Go World!!

It's Tokyo 2020 Olympic time!  There certainly have been a lot of surprises!

Here are some quilts I made for previous olympics.

Beijing

Hand Quilted feathers and cables.

I added Olympic Rings to this Eagle Quilt to commemorate the Torino Olympics.

Stars and Crowns for London (there is some blue bleeding and I intend to soak it in blue Dawn and borax).

The back of the London quilt has a pieced and jumbled world map.  My daughter called it Barb's pangea ha ha.

We had sweet summer visitor.  How he got in the house, no one really knows.

I named him Frederik and he visited for about an hour and found a good spot by a sail bag.

I walked him about a block away near a boggy wet area and set him free.

Bye Frederik have a good summer.

I'm working on a social justice quilt of sorts.  It is a fun challenge to make these words with no pattern.

You may already know the rest of this sentiment.  If not, stay tuned.

Enjoy August!

xo

p.s. can I just say how happy I am that Tokyo is using all the 2020 signage even though it is 2021.  Saving all those materials is so eco minded.   Also I think they will be called the 2020 olympics in the future.

Cantaloupe

 Do you know what Cantaloupe is in Spanish?

Cantaloupe! ha ha.  I thought I would be clever and use the Spanish name but the yokes on me I guess.  These words are called cognates, the same word in different languages.

I started this quilt in February 2021.  To read the origin story of this quilt click here.

Can you believe how perfect this backing is for this quilt?

I did a combination of machine quilting and big stitch quilting.  I used orange, green and yellow thread to do straight line quilting on my sewing machine.

I then did big stitch quilting between each machine stitched line.  I picked different corresponding colors of Perle Cotton #8 for each "set" of colors.

Here is how I moved from string to string; by shuttling my needle between the layers.  

I quilted at the beach one day which was very fun.  I used my usual big hoop and loaded it loosely.  I use a #22 chenille needle.

I posted this photo on Instagram and got an alarming amount of likes. 

A few people commented on the cute little case I used for the cotton spools and quilting supplies.

It was a gift from Wendy Reed.   She found it in her travels and picked it up for me.  How sweet is that?  Isn't it charming?   I love it.

Here is my label.  I'm trying to rededicate myself to labeling all my quilts.  You can see the big stitch on the backing too.  I really like the texture of it.

Nutmeg helped me with the binding delima.   I thought about facing it, but went with my usual single binding instead (there is a tutorial on a tab above on how to do that).   I settled on a light green.

Hope you are having a lovely summer (or winter in Australia).  Are you hungry for a little Cantaloupe?  I sure am 😜

Thanks for visiting!

xo

Catching Up

 Greetings!  I've been on a little break so thought I'd pop in and catch up.  This was big news a few weeks ago.  I was honored by the Vermont Quilt Festival.

I entered the virtual show to support the festival which had to be virtual this year.   I had no expectation at all so it was a wonderful surprise.  I also received a Purple Ribbon of Merit for this quilt, awarded if you received a combined judges score of 97-100.  I've been working toward this goal for many years.

I also received a Blue Ribbon for my modern quilt!  It was particularly gratifying since I'm not generally known to make modern quitls.

 Hanna and David came for a visit and while others had to work we decided to visit the Mystic Aquarium.  We look like ad for glasses. lol.

We got to see the trainer feed the Penguins.   Special time with my kids together is rare and such a gift.  

The obligatory Nemo photo.

And Hanna's favorite; jellies.

We also sailed my son's Hobie for the first time.  He named her Tenacity; our family motto.

We had driveway fireworks - very carefully at a distance.....

I've been busy planting container gardens

I have started growing hostas in all weather pots on my 2 decks.  I've always had a hosta garden and this is the best way to grow them on my property.  This one is three years old.

As far as sewing, I've been making summer surgical caps for my son. This one is made by fabric I received from Jackie through Norma.   Thanks ladies!

I also decided to add big stitch quilting to my Canteloup quilt.

It has been fun picking which colors go where.

I even worked on it at the beach 😀

I hope you are having a nice summer!

xo