Joanne's Oriental Beauty

Get ready to be wowed!  This Oriental Beauty was stitched by Joanne Colleaux of Armstrong, British Columbia.

Joanne brought her wonderful colour sense and exquisite stitching ability to this piece.

Front and back, it's stunning.  Choosing a plain backing fabric has allowed the free motion quilting to really show.

Awhile back, Joanne stitched a version of Farrago which she named "Underwater Blossoms".

 It was a winner at the Pacific Northwest Show, in Tacoma, WA

Joanne tells me she has my Quilting Beauties book on order and it is exciting to think how she will translate some of those designs. Thank you, Joanne.  

An Embroidered Beauty

Diane Zdep from Alberta has been busily quilting up some beauties, including this one. Gorgeous!

Diane writes:  "I love this pattern I bought from you. This is my walk on the wild side with the centre machine embroidered using fall colors. It sure was a lot of fun to do. I love putting my own spin on things." The pattern for Oriental Beauty is designed with an easy method of appliquing the curves but Diane, who has no issue with curved seams, stitched hers the regular way.

Thanks so much for sending the photo Diane.  I know you are stitching away on a few more surprises, and I hope we get to see those soon!
You can find pattern # 209 for Oriental Beauty on my website, or ask for it at your local quilt shop.

Bernice's Beauties

Some folks are full of good works and Bernice McMaster is one of them. Even though she keeps herself very busy with volunteer work she makes sure she always has time to sew.  This is Bernice's version of Oriental Beauty which she started in a workshop I did in Sackville, NB last spring.

I recall that Bernice agonized over her colour choices, but what a striking blue she chose as accent. Bernice writes that this piece looked so good on her kitchen table that she made curtains to match out of the darker blue fabric. The pattern for Oriental Beauty may be found on my website.

Bernice has coordinated a group of Upper Sackville, N.B. women who meet at her house weekly to sew "little dresses for Africa".

  Bernice writes, "We found a teacher who is going to Uganda next month so she will take a duffle bag of 35 with her to be distributed to children in need.  Then we just look for missionaries who are going to any country in need and send them.  If you know of anyone who is spring cleaning and has elastic, rickrack, lace and bias binding that they no longer want we would be so happy to receive it!  Bias binding and elastic are the hardest to obtain."  If you are local and would like to help out Bernice's group, kindly email me and I will put you in touch with Bernice.

Lastly is this picture of one of two pot holders Bernice made and donated to the IODE bazaar in the fall.  Bernice acts as co-regent of her IODE group.   The directions for this little project may be found here on my blog.

Thank you so much Bernice for sharing these pictures of your beautiful work.  Keep sewing - Beulah would be so proud :)

Smoke & Mirrors (without the smoke!)

Skip on over to Ruth's blog to see some Oriental Beauty quilts in progress, and the clever use of mirrors!
The pattern for Oriental Beauty is here.

Spectacular Beauty!

So...you all know my Oriental Beauty:

Last year Pictou County's Anne Mattie made this version:

Anne enjoyed making it so much that she decided to host a workshop for her Thistle Quilt Guild to teach the design.  To this end, Anne purchased patterns for each of the participants' own use (thank you, Anne!).  Last year at the Northumberland Quilt Show at the DeCoste Centre in Pictou, N.S. the results of the workshop were displayed.  It's cool to see so many together at once. (If you are a member of CQA, there are also pictures of the beauties from the Thistle Quilt Guild's 10th Anniversary Show in Westville on page 49 of the winter edition of The Canadian Quilter.)

Anne was asked to teach the workshop again to a neighbouring guild in Antigonish, The Nova Scotia Highland Quilt Guild (and again, Anne did the right thing and purchased patterns for all participants.)  I received these pictures of the first finishes, and was pretty much blown away by this one by Jeanine Gunn. Jeanine obviously knows a thing or two about colour - wow!

Three others are just as spectacular (notice the butterfly appliquéd in the centre of the one on the far right?)  These look like bright, sunny flowers.  The beautiful creations are by (l-r) Jeanine Gunn, Elizabeth Munroe, Linda Kell, and Yvonne Lynch.

Thanks to all for sharing pictures, and a special thank you to Anne who is obviously a stellar teacher!

Our New Beauty

Polly and I started this quilt back in the spring and decided it was time to get it quilted. We toyed with a few stitching ideas before sandwiching, but didn't really come up with anything which wowed us. We will wait for inspiration to come to us while it's under the needle.
The backing fabric is one from Dayle's which I have had my eye on for a bit. It's from "The Empire Collection" by Rose Studios for Blue Hill Fabrics and seemed a good companion for the Kaufman oriental prints used for the top.
As always, Polly keeps a watchful eye on proceedings.
We are using a double layer of wool batting, which is one of Polly's favourites.
She tests out the warmth factor and finds it very much to her liking...so much so in fact that she doesn't want to leave the quilt alone.

Oriental Beauties

Wilma Jenkins and Anne Mattie wowed the members at the Thistle Guild Christmas party when they showed up with these beauties:
Working together, they completed two gorgeous Oriental Beauties. I love the placement of the swirl in the centre of Anne's. The alternating yellow background in Wilma's makes it pulse with warmth. You may remember seeing Wilma and Anne previously when they sent pictures of their Maritime Beauties. I understand they have a couple more up their sleeves, so we will watch and see what comes next. Thanks for sharing. If you'd like to make your own Oriental Beauty, the pattern is available on my website. Please leave a comment below for Wilma and Anne to let them know we appreciate their lovely work.

A Pearl Of An Oriental Beauty

This Beauty is a real pearl...and made by Anne Marie Pearle, of Paradise Nova Scotia. Anne Marie used my Oriental Beauty pattern #209 to make her table topper. I love the impact of the gold spikes, and the subtle shading of the red background sections adds depth.
Oriental Beauty is a variation of a New York Beauty block, but drawn on a different angled grid. Appliquéing the curved bands makes it surprisingly easy to sew. Thanks for sharing this, Anne Marie. I know from visiting your area that you really do live in Paradise.