Two Finished Tops and a Small Project

At the beginning of July I made a solo trip to see my brothers at Otsego Lake, Michigan, always a happy time.  This time I didn't stay in the cabin that I share with my youngest brother, because he had a houseful of grandchildren.  Instead I stayed with my other brother and his wife, always fun and gracious hosts, at their place a few doors down.

I set up my sewing space on a little table in their screened-in porch, with large windows facing the lake -- every bit as beautiful a view as I have from the picnic table on the porch in our cabin.  But here there was an added treat -- a hummingbird feeder on the window just above my sewing machine.  The hummers come all day long, often two or even three at a time.

Interestingly, they like to perch to feed, so I couldn't get a typical photo with a blur of wings.  But the backlight gave a lovely silhouette effect.  Are you jealous?!?

For the week I brought a suitcase full of sewing projects (thank you, Southwest, for the free checked bags!).  My main goal was to sandwich and quilt one of the Otsego quilts, which I had originally planned to send to the longarmer.  Unfortunately, there just wasn't sufficient flat space to spread out, so that went back into the suitcase.  

I did get most of the remaining blocks from the Checkerboard Rails leader-and-ender project sewn into a quilt top.  I'd already made one small lap size top (which I neglected to post! 😖), but I couldn't decide whether to make it bigger or to just make a second top.  I finally decided on two quilts, and this would be the second one.  Now both tops are ready to sandwich and quilt.  Yay!  I think they'll be nice to have on the boat on chilly evenings.

The bad news is that I still have a big bag of strips that I'd already cut for this project, overestimating what I'd need.  They need to find a home.  Sooo.... do I make these bigger?  Do I make a third quilt?  Do I just stuff them in the ottoman I plan to make?  Argh, I am not a decisive decision-maker!  

I also made up some napkins to go with a tablecloth that I'd bought a couple of years ago.  

I never knew quite what to do; then just before I headed north, my local quilt shop got a collection of wonderful lemon-themed fabrics.  Bingo!  The napkins are two semicircles of different fabrics.  Simple as can be; the "trick" is in the folding.  The pattern suggests stitching along the fold lines, but that didn't seem necessary.  I did decide to topstitch the edges.

And in between these projects, I did more piecing on the Ringo Lake quilt.  

So much for busy-work projects; time to dig into the quilting of the Otsego quilts.  It doesn't look like they will get done in time to take them up on my return trip to Michigan in August.  After the Michigan trip, hubby and I headed to Memphis to hang with our grandsons and see our daughter's new house.  Then we flew back to Long Island with the boys in tow, spent a couple of days here, then I flew to Baltimore with them on their return trip home.  There was a 3-hour layover at BWI and I figured they could use some chaperoning.  After three RT flights in a month, I'm ready to stay on the ground for a while!

While in Memphis, I visited an amazing quilt show that I will share with you next time.  'Til then.

Quilt Show Inspiration

A couple of weeks ago, the Eastern Long Island Quilt Guild held its annual show in Riverhead, NY.  It is a big event, and guild members put in a ton of work to make it successful.  So many wonderful quilts, and as a docent, I had a chance to walk through and listen to quilters I didn't know talk about their creative process.  These are some of the highlights.

This beauty was a Best in Show.  It wasn't my favorite in terms of composition, but the colors and technique were awesome.

I've seen this technique in quilting magazines, but in person it was more than awesome.  The photo doesn't do it justice.  The tulle was nearly invisible, but pulled the entire scene together.

This isn't so much a quilt as a piece of fiber art.  I apologize that I neglected to photograph the information about the artist.  The photo doesn't adequately capture the 3-dimensional quality of the strands of hair and the flowers on the hat.  The quilt is about 4 ft. tall.

The artist hand-painted the face.

This quilt was made by my friend, Deb, who is part of our Thursday-morning quilt group.  She won several ribbons for it, which she made with Kaffe Fasset fabrics for her brother, who is constantly going in many directions, as is this quilt!

She fussy-cut the cabbage blocks and quilted them around the leaves.

She strip--pieced the alternating blocks and sashed everything with a black-and-white print.

My friend Carol, also in our Thursday morning group, got lots of oohs and aahs when her llama quilt was previewed at the guild before the show.  The quilt was from a kit, but she added her own touches.

One of the ribbons was for her quilting, which enhanced without dominating the quilt.  Lovely.

One of my favorite quilts in the show was an embroidered sampler.  The quilter started it as a block-of-the month project, but then enhanced it was some wonderful 3-dimensional touches. I am in awe.

Here's another project that went way beyond the original concept to become an award-winning, awesome quilt.

The center of the quilt is a town at night.  As you move out from the center, you move out through time (night to day) and through the landscape -- from city to suburbs to the countryside.  Each small block is unique.  I love this!

Another from my friend, Deb. She got most of these batik fabrics during a trip to Thailand.  Each lantern is unique, each linked together by a small chain of three machine-embroidery stitches.

She used a long-arm to quilt narrow matchstick lines horizontally rhtough the neutral background, purposefully allowing the lines to "wobble" to indicate movement, perhaps because of a gentle wind.

And another from Carol -- so different from the llamas!  she made this for her son who is a big Batman fan. The general design is a riff on Van Gogh's Starry Night, with the dark city in the lower right corner and Batman surveying the scene.  Everyting is individually pieced.  What a thrill to see this quilt created from beginning to end. 

Every one of us makes our quilts for different reasons, many as a gift of love to someone else.  This Tree of Life quilt was made as a remembrence to honor those who lost their lives at the Tree of Life Synacogoge in Pittsburgh just months before the quilt show.  The artist's words tell it all.

Quilting is so inspirational, for us, the quilters, and also for the craft that we do and the art that we make.  I am so happy to be part of this community.

Anybody Having Fun?

How did you do on the Quilty Quiz that I posted a few weeks ago?  I hope you tried it!  No one sent in their answers, though, maybe because it would take too much time to type in everything?  That's OK; this is just my own quilting journal/journey.  But NO PRIZES!

So it's time to post the answers, at least everything that I came up with.  If you go back to the original post (where the photos are much bigger) and spot anything I didn't find, do post it in the Comment section below so that everyone can see it.  And now for the Great Reveal!

 Alligator, awning, argyle, apple, asparagus

Bear, birdhouse, bee, bread, bowl, barefoot, blue (striped dress)

Cow, clock, clouds, curtain, checkered, cabin, cake, cherry, cat, cup, chaps, cane

Donkey, daisies dawn, duck, donuts, Dutch oven, door, doorknob

Elephant, earmuffs, eat, eggplant, embroidery, evening

Flamingo, farm, fruit, frappe, fish, fence

Giraffe, gazebo, grapes, gloves, garden tools, green (roof)

Hippo, hat rack, hat, hibiscus, honey, hamburger, hurricane lamp, hen, heart, handkerchief, hassock, herringbone (wall)

Iguana, ice cream, ivy, ice skates, ice cream cone wallpaper

Jaguar, jar, jam, jungle (wallpaper), jump (on table)

Kangaroo, kerchief, kabob, kettle

Leek, lattice, lemon, lace

Moose, moon, mask, mittens, marshmallows, muffin, mountain

Nest, nuts

Ostrich, owl, onion, orange, olives

Pig, parrot, pumpkin, pancakes, perch, pajamas, picnic table, plank, plate

Quail, quilts

Rhino, raccoon, rose, radish, raspberries, red

Sheep, spoon, salt, shutters, snow, sill, soup tureen, sugar, socks, shoes, saddle shoes, suitcase, stove, sunflower

Toucans, two, tulips, tortoise, tea set, towel

Umbrella, under (the umbrellas)

Vulture, vegetables, vest

Walrus, watermelon, woods, window, winter, whiskers, wainscot

X-shape on fence, X (Roman 10) on pot, xylophone

Yams, yardstick

Zebra, zeppelin, zucchini