Quilt Show entry #4 - All because of Trudy

My friend Trudy is a remarkable soul.  Her Birthday is today and I feel privileged to have her as a friend and a mentor.  This quilt otherwise known as Dragonfly Carnival, my fourth submission for our quilt show is the result of this friendship and came to be all because of Trudy.   I will hang it with love for all to see. 

 

To explain, here's a short narrative of this wall hanging.  I think it was in 2010 our circle of friends quilting group gathered at Trudy's house on Lake Champlain to work on a Ricky Timms' style Convergence wall hanging.  Yes, she's very hospitable and gracious that way.  We all brought fabric to work on and Trudy was teaching us since she had made several of these already.  Yes, she's an excellent teacher, so wise and can read people intuitively.   My fabrics wouldn't work well enough and Trudy gave me some of her Ricky Timms fabric to make mine, yes she is that generous and she had just returned from another of Ricky Timms conferences with another friend Cathy.   So we sewed, laughed and shared our day each making most of this.  Now during that time in my life I was still trying to "work with " all the medicines I need to take for the spinal cord injury and my brain was and still can be in a fog at times.  Not too many troubles though with sewing on it this that day and like all other days it came to an end. 

Life goes on... you know the drill.  Anyway, fast forward to the next year and while at a quilting retreat in Odgensburg I brought my wall hanging to work on since it languished as a UFO. Thankfully, I was sitting next to Trudy.   I assembled the center top and knew something was wrong with it but truly couldn't figure it out.  I pondered for about half an hour and  finally mentioned that I knew something was wrong it but with the Rx's and health issues I was just going to let it be and continue on with it having it represent the struggles I was dealing with.    She also noticed something amiss but didn't say anything and asked if she could look at it to figure it out.  Yep, she's that kind of person that knows yet doesn't force herself on you until asked.  Well she found the err in the construction and kindly offered her insight.  Being receptive to it, we ripped out the problem and I continued on sewing it together and being much happier now it proceeded.  Another weekend of sharing wonderful times with close friends.  That brings it to the next year when I finally made the time to lay out the fabrics to align colors best so it could be finished with the borders.  I know, I'm a slow stitcher and finisher but that truly is okay with me.  It was sewed all together and there it sat again while I  dreamt on about it.  There it was as a top, now what to quilt on it? 

 

 

 

 

Ahhh, finally inspiration came, dragonflies! A spirited symbol that  she and I both admire. Off again on my merry way until the time to quilt the borders and there it sat. So I registered this wall hanging in June for the October quilt show to push me to get 'er done and stop this dalliance.

 

 

The above photo shows a dragonfly head that I wasn't super happy with and was working on.  It looked like a derriere(or breasts) with eyeballs stuck on it!   What's that phrase I use lately?  oh yea,  "perfectionism is a very crippling agent to creativity".  Anyway I progressed along with the deadline looming ever closer.  The next photo  shows a couple of the dragonflies and you can click on any of the images to get a better glimpse of the details if you wish.

 

Next came the finishing touches, piping and binding on it.  Here's where I shared a peek about it in a September post.   

 

 

The label was made when I was feeling silly I guess, it really stretched out my artist's skills, lol.

 

So here she is- the fourth quilt show entry and it's all because of Trudy- the Dragonfly Carnival.

. 

 

Thanks my dear friend and Happy Birthday!  I Love you loads!

Jane

I think I can, I think I can...

All of the items that were listed this past last Monday are checked off my to do list and have been moved onto the to DONES list!  LOL 

Batik Reprieve aka: 40 Diamonds - DONE!
Tweet Camping otherwise known here as stacked and packed - DONE!

Next on my radar will be:

1. Quilt the Jack in the Pulpit wall hanging- getting to this next! 
2. Bind  the Jack in the Pulpit (I may stitch the binding by machine on the back and then turn and topstitch the edge down by the machine as well.  Will ponder my timeline for this while quilting it though I do want to hand stitch the binding on the upcoming Radiant Star project that's next though it's 102" x102" square so it'll be time consuming and that clock seems to be ticking faster!
3. Quilt Adirondack Radiant Star- Tonight hopefully I can start that after getting practice on the Jack and the Pulpit.  I did get this  ironed and layered on Friday yippee skippee!
4. Make 3 sleeves that will be pinned on the larger quilts in time for turn in on Friday evening.  Ican only hope I don't have to finish stitching it in the parking lot!

That leaves these 1-2 projects to get done this week by Thursday.  I think I can......

 

I'll be back to share some photos of these beauties.  Sorry the weather is so drab to grab a shot of them now not to mention the mist in the air.   

 

Jane       8~)

Key West Sunset Quilt

A while back, I mentioned I would be back to share information learned along the way while making this Orange Crush Mystery Quilt. First of all, let me share the actual photo of the finished quilt while it hung at our quilt show.



KEY WEST SUNSET QUILT
Finished 10-7-2011

A friend of mine took a photo of it while it was displayed at our quilt show. Thanks Patti! Here are a couple of others items I quilted into the borders that I haven't shared with you yet.





Overall, the boders contained shells, seaweed clumps on both lower edges, a couple of angel fish, several sea horses, a couple of dolphins playing, a field of jelly fish (I actually did eight of them totally free hand- no tissue paper!) and the piece de resistance- the Mermaid.
It was enjoyable playing with thread and accomplishing all of these free hand. Now I can't draw a straight line with a ruler typically, but with tracing this designs through free copy right onto tissue paper for the more detailed ones and practising on my dry erase board for the simpler designs, I was able to get what I wanted where it needed to be. Amazingly I had fun and really did it! Yoorah ME.

I learned some things about me in the process.

***Usually there is a tendancy around here to postpone going into the next step. I'll drag my feet and overthink the project until I get fustrated and then it will be put aside to the UFO pile that I truly do love all parts of quilt making. I need to put my fear aside and just do it. Thanks to the dooming deadline, I did jump into this much quicker.

***But another lesson learned, stop procastinating so you have that huge deadline approaching faster, sooner. While finishing up the quilting, I thought of having more quilting done within the interior of the quilt, BUT because of said quilt show dealine, I skipped over that bit and did enough so the borders could be finished and done in time. One week before the show, I still had to sew on the borders, quilt and bind the thing. YEE GADS!

I didn't care for sewing the borders on after the center top was quilted with my domestic sewing machine. It was another first attempt for me to try and while it is okay, there are 2 little wrinkles now on the back of this in one border AND they will be staying there.
***Next time, assemble the whole top. If I need to reduce the bulk of the quilt to get it through my machine, then I'll cut the batting and backing off to quilt the center area easier.

Still have to put the label on it. Will be getting to that as soon as I receive the "Quilt Album" software I ordered. Not sure yet how this will work, but with thinking about labeling this one I stumbled across this software. So after checking out there website and saw the possibilities this could be do, I ordered a hard copy of it that I will be sharing with my Mom's computer so when I visit her there, I can still take care of business. Am still waiting for the delivery.




Am thinking of photographing the quilt and then use that in the label.

I grabbed some snap shots of the backing done for it too.

It's not perfectly squared up with the quilt boundaries (shhhh!), but I like it anyway.
I threw some of the discarded blocks onto the back in a manner that pleased me.
Notice the star fish on the bottom border, boy that stands out on the back too!



Here are a couple of shots I just took of the whole quilt that I took of it on my deck. That little bit of white stuff is our first bit of snow.





How's that for an Oxymoron: Key West Sunset does the Adirondack Autumn that is rushing into winter.
This was a Bonnie Hunter's Mystery quilt called Orange Crush initially.  I love, Love, LOVE all her details of piecing.  Thank you so much Bonnie.  With this one, I changed her layout to have that diagonal flow of chains in the quilt top and then went onto my nautical theme after fondly remembering our trip to the Florida Keys with the sunset off Sunset Pier at Zero Duval Street.   What a great vacation and fond memories.


Enjoy your day,
Jane

Columbus Day Quilt show

"Ladies of the Sea" by Pam Schafer


"Dirty Laundry" by Karla Strauss


"My Celtic Rose" by Eileen Powers

Champlain Valley Quilter's Guild hosted there biennial quilt show and it was a fabulous show. So many talented quilters and truly award winning quilts were evident.

The above only is a glimpse of the quilts seen. All three shown won award winning ribbons. My Mom's Celtic Rose won two ribbons! Congratulations Mom!


Imagine her sursprise when I mail her the goodies. She didn't even know I was putting her quilt into our show.

I'm unsure of the numbers for the show, but there had to be at least 350+ quilts on exhibit. I think there were about 40 quilts done by the members for the Mystery project and it was great to see how different they all looked due to the preferences of each quilter.
That made a great exhibit within the show and let even non-quilters wrap their brain around how different one pattern could turn out so many different ways.

Jane

I'm back.....Long post

Just got home Friday night from visiting my Mom in Florida and having a little vacation with "DH". What a wonderful trip. Despite my last post of our ticket purchase for a flight with Allegiant Airlines, the flight was smooth, nice and rather quick. Much easier than driving all that way. We rented a car after landing so while visiting Mom and her Boyfriend, we were able to come and go without having to rely on their vehicle. This was so much nicer. I can relate now more easily with Mom (Which I really never have had a problem doing) of how she felt her first year in Florida without her own set of wheels.
The time flew, Mom and I didn't get as much alone time as I had hoped for. I told DH I could see him any time at home, that I wanted to spend some more time with Mom. He understood, but my Mom wasn't feeling the best the last week we were there. Regardless, I was glad to get there to see her and reconnect.
While traveling in Florida, we went to the Keys.
The Keys are such a beautiful area and the weather was tropic even for January! Since we were only there 2 full days, we left with quite a tan. I was pleasantly surprised. I did use a 30spf lotion so I wouldn't burn, which I didn't. Luckily though, neither one of us has peeled either.
One of our days was spent sight seeing Key West. The 1 1/2 hour ride took us about 4 hours since we really enjoyed the journey. Robbie's Marina allowed you to go on their docks for $1.00 each. It was unbeleivable the number and sizes of the tarpon that swam aroung the docks. Of course, since fish was the menu, quite a few feathered friends were trying the "all you can eat approach to". Baria Honda Beach for a little hike before crossing the 7 mile bridge. A beautiful day in Key West taking a trolley tour, seeing Ernest Hemmingway's house, the Southernmost point in the "Continental USA", shopping, Mallory Square with many artists sharing their talents, a beautiful sunset off the wharf, Marguaritaville, Slopppy Joe's establishment even a drag show which was really quite funny! So we successfully did the "Duval Crawl". Of course, I switched from alcohol to soda or water. That being said, you guessed it , I was the DD. We returned to our resort in Key Largo at 3:15 am! Glad we had the next day to play - lounge lizards.




The resort we stayed at was luxurious. 2 pools and a jacuzzi with Tiki bar, and at the ocean beach with another tiki bar. Swam, drank, used jacuzzi, drank, sunshine, drank, swam, heaven! This is the view from floating in the pool. The bougainvillia were hanging over the waterfall flowing into the pool after a 10 foot drop. Beautiful! I miss swimming in the North during the winter. I'll have to try to fit in the YMCA this week for swimming. It was so wonderful. My plan on swimming with the dolphins though was crossed off my list on this trip. The temperature of the ocean was a little too cold for me.



We were also able to see most of the Everglades. We saw every type of animal that resides there, with the exception of snakes and the cougar, THANK GOODNESS! I never knew cougars were so far south and was surprised to see signs warning people of them being in an area. So we hiked several trails, rode the rental car to the southern most point called Flamingo Point and then proceeded back north and to the western side of the state via Alligator Alley and Cypress National Park so we could find our lodging in Everglade City. Toured that side of the glades in a Carolina boat. It was only DH and I as passengers for the tpur, so the captain (owner) was able to really personalize our trip for us. It was gorgeous weather and pleasant. Saw dolphins and even a mother and youthful Manatee. Such shy creatures. Only the tip of their snouts were evident besides the cloudy trail they left behind while negotiating the waters. Mangroves, shell islands, fishing, ospreys, pelicans.... all were wonderful.
By the time we traveled up the west coast, visited a beach, transversed the "Sunshine Bridge going into St. Petersburg and back to stay with my Mom, I was thouroughly rested and recharged. A good thing too, since The Villages were having their Quilt show. How outstanding it was.
The talent that was evident was truly amazing. Especially Mom. Her quilt "At Last" won a ribbon as an Honorable Mention. This quilt is beautiful.



While reading the label printed for the show, I started crying because she mentioned that this quilt was coming to me. I know my Mom loves me, but seeing what was written really touched my heart. The amount of time she has invested in this quilt is unbelievable. It's has celtic knot blocks, besides appliqued vines with roses, and celtic knot center medallion with vines and roses too. The borders also have Rose and vines appliqued on them. Her quilting is beautifully done. Besides hand quilting a gridwork, she hand quilted stippling within her blocks' celtic areas. The detail! I'll be posting some photos when I get a chance. Even now, just talking about it, I have a little too much moisture in my eyes.

Well, I'll catch up more in a future post and what else that has been going on. Sorry this has been so wordy, but I wanted to relay a little of what I had been doing in the past several weeks in my absence. Enjoy!

Jane