Amelia

Who is Amelia? This is Amelia. She’s the hedgehog in the holly.

Have you been watching Survivor? When the show first aired many moons ago, I was so hooked on it that I actually left a dinner party down the street, came home to “check on the children”(watch the show), and then returned for dessert. When I tried to explain such behaviour to myself, I realized I was (in my dreams) on the show, competing against the real contestants, and thought I might win. I no longer arrange my schedule around Survivor, but I do love a good quest, so when my local Guild challenged members to make something from scraps and bring it to the next meeting, I was on it.

I collected scraps from my cutting table and floor, put them in a baggie, brought them to retreat, and made some of them into a slab. But what does one do with a 23×28” slab? Bring it home and look at it on the design wall, of course. Think it could turn into borders of a baby quilt, but what to put in the centre? Then I remembered Elizabeth Hartman’s Fancy Forest. One of those creatures would be perfect! I even owned the pattern. The squirrel, in hedgehog disguise, the DrEAMi (drop everything and make it) project, was born.

In a flash, I was off to the cutting table, with a fistful of  scraps and the hedgehog instructions. Amelia was constructed and bordered in no time. That slab made a great border, even if I had to add a few bits to make it big enough. I hesitated slightly about the white border; the piece was too small without it, but it needed some livening up. I glanced across the room, saw an ugly orphan block, and turned it into 8 half square triangles. Somehow, those triangles didn’t look ugly at all- they were perfect to delineate a frame. On they went, and in several blinks of my eyes, the little framed hedgehog was quilted and bound. My longarm is finally behaving well; I had fun making curly hair and glasses. She was christened Amelia by my friend Lorraine, and will be donated, likely to our local Ronald McDonald house. I hope she goes to a good home and brings her new owner as much joy as making her brought me.

Linking up with the originator of the DrEAMi idea, Sandra at mmm!quilts. 

Hourglass runner

There once was a frustrated quilter,

Whose blocks were a bit out of kilter.

Her luck had run out,

So she cast all about,

To find something to sew that was better. 

And that is how this hourglass runner came to be.

Early this month, I attended the Maritime Modern Quilt Guild’s retreat at beautiful White Point Lodge in Nova Scotia. It was wonderful. The place was lovely, the food tasty, the ladies absolutely fabulously welcoming. The weather could have been better, but that didn’t really matter. What did matter is that the project I most wanted to finish was causing me endless grief. For whatever reason, the intersections weren’t perfect, the colour was questionable and I just needed a break from it.

I had won a pack of 6 inch squares of Rowan fabric, and had some trimmings from a cream wide backing with me. In frustration, near the end of the retreat, I decided to make hourglasses. Fabric combinations were random, except I eliminated most of the duplicates in the pack, and didn’t combine like fabric. I sewed with more enthusiasm than accuracy, brought them home, trimmed them and put them on my design wall.

When I saw that the hourglasses formed chevrons if they were staggered, I started to like the project. When I realized I had the makings of a very nice runner, I proceeded with gusto, finding more of that backing to make borders and backing and binding. In retrospect, a little less gusto and a bit more care would have resulted in more precise points, but given my initial frame of mind, it’s amazing there are any points at all.

At the retreat, Gillian, aka @sewgolly on instagram, helped Andrea, aka @3rdstoryworkshop, style a new quilt for beach glamour shots. Of course, I had to join in the action, adding seaweed and wood and pine cones and all manner of junk to their carefully orchestrated photos. This weekend, I visited Gillian at her Newfoundland home in Old Perlican, and took the runner for its turn in the photo sun. But that sun didn’t shine. There was snow. There was wind. There were two warmly dressed women trying to keep a quilt under control. And these are the results.

So much for holding the runner up! Full marks for effort, Gillian.

We tried laying it on the beach.

Please note that there are rocks on the runner. They were placed to keep it from going out to sea, not for artistic effect. And yes, that’s me, one mitten off, taking a picture. If you look really closely you can see white dots on my coat. Snow.

So we went a little further from the beach and tried laying it on things like winches and lobster pots.

Finally, we went to the gazebo, designed for lovely summer evenings. By then, the battery in my phone had run out, and Gillian took some pictures. They are definitely better than mine.

Photo shoot finished, we went inside to warm up. The next day dawned bright and sunny, and I drove home, via Dildo. And no, I’m not being rude. The name appeared on nautical charts from 1711 onwards, and the town is now known for excellent fish and chips (which I had for lunch) and craft beer (tasted that too). The runner is enjoying a calm day on the deck of the Dildo Dory restaurant.

May you all find peace and love and chocolate. Happy Easter.

Linking up with TGIFF at Quilting Gail

and Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict.