Shweshwe Adventure...Friday Finish

The plan was to have two Friday Finishes today, but my vacation day was temporarily hijacked by a work emergency.  But I am so very happy that my Shweshwe quilt is finally finished.  It's been two years since I bought the fabric in South Africa.

I wanted the focus to be on the fabric, so just simple stitch-in-the ditch quilting.  Every time I look at the quilt, I see a different pattern, so didn't want to take away from that.

Shweshwe Adventure

As I began to sew on the binding, the weather turned to thunder and lightning, and then the rain started.  A Friday Finish was in the home stretch, but I wouldn't be able to take a photo and share.  But I powered through and finished the binding.  As I was clipping threads, the rain stopped and the sun started to came back.  Grab shoes and camera and hit the backyard as fast as possible.  I wanted to get a few photos before the rain came back.

Shweshwe Adventure

I stressed on what name to give this quilt and finally settled on:  Shweshwe Adventure.  Shweshwe is the name of the fabric, and you can read all about it here.  And it was both an adventure to purchase the fabric and to complete the quilt.

My friend T and I were in South Africa for the wedding of another friend.  Picture this:  driving in a right-hand drive car, on the left side of the road, with no GPS, trying to find streets in Johannesburg which don't have street signs.  My apologies...some streets were labelled....embossed in the curb.  So very (un)helpful.  It was quite an adventure to find the store.  I think we drove around the same block three times.  But we finally found it...after having taken the scenic route to get there.  Thanks T for being patient.

Shweshwe Adventure

 
Now that it's finished, I want more Shweshwe fabric.  I wish I had purchased more and wish I had purchased some of the blue and the red fabric lines.

Linking up with Quilt Matters for TGIFF.  Check out her fabulous Modern Totems quilt.

Shweshwe Quilt Top is Done

I finished the Shweshwe quilt top!!  What a relief to have it finished.  The plan is to get it sandwiched and quilted over the weekend.

Shweshwe Quilt Top 

I don't name my quilts, but I think this one will be named.  I have no idea whatsoever what that name will be.  But I feel that since the fabric came all the way from South Africa (and it took a lot of searching to find the quilt shop) and contains 512 HST's, it deserves a name.

But the most exciting news of the week is that I met Kaffe Fasset and Brandon Mably.  My quilt guild, Mariners Quilt Guild (plus Mahone Bay Quilters Guild and Mayflower Quilters Guild), hosted Kaffe Fassett (and Brandon Mably) for "Life in Colour: An Evening with Kaffe Fassett Lecture and Book Signing."

I had the privilege to pick them up at the airport.  That was so exciting, and I'm still on a high that I met them and had a conversation.  The lecture was informative and engaging.  We're hoping to bring them back next year for a workshop.



Brandon Mably, me, and Kaffe Fassett at the book signing 

But even more importantly, Brandon liked my orange quilt!!!  That's correct, it doesn't have a name other than orange quilt.



We had quilts displayed around the lecture hall.  Brandon said he liked the orange quilt over there, that he hadn't seen one with all orange.  After the initial shock, I proudly said, it's mine.  And after the lecture, he showed it to Kaffe.   I make things that I enjoy and don't care what others think, but it was exciting that someone of that caliber liked one of my quilts.  Now I feel this quilt needs a name, but oddly, Orange Quilt, seems to be the only thing that keeps coming to me.

If you have any thoughts on what I should call my quilts, please let me know.  I'd love to hear how you go about naming your quilts.

Linking up with Adrienne over at Chezzetcook Modern Quilts for the monthly update to The Library Project.

They are Done!!!

Two years.  32 8.5-inch blocks.  16 HST's per block.  512 HST's in total.  My Shweshwe blocks are finally completed!  I bought the fabric in July 2012 when I visited South Africa.  You can read about Shweshewe fabric here.  Here are some of the blocks:



Shweshwe Blocks

I was super productive today at the Maritime Modern Quilt Guild Sew In today.  The day started with a mere 8 blocks completed, and the day ended with all 32 blocks completed.  Give this quilter a gold star.

I handed in my MMQG block for the new guild banner.  We received the fabric Thursday night.  Thinking that Linda would be the first to have her block completed, I made it a point to get my block done last night because I didn't want to be the last person to hand it in at the August meeting.  Imagine my surprise...I was the only one with a completed block today.  Give this quilter another gold star.

Block for MMQG Banner

Have been slowing moving out of my comfort zone and trying some new techniques such as improv piecing.

The Jawbreaker pillow looked lonely, so voila...another one.



Jawbreaker Pillows

Next week is another opportunity to continue making sewing a part of my regular routine.  We had a great discussion today at Sew In about quilters being identified as traditional, modern, etc.  Do what makes you happy.  That's my plan.  I'm a quilter...end of...no identifier needed.  So give this quilter another gold star.

Happy Easter!

It was a great long weekend of church, relaxation, and sewing.  Sadly, I just spent two hours trying to fix the problem with my computer, so I'm just getting in under the wire with Easter greetings.

I finished a baby quilt using HST's cast-offs from a previous project.  It now has a home as a friend become a grandmother this weekend.

My monthly fat quarter collection from Sew Sisters Quilt Shop arrived in all its purple glory.  It screamed Easter quilt, but I decided to spread my sewing wings and make some pillows using Heather Bostic's book Pillow Pop.  I am very pleased and can't wait to make some more.

Slowly making progress with my HST's using my South African Shweshwe fabric...8 blocks down...24 more to go.  Linking up with Adrienne's The Library Project over at Chezzetcook Modern Quilts.

I used up some leftover strips from my Girl Scouts of USA fabric to make a strip quilt.

This seems to be the week to stretch my quilting abilities.  I signed up for the Michael Miller challenge hosted by the Modern Quilt Guild.  The project I have chosen uses templates...what was I thinking???  Here are the fabrics we were given:

I think I finally understand the process of creating posts.  Now on to learn how to do other things.  I hope you all have a chance to quilt this week.  I hope to sneak in a bit more sewing tomorrow provided I get all my Girl Guide paperwork done.

Library Project Update

Most of March was spent working on a project in the QPP.  The quilt was delivered today, so I can now share.  Wings of Eagles quilt pattern for CJW for her birthday.  The pattern is based on Isaiah 40:31 -- "But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint."

Although there was limited sewing on the Library Projects during March, I made progress and cut fabric for a couple of the projects.  And finally, this past Saturday, I got together with two of the Squares and started sewing HST's for my Shweshwe quilt.

Here are all 512 HST's (2.5 inches)...

I was quite excited to travel to South Africa in 2012.  QJ had researched Shweshwe fabric and where to purchase, so imagine my surprise when I opened Fons and Porter's Love of Quilting and discovered a pattern using Shweshwe fabric a few months before my trip.  In all my excitement, clearly, I was not paying attention to the fact that there were 512 HST's.  And then when I was cutting the fabric, I CLEARLY did not pay attention once again.  I think I finally clued in when I started sewing that there were many little pieces, and then when I started ironing, I realized just how big of a pile 512 HST's are.

Considering this fabric has been in my stash since July 2012, I am so glad that I am finally making progress.  Therefore, am linking up with Adrienne over at Chezzetcook Modern Quilts.  Although it's a tad late for the March check in, I think I'm close enough to be considered in the neighbourhood for meeting the deadline.

Thanks to Jenn over at A Quarter Inch from the Edge for the assistance and advice for maintaining my blog.  Hoping that I get the hang of things and starting blogging on a regular basis.