Modern Log Cabins

I have finished my Cut the Cake top which I'm not very thrilled about mainly because the layer cake was very repetitive with at least to and sometimes three repeats of the same fabric. Hopefully some lover of clay pink might like it. I liked the pattern and the sewing but might like to take a more considered path next time.

Nicky's block

Judi and some attendees discussing the modern logs

Monday was the second and final Log Cabin workshop led by Judi Kirk and like the other fully booked with 20 sign ups though not all could make it. It was a very satisfying day for the participants with just the right level of difficulty, improvisation and not too difficult sewing. The original worksheet was drawn up by Heather Hasthorpe for the Guild's specialist Modern Quilt Group but Judi provided some much needed extra guidance and measurements as well as pointing out possible pitfalls. As ever, it was interesting to see people's different fabric choices.

Homefront

These are all separate blocks from my Houston Cut the Cake
class with Kimberley Einmo laid out ready to to sew.

Secret gardens  for a kitchen cushion, sadly too small.

Latest blocks for my Piece o'  Cake group applique quilt

Cutting the layer cake which to my surprise was 10" by 10.25.
hence the trimmings in the picture

A Busy Week

Mary, now an empty nester, with  the silk quilt she made for her younger son.
Another quilt of hers hangs on the wall behind.

Quilters's Guild MLC workshop in the Kingston Barn

It was Usual Suspects on Monday (but I didn't take any pictures), then The Guild Modern Log Cabin on Wednesday which Judi led with  Heather Hasthorpe's notes for the MQG as a starting point, Quay Quilters at night (where most photos didn't come out) and on Friday one of the Queen Beez occasional get togethers. On Saturday it was the Region 2 Guild committee meeting (but definitely no pictures there). Judi and I are on Hever raffle quilt duty so friends and helpers might want to avoid us for the next few months.

QQ Mags with elephant strippy

Mavis's Bonnies quilt from last year - a very partial view

Bid with a project started in an Oast workshop with Jenny
Rayment

At Queen Beez - Mary's tree skirt, a pattern she shared with us.

Queen Beez - all names of English Queens, me, Mary on left, another
Mary back right  and Maggie (Margaret) in foreground.

Christine who sometimes travels down from London to join us
with her hexagon project.

Maggie's tree skirt is made with woolies and will have
appliqued reindeer in the large squares,

Some scrap quilts at Houston

Rhanna Summerlin Color my world - 5657 1" squares of scraps organised to emulate a 1930's Trip Around the World that sold on eBay for $110.

detail

Lisa Mason: My first DWR - using kaffe plaids and
stripes with shot cottons arranged  with a warm centre.

Truly scrappy by Kathy Wight titled "Nancy's Closet"
to reflect the clothes and shoe colours of her friend.

detail

Chawne Kimber's notable "Cotton Sophisticate" a nod to her grandmother who
lived a very different life.

detail

View from the room with fast fading rainbow over the Convention Centre.

Sewing it all together

The art work in this primary school is always a delight

The quilt sections laid out to admire

First social sewing since getting home - just 3 days!
We gathered in a lively decorative schoolroom (cold though) to trim and assemble the blocks for our raffle quilt. Some points were lost; sometimes little strips were added to bring one up to size but once we began to join them QAYG it started to look really good. Just large sections and borders to go now. Some machine sewed, some hand sewed the joining strips on the back and some both. We enjoyed a lovely shared lunch. We can cook and bake too.
We are following the Houston Stars pattern by Gwenfai Rees Griffiths published some years ago in British Patchwork and Quilting magazine.

The Art of Quilting

I am more of a fan of traditional quilts - SAQA and the  like with one or two exceptions do little for me though I do recognise the consummate skill and artistry of the makers. I do like some of the more decorative pieces especially huge blown up flowers but of course some items do catch the eye and if I was in that purchasing league I should like to hang them on my walls.

The energy of children by Australian Ruth de Vos; her source was the title words - " if I could bottle it I could make a million". I like the loose outlined graphic style of this one. Painted surface section???

Although this is a typical art quilt in its two sections and nature of the painted surface - little new there - I do find it a
particularly pleasing, beautiful and calming example. One to contemplate while practising mindfulness and a definite candidate for my wall. "Alike but not the same" by Peggy Brown inspired by the crumbling walls and surfaces
seen on a trip to Italy.

This appears very closely inspired by traditional quilts.
There was a challenge by a French publisher to 10
invited artists to make a contemporary response to 10 quilts
in the Nebraska museum collection, 59" square, using the
original colours and the log cabin motif for at least a
third.
Les Lanternes du Palais by  Elisabeth Nacenta de la Croix,
Geneva. The original was made circa 1870 -90

Here you can see the strips have been raw edge fused to form the design.

This is instantly recognisable as the work of Australian Diane Firth using a
repeated technique of raw edge bias strips curved and caught down
with stitching. Arrogantly, I think it looks easy and I should try it sometime.
I suspect I might be proved wrong.

Detail

These two look as though they are by the same maker but I think I'm wrong.. The man is labelled "Chuck Close Two" by Sandra Bruce. "One" belongs to Chuck Close himself. This is done with squares but by eye, not computer and is so successful and compelling and BIG. The other has been quilted with words relevant to the subject by Sandra Bruce but is a self portrait by Trish Morris-Plise - "Portrait Noir" and very endearing too.

Motley Selection

Somehow one can also recognise Japanese quilts - always the extra mile and a degree of
quirkiness. This is "Eternal" by Kazuko Noto.

Amy Pabst: A Long Way from Home based on "Classic
and Cool" by Caroline Wilkinson (UK quilter
associated with Fine Cell Work). This is small but I'd like
to make a larger version.

Tachyon by J. Andrew Love a string quilt. He
challenges the viewer to google the title. I did and it's
Greek for speedy as well having a complicated
scientific meaning.

Detail

This is another of the C19th Divas' quilts made from a
traditional group swap. This arrangement  by Julia
Berggren is based on her sister's antique quilt.

This is Don't Fence Me In by Carol Staele
and like quilters before her she solves the
border corners by just cutting off  at the end.

Kaffe Fassett from his Beautiful Blooms book.
I plan to snitch this setting for stack and
whackery squares.

Another favourite

The caption on this one made made me laugh. It was the hammer and the "mother issues" that did it. Another caption that made me smile was on a miniature quilt to say "People think I'm nuts!" I thought she was nuts too but glad she was enjoying herself. Perhaps all of us who collect huge amounts of fabric and make surplus quilts are nuts too but happy with it.

My Favourite Quilt

I think my favourite quilt was in the embellished section. It was composed of jeans, pockets, zips and all as well as charming applique. Indeed I think it  won this section.

Old Denim Square by Noriko Nozawa

Applique detail

Detail

Detail

The pocket shown is an actual pocket and I love the sewing
machine block