MUST QUILT

5% Red
by Ilene Atkins

I've had this big neon sign flashing inside my head for some time now, saying MUST QUILT. So that's what I've been doing. It does beg the question, why must I quilt?  I've always loved sewing, sewing anything, really. But why quilting, why now?

I was recently making the Dragonfly Quilt, here, and had some insight. After my presentation last week to my quilt guild, here, I heard those voices inside my head that say I'm not good enough, and Who do I think I am?  You know those voices!  But getting feedback on my quilts has been so positive.  This disconnect between the outside world and my inside world just didn't make sense to me.

5% Red, detail
by Ilene Atkins

So today I was emailing my friend about the dragonfly quilt, and I came to the realization that when I'm making my quilts, they are the visual representation of the essence of who I am. It is the deepest part of me coming out for the world to see. Any worries or troubles or discontent in my life become inconsequential.

The quilt I'm showing today is a finish from last fall, and I didn't get it photographed until recently. I think I pieced it the year before, and got it quilted in last years finishing frenzy. I've called it 5% red, since it has so little red. I think now I could have put in more red, but this is the way it turned out, so I'm leaving it at that. And I just quilted it with wavy lines. It's been added to my growing stack of finished quilts.

Linking up this time to The Needle and Thread Network, here, and Nina Marie's Off the Wall Friday, here.

Making Dragonflies

I've been working on a quilt for someone deeply associated with dragonflies. I've made a watery blue background, with green borders. Very nature influenced.

I've decided to work with a sheer gold fabric, that has a purple shimmer, to make the dragonfly itself. The challenge has been to work with the edges so they don't fray. I was trying different fusibles, to hold two layers together, then satin-stitch the edges. I plan to quilt in the wing lines for detail.

I'm not quite finished the big dragonfly, but the smaller ones seem to be going well. And I do like these nice mitred corners in the borders. This is the sneak peek stage. More will be revealed in due course. I only have a couple of weeks to finish this up, so I must get going on it!

Linking up this time with Design Wall Monday, here.

Sewing Therapy

 I've put aside all of my other projects for the time being, in favour of working on some "easy" sewing. Just cut strips and sew them together. I needed something productive to do, without a lot of thinking! No planning and no designing, either. To balance the other challenges in my life at the moment. Turns out this kind of quiltmaking is very rewarding.

I had out my box of reds, and a selection of white/cream/lights. Just cut strips and sew them together.  I have 48 blocks made at this point, and am going for 64 blocks. 1" logs, 9" blocks.  I think I'll switch the centre to white, though, so the biggest full diamond ends up being red. And I could quilt something on the white centre, too.

Some of my inspiration for this one comes from Wanda over at Exuberant Color, link here.  She has made over 30 Log Cabin quilts, and I read through most of her posts about them. Very interesting reading.  I really like the way she puts her many different fabrics together into amazing quilts.

It's a long way from being finished, and I don't know when I'll get to quilting it, but I just love how this is looking so far.

Linking up with The Needle and Thread Network, here, and Nina Marie's Off the Wall Friday, here.

Quilt Photos

I spent some time this weekend setting up a place outside to hang up quilts for photographing. I've had three finishes to show for some time now, and have just now gotten it together enough to actually have photos to show. I like to get my quilt photos outside for  better lighting, but I had to contend with wind, bright sunshine and cold today anyway. It's never ideal, but it is still a set-up.  Mr. KQ was very agreeable with helping me, so that was a bonus.

Diagonal Hearts by Ilene Atkins

So I'm showing today the quilt which I think might be my best one so far, certainly it's my own favourite so far.  I just love how this one turned out. It was nearly a right-off, but I managed to save it from disaster!

I didn't really know what I was doing with tension on the backing when I did the quilt sandwich for this one. So when I laid down the diagonal quilt lines along those rows of hearts, I had a lot of puckers on the back. At the time, I didn't know how to fix it, and I became discouraged and put it away. That was about 5 years ago! I make a better quilt sandwich now, by the way!

In this year's finishing frenzy, I decided this summer to pull it out and face whatever music there was to be faced. I thought it was worth salvaging, and figured I now had enough experience to work out any kinks. I painstakingly took out a lot of that quilting, worked in all the puckers, and then finished up with what I had started. It's okay as long as you don't look too closely at the back!

Diagonal Hearts, detail by Ilene Atkins

I wrote about this quilt previously, here, and here. In case you are wondering, I needle turn appliqued two hearts on every block, then joined all the blocks together. Then I appliqued a heart on each intersection. This is one of my red and denim quilts, six I think so far.

When I first started to do my quilting, I did a lot of straight lines with my walking foot, and filled in with stippling, so that's what I continued with. I've branched out from stippling since then, so I added some free-motion hearts in the spaces between the hearts.

This quilt has been a long time from start to finish, and I'm so glad it's now on the finish list. I hope you like it, too.

Welcome to Blog-A-Thon Canada

If you are stopping by from the last day of the Blog-a-Thon, I'd like to welcome you with an introduction.

I live in Kitchener, Ontario, which has a very active quilting community. Some say the Waterloo Region is the Quilt Capital of Canada!  Quilt shows and quilt stores abound in this area, so there is no shortage of inspiration. Along with making quilts, I like to get out to see the wonderful quilts that others have made. I also like photography, cooking, gardening, cycling, nature, and travelling. I've been known to sew many different kinds of items, and have on occasion picked up knitting or embroidery needles.

This Blog-A-Thon is a Canadian adventure, sponsored by the great Sew Sisters Quilt Shop, and the hosts for today are Jackie's Art Quilts, and Krista Quilts. You may hop on over to win great prizes by leaving a comment, and have a look at other Canadian bloggers you might not yet have seen.

I'd like to show you a few of the quilts I've made.

Magnolia Quilt, front

Magnolia Quilt, back

Sienna's Quilt

Stardust

Red & Denim #4

Wintergreen

In other news:  My home team, the Saskatchewan Roughriders, are playing in the Grey Cup tomorrow. I don't usually keep track of or watch football, but when the Grey Cup is on the line, and the 'Riders are playing, I'm paying attention!  Go 'Riders.

It's Messy Around Here!

It's been crazy around here. We've been extremely busy at work, so I've been fitting in some mad sewing on the weekends. Good thing there is an angel doing housework, or it would be super crazy here!

I finished up the bag I was working on, and even worked out how to attach straps so I can use it as a backpack if I need to. I just made a long narrow strip, about 1/2" wide, and put them through grommets along the top. It cinches up nicely for a backpack. I put a lot of pockets on the inside, but find now that I'm using it, that it could have even more pockets on the outside, too. I was looking around online, and see that other quilters have made these with a lot of pockets. Something to think about, because I might like to make a few more of these in different sizes.

And I've begun to work on this quilt, which will become a dragonfly quilt.  I had originally had an idea to use all light creamy colours for a winding ways quilt for a wedding present, but changed my mind when I saw a similarly coloured quilt at a quilt show. The lack of light-dark contrast did not appeal to me. So these light blocks and green blocks sat in a basket for quite some time. I'd lost interest in finishing the quilt. I had some other mixed blocks started , and can no longer remember where I was going with those ones!

Anyway, now I've decided to cut these up into strips to make the background on which to applique a huge dragonfly, with the green ones cut up to make into a piano border. At one time I wouldn't have thought of cutting them up, but now I see no other way they will work for me if I leave them the way they are.

I've also been repairing jeans and safety vests and other items around the house. So there's a lot of stuff out on my sewing table.

The other thing on the go that might interest all of you readers is an all Canadian Blog-a-Thon.  Hosted all this week by bloggers in each region of Canada, there are prizes and links to a lot of other good Canadian bloggers. Check today's hosts, Holly's Red Bike and Winding Bobbins, both from BC.

Linking up with Anything Goes, here.

Something Fun

I've been working on a sewing (not quilting) project for a friend, and it has been slow going. Let's just say I haven't been wildly enthusiastic about the whole thing. So this weekend, I decided to switch to a quilting project for myself, that turned out to be A LOT more fun. I'm hoping this will get me back some of my quilting mojo. I'll still have to work on my friend's sewing, though, just as soon as I get this bag out of my system!

This is as far as I've gotten. The bag part is now quilted and put together. I found four colourful orphan blocks in my UFO's that would never be made into anything like a real quilt, and cut them up into this. I used the slice and sew method, and added the blue print. You just cut slices and sew them back together again. Easy, peasy. No thinking, no measuring, no accuracy. I measured another bag to get the size I wanted, and went from there.

This was a good opportunity, too to practise some FMQ, so I did some bubbles, loops, and my first feathers. I learned that if I'm going to be doing any more feathers, they will take a bit of practise! Though I will admit to not being very fond of feather quilting. . . so I may never do it again.

To finish this up, I still have to make handles, and I want to add pockets inside for all my stuff, camera, phone, water bottle, tablet, so they don't pile up at the bottom. And I want to figure out how to add hidden straps to convert it to a backpack at times.

Linking up this time with Anything Goes Mondays, here, and TNTN, here.

Blogger's Quilt Festival

Ancestral Jewelby Ilene Atkins

I've decided to join the excitement over at Amy's Creative Side, and enter this quilt into the Quilt Photography category. See the link here. You can vote for your favourite from November 1st to the 7th.  Hop on over to see other fabulous quilts.

This is one of the first quilts I made, shortly after leaving the corporate world for more, shall we say, blue collar work. I no longer needed those woollen skirts and jackets, so I cut them up into 4" squares. Yes, cut them up. Happily cut them up.

The squares seemed big to me, so I cut them into quarters for 2" squares. I laid them down on the floor in a random diagonal way, then stitched them all together into rows. 

Pressing was a big job, since all those seams are pressed open. If you've pressed wool before, you will know it takes a lot longer to press than cotton. You must wait for it to dry and cool as you press. 

The finished quilt top was quite heavy, and reminded me of the heavy quilts my family had around when I was young, made from men's wool trousers. Mostly grey and brown, I loved sleeping under them. Loved the weight and the warmth in a (quite) cool room. I'm still like that! It didn't occur to me to put batting in the middle, so it just has a flannel backing. The quilting is all diagonal. Sorry, no close-ups.

I wanted to photograph this quilt and two others in nearby Woodside National Historic Site while there was still snow on the ground. It was mid March and quite warm, so I headed out to get my photos. The next day, all the snow was gone!

Linking up to The Needle and Thread Network, link here, and Anything Goes Monday, here.

Red & Denim #4

Red & Denim #4
by Ilene Atkins

Do you remember when I was working on this quilt? I wrote about it here and here.  It has been finished for a while now, but I haven't been able to get a good photo of it. Until it was hanging in our quilt guild's quilt show last weekend, that is. It really is an amazing feeling to see my quilts hanging at a show. It still blows me away. Anyway, you can finally see it in its entirety here and now.

And it was a great show. Well done as always, with great work from our members. I was working at the show for almost the whole time, speaking to other quilters, and people who had travelled to see our show. People were visiting from Pennsylvania and Scotland, and stopped in to take a look. And many people from around the area, too.

I've had another quilt sandwich made up to be quilted, but I haven't been doing much sewing lately. Various body parts have been hurting, from repetitive strain injuries.  I've been to see an osteopath, so I'm working on being on the mend. And things are a little crazy at work, and there is a lot of doom and gloom, so I'm working on focusing on the many things that make each day worthwhile. Like sunshine, funny cats, hummingbirds in the yard, very warm fall weather, beautiful fall colours. It's not hard to look around and see a lot of splendour. But I haven't had much energy to get going at my sewing machine. I can hear it calling to me this very minute!

And the great news is that my quilts drew a bit of attention at the show. Apparently people are wondering how I manage to get them quilted on my domestic machine. So I've been asked to do a presentation in January to our quilt guild about it. Isn't that amazing? A bit scary, yes, but also VERY exciting.

Linking up to TNTN, here, and Off the Wall Friday, here, and Anything Goes Monday, here.

A Little Organizing

After

I'm off work this week, so I started off with sorting a bunch of fat quarters and other fabrics.  I've been wanting to do this for a while, since I have the bad habit of letting purchases and ongoing projects collect in assorted shopping bags.  This eventually makes me crazy, and at some point, I have to get everything sorted by colours into clear sweater boxes.  Needless to say, these have grown over the years.

Before

The reds did not behave, and had to share with the yellows!  And I do not have enough blacks to have them in their own box, so I tucked them in with a new box of greens.  I've been collecting greens and reds for a Christmas quilt I have in mind, so I seem to have a lot of them.  What am I thinking about planning another quilt, when there are so many others already lined up.

A few other larger totes hold larger pieces of fabric for backings and such, along with yardage that has been aspiring to be pretty blouses. So many ideas, so little time. . .

Anyway, I'm away for a few days of much needed vacation time, so I'll leave the fabrics to play on their own.

Quilt Sandwich for Lunch

I've been working like mad on this quilt. I finally finished up the hand applique yesterday, which took far longer than I had counted on, and so the back has been moving along very rapidly since then. I put the borders on this afternoon, and was able to make the quilt sandwich this evening, since the pieced front was finished last week.  Whew.  No time for cooking, and the laundry has piled up, but this quilt's progress is amazing even myself! I have plans for tomorrow, but I can start quilting it on Thursday.  This is the exciting stage for me, when the top and back are made, and it starts to really look like something.  It seems like a lot of purple, but I think it is okay.

I`m linking up this week with Work in Progress Wednesday over at The Needle and Thread Network, here, which is a blog that "celebrates a collective identity for textile artists in Canada."

Still Magnolia Quilting

I've been working away on this magnolia quilt, so named for the inspiration fabric from a sheet set available right now at The Bay. You can see this pillowcase here in the photo. I had laid out the blocks last weekend, and have now nearly completed joining them together. This part is pretty easy, except for needing more of the ivory fabric, twice. . .   It is a short run to pick up more, though. There is still a bit of handsewing to do on the giant dresden plate on the back, but that's coming along, too. I can feel the deadline fast approacing, and will be much happier when this thing is sandwiched  for quilting.

If you were wondering, I got this idea from Ellie, over at Color My World. She used this quilt block, though she said the idea is not hers. Read about her quilt here. Hers looks quite different, but I like both of them.

Linking up again with Work In Process Wednesday over at the Needle and Thread Network, here, at Anything Goes, here, and at Really Random Thursday, over at Live a Colorful Life, here.

Magnolia Progress

I've been stitching away, even though it has been warm and sunny outside. Valerie over at Pumpkin Patch Quilter did a review of Gutermann Silk Thread for hand applique, link here. I thought I would give it a try, and it turns out she's spot on. I had a dark and a light purple, and used the lighter one for this. Amazingly, it really  disappears into the edges, and it doesn't knot as much as cotton. I'm finding that even though I don't do needle turn applique very much, I really like it when I do. It is slow progress, though, and I'm hoping to have this part finished this week.

I still have to piece together all the blocks for the front of this quilt, but that part goes fairly quickly and I'm not worried about it as much.  What I have been wrestling with in my mind is how I will perfectly align the front and back borders when I get to the quilt sandwich part. This will be tricky, but I want it to be beautiful front and back.  Stay posted.

I'm linking up this time with The Needle and Thread Network, here, and Freshly Pieced, here.

Star Trek, and a Little Sewing

In the newly released Star Trek movie, Into Darkness, Starship Enterprise Commander Pike asks Spock, "Spock, are you giving me attitude?"  With a straight face and no emotion, Spock replies, "I am giving you several attitudes simultaneously. To which are you referring?" Love that quote, might use it sometime. Saw this movie in 3D Imax.  If you like Star Trek at all, this is the way to see it.  Very real, very good.

Magnolia Quilt, back detail

Anyway, on the quilting front, I have managed to get in a bit of sewing. On Wednesday, it was stormy and rainy out, and I was sewing about 14 hours. I surfaced only to feed the hungry masses.  I got all the blocks made for the Magnolia quilt, and today it was nice outside, so I was out there laying out the back. I see in the photo that it now looks like a UFO, as in flying saucer, not unfinished object!

That medallion is 68" across, and there is A LOT of  handsewing ahead, around both circles, and to join up some of the petals. I wasn't sure all those petals would align flat when I laid them down. There are a lot of seams, all of them on angles, with long seams. This struck me as having great potential for inaccuracy, so I built in strategies just in case. Good thing, too. I made each section in half, and ended up cutting the outer ring into quarters.  If you ever do this pattern this big, I see now that the best way to be accurate would be to mark the background fabric, and stitch your petals along those lines right to the backing. Would save you a lot of grief!

The whole thing was a little too big, so I cut the outside ring into quarters, and moved it in towards the centre.  I do like the way it is going, though, and I think when I get borders and corner fans on, it will be fantastic. I wanted to get the front laid out outside today, too, but the thunderstorms were moving in, so I'll resume tomorrow.

Linking up with Nina Marie's Off the Wall Friday blog, here. Have a look at what other great quilty people are doing.

Magnolia Quilt

Magnolia Quilt Fabrics

I'm a little behind in blogging. I've decided to go ahead and make a quilt for an upcoming wedding, so I was out shopping for just the right fabrics. I found five of the dusty purples I was looking for, along with a good number of greens and browns. The hardest part was finding just the right background ivory, but I did find one for the front and another one for the back, so that is most excellent. These dusty colours are not ones I usually work with, so I didn't have anything in my stash that would work. Most of my colours tend towards the bright and clear. Indeed, many of the purples in quilt stores now lean towards bright and clear. These five are all from the same line, and they are perfect.

Magnolia Quilt

I made a 9 degree ruler in three separate versions for a giant medallion style grandmother's fan for the back of the quilt. And I've cut out all the coloured pieces I'll need. Not much to see yet. I have to cut out the white patches, and I'll soon be getting on to my favourite part, the piecing and sewing. Now that I'm committed to this quilt, I'm very excited about it. I'm sure the bride will love it.

Serious Distraction

Check out this guy! He's a real charmer. And beautiful markings to boot.

I heard meowing around the driveway for a couple of days, but couldn't see any cats. And anyway our dog chases away any intruders real quick. But not this guy, he kept up with his persistent meow, meow, meow. I finally tracked him down, when I realized he was trapped under our neighbour's deck. We ripped a board off the fence, and he moved right in.

We've been looking online through the lost and founds, but there isn't any match out there for him. If nobody claims him, we'll make a good home for him. He's young, energetic, and very friendly. Also athletic. Did I mention he is an athlete? He should be in the kitty olympics, he's so athletic! We don't have a name for him yet, but he seems quite happy to be here.

In other news, I haven't been sewing much. There are two reasons. After finishing Sienna's quilt, I'm at a bit of a loss, not knowing what to work on yet. There are many projects to work on, but I can't seem to get moving on any of them.  The other thing is the weather. I don't mean to gloat, because I know many other parts of the country are not so fortunate, but we have had a stretch of sunny warm weather. With it being so nice, I have been out in the garden, and not wanting to be inside sewing.

I was also at a great quilt show in Mt. Forest this weekend, but need more time to organize a post about it.

Quilts in the Garden

Royal Botanical Gardens
Quilts in the Garden
Halton Quilters Guild 2013 Quilt Show

Another amazing quilt show was in store for myself and many others today,at the beautiful Royal Botanical Gardens in Hamilton. It was the Quilts in the Garden Quilt Show, put on by the Halton Quilters Guild It's just a quick drive down the road for me, and a very nice day to be there.

Halton Quilters Guild
2013 Quilt Show

It must be said that this is one of the finest venues in which I have seen a quilt show. I've been to the RBG before to take in all the wonderful plant displays, usually in midwinter when I need a hit of greenery! And to see the wonderful light-filled atrium filled with plants and quilts, well, how much better could it be? The atrium displayed many of the award winners from the 2011 show, along with quite a number of vendors to pick up all those yummy quilt fabrics. I noticed that the lighting was really great, which you don't always get at a quilt show. This setting was a bonus for the SAQA Travelling Exhibit B, called This is a Quilt, showing 44 small quilts all made by members of the Studio Art Quilters Association. This link shows you the exact quilts I was admiring today. I really enjoyed this part.

Gerald Fagan in front of his
prized Bethlehem Star Quilt 

And that was just the atrium section of the RBG. There was more to come. As I worked my way deeper into the gardens, there were more vendors, the beautiful RBG gift shop, and finally the exhibit hall, with all of the fabulous large quilts, showing all their exquisite applique, piecing and quilting. I also enjoyed a presentation from Gerald Fagan, a prolific quilt collector who showed us some of his best antique quilts.

And you know that I like to entice you with a few detail shots from some of my favourite quilts that I saw today.

Come Fly With Me, detail
by Lynne McCulloch

Hollyhocks and Butterflies, detail
by Sheila Keating

England's Rose, detail
by Rosemary Makhan

Fall Splendour, detail
by Lynne Wood

Sienna Loves Her Quilt

Quilt for Sienna
65 x 76"

I finished this quilt for Sienna just in the nick of time. Her birthday is this weekend, and I stayed up late last night getting the binding and label on it. I must say I am quite pleased with the results. All those bright colours have grown on me!

Quilt for Sienna
detail

I'd also have to say that this is the best quilt, technically speaking, that I have made so far. I took a lot of time to make sure all the blocks and borders were squared up, and the pieced back is square to the front. Yes, quite pleased.

And all that worry about it not being loved? All for nothing. Sienna's mom Anna had tears in her eyes when she saw it, so I'm thinking I nailed it.

Check out all the other great quilters with these links:  Richard and Tanya's blog, here, Freshly Pieced, here, and Judy's Patchwork Times, here.

Quilt for Sienna

I've finished piecing the quilt top for Sienna's quilt. It seems quite bright to me, and even though I love bright quilts, I have to go with my intuition on this one. I hope my friend likes it, and more importantly, will her daughter like it? We shall see!

I had originally planned to make a piano border out of all the colours I had used in the blocks, but when I laid it out to look at it, I decided it need a stronger, more defined border, so I used a nearly black print with a skinny pink line to separate the two border fabrics. I'm not sure what I will use for binding. I might choose one of the greens, or make it the same black as the last border. There is still time for that decision. I'm hoping to get the quilt sandwich finished tonight, so I can get on to quilting. I'd like to get this puppy finished, because it is a bit warmer now and the garden is demanding some attention.

Linking up with The Needle and Thread Network, here.

Creating an Angel

I've been working on a quilt for my friend's daughter, Sienna, and this is the central panel. I had lighter wings for her, but I decided to go with a darker colour, since the light didn't show up very well. Don't angels have white wings? In this case it doesn't work! I'm also working on butterfly blocks to go around the angel. I found a good fusible, called Heat'n'Bond FeatherLite. I've used others, but I like the way this one leaves the fabric soft.

This is the point where I seriously start to doubt myself, because I'm not sure how the quilt will look when it's all together. When I made garments, I could see how they would look before I started cutting into fabric, but quilts are a different story for me. I have to decide as I go along which fabrics to pick and where they will go, and trust that it will all work out. I have to hope for the best, though, and maybe tie it all together with a dark sashing. And then think about what kind of border I will add. . .

Linking up with Leah Day's FMQ Friday, and Confessions of a Fabric Addict.