Quilters Playcation: Crumbs

 

Cheryl Arkison is a local Calgary quilter whose work and writing I really enjoy.  She started offering Playcations--a zoom class where she did some demo work, and allowed and encouraged the students to play and visit.  I did a crumb block playcation and had a lot of fun with it.  

 

oops--totally not a flattering screengrab --sorry Cheryl.

I always enjoy listening to Cheryl talk about quilting....if you're looking for a fun way to spend an evening and maybe a chance to learn a new skill, I recommend a Playcation.  Improv is still really hard for me, but each time I try it I like it more so I persist.

I know it seems like a very random and motley crew of fabrics--but I had saved all these crumbs from making one quilt, so I felt sure they belonged together.   These were the leftover bits from my Tula Pink 100 Modern Quilt blocks quilt.  which I did as a block of the month at Along Came Quilting. way back in 2015.  I'll add one photo below but if you want to see more follow the link above to my original blog post. 

Angela's Rails

 

Angela made this quilt for Blankets of Love.   She even got her husband involved in piecing this one!    The request from the charity was that there be hearts in the quilt, so Angela got some heart fabric and I freehand quilted a loopy hearts pattern. 

Angela chose the cheeriest of backings for this project

Bright Stars and Cats

 

Ruth brought me this quilt she had made for her granddaughter.   She paid great attention to the piecing and getting all the fabrics oriented in the same direction.

I decided to try this Christina Cameli design, which to me looks like the cats have been playing in the yarn.

Birch Point

                 

This is one of my quilts--Birch Point by the Blanket Statement Company 

She's a Canadian pattern designer, so most of her patterns have Canadian place names.  This quilt was a great weekend project.

I had been watching fabric pulls on social media Kendra was doing at  Piece Fabric co and really liking them, so I gave it a try.  It was fun to have Kendra select the fabrics as a mail order experience, I told her the pattern and a color palette (green, blue and tan)--she texted back with photos of selections and I think really I only changed one or two from her initial fabric pull.  I'll definitely try that again!  

I don't often use pantos, but I thought Square Spiral would be great on this quilt--

how can you not have fun with a pattern like this??

I'll definitely make this pattern again. 

On Ringo Lake modified

 

This is Kerri's version of Bonnie Hunters Mystery Quilt On Ringo Lake   Kerri left out the sashing, using it as a border instead.  I just love her fabrics and colors.

I quilted a freehand clamshell, a design I learned from Christina Cameli

Kerri has many many fabrics, so it is a scrappy quilt, with lots of interest when you look close at the fabrics, but because she controlled her colors really well it reads more uniformly and the design from the piecing shows really clearly.

I used Christina Cameli's freehand clams on this quilt--I was so pleased with the texture and effect when I had used it previously, I had been waiting for another quilt with piecing sized appropriately to use the piecing to gauge the placement of the clamshells. 

Noreens Attic Window--Fall

 

Noreen is making a series of seasonal attic window quilts to hang in her home.  This is the fall version.   I decided we'd be looking through diamond window panes at this lovely scene.  

 

I started with marking the spacing for the diamonds before loading the quilt--this button hole spacer worked really well to mark these divisions, as the math was odd for using ruler measurements.

and the chalk markings

some wood-grain in the windowsills and e and l loops in the foliage border.

Houses and Trees

 

 

 

Our Guild challenge for 2020 was Houses and Trees.  I made this little wallhanging with blocks from both Camille Roskelley's Dwell  and Amanda Jean Nyberg's Bright Birch trees.    

There are 16 in our guild and we meet in each others houses (normally), so 16 houses, one for each of us.

 Unfortunately we had to do our January exchange online, but we had a fun zoom party and enjoyed seeing everyones creations.

 Kerri made this one that I received.  I love it, and it hangs above my desk.

 

Deborahs Daisies

 

Deborah brought this lovely, cheery daisy quilt, which was just what was needed to put some sunshine into my January.   This quilt got some light-medium custom quilting to help keep the Daisy blocks as the focus. 

Curls in the backgrounds (whimsically flight paths for the bees and butterflies), stitching around the petals and the centers

and some ribbon candy in the borders

Deborah found a great backing for this quilt too--so spring-y

Leafy Rails

 

Gail made this batik rails quilt.  There were lots of leaves in the fabrics, so I did a large leafy E2E design on her quilt. 

Dawns Ladybug Quilt

 

Dawn brought me this quilt to finish for her--there are ladybugs in the fabric, otherwise I might have called it a hexies or windmill quilt.   I did E&3 Edge to edge across the quilt, with some Continuous Curves in the hexagons--so much work had gone into hand-piecing those, they deserved some extra attention. 

Dawn put a lovely red fireside fleece on the back--it makes a very cozy quilt.

Angela's Stars

 

Angela made these cute dotted stars for her Granddaughter.   The quilt was a kit from, I think, Connecting Threads.

Because of the dots I used a loops meander as my freehand Edge to Edge design. 

Reports are the granddaughter loves her quilt! 

Technicolor Dream Quilt

 Hello, yes I am still here, and still quilting.   I am amazed I went 8 months between blog posts, but it has been both a busy 8 months and a slow 8 months.   I think what has kept me from blogging was lots of time at the computer doing other things, and I really didn't want to spend any extra time at the computer.  Also, I know now, my hard drive was gradually slowing, making everything take too long (it was rather like the fable of the frog in the slowly heating pot....I really didn't realize how bad it was until I finally got to use a different computer).  So....I am now using a new improved hard drive and have some time to catch up...

This was the Summer Sampler 2019, and I had to make it because of the setting blocks...aren't these circles fantastic?    I had participated in the Summer Sampler 2020 last summer (top complete but still to be quilted) and then saw the SS2019 and decided I would make it for my daughter.

 

SS19 was labeled as a skillbuilder, and it sure delivered on that!  my first y-seams

lots of curves

diamonds

some really tiny paper piecing

some improv piecing

Each block was designed by a different designer, so lots of different styles and skills to learn from.  It was (mostly) fun!   And then I custom quilted it, which was also really fun. Another great thing about these summer samplers are the facebook groups that go with, full of really supportive and positive posts.  They were exactly what was needed during pandemic and not being able to sew in person with my friends and guilds.

I had planned this to be a Christmas gift, but the quilting wasn't done by then, so it was still on the frame when my daughter came home for Christmas (luckily University students were allowed home for the holidays, so we had our kids even if no extended family) and so I had her name it for me.  Technicolor Dream Quilt!  what a perfect name!  She was surprised to get the label as a Christmas gift.

it was finished and ready to go home with her when she returned to her university house after Christmas break.

I had added 4 blocks from SS20 to make it a square quilt vs the rectangle quilt as designed.  I am currently working on SS21.