Going in Circles

We left home to run a few errands and I grabbed some quilts.  The day wasn’t especially light filled, but I’ve learned that if I don’t have a camera and quilts, the perfect stage presents itself.  

We visited Seventh Street Salvage in their downtown location…and what did we see but a cart sitting in front of circles?  Well, well, well….I just happened to have a few circles in the car.

Even though I had written about 108, I wanted a photo of it in an outdoor setting.  I had grabbed it and a couple of other quilts with circles and thrown them in the car.  

After we did our shopping inside (the garlic/olive artisan bread is delicious, by the way), we got permission to snap some photos and brought out the quilts.

I love the stars in the circles, the repetition of them in mass (like quilt blocks that way), and I am descended from Wheelers, so there’s that, too.  The stars in the circles are impressive, as well.  I may need to find some quilts with stars to bring back to this spot.  And, make a quilt with stars inside circles???? oh, my, the ideas just won’t stop!

The lone magenta quilt is one I haven’t written about before, Going in Circles.  In 2018, our guild’s challenge was “2”.  We were challenged to make a quilt using only 2 fabrics.  As always, I explored several options, experimented with a couple, but decided to do something totally out of my normal “look”. 

I spliced thin strips of a multicolored batik in a modern sort of piecing layout with a Cherrywood solid fabric.  I drew intersecting circles all over, planning to quilt each defined area with a different motif.  But when I got the circles stitched, I liked the clean look of it, so decided just to add some pearls at the intersections.

To continue the clean modern look, I didn’t bind the quilt, instead faced it with more of the graphic batik.  The backing is a hand-dyed fabric in soft muted colors.  

This quilt hangs on a rack in my sewing room and I see it every day.  But writing about it makes me realize that I need to do more of this kind of piecing.  It was fun – and I love the graphic result!  

I’ve written about the quilt in the center, Dots and Vines, before, and linked to it recently.  But in case you missed it, its story is here.

And, the blue dots on brown is my previous post, 108.

Seventh Street Salvage has appeared before in photo shoots, too.  Here, and here.

A note about the photos. My signature appears on most of these photos, but it is a collaborative effort at our house. I have learned to take photos and do a bit of post processing. But sometimes Jim and I swap cameras depending on where we are standing and which lens we need….and sometimes we forget who took what. And now there’s the issue of a new camera whose photos won’t import on his older computer. But I don’t have some of the processing software he has …so on this shoot more than ever, we’ve passed digital images back and forth to make this wall and the quilts impressive! His masterful touch in the digital darkroom makes everything look good!

Something Feathered

Truth:  I have not minded staying at home for a year.  

Another truth:  Seeing my quilting sisters this week was glorious!  

Thursday was my quilt guild’s first meeting after more than a year.  It was hard to predict how many people would come – but it was wonderful.  It was great to see everyone, to visit, and to share a meal.  

Our guild’s annual challenge is normally hung in November…since we missed that in 2020, we did it yesterday.  This challenge was Something Feathered – the quilt had to include something feather related and a bit of yellow.  Challenge Queen Tess often throws a color component our way.

As I do every year, I spent a lot of time thinking of all the ways I could incorporate something feathered into a quilt.  Thinking of something wasn’t hard…narrowing it down to a challenge entry was.  I actually made several things with the challenge in mind…more on that later…but the quilts that were hung showed that others of many of the same approaches I did…cyanotype images of feathers, vintage linens with birds on them, feathered designs in quilting.

There were stories, too.  That’s what I love…the stories that are stitched into a quilt and into our souls.

Members vote for their favorite of the quilts displayed.  The winning quilt yesterday was Genie’s Cardinals for Cora.  Cora is Genie’s three-year-old granddaughter and when she visits, she exclaims with delight over “GiGi’s birds,” her name for the cardinals in Genie’s yard.  Now for generations, when people see this quilt, they will pause in their busy lives and think of a delightful toddler spending time with her grandmother.  Can anything be more beautiful?

The second place ribbon went to Marsha’s Murder Among the Posies. Marsha is like me in that she’d much rather shop in an antique store than a modern fabric store.  She loves to find vintage linens with a history and combine them to tell a new story.  Her quilt title was educational, too, reminding us that flocks of different bird species have different names.  For crows, a flock is a murder.

Third place went to Dewey for Doodles.  Dewey is a gifted longarm quilter.  He tells us that he was bored one day, having caught up with his quilting tasks on hand during a retreat, so he layered some black fabric, played with bold colored threads, and just doodled.  Beautiful!  We all wish we could so casually doodle like he does.

Sherry brought two entires.  The stuffed birds on the branch got my attention…so lovely.  She named this one Delora’s Birds; remembering her Aunt Delora who loved pretty embellished linens and who spent time doing crafty things with Sherry during her childhood.  Sherry  brought another entry, too- Sunshine on a Cloudy Day. Our display space did not show off Sherry’s birds on the branch well, so she sent me photos from home. Once she suspends it from her ceiling again, we will replace the photo with that image. Zoom in on the closeup image to see the bird’s feet…a marvel in engineering for Sherry’s resume!

Marie entered Winging It, a small piece made from an extra block from an earlier quilt.  Marie says when the Northern Rough-winged Swallows appear, she pulls that quilt out and drapes it across a chair in her den so she can enjoy the season inside and out.

Everyone was impressed with Shirley’s entry, Yankee Doodle Mickey.  Not only was this quilt large, but it was Shirley’s first “real quilt,” she says.  She used Disney fabric and incorporated feather stitching in some of the quilting.  We are very impressed, Shirley, and look forward to seeing what comes next from this beginner!

Helen’s entry, All Feathered Up and Nowhere to Go 2020, combined cyanotype images of feathers and commercially printed feathers to make an eye-catching wall hanging.  Helen likes blue almost as much as I do, so the blueprinting process on fabric was fun.

Angie’s entry is framed under glass, so please ignore the glare.  Entitled I Believe, it is a beautiful combination of appliqué and embroidery.

Page’s entry, A Winter Evening, is a cardinal ready for display during the holidays.

Kathy is ready for fall with Pumpkin Season.

Patti’s entry, Pandemic Flowers, includes a feathered design quilted into the border.  Patti says she gets the prize for including the most of Tess’s required yellow fabric.

Sharon’s quilt, To God Be The Glory, features a beautiful stained-glass dove and divine quilting.

Gladys, one of our most prolific quilters, ( I believe she made more than 100 quilts while staying safe at home during Covid), brought two entries for Something Feathered.  I’m A Feathered Star, and I’m a Wanna Be Feathered Star (the blue one).

My entry was this appliquéd image of a Singer Featherweight sewing machine.  As I said, I had plenty of feathered ideas and even stitched some with this challenge in mind.  But once I had fun with the featherweight and the play on words, I decided to let this be my entry.  I called it Threading My Featherweight.  Jim’s title suggestion, “Bob-bob-bobbin Along” was better – but I didn’t ask for his input until I had stitched a blue bird….maybe I’ll do another one with a robin doing the work and use his title.

I’ve written about our guild’s challenges many times before…they really have enriched my quilting life, and I’m sure other members share that feeling. Click on the challenge category in the sidebar to see more of these stories.