Creative Life Sampler

I can't emphasize enough how important human connection is to the experience of attending QuiltCon. Whether you are standing in line for an event, hanging out at your own quilt, or lingering in front of a quilt you really like, it is so easy to strike up a conversation. People are joyful to be there and pleased to be with other quilters. There is an instant connection because you already know you have quilting in common.  After all, it is a celebration of quilts. Running into a ribbon winner, it is natural to lift them up for their accomplishment. This year when I came across Heidi Parkes in front of her prize winning quilt, I put aside my usual reticence to congratulate her. As we spoke, I was reminded of my first encounter with her work.  Back in 2021, I was doing a lot of hand appliqu é  and hand quilting, but I hadn’t been in the modern guild very long. Sometimes it felt like I was fumbling along, trying to figure out what made modern quilts different. That spring Hei...

It seems amazing to me that it's over a month since I had the privilege of delivering a trunk show and giving a workshop at the Camarillo Quilt Association! It feels so recent because I'm still riding high on the experience.  The first day was their regular members' meeting where I was guest speaker and presented my work to a very attentive audience.  The following day was my 6 hour workshop. I could tell from the start that this was going to be an dynamic, positive class. The creative energy increased with every person that entered the room that morning. They arrived ready to work and excited to experiment, . . every teacher's dream!  The focus of our class was hand work. Students came with a prepared mini quilt; batting sandwiched between a solid colored top and the backing of their choice. This would become a sampler of stitches, a practice piece where they could experiment with the blanket stitch, seed stitch, rice grain (or dot) stitch and more.  My goal in...

  I'm just finishing the last section of this project and I thought I'd share the view from the back.  Lots of texture going on here! I chose a navy blue for the backing and the gold, white, terracotta, and lighter blue really show up well. The design is a combination of echo quilting, seed stitch and a freehand pattern.    Next step is to bind it and then share this piece. Stay tuned, . . . 😉

Really Sorry to tease this out, but I've run into a little hurdle.  No big deal.  Maybe just a bit frustrating. The quilting is done on this project. And I was excited to square it up and trim away the excess; the end was in sight. Unfortunately, I've found that I didn't get enough yardage of the peach color for a binding to finish off the edge. I'm about 20 inches short. I didn't think of that when I took a detour to make a mini quilt with the same colors. Tsk, tsk. I suppose, if I had over estimated and ended up with lots of this color, right now I would probably be shaking my head and wondering what I would do with it all.  I could make due, but this project has been a labor of love, lots of hours, and more than one pin prick. A fabric store run is required to realize the full vision.  Bear with me, folks. I think it will be worth it.  😉

Project Update: Circles II The second in my series of appliquéd circle wall hangings is finished... yeah! I tried something new with this time. Instead of mixing and matching fabrics for each square and then working with the result of that random approach, I began with laying out the background colors. This provided an overall "canvas" on which to plan out the circles. The color palette is aquas and teals- the blue green/green blue families.  I stuck with the polka dot fabric theme from  Circles I , and the embroidery stitching in each square, though this one is slightly larger than the first wall hanging (To check out Circles I, here is a link for that post: https://creativelifesampler.blogspot.com/2018/05/project-update-circles-1-circles-1-is.html ) On to the next project... 😉

Quilt Project Update Finally!!! "Pink Lemonade" is done. It still needs a label, but I really wanted to show it to you. I started this quilt to try hand piecing on vacation last year. The hexagons measure 3 inches across and the quilting in each center echos its sides. Random yellow and solid pink hexagons have a little more quilting in them, to give it texture and added interest. This was all done by hand.  Full disclosure: the straight lines of the borders and the backing were done by machine. I pulled the hexagon theme to the back in order to use up some bigger scraps. It was finished in a year, almost to the day, and it measures 76.5 x 92 inches. I'm glad I didn't give up on this one. I got lots of hand piecing and quilting practice, and learned a lot along the way, which I'll take to the next project. Press on, press on... 😉 PS- If you want the back story on this quilt, check out the three posts that began with this one: https://cre...