1st mandala done...

My first ever mandala (courtesy of Ranae Merrill's fabulous technique!) is done! Now to figure out what to mount it on, border and quilt it.... And start planning another mandala!

Happy spring!

What adventures are you having today? Leave me a comment at the blog!

And if you read a few blogs, and would like a better way to aggregate them - try "Bloglovin'"! select the icon on the right of this screen that says "Follow me with Bloglovin'" and see what happens!

Liz

A different craft

Over the last few months, I applied for a new position at work. I was offered the role, and my first day on the job ( sort of) was March 4. I say sort of, because I can't really get my teeth into the role until I hire someone to replace me in my current role. Working on that.

Anyways, this involved a move to a new office. (quite nice.) However, it doesn't have a tack board. It does for sure have a white board!!! Which is key. So facilities found me a board covered in the lovely grey material...well, we couldn't have that. So off I went with our brand expert to see if we could find some material in the company colours to re-cover the board. Success! I took the board and material home and played today. The original material was all of the same value so I popped it out with some reddish material. The key thing I wanted to get on the board was some kanji symbols to set a tone- listen and harmony.

the board to begin with. in my sewing room.

cutting out the symbols, using a fusible interface.

my home made light box, usable when it is sunny out...actually, i used it last night too, to trace the symbols on to the fusible interface. worked pretty good with just the patio light on.

the final version! the board is going on a wall that is pretty dark brown, so this should pop a bit. The red fabric on the right is full of those little stick characters. thought that was applicable as well to my work. 

the symbols are "listen" and then "harmony".  

The following is from the U.S. Department of State website. Pretty cool that the U.S. Department of State is teaching this...

The most common problem in communication is not listening! A Chinese symbol for "To Listen" is shown below.  It is wise beyond the art. The left side of the symbol represents an ear. The right side represents the individual- you. The eyes and undivided attention are next and finally there is the heart.

This symbol tells us that to listen we must use both ears, watch and maintain eye contact, give undivided attention, and finally be empathetic.  In other words we must engage in active listening! Active listening is a skill taught to teachers and police officers, counselors, ministers, rabbis and priests. It is a skill we would all do better having learned, practiced. To begin being an active listener we must first understand the four rules of active listening.

The Four Rules of Active Listening 1. Seek to understand before you seek to be understood. 2. Be non judgmental 3. Give your undivided attention to the speaker 4. Use silence effectively

What's your adventure today? 

Christmas 2012 projects #1

A close friend of my husband and I got married this year (her first time!), sold her house, and bought a new house with her new husband - married in August, and moved into the new house in September. A bit of a whirlwind summer for her! And congratulations again!

We visited them for the first time in October, I think (maybe early November), after seeing a stunning fabric art show at the Burlington (ON) Centre for Performing Arts. Beautiful house with lovely touches and lines...and several fireplaces and lots of couches. 

When we received their invitation for a housewarming party in December, my immediate thought was that I would make them a quilt for their new home and life.  

The quilt is based on "Basket Weave" from Denyse Schmidt's "Modern Quilts, Traditional Inspiration."

The Christmas blocks on the front are from a Moda line - I bought the material about 3 years ago, planning to make placemats for all our friends. I even mentioned it in one of my blogs that this was underway! I think I pieced one placemat and severely lost interest.  This initial material was purchased from Reichards Quilt Shop in St. Jacob's. 

I didn't want to buy additional feature fabric, so the quilt is not quite the dimensions in Denyse's pattern, which is 72 x 86. I had written the dimensions of the finished quilt down somewhere...likely my whiteboard...but it's been cleaned several times and it's gone. The full blocks are 14", and the border (on sides only) contains blocks of 5x13. 

I purchased the green fabric for contrast on the front - Robert Kaufman Fusion - I have used this fabric a lot in many different shades of green and brown, cream, red...and maybe more...over several projects. The shades just seem to be what I am looking for. And the variegated colour of the fabric makes it very interesting. You can kind of see what I mean in the above photograph - it's not a solid green, it even looks a bit bluish in some parts. The binding was also done in this green.  

I really like the Christmas prints. I did have to buy a small piece of the red material with white snowflake to finish up the blocks. And some blocks needed pieces of material pieced together to get the full strip. I particularly liked making this border strip below as an accent.

 Since I purchased material from a wide backing bolt for the back  (the red), I brought some of that to the front to tie it together. All the additional material was purchased from Creative Sisters in Kitchener. 

The back, well, I did need to purchase material for it. Carol at Creative Sisters helped me with picking the green fusion material on the front, and when I went back later, also helped me figure out the back - material AND math!!

I liked the idea of the strips in the back. Made it interesting. 

The quilting was done in 2 steps - I stitched in the ditch around the printed blocks, and then did a diamond pattern based on the pattern on the front. Quite happy with how it turned out. The thread was a variegated King Tut. My next quilt I'm trying Aurifill! I found it in another local store today!

I called the quilt home, and gave it to my friend, who I understand spent the next day wrapped up in it on the couch, after the party. That is a very good use of a quilt. 

What did I learn with this quilt? 

1. I tracked my time with this quilt. I first set up a work breakdown structure using Trello, so that I have a reference of all steps required to make the quilt. I then used another tool to actually track time per activity. Unfortunately, this tool changed while I was using it. However, it turned out that my actual time was about ...hmmm..i just went back to Trello and it turns out I didn't actually add up all the hours. Let's call it at least 20. 

2. I wanted to show myself I could complete a project on a deadline. Last year I completed 1 quilt (started 2 years ago), and two small projects. This was my start to see if I could do better for 2013. I was successful. I had a target to finish it a week before the party, because I was going to Vegas before that date, and the quilt needed to be done. It was. 

3. I had fun modifying the pattern to fit the material I had. That was pretty creative. 

4. I let myself go a bit crazy on the back! I like piecing backs, but this was different because of the material I used. 

5. I used 505 adhesive for basting. I'm going to try safety pin basting next time. Basting is my least favouring activity (it used to be binding, but I got past that!), and I really could tell on this quilt that the spray basting didn't do me any favours.

Next up, the Christmas present blog, and then the Sampler blog, and then...quilts I'm working on in 2013! I've almost got the first one done! It's due to be done by the end January, and it will be. It's been a lot of fun to work on it!

What's your adventure today...this week...this month? 

Liz

Always learning...

Working on a quilt for a friend. Will posture after delivery, but I am so excited to be learning new things!!! Here's one thing-appliqué using designs found on line, and incorporating some fabric painting. The swan on the left is the paper design, the one on the right is my fabric swan, with painted eye and beak. Just going to put the wing on. Nice. Very exciting for me. I always challenge myself to learn or do something different with every quilt, and this is no exception!!!

Next projects

I have to gather up the pictures from the Christmas presents that were made and given, so that will take a bit of time.

What did I get for Christmas? Amon other things, TWO gift certificates for local quilt shops: Creative Sisters in Kitchener and Triangle Sewing in Guelph!!! Yippee!! The first one was disposed on this morning at creative sisters in their monthly Full Moon Frenzy sale with bone pre inventory sale...good deals all over the place.

The picture below was the outcome if that trip- I LOVE these colours! The colour consultant (also know as husband) assisted. This selection is for Log Cabin quilt for a girlfriend, who asked for burnt orange, earthy greens and browns, and blue the colour of Lake Huron. Good description to work with!!

I worked on the Mandala all day yesterday, and almost have all the sections sewn up, and then I need to join them together. Picture below of the last set of 8 that I'm working on.

So off to a busy start for this year! 4 quilts already planned between now and August, not counting figuring out what to do with the mandala, and of course other mandalas...not to mention the backlog of 3 baby quilts...

What's your adventure for today?

Blogathon Canada...and sneak peeks of future posts

Sew-Sisters of Toronto Ontario is hosting this great Canadian Quilt Blogathon.
Every day one or two bloggers representing different areas of Canada are posting about their work - and including links to quilt bloggers in that region!! Each guest blogger hosts a giveaway on their day. Have fun exploring!

Date	Location	Blogger	Blog
Sunday, November 18	ON	Michele	Quilting Gallery – ME
Monday, November 19	BC	Felicity	Felicity Quilts
Monday, November 19	BC	Cathy	Blueberry Patch
Tuesday, November 20	NS	Jeanette	STAMP * STITCH * CREATE
Tuesday, November 20	NB	Holly	Through My Window
Wednesday, November 21	AB	Shena	Apple Pie Patchwork
Wednesday, November 21	SK	Patti	Retired to Quilt
Thursday, November 22	QC	Marika	Live, Laugh, Love… Sew
Thursday, November 22	MB	Heather	Church Avenue Quilts
Friday, November 23	YT	Vivian	Quilting Under the Midnight Sun
Friday, November 23	YT	Janet	Caribou Crossing Chronicles
Saturday, November 24	ON	Cathi	Quilt Obsession
Saturday, November 24	ON	Cara	Cara Quilts
Saturday, November 24	ON	Kaye	Miss Print

What's coming up on my blog in the next while?
1. Final post on my sampler quilt, that I started in 2006 - 3 houses ago. I finished it earlier this year, and planning a blog on it soon. It's a traditional 6 block sampler, hand quilted. The handquilting really stands out in the photo below.

2. Mandala Mania! I started playing with Spirals from RaNae Merrill's book - Spiralmania. This summer, I found out that she has a new twist on Spirals - creating mandala's! This fits right in with my own spiritual and Reiki journey. Turns out she was coming to Ontario for whirlwind guild tour - I had a pick of three different guilds / workshops in the area. I decided to go to the workshop hosted by the Oxford Quilter's Guild - a two day workshop!! The piece below is missing 2 sections per "wedge" - 8 wedges in the mandala.  A whole lotta fun. and very small pieces. love the paper piecing!


















3. sneak peek at a gift I'm working on (more on it after I give it away). Carol at Creative Sisters in Kitchener gave me a big hand in matching a base colour to my prints, and figuring out the back. Right now I just have to bind it and wrap it!

What kind of adventures are you having?

Blogger’s Quilt Festival - The Joy Quilt

I'm so excited to participate again in the Blogger’s Quilt Festival | Amy's Creative Side!

Blogger’s Quilt Festival Stats

entry #: 76  75!!

Finished quilt measures : 90ish" by 96ish"
Special techniques used : applique, pieced back, spiral paper piecingQuilted by : My mother and myselfBest Categories : Applique Quilt, Scrap Quilt, bed quilt, group quilt, home machine quilted, ROYGBIV (color wheel) quilt;hand quilted quilt

I had hoped to have this quilt done for the Spring festival, but it was not to be.
There is, of course, a story to this quilt. Which is why I saved it for the festival.

I have a sister. Well, I have a few sisters (and a brother). Of all my sisters, the one next up from me, was 2 years ago the only one of us still living on her own. She seemed to enjoy it, mind you. Great was our surprise when she called us in October 2 years ago saying she had met someone. Greater yet was our surprise when she called in January 2011 to say they were getting married...in June 2011! The event called for a quilt.

Several years back, when visiting the youngest sister down in North Carolina, I visited a LQS in Sanford, North Carolina, and found a fabulous selection of Kaffe Fassett material. I had never seen material like this up in the Toronto area (in Ontario, Canada). I grabbed a bunch of it, with no project in mind. When my sister announced her wedding, this was immediately the material that came to mind. She's an artist, and loves colour. I immediately called it the Joy Quilt, even though I had no idea what the design was.

I found the base design in Jane Brocket's "The Gentle Art of Quiltmaking" - Swimming Pool. Doesn't look much like it, does it...Of course there was not enough of the Kaffe Fassett material to make the quilt, and that quilt shop had closed. I wasn't comfortable ordering additional material online, in case it didn't match. Off I went to Creative Sisters, an LQS that has a great selection of batiks. And didn't they happen to have a great set of batiks that beautifully fit with my Fassett prints. Gorgeous. The DH and Toby the Wonder Dog helped me lay out the blocks.

I also wanted to get my family involved in the quilt in some way. Initially I thought I would take the quilt with me to her wedding (in Victoria B.C. - I'm in Ontario), and have everyone quilt on it with me. Crazy idea. There was no time for it! However, what I did do is send my mother (who was visiting the youngest sister in North Carolina at the time) the left over batik material (after cutting the squares) - and asked her to do something with them. And she did! She made around 35 hearts of different sizes. When I got them back from her, the next trick was to figure out what to do with them. I finally realized that they were not going on the front of the quilt. So they had to go on the back. And with all these colours, what would I do with the back, anyways? Did I need a border? How was I going to quilt all this?

The border went through many iterations of ideas. I initially had thought a small green border, with a larger border of Fassett's Blue Chrysanthemum. I asked the DH what he thought of that, AFTER i bought and cut the fabric for the border and back. Big no. So we selected a Kona Red instead, which just popped the quilt. He has such a good eye for colour. The back - well, while visiting another LQS - Greenwood Quiltery - I put my quilt top against all the Kona solids there, and the Chartreuse just yelled at me. So home it came with me.

Now what do to with all the hearts? Again, many idea. This is when I started trying to understand how I was going to quilt the darn thing, with the bright back and the colourful front. Arghh. and then my sister (the bride to be...well, by that time she was the bride already) saw my post on my peace bag, and asked - could I have those on my quilt? (those being a spiral, from Ranae Merrill's Simply Amazing Spiral Quilts and a Mariner's Compass block). She thought the Mariner's Compass block would be a representation of her husband's love for sailing, and a spiral for her art. So the back was rethought yet again. Since I had done a 3 sided spiral already, I wanted to branch out - thus the 5 sided spiral.

By this time, it was well, almost a year after the wedding. I was pretty sure I was going to have to mail it out. Wow, didn't want to trust the Joy quilt to the mail!! There were good parts of the year that I was making this that I just couldn't work on it. After naming it the Joy Quilt, I found I had to be in a certain mind/body frame in order to work on it.

The hearts found their way on to the back, with fusible interface and a lovely Amy Butler thread for the applique work. Hearts. Everywhere. and even more problematic, how to make sure the back fit the front, and no hearts were cut off. My facebook math buddies helped me out here, as they do from time to time on my projects. Unfortunately, I was not aware at that time of Elizabeth Hartmann's great free Craftsy class on Pieced Backs. That would have been useful.

Initially, it was going to back with my mother, who was to visit in August 2012 from Victoria B.C. This started to put a rush on finishing the quilt. One day, I got a call / email from eldest sister - my mother was hospitalized with an infection and needed surgery. A very long story made very short - instead of my mother coming to visit me, I went out to help her out when she got out of the hospital after two weeks. She was on an antibiotic feed for a month, with an ankle in a walking cast, and homebound for a while. The Joy Quilt took up a good part of my suitcase, with my cutting mat, sewing supplies...etc. I hastily "basted" it (good old 505) and off we went.

I thought that my mother would be able to help me finish this baby. By this time, my quilt and I were feeling pretty close to each other. When I asked my mother for help, we ended up figuring out how to do the quilting, and what to do with the hearts. I had thought we would do a primitive hand quilting around the hearts from the back, and that it would look like hearts on the front. I think we did about 10 of the hearts, and realized it just wasn't going to work. Out that came. Luckily, my mother has a janome and a walking foot, and I had brought quilting thread along (King Tut - Joseph's Coat -  a beautiful rich variegated thread). And there I went - ditchstitchng from border to border. And oh, the things I forgot about machine quilting already. And realized well after the quilt was done.  I didn't quilt through the hearts, so that gives an interesting feel on the back. The gap doesn't show on the front, unless you go looking. I also did not quilt through the pieced blocks. I left them alone.

And so it goes. We ended up quilting hearts in the borders. And some embroidery for the label work. My mother did most of the hearts while sitting out in her garden patio. Mind you, there was some serious napping going on. Good thing we only had a little deadline going on.

and on the last day of my vacation, I finished the binding. Washed it. and pictures. and gave the baby away.

 If you want to see the pieced blocks in detail, let me know and I'll add them to the blog.

This is a Queen size quilt, about 90 X 95". Trust me, I don't recall the measurements exactly. They kept changing. The blocks are 5X5", 14 blocks wide by 16 blocks long. The border is 6". I love the way that some hearts crept into border area on the back. Really. That was on purpose. This is used as a bed quilt.



I hope you enJOYed the story of the Joy Quilt!!

What joyous adventure are you having today?