Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Winter scrapping by GSKotowski

I literally have years of fabric scraps and it is time to either use em or toss em! This year seems to be the baby boom starting with our own daughter and those of dear friends. This meant baby quilts!!

Years ago Judy Siccama taught me to paper piece, so I decided to explore what this pile of mostly batiks could yield ! I 
totally forgot how frustrating sewing backwards on paper fueled by wine can be! After several mishaps, I got back into it and and started humming along!
 
Of course I ran out of paper up in Vermont, so had to resort to using copy paper. Windows 8 would not allow me to download the piecing disk from Carol Doak's book, so I had to hand copy my last printed pattern.  A minor side-track to my mission! I will share that I actually prefer the copy paper to the purchased foundation paper when it is time to remove  (another story for another time)
So from this pile
I created these
And ultimately this beauty
So I can only offer that returning to traditional piecing is a great way to challenge your right and left brain and de-clutter at the same time!  

Sunday, October 19, 2014

Diane is Hopping in Turkey!

Welcome to our Sisters blog!

Thank you, Diane Wright, for including all your Sisters in the world wide blog hop.  I am sure Turkey will get a place of honor in one of Diane's future quilts.  Past travels and stays in Australia, Japan, China have generated an amazing variety of artwork.

In our last meeting, we shared some of what we are working on.  Here is a picture of MaryLyn showing her progress on a new quilt.  This piece has an unusual background story.  It was not birthed in a quiet moment, but in the heat of frenzied frustration.  MaryLyn quickly gathered her oranges and blues, chose a white for background, and started cutting.  She did not tell us why she picked those colors, but they perhaps represent the mood (orange) that needed to be cooled down (blue).  The next morning, she showed us a few sewed rows of her work, which has grown in the meantime.



Here is a project I'm working on for our December Guilford Library exhibit.  This will end up being a nine patch of circles, arranged with the help of Sisters,



The inspiration for the above piece is the following nine patch: 



Next time, I'll explain how I jumped from squares and triangles to circles!

Friday, August 1, 2014

What a fun day we had! We were invited by Kathryn Greene of Greene Art Gallery to quilt in the Greene Habitat for Artists today.  This was wonderful opportunity for our group to share with the community what we do. The gardens provided a beautiful and inspirational place to quilt and share our love of quilting others.
Diane sharing some of her Sentinelles
Debbie's awesome handquilting with pearl cotton

Mary Lyn's show and tell
Barb and Jane hand quilting

Mary Lyn, Kay and Linda enjoying some conversation and quilting

Prayer flags

Carol, Yvette and Gail enjoying the gardens


Friday, July 11, 2014

Today's Show and Tell

Yvette Howard's triplet grandchildren have created two baby quilts this week for their former nanny's expected twins.  The two tops are colorful, original and SO happy.  What a wonderful gift...for both receivers and makers.  Well done!

Monday, April 21, 2014

Friday's Show and Tell

I was so glad to be able to make Friday's meeting.  I've been busy at work and have missed a few.  Show and tell is always my favorite part of our meetings.  Here are some pictures, enjoy!
Carol's modernized 9 patch

Debbie's recent purchase - reminds me of our sentinelles

Gina's art work - so creative

Janine's hand-quilting project

Robin's modernized 9 patch

Friday, April 4, 2014

Sisters in Cloth Meeting - April 4, 2014

There was a lot of great energy in the room today at the Sisters in Cloth weekly meeting. Here are a few pieces from our "show and tell."

Autumn Years Squared  by Diane Wright for the SAQA Benefit Auction to be held in September. She is totally prepared for this one!  The background is a black linen napkin and the tree was made with her own stamp design. Machine and hand quilted.

Carol Ludington is working on a yummy wool appliqué from Wooly Lady. The wools are rich and warm and her work is second to none!

Barbara Adams is working on a baby quilt to be auctioned with other baby goodies at the SARAH auction. Her fabric combinations are terrific and so fresh!

Debra Bento just completed commissioned toddler size quilt. It consists of mostly oranges and yellows from one of her favorite designers, Lotta Jansdotter. 



Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Williston Northampton Installation

Diane and David Wright, Marie Shepherd and Gail Kotowski traveled up to Easthampton, MA to install Double Take at the Grubbs Gallery. Many thanks to Dave who also photographed the Exhibit!

The reception will be on March 23 from 2-4 and the take down will be on the 28th.




Another Opening...another Show

Tuneful, no?  We are celebrating our final exhibit of our packaged exhibit, Double Take.  It has been on the road for three years now, primarily along the CT shoreline.  Yesterday, however, it made it out of state to Easthampton MA where member Gail Kotowski secured a venue at the Williston Northampton School's Grubb Gallery.

Check out the other photos at www.dianewrightquilts.blogspot.com.

Yvette Howard's piece with inspiration photo by Rosemary DeLucco Alpert

Janine Anderson-Bays' and Debbie Bento's pieces with inspiration photos by Rosemary DeLucco Alpert

Evelyn Judson's  and Diane Wright's pieces with inspiration photos by Rosemary DeLucco Alpert

Gail Kotowski's and Diane Wright & Linda Zimmerman's pieces with inspiration photos by Rosemary DeLucco Alpert

Barb Adams' , Robin Wolek's and Marie Shepherd's pieces with inspiration photos by Rosemary DeLucco Alpert

Sunday, February 23, 2014

Class with Kate Themel Part II

After the post from our first session in Kate Themel's class, I thought I'd share some pictures from yesterday's workshop. We all improved our free-motion quilting skills. In fact, it was a new skill to some.

Kate explaining the process for the day.


 Kate demonstrating the method.

 MaryLyn doing her first free-motion quilting.
Very impressive indeed.


 Diane totally engrossed in her work.

 Carol hard at work stitching.

 Alice working on a practice piece in order to hone her skills.

 Barb contemplating the next step.

 Betty Warner doing a smaller piece before tackling a large one with many magnolias.

 Gina, Janine, and Robin.

Ruth Anne trying to work around the tension issues of her machine.

It was fun to be working together on a lovely project. We all jumped at the chance to take a class with Kate. 




Sunday, February 16, 2014

Magnolia Workshop

Yesterday members of our group & some friends participated in a workshop taught by Kate Themel.  We learned how to create our magnolias using Kate's layering technique. A great time was had by all.  We are definitely looking forward to the second part next week - how to use machine quilting to enhance the appearance of our magnolias.

Here is a picture of Kate's class sample

Some of our work....