lifetime....M

Baylea's Bonanza

Dori wasn't the only one doing Christmas sewing this year. About a week before the big day Anne saw an idea for a Christmas stocking and just knew that she had to make it. And it's not your regular Christmas stocking. It was for our little four-legged friend Baylea that lives with Betty, so of course it needed to reflect the owner.

Isn't it great? You could almost say it is 'paw'-fect.

No detail was overlooked. She started with a fun holiday fabric...

cross stitched Baylea's name across the cuff and sewed on the dog paw pads...

quilted it with a great little bone pattern, and bound it all in a cheery stripe, all ready to be opened Christmas morning.

Needless to say, it was a big hit, especially since she had stuffed it with lots of little goodies....M

Gimme Shelter Part Two

The first day of the New Year seems like a great time to show you the second pair of baby quilts that Dori generously made for the women's shelter this holiday. Whereas the first two were all about triangles, these two are very strippy.

The first one is made from a collection of greens and corals and finishes off with a very soft look. The same colours are used in the border.

It's backed with a pretty soft grey and coral print and was made for one of the little girls on the list.

And look at that - another pair of colour coordinated scissors! :)

Of the two of them apparently this one is Rob's favourite (Dori's husband).

So much so that she made him a set of matching potholders. He is an excellent cook so I'm certain that these will be more than welcome.

It sounds like these potholders are becoming a bit of an obsession with Dori and a great way to use up her scraps. She recently spent half a day organizing her smaller fabric pieces into colour coded shoe boxes so I suspect that there may be more on the way.

The second one is also a string quilt but made in blocks rather than rows.

Apparently this was the most challenging and time consuming of the lot. She had planned that it would be all blocks without a border, but it was taking too long to come together. Luckily, she found more of the blue polka dot at a new quilting/yard shop so the wide border came to the rescue.

She used orange with a small white dot for the backing but the day after she delivered the quilts she realized that she had put the dots to the inside so it is just a solid orange backing. Ha - too much going on!

I can only imagine the surprise and delight at the shelter when these four parcels were delivered - it is such a thoughtful gift and speaks to the generosity of quilters and their willingness to readily share the comforts of their creations. Good for you, Dori.

And happy New Year everyone! Nothing like a little quilty inspiration to start off a new year. May the coming year bring you peace, joy and time to truly enjoy doing the things that you love....M