Leaf quilt....still working! Mini quilt show by guild members!

Ive started quilting the cyanotype leaf blocks.   Granted, only a beginning....but here are the ferns.   I decided not to just it around the shape, but do a fern quilt motif.   I like the way it looks....gives it a more "ferny" look, with more texture.   Much more to do!

Last week some members of my guild did a mini quilt show at a local senior complex, Victorian Manor. It was a "patchwork tea party".  This was my place setting.

Some of the residents showed their quilts also.   This lady is a member of my church...she is 93 years old and one of a set of triplets....the oldest living set in the U.S.  Here she shows a quilt that is over 100 years old.

In Progress.....UFO quilt for guild challenge

My quilt Guild , is having a UFO (unfinished objects) challenge...to be completed by August.   We could enter up to 5 quilts...I did 4, many did 5.   This is to spur us on to finish these things AND finish them for the quilt show in October.

This is the first one I am working on:

The center leaves are cyanotype....sun printed by me in my RAFA (Rochester Area Fibre Artists) group a few years ago.   It is a fun process and incredibly easy.   I had the center mostly put together but was stumped on a border,   Then I hit on an idea.   Piano keys border on 3 sides.  (YesI have a plan for the plain border).    Not bad until I decided to miter the corners!   Measure twice, cut once takes on a whole different meaning.   It's most like measure 53 times with some sewing and ripping out in between.   I still haven't cut away the excess.    Here is a close up of the border corner.   I like it, but it has taken me 2 days to get those borders on and mitered.

Guild challenge quilts revealed!

My guild, does a challenge every year.   We always have a theme, the quilts are due at our January meeting and they then hang in the Richmond Library, http://www.batavialibrary.org, in Batavia, NY for the month of February.    This years challenge was named...."That Was Then", based on the year of our birth.    This is mine.....arrived at in a rather backwards fashion!

I wasn't going to do the challenge, I wasn't inspired.   Sometime in December a friend forwarded a photo to me, showing what he was working on.....he makes outdoor decorations for his tree ( in Florida no less) using CDs and fishing line.   This is the photo:

There was something about the shine of the CDs and the fishing line, contrasted with the roughness of the wicker basket....and a certain challenge or dare to see if I could interpret in fabric.   So, when I was mostly done, I thought....."now what".   I'm not a process person, I like a finished product.   So I started to think could I repurpose for the guild challenge.  Since it was a Christmas theme, I decided to see if any Christmas songs were written the year I was born.  Turns out that "Santa C.aus is Coming to Town" was written that year,   The version of "White Christmas" we know so well was arranged that year....and the last song "Near You" was the number one song the week I was born.  

Here are some close ups....

I added the poinsettia, fused from Angelina fibers and some bead work to fill in the blank space in the quilt.   I think it is the perfect touch for a Christmas quilt....turned challenge!

So, all of this is why I say I came to the challenge result "backwards"!

Letchworth State Park ....my Quilt!

Quilt or Photogrqph?

This is my finished quilt for the Quilters Consortium of New York Statechallenge....."Stitching New York-a Quilters Perspective".   This is a photo that I took at the park this past October, manipulated it somewhat on my computer and had it printed onto fabric by Julie Brandon I then enhanced the landscape with many different quilting patterns, including some sheer fabrics to emulate the mist rising from the falls, 

I think I will call it "Homage to the Trestle", as it may soon be replaced.  The trestle bridge has always been an important part of my life since my years at Houghton College in the late 60's.  We would go there to escape the rigors of college life.   Many have walked on this bridge, including me....many while a train was approaching (not me).

Below is the original picture I used as my pattern and a photo showing that the train still does cross this bridge.

Another snow photo!

The snow is done for now and they are promising us warmer temps and rain by the weekend, resulting in flooding.   This is a picture of the mound in our driveway.  That little wood marker that the plowing guys use to mark the end of the driveway is about 3 feet tall.

It's a blizzard!!!

For the first time in 11 years, we have a blizzard in our little county of western New York State.   The winds are howling, it's snowing hard at times and it's COLD.  This is my clematis vine right outside the front door,   We NEVER get snow, or rain, this close to our entryway!!!!

This map shows how it is a direct hit for us.....very selective....in the lake effect path off Lake Erie!

Then there is the wind chill,   It has not been above zero degrees in over 24 hours now and the wind chill fluctuates between 20 and 30 below.   

The happiest person in this house??.?   My husband who just retired last month from his outside insurance adjuster job!!!