Magpie Quilts

Today was rainy and wet! And we still haven't dried out from the rain we had last week! Oh, well, that means my sewing machine will get used and my garden will have to wait! I planted some of my seeds yesterday morning - before the afternoon showers started. I had some help from my grandsons - the 3 year old was very good at placing the pea seeds into the row and keeping some space between them. The 2 year old was quite funny - he would grab some seeds and then throw them into the garden, not caring where they went! I'm sure there will be pea plants everywhere!! But back in the sewing room today, I had my friends here for our weekly sewing day. And I had a little show 'n' tell as I received a quilt in the mail from a swap on Flickr. The theme for this mini-quilt swap was flowers or birds and the quilt I received had such a lush bouquet of blooms! I loved every bit of this quilt and will be finding a place for it where I can look at it every day! And I'm n...

"In the Presence of the Elders" by Pippa Moore I took a Quilt Journaling class from Pippa Moore at Quilt Canada in Calgary in 2010. We had about 10 exercises to go through - just sampling techniques on a small scale - and we completed 6 in class and the other 4 were homework. I still haven't finished those 4! I'm going to add them to my UFO (Un-Finished Objects) list and see if I can't get myself motivated to compete them! Here's the piece she had in the show last week in Penticton. Artist statement for "In the Presence of the Elders" This next quilt was amazing! At first, I went right past it without paying much attention to the details. The second time, I looked a little closer. The thread work on this was stunning. From free form machine thread play to hand-stitched running stitches, this quilt had so much going on, but you had to look close, just like you have to look close to see the beauty of a snowflake. "Canadian Conver...

The National Juried show at Quilt BC 2013 was absolutely inspiring! Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take photos in the show, so I can't show you any of those quilts! But the Invitational show was also breathtaking and pictures were allowed there! (I apologize for the quality of the photos, these were taken with my phone!) From their website, "the Fibre Art Network (FAN) is a co-operative of self-defined artists based in Western Canada. The co-operative was first conceived in the spring of 1998 by British Columbians Pat Crucil and Gail Hunt and then organized later that year by Gail. The group is committed to promoting fibre as an art form and each other as artists." This group of creative quilt artists had some great quilts on display. Beach Scavengers by Judy Leslie Artist statement for Beach Scavengers Look at the rocks and shells! Artist Statement for Pitt River Marsh Pitt River Marsh by Judy Leslie Quilt shows are a feast for t...

Is it really a quilt if it doesn't have fabric? You be the judge! Quilt Artist Karen Jurek from Cochrane, Alberta had this metal "quilt" displayed at Quilt BC last week. She created this metal art piece and it really has 3 layers, it's tied in places with metal wire and quilted in others with metallic thread. Take a close look and see the common household items Karen has used to make this unique art piece!  Not sure if I'm going to run out and raid my husband's shop of spare parts quite yet, but I enjoyed this metal quilt! --Ann

I belong to a few online quilting groups and one of my daily check-ins is with the Quiltsy team over on Etsy where I sell my quilts. Etsy is a unique selling venue in that there are teams that are created to provide support and community for sellers. I belong to a few different teams, one that is made up of Canadian sellers, one for Alberta sellers and one for Quilters - Quiltsy! Terry, Kathy, Lynn, me (Ann) and Maxine It turns out that a few quilters from the Quiltsy team were also going to attend Quilt BC 2013 in Penticton, British Columbia. Meeting people in person that I've only ever met online was amazing! Here's a little post on the Quiltsy team blog that describes our lunch last Friday! http://teamquiltsy.blogspot.ca/2013/05/meet-up-at-quilt-canada-may-2013.html --Ann

What have I been up to the last few weeks? My sewing machine was in for a clean and a service while I was away to Beautiful British Columbia to have a little holiday and spend some time at Quilt Canada BC in Penticton. Fruit trees were blooming in Cranbrook! Roses were blooming in Penticton! The scenery was awesome! It was great to see the green leaves and the fruit blossoms! In Calgary, the leaves were not quite out yet when we left. The wines we tasted along the way were delicious! And the quilts were inspiring! I'll be sharing some of those over the next week or so. I signed up for a class at Quilt BC with Elizabeth Spannring called  "Focus on Feathers". This little quilt on the left is the project we worked on. Before starting on marking our quilt with the feather design, we had a little bit of a trunk show by Elizabeth. Her whole-cloth quilts are amazing. Check her quilts out at http://www.elizabethspannring.com/ We used stencils to mark our patte...

Something a little more modern - just a few more rows to sew on & then find a fabric for backing. Chevrons A couple table runners from a charm pack of "Little Black Dress" by Moda - stunning fabrics, I wish I had some yardage of these! Table runners A iPad mini case for my landscaper son. I don't like the placement of the magnetic snap and the case is a little tight for use with the cover that comes with the iPad mini, but it should loosen up with use. I will try again as these little covers aren't that difficult to make! iPad mini case Sewing is probably going to take a bit of a backseat over the next couple weeks as we clean up from the winter and get the yard ready for spring and summer! --Ann

I finished my sunflower! And I didn't go to the fabric store, but used the piece of brown I had in my fabric stash! Dresden Star Sunflower - FOR SALE I quilted the brown centre with a pebble pattern in brown thread to resemble the seeds in the sunflower head. Then I changed to a yellow variegated thread and quilted the yellow petals, leaving the orange pieces to pop up off the quilted surface. Swirling leaves in green thread finish the piece off and I quilted it more densely than I usually quilt, just to keep the amount of quilting fairly uniform throughout! This was a fun little project to make - I will likely make it in a few more colorways in the future! What colors do you think I should try? --Ann Linking up here: Quiltsy WIP and Whatnots Needle and Thread Network WIP Wednesday #88