Friday, January 26, 2007
Monday, January 22, 2007
More Echt Hollands
Am not feeling too well, today, I think I am getting a nasty cold that is going around. So here are few photos of my 'Echt Hollands' (Real Dutch) project I've been working on. See my October 21st post for the origins of this project.
I've run out of the fabric, I want to put in the corners. I am thinking I will applique a 'boerenbont' pattern in the corner blocks. Boerenbont is a pattern that can be found on some Dutch dishware. My mother really loves this pattern, and always brings back these dishes from Holland. And amazingly enough never breaks them! I mentioned to my mom I thought I might applique this pattern with my dutch fabric and her first reaction was it's not the right shade of red! And she is right but this is just a representation not an exact replica....really the boerenbont might do better with the country shades, but hey, this is my project.
Here are some of the plans I've drawn up, and the beginnings of some flying geese and some pinwheels. I always feel so anxious when I start to cut the fabric, like, don't screw it up! Especially, when I am making up the pattern, and I don't know how much fabric I will need. LOL
I've run out of the fabric, I want to put in the corners. I am thinking I will applique a 'boerenbont' pattern in the corner blocks. Boerenbont is a pattern that can be found on some Dutch dishware. My mother really loves this pattern, and always brings back these dishes from Holland. And amazingly enough never breaks them! I mentioned to my mom I thought I might applique this pattern with my dutch fabric and her first reaction was it's not the right shade of red! And she is right but this is just a representation not an exact replica....really the boerenbont might do better with the country shades, but hey, this is my project.
Here are some of the plans I've drawn up, and the beginnings of some flying geese and some pinwheels. I always feel so anxious when I start to cut the fabric, like, don't screw it up! Especially, when I am making up the pattern, and I don't know how much fabric I will need. LOL
Friday, January 19, 2007
I'm a Quilt Maverick!
Woo! Hoo! I've joined the Quilt Maverick blog ring! (see side-bar) Click on the links to find 40 creative and diverse quilters and their quilting blogs! Happy blog reading!
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
The Russians are Coming! The Russians are Coming!
I guess the big news that I learned at Thursday's LFQGuild meeting, was that the Russians were coming! Master Quilters from Russia will be visiting Canada for a Russian Quilt Exhibit on October 15 to 20, 2007 in Ailsa Craig, Ontario hosted by Cotton-By-Post Quilt Shoppe. One of the owners, Garnet, is just thrilled with this visit! He's making all the arrangements. There will be lectures, classes all week with Russian quilters, special classes with a Russian Master quilter, demos, a merchant's mall, and a tea room. You can visit the Russian Quilters Association website to see a sampling of the type of quilts that will be brought over with them here. The page is full of photos but it can take awhile to download, so be patient. I will post more info as I get it, because I think it will be a really unique opportunity to see these amazing quilts. I was checking out their web page and they offer quilt tours of Russia, but I am not sure I will get there anytime soon! So if they're coming here, all the better! There will be a chance to meet some of these ladies in advance. They will be visiting in March to check things out and will be in the store on Saturday March 3 to greet customers.
Other Guild events included a merchant's mall and I managed to spend a few dollars! I signed up for a Quilt 'til you Wilt day on Februar 24. It's a great opportunity to spend the day quilting with friends and complete those UFO's. Robyn Pandolph will be visiting our guild on March 8 & 9, she will be doing a talk to the guild on the Thursday, non guild members welcome with a $5.00 an entrance fee. Then an all-day workshop, on the Friday; it costs extra. Unfortunately, demand is higher than the limit so there will be a lottery for the workshop. I will post a 'backstage pass' post if I win. Other than that, I managed to totally embarrass myself during Show and Tell. I am so totally afraid of public speaking, even among the friendly people of the guild. I brought my liberated 'tea' tea cozy, and couldn't hold up the cozy and speak into the microphone at the same time and even managed to get tangled in the microphone cord upon my exit! Laurel and Hardy rolled up into one ditzy blonde!
I managed to recover my self esteem by Friday, and was interviewed by the local cable station for 'Today's Londoner' as a business owner. That went well for the most part and I hope to digitize it and add it to my store blog.
As for actually quilting, I haven't done too much. This year's guild challenge is for each member to make a placemat that will be donated to Meals on Wheels and be given out to their clients. I took apart an old project I wasn't too crazy about and am going to turn it into 2 placemats. I also made these dice bags to sell in the store. We sell Dungeons and Dragons role-playing games (D&D) and you need all sorts of dice to play. Many players collect dice and they need dice bags. I discovered that the game suppliers don't have a lot of variety of dice bags. So I started making them out of left over quilting fabrics and as long as they're not too girly, they sell pretty well. Now I actually look for fabric just to make the bags, the ones with dragons on it do well.
Other Guild events included a merchant's mall and I managed to spend a few dollars! I signed up for a Quilt 'til you Wilt day on Februar 24. It's a great opportunity to spend the day quilting with friends and complete those UFO's. Robyn Pandolph will be visiting our guild on March 8 & 9, she will be doing a talk to the guild on the Thursday, non guild members welcome with a $5.00 an entrance fee. Then an all-day workshop, on the Friday; it costs extra. Unfortunately, demand is higher than the limit so there will be a lottery for the workshop. I will post a 'backstage pass' post if I win. Other than that, I managed to totally embarrass myself during Show and Tell. I am so totally afraid of public speaking, even among the friendly people of the guild. I brought my liberated 'tea' tea cozy, and couldn't hold up the cozy and speak into the microphone at the same time and even managed to get tangled in the microphone cord upon my exit! Laurel and Hardy rolled up into one ditzy blonde!
I managed to recover my self esteem by Friday, and was interviewed by the local cable station for 'Today's Londoner' as a business owner. That went well for the most part and I hope to digitize it and add it to my store blog.
As for actually quilting, I haven't done too much. This year's guild challenge is for each member to make a placemat that will be donated to Meals on Wheels and be given out to their clients. I took apart an old project I wasn't too crazy about and am going to turn it into 2 placemats. I also made these dice bags to sell in the store. We sell Dungeons and Dragons role-playing games (D&D) and you need all sorts of dice to play. Many players collect dice and they need dice bags. I discovered that the game suppliers don't have a lot of variety of dice bags. So I started making them out of left over quilting fabrics and as long as they're not too girly, they sell pretty well. Now I actually look for fabric just to make the bags, the ones with dragons on it do well.
Saturday, January 06, 2007
Liberated Tea Cozies
Here is the liberated tea cozy, that I made for a friend for Christmas. I was using Marston's idea for variable stars and sawtooth borders. I am really pleased with the overall look of this one!
SideB:
For the next cozy, I used Tonya's free-pieced letters for one side, and made my own free-pieced tea cup for the other side. I appliqued a tea bag label to it, which looks better in person than in photo (the flash wrecks the colour a bit I think).
SideB:
For the next cozy, I used Tonya's free-pieced letters for one side, and made my own free-pieced tea cup for the other side. I appliqued a tea bag label to it, which looks better in person than in photo (the flash wrecks the colour a bit I think).
Tuesday, January 02, 2007
Liberated Quiltmaking in Practice
Happy New Year one and all!
It's been a very hectic Christmas season for those of us who work in retail, and I am glad the worst is over! Now I can get back to quilting and blogging in my spare time!
A few notes on posts: CA stands for Canada, not California....although sometimes I wish I was in California...the wooden cats came from a store called Sea Jewels, which specializes in carved wooden imports and such...Can someone tell me the etiquette for responding to people's questions in their posts?...oh and in case anybody noticed...my posting name is now comicbooklady, instead of Carol. It all started with beta blogger and having 2 blogs....don't ask...and I changed my photo :)
I haven't been completely out of it though. I managed to make a tea cozy, a Christmas present for a friend. As well as practicing the stuff I learned from Marston's Liberated Quiltmaking book. I have found out that Fridays for me are good liberated quilt making days. I am too tired to be precise or follow directions, but I still have the desire to quilt and create. I started to go through the book in order; here is my liberated strips:
I sewed some strips together from my stash (ironically my stash is filled with very neat, rotary cut strips, oh well), then I cut it into 3 pieces and then sewed the background fabric between them. I like the simplicity of this piece...It was after all my first attempt at liberated quiltmaking... I was thinking, I could hand quilt a leaf pattern onto it, to bring out the fall theme...or it would make a lovely tea cozy...:)
After I moved onto liberated log cabins, which I had a lot of fun with, more fun than strips I think. It was fun just to pull stuff out of my scrap bin and use up those bits, the colour and pattern is a bit more lively, that's probably what made it more fun.
I am enjoying liberated quiltmaking; it certainly is a great exercise in creativity, but I don't think I'll give up my rotary cutter quite yet. I am not that good at cutting with my scissors!:)
Next: liberated tea cozies...stay tuned!
It's been a very hectic Christmas season for those of us who work in retail, and I am glad the worst is over! Now I can get back to quilting and blogging in my spare time!
A few notes on posts: CA stands for Canada, not California....although sometimes I wish I was in California...the wooden cats came from a store called Sea Jewels, which specializes in carved wooden imports and such...Can someone tell me the etiquette for responding to people's questions in their posts?...oh and in case anybody noticed...my posting name is now comicbooklady, instead of Carol. It all started with beta blogger and having 2 blogs....don't ask...and I changed my photo :)
I haven't been completely out of it though. I managed to make a tea cozy, a Christmas present for a friend. As well as practicing the stuff I learned from Marston's Liberated Quiltmaking book. I have found out that Fridays for me are good liberated quilt making days. I am too tired to be precise or follow directions, but I still have the desire to quilt and create. I started to go through the book in order; here is my liberated strips:
I sewed some strips together from my stash (ironically my stash is filled with very neat, rotary cut strips, oh well), then I cut it into 3 pieces and then sewed the background fabric between them. I like the simplicity of this piece...It was after all my first attempt at liberated quiltmaking... I was thinking, I could hand quilt a leaf pattern onto it, to bring out the fall theme...or it would make a lovely tea cozy...:)After I moved onto liberated log cabins, which I had a lot of fun with, more fun than strips I think. It was fun just to pull stuff out of my scrap bin and use up those bits, the colour and pattern is a bit more lively, that's probably what made it more fun.
I am enjoying liberated quiltmaking; it certainly is a great exercise in creativity, but I don't think I'll give up my rotary cutter quite yet. I am not that good at cutting with my scissors!:)
Next: liberated tea cozies...stay tuned!
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