A little bit of this, and a little bit of that...

So my little wallhanging for Jeff is done! I call it "Gus and Crow". I hand quilted it with black and gold perle cotton 8. The backing is made with a light denim, but it was still difficult to quilt through, but I like the big, primitive stitches.

Here is my second row for the Guild Row Robin...the first row and the package contained panels and some blue fabric with a small red print...the themes of the panels were shopping, sewing, and friendship. I decided early on that I was going to make some spool blocks, but how to incorporate the panels...I chose fabrics from my stash that were similar to the blue print and added some green to widen the palette. My spools are holding these two ladies up like bookends!

I have been doing a lot of hand sewing...remember my BIQR applique? I had decided on using hour glass blocks to surround it. I did a few on my machine, but I needed some needle work for in front of the tv. Then I started joining them by hand, but as you can see my applique piece is not big enough

so I added some strips to the side and one across the bottom. I thought I was going to use the machine to do the long seams, but it turned out not a big deal to hand sew the long seams too.

A hint of things to come!

Well here is my row for our guild's first row robin...a few liberated baskets.



Below is a peak at a present I am making, and to kill 2 birds with one stone, it will also work for my calendar challenge...My calendar challenge started with words in a hat and make a small, roughly 12x12 inch piece from those words...but I have too much on my plate to do that on a regular basis...so any original piece I make that is that size will do...

Anyway, this is a gift for creator Jeff Lemire who will be doing a signing at our store in February...it is an applique piece based on the cover of his comic Sweet Tooth #1 and the crow in his Essex County Trilogy. Why a wallhanging? Well, there is a character that quilts in his Essex County book so I am hoping he will appreciate the gesture, and I had this red plaid that shouts out "Gus!"

I am so looking forward to his visit to our store, I think Essex County is The Great Canadian Graphic Novel!

Have a Happy, Quilty New Year!

This is what I completed in 2009 (not including postcards)...it doesn't look like much, I admit. I guess I started lots, but finished little!


So here is my list of quilt tops to be quilted, I would like to say, I will finish them all in 2010, but I doubt it...

Round Robin (with Christine)

Moody Blues

Test Pattern (BIQR 2008)

Floor Scrap Quilt (BIQR 2009)

Starlings at the Break of Dawn

Joy Christmas Placemats (2x)

LFQG Kids' Quilt

The Birds (Calendar challenge)

On my design wall:

Flower pot applique (BIQR 2009)

Challenges:

Calendar challenge: 10 to go...end date....?

Guild London challenge: designed on paper...due May 2010

Guild Row Robin: one row done, 4 to go...monthly to be completed by Sept 2010

Guild postcards: monthly, on going

I almost forgot to post this...I entered the International Plowing Match 2010 Quilt Block Challenge. You bought a package that contained Northcott Silk Inc fabrics and you had to create a 12.5 inch block, using only those fabrics. You could embellish with embroidery floss....I call this Bamboo Nights...

The pieces of fabric they provided varied in size...too much blue and not enough green. I used every bit of green, too! I used running stitches to gather the fabric to give it a more texture...The blue was too strong a colour, they also gave you too many small print fabrics.