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  I originally made it about 45 by 40 so I could trim it down when I finished the quilting and decided how much of the ocean in front to show.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.