Orphan Blocks 01-24-13

I'm still struggling to get back to making quilts.  I don't need to start anything new, but I can't seem to get going on any unfinished projects which have been "fermenting" for several years.  Maybe I do need to try something new - so I picked up two Baggies of orphan blocks from the Philanthropic table at the Surfside Quilters Guild meeting this month.  I did as I have in the past, put them up on a design board and think about what I could do with them.


These are friendship blocks that didn't fit in someone's quilt - or they came in late - and they all have names on them.  Do I leave the names on?  Or cover them up?   I think I will either need to build four child sized quilts with a house in the center of each or find someone else who would like to donate more 12.5" (unfinished) house blocks.   These are, of course, not all the same size.

 

My fabric library does not contain any of these batiks, except one of the rust color and mine may be a bit lighter.  They came in a Baggie with .......

 

These seven blocks are also not all the same size, but can be trimmed.  However, I think I will save these and those in the last picture to take to my Rayna Gillman class at Asilomar in March.  I'll take along some coordinating fabrics, but if I don't have the right stuff I could always go fabric shopping.  Whoopee!

 

Wordless Wednesday - Collage 01-23-13

 

 

 

 

 

Monday Browsing 01-21-13

http://fiberactions.blogspot.com/  An online challenge group that does some interesting quilts.

http://engadget.aol.com/2013/01/17/google-not-a-donkey-killer_n_2490001.html?1358378886&icid=maing-grid7%7Cmaing9%7Cdl39%7Csec1_lnk3%26pLid%3D258441  World wide news coverage.

http://worldsbiggesthexagonquilt.blogspot.com.au/  This project was in 2009-10, but I have not seen it before.  What an amazing success.  Perhaps some of you contributed rosettes.

Here is a tutorial for making a quick baby blanket.  Site has other tutorials.
http://quiltingtutorials.com/basic-skills-techniques/binding-baby-quilt-receiving-blanket/

     Terri Stegmiller is having a "Stencil Blog Hop" and is offering stencils as prizes.  Check it out.  Terri is very talented and clever.  http://stegart.blogspot.com/

And a reminder about something NOT online.  The Visions biennial "Brainstorms" at Visions Art Museum in San Diego will end on February 17th - don't miss it!   There will be a Closing Reception on February 9th when the Viewer's Choice Award will be announced.  I have done the last of my docent days, but I will be doing a private tour on February 1st after lunch.  You are welcome to tag along if you wish.


Eastern Bluebird - Mississippi  Jan 2012 (not my photo).

Diane Wright quilt from SAQA auction at Houston 01-20-13

This is one of the first quilts marked for bidding at the SAQA online auction last fall.  I was so disappointed that it was being held back for the auction at QFestival in Houston.  Then one day I was talking to one of the ladies at Vision Art Museum and mentioned how much I wanted this piece.  She said "I'm going to Houston, I'll bid for you."  How incredibly generous to spend her time doing such a task when she could be looking at quilts or taking a class or visiting with friends.  She was really sincere, so I sent her an image and accepted her offer.  She was the first bidder and came home with the quilt.  How could she part with it?  I have been enjoying it on my wall and keep discovering little things that I hadn't seen the first fifty times I looked!    A BIG thank you to Ellen.

 
"Another Collector"  Diane M. Wright - Guilford, CT  2012  12"x12"
Diane said about her quilt, "The background fabrics were created using soy-wax resist applied with a collection of kitchen tools.  The magpie, also a gatherer and a tool user, is raw-edge appliqued."
The three horizontal bars are pieced in.  Hand and machine quilting.


Isn't he a handsome fellow?  It is always enjoyable to watch magpies whose antics are even more comical and farcical than those of crows.  The family corvidae have little hairs around the base of their beaks. 
 

Wonderfully appliqued skinny legs. 
 

The shapes in the background could represent the myriad items that magpies collect  - if it is shiny and they can carry it they will steal it to "decorate" their nest.
 

 
A colorful backing - surely from Diane's "fabric library".

This must be Diane's hand "print" - it is almost exactly the size as my own.
A good label with all the necessary information - Title, Maker, City of origin, Date, Contact.

Thanks, Diane. I have just bird quilts hanging in my family room right now. They seem to all be getting along when I am not here - no stray feathers laying around.