More Block Challenges

Christine and I took a road trip to the Shedden quilt show. What a surprise to see that the block I entered in a challenge was displayed, finished in a quilt, at the greeting table! My block can be seen over the right shoulder of the lady on the left.

I had entered another block challenge, this time from Trend-Tex. You bought a kit with fabric and had to create a 12.5 inch block from the fabric provided. Easier said than done! The amount of each fabric are not equal in size. I called my block Bamboo Nights.



In total there were 4 quilts made from all the blocks and it was fun to see how many were blocks made from LFQGuild members!

Challenges

I do love a challenge! I've only won once, but I still like taking a concept and turning it into a block or a quilt. It is a great mental exercise and keeps the creative juices flowing.

First up is our Guild's London Challenge. Our guild is so excited to be hosting the CQA Quilt Ontario in 2011, that we issued a challenge to create a 12 inch block that represents our city of London. These pieces will be hung together as a Welcome to London greeting to the visitors. You can read about the winners here and see all the pieces here.

I knew early on I wanted to practice my reverse applique. Our city is known as the Forest City, so a tree or trees would definitely be in my piece...Just like the other London we have a Thames River. I live right at the forks of the river and walk over the river every day to get to work... I incorporated the tree and the forks of the river into the word London...I machine quilted buildings in the background to indicate the urban setting that is nestled between the trees and the river as well as the extensive bicycle paths that run along the river. I blanket stitched the edges with beads.

The other challenge I participated in was the Joseph Schneider Haus Block challenge "Snow on the Roof, Fire in the Hearth"...I almost didn't participate, because the only thing that I could think of was just a plain log cabin block...but eventually I came up with 4 log cabin blocks combined to actually look like a log cabin...not too outstanding, but it does the trick.

We had to use plain white fabric and some red fabric in our design. The next couple of photos are courtesy of the Quilt Rat and show the block made into the quilt which will be used for fundraising. Congratulations to the Quilt Rat for her first place block! You can read about her block and see more photos here.

Baby quilt done!

I got my cousin's baby quilt done! My first time trying free motion machine quilting on something larger than a placemat!

I made a matching kitty:

I made 2 postcards for Mother's Day. I cut the birds out of a linen dish towel and machine appliqued and lightly thread painted them...

My Monthly post!

I must be busy, I am only posting once a month! Above another row in the row robin done! That is our final row, next month we will receive our original row, plus the others back and then we have to put them all together! Exciting! We'll have over the summer to complete the top and hopefully have it done for our October 2010 Harvest of Quilts Show. I have also completed the Guild London Challenge, but cannot reveal until after the May guild meeting.


I have completed the top for my cousin's baby quilt. I hope to start machine quilting it this weekend.


While twiddling my thumbs between quilting projects, I remembered that I was working on Lazy Gal's Liberated Amish Quilt Get Together Challenge... I added my initials and the date and declared it finished! I really love this block! I love how the yellow pops, and the little bit of batik I used! I love how the initials, although big and bold really just fade to the background. I feel satisfied every time I look at it...I like how I took something real precise and liberated it!

Paper Piecing Frog's Toes

Have been very busy lately, each month I need to finish a row for the Guild Row Robin. Above I decided to make my own paper piecing patterns, the tricky part is figuring out the order in which to sew....not so easy! the lily pad was easy compared to those toes!

Below a little bit of piecing, a little bit of applique... that makes 4 rows done, one more row to go! It's getting harder as more rows are added! There are 5 ladies in our group (and there are 5 groups) and we each have to make a row for 5 different tops. I can't wait to see them all done!

I've been doing a lot of guild activities lately. I participated in a Kids' Quilts Marathon one weekend. We set up stations for different activities like basting, cutting, piecing and machine quilting. Another weekend I participated in making String Quilts for Soldiers as part of the Quilts of Valour initiative. This was one of our completed tops....(and to my SIL, those scraps you sent me are very useful for all these projects!)

I have also been working on my guild's London Challenge, and the top is done, now it needs to be quilted. I have my pieces cut for my cousin's baby quilt, hope to show progress pics for that next week, and on top of that it is tax time, year end and all the stuff that is work, whew! no wonder I am blogging only once a month!

Should I stop or should I go?

Finished adding the last 2 rows...I don't want to put anymore hour glass blocks on... but am debating whether I should add some more borders, perhaps some vine applique. However, right now, the size is perfect for a wallhanging, it measures 38.5x34.5 inches. This wallhanging was started at Gwen Marston's Beaver Island Quilt Retreat. Gwen asked me to remind those bloggers out there that have gone to her retreats in the past to send any photos you may have of Floor Scrap Quilts you may have completed to floorscrapquilts @ gmail.com (if you cut and paste this email address, remove the spaces), with your name, year completed or retreat attended and a brief description.

This is the fabric for a baby quilt, that I will be making for a cousin of mine, that is having a baby in the spring.

We visite our friends in Michigan last weekend. We usually take the train to Windsor and then they pick us up and take us across the border. Our passports are expiring soon, and customs gave us a little more grilling then usual. He asked us what we did in London, we told him we own a comic book store, he wanted to know what is the most expensive comic we had in the store! We laughed! We did check out a couple of comic book stores while we were there, though. We always take graphic novels on the train with us to read. I read Wolverine by Claremont and Miller, It's a Good Life If You Don't Weaken and Clyde Fans by Seth,

and Blankets by Craig Thompson, and just so you know, hinted by the title, a quilt figures prominently in the book....I might have to start a list of Graphic Novels that have quilts or quilting in it....a very niche market! Ha! Blankets was very good, I quite enjoyed it, very personal story of coming of age and his struggle with coming to terms with his faith. And speaking of Faith, while we were in Michigan we went to see the movie Creation about Darwin's struggle with faith when writing the Origin of the Species. I liked the movie, although it dragged in places, and it claims it is "The True Story of Charles Darwin", not so sure about that... And to complete this unintentional study of Faith I had this weekend, I also read the book A God Who Hates by Wafa Sultan...So as not to offend the quilting bloggers out there, I will keep my views on Faith to myself, but just say, it was a weekend of interesting discussions!

2 more rows!

I've added 2 more rows, this time along the bottom....Next the top....then, should I stop or add more applique?...hmmm...

I've also joined Lazy Gal's Liberated Amish Quilt Group. You can check out my first post here. What am I thinking? When do I have time for all this?

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.

The Great Blue Heron by Ted Goodden

I don't usually like public art, most of the time it is too pretentious for me or absolutely head scratching, "huh? I don't get it!", but this one I like! The Tricar Group commissioned this piece for its new downtown apartment building. Every day I walk by it on my way to work.

It's called the Great Blue Heron by Ted Goodden, a stained glass artist that lives in my neighbourhood.

Starlings at the Break of Dawn

Another project I am working on...thinking of quilting it, then mounting it to the back of an old window frame....just a thought... manwhile Suske thinks she can catch these birds...

It Rained Teddy Bears!

It rained Teddy Bears at the 2009 London Knights' SunLife Financial Teddy Bear Toss. Once a year at London Knights home game they ask the fans to bring teddy bears or plush toys to donate to the Salvation Army Toy Drive for Christmas. When the Knights score their first goal of the game the fans are to pitch the teddies onto the ice rink! What fun! Obviously the teddies don't always make it onto the rink in the first toss, so you just keep tossing until it goes over...there is a mad rush of tossing at the boards! But look out! hubby got grazed once and bopped once! and the older lady a few seats down had her glasses knocked right off...and some people bring some pretty big bears!

Swarms of volunteers from the Salvation Army and a local girls' hockey team are scooping up the plushies.

The final tally of Teddy Bears was 8232 from a possible 9079 fans that attended the game!

And so with that over and done with it, it was back to the game!

Final score, London Knights win 8-1 over the Guelph Storm!

Thanks Christine and Mark for the tickets! We had a great time!

More Placemats!

This one I adapted Gwen's Liberated Wedding block and made it a wreath for Christmas, appliqued some berries and machine stitched some holly + stippling.

I fixed my puffy tree and house, it lies flat, now!

You might think I work super fast, but I don't...I started making the tops at the guild's Quilt til you Wilt day, the first week of November, and have been machine quilting them only since yesterday.

Machine Quilting: Placemats

My friend Quilt Rat lent me her old Pfaff machine, as I do not have a machine that lowers its feed dogs. My machine quilting has been limited to straight lines. So this is my first successful attempt at stippling!

Our guild is donating placemats to Meals on Wheels at the December meeting, so I thought this might be the right size project to practice my machine quilting. Of course I have been practicing all summer on scrap sandwiches before attempting something 'real'. I made another placemat with a house and a tree on it, and I stippled in between but ended up with a puffy tree and house, quite awful! But I learned and this one turned out quite flat...so I am pleased with my efforts!

Almost everything I make has a name and this one is 3Trees

Nothing new to report...just the end of another season...