Been Busy

 What's in the bags you ask?

TEN finished quilt tops! Ready to be sent to the long arm quilter's.

I'm not big on purchasing fabric on-line but I bit the bullet and went for it. I was so pleased with Sew Sister's website. The colours they show on the website are exactly what you get! I put in another order yesterday for the back fabric of two more finished tops! I'm on FIRE!!

I Love Colour

Funny I love colour yet I am often wearing black! 

Working on more scrap things...this time knitted socks.

These are the two leftover bits I decided to put together.

Who would have thought I'd get such a fabulous fabric!!

They're gorgeous!!

Small Squares

I love the look of a scrap quilt. Scrap just means little bits of fabric leftover from other quilt projects or clothes that are used up or grown out of. Bits of memory, I guess.

I have been sewing these little squares together for several years. A few at a time. Today, I got a chance to sew on another chunk.

As I picked off the bits of thread from the quilt-top I got an opportunity to really look at it!

I love it!

Butterflies.

Red birds and invisible birds.

A fox, a chick and a goose.

A few spools of thread, of course.

There is lots to discover...and I didn't even plan it like that.

In this time of isolation, take the time to see the nice things. You might be surprised.

Scrap Quilts

Everyone should learn to make scrap quilts. A reals crap quilt...using your scraps and not buying any new fabric!

I say learn because you can't really throw everything in. There is some order and some planning even if one is using leftover bits of fabric to make a quilt top.

Everyone who has made quilts has some scraps leftover. Why not use them? Throwing them out means they end up in land fill!!

I get very excited when I come up with a way to use up my bits. I feel like when I make a fabulous dinner using whatever is in the fridge! Like profession chefs who discover a food, like cauliflower leaves, that are normally thrown out. The chefs serve them in a fancy dish! So satisfying. No waste. That is better than recycling!

After the gingham fabric, I added the green strip.
The entire thing needed to be calmed!
It is amazing what a difference that bit of green border made.

So I decided to use up some old, 4-patch blocks already made (about 8 years ago!) and set them on-point. The challenge was finding a background fabric and a fabric for the set-in blocks using what I had hanging around.

What a fun design. I love it. Picnic in the Garden.

Baby Quilt

You wouldn't think this small quilt has 52 different fabrics in it.

baby quilt measures 30" x 42"

It is a simple, 9-patch construction, the centre square is the background fabric, here it is the colour Snow from Kona.......

and the alternate blocks are the opposite; the centre square being a fussy cut fabric- for storytelling!

The back fabric is shown below. The binding fabric is striped. I like putting stripes and florals together.

When I visit a quilt store I always look for a striped fabric to add to my stash, usually diagonal stripes which are difficult to find, and purchase a 1/2 m.  I use those for my bindings.

For this quilt, I bought the back fabric only. Everything else was selected from my stash.

My stash is primarily made up of leftover bits from other projects. Once in a while I purchase a fabric for something and realize when I get home that it won't work. That piece then gets put in the stash.

There were some leftover bits from the back fabric in this project. You know, the pieces you cut off after quilting when you square up the finished quilt.

This baby quilt is a gift for a new baby. I started quilting it by machine and decided it needed to be hand quilted.

Hope Lily likes it.

Winter Quilt Finished...or not

I did finish my Winter Quilt last week but...

I hadn't finished assembling it and decided to add the binding strip on the part that was already quilted (bad idea!) (In my defence, I was going to visit a friend and wanted to bring some hand sewing for our visit!)

Later, I wanted to show it to a friend and so I rushed the rest of the assembly.

The entire thing started to go wonky and I hadn't noticed!

When I finished the quilt I couldn't believe how UN-square it was!! (how embarrassing ...with my experience!!)

I am going to remove the binding and square up the quilt and then reattach the binding and resew it by hand. I will never be able to use it knowing it isn't square!!!

Rushing is never a good thing.


NOTE: I undid the binding and marked the quilt edges to be equidistance from the horizontal centre seam line and just before I got the rotary cutter out I realized that if I trim the edges, the vertical seams of the panels will not be 90 Degrees with the edge. Oh brother!! I know that will bother me even more and will be more visible to my eye so I have decided to leave the quilt as is (I need to resew the binding on!!).

The good thing is I learned a trick for when I teach this class. I should start assembling it from the centre outward. Then turn the thing upside down and work the second side upside down from the centre outward.

A Winter Quilt

On this "Family Day" holiday,  I am sewing my latest scrap quilt.

quilt as you go assembly

I started it a while ago. I made it to show as an example during a scrap class I taught last November. It is a variation of the pattern I was teaching.

Heart fabrics for February's Valentines,
a bit of a Paris fabric since I was there in December,
some yellow for the sun I miss so,
fabric printed with words for all the emails
 I write to my Italian friends while I am here in Toronto,
a Christmas fabric.

Panels hanging on my design wall.
Even though the fabric reads as white,
there are so many colours!

Anyway, this quilt is about the snowy days of winter.

This is the binding fabric I bought.
It works nicely with the back blues.
The 1/2 inch that will show on the front
will add a gentle punch.

I did embroider a few cypress trees ....from Italy.

I should be done at the end of the week so I will post again to show you the finished product. I like this quilt.

Upcoming Fall Classes

My Fall schedule is coming together even though I am still in Italy. I L-O-V-E internet!!...when it works.

Teaching on November 13 at Artscape Youngplace. A 9-patch block, perfect for self-taught quilters and beginners. It is also a good review for those who have made a few quilts already.

This is just one of the quilt designs using the versatile 9-patch block

Teaching on November 27 also at Artscape Youngplace.

A quilt-as-you-go construction. Great project for using all kinds of scrap fabric!
(detail)

I am speaking at Oakville Quilters Guild on November 17. My theme is "Inspiration". Even if you are not a member I think you can attend. Better contact them though just to make sure.

I am speaking at Halton Quilters Guild on January 4, 2017. Also teaching there. A scrap class for sure.

I love those types of quilts. I find them the most interesting. Those are the ones I find myself stopping in front of when at a quilt show. They just offer so much to look at...if they are done well, of course. Some people think you can just "throw anything in" but I disagree. That is one of the things I talk about when I teach my scrap classes.

Another reason I love making scrap quilts so much is the cost. You have probably noticed the cost of quilter's cotton has gone up quite a bit in the last year! Many quilters/sewers have collected a box of fabric they love, bought and set aside for use "one day". Now is that time! Take those fabrics out and let's make a quilt! Use what you have- an old cotton shirt, an apron of your mom's, an old pillow case with a fancy trim, an out-of-control fabric bin. Learn how to make those fabrics work well together!

Right now, no classes are full so sign up! (contact me by email: sandra.reford@sympatico.ca)

In the Zone

This Sunday a radius area of about 1000 metres from the Arsenale had to be evacuated.

I saw these posters up everywhere but never bothered
to read them... I though it was
advertisement for an art show!LOL

It wasn't an emergency. It was a planned evacuation.

picnic blanket -perfect summer accessory! I made it this morning.

A bomb from WW2 was discovered and had to be disarmed.

I never get tired of Kaffe Fassett fabric

I live in the demarcated zone. I decided to go to the Ad Maiora studio and sew for 3 hours.

I miss sewing...when I sew I am 'in the zone'. If you sew you know what I mean.

I made some triangles
Yes, I still use Thangles!
They give me an accurate HST without
measuring and I use up my pre-cut strips.

The city had an erie feeling- no one on the roads, all shops closed, no cars, lots of police presence and a loud speaker reminding people of the hours of evacuation.

Scrap Inspiration

All of you reading know I love scrap quilts.

Tiles from somewhere in Paris, France.

Using scraps when quilt-making is so much fun for me!

Tile fragments from ruins of San Lorenzo in Lucina church, 6th century.
 Rome.

I see inspiration for scrap quilts everywhere.

More fragments from the same church.

I am inspired to make some more when I get back home....in October.

Tiles from Spagna subway station,
Rome.

I taught some scrap classes in Clusone, near Bergamo, Italy, on September 9 and 10.

quilting class-everyone concentrating!

scrap class- let's go wild!!

All students had fun!

Antique Quilts Exhibit

Mona Bismarck, 1897-1983, married five times, acquired money from her 3rd husband and took the title of countess from her 4th husband, founded many institutions including the one in Paris named after her, created to strengthen ties between the United States and France.

Until May 19 at the Mona Bismarck American Center for art and culture, you can view an exhibit of 25 antique quilts from the United States.

Covering the window is a paper reproduction of the crib-size, pineapple quilt from 1870
made by Ethelind Amelia Washburn

I enjoyed seeing the minute(!) quilt stitches, the perfect appliquéd circles of the Cherry Tree Quilt, 1925, by Naomi Beckwith, the signatures of the makers in 1889 on the Drunkard's Path blocks, the embroidered stitches in the Crazy Quilt fans on a black sateen background from 1900 and the fine netting carefully laid over the damaged fabrics of the pieced quilts.

Union Quilt, 1885.
The majestic eagle has been a symbol of  the USA
since the late 18th century. In this quilt, the artist's
interpretation of the eagle is more "like a
common farmyard fowl". (quote from curator)
Still nice though.

My favourite quilt in the exhibit was the hot pink velvet, 6-inch squares set on-point, mixed with green velvet squares with the long, uneven quilt stitches in white coloured thread, going in no particular direction. It was free and unconstrained. It was a Gees Bend quilt with personality and interest. Not copied, not reproduced. Original.

Exhibited in the second gallery, gouache works by American artist, Zoe Pettijohn Schade, continued with the geometric form found in the antique patchworks. Since curating a few exhibits, I am becoming more aware of curators' choices. The paper works provided a contemporary counterpoint to the quilt exhibit.

And now for something completely different

I noticed this artwork on the way out of the Chanel No. 5 exhibit at the Palais de Tokyo.

John Giorno, Just Say No to Family Values, 2012, paint.
Graffiti by Lek and Sowat.

WHAT!!