More "Stash-Busters"

The unseasonably cool, rainy weather of May and June has been good for the trees, grass and quilters. With gardening put on hold - not that I do much gardening anyway - I've been able to complete three of the six quilt tops that I put together earlier in the spring in my on-going attempts at "stash-busting." (See photos.)

As you can see, they are each very different in colour and design, but all fairly simple, which they have to be if I'm ever going to use up my stash of 30-plus years.

On top is a burgundy and green "disappearing nine-patch" pattern. This has become one of my favourite patterns for a fast and easy quilt.

Beneath that on the left is one I call "Autumn in the Square" which was great for using up the pre-cut 2 1/2 inch squares which I had accumulated.

Next to that is a strippy purple, gold and green lap quilt. The strips I sewed onto muslin squares over a period of months, when I was between other projects. Eventually there were enough blocks for a quilt and the green sashing seemed to set them off nicely.

These three will be given to a charity Arts and Crafts sale, which my quilting friend, Linda, and I are organizing for next fall.

Also in the works is another larger (3 ft. x 4 ft.) "tropical" fish scene. But more on that next month, when I hope it will be done.

April Travels

If you were looking for my April blog and found there wasn't one, there was a very good reason. For most of the month Iwas travelling with family in Italy, with a week in London at the end of the trip.

What an experience it was! I'm still trying to mentally process everything I saw. We travelled from Venice south and west to the Bay of Naples, Pompeii and then north to Rome. Everywhere we went we saw treasures of art and architecture dating from hundreds and in some cases thousands of years ago. Of the many things that impressed themselves upon my quilter's mind were the marvellous designs of mosaics in marble, stone and glass that decorated churches, palaces and the homes of the rich as far back as the first century! Some of these patterns were reminiscent of quilts and some of the elements are still used by quilters today.

The two pictured above (the mosaics not my husband and I!) were preserved in the ruins of Palazzo Teodorico in Ravenna. But we saw similar and even more elaborate designs in Pompeii and Rome.

After the excitement and riches of italy, London might have been a bit of an anti-climax if I hadn't already booked tickets to see the exbitbition "Quilts 1700 to 2010" at the Vicotria and Albert Museum. After two and a half hours of looking, reading, and listening I was exhausted, but it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience to see sucha wide-ranging exhibition and one I will never forget. (For more on this check the website of the Victoria and Albert Museum. You will find more there than I could ever tell you.)

So now it's back to my own quilting, with a mind buzzing with ideas for future quilts.

Good luck with yours!

Old and New

"The March wind doth blow and we shall have snow." So the old verse goes. That is pretty well always true for Edmonton, but this month has been surprisingly spring-like with the piles of snow and sand plowed up during the earlier months reduced to dirty heaps along the edges of the roads. Early spring (if I can be so bold as to assume it has already arrived) is not the most attractive time of year in Edmonton.

However, my mind has been occupied with more interesting things than the weather, as I continue in my self-imposed struggle to use as much of my fabric stash , while buying as little new fabric as possible.

The shoe-boxes which contained a miscellany of squares and rectangles are gradually emptying and the quilt-top I made using a lot of them turned out to be surprisingly bright and cheerful, in a very traditional way. I began by sewing pieces together, then combining them into a large square to which I added a variety of pieced borders, none of them very complicated but all seemed to work together in the end. It was sort of a personal round-robin. (See photo at beginning of blog for the quilt in progress.)

Next I took pieces left over from another project and combined them with black sashing into what I intended to use for the quilt backing, but my "quality-control advisor" (aka my husband) said he really liked it and it should be the front of another quilt. Which poses a problem as I shall have to go and buy fabric to back two quilts now!

Currently, I am working to combine the over 30 four-point black-prints stars, (left over when I changed the design of a previous quilt) with vivid orange diamonds. This one is tricky as there are eight points meeting at one place in the design. If I persevere, this will be one striking quilt! And, if nothing else, its orange and black combination will be great for Halloween!

All this, and the end is nowhere in sight, but I'm having lots of fun.

Next month, we are off to Europe. I have already purchased tickets for entry to the Victoria and Albert Museum's 300 Years of Quilts exhibition in London. Stay-tuned for a report in May and

Happy Quilting!

Getting Away From It All - Except Quilting!

While I have been diligently trying to use up the small pieces in my stash, not a lot was accomplished on that front in February, because we took two weeks to get away from the snow and cold and visited beautiful San Diego, California.

We had a very enjoyable time seeing the sights and sites of San Diego and it was made even more enjoyable when our daughter Susan joined us for a few days. We spent several days in Balboa Park enjoying the warm sunshine, the beautiful gardens, museums and the artists' village. Even then, we didn't see it all.

Another beautiful area was the Old Town, which recreates the buildings and atmosphere of the early days of San Diego's history. The quilter part of me was especially interested in a project which I came across when I noticed two women in period costume seated at a quilt frame. Naturally I was intrigued, and in talking to them discovered that they were working on a reproduction of the earliest known quilt in San Diego, the Juana Machado quilt made in the 1800s, a red on white appliqued quilt. I was invited to sit down and add a leaf to the work in progress, so while Gordon and Susan looked around the town I appliqued one red leaf on the quilt (see photos).

We also managed a day at Ocean Beach, walking along the sand, watching the waves, the dogs (who have their own stretch of the beach to enjoy), other visitors and finished up with a meal at Joe's Crab Shack- yum!!

Of course I had come with a list of fabric requirements for current projects and after visits to four different fabric and quilt shops, I had all the fabrics on the list and more beside.

All in all, it was a very satisfactory experience.

Resolutions

I've never been one to make New Year's resolutions, as such, although I do make resolutions at various times of the year and one made at some point last year was to try and use up as much of my stash as possible, especially flannelettes, which were overflowing their plastic tub. Baby quilts were the answer (see previous blogs) and I was doing very well combining the bits and pieces of flannelette that I had already acquired. The tub was two-thirds empty with only a few pieces on the shelf waiting their turn to be sewn into quilts. Then I ran into the common problem of needing just another metre to use as a backing for a top I had just finished. Nothing I had on hand was suitable. Naturally this meant a trip to the fabric store, where I fully intended to purchase only what I needed. But, alas, the remnant bin was too good to resist and (like any quilter worth her salt) on seeing an offer of "Buy one, get five free" I started to rummage and hit pay dirt! Before long my hands and arms were juggling six pieces of flannette totaling over five metres and for a cost of only $8.50. Ignoring my previous resolution, I purchased them together with the material I really needed.
Once at home, rationalization began (baby quilts were always in demand and the price was impossible to beat) and so did three more quilts. My total to date is 13, with one or two more to go to use up most of the pieces I now have. Only four remain with me, the rest having been given to various charitable enterprises and of the former, one will be given to a new baby later in the month. So my resolution still stands. I can almost see the end of the flanelette. Then there will only be seven more tubs (and a few boxes of assorted squares and strips) to go!
That is, if I avoid the remnant bin!

Christmas Preparations

Every December I get the urge to make something "Christmassy." Usually the urge comes about the second week of the month, when I'm getting out the decorations and putting my Christmas quilts around the house. By this time it's way too late to make anything big, but I open my box of Christmas fabric left-overs and settle for something small : pot holders or hot mats last year; gift bags the year before. This year I decided to make mini (5-inch)-Christmas stockings.

Theoretically, these were to be made very simply and quickly. But in my case, theory and practise didn't coincide. I'll spare you tedious details, but suffice it to say, I finished only one little stocking to my satisfaction and abandoned the attempt. Falling back on an even simpler idea, I made a set of folded coasters for a hostess gift and realized the annual "make something Christmassy" urge had disappeared.

Late as it is in December, I decided to photograph the items to add a touch of Christmas colour to this blog and that didn't work either. Whether it was the fault of the camera or the computer or me (and I have a strong suspicion it is the last), something didn't work the way it should - so no photos either.


As I thought about these frustrations and plans not working out, I remembered that the First Christmas wasn't without its frustrations either. I'm sure Mary and Joseph didn't expect to have to put their newborn in a manger or spend the night in a stable. But the Christchild came nevertheless.

And this year, too, Christmas will come, and what truly matters is not the external preparations but the preparations of the heart.

In the words of an old Christmas song written by Emily Elizabeth Elliot:

Thou didst leave Thy throne and Thy kingly crown

When Thou camest to earth for me

But in Bethlehem's home was there found no room

For Thy holy nativity.

O come to my heart, Lord Jesus.

There is room in my heart for Thee.



May The Christchild come with all His blessings to your hearts and homes this Christmas!

The 3 R's of Quilting

"Reduce. Reuse. Recycle." is a well known mantra of modern society, but quilters have long been advocates of these "three R's." Quilts have been made from cast off clothing and fabric scraps of all kinds.

In my continued efforts to implement the three R's in my own quilting, here are some of my recent activities.

Reduce. I've been trying to reduce my stash considerably, especially the pile of flannelette that I have accumulated from the remnant bins of a local fabric store. Making baby quilts is a joy and was the logical choice for using these fabrics.

I have to admit that I did purchase some new flannelette for the backing, but I've made nine baby quilts so far which will go to local charities. ( See the photos for some of them.)

Reuse. Among the pile of flanelette were some used pillowcases. These I trimmed off the seams and opened, then stitched together to use as cosy backing for the baby quilts. I also stitched together left-over pieces of batting, using a wide zig-zag stitch, to make one larger piece for a quilt. In the best quilting tradition, narrow strips were pieced into blocks and borders.

Recycle. Long pieces of thread used for basting, when removed from the quilts, were wound onto an empty spool or bobbin to be used again in another project.

Even with all the using up, there was still waste from the the trimmings. One of our guild members uses the selvage edges trimmed from fabrics to make knitted rugs. So these go to her. I found a great idea for using the rest of the trimmings on the internet at http://www.quiltinggallery.com/ courtesy of Sue of http://www.quiltedescapes.com/ Here it is:

Here's a great way to throw out your scraps without feeling guilty. Using an old pillowcase line a garbage bin with it. While you are sewing throw your scraps of fabric into it. When the pillowcase is 2/3's full, sew it shut and take it down to the local anmal shelter. They make great beds for cats and dogs. they are 100% washable and nice and soft for the animals! ... the shelters love it because they fit in the cat cages perfectly and the bed can go home with the animal, so it's something comforting for them while they adjust to their new home.

Thanks to Sue and happy quilting!