In 1993, I was in my early 30's. I was doing my Masters, walking around with a portable chemo pack, working, and trying to do all of those things while caring for two young children as a single mom. Although even before that time, I had a vague notion that "some day" I woud make a quilt - in 1993, quilts were not even on my radar.
Not so, Eleanor Burns!
In 1993, she and her Laura Ashley dress were very busy promoting her Quilt In A Day program! (Lookit that cute little Sunbonnet Sue one in the background) And how much do I love the french braid on the woman in the foreground - brings back memories!
I've spoken before about my friend who works with a company that provides costumes for shows and who then gives me the scraps; but with the latest load she's given me, she also included some old quilting magazines she had. I'll be featuring some of the items in these magazines over the next little while - this week, it's a Summer 1993 edition of Canada's Quilts, a magazine I don't think even exists any more!
In that edition, their focus was on male quilters. So, may I introduce to you:
Barry Moss. At the point this article was done, Barry Moss had been quilting about 5 years. Today, he teaches fiber art techniques in Canada, Wales and England, and will be teaching a minatures class in just a couple of weeks in Arnprior, Ontario.
Next, we had:
Graham Crowe. Unfortunately, Mr. Crowe doesn't have a web presence, but I was able to find a mention of a "one of a kind hand-made quilt" he made from (coincidentally - see above!) the scraps of the costumes from the 2010 theatre season of The Grand Theatre in London - which sold at a benefit auction for the theatre for $5,175. Sadly, there were no pictures of the quilt available.
And lastly, may I introduce Art O'Keefe:
I wasn't able to find a breath of anything about this husband and wife team, originally from Fraser Valley, BC (and founding members of the Fraser Valley Guild); who, at the time of the article were living in Oliver, BC. Vera made the tops, and Art hand quilted them.
Given their ages at the time of the article, they may have passed on by now; but when they got their start in 1968, I was just a wee lass, falling asleep on my uncle's lap during that historic moon walk! Someone gave them a 7lb roll of cotton scraps from a shirt factory in Hawaii, and Vera thought she'd make a log cabin quilt out of the pieces. After that, there was no stopping this dynamic duo.
So, were you quilting in 1993?
You know, I have been C-R-A-Z-Y busy since I went back to work after my vacation (isn't that the way it always goes?); so I haven't had any time to spend in my favourite room. However, I managed to sneak in a little time late tonight and so got a start on the project above (an actual quilt by gosh!).
For inspiration Friday, have a look at what I bought on Tuesday! :)
Want a closer look at what's inside??
Lovely cotton solids..
Some pretty greys..
Stripes
Shiny!
The one on the left is an incredible buttah soft linen. I just wanna stroke it and stroke it.
So, that was my shopping trip!
I have vacation coming up this week and it's a staycation, so guess what I'll be doing?
Hurray!
Have a great weekend!
Want a closer look at what's inside??
Lovely cotton solids..
Some pretty greys..
Stripes
Shiny!
The one on the left is an incredible buttah soft linen. I just wanna stroke it and stroke it.
So, that was my shopping trip!
I have vacation coming up this week and it's a staycation, so guess what I'll be doing?
Hurray!
Have a great weekend!
Look what I did!
I actually finished a quilt, can you believe it?
I barely can! :) If you remember this top from several (or more) months ago, then you may be thinking, "Hey! Wasn't that a lot bigger before?" (I mean, a LOT bigger?) And you'd be right.
*cough*
See, first I somehow managed to quilt the whole damn thing without noticing that the last, outer edge wasn't lined up properly with that good ol' quilt sandwich - and so fully 8 inches of of one section of one side, had no batting. Another part of the same side had no backing fabric (about 3 inches) and all in all, I figured the best thing to do was to lop off the 8 inches on that one side - and then a length along the other side - whatever it took, for the design to be balanced.
That should work, right? Right! Except, for some bizzare reason, I couldn't manage to get it trued up after that! So, I'd shave off an inch along one side, and then shave off an inch on another side, and shave of 1/2 an inch on another side, and shave off an inch and 1/2 on another side - and before I knew it, I was standing in an ever-mounting pile of quilted strips.
Before it reached my knees and I had a doll quilt on my hands, I decided to quit before I got futher behind.
I put a very nice binding on it, and I must say, it looks great on our grey couch, and I swear, even I can't find that one wonky side, even though I know it's there.
So there. :)
But I think I need to get back to practicing quilting big quilts again.
*hee*
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