Quilts

I don't have a Thanksgiving post to share yet. Our family has just gathered and is settling in. We are going to make pies this afternoon and tomorrow our celebration meal. In the mean time I want to share some photos from the final quarterly meeting of the quilt guild that I joined. Again, there was so much to awe and inspire me.

Last May at the first meeting I attended I had taken a packet of fabric to construct a charity quilt top. I was too busy all summer to get anything done on it. The charity committee issued a call to bring in as many quilt tops to the November meeting as possible, their goal being twenty for children of the local women's shelter and the hospital. That motivated me to get my work done. As soon as I returned home from my tropical vacation I pulled out the sewing machine and made a few more blocks.

                                    

I made this machine appliqué calico cat and also a gingham dog but I had so much trouble with my 35 year old sewing machine jamming up with the border stitching that I had to abandon the dog. 

It was a challenge to use the fabrics I was given in a pleasing design but in the end I was happy with it.

                                        

                                    

                                                          A crib sized sampler quilt.

At the meeting they gathered only about a dozen charity quilts (which they have renamed "comfort quilts") some very simple and others with more elaborate designs.

                                    

This was a full sized bed quilt that someone made from donated fabric as a charity gift.

There is a show and tell time at each meeting that always inspires-

                                    

                         This quilt used the same fan pattern that I used in my sampler block.

(Sorry for the poor quality of these photos taken from a distance)

A very creative sampler-

                                    

                                    

                                    

This is a lady I knew years ago in another group. I think I recall taking a class on this technique or seeing this as a quilt top. She, too, had just finished this quilt the day before the meeting. She is a talented, prolific quilter and this quilt is so beautiful and inspiring.

                                    

                                    

      

As you can see, the technique involves very careful cutting of floral fabrics. The maker uses clear acetate pattern pieces so that the piece can be positioned just right. When the pieces are sewn together the result has a beautiful kaleidoscope effect. I want to do a quilt like this!

The special, invited speaker for this meeting brought dozens of quilts to show. I am blown away by how prolific some people can be in their craft. All of her quilts were hand appliquéd and hand quilted.

Many from her early career followed a theme of "containers"- vases, baskets, etc.

       

                                  

                                 

       

                                             

                                             

                                             

                                             

It was interesting to see the progression of her style in the designs of her quilts with the examples she brought. In the beginning she used traditional designs and muted, earthy colors. Her later works are very different and she now uses a lot of felted wool in her appliqués in very bold and bright colors.

                                            

All the small circles on the border are wool. She used a tool that punched them out but they are hand sewn.

                                           

                                           

                                           

           

This is a wool piece-

                                     

                                     

       

       

       

                                     

As I said......inspiring!