2012 Heritage Park Quilt Show

Divas struck off for Heritage Park on May 27 for the quilt show and merchants' market.  We were all pretty happy about that as it's been quite awhile since we've been to a show.  I had six quilts in the show so went on a scavenger hunt to find them.  They don't tell you where your quilts are hung and it's a big park!  I found five of the six.  The one I didn't find was Trade Winds (below).  But I did find all the rest.

 Trade Winds.

 Solar Flare.

 Seeing Stars - its a queen size so it got hung from the Wainwright Hotel balcony.

 Thunder Lizards.

 Time Machine.

 Come On - Get Happy!

And of course we all dropped a fair amount of cash at the merchants' market.  As I said - it's been awhile - and for Brenda the first time.  So we all found things and Brenda especially was pretty excited about all the goodies she found!

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Brenda brought her first three finished quilts for a show and tell in the parking lot.  I'm so proud!  Another one we have brought her over to the "dark side"!  And I can see she's going to be producing very brightly coloured quilts! 

April 28/12 Divas Day

As usual, we begin with show and tell....

Mary's "Thunder Lizards".

Mary's "Dino Play Time" - for Marlow's first grandchild - Emmett.

Back of Dino Play Time (above) and closer up of the featured fabric (below).

Mary's "Solar Flare" (above), closer up (below).

Below - Brenda's first quilt top!  We all love this!  Not sure if she's naming her quilts - I think she might be so I'll have to start taking notes so I remember for my blog posts!

Mary's "Twitter" - a small table topper to experiment with the letters - and a machine binding technique.

One of the Divas brought in these "findings" from a past life.  I have a great memory - for about three seconds - so I can't remember which of the Divas it was!  When I find out, I'll come back to update the post.

Joan's Penguin - front and back.  This is her second one - we all love this pattern!  There will probably be a few more of these cuties showing up in future posts!

This is a queen size quilt that Joan made for her bed!  It's amazing - the pix don't do it justice - her colours work so well in this one.  This is the top - but I happen to know that it is now quilted so she'll be working on getting the binding on.  Looking forward to seeing it all done - will snap another pix then.

And of course it just wouldn't be a Divas Day without Gourmet Diva Sue's contribution!  This time a Mexican theme.

And finally - I had to get of pix of Dorothy's "sock monkey" slippers!

The Bat Quilt Beginnings

Gotham will be my challenge this month.  How do you make a quilt that sort of looks like a bat but can still be used and abused as an actual quilt (not so far from a rectangle that it can't be used)?  And once you do that - how do you get your quilt to fit the shape?  This is what I came up with - a good old fashioned paper pattern (made with office recycled paper taped together).  The measurements are not scientific - I just eyeballed the angles and cut. I cut one half and then laid the first half on the other half and cut it the same.  Then I taped them together in the centre.  With this I will know where to put my blocks when I get them made.  I guess making blocks will start tomorrow night, weather permitting.  It's been getting pretty nice out so I won't want to be downstairs sewing if the weathe in nice, but it's supposed to rain. 

The Batman

Here he is - The Batman!  This is the beginning of "Gotham".  Wait for it!

Birds, Dinos and a Solar Event

When we were in Colorado, Joe spotted this fabric.  He's a bird lover.  So I bought 1/2 yard, not really knowing what I'd do with it - because to be honest, I don't really like it all that much (hence not a full yard/meter, which is what I would normally get).  Last week I pulled out Tonya Ricucci's book Word Play Quilts, which I've had for some time, but haven't gotten around to reading.  Naturally, once read, I needed to try something out and this fabric seemed the perfect thing.  I like the "Twitter" idea - it's a "word play" on the social media Twitter thing that everyone but me (OK - maybe a few others, too) are all excited about. 

Our friends Marla and Marlow (yes - great names for a couple, eh?) are grandparents for the first time so I had Marla look through my stash and she chose the dinos in the quilt below.  (These pix are very poor - bad lighting - I'll have to try for better ones).  I've had the dots for quite awhile - picked them up for something else that didn't work out.  I love it when I find a "perfect" use for something that didn't work somewhere else!  I called this kids quilt "Dino Play Time" because I couldn't think of anything clever.  I usually make kids quilts about 40-43 inches wide so I can use one width of fabric on the back, but this one didn't work out quite right when I tried that so I had to add a row of blocks into the backing.  I like the way it turned out.

While we're on the dino theme, I picked up the fabric in the quilt below (which is only one fabric width) on spec.  My son Craig has been obsessed with dinos since he was old enough to point.  He's 31 and this obsession has not abated.  So I always find myself drawn to the dinos.  Anyway, I had this and had offered to make a quilt for the Calgary Zoo to use in a fund raiser.  They have a dinosaur theme park area at the Zoo and we were practically residents there when Craig was growing up.  So I thought it would be a nice way to "give back".  I used the fabric like a panel, although it isn't, but neither is it designed to cut into small pieces for quilting.  I just cut the meter piece lengthwise in two (so I have enough for another quilt) and set it into border blocks.  It's an easy way to make a fun quilt.  It's called "Thunder Lizards".

Finally, here is "Solar Flare".  This is made using some Mark Lipinski fabric that I've had kicking around for awhile.  Blue and yellow is a favourite colour combination of mine.  This is another experimental design. 

For my next trick, I shall be doing "Gotham" - an idea I've had rattling around my head for awhile now.  So once this post goes up - I'm on to the Batman!  :)

A New Divas Day, A New Diva!

Brenda joined us for our recent Divas Day.  She brought her machine and off she went.  I think we have a new Diva!

Here are a couple of our recent creations.  I really like these two.

Oh Canada!  We think this will go to the Vets. 

Here is Brenda - not camera shy either!

Then of course our Gourmet Diva provided "lunch" - probably the most exotic meal we'll have all week!

Joan and her pin cushion.  She's so clever, our Joan!  She numbered the pins to keep track of the rows!  It worked like a charm!