Autumn Splendor

Well, the splendor of autumn has past, and now we are faced with bare trees until Spring.  I really did enjoy the change of the season this year and was inspired by all of the bright autumn colors in the trees.  Also, one of my Block of the Month projects fit right in, because I chose the Harvest Road color scheme for my BOM that I am doing at Quilter’s Common.harvestroad

So, for one last bit of autumn inspiration in my quilting I put this table runner together for my friends who were kind enough to invite my husband, his Mom and I for Thanksgiving Dinner.  I picked three of the block patterns from the BOM and stayed close to the colors that Antoinette chose for two of them, but decided to go with green instead of yellow for the center block.

fall-table-runner

Now I am going to have to be inspired by the colors of the Holiday and also the ice blue skies of winter.

 

Another Applique Quilt

I am working on my version of Peggy Anne’s In the Meadow Quilt.  I know it is supposed to be a counting quilt, but I am getting a bit creative here, so the number of babies will not be quite the same and some may be missing from the scene all together.  Changing my approach to a smaller quilt with separate blocks for each applique has re-awakened my creative spirit.

Here are the two blocks I have finished

fish ducklings

Here is the current plan

meadow-plan

Here is my previous background for the quilt, which may now be the backing?

meadow background

Beading Again

I tore myself away from quilting for a bit to make a couple of necklaces with some beautiful Hand Blown Glass Beads.  These are simple, but elegant necklaces strung on Bead Smith Flex-Rite Beading Wire.  Other beads include Seed Beads and Swarovski Crystals for some sparkle.

Beading is a great hobby; you can have so much fun with color and texture.  And, look, I have combined my quilting with the beading here by using some of my batiks as a backgrounds in my photos.

I have not done any beading in quite a while, but I remember the trial and error of finding just the right materials for jewelry making.  I always had good luck with Rio Grande tools and findings and I loved looking for vintage beads on eBay.  I  found inspiration from beading magazines and books.  200 Beading Tips, Techniques & Trade Secrets is a book available from Amazon.com that looks like it gives an excellent overview of the tools and techniques for someone just getting started with this hobby.  Also, Interweave publishes many excellent beading magazines and books, including several free e-books.

And, you might enjoy browsing around my Bead Stringing Site.  I started this back in 2001 when I took an HTML class at the University of Massachusetts Lowell.  Yes, the site is all hand written code.  No page generating tools were used for that site!  I have not added any content to  the site in years, but the site still gets a fair amount of traffic.  Using Word Press to publish blog posts is much more convenient, but knowing how to tweak things with HTML still comes in handy now and then!

November Jane Blocks

I am now up to date with my Jane Blocks.  This month I was working with my Singer 301 Sewing Machine which just got cleaned and had some adjustments made.  It is such a nice machine.  It has a great stitch and is amazingly light.  Perfect for taking to class.

I also wanted to comment on this month’s triangle block.  Instead of appliqueing the curved piece on the bottom I decided to just sew it on with the machine because it is not much of a curve.  And I cheated with the little melon.  Yes, I did.  It is fused in place with steam a seam and machine stitched around the edges.  I think this will be just fine.  After all, this is a MODERN Dear Jane quilt, so I am using as many modern techniques as I can!

 

 

The Lorax Quilt is Finished

I started this Lorax quilt quilt ages ago.  I quilted it as planned with the Zephyr, panto that looks like the Truffula trees .. and then it just hung out on the quilt frame like clothes on a tread mill for months!  Finally during my unexpected break from work I got around to putting the binding on it.

I suppose it is controversial to quilt right over the Lorax but I don’t think it matters to him. Think of it as a screen overlay and don’t worry about adding a panto over a panel.  I think it works just fine.

 

Quilt for Boston

I was finally able to make it to a Boston Modern Quilt Guild meeting and was pleased to discover that they were still looking for help with the Quilts for Boston project.  Alice gave me a bag which I thought was a top to quilt, but I discovered a collection of blocks that needed to be pieced.  I had great fun arranging all of the blocks, including a strip of tumbler blocks, some very modern blocks and also traditional star blocks.  I really enjoyed having the opportunity to put this quilt together which will go to someone who was directly affected by the Boston Marathon Bombing or I think it may also go to someone who has helped in the healing process.  I could really feel all of the love that went into making all of the blocks in this quilt.

 

 

 

 

The Happiest Quilt

I just love the colors in this quilt.  If this quilt does not make you happy I don’t know what will.

The fabric is a Hoffman Watermelon Bali Pops pack of 2 1/2 inch strips with two light green and two lavender fabrics substituted. Sorry to say that this color set has been “retired” and I could not find it even on e-bay. Perhaps Wildberry or Splash will make you just as happy!

The pattern is Champagne from Villa Rosa Designs.  The pattern was written with a pack of 2 1/2 inch strips in mind.  These patterns are very basic, printed on a post card, but are only $2.00.  I added borders to the quilt to make is a nice size for keeping warm while watching TV or reading.  Thanks to Colette at Quilters Common for help choosing the fabric for the borders.  She was right of course!

 

 

October Jane

October has been flying by with very mild weather and lots of beautiful color throughout the New England Area.  I managed to get all of my October Jane blocks finished and have gotten a start on the ones for November.

November will finally see more green!  Pat, our fearless leader at Quilters Common has been trying to get a mix of blocks each month … paper piecing, rotary cut, applique, and always one triangle, otherwise we would never get to them!  But, this means I have no idea what colors I will be using for fabric each month.  For the last two months the colors have been lots of yellow, orange and red, so I am happy to be picking out some green fabric for November.

Block M-8 ended up looking quite warped so I went ahead and added the sashing pieces.  I am following advice from Aunt Reen’s Blog for the sashing.  With the sashing in place it looks just fine now.

 

 

 

 

 

New England Quilt Museum

Since I suddenly have a bit of time on my hand (day 10 of the Federal Government Shutdown) I decided to drive to Lowell to see the new exhibit at the New England Quilt Museum.  As I walked up the stairs to the gallery I was pleased to see two Denyse Schmidt quilts on display. This is so obvious in retrospect.  The name of the show is “Roots of Modern Quilting” and the quilts are from Denyse’s book “Modern Quilts Traditional Inspiration”.  It would have been more interesting if Denyse’s quilts were in the same room as the two vintage 30’s quilts that are similar to hers.  But, I think the vintage quilts may be part of their permanent display and perhaps that is why they asked Denyse if they could show her two quilts. Perhaps you will notice them in the photos I took which can be viewed HERE.

Later I came across a quilt by Jen Sorenson which I recognized because we are both members of the Boston Modern Quilt Guild.   Her quilt is a modern hexagon quilt and there was a similar vintage quilt on the opposing wall … in solids, not the typical Grandmother’s Garden colors and layout.  Look for these in my photos, as well.

Seeing these Modern quilts next to the vintage/antique quilts makes me wonder … what is the difference between a modern quilt and a contemporary quilt?