Trunk Show Anyone?

I've been invited to do a couple of trunk shows on short notice and had a lot of fun doing them, got positive feedback so I thought I'd put it out there that if your Calgary (or nearby) guild or group would be interested in seeing my quilts up close and personal, I'd be happy to oblige. Get in touch and we can work something out.

Joe did a photo shoot the other night.  These are the quilts that are currently on my "quilt storage bed" with a few exceptions, which are noted.

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My Pattern Quilts 

(quilts for which I have patterns available on my Etsy store)

Art Deco

This is the first one I made to test the pattern and is also the cover photo for the pattern.  This quilt is currently hanging in Addies in Cochrane.

Art Deco Meets Dapper - this is the third Art Deco quilt I made - Dapper is the name of the print fabric line.  The second one was made with Tula Pink Elizabeth fabric and is currently hanging at Chinook Fabrics in High River - I don't seem to have a decent pix of it - I will have to remedy that!

Paris Art Deco  - this is the fourth Art Deco quilt I've made and probably my favourite.  It actually was juried into the 2019 CQA show so I was pretty pleased about that.  Currently on the quilt storage bed!

All my Art Deco quilts feature fussy cutting for the large square-in-square and large flying geese blocks.  And of course, any quilt I design has lots of space for some interesting quilting!  😎

Galaxy - Above is the first Galaxy quilt I made to test the pattern.  I was super happy with it and when the Calgary Long-arm Group ladies started asking about it, we decided to do it as a group display for the 2019 Heritage Park Festival of quilts.  So I had about 15 experienced quilters to test the pattern for me!  And what is even better is that one of them, Terry Rowland, entered her quilt into the Red Deer Quilt show and it won Best in Show!  Wow!  Doesn't get any better than that! 

Below is the Galaxy I made for the 2019 Heritage Park show as I'd entered the green one the previous year and I don't like to enter a quilt more than once.  There is no rule against it but I just don't like to do it.  

Galaxy is a paper pieced quilt.  The largest New York Beauty block is 24" - and when combined the whole "Beauty" is 48" - so pretty big (to be clear, the quilt is 60' x 72").  And there a couple of very large elliptical beauties as well - something I personally think is very cool!   😎

Mondrian  - above - this is the cover photo for the pattern and is currently hanging in Addies in Airdrie.  If you google Mondrian, you will see this is true to the artist's motif style. ( I did check and the copyright expired in 2015, although I didn't directly copy any of his work.)

Mondrian de la Luna - another Tula Pink fabric line.

Mondrian, especially the original with the skinny black sashng, has the look of a stained glass quilt. But it is, as noted, skinny black sashing, so the maker has to be able to stitch a nice even 1/4" seam for a nice even sashing.  Otherwise I've been told it reminds folks of Tetras, a game I've never played.  It's comprised of 10 blocks.  Can you spot them?

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Patterns in Development

(quilts for which I have patterns in various stages of development)

Flock - the is the test quilt.  It's a paper pieced quilt.  I've started work on the pattern but have been pretty busy over the last few months and, to be honest, have just needed a bit of a break.  But I'll get back to it soon.  This is inspired by an outdoor art installation.  I've blogged about it in a previous post.

What the Hex? 

This quilt was in Quilters Connection a couple of years ago so thought I could re-do the pattern.  Obviously it's not an original design - these mosaic designs go back 1000s of years, but I can put my cutting, sewing and quilting instructions in the pattern for anyone who wants to make this particular version.

Above - this is a quilt I designed as a quilt to showcase my quilting so people would hire me to long-arm their quilts.  It didn't ever occur to me that I should develop it as a pattern, but it's been suggested to me that I should, so I will put it in the queue and see how it goes. This one is made up entirely of 6" blocks - even the large white areas area actually 6" white blocks stitched together.  So it's actually pretty easy to make.  And again - lots of fun quilting.

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My Designs that will never be made into patterns!  😎

(because either I don't like them or for other obvious reasons!)

Hex Again

Gotham

Big Bang

(this began with a Laurel Burch panel)

Beetlejuice!

(I figure you either love it or hate it!)

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Joe Cunningham Workshop/Class

I attended a Joe Cunningham Workshop early in 2018, had a blast and made a couple of mini quilts that I quite like.

Boxes

Snake Paths

And then I made this (above) quilt based on a Joe Cunningham Craftsy class.(actually, I think this came first, then the workshop)

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Other people's Patterns

Tula Pink's Butterfly quilt - probably one of the biggest quilts I've made.  I added a 6" border to each side.  

Above - a pattern from a book titled Quilting Happiness by Christina Lane and Diane Gilleland.  I called mine Chatbot because is reminded me of something digital.

Above - This is from a book titled A Quilter's Mixology by Angela Pingle.  Her's is called Curved Nine Patch.  I called mine Daisy Chain.

Above - This one is Scrappy On Point Triangle Quilt from the Midnight Quilt Show featuring Angela Walters.  It was a very quick sew. I made it to use up a jelly roll of African fabric that I had and to use as a demo quilt for some ruler quilting.  I called my Limeaide.

Houndstooth - a pattern found on Craftsy.  I made this one to use up a bundle of fat quarters and to play with some quilting ideas.  Always playing with quilting ideas!  

Pattern called Whisper by Toby Lischoko.  I called mine Lava Lamps.  Using up some "left over" from a previous quilt, which was a gift.  This one will eventually be gifted but it's presently on the quilt storage bed.

Above - this is the result of the first Mystery Quilt class I took.  It will also be my last.  I just do not like the quilt - although it's a lot better now that it's quilted (which didn't happen until several years after the top was made).  I was persuaded to take the class with some friends, but it turns out that I really need to be in charge of all aspects of my quilt making.  That way if I don't like the end result (and yes that happens) at least I'm the only one I can blame!  Anyway, for the moment, this one is on the quilt storage bed, but is has been designated as a gift to a friend so the next time I see her she'll be getting it.

This is Faith Jones Lemon Squares block patterns.  I had a fat quarter bundle to use so this one got the vote.  And of course it got the quilting practice treatment.  

Terrace - made for the Calgary Modern Quilt Guild's group display for 2019 Heritage Park Festival of Quilts.

This is in Boo Davis's book Dare to be Square - I called mine Time Machine (it's an alarm clock - get it?)  It's one of my very early quilts.  Just a meander on my first long arm - proving that we all start with a meander!

The Fabriculous Viking Pattern - I called mine Vikings!  Go figure.

This is one of the Hunter Star layouts in the Hidden Treasures book by Deb Tucker.  I called mine Stella Venandi, which is Latin for Hunter Star - because I couldn't think of anything clever.  

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And what do you do with those panels???

I bought the little batik panel long before I ever took up quilting thinking I would just frame it and put it on a wall.  But of course I never got around to doing it.  So when I did start quilting, I thought I'd "frame" it in a quilt.  This is what I ended up with.  I spent hours out on the deck applying beads and I did all the quilting by hand.  This is one of my very early quilts.  And of course it has never spent any time on any wall, but it resides very comfortably on the quilt storage bed.  I called it Africa Jazz - maybe that's not PC?

My daughter-in-law, Rhonwyn, loves Minions so I picked up a couple of Minions panels a few years ago.  I asked Craig which one she'd like and he thought the other one, which left me with this one.  I made the other one into a quilt and sent it to her.  Finally, a year or so ago, I made the second one to get it out of the project box and it still is on the quilt storage bed.  

This is one of the Mr. Chillingsworth panels.  I'd been stockpiling some Steampunk-ish fabrics so made them into a wide border around the panel.  The quilt is loosely based on a pattern I saw somewhere on-line.

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My Very First Quilt

Above - my very first quilt.  I had absolutely no idea what I was doing but I did it anyway.  No pattern although I did have a book from the library that showed how to make the wavy blocks and the wonky corner blocks.  But I didn't know how to figure out the borders and of course its so friggin' easy it's a face slap now but I went through contortions to get them on back then.  You can tell from the fabric and the blocks that I really wasn't interested in making conventional quilts and I haven't made too many.  😎

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Of course I've made many other quilts since I started quilting in late 2008 (thanks to Kristie - I blame her 😎 ) but I've gifted many of them and sold a few.  

As I said at the top, if your group is interested in seeing them up close and personal, I'd be happy to come out and show them to you.  Many of them have a detailed post in this blog somewhere so you may be able to check them out there.

Jazz Hound and Lava Lamp

I usually start off with the finished quilt but in this post wanted to show how I quilted two quilts with one load (for beginner quilters - I know the more experienced quilters will have this well in hand).

I had a piece of wide backing - but it still wouldn't be wide enough for two quilts both about 5' wide so I added another 18" or so on to one end (it's what I had left) - more would have been better so I stitched my leader on to the top end so I could start about an inch down from the top of the backing.  Above is the hounds-tooth quilt finished to the bottom of the quilt.

Instead of taking the finished quilt off the frame, I loaded the second quilt - about an inch below the first quilt.

Then I just kept on quilting until I finished the second quilt and took both quilts off the frame, trimmed, bound (machine bound! something I don't usually do - but for these ones, I didn't want to spend a lot of time - wanted to get them done!) and labeled - done!  Yay!

I started this one as a class demo.  I'm in a UFO finishing frenzy so finished piecing it a few weeks ago and put it in the "to be quilted box".  I grabbed it a few days ago to quilt.  I'm calling it Jazz Hound. 

It's quilted with straight lines spaced at 1/2".  I didn't mark, just used the markings on my ruler.  Horizontal in one set of blocks, vertical in the other - white or coloured depending on the viewing direction.

This is the second quilt - I'm calling it Lava Lamp.  It's a pattern called Whisper by Toby Lischko.  I had a lot of fabric left from the Bethlehem Star quilt I made a couple of weeks ago so wanted to use it up.  This was my attempt at that - but I still have a fair bit of it left!  I'll have to think of something else.  😎

I didn't want to spend a lot of time on this one but I did want the wavy shapes to be emphasized.  I stitched the ditch between the "white" and coloured fabrics.  Then in the "white", I did wavy lines at about 1/2" intervals - maybe a bit more.  Then in the coloured parts I did very large pebbles - sort of like lava lamp bubbles.  😎  Piano key lines in the border.  Nothing measured - I just stitched in the stripes.

For both quilts I used yellow Masterquilter thread by Wonderfil.  I haven't used Masterquilter much because I have tons of Glide but since both of these will be gifted as "utility" quilts, I thought it was a good opportunity to try out this thread.  It runs well in my machine so I would give it a thumbs up.  The thing about Masterquilter is that there is a limited number of colours and it's a matte finish.  Neither of these things is a problem as long as you can find a colour that works and don't mind the matte finish.  I like Glide because it has a shiny finish, but that's just my personal preference.  And there are many more colours to choose from.