2011 Guild Raffle Quilt

I bumped into one of my faithful readers, Elena, yesterday, and she asked why I hadn't posted the Guild Raffle Quilt yet.  So, thanks, Elena for reading my blog and helping me get this post up!

I don't remember the name of the pattern, but if someone is interested, leave a comment, and I will find that out for you.

It is comprised of a number of gorgeous batik fabrics.  It has received many compliments, and the ladies are selling alot of tickets on it.

I used the panto called Novaya Zhizn

We chose the panto called Novaya Zhizn, by designer Benay Derr of Beany Girl Quilts.  I am drawn to the name of the pattern, with my Russian heritage, I recognized the meaning to be "New Year" or "New Time" or "New Season", depending on the context of the conversation.  Maybe to the author it means "New Leaf".  That would be interesting to find out!

Thanks to Jude for providing some of the images.

The quilt commitee makes some decisions

And here I am quilting

Clothesline baskets

The other weekend, our local longarm group got together.  It was a time to discuss our issues , show-and-tell some of our projects, eat a wonderful potluck lunch, and have fun learning something new. 

Debra, who hosted the gathering, showed us how to make fabric-wrapped, clothesline baskets!  It was easy and fun, my kind of activity!  I was hooked!

Show and Tell

TJ starting her bowl

Hard at work

Here's my bowl started!

A rare photo of me!

My completed bowl, using up the whole skein of clothesline

Abigail tries it out for size while my back is turned

I actually used leftover fabric strips, mostly from backings that I tore to square up.

Thanks for the fun day, Debra!  I'll definitely be making a few more!

Hawaiin Quilt

Denise brought me this wonderful Hawaiin Quilt to work on.  I don't know how many years it had taken her, but she recently completed and sashed it with fabric fresh from Hawaii. It was alot of fun to work on!

My favorite block, these pineapples look like turtles!

Border treatment from the back

More Commissioned Quilts

Previously I have shared a couple of quilts that I made for this lovely couple, who have chosen to honour their loved ones with special quilts, with blocks contributed by family and friends.

Well, this same client has kept me busy earlier this year.  I stitched together 3 more quilts for them.  One was for another daughter who was expecting a baby, one was for a friend who also was having a baby, and one was for a mother who turned 80.


These are photos of the mother's birthday quilt.  The backing included a hand-painted fabric panel by Eileen Gidman of Creston, BC.  It went perfectly with the blossoms on the fabric.

 hand-painted fabric panel by Eileen Gidman

Mom was a beautiful young woman!

Beautiful embroidery

These are photos of the daughter's baby quilt.

Cushion made from extra blocks

Another beautiful embroidery

And this is the friend's baby quilt:

this embroidery was entirely made up of french knots!

Again, it was so much fun to watch these quilt blocks come together and be a part of their expression of love.

Vienna Waltz

Lorraine made this darling little quilt with scraps of cotton as well as some shiny, silky fabrics.  She called it Vienna Waltz, as the fancy fabrics reminded her of ladies ballgowns and how they swirled on the dance floor.

I quilted spirals across the main body of the quilt to enhance the dancing, swishing and twirling of the ballgowns.  In the border I quilted musical notes. 

I remember struggling with using metallic threads, but I eventually got it!  Always learning something!

Chinese Lanterns II

Catherine made a second Chinese Lantern quilt for a second sister-in-law. 

She used the identical pattern, and she asked me to quilt it the same as the first one. I had looked up a photo of the first quilt, and was confused that it wasn't working out the same, until I realized that she had reversed the direction of the lantern tops and bottoms!

Hobbs Polydown gives great defininition

No problem!  They looked great either way!

This is how the first quilt looked