Waterloo Quilt Show

There was no sewing this week for my Rainbow Scrap Challenge projects. My back has been very sore, maybe because of wrestling with my UFO quilt, or maybe because of Oktoberfest shenanigans, or maybe because of outdoor yard preparations for winter. Or maybe a combination of all of the above? But either way, in spite of some intense massage treatments, I am having a lot of back pain.
So I was very happy to be able to walk around yesterday at the Waterloo quilt show even if it was much briefer than I would have liked. I also didn't get to do any shopping at the vendors and they had lovely booths set up stuffed full of quilting treats.

Don't you love it when your favourite quilts are made by your favourite people? I was delighted to learn that my choice for favourite quilt in the show was made by the wonderful Judy Pearce.

Why is it my favourite quilt? Because it is technically brilliant, and it transforms fabric and thread into a photograph. This quilt captures a symbolic moment in time and it invokes an emotional response from the viewers. 

Here is Judy's write up about the quilt. It is inspired by a photo of her parents who have been married for 64 years. 
This quilt is all about love. In my mind I started singing the song "Walk Hand In Hand "(click here for a Youtube version of the song that is the perfect sound track for this quilt).
I could feel that love oozing right off the quilt! I put my hand (inside a white glove of course!) on their quilted hands just to feel connected to the power of that love. I couldn't help myself.
Life is all about the love!
And I love this quilt!

There were also some fabulous scrappy quilts at the show that I loved.

This one was also made by Judy and is called "36 Patch". The photo doesn't show the wonderful quilting and I didn't get a good photo of that on my camera. This is a big quilt 83" x 96" so there are a lot of small scraps in this quilt!

And here is an amazing scrap quilt made by Sandy Campbell. It's a block called "Wild and Goosey" by Bonnie Hunter. The pattern can be downloaded here.
Sandy calls her quilt "4,057 Pieces From My Friends". Yep... she counted the pieces! Truly amazing!
And she machine quilted it herself through all those paper pieced seams.

And if that is not amazing enough, this is another one of Sandy's quilts called "Cabins Under the Muskoka Sky" (designed by Ruthie's Quilt Creations). This one is 80" square and completely hand quilted by Sandy herself.
She can do it all!

If you stop by the show today, I promise you will enjoy it. They also have a mini raffle quilt, and you know how I love mini quilts! Stop by tomorrow for Slow Sunday Stitching to see one of the quilts I won.

Ailsa Craig Quilt Festival

This week is the Ailsa Craig Quilt Festival and the featured quilts this year are from France. 

I attended a very interesting lecture given by Marie Christine Flocard on the history of Toile de Jouy. It was such a complex process and the role of women in it's production was fascinating.




Then I got to see the quilts... ohhhh they were beautiful. I had my eyeballs right up to many of them to see the gorgeous stitches. 


There were several hand pieced and hand quilted beauties. This was one of my favourites by Nicole Trollux. It reminds me of a game we played as kids called "chinese checkers". If you've played this, you will know what I mean.

Here is a close up of what the block and the quilting looks like. The texture was amazing, and I just wanted to touch all of the quilts (but I didn't cause I know better!)


If you get a chance to see the show, you will really enjoy it. For more information you can check out the updates of the festival on their facebook page - click here.
I didn't buy much at the vendors since I was mostly interested in seeing the quilts. I did pick up a silk thread recommended by Anne Marie Desaulniers, a new quilty nail file, and a needle puller that I have seen my friend Sandy use when hand quilting. I can't wait to try it out and see if I like it.
Tomorrow I will be posting my newest Scrap Squad quilt, so I hope you'll come by and take a look!

Slow Sunday Stitching

Slow Down!

It's Sunday, which means it is time to slow down and do some hand stitching. It has been such a whirlwind week that I haven't even had time to visit the hand stitching links from last week. I look forward to some time to relax today, to visit blogs, and to review my memories from the week. Sometimes life passes in such a blur that you don't even remember what you've done (or maybe that's just me??)
This week I have been preoccupied by my guild's quilt show, sewing hanging sleeves, submitting the quilts, and then volunteering at the show and seeing all the amazing quilts. I was also happy to learn that I won two ribbons.



The first photo shows the miniature quilt ribbons from the challenge. I love this display because my challenge quilt (pattern by Camille Roskelley) is sandwiched between two amazing quilts made by two wonderful quilting friends - Marilyn Watson above and Cheryl Wallace below! 
I was struck by the thought that their pieces look so relaxing and calm, and mine looks "intense". I think it's because of the way I quilted it... that owl looks menacing! But the friendship stars are "containing the threat", so maybe the intensity fits my theme and I should say that I meant to do it that way! 
Anyway, the owl fabric is in the other quilts too, but they used it so cleverly that you can hardly notice it.

And my second ribbon was in the small wallhanging category. This is Cascadia - which you might recognize from a sewalong by Lori at Humble Quilts. I love this quilt and use it as a cover on top of one of my sewing machines. 

So today I will be relaxing with my thoughts and my stitching. I hope to finish the quilting on my Always Home wallhanging.


What are you working on today? We would love to see your hand stitching project! Link up your blog post below and share your progress.

Royal City Quilters' Guild Quilt Show

Another great quilt show has come and gone! I wish I could have had more time to spend admiring all the quilts hanging at the show yesterday. My creative mind was totally on overdrive all night long! So instead of sleeping last night, I composed a list of my ideas for how to enjoy a quilt show.
Things "TO DO":
-Do an initial walk through and greet all your friends with hugs and smiles. Be thankful for the blessings of wonderful, creative women in your life. (This is a quilt I entered in the show. It was made from a block swap for quilt bloggers which was organized by Julie. The centre blocks are 6" blocks and the border is made of 3" blocks. Thanks again Julie!!)
-Meet people who read your blog and find out that complete strangers care about you and your family.
-Do a thorough walk about, reading the descriptions of each quilt and learn about how quilters are inspired to make amazing creations.
-Allow yourself to be drawn to your favorite 3 quilts at the show and ask yourself why you love them so much. Is it the fabric, the design, the embellishments, the technique, the thread, the colours, or the quilting that you love? This can lead you in a new direction for your next quilt. (This is a close up of machine quilting that I did on a quilt which I will write more about later today)
-Congratulate the prize winning quilters. Take pictures of them with their quilt if you can, and send it to them. Email the quilters you didn't see at the show whose work you admire and encourage them.
-Jot down in your journal any ideas that come to you, and any thoughts you have that start with "I sure wish that one day I could..."  Dream about future quilts, and start a hundred new projects in your head.
-Take lots of photos (if allowed), download them on your computer and enjoy the show all over again. You will be amazed at the things you notice on your photos that you didn't "see" at the show.
-Thank the volunteers who give of their time and energy to make each quilt show a success.


Things to "NOT DO":
-Do not say negative things to yourself about your efforts and your quilts. It totally defeats the purpose of a quilt show, which is to delight and inspire.
-Do not compare your work to other quilters' work. You make your own unique quilts and each one is a work of art reflecting your own interests and where you are on your creative journey. (This is a quilt I entered in the show. It was a mystery pattern from the very generous Judy Laquidara of Patchwork Times - click here for the free pattern. I thought it was beautiful quilt until I saw it surrounded by amazing and colourful quilts. But I followed my own advice and tried hard not to compare it to it's neighbours!)
-Do not feel embarrassed that you put your quilt in the show when you find out that it happens to be hanging beside an award winning masterpiece! Remind yourself that it is an accomplishment to even finish a quilt. Remind yourself that your quilt brought you hours of enjoyment in the creative process. And congratulate yourself on being brave enough to take a risk and share your quilting with others.
Enjoy your next quilt show!!

Gee's Bend Quilts

Luckily my friend Marion emailed me to tell me that the quilts of Gee's Bend were making an appearance in a Canadian city that would be within driving distance of my house. I was quite interested to see the quilts and convinced my husband that it would be a nice outing for me us, and he agreed to take me! Having heard about these quilts for many years, I was happy to be able to see some of these quilts and even more delighted that we were permitted to take photographs. (There are few things that annoy me as much as not being allowed to take photos at a quilt show...I understand all the copyright issues, but it still really annoys the photographer part of me!)
So I won't show the quilts in this blog post because I don't have permission to do that and I am too scared of the copyright police, but you can see about 80,000 photos if you google Gee's Bend quilt images.
I thought I might be able to get away with showing a couple of the  close up photos that I took to show why I love these quilts so much...

1) the riotous (exuberant, lush, luxuriant, profuse) use of colour in many of the quilts...








2) amazing, free form hand quilting....

3) hand quilting through denim and corduroy...








4) complete disregard for matching seams and no worrying about missing points...




5) use of all the little scrappy bits...

I was totally inspired to not worry so much about the things that I have been told make a quilt "show worthy", and instead to focus on the things that make a quilt meaningful.  I was totally pumped to rush home and do some hand quilting...and to remember that the stitches don't have to be tiny or perfect to give great texture on a quilt.

But, it's been about a month since I pin basted this quilt for machine quilting, so I thought I better get to work on that one!