My first inspiration for this probably came eight years ago when we moved to Powell River. From my kitchen window I can see a big tree across the street on the grounds of City Hall. I’ve seen it through many seasons, as well as some storms that have broken branches but never toppled the tree. I kept thinking I should take photos of the tree at each equinox; of course that hasn’t happened yet.

The Splendid Sampler 2 sew-along that I’m involved in had Flowering Tree block; someone in the Facebook community suggested that it would be nice done in colours to represent each of the four seasons. That sparked a memory I had of a Hands Across the Water block that was to be done in different colours based on your last name (the colours represented four different seasons).

About the same time we had a reminder that our miniature was due early in September. I knew that when the Hands Across the Water block came out I purchased fabric to make all four seasons. The fabric was in a bin, buried beneath several other bins, but when I opened it there was no pattern.

I checked online for the pattern but I didn’t remember what year the block was from (2015 as it turns out) or which Guild was sponsoring the event (Quadra Island). But I am in charge of our blog site and I hoped that at some point the block had been posted. As t turned out the pattern had been removed quite some time ago but I was able to find it in my saved files.

I don’t generally sew with batiks (they don’t have enough “give” to let me fudge on the sizing) but I bought the fabric so long ago I probably hadn’t yet realized I didn’t like batiks. The block was paper-pieced so it was quite precise and I didn’t need the fudging. The quilting pattern in the sashing is called Cascade.

Thursday, August 9, 2018

I couldn’t remember how much I had left to do on my bag; it’s been a long time since I was with my Thursday group. As it turned out, even after an hour spent catching up, I was able to finish it this afternoon.

The selling factor on this bag, although I swore I would never make another bag, was that it was three bags in one. I’m not sure how often I’ll switch between the three models, but I think I will use of the bag quite often.

The bag is fully lined and Gail altered the pattern to add four very generous pockets on the inside. The turquoise zipper closes one of the pockets.

I’m never making another bag – and this time I mean it!

I usually take part in the Guild challenge; a challenge put out by the member who won the challenge from the previous year. Winners are chosen in a draw and I was always very careful not to put my name in the hat. At last year’s year-end party when the challenges were on display someone remembered mine and added my name. I wasn’t worried though because I seldom win a draw. I think my streak continued because when my name was pulled I certainly didn’t consider myself a winner.

Here is the challenge I put to our members:

My challenge to you is to use the enclosed fabric as the background for a standard-sized placemat (~12” x 18”). But not just any placemat – one that totally belongs to you.

Using your three initials (first, middle, and last names) one of those initials should represent the block pattern you will use on the front of your placemat; one of the initials should represent the main colour in your block,; finally, the last initial should represent the quilting motif you pick to quilt your finished masterpiece. The block you put on the front of the placemat can be a minimum of 6” to a maximum of 10”.

Your three initials can be used in any order to represent any of the required elements. For example, Annette Delores Baker could be a Drunkard’s Path block in Aqua and quilted with a Baptist Fan motif.

Since I came up with the Challenge I had to take part. The block on my placemat is called “Summer Solstice” (Sherrida),  I picked Emerald Green as my main colour (Eldine), and the quilting motif is “Morning Glory” (McKnight).

 Here is a closer view of the Morning Glory motif.

I took a class at our local quilt shop when Deb first opened – she’s just had her 4th Anniversary sale so you know this has been in the works for a long time. Actually it hasn’t been “in the works” because when I finished the class it went into a bin (not even half-done) and never saw the light of day again until this month.

It took a long time to stitch all those diagonal lines; they started out (in the class) at half an inch apart but by the end of the stitching they were meant to be the width of the walking foot but even that wasn’t particularly accurate.

It was scary when I made the first cuts between the lines but once I realized when I got in the channel I really couldn’t get out of it things moved along quickly. I knew that Deb had a special way of cutting so the chenille showed on both sides but all my quilting friends said “No, No, No!” So I did as they said but I’ve later learned how Deb expected it to be done (I guess I’ll have to make another one)!

The final fun was getting it bound and into the washing machine to let all those layers of flannel create the fuzz.

This one doesn’t yet have a home – it may be staying in mine!