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Not generally my bag, but.....

Look at it! It is undoubtedly pretty but normally not the sort of thing I do. I was asked to do something for Christmas for a class , so I did this. It is  GREAT little project for brushing up one's machine quilting technique! I quilted all round all of those little bits with Invisible thread so it is nice and textured but not gaudy with all sorts of thread colours. I am beading it a bit and , as you see, binding it. The binding will be 1/2 inch but still needs turning. I have plans for the four corners too so watch this space. I will post the finished product before sending it to the shop for display.
The whole piece. Obviously a printed panel- by Robert Kaufman.
A little closeup so you can see the quilting and the beads.
Then, There is the Gloriosa, waiting patiently in the wings . It is almost finished except for e few minor touches and then , ready to layer and quilt. I THINK I am happy with it. We'll see.
Not a very nice picture as it is mixed up with the pieces under it but you get the idea. It is coming along well .I will do a bit more on the big centre and then layer it. By next week, I hope it is all done.
I am REALLY hoping to get this done by this time next week so stay tuned, watch this space. I am posting to the needleandthreadnetwork.blogspot.com I have already visited the site. There are some LOVELY posts there this week! Drop in .

Glorious Persistence

I admire persistence! Sometimes it can drive one mad but in the end, I DO admire it! Several years ago my Mum brought me a straggly little plant from the driveway of a friend's house in NS . It was a Gloriosa Daisy and it grew and proliferated EVERYWHERE! I liked it but I have a LOT of composites in the garden and was not sure , seeing how wildly this grew, that I needed yet another. Eventually, I yanked it all out and chucked it- I THOUGHT! Well, Lo and Behold, this year, ONE single Gloriosa daisy grew in the gravel of our driveway. It bloomed - gloriously, as is its wont and so, I left it there with a mass of yellow Rudbekia and kept photographing it.

Here are a couple of pics of my glorious Gloriosa. The bottom one is the photo I am working from .





Lovely photo of the total chaos that is our dining room! Did I ever claim to be a housekeeper when I am working?
And here is what I am doing with them. I am further along now but this gives an idea of progress to date. I am going to post this WIP to the needleandthreadnetwork.blogspot.com Not sure if I will be finished this by next week as I have a diversion to tackle in the meantime , but stay tuned. Hope you are all enjoying the superb fall weather we are having here in sunny Burlington just now. 

SAQA Auction 2013

Well, whoda thunk?? Sales are going really well on the auction site and my little Chiaroscura piece fetched $350.00 for SAQA! Still lots of nice things left if you are inclined to collect art! Check out the site!

Might be the end of my Red Period???

Here I am again, and with another red quilt on the go. Gotta stop sometime. However, these two pictures I got at Jellicoe TN on my birthday morning two years ago are just so pretty. HAD to do SOMETHING with them.
Here's where I started. There were so few leaves left on these bushes but every one was bedecked with long skinny frost crystals. It was a nippy morning but by the end of the day, along the NY Thruway, it was so snowy , we had to stop over in an hotel for the night.
And here is where I am with this piece at the moment. I am resting my neck and back as I am, true to form , making life tough on myself, I have been quilting intensively and am nowhere near finished. I want to do all of the quilting , foreground AND background, before I switch to my beloved silver thread for the frost crystals. Stay tooned!


I have not included a closeup yet but will post that soon so you can see how mad I really am. I use Bottom Line, Superior's lovely fine bobbin thread and to date, have filled my bobbin three times!! This gives you a rough idea of the composition anyway.
I intend to post this to the needleandthreadnetwork.blogspot.com. Last time I looked , there were no posts yet but there will be , so drop by! BTW, for those who are interested, it is 27" x 22.5" before I finish it. It will be a tad smaller eventually.

Now I am blushing!!

Goodness me! I am just home from Cambridge ON , having collected my little Bluebells quilt as the show is over now. Imagine my surprise when I was handed the quilt all nicely wrapped AND a big shiny foil gift bag for winning Viewers' Choice!!! How very nice! I thought of sending a thank you to McDougall Cottage, but I realize it is the VIEWERS whom I should thank! Not sure how many of them follow my blog, but for those who do, Thank You so much! I do not do this for prizes or recognition but this feedback IS very nice and VERY much appreciated. Thanks so much, Folks! In case you do not recall which quilt I am on about , here it is....
The "wee " quilt and the big purple rosettes!

And the big purple rosettes all by themselves.
Part of the prize in the shiny gift bag was a little jug of THE best Maple Syrup I have EVER tasted. Deevine. I shall have to dole it out ever so delicately, being a diabetic woman myself :-( I am pretty strong in the self discipline department though so I will be careful . DH will help me too. Anyway, lovely day today, a gorgeous ride in the countryside and we discovered the graves of two of DH's rellies whose death dates we did not have. Good day all round!

2013 SAQA Benefit Auction

For you folks who have not seen this or heard of it, you might enjoy checking out the SAQA  2013 Benefit Auction. There are a ZILLION wonderful little 12"x 12" mini art quilts there which will be auctioned off , starting on 09 September. I tried to make a link for you but cannot seem to manage it so, just Google it and you will find it.

Here is my contribution-
There are soo many gorgeous pieces. A few people have actually made "dream collections"- i.e.- six pieces you would LOVE to be able to afford to own. Check out the site and if you want to bid, the bidding on the first group begins on 09 September. Instructions for the bidding and an explanation of the auction's purpose and lots of extra info are on the website. Enjoy!

Berberis, Bedazzled, Bedecked and Bedizened

SAQA has a travelling trunk show scheduled for next year- for the next THREE years, actually, and they are asking members to donate tiny mini art quilts to be part of that travelling show. I scratched my head for a long time but finally came up with an idea. You remember the red pictures I am working on? And, do you recall the lovely frosted Berberis leaves from the rest stop in Jellicoe, KY?
Here it is , in case you forgot!
Someone said, when I suggested I wanted to quilt this, that the frost would be hard to do. I agreed and decided to experiment, so, working within the 7" x 10" parameters of the SAQA request, I tried it.
Here is the result....
Here is the little quilt in its entirety- all 10 x 7  inches of it!
And here are a couple of detail shots so you can see what I did...
The frosty twigs

Gnarly, frosty twigs

And the frost bedizened ruby leaves.
I used bits of hand dyed and commercial fabrics for the berberis itself and a little piece of hand dye for the background. To do the frosty collar on the red leaves, I cut a piece of very pale grey commercial "batik" backed with Steam a Seam Lite. In fact, contrary to my normal practice, I used Steam a Seam Lite throughout. Then, I stitched with variegated cotton ( Sulky) all round the twigs and the leaves and then .... I switched to Superior's gorgeous metallic silver for the frost. On some of the darker twigs, I used a pale blue metallic thread. I "gilded the lily" a tad using my trusty Prismacolor" pencil crayons for just  a bit more "oomph" on the twig shadows. Now, of course, I need to "fix" the pencil crayon with my  Krylon acrylic fixative spray.

This is only Monday, Labour Day, but I am preparing this post for the next edition of the needleandthreadnetwork.blogspot.com which will be tomorrow afternoon. Check it out. There seem to be some interesting new contributors these days. Maybe they are just returnees, but they are new to me.