Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Joan's Comfort Quilt

This has got to be a record. Two posts in one month! But I know some of my friends are interested in seeing the comfort quilt I made for my good friend Joan. Her husband, Nelson, died tragically in February of this year. I made the quilt for Joan almost totally from Nelson's shirts which she gave me. It is reversible and made with a quilt as you go technique.
I'm happy to have been able to do this for Joan as Nelson was a long-time friend of ours and we miss him very much.




Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Coast to Coast

     It's been a while since my last post, but I'm still here, or rather back here as this has been a summer of lots of travel. In June I went to BC to  present a trunk show to the quilters of Parksville and Qualicum Beach. The weather was beautiful and the scenery spectacular; the quilters were warm and friendly and I had a good time. From a car boot sale I purchased a bag of small pieces of brightly-coloured striped fabrics. The challenge was to put them together in a quilt. So far just the quilt top is done. The finishing will come later. Here's the result.
Razzle-Dazzle Quilt Top 

     In July I had a visit from Travelling Jane. The brain-child and creation of quilter-writer-blogger Heather Pearson
 (see: www.heatherpearson.com), she was actually a little quilt showing the profile of the famous writer Jane Austen. She accompanied me around Edmonton and later to St. John`s, Newfoundland. You can read more about Jane`s adventures with me in the Winter Issue of The Canadian Quilter.
Travelling Jane 

    While in NL, my quilter friend Stephanie, gave me the patterns for a Newfoundland Quilt and I purchased enough NL tartan fabric to use for the sashings. A Newfoundland quilt features blocks depicting familiar Newfoundland wildlife  e.g. moose, beaver, fish and seagulls, and many things which any Newfoundlander would instantly recognize, such as Purity Hard Bread (used for the NL dish fish and brewis), a flat bottomed camping kettle and a wash board and tub. There are also blocks showing the flag and a map of Newfoundland. The blocks are bordered with the NL tartan. I decided to make each block into a little picture and so far have three almost completed. There remains some top stitching to do before they will be ready to  put together. Here's one example:

 So you see although I travelled from coast to coast I was never far from quilting.