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.

Snow For Jennifer

We got a bit of snow this week.  These pictures are for Jennifer, basking in the Australian heat! Below, you can just see the top of my hubby's toque above the snowbanks.  Like the groundhog on an earlier day, I saw my shadow so we are in for another 6 weeks of this. (I hope I don't need to add the disclaimer that I am not a real groundhog...)

 Here's a shot of our vehicles - they're in there some place!

The front walk...although the postman didn't make it around today.

Taken from the street in front of the house.  If you zoom in to the big window on the right...

...you'll see Polly, who was not brave enough to venture out in this much snow but kept a watchful eye on every thing going on outside.

Come visit, Jennifer!

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 :)

Quilting Beauties: Ostentation

Last post I showed you one of the pieces chosen for the cover of Quilting Beauties, so today I will show you the other:  Ostentation.

This quilt was sewn while the book was still a twinkle in my eye. I spotted these fabrics on a shopping trip to Halifax, and it was love at first sight; I knew immediately I wanted to stitch something which hinted at plumes and peacocks...without actually stitching either. To suggest feathers, spiky, pointy blocks were chosen. The yellow centre of the rings in the NY Beauty blocks are reminiscent of the eye on a peacock’s tail feathers. 

The name for a flock of peacocks is an ostentation, and it aptly describes this showy quilt. It is neither round nor oval but has elongated patches added top and bottom; a beaded black tassel further accentuates the shape. 

A shiny black button helps draw your eye to the centre of the quilt. It was serendipitous to find a button to match the tassel in a different store, in a different city!

Ostentation features wool batting and is heavily machine quilted in various feather designs using a gold metallic thread.

All the quilting for the book was done on my much-loved Bernina 440.

I hadn't patterned it previously, but it was perfect for the book and I am pleased AQS liked it as well. I love how when you stand back, the yellow centre spins around. This would be so fun to stitch in Christmas prints just to see how different the design would look.  (That's on my to-do list!)

AQS did an absolutely stellar job with the piecing diagrams, showing just how simple it is to sew such a complicated-looking design. The construction is all laid out step-by-step.

Before I sent it off, I blocked the quilt to make sure it was perfectly flat.  You can see why I have plastic sheets to cover my work...Polly claimed the territory in the name of King and country and wouldn't let anyone near it.  It took kitty-treat distraction to get her off the quilt.

You can purchase an autographed copy of Quilting Beauties from my website

Quilting Beauties: Florentine

Last summer, I showed you some miniature blocks I was piecing in silk, but I never showed you the completed quilt.

Here's the finished quilt: (colours are weird in artificial light, especially so in silk - I need to shoot it outside!)

It's a miniature version of Florentine, from the book Quilting Beauties.One of the nice things about having the templates available on a CD is that, with a little experimentation, you can vary the size according to the scale you choose. This miniature finishes to 14".  It was a real challenge to bind in that slippery silk but all in all I don't think it turned out too badly.  More importantly, it was a lot of fun and I learned things I will apply to future silk projects.

Here's the full sized original of Florentine (34" x 39") pieced in a gorgeous gold-laced collection generously supplied by Hoffman Fabrics. I can't recall ever loving fabrics as much as these...I could sew with them forever. There was no solid black in this collection, so I added a VERY black Hoffman batik - "raven" it's called. Gorgeous.

Florentine was actually one of the quilts chosen for the book cover. I love the way the New York Beauty blocks fit together, with a gaggle of Flying Geese circling the outer edge. While in progress, you can see I briefly considered adding a black circle to draw your eye to the centre of the patchwork...but in the end, decided to leave it off.  That may be something you choose to add. You'll notice the miniature version above has a silk-covered button in the centre.

The squiggle quilting adds just the right flair.

Here you see my assistant adjusting the quilt so it hangs perfectly straight. Maddie was such a big help with the photos.

If you zoom in, you may be able to see the feather quilting which encircles the outer border of geese.

You can order your copy of Quilting Beauties here.  Purchases made through my website are signed, and accompanied by a cute little lapel pin.