Wilderness Quilter

I was honored this fall with making 3 identical memorial quilts for the adult children of a much loved, respected and admired mother who passed away in Sept.  Unfortunately I am unable to upload pictures to this blog right now.  I did manage to get the above photo in a round-about way but can’t make it any bigger!  So I’m starting a separate blog specific to memorial quilts at http://memorialquilts.wordpress.com/ and will post the pictures there.  Maybe when the techies come home, they will be able to figure out the glitch here.

Check it out!  http://www.oldredbarnco.blogspot.com/

Almost 7 weeks since my last post!  How did that happen?  It’s been a busy several months around here, that’s for sure.  Our fire is gone – finally – full containment earlier this week.  Quilting has been completely on hold (4 months now) while I deal with family issues but resolution is in sight.  The fruit is falling from the trees and the tomatoes are finally getting ripe now that the sun isn’t blocked by all the smoke.  So fall in the wilderness is nearly upon us once again.  And life is good.

My block is featured on the Cotton Spice site!  Check out www.cottonspice.com/CSblog and download the PDF pattern.

For decision making purposes, I’ve put pictures of the new and original layouts side by side.  Unfortunately, the photo of the original layout (on the right) was taken from the side and then rotated so it looks really distorted.  Oh well.

Spent a couple hours (ok – several) rearranging blocks and hopefully have something significantly different than what I had before. At least I got the picture from the end of the bed this time.

Working on a queen size quilt made from batiks in my stash.  Who knew it would be this complicated?  I started with 50 blocks but cut back to 32 as I realized it was going to be way too big to see the pattern once the sashing, setting triangles and borders were on.  Want the batiks to all lay on top of the bed – not hang over the sides.  Anyway, eliminating blocks should make it easier, right?  NOT!  Here’s a photo of my progress so far.  Please keep in mind – I AM NOT A PHOTOGRAPHER!!!   

I was happier with it before I saw the picture!  But at least this gives me better distance so I can figure out where to rearrange blocks, which ones to eliminate – and if I need to take apart any I’ve already done and move the black to other sides.  These blocks all have black on just 2 sides and will be sashed with a golden brown which should give the impression of a trellis somewhat.  The setting triangles will be a light neutral allowing the batiks to really stand out.  I’m trying for a color progression across the quilt and see I have some real problems!  Sure looked better before the picture - I really have some work to do! 

I’m open to comments but, due to really nasty spam, moderate each one before it shows on the blog.  Sorry for the extra hassle.  Please let me know what you think!

Cotton Spice is promoting breast health awareness this month.  Blocks created for the project by several designers will be available in downloadable PDF format on the Cotton Spice blog.  The first was posted 4/14 and more will follow through the rest of the month.  So check it out! http://www.cottonspice.com/CSblog/

My daughter is having her first child in May and as you can see – It’s A Boy!

This quilt was made with a cute panel by Moda to which I added borders.  Panels for a boy or girl are currently available at http://www.itsastitchonline.com/ in the clearance fabric section.

So here it is – already the 18th of April.  So much for weekly posts!  Things have been very busy.  And we’ve been having a variety of computer/internet problems.  Hopefully all will be well enough for me to finish this post . . .

Not much progress lately with my personal quilting but I did have a wonderful week in Eugene viewing beautiful quilts at the Pioneer Quilters annual show at the Lane County museum.  I don’t know how they pull this off year after year but this is my 4th year and it’s always great!  Not only do they have over 100 quilts to see, they also have a presentation each afternoon and 2 demos each day.  And the show runs a week plus, starting on a Sat and ending the following Sun.  Pretty ambitious and always worth attending.  This year, the featured quilter was Mary Green, who is such an inspiration.  According to her bio, she began quilting in 1969, which would have been when she was 49.  To see what she has produced during her 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s can’t help but inspire those of us just hitting 50!

The pictures don’t do justice to her beautiful work!  Very intricate applique and hand quilting (and sometimes embroidery) on each one.  True masterpieces!

Here is a close-up (bad picture – sorry!) of one heart. Each heart (53 total) was a different fabric around which she embroidered a border that picked up some element from that fabric.