Community Projects Quilts

Our Community Projects committee has sent some photos of recent work. First up two quilts, both by Cathy Boone, that will be going to Transition House.

Following are the wheelchair aprons that were done from some donated orphan blocks. These are for the Stan Cassidy Rehabilitation Centre. A big thank you to all who participated in making these, they will certainly be appreciated.

Up next, a generous donation of quilts for Community Projects from Barb Foster's group. 

New Source for Batiks and Wide Backs

 We have a new source in the Fredericton area for batiks and wide backings... Gwenda Mattinson of Gwenda Quilts is now carrying 35 beautiful batiks by Island Batik at $14.00 / yard and 25 bolts of wide backings (108") at $18.00 / yard. Please call Gwenda to visit. They can have two visitors at a time, WITH MASKS.  Call Gwenda at 459-7343.

Quilt Shows

Hello ladies! Ooops, I mean ladies AND Ron!!  I have a few links for you today. If you are missing the usual summer quilt shows- here are a few for you that you can visit right from your comfy armchair!

First up is the fabulous Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show in Sisters Oregon. They have gone virtual this year and Country Heritage Tours will be doing a live tour of the show on Thursday August 6 at 3:00pm EST so that would be 4:00 pm our time. Tune in to Country Heritage Tours  Facebook page at 4pm for the live 30 minute armchair tour or you can go back and watch the recorded version later.

Europe's leading patchwork and quilting event, the UK Festival of Quilts, also went virtual this year. You can tour the show, watch videos of the classes, listen to the lectures... all from the comfort of your armchair!! Awesome! Just click here and then browse the shows, classes, etc.  And you don't even need a passport!

If you're anxious for an "in person" show, don't forget the "Drive By Quilt Show" this coming Saturday in Cambridge Narrows...  See info in the previous post, and on the sidebar.

Quilt Show and more Show and Tell

Hello! How is everyone doing? Are you managing to pass the time, with not as much happening this summer? There IS one "quilt show" happening soon, albeit a different approach. Akerley Area QG is holding a "drive-by" quilt show on Saturday Aug. 8 at the Municipal Building in Cambridge Narrows. Weather permitting it will be held from 10a.m. - 4p.m.

Now, on to more Show and Tell. First up, 

Angela L-P. 

She's been making a number of bags and clutches of various sizes from the book Sew Beautiful Quilted Bags by Akemi Shibata. By the looks of all these lovely bags, I'm thinking this book might be a good addition to our library..?

Angela made this lovely bag as a gift for a special cousin who loves orange. I bet her cousin loves it!!

 

She says her featherweight worked like a charm, sewing through the osnaburg, 2 layers of batting, muslin and cotton lining.

Here are several "in progress" shots. The bag front is put together in sections with partial seams. She used two strands of DMC floss for the "big stitch" hand quilting, not stitching into the lining, just through the batting and muslin. The little 1" orange squares are machine quilted about 1/16" from the seam; once that was done the "woven effect" of the osnaburg was revived.

The diamond design quilting on the base and back show well. There are two layers of batting in the handles.

Wow! Sure was a lot of work, Angela!  I hope she cherishes it!

Another project from the same book, a simple bag/clutch called Confetti Crossbody. 

Angela says it was a fun piecing project and is quilted using the walking foot. She used two layers of batting as she felt the batting was a bit thin.

...and two more crossbody bags - the "Heart Pochette"...  Sweet!  The hearts are done by reverse appliqué. The project is stitched together after it is quilted, and the edges are then bound.

Angela has also kept busy making backpacks and little girl's dresses...  looks like she's been having lots of fun!!

Jenny A. made two beautiful quilts for the victims' families of the NS shootings in April. The Maritime  Modern Quilt Guild put out a call for quilt donations to comfort the families, and they had a wonderful response - over 430 quilts!! Testament to the generosity of maritimers! 

The Seafarer quilt is from a pattern by Susan Arnold of Quilt Fabrication. It was quilted by Gwenda and Eugene Mattinson. 

This one is based on the Modern View quilt by John Kubiniec in McCall's Quilting, Jan./Feb. 2013 issue. 

Just look at those great fabrics- turtles, crabs, waves and whales. Such maritime flavour! 

Both so beautiful Jenny. So many gorgeous blues!!

Candace B. has been keeping busy with lots of projects too. She's all ready for Hallowe'en with this new runner from the Sew Sampler 2019 Spooky Box. The runner is called Driving Me Batty and all fabric for the front of the runner was provided in the box.

This baby quilt is from a panel and will be donated to Community Projects. 

This little wallhanging is called Yellow Bird, and Candace says it was fun and easy to do.  Very cute!

This 15" x 15" star quilt is from a Thimbleberries kit in a can called Star Soup. What a great little gift idea!

Candace has also been cross-stitching! This pattern is by Lori Holt, it is available for purchase on Etsy.

Great colours and the buttons add some fun! Candace is anxious to get it framed. 

Another great kit (this one by Lizzie Kate) yielded this pillow. Cross-stitched on linen, and completed with buttons, ricrac and cute fabrics! 

Janet M. has made this cute little hen pillow for her granddaughter who loves chickens/hens. The pattern is from a 2019 Block of the Month called Hen Party, by Sindy Rodenmayer of Fat Cat Patterns.

Lastly, you may remember a few posts back, seeing this colourful nine patch by Gwen B. Well here it is, all hand quilted! Great job Gwen!! 

Congrats to all! Doesn't a FINISH feel good?!!  Keep those photos coming!!!

Online Shows and Christmas is coming....

Have you checked out CQA/ACC's Canada Day Virtual Quilt Show yet? Better hurry, only two days left... The show is up until July 10. So nice to see one of our own members, Jenny Adam, showing her beautiful quilt! Nice to see several other New Brunswickers as well- Janet Wright (Woodstock), Mona Gagnon (Grand Falls), Cristel Frischmuth (Collette) and Tara Wells (Sackville.)  Click here to see the online show: https://canadianquilter.com/celebrating-canadian-quilters-a-canada-day-virtual-quilt-show/

Today kicks off the Quilt Africa Fabrics Online Show! From July 8th through 11th, a team of talented artists will be sharing their knowledge and passion for African fabrics in the first of its kind Quilt and Crafts Conference. Check it out here: https://www.quiltafricafabrics.com/pages/online-summit

Kings Landing is having Theme Weekends this summer... July 11-12 is Quilting Weekend. Good time to have a visit if you haven't been there lately...

Christmas is only 169 days away!! Christmas fabrics, collections, panels, etc. are arriving in quilt shops now! Are YOU working on a Christmas project this month? If so, please send me a photo or two and we'll have a "Christmas in July" Show and Tell....

Show and Tell #7

It's high time for more Show and Tell. Many thanks to those who have sent in photos!! Keep them coming! And my apologies to those who sent photos quite a while ago... here they are, finally! I've been very tied up for the last 6 weeks with two senior family member "issues"...That, on top of Blogger is now using a new interface..... grrrrr....this post came with many frustrations.. photos wouldn't load, then they loaded sideways, etc. etc.

I've always thought "If it ain't broke, don't fix it"...

I wish Blogger would live by that too... So again, my apologies for being a little "behind"...

Angela L-P kept busy with some orphan blocks after our lecture/demo on "Using Orphan Blocks" by Joyce Newman. Angela had fun creating several lovely quilts. Do you recognize any of your donated blocks here? 

Angela also had some fun with the mini quick curve ruler to create a quilt for her young granddaughter. Birds, leaves and flowers....  beautiful Angela! I bet she loves it! This was a wallhanging size

design which she enlarged.

Fran B. was in "production mode" and completed 24 masks and 14 scrub caps! Great job Fran, I'm sure they were appreciated.

Gail B. sent a heart-warming "Covid quilt" story:  I met my new neighbour for the first time just a few days before Christmas. Her name is Hui and her daughter was just about to arrive from China to spend Christmas with them. She was so excited!

I didn't see them over the winter until mid-April. They then told me that the daughter hadn't been able to go back home due to the Covid outbreak in China. She was 5 months pregnant when she arrived, and now had just had a baby girl the previous week. I had this top ready to put together for a Community Projects donation, but I thought a direct gift to this young woman for her baby so far from home was well suited.

What a lovely story. A kind and generous gift, Gail. I'm sure that new Mom was thrilled with your thoughtfulness.

Last up today is Diane R. who has finished a scrappy batik quilt made with the Strip Tube ruler. This was a retreat project, now finished and quilted by Diane. Beautiful, Diane! What's not to love about batiks?!

Happy Canada Day everyone! July is right around the corner....  Is anyone doing a Christmas in July project??

Two Timely Offers...

Hello there! How is everyone doing? Just a couple of things today that you might be interested in...

CQA/ACC invites us all to join in the fun of a special virtual quilt show to celebrate Canada Day!  It is open to ALL Canadian quilters and will be displayed on the CQA/ACC website from July 1st - 10th. The entry form for A Virtual Canada Day Quilt Show is available now and until June 22. To enter, fill out the form and submit a photo of you with one of your favourite quilts that you have made. Click here for the form.

How are you passing the time during these "stay at home" days? Maybe you have decided to use some of this "extra" time to practice a particular quilting technique... If improving your free motion quilting skills is on your list, you might want to take advantage of Lori Kennedy's offer. If her name doesn't ring a bell, she has a very successful blog called Lori Kennedy Quilts and has authored several books. She is offering a 25 week free motion quilt-along based on her newest book, 25 Days to Better Machine Quilting. Starting on Monday June 15, she will cover one chapter a week to help you improve your machine quilting skills and knowledge. Read more about it here and here.

Remember, send me a photo of any projects you have completed, or are working on, or anything  "quilty" that might interest our members. Another Show and Tell post will be coming soon. Stay tuned!  Happy Sewing!

Andrea's shop move, a Bernina for sale and Show and Tell.....

First of all, in case you are not aware, Andrea has moved her shop from Keswick Ridge to Hanwell! Yay! Closer to us all! Her new address is 1881 Hanwell Road which is the next civic number after Jardine Auctioneers.  With this move comes a new shop name, "The Quilting Shed." No in store shopping is possible right now, but she is open for online ordering with local pickup. You can reach her at 478-2349 and visit https://thequiltingshed.com/ to check out products and sales. They will soon be working on building the new shop and hopefully by the time it is ready we will be able to happily shop "in person."


Former member Eleanor Puxley has a Bernina Activa 130 for sale. Contact Gail M for info...

Here's some Show and Tell today from Gwen Buchanan. She has been keeping busy with two projects full of colour!

Gwen says  "I've been switching it up and doing some crocheting... something I have done very little of until this year... it's really fun and easier than  knitting, at least I find it so... surrounding myself with colour and things to keep my hands and mind busy... eventually with the addition of many more crocheted circles and an additional contrasting circular round on each one, this will be a super cheery "Flower Garden Blanket."
The basket is filling up.. using all kinds of different colours and sizes of yarn in any type I have around, wool, acrylic, silky stuff, fluffy stuff, mohair, cotton... anything at all.  :)  Just stuff from a grab-bag of scrappy odds and ends that have accumulated... doesn't take long..  and I love the multitude of combinations. ♥  Just using the simple steel crochet hook that's shown lying in the middle of the pile. When I have enough 2-colour circles done the third colour is added to each circle as they are attached together.

To attach them together, a third round of colour is added....

















..and the circles are attached as you go along.

Little half circles are attached along the edges to make a straight edge.












Then a red border to frame it is crocheted all around the outside edge. I'm happy with how it turned out. This is the first finished blanket, and I have now begun a second one."

If anyone wants to give this a try (and you're missing out if you don't)  this is the Arne and Carlos video I learned from: click here. 















Gwen also sent along a few pictures of the planning and prepping of the tiny 3" blocks of the 9 patch quilt top she made.




















Each block is made up of nine 1" (finished) squares in dark and light plains and prints.

"I am window-paneing it with white 1/2" strips with black corners... keeps the mind focused, very colourful.. and scrappy and frugal.. much pressing... cheerful!"

(Not sure, but I expect Gwen is hand quilting this!)

Beautiful Gwen! Lots of cheerful colour for spring!! Thanks for sharing your photos and process with us!

For those of you who don't know Gwen, she is a talented artist with many "fibre loves" - she spins, knits, crochets and quilts, designs and makes jewelry, draws and paints and has a wonderful blog which you should check out here:  http://gwenbuchanan.blogspot.com/
We are fortunate that she has joined us at FQG!