This and That...

 Do you remember the awesome program we had in January on Wool Appliqué? There was a lot of interest so here is an update on sourcing materials for this technique.




The Fabric Cupboard (22 Brandon St. Moncton) now carries Sue Spargo 100% premium grade Australian Merino wool. This richly dyed luxurious wool is available in 60 vibrant colours with unparalleled colourfastness.

Just look at those rich colours!!!  Yummy!

Complementing this irresistable wool fabric is Ellana 12 weight 50/50 merino wool/acrylic blend thread also from Sue Spargo. Engineered and finished to the highest quality standard, Ellana is very user friendly and the perfect wool thread for hand appliqué, wool appliqué and machine work. It is fray resistant, has significantly less fuzz and unparalleled smoothness.















If you travel a little further to Port Elgin area, Spruce It Up Quilt Shop (2063 Route 960) is also carrying Sue Spargo wools and some of her threads- Eleganza, Dazzle and Razzle as well as Valdani perle cottons. Lorette is now dyeing her own wool and also offers repurposed wools in many different colours and textures. Wool yardage in white, natural and black is available as well.  Books by Sue Spargo and Wendy Williams will give you further inspiration.
Of course, a visit to www.suespargo.com is the ultimate inspiration if you are interested in wool appliqué. Oh the COLOURS!! I am drooling on my keyboard...

If you are on Facebook, you might consider joining the new FB group Canadian Wool Appliqué - lots of ideas, inspiration, help and encouragement offered there whether you are new or experienced!

Have you been to St. Andrews this summer? If so you might have found a new quilt shop - The Wee Fabric Shop at 209 Water Street. It's actually just off Water Street, between The Red Herring Pub and the Seasons By The Sea Bistro (stand on Water St. with The Red Herring Pub on your left and walk towards the water.) They carry Kona solids, Riley Blake, Tilda, and Robert Kaufman among others, precuts, Mettler and Aurifil thread, and a good variety of notions. You can visit from your armchair by clicking here.


Are you a CQA member? Do you enjoy a good mystery? If so you may want to join the CQA/ACC Member Mystery Quilt. The fun starts tomorrow, Sept. 2, when the complete list of fabric requirements will be posted. Six monthly installments with step by step instructions and full colour diagrams will follow in PDF format. Check it out here.

Have you been missing visits to quilt shows this summer? Here's an opportunity to visit a big show from the comfort of your own computer screen. Due to the Covid pandemic, The Great Wisconsin Quilt Show is going virtual- it will be a free online-exclusive virtual experience this Sept. 10-12. Free registration is now open at quiltshow.com  You must register to "attend" and you'll be able to view the quilt exhibits, attend lectures, browse the virtual vendor mall, and watch an exclusive sneak preview of PBS Wisconsin's new documentary Nancy Zieman: Extraordinary Grace. Don't wait, register now!

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??