Zippy Strippy Pouch

Posted on June 16, 2014 by Norma Hanson

Here is my zippy pouch.

We had an exchange at our Guild meeting with another Guild. I didn’t sign up for the exchange as I wasn’t sure I would be able to meet the deadline. I have wanted to make one of these for a while and after seeing everyone’s wonderful zippy pouches at last week’s guild meeting, I decided to try my hand at making one last weekend.

This is the second pouch I made. Let’s just say, the first pouch was a lesson well learned. The pattern is Zippy Strippy from Atkinson Designs. I used the fusible batting on the first pouch as per the directions in the pattern. I wasn’t thrilled with the results so I used Warm and Natural batting for the second version and heavily quilted it. I boxed the corners as per the pattern instructions on the first version and I wasn’t happy with the results so the second time I cut out a square on the bottom two corners and then pieced together and got a much better result. It could be that my fusible batting was thicker than that used by Terry Atkinson in her pattern so that may be why I wasn’t happy with the results on the first version.

I am thrilled with version number two! Now I need to make another before I forget all those lessons I learned!

Lions Gate Quilters Guild – Album of Quilts

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Yesterday, a friend and I attended the Lions Gate Quilters Guild show.

As we entered the show, we were presented with these gifts: A box top mug rug kit and a letter opener.

The quilts were fabulous! The following pictures are my favorites. Enjoy!

The following write up explains the story behind this three-panel quilt. You may have to click on the image to make it appear big enough to read.

After viewing the quilts, we headed to see what the vendors had to offer. These fabrics “followed” me home. 🙂

This is a fabric by Michael Miller called, Hooked.

I only purchased a fat quarter of this one. I thought it would be perfect for the outside of a zippy pouch.

These four fabrics are, left to right: 1) Acacia by Tula Pink, Butterfly Wings, 2) Acacia by Tula Pink, Hummingbird, 3) Soho chic by Sandy Gervais for Moda, 4) From Outside In by Malka Dubrowsky for Moda

I love Sea Turtles so I couldn’t leave this green Honu print behind.

Convocation 2014

Posted on June 13, 2014 by Norma Hanson

Today, our son received his Bachelor of Computer Information Systems degree. He also made the Dean’s List of Distinguished Students. (The Deans’ List recognizes those university students who have maintained a high academic standard throughout their course of studies.)

A very proud mom!

Mom, Dad, and Graduate.

Graduate with his sister.

All four of our wonderful kids!

Graduate with my parents.

Graduate with my husbands’s mother.

Abbotsford Quilt Guild’s Quilts in the Valley Show

Posted on June 7, 2014 by Norma Hanson

This weekend, the Abbotsford Quilters’ Guild is hold their show, Quilts in the Valley. I headed to the show yesterday. The following are some of the quilts that caught my attention.

This quilt is Hanging Garden by Cozy Quilt Design. I have seen this quilt done before but never in a scrappy version. Of course the quilting on this one was fabulous too!

This was an original design. This one caught my eye–likely because of the recent triangle workshop I attended. This quilt is from the pattern Mesmerize by Natalia Bonner.

This quilt was from Glorious Patchwork by Kaffe Fassett. I could make this one today as I recognized many of the floral fabrics in this one as being in my stash as well! I think someone has been collecting floral fabrics for as long as I have! This quilt made me smile. It depicts so many typical fall, winter, and spring days here on the coast. I love the brightly coloured umbrellas that brighten the otherwise grey day. The quilting on this one was perfect. You really get the feeling that it is raining. This quilt was in the Quilts of Valor booth. The bluework blocks were definitely Canadian and really caught my eye. These quilts were completed as part of the guild’s Scrappy Stars Mystery. The pattern source is Save The Scraps by Gayle Bong. This quilt was getting a lot of attention. The maker raw edge appliqued the circles. But before she did that, she pinked the edges. The quilting on this one definitely made the quilt. The pattern source was Quilts and More, Bubble Up by Sachiko Aldous.
Scrappy quilts always get my attention. The source given for this quilt was just Quilters Newsletter Magazine. Too bad the designer was not credited as this was a fabulous quilt.
While at the show, I sat through a demonstration on the Split Nine Patch quilt. This block is so effective in lights and darks. The gal demonstrating said that she was inspired by a picture of a similar quilt on Pinterest. Who of us has not been inspired by Pinterest! 🙂 My favorite quilt of the whole show was actually this one. The quilt maker worked together with her father who upholstered furniture for a living. The two of them worked together on this quilt…even as her father was diagnosed with cancer and went through treatments. The chair was finished and one week later her father passed away with cancer. What a fabulous memory of her father! There were a lot of vendors at this show and I found a couple of things to purchase. I can’t show any photos of my purchases as they are part of the two challenges I am working on. There were a lot of other things that tempted me, but all I had to do was think about the many projects on the go at home already and I was able to walk away without buying anything new.

Scrap Quilts Workshop With Dianne Jansson

Posted on May 24, 2014 by Norma Hanson

On Thursday, May 22, 2014, I attended a workshop led by Dianne Jansson of Pritchard, BC. The class was a scrap quilt workshop where we learned to work with value rather than colour. Dianne led us through a series of exercises using a combination of light, medium, and dark value fabrics to design projects.

This is a picture of Dianne showing our Guild one of her many quilts during her trunk show the night before our class.

To give our triangle stash some variety, we brought five bags containing 20 triangles to swap with other class participants. This was a good thing, as I soon discovered that my stash is predominately mediums. I don’t have many fabrics of dark value in my stash.

Dianne led us through a series of exercises where we worked with our triangles on our flannel boards. This class was not about sewing, but about developing the skill of value placement in our quilts.

In the first exercise, we made Pinwheel blocks–one that was dark and light, one that was dark and medium and one that was medium and light. We learned that using your camera on its black and white setting would help us see value easier.

Lesson 2 was to make a Nine Patch from four sets of half triangles arranged in a Square in a Square setting. If you look closely, you will see the star that is formed in the center of the piece. If you put dark value fabrics as the star points, the star is a little easier to see. In lesson 3, we arranged our blocks so that a dark value square on point was visible.

Lesson 4 was an Attic Window arrangement. Dianne told us that this would be the ugliest arrangement she would have us do. She was right. I guess mine was so ugly that I forgot to take a picture in colour!

Lessn 5 reminded me of a Birds in Flight arrangement. This arrangement was my favorite.

After working through the exercises with Dianne, I learned that value refers to how light or dark a color is in relation to surrounding colors. By using value rather than the colour of a fabric, I can decide how to arrange fabrics in my quilts to either make them blend or contrast with each other. It is this varying degree of contrast which will allow the design to emerge, not the colour.

These three quilts were Dianne’s class samples.

This was a great class. I am anxious to put my new skills to use in my future projects!

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Silver Thimble Quilting

Every quilt has a story to tell; if you are quiet and listen, you will hear it.

Author Archives: Norma Hanson