Whimsy

Whimsy:

a fanciful or fantastic device, object, or creation especially in writing or art
(Merriam-Webster)

I think I may have mentioned before that our local quilt shop has closed. Sad, but nothing I could do about it. My nearest quilt shop is now in a smaller community about 20 minutes drive away, which is not bad when you consider that you can be living in a large city and and take at least that long to get to your local quilt shop. But since I no longer drive outside of town during the winter, I guess I  will no longer be visiting a quilt shop in person once the snow flies. 
So, I visited my nearest quilt shop recently and, as usual, headed to the clearance section. That's where I found this border stripe print. 

It says: 
    Open your heart and soul.
    Seek wonderment.
    Embrace whimsy. 
    Envision good things.
    Dream and make it real. 
I really liked it, the colours, the funky design, but I wasn't sure what to do with it. What does one do with border stripes, besides backing or Triangle Frenzy table runners? Then the clerk in the shop showed me some of the quilts where they used border prints, separated into the individual stripes, alternated with simple rectangles of coordinating fabrics. And I thought that was a cool idea - simple and quick yet still attractive.  
And then I thought that I could get enough of the border print to use in a queen-sized quilt top for my bed. I do have several more complex patterns that I intend to make for my bed. Some day. But this way I could make a fairly quick quilt and finally have one of my own quilts for my bed. 
I did some calculations, determining what size and width I wanted the different fabric rectangles (I hadn't taken any measurements on any of the ones in the shop), and utilized my Quilt Pro 6 software to design a layout and calculate yardage. And on my first quilt shop hop with a couple of friends from the Lutheran church crafting group, I took the border print fabric along with me. Once again, I hit the bargain section and came up with some blender fabrics that look good with it. 

I love the colours, but initially I felt that the design was quite boring. You may recall that I like to challenge myself with complex quilt blocks and designs, and this just wasn't meeting my expectations. I felt better about it once I put the borders on as it seemed to help make the quilt top more cohesive. But I determined to use a more complex quilting design since the design of the quilt was so simple. 

And I chose New Delhi #2, a fun and funky design that I felt suited the vibe of the border print. 

I chose this large pansy print for the backing. While I wouldn't normally want anyone to say that the back of a quilt I'd made is prettier than the front, in this case, I think it may be true. 
Now, if only it would stop raining long enough for me to get all of my bedding (blanket, comforter, pillows, etc.) washed and on the line to dry. Then I will make up the bed with this quilt on top. Meanwhile, I'm sleeping in the basement bedroom, where I already have one of my own quilts on the bed. 



 
 

Farm Friendship

Another signature quilt for a colleague that's retiring. This time it's a unit clerk on acute care. And I surely will miss her. She's a great unit clerk, as well as a wonderful person. But I wish her well. She's also a quilter. She makes rag quilts out of flannel, and makes one for each acute care nurse that retires. So, I definitely could not let her retire without receiving a quilt of her own, though I'm not planning on taking up her mantle and start making quilts for the retiring acute care nurses. Technically, I'm part of the home care team and will spend enough time and money making quilts for my team, in addition for all of my other projects. 

I find it interesting when I start out making a quilt for someone, and decide I like it too well and plan to keep it. So, I have to come up with another quilt to gift to the individual, and end up producing something that I think will suit them even better. That happened with Amazing Grace, and it happened with this one. Originally, I was going to give the recipient Fiesta, and I think anyone would be happy with that one. I certainly am. And then I started on this one. And I found out how much she likes horses. So, this quilt is perfect. 

I have several of this panel, and am in the process of using another one for a quilt for one of my great nieces. But for this one, I had to decide what to surround the panel with that would work for signatures. I wanted something that would work up relatively quickly. Then I found this MSQC video. 

Yes, I could make the Friendship Braid work, using solid cream coloured fabric as alternate strips for the signatures. And for the print strips, since this panel is an autumn scene, I was able to use leftovers from my daughter's quilt. I didn't quite have enough, but did have enough of the black print that I used for the binding as well as some of the setting triangles and some strips. 

Here's the backing: 

I really love it when I can coordinate a quilt so well, including the pantograph. 

This is Wild Horses Grande by Deb Geissler from Urban Elementz. I debated on this one versus Mustang Stampede from Meadow Lyon, and this one won out (they've changed Mustang Stampede, by the way - the one in the link is the newer version, which I don't like quite as well, and it's 15" so would be about the limit of my throat space).

Now I have to try and keep this quilt a secret while gathering signatures.

By the way, in case you can't read it, the backing says, "Count Your Blessings" and "Be Grateful for All Things". Isn't that a great message? Every time I worked with it, I started singing. 

 

Amazing Grace

 

The husband of a friend from my homeschooling days was dying. We weren't really close friends and I hadn't spoken to her in years. We lived in different communities, attended different churches, and I was on a dramatically different path from what I had been when we knew each other. I went from being a homeschool mom and "housewife" to divorced career woman. Regardless, I still considered her a friend, so, when I heard the bad news about her husband, I determined to make her a quilt. 

I actually started four different quilts before finally settling on this one. And I really think it's the best one for the sad occasion. 

A few years ago, I purchased a panel that was composed of several smaller panels with words: Amazing Grace, the Prayer of Serenity, the Prayer of St. Francis, the Beatitudes, plus some smaller pieces that could be quilt labels and bookmarks. I had never used any of it before, but figured this was a good occasion to use Amazing Grace. So, I rummaged around in my stash trying to find something that would work with it. I found a quilt kit that I thought I could make work. It consisted of 4-patches on point in a square, alternating with fussy cut squares from a fabric that was printed as a cheater double wedding ring quilt. The instructions said to fussy cut 32 squares, but I figured I could get by with less, since I was adding a small panel. However, when I started cutting it, I realized that I was only going to get 16, or 20 at most out of the fabric, nowhere near what I needed. So, I decided not to fussy cut and try just cutting regular squares, but that looked terrible with the printed pattern. Then I pulled another fabric out of my stash that I could use as a focus fabric for the alternate squares instead. Meanwhile, I was noticing the poor quality of most of the fabric from the quilt kit: thin, cheap, not quilt-shop quality. And the alternate yardage that I pulled from my stash was even worse - it was so thin you could see through it! That stuff was given to me and I hadn't paid that much attention to it when I received it. Now I realized that there was no way I could gift a quilt made out of such cheap junk. I would use it some day to practice free motion quilting. Or something. But definitely not for a gift quilt!

Back to the drawing board and back to the stash. This time I decided to try one of the stained glass panels that I have as I had purchased sufficient fabric to coordinate with the panel. 

It's interesting that I had not long before this spoken with my co-worker, who is a potter, about not being able to part with certain projects. And this was one of mine. I have never had such a strong reluctance to part with a quilt. And I don't even know what colours my friend likes. What if she doesn't like purple? Or green? What if this quilt doesn't speak to her heart the way it speaks to mine? Somehow I just didn't feel that this was the right quilt for my friend. 

Rummaging once more in the stash, I next started Home on the Farm, a quilt for which I had all of the fabric I needed. 

But when I posted the first finished Barbara Frietchie block to Facebook, one of my great nieces, who has yet to receive a quilt from me, loved it, as well as the panel I was coordinating it with.

And so this quilt will likely go to her. Originally, I had planned on just surrounding the panel with the blocks, but wasn't sure if I would like the final look. And instead I added the flying geese, which I'm quite happy with. We'll see how it looks when it's finished. 

I decided to go back to the Amazing Grace panel and try some other sort of stained glass look. Then I remembered some cuts of batiks that I had purchased in rainbow colours. I thought they were full metres, but it turned out that they were half metres. And that was sufficient, except that I ended up doing some creative piecing because of incorrect cuts. And I had my bolt of black Kona that I had recently purchased to use in between the batiks. 

I'm really happy with the final product and I trully believe this is the right quilt for my friend. I used the Faith, Hope and Love pantograph. 

You can see hearts, crosses and doves in the stitching. I also wanted a special thread and so ordered Fantastico in the Stained Glass colourway.

It was the first time I've tried this thread and I was quite pleased with it. I used a blue Glide in the bobbin (I don't remember which particular blue). 

Sometimes I put a lot more meaning into a quilt than just "a quilt," and that's what I did with this one. First of all, there's the hymn, Amazing Grace. For this occasion, I wanted to especially focus on the last two verses, 

1. Through many dangers, toils, and snares,
   I have already come;
   ’Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far,
   And grace will lead me home.
2. When we’ve been there ten thousand years,
   Bright shining as the sun,
   We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise
   Than when we’d first begun.
3. Yes, my friend will get through this trial of losing her husband by God's grace, and will be reunited with him when Jesus returns and spend eternity praising God for His goodness, His love and His grace. 
4. As I was stitching the pantograph, with all of its crosses, the song "It's About the Cross" kept running through my mind, especially the chorus. 
5. It's about the cross
   It's about my sin
   It's about how Jesus came to be born once
   So that we could be born again
   It's about the stone
   That was rolled away
   So that you and I could have real life someday
   It's about the cross.

"Real life someday." Yes, Jesus promised us not just a more abundant life in the here and now. (John 10:10), but He promises an even better life in His eternal kingdom when He comes again, a place where... "God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away." Revelation 21:4. 

Christians refer to the second coming of Jesus as the "blessed hope." Titus 2:13. And it is with this in mind, that I chose the backing fabric. I wanted something that would remind her of that Blessed Hope.

The fabric is called "First Light" and it makes me think of a couple of songs. The first is a little chorus that we used to sing years ago, Some Golden Daybreak.

Some golden daybreak Jesus will come

Some golden daybreak, battles all won

He’ll shout the victory, break through the blue

Some golden daybreak, for me, for you.

And the second is the hymn, Gleams of the Golden Morning:

The golden morning is fast approaching:
Jesus soon will come
To take His faithful and happy children

To their promised home.

O, we see the gleams of the golden morning
Piercing through this night of gloom!
O, we see the gleams of the golden morning
That will burst the tomb.

Amen, Jesus will be bursting open the tombs and graves of those who loved Him, resurrecting them to reunite them with their loved ones and take them home with Him. 

You'll also notice that there are some dark clouds in the backing fabric. These  remind me of a quote from one of my - and that of my friend's - favourite authors, Ellen G. White in the book, The Great Controversy, p. 640: 

Soon there appears in the east a small black cloud, about half the size of a man's hand. It is the cloud which surrounds the Saviour and which seems in the distance to be shrouded in darkness. The people of God know this to be the sign of the Son of man. In solemn silence they gaze upon it as it draws nearer the earth, becoming lighter and more glorious, until it is a great white cloud, its base a glory like consuming fire, and above it the rainbow of the covenant. Jesus rides forth as a mighty conqueror. Not now a “Man of Sorrows,” to drink the bitter cup of shame and woe, He comes, victor in heaven and earth, to judge the living and the dead.

Notice in the quote "the rainbow of the covenant." We also know, from Revelation 4:3 that there is a rainbow around the throne of God and that the foundations of the New Jerusalem are arranged in the order of the rainbow (Revelation 21:19-20), in addition to the rainbow of promise after the flood (Genesis 9:12-17). So, I chose a rainbow of colours for the fabric in the quilt top as well as the thread to quilt it with. It's a reminder that God is faithful, that He keeps His promises and that He will come again. 

Finally, as I was considering fabric for the binding, the verse came to mind, "The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. (Revelation 22:2). These are the leaves of the Tree of Life in the New Jerusalem. And so I chose a fabric with leaves as a reminder that God will heal us physically, emotionally and spiritually. 

So, it's my prayer that my friend will find this quilt a comfort and a reminder of God's promises. Now to get it packed up and ready for the mail tomorrow. 

Country Christmas

When I discovered this panel and the coordinating pillow panel, I decided that I had to have it and hopefully make a relatively quick Christmas quilt. That was sometime before Christmas and, well, you know what they say about the best laid plans... I just didn't get a chance to work on it until March of this year. And now here it is almost May and I'm finally blogging about it. 

I realized that I likely would not be able to match the reds or greens in the panel with alternate fabrics, so I chose two Christmas prints with a black and a white background to create the blocks to fill in the spaces around the panel. I selected the Anna's Choice Quilt block from one of my books of quilt blocks, and created it without a pattern. Not really difficult since it is just 16 HSTs. And they are 16" blocks. 

At the same time as when I bought the panels, I was able to find this fabric, which was perfect for the backing. 

Isn't it awesome? You can see the quilting in this picture, too. Rather than use a Christmas-themed pantograph, I chose the Cowboys pantograph. 

This pantograph had no "shadow lines" to help line it up when advancing the quilt, so I had to add my own. 

I'm quite pleased with how it turned out and now I have a jumpstart on next Christmas. 

The Nacho Quilt

I'm calling this a nacho quilt, as in "Nacho favourite quilt." At least, it definitely is not mine. (Nacho = not your). It's not bad enough to rank as a Bodley quilt, but it lacks that pizzazz, that zing, that wow factor that I like to see in my quilts. So, I've coined a new term for quilts that fall somewhere between Bodley and Wow: Nacho. 

I was looking for a quilt that I could work up quickly for a friend/work colleague that is going through chemotherapy, and I was hoping for a tulip quilt because this friend is of Dutch lineage. While I definitely feel that the leaves are out of proportion to the flowers, I really didn't dislike this quilt when I saw Jenny Doan's tutorial on YouTube. However, I think even hers is a nacho quilt. If I'd had more time, this definitely would not be my first choice for a tulip quilt. 
Once the quilt top was done, I took it to work to get the team to sign it with messages of hope and encouragement. If you look closely at the above picture, you can see some handwriting on the quilt. 
Then I had to figure out what to do for backing and binding. I was planning on going into the city to find something, but started looking through my stash, and found this. 

And there was enough for a backing! Frankly, I think the backing is prettier than the quilt top.
Mystery assisted with cutting the batting.

Actually, he hindered rather than helped, sitting right on the cutting line.
I would have liked to quilt with a tulip pantograph if I had one. Then I remembered that I had a pantograph with hummingbirds, called Columbines with Hummingbirds, by Deb Geissler. It comes with two borders - one of columbines alone, and one of hummingbirds alone. But with both borders, it made the pantograph so wide that it didn't fit my pantograph shelf. So, I cut it apart, with the 2 borders in one piece and the main pantograph in the other. 

I was a little concerned as to how the hummingbirds would turn out, but was quite pleased. 

And here is one of the columbines.

Now that it's quilted and bound, I'm feeling better about it. Although it is still a nacho quilt. 

On Guard For Thee

Quilter's Connection is a magazine for Canadian Quilters. I don't subscribe, by the way, but I did decide to take part in their Canada Eh? Mystery Table Runner Contest. I'm still waiting for them to post the results, but the above picture is my entry. This is the very first time I've taken part in a mystery quilt. You may remember the mystery crochet along that I took part in, and quit only part way in because I was not happy with the results. But as this was just a table runner I figured I could give it a shot. 
When I chose fabrics for this project, I assumed most people would be using whites and reds, the colours in Canada's flag. I wanted something a little more unique, but wasn't sure what. I looked at various fabrics at my LQS, and finally settled on a red and black combination. This is the colour combination of the poppies we wear for Remembrance Day.  
Without the valour, courage, honour and bravery of our veterans, we might not have a Canada to celebrate. Therefore, I chose to honour those who served as well as celebrate our country with this table runner, especially since 2017 is also the 100th anniversary of Vimy Ridge. 
The backing is a floral print, reminiscent of poppies.

As far as I'm concerned the "pièce de résistance" is the pantograph I used to quilt this table runner. It's called From the Heart, and quilts the words, "honor, courage, valor, bravery" into the runner. (Unfortunately, this made in the USA pantograph leaves out the 'u' in honour and valour). It was a bit of a challenge to quilt, however, as when following a pantograph, you work right to left, so I was quilting the words "backwards." I had to just think of them as quilting patterns, not words. 

This will make a great pantograph for a QOV.

I named my table runner, "On Guard for Thee," which is a line from our national anthem, for those of you who are unaware. 

When I tried to submit my entry, the website was undergoing revision (or whatever). It seemed like a rather unfortunate decision to update their website on the weekend that the submissions were due. So, I just emailed my entry to the email address on the page that announced their website reconstruction, hoping it would get to the right place... I guess I'll just have to wait and see. 

Someone once said that colours in cell phone pictures are not as true as those taken with a camera. Until this table runner, I hadn't really noticed. The very first picture in this post was taken with my digital camera. It's having issues and I either need to get it repaired or replaced, so I've mostly been using my cell phone. But you'll notice that in the other pictures, the red looks a little pinkish. In the full runner picture immediately above, I did increase the exposure as it was quite dark, but the black flowers on the red fabric look more like dark pink. I didn't make any adjustments to the picture of the background fabric, but the darker flowers, which are actually red look more like a dark coral in the picture. I guess I'd better invest in a new camera if I want my pictures to have true colours.