gladiquilts

Greetings dear readers! I’ve had a rare lovely stretch of days with few obligations – don’t you love it when that happens! – and have made great progress on the borders of the Fancy Four Patch and Ursula’s Baskets. With the FFP, I finished sewing the top center together and chose the fabric for the border – a gold toile by 3 Sisters for Moda that’s been in my stash for several years:

I decided on an aesthetically pleasing width and cut 6 inch wide strips – the fabric is directional so some piecing was involved. I studied the possibility of making the vine go around the corners and decided to go with a red square in each corner, probably with a bird. I also decided on the fabric and width of the vine:

Making leaves and berries ensued 😊:

This shape leaf is perfect for “turned” or “prepared” edge appliqué. I made berries using flat plastic washers (similar to Karen Kay Buckley’s templates). Gathering the edges is a perfect activity for out on the deck:

Voila! – I now have the parts for one border made and basted and can look forward to hours of pleasant hand appliqué over the next few weeks:

The plan is to do a similar vine on the right border, but something a little different for the top and bottom borders like maybe a small pot of flowers in the center – we’ll see.

For “Ursula’s Spring Baskets”, I’m doing fusible appliqué with machine buttonhole stitching around the edges of the leaves and I needed to do that machine appliqué on 68 top and bottom border leaves:

It had been 15 months since I’d done the other 2 borders, so I needed to refresh my memory on the machine settings, change the throat plate and foot, etc. Luckily I got into a nice rhythm and all the leaves are done! Next are the 4 corner blocks and then attaching everything to finish the top!

Of course, now I have 2 projects competing for my hand appliqué attention, as I am close to finishing the top (and third) border for Whimsical Vases:

And – I have started a new project! It’s actually a group project that my bee, the DLM (Durham, Lee, Madbury) Quilters are doing. We decided to use Amy Smart’s (nationally known quilter – look her up!) block, “Tell Me A Story” for an exchange. There are 14 of us participating and we are each making 2 blocks for each participant. The center of the block “tells a story” – we can use any fabrics, but the little center triangles need to be black and the outer triangles low volume. It’s been really fun choosing fabrics for this! Here are my first 16 blocks:

As promised, here are a few more paintings from the Clark Museum. I hope you enjoy looking at art as much as I do. The first 3 are from a special exhibit of pieces from a major new donation to the museum. I really enjoyed looking at all the amazing details.

You can click on the photos to enlarge and further enjoy the details.

I look at these landscape paintings from nearly 500 years ago and think how different the planet looks now; what we’ve lost, what we’ve gained- have all our advances been worth it? Probably, but…

A couple more for today:

On the grounds of the Clark was a structure by the German artist, Thomas Schutt:

Nice views of the landscape from inside it!:

EARTHLY DELIGHTS: It’s day lily season!:

Other beauties as well:

An alder bush on one of my walks:

Blueberry bush by the bog:

Because of the heat, I’ve had to take some of my walks as early as 6 AM. The light can be interesting at that hour:

Hoping you all are finding moments of peace, wonder, and joy amidst the seemingly mundane stretches of every day life.

Be kind, be grateful, and cherish each day, Gladi

Greetings dear readers! I am steadily making progress on my 4 “active” projects, trying to get them each closer to “finished.” I am itching to start something new, but would like to get the Baskets quilt top done first. In the photo below, look at the corner flower with its peachy center:

It didn’t look exactly right. Now look at it with the navy center – just that little bit of “dark” value really improves it, I think! This is what happens when I take the time to look closely and study:

The vines and all the leaves for the top and bottom borders are fused on, but now they need machine buttonhole stitching around all the leaves and the 4 corner blocks need to be made. Getting close to done!!

The hand quilting on Hexagon Stars is going slowly- summer/heat isn’t the best time to have a quilt on one’s lap! – but there’s no rush:

I’m making progress on hand appliquéing the top border for Whimsical Vases:

I am sewing the blocks together for the Fancy Four Patch (“Butterflies of Hope”) project – the top 4 rows are sewn together, as are the next 4 and I’m working on the lower section:

For the first time ever, I am “twirling” the seams where the blocks come together instead of pressing the seams open and it’s working well! I love the fact that I can keep trying and learning new things!

Al and I took another short getaway, this time going west, inland, instead of east to the coast. We went to Williamstown in the Berkshires in western Massachusetts. It’s in a beautiful setting at the junction of Massachusetts, Vermont, and New York State. It’s the home of Williams College and of the Clark Museum and Institute of Art. We had heard from friends how wonderful the Clark is and wanted to check it out – it did not disappoint! We took time to walk on some of the trails around it and here’s a view from the hill with the Clark in the foreground and the town and college behind it:

Closer:

A bucolic setting! The museum was amazing – many masterpieces! There is a whole room of Renoir and it made me realize how incredible his use of color was.

Today I’m sharing some of those Renoirs and I’ll share more from the museum in future posts. The “onions” is one of my favorites:

Just incredible brushstrokes and use of color!

One of the wonderful portraits:

Woman sewing!

Another portrait:

Another gorgeous still life:

More to come from the Clark in future posts! The museum is well worth a trip!! Now on to some “Earthly Delights”! We have some new neighbors! The farm across from where the elks used to be have acquired some long horn steers!

On a recent walk, I noticed the sun on a pool of water in the river with the breeze rippling the water. I couldn’t help but see the “impressionist” appearance after having just been to the Clark museum:

The milkweed plants are starting to bloom – feel free to enlarge and enjoy the appearance of these little blossoms!

Ending this post with this little critter:

Be kind, be grateful, and cherish each day, Gladi

Greetings dear readers! I feel like I’m trying to catch up with things I’ve been meaning to share on the blog, but just haven’t gotten around to. For example, I still haven’t shown some of the quilts from the AQS show in April and I’ve only shown one quilt from the NEQM exhibit of “BLUE” quilts. Let me start today with a few of those blue quilts! I think most of us enjoy blue and white quilts and I LOVED the appliqué and the borders on these antique quilts:

This border is just incredible!!!

I love this unique swag-type border!

Here are 2 modern/art quilts by Jennifer Condon that were part of the “BLUE” exhibit:

Quite a contrast between the antique quilts and Jennifer Condon’s! Something for everyone in the quilt world ❤️.

Before proceeding, I want to quote Lois Dobb, the artist I talked about in my last post, about “seeing”. I meant to share this last time. “You either enjoy looking at the world or you wander through it without seeing it, which I think a lot of people do,” she said. “They know enough to look so they don’t break their necks tripping, but otherwise they may not see too much, just enough to be safe.” I think this is very true, unfortunately. I encourage everyone to take the time to really see what’s around you!

Now for some more quilts, this time by Barb Vedder, who gave a wonderful program on appliqué to my guild this week! I also had the privilege of having dinner with her before the program. If you google “Fun With Barb” you can find her on instagram and Facebook and there is a link to her blog on the right side of this page. She has made many gorgeous quilts you can enjoy. Here are some she shared with us:

This one was inspired by the Chernobyl disaster:

I absolutely adore this traditional Whig Rose – hand quilted!:

She’s a women after my own heart, making log cabin variations with 1/2 inch strips!:

One of my favorites is this one – great fussy cutting on the clamshells and truly lovely appliqué designs:

As for my own work, I finished the last 4 Fancy Four Patch blocks and will now set this aside for a few weeks while I work on the basket quilt:

Planning corner blocks for the basket quilt and still have to machine appliqué the leaves on the top border and also make the bottom border:

I’m working on (hand appliquéing) the top Whimsical Vases border:

I haven’t shared books for quite a long time! Here’s the scoop on the last 4 I’ve read. First, “Winter Solstice” by Rosamund Pilcher. It’s not new – published in 2000. It’s not great literature in that the characters lack depth and improbable solutions to problems seem to occur regularly. However, the plot is interesting and the writing quite good. Reading this book felt like a “warm hug” and sometimes that’s just what we need from our stories! Next:

I had been thinking about reading this book for decades and kept seeing it on lists of excellent books from the 20th century to read. I finally got to it and it was excellent. It’s an in depth look at the immigrant experience (poor, not wealthy) in NY in the early 20th century. Definitely recommended!

My book group just read and discussed this one:

The writing is excellent- no wonder it won the Pulitzer Prize in 2022! It’s about a wealthy financier in NYC in the early 20th century and his wife, about the accumulation of wealth, the role of women back then, the “myth” of the great (wealthy) man, and there’s a contrasting section involving anarchists woven in. The structure and plot of the book is very unusual and interesting – great for a book group discussion! Finally:

This is excellent and I highly recommend it! Very well written. Very interesting plot(s). It goes back and forth between 1664 and 1940-42 in Paris and both stories involve the tunnels under the city. An enjoyable read even though the topics are serious and some very difficult things happen.

OK – now for some EARTHLY DELIGHTS to finish up today’s post! At the bog I saw the flower of the pitcher plant!:

It was kind of hidden among other foliage and the flower only lasts about 2 weeks. I’d never seen it before. I read about the life cycle of the plant on Wikipedia – very interesting if you want to check it out!

Other beautiful blossoms to admire:

I hope you’ve enjoyed all these visual treats!! There’s still more catching up to do in future posts 😊.

Be kind, be grateful, and cherish each day, Gladi

Greetings dear readers! I have a lot to share today! First, my quilting world😊. I bought a yard of lovely red silk dupioni fabric at one of my favorite quilt shops in all of New England, Fiddlehead Artisans in Belfast, ME. I stabilized it with fusible interfacing and got the borders put on my squircles quilt, “Traveling the Silk Road”:

Even with the interfacing, the long strips of fabric were not particularly easy to deal with (re raveling) so I was glad I chose not to miter the corners. I could still add a bit of appliqué and/or embroidery, but I am leaning more towards calling this finished as is.

Next decision: hand or long arm quilting? No rush to decide🙂.

Since I finished “Winterberries” – what’ in the hoop now for hand quilting? My “Hexagon Stars”, finally!

As usual, I had it basted by a longarmer. I started making – EPP, by hand – these stars in September 2017, so we are closing in on 9 years ago. Definitely one of those “long journey” projects. I am quilting it very simply because of all the seams, mostly straight lines, enough to hold it together:

I made all the templates for the appliqué for the top border for “Whimsical Vases”, chose my fabrics, cut out all the pieces, and basted most of them to the background. My sewing space looks pretty chaotic when I’m choosing the fabrics!😊:

I went ahead and cut out the squares of red fabric for the background for the Fancy Four Patch challenge so I could finalize the size of the quilt and there is just enough to comfortably make it 11 blocks across and 13 down. This photo shows 11 X 11 blocks, so only 2 rows to go!:

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My quilt Bee met last week and I’d like to share 2 beautiful quilts made by my friend Janice. The first is the “Pick a Petal” sew along from The Quilt Show:

The second is a pattern from Quiltmania. Both quilts are wonderful!:

Al and I had a lovely little getaway to the Camden, ME area since I last posted. That’s how I ended up in Belfast, ME at the quilt shop I love. I was very restrained this time and only bought a few things I really needed for specific projects 😊. We stayed in an Inn on the coast with lovely views:

We enjoyed walking around in both Camden and Rockport, exploring book stores, etc. and enjoying views:

We went to the Farnsworth Museum in Rockland, known for its Andrew Wyeth (and Wyeth family) collection. Here are a few paintings I enjoyed:

That one really show how important “value” is, vs. color.

Fitz Henry Lane is one of my favorites. Love the luminosity of the light on the water in this one. I spent some time studying this one by Lois Dobbs, especially her use of color, her composition, and – the curtain!!:

Then, incredibly, the New York Times featured this painting on June 1st in their series of articles on different paintings!! On the first Monday of every month they publish a picture of a painting, challenging viewers to spend 10 minutes looking at it. After you are done looking, they have a lengthy article about the painting and the artist. How lucky for me to be able to read so much about Lois Dodd – who is still alive in her 90’s – and the painting! If you have access to the NYT, I highly recommend this series!

For today, here’s one more by Wyeth:

You can enlarge any of my photos by clicking on them. We had some excellent meals out on our getaway, most notably for my, one of the best lobster rolls I’ve ever had! Now I have several Earthly Delights to share. Just as the NYT challenges readers to spend time studying paintings, I encourage you to spend, not 10 minutes 🙂, but at least several seconds enjoy the colors, shapes, and textures of the plants we see this time of year:

The rhododendrons in front of my house are at their best right now- 2 enormous one out by the stone wall and 2 moderately large ones up against the house:

I’m finishing my post today with a couple of animals! I am finally seeing some frogs at the pond:

And we spotted this little guy on our deck – he’s tiny, only about an inch and a half:

This deer ran right by us as a friend and I walked in the woods, then stood still and looked at us for a while before moving on:

We went to our granddaughter’s graduation during which she gave a wonderful valedictorian speech. I am walking (often with friends) and playing music, in addition to sewing, pretty much every day. Life is full; hard to believe this summer marks 10 years since I retired from practicing medicine. Seeing my granddaughter graduate has brought on much thinking about the passage of time. This month also marks 14 years since I started writing this blog. I’ve enjoyed it and the connection it has brought for me to the larger quilting community. Thank you for reading! I appreciate all your comments and try to answer as many as I can. I’ve so enjoyed meeting some of you in person and reading your blogs too.

Be kind, be grateful, and cherish each day, Gladi

Greetings dear readers! I finally did something that I have needed to do for a long time – an “official” inventory of all the completed quilts I have in my house. This is not all the quilts I have “made” – that would include those I’ve given away as gifts or donated to various causes over the years and I have not kept track of those. This is just an inventory of what I own and still possess. I have a few table toppers I’ve made and 3 small wall quilts made by someone else – I’m putting those things in a different inventory. This inventory is just what I have made and still possess and it adds up to exactly 100!!!!!! I, furthermore, divided these into 3 main categories: 1. Large- Bed or large Wall quilts: there are 35 in this category. 2. Small to Medium wall quilts, “throw” size, or “Crib” size – there are 32 in this category and 3. Mini or “Doll” quilts – 33 in this category. I’m surprised that each category contains almost the same number. After my first attempt at counting, I realized 3 quilts were missing and I had to move heavy furniture to check where I thought they might be. Sure enough, they were there alone with 3 others that I had completely forgotten about!😧. Here are the 6 quilts that have been hidden away for years:

This is a “strippy” style quilt with “Welsh” style hand quilting. It was my first “Christmas” quilt and I used beautiful sateen fabrics and completed it in 2001

My hand quilting was amazing back then; it’s still pretty good, but age has taken a toll!:

The next 3 are all quilts I entered into various guild challenges. For the first one we had to use 4 specific fabrics and not exceed a perimeter of 96 inches:

For this one we had to use a specific fabric that had pumpkins on it so there was a seasonal theme:

Hand appliqued, quilted, and embellished:

The next one we had to complete the sentence, “ I love…” and mine was “…my coffee in the morning.”:

The next one is a fantasy wall landscape quilt that I learned how to make in a class with Jo Diggs and which hung in one of my exam rooms at work:

And finally here is the second “Friendship” quilt I made with my quilting bee. We chose a black, white, and red color scheme. I was proud of the medallion center I designed and the black and white striped piping:

I need to type up this inventory of 100 quilts and put it in with my important papers, which includes all the quilt appraisals I’ve had done over the years. And I need to add to the list as new ones are finished. Making quilts continues to be an incredibly rewarding and satisfying creative pursuit and a balm to my soul and I don’t see that changing anytime soon!!!

Parts of the latest 4 Fancy Four Patch blocks:

I have made a decision about this project! This week’s 4 blocks makes 64. To reproduce the antique quilt, 152 bocks – 22 more weeks of 4 per week – are needed. I have had fun making these, but I think I would like to make a smaller throw size quilt and go only as large as using the piece of red French General fabric I have will allow me. Here’s the photo I showed a couple posts ago:

I believe I have enough of the red to make an approximately 50 X 60 inch quilt and I could enlarge it with borders. I’ll keep you posted! Meanwhile, the “Traveling the Silk Road” blocks are all sewn together and awaiting a border:

I may need to order some more red silk for that border.

Look what has come out of hibernation, where it has been for over a year!:

Ursula’s Spring Baskets! I am finally going to get the final 2 borders done, get it long arm quilted and put it in my guild’s show in October, and the give it to my granddaughter for Christmas!

I was sad to learn recently of the passing of Elly Sienkiewicz. She has been one of my quilting heroes and had a major influence on my quilting journey. My very first applique ever was one of Elly’s Baltimore Album blocks and it was love at first sight – I was hooked and applique has been a part of my creative process ever since. This remains one of my favorite quilts – the blocks are all her patterns:

Thank you, Elly for everything you did for the quilting community!❤️❤️❤️ Rest in peace!

Earthly Delights: Enjoying how the trees have filled out! From this:

To this in just a week:

I love this early spring green color!:

The delightful symmetry in these puffs:

So lucky to be a short drive away from the beach on hot days:

These tulips are an amazing coral and yellow color!:

Here I am with my 2 older granddaughters (18 and 7!) at Ursula’s annual dance recital!:

I’m proud of them both! Svetlana is valedictorian of her class of 320 students and accepted a full scholarship to study biochemistry at the University of Southern California starting this fall!

Be kind, be grateful, and cherish each day, Gladi

Greetings dear readers! “WInterberries” is finished!:

It’s a Jo Morton pattern from the “Red and Green Quilts” book. I started it in January 2024, not wanting to give up Christmas colors just yet 🙂. The top was finished in December 2024 and sat waiting in the “to be quilted” pile until this past December when I finally started hand quilting it. It’s hand appliqued and machine pieced and about 52 inches square. The pattern directions were for doing the applique via the “back basting” technique, which I don’t do, so I adapted it for needleturn applique.

I used many different reproduction style fabrics, as well as some contemporary reds from my stash:

The hardest part was the reverse applique of those little slits in the oak leaves!

A solid red from my stash was the best choice for binding:

Amazingly this is my first finish of the year(except for the little table topper I made for my bee’s donation basket)!:

I am also close to finishing the “Squircle” top – the last 20 blocks are done! Here they are on my design wall – not perfect lighting 🙁:

Did you notice the strip of red silk along the left border? Pretty sure I will add a red silk border, but not sure yet if it will be “plain” or have any designs, appliqué or pieced. Will wait till the blocks are sewn together to decide. I have started sewing them together in groups of nine:

I also keep plugging away at the Fancy Four Patch blocks. They are somewhat time and labor intensive in that it takes about 4 1/4 hours to make each week’s 4 blocks. I do them in small chunks of time over several days, but timed the process just to see. I’m approaching the half way mark and still enjoying it overall so far- for now anyway! – planning to still do the 152 blocks. I think those below bring me to 64:

I’m continuing to share more photos from the AQS show with you. The first is one of the major award winners and I’m so in awe of the talented composition and construction technique it takes to make a pictorial quilt like this shine:

Margaret Solomon Gunn won for best move able machine quilted quilt. Her pieces are always perfectly constructed and quilted and her original designs are always lovely:

I really liked this next one because I have a love of blocks set on point with sashing in between:

The alternate blocks displayed beautiful embroidery:

I loved the colors in this next one and the printed border is perfect, IMHO:

I was very impressed with the intricate construction of this next one, not least the checkerboard surround that requires use of different size pieces:

A gorgeous fall scene:

A Panama Pyramids design is on my “to do” list, so I enjoyed seeing this one at the show:

And for today, last, but not least, is a circle quilt – I love appliquéing circles so couldn’t resist showing this one:

The landscape is greening up and there are bits of color here and there! I am loving the buds and tiny leaves. Sharing some EARTHLY DELIGHTS:

Thinking about the wider world: Character matters and empathy and compassion are essential.

Be kind, be grateful, and cherish each day, Gladi

Greetings dear readers! Happy May Day! We are entering 2 of my favorite months of the year and I’m so looking forward to reveling in light, color, and warmth. Good news – I finally finished my “house” quilt top!

It’s been hibernating as I dithered about whether to add an extra border of a night sky with some stars, but none of my attempts at the stars looked right. My last attempt was to embroider them and the practice one I made looked like a spider😊. I also procrastinated because I was a bit worried about making sure I used the directional border print correctly and trying to match the strips as best I could. Finally I just decided to go for it and everything worked out well!

I mitered the corners and the match is not perfect, but certainly good enough!

I still haven’t chosen a name – thinking about something related to “community.”

I’m planning on piecing a back and pretty sure I’ll send this out for long arm quilting.

I apologize that these photos are more yellow toned than the quilt really is because of the lighting in my sewing room 🙁.

I’ve also been working on the right side border for the Whimsical Vases project:

Some closeups:

Hard to get the blue background color to show up correctly. Better in this photo:

Today I am sharing more photos from the AQS Show, but starting out with 2 gorgeous silk quilts, one from the AQS show and one from the NEQM exhibit of “Blue” quilts. Both are stunning!!! First, this one from the AQS show – just perfection in terms of design, color, and workmanship (machine):

The next one is by Bobbie Korengold and was part of the NEQM exhibit. It is also absolutely stunning and all the appliqué, embroidery embellishments, and quilting are done by hand!! I know Barbara and she is one of my quilting heroes. IMHO everything she does is a masterpiece!

After her comment about the back, I had to show you a photo! Feel free to enlarge and get a good look at her fabulous hand quilting!

Here is another beautiful appliqué quilt from the AQS show – I love red and green quilts!

Here’s another hand quilted masterpiece from Japan:

From a distance it looks pretty busy, but close up, the details are amazing:

The geometric design, use of color, and wonderful machine quilting made this quilt a standout:

When I was looking at the hand quilted quilts at the show with Wendy Reed and Barb Vedder, we discovered that this next quilt is made with the “potholder” method – each rectangle section was made and bound separately before being joined – Wendy’s specialty! The section bindings are made from an ombré fabric. The blocks feature reverse applique. A very unique quilt!

I’ll finish today’s showing with 2 lovely pictorial quilts:

This one is a fairly simple design, beautifully rendered:

I still have more from this show and plenty more from the NEQM exhibit to share in upcoming posts! I’ll finish today’s post with a few Earthly Delights 😊.

More turtles at the pond! A conga line!😊

Be kind, be grateful, and cherish each day, Gladi

Greetings dear readers! I’m making good progress on my projects. Here are 3 weeks of blocks for the Fancy Four Patch sew along:

This brings my total so far to 44 and here’s what they look like on the design wall:

I finally decided to take a look at a couple of background colors and the first one I tried is a French General red from 2017:

I LOVE it!! I love how the dark background gives the quilt an “Irish Chain” look that it really doesn’t have with a light background. And I love the red. Of course, unfortunately, I don’t have nearly enough of this fabric so I am going to have to either try to find it online – probably unlikely since it’s been 9 years – or find something similar. I originally was thinking maybe something green, so I decided to look:

I don’t like it as much. So now I’ll be on the lookout for an intense, dark red subtle print that works with reproduction fabrics.

I finished 20 more squircles for April – only one more month to go!! Here they are in groups of 4:

I made the last of the flower hexagons and got them basted to the background fabric in preparation for hand appliqué:

See the green one with the ladybugs? Fun! I am also making progress on the hand appliqué of the right side border of Whimsical Vases and the hand quilting of Winterberries (close to finishing!). Will save those till next post.

I made a set of coasters as a gift for the couple who hosted me when I went to Hartford for the AQS show and I love how they came out! I used thinsulate batting in them:

One of the blogs I really enjoy is Jocelyn’s “Canadian Needle Nana.” Several weeks ago she mentioned being interested in potentially making a Dear Jane quilt, but the book is out of print and old copies are expensive. I have the original book and quite some time ago decided I was never going to make the quilt so I wrote to her and offered her mine. She accepted and gave me a lovely gift card for Laundry Basket Quilts! I used it for a beautiful “fat eighth” pack of their “Autumn” line of “tone on tone” fabrics:

They all have a similar subtle leaf pattern and are so lovely!!:

My mind is swirling with ideas – what will I make?……

This month the program of my quilt guild (Cocheco Quilters of Dover, NH) was devoted to a raffle/penny sale of baskets to benefit a charitable organization that does wonderful things for cancer patients. Individuals and groups within the guild donated all the baskets. My quilt bee donated a basket full of games and treats and I made this table topper for it:

(Sorry, I forgot to download the finished quilt, which I hand quilted.). Here’s a shot of many of the fabulous baskets:

We raised over $2200.00! Mercifully I didn’t win any of the baskets 😊.

I am only sharing 3 quilts from the AQS New England show in this post, but there are several closeups of each one because all 3 are absolute marvels of appliqué!! The first one was one of my very favorite quilts in the show because of the phenomenal hand appliqué and, in my opinion, perfect amount and style of embroidery embellishment:

“Color My World” by Karen Kay Buckley. It won second place in its category, but I can now tell you that it won Best of Show at Paducah this week!!

Feel free to click on any photos to enlarge further and enjoy the details:

I love the fox!

The quilt that won Best of Show in New England was Pat Holly’s “ The Sample Book Quilt.” The applique is phenomenal, but this time by machine. She really has mastered this technique and the various designs are lovely:

Finally, here is the quilt that won the Best Hand Work award – another stunning applique quilt in which the details are mind boggling!

You may want to enlarge these to appreciate those details:

Many more quilts to come in future posts!!

EARTHLY DELIGHTS: Signs of spring are here! Hurrah! Forsythia dot the landscape as bits of spring green can be detected. Azaleas are opening. Shag Bark Hickory buds are cracking. My wooded paths are free of snow!

Happy stitching and happy spring to those in the Northern Hemisphere!

Be kind, be grateful, and cherish each day, Gladi

Greetings dear readers! For the first time in years I was able to attend a big international level quilt show – AQS New England in Hartford, CT last week. I was so lucky – a dear friend offered to go with me (she drove!), and her sister, who lives in Hartford, offered to host us for 2 nights. I had a truly wonderful time! Did I remember to get any photos of my friend and her sister to share? – No! I was also able to have lunch with Wendy Reed – The Constant Quilter – and Barb Vedder – Fun With Barb – (links to their blogs on the right) and walk through the “Hand Quilted” section of the show with them. Did I get photos of us? No! What I did get is a boatload of photos of fabulous quilts which I plan to share with you over the next several posts. On top of that, we stopped at the New England Quilt Museum on the way home and saw their exhibit featuring “blue” quilts 2 days before it closed, so I have lots of photos from that, too.

One of the things I love about big international shows is that usually there is a section of hand quilted quilts from around the world. For people who love hand quilting, it’s the crème de la crème of our craft. Today’s post features only hand quilted work. Feel free to click on any of the photos to enlarge them. Enjoy the hand worked details; I’m in awe!

First up is this one – love the colors and the hand stitched details:

Dance of the Butterfly by Wilhelmina Vandervoorde of Minnesota:

I was amazed by the stitching inside each hexagon!:

Flowers Woven Through Time by Masako Seki of Japan:

Lots of old kimonos and silk in this one:

Berries and Cream by Linda Roy of Tennessee – one of my long time idols!:

Blessings of the Sun by Naomi Oromo of Japan:

Gorgeous colors!

Morning Road by Toyoko Nakajima of Japan:

Lapin by Megumi Mezuno – fantastic details on this one!:

Lollipop by Antonia Kort-Hering of Holland, Netherlands – amazingly dense and tiny stitches!:

Family by Yoshiyuki Ishizaki:

“Posies” Pirouette in Joy by Barbara Clem, another of my hand quilting idols and one of my favorites in the show:

And, finally, for today, “To My Father” by Sochico Chiba – gorgeous and also a favorite:

Would you believe I haven’t even shared yet the quilt that won the Best Hand Work award? It’s amazing and from Japan, of course 😊, and I’ll share it , and more, in my next post. Hope to do an update on my own work then and will try to post again soon. Meanwhile, spring is starting to show itself! I made it down to the pond and the river and saw my first turtles of the season:

Be kind, be grateful, and cherish each day, Gladi

Greetings dear readers! Quilting retreats are a real treat! They are wonderful getaways from your normal daily routine, a chance to make progress on projects, and, most of all, a wonderful way to connect with others who share your quilting passion, learn, and have fun! I went on a retreat with about 30 other members of my guild (Cocheco Quilters Guild, Dover, NH) last week in Kennebunkport, ME. I loved every minute. We had a huge space in which to spread out:

It was so much fun to see what everyone else was working on. Here are some of them. First up, a rhino waiting for the little one to be added 😊:

Someone was checking out a special ruler for these triangular shapes:

Anne was working on a Sandra Mellon turtle pattern with lots of tiny pieces:

Mary was building around a Bird of Paradise panel:

Ramona brought her amazing embroidery machine and worked on decorating her vases:

These embroidery decorations add so much to the vase:

Marie finally finished a top that had been simmering for a long time!:

Judey finished a Quilt of Valor top:

I absolutely LOVED this cat quilt and am thinking about making one for my 2 year old granddaughter:

Someone completed a beautiful One Block Wonder in my favorite color:

This one is being made for the maker’s teenage son:

A lovely sampler:

Of course there were shopping trips to nearby quilt shops! Look at the beautiful pieces of fabric Sue bought to go with the gorgeous border she had previously purchased- infinite possibilities here:

I really enjoyed seeing quilter extraordinaire, Rainy Stevens, at the retreat. She was hand quilting a quilt given to her by a dear quilting friend when she passed away, so it’s very meaningful and full of emotion for her:

The fabrics are from the Cocheco line that came out in 2001 and are reproductions of those made in the 1800’s by the Cocheco Mills in our guild’s town:

Check out Rainy’s fabulous hand quilting!:

Here’s Rainy with another project she brought with her:

You must enlarge the next photo to see the stunning details on this quilt – her handwork is incredible!:

EVERY STITCH on the quilt is by hand!

So, what did I do at the retreat? I finished Week 8’s Fancy Four Patch blocks and got to see the 32 of them on the design wall, staggered as they will eventually look:

I appliqued all 20 of the March squircles and got to see how all 140 of them (40 to go!) looked together:

A bit closer:

I started working on the second (right side) border for Whimsical Vases:

Some examples of the fussy cutting for some of the pieces:

And I also did some hand quilting on Winterberries – I’m getting close to finishing!!:

Whew! That’s a lot of images to absorb on this post! I’m going to finish with a few Earthy Delights. At the retreat, we were within easy walking distance of the beach:

The snow has now almost completely melted and the path to the pond is navigable once again!:

Buds are not yet opening here in northern New England, but faded beauties from past seasons are no longer snow covered:

I gladly participated in a local No Kings demonstration last Saturday! It was cold and breezy, but our group picked a sunny spot and we were glad for the freedom to express ourselves.

Wishing everyone a happy spring and happy stitching/creating!

Be kind, be grateful, and cherish each day, Gladi