Quilts at the Creek

Don't forget - today is the LAST day for the Quilts at the Creek show. It's taking place at Black Creek Pioneer Village. I took a quick walkabout yesterday and it was amazing to see all the quilts flapping in the wind. Totally beautiful and totally inspiring. My quick tour spotted some familiar quilts but also lots of new ones. And gorgeous!!!!  I can't wait to have more time today to walk amongst the quilts.

The Prince (Cherrywood challenge) is inside the Visitor's Center. I'm volunteering in that room today so I'll get a good look at the quilts. I know from viewing past Cherrywood challenges, that those quilts will be well worth seeing.

There's also a lecture by Valerie Goodwin (our instructor from yesterday's workshop) and it'll be FABULOUS. She's a wonderful instructor - her work with map quilts is truly amazing. And she's using technology to make that happen. I love it!!!!

I'm doing a walkabout at 3 PM. Meet up at the Town Hall so we can start the tour.


When I got home, it was time to bind some quilts. And someone had asked me about the winding video for the binding.

Here I am installed in my favorite place to sew on the binding. I had the window open and there was a magnificent breeze coming in. M always complained that this room was too hot and while it can be hot, there's a great breeze that comes through when the windows are open.

Set up to do bind a quilt

 After I wind the binding into a figure eight, I place it in front of the sewing machine. Here's the link to the post with the video on how to wind the figure eight. I know that people like to be creative - I really do. And I know how people like to make gadgets and put their brand on them. There are a TON of tools and gadgets on the market related to putting the binding on a quilt. It might be a tool to miter the corners, a tool to finish off the final join or something to wind the binding onto while you sew it onto the quilt.

Not to be the naysayer, but NONE of those gadgets are necessary. Putting a binding on without gadgets and tools is so simple. There are no tools to dig out (if you can remember that you have them), there are no tools to store, no tools to lose, no tools to manage. I'm all about simple.

So - here's the binding set out in front of the sewing machine.

The figure-eight of binding is set up in front of the sewing machine

I use my finger and thumb as a guide as the binding comes out of that figure-eight - remember to pull the binding from the CENTER of the figure-eight or it doesn't work. I was trying to see if I had a tried and true method for my hand position, but both of these hand positions seem to work. I think it just comes naturally to hold it like that. There is no twisting as that binding comes out of the figure-eight which means putting the binding on super easy and FAST!!!

Hand position for adding the binding

A slight variation of hand position

The bottom line - the thumb goes underneath the binding to guide it into the sewing machine.

Anyway - it works for me and I finished off the binding on one of the Quilts of Valour quilts. This is the quilt that our group sewed at the quilt retreat earlier this month. Seems like eons ago now.

Binding on a Quilts of Valour quilt

I was on a roll, so I got the binding completely on one more quilt for Quilts of Valour. 

Binding on one more quilt for Quilts of Valour 

I got the binding partially on the last Quilts of Valour quilt. I ran out of the binding and have to make some more. I didn't feel like doing that last night. That's a job for tonight.

Then I dug out two quilts that have been sitting here. One of them was designated as a Quilts of Valour quilt. Shoot - it's the one our group made LAST YEAR at the retreat. I kept it back because of how the decorative stitch used to sew the binding on and I was using it as a demo. I need to make a new sample of that stitch. In the meantime, the quilt is going to be delivered this week. I also pulled out a scrap quilt from my quilt stash. I still use the quilt for trunk shows, but I have TWO of them and only use one for the trunk show.

Quilts to be delivered to Quilts of Valour

Now back to Quilts at the Creek. Here's my Mandala quilt hanging up. I LOVE this quilt. It's made with Northcott's Artisan Spirit Shimmer. Very nice to have that large range of color and value. I see on the web page that they have some NEW patterns. Oh dear - I feel a new quilt design coming up. This quilt was on the cover of A Needle Pulling Thread magazine a while back. (Issue 47 from 2018). It was hanging in the aisle as you entered the village. Every time I walked past someone was admiring the quilt and saying how pretty it is. That's all I need - someone to admire my creativity. I'm happy!!!

Mandala quilt

I had to see where my other quilt was hanging. Oh - it's with the other map quilts way at the far end of the village. Of course, it is!!!!  I ran over there and snapped this picture. I know you can't really see my quilt, but it's in the picture. I'll be sharing a better picture later. It's really cute and very funny. I also watched a few people admiring the quilt and when they realized what it was (you MUST read the words on the quilt or it means nothing), you'll get a chuckle!!!  I wonder what M will say when she sees it.

Some of the map quilts on display at Quilts at the Creek

Now let's zip to the workshop. It's very difficult to know what to bring to a workshop. Fabric - lots of fabric. I took my scrap boxes and that was the BEST thing I could have done. We sewed a small collage. This is about 12" by 6".

After several steps in the mapping process

It's totally improv. The background was collaged (I've got some great ideas for future pieces), we painted it (I found a tube of blue acrylic paint before I left, not really my first choice) and there are some sheer fabrics on it (I used light so doesn't really show).

Next up was to cut the piece into several pieces (if you didn't want to you didn't have to). I followed instructions - YES - I was a good student!

Then it was onto handwork and embellishing. I found some dark scraps in the brown bin I had taken. So what is it?? Well, it looks like some cows running on the side of a road or is that a river?? Actually, now that I think about it, there's an illuminated BLUE bicycle path somewhere in Europe (Poland). That's what my piece is - I now need to find a way to represent the bike path.  Oh yes - this is going to be perfect!!!!

It was a super fun workshop. I was glad that I went. This is the kind of thing that I want to do in my free time. I think it's something where you'll get infinitely better the more you do. It's a truly creative process and I like doing that kind of stuff. I just need to schedule that into my day and STOP reading so much!!!  I can read when my hands have given out. For now, I need to get some of this fun stuff out of me!!!!!

Someone popped in to see me in the workshop room yesterday. I won't say her name to protect her identity!! BUT she asked me when I was going to get organized. I think she was talking about Studio B and when it was going to be finished. Not for a long time. However, I beg to differ on her thoughts about me being organized. I am a SUPER organized person. (for the most part). I know where almost every supply and piece of fabric is situated in both Studios. A few projects are AWOL at the moment because of all the shuffling around. So to answer her question - I AM organized. I just have a lot of stuff that still needs to be managed. Two different things!!!!


On that note, that's it for today.

Have a super day!!!!!


Ciao!!!