AQS Quilt Week - Grand Rapids

AQS Quilt Week at Grand Rapids, MI, is now a sweet memory for Marilyn Eparvier, who was honoured to see her Florentine hang at the show. (You can see the complete list of semi-finalists here.) I just love how her quilt looks against the black curtains - it almost glows!

And speaking of glowing...here's a shot of Marilyn with her quilt - tired, but happy, after her long week of volunteering.

Sincerest congratulations, Marilyn!

Florentine by Marilyn

Sometime an email can make you feel so good inside.  Such is the case with this one, from Marilyn Eparvier, who wrote asking permission to enter her version of "Florentine" in national exhibits. (Click that link to see my original). Her quilt is beautifully done;  I am thrilled for her to show it off.

Marilyn writes, "I was so impressed with everything about your quilt that I even made similar fabric choices, something I never normally do. Your book "Quilting Beauties"  from AQS is excellent, chock full of inspiration and helpful information...When the quilt was on my design wall waiting to be bound, my daughter took one look at it & said, "That's the one I want!  That one is perfect."  Everyone who has seen it is so impressed with the innovative way the traditional New York Beauty pattern is incorporated into the total design with such beautiful results...This quilt was so enjoyable to make; even the quilting with gold metallic thread went very well and was fun.  I am looking forward to your next book."  You can see Marilyn's exquisite quilting below.  The fabric by the way, is a gorgeous collection from Hoffman Fabrics.

Thank you, Marilyn, for your very kind words, and for doing such a stellar job on your quilt.  I look forward to seeing some big ribbons on your beauty in the upcoming year!

A Christmas Beauty

Debbie Ferguson from Kingsville, Ontario sent along a picture of her version of Arabesque from the book Quilting Beauties.  It's a stunner!  Debbie chose Christmas prints and will use this as a runner during the holidays.  I confess I absolutely love the curved shape of this piece.

Debbie liked having the foundations on a CD and she is intending to make more projects from the book.We look forward to seeing what's next, Debbie!  Thank you for sharing.

Snow Challenge

Yesterday we finally got our street widened from the last big snowfall to two lanes and this morning we woke to...more snow, more school and business cancellations, and more shoveling!

The mailman has only made it here once since last Thursday and when he did, he brought a lovely surprise.  It's a copy of my book, signed by all the wonderful folks from AQS who had a hand in it.  What a special keepsake, and such a thoughtful gesture on the publisher's part.  

You can order a copy of Quilting Beauties here (but it may be delayed a day or so because of snow!)

Thanks!

Thanks SO MUCH to everyone who came yesterday to Mrs. Pugsley's Emporium.  It was a great party.  There was no time for pictures once things got rolling, but here are a few from just before the shop opened.

For those not aware, Mrs. Pugsley's Emporium is housed in the historic clock tower building in downtown Amherst.  Just being inside the building itself is a treat...but to have it filled with quilting fabric is heaven! (Obviously this is not a recent photo - otherwise you would see some rather large snowbanks...)  The quilt shop is housed on the main floor, and quilts were hung in those Gothic arched windows

See the big apple?

My sister, husband and niece arrived with flowers. Thank you, Nancy, Ralph and Christina :)

There was also a delivery of flowers from Joan and Gerald unable to attend because of today's blizzard. How sweet, and how very Joan. Everyone in the shop waited as I read the card read to see who the mystery sender was.  Thank you Joan and Gerald for adding to the day's fun!  

They look so pretty together!

There were little bites of NY style cheesecake to go home with each visitor, and of course a little chocolate in honour of the day.

Sincere thanks to all who attended in person, and in spirit.  It was a lovely day.  Thank you Beth!

Quilting Beauties: Cast & Crew

My name may be the only one on the cover, but c'mon...we know I didn't do it all by myself.  I had family help - Beryl, Jamie, Patrick, Peter, Nancy, Lawrence, and of course, Polly and Maddie.  The editors at AQS were absolutely fabulous:  executive editor Elaine Brelsford, Kathy Davis, Angela Henry, Chrystal Abhalter, Angela Schade, Ginny Harris, and Elaine Wilson...and I am sure many others whose names I don't know. The incredibly beautiful cover was created by graphic artist Michael Buckingham (I LOVE the cover!)  I can't say enough how impressed I am with AQS,

GORGEOUS fabrics were supplied by Hoffman of California, Stof of Denmark and Michael Miller Fabrics.  The very creative Mark Hordyszynski also had a hand in this.

Mistakes are so easy to make when writing instructions - an "off" day of keyboarding might give a measurement listing as 12" instead of 1/2" so it was vital to enlist sharp eyes to watch my back.  I am grateful for the assistance of professional pattern testers Lynn Bourgeois of River Philip, Nova Scotia, Darlene Gerber of Geneva, Ohio and Kari Lippert of Hanover, Maryland. These experienced quilters went over and over the instructions with a fine tooth comb and I feel confident that nothing was missed.  It was great to have my friend Lynn on the testing team again, as she and I go back a long way.  Lynn had also helped out on the first book, Canadian Heritage Quilting.

They say the place of honour is at the back of the book, and I am thrilled that two members of La Guilde Acadienne de Clare here in Nova Scotia, Alisa Aymar of Meteghan and Joan Tufts of Saulnierville, contributed photos of their work for the Gallery section.  Make sure you check out their beautiful quilts!
I am indebted to so many for all the help on this project, and I thank everyone involved.
Beth Munroe's enthusiasm from the get-go has been so awesome.  She invited me down to meet with the fabric reps visiting her quilt shop so that I could see and feel the new collections first-hand. She gave away a trip for 2 to New York City to promote the book, and she is hosting the signing tomorrow at her shop.  Come join us if you can  - 10 to 2 - and see for yourself that Quilting Beauties Come In All Shapes and Sizes.

Quilting Beauties: Batik Beauty

Batik Beauty - the name says it all!  This quilt was stitched using batiks from Michael Miller. I love the bright clear colours in their batiks.

The black is actually not a solid; when you get close you can see it mottled with dark blue streaks which was perfect in this quilt.

To show the quilting, I did the unpardonable in the photography world and shot some pictures outside on a very bright, sunny day.  Yes, it distorts the colours, but the relief of the stitching stands out very clearly.

The centre orange section is filled with feathers, and little scrolls swirl around the cream band which circles the centre.

The pictures were taken at the Nova Scotia/New Brunswick border, where there is a small lighthouse surrounded by these very handy rocks.  I take a lot of quilts over there to photograph.

At Mrs. Pugsley's Emporium, this Batik Beauty is displayed on an antique player piano made from a dark wood; the quilt looks fabulous in that setting.  Come and see for yourself!

Quilting Beauties: Calliope

This one is all about fun.

It is named Calliope because it makes me think of circus music when I look at the playful blips and dips in the quilt.  It was more fun than a barrel of monkeys as it grew on the design wall.

I chose bright colours randomly for the spikes.  The only constant was that the arc background in each block was kept the same. Pieces were auditioned in several different arrangements before I settled on one I liked.  At this point I decided I really liked that hole and it was going to stay!

It's like a black hole in a galaxy of stars...and one sun.  Here is Calliope laid out for basting.  I used a polyester low loft batting...simply because that's what I had on hand at the time.  This piece was put together very quickly as I wanted it for display at an upcoming workshop on a New York Beauty design.  Calliope turned out to be a bigger hit than the workshop project and hogged all the attention that day!

The directions in the book show how the opening is finished, and also gives tips on how to hang this oddly shaped quilt.  It's easier than you think; it just takes a little ingenuity.

    Each section is quilted differently.

Here's a shot I snitched from Mrs. P's blog, showing Calliope hanging at her shop in preparation for Saturday's signing.

Quilting Beauties: Thistles In The Heather

One of the smaller projects in Quilting Beauties is Thistles In The Heather, so named because of the suggestion of a thistle bloom in the New York Beauty block.  The overlay of an argyle pattern in the squares seemed appropriate.

The unique shape and playful under-over of the squares makes an eye-catching design which doesn't take long to sew.

Thistles In The Heather is pieced using gorgeous Hoffman of California batiks, in a sea holly colourway. The quilting was kept very simple - continuous curves between the spikes and a big thistle leaf in the centre section.

For whatever reason, no kitties came to help;  "thistles" and "heather" are not nearly as enticing as catnip would have been, I guess.

Quilting Beauties: Tempus Fugit

Here's Tempus Fugit, from the book Quilting Beauties; it is pieced in silk.  I love working with silk, and it was not a bit difficult to sew this fabric into a New York Beauty .

The design reminds me of a clock face so I chose to name this Tempus Fugit which is Latin for "time flies". The quilting between the spikes is three graduated circles. Perhaps because of all the weather we've had lately, all I can see now are snowmen (!) but it was a fun motif to quilt.

Over the years I have acquired quite a silk stash and it's always a special treat to be able to use from it. There are four shades of blue silk habotai used, from very light to navy, as well as yellow and cream dupioni.

Both the piecing and quilting were done using Invisifil thread, which is a very fine (100 weight) cottonized polyester. The quilt has a single layer of wool batting and is as light as a feather. It hangs from a tiny ring at the top. One of the unique  aspects of this quilt is that the outside edge is not bound, it is faced.  I've included instructions in the book on how you can easily do this for a neat and clean finish to the outer edge.

His Cuteness was present, as always, to help with the photo shoot.

Tempus Fugit was part of the National Juried Show at Quilt Canada one year. Along with Arabesque, it has been selected by AQS to travel around to exhibit at their quilt week shows this year so it will not be part of the display at Mrs. Pugsley's Emporium for the signing on Feb. 14. 

Quilting Beauties: X & O

Today I will share another quilt from the book Quilting Beauties. This one is named X & O. It is sewn from a stunning collection from Hoffman called "Asuka", which I showed in an earlier post. This project is the first in the book and the easiest to stitch. The octagonal shape means no bias binding.

I shot it in front of the Dorothy Perkins rose bush which at the moment is completely buried under more than 3 feet of snow.  It's hard to believe these beautiful roses are under there somewhere!

 

Oddly, I cannot find any close up pictures of the quilting to share, and since the quilt is at Mrs Pugsley's Emporium at the moment,  I don't have it here to take any more. Here's one from early on, where you can see the first round of quilting which I worked in a bit of a spider web pattern.  It was fun to jump from point to point around the circle. The thread is YLI metallic silver, in a large-eyed, size 12 metallic needle.  The batting is one layer of 100% wool.

The photographs printed so clearly in the book that you will have no trouble seeing the final design there.

Of course, Maddie was on hand to help.

I ♥ NY Beauties

 (Beauties)

February is the month of love, and as you may know from reading this blog, I love N Y Beauty quilts!  Since last fall - in anticipation of the release of Quilting Beauties - the wonderful Beth Munroe of Mrs. Pugsley's Emporium has been helping me get the word out on the book.  It started with the publication of New York, New York in Quilter's Connection Magazine.

During Fibre Arts Festival, I had an exhibit of New York Beauty quilts at Mrs. Pugsley's.

In November, Mrs. Pugsley's Emporium donated a trip for two to New York City, for the Christmas on Broadway Tour through Amherst's Showcase Productions.  You can read more  in this post.  The lucky winner was Jan Boiduk of Amherst.

All of these things were leading up to the release of Quilting Beauties, and now that it's here, I'd like to invite all of you to come see the book quilts in person. at Mrs. Pugsley's Emporium, 50 Victoria Street East, Amherst, Nova Scotia (pretty much across from the Tim Horton's).  We figured what better time to do this than on February 14th!  The shop will be open from 10-2 that day and I will be present to sign copies. 

Hope you can all come! (weather dependent, of course...here in snow country :)