More Flower Show ... and a Quilt Show, Too!

A few more photos of the exhibits at the Boston Spring Flower Show to brighten my dark and rainy day. The ground is saturated and there is nowhere for the water to go! The rivers are at flood stage or over their banks. Fortunately we live on a hill and are high and our basement is dry. I am staying in and sewing and visiting with my quilty pals online today ... and enjoying the pretty pictures from the weekend ... and looking forward to better weather. As soon as the sun comes out again the forsythia in our backyard will burst into bloom like the ones in this photo. Yellow and green are just my favorite colors.

It was a fun-filled event weekend. On Saturday, my husband and I also went to a quilt guild show in Needham, MA, that was hosted by the Quinobequin Quilters ...

http://www.quinobequin.org/

which was just wonderful! It was not the largest of shows in terms of number of quilts or vendors or venue, but ,oh my, the quilts they displayed were all so unique and just beautiful! My husband even had a difficult time filling out a Viewer's Choice card. Many times we attend a show and he does not even find one quilt that appeals to him enough to vote. This time we actually went around in circles with our little pencil crossing out and changing our choices. We wish we could have voted for many more quilts. It shall be interesting to go visit their website to see their announcement of which of these beauties were chosen. Here is a photo of both mine and my husband's choice for large quilt ...

This is an intricate applique quilt is called, I believe, "Ladies of the Sea" and was made by Kelly Savignano. Each tall ship is different and the border has wonderful swags of applique flowers. The card said it took two years for her to make. This same amazing quilter made this small quilt called "Sunset at the Bourne Bridge" which was my husband's choice for small wall quilt. For those of you not familiar with Cape Cod, the Bourne Bridge spans the Cape Cod Canal. For an idea of just how true to image this quilt is, I am also posting a public domain file image of the actual bridge at sunset. I love landscape quilts although I have never made one. I am so overwhelmed by the artistry of quilters who can create with fabric and thread such a realistic portrait of nature.

You can click on the smaller photos to view them larger so you may enjoy the details of these beautiful quilts.

One last quilt from the show ... this amazing quilt has been displayed in an astronomical exhibit in Washington, DC. It is called "The Great 25-inch Telescope at Foggy Bottom" and was made by Sara Schechner. This quilt was accompanied by photos and the story of its display in DC. The tiny attention to detail, including the astronomers in historical dress, in this small quilt cannot be appreciated in just a photo. I wish all of you may sometime have the opportunity to see these quilts in a major show somewhere. I am awed by the creative skill of these quilters and feel blessed to have enjoyed their quilts at this show. This really was a small sample of the many gorgeous quilts in this show.

I did my small part to support the vendors at this show by taking home these pretties that just called to me ... I have no idea what I will make with them but I just could not resist their call and they are all washed and folded and fondled and enjoyed ...

I love fabric way too much ... ;-) Pat

Boston Spring Flower Show Time

It was a cold but sunny weekend in my quilty corner. Yesterday, I went to the Boston Spring Flower Show with my husband and our daughter, our oldest son and his girlfriend. I have enjoyed this rite of spring since I was a child and missed it last year when it was cancelled. It was nice to see this tradition return. I always enjoy the sights and colors and scents and sounds of spring ... the birds in the aviary exhibit ... the tulips and daffodils and other spring bulbs ... the roses and azaleas ... the pine trees and green grass ... the quiet fish pools and the whispering waterfalls and fountains. It was beautiful. This year there were also elaborately decorated cakes and cooking demonstrations.

A good time was had by all ...

:-) Pat

Making Baby Quilts!

... with the Quilt & Needle "Quilty Aunties" is one of my very favorite things to do. We meet here ...

http://www.thequiltandneedle.com/forums/forums/forum-view.asp?fid=76

... and sew in our homes and send the pieces out with hugs and kisses and in a manner of months we have an adorable baby quilt to cuddle a newborn in one of our members families. We are always welcoming new members. Please join us! I like to think we are making life in our world a little softer, warmer, friendlier.

Above is the very first baby quilt we made together in the summer of 2006 and it winged its way to an adorable baby girl in Australia. Her Nana posts pictures of her on occasion and we are enjoying watching her grow!

We use free patterns that we find online and dip in our stashes. The quilt in the picture above was made with a free pattern on one of my favorite sites, Bonnie Hunter's "Quiltville" ...

http://quiltville.com/ispya4patch2pf.html

Thank you, Bonnie, for generously sharing your wonderful scrappy patterns with all of us!!

We have used many free online patterns over the years and made many pretty baby quilts. Recently when one of our grandmas announced that her daughter was going to have a new baby boy in August and that she would love to receive an applique giraffe and star quilt, we looked all over online and could not find a suitable free pattern ... so we decided to make our own pattern. I used my EQ6 and my rudimentary drawing skills to come up with this layout. I tested the pattern sewing up these blocks which will become part of the baby quilt. Then the quilter who volunteered to coordinate this project with me and I uploaded the files to our sign-up thread and we are on our way to making another cute baby quilt!!

Here are the pattern how-to's for our Baby Giraffe Star Chain Quilt!

The Baby Giraffe Applique Block ..

https://acrobat.com/#d=rgS1LH5gwjvtDmTuQjUsOA

The Star Chain Block ...

https://acrobat.com/#i=VRQexHN73qtX86bZc1fKYg

(Star Chain Block Rotary Cutting)

https://acrobat.com/#d=nhctVQYkhUwLYjeY2HFnfA

(Star Chain Block Templates)

https://acrobat.com/#d=f9*XMD3gogYR-T9ifv-23g

(Baby Giraffe Quilt Layout)

If you make this quilt I would love to see pictures!

Have a happy quilty day, everyone!

:-) Pat

Getting Ready for Easter!

The weather in my Quilty Corner was just gorgeous

for the 1st Day of Spring on Saturday!!

The need to be out and about ... and to find jelly beans and chocolate Easter bunnies ... took over and I went shopping, did a little retail therapy and came home with a bagful of goodies which I have hidden away for a few more days ... well after leaving a few Lindt truffles out for sampling. I had a lot of help making those disappear over the weekend ... all three of my adult children stopped by on Sunday. This always makes me very happy. I told them they all have to come back on Easter Sunday to get the rest of the goodies. So I am preparing for a lovely Easter Brunch with my family.


Then on my trip to the grocery store I bought a ham and started menu planning. Yum! I also could not resist the lovely, yellow daffodils that now grace my kitchen table. They smell so lovely and as the weather has turned gray today and there is more rain coming, their sunny smile is really brightening my day!

... and ...

Since the grocery store is so close to a quilt shop, I just had to stop in and see their new goodies and I found this wonderful bolt of "Bunny's Day Out" border print in the clearance section!! So clearly I had to partake of this bargain fabric ...

I am planning to make a table cloth with it for Easter!! I used some of this fabric that was left from making some charity blocks and a baby quilt last year in the placemats that were in the previous post so they will match perfectly!

While I accompanied my daughter as she looked for new spring clothes at Kohls I could not resist those ceramic Easter baskets. Too cute. I am sure the guys in my life have been missing having a pink ceramic Easter egg basket in their lives! ;-)

Still working on my Mystery Quilt. I am loving how the center medallion is coming together. I am thinking of changing the borders around to better suit my needs. So my mystery will remain a mystery a little longer.

Well, I am off to clean my home and then to sew!!


Have a happy quilty day!! :-) Pat

Quilts and Swaps are Springing!

The sun has at last come out again in the northeast! The rivers will still run high for a few more days but the deluge is passed. The windows are open and the winter quilts are getting tucked away. Above is my favorite spring wall quilt. (You may click on the images to enlarge either of these two pictures to see the fabric and quilting details.) I made this quilt two years ago and it was my first attempt at adding some free motion quilting to my stitch in the ditch and contour quilting on my home machine. I am still pretty proud of the stipple on the mint green that help to make the flower basket stand out. This was also my first medallion quilt. I found the center "Grape Basket Block" on Block Central ...

http://www.blockcentral.com/qp-grapebasketquilt.shtml

... and I just kept adding borders until it felt like it was "done." The green basket weave fabric always makes me think of Easter baskets and bunnies. I liked these colors so much that last spring, I took the scraps and added some strips left from my Spring Flower Swap Fabric and made place mats and pot-holders. For a tutorial on how to make the pot holders follow these easy directions for "Quick Hot Pads and Coasters" from Jess on the Quilt & Needle ...

http://www.thequiltandneedle.com/tutorials.asp

What have I been working on lately? I have been catching up on some swaps and blocks, like these pretty blue and yellow ones for the April "My Favorite Block" lotto on Block Central ... I sure have my fingers crossed that I win all these pretties ...

http://blockcentral.net/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/970609484/m/666102113

... and I am working the new Mystery at the Q&N. Here are my fabrics ...

I am still on the early instalments so I will post more pictures later. I love these Stonehenge fabrics.

Last Saturday I braved the rain and went to the first Quilt Guild Show of the season that was an hour and a half drive from my home. It was the Thimble Pleasures Quilt Guild's Biennial Show and it was very well run. There were many beautiful quilts to see. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera! I also stopped at two wonderful quilt shops that are a little too far away to visit often ... I am already thinking I want to go back soon though. Charlie found some Asian fabric and magazines and I added to my Stonehenge fabric stash ... two of my purchases are going to find their way into my mystery quilt. :-)

Back to sewing ... have a happy, quilty day! :-) Pat