A Whale of a time!

I hope everyone had a great Easter weekend! Being able to enjoy the hope provided through the resurrection of Christ is one of the many blessing I'm thankful for!

March is practically gone, and I have not made much progress on the 2015 BOM. Would it sound strange if I said that I sort of needed a break? I don't like leaving things unfinished, but it seemed that I was no longer enjoying the quilting process, and it was all getting too stressful, or like that homework that we never did on time because it was so horrible, and we ended up putting it off for as loooooooooong as possible...  

So, just a teeny tiny break... I caved in! I just had to start working on a wall hanging that I had been thinking of making for a while...

After staring at the bookcase and the available fabric, I went for the gorgeous blue collection I got some time ago on sale. When I saw it, I knew I wanted it; I had no idea what I was going to make with it, but I just had to get it... Yes, I have my weak moments, but after seeing the results, who wouldn't like to consider having one of these every once in a while? 

The fabric waited patiently in the little bin for over three years, and when Elizabeth Hartman came up with her Preppy pattern, dots started to connect... You can find the link to this pattern on her page. Unlike her, I sometimes get these weird ideas in my head, but I cannot make them happen. It seems that she has this fantastic ability to see something and transform it into something beautiful. I love her eye for color, use of pattern and "shredding" something visually and transforming it into a quilt block.

I also had another roll of fabrics, from Jinny Beyer, who teaches the 2015 Craftsy BOM. I never knew that I already had some of her fabric in my stash, but it all went beautifully with the other fabric!  

Ah! The joys of happy quilty coincidences!

Even an old friend came to play with the happy whales! I did not follow of all the instructions in Elizabeth's pattern - you know me, I seem to be unable to follow instructions to the T. Instead, I used paper-pieced strips using adding machine tape. You can see my tutorial on this versatile technique here.

Tada!! Happy whales in purple waters... 

Ah! The joys of the joyful creative process!

Stay blessed,

Yiya

My first Quilt Show!!

Quilfest 2015! Yay!!

I waited and waited for about two years, and then it was a mere coincidence when a lady visiting the office mentioned that Dewey was opening doors to this gorgeous celebration of quilts. So, can you guess was there, no questions asked? Yep, you guessed it - ME!  I could not let the chance of experiencing a quilt show for the first time!

So here, let me take you along this incomparable experience of learning, discovery, adventure, awe and creative ideas tickling at 100 mph!  :)

This was my first corner... A burst of color and quilts that seemed to belong to different eras, but somehow came together. It felt like a contradiction, but the craftsmanship and the attention to detail made them happy together.

There were quilts for all tastes - modern, 30's, appliqué, mod log cabins... You name it!

And there were corners that just made you smile. Like this little doll patiently waiting for loving arms to carry her, lending a sense of coziness and home to it all.

Wherever I turned, there were rows and rows of welcoming friends willing to share a bit of their hearts and hard work.

Take Cheryl, who welcomed me almost the minute I walked in and made me feel at home. It was almost as if we had been friends for years! In just a bit, we had walked around several quilts, and she had shared the story of how she and her sisters get together about 3 or 4 times a year for a sewing weekend. What a blessing! One of her sisters does not quilt; she saws. But they all came together one weekend to make a quilt for a family member. Cheryl prepared and cut almost all the fabric before, and they just poured their hearts in such a fantastic quilt.

Cheryl explained that she doesn't show her quilts, but that she lends hers, like some ladies belonging to the Jewel Quilt Guild, to complement the exhibit and give it all a more homey look. This is one of hers, and Cheryl is hiding behind.

It lay folded on a char in one of those happy corners. What a beautiful work! I thought those were the merriest pinwheels, and then Cheryl said that I could touch it, because that was hers...  I almost jumped to the ceiling in joy!!!  

Her pinwheels were sewn to the quilt only by one side, so they had a "floppy" triangle. Cheryl mentioned that this is 3D quilting, and that the quilting pattern is called "long and short." Now you know what I want to try next! 

And yes, that's my finger saying hi... lol

This is another one of Cheryl's, "Fat Cat."  She made sure to give me directions so that I could get to it and see one of her twelve banners she displays at home each month. Fat Cat is the official August mini.

Another sweet lady was Georgia, and this is one of hers. She said that she used cheater fabric, but the quilter treated the print as if it had ditches, so it was a nice optical illusion. If Georgia hadn't told me this was cheater fabric, I'd have decided that this was pieced!

Did I tell you that Gloria was wearing the coolest shoes? They were pink, orange, yellow and lime green... I heard several comments on them. 

I learned a lot. I mean - A LOT.

If you have read my blog, you pretty much know everything I know about quilts, which means that all of my quilt knowledge has come from blogs, Craftsy and pictures.  

I got the same feeling I've had at museums before. In my very first post, It ain't like in the book, I shared my experience with Degas's ballerinas. I didn't like them, until I saw the real thing. This happened to me at Quiltfest; quite honestly, it was unexpected, but it was a good unexpected. Log cabins had been one of these designs that I had never paid much attention to. Triangles inside triangles was another one. But a vendor had this beauty in display, changing my thoughts forever...

And how about some good hand stitching? 

"Kansas Son" is the quilt above, made and tacked by Muriel Armstrong. And the picture below is from "Oriental Turning Twenty," by Sharon Payne and quilted by the Union Chapel Dorcas Society.

I could not help walk to this happy and bright corner... It was a vendor's booth; I thought that it was really neat how the mini-sashing sort of outlined each shape and all the triangles and squares worked together perfectly!

Yes! Color! Itty bitty squares as cornerstones and solid blocks... Great effect! Pat Osborn made "Bright and Bold" and Wanda Jones quilted it - by the way, I think that Wanda Jones is my new quilting hero! She quilted and made several of the quilts showed, and her work is amazing.  Just take a peek at the mini labyrinths in each block - perfect for kiddos (and grown-ups) to have fun!

Sure! These are modern styles, but I made a HUGE discovery... I actually like traditional quilting, too. The next two quilts are just a token of this eye opening event.  

"Threads of time" was made by Merrie Keonig and quilted by Cindy Thompson. The cue card said that she made over 300 flying geese!  And it is beautiful!

This was another more traditional quilt that made me smile... "Jewel," made by Gay Cooper and quilted by Wanda Jones. I really like how straight lines can make curves, almonds and circles appear out of nowhere.  This is a technique I've kept my eyes on and I hope I'll make a similar quilt one day.

And the following is probably the goofiest quilt I've ever seen! I probably looked like a silly lady laughing with herself... It is called Chicken Buffet, made by Shala Lunt and quilted by Sue Williams. I could not stop smiling and having a good time with this fantastic idea!

The first thing I noticed was the different quilting motifs in each block; only then did I notice how the chicken thing worked! It made me smile wide!  :D

I was drawn by this wall quilt; I was wondering how they managed to pull the fading color effect, so I came close to it and realized it's painted! It is called "It's Lonely in the Desert," and was made by Barbara Reynolds.

Oh man! Where next? 

So many beautiful quilts with fantastic stories behind them! By no means is this everything at Quitfest 2015, but it definitely is a good starting point to share my super adventure at my first quilt show ever!  

I have so much more to share, but I'll probably dosify it over two or three more posts... Who knows! I just was thankful to have such a fantastic experience and I am thrilled to be able to share it here with all of you!

Stay blessed,

Yiya

Terminal Bee

... or the story of a curious child who went out to see the flowers.

An unexpected sight... Curiosity... Action... A happy moment!

All of these is Terminal Bee. 

(I guess that at this point, I should confess that this wall hanging was finished last year, in June, for the MQG challenge... (Big sigh!) Life went on, remember? And in the middle of the every day needs, I missed the draft that had been waiting so patiently for me to give it a final read and click "Publish." Well, it´s a 2014 finish published in 2015, but it´s still a happy quilt and I can´t wait another second to share it with all of you!)

So here it is... Terminal Bee!!

Terminal Bee is the wall hanging I made for the MQG challenge last year. The fabric was gorgeous and there was this one print with a yellow background and pretty huge flowers begging to be showcased.

However, I really wanted to experiment with geese, so I decided to make one goose with each of the prints; after arranging them in a long line, my husband walked by and said something like: "Look! Like the lines in the airport!" My head went  like: "Airport?!?! Really?!?! Men!" Well, scratch the "Men!" lol...

Anyway, I prepared the print and decided that the wall hanging was going to be a field of flowers with geese flying by. It just didn´t look right and seemed to be unbalanced. That´s when the idea of a curious goose spotting something and exploring came to my mind. "Hmmm... not quite... I need seeds flying after the goose flew all over the place, played around and messed up with the flowers!!"

A happy thought indeed!

The piecing came along and it took an extra dose of patience to shape the scrap background into seeds and fuse them around the right part of the quilt.

Here it is, all pinned and getting ready to be quilted... I could only think "quilt as desired," just as many instructions indicate, but I had a big blank in my head... "How on earth was I going to quilt this wall hanging? Happy quilting? How is THAT done?"

Well, something that I once heard and that has stuck with me is quilting that enhances the piecing. This time, the piecing was telling a story, and I only knew that I wanted the quilting to emphasize that.

I started with the appliqued flowers and quilted concentric petals... and the crafty bone was unleashed! lol

Somehow, in the middle of a loop or a turn, I was able to "see" the wind, shaped by large concentric circles with a tail. The green goose, a.k.a. disobedient child, would leave a trail in its hasty escape from the formation; somehow, straight lines would have to interrupt the dancing of the wind playing with the seeds...

See, it´s making a mess!! :)

I knew I wanted the geese to be puffy, so I decided to quilt the background only. I ended up outlining each goose and trying a different quilting pattern between each of them.

Here is something I had always wanted to try: a feather fan. I am still experimenting with feathers, and thought that this space would be the perfect opportunity to emphasize this bit of negative space.

And here is an attempt at a herringborne; I am not completely happy with the results, but I guess it´s not that bad for a first time.

I wanted to quilt clouds in the "cloud" area, but I was not too sure of how to do it. I drafted some and decided to make Cs, lots and lots of Cs!

The Cs went on around the geese and in the border. And there´s even spiky lines crossing each other. I like the contrasting quilting textures and shapes.

Here is another look at the disobedient child...

... and the wind and clouds meeting, in the back.

And talking about the back, look at this! I was thrilled to turn the quilt and discover a great surprise in the back: the quilting telling the story!

The puffy geese, the flowers, the wind, the clouds and the hasty flight of one curious goose.

I just couldn´t take enough pictures, lol!

Oh! And I also made an experiment with filters; I wanted to see if the quilting would look different in them. I think that the following would be the better, but it also shows where the quilting mistakes are...  No biggy, I am still happy with the end result!

So here it is! A happy quilt that makes me smile :)

I must confess, deep inside, I guess this quilt could also be called something like "Curiosity taking the best out of me," or something like that... Smile! :)

Stay blessed,


Yiya.

Addie's Quilt - The End!

Transformation, creation, intricacy, exploration, learning and even prayer... all of them right there along the process!

This is the last post on Addie's Quilt and I can hardly share enough of how excited I have been with this piece of quilty craziness that I had the opportunity to work on!

I don't want to say much; just invite you to enjoy the satisfaction and thankfulness of a finished work...

...and a failed attempt at a fancy picture with the quilt draped on a chair. Oh my! I guess that's why some people are professionals - but not me, hehehe. I guess I'll have to practice more and more before I can get one of those cover-worthy shots!  :)

And why not some pictures of the back? After all, Addie's gramma saw this side first and she thought this was the front!  :)

I like the evening light for photographing a quilt; I can see an interesting play with the piecing and the quilting without having a huge contrast between those.  I kept wanting to have one of those really nice pictures with the quilt draped on the fence, but I'm not sure I am really happy with the results.

And a little something for Addie to remember... Lilies were about to bloom when her quilt was finished!

I do realize this may disclose how long it takes to go from the quilt to the blog, but I think my first baby quilt deserves a little TLC and time!  :)  

It was a pleasure to work on Addie's quilt in so many ways! Not only did I learn and experimented with new techniques, but seeing every single part of it take place is like a dream... Those ideas in my head keep spinning and tickling just thinking of the many possibilities and endless creative moments!

Thank you for sticking with these posts and sharing Addie's story and my adventures in quilting!  

I am working on a new series and I really think you will enjoy it!  :)

Have a wonderful day and stay blessed!

Yiya