Saturday night hockey

Saturday night hockey
Saturday night hockey

Sunday, October 22, 2017

Friday Night Sew In for October

This month I didn't actually do any sewing on Friday night.  That is because there was a quilt show in Whitehorse and a quilt show around here just cannot be missed as they come up once a year at the most.  I love quilt shows.  I love seeing what other quilters have done, I love getting to chat with the people who made the quilts, as one does in a small town like Whitehorse, and I love the ideas that I come away with. 

This quilt show is nothing like the big shows that so many of you get to go to, and I am sure they are spectacular.  One day I will get to one of those.  This one was put on by a local guild.  It has thirty members.  They are all dedicated quilters and one of them, Joanne, is a fantastic quilter who has won prizes in national shows.  We all got to vote on best small quilt, large quilt, Canada 150 quilt and favourite overall quilt.  All blindly of course - meaning the names of the makers weren't advertised.  Although, some of them had labels and you could touch them. 

Joanne won three of the categories, go figure, but there were many lovely quilts.  The show was in a church basement.  It was crowded and the quilts were hung on ropes strung here and there or laid on tables.  It wasn't easy to get good photos.


But I did take a few.  This was my favourite small quilt.  


It was about 16 x 20.  I loved the use of the colour fabrics for the spots on the dog and the eyes were very expressive.  I didn't find out who made it.

This is the quilt that won for small quilt.  One of Joanne's masterpieces and quite beautiful.



This is the quilt I voted for in the Canada 150 class.  It was made by Cathy, who is Joanne's best friend.


I liked the simplicity of the pattern and of course the Canadian feeling it expressed.

This was the winning quilt, made by my friend Agnes.  She said she cut all the pieces by hand.  What a feat that would have been!  It isn't that easy to see but the red batik is all maple leaves. 


Here is the quilt I voted for in the large quilt category.  It was made by my friend Catherine.  She and I met in French class which we have both been attending for a few years.  I remember when she brought in photos of this quilt when she was making it last year.  


I am, of course, a sucker for all that colour.  She said she didn't like the way she had quilted it, but I liked it.  It really accentuated the heart shape.

And this is the quilt I voted for as overall favourite.  It was made by Susan.  The pattern really appeals to me and the fabrics are appropriate for the pattern, although if I was to make it I would probably try to add more colour.  But her hand quilting was superb!  Unfortunately I didn't get a close-up of the hand quilting.


Here is the quilt that won for best large quilt and overall favourite.  Another of Joanne's and it is really stupendous.  She is in a class of her own, in our town anyway.


She had detail on her label about how she had hand painted the applique fabrics following some instructor's method.  Unfortunately in all the excitement I didn't put the information in the right file drawer in my brain and I can't find it now.  

And here are two more photos of quilts that I particularly liked.  Well there were lots more that I liked but these were the two I took photos of.  I don't know who made either of them.  First up, you know I am a fan of hexie quilts 😃.  This one was in the small quilt category - it was a lap size.


And this one grew on me the more I looked at it.  I liked the colour and hue transitions.


I have been doing a bit of sewing this weekend but I'll save it for another post.  Hope you enjoyed my quilt show tour.  I hope you have time to check out what everyone else did on Friday for Friday Night Sew In.  Thanks to Wendy for being a great host.  😍

Janet 

Wednesday, October 11, 2017

Friday Night with Friends Report for October

I am really late posting for FNWF.  Arghh!  Life seems to be so busy all the time now.  Is the world spinning faster?  Am I out of control?  Or maybe just lazier?

On Friday night I laid out two En Provence blocks to sew together.  You may remember from my last post that I have four left to sew.  This is as far as I got.


The sub-blocks for the first block are sewn into rows, but the rows aren't sewn together.  The second block isn't even started.  I kept thinking I would at least get the rows sewn sometime this week, but it isn't going to happen.

It was Thanksgiving weekend in Canada last weekend.  I had to attend one turkey dinner and host a second one.  Both were delicious!  Lots of turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes with gravy, yams, Brussels sprouts, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, whipped cream and other miscellaneous offerings such as broccoli salad, kale salad, green bean salad, and delicious appies.  Today is my hubby's birthday as well as a good friend's.  We are going out for dinner and then to a documentary about the Tragically Hip, a legendary (at least in Canada) Canadian rock and roll band, which is one of my hubby's favourites.

On a fun note, I have another "what is it" photo for you.


This one should be easier to guess.  The teaspoon is there for determining size.

I hope you will stop by Cheryll's blog to see what everyone else got up to for Friday Night With Friends.  I haven't had a chance to check them all out yet myself!

Janet 

Wednesday, October 4, 2017

Quilt Retreat Fun

Our local quilt store hosts two big quilt retreats a year in the Village of Haines Junction, about three hours from my town.  Last weekend was the fall one and, yes, I attended. 😃 The retreat runs Thursday through Sunday, so there is lots of sewing time.  As well there is tons of good food.  Jonathan, our cook, comes 1,400 km just to cater for us.  And a group of us put on a pre-dinner cocktail hour with good cheeses and other delicacies, that he loves to attend as well. 


But I guess I should tell you about the sewing... I made my September swap hexies for Jacqui and got them into the mail on Friday. 



When I was gathering up my pin cushions for the parade a few weeks ago I found yellow pieces that I had cut to make a block.  So I put them together.  


 I had made the orange block last year sometime.  Eventually I want to make more of these blocks and put them into a quilt.  But they are pretty complex - one block takes about four or five hours to make, what with finding the scraps and cutting the pieces etc.  So this is a project for later.  This block was designed by Elizabeth Hartman and can be found by clicking on the link.

I have been wanting to make myself a new tote bag and really love the shape of a bag I made last year.  My blue scrap bin is overflowing, so I decided to make this a blue scrappy bag and I made a larger size.  I still have to find grommets that will match with it to put the handles through.  So right now it just looks like a lump.


And the pièce de résistance - I now have twelve En Provence blocks done!  Only four more to go.



There were tons of beautiful quilts being worked on, but I only took a picture of one.  Of course I want to make this quilt pattern!  Isn`t it fantastic!  


You might think I would want a little break from sewing - but it is Friday Night With Friends coming up this Friday and I have my name on the roster.  Why don`t you come along too!!

Janet