Log Cabins In The Cabin (Or Cottage!)

 

Remember these placemats from a few months back?  The pattern has been extremely popular: very quick and easy to stitch. Here's a way to coax another season from the same pattern.

On a recent trip to Mrs Pugsley's Emporium, I spotted these lovelies, and KNEW they would be fabulous in this pattern! The shop has them done up in half-metre cuts, so I chose 6 I liked.

Using Kona cotton Splash, Seascape, Blueprint, Sea Glass, Pool and Lagoon gave the mats a very modern look.

For added interest, I reversed the colour order in two of the four mats.

Simple waves are free-motion quilted on my Bernina around the central triangle using Aurifil 50 weight in a variegated blue and a variegated green. For batting, I chose Hobbs Thermore, a low-loft batting that shows the quilting off nicely.

These fit better on a square or rectangular table, but we don't have one here.  They will be perfect for the table at the cottage, and I look forward to trying them out when the weather warms. With the watery, seaside palette, they will look super there.

I also alternated fabrics used on the back.  These mats are a great lesson in the power of colour for creating a whole new look. 

The pattern is available from my website, in both print and download version.  If you are in the Fredericton area, you can also find lots of my patterns in stock at Ridge Machine Quilting Shed in Hanwell. 

Postcard From France

This week in my mail I was surprised to find a postcard from France.  It was sent by Sandra Reford, who curated the Canadian exhibit at Carrefour Europeen du Patchwork.  It was such a thoughtful move on her part;  she doesn't skimp on any of the details. I am so happy to have this souvenir.  Aren't the houses beautiful?  I expect they've been translated into patchwork many, many times.

I've also heard from several folks who attended the show in Ste. Marie-Aux-Mines, and even got some pictures.  These were sent by Karen Otto's friend Diane.  Karen, who lives in Germany, was kind enough to email me after the show with her wonderful, enthusiastic comments.  Thank you, Karen - I appreciated hearing from you.

This is a picture Sandra sent along showing Log Canada hanging between two pillars at the front of the church.  Sandra writes, "It was on the right when you came in as an announcement that this was the Canadian exhibit... In front of it was a table with a map showing where all the works came from, flyers with all the web sites of the artists, the photo album, another hand out with images of the works in miniature with the names of the artists and the comment book which will be arriving back with the quilts. I only had time to read the comments from the first day and those were great!"

Sandra had an incredibly busy time at the show, and she wowed everyone with her ability to converse in four languages.   What a perfect person to curate an international exhibit.

This picture was taken by magazine editor Chantal Dupont.  You can see Log Canada at the back of the picture, to the left.  The picture was taken when the gallery was closed for mass on Sunday morning.

Sandra reports that the quilts are now all safely back in Canada and she is preparing for their upcoming exhibit at the Joshua Creek Heritage Centre in November.

Off To France

Sadly...not me, but a piece of me has been shipped off in that direction.
Earlier I mentioned that Log Canada has been selected to be part of the European Carrefour de Patchwork show being held this September in Ste. Marie Aux Mines in Alsace, France. Quilts were chosen from each of our 10 provinces and three territories to represent quilting in Canada. Log Canada, which appears in the book Canadian Heritage Quilting, has already toured the U.S. as part of the "Oh Canada" exhibit with International Quilt Festival, made an appearance at Quilt Canada in Calgary, and even had an impromptu stop with a showing in Ottawa. It is well travelled as a quilt ambassador. Curator Sandra Reford is working hard to make this a memorable exhibit in France and she asked each artist to send pictures of their home which she would assemble into an album to display at the show. Beyond the thrill and honour to be part of all this comes a certain responsibility - not to be taken lightly -in showcasing your home to the world. I pondered for some time what I would send, and which telescopic aspect of "home" I would zoom in on: Canada, Nova Scotia, Cumberland County, Amherst...or my backyard. Would it be something I see from my window, or a shot of our beautiful downtown street scape? How about blueberries from Cumberland County? As much as I wanted to show all of these things, it was also a tug at the heartstrings not to include a shot of where I grew up in Five Islands (without parallel the most beautiful spot on this earth). What would you send?

In the end, I decided to send several pictures along with a short write-up and hope they would all be used. I wrote things like Nova Scotia being a 580 km. long peninsula on the southeast corner of Canada, and that it was discovered by John Cabot in 1497. Because the show is in France, I also made mention of the Habitation at Port Royal which French colonists settled in 1605, making it the first permanent European settlement in North America north of Florida. I spoke a little about our capital city Halifax and how nowhere in Nova Scotia is ever more than 56 kilometers from the sea. (I remember how secure that made me feel when I learned it in school, knowing that water would never be far away.)
I showed Five Islands, a small community situated on the Minas Basin at the head of the Bay of Fundy. I spoke about how it boasts the highest tides in the world; twice daily the bay fills and empties of a billion tonnes of water, going from nothing to over an incredible 16 meters.I sent pictures of Amherst, the shire town of Cumberland County which is famous for maple syrup and wild blueberries, and made mention of its proximity to the New Brunswick border, the fact it was founded in 1764, and about the many beautiful Victorian homes found in our community. For good measure, I tossed in that Four of Canada’s founding fathers (Fathers of Confederation) came from Amherst, Nova Scotia.
In addition to the usual straight on and detail shots required of the quilt, I sent some "glam" poses as well, as these quilts will be featured in several magazines as well as possibly a show catalogue. Sandra liked this one taken on the snow in my backyard; she thought it looked "very Canadian". Articles on the exhibit are lined up for Studio Magazine, The Canadian Quilter, A Needle Pulling Thread, and fibreQUARTERLY.

As Sandra is giving a lecture on the history of quilting in Canada, I sent along a copy of Canadian Heritage Quilting. The pictures and write up were well-received on her end and I am pleased I made the effort to include all I did.
Regrettably, the only thing which would not fit in that box was me...

Carrefour Europeen du Patchwork

This has been an exciting week with all kinds of good things happening. The big news is that Log Canada will be part of the Carrefour Europeen du Patchwork exhibit in Alsace, France!Sandra Reford will curate a show of textile art and quilts entitled Tradition In Transition that represents quilting in Canada. The show will be September 13 to 16, 2012, in the Alsace area near Strasbourg. C'est Magnifique!

Log Cabin X

Now that the dust has settled from graduation and the surprise quilt has been gifted, I can show the Log Cabin quilt made for youngest son. When eldest headed off to university, he went with a Log Cabin quilt pieced in his school's colours of red and blue. His quilt was 6 blocks across x 8 down, in a barn raising setting. I tried to stick to that formula as closely as possible (fair and equal) and have only changed the colours and block arrangement. The X setting has significance to youngest's chosen school.
This all needed to be done on the QT so hubby helped me baste quickly early one morning.
As luck would have it, we discovered this beautiful fence not far from town which I knew would be the perfect spot to photograph the quilt. Thanks to the Rolfes for allowing me use of their fence. I wish I had know it was there when I was doing the photography for the book two years ago.
The fabrics were a combination of scraps leftover from other projects as well as some purchased specifically for this quilt. It's almost an "eye spy" of his childhood as I've used hockey prints, cats, scraps from his pirate quilt made when he was 2, and some bee prints (the green strip near the centre).
When long arm quilter Jacquieline Pohl of The Vintage Quiltery came to visit a couple of weeks' ago I asked her advice on the quilting. I had intended to do a large feather in the blue. Jacquie advised moving the feather to the white section and stippling around it, as well as stitching the blue logs in the ditch. So I did, and am very happy with the results. I've also quilted his name and date in one of the logs.
I expect the white will not remain white very long...I wonder who chose those colours for a university? Give me garnet and gold any day :)