Cobblestone Crows

I made this wall hanging a few weeks ago.  I donated it to a benefit auction that will be held later this month..  The proceeds will benefit the Lelooska Foundation in Ariel, Washington (just north of the Portland area).

The pattern is called, "Cobblestone Crows" and was designed by Sheryl Mycroft of Random Threadz.  Sheryl has a real talent for designing patterns that are not very difficult, but look stunning.  I sell the patterns and complete kits on my website and I've always wanted to make this up.  I like it so much that I want to make another one for myself!  Sheryl also designed the Manzanita Tree pattern.  She's very talented- and very nice, too!

The fabric is appliqued onto the background.  The Crows are applied with fusible applique and then stitched very closely around the edge.  Then the beads and buttons are sewn on by hand.  It took me longer to sew on the beads than it did to make the quilt!  The bead packs are made for Alderwood Quilts by my bead artist friend, Lanai Kinsky. I carry the little bead packs in 6 different colorways.  The thin green border (see top photo) is 3-dimensional, which is a really nice touch.  (Did I mention that I love Sheryl's patterns?)

The funny thing is that the birds are seen as "crows" by the designer.  I see "Raven".  And a friend of mine looked at it and said, "Magpies!".  So... their identification is in the eye of the beholder.

Westside Quilters' Guild 2011 Show

As promised, here is more from our recent guild quilt show.

I didn't get many photos of the submitted quilts.  I'm hoping that there are photos on the guild site so I can get them onto this blog or that I can refer you to look at.  I'll see if I can do that tomorrow (fingers crossed).

In addition to my Double Wedding Ring, I submitted the large Asian wall hanging above.  It was hard to stand back far enough to get a good photo, but you get the idea.

 This is a picture of me standing in our booth.  I had a lot of kits and patterns with me.... and some fun fat quarter assortments.

Unfortunately, we had "technical difficulties" with our sign.  We have a nice "Alderwood Quilts" sign for vending.  Ahhh... things never go exactly as planned, do they!?


Here are a few highlights of what I had at the show:

This beautiful quilt was made by my friend and fellow guild member, Bella Dvir.  Bella is a gifted quilter and she generously allowed me to display her Strips n' Curves quilt.  Sandy Pennington quilted this beauty for her.  I used it as an example of what you can do using the Strips n' Curves books and templates by Louisa Smith.

 I was thrilled that Susan Cranshaw sent me a trunk show of some of her quilts.  These are some of her best selling patterns

 This is one of the most frequently commented upon display I had.  Susan added a 3-dimensional touch to this wall hanging.  Her use of color and expert quilting is simply jaw-dropping!

 Isn't this fun!?!?  Susan combined 2 patterns- the Roadrunner and the Horned Toad, to create this wall hanging.

This is Susan's newest design.  Hummingbirds are a favorite of mine.  There just might be one of these on my sewing table one of these days.  I just got a supply of these patterns and will be adding the Hummingbirds to my website soon.

This is a photo of a few samples I made for the show.  The table runner is designed by Karla Alexander.  I have the pattern as well as the kit on my website.  This was so much fun to make!  The background and border are very simple piecing.  The pumpkins, leaves and crows are fusible appliques.  (If you look closely- the crows have no beaks or feet- I ran out of time!).  

The handbag is called the Veranda Tote.  I also have it available as a pattern or as a kit.  And there are some handy dandy acrylic inserts made to stiffen the base of fabric bags called bag-y-bottoms.  All of this can be found in the handbags category on my website.

This is a wall hanging designed by Sheryl Mycroft of Random Threadz.  It was a snap to make and is really eye-catching.  The center tree piece is done by fusing the 2 trees on with fusible applique paper.  Then you stitch lots of borders around the tree.  The little diamond shapes are also fused on- with the exception of the shapes on the triangular flap, which are sewn in.  I don't know if you can see it in the photo, but the triangle is stitched into that last border seam so it creates a flap.  When I first saw the pattern, I thought it would be a nightmare to do the binding because of the shape... but not to worry- it's easy!.  The final touch is to sew on the lovely black glass beads.  The pattern, the beads, and the kit (which includes fabric, beads and pattern) are all on my website.  You can even purchase the backing or extra fabric by the yard.  Sheryl has a few other tree patterns and I am working on a different sample which will also be on the website soon.  It will be in greens, browns and purples with some very interesting embellishments.  I need to get busy with that sample.... but I think I'll put beaks and feet on the crows on the pumpkin table runner first!

It was a great show!  The next one will be in 2 years.  It takes the organizers a year to recover and another year to plan the next show!  Kidding aside- I want to do a shout-out to Clara Mashek and her crew of dedicated and VERY hard working guild members who made this show possible.  If I start naming them, I know I'll forget someone.  So many people pitched in to help and about a dozen women worked very, very hard in recent months to make it all happen- all with Clara's leadership.  I'll see if I can get photos of all of the winning quilts to show you in another post.

OK... now where did I put the beaks for the crows......