Wednesday, May 18, 2022

Moving on ...


Wow - I just realized it's been a very long time since I last posted!  In my defence, I have been busy, but part of that "busy" was of course quilting so it's time I shared what I've been up to.

My daughter got married in September 2020, so of course I made them a wedding quilt.  She likes blue, like her mama, so it was a pleasure to work on it.  I designed it myself, with a 48" Mariners Compass in the centre, and wonky log cabin blocks surrounding it in a barn raising design.  It's a queen size.  The centre took the longest to quilt, but once that was done I was home free.  All of the blue sections (in the compass and the log cabin strips) are quilted in the ditch with some 1/4" echos inside for larger spaces.  The light background areas are filled in with random squirlios and curlicues.  





I'm still very busy at Christmas with the JOY runners, hoping to get enough made this year to participate in a local craft fair in November.  We'll see!

 

I then decided to duplicate Cockadoodle Blue in red ... I named him Rockadoodle Red.  I quilted the background in a curlicue pattern instead of the lines that I'd done on the blue one.  It looks nice, but personally I prefer the lines. 

 


 
Now that I'm back living in Nova Scotia I thought I'd make some wall hangings that might resonate with the local population.  This part of the province is well known for its fishing industry, most specifically for lobsters.  So I laid out some strips in shades of grey, white, cream, and tan to mimic the look of driftwood for the background of a wall-hanging.  Then I drafted up a lobster and gave it a shot.  Lobsters fresh from the sea and still alive are mostly black, usually with bits of red or blue here and there.  Once they're cooked they're fully red.  Being a big fan of blue, of course I did my first one in a nifty blue striped print, the second one I used a mottled blue/green print, and the third I did in a burgundy fossil fern.  All three sold immediately, with orders queued up for more!  I'm really pleased with how they turned out and how well they've been received.  Hopefully they'll continue to be popular right through into Christmas.  Each one is about 28" x 38". 

 

 
As I worked on smaller things, like the lobsters, I was also quilting a king size quilt on commission for a customer.  I had designed it as another wonky log cabin, similar to the one for my daughter but without the large compass in the middle.  The customer wanted a king size though, so I added borders to make it the right size and got busy with the quilting.  I quilted in the ditch for most of it, with some randomly placed stars throughout the light areas.