BIQR 2010: The Setting

The setting is northern Michigan, in early fall. A road trip from London, Ontario, Canada to Elk Rapids, Michigan. Two best friends going to a quilt retreat hosted by the amazing Gwen Marston. A short detour to avoid the busy traffic of Flint, revealed quaint rural communities readying themselves for harvest and halloween, many untouched by the big box invasion of Walmarts and outlet stores, still bearing the signs of the past.





The final destination was White Birch Lodge in Elk Rapids.
The lodge was getting ready for its winter hibernation, with the small boats resting on the beach,...

leaves dropping into the puddles of water collecting on board...

The view from the sewing room was the beautiful Elk Lake, sun streaming in every day!

Sunny and warm for 5 days straight!

Next post: The Characters

It's not dead yet!

I am in a hurry to finish up some projects for our upcoming guild show on October 1st. I took a workshop at the guild with Renske Helmuth to learn how to make a landscape wall hanging....I am not sure if landscapes are for me. I found it very difficult to choose the fabrics for an imaginary landscape....I think if I had make it from a photograph I could match up fabrics much better. I did finish the top, I just had to quilt it so I can put it in the show.

I am a novice machine quilter, and I didn't have a clue how to quilt this thing. I first stitched around the beige border 1/4 inch...that was fine, then I did 1/2 inch around that...that sucked...picked it all out...stared at it and stared at it, could not decide what to do....did not want to do any more picking out....so then I did just inside the green border...fine, then I stippled around the outer border fine, but now the lighter border was a little loose and needed to be flattened...so I quilted lines in there and that's when I thought I had killed it! OMG the landscape in the middle was all puffy! it looked ridiculous! now I know why they always want you to quilt from the middle out instead of from the outside in! I was pretty much ready to chuck it! but I thought well maybe I can quilt in some clouds and flatten it a bit, that worked but now the bottom was puffy, so I quilted in some grass along the bottom. It was a lot better but not perfect.

This is how it looks on the bottom:

Finished product; ta-da!

Not my finest work, but I sure learned a lot! Will I ever do another landscape? not sure, the jury is still out.

Gee's Bend Quilts in London, Ontario!

Last week I attended the Quilts of Gee's Bend show at the London Convention Centre. It was awesome! At first I was a little shocked, it didn't seem like there were a lot of quilts for my $9 entry fee. But I knew about these quilts, I knew there was more to them then that, I just had to find it. Unfortunately there were no descriptions on the quilts, telling you who made them and what their stories were...that didn't help. In my second round of viewing the quilts I noticed a trio of ladies sitting behind a table hand sewing blocks.

On the table were small wall hangings for sale....I asked them if it was alright to take photos and they said sure it was, and that started the conversation. My friend Chantal came over and wanted to see what they were working on and that got them more animated. China got up and showed me her quilts that were hanging up and I was even allowed to take this photo in front of my favourite of her quits.

Then Chantal came over with her copy of Architect of the Quilt Book and asked the ladies to sign it. I noticed the dwindling pile of books and thought its now or never, I should pick up one and have it signed. so I did! and I am so glad I did, I picked up The Quilts of Gee's Bend (the other was sold out) I have been reading this book every day, it is awesome!

What a story, what living history! Bev at the Cotton By Post booth and Chantal said that you really have to go to the lecture, but I missed the lecture that day...so Chantal and I agreed to go on Thursday for the lecture. Boy, am I glad I went! What a story. The lecture started with China singing a gospel tune and then Matt Arnett telling us the history of the quilts and then China talking about what it was like to live in Gee's Bend. Fascinating!

The label on this quilt says Faded Glory Jeans, an apt name for this quilt!

It puts all those quilts into perspective, it gives you the story, the culture, and the art of Gee's Bend. If you did not go to the lecture you really missed half the show. My only regret is that I was unable to return to do the workshop too. Matt mentioned that they are hoping to do a showing at the AGO in Toronto, some time in the future...I am hoping that they do, because I will go again!

I love the blue, red and beige in this house top variations quilt.

I fell in love with the corduroy quilts, the colours were so strong!

Woo Hoo! Another project done!

Just finished my floor scrap quilt from Gwen Marston's Beaver Island Quilt Retreat 2009! On the last day of the retreat Gwen encourages us to search the floor for scraps and create something from it. It's a lot of fun! and inside this piece are a lot of memories...I can remember other participants by their fabric! I really like this one way more than my 2008 one...this one almost has a story to tell. At first I think of the song "Sunshine, Lolipops, and Rainbows", but then I think that the purple "lolipop" is Gwen, our mentor, and the other smaller "lolipops" are her devoted students, the crazy background is the place where creativity comes from. kinda corny, I know, but it reminds me of a happy place!

This piece measures 12x 14.5 inches on the longest sides and is hand quilted with black thread.

Remember the Row Robin?

Well we finally received out rows from the other participants in May....and they have been up on my "design wall" since then. But finally I just bit the bullet and said "let's get this thing done!" For the longest time I thought I was going to applique some stems and leaves on those giant lilies, but could not get it to look right...so I made up some more 4 patch borders and rearranged the order. I think with some clever machine stitching I could zip it up a notch.

I will probably make some yo-yo centres for the pairs of flowers and embroider some tea pouring out of the spout....maybe an applique butterfly or two with the baskets...I think I will call it Garden Tea Party.

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?