Challenge Quilt Done!

I thought I was done machine quilting when I got this far but decided that you couldn't see the reeds in the foreground at the bottom without standing 2 inches away from the quilt so another day of quilting!

And here it is, trimmed to the proper size.  It had to be between 36 and 30 inches high and 24 to 30 inches wide.  I originally made it about 45 by 40 so I could trim it down when I finished the quilting and decided how much of the ocean in front to show.

The top of the challenge was the Cape Fear River which runs behind Wilmington (and me in Kure Beach even closer) and meets up with the ocean at Ft. Fisher.  There is a historic breakwater separating the two at the tip of Ft. Fisher.  I took a picture overlooking the breakwater and a striking sunset several years ago.  (There were a lot of fires west of that year and really colored the sunsets.)

The piece had to feature the Cape Fear River and that is the middle blue piece on the other side of the breakwater.

I took some liberties with the photo in constructing this quilt!  It now sits at a comfortable 36 inches by 29 inches.  I am in the processing of sewing the facing and the triangles I have to put in the corner of the back for hanging at the exhibit.  I am hoping it is not too much too different from the rest of the pieces.  I seem to be very different in my approaches with a lot more color (like my camellias that I did for the last show).

The exhibit will be at the Burgwin-Wright house in Wilmington between Feb. 23 and Mar 17 in 2024.

I happened down to Carolina Beach Lake one very cloudy day last week but was rewarded with quite a few birds -- some that I hadn't seen for awhile.  There was a flock of these Bluebirds sitting on the lines.

There were several Dunlins and they were still there the next time I went by.  Most of the time, you couldn't see their bills as they were buried in the muck!

A Kildeer and he was also hanging around the next time I went.

Not as impressive a speciies to sight, but there was a huge flock of these Starlings and I do like their winter plummage.

This is a Lesser Scaup, a bird I haven't seen at the lake in a couple of years at least!  They used to be there all winter.

I did finish another one of the QAYG quilts although not quite done in this photo.  I have enough pieces of the blue stripes to do one more and it is in my bag waiting to go to the next "Open Sew" we have.

 

More Comfort Quilts and Challenge Quilt Beginning!

 

These next three quilts are all for our guild's Habitat for Humanity donations.

This and the next quilt were originally to be a king-sized quilt but I just didn't need another king-sized quilt and wasn't all that crazy about them either so I decided to go with 2 twin sized quilts that I will donate.  They are each about 45 x 90 so would go great in some shelter.

Another comfort quilt with the blue stripe fabric and blocks made several years ago when teaching some ladies how to do a "disappearing 9-patch".

I managed to get 17 blocks of the QAYG type done at our sewing day on Monday.  My back may never be the same so will have to bring a pillow to back me up the next time!

I have started the challenge quilt which will be for a show in 2024 at one of the historic houses in Wilmington.  The theme of the challenge is the Cape Fear River.  I frequently photo sunset scenes down at Ft. Fisher so decided that is what I would use for the challenge.  I like the ones I take through the trees the best but wasn't up to tackling the trees so decided to go with a picture taken at sunset looking out from the very end of Ft. Fisher.  The view shows the historic breakwater that was built in the mid 1800s and it separates the Cape Fear River from the ocean.  

This was the beginning of the sunset.  I struggled to find some of the exact colors I wanted to use.

Here are all the layers of the background sunset and it looks very bright and overwhelming to me here.  I am making everything oversized at this point as the final piece has to measure 30-36 inches tall and 24 - 30 inches wide.  I am cuttently skirting around 36 inches tall and 30 inches wide.

This is my current iteration of the piece where I have  cut off some of the top.  

The further black line is the opposite shore and the blue between the two black lines is the Cape Fear River. The closer black area is of course the breakwater which is pretty flat on top but craggy on the bottom.

The foreground is the inlet of the ocean.  There will also be scattered reeds which I will machine quilt coming up from the bottom of the piece.

I haven't decided yet whether I will do some painting as well as the machine quilting I will be doing.  

I am feeling like I am on the right track now and have some time to get this done as it doesn't have to be finished until January.  My biggest fear is that it will be too different from anyone else's and just won't fit in.

Quilters By the Sea October Meeting

It was a great meeting on Tuesday morning.  We were supposed to have David Walker as our speaker but at the last minute, he got sick and had to cancel.  Our wonderful volunteers moved up our November program with little notice and we had a really fun time and I got to meet some new (to me) people which was great.  This is the beginning of our jellyfish.  We used Jacquard fabric scupting medium and draped our circles over baloons we blew up!  They dried in shape in less than an hour.

I am sorry I don't have the quilter's names except for a couple.  This was one of the quilts created as a result of Ani Hudson's class.  

I absoutely loved this one.

Beautiful quilt!

Another beauty!  A very large quilt!

One of three quilts made with scraps from our "giveaway" table.

Another made from the scraps.

Another beautiful quilt!

This was made by one of our newer members and newer quilters as a result of a half-square triangle class taught last year.  Very creative!  I tried to picture quilter with the quilts they made where I could.  Sometimes they hid behind the quilt!

It is hard to see but the grey areas are embroidered blocks obtained as part of an exchange in the embroiders group here in town.

I really liked this one as well.

Everyone got a kick out of this cow!

Nancy made several like this one out of the panel fabric in the center!

Nancy also did this one which looks pretty difficult to me but Jenny said it was a quilt as you go.  The hexagons are all in one piece so not sure how this was done.

Marian Egan did this one as a gift for a bee loving child!

Another from Ani's class.  Very subtle!

Beautiful quilt done as part of a Ricky Tims online class (?).

Another from Ani's class.

There were also 40 quilts donated this month to the Comfort Quilts.  I was just in the wrong position to photo these and they were moving pretty fast!

 

Almost Finished all the Tops!

Have been busy, basting and machine quilting the many, many tops I made this past summer and I still have a few more to go!

All of these are about 40 x 60 inches.

This one is a little smaller.  I backed this one and the next one with more Kaffe fabrics -- browns which I really don't work with much down here.  I am really affected by my environment when it comes to color.

I had completely forgotten this stack and whack that I found in a baggie down here!  It was all ready to go except for figuring out a backing.

These quilts plus others shown recently were all donated to our Comfort Quilts down here - 10 altogether.  Lisa claimed one of the "stained glass" ones which she wants to use as a wall hanging.

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It's been a while since I posted bird pictures as I haven't seen as many as usual as there are lots of people!  

This is a juvenile Tri-colored Heron.  The above is one of several Ibis in a tree!

This is a Lesser Yellowlegs.  This is the first time I have seen one of these at Carolina Beach Lake (I think!).

A pretty Snowy Egret.  There have been lots of thse at the lake.

This is a Willet, a bird I usually see along the shore not at the lake!

This was the biggest surprise of all -- a Roseate Spoonbill at Carolina Beach Lake, just hanging out!!  I see them frequently down at Huntington Beach State Park in S. Carolina but never up here!  It was a real treat for one of my first days back.


 

It's Been a Bit of Time!

 

Since heading back down south, I have been trying to get my sewing room into some kind of order.  I left in a hurry in the spring so left things much worse than usual!!  

I have a ton of tops that I did last summer so have been trying to finish those up before I start a couple of new projects.  I had even forgotten I had done some of them!  

This and the next one are about 42 by 58 inches.  I can't believe how much black and white fabric I unearthed down here!  I did sell some of my pfd fabric as I don't seem to be doing a whole lot of dyeing although I may have to for the next project which is a Guild Challenge on the Cape Fear River.

This is the back of the last of the QAYG quilts for awhile!  This one is going to my daughter as she liked it and wanted it.  I still have another one like it and may also keep that one rather than donating.  The previous two will be donated.

Again, one of my favorites and has inspired me to make some more yardage of strips in darker colors.  I have a 2yd+ piece of lighter colored strips which I don't think would work well in this design so will figure something else out.

I am pretty sure what I will be doing for the Cape Fear River challenge and have been gathering my various hand dyes but I think I need more gold/orange and purple/blue.  I haven't gone through all my hand dyes yet so we shall see!  It is due in December.      

I did purchase a 40 yd bolt of batting as I have several tops I need to quilt (those Farmer's Wife blocks that I made into tops which will be quilted in sections as they will be pretty big quilts).