Monday, May 26, 2014

Sew What's

The Sew What's are a group of ladies that have been meeting for over a decade...this is our first year with a name!! It has snowballed into a group of 15 woman now, some come every month whilst others come when they can. We alternate through the group to who is hosting at their home. This month it was at Bev's & what fun we had!!

Just over 1/2 met last Thursday at Bev's.

Cynthia, June, Deb, & Bev...smiles everywhere!

Me(the 'other Cynthia'), Lou, Mibs, & Susan, what fun we all had!

There was some show & tell too!

 Cynthia's hand appliqued cats & hand stitching & hand quilted!!!! ...
 Her embellishments were dimensional, just gorgeous!

 She really captured the eyes on the cats.
 She also added all the vine & flowers to the cats...they really came to life!

 Susan showed her chinz fabric, in this stainglass pattern she copied on a piece of paper incorrectly!
 It turned out to be a stunning piece!

 Deb showed her kaleidoscope quilt that she had made...kingsized!
 She had also done all the machine quilting on it...it was her first project in learning the longarm!!!

 A sweet little piece Cynthia is doing for her mom.


 Mibs showed a memory quilt she had made for a little boy that had lost his dad to cancer. She was binding it & telling us the story behind the quilt. So sad to lose someone so young in life.
 All the plaid in the coin strips are from his shirts! Quilts can hold memories in so many ways, she also said made a girly quilt for the daughter too.

With Bev's husband Gary, gone for the evening, it was a free for all on topics & so much fun!! Whatever happens at the Sew What's...stays at the Sew What's!! Your a very talented group of ladies & I'll miss you!
See you at the end of the year!

Thanks for stopping by & I hope you enjoyed a bit of the trunk show!



Thursday, May 22, 2014

No Ivy ;_( & The Britain Trunk Show Of Quilts!


Before...

                                                                After!!

 All the beautiful ivy that was around my studio has died this year!! It has been there since 1997 & now it is mostly dead, so Bill removed it all this past long weekend. Wow did it ever change the look outside!
 The trellis had to be removed too!
 The shutters had to be removed to take the ivy, that had woven itself through the shutters. Everything had a wash down, shutters, siding, windows, all sparkly but so bare!

 Look at how thick the trunk of the ivy had gotten, it was entangled through the wrought iron gate too!

 A huge trunk! I was sorry to see it go, the ivy had come from the spray of flowers off my friend Edie's casket. She was my good English lady friend & the ivy was so her, ivy is everywhere in England.
Having her ivy was soothing to me, like having her spirit still with me, surrounding my studio with a thick entangling hug of shade in the summer & a freshness of green through the winter.


 The stump was so thick & strong, I don't know how it died but was told it was our unusual weather with the thawing & freezing, causing a bacteria, during a thaw, then frozen deep.


 Easter is still peeking out the window! lol


 It looks oh so bare!!
 It does have a wee cottage look to it though.
I'm going to miss all that green ivy!!!!

Squirrel, my squirrel that I've had for ten years, escaped from his cage last Friday...he returned on Saturday afternoon though! That was his fourth escape & return. Squirrel will live another 5 to 10 years...or less if he keeps escaping into the wild! This city is so unsafe for him, cats, foxes, cars, he's safe again in his cage!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



I was at the Britain Trunk Show Of Quilts this week...


 This was the sign that greeted you near the front door of the Ailsa Craig Community Park, where the quilt show was hosted inside the community centre.

There are a lot of pictures of quilts to inspire you but it is not all the quilts...my camera battery died!
Enjoy what has been captured for this post!

Throughout the show, the hand quilting was exquisite! As was all the hand embroidery & embellishing!!
Can you see the French knots around the blue, on the red hearts? The stem work also is hand embroidered!

 The whole quilt, from the detailing shown in the photo above.

 This is Cynthia, my partner in crime for the day & what a fun outing we had! She got so excited seeing this quilt, it is hand pieced with paper templates. She told me the name of the quilt design, however, I've forgotten, she wants to start piecing a quilt design like this one. I'm going to begin doing the Farmer's Wife, so I'm going to hold my enthusiasm for this beauty. lol

 It really is a gorgeous quilt Cynthia & all the very best doing it!!

 Love the baskets!

 Oh so effective for a woven look too!

 A Celtic beauty! ...


 With yo-yo's...
 & embellishing on the stars.
 The pebble quilting made me think of my longarm quilting friend Karen, & the Celtic theme was repeated throughout the quilt.

 Love, love William Morris styling!

 The sky, really caught my eye!

 So much to see...
 Cute dimensional dress!
 Scrappy...
 & organized!
 Loved this wall hanging!
And the saying too!

 Sew much variety in wall hangings...

The fabric manipulation was fantastic!



Close up...


 The texture of the mono white keeps changing...silk added richness to the texture.
Yes, areas were knitted with fabric!

 How effective is that?!!


 Look in the center...
 It was richly embellished with pearls!

 Symbolic mining wall hanging.

 This one was very unique.

 Cynthia pointed out the key, I never even saw it till then!

 And then I saw so much metal hardware in this wall hanging called, Venetian Shutters.

 So Scottish with the thistles!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Wall Hangings



Corner fans & a centre Dresden plate.


  


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 Hand pieced & embroidered butterflies! Beautiful & oh so summery!













 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Miniatures!!!!


 This is a piece, no 1/2 piece of paper!



 Wow Liz here's a pineapple challenge for you!!





 Even a whole cloth miniature! These designers have...patience of a saint!




 More embellishments with sequins & beads.

 This was painted!! on fabric...
 The vase was beautiful! as was the whole cloth quilt!!

a
 Here's another painted quilt!



 Loved this one! Can you see the horse?

 Now can you?
 The fabric looked like it was metal, so cool!!!



Outside the square?... No inside the circle!
So many different ways to do this art form of quilting!




 Folded fabric...no paper piecing! Cynthia & I had really investigate this technique. lol



 Asian beauty...
 All done to a four patch block placement!


The border  was gorgeous!







 This was done on a paper like texture, the gold thread work was exquisite!





Love the embellishing!

And the quilt that was done on a wooden median, found here in fabric.

All in all... was a great show! 

Next year it will be 'Quilts of France'  May 18th - May 23rd 2015 
Ailsa Craig Recreation Center, Ailsa Craig, Ontario

Thank you for stopping by for a viewing, hope you enjoyed it!