That's Right...Zombies

So do you get caught up in Holiday making? Maybe "caught up" is a harsh way to put it. Does a holiday come around and you want the special theme fabric and patterns and maybe a new ruler? I do. I am particularity enamored with Halloween and Christmas (yeah I know I am not alone) and this year I went through my same mania.

Zombie Apocalypse, Riley Blake

I ordered a BIG skull quilt pattern. Started pulling fabric. Had the rotary cutter in my hand and then I stopped myself. Woman are you crazy? You have a WiP/ to do list the length of four arms and you are going to start a whole new something because it is October!? Like every other year I talk myself off the ledge. I feel ok. But then, sad that I still didn't make anything "seasony". Mania. Repeat.

This year I got smart! I had this Zombie Apocalypse Fabric pulled for the giant skull which has been sitting in my stash for exactly one year, and I need a new pouch to hold all of my Quilting Class Supplies.

I made the large size of the Noodelhead Open Wide Zipper Pouch. I have made about thirty of these babies in the medium size and I love them because of the wide mouth, so you can see everything inside.  For the outside, Zombies on top of linen. I stabilized the linen and quilted the hoard in a grid pattern.  p.s. I am officially addicted to Aurifil.

I love these guys

For the inside I went with a brighter bit of dot so that I could be sure to see everything in a glance. This is a BIG pouch, but that is exactly what I wanted. One stop shop. But for gifts I think I will stick with the medium size. It is just perfect.

Zipper Tab Ghoul

And then I remembered. Last year when I bought this fabric at Mrs. Pugsleys Emporium during the NS Fibre Arts Festival in Amherst - I had bought it to make something for my nephew. He and I share the love of the ghosties. So, I made him a pouch too! Same treatment, but the medium size, no quilting, more stabilizing, a neon zipper, and skulls inside! Rad.

All in all I feel for the first time that I have broken my holiday cycle! I made something with a theme! Go Me!

And you... you should come see me!


Come see me and the MMQG at the

The 8th Annual Nova Scotia Fibre Arts Festival takes place from October 13 - 17th in Amherst.
Maritime Modern Quilt Guild is very proud and happy to participate in this fabulous 5 day festival dedicated to everything fibre.Our lovely little guild will be displaying modern quilts and quilty items created by our members .

Our display, called "Quilting Modern", will be held on Friday, the 16th and Saturday, the 17th, from 10 am til 4 pm at Amherst Town Hall, 98 East Victoria St. (Festival Headquarters)

Guild members will be present to answer all questions. Free admission.

New at our show this year, a free demonstration on how to "quilt as you go". Guild President, Adrienne Klenck invites you to stop by and check out this amazing quilting technique. She and her trusty sewing machine will be set up and ready for action on Saturday morning from 10:30 - 11:30.
THAT LAST BIT SOMEONE ELSE WROTE!!!! :)

Hope to see you in Amherst!
Adrienne

pps. Did you catch the season premier of The Walking Dead? Best show ever!!!!

A Special Friday Finish

It's Friday and I have a finish hot out of the dryer!

Last night I finished off the binding on my Charity Quilt for The Lodge that Gives, a complex that for more than 20 years has been a refuge for Nova Scotians travelling to Halifax for cancer treatment and appointments.

My sweet Maritime Modern Quilt Guild took on Charity quilting for the first time this year. All year we have been making and collecting HST blocks using a specific color palette. This past Saturday we met for our regular Sew In, and we focused our efforts on putting those HSTs together into twin sized tops, basting, quilting and binding. We had quite a time. I cannot say how much I love making with these amazing ladies.

Linda from Scrapmaster fame, Dena and Lesley, the Cuddle Quilter working away. Lesley came all the way from Cape Breton to sew with us. So great to meet her!

Betsy showing off her completed top. Great design! Betsy also came in from away, Annapolis Royal, to lend a hand. Such generosity in our group.

I was so excited by all that we had accomplished that day that I ran right home and threw a sample of the quilts we had on the go on the line to share with the world! Look at all of that goodness! So fun to see what designs came out...

Since Saturday I needed to get my contribution finished up, so last night binding was on the agenda. This morning I took her right from the dryer and back out to the line. Now we are in a middle of a two day (so far) rain storm here so no proper photo shoot, but I did get a wee break in the rain drops to get a couple half decent pics.

Of course - wavy line quilting treatment! Works every time :)

This is been a really fun and rewarding project to work on. We will have at least nine completed quilts to donate, but before they go to their forever homes they are going to go to our Second Annual Quilt Show at the Nova Scotia Fibre Arts Festival. You should really come and see them in person, along with other amazing quilty works of our members. We will be in the Town Hall in Amherst on October 16th and 17th. Come say hi!

I hope you find some time for quilty fun this weekend. I am linking up today with TGIFF! and Fabric Frenzy Friday at Fortworth Studio.

Happy Friday!
Adrienne

WiP Wednesday: the one where quilting is my therapy

So I was having a bad day.  I wanted to get into bed, pull the covers over my head and just shut off.

Instead I went and sat in my sewing room. I started pushing things around. Tidying up, organizing. Organizing usually will do the trick, instant gratification...yes! But not this time. This time I needed some serious therapy. I needed needles, I needed thread, I needed fabric.



I needed something that would not take forever, something that would lift my spirits. Kona was the place to start.

Then cutting. Cutting is one of my very favorite things to do. Oh and the labelling, speaks to my organized heart.

Piecing, I am starting to breathe easier. Things are not so bad, if I can make eyes like this, how can things be that bad?

I just kept going. Kept making. It really does save me. By the end of the afternoon, I had this spicy guy looking back at me. I have named him Carlos. He made me feel powerful. I MADE him. That is something truly wonderful. It makes me feel better, every time I need to feel better.

Last night I started (and finished) quilting Carlos. So he is just waiting for a wee binding and then he is going to come to my office, where he can stare off bad days and cheer me up, because I know I can make him a brother if I need to and everything will be fine. Just fine.

Quilting really is my therapy.
Adrienne

ps. Thanks to Elizabeth Hartman for designing such great animal characters. They make me happy.

Linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced and with the Needle and Thread Network.

Some Mini Disco

So last week I told you about my side of the MMQG Mini Swap with my Duck Duck Goose, but today I wanted to show you what I received. This amazing wee flimsy...

My swap partner got me completely. The colors, the fabric and even the pattern was a sweet surprise as I have been thinking of Jaybird Quilts Disco pattern for quite some time. Now I have one of my own!

And can we all just stop and look at this amazing Binding! I am not sure how I would tackle this myself, but my partner made it look easy! So impressive.

My partner and I have a shared love for Carolyn Friedlander and she threw in some of her fabrics. Yay! And the colors and quilting, just right.

I had such fun with this swap, I hope we do it again.

Are you into swapping, or making minis? Would love to hear about it.
Adrienne

Chain Links: A finish

What can I say about this quilt...I loved it, I hated it (a lot), and then I loved it again.

It all started with a much coveted jelly roll of Carolyn Friedlander's Botanics. I love that fabric, but I harbour no such love for Jelly Rolls. What do you do with the darned things? So I had a million and one "perfect" ideas but nothing was quite right. But I saw the last edition of Quilty Magazine I thought I had found "The One".

Lets take a moment to bow our heads for Quilty Magazine by the way. I have been a devoted follower while it was in publication and miss it already.

Back to the quilt. I chose to go with Kona Silver as the background. Mistake! Don't get we wrong, I love the Silver but the colors in Botanics were more muted than I thought. The whole thing looked "soft". I didn't like it.


After a quilty consult with the MMQG, I got some mustard color Aurifl in a 30 weight to try to give some definition to the quilting. And because I love them and they often save things, I applied my wavy walking foot lines.

I loved it again. I love it's soft wavy texture out of the dryer, it's wordy scrappy back, and it's zig zag finish on the binding.

Since I loved it I dragged it to the beach for it's photo session. How lucky am I to be basically a 15 minute drive to some of the best beaches I think in the world! This particular one is Martinique on the Eastern Shore of Nova Scotia. 

I have another quilt upstairs waiting to be quilted. I hate it. Maybe I need to give it the same treatment. Do you have a "go to" save for a not so loved quilt?

My beach helper wishes you a quilty weekend!
I'm linking up this week with TGIFF! and Finish It Up Friday.

Adrienne

Duck Duck Goose: A finish

This is a very special finish, and one that I have been dying to share! Last night at the MMQG September meeting some of our members swapped mini quilts. This was the quilt I made for a very special Quilty friend Dena.

This was not a blind swap, we each filled out a questionnaire so that our partner would know what we liked. Dena liked red and white and paper piecing, so I started there. But then I had another influence. This

This is the 3-D Duck panel that I rescued at our July De-Stash Yardsale and declared that I could make something modern out if it. Hey, I was high on fabric sales. Anywho, I though ducks, geese, flying geese and there you have it. I knew I would use the panel like yardage and just cut it up for piecing. It had great text on it with the instructions and the color and texture of the wings was pretty cool.

I started making my red and "duck" flying geese based on a this design by Fancy Tiger Crafts. It was fun to shrink the pattern to the mini size requirements (circumference no more than 100") and work with the duck fabric and all of my red stash.

I made the background with multiple white-cream solids to give the top some texture, quilting in a spiral circle, and bound with more red. I LOVE IT!!!

Don't you love the directions to make the ducks! On the back I stuck with the red theme, but I needed to also get a duck into the quilt somehow. So he got pieced in...love how you can really see the quilting from the back.

Well that's it. I feel like a can breathe now, my creation has been revealed! Feels good. Clearly I am an instant gratification kinda girl.

 

I am pumping my fist in the air and linking up with TGIFF!

Happy Friday!
Adrienne

WiP Wednesday: The one with everything

So yeah, it has been relatively quiet around here as of late. To be honest I have just not been feeling the bloggy vibe lately. I have been sewing though. I haven't been super productive but I have always had a a project (or five) on the go. Now I say on the go because I seem to have quite a pile of almost dones, and they have all reached the same point...quilting!

Today I was determined to put everything in front of me and make a plan. No more WiPs. Get this shit done! First to wrap up this baby! A mini quilt which will soon be released from the quilty protection program as it will be swapped at the Maritime Modern Quilt Guild Meeting on Thursday. I cannot wait for my swap partner to see this. I hope she likes it!

Then I have two more quilts basted and ready for quilting and binding

Oh and I started something new because I just wanted to. I have so many things I want to make, and the satisfaction of cutting stuff is getting the better of me.

And I have started quilting this special quilt which is also in the Protection Program but will be released any day now.  *** Update! Finished this one today!!! 

And then I have this top. Just a top, waiting for backing etc etc. I was so in love with the idea of this quilt using my sacred Jelly Role of Carolyn Friedlander Botanics. Long story short, it has turned out dull. I made a bad choice with Kona Silver as my background so the prints don't pop. Lesson leaned. But I have decided on a texture adventure plan to spruce this one up. So let's add that to the list.

 

*** Update! I dug into this one today. Pieced a back, basted and quilted! Stay tuned for the reveal. 

So yeah, that makes five major WiPs on the books (with more minor ditties hanging out in the wings, likely more on those later...)

I guess now that I have put them out there I need to work on them. Thank you for being the person sitting beside the couch while I get this all off my chest.

How many WiPs are lurking in your house? Don't be shy. No ones looking.
Adrienne