Belated wedding present

It is finally completed, the mystery quilt! I always wanted to do a quilt based on the 1960's Prisoner TV show. It is a cult classic and the visual images in that show are so strong. I had the design made out on paper years ago, but didn't quite have the skills or motivation to do it. When our good friend Mike, a strong individualist, announced he was getting married, I thought this quilt would be perfect for him....I hoped his new wife would like it too! I named the quilt In the Village, which was where the character Number 6 was being held, and coincidentally was where Mike used to live, in Wortley Village.

I came across Barbara Barber's Foolproof Curves book which taught me an easy way of making circles.

This quilt is about queen size, and I knew I would not be able to machine quilt it myself. My friend Christine recommended Cathy Shepherd. She was super and was very obliging and got my quilt done in time for Easter. She quilted flowers in the centre of the circles and circular swirls over the rest of the quilt. Circles were a predominant theme in the TV show where a giant ball stands guard over the village.

Christine again saved me, at the last minute, by getting me this great fabric paper that you can print on. I created a label on my computer and then printed right onto this fabric sheet and sewed it to the back of the quilt. I created a QR code (thanks Quilt Rat) that will bring you to all my posts on my blog about this quilt. Cool, eh?

Fabrics: Robert Kaufman: Stockholm

Congratulations Gwen!

Congratulations to Gwen Marston for getting the Merit award for 37 Sketches in the 26th annual Special Trade (under $75) category by the Book Industry Guild of New York! as seen here.

The B. side

"It does not matter which side runs the village"

In the Village

What do you want?

Information.

You won't get it!

I am not a number!

Free For All

By hook or by crook...

Checkmate

Pick up Sticks

I won a bundle of fat quarters from guild awhile ago and I struggled trying to figure out what to make out of them...I finally realized that these colours were similar to the ones my friends Rick and Karen in Michigan use throughout their home. So a gift for them was in order. I liked the pattern City Tracks in Cherri House's book City Quilts....but I felt it was too busy....then I thought well I would try sashing in between but I could not find the right fabric for the sashing.

This project was put away for almost a year before I thought of the shadow idea. I had a clipping of pattern from Quilt Mania of a quilt called Aussie. It used squares of lively aboriginal art patterns with a black shadow behind it to make the block seem 3 dimensional....but I didn't like the idea of black on this quilt. In the mean time I found the perfect sashing fabric, a cream fabric with little dots and scratches in all the colours in my blocks! how perfect!...but the black that would be too dark. I had come home form BIQR with some left over solids, when it occurred to me that any solid would do for the shadow, it didn't have to be black.

The happy couple with their new lap quilt!

Reunion retreat

Ok, Blogger is giving me grief....I can't seem to rearrange my photos and put them in the order I would like!

Last week I had the opportunity to get together with some of the ladies who were on the LOC for Quilt ON with me. Diane arranged a lovely retreat at Brentwood on the Beach, a lovely Bed and Breakfast on Lake Huron. Even though it was the beginning of February we had ideal weather....No Snow!!! and Sunny!! not that we would really spend any time outside, but the view was lovely! Brentwood on the beach has a lovely indoor pool and jacuzzi, especially great after Quilt Wrestling! We all brought our own projects to work on. A large breakfast was provided for us and pairs of us were responsible for a meal each. We stayed 2 nights and 3 afternoons. Lots of quilting time!

Above is Phyllis, she finally completed the top to a paper piecing project she started years ago for her husband!

Below is Karen's Christmas rag quilt she completed:


A gorgeous sunset over Lake Huron:

Brentwood on the Beach, the view that overlooks the beach:

Ice balls that line the shore of the beach, I don't know how they form, but they look kind of cool

Quilters hard at work:

Christine also brought an old project that was started years ago and never finished and now complete!

more beach view:

I had finished my City Harbor quilt weeks ago but there was no place at home I could take a good photo of this queen sized top!

The lovely indoor salt water pool!

I batted up this piece, "Pick up Sticks" I call it. A present for friends, but boy did it give me grief, trying to machine quilt this large quilt! Quilt Wrestling is more like it...Never again something that big!

Happiness is a warm puppy!

Had a lot of fun with this one! A gift for a friend, who is a huge Schulz fan, and who just had his first child, a baby girl. Originally, I just wanted to do the Charlie Brown zigzag, but while doodling found a way to incorporate Snoopy. It really came together when I found the polka dot fabric at Mad About Patchwork's booth at Quilt Ontario. I used the leftovers for the back.

Why can't we be friends?

Completed in 2011!

Another year has gone by! 2011 was the year of Quilt Ontario...and I did not get much time for blogging or even quilting, yet somehow I managed to finish the above projects. Sometimes I amaze even myself ;) Many of the above were gifts and so I could not blog about them during progress or ruin the surprise.


Projects to finish in 2012:


-my T-shirt quilt (sandwiched, just needs to be quilted...so close! due date, before BIQR)



-my City Harbour quilt (cut and in the process of sewing together, no due date)


-gift: Pick up Sticks (blocks made, need to sew sashing, before Feb 20?)


-request: Hawaiian Shirts Quilt (a challenge of design! want to take my time but want to finish it by the summer)


There are more but those are priority.



And for those who requested it, here is Test Pattern all finished!






Happy New Year to all!