Who?

I've been doing patchwork by mail! (I talked about it a while ago)
Last spring Cynthia Frenette invited me to partake in a quilting bee she started, and it's been really fun! Each month, one member of the Fab Bee sends out a request and some fabric to all the participants, and we all follow the instructions and use up the fabric and send a finished block back to it's rightful owner.

the fabrics and request for hearts

the block I made for Cynthia and Norm

Cynthia started it off with "hearts" in April, and explained that the quilt was for her hubby Norm, who chose the colours and fabrics. Some of the pieces are Cynthia's own designs that she printed at Spoonflower, and since this time, she has had her own line of fabric printed by Robert Kaufman!

In May, we used a spark of colour and neutrals to make improvised blocks for Holly.

the fabrics....

and the block I made

June was my month. I sent out neutrals and asked for stripes. Such a fantastic array of stripes I got back! I decided not to worry too much about putting them together - and I just went ahead and did it. I am still mulling over different ideas for the quilting design. You can see I have a grey thread laid out there - to see if I like vertical lines on it ... hmmm, still thinking.

July was fun too! Darlene, who is a lover of all things vintage, asked us to do a "stack of books" block. I slipped in some vintage fabrics - and I sent along a bundle of coloured plastic knitting needles for her.

 

What I didn't know about Darlene is that she is generous to a fault! She sent me two lines of bunting that she made as a thank you! I hung them up at our house during our Quilt Forest event. 

Then came August....

and the request from Ellen to make..... an OWL!

Here are things I have rediscovered about myself this month-

I don't do representational art, and I especially don't do animals!

I live in a wonderful natural environment, surrounded by trees which are full of birds, including owls.

barred owl, photo taken from the porch at dusk. "Who Cooks For You?"

I am surrounded by this natural wonder and I really feel like I could not do it justice by trying to make it into art. It already is art. I can't dream of improving on it, it's perfect.

Winging it - free piecing, applique, embroidery and machine couching

So, I let most of the month slip by. I picked up Jan Mullen's book Reverse Applique With No Brakez and read through it. That helped a little. Then I drew an owl. And I waited some more. Then I realized the month was almost gone, so I just went ahead and did my block. Here it is. I'll mail it to Ellen today. Hope she likes it!

More, more more!

Our collaborative pieces. We have 2 more in the works.

 

more stars by Stacey

more views - back down the main walk

more of Stacey's beauties

my Striped studies

Keep Walkin'

Sunlight through quilts and stars in the distance

Stars and Sticks and Spiderwebs!

More Pix of the Forest Walk

Churn Dash on the woodpile. by Stacey

Enter here.

3 on the line.

Pie Party, Xes and Cotton Reel

2 Indigo beauties

3 more indigo quilts

Back in the box

Whew! The quilts are down and back in the box! Actually not literally in a box, I roll mine, 4 or 5 at a time, on a tube and cover them and store them in the loft of our little house.

view from afar

The Quilt Forest Walk, which we mount for the Denman Island Studio Tour, went really well for us. We had over 150 visitors (wow!) to the forest and we chatted all day - about our favourite subjects (quilts, fabric, sewing), we visited with friends and family, we ate well, and we even sold a few things.







Stacey and I hung 45 quilts in the trees this year, with plenty of help from our spouses, family and lovely farmer-neighbours who came at closing time on Saturday to take down all the quilts in case it rained, and came back again on Sunday morning to hang them all back up again. 

Good friends, John, Oli and Stacey.

Playing nicely together. I made the quilt in the centre, and Stacey made the other two.

I will keep posting a few pictures at a time over the next little while. Then it will be like walking through the forest, coming around the bend to see the next "gallery". Enjoy!

Annual Quilt Airing

Less than a week away! Stacey and I will hang our quilts in the forest again for the Denman Island Studio Tour. We had a great time last year, it was wonderful to see all the quilts hanging together amongst the trees, and we had a fantastic turn out of people to come see them.
New this year is that I actually have a studio! Last year I was sewing on the porch, and I moved into the house over the winter. This year, I moved into the shipping container that my guy made in to a studio for me. He installed sliding glass doors in one end, insulated it, added electricity and lots of lights and put up my design walls so I could do my thing and be all messy.

I've been busy finishing things (just got 6 quilts ready) and it has made me want to make new things! Its hard to keep focused on cleaning up around here when I have new ideas.... I'm thinking of the general idea of "containers" as a series. I'll do some trials and see if it sticks, once the weekend is over.
Curious? Come to the tour, August 18 and 19, 10 - 4