"Hexie Dragon" One Block Wonder #2 November 1st, 2014

Today I gave my hairdresser Paul a gift for his 50th birthday. He turned 50 in January. I know, better late than never.  I had shown Paul a picture of my "One Block Wonder" quilt a few years ago.  He was fascinated by the patterns that develop in the quilt pattern.  I told him I would make him a quilt someday, and he gave me some upholstery fabric with the colors that reflect his home decor as inspiration. It took me about two years to find the right fabric that had the colors he likes that would work with the "One Block Wonder" pattern. 

Here Is the fabric:

It's called "Tatsu" by Alexander Henry. I was worried that Paul might not like dragons, but it turns out his birth year was the year of the dragon! 

Here's the quilt this morning ready to be delivered. It's cold and raining here today, so no outside pictures with natural light.

He loves the quilt. Doesn't it feel great to surprise someone with a quilt? 

Pensacola Wedding

Wow! It's been awhile since I've blogged. It has been a busy summer. I visited my friend Joyce at her home in Englewood, Florida in July, went to see Justin Timberlake in Albany NY in August, my sister Marie's favorite, went to Hilton Head South Carolina for the first week in September, and today I'm sitting in the airport in Mobile Alabama waiting for my flight back to Boston.  I attended my friend Joyce's daughter, Kristen's wedding in Pensacola this weekend. We had a great time!  Mark loved it because he got to wear shorts and one of his Hawaiian shirts, with bare feet. The wedding was on the beach Saturday afternoon at 4:00 pm.  It was perfect.  There were huge clouds behind us threatening thunder and lightening and rain, but many people whispering prayers won out. No rain on Kristen's big day. 

Here are the bride and groom dancing in the sand.

Here is the bride with a rainbow!

Here she is with the quilt I gave her at her wedding shower in Plymouth,MA. 

Postcards from Maui. She and Kevin met there when she was a travel nurse. She loved it!

I collected the fabric during several trips to Hawaii over the past six years. The blocks are 4 by 6 postcards leftover from the king size quilt I made for myself. But I can't find a picture of it on my iPad right now. Oh well! The fun continues on Friday when I head to New York for Quilters Take Manhattan!

Blooming Four Patch

I take a class at the Button Box Quilt Shop in Wellesley called Stashbusters! Only I end up buying stuff to add to the stash to make the stash busters quilt :-(( but I enjoy it. This past year we worked from the Twist on Traditions book.  I made a great uneven nine patch for my sister Michelle for Christmas....

And the back from panels...

Here's the label...

She loves it!! But it didn't bust my stash... Cause it was made from donated stash (thank you J.T.)

Next we worked on the Blooming Nine Patch. I've made this 

before and had no interest in making and trimming 196 nine patches and 196 4-3/4" squares..... So I decided to make it a Blooming four patch instead. Thought it would go much quicker.  Well I cut the fabric and started sewing.  But I didn't like the way the fabrics worked together, so I had to break it up, cut more fabric, and ended up making two quilts.

Pinks and aqua and green Kaffe and Brandon.... Lap size

And blues and purples and orchid and pinks... Queen size.

Love them both. ...

Linking up to Crazy Mom Quilts

Awesome giveaway at Lily's Quilts today from Pink Castle

Check it out here:

http://lilysquilts.blogspot.com/2014/05/cotton-steel-monthly-club-144-fq.html

144 Fat Quarters by Cotton and Steel. 

Good Luck!!

Traveling Stash Winner

Congratulations to Texas Quilting Gal!  She is the winner of the traveling stash box #6. Texas, I'll be in touch for your snail mail address and send it on the way soon.  Thanks for playing along. 

Mary W. Quiltz in Boston

The Traveling Stash Giveaway

Well, once again I have been reading many many blogs, and neglecting my own. I can't believe my last post was in February.  I enter lots of giveaways and recently won the Traveling Stash box #6 via malini'squilts.blogspot.com.  Turns out she's a Massachusetts neighbor of mine.  This saved her the postage of mailing me the box.  I happened to be taking a class with Victoria Finlay Wolfe sponsored by Marketplace Quilts in Salem, MA.  Victoria was great. Very inspiring with lots of information and playing with fabric.  Hema very nicely delivered the box to me while I was in the class. I opened the box while I was in the class.  Turns out there is some lovely and varied choices of fabric and notions.  My neighbor in the class oohed and awed about several pretty blue and green fat quarters that would work great for her project.  Just so happened she brought a huge bag of fat quarters with her.  Sew, we made a deal and she took the FQ's she needed, and let me have my pick from her FQ stash to replace in the traveling stash. Here is the photo without the blue and green FQ's:

Here are the FQ's I added from her stash:

I think they make a nice addition. I added a modern pattern, and switched out a pretty batik and a little jelly roll surprise. Want a chance to play with the Traveling Stash? Leave me a comment and let me know about the most recent class you attended by Friday May 16th, and I will be happy to send it your way. Sorry, open to US residents only.... I don't have many followers so I would be very grateful if you share this with your Quilty friends.  Mary in Boston.

Quilting with a Modern Slant

I went to a book launch for "Quilting with a Modern Slant" by Rachel May at North Hill in Needhan, MA with Jeanette and Patty from our Proper Bostonian Quilt Guild this afternoon. The book has the stories of seventy modern quilting artists with lots of photos and inspiration for quilters. Four of the artists were there to show and talk about their work that Rachel included in her book.  First up was Valerie Maser-Flanagan with her beautiful improv designs. 

 

Next we met sculptor, Danielle Krcmar, who had a wonderfully descriptive way of telling us about her work, including a quilt made of shirts called, Beach.

The next artist was Rebecca Loren, who met Rachel through the Boston Modern Quilt Guild where both are members. She is a very enthusiastic quilter whose story mirrored my own.  Finding a creative outlet through quilting and the wonderful friends and community that develop because of quilting.  Her palette for her "Crazy Grandma" was soft and neutral with traditional fans in a random layout that moved your eye across a large well loved quilt. 

Her quilt with paper pieced hexagons appliquéd on a pretty blue linen was scrappy and traditional, but included lots of negative space favored by many "modern" quilters.  

Jan Johnson rounded off the afternoon with her original embroidery pieces. It was a great afternoon spent with friends. It was fun meeting Rachel May and hearing her tell us about her book.  Someday the Proper Bostonians and the Boston Modern quilters should get together for a joint meeting.  We "seam" to have a lot in common. 

Fantastic Giveaway

Maureen has a fantastic giveaway this weekend by her sponsor, Hypernoodle.  Fist prize is 15 yards and second prize is 7 yards!!

http://maureencracknellhandmade.blogspot.com/?m=1

Good Luck!! 

Happy Birthday Sean!

Here we are at the Newport Boat Show in September.  Can't wait for the nice weather to come back.  

A Charlie Brown Christmas

Here are a few pictures of a quilt I made for my brother in law, Jim, as a Christmas gift.  The blocks are wonky log cabins done with a quilt as you go tutorial by Maureen Cracknell.  

Here is the label.

And the back.

I gave it to him yesterday at our family holiday party.  He loves it.  😊