Selected!

I haven't posted for a couple of weeks but I have been busy sewing. After taking Dena Crain's Darned Quilts class at Symposium I decided to try the technique again, this time with a different shape. The motivation was a very quickly arriving closing date (2 weeks!) for the National Association of New Zealand Quilters Illumination Challenge. Well, I do work well to deadlines :-)

My inspiration for my Illumination Challenge quilt was the prologue to John's Gospel which talks about the light shining in the darkness and darkness has never put it out.

I started with this free-curve pieced background:
Then I added embellishments and decorative stitching:
I cut flame shapes and ended up with this (sorry, the colour in this photo is a little bleached):
It has been selected to tour as one of 20 quilts. I will find out after 6 June if it has won a prize. All quilts in this collection have to be for sale, so you never know, even if I don't get a ribbon someone might buy it. Wouldn't that be nice?

Symposium classes

Now I have recovered from a full-on week at Symposium (well, not fully recovered - I still have some things to unpack from my bag - at least all the washing is now up to date) I thought I would show you the results of the two classes I did. The first is the 2 day Layer By Layer Landscape class with Gloria Loughman. Instead of doing one of the patterns she provided I decided to draw up my own design based on what I could see out of the window of the cricket pavilion at Wellington Girls College. With windows all along the front it was an excellent place to sew. I took the class because I thought I would be doing a more abstract landscape, like Gloria's class samples. I am no artist so it was with some surprise I found myself sketching out an 'original' design!
I didn't get as far as other students and there is still quite a bit of work to do to get it finished. There are 5 sections to this small quilt and I pinned them together so I could hang it up for the other students to see. The big blank space in front of the 3 town houses need some greenery and there is still a tree to put in and the Mt Victoria tower to add in the sky line piece. Gloria is an excellent teacher and I enjoyed the fact that there were a variety of techniques we could use to put in a 'layer'. The houses look like they are on a bit of a lean - windy Wellington :-) Actually the weather was great for the whole week, only one slightly yukky day.

The second class I did was also 2 days, with Dena Crain, called 'Darned Quilts'. The technique involved curve-piecing a graduated background, adding embellishments and then cutting shapes (circles were the easiest to start with) out and swapping them around and re-stitching them back in. Very interesting and a great way to try out all those fancy stitches on the machine that I normally never use.
I think I'll call this one 'Sunrise, Sunset'. It just needs basting up, quilting and binding. It will measure about 53 cm wide by 74 cm high (21" by 29"). I wonder if I can finish this one before the end of the holidays?

In the Exhibition

My quilt, Poetry in Motion, did not win any ribbons (boo hoo), but it was very well hung at the exhibition, facing the entrance to the main part of the Academy of Fine Arts. I don't think I posted a photo of the finished quilt so here it is:
Some people liked it enough to take pictures of it :-)
And some very nice comments made by people visiting the exhibition were overheard by my 'spies'. So I shall have to be content with that, and the fact that it was accepted in the first place.

Apparently, so I am told, Quilt Wellington 2009 is the first quilt show any where in the world to require only original designs or designs that no one else has any copyright claim to. So is this where I stake my claim to the design of this quilt, the block, block sashing and border design, and the right to vary the centre design of the block in any way I see fit, since any variation in the centre of the block will not, in the opinion of the judges, create a new original design?

Best in Show was Petone Hospital Blanket by Katherine Morrison:

Back to the Stash

I wasn't sure about my selection of fabrics for Dena Crain's class at Symposium so I emailed her, asking if she could take a quick look at my blog post to see if the choices I made would work. She replied promptly with some very good advice and suggestions. In fact my email prompted her to add some images of fabric graduations (gradations as they say in the USA) so I'm glad I asked. Here is part of her reply:

Your printed gradation is fine, but not for this class. Save it for future Darned Quilt projects, ok? I really want you to assemble your own gradation. It's a good exercise in color and value, as I think you will realize once you've seen my blog page and the WebFabrics page.

As for your collection of gradated fabrics, compare it with what you see that I have posted. Look, Helen, for higher contrast in the gradation. Without that contrast, the Darned Quilt won't work very well.

The way to test contrast is to place the fabrics from each end of the gradation next to each other. If the difference between them is low, as it is in your posted set, then your Darned Quilt will be less successful than it should be. Make sure your gradation covers a lot of territory from one end to the other, and you will be a happier Darned Quilter!

The internet is so wonderful for things like this. How did we manage 'before sliced bread'?

You can see what the class is about and the examples of the fabric graduations here. You can also see more graduated collections of fabric on the WebFabrics page. I've pulled more fabrics from my stash and put others away. I'm going to think on it overnight. I keep wanting to pull 20 fabrics when I am supposed to have only 6-8. This is a bit of a challenge for me. I guess I can take 20 and then make a final choice on the day. The trouble with taking classes is that I want my whole stash with me!

I also see on her blog page about this class that I need a "Good selection of cords, ribbons, laces, trims, yarns, 6-10 yards of each, and decorative threads". This part of the needs list seems to have been missed from the Symposium printout. Yikes, now I'm very glad I asked! I'd better start looking for some.

33 is a good number

No, not my age (unfortunately)
No, not the number of ufo's lying around (I think the total is way more than 33)
No, not the number of days until Symposium (that number would be 10)

33 is the number of unread blog posts I have at the moment. This is a very good thing because for months it has been hovering around the two thousand mark. No, I haven't posted a comment to every one of the formerly unread posts, but I have read them (well, okay, skimmed them)

Speaking of Symposium I decided it was high time to get some fabric sorted for my 2 classes. This first lot is for Layered Landscapes with Gloria Loughman:
The second is for Darned Quilts with Dena Crain:
I don't think it is a very good idea to select fabrics for 2 quilts on the same day. My colour palettes are very similar. It will be interesting to see how they turn out. I'm not even sure I've go the fabric selection right for Dena's class. She says to have a "gradation from value to colour and from dark to light". Oh well, maybe this piece of fabric will do:

Final Arrangement - Leftover Tabasco Sauce

I finally got all the blocks sewn together. Now I have to decide if it needs a border or whether a dark brown binding will do. I took down from the design wall today because Jo, Frances and I were selecting fabrics for Symposium classes. I thought it was about time I got my 'a' into 'g' and got ready for these classes which are in less than 2 weeks. Next week is really busy with parent interviews, marking, haircut, appointment for the flu jab, church AGM, a 16 inch block to be made for a round robin I am doing and quilt club next Saturday (the marking really should happen before the parent interviews.) The week after that is only 4 working days and then we're off. Yikes!

Do you like the title for this quilt?

What I'm doing

Well, it feels like not a lot over the last week. I did finish quilting the green strippy community quilt and sewed the binding on. I just need to hand stitch it down. I'm saving it for club next week.

I need to get fabric and sewing supplies for my Symposium classes organised, not to mention some clothing. I'm hoping I can shop from my stash for both classes. But I can't seem to get started on pulling a few fabrics out. No doubt that deadline I am good at working to will come around soon enough.

I went to Wellington last weekend to see the Monet paintings at Te Papa, ab fab! If I could make my quilts glow like the haystack at sunset I would be a happy chickadee. This is as close as I can get:


These blocks are the left-over blocks from the Cotton On Quilters new banner we made last year. There were exactly 126 blocks (14 by 9) and I made this temporary arrangement on my design wall last year. There they have sat for months while I worked on my Symposium quilt. I have rearranged them endless times since I took this photo. I have now stitched some of them together but I can't seem to get into a rhythm to get it finished. Maybe I should get off the web and get onto the sewing machine!

A Visual Corridor?

I know I am now in what is politely called 'middle age' and I know that language is a living, breathing, changing thing but what ever happened to Plain English??

I was at our town library yesterday looking for some books to read. One I wanted, by English author Mark Billingham, was apparently 'on the shelf' according to the computer catalogue. I looked and looked but couldn't find it anywhere. Finally I asked the lovely Colm who was on the desk. Colm is married to a lady who teaches at the same school as me and he works part time at school and part time at the library (the students tell me he is the only one who knows anything at the town library, but that is another story).

Colm checked the staff computer and told me the book should be in the 'visual corridor'. The what? What the heck is a visual corridor?Now, Colm has a lovely Irish brogue so it did take me a few goes to understand the words he was saying, but even when I did understand that he was saying the words 'visual' and 'corridor' I was stumped. Okay, 'visual' is something you look at and 'corridor' is something you walk down. Hmmm, the only corridor in the town library is the one that goes to the toilets, and I'm sure he doesn't mean there! After giving it a few seconds of slow thought (well, it was at the end of the working day) I translated his words into 'display shelf'. When did a display shelf become a 'visual corridor'?

It turned out the book was not in the visual corridor but out the back, waiting to be shelved. Colm very kindly went and got it for me. After I got it home I realised I had already read it - b*****!

On a quilty note, I am in the middle of quilting this thing (which is destined to be a community quilt) It has been basted up ready for quilting for nearly 12 months - other quilts (or quilt, to be specific, have intervened):
Nice and easy meandering, no pressure, and I am NOT ripping out any stitches, even if they do go wonky.

Don't Panic!

After getting my quilt down to the courier's on Monday in time to be delivered I have been spending the ensuing time relaxing going through my collection of Quilters Newsletter Magazine. Issue 189 with Judy Mathieson's Nautical Stars is still a stand-out cover. When compared with other cover quilts in those years (late '80s) this quilt is still as fresh looking as the latest prizewinning quilts.

But, I digress. I had an unexpected phone call today from the exhibition convenor asking if I had sent my quilt because it had not been check off their list. Is my quilt jinxed?? I raced home at lunchtime to get the courier receipt so I could go and check with them. Yes, they said, their records said it had been delivered at 4.05pm on Monday. Back to the convenor I phone. Apparently the lady whose home the quilts had to be delivered to was away on Monday and other people were at her place to receive deliveries. It appears that they left before my quilt was delivered. The husband of the house had got the package but somehow it had got tucked behind something and was temporarily lost. Whew! That was a tad stressful!

Slack ex-President

I have been so consumed with getting my quilt ready for Symposium that I have been sadly neglecting my club duties as chronicler of Show & Tell. I promised at the last meeting that now I am no longer president I would be much more diligent in keeping the club blog up to date. Now that it is 3 days before the next club meeting I have finally got February's offerings posted but, alas, I cannot remember some of the quilt's makers. If anyone from club is reading this can they please click on Cotton On Quilters blog and let me know who made what so I can give credit where it is due.

Here is a wee taster of Amy's bag:

Down to the wire !!

It was a close run thing but today I did get my quilt down to the courier to be delivered to Wellington in time for the closing day of getting the quilts in, which is today. Let's hope 'Same day Service' lives up to its name.

It is just as well I inspected each block individually 'cos I found this little mistake:
My mind must have wandered off into a dream while I was stitching this poor, unfortunate deformed star. (Yes I did fix the star.) And now I look at the pink star in the corner I see the seams are not quite matched. (No I didn't fix the seam.) Alas, likely to be no prizes for me :-(
(but one lives in hope)

It is 6 weeks to Symposium. I have been so focused on getting Poetry in Motion finished that I have done nothing to get my class materials together. Oh well, 6 weeks is heaps of time. After all, I am the Queen of Deadlines!

PS
Google chat is a great thing. As I was writing this post my son sent me these links (blog post and photos) to this great garage makeover. My son knows me well.

http://atwater-village.blogspot.com/2009/02/our-submission-to-lifehackers-workspace.html

http://www.flickr.com/photos/atwatervillage/sets/72157606409446022/

Speaking of aforementioned son, he must have absorbed some of my (bad?) habits. He cheerfully texted me at the weekend to say he had bought some new clothes. He saved $110 because it was a 40% off sale. I couldn't help myself. I had to ask if he had managed to wash any of his old clothes or did he just throw them away :-)

Farewell Juki

Sob . . . I had to take Juki home to Janice today . . . sob!

Juki, you have been a perfectly wonderful house guest. You stayed where you were put, stitched a fine line, had a wonderful flat bed and gave me plenty of room to move. Your foot control was very comfortable to use and I love the needle up/down button you have. The only thing I don't like is that you are no longer here! You are very welcome to come and have another holiday at my house anytime you like (hint, Janice, hint, hint).

Honey Bunch Leaves Home

Such a strange thing to drive my son to the Halls of Residence and leave him there. I mean, I have driven him to his father's plenty of times but somehow this feels different. That's 'cos it is different. Now, I've got him all "growed up" and he is off on the next step of his life. He is technically no longer living at home. I don't know what to feel. I didn't cry, but I was very proud of him as he said hello to every one he met. I still have 2 homestay students at home so I am not totally alone. But ...

... and, darn it, I completely forgot to take the camera with me. He dyed his hair in the weekend using some 'wash out in a few weeks' dye. He is naturally blonde but now is red. Kinda suits him but he didn't like it ha, ha. Le's hope the dye is true to label, otherwise he is going to have a 'roots' problem :-)

I forgot to say he is only 1 hour away and will be home in the coming weekend so I guess that is why I don't feel tearful. He has been away for longer than a week during holidays in the past. This is nothing!!!

Over the first hurdle

The selection letters arrived today. It was a bit stressful as I had entered 3 pieces and there were my 3 self-addressed envelopes. I gathered them up together from the letter box and could tell they contained CD's. Oh well, I thought, at least the pressure is off to finish the quilting since it has been more like quilting undone. I was not at all pleased with the quilting I had done and decided to do it again. This is what half a quilt's worth of ripped out threads look like:

There has been a hiatus in replacing all that stitching. The new school year has started and I needed to do some serious prep which took a week out of my quilting time. But I started back on it in the weekend. Which is just as well because only the first 2 envelopes had rejection letters along with the CDs. The third envelope had an acceptance letter and no CD's. Poetry in Motion has been selected for the judging process. I have 3 weeks to get the quilting finished and send the quilt off. Let's hope it passes the 'decision to hang' test so I can get to look at it from a decent distance.

I am not at all hopeful of any prize. The jurors' comments were 'most interesting', to say the least, and I think there will be some very disappointed quilters in New Zealand today. The emphasis was definitely on 'original design'. I have a lot I could say about it but it is way past zzzz time.

ZZZzzz z z z z z z z z . . .

This is called "cutting it fine"

I know I work well to deadlines, but this is a bit ridiculous. See the last box on this timetable? It says 'Drive to Wellington and deliver" and that is what we did today.
I didn't get my quilt photos onto a cd for the entry in time to post it yesterday. (I don't know what it is with computers and me. Apparently I was doing the right thing but my computer was not playing nicely at all. My son rescued me last night and did them on his computer. He says it has something to do with the fact that I had bought cheap and cr***y cds.) I was also up until 4 in the morning the previous night sewing on the binding and washing the quilt to get out all the quilt markins so I could photograph it. Remind me to start the next Symposium quilt at least 2 years before it is needed. What? The next Symposium is in 2 years already? That means I have to start now? Sheesh, I've only just finished this one!

So my good friend Jo (she of the time table design fame) drove me so I could hand in the envelope to the mail centre and ask them kindly if they could make sure it got into the box today, since today was the final day for entries. The very kind lady at the post shop attached to the mail centre said "anything for a fellow sewer". She deserves a medal for great customer service. It was just as well Jo was driving because on the way back home I had a bit of a zzzz in the car. That would have been a bit dangerous if I had been driving :-) I have great friends (and a great son) and I appreciate every one of them - thanks, all of you, for your support and encouragement.

One cannot go to Wellington without visiting a few quilt shops on the way and, once again, I am poorer than I was. The weather today was perfect. The sea at Pukerua Bay was like glass and there were no waves at all. Magic. there was also a fantastic Italian restaurant cum Italian grocery supply place next to the mail centre and we had a very yummy brunch and coffee to fortify ourselves for further quilt shopping :-) Did I mention the very melt-in-the mouth almond croissant I had for afternoon tea at a french cafe in Cuba St, in the next block down from Minerva (the NZ Quilter magazine's bookshop.) Who said the 'd' word?