Vera's Vintage Blocks

Happy Summer!  okay it hasn't officially begun but these past few days have been so beautiful.... Perfect temperatures, the garden is green and lush, and most of my outdoor set up has been completed.  Time to enjoy the yard and weekends!

A dear friend of mine, Vera, from our Modern guild knows my passion for everything vintage!  I am a big thrift store hunter...a collector of old milk-glass & Pyrex, and old crocheted granny square afghans (seriously). She came across a collection of old quilt blocks, given to her a long time ago, but had never done anything with them.... So she gifted me with them!

 No one knows who made them... I have challenged myself to pull out some of my favourite fabrics and re-imagine all of them in new ways!

There are 25 rather plain nine-patch blocks that I am mixing with Denyse Schmidt picnic fabrics, white Kona cotton and some aurafil thread. I plan to make some cute granny square blocks.

They are beautiful.  So perfectly pieced.... I plan to use them all. Perfect summer projects.

Modern Coffee Klatch

 I am a member of the Fraser Valley Modern Quilt Guild. The modern quilt guild movement has been welcomed here with open arms!

Our guild meets once a month On the 2nd Thursday of each month; but additionally we are meeting up for coffee on Saturdays all over the Fraser Valley. We've named our group the Modern Coffee Klatch.  It is a casual meet up, open to anyone, to talk about modern quilting and meet the members. Also a great way to check out coffee houses all around the valley!

And the Show n TELLs are really great too!

Ode to sunny Saturday - May 2012

Oh I am sitting in glorious sunshine on our back deck, with a fresh cup o' jo.  I am giving myself another 30 minutes of lounge time and then I will get to work!  This will be a gardening Saturday, oh yeah.

I am feeling very happy and grateful. Look at my lovely 'early garden bounty'.

This rhubarb made a lovely coffee cake, and also provided over 4 cups of stewed fruit for our cereal and yogourt this week. Love rhubarb! 

Lilacs, from a 'forgotten' shrub on the side of our house.  So many times have I contemplated having the shrub removed.... and every May I am glad that it remains.

Further things to mull over on a sunny Saturday.... I attended the Langley Quilters Guild Quilt Show last night; it was breath-taking. So much talent. My contribution was shopping in their Merchant's market:

Loving how nicely these 1930's prints match my lilacs!

And in closing, just wanted to post a few pictures of my all time favourite pick from the Langley Quilters Show last night!  A very colorful Pickle Dish!!

Bee Block Buzz

This year I am lucky to be part of a 'Bee Block' party with other quilters, near and far!  There are fourteen members of this Quilt Bee and the 'Bee' will run for fourteen months.  Each month one of us becomes the 'Queen Bee'.   I am Queen Bee this July 2012.... so excited. Which means that in July, everyone in the Bee will be sewing my quilt blocks!  I must mail out a package of fabrics & instructions to each Bee Block member before the end of June ; they sew up my blocks and mail them back.  The fun is that we upload all photos to Flickr and share our progress. Sounds fun?  Sure, and a bit intimidating!  We have some powerfully talented members and I don't want to send out boring blocks!

Each month, another 'Queen Bee' is in charge of the blocks.   I am looking forward to my month - only I have to choose.... a design, color, fabrics.... wow!
Okay, this is what I have been looking at so far.

I know!  This inspiration is from one of my favourite blogs, and I think she is a favourite amongst alot of quilters.... Tall Grass Prairie Studio. She provides a lovely tutorial to make your spiderweb block here. What I love is her use of colorful selvages mixed with bright fabrics! Very punchy!   I have so many fabrics that would work in this quilt..... I do really like this one!

OKay, so this is another scrappy beauty that I am considering....

This block has lots of potential.  And I love the cross design, and the use of solids with scrappy prints!  This also might be the one!

Here is another gorgeous quilt that would be a great Bee Block...It is called "Roman Stripe" - again I am loving the solids with the scrappy stripes.  The inspiration originally came from the book "Bee Block Party". Awesome.

Last and not least is this lovely...  An inspiring project from another fave blog, Film in the Fridge called  Scrappy Triangles.  
You will find a great tutorial for this block.  I love it too!  So... ?   Any thoughts?  I have got the scraps!  And I have got solids.... Ah.

Spring SEW-IN

The Fraser Valley Modern Quilt Guild is hosting a Spring SEW-IN  Saturday, April 21st from 11:00am until 5pm at the University of the Fraser Valley campus in Abbotsford. We will be in room B121 (just down the hall from the cafeteria).
If you’re looking for some social sewing time then treat yourself to an open sewing time with other quilters / sewers to work on your own projects in a blissful atmosphere of quilting and chatting! We supply the tables and chairs, irons, cutting mats, and tea or coffee. Donations of treats are always welcomed!
WHAT TO BRING: You need to bring your machine, projects, extension cord, power bar, tools, and lunch/dinner. Please feel free to bring a friend! There is something very satisfying about spending an afternoon in a room full of whirring sewing machines and other creative people. We are extending this invitation to all of our guild members, other guilds and sewers/quilters in the valley and lower mainland!
There is a $5 drop-in fee for this SEW-IN. The room booked is large, bright, sunny with lots of windows.  Also there is  a nominal fee for parking at the University of the Fraser Valley; $2 for 4 hours.
Please contact Darlene (darlene.rosner@ufv.ca) (that's me!) to register.

ScrapQuilt found @ Pleasant Home

Ode to Saturday & my quilty week

Another rainy Saturday morning; but I will take it.  A great chance to stay in and putter around the house.  But I must admit that the temperature outside has warmed up and although the back yard is very soggy I do have a bit of the 'gardening bug'.  I can see my herb garden come back to life along with many weeds that need to be pulled..... ah another weekend.

This week was another quilty week:

This bunting draped on our bookcase was designed by Cynthia Frenette, a member of our Modern Quilt Guild. Our guild will have a booth this March 23 - 24 for the Creative Stitches show at Tradex in Abbotsford. Love that font! These will decorate the booth. Plus we will be displaying many quilts, handing out buttons, business cards and keychains!  The show will be a wonderland for the modern sewist.  Come check it out!

Here are some of the lovely fabrics that showed up in my mailbox this week!  Do you notice a trend? Seasonal influences perhaps?  Dreaming of summer? Yes, yes, yes!  But I am in love with the line of fabric by Choe's Closet "Fruit Cocktail".  (bottom bolt)  very vintage vibe - the colors are lovely.

And I wanted to include a picture of my lovely magnets that I won as a doorprize at our Thursday night guild meeting.  These are handmade by another talented member of our Modern quilt guild, the fabulous Amy Dame.
Today, on this rainy Saturday I plan to work on 'rug mug' designs for an upcoming 'rug mug' swap with the Vancouver Modern quilt guild.  I have a few ideas.  One is based on this lovely photo:

I love scrappy quilts. I made a smaller version of this quilt last year and I have always wanted to make individual blocks.  Check out the link to Freida's Hive for the tutorial.  I love the block!
Other rug mug ideas.....

This lovely was featured on Pleasant Home.  Love whirligigs!

This beauty from Flossy Bossy (on Flickr)

Basically, any block from this fab book.  Every project is a 'keeper' in this one!  Really good.

Happy Sewing All !!

Design Wall

Oh what a difference a 'design wall' makes!  

If you are wondering....'design wall?', what I refer to is that I finally pinned up some quilt batting (bamboo) onto the wall of my tiny sewing room - a large piece, approximately 70 x 96 inches.  So pretty big!  I imagined that it would be tucked behind the door, but it is much bigger than that.

I am working on my Dead Simple quilt', a la Lily's Quilts.... I picked my palette, which was a bowl of fruit!  Apples, oranges, bananas in a basket... chose my fabrics from my stash and cut up 300+ charm squares.  Then I began to put my charms on the design wall.... surprisingly, I edited out all of the yellows (banana) and added more reds, oranges and neutral linen squares.... It is very different experience, planning out my blocks on the wall instead of in my mind.   I am still playing with the size, but I am beginning to like what I see. These Dead Simple quilts are so fun.

And of course since I have changed up my palette, there will be many cute yellow charms ready for a future project!

HAPPY SEWING ALL !!

Diamond Lil quilt

Happy Friday.  Of course, it is rainy but this is the Fraser Valley and it is only February. I have spent the morning running loads of laundry, the dishwasher and to celebrate a Friday at home.... finishing my Diamond Lil quilt top. Last Saturday I participated in a wonderful workshop hosted by Ridge Meadows Quilt guild. They host the most amazing workshops!

Here are all my fabric strips all precut, pressed and packed.

This is our instructor's quilt. Her name is Lil hence my quilt's name, "Diamond Lil".  She used Balipop batiks, but I always want to use my vintage vibe fabrics!  I loved the latticed diamond pattern.  Something I had never done before.  Lil has been a quilter for a long time and I loved her 'old school' methods.... pencil, paper and ruler.  She was a treat to work with!

 A lot of Bliss by Bonnie & Camille and some prints from "Annie's Farm Stand" which I adore. This morning I am 'auditioning' fabrics for the border and the binding...

HAPPY SEWING ALL !

Quilty week

 Oh it has been a quilty week.  Yes, it has.  Purchased lots of lovely retro vibe yardage online this week; also found some sophisticated black & white fabrics for a future quilt for my daughter Miss Freshface.  Great quilt meeting and trunk show happened as well.  The trunk show was a great showing of the work of Modern Quilt guru Paul Krampitz of the Vancouver Modern quilt guild.  He is a marvel, and an inspiration!

 

Also, a workshop tomorrow - quilting of course!  And there is no snowstorms in the forecast to keep me away!

These are the fabrics selected for the "Scrappy Diamonds" quilt workshop, hosted by Ridge Meadows Quilt Guild.  Happy sewing all.