Quilt Exhibit at Black Creek Pioneer Village

If on August 16 and 17 you are in the area of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, get yourself down to see the fabulous quilts on display at Black Creek Pioneer Village.

There are antique, traditional and modern ones on display inside the historical buildings and outside on the grounds.

One of my quilts is there. Not sure where they'll put it but here it is below.

About this Quilt 

This quilt is made of scraps, that is to say no new fabric was purchased for the top. What was used were pieces leftover from other projects. Even the whites are not all the same. I used what I had.

The back is a fabulous chartreuse I purchase especially- a colour that brought the whole thing forward into the NOW. The binding is a bright orange and rust coloured fabric bought new. It has a sharp geometric design that is uneven. It looks fabulous and again brings it to the contemporary realm.

Choosing a back fabric for a scrap quilt can
sometimes be a challenge as the fabric
has to compliment so many colours.

Binding of geometric designs adds some interest. The triangles recall
those on the top.

I often add bands of scrap fabrics on the back,
to add interest or to add yardage!

The pattern for this quilt is an old one from Atkinson Designs called Monterrey Medallions.

I signed up to take the quilt workshop ages ago, in 2005. Everyone who knows me well, knows I do not follow quilt patterns. I advocate expressing yourself and feel much pride when students create something that is their own. I don't feel that in this case I did that. I think that is why the top stayed folded on a shelf until last June (2014). Although the fabrics were my choice, the quilt wasn't ME, it wasn't a reflexion of my style. I copied a pattern. No heart in this work!

I took the workshop because I wanted a "day off" from my mom duties and this workshop gave me that. It was a once-a-month class where you'd get together with friends and catch up and praise each other's blocks. The workshop served its purpose. The process is what I wanted not the finished product.

 I do like it much better now that I added the back and binding that are my style. 

The quilt definitely reads well which is why I submitted it. The contrast is very good and it will look great hung outside at The Creek.

Blue Star Quilt

detail of the blue-star quilt

detail of the blue-star quilt

Machine pieced, hand and machine quilted, blue cotton scraps, 2005

I used all my blue scraps to make 12 floating stars and 6 connector blocks. It is approximately a single bed size.

This quilt was bought by a Polish-Canadian who sent the quilt to Poland as a gift for a new baby. I am sorry I did not photograph it entirely before it went off to make someone happy. It was really beautiful and interesting with all the variety of blues.

When I first started getting my work "out there", an established artist advised me to get all my work professionally photographed. I didn't take her advise and really do regret it now.

Half a Log Cabin

This isn't a true log cabin quilt but it looks like it!

Machine pieced, machine quilted, cotton scraps, 1992

This was my first log cabin 'look-a-like' quilt.

The true log cabin block has a center square, usually red, and an imaginary diagonal line separating a dark and light side.

A "wonky" log cabin quilt, made crooked on purpose.
A community quilt made by the Spadina library
quilt group.

The block I used for my quilt has a square in the bottom corner of the block instead of in the center. It can be substituted for the log cabin block and subsequently all of its pattern combinations because it still has the light and dark aspect.

This pattern has become one of my favorite ways to use up scraps. I later tweaked and perfected this technique and teach it in Italy and in Toronto.

I put in many surprises in my quilt. If you look very carefully you see butterflies, animal eyes, a light house, a hand, a duck and many more curiosities. There are even a few pieces of a cotton dress I had made while living in Kuching, East Malaysia (Borneo).

The quilt lives in France.