Quilts for the little Boys

May has whipped by without a post and this one will have to do for June as well. There have been other priorities; specifically, the arrival of my little 19th-month old granddaughter and her parents from Singapore. They have been with us for three weeks with a few more days to go. And as all grandmothers will understand, every moment spent together is precious. Even quilting has to take a back seat. But I did manage to finish three quilts for  my Edmonton grandsons before the Singapore family arrived.  The bunk-bed size Spiderman quilt is for seven-year old Evan.

 

His little brothers, five-year-olds Aidan and Iain each get a quilt called Traffic Jam ( the name of the focus fabric in each quilt). These are also twin-bed size. As you can see, I have designed them both the same, but with a variation in the placement of the orange and green fabrics, so each little boy's quilt is just a little different from his brother's. The striped fabric and the orange and green complement the focus fabric and make (what I think, anyway) are two bright and cheerful quilts. These quilts were  hand-quilted around the motifs and machine quilted in-the-ditch elsewhere. The circles in the centre panel were cut from a complementary print, fused then stitched in place as were the letters in the names.

 

 That's it for now.

Happy Quilting!

 

 

 

April News

April has been a productive month so far, with two quilts completed, (see photos below), one more just about finished and two more tops completed and waiting to be basted together and quilted.

This baby quilt is for my grand-niece Laura, who is expecting a baby boy at the end of May.  Most of the motifs in this quilt are from a pattern originally published in the 1930s called the Brother Quilt. They were used in a quilt made for her grandfather (my brother) by my namesake Ada Parks. I used some of them in a quilt for my son and then in a baby quilt for Laura, who still has her own much-loved baby-quilt. Now the fourth generation baby will have some of the same patterns in his quilt. But he has his own special and original block as well. Laura and her husband live in Nunavut, in the far north of Canada, so I designed a block with a nanuq (polar bear) in it just for him.

This quilt was made for a friend who wanted a pink and green quilt. The pattern, called Christmas Cactus, was designed by Carol Dawson and published as part of The Quiltmaker  Pattern Collection in 2005. I've had this pattern for a few years and was happy to have a reason to finally make the quilt.

Check in next month for a report on the other three works in progress.

I'm back!

It's been a long, long time since my last post. Since then we have shared Christmas with the family and then travelled to Mesa, AZ for a month and from there to California for three more weeks. One of the highlights of my time in the USA was the opportunity to visit the Tucson Quilters 35th Quilt Show, called Quilt Fiesta!

As all quilt shows do, this one inspired me with several new ideas for quilts of my own. Unfortunately, I always have more ideas that I want to try than time to do them. And I came home with fabric for four quilts for family which take priority. I've started on the first one called "Christmas Cactus" - look for more info and pictures on my next blog. In the meantime, here are some photos of quilts which I took at the Tucson show. Perhaps they'll inspire you too.

 The first quilt on the left is called "Bouilliabasse" by Pamela Ashbaugh.


Below is "Lollypop Trees" by Nancy Arsenault and lastly, Tami Graeber's award-winning "Grand Finale"

 

Cold Weather and Warm Quilts

It has been an unusually early winter with lots of snow and many cold days. Ideal for quilting and in spite of Christmas preparations, I managed to find time to make two small quilts for the great-grandsons of a neighbour.

 

Erick's quilt was a challenge as he has been blind from birth, so I used simple shapes and many different materials - cotton, silk, brocade, embossed, linen, leather, vinyl and some unknown fibres with fuzzy surfaces, to make his quilt as tactile as possible. Each shape is stitched around with a zig-zag stitch which, I hope, will enable him to "see" the shape with his fingers.  The borders and backing are a flannel with Superman motifs.

 

Parker is Eric's little brother and the colourful blocks repeat the colours in the patterned flannel used as alternate blocks and borders. The flannel motifs are various kinds of trucks and machines. Parker is fond of Batman, so I was happy to find a fleece with large Batman motifs and used it for the backing.  So both boys will have warm,cosy quilts for Christmas.

 

 

To all my blog and quilting friends, I wish you a Christmas warm with love and happiness and many blessings of the quilting kind in the New Year.

 

 

Mission Possible Sale

In October my energies were largely spent preparing for our bi-annual Mission Possible Arts, Crafts and Bake Sale at the Salvation Army. Proceeds from this sale go towards needs in under-developed countries. Projects such as providing clean water, education for children, medical assistance, and micro-credit are all part of The Salvation Army`s work. So I was happy to be able to do my part to help.
People who wanted to participate in the sale could either rent a table or a make a donation in kind. In addition to the rental cost, vendors had the option of donating part of their profits as well. Several of us who are avid quilters had our own little corners. We also had a artist and other crafters selling their wares. Gordon donated some of his books and four wooden breadboards which he makes.

I had fun making a variety of smaller items in addition to a number of large quilts. The response was good, so now my storage area has lots of room for future projects. One I will be working on is a tactile quilt for a little blind boy. More about that in the future.
The attached photos show my corner of the sale room.

One fish, Two Fish...

Thanks to my new quilting friend, Phyllis, I've been having great fun this last few weeks.

When I visited her in August, she generously showed me the |"flying fish" mobiles she had made. She also gave me a short lesson and a copy of the patterns and instructions. The results, as you can see in the attached photos, are quite exciting for one who enjoys "playing with fabric. Fortunately I had most of the materials required in my stash and only had to purchase stiffener for the body. I did indulge myself and bought a half metre of a lovely baik and a spool of matching Egyptian variegated thread that was a joy to use.  So here I am fourteen fish later and only stopped because |I ran out of stiffener.  I hope you enjoy looking at them.

Back in Berry Beautiful Newfoundland!

    If a holiday can be said to have a theme, ours was blueberries. We chose the month of August to visit Newfoundland because that’s when the blueberries are ripe. For Gordon, it didn’t much matter what else we did in the month but we had to go blueberry picking. Of course we planned to visit with family and friends and I had some interesting quilters to meet, but if we didn’t get any berries, it would have been a wasted month. When we landed in St. John’s, the question uppermost in Gordon’s mind was "Are the berries ripe yet?"
    As we drove from St. John’s to Lewisporte and looked at the hills, bogs and barrens passing by, if he said it once, he said it a hundred times "I wonder if there are any berries there?" (meaning, of course, blueberries).We were heartened to see cars parked along the roadsides in the middle of nowhere, a sure sign that someone was off either fishing, or picking berries.
    In Lewisporte we took a walk around Woolfrey’s Pond and, joy of joys, along the edges of the boardwalk there were ripe blueberries. Not many, but enough to make us feel optimistic for a later berry-picking day. Luck was with us, for when we called a friend in St. John’s to arrange a get-together, she invited us to join her the next day for a berry-picking excursion. She knew a secret spot where berries grew in profusion. An invitation to a Buckingham Palace Garden Party couldn’t have created more excitement!

    The day dawned cool and overcast, with a good breeze blowing to keep away the mosquitoes. Perfect for picking berries. An hour’s drive brought us to Doreen’s secret spot and two and a half hours later we slowly made our way back to the car with aching backs, wobbly knees and three gallons of blueberries between us.

    Another day brought another berry-picking expedition and we left Newfoundland with half a suitcase full of frozen blueberries packed inside an insulated cooling bag. Some were thawed when we arrived home twelve hours later, but they made delicious jam.

    Oh, and did I mention the blueberry print on the fabric I bought to make napkins to match the blueberry place mats I had purchased on our last visit?

What a trip!