The reason I quilt

I had some fun with a pile of 1.5 inch squares 

which were originally intended for a much larger charm quilt. 

I love playing with little bits, but really don't enjoy the fuss of cutting little squares from scraps. 

So I used them in a quilt about why I quilt. 

It measures about 20 by 30 inches and is machine quilted. 

Since this photo, I've ripped out the loopy meandering in the white background 

and replaced it with a small all-over pebbles.

I bordered the word with a green Kona solid, and again with a Kaffe print.

I had a bit of fun with the machine quilting, putting in a needle pulling thread off a spool.

This is also the first time I've experimented with dense quilting around a letter

to make it pop.

What is the reason you quilt? To to touch fabric? 

See designs form under your fingers? To create? To buy more fabric?

This quilt is hanging in the MCC Quilt Show and Sale in Winnipeg, 

which opens today and runs through Sunday.

If you're near here, stop by.

Update: When I stopped in at the show, I overheard a young girl saying

"That quilt says touch but we're not supposed to touch the quilts."

Too funny.

I helped to hang the show yesterday and there's lots of great stuff to see,

as well as lots of goodies in the sale room, including my zippy bags made from upholstery samples.

I'm linking up with other Friday finishers at TGIFF

Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Crazy Mom Quilts

Basket of little finishes

I've been cooking up samosas lately

for an upcoming craft sale.

 I put together a dozen of these this week,

using my 10 cent thrifted zippers

and a variety of fabrics.

Each one of these takes two pieces of 5.5 by 8.5 inches of fabric.

I stabilized the exterior fabric with fusible fleece

and put in a few quilting stitches.

 I also made a few rectangular zippy pouches,

two from that same Kaffe print (far right, middle and top rows)

 to add to the others I made earlier

from a thrifted linen tea towel (top six)

and other goodies in my sewing room.

All of these will be for sale at the MCC Quilt Show and Sale next weekend

at 134 Plaza Drive in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

I won a prize at a show I attended a couple of weeks ago.

I'm going to have some fun with these half yard cuts

of Kaffe Fassett and Brandon Mably fabrics.

Part of the prize was that variegated spool of Sulky quilting thread

held onto the package with those fun colours of ribbons.

I'm linking up with other Friday finishers at

Crazy Mom Quilts

Confessions of a Fabric Addict

TGIFF.

Thanks for stopping by!

Local quilt show

I'm  giving you a sample of some of the quilts at a show raising funds for the work of Mennonite Central Committee.
This leaf one at the left was raffled off. I didn't win it , but I know the woman who did. I like the scrappiness of this nine patch hourglass quilt at right.

This batik beauty was a work in progress at our January quilt retreat.

The crazy quilt at left was an estate sale find and embroidery on one of the squares says it was made between 1880 and 1930. The floral applique blocks at right were rescued from a thrift shop.

The show had some donated quilts for sale to raise fund. This is one I would have purchased if it wasn't made of polycotton broadcloth. I like the graphic nature of it, but not the sheen of the fabric. So I left it there for someone else to enjoy.

Eye candy

The Mennonite Central Committee quilt show ran this weekend -- I had my newly-completed Ecumenical Squares in it (left) and I'm posting some of the others I admired. I like the use of the bold prints in the lime green one at right here.

This one was a beauty -- it combined old Dresden Plate blocks with pieces of embroidery in a new quilt. The maker designed it for her sister-in-law's wedding, and used the sister-in-law's grandmother's patches. It was a great combo of old and new.


This beauty is 110 years old, and the owner put on a new black velvet border. A few of the silks have worn through, but otherwise it is in beautiful condition. The maker never put a backing on it, so we could peek at the embroidery stitches on the foundations underneath. You can see a bit of my Silk Amish Strings (no. 21) just at the left. I spent much of my weekend volunteering at the event, and we had many appreciative lookers.